“And that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and beneficial for teaching, for rebuke, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man or woman of God may be fully capable, equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:15-17
First Indictment: A Denial of the Sufficiency of Scripture
First of all, the first indictment: a practical denial of the sufficiency of Scripture, especially in my denomination. Over the last several decades there has been a mighty battle with regard to the inspiration of Scripture. Now some of you have not been a part of that battle, but many in more liberal denominations most certainly have seen this battle for the Bible.
But there is a problem. When you come to believe as a people that the Bible is inspired, you have only fought half the battle, because the question is not merely “is the Bible inspired?” is it inerrant? The major question following that, which must be answered, is this: Is the Bible sufficient, or do we have to bring in every so-called social science and cultural study in order to know how to run a church? That is the major question!
Social sciences, in my opinion, have taken precedent over the Word of God in such a way that most of us can’t even see it. It has so crept in to our Church, our evangelism, and our missiology that you can barely call what we are doing “Christian” anymore. Psychology, anthropology, sociology have become primary influences in the Church.
Many years ago when I was in seminary, I remember a professor walked in and started drawing footprints on the blackboard. And as he marched them across the blackboard, he turned to all of us and said only this. “Aristotle is walking through the halls of this institution. Beware, for I hear his footsteps more clearly than those of the apostle Paul, the team of inspired men who were with him, and even the Lord Jesus Christ himself.”
We have come to believe that a man of God can deal in certain tiny areas in the life of the Church; but when it really gets tough, we need to go to the social experts. That is an absolute lie! It says here that the Scriptures are given “that the man of God may be equipped, adequate, equipped for every good work.”
What does Jerusalem have to do with Rome? And what do we have to do with all these modern day social sciences that were actually created as a protest against the Word of God? And why is it that evangelism, missions, and so called “church growth” is more shaped by the anthropologist, the sociologist, and the Wall Street student who are up on every cultural trend? All the activity in our churches must be based upon the Word of God. All the activity in missions must be based upon the Word of God.
Our missionary activity, our church activity, and everything we do ought to flow from the theologian and the exegete – the man who opens up his Bible and only has one question: What is Thy will, oh God? We are not to send out questionnaires to carnal people to discover what kind of church they would attend! A church ought to be seeker friendly, but the church ought to recognize there is only one Seeker. His name is God! – and if you want to be friendly to someone, if you want to accommodate someone, accommodate Him and His glory, even if it is rejected by everyone else. We are not called to build empires. We are not called to be excessive. We are called to glorify God. And if you want the Church to be something other than a peculiar people, then you want something God does not want.
I want you to listen to Isaiah chapter eight for a moment. Listen to what he says: “When they say to you, ‘Consult the mediums and the spiritists who whisper and mutter’”. This is a perfect description of the church growth gurus, because every two or three years all their major theories change – Not only about what a man is and how you fix him, but what a church is and how you make it grow. Every two or three years there is another fad coming down the line about what can make your church into something super in the eyes of the world. Just recently, one of the most well known church growth experts said that he discovered that he was entirely wrong on all his theories. But instead of turning people to Scripture, on his knees broken and weeping, he goes out to find another theory!
They give no clear word! It says here in Isaiah, “Should not a people consult their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living?” Should we as churchmen, as preachers, as pastors, as Christians, go out and consult the spiritually dead on behalf of those whom the Holy Spirit has made alive? Absolutely not!