Cultural relevance verse Biblical truth, can they coexist?

So there are two camps in the world of christianity right now that stand on two very opposite shores.  One camp holds cultural relevance in a very high regard, they are in the world, very active but they seem to have lost a lot of the truth of the word.  The other group stands on the opposite end, its the church that stands for truth, and nothing else, that isn't in the world, isn't making an impact, isn't loving and fighting for the lost, they are more worried about checking off their boxes of what they do right.  Both of these camps have good aspects, but both also have damaging aspects.  Tonight I would like to take a closer look at them, and in a nutshell, see what, in my opinion, we can take and what we should leave from them.

First off, concerning the emergent church.  I have always strongly disliked the emergent church, but lately my view of them has softened quite a bit.  I have been doing a lot of reading on the emergent church and am currently reading one of their more respected "leaders" books and have a much better grasp on what they are pursuing and where their heart is.  While I certainly don't have it nailed down(not sure they really have nailed down what they are doing either)  I do have a much better grasp and much more respect for where they are now.  So that said, they are very culturally relevant and in their community, helping and really trying to show Gods love to their community.  They have a fire and a passion for those things, and that is something we as christians have to take away, and should be trying to apply to our own lives.  

The negative is that they say they are on a journey to get to know Christ, and that you cannot know for sure any truths about Him, we cannot truly know what the Bible means and one persons interpretation can be right for them while another persons is right for them.  They are correct when they say we are on a journey to get to know Christ to further our relationship with Him.  But what they forget is every relationship we have, is based on learning truth about that person, we cannot further our relationship with them(think of your girl friend or boy friend, you best friend, your parents) without knowing concrete truths about them.  Developing a relationship with them is all about learning more and more truths.  Not truths that are right for one person but maybe not right for another one, but consistent truths that hold to for everyone.  Jesus is no different, there are many things we can know for sure about Him, and we must fight to hold this truth.  The holding that we cannot know for sure what the Bible means, suggests that God is not capable or not caring enough to impart clear truth to us, which neither one of those choices seems very wise.  The truth?   The Bible has many areas that are gray areas, that are left open to interpretation, these areas while we should study, and be able to have an opinion on, cannot be know for sure.  But there are also many areas the Bible does not leave open to interpretation, God did not intend it to.  So we have to hold strong to the truth found in Gods word.

Then we have the "modern church", you all know it, the church that only cares about "the truth", the church that you don't see loving the community, but judging the community, the "frozen chosen" as some would call them.  They have the check list of do's and don'ts and if you do the don't, oh man, your in for a world of judging and finger wagging at you.  This is a church where you don't see any real life change or spiritual growth, just legalistic, hypocritical christians that give christianity a bad name.

The good of this church is the high esteem they hold the truth of Gods word in, they fight for it, they revere it, as it should be, they just don't do it very lovingly.

The negative, you don't see the real spiritual growth, just the list of do's and don'ts.  Life as a christian is not about do's and don'ts, its about a relationship with Jesus Christ, an intimate, real relationship, where we love Him and desire to do anything and everything He desires us to do.  This church tends to drive a lot of non christians, and christians away from the church as they don't see any love, just legalism and hypocritical christians.  

Both extremes have good parts, both have bad parts, what we have to do is sift the good from the bad.  Here is my try at it:

1.  The truth of Gods word is of utmost importance, and we must protect and defend it.

2.  We have to be culturally relevant so that we might reach all that we can.

3.  We should be filled with a fire, a desire to obey and follow Christ, a desire to get to know Him more, a desire to obey Him, not because its a list of do's and don'ts, but because we love Him with all our hearts and want to obey Him.

So how do we combine all three areas?  How are we to be in the culture, loving it and reaching it for Christ, holding Gods word and truth in utmost regard, and ultimate respect, fighting for the truth, and have the desire to follow God, to love him and the world he has created?  Its not easy, and no one has that fireproof plan, but these are the things we have to be fighting for.  How do we do it?  I am trying to learn this myself, I know that neither extreme is right, the answer is in the middle, how do we get there?  I am trying to learn this!  So in closing tonight, I am going to leave you with a quote that I like, that for most of you that know me, will be kind of surprised to see me quoting:

"Your job is the relentless pursuit of who God has made you to be.  And anything else you do is sin and you need to repent of it".  -Rob Bell