I recently finished the book For All God’s Worth by N. T. Wright. It is well worth a read if you are at all interested in the topic of worship and how our worship as Christians shapes – or should shape – our daily living.
Near the end of the book, Wright talks about how Jesus was a revolutionary, but not in the sense that most of us might think. Jesus challenged the established rulers of the world by connecting with the actual needs and problems of the day. But He also challenged the typical revolutionaries of His day by approaching His revolution through the weakness of the cross.
Thus, the Apostle Paul could write:
Jews demand signs, and Greeks seek wisdom; but we proclaim Christ crucified . . . God chose what is foolish in the world in order to shame the wise, God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong, God chose what is low and despised in the world the non-existent things, to reduce to nothing the things that are (1 Corinthians 1:22f, 27f).
And so, N. T. Wright challenges the church of today with the following question about our own approach to the subversive revolutionary ways of Jesus.
How will the message ever get across if the church is so anxious not to court bad publicity that it refuses ever to say or do anything that might get it into trouble either with the authorities, for being subversive, or with the revolutionaries, for insisting that the true revolution begins at the foot of the cross? (page 135)
How will the message every get across?
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Matthew Erickson 
Matt – Great book – I read it 2 or 3 years ago.
Worship is a whole-life issue, isn’t it? And true worship (i.e. worship of Christ that is done in Spirit and Truth) will be offensive to the world, just as the cross is an offense to the “unregenerate”.
Thanks for sharing!