Operative word: less.
Posted on 02/27/2015 8:50:26 AM PST by Gamecock
Many American churches are in a mess. Theologically they are indifferent, confused, or dangerously wrong. Liturgically they are the captives of superficial fads. Morally they live lives indistinguishable from the world. They often have a lot of people, money, and activities. But are they really churches, or have they degenerated into peculiar clubs?
What has gone wrong? At the heart of the mess is a simple phenomenon: the churches seem to have lost a love for and confidence in the Word of God. They still carry Bibles and declare the authority of the Scriptures. They still have sermons based on Bible verses and still have Bible study classes. But not much of the Bible is actually read in their services. Their sermons and studies usually do not examine the Bible to see what it thinks is important for the people of God. Increasingly they treat the Bible as tidbits of poetic inspiration, of pop psychology, and of self-help advice. Congregations where the Bible is ignored or abused are in the gravest peril. Churches that depart from the Word will soon find that God has departed from them.
What solution does the Bible teach for this sad situation? The short but profound answer is given by Paul in Colossians 3:16: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” We need the Word to dwell in us richly so that we will know the truths that God thinks are most important and so that we will know His purposes and priorities. We need to be concerned less about “felt-needs” and more about the real needs of lost sinners as taught in the Bible.
Paul not only calls us here to have the Word dwell in us richly, but shows us what that rich experience of the Word looks like. He shows us that in three points. (Paul was a preacher, after all.)
First, he calls us to be educated by the Word, which will lead us on to ever-richer wisdom by “teaching and admonishing one another.” Paul is reminding us that the Word must be taught and applied to us as a part of it dwelling richly in us. The church must encourage and facilitate such teaching whether in preaching, Bible studies, reading, or conversations. We must be growing in the Word.
It is not just information, however, that we are to be gathering from the Word. We must be growing in a knowledge of the will of God for us: “And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding” (Col. 1:9). Knowing the will of God will make us wise and in that wisdom we will be renewed in the image of our Creator, an image so damaged by sin: “Put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator” (3:10).
This wisdom will also reorder our priorities and purposes, from that which is worldly to that which is heavenly: “The hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of truth, the gospel” (1:5). When that Word dwells in us richly we can be confident that we know the full will of God: “I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known” (1:25). From the Bible we know all that we need for salvation and godliness.
Second, Paul calls us to expressing the Word from ever-renewed hearts in our “singing.” Interestingly, Paul connects the Word dwelling in us richly with singing. He reminds us that singing is an invaluable means of placing the truth of God deep in our minds and hearts. I have known of elderly Christians far gone with Alzheimer’s disease who can still sing songs of praise to God. Singing also helps connect truth to our emotions. It helps us experience the encouragement and assurance of our faith: “That their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (2:2–3).
The importance of singing, of course, makes the content of our songs vital. If we sing shallow, repetitive songs, we will not be hiding much of the Word in our hearts. But if we sing the Word itself in its fullness and richness, we will be making ourselves rich indeed. We need to remember that God has given us a book of songs, the Psalter, to help us in our singing.
Third, Paul calls us to remember the effect of the Word to make us a people with ever-ready “thanksgiving.” Three times in Colossians 3:15–17 Paul calls us to thankfulness. When the “word of Christ” dwells in us richly, we will be led on to lives of gratitude. As we learn and contemplate all that God has done for us in creation, providence, and redemption, we will be filled with thanksgiving. As we recall His promises of forgiveness, renewal, preservation, and glory, we will live as a truly thankful people.
We need the word of Christ to dwell in us richly today more than ever. Then churches may escape being a mess and become the radiant body of Christ as God intended.
Great post.
My denomination is sadly filled with those seeking “social justice” irrespective of facts and marching ahead proudly in slander of many of its members.
I hear that.
I cringe when I hear the term “social justice”.
Code words for socialism IMHO.
I wonder if the churches worry about filling the pews rather than anything else?
One of Dr. Godfrey’s sermons last week at the Ligonier conference was “It’s Just a Book.”
From the Ligonier website:
The Word of God is living and active, the lamp for our feet that not only guides us in righteousness, but also creates new life in fallen people as the Holy Spirit brings it to bear on our darkened hearts. We are pressured, however, to downplay Scripture as the inspired and inerrant Word of God, and to treat it as a helpful moral guide that is just one book among many. Dr. Robert Godfrey looks at the power of God’s Word to overcome the darkness, and he calls upon God to move us from a low view of Scripture to a high view that understands that the Bible is entirely trustworthy and alone provides the message of salvation.
