Sola Scriptura (Scripture Alone)

As we find ourselves at the beginning of a new year, it is an excellent time to look back to revisit some foundational truths that will keep us on the proper course as we plot our way forward. I’d like us to briefly look back on the Protestant Reformation. The Reformation was one of the most pivotal moments in the history of the Church. I don’t have the space in this post to give you a detailed historical account, but what I can tell you is that it marked a radical return to the authority of the Scriptures and sound doctrine. The Church had become corrupted by false teaching, idolatry, and the exaltation of the traditions of men over the commandments of God. The Protestant Reformation was not a rebellious reach forward to capture some new understanding or revelation. It was a humble, courageous return to the foundation of the Christian faith. Out of the Reformation came the five “solas”. One of the five “solas” was Sola Scriptura or Scripture alone.

 The Cambridge Declaration of Faith, published by the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals affirmed Sola Scriptura in this way:

 We affirm the inerrant Scripture to be the sole source of written divine revelation, which alone can bind the conscience. The Bible alone teaches all that is necessary for our salvation from sin and is the standard by which all Christian behavior must be measured. We deny that any creed, council or individual may bind a Christian's conscience, that the Holy Spirit speaks independently of or contrary to what is set forth in the Bible, or that personal spiritual experience can ever be a vehicle of revelation.

  What is Scripture?

The Scriptures were literally God-breathed, inspired by God Himself and they do not have their origin in human will (2 Tim. 3:14-17). That is why we sometimes call the Bible the Word of God because it proceeded from Him.  God moved upon men by His Spirit to speak and to write His word (2 Peter 1:20-21). The Scriptures are God’s revelation of Himself and His redemptive plan for all of creation. God himself is the source of the Bible. He is the source of all truth. God cannot lie or speak falsely because it is not in his nature to do so (Hebrews 6:18).

 The Authority of Scripture

Because the Scriptures proceeded from God they have authority. Wayne Grudem wrote that, “The authority of Scripture means that all the words in Scripture are God’s words in such a way that to disbelieve or disobey any word of Scripture is to disbelieve or disobey God.” The Church is not to exercise authority over the Bible, the Bible is the authority that is to govern the Church because it is God’s Word. We are not to exalt our manmade traditions above the authority of the Scriptures or give our traditions equal status to the Scriptures. We are not to ascribe to any human being the same submission and reverence that we are to give God’s word. The Scriptures are the standard by which we are to measure all things, not our opinions, feelings, or traditions. Every sermon, every prophetic word, every spiritual experience, every sign, every wonder, every ministry practice, our very lives, and all the business of the Church is to be submitted to the authority of the Scriptures. If we truly honor God, then we will truly honor His Word and we will handle it reverently.

 Usefulness of the Scriptures

Paul reminded Timothy that the Scriptures are able to make us wise for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. The Bible is not a book of principles designed to bolster self-esteem and set us on the path to health, wealth, and prosperity in this life. The Bible was given to us to reveal the triune God in all his glory, power, truth, and grace. Our greatest aim in life is to be conformed to the image of Christ through the truth of the Word and the power of the Spirit for the glory of God. The terms of the covenant relationship that God has brought us into with himself are set forth in one place and that one place is the Bible. God’s Word provides us with instruction in the truth and it helps us to recognize sin in our lives so that we may repent. It trains us to live in a way that God approves of and is pleased with.

 Why Should We Read the Scriptures

We don’t read the Word to earn His love and salvation but we do have to read the Word to learn to walk in His love and salvation. There is no sanctification without the Bible. Jesus said that we are sanctified by the truth and the Word of God is truth. Our thoughts and intentions must submit to the authority of the Scriptures. We are to take in God’s Word and yield to the working of the Holy Spirit who is working in us to conform us to the image of Jesus. He uses His Word to make us like Him and draw us to Him.

 What is your view of the Bible? What authority does God’s Word have in your life?

Are you led more by your own way of doing things and not God’s way? Have you exalted manmade traditions above the truth revealed in God’s Word? Have you been entertaining deception instead of using the Word to pull down strongholds, cast down every argument, and take every deceptive thought captive to the obedience of Christ?

 As we resolve to do many things at the dawn of this new year. Let us resolve by God’s grace to be diligent students of his Word.

What Do We Value?

