And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, . . . so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. - Ephesians 4:11-12, 14.
I hear it from people who ‘worship’ at these emerging churches. They promise attendees that ‘this is the church for people who don’t like church’. What? People, if you don’t like church, that is all the more reason you need church! I don’t like getting stitches either but if I am going to have my wounds closed, I need them. And a person who doesn’t like church needs church more than the most ardent and frequent members of the congregation.
So these emerging churches, or as some refer to them, these ‘seeker-friendly churches’ throw away all but the most token references to the Bible. There is no fundamental exegesis of the Biblical texts and when books and verses are mentioned, they are subtly nuanced.
The danger of such preaching, if the presentation even meets the definition of preaching, is that it implies that true Christian doctrine is not as important as praise worshiping or anecdotal storytelling which may or may not even have a basis in Scripture. These are dangerous churches to find ourselves in. My advice to anyone who has the misfortune of winding up in one of these ‘snake-charmer circuses’ is to get out and run away as fast as they can.
We are Scripturally instructed that - “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” - John 4:24. But we must be careful to correctly understand what it means to worship in spirit and in truth. American Presbyterian scholar and pastor, Ligon Duncan, explains it well - “to worship in truth means to worship in accordance with the truth of and about Jesus — that He is the Son of God, the Messiah, and the only Savior of sinners.” Thus, to worship in the truth of Jesus Christ it is paramount that we understand Jesus as He is revealed in the Bible, not how some “mail-order minister” imagines Him to be.
Therefore, a minister or pastor has to meet certain ecclesiastical requirements. “He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.”* - Titus 1:9. The pastor must be a man of God in the truest sense of the word. The words ‘sound doctrine’ appear again - “But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine.” - Titus 2:1. Sound doctrine; that doesn’t include presenting Sunday services in a carnival atmosphere to the cacophony of loud rock music and a light show. The true danger here is that when we do so, we are actually engaging in what is known as ‘syncretic worship’. That means that we are taking secular or pagan religious practices and combining them with our Christian religion, which results in a bastardized form of worship. These are the waves that carry about every incorrect wind of doctrine, human cunning, craftiness, and deceitful schemes. There are many pseudo-Christian churches currently operating in 21st Century America, from your hometown ‘feel-good churches’ to the ‘health & wealth megachurches’. To find ourselves worshiping in one is no different than engaging in Voodoo, Shamanism, or Santeria. Remember, we are to worship in the truth of Jesus Christ.
We have a clear cut and knowable method of discerning between true worship and the worship of clowns, charlatans, sorcerers, and snake charmers - the Bible! “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.” - 1 John 4:1. Once again, it is incumbent upon us to know what we believe and to know why we believe it. That is why doctrine matters!
* Tabletalk Magazine; January 1st, 2005
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