Studying Scripture (Spiritual Disciplines Part 3)

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“If you find a professing Christian indifferent to his Bible, you may be sure that the very dust upon its cover will rise up in judgment against him.”

-Charles Spurgeon

At times this can seem overstated, like the only thing a pastor talks about is the importance of studying and knowing the Bible. I am sure that many in my church family have felt this way. I must confess that I am not going to bring you any new and startling revelation about the importance of God’s Word, but I would like to give you some practical thoughts on how God’s Word plays an immensely important role in the life of believers.

God’s Word Gives You A Foundation For Living

Some call this a worldview, personal perspective, or viewpoint. I call it a foundation for living because just as the foundation is the most important aspect of building a house, so treasuring God’s Word is for believers. I have witnessed countless people, young and old, who have started out like The Flash when it came to their faith, moving fast and lighting up the world around them at the speed of light. Then as time goes on, they end up fading out and fizzling away. The reason this occurs is because their intent was to do well, but they did not follow through with the proper and needed action to actually do well: a proper treatment of God’s Word.

How can a young man keep his way pure?

By guarding it according to your word.

With my whole heart I seek you;

let me not wander from your commandments!

I have stored up your word in my heart,

that I might not sin against you.

-Psalm 119:9-11 ESV

God’s Word Is A "Rosetta Stone" To Navigate Culture

Found in 1799, the Rosetta Stone is a large stone upon which was inscribed a royal decree (196 BC) written in three different languages: Egyptian hieroglyphs, Demotic script, and Ancient Greek. This stone made it possible to decipher the Egyptian hieroglyphic language for the first time since the days of the Romans. Today it is still the primary tool we use to translate hieroglyphics, the foundation of our understanding of that ancient language.

The Bible is like the Rosetta Stone because it is the believer’s primary way to interpret the world around us and how we relate to it. Without fail, I can look at what is happening in the world and almost always point back to something similar that I see in the word of God.

I can look at James 1 and find answers for handling suffering. I can look at the Psalms and see what I’m to do when under pressure from the world or personal enemies. Proverbs gives me all around answers to things like integrity, honesty, and pride. These are just a few of the countless examples I see in Scripture for how to navigate through difficult circumstances, how the gospel affects the people around me, and how I can respond to them like Jesus. Culture changes, but ultimately people are the same throughout history. The Bible gives us a road map in human sociology, psychology, and the human condition in general.

However, this is only true for the believer. Two people can look at the same verse and not be affected in the same way. The unbeliever is not affected at all, and the believer is affected because of the anointing of the Holy Spirit that comes through salvation.

Colossians 1 says, “… the Father… has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (12-14 ESV). Only those who belong to the kingdom of light (Christ) can have their eyes open to the light of Scripture.

God’s Word Gives You An Answer In Your Time Of Need

"Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth."

-2 Timothy 2:15 ESV

Simply stated, the Bible allows us to have the right answers in the right times. The Bible is what gives Christians wisdom when discussing politics, when speaking to a young woman who has recently aborted her child, when counseling a friend who is fighting ungodly sexual urges, and even when dealing with the small day-to-day things of life.

The Bible gives the average Christian the ability to have above average wisdom. Often my favorite people to hear speak on the Word of God are not seminary professors or highly educated people, but they are the ones who confess “I am not very educated, and I don’t have a seminary degree, but….” Often is it those men and women who prove the grace of God is providing wisdom and an answer in our time of need through the Word of God.

God’s Word Makes Your Prayers Spirit-Led

There are a countless number of Christians in the world today longing for their prayers to be more spiritual and fruitful. We often pray by rambling about the same things for five minutes and then begin to daydream. It can seem somewhat trite to pray the same things over and over again, to the point where we convince ourselves that God doesn’t listen or that we are incapable of praying well.

To this I would say that the most spiritual prayers do not come through speaking in different tongues, using King James English, or spending hours rambling. The most spiritual prayers come through praying the Word of God. I have prayed the Word of God often and every time, whatever verse I am praying never fails to be practical, timely, or important. I highly recommend a book by Donald Whitney called Praying the Bible. Whitney’s book has been a valuable resource for me in understanding the multi-faceted importance of God’s Word in my everyday life.  

