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Many post-evangelicals think that the Bible is not enough for the church to accomplish its mission, so they substitute the latest gimmicks. What does the Bible itself say?
In Luke chapter 16 Jesus spoke to the Pharisees about a rich man who died unsaved and went to Hell. In his torment he cried out to Abraham in Paradise, asking that he send Lazarus, a man who had received crumbs from the rich man's table but had died in faith, back to the rich man's five brothers to "testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment" (Luke 16:28). We then read that
Abraham said to him, "They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them." And he said, "No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent." But he said to him, "If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead." (Luke 16:29-31)
An Indictment of the Bible-less Church
Abraham's words, recounted by our Lord, are an indictment of the visible church in our time. The liberal higher critics say that Scripture is not enough. It must be anointed with their scholarship so that men may know, as they put it, what in Scripture is true and what is not. Mormonism, Seventh-Day Adventism, the Jehovah's Witnesses and a host of other cults say that men must add the writings of their false prophets to Scripture, and they even blasphemously rewrite Scripture itself to suit their twisted thoughts. The Vatican says that Scripture alone is insufficient, that the pronouncements of popes and councils hold authority over it. The Society of Friends (Quakers) says that Scripture is not enough, that an "inner voice" must speak through someone in their meetings; most often it is the voice of humanistic falsehood.
But the post-evangelical church is just as guilty. Today's church is the "Church of the Latest Gimmick." This week I received a postcard in the mail from a church near our office. They are offering people an ice cream sandwich if they will come to a service next Sunday. But that is about all this church has to offer. Ice cream sandwiches have replaced the sound preaching of Scripture. Another church nearby, where the Gospel was once faithfully preached, has now renamed its website "CalvaryFunNight". They advertise all sorts of gimmicks and free things if people will show up - and in the fine print they almost sheepishly, it seems, admit that there will also be "a brief Bible study." One wonders what kind of "study" it would be in such an atmosphere. Certainly not one of which Christ would approve.
Scripture Is Enough!
But what did God say through Abraham? "They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them." Even if dead men came back to this earth, it would not genuinely change hearts! Scripture is enough! It is the Word of God that "living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart" (Hebrews 4:12). If our Lord, quoting Abraham, said that someone coming back from the dead would not change hearts, how much more does He denounce the post-evangelical church's gimmicks.
Experience affirms the all-sufficiency of Scripture. Just this past Sunday I was in a church in which new members were being received. Among them were a husband and wife and their five children. The husband had grown up in West Africa in the confusion of a church in which "speaking in tongues" and "words of knowledge" had authority over Scripture. His wife had grown up in a family of Jehovah's Witnesses in the Caribbean. When they married, they could agree on nothing spiritually. After many arguments, they finally decided that they would simply read the King James Bible - not the Watchtower's New World Translation or a Bible laden with a charismatic's notes. They soon came to understand the one true Gospel of salvation by God's grace alone, through faith alone, in the shed blood of Christ alone - and they came to that understanding through Scripture alone. That understanding, imparted by the Holy Spirit through the truth of His Word, was subsequently confirmed to them by the faithful preaching of godly men.
"Holding Forth the Word of Life"
The 16th-century English Reformer John Jewel fought against efforts to turn Anglicanism into the political religion it subsequently became, with all of its additions to Scripture. He preached the authority of Scripture alone. He often spoke to his congregations in these words:
Are you a father? Have you children? Read the Scriptures.
Are you a king? Read the Scriptures.
Are you a minister? Read the Scriptures.
Has God blessed you with wealth? Read the Scriptures.
Are you a usurer? Read the Scriptures.
Are you a fornicator? Read the Scriptures.
Are you in adversity? Read the Scriptures.
Are you a sinner? Have you offended God? Read the Scriptures.
Do you despair of the mercy of God? Read the Scriptures.
Are you going out of this life? Read the Scriptures.
Christ's true church must not rely on "every wind of doctrine" coming through "the trickery of men" (Ephesians 4:14) but rather live by and proclaim the Holy Scriptures "in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation" that we may "shine as lights in the world, holding forth the Word of life" (Philippians 2:15-16). This is what Christ will honor - not ice cream sandwiches.
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