“If we are seeker-sensitive, then we take the story and remove the sharp edges of talking about sin and judgment and wrath because people don’t want to hear about that.”

Using I Corinthians 1:18-31 as his text, R.C. Sproul Jr. said that his challenge at the 2012 National Conference of Ligonier Ministries is to “speak to you about the true scandal of the evangelical mind.” Having read the text, he said, “The grass withers. The flowers fade. The wisdom of man is nothing, but the Word of our God endures.”

Held March 15-17 in Orlando, Fla., and streamed live on the Internet, “The Christian Mind” conference was designed to help attendees “learn how better to think like Christians in order that we might live like Christians.” Topics included the importance of building a Christian worldview, the role of education in the Christian life, science and God’s natural revelation and defending the faith.

Sproul gave a brief summary of the Christian faith: God took on flesh in Christ Jesus. He lived a life of absolute perfect obedience. He died. He died as the victim of his political and theological enemies and three days later He walked out of His tomb alive. Forty days after that He ascended to His throne and was seated at the right hand of God Almighty. From there, He will come to judge the quick and the dead. He will come and complete history and in that judgment those who trust in His provision will enjoy eternal bliss. Those left on their own will suffer eternal anguish.

“Any questions? Everyone clear on this? This is our story. This is that which unites us. We are from different states, countries, different sizes,” he said. “We are all different. What binds us together, what makes us one … is that we not only believe this story, but we cling to it.”

“We are one people,” he continued, but to those outside of the room – the Greek, the Gentile – the story is a scandal. It is foolishness. It is a stumbling block.

Sproul said that his fear was that Christians spend so much time thinking about what non-believers are in light of this story that “we don’t think of what we are to them in light of this story.

Paul wasn’t just saying they don’t get it. “Paul says, ‘they don’t get you,’” he said. “They think you are foolish … They won’t take you seriously.”

Sproul said that those in the evangelical church perceive this distaste and displeasure. “What scandalizes me is that this truth scandalizes us … that we, who embrace this Gospel that is an offense to the world, are offended that they are offended by us.”

He said that evangelicals grouse and complain. They go on television to complain about how they are presented on television. “We want to insist that Paul is wrong – and not just Paul, of course. This is the wisdom of the Holy Spirit here … The text says ‘this is how the world will see you.’”

Sproul said that evangelicals not only fight back and argue against it, “We insist on our rights and worse of all we begin to adapt. We begin to reshape ourselves and our story. We diminish the stumbling block and, to establish our credibility, we begin to rewrite the story.”

“If we are emergent,” Sproul said, “We say it is just our story. You have your narrative. We have our narrative. All God’s children have their narrative … You don’t need to be scandalized. I just have a different story, and I’m not sure about my story. Will you let me into your cool club?”

“If we are seeker-sensitive, then we take the story and remove the sharp edges of talking about sin and judgment and wrath because people don’t want to hear about that.”

Read More

[Editor’s note: the original URL (link) referenced in this article is no longer valid, so the link has been removed.]