Every culture has values that define it. The kingdom of God is no different. It has a distinct culture that is shaped by the nature and character of God. Kingdom culture is diametrically opposed to the culture of our fallen world.

The church is a community of people redeemed by God to embody the values of His kingdom for the world to see. We are God’s redemptive agents in the earth.

Jesus commanded us to teach the same things that he commanded. What did Jesus say was the sum of all His commands? He said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

So local churches are made up of people who have been redeemed by God to love God and love one another. We are forgiven and justified by God through faith in Jesus Christ who lived a sinless life and died a substitutionary death on the cross. God reconciled us to Himself through the death of His son. Our highest call is to love him.

He has graciously rescued us so that we would be devoted to, fulfilled in, satisfied by, and totally dependent upon Him and Him alone.

Through our reconciliation to God, we are reconciled to one another, to love and serve one another as Christ dwells in our hearts through the Holy Spirit. His design for us is to freely give the same love, grace, and mercy that has been freely given to us in Christ. This reconciliation breaks down every wall of race, ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic status that once separated us so that we can live together in genuine community. Galatians 3:27-28 says, “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

His design for us is to freely give the same love, grace, and mercy that has been freely given to us in Christ.

The church at Antioch is a great example. Acts 13:1-3 says, “Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a lifelong friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.’ Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.” If you take a close look at the names you’ll see that this church was very diverse.  

Scripture gives us the end state in Revelation chapter seven. It says, “After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.’” Relevant Life Church is a local body that is to be a foretaste of John’s vision in Revelation in the here and now.

We are committed to being a multiethnic church that embraces and celebrates our ethnic and cultural distinctions.

We are not only multiethnic, we are multigenerational. That means that we are made up of people who are at different stages in life. We want to avoid being the cool hip church that is nothing more than an advanced youth group. We need older believers who have wisdom as well as younger believers. Our church is a home for people of all ages and stages of life. We are fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters. Relevant Life Church is a faith family not an institution.

By God’s grace we want to grow to be a Christ-centered kingdom-focused community who loves God and loves our neighbor.

Why Are We Here?

We exist to glorify God by pointing people to Jesus through the preaching of the gospel, growing in the gospel as we live in multiethnic multigenerational community, and living the gospel by being on mission together in loving service to the world around us. You can sum up this statement with three words: Jesus, Community, and Mission. This is why Relevant Life Church exists.

Our vision and mission flow from the Great Commission of Jesus. Matthew 28:18-20 says, “And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’”

Jesus told the disciples in Acts 1:8, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

This is why we are here. We are here to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom of God and make disciples. The local church is made up of disciples of Jesus who are committed to obeying the command of Jesus to make disciples of Jesus. Every local body of believers is a kingdom outpost in the world established to advance God’s kingdom in the earth.

God's mission is our mission!

Praying in Awe and Wonder of God

In Matthew 6:9 Jesus tells his disciples to address God as Father, but he's not just our Father. He is our Father in heaven and his name is holy. In one verse we see that we have intimate relationship with God but we must never forget that he is God. Craig Blomberg says, "The phrase 'in heaven' balances this intimacy with an affirmation of God’s sovereignty and majesty."

Do we recognize who we are praying to? Are we in awe of his greatness when we pray?

The phrase "hallowed be your name" is both a posture and a petition. It is a posture because when we approach God in prayer we should do so in reverence to his great name. In our American way of thinking and culture names don't mean a lot, at least not in the way that they did in biblical times. In the Bible the name was always attached to the identity and character of a person. 

Throughout Scripture we see several names for God and they all reveal an attribute of God's nature and character. For instance, when God told Moses that he is the I AM, he was saying that he is the eternal self-existent One. Can we just let that sink in for a moment? Our God is eternal which means that he has no beginning and no end. Wow! Our finite minds cannot grasp such greatness. He always was, always is, and always will be. He is all-powerful, all-knowing, and present everywhere at all times yet in different ways. He is the creator of time and space and yet he moves and acts within time and space. He is God alone and there is no one like him. So our posture should be one of humility and reverence before him.

Now the petition is that his name would be regarded as holy. This has to start with us. Do we regard the name of God with honor? Are we careless with the name of God in our mouths? Is our walk humble and upright before him? One of the ten commandments tells us not to take his name in vain. That means that we must honor his great and holy name. May the name of God be hallowed in our lives and in all of creation. This understanding helps to set the tone of worship that should be present throughout our prayer lives.  

