A quarterly magazine for the proclamation and defense of the Gospel
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A quarterly magazine for the proclamation and defense of the Gospel |
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Vol. 4, Issue 2 | Summer 2010 |
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Primum Mobile is a quarterly web magazine. This issue and all its contents are © Copyright 2004-2010 by the editors. All rights reserved.
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.
by Paul Lytle
And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.-Hebrews 10:23-24
A few years ago, I was living on the very edge of town (and I mean that literally — there were corn fields behind my house). I was looking for a church, and I didn’t want to drive a long way to get there. I really wanted to be involved in the community there, and having to drive 45 minutes there and back was not conducive to being involved. I learned this from experience.
As I was on the very edge of town, my choices were limited. There was a big seeker-sensitive church down the road. I visited it, but I’m not into the whole seeker-sensitive movement, so it was out. That left two other churches. I visited both and chose one.
It really didn’t take that long.
I’m having to alter my strategy a bit now, since my wife and I live inside Houston. Before, I was able to visit every possible church over a three week period of time. Now, that would probably literally take years. We are simply surrounded by churches.
It occurs to me that Christians don’t spend a whole lot of time in picking a church. This may be why we ultimately start church hopping every few months to a year. Our priorities may be a little off center here. We don’t carefully examine doctrine before making a commitment, but once we do make that commitment, we start complaining about doctrine. It should be quite the opposite, I think. Let us be very picky when finding a church, but once we are there, let us be more forgiving of errors, or even sin, when the sinner repents. In other words, with all the choices I have, I can veto a church off my list for a hundred different reasons, but I would not leave a church where I was a member for those same reasons. The offense would have to be much greater.
(This is good advice in many areas of life, by the way, including marriage, friendships, and a career. Be picky before the commitment is made, but once made, stick to it.)
So we had to go about this a little differently this time. I sat down and, for the first time in many years, thought out exactly what I am looking for in a church. I split the issues up by importance. Frankly, the list surprised me a little.
I grew up Baptist, so something that had always been near the top of the list for me before was that they practice believer’s baptism rather than infant baptism. That had dropped quite a bit on the list this time. I still believe in credobaptism, but is that more important than what the church believes about God? Unfortunately, I hadn’t been so questioning about what a church believes about God before.
While we would all love a church that lines up exactly with our beliefs, that usually doesn’t happen. We all have to make a judgment call, guided by the Spirit and the Word, on which issues would bring an automatic veto for a church and on which we can politely disagree within the same body.
For example, if you had to choose between a church with which you disagreed on baptism and a church with which you disagreed on eschatology (the study of the end times), which would you choose? We have to make a judgment on which doctrine is the more critical.
This takes some study and some understanding. A young Christian should be guided by a more experienced believer in church hunting. What works for the young believer may grow wearisome when that believer starts growing in the faith. I’ve known many who started in the Purpose Driven, seeker-sensitive model, but had to leave once they got beyond the very basics of doctrine because they discovered how milky (and even misleading) the teaching is there. Young Christians may even find that their church borders on heretical once they start reading the Bible some. I’ve known many who started out in a Prosperity Gospel church, and had to leave once they figured out that those teachings are simply not Christian.
Below is a general outline on where I came down when listing out the doctrines. I do not pretend that this is a definitive list, or that you should use it, but I give it with the hope it will help stimulate some thought and research of your own, especially if you are looking for a good church.
A few notes before we begin. The internet has made this hunt so much easier. I have been able to veto scores of churches based only on their websites. For some, I have seen right away that they are Purpose Driven or Prosperity Gospel churches. I don’t have to look further. Some I discovered were Emergent/Liberal. I just went on to the next church.
So many churches have podcasts or sermons on their website. This is a great way to get a feel for several churches during the week rather than waiting for Sunday. I encourage you to look over websites and listen to sermons before even visiting for the first time. It can save a bunch of time, especially if you are in a large city.
