Scripture and the Church

What Needs to Change in Evangelical & Reformed Churches?

By Dr. Paul M. Elliott
The church unplugged must reconnect to its Source of power and authority.

From the TeachingtheWord Bible Knowledgebase

Our series on the subject of how Christians should deal with false teaching in the church has generated some followup questions from readers. Today we take up another: "What needs to change in order to get the Evangelical church back on the right track?"

The Church Must Reconnect to Its Source of Power & Authority

As we've said many times, today's Evangelical church has become the church unplugged. Its core problem is that it has become largely disconnected from its Source of power and authority, the Word of God. The founding principle of TeachingTheWord Ministries is that the church of Jesus Christ must be the Scripture-driven church. God's inspired, inerrant Word must be our sole authority, and our infallible critic, in every area of life and ministry.

"The Scripture-driven church" is not a fad slogan. It is a timeless principle. We often cite these seven marks of a Scripture-driven church. The people and leaders of a Scripture-driven church -

  1. Are committed to Scripture alone as their sole and final authority;
  2. Understand God's two-fold purpose for His church: preaching the Gospel to the world, and building up believers in sound doctrine;
  3. Rightly handle the Word of God, employing the four-fold use of Scripture found in 2 Timothy 3:16-17;
  4. Operate under the Bible's authority, asking the question, "Is it Biblical?" about everything the church is, says, and does;
  5. Identify and reject illegitimate authorities, recognizing that submitting to the right authority also means that the church must reject wrong authorities;
  6. Practice Bible-based evangelism, preaching the one true Gospel in its fullness;
  7. Answer anti-Christian positions with apologetics - a clear, Biblical defense of the faith - not apologies.

In Psalm 11:3, David wrote, "If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?" He then answers the question:

The Lord is in His holy temple, the Lord's throne is in heaven; His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men. The Lord tests the righteous...For the Lord is righteous, He loves righteousness; His countenance beholds the upright. (Psalm 11:4-7)

The Church Must Rebuild the Biblical Foundations

What must be done to rebuild the foundations? We must look to the One who is in His holy temple, and to His Word, for the answer. I am indebted to Dr. Clinton S. Foraker, pastor of First Presbyterian Church (ERPC) in Rising Sun, Maryland USA for the following points. I heard him preach on the eleventh Psalm in April 2008, and I use his outline here with his kind permission.

  1. We must rebuild the foundation of the Bible. As part of this, we must destroy the myth that the Bible is for Christians only. The Bible is also the foundation of a nation that honors God. America was a Bible-based nation; that is different from being a Christian nation, i.e., a nation of believers. But if America is to survive, she must become a Bible-based nation once again. We will begin the process of restoring the Bible to its rightful place in the life of the nation only by restoring the Bible to its rightful place in the Church of Christ.
  2. We must rebuild the foundation of preaching, the verbal proclamation of the truth of God's Word by divinely-enabled men. "Thus saith the Lord" - a phrase repeated over 3800 times in the pages of Scripture - must be the preacher's keynote. Ministers today are not taught to preach, but to "talk" and to be good story-tellers. They no longer speak with divine authority. Bible colleges and seminaries must become schools of the prophets once again.
  3. We must rebuild the foundation of the one true Gospel, and banish from the church all counterfeits and those who teach them.
  4. We must rebuild the foundation of God's Law as the schoolmaster that brings men to Christ, the basis of the Christian's behavior in gratitude for what Christ has done, and the foundation for a righteous government and society.
  5. We must rebuild the foundation of the doctrines of personal accountability to God, and a coming dreadful Day of Judgment for the wicked.
  6. We must rebuild the foundation of fervent prayer to the One who said, "Without Me you can do nothing" (John 15:5).
  7. We must rebuild the foundation of the supremacy of Jesus Christ, as taught especially in Colossians chapters one and two, and indeed throughout the Word.

Dr. Foraker concluded his message by rightly observing that these things can only be accomplished by a moving of the Spirit of God. That moving, that revival, must begin in the church. And within the church, revival must begin in the pulpit. Revival cannot be manufactured, it must be sought after diligently in prayer. Are you praying for that kind of revival in your church? Are you praying for it to come to your own heart?

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