Who makes the Bible relevant?

I have some pet peeves as I’m sure we all do. I can’t stand when someone leaves a shopping cart in the parking lot when there is a place to put it just ten feet away. I don’t like people standing close to me in line when there is nobody behind them. I was behind someone on the interstate that had their turn signal on for over ten minutes. (Need I say more?) But there is one thing, yes one thing that gets me irritated, or shall I say righteously indignant, more than any other thing in this world. It is when someone proclaims that he or she has a church that makes the Bible relevant. Do they know what they are saying? The word “relevant” means important, appropriate, necessary, significant, and pertinent. Do they make the Bible this? Saying that you or somebody else makes the Bible relevant is like claiming that you make water wet. The Bible is not made relevant; it is relevant by its very nature. Since you cannot divorce the person of God from His Word, His Word is relevant because He is relevant. His word is important, appropriate, and significant. If someone says that their church makes it this way perhaps they’ve never really used God’s Word. I know, somebody’s going to say, “By relevant we mean applicable for today” or “we mean that we can relate to it.” Once again this indicates a person’s lack of knowledge concerning God and His Word and indicates the lack of a high view of Scripture. God’s word is eternal, and because of that it is timeless. We can always relate to it because the Bible calls us sinners and that’s what we are. It tells us the righteous standards of God and how we don’t live up to them. It tells us that in Christ we have forgiveness with God, a new life, a relationship with Him, access to the throne of grace, and acceptance by the righteousness of Christ bestowed upon us. I think everyone can relate to these things in some way. Friends, we don’t make it fit into our time, we make our lives conform to its teaching. Let’s understand what relevant really means. Let’s get back to the basics of proclaiming God’s timeless, trustworthy, and sufficient Word. Why? Because it’s relevant.

Signs of the Times

The working title of the book is “Signs of the Times: The False Messages, Half-Truths, and Poor Theology of Church Marquees”. Here’s a little taste.
The Heart of the Matter
No one likes to be criticized. No one likes a critical person. The purpose of this book is not to criticize but to critique. It is not to embarrass but to exhort. Many will think that I am going a bit too far, that I shouldn’t take something that seems so trivial and make it of prime importance, or that I am turning a mole hill into a mountain. Pardon me if I think differently.
One may ask, “Why church signs? What’s the big deal?” To answer that question it may be best to ask some others. What is the first thing (and many times the only thing) that people see of a church? What is it that speaks the message of the church to the individuals that are traveling by on the road? In the past it was the steeple that caught the attention of the passerby and pointed upward towards the God that it represented. It also may have been the bells that chimed choruses that methodically reminded those that heard them that the church was present and not far off. Today, it’s not the steeple or even the church bells. It’s the church marquee. The church sign relays what that specific church wants to tell a lost and dying world. It tells the individuals that are driving by, some without a care and others with so many cares, the things of which they should be concerned. Church signs should tell things that are important and life changing. They should tell of our Father, our Savior, and our Comforter. They should state the doctrines of the faith. Why? Because we are the church and what we have to say is different and more important than anything that anybody else wants to share. Church signs should do these things, but many do not.
Every year we hear about how people in the world are offended about something that the church has to say. Whether it is a nativity scene or someone having a Bible at work, somebody is going to be offended. And why wouldn’t they? They are of their father the devil and he hates the things of God. His children inherit this hatred. Yet I find myself being highly offended, not by the things that the world does or says, because I do not expect them to act any differently than they do. They are just acting naturally. I am offended because individual churches have the freedom and opportunity to say something important, something vital, and for whatever reason, many churches fail to do so. By not saying the things that the world needs to hear or putting up the messages that the world needs to see, the church becomes like the world. We would rather market than minister. We would rather joke than to judge with righteous judgment (John 7:24). By becoming more like the world and not saying what needs to be said, what we are really saying is this- we are ashamed of the gospel of God and we are afraid of the opinions of man rather than having the fear of the Lord.
You see, my words or your words may make someone laugh or cry, cause one to ponder or amuse, and can be taken seriously, with ambivalence, or be rejected. Therefore my opinion or your opinion, whether it is seen as highly critical or a helpful critique, is not the standard by which things are judged. The standard is the Word of God.
The writer of Hebrews in chapter 4 verse 12 states, “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” The word “judge” in the Greek is the word kritikos which means, “to discern.” This word is where we get our English word “critic.” It means to know what is righteous and what is not, to know what is proper and improper. The messages that are put up on the church marquee should not be thought of as successful if people like them, if positive comments are made about them, or even if they bring more people into the church. They are successful only if they are in concordance with the Holy Scriptures and standards of God.
The point is that it is the Word of God, the full revelation of God to man, everything in Scripture is the critic of our thoughts and intentions. So then, everything we do in church needs to be critiqued by Scripture- from the music that we sing, to the sermons that we deliver or hear, even to the messages that we put on the church marquee.

Desire, Decision, and Devotion

I’ve got two things going on that are time consuming and difficult to get done (besides being a full time teacher, pastor, husband and dad of two). I’m currently, in a slow but sure manner, writing a book, and I am doing a workout routine which takes about an hour or more a day. I do this 6 days a week (sometimes 5 when I’m busy). I’m constantly sore, but the results are good. It needs to be known that it was because of this blog that I started working out. When the site went up and my wife and I saw the picture of me on the page she said, “When was that taken? You were a lot thinner then.” Well, that was all she had to say. It wasn’t mean, it was said in jest but I’m the type of person that a little critiquing makes me want to do the best I can or just prove to me or somebody else that I can do better. That’s where the book comes in. I’m writing a critique on different church signs. It’s like a devotional apologetics book. The chapters are not very long but hopefully thoughtful. In both cases there was a desire, a decision, and a devotion to do them. These were the main points of my first sermon 15 years ago when speaking of Peter getting off the boat, walking on the water, and then worshiping Christ when they got back in. I hope you all have these attributes as I try to have. It’s difficult, but possible. Now that I know how to do this blog thing, the next time I’ll give you a preview of the book.
-Bryan