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Biblical or Not
Presenter: Larry Kirkpatrick
Location: Mentone Seventh-day Adventist Church, California, USA
Delivery: 2006-11-18
Publication: GreatControversy.org 2006-11-18 02:29Z
Type: Sermon
URL: http://www.greatcontroversy.org/gco/ser/kir-biblicalornot.php
Is your faith biblical or not? It is said that Christians believe what they believe on the basis of blind faith; that we do not think things through on our own, but merely accept what our designated leaders tell us. God has indeed appointed leaders in His church. But He has also checked out exactly one very high-powered human brain to each one of us. He has given to each one of us the capacity to evaluate truth claims for ourselves, and made us, individually, morally accountable by giving each one of us a conscience. To us, individually, personally, is given opportunity to know our Re-maker. What do we make of it?
From Adam until today, people seem to prefer to pass off their own responsibilities to others. And there is a legitimate passing on of responsibility. When we have a representative form of government and we vote in an election and select leaders, we are passing on certain responsibilities to the state and to those who will be elected to serve. But we retain final judgment; After four years or whatever their term, we can reelect them if they run for office again, or vote to replace them if they run but we feel others would provide better leadership. Final responsibility rests with us.
That is the way it is in secular things. How much more then in spiritual.
For a thousand years the Roman Catholic Church was able to successfully keep the Bible out of the hands of its members. Those with knowledge had the power; everyone else was subject to their leadership. They did not correctly lead the people. When power is not in the hands of the people, you can expect corruption, the maintenance of the status quo, a lack of reformation, and a disinterest in serious change even when it is called for.
We are to respect the leaders in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. But we are not to expect that they are always right or that they are always infallible interpreters of truth. We must study God’s Word for ourselves and in the end be sure ourselves of where we stand and where we are going.
But you say, I don’t know Greek, and Hebrew, and I haven’t been to Seminary and I am not a pastor. But that argument is like Moses’ argument. “I don’t speak well; send someone else to do this thing.” But God responded to him, “Who made God’s mouth?” And if we should try to dodge our responsibility by pleading that we cannot study the Bible well-enough to understand it for ourselves, He would come back to us and ask, “Who made man’s brain?”
God comes right back at you. He is calling us to live in a direct connection with Him through the mediation of Jesus Christ. There is one and only one Mediator, and that is Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5; Isaiah 53:12; Romans 8:34). His intercession has power. There is a reason why His Word has been delivered to our dark world and placed in your possession.
How does He plan for us to grow? “Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the Word, that ye may grow thereby: If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious” (1 Peter 2:1-3).
Every church member, every worker, every minister and conference officer should be growing in christlikeness, in spiritual power, in the knowledge of God’s will, and that will only happen if we are growing by the milk of God’s Word.
We are called to respect church leaders, to pray for them, and to be appreciative of their work on our Lord’s behalf for us. At the same time we are called to repeat in our experience the experience of the noble Bereans. “These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the Word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. Therefore many of them believed” (Acts 17:11, 12).
We must have the attitude of readiness to receive and be impressing into our minds on a daily basis the Scriptures of God. This means you. This means everyone. Heaven’s plan is not for your ministers to burn at 95 candlepower and you to burn at 75 candlepower. His plan is for all His people to burn at 100 candlepower together.
Make no mistake; error is on the loose in God’s church today. But so is truth! Study your Bible. Read your Ellen White books. Put into practice that which you find. Put it into practice today and tomorrow. Do not wait for a better time in a month or in two weeks. Consider the teaching of Jesus:
If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God (John 7:17).
If you want to be a Christian, then put into practice what He has already shown you. Don’t expect to grow if you aren’t moving to do His will. You can know whether this message is truth, but you have to be willing to put into practice the message Jesus has sent you. Jesus also said,
If ye continue in My word, then are ye My disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free (John 8:31, 32).
So how can we tell what truth is? We have to thirst for it, we have to study for it, we need to implement what we know. And then we need to keep on exploring.
We let ourselves off too easily. We should study the Bible more closely, read it more aggressively. And I am not just talking about two or three favorite books in the New Testament. The whole Bible is there waiting for you. And I don’t know how many Spirit of Prophecy books are available, but very, very few people have read all of them. And if you read everything, your memory would not retain it all after only one time reading it through. You need to read and study and pray again and again and again.
Experts can help us, offer us ideas to check, but their role is not to determine truth for us. We are personally responsible. Your leader is Jesus Christ.
There are many religions out there, and we labor to call people out of error that cannot make them holy at last, cannot help them and heal them like truth can. But is our own house in order? Are we relying too much on our own historians and preachers? I warn you. Study for yourself. No man comes with a guarantee that he will not become misinformed or that he is safe from presenting error. Sincerity is no guarantee of rightness.
We need to test our assumptions, study deeper, have answers at hand not only for others but for ourselves. If we will sit at His feet God will instruct us Himself, personally. If we sit at the feet of men, we will become confused about what God said and what they said. Consider Desmond Ford, who not so many years ago lost his way. Yet, many thought he was one of the strongest scholars in this church in his day.
It would be misguided on our part to disregard a man’s teaching merely because he is a scholar. But again, our duty is to weigh teachings by the Bible. No one, no pastor, preacher, leader, or teacher, gets a free pass.
A “maybe” understanding is not good enough. We should know what is right for ourselves.
Truth liberates. Error enslaves. Truth—temporarily—can be hidden. But it cannot be emptied of power. Error has no real strength of its own, only the feeble power of mortal beings rebelling against a force infinitely beyond them. Error only continues because God has not yet seen fit to cut off its artificial existence. The universe is still looking to see the manifestation of the sons and daughters of God (Romans 8:19-21). The whole creation is groaning, waiting in expectation. And the people of God? Many sleep on. But some are awake, alert, in our own fuddled way coming into the clarity of truth, into the power of the gospel, into the experience of Christ in us, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27).
Today it is pharaoh versus God all over again. Many are satisfied with the leeks and onions, contented with the dainties and false worship of Babylon. This is temporary. Error cannot satisfy the cravings of the heart. It can sedate but not heal. The seeker of God who looks for healing from beyond himself can never stop. God has our help. If we are faithful, though most who are around us may be oblivious to present truth, still present truth and the Lord of present truth will be our help. The end is not yet. But it is coming. God help us all to endure and to strengthen each other, and be Bible students of the first order. Only if we are vigilant will we endure to the end. So long as we do our part, “Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it” (1 Thessalonians 5:24). GCO
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