Covenant Presbyterian Church

Even among the creed-less, one confession persists and trumps all others: "I believe in whatever is meaningful to me." Whether it is made in reference to doctrine, worship forms, or personal piety, today’s canon or rule is, "I like this." There are all kinds of reasons, good or bad, why we like something. But here is the crux. What is my standard of evaluation? How do I judge if what I perceive as meaningful to me is in fact honoring to God and, therefore, truly in my best interests? Why do I like this? Do my likes and dislikes define reality? Do I really believe that God is so pliable that that I am free to believe what I want, worship how I like, and practice his religion by my personal preferences? Asking and legitimately answering these questions brings us back to that thorny, obstinate little issue of authority. Is there an authority that trumps my personal tastes and preferences, that should in fact shape them? Or, and I fear this is the most common position, am I alone in the existential island of life, without any pole star, rudder, or oar beyond my own feelings and inner voice?

There is also the closely related issue of dynamism. We have become convinced, somehow by someone, that personally meaningful and presently relevant truth, worship, and practice, are marked by excitement. How many times have we heard an enthusiastic believer exclaim, "I really felt God there?" Perhaps it was the charismatic speaker, the exciting music, or the really-with-it children’s programs. It is possible, however, and very likely, that we have imposed a worldly standard upon God. He must excite, enthuse, and satisfy our senses if we are to believe he is present and respond to him in faith. We have now reached the point where most everything we do as Christians, in the Church, in our personal lives, must meet this criterion. If it does not, something is wrong, not with me, but with others, with my present experience of God, with others who do not know how to meet my needs, or with my current church home.

One of the greatest ironies of which I am presently aware is the lack of power in the modern Church, at least its American expression. One would think that the hoopla, endless round of new programs and activities with catchy names, and worship services with rock concert electricity would indicate if nothing else a dynamic Church. It depends upon how one defines dynamic. I believe many of us mistake momentary emotional elevation with a legitimate experience of God’s presence and power. We have grown so immature that excitement has become a frustrated substitute for substance. Why?

In the organic development of the life of the Church, the Holy Spirit is the personal, living, and guiding principle of life. He is the bond or seal of the union between Christ and the believer, the One through whom the Lord Jesus dwells with us, brings the blessings of his salvation and reign into our lives, and sanctifies us that we might be like him (2 Cor. 3:17,18; Eph. 1:13,14). How does the Spirit work, exert his power, and make his presence and will known? These are the questions that divide the Church today. On the one hand, liberal churches long ago decided that the Holy Spirit is really nothing but the "spirit of the age" in which we live. Hence, they determined to make the gospel compatible with the perceived social needs and philosophical commitments of the broader culture. This gave birth to modernism in the Church, and now its death rattle, post-modernism. All truth is relative; the Bible is a record of how men in the past tried to understand God and can serve at best as a pointer to religious truth, perhaps opening a portal to an existential encounter with God. As these denominations die, we should ask why.

