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What Vital Question Must Your Church Continually Ask?

By Dr. Paul M. Elliott
The people and leaders of a Scripture-driven church must continually ask -- and honestly answer -- this heart-searching question.

From the TeachingtheWord Bible Knowledgebase

Part 9 of a 13-part series. Read part 8.

In an earlier article in this series we identified the seven marks of a Scripture-driven church. In subsequent installments we are examining each one in detail.

The fourth mark of a Scripture-driven church is this: The people and leaders of a Scripture-driven church operate under the Bible's authority. They put their commitment to the sole authority of Scripture into practice by honestly answering a vital question.

A Vital Question That Demands an Honest Answer

In everything the church is, and says, and does, this question is first and foremost in their minds: "Is it Biblical?" Christians need to answer this question honestly. We need to understand that whatever is not Biblical is simply wrong. There is no middle ground. If it's not Biblical, God is against it. If it's not Biblical, it has no rightful place in your life. If it's not Biblical, it has no rightful place in the church. If your church is doing what is not Biblical, God by His very nature is against what your church is doing, because the holy God of the Bible will not, cannot, deny His own Word.

What happens when the leaders of a Scripture-driven church find something in the church that does not pass the test of "Is it Biblical?" - something the church is doing, saying, teaching, or permitting, that is contrary to God's Word?

Notice, first of all, that we said "when" - not "if". The most God-honoring church on earth is still made up of people who sin. There is no such thing as a perfect church. Much of the content of the New Testament epistles was written to Christians and churches who had strayed from the Biblical path, and they did so in many different ways.

So back to our question: What do the people and leaders of a Scripture-driven church do when through honest evaluation they come to understand that something they are doing, saying, teaching, or permitting is contrary to God's Word? They employ the practical, fourfold use of Scripture that we find in 2 Timothy 3:16 to correct the problem. They explain and inculcate sound doctrine on this issue at hand. They explain how the church has gotten off the right path. They then employ the Word for correction, getting the church back on the path of sound doctrine. And they continually instruct the church in righteousness, in order to keep the church on the path where it can honestly answer, "Yes" to the question, "Is everything we are saying, doing, teaching, and permitting - is it all Biblical?"

Consider two practical examples. These are, sad to say, both cases where many churches have gotten off the Biblical path in our day.

Practical Example #1: Worship

Example number one: Is your church's worship God-centered or man-centered? Consider a verse of Scripture that you might think doesn't apply. But we'll see that it does. Ephesians 5:18 - "Do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit." The context of that verse is Paul's discussion of the fact that Christians need to conduct our lives carefully. And in the very next verse, Ephesians 5:19, Paul is talking about worship - "speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord."

In that context, in the context of a careful Christian walk, in the context of proper Christian worship, Paul says this: "Be not drunk with wine, in which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit." The idea of the word "dissipation" in the original is the idea of loss of self-control. The underlying principle is this: Don't come under the influence of anything that would cause you to lose your God-given self-control. Don't come under the influence of anything that would cause you to do or say things, in the church, that are contrary to the mind of the Spirit of God as revealed in His Word.

Let's put that principle in the context of the contemporary church. The contemporary evangelical church often equates drummed-up emotion with the moving of the Spirit of God. And so the goal of much of contemporary worship is to get people on an emotional high.

Please understand that there is nothing inherently wrong with emotion in church. A preacher whose heart is on fire with the Word of God will preach with fire. As we sing the great hymns of the faith, there is a proper emotional response. If you are truly a believer, if the Spirit of God is truly living in you, you cannot sing something like Wesley's great hymn, And Can It Be, That I Should Gain an Interest in the Savior's Blood, without the Spirit of God stirring your soul. How can you sing that great refrain, "Amazing love! How can it be, that Thou, my God, should'st die for me?" - without being moved by the realization of the great, great grace and love of God for you, a hopeless sinner, and all that is yours in Christ?

But that's not the kind of emotion you see in most contemporary evangelical church services. What you see is manufactured emotion. Worked-up emotion. Everything is geared toward getting people to let down their guard emotionally - getting people drunk with emotion, if you will. The loud, worldly music; the driving beat; the same lyrics repeated over and over again; the so-called worship leaders performing up front; the lights; the visuals; all these things are geared toward working up emotion. And with that working up of emotion comes loss of control - the kind of loss of control that Paul warns against here in Ephesians chapter 5.

This kind of drummed-up emotion is not the work of the Spirit of God. In fact, it is contrary to the Spirit of God - a fact easily demonstrated. Go to one of these services, or watch one on television or on the Internet, and you'll often see an interesting but very un-Biblical phenomenon. In a moment of drummed-up emotion, in a moment of loss of God-given restraint, a "worship leader" up in front will say something about God, about Jesus, about the Bible, about worship, or about the Christian life, that is completely un-Biblical. But in the ecstasy of the moment, in that moment of un-restraint, a thousand people in the congregation will shout "Amen," and be led astray, swept away, from the truth. And isn't this exactly what Paul warned against in a another passage we considered earlier in this series, in 2nd Corinthians 11:4? Paul said, "I'm concerned that you're going to put with another Jesus, another gospel, another spirit."

Worship is not a performance. Genuine worship is not the product of drummed-up emotion. Biblical worship is not the loss of God-given restraint and self-control. Genuine, Biblical worship is not man-centered. It is God-centered. It is reverent. We are not adoring a rock star. We are worshipping the living and holy God. We are worshipping the Consuming Fire. We are worshipping the King of Glory. We are worshipping the crucified, risen, and glorified Savior.

Practical Example #2: Curricula

Consider a second example. Is the material you're using in your Sunday school classes, in your vacation Bible school, in your youth meetings, true to the Word of God? Does it stay on track, or does it get off-track?

Does it present the one true Gospel in its fullness, or does it water down the Gospel? Does it teach salvation by grace through faith alone, or does it subtly mingle in works?

Does it teach right living in obedience to God's Word, or does it bring in agendas such as humanistic environmentalism, or notions of political correctness that are contrary to God's Word?

Is the focus on pleasing God out of grateful obedience because of all that Christ has done for us, out of a desire to lay up treasures in Heaven, or is the focus on pleasing God so that we can supposedly lay up treasures on earth, so that we can build material prosperity and the trappings of success in the here and now?

There are many Sunday school, Bible school, and youth group materials these days that lead both young people and adults into these kinds of errors.

The "Flip Side"

The people and leaders of a Scripture-driven church are on their guard against these things. They are on their guard against false worship. They are on their guard against false teaching. They are on their guard against un-Biblical practices. They operate under the Bible's authority. They put their commitment into practice by always asking the question, "Is it Biblical?" - and answering the question honestly. That's the fourth mark of a Scripture-driven church.

Submitting to the right authority also means that the church must reject wrong authorities. We shall take up this fifth mark of a Scripture-driven church in the next article in this series.

Next: Does Your Church Reject Illegitimate Authorities?

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