“All
Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for
correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God man be
competent, equipped for every good work.”
(2 Timothy 3:16-17 ESV)
Much has been said and written about
the recent Supreme Court decision to legalize same-sex marriage
nationwide. Many evangelical pastors,
authors, and others have made great points, and have done well to explain why
they hold to the position they have. But
I’ve not seen nor heard too many talk about why we are even at this juncture
though, and I believe that it has much to do with a person’s or culture’s view
on the authority of Scripture.
When we fail to accept the Bible as
the Word of God, when we look to other sources to establish what truth is, we
discount the authority of Scripture.
When we allow our emotions to govern our beliefs, when we feel that
somehow we are now more knowledgeable about certain matters than the men who
penned the words of Scripture under the power and inspiration of the Holy
Spirit, we discount the authority of Scripture.
Who are we to discount the authority
of the written Word that God has given us?
It has been inspired by Almighty God, Sovereign over all things,
all-knowing, all-powerful, eternal, all-present, forever faithful, and worthy
of the highest esteem, honor and glory.
It is the epitome of the arrogance of man to think that he is wiser than
God.
We tend to lose confidence in the
Bible as the inspired Word of God when we neglect taking the time to read and
study the Bible. When we fail to be in
the Word regularly, reading not only from the New Testament, but also from the
Old Testament, we lose sight of the nature of the God we claim to serve. When we lose sight of the nature of the God
we claim to serve, our love and respect for Him wanes, as does the level of our
personal holiness.
A day is coming in this great land
we call home when the church will be winnowed like a modern farm combine
separates the grain from the straw.
Those who have thought of the church as a nice place to be on Sundays, a
great club to belong to, and regular attendance is our religious duty to
maintain will slip away into the shadows.
Those who remain will be those like Peter, when after covering a hard
teaching about His being the Bread of Life in John 6 and many left the group of
disciples, and Jesus asked His 12, “Do you want to go away as well?”, he
responded, “Lord, to whom shall we go?
You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come
to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”
For the true church, leaving is not
an option, denying the faith, departing from the authority of Scripture are not
options, because they are truth. There
is only one God; only one Name under heaven by which men may be saved, and that
Name is Jesus. Only He can save us, only
He can give us hope beyond the grave.
Where else would we go? To deny
all that, to claim that it is no longer valid or useful would be for the church
the same as saying we can go on living without breathing.
“The Church’s one foundation is
Jesus Christ her Lord; she is His new creation by water and the Word; from heav’n
He came and sought her to be His holy bride; with His own blood He bought her,
and for her life He died.” (Samuel J. Stone, The Church’s One Foundation v 1. Public Domain)
By
His Grace Alone,
Pastor
Bruce Jacobsen
No comments:
Post a Comment