A Call: Teach The Bible

Andre Stephens, director of undergraduate admissions at BIOLA [University], said that - in the six years since he’s held the position - an interesting number of freshman applicants are having trouble articulating their faith in their entrance interviews.

. . . evangelicals are accepting beliefs that would have horrified people 50 years ago . . . To make Christianity seem more “tolerant” and, thus, more acceptable to the culture, other “harsh” doctrines are being watered down . . . Including the reality of sin, the wrath of God, and the exclusivity of Jesus as the only Way. “When we lose those doctrines, the glory of our salvation is also lost because a Savior no longer seems necessary,” he said.

Coupled with this de-emphasis of the “harsh” teachings is a growing emphasis on . . . more therapeutic” teachings, such as how to live a good life, have a good marriage, and be a good parent. “These are important teachings,” he said, “but there seems to be an unbalanced emphasis on making Christianity relevant to this life, rather than preparation for the life to come.” (Evangelicals on the Decline. “BIOLA Connections.” 2002, p. 13)

Third Alarm.Then in 2006 another alarm was sounded in the article “Ditching Doctrine” published in BIOLA Connections. The message of the article was that doctrine had become a dirty word, and 47% of pastors now reject the doctrines of the trinity, hell, sin, exclusivity of Jesus, and believe that the Bible has errors. So it is not a surprise that at a well-known pastors' conference in California some pastors have discovered that they do not have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. It is not a surprise that for the first time in their lives, some tell God that they are sinners, that they believe in Jesus Christ, and that they will allow Him to change their lives. It is also not a surprise that some who claim to be Christians are not Christians. When one does not know the Bible, how can one know God? When one does not know the things the Bible teaches, how can one become a mature Christian (Heb. 5:11-14; 1 John 2:12-14)?

In May 2006, my wife and I attended a very large church on Father’s Day. The music was lively and contemporary. The musicians on stage were very professional. Eventually, the pastor started his message with a 3-4 minute video about fathers. His message was from the book of Esther, and he focused on Mordecai as a model father. His illustrations for his message were from Mordecai’s interactions with Esther. He told the audience that Mordecai was a great example of how a father should encourage, protect, and provide for his children. Those were his three points. Then he ended his message with a 5 minute secular video about a father’s dedication to his son. His entire message, including both videos, lasted 20 minutes. The video was very moving emotionally and masterful. But the pastor never mentioned God or Jesus Christ. He never said that a good father would be a Christian and a spiritual example of holiness to his children. He never said that a godly father should seek to be like Jesus Christ, teach the Bible to his family, pray with them, take them to church, or be an example of faithfulness. God was never mentioned and the service was over. How would someone who was seeking God learn about God and what God desires? Later I discovered that this was typical of this church.

A personal friend once said that he did not preach the Bible in-depth to his congregation since they were not very intelligent and would not be able to understand him. He did not stop to think that maybe his responsibility as a pastor was to teach and to help them know the Bible. He did not stop to realize that by his teaching through every book of the Bible and by explaining the passages in-depth, his people would grow in their understanding of the Bible and mature in their walk with God. This requires one to study the Bible.

The article “Ditching Doctrine” summarizes the issue as follows,

A 20-minute sermon may only include five minutes of biblical content,” said Dr. Jonathan Kim, an associate professor of Christian education at Talbot. Even small groups, these days, are mostly about relationships and life-related issues.” (Smith, R. Scott, Ditching Doctrine. “BIOLA Connections. Summer.” 2006. p. 15)

What Shall We Look For? How should we respond? If we are more content with developing relationships with one another in this life or being entertained than in discovering God, then we will do nothing. But if we want to know God, then we will seek to find Him in the pages of the Bible.

The apostle Paul challenged Timothy to teach the Bible to those in his congregation.

Until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching . . . Take pains with these things; be absorbed in them . . . Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you. (NASB) 1 Tim. 4:13-16

Notice that Paul challenged Timothy to give attention to three things: reading of Scripture, exhortation, and teaching. Immediately, we discover that teaching is not reading nor is it exhortation. Otherwise, Paul would not have used three different words. Reading is a concept we understand. Exhortation is an encouragement to a course of action. Many call exhortation the application derived from the passage or “How do I live my life?” But teaching is something different. It is not reading nor exhortation. Biblical teaching should explain the meaning of each verse and sometimes the meaning of words and phrases in a verse. Background information should be provided and the meaning of key Hebrew and Greek words as needed. Yet, many pastors and teachers spend most of their time on exhortation and very little time explaining the meaning of the Bible or doctrine.

There are three basic types of messages that pastors and teachers tend to give. The first message is one in which the Bible passage is read and then ignored. The speaker then presents illustrations and jokes and an application.

In the second type of message, the pastor or teacher reads the passage and then may teach only a part of the passage - a verse, a phrase, or a word and then ignore the rest of it. Sometimes an overview of the passage is given with very little detail. This is usually a clue that the pastor or teacher has not taken the time to discover the meaning for himself. His heart is not emotionally "on fire" because he has not spent time in the passage seeking its truths. As a result, the speaker fills the rest of the message with illustrations and a biblical application. Sometimes the goal of the speaker is to capture only the main thought of the passage. As a result, the passage does not come alive with the details of people, places, events, and doctrinal truth. Difficult passages are often avoided and key concepts and doctrine may never be explained. Unfortunately, such an approach does not completely and adequately explain the Bible, nor does it teach the listeners how to study the Bible by example. Some Christians wonder how teachers and pastors discover the meaning of the Bible. The truth may be that they did not study the passage, or simply used another's sermon or materials. Sometimes the passage does not teach what the speaker says it does.