6-Twin Truths of Scripture: Authority & Sufficiency,pt2

Paul Washer in TEN INDICTMENTS AGAINST THE MODERN CHURCH launches a prophetic call in his 1st chapter on the practical denial of the sufficiency of Scripture. After citing 2 Timothy 3:15-17 (which we looked at last week) he says, "Over the last several decades, a mighty battle has been waged regarding the inspiration of Scripture...We have been in a battle for the Bible. But there is a problem. When you come to believe as a people that the Bible is inspired, you have fought only half the battle...The major question actually follows that: 'Is the Bible sufficient, or do we have to bring every so-called social science and cultural study in order to know how to run a church?' That is the great question! Social sciences, in my opinion, have taken precedence over the Word of God in such a way that most of us cannot even see it. It has so crept into our church, our evangelism, and our missiology that you barely can call what we are doing 'Christian' anymore. Psychology, anthropology, and sociology have become primary influences in the churches...We have come to believe that a man of God can deal in certain tiny, restricted areas in the life of the church. However, when it really gets tough, we need to go to the social experts. That is an absolute lie!...Why is it that evangelism, missions, and so-called church growth (even counseling) are shaped more by the anthropologist, the sociologist, and the Wall Street student who are up to speed on every cultural trend than by the Scriptures themselves?...Our missionary activity, our church activity, and everything we do ought to flow from the theologian and exegete--the man who opens up the Bible and has only one question, 'What is Thy will, O God?'...[Yet], every two or three years all their major theories change. They have a new idea about what a man is and how you fix him, about what a church is and how you make it grow...Such teachers give no clear word! Isaiah asks, 'Should not a people consult their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living? To the law and to the testimony! If they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them' (Isa 8:19-20)." These, dear friends, are cautious words we need to ponder. Are we tethered to Scripture in all of life and ministry? Or, as a friend recently put it, "When I put on my professional suit, has it been tailored by the pattern of Scripture?" Is Scripture sufficient to interpret life? See, God has not called us to be trendy, but truthful (aka, biblical). Not fashionable, but faithful. His Word promises to provide us EVERYTHING pertaining to life (2 Pet 1:3). Either it does, or it doesn't. Either it is totally sufficient or utterly insufficient. Join us for part 2 of "Twin Truths of Scripture: Authority & Sufficiency."