Proposition One: Get back to the Bible. When you have a chance, go to a church and particularly a large church and count how many people bring a Bible in with them. Then consider how many may be using their favorite electronic device as a Bible, do not know how that can be determined, unless you sit up in the balcony and see how many are looking down at their device while Scriptures are being read or referred. The point here is, if Bibles are not being taken to church, then where are they being taken? How many even have a Bible and of those how many read their Bible? Yes, the Scriptures being referred to are often put up on a screen. This means that the pastor is showing only the Scriptures that he wants to be shown. What is the context? Where in the Bible are we doing our study? Can you find this text, if you were to go home and look it up to compare with other Scriptures to see if what was said is what is meant within the biblical context? When I was a boy, I carried and studied a King James Schofield reference Bible. during the sermon, I would look around at the context and then glance down at the Schofield notes at the bottom of the page. Many times, I would also check the references in the column. I did this because the importance of the Bible had been ingrained in me from the very beginning of my life.
In discussions concerning the church and the Christian life, how often is the Bible referenced? When people state how things ought to be or make comments on how Christians ought to live, do they cite Scriptures to support their argument. When I talk to people generally and someone makes a comment about spiritual things, I most often ask, where does it say that in the Bible. As a pastor when people would come to me to argue their case on an issue, I would ask for their biblical basis. Obviously, there are many things in life that are not stated specifically in the Bible, but still a person should be able to give a list of verses from which they have formed the rational for their argument. No biblical basis? Then we are dealing with opinion and not the Word of God, opinions come and go and ultimately do not matter. Unfortunately, there are many such arguments that have divided churches to the detriment of the Lord’s people and to the cause of the gospel. If it is not in the Bible, then it is not worth the division, if it is against the clear teaching of the Scriptures, then it must be discarded, if it is taught in the Scriptures, it is to be believed and obeyed.
In getting back to the Bible, we must study the Scriptures and compare them to see if these things are so and we cite Scriptures to support our arguments, our lives, and our church practice. It is well known that we live in a time of terrible ignorance of the basic fundamental truths of Scripture, the words of Hosea have never been more true than in the present day, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge." (Hosea 4:6). A survey was taken, not long ago, which asked the question, "What is the most popular verse in the Bible?" The answer was "God helps those who help themselves." Do not bother to try and look it up, because it is not there. The most popular verse in the Bible is not a verse in the Bible and it is not true. The Lord our God is pleased to help those who cannot help themselves. We must get back to the study of the Scriptures, to know what the Word of God says.
Finally, we must show respect for the Bible as being the Word of God. I am not sure when it happened, but sometime during my life, preachers stopped referring to the Bible as the Word of God and instead starting to refer to the human writer. Since nearly half of the New Testament was written by the Apostle Paul, then you are most likely hear from the pulpit, Paul said. Once when I objected to that to our pastor, he responded, from the pulpit, “the reason why I say that Paul said, is because Paul said it.” Now it is true that most believers who are in the audience know that all Scripture is inspired by the Holy Spirit (II Timothy 3:16) and that the writers were being carried along by the Holy Spirit as they wrote (II Peter 1:21), therefore, it is the Word of God. That being true then why not refer to it as the Word of God? If it is the word of Paul then it can easily be discredited as historically Paul was less than an exemplary character and his views were shaped both by his Greek education, his Roman politics, and the culture of the Roman/Greco world, which has long since been supplanted by the advanced culture of our postmodern world. (That last sentence is sarcasm, for those who do not recognize such). There is an interesting story that I have heard before and found on the internet, it goes as follows:
A church was in need of a pastor for some time but was having trouble getting one; but not because pastors were not applying, but because the congregation always seemed to find fault with the pastors. Most pastors were rejected when the people just read the résumé. Some didn't have enough experience, some too much, some not enough education, some too much and so on. One day a board member, who was getting very tired of this, decided to do something. So the next Sunday, he got up in the pulpit and announced that he had another résumé to share with the congregation. Most of them sat back, folded their arms and began to listen; ready to see what faults they could find on the new applicant. The board member began to read and the résumé went like this: "Dear church members; I am writing to apply for position as your pastor. My experience is more along the lines of evangelist but I believe I could fill your position adequately. I've never attended any bible school per say but I have a lot of field experience. I don't have a degree on my wall, or a wall for that matter; I've traveled around most of my life, renting and doing odd jobs to support myself and preaching wherever I was invited; churches, streets, even jails. As a matter of fact, I've been thrown in jail several times and been involved in a few public squabbles. I've been accused of being anti-semantic, anti-authority and causing disturbances almost everywhere I go. But I did have a few conversions to Christianity during my ministry as well as a few healings. Thank you for considering my application."
Most of the people looked up at the deacon with smirks of condemnation while others chuckled out loud. One man stood up and still laughing asked the deacon,
"Does this guy actually expect us to seriously consider him for our pastor? Just what's this fellow's name any way?"
The deacon replied that the letter was signed -
The Apostle Paul
You could have heard a pin drop.[1]
A number of issues could be raised from the above story, but for our purposes, it goes to demonstrate how easily the Apostle Paul could be discredited and along with him the epistles that he wrote or dictated. There are those who claim that Paul was a misogynist and therefore not qualified to teach on the role of women in the church or at least be taken seriously on the subject. Again, as Bible believing Christians, we realize the purpose of Paul’s life and experience and we can ignore such foolishness. But why should we even put it up there to make possible the argument.
Let us be bold in our declarations, that this is the Word of God, Paul and the others were merely pen men who wrote as they were inspired and guided by the Holy Spirit. Since the Bible is important and relevant in every age and society, then let us boldly declare that thus says the Lord! It is not what man has said, it is what the Lord our God has said.
[1] http://www.stolzweb.org/webpage/inspirational/pastor.htm, cited 8/7/23