The Power of His Gospel

Came across this quote last week from Donald Miller (emphasis mine):

A young pastor...talks to me from time to time about the new face of church in America--about the postmodern church.   He says the new church will be different from the old one, that we will be relevant to culture and the human struggle.  I don't think any church has ever been relevant to culture, to the human struggle, unless it believed in Jesus and the power of His gospel.  If the supposed new church believes in trendy music and cool web pages, then it is not relevant to culture either.  It is just another tool of Satan to get people to be passionate about nothing.

I remember when I first came across the book Blue Like Jazz.  I was skeptical - expecting another "this is my path to God and each path looks different" book.  But I kept finding Miller bringing his audience back to sin and redemption and Jesus and the truth and power of the Gospels.  And here was another example of that.  In an age of churches desperately trying to be "relevant" to today's entertainment-oriented culture, it can be easy to "believe" in trendy music or lights or catchy videos or hi-tech solutions as a way of "being relevant."  But who we are has to be based on Jesus and the power of His gospel or we can become a distraction from who God is really is.  Or, as Miller puts it a little more strongly, "just another tool of Satan."