"...and to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one." (1 Thes. 4:11-12)
http://bible.com/59/1th.4.11-12.ESV
I am a little concerned that the church, today, may be overly-concerned with "being relevent", to the neglect of good practical advice, such as that given to the Thessalonian church by Paul (scripture above).
That said, and before someone uses it against me, I fully realize that Paul, himself, believed in being relevent to the culture around him. (1 Cor. 9:20) Rightly so. Indeed, the church should, with wisdom and with discernment, be selective about what lengths it goes to in order to be "in the world, not of the world"; if I dare use the old, and vague, cliché.
I think that is precisely my point. Let's not allow relevence to become an idol. Should we go to all, any, ridiculous lengths to be so acceptable to the world? Are we not different? We ARE set apart. We ARE different. Indeed, a peculiar people.
Let's allow faith to do ITS' work. We should pray, constantly, as to how we act, or react, to "the world", and how much we look or sound like it.