God’s Word Gives Life To The Soul

"The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple."

-Psalm 19:7 ESV

I don’t think this truth can be overstated. If there is to be hope, life, or light for our souls, it starts with genuine faith in Christ, and we know that that genuine faith is always rooted in the Word of God (Romans 10:17). Beyond the countless important and practical gleanings we receive from the Word of God, we also receive life and light. The life we receive is eternal and passed to us through the words contained within the texts of scripture and the light is our ability to then pass the word of God to the world. The only way to truly live a life like this is to spend more time in our Bible today and every day.

The Word of God forms the foundation of the life of the believer. It shapes our worldview, interprets the ever-changing culture around us, gives wisdom in every circumstance, shapes our prayer life, and fills the believer with eternal life.

Your pastor telling to read your Bible may come across as boring, causing a “we’re heard all this before” eyeroll. Don’t dismiss or ignore it just because you hear it often. The Word of God is the lifeblood of the believer, God’s gift to us, revealing who He is and who we are through the perfect inspiration of the Holy Spirit. In a world of constantly changing culture and pain, only the truth and power of Scripture remains the same. To love God is to love His Word. To love His Word is to study His Word. To study His Word is to have life.

This series draws from Mike Cosper’s Recapturing the Wonder.

The Churchless Christian (Part 2)

photo credit: Keeva999

In part one, Brice discussed some common objections put forth by Christians who think they no longer need the church.  In part two, he touches on some common problems within the church that may be feeding these objections.

I have often asked myself, “What happens to Christians to make them feel as if they don’t need the local church?” I am by no means implying that there is an exhaustive list of where we, as the church, have gone wrong, but maybe we can highlight some of the larger issues and objections.

The Bankrupt Church

In my opinion, the greatest problem facing the local Church is that she has lost too much equity with people--Christians and non-Christians alike. In our need to be relevant and fun, we have offered people a product that they can get anywhere in the world. We have pastors who are storytellers, but they are constantly being outdone by storytellers on TV and the internet. Often there is a faux rock scene in our church music that is much more corny and less “rockbandy” than what we would listen to on our radio. We offer our children video games, unhealthy food and an hour of laser lights, fog and self-help speeches. The local church is finding itself competing with a world that will always win when it comes to earthly affections.

If broken down to its essence, local churches often compete to keep people and in the end, they really don’t know why. It is a cycle where the church is always competing and never winning, where it becomes more about the chase than actually building the church. The Bankrupt Church is the church that fights the wrong battle for the affections of God’s people.

The Anti-Social Church

I believe this attitude stems from a long line of pastors who have built some pretty large temporary kingdoms on this earth. I am not against the “mega-church,” but I am against any church that does not have strong pockets of biblical community. The local church today is lacking so much in community that people feel more loved while watching Adrian Rogers’ rerun sermons, than by darkening the doors of our church buildings. If they ever do make it to a church service, the most community many will receive is a handshake or a nod during a two-minute visitation or an awkward walk to the car.

Once again, we are aiming at the wrong target when trying to produce biblical community. We try to plan for biblical community or we teach it in a classroom setting. But true biblical community can only be learned by doing; this type of community cannot be fabricated. Biblical community is learned by observing leaders in the church who are willing to open up their heart and their house to live life with their people. It is real affection, real love, and real involvement in someone’s life. Much like Acts 2:44 says, “And all who believed were together and had all things in common.” This real community and love propelled those early believers to sell their possessions and distribute them as a need would arise. One of the greatest longings in all of the world is the desire to belong, and if a local church cannot fulfill that, then something or someone else will. If someone else doesn’t, the end result is a lonely and desperate life.

Another major issue with the “Anti-Social Church” is the great difficulty in bringing the gospel to the nations. If this kind of church struggles to meet the need of belonging that her members possess, how much more will she struggle to reach those of the lost world? The “Anti-Social Church” will never effectively reach the world, because it is too sanitized, too robotic, and no where near what it means to be incarnational.

