The Word of God is all-sufficient! But there are those who treat it like trash - Like it is disposable. Continuing in the same vein we began last week, we are going to focus in on heresies that seek to undermine the authority, clarity, and sufficiency of the Scriptures. And so once again we must insist on devotion to the truth recorded in 2Tim. 3:16-17 – “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” Throughout the church age, passages such as this have been reaffirmed to demonstrate that the Word alone is all-sufficient to equip the saints. Unfortunately, this has to be reaffirmed over and over again because history reveals that men drift away from this truth too easily – Some forget it, others ignore it, and still others outright reject it.
A great demonstration of this can be seen in the practice of the Catholic church who believes church tradition is just as authoritative as the Scriptures, which led to the bold cry and reaffirmation of the reformers, “Sola Scriptura!” One of the greatest triumphs of the Protestant Reformation was this reestablishment of the Scripture’s authority and sufficiency. But Satan is not one to concede ground in this fallen world, and so even amongst the ranks of supposed Protestants, Scripture’s place of prominence has become compromised. Today you can see this taking place in a myriad of ways.
Rather than appealing to the Word to train, equip, correct, and instruct the saints, pulpits are filled with teachers who bring in various other sources to try and accomplish these ends. They appeal and promote psychological, sociological, philosophical, and even political ideologies from their pulpits. Their use of the Bible is scant at best, oftentimes quoting only a single text (usually completely out of context), and only because it seems to give validation to the ideology they are trying to disseminate. Their appeal is not so much that the saints would be faithful to the Word, but rather faithful to whatever agenda they are currently caught up with. Such is the subtle problem with relying on extra-biblical sources to equip the church. Whatever you preach from, is what you are calling people to believe in, and to be devoted unto.
Of course, the Roman Catholic Church wants people devoted to the Roman Catholic church, so they appeal to their own traditions as authoritative. But do we do any better? Are we promoting and preaching devotion to the Word, or are we promoting devotion to our own political viewpoints, our personal philosophies, our own definitions of morality, or whatever new buzz-word agenda the world spins out? Unless we thoroughly believe the Word of God is sufficient to “thoroughly equip” the saints, we will fall into trap of turning to other sources that are not based in the Word, that do not honor the Word, that do not agree with the Word, and actually undermine the Word.
O that the church in our land would be full of preachers who preach the Word! That pulpits would expound the Word, appeal to the Word, and trust the sufficiency of the Word! O that church members, and church elders, would not tolerate it when a preacher gravitates away from the Word. O that there would be a rejection of worldly methodology and worldly ideology in our churches. O that the pragmatic would not supersede the preeminent! The Word of God is all-sufficient and indispensable – Does your church really believe this is true? Just because a church says they do (in their “official” statement of beliefs on their website) doesn’t necessarily mean they practice accordingly. Is your church devoted to the sufficiency of the Scriptures? If not, what is it devoted to?
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