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Book Review: Unfashionable
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Tullian Tchividjian makes a great argument that as many churches race to be cool and relevant to modern culture they are actually doing damage to their purpose. Non-Christians do not want a church that is a reflection of the broken world we live in. Instead our society is begging for a church that stands out from our culture and preaches the truth of God. Individuals in secular culture know that their colleagues are shallow and lost. They do not want a church that mimics the lost, but explains the truth of the redemptive power of Christ.
In His life Christ was not cool, popular and hip. In fact He was maligned, mocked and rejected. Jesus stood out and was awkward in His time. So why then do many Christians strive so hard to blend in and be simply a nicer version of our secular culture? As followers of a rebel we are called to be radical dissenters of popular culture. This does not mean that we shun modern art and recreation. It means we embrace and share the joy of Christ and reject the secular obsession with self.
Christians may work in secular jobs, but for the purpose of reaching their lost coworkers. Christians may make money, but so that they have more to give away. Christians may take advantage of technology, but in order to make it easier to spread God’s glory and evangelize. Christians are called to redeem every aspect of their life to spread the mercy of Christ. Worldly success is not our goal.
Christians who try to convince the world that they are no different than them should be embarrassed. We should face the fact that we are peculiar people. We have been given a new heart and mind and we should live our lives differently. To the world around us we should seem odd and out of place.
This book does not call every Christian to seek death in the name of Christ. But, we should be willing to be mocked because we are different and questioned because we don’t fit in. God’s unfashionable ways do not conform to this world. When persecution from this world confronts our lives we should rest in the truth that we were not meant for this world. We are to make a profound difference in this world by being profoundly different from this world.
