Should We Blindly Accept Whatever Comes from the Pulpit?
The term Sola Scriptura is the doctrine that says the Holy
Bible as we know it; in all its 66 books, Old and New Testaments, is the final,
inerrant, authority on all subjects concerning God and His relation to
creation. This does not mean that there are no other relevant sources for
learning about God, and His relation to creation. (1 Corinthians 12:48,
Ephesians 4:11) Sola Scriptura means if there is an occasion when an
alternative source makes a statement which is contrary to what the Bible
teaches than the Bible is always without question correct.
It naturally goes to reason that the only way to know if an
alternative source of learning about God and His relation to creation is in
error in its teaching is through knowledge of the Bible. What this means is no
matter how much dedication you put toward reading about God, the Holy Bible
(Scripture) should make up the majority of that reading. No matter how
much time you put to learning from a teacher, preacher, prophet, or
bishop, the combine time sitting at the foot of Gamaliel (Acts 22:3)
should never be near as much as the time you send sitting at the foot of the
Lord Jesus (Luke 10:38-42)
The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to
Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue. Now
these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word
with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were
so. (Acts 17:10-11)
The Bible teaches us that the
brethren of Berea where considered more noble than the brethren in Thesalonica
because they, 1) received the word with eagerness and 2) they examined the
scriptures to see if what they were taught was true!
Do you think that the brethren in
Berea thought Paul and Silas would lie to them? Why would they them go
behind an apostle of Christ to examine the scriptures? The answer is
simple; this is what God requires of us! Pay attention to what is being
said in the passage. Because the brethren at Berea went behind the Apostle of
Christ (Paul) and examined the scripture to see if Paul was telling the truth;
if he was correct in his interpretation; to check to make sure Silas had
not fudged scripture to get his personal opinion or to edify his personal
agenda. Because they listen with eagerness, but were discerning in what they
were hearing, the bible says the bereans were more noble then those at
Thessalonica.
This book
of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein
day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written
therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have
good success (Joshua 1:8)
Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a
workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of
truth. (2 Timothy 2:15)
Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and
hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, 2 As newborn babes, desire the
sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: (1Peter 2:1-2)
There
is nobility not just in the knowledge of scripture, but in the examining of
what is being taught against the scripture. We must be eager to hear a word as
God reveals it to a pastor, but we are also required to be discerning of what
is coming from the pulpit. Accepting it as God’s word only after we have
examined it against the whole bible, what all of scripture says, not just a
single verse. A single verse that stands alone can be made to mean
anything, but the immutability of God word is reflected from Genesis to
Revelation. If scripture appears to stand alone in the Bible it only because
you have failed to dig deep enough, you have failed to study to show
yourself approved unto God a workman that need not be ashamed [of his
ignorance of the scripture] but able to rightly divide the word of truth.
Last
week I spoke to a young lady about preaching, she was working on her very first
preached word for the children ministry and wanted my thoughts. As I was
speaking to her the spirit of God was speaking to me unching me to say things
that I would have not have otherwise said. Out of nowhere Holy Spirit
said to me tell her “That our gifting from God, comes before our maturity
in God” I’m not sure it that word was for her or me but it did help to
explain a lot of thing that I had seen in the church.
The gifting is not proof of inerrancy
Some
pastors have a gift for preaching, the have skills in exegesis and can recite
Hebrew and Greek as if they were there with the prophet and apostles.
Some pastors have a gift for parablelic (preaching with stories)
preaching when they preach, stuff just makes sense. Difficult subjects come to
life in your heart and mind. And there are some pastors that can move the
heart of the people, while other pastors can engage the mind of the
congregation. But no matter how gifted they are they are not infallible, and
they will (sooner or later) get scripture wrong that’s just the truth.
However
getting scripture wrong is not the big problem. The problem is when a pastor
gets so pious because of his position, or some level of success, or some level
of fame that he acts as if it is insubordinate to question his interpretation
of scripture. Or in some cases, if what he said had anything to do with
scripture in the first place. Nothing scares me more than a pastor that is
always trying to tell me my actions are as witchcraft. (1 Samuel
15:23) They want from me unquestionable
acceptance of everything they say and preach. However because I sin, I cannot
even give unquestionable acceptance of God word, should I be putting them ahead
of Jesus?
Just
because bishop so-and-so said it, does not make it true. The Bible and
the Bible alone is the only infallible, inerrant, final word of authority on
those thing concerning God and His creation. I have seen leaders that
prophesize in the lives of the people. The congregation would go wild as they
would say exactly what that person needed to hear at that time. On many
occasions I thought this was not from God, it was not scripturally sound, and
it was not for the edification of the congregation. But the congregation
would cheer like a bunch of high school cheerleaders at a pep rally. They
were all eager to hear the word but took no responsibility to examine it
against scripture. Most of them know that what was being said was
not of God but all feared to say anything because someone had pronounced this
person a prophet. But like the Emperor’s new clothes I just could not see it.
Scripture like 1 Timothy 3:2-3 is there
so that we may have a tool to measure the behavior of a pastor by. He should be
held accountable to his congregation. Not just in his preaching but in the way
he lives his life. It is a sad day for a church when a pastor asks “Who
are you to question me?” Or when you bring his behavior or misinterpretation of
scripture he tried to turn it back on you.
There are 4 thing which will
stunt the growth of a church or destroy the congregation all together. They
are;
1.
A hidden agenda
2.
Sexual promiscuity
or perversion
3.
lust for filthy
lucre
4.
and a proud and
pious sprit
We must help our pastor preach more effectively, .help him to
see how to lead and care for his people more honestly. We must Encourage him,
hold him up and it needed some time we must even question him
T.Charves FireSpeaks
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