Praying as Sons and Daughters

Matthew 6:9 “Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.'"

In Jesus' famous Sermon on the Mount, he taught on a number of subjects. One of the subjects that he taught on in great detail was prayer. Most of our Bibles have the header that reads: The Lord's Prayer. However, this heading is a misnomer because Jesus isn't telling us how he prays, he is teaching his disciples how to pray. So a more accurate way to label this passage would be The Disciples' Prayer. 

What Jesus gives his disciples is a model of prayer. If one simply recites this passage, he or she isn't necessarily praying. We are being taught how to pray. When we approach Matthew 6:9-15 with this in mind, it opens up a treasure chest of truth that brings passion and life to our prayer lives. Here's what I mean.

The first thing that Jesus teaches us is how to approach God in prayer. This is important because Jesus uses language that was revolutionary in his time to describe our relationship with God. He uses the word Father to describe God. For instance, in Matthew 6:8 he says, "...your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. (NASB)" He used a term that spoke of intimate relationship with God. Craig Blomberg says, "Christians should consider God as accessible as the most loving human parent."

There is a glorious truth that is revealed in Jesus telling us to address God as our Father and it can be described in one word--adoption. Adoption is an act of God himself and it means that we have been made members of God's family. How did this happen? What does it mean? It happened because God chose us to be his adopted children before the foundation of the world. This was accomplished through the person and work of our Lord, Savior, and Brother, Jesus Christ. It means that when we call on the name of the Lord in prayer we are not doing so from a distance. The moment we say his name, he is listening to us. We have the attention of the One who created and sustains the universe. What a blessing!

I'll leave you with the words of R.C. Sproul on the topic of adoption and how it relates to prayer. In his book, The Prayer of the Lord, he says, "This is not something to be taken lightly. Every time we say the Lord's Prayer, every time we open our mouths and say, 'Our Father,' we should be reminded of our adoption, that we have been grafted into Christ and have been placed in this intimate relationship with God, a relationship that we did not have by nature. It is a relationship that has been won for us by the perfect obedience of the Son, who received an inheritance that was promised to Him from the foundation of the world, which inheritance He shares with His brothers and sisters who are in Him."

Everyone who has turned away from sin and towards Jesus Christ in faith is an adopted son or daughter in the family of God.

The Imago Dei

Genesis 1:26-27

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. (NASB)

Imago Dei is a latin term which means image of God. It is the belief that human beings were created by God in his image to be in fellowship with him and to be his stewards over all of creation. It is a simple truth but its implications are profound.

For instance, believing that every human being is created in the image of God guides us in how we treat our fellow man. This truth compels us to recognize the dignity that God himself has conferred upon everyone. The source of man's dignity is in God and not man. We can't give dignity to anyone because God has already done so. It is our place to recognize that God-given dignity and treat one another accordingly. When we refuse to recognize the image of God in a person or in a group of people, it is God who is being dishonored.

Esteeming people as God's image bearers isn't conditional. That means that both the believer and the unbeliever alike are created in the image of God. Also, no particular ethnicity is created more in the image of God than another. The born and the unborn are image bearers of God. Furthermore, Americans, non-Americans, Republicans, Democrats, conservatives, liberals, libertarians, gays, lesbians, bisexuals, heterosexuals, Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, atheists, agnostics, the orthodox theologian, the heretic, the protestor, the looter, that homeless man that smells horrible because he hasn't bathed in days, the prostitute on the corner selling her body, the drug addict, the drug dealer, the men and women that populate our prisons, the so-called thug, the immigrant whether legal or illegal, the white-collar worker, the blue-collar worker, the rich, the poor, the educated, the non-edcuated, the bourgie, and the down-to-earth are all created in the image of God.

Why does this matter? It matters because it is impossible to love someone that we view as subhuman. Evangelism is cold, mechanical, and even ethnocentric when the image of God is denied. Our discourse becomes disrespectful and violent because we perceive those who we disagree with us as enemies who must be subdued.

Most importantly, it matters because God actually became a human being so that other human beings might be reconciled to God and to one another. God in Christ reaffirmed the dignity of man. God in and through Christ esteems humanity. Let us affirm what God affirms and esteem what God esteems.