The Leaderless Church

Another great issue that faces the local church is a lack of leadership. In the pursuit of larger churches and making budgets, many pastors have lost their spine. They make decisions based on pride, fear, or gut reactions. They allow things to go on in the church that should never be allowed. Gossips and those who slander are ignored, racism is overlooked, and many other sins are politely “dealt with” in a way that makes all parties happy or by a slap on the wrist. Church discipline has essentially become ignoring sin until it absolutely cannot go ignored any longer which usually results in people either leaving or doing major damage to the church. True church discipline, however, addresses sin before it goes beyond the point of reconciliation.

People can do without this kind of church, because most people who belong to her live like everyone else in the world (or worse). Why would they submit themselves to the authority of the local church? It just seems extraneous. The Leaderless Church becomes comical to the world and an unholy imitation of a community of believers. The Leaderless Church causes people to say things like, “Why would I go to church when there are so many hypocrites there?” The Leaderless Church is the antithesis of the church that we see in the Scriptures.

Ultimately, Christians must ask questions like these when considering their role in the local church:

-Is God a Holy God and does he require me, as a believer, to be obedient to His Word?

-Since his plan for me includes the local church, can I be obedient to Him and not be a part of the local church?

-What does a Biblical local Church look like?

Christian, the answer to the first two questions are yes and no respectively. A simple answer to the third question is this: a community of Christians who are under the authority of equipped, qualified and confirmed leaders, who meet together regularly, publicly reading Scriptures, singing Psalms and spiritual songs, encouraging one another to do the will of God and administering the ordinances (baptism and communion), who build community by social interaction and missions, and who seek to disciple believers and evangelize the lost. When you find a local church like that, you will begin to understand the value behind the local church and God will use that body to bring you to new heights in your walk with Him.

The Churchless Christian (Part 1)

Photo credit: Vinoth Chandar

Part 1: Does walking with Christ mean walking with a local church?

“And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”

Hebrews 10:24-25 ESV

One of the most common verses we hear when discussing the importance of the local church is part of or a variation of Hebrews 10:25’s exhortation to avoid “neglecting to meet together”. I have used this verse often when encouraging Christians young and old to actively partner with a local church. With such a clear command as we see in Hebrews, it would seem impossible for any Christian to deny the importance of belonging to a local church. Since the time of Jesus, all of Christendom has sought true love, friendship and community within the local church. The idea of a family sitting around, watching a preacher on TV and calling it “church” is a new concept. Christianity without connection to a local body of believers would have been a foreign idea throughout most of Christian history.

Some very common objections have arisen from professing Christians who think they no longer need the local church. I would like to briefly address two of these objections:

1. You don’t have to be a part of the local church to be a Christian.

This may be the biggest fallacy facing professing Christians. Simply put, you cannot be a thriving Christian without being a part of the local church. A Christian is one who has submitted to the authority of Christ, and the Scriptures command Christians to be a part of the local church. We cannot submit to God with our whole heart and disregard this truth. I can confidently say, based on Hebrews 10 and other verses, that a Christian’s desire will be for the local church, subsequently leading that person to connect to a local body of believers.

2. Meeting with other Christians, listening to sermons, reading my Bible and praying are the same as belonging to a church.

I know this makes many people feel good about what they are doing, but there are several problems with this way of thinking. Who are the leaders of the “church” with whom you are meeting? Are they called to be elders? Do they meet the qualifications of elders (1 Timothy 3:1-7)? We are called to live in submission to those who are called to be elders of the church (Hebrews 13:17).

It is neat to meet with friends, but meeting with other Christians doesn’t make you a local church. The local church includes the public reading of Scripture, exhortations, and teaching (1 Timothy 4:13), among other things. When we view the church in a biblical context we see that a church is a body of Christians, under submission to leaders who have been appointed by God, studying the Scriptures and living in community together to exhort each other, uplift each other and be on Gospel mission. You may be able to have one or a few of these, but you cannot have all of these without the local church.

I have often asked myself what happened to Christians to make them feel as if they didn’t need the local church.  In part two, I will share some of my thoughts on the subject.