"Paul is here exposing to view the controlling centre of his ministry strategy. "Jesus Christ and him crucified" was, for Paul, the ultimate criterion of what today call 'relevance'. And with his typically refreshing outlook, the apostle defined relevance not as we tend to do. For him, relevance had to be defined not in terms of meeting audience expectations but in relation to the centrality of the Cross. His preaching agenda was set by that theological centre, not by his audience. He determined not to be 'practical', if that meant limiting his message to subjects like time-management, self-esteem, stress-reduction and so on. 'Do such things flow from the Cross?' Paul would insist upon asking. If a certain subject had no meaningful, unrestrained relation to the Cross, for all that that means, then Paul determined to ignore it, no matter how magnetic it might be for getting people through the doors."...We take it for granted that 'relevance' stands in relation to popular culture, so that a 'relevant ministry' tells us only that it is contemporary in style. We have, perhaps, without even thinking, bent the direction of 'relevance' back down toward culture rather than up to the Cross."
Ray Ortlund, 'The Power of the Gospel in the Church Today', TrinJ 18NS (1997), 8.
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