For those who don’t have many choices, you’ll have to pick the best church, even if that church has a lot of problems. Or you can get trained and start your own. Don’t get all mushy and abandon the Body of Christ in favor of “just being around believers.” God tells us to submit to church leadership (Hebrews 13:17), and if you are not doing this, then you are sinning, and you need to repent. Christians are to be in community in a local church.
Another helpful thing is to study the confessions. If a church announces that they line up with the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith, that actually says a whole lot about the church. In one sentence, you can understand almost their entire theological system. While most churches would avoid such confessions these days, they are still worthwhile to read, if only for better understanding of the faith.
Lastly, pray like nobody’s business and read your Bible a lot. Your theology should come from an understanding of the Word.
These are issues that cannot be compromised. If a local church denies any part of this, then they should be avoided at all costs.
Basically, our Foundation is very soundly summarized in the Nicene Creed:
I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made.
Who, for us men and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary, and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; He suffered and was buried; and the third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures; and ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of the Father; and He shall come again, with glory, to judge the quick and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end.
And I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of Life; who proceeds from the Father and the Son; who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified; who spoke by the prophets.
And I believe in one holy catholic [universal] and apostolic Church. I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins; and I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.
Here’s where we need some discernment. Most churches are going to confess this, but is this central to their teaching? If their services are not centered around the Gospel and the truth of God, then what good is the confession?
I would like to add one issue into our Foundation here that the Nicene Creed does not specifically address. The church must confess the Bible as being the Word of God, inspired by God. As the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith states, “The Holy Scripture is the only sufficient, certain, and infallible rule of all saving knowledge, faith, and obedience. . . . The authority of the Holy Scripture, for which it ought to be believed, depends not upon the testimony of any man or church, but wholly upon God (who is truth itself), the author thereof; therefore it is to be received because it is the Word of God” (Chapter 1, Paragraphs 1 and 4).
These are issues that I would not budge on unless I simply had no choice. If I were in a place where I could only find Arminian churches, then I would go to one. We can bend on primary issues if we must. But if there is a choice, these would get vetoed right away.
Please understand that I am not trying to say that I believe that Arminians are lost, or that those with a different hermeneutic are pagans. No, if we agree on the foundational level, then we are brothers and sisters in Christ. But within that body, we have such different focuses and theologies that we are constantly going to be butting heads in the same congregation.
One of the main ingredients of our submission to biblical leadership is having biblical leadership. Now, we can disagree on minor points here and there, but if my pastor has a completely unbiblical view of the church, I’m going to have a hard time following his leadership. If he instructs us to sin, then we cannot follow that leadership.
a. Doctrine of God
I must confess, I missed this one for so long. I was so worried about baptism and music that I didn’t really think about how our beliefs about God affects everything. If you believe that God is waiting for people to make a decision for Him, then you are going to approach preaching, music, focus, evangelism, and discipleship in a very man-centered way. You are going to try every trick in the book to persuade people to give God a chance. If, on the other hand, you believe that God is sovereign, in control, and that He is the one who softens the heart, grants the gift of faith, and brings about salvation in His children, then you are going to approach all of those things in a God-centered way. Basically, we would focus on the Word, trusting that God has ordained that Word to bring people to faith and to bring about the growth in them (see 2 Timothy 3:16-17).
We’re talking about the difference between monergism and synergism, and where we fall on this one is going to influence everything.
Monergism is the belief that we are dead in sin, that we are enslaved and cannot even understand spiritual things (1 Corinthians 2:14), much less choose God. God, by the Holy Spirit, works regeneration in us, basically breathing spiritual life into us (see Philippians 1:29, John 1:12-13, John 6:26-66). He gives us faith as a gift (Ephesians 2:8), and we are saved by that faith. Monergists rely on God to bring about that faith in someone, so the Monergist will likely preach repentance and faith from the Word, trusting that God’s Word will do its work in those whom God wills it to work.