The Difference

Ephesians 4:17-24

Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds.They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.But that is not the way you learned Christ!— assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus,to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires,and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

Different. A simple word, right? But do we know how that simple word applies to us who have been saved by the grace of God? As I read through the Bible I can't help but notice how God is determined to show us the stark difference between his kingdom and the world, the difference between those who have been redeemed and those who have not. This difference goes far beyond our outward behavior patterns being modified. It is a divine difference that God works within us. It is a fundamental change in our nature wrought by God's Holy Spirit. The walk of discipleship is learning the reality of this difference. In following Jesus we embark upon a journey to walk in newness of life as we discover more and more who he is and what he has done to secure eternal salvation on our behalf. It is a life marked by being refreshed, nourished, and transformed by the power of the gospel. Spiritual growth finds it foundation in what God has already done in Christ. We would do well to not shift our focus away from the person and work of Jesus Christ. It is a well that will never run dry.

Spiritual growth finds it foundation in what God has already done in Christ.

When a Christian sins against the Lord and/or against other people I believe that the root issue is a crisis of identity. That is why Paul points to the person and work of Christ as the basis for his confronting the sin issues of the believers and calling them to repentance. This causes us to look at our reading of the Scriptures from a different perspective. We don't read the Bible to earn salvation, we read the Bible to learn salvation--how God saves sinners. A consistent healthy intake of the word of God is what leads us to being transformed by the renewing of our minds. Our thoughts and attitudes are brought in line with God's will and design and this results in us living changed lives for the glory of God. It results in us being different. It is this glorious difference that Paul expounds upon in his letter to the church at Ephesus.

A consistent healthy intake of the word of God is what leads us to being transformed by the renewing of our minds.

Paul tells the believers that they must not live as those who are unsaved live. He goes on to describe the unregenerate life as one marked by confusion, spiritual death, ignorance, unresponsiveness to God, lust, greed, and impurity. Now I must say at this point that the endeavor of the Christian to live differently is not an attempt to earn God's grace. Our efforts are useless to merit his grace in salvation. Paul was giving his exhortation based on who they were because of Christ alone. It is Christ who makes the difference. It is because of Christ that we are able to put off the corrupted old man and put on the new man. Having been brought from death to life by the power of the Holy Spirit, our minds--patterns of thought and attitudes--can be renewed.

We have been born again into the family of God with a new nature that is created after the likeness of God.

We have been born again into the family of God with a new nature that is created after the likeness of God. The Father foreordained to bring a people unto himself, the Son died as a sin-bearing substitute drinking the cup of God's wrath, and the Spirit carries out the act of regeneration in all of those who repent of sin and believe in Jesus Christ. God is not into fixing us up, he is into total glorious transformation. When we are saved we are made righteous before him with a righteousness that is not our own but gifted to us by Jesus. We are also created with a nature that is holy like our Father. He does not call us his children for the sake of pageantry. We are literally born again by the seed of his Word being implanted in our hearts which produces divine life within us. Our sins are forgiven, our allegiance has shifted, our names are written in heaven, and we are eternally embraced by the Sovereign Creator of the universe. The difference is so dramatic that is it irreversible. We are not different because we try to be but because he has willed us to be.

Forgiven to Forgive

The Church is a community of people who have  been saved by grace though faith in Jesus Christ. We are a family of sons and daughters who have been eternally adopted by God and made to be joint heirs with Christ. Within this context of Christian community and by God’s design we are called to do life together in fellowship, to labor in the ministry of the gospel together, to serve one another, to depend on one another, and to love one another. With all of that being said, us walking the walk of faith together is not as tidy as we would like it to be. If we're being honest here we can all admit that it is just downright messy sometimes!

Why is that?  

As Christians we are all being conformed by God to the image of his Son by the inner working of the Holy Spirit according to his word and none of us have reached the end of this process. We still have moral imperfections and character flaws and this presents a challenge to all of our relationships because our spiritual maturity does not happen in isolation. As God is maturing us this happens in community. As each individual believer is matured by God the body of Christ as a whole is being matured by God. We are all connected to each other. So as we are growing together there will be times where we will sin against God and also sin against each other.

That's why I believe one of the biggest threats to relationships within the Church is division caused by unforgiveness. 

