Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. Psalm 1:1-3.
When we talk about being biblically focused we think about truth. We live in a world where churches are sliding away from historical biblical doctrine and adding new nuances to their statements. Addressing the ebb and flow of cultural shifts is critical and we have seen many issues surface. Sometimes this can be really helpful and sometimes not. The challenge in a broken world is the ever-shifting paradigm of truth, the growing doubt around the trustworthiness of God’s Word and the temptation to make ourselves the final authority of truth because the only truth that matters is our own truth.
The first thing that may come to mind is what the church believes. One of the more significant shifts has been when churches start disagreeing on truth. What might be a better way to think about this is when churches champion particular principles in the Scriptures but isolate them from the bigger picture and their focus and methodology departs from historical truth, or at least historical practices. Practices are one thing; truth is quite another.
Consequently, when we think of staying biblically focused we often rely on the church to be the foundation and guardian of the truth. One of the roles of Elders is to protect the church from sliding away from truth. It does not matter if it is theological truth or biblical principles, all truth is God’s truth. Most count on the church to be the guardian of biblical truth. People are very concerned about doctrine and the truth, as they should be, and what the church believes becomes a guidepost for the individual. The church is that unshakable foundation and guardian of God’s truth.
Preaching becomes the expression of biblical truth. Listeners automatically vet what is proclaimed from the pulpit to see that it aligns with biblical revelation. This is a good thing. We are long past those days where the pastor / priest is the sole authority of interpreting and understanding truth, which again, is a good thing. But well proclaimed truth is a refuge for the faith community as they continue to have their minds and hearts watered by the truth of God’s Word and the active presence of the Holy Spirit.
The most critical component is for each one of us to take responsibility to be personally focused on biblical truth. The Christian life is not about promoting our own imagination, the teaching, and traditions of men. We have chosen, through faith in Christ, to submit ourselves to God’s Word as the defining and practical authority for faith and practice. This, of course, is much easier said than done.
James put it perfectly, be careful not to be hearers of the Word but not doers of the Word. We live in a world where giving a Facebook “like” or checkmark affirms a good idea without any thought to how truth ought to change my attitude, behavior, or activity in life. We have mastered the ability to talk about truth, explore truth, discuss, and debate truth, but completely ignore our personal responsibility to obey truth.
The breakdown of truth is not truth, in and of itself. It does not need our support to remain truthful. The danger is that we begin to neglect truth and invent our own truth. We decide that God’s truth is not as helpful as creating our own truth. It does not always give us what we want, and we want what we want. God’s truth often “gets in the way” of our distractions in life so it is easier to ignore it than obey it. We love to agree with His truth but sometimes have little interest in keeping that truth. Truth requires me to change my way of doing things to do things God’s way, and in our instant gratification world, remaining faithful to His will rather than my own will, is often irreconcilable.
Knowing truth is vital, but I often expose my conviction that I am not as interested in what you know as I am in what difference it makes in your life. Knowledge makes arrogant, love edifies. Being hearers of the Word breeds disaster while obedience to truth builds a strong, unshakable life. That is what it means to be biblically focused.
Pastor Brad