Watch Dr. Godfrey here: http://www.ligonier.org/learn/conferences/after-darkness-light-2015-national-conference/its-just-a-book/?
Very good post. In the struggle to remain relevant, they try to be like the masses. And the masses quickly see that, and then conclude there probably isn’t much to be found there. Who needs someone just like yourself to teach you more about higher things?
And his point about singing makes me think. I cant stand those mindless praise songs. The repeat the same line again and again and again. Its like something the moonies or some hare Krishna cult would do.
Finally found a place that sings the old standards. But they must teach music directors to do that direction with the new stuff.
Where I live, it’s super liberal. I see the pastors trying to keep a politically neutral tone in order to keep people. In these times, people only want a Jesus that meets their political beliefs. I’m guilty of that, as I don’t want to hear about a liberal/social justice Jesus.
The approach of our church is to get people to have a personal relationship with Christ. I like that approach but I’ve seen people leave when they sense this relationship won’t allow gay marriage. These are trying times. Ten years ago, this wasn’t a problem, ( gay marriage ) because people just excepted that it was ridiculous, but now it’s as if people have lost their minds.
All donominations are attacked by the social justice crowd. The Catholics are hit hard there. They are less affected by strange services of the trendy churches.
Protestants are being hit less by the social justice crowd, but are more often treated to the non church churches this writer describes.
And also these megachurches, with a cultlike leader, you find them in every town, usually I can’t even tell what denomination, if any, they are.
We need to instill the following (below) into all Christians, and then the understanding that Creation in Genesis was indeed God’s handiwork in Six Days (actually longer than necessary for what God is able to do, if he wanted), and then for Christians to understand that, yes indeed, the Worldwide Flood did happen, exactly as the Bible says.
Get those three things down pat, and then Christians can go from there.
— — — — —
Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy
http://www.bible-researcher.com/chicago1.html
Background
The “Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy” was produced at an international Summit Conference of evangelical leaders, held at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare in Chicago in the fall of 1978. This congress was sponsored by the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy. The Chicago Statement was signed by nearly 300 noted evangelical scholars, including James Boice, Norman L. Geisler, John Gerstner, Carl F. H. Henry, Kenneth Kantzer, Harold Lindsell, John Warwick Montgomery, Roger Nicole, J. I. Packer, Robert Preus, Earl Radmacher, Francis Schaeffer, R. C. Sproul, and John Wenham.
The ICBI disbanded in 1988 after producing three major statements: one on biblical inerrancy in 1978, one on biblical hermeneutics in 1982, and one on biblical application in 1986. The following text, containing the “Preface” by the ICBI draft committee, plus the “Short Statement,” “Articles of Affirmation and Denial,” and an accompanying “Exposition,” was published in toto by Carl F. H. Henry in God, Revelation And Authority, vol. 4 (Waco, Tx.: Word Books, 1979), on pp. 211-219. The nineteen Articles of Affirmation and Denial, with a brief introduction, also appear in A General Introduction to the Bible, by Norman L. Geisler and William E. Nix (Chicago: Moody Press, rev. 1986), at pp. 181-185. An official commentary on these articles was written by R. C. Sproul in Explaining Inerrancy: A Commentary (Oakland, Calif.: ICBI, 1980), and Norman Geisler edited the major addresses from the 1978 conference, in Inerrancy (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1980).
Clarification of some of the language used in this Statement may be found in the 1982 Chicago Statement on Biblical Hermeneutics
The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy
Preface
The authority of Scripture is a key issue for the Christian church in this and every age. Those who profess faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior are called to show the reality of their discipleship by humbly and faithfully obeying God’s written Word. To stray from Scripture in faith or conduct is disloyalty to our Master. Recognition of the total truth and trustworthiness of Holy Scripture is essential to a full grasp and adequate confession of its authority.
The following Statement affirms this inerrancy of Scripture afresh, making clear our understanding of it and warning against its denial. We are persuaded that to deny it is to set aside the witness of Jesus Christ and of the Holy Spirit and to refuse that submission to the claims of God’s own Word which marks true Christian faith. We see it as our timely duty to make this affirmation in the face of current lapses from the truth of inerrancy among our fellow Christians and misunderstandings of this doctrine in the world at large.
