Biblical Truths and The Church

Lord, I’m going to tread carefully here, but also boldly on the subject of one of the issues that, one, I discovered in my own life, and two, problems within the modern church era. When I think about Biblical literacy in its simplest form, the theology surrounding Your word is black and white. No interpretation necessary because You have given clear context, we as followers just need to study within the context of what’s being communicated. That’s the nutshell of how I think about it. So You’ve given us a clear message and communicating that to a world that is sick and dying is the most important task we have been given, but I believe we are falling shorter and shorter of that line of standard to call things what they are. Sin is sin. Worship is worship. Truth is truth. These are things in their exclusivity that can’t be changed to fit a narrative or conform to a different ideology to twist what they are. If I steal, that’s sinful. If I bow in reverence to You and sing Your praises, that’s worship. Christ dying and being physically raised is truth. So the big question. Why are we as a church allowing watered down, Biblical illiterate fallacies into our services? And on top of that, why are we arguing amongst ourselves to figure out not if something is Biblical and sound theologically, but if it matches our views outside of You to bring out a more of a better feeling for us than burning a passion in us for You? Scripture is preached from many pulpits today that if they were taught forty or fifty years ago it would have been considered heresy. Songs are being sung bereft of praise to You, our Almighty Lord and King, where the words are hollow, but they sure do make us feel good. I suppose what I’m saying is that we are not taking seriously the things we ought to. Sin is a cancerous plague that ends in death.

Worship is our complete submission to You in reverence for Your Holiness and Righteousness. Truth is Your Word and through it as our Father you communicate Your love for us, Your hatred of sin, and clear instruction of Your will. The most damning thing of all, we’ve made it about us. “What is God’s will for my life?”, “This song really speaks to me”, “That offends me, we need to change it”. Following You is the hardest thing believers will do in this life. For us in a land where we’re not met with polarizing opposition like our brothers and sisters in other countries where they are killed for their faith, our persecution is quite tame here. But what’s happened is we have given an inch and a mile has been taken. Now there’s infighting, there’s active power grabbing where someone wants more control than another, there’s leadership that looks out for their own divisive agenda. Cowardly, they hide behind “Your” will and timing, meaning that if a clear need is there and should be met, if it causes the least bit of inconvenience, they decide whether or not it's Your will or Your timing. That’s scary to me! 

So let me take out part of the first question, “What is God’s will for my life?” to “What is God’s will?”. You have made access to You by way of Your son and You have provided Your Holy Spirit as a complete triune front to know discernment. Your will is clear: Go. Go preach, go love, go clothes, go honor, go and keep my commandments, go and sin no more, go feed My sheep, and on and on. Your gift of salvation is genius in its simplicity, Romans 10:13,” All who call upon the name of The Lord will be saved…” You’ve made it clear in how we call upon You through repentance and faith. If that Cornerstone of our faith is simple in its presentation towards us, why in the world would we complicate Your will? 

Context is key. In our praise and worship our songs must be steeped in biblical context and literacy. There are a myriad of psalms, old hymns, traditional, and contemporary pieces that praise and glorify Your name through scripture. There are also those that cause divide within a congregation down to either style, themes, or words. Artistic direction, poetic styling, musicality all play a role in coming up with a piece and a good many do point to scripture. But there is a difference between an outward expression of worship through song and a show or presentation. Far be it from me to know the heart, because I don’t, but it's difficult for me to view a huge live performance with the same line being said fifty times to draw out a “feeling” with faces contorted and writhing. It may just be a problem with me, but I look at it and ask, “are they genuine or making a show?” Then it becomes all I think and focus on. In stark contrast, I’ve caught glimpses of my wife who will hold her hand on her chest, close her eyes, and sing passionately of her Redeemer. A friend of mine will lift her countenance towards the heavens, a huge smile across her face as she praises Your name. Then You have this goober who will bawl at every refrain because the enormity and weight of the Gospel pierces through with both joy and conviction. I can genuinely say, based on the evidence of their lives, because again, I don’t know the heart like You, but all three of us have something real. It’s due to having biblical truth inside of the piece and Your discerning Spirit that brings clarity to the number, not how we feel or how it makes us feel.  

Truth makes the human heart glad. Whether it cuts and wounds or creates security, the truth is more welcomed than deceit. May You forgive me if I’m wrong on this, but I would rather be deceived than be presented with half truths. In music and messages, we may be given part of the truth, but not the whole. Churches are steadily shying away from the offensive to something more inclusive. What’s not realized is that You are the Father of all. You love us all. But there is a clear distinction where you draw the line of being righteous vs tolerant. You certainly didn’t call Your church to tolerate sin, but that’s where we are. That should scare us. The inch given has allowed homosexuality to perverse Your houses, groups of people who should not be teaching or preaching from the pulpit due so with half truths of understanding so they can manipulate what is formed correctly and inerrant in its context to a warped doctrine that are sending Your children to hell because of a lack of discernment. People are so proud, though. If the truth was heard they would eat of it, chew it to pieces, and spit it out with vain, warped, and vapid, self serving idiosyncrasy. Lord, I pray for Your church that we as followers would take these lies and half truths, the deceitful machinations of satan and his ilk, and start turning tables! We have let the opposition not only get a foothold, but we’ve given them nice clothing, good drink, and the freedom to let the sheep out to pasture with wolves encircling in the field. I pray Your forgiveness over this land and for us to turn completely and go in the direction You have set before us. The hearts and minds of Your followers crave Truth because we have been fed only morsels of it. The escape route is always open and available to us until it isn’t and we meet You face to face. How dare we seek to wound Your heart with perverted teachings leading Your children to their demise in eternal misery. Lord, Father, forgive us! I pray You continue to pursue us and that we lean on Your Word alone, nothing vainly interpreted or heretically inspired. Your Word is inerrant, infallible, and made flesh to take our sins upon Himself and provide clear observable truths. Lord, may I always walk in Your truths boldly and with unending passion, Amen.