Many in our Christian communities want to suppress the use of the biblical scriptures when operating in the world as evangelists. They instead want to make their love and compassion alone serve as a substitute for the wisdom and truth that The Lord has provided through the Spirit in the scriptures.
The Lord feels differently about the approach we takeke when doing his work.
Don't diminish a word.
Jeremiah 26:2b-3
"Do not hold back a word. Perhaps they will listen and turn—each from his evil way of life—so that I might relent concerning the disaster that I plan to do to them because of the evil of their deeds."
You have to understand, God sends his prophets, teachers, and preachers, in order that the wicked will turn and not die, because he doesn't want them to die in their sins.
This is what the Lord says: "If you do not listen to me by living according to my instruction that I set before you and by listening to the words of my servants (ministers) the prophets—whom I have been sending to you time and time again, though you did not listen—I will make this temple like Shiloh. I will make this city an example for cursing for all the nations of the earth."
Jeremiah 26:5-6
Some will say, Vox populi...the voice of the people is the voice of God. When the people live by the voice of the man on the street, and not the Spirit at work in God's word, but instead hold back the word of God, the ways of the people inevitably become wicked. And for this reason the community of evangelists, teachers, preachers, and Pastors, must not forbid the telling of the fulness of the gospel of truth. You cannot bring revival into the darkness without the light of God's word guiding your way.
How will you find your way?
How will the Spirit speak to you and lead you into his works if not through the remembrance of Christ Jesus' life found in the scriptures?
When we speak through the scriptures we discover Christ and his teachings. And by the way we are doing what he did. Jesus spoke scripture to defend himself against the Devils temptations. Jesus spoke through the scriptures to instruct his followers, he reasoned with them and explained when to find him from within those scriptures. And finally Jesus sent his Holy Spirit to instruct the followers to write down his words so that all people will come to faith, right thinking, and know the heart and mind of God.
People use the phrase, "I believe..." all the time. This means that people, all people, live by creeds. This means they live by some doctrine of faith. What that faith attests to can be widely understood and interpreted, but it's a faith nonetheless.
Creeds and doctrine provide riverbanks that will hold together the rushing rivers of faith waters. These riverbanks control the storm waters. They quite literally create watersheds. They don't allow for people to make whatever they desire of the truth.
When someone says to you, "this is my truth", be prepared to run. It's very likely what you're about to see happen is you'll witness someone struggling around amid the swamp and slough of Liberalism that has creeped into "their truth" when they first stepped out of the riverbanks. Their feet are no longer firmly planted in the word of God. Their teams of people who serve in the missions are being swept along by the spirit of the age. They've stepped out of the riverbanks and forgot their creeds, confessions, and doctrines. And they are mapless. They are lost in the swamp. Vulnerable now, exposed. The swamp creatures will bite them and infect them, poisoning them with indifferentism to God's word.
The snake's entire purpose for biting its victims is to weaken it and slowly break down its will to resist being swallowed alive. Today we are seeing what the luke warm wordless churches have accomplished is we've raised up generations of heretics. Generations of children have not been raised up in God's words. And so are we surprised by the state of things?
What comes from the doctrine of the word, from our thrology, is we gain knowledge and understanding of God's words for us. We gain HIS truth and learn how to follow him in the ways he desires, towards the places he desires we should go. His word keeps us within the riverbanks of HIS truth. His word keeps us IN CHRIST, in his way.
Too many people have too many unbalanced truths that look inward rather than looking up. And these people must understand that we are not subjectly serving a god of relative truth. We must understand that we CANNOT tell GOD what is truth by examining our own natural history, environments, confusions, and lifestyle choices. We cannot define and explain God's character and will for our lives better than he already has in HIS scriptures. And because we have HIS gospel we MUST live according to HIS word.
What a wonderful thing is God's word...
Romans 11:33-36
"Oh, the depth of the riches
and the wisdom and the knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments
and untraceable his ways!
For who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counselor?
And who has ever given to God,
that he should be repaid?
For from him and through him
and to him are all things.
To him be the glory forever. Amen."
And therefore..."reasonable service.”
Romans 12:1-2
"Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true reasonable worship. Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God."
God desires worshipers who offer Him authentic, heartfelt, and radically lived-out devotion based on a solid foundation of the gospel truth found in his word. God (Jesus) called it Spirit and Truth (John 4:24). How will you raise up generations of radical authentic worshipers without the theological doctrines found in God's word? We must rightly understand them and probably more inportantly we must rightly apply them.
Humble, wise, intelligent, loving, thoughful, gracious, steadfast, kind, dogmatic, beauty...all these theological principles of the godly life are being shared throughout the gospels teaching us about the heart and mind of God and helping us to adopt that very same mindset as best as a wicked human can.
Let us resist instead the spirit of the age that wants us to shut up about the bible.
Speak the truth and live and worship by it in Spirit and in Truth.
God bless you and keep you now and forever.