5 Nonnegotiable Truths of the Church

Let me give you what I think to be the skeletal, nonnegotiable issues first: a high view of God, a high view of God.  It is absolutely essential that the church perceive itself as an institution for the glory of God.  You understand that?  Now, that's so basic that it just—it seems like you wouldn't even need to say it.  But I believe the church, in general, in our country, has descended from that level to become a church for the help of men.  And the church thinks its goal is to help people feel better about themselves, to play psychological games with them, to patch up their marriages by putting on a black negligee, a rose in your teeth, and getting under the dining room table and winking at your husband, that kind of stuff.  I mean, if you've got a rotten marriage, you can do that and still have a rotten marriage, because there's some Biblical foundations, and there are relationships to God that are required between people if they're going to have right relationships with each other.  And those kinds of patching really aren't the answer; but we have reduced the church from a body or an organism which has, as its goal, to know and glorify God to, to an organization which has its objective to make people feel better about themselves.  And that's not the point. If you know God right, you'll be a whole lot better off.  The answer to everything in your life is to know God. The Lord's the beginning of all wisdom.  And when you have a right relationship with God, and you take God seriously, and you get rightly connected with God, then all other things fall out in their proper place. That is not to say we're unconcerned about people's needs.  We are concerned, as God is, as Christ is.  But it is to say that there is a balance, and everything begins with a high view of God.  We must take God seriously.  I sometimes wish that God would strike some people dead during church service. I don't wish that real strongly, because I might be the guy.  But I mean, some dramatic way to illustrate that God must be taken seriously.  We say, oh, you know, somebody dies or something happened, "How could God let that happen?"  Listen, friend, that isn't even the question.  The question is what are you and I doing alive?  A holy God should've blasted us out of existence long ago.  That's the issue.  And because God is gracious is no reason for you and I to be complacent and indifferent.  We got to take God seriously. I have problems with people who drag God off His throne and turn Him into some kind of a servant for men, who has to do all the things they demand. It's irreverent.  It does not know how to worship.  Even what it calls worship, basically, in many cases, is simply inducing a warm feeling, and they think that's worship.  It knows little about God, too many Marthas and not enough Marys.  We're busy serving all the time, and we don't know what it is to bow down and wash Jesus' feet.  We don't know what it is to tremble at God's Word.  We don't know what it is to have an awesome confrontation with an infinitely holy God that leaves us broken over our own sinfulness and, therefore, usable to Him for His glory.  We want to feel good about ourselves.  We want ourselves to feel good.  We want to get all that we need, have all our problems solved, and we're being offered religious psychology that is called the church. There are so many books out there that writes about solving all our problems. I wonder how many books are available in the early church. They did read articles on how to connect with God. They got it right and the church is holy to God. 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you. (James 4:8) We don’t look at the Bible as a place where you find little formulas to solve all our problems. We look at the Bible that reveals who God is and who we are to Him. There's a second nonnegotiable, and it flows right out of the first, and that is the absolute authority of Scripture. The Bible is constantly being attacked. Lewis Smedes, a professor at Fuller Seminary wrote: “it's perfectly all right for two homosexual men to have a relationship, that's within the tolerance of God”. You cannot teach the Word of God and yet deny its authority. Many religious denominations are attacking the Bible by adding all their visions and all their revelations and all their other things. They said, Jesus is telling them this; and Jesus is telling them that; and God's speaking to them over here and over there; and they got all this material being piled up; they've subtly undermined the Bible, because it's no longer the single authority. We will hold God's Word up as the absolute authority.  The Bible is always attacked.  The worst attack of all is by the people who say they believe and don't know what it teaches.  That's the worst of all. There are people who say, "I believe the Bible from cover to cover."  They don't know it word by word.  They just believe what they don't know, which is the height of ignorance. 4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’” (Mt. 4:4) If we are fed word for word by God, then we must know every word of God. Fellowship is important but not as a replacement for the Word of God. In fact, fellowship should be defined in accordance with scripture, the best fellowship one can have. My family is fortunate to be involved in a Church that puts a high view on expository preaching. 12 years since June of 2006 we have learned and keep on learning the truths of God’s word. The knowledge we acquire is endless, the wisdom we gain is priceless. Pride is the greatest enemy when you think you have enough, had it all figured out. Third nonnegotiable: Sound Doctrine.  You start with a high view of God, and if you make your commitment to God, then you're going to have to stick with His revelation, His Word.  If you make a commitment to His Word, you're going to be stuck with what it teaches, and that's sound doctrine. There is an existing doctrinal vagueness in this age. Nobody’s screaming truth about God, truth about life, death, heaven, hell, truth about man, sin, Christ, angels, Holy Spirit, the position of the believer, the flesh, the world, or anything. The problem does not lie in the difficulty of comprehending doctrinal truths but the reluctance and lack of desire to understand doctrinal truths. One question would solicit various answers and there is one clear answer in the Word. Everyone seems contended to choose answers that pleases them. We're committed to drawing some biblical conclusions. We teach the Word of God clearly with principles that are divine truths. You want to know about salvation, we teach clear and concrete truths about salvation. You want to know about hell, we teach clear and concrete truths about hell. A fourth nonnegotiable is personal holiness. We live in an unholy world populated by unholy people. The world is currently bombarding us with unrealistic and illogical views, some are totally insane and nonsense. It would be ridiculous to think that you would go and exposed yourself to watching and reading trash and not pay a price. It it’s troublesome for us, how much more the chaotic minds of our kids. We are called to a purity of life, we don’t compromise that, we want to enforce the holiness standard. 1 Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. (2 Cor. 7:1) We must all discipline ourselves from such defilements. That is one reason why if somebody is caught sinning, we have to go to him and resolve it. We must prevent gossip and slander be in the way for us to effectively discipline each other. It is a loving thing to do. Where are we in terms of our prayer life? Where are we in terms of studying and meditating the Word of God? Where are we in terms of holiness?  Where are we in terms of real communion with the living God? We cannot just sit back and live half-committed Christian lives and expect God's work to be done God's way. Fifth nonnegotiable is Spiritual Authority. The church must understand that there is authority over those people in that church and that authority is Christ, who is the head, who mediates His rule through godly elders. That can be abused. There are men who get into that seat of authority, and they wield that authority as if it were authority given to them by the office or by their own personality.  It isn't that.  It's the authority of the Word of God in the hands of a godly man. The only authority leaders have is to speak and apply the Word of God, and when a man gets outside of that, he violates it; but when it comes to the Word of God, there is authority there. The church must understand that there has been given in the church those who are to be our leaders; and in 1 Thessalonians 5, it says to honor those people, to esteem them highly in love's sake for their work.  And in Hebrews 13, it says submit to them, for they watch for your souls.  Follow their example.  And we have a plurality of leaders here in the Fil-AM ABF.  It will not be flawless; and it will not be perfect. If the church is going to be the body of Christ, it has to have the right framework.  It has to have a high view of God, and that has to be its pursuit:  to know Him, to know Him, to know Him.  And in seeking to know Him, it has to have a high view of Scripture, for that is the place where alone He may be known.  And so we will have that high view of Scripture; and we will be committed to doctrinal clarity, sound doctrine, personal holiness; and we will submit our souls to the care of those who are over us in the Lord in spiritual authority.