I had to be in Knoxville this morning to officiate the graveside service of a deceased loved one. On the way back to Morristown, I decided to take a short trip down a country road just to take in some of the fall foliage that graces this season. In doing so, I drove by a church sign. I love church signs because they often have some pretty creative messages. I know that many churches use their signs as a means of expressing their identity to the community.
The sign I passed this afternoon bore the following message: "We Stand on the KJV Bible." I thought about that for a minute. If the church sign is typically used to express an identity to the community, then what was this church trying to say about itself? Let me be quick to say that I'm not interested in getting into a debate about what translation someone uses. I'm certainly not interested in getting into the KJV-only debate. Personally, I study and preach from the NKJV, but I also use the KJV, NIV, NASB, and a number of other translations in sermon preparation. I also attempt to study the original language of the Scriptures - Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek.
Here's the question I want to ask: What does the church stand on? Does the church stand on a commitment to a Bible translation? Does it stand on a commitment to a particular denomination or convention? Does the church stand on what might be its long-standing traditions? While all those things might influence the ministry and operation of a church, I would think that the church might want to make an even greater public declaration of its identity. How about this - "We Stand on the Rock of Ages. His Name is Jesus Christ."
If you want people to know what translation of God's Word you prefer, that's fine - tell 'em. If you want people to know your denomination, traditions, etc., then tell them all that as well. But before all those, why not tell them about Jesus. After all, He alone is the Cornerstone of the church (1 Pet. 2:7).
Hi Todd,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post today on what we stand on. I too love to look at signs (especially church signs) while traveling. However, I become very aggravated by what I see. Earlier this year I was so irritated by church signs I wrote the following article:
http://www.dougjohnson.net/2010/01/signs.html
In regards to posting something about the church's rules to the community I feel we are very blind to our communities and their hopelessness that we, for some reason, feel obligated to tell them that without the right brand of sword, the right clothing, the right attitude, and the right lostness then they best not think they should step foot in our churches. I can only imagine the reply of Christ Himself to this situation - "Just because they weren't like you, you rejected them". Then, heaven forbid, the following words would be said:
And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’ [NKJV]
That was just a thought. I recently read an article from the Holman New Testament Commentary that contained the following:
Two bank robbers in Sangus, Massachusetts, walked into a small delicatessen, pulled out their guns, and demanded all the money in the cash register. The owner stashed all the money into a brown bag and laid it on the counter. Nervously, they grabbed the bag and fled. Later, in a safe place they opened the bag to divide their haul only to be completely surprised. The bag contained two pastrami sandwiches and a slice of baklava. They couldn’t believe it. In their nervous haste they picked up the wrong bag.
In the area of legalism and grace it is also easy to “pick up the wrong bag.” Legalism’s bag has written on it “do.” Legalism has within it a long list of deeds one must do to be saved. It offers spiritual sandwiches that are low in nutriments. [Max Anders, vol. 8, Galatians-Colossians, Holman New Testament Commentary; Holman Reference (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1999), 26.]
It further states:
legalism and grace are the two bags that rest on the counter of life. While the legalists may claim that their bag is full of wealth, in all reality, it is just an old bag with some dry, spiritual pastrami and baklava. The good news is that the wealth is found in grace. The bag of grace is full of forgiveness, joy, and eternal life. Which bag have you picked up? Which bag is in your possession? Legalism or grace? It will be a sad surprise to reach heaven’s gate to find that your bag is full of worthless legalism. It will be a sad plight to enter eternity utterly destitute. All religion, apart from grace, is worthless legalism. Beware! Which bag is yours? [Ibid, 27]
All that to say, if our number one concern what a person should know before entering our church is what version of the Word we expect them to use, then we have missed it all together. A non-Christian will look at that sign and mock Christianity. They will say under their breath that "they care more about their KJV than they do about me". What a sad "testament" of faith.
Christ was all about loving people and offering them hope. We should be like Christ.
Thanks again,
Doug
http://www.dougjohnson.net
Well said Doug. If our communities aren't getting the message that a Holy God loved us enough to send His only Son to die in our place, then I agree that something is terribly wrong.
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