Division happens when there is a break down in our relationships caused by carrying offenses which leads to unforgiveness. Walking in forgiveness is really not an option or suggestion, it is a command. Jesus spoke very plainly on this matter. He said that if we don't forgive others then we would not be forgiven. (Matthew 6:14-15)  Now I know that there are times when we are genuinely wronged by other people. Sometimes these wrongs are very serious and even traumatic. In instances such as these we need to be surrounded by godly loving people who are used by the Lord to walk us through the hurt. We live in a broken sinful world where abuse, neglect, rejection, abandonment, etc. happen on a daily basis. In this world bad things happen to every one of us. But the truth remains that no matter what the situation may be forgiveness for the Christian is not an option. Please understand that I am in no way advocating the church covering up abusive situations. If the authorities need to be made aware of a crime that has been committed against someone I believe that we have an obligation to alert the appropriate agencies. I am talking strictly about extending forgiveness to others here.

So how do we walk in forgiveness towards others?

I believe the key to walking in forgiveness lies within the gospel. If we don’t understand what it took for God to bring us into right relationship with himself, we will never be able to build and sustain right relationships with other people. God is the creator and ruler of all things. He is absolutely righteous, good, holy, and just. We are described in Scripture as weak, ungodly, rebellious, and sinful. (Romans 5:6-11)  As a result of being sinners and committed sins against God we deserve his righteous judgment which is his wrath. (Romans 1:18)  The Scriptures use very strong and vivid language to describe God's wrath but I still don't think we get it. I mean just think for a second, we are talking about eternal punishment without even the slightest possibility of being released from it. (Revelation 20:11-15)  That's the wages of our sin and we are all guilty of sinning. (Romans 3:23)

The good news is that even when were without God and alienated from him because of sin, he graciously and mercifully saved us. We were recused not based on any merit of our own but solely by his grace. (Ephesians 2:1-10) As the redeemed of the Lord, none of us deserved redemption but due to God's sovereign will and grace Jesus became our redemption. Not only did Jesus become our redemption, Jesus also became our righteousness. That means that God declares us right in his sight based on the obedience and sacrifice of Jesus. (Romans 5) When we repent of our sins and put our faith in Jesus, our debt of sin is canceled because Jesus paid it all on the Cross. (Colossians 2:13-15)

So when we experience God's amazing grace in the forgiveness of our sins, we are set free to extend forgiveness to others. It is only by believing in who Jesus is and what he has done on our behalf that enables us to reject unforgiveness and bitterness. It is hard to hold someone else's debt over their heads when we are being overwhelmed by God's love in that he has released us from our own debt that we could have never repaid.

Pray for Workers

Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.

Matthew 9:35-38

It is very easy to dwell on the ills of our culture. God knows there are many. Currently commentaries and critiques on our culture are in abundance. While it is easy to simply offer commentary and critique concerning the issues of our day (same-sex marriage, abortion, racism, immigration, religious extremism, etc.) it is something else entirely to actually engage the world around us. Speaking up and speaking out is indeed necessary but our words cannot be divorced from gospel-fueled action. You cannot genuinely engage culture without engaging the people who make up the culture. The ministry of the gospel is not an abstract endeavor, it involves building real relationships in a real world with real people who have very real problems.

Speaking up and speaking out is indeed necessary but our words cannot be divorced from gospel-fueled action.

So when Jesus looked at the world around him he didn't see issues he saw people bound by sin and in need of a Savior. He then told his disciples to pray for more workers. We are at a deficit where workers are concerned. We need more gospel workers whose sleeves have been rolled up and whose hands are dirty from faithfully laboring in the harvest of souls. This is not another task to add to our already overloaded schedules. This is the mission of the Church. We deserved death but in Christ we have received life. We deserved judgment but in Christ we have received mercy. We were orphans but in Christ we have been graciously adopted into the family of God. When we were once enslaved to a nature that sought to serve no one but ourselves God lovingly intervened to recreate us in his image to live for the highest purpose of his glory.

We need more gospel workers whose sleeves have been rolled up and whose hands are dirty from faithfully laboring in the harvest of souls.

The harvest is ready and no one person or one church can do it all alone. We need more workers. Let's pray earnestly to the Lord for workers as we ourselves set our hearts and our hands to do the work.