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What should we believe?: Difference between revisions
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Those inside the message expect that we are looking for followers (we're not) and those who have left are simply looking for guidance. | Those inside the message expect that we are looking for followers (we're not) and those who have left are simply looking for guidance. | ||
=Don't follow | ='''In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things love'''= | ||
Any subject on which equally devout, equally humble, equally Bible-believing and Bible-studying Christians or churches reach different conclusions, must be considered secondary not primary. We must not insist on these as fundamentals but instead respect each other’s integrity and acknowledge the legitimacy of each other’s interpretations. The best guidance came from Rupert Meldenius at the beginning of the seventeenth century: ‘In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things love.’<Ref>John Stott, “But I Say to You …”: Christ the Controversialist (Nottingham: Inter-Varsity Press, 2013), 39.</ref> | |||
Charles Simeon was an evangelical minister at the beginning of the nineteenth century who was a firm champion of truth despite opposition which was fanatical at times. He lived in days when the Calvinist—Arminian controversy raged fiercely, but he consistently refused to take sides. He stated his position by saying that '''‘the truth is not in the middle, and not in one extreme, but in both extremes … Sometimes I am a high Calvinist, at other times a low Arminian, so that if extremes will please you, I am your man; only remember, it is not one extreme that we are to go to, but both extremes.’''' | |||
Charles Simeon warns us against choosing either one or other extreme. Instead, his advice is to hold on to both extremes, as long as they are equally biblical — even if our human minds cannot reconcile or systematize them. For biblical truth is often stated paradoxically. The attempt to resolve everything which looks like a contradiction in the Bible’s teaching is misguided because it is impossible. | |||
And so, when apparent opposites are encountered in the Bible, ''‘it is possible that the truly scriptural statement will be found, not in an exclusive adoption of either, nor yet in a confused mixture of both, but in the proper and seasonable application of them both.’''<ref>John Stott, “But I Say to You …”: Christ the Controversialist (Nottingham: Inter-Varsity Press, 2013), 39–40.</ref> | |||
=Don't follow us!!= | |||
We are not pointing to ourselves, to any man, or to any church. Paul said that we are to follow the teachings that he laid out in scripture (2 Tim 1:13). Peter said the same thing: | We are not pointing to ourselves, to any man, or to any church. Paul said that we are to follow the teachings that he laid out in scripture (2 Tim 1:13). Peter said the same thing: | ||
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:''Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them.<ref>The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), Heb 13:7–9.</ref> | :''Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them.<ref>The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), Heb 13:7–9.</ref> | ||
Paul is telling us that we are not to follow a single man but those leaders (plural) that provide a godly example of a Christian life in word and deed. And we are to judge their teachings based on scripture. | |||
=Believe what the church has always believed= | =Believe what the church has always believed= | ||
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:5. Fifthly, there is a major '''impact on the society around''', turning this society more like the kingdom of God, that is, a society of justice and mercy. | :5. Fifthly, there is a major '''impact on the society around''', turning this society more like the kingdom of God, that is, a society of justice and mercy. | ||
These five things: worship, deep teaching of the Word, intimate | These five things: worship, deep teaching of the Word, an intimate community, aggressive evangelism, and compassionate social concern. When you find a church that’s strong on all of them, it’s a sign of the operation of the Spirit of God. | ||
The tendency is for most churches to have one of them only and to be very, very condescending toward anyone else who doesn’t have their one. You see, because if you’re a church with great, sound doctrine, but your worship isn’t very good, your fellowship isn’t very good, your social concern isn’t very good, they look at other churches, and the only thing they tend to look at is they say, “But do they have our sound doctrine?” They’ll reject you, even though in every other area that is strong, they’re weak. | The tendency is for most churches to have one of them only and to be very, very condescending toward anyone else who doesn’t have their one. You see, because if you’re a church with great, sound doctrine, but your worship isn’t very good, your fellowship isn’t very good, your social concern isn’t very good, they look at other churches, and the only thing they tend to look at is they say, “But do they have our sound doctrine?” They’ll reject you, even though in every other area that is strong, they’re weak. | ||