On the other hand, the Charismatic movement arose in the 60’s and 70’s to fill the perceived void created by the bland externalism and social gospel of the mainline churches. Here was a movement that purported to bring the Holy Spirit, to bring real spiritual life, back to center stage. Yet it did not take long to recognize that this branch of the Church suffered from some systemic disease, something that caused it to degenerate quickly into mysticism, moral relativism, and empty emotionalism.
Another group of believers has been watching this with periodic interest. It is led by the Baptists and the Presbyterian churches that fled from the mother church before she breathed her last. Throughout much of this period, these groups have maintained that the Christian faith is more than a social gospel or a spiritual experience. They have generally defended the older commitments to an infallible, inspired Bible, some measure of decent order in the worship and government of the Church, and the importance of living by the Bible as the believer’s ethical standard. But over the past couple of decades, something has been happening in this group as well. The social forces of post-modernism and the perceived need for more dynamism has led some of these churches to seek various forms of renewal to sustain and increase membership, to feel more relevant in the broader culture, and, quite frankly, to compete with the "energy" of the seeker-friendly and charismatic oriented churches. This is why many old-line Baptist and historically evangelical Presbyterian churches are now experiencing an identity crisis of monumental proportions. Again, we must ask why.
I would suggest that a central issue in each of these examples is a failure to perceive how the Spirit works in the Church, where his true dynamic lies and how we may share in his life. Stated as simply as I know how, there is no true, lasting, or dynamic life apart from the Word of God, of which the Spirit is the author. You see, in each of these denominations and churches a split has taken place - not a congregational split, though these have often occurred, but a more fundamental separation of two things that cannot "function" unless they are united: the personal Holy Spirit and the written Word. The non-exciting denominations that became spiritual laboratories to test every new philosophical, ethical, and cultural theory are dead or dying; the remaining branches that have any life are endeavoring to leave. The super-exciting denominations like the charismatic church and the seeker-friendly, entertainment, experienced based churches have fallen into the quagmire of ethical relativism; beating drums have not preserved them. The identity crisis churches are caught somewhere in the middle, wanting to avoid the horrible excesses of both but uncertain how to proceed.
If we are to avoid either extremes or uncertainty, we must understand and hold firmly to the biblical relationship between the Spirit and the Word. The Bible teaches that the ideas, sentences, and even individual words have the Holy Spirit for their author (1 Cor. 2:10-14). Our Savior affirmed this, and Paul was so committed to this that even single letters of words were deemed authoritative indicators of the mind and saving purposes of God (see Matt. 5:17-20; Gal. 3:16). They did not simply affirm that the Bible was generally from God and could serve a religious pointer to help us in our individual quests for God, but that the Holy Spirit personally and providentially superintended and directed the biblical authors so that their personal backgrounds, individual aptitudes, and even personalities were used by him to give the Word of God to the Church (1 Pet. 1:11,12; 2 Pet. 1:19), the final Word (Jude 3), the all-sufficient Word (1 Tim. 3:16,17), the living Word (Heb. 4:13).
Therefore, against the claim that a Word-based, Bible-based faith places the Spirit in a box, limits his work in the Church today, or suppresses individual expressions of faith, we must respond that the written Word is the Spirit’s box. In other words, if we would understand the will of God, be where the Spirit is, and know how to serve the Lord Jesus in our day, there is only one "safety zone:" the written Word of God. For you see, our God is a speaking, revealing God. He has never authorized that we can understand his will by private illumination, spiritual mysticism, or emotional "leadings." If we would be where the Spirit of truth and life is, we must be in his Word, not simply reading it occasionally, but recognizing that fellowship with the Spirit, enjoying his life and leading, and experiencing the power of the living Vine, Jesus Christ, are inseparably connected to the written Word. This is the box of life, of true dynamism and power, of legitimate relevance and safety. Everything else leads either to denominational externalism, experimentation, and death or denominational chaos, mysticism, and radical relativism. The Holy Spirit and the Written Word: these are not two opposing principles, one for the emotion-sensitive believer and the other for the rationally inclined believer. We must not separate what God has joined together. There is no legitimate experience of the Spirit or use of the mind unless we recognize the union of the Spirit and the Word.
The modern Church is consumed with the pursuit of the dynamic. Let me suggest an alternative path. We have seen what happened to the mainline churches when they gave up the written Word in pursuit of the "Spirit" as revealed in the movements of the age; they died. Little life is left in them. We are seeing what is happening in the charismatic and seeker-friendly churches, which are again seeking to have the dynamic or power of the Holy Spirit apart from the written Word. They are becoming ridiculous, circuses of spiritual experience without substance, rapidly falling into ethical relativism, complete doctrinal ignorance, and cultural irrelevance. And we might mention those who are dangerously close to separating the Word and the Spirit in a different direction. These are Bible-based churches, strongly committed to the authority and inspiration of Scripture, avidly dedicated to the study and exposition of the written Word. These are in danger, if they do not recognize the Spirit’s work in this and their ongoing need of his direct, illuminating power, of falling into rationalism.
There is a medium, a biblical medium. The Word is living, powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword because it is the Word of the Spirit. It is certain that "the faith" has been once for all revealed (Jude 3). There will be no more revelation or Scripture from the Spirit because in Jesus Christ the final Word has been spoken (Heb. 1:1). All we need for life and godliness, doctrine and worship, piety and practice, has been definitively revealed. This need not make us bookworms, religious clerics, or bastions of icy intellectualism. Rather, we must recognize that the Word is living: it has been finally and fully revealed, meeting all the needs of the Church until the Second Coming of our Savior. It is not as if, however, we have a religious book that we can mine in our own wisdom and intelligence, an encyclopedia of truth requiring only the right principles of interpretation, mental acumen, and a large library. It is the Word of the Spirit. We still require his ongoing illumination in order to understand it properly, obey it, and to wisely apply it to the needs of our day. And to the degree that we recognize it as the Word of the Spirit, we will come to him personally each day for illumination, flock as hungry men to its preaching, and pray for its wisdom and power to transform our lives, families, and progressively, the world (see Eph. 1:17-23).
Hence, a Church will never be truly dynamic unless it has both of these: a high, unswerving commitment to the authority, sufficiency, finality, and relevance of the written Word and an equal dedication and submission to the Holy Spirit, its divine author, who leads us in the paths of righteousness, gives us power and even enthusiasm, and sanctifies us in the image of our Savior as we yield to his Word personally, prayerfully, and expectantly. If we want dynamics in our day, let us return to the Word and to the Spirit. If we are handling the Word rightly, this will always lead us back to the Spirit, who alone can illumine our minds, empower our wills until obedience, and sanctify our passions so that we can know and experience its relevance, transforming power, and sweet delights. If we are thinking rightly of the Spirit, this will always lead us to the Word, for his will, presence, and power cannot be known apart from the authoritative, objective standard of his own Word.
American Christianity is in a sad state, and tragically, it is self-inflicted. And in this state, it is seeking to recover its vitality and relevance by separating what God has forever joined. We can have a dynamic message again, and, yes, even watch the Spirit’s power unfold in our midst. This will not occur, however, by neglecting his Word. It is through the Word that he exerts his saving, quickening, and transforming power. Let us walk with the Spirit each day. This will lead us to the Word, prayerfully, personally, and submissively read and obeyed. Let us walk in the Word each day. This will lead to the Spirit, the presence of our Savior, and the enjoyment of the benefits he obtained for us by his life, death, and ascension. This alone is the dynamic Christian life.