Synergism, on the other hand, is that God has done everything He will to save people. He will not violate someone’s free will, so He has made the offer, and it is up to the person to decide. People are naturally able to understand spiritual things and are able to make a decision for Christ. Synergists, since they rely on the person’s will to bring them to the right decision, will preach more “practical” sermons, give advice, use persuasion, etc., to bring about that faith.
I have made the mistake over and over again that I would be okay as a Monergist in a Synergist church. This is normally considered a secondary issue, but it is not. Since it affects everything, you should make it a priority to find a Monergist church. You can be reasonably sure in that context that worship will be God-focused rather than man-focused, that the preaching will be from the Word and not from the pastor’s wit and wisdom, and that Evangelism will be focused on biblical truths.
If your church describes itself as “Calvinist,” “Reformed,” or “Confessional Lutheran,” you’re on the right track. These terms are not always in the title of the church, but dig a little through the website. You can usually figure it out in the way they talk about issues of salvation.
b. Focus
Most churches have an orthodox statement of faith. The reason that these churches all are so different is the focus. If two of us have $100 to spend on clothes, and my focus is socks while your focus is jeans, we’re going to end up with very different wardrobes, even if we generally have the same taste in clothes.
If the church is very seeker-focused, then they may believe the Bible is the Word of God, but they’re going to be doing sermons on movies and sex. If your church is very focused on being multicultural, then the sermons are going to be mainly focused on race relations, even sometimes when the text doesn’t speak to that (I know this from experience). If the church is very focused on being good, moral people, then you’re going to hear a lot of Law and no Gospel. If the church is very focused on loving everyone and accepting everyone, you won’t hear much on sin.
The focus should be Christ, because that is what the Bible is about. If you go to a church’s website, and the first thing you see is that they are “multicultural,” run. You probably don’t even need to look further into it. If their identity is primarily in something other than Christ, then they are not properly focused.
c. Use of the Word
They should use the Word, and not taking verses out of context for their own purposes. When the pastor mentions a verse, read the chapter. Has he used the verse properly? Has he just stuck it into the point he wanted to make? If he has no respect for the Word of God, don’t bother with him.
d. Hermeneutics
Hermeneutics is a fancy word for the assumptions and philosophies through which you read the Bible. We all have these preconceived notions, and we should be aware of them. As an example, the person who assumes that prophecy cannot exist is going to find a reason to believe that Daniel was written later than it actually was. The one who assumes that the earth is millions of years old is going to find reasons to believe that the Genesis account is metaphorical or poetical.
Your future church should: 1) as discussed above, believe that the Bible is the Word of God and is true, and 2) should use the historical-grammatical method. This method takes the passage in context and seeks to understand the author’s original intent by the plain meaning of the words (grammatical) and the historical context (historical). We do not proof-text the Bible to find little phrases that will work in a sermon or support our beliefs. We do not care what the passage “means to you,” but what it means to God.
Other things to look into are the approaches of Dispensationalism, Covenant Theology, and New Covenant Theology. These are all ways to look at the total story of the Bible, and our views here will affect how we read the Word, especially the Old Testament. It is our hope to explain these in detail in a later issue, but there is simply no room at the moment.
As a side note: You will notice that Eschatology (study of the end times) is not in this list at all. Eschatology is a result of your specific hermeneutic. Dispensationalists will be looking for the rapture, while Covenant Theologians will typically be Amillennial. In short, eschatology is the effect, hermeneutics the cause. If your primary concern is the rapture, then you’ve taken a wrong turn.
e. Evangelism
Does the church evangelize or encourage its members to evangelize? If not, then try to avoid them. Evangelism is a command of God, not an option (Matthew 28:19-20).
f. Handling of clear doctrines
The Bible has some unpopular doctrines. Even though they are very clear in the Word, they are ignored by some churches because they are unpopular. These churches will find the most wild explanations of why they should not consider particular passages, but the truth is that they just don’t like them. The way a church handles a very clear doctrine is an indication of how much they respect the Word in general. If they are willing to compromise on the clear passages, what will they do with the harder ones?
