We are trying to make the gospel acceptable to man as he is. The church becomes an Old Adam Improvement Society. Here is a prospective church member in a Sunday morning congregation. He is a man of the world, takes a social drink, swears, and, if tempted, is shaky morally. He wants to join the church. It helps business, will look good on his obituary, and is a status symbol. He may have a church letter. People are going to hell on church letters. Do we ask him whether he has ever been converted? He might be offended. If we challenged him to deny self, take up his cross, and follow Jesus, he might take off to some other church where he can be a member and live in any old way. Such a church would not be hard to find, Our Lord lost some of His best prospects. The rich young ruler would be received gladly today, with no questions asked and no sacrifice required. The status quo would not be disturbed. It might help some prospects today if their status were “un-quoted.”