This Statement consists of three parts: a Summary Statement, Articles of Affirmation and Denial, and an accompanying Exposition. It has been prepared in the course of a three-day consultation in Chicago. Those who have signed the Summary Statement and the Articles wish to affirm their own conviction as to the inerrancy of Scripture and to encourage and challenge one another and all Christians to growing appreciation and understanding of this doctrine. We acknowledge the limitations of a document prepared in a brief, intensive conference and do not propose that this Statement be given creedal weight. Yet we rejoice in the deepening of our own convictions through our discussions together, and we pray that the Statement we have signed may be used to the glory of our God toward a new reformation of the Church in its faith, life, and mission.
We offer this Statement in a spirit, not of contention, but of humility and love, which we purpose by God’s grace to maintain in any future dialogue arising out of what we have said. We gladly acknowledge that many who deny the inerrancy of Scripture do not display the consequences of this denial in the rest of their belief and behavior, and we are conscious that we who confess this doctrine often deny it in life by failing to bring our thoughts and deeds, our traditions and habits, into true subjection to the divine Word.
We invite response to this statement from any who see reason to amend its affirmations about Scripture by the light of Scripture itself, under whose infallible authority we stand as we speak. We claim no personal infallibility for the witness we bear, and for any help which enables us to strengthen this testimony to God’s Word we shall be grateful.
— The Draft Committee
A Short Statement
1. God, who is Himself Truth and speaks truth only, has inspired Holy Scripture in order thereby to reveal Himself to lost mankind through Jesus Christ as Creator and Lord, Redeemer and Judge. Holy Scripture is God’s witness to Himself.
2. Holy Scripture, being God’s own Word, written by men prepared and superintended by His Spirit, is of infallible divine authority in all matters upon which it touches: it is to be believed, as God’s instruction, in all that it affirms: obeyed, as God’s command, in all that it requires; embraced, as God’s pledge, in all that it promises.
3. The Holy Spirit, Scripture’s divine Author, both authenticates it to us by His inward witness and opens our minds to understand its meaning.
4. Being wholly and verbally God-given, Scripture is without error or fault in all its teaching, no less in what it states about God’s acts in creation, about the events of world history, and about its own literary origins under God, than in its witness to God’s saving grace in individual lives.
5. The authority of Scripture is inescapably impaired if this total divine inerrancy is in any way limited or disregarded, or made relative to a view of truth contrary to the Bible’s own; and such lapses bring serious loss to both the individual and the Church.
— — — — —
The actual core statement follows the introductory remarks (which are above). Go to the link for the core document!
“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”
Operative word: less.
One can size up a church by the sermons. In particular - the length of the sermons and how much time is spent on reading the bible verses and analyzing them compared to time spent on rituals and routines. Also how often is the name Jesus Christ even mentioned? There are still great bible-believing churches. I belong to one. All of this is under the control of the Christian. If you are not being fed then leave and go somewhere else.
When I was 1st saved I went to an AOG because that is where former RCs go in our area..
I actually went there a very long time..I loved the worship and that brought me back week after week ...
I loved the scriptures, belonged to prayer groups..I was in a "happy " place.. But God always moves His Kids from pablum to meat.. and eventually.. reading the preached text in context made me realize that I was being taught wrongly
Game, I suspect that most of the members of those churches are unregenerate.. or like me, they will "move on"
Here was a believer who understood the difference:
http://prayerfoundation.org/favoritemonks/favorite_monks_telemachus_coliseum.htm
The version of his martyrdom that first I heard had St Telemachus crying out the Jesus had not died on the Cross for men to continue doing this to one another...
there Tax exemption is at risk if ,,,
fill the blank.
I hated the “praise songs” of the 80s and 90s that were really just repetitive chanting. But the Christian music on the radio now seems quite meaty by comparison although there’s a lot of “you are” that seems a little too familial when addressing the Almighty.
I love the old hymns I grew up with and really prefer a mix of both. I found some good hymns on YouTube that had been updated to sound like a recent song and I like some of them (and frown at a few others). There are ways to present classic hymns where modern audiences will still enjoy them without thinking they’re “old”.
As A Pastor, I see many things in my Denomination that has become Socialistic. I pastor a Southern Baptist Church in Missouri. Yes, I preach the Bible and my Church expects that from their Pastor.
Our Denomination has gone all in on “Starting Churches”, all the “Church Planters” dress the same and use very little Scripture and its all about the Praise Worship rather than what the Word of God says.
I guess I am old fashioned but I love the old Hymns and the words are very Praise worthy.
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