Therefore, a woman pastor should be a flashing, screaming, giant warning sign. However unpopular the doctrine may be, God has given the duty to lead the local church to men (1 Timothy 3:1-7). This is not that women are not gifted, but only that we have differing roles in the church. Women who seek the role of a pastor put their own desires above the commands of God, and they are in rebellion.
In addition, homosexuality is a sin (1 Corinthians 6:9-10). The Bible cannot be more clear on this point. We are to call homosexuals to repent of their sin, just as we would someone who is fornicating, someone who is lying, and someone who worships a false god (see v. 11). You can try to twist the Word however you wish, but it only proves that your own desires are your god, and not the God of the Bible.
I’m going to get in trouble for these two, I know, but it’s not my job to ignore sin because society says the sin is okay. I know I’ll get messages about cultural interpretations and the like. But this is the point. The Bible is clear, no matter how “unclear” you would like it to be on these points. You are submitting to yourself rather to God. For those who would look to their own desires and ambitions rather than submitting to God’s command, I would ask that you turn away from yourself and towards the Cross. Repent of your sin and find forgiveness because of the Blood of Christ. Let me say up front — I am no better. Every day I sin by chasing my own pride and desire, just like you do. My sinful desires are different than yours, perhaps. Perhaps they are not as noticeable, but they are sin nonetheless, and I deserve death for them. My pride is a plague that draws me down almost hourly. I am no better than you simply because I am straight or that I don’t believe that women should pastor churches. I am a sinner, saved by grace. It is this grace that I pray for you as well.
g. Discipline
The Bible commands churches to discipline rebellious members. Most churches do not, or they talk a good game until they are faced with the situation, and then they back off. (I know this from experience too, when I had been part of a group who brought a situation to a local church for discipline. That church were all over it until it came time to bring the rebellious woman before the church, and then they buried the problem and pretended it didn’t exist.)
If a church is unwilling to discipline, then they are not doing their sacred duty as overseers of a flock.
h. Pastoral involvement
Your pastor should know you. Period. “Your” pastor doesn’t have to be the preaching pastor, but if there are five hundred congregants per pastor, then your pastor is not going to be involved in your life. If he is not involved, then he’s not going to know how to lead you.
I don’t mind mega-churches, but make sure they have enough elders to tend to the flock. If you find out that you are are going to get lost in the crowd whether you want to be or not, then move on.
i. What Happens in the Service
The Bible has commanded that we do certain things when together. There should be preaching, singing, and communion. It does not tell us in which order we should do these things or in what style, but they should not be passed over.
j. Sin
Simply, does this word make your pastor nervous? Does he use phrases like, “We’ve all made mistakes,” instead of mentioning sin? Get away from these people. The Bible speaks of sin twice as much as love, so we need to be speaking about it too. There is such a thing as sin, and the rightful punishment of sin is death (Romans 6:23). It is something we all deserve, and it is something we would all experience for eternity but by God’s grace and the Blood of Christ.
These are, I feel, very important issues, but I would be willing to be a member of a church that differed with me on a few of these. Strong Christians, I believe, can disagree on these points and still be focused on Christ and the Bible.
a. Baptism
Does the church baptize infants or only confessing believers? Do they believe that baptism is a symbol, an outward sign of something internal, or that it brings about regeneration? I don’t think that many Christians have actually studied this one, but I would recommend it. It is an important issue, but perhaps not one to break fellowship over.
b. Location
We do want to be part of the community and active in the church. Frankly, this is considerably easier to do when you are near the community. Distance should not become a hindrance to being part of the church.
c. Philosophy of Evangelism
Our evangelism should be based on the Word, because it is the Word that God has ordained to bring us to faith. As above, we should not be hesitant to use words like sin. Telling someone that “God has a wonderful plan for your life” simply isn’t biblical.
d. Doctrine of Music
I did not say “style of music.” Style is not mandated. But I have found even the most conservative churches singing songs with very weak (or wrong) theology. The lyrics are man-focused rather than God-focused. Sometimes they are simply not Christian at all. Is the church looking at the songs they sing, or are they just picking popular praise and worship songs without examining them?
