Teaching the Truth...

I have for some time been pondering the styles of biblical teaching, worship and discipleship in our English churches. It seems to me that our basis for everything, as Christians, must flow from a biblical understanding of Who the scriptures proclaim God to be, and the truth of who we are in Christ. The purpose of the Church is that the manifest presence of God would be made present on the earth, glorifying God and shining as a light in a dark world, bringing hope to the hopeless. In order for the Church to live up to its mandate, there must be a body of believers who are being built up into the full measure of Christ, who, by their lives, make a visible display of the invisible attributes of God. We are being transformed by His Spirit, being brought into a deeper understanding of who He has made us to be. This process is the function of discipleship, which must be underpinned by sound systematic biblical teaching.

In many of our churches, there seems to be a culture of ‘stand alone’ sermons, which gives those in church leadership an opportunity to confront certain issues that they perceive to be present in the church. This style of micro management has little  long term spiritual benefit. It’s as though every sin has to be confronted and repented from individually, which will then bring us back into right relationship with God, as if our actions could ever justify us before God. Going to the scriptures with a message in mind, searching for a passage, which can then be ripped out of context and made to fit the particular message the preacher has in mind, is not ever going to bring a church into a place of spiritual maturity. This style promotes the idea that God is somehow separated from His people and that we need to go and meet Him somewhere. The preacher can often be heard to say, ‘Did you come here to meet God this morning’? Which is a ridiculous question. The believer is a temple of the Holy Spirit, a dwelling place for God, Who does not live in buildings built by human hands, but in the hearts of His people. This misunderstanding is reflected in every area of our ministry, especially worship, where the trend is to call for God to come down in a very Old Testament, temple style. Now don’t misunderstand me, I am not suggesting that God doesn’t still move in this way, because He does, but the expectation is that if He doesn’t, in some way we have blocked His coming, or we have not worshiped hard enough to attract His attention.

It is my belief that a lack of systematic biblical teaching is at the heart of this condition. The  scriptures, when taught in their fullness, reveal the person of God, through the revelation of Jesus Christ, being illuminated by His Hoy Spirit. When we come to an understanding of Who God is and Who our Messiah is, then possibly we will come to an understanding of who we are in Christ. The bible is not the story of man, it is the story of God, Who remains to be the source of our salvation. The message of  God’s grace does not end at the cross, it begins there. We cannot continue to promote the idea that we are responsible for our own transformation, like in some way we are changed if we stop sinning. We have been changed, therefore, we no longer sin. The difference is not merely semantic, it is critical to our understanding of Who God is, as this perception will affect our worship of Him and ultimately our representation of the gospel.