Stumbling Through Darkness

I have fond, painful memories of playing games with our daughters. I tried to provide plenty of Dad-time. They usually wanted to play a game. Our oldest hated “Trouble” because her younger sister would OFTEN beg to play it. Not sure why she liked it so much. Maybe it was the loud popping noise. More likely because it would annoy Big Sis.

Big Sis would get her revenge though. She would choose “Twister”. Little Sis was too short to reach the next color dot. But one game they could both agree on was the blindfold game. And Dad always had to go first!

What that meant was, Dad would collide with the coffee table, fireplace, and pretty much everything that could bruise his shins. Our girls were dyed-in-the-wool sadists. They hooted and hollered every time poor Dad ran into something…which was a lot. The shins have never been the same. Who invents a game where you stumble through the dark?

In a similar way, I can’t imagine enjoying one of those “dine in the dark” restaurants. More bruised shins. Hopefully they don’t allow sharp cutlery at the table. “Wow, this bread is hard to cut! And why is the person next to me screaming?”

Why would we want to eat or play a game in the dark when we have access to light? Most things are best done with plenty of light. Sleeping being the main exception. Truth should be sought with all available light. But there are times when we seek answers in the dark. This is sad when we have plenty of light but choose to not use it.

God has provided ample light in the Scriptures. So we must avail ourselves of the rich knowledge and instruction in His word. We need it to guide our thinking on every issue. Scripture should always challenge our thinking. All of it. Even areas where the Bible doesn’t give specific instruction, it does provide worldview, motive, attitude and relationship guidelines that should impact every issue. Is this a new idea?

Standing on Scripture was the practice of Jesus and the apostles. Consider how often they appealed to Scripture to either challenge their audience or validate their teaching. They appealed to it explicitly: “It is written” (Luke 19:46); “Have you not read” (Matthew 12:3); “Did you never read in the Scriptures” (Matthew 21:42); “You are mistaken, not understanding the Scriptures” (Matthew 22:29); “Have you not even read this Scripture” (Mark 12:10); “Is this not the reason you are mistaken, that you do not understand the Scriptures” (Mark 12:24); “Has it not been written in your Law” (John 10:34). While in Thessalonica, Luke reported that Paul “for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures” (Acts 17:2). Paul asked his readers, “what does the Scripture say” (Romans 4:3; Galatians 4:30); and then this, “do you not know what the Scripture says” (Romans 11:2). James taught “according to the Scripture” (James 2:8). Apostles like Jude and Peter appealed to Old Testament Scripture to support their arguments even without saying “it is written”.

Early Christians were commended for ensuring all teaching had Scriptural support. Acts 17:1-12 “Now these [Jews in Berea] were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily, to see whether these things were so”.

The Jews in Thessalonica did not search the Scriptures to see if Jesus fulfilled the OT prophecies about the Messiah. Instead, Luke reported that the Thessalonian Jews responded out of jealous anger rather than biblical knowledge (v. 5) when they saw that some of their own people followed the apostles. They refused to let their long-held beliefs be challenged by the truth of Scripture. Rather than submitting to Scripture, they used emotions stirred by jealous anger to incite a mob to create an uproar.

God’s word provides instruction, insight and understanding to help us navigate even the most difficult issues.

I’m talking about subjects and issues related to the gospel, ethics, doctrine, church life, the Christian’s life and relationships. Why should we submit to God’s word instead of worldly arguments or strong emotions?

The light we need is found in God’s word. As I mentioned above, we must avail ourselves of the rich knowledge and instruction God has provided in His word to guide our thinking about every issue. Consider what Scripture claims about itself:

“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105). God’s word provides instruction, insight and understanding to help us navigate even the most difficult issues. Sometimes it provides instruction about specific issues like, “Is it OK to be anxious?” At other times, it provides guidelines and principles to follow when making a decision, such as “Whom should I marry?” At this point you may wonder, “Why can’t I just figure this out on my own?”

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge” (Proverbs 1:7). We must humble ourselves before God and submit to His word if we are to benefit from His revealed knowledge. Too often we try to figure things out on our own, sometimes because we don’t like the Bible’s answer. We must submit to God in respectful fear and trust His direction provided in His word. “But what if I’d rather wait for a sign from God or wait for God to talk to me directly? Isn’t that better than Scripture?”