Read the Psalms. You will learn so much about God in those songs. Lyrics are very important in the Bible, and yet we don’t give them a second thought.
e. The Gifts
Depending on the church, this could be a critical issue or a minor one. But if you don’t believe that God gives prophecy or tongues and you land at a Pentecostal church, you’re going to be miserable. Likewise, if you have the gift of tongues and are at a church that doesn’t believe in it, you may have issues.
But in either case, do not go to a chaotic church that is overrun by tongues and prophecy. The Bible forbids this (1 Corinthians 14:27-33), and there is no biblical justification for it. If we are in an orderly service, the presence or absence of tongues and prophecy should not be a huge issue.
f. Expository vs. Topical Preaching
I love expository preaching. That is where a pastor takes a book of the Bible and just preaches his way through it over weeks or months. This has a number of advantages. It forces the pastor to preach unpopular or difficult text. Topical preachers have the temptation to play it safe in certain areas of the Word. Another advantage is that it is easier to keep the context clear when you’ve already studied everything that has gone before.
For the longest time, I really didn’t realize that certain books of the Bible had different themes. The reason was because I had never really studied those books. I only knew certain verses. When we look at a book in an expository manner, we can see the themes. We are not as apt to take something out of context. It is easier to see the big picture.
That being said, this is not mandated by Scripture. Some of the best preachers ever were able to approach things topically. Charles Spurgeon springs to mind. The Apostles seemed to approach things topically, as far as the Bible has recorded.
If the pastor is teaching topically, just make sure he is taking in the whole counsel of the book, not just of the verse itself. It is easy to get off into legalism or liberalism when you are only taking in part of the Word.
Some things we think are very important simply aren’t. If these things appear on our wish list for a church, you may need to reconsider them.
a. Style of music
Whether we use hymns or Rock songs, we are not singing in a style that Jesus did. We don’t know what music was like in that time period. It wasn’t written in a way that we can reconstruct it. Here is the truth — if you prefer traditional hymns, you are still singing music that is almost two thousand years removed from Jesus. This is simply an issue of preference and not of doctrine. If you are making it a matter of doctrine, then you need to repent.
One thing should be noted. Style isn’t mandated, but mood is. Our worship should not be filled totally with slow, emotional songs. The Bible tells us to “Sing aloud to God our strength; shout for joy to the God of Jacob!” (Psalm 81:1). There is a place for slow songs, but they should not be the norm. Do not miss this point when singing. We should be worshipping with everything we have.
b. Length of sermon
I prefer long sermons. I have friends who can’t stand them. The Bible does not mandate this. Some sermons in the Bible last for hours and hours (see Nehemiah 8). Some are very short (Peter’s sermon at Pentecost is quite short). If it’s long enough to faithfully explain the passage and use it to point to Jesus, then it’s long enough.
c. Politics
There is a place for politics, but it’s not in church. Our job there is to worship in song, in learning, in prayer, and in communion. There are political issues that should be addressed in church, such as abortion or persecution. But whether we should have lower taxes should not even be an issue at church.
d. Clothing
God does not mandate certain types of clothing at church. We are not asked to put on our “Sunday best,” nor is it more holy to wear jeans. James 2 teaches us not to discriminate on the basis of clothing.
This is no exhaustive list, but issues that I have been struggling with. Most importantly, let prayer guide you. Let your search be for God’s glory. Be gracious to your Christian brothers and sisters, and do not allow my list or your own to become a new law. Let love and mercy hold true in all cases. And where we err, remember that we have an advocate with the Father in our Lord Jesus Christ. Our search will not be perfect except where it is guided by His Spirit. May it be so always.
