Narrative is but one of the exciting literary genres of Scripture but narrative cannot establish doctrine but rather illustrates doctrine. We need the teaching sections of Scripture to tell what the passion narratives in the gospels mean in terms of an understanding of the atonement. To regard the canon of the Bible as only narrative is to fail to proclaim "the whole counsel of God" and to deprive our hearers of the rich variety in our Biblical sources.

Worship wars are needlessly wasting us right and left. Separate contemporary and traditional services will be the kiss of death. We need a serious blend of diverse styles of good quality music in our worship. We are not helped when well-meaning evangelical leaders call worship teams "terrorists." Colleen Carroll and other scholars are documenting the fact that the millennials (the bubbles) are not of one perspective on worship (really is any population segment?). 15% of them really want traditional worship, traditional doctrine and traditional ethics. Post 9/11 changed the listening situation for most Americans.

III.WE NEED TO RECOMMIT TO OUR BIBLICAL CONVICTIONS

Communicators of the Word of God have always faced the challenge of stating the eternal "givens" of Holy Scripture in diverse cultural settings which have required the most careful and prayerful contextualization. Make the truth clear — for it is relevant — but beware of giving away the store. Our job is not to make people feel better about themselves. D.M. Lloyd-Jones raised an important question: can we really make a Christianity which appeals to modern intellectuals? Can we erase the scandal and the folly of the cross? Are we advised to try to do so?

Protestant liberalism after World War I tried to tailor the gospel to fit the post-war mood but as Machen has so well demonstrated, they jettisoned the supernatural distinctives and were left with the pablum of positive thinking which changes and transforms no one.

It is not Catholics like John Dominic Crossan who believe that dogs ate the body of Jesus who make a mark. The Jesus Seminar people are not seeing growing churches and changed lives. One conservative Catholic thinker calls these liberals "quislings of the Zeitgeist," i.e. those who are sold out to the spirit of the age. The fact is that "traditional dioceses and religious orders are producing lots of vocations, but liberals are not. All the energy in the church is found among traditional Catholics, who have large families, who are revolutionizing education via home-schooling, who are virtually the only Catholic presence on radio and TV, who are founding new seminaries and colleges, and who are spearheading the only massive grassroots movement in the church, the prolife movement."

In both message and methodology we should be cautious and careful, not making change for the sake of change. C.S. Lewis warned of the "chronological fallacy," that asserts the new is true and the old is mold. The old is not always true but the true is old. Fads and fancies come and go but there are bedrock realities which are always true and are unshakable. Don't rush into major change.

King Ahaz of Judah provides us with an important warning. "He did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord his God" (2 Kings 16:2). He became a servant and vassal of the Assyrian tyrant. He paid tribute to this heathen and saw the wealth of his own people stripped bare. He went to Damascus to hob-nob with this enemy and there he saw an altar he liked. He had sketches sent home and when he returned he had sacrifices and offerings made upon the new altar. His deference to the Assyrian monarch was disastrous. Whatever the pressures of our time, our fealty as preachers to the Lord and to his Word must not be reduced. LET GOD BE GOD!

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David L. Larsen isProfessor Emeritus of Preaching at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, IL.