We must be a people of the Word. Paul commanded Timothy and all who would shepherd God’s flock, “Preach the Word” (2 Timothy 4:2)! Pastors need to make it clear that we stand on God’s word alone. Jesus and His apostles have left us with authoritative teaching that applies to all of us throughout this age of the Church. Jude called it “the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3) and Peter said that we now have “the more sure prophetic word, to which you do well to pay attention” (2 Peter 1:19). His point is that God’s word is more reliable than tremendous religious experiences (2 Peter 1:16-18). What if you don’t know Scripture well enough?

“All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Our goal must be to become well prepared for doing God’s work, including how we face issues. Scripture provides that training.

We must stand firmly on the “more sure word” of God when people present us with arguments that aren’t supported by Scripture. Indeed, they will pull out all the stops to convince us of ideas that aren’t biblical. They will use stirring rhetoric and make strong emotional appeals. While words and emotions can be good things, they sometimes become “baskets” under which God’s word gets hidden.

The following is merely an example of the issues facing us today where Christians are being presented with ideas that contradict Scripture but which make appeals based on worldly reasoning and emotional pressure.

A hot topic is bubbling up again among Christian celebrities. They are pushing for women to become elders. Basically they are asking elders to abdicate their role as shepherds of the women in their churches. Their argument draws on worldly wisdom that says men can’t understand what women experience. I would agree that it is good for women to be the front line for counseling and discipling other women (Titus 2:3-5). But the issue I’m referring to here attacks the shepherding role of protecting the sheep. Pastors (elders) are responsible for protecting all the sheep under their care (Hebrews 13:17).

Like the Thessalonian troublemakers, advocates of women elders seek to persuade others to join their side by drawing on emotion. They claim that women who are abused won’t feel comfortable going to a male elder for help. They reason that she would only go to a woman.

Now it has been pointed out to them that many abused women won’t turn to anyone for help. They won’t turn to men or women. So advocates of women elders reason that we need to put women in positions of authority in the church (such as elder) so that abused women will start to realize that there is someone they can go to.

Many pastors and Christian leaders crumble under those arguments. “How can you defend against an argument like that?” When a strong emotional element is used, it seems impossible to speak against it. You will be charged with a lack of concern. In this argument, proponents misuse our legitimate and deep concern for women who are abused to convince believers to go against the instruction about elders in God’s word. Worldly reasoning and emotional pressure tempt us to forsake our humble submission to God’s word (Proverbs 1:7).

I don’t plan to present the biblical case in this article for male-only elders. This is just an example that illustrates the kind of controversies we face that use strong, legitimate emotions and human reasoning to win an argument. While some churches may experience real problems with victims of abuse reaching out for help, disobeying Scripture is not the way to resolve those problems.

For example, maybe those elders need to grow in the biblical understanding of their role as shepherds of the flock and then learn to adopt those practices and attitudes in their own shepherding relationships. Are the elders and the people growing in carrying out the “one another” relationship commands in Scripture? There are a host of biblical provisions to correct this problem without resorting to an unbiblical solution.

There are many other issues today where arguments about moral or spiritual issues are being based on something other than the Scriptures. We must stand on Scripture.

“The unfolding of Your words gives light” (Psalm 119:130)

We need to dig more deeply into the Scriptures to discover how God would have us meet needs and resolve issues. His word is our only sure guide. We should never allow our circumstances to tempt us to think that Scripture no longer applies to us or that we need to go in a different direction than God has revealed in His word.

Re-commit to searching the Scriptures as your guide in choices you need to make. Fall back on Scripture to guide your thinking about the rhetoric that you are bombarded with on hot-topic issues that impact our gospel message, our walk with Christ or our life among one another in Christ’s church. Study God’s word so that you will have light to walk by, safely and securely because “The unfolding of Your words gives light” (Psalm 119:130).

Our youngest daughter understood that she can win and avoid collisions with the coffee table when she had light. Of course, according to the rules of this sadistic game, she had to cheat to do that. Somehow she could run straight for Big Sis or Dad every time. As I pondered earlier, why would someone create a game where the players are blindfolded? Why not get rid of the blindfold altogether? We could call the game something like “Tag”. Oh wait. That actually is a game. A game with fewer shin injuries.

Under the fig tree:

Where are you tempted to turn in order to make sense out of things, rather than turning to God’s word to guide you?