Differentiating Jesus from the Word

(We temporarily return to regular PP programing. For newcomers, these are the kinds of statements that have kept PP going much longer than I ever imagined it would.)

Perry Noble preached on how to hear from God today. We’ve chronicled problems with Noble’s extra-biblical view of revelation many times on this blog, but today’s statement probably takes the cake.

All too often we seek answers in the Scriptures when we should be seeking Jesus…because HE will ultimately BE the answer to whatever we are facing.

Exactly how does one find answers from Jesus if not from Scripture? Perhaps we ask the portrait of Jesus we have on our wall? The imaginary Jesus we keep under our bed?

Jesus is the Word. To suggest that he has a message that is outside Scripture is–how else to say it?–blasphemy.

Noble’s construction lets believers ignore Scripture altogether and make desisions based on their gut or based on their imagination of who Jesus is. Wearing a WWJD bracelet is not the same thing as knowing and studying Scripture.

After denigrating Scripture, Noble finds another way to hear God’s voice (a point he appears to have added to his sermon at the last minute).

Circumstances are often God’s megaphone that HE is using to scream to us. It’s amazing to many how many times in the Scriptures that God spoke so clearly and revealed who He was during a storm!!!

What could Noble’s circumstances divinity possibly be telling him right now?

What was the same divinity screaming at me this summer?

Exegesis by opinion poll

Perry Noble is going through a series of posts where he describes how he prepares his sermons–in case you ever wanted to preach like Perry.

It took a while for Scripture to enter the conversation, but it made a cameo appearance yesterday as a subpoint under his main point about being creative.

After acknowledging that “correct theology must drive our methodology,” he describes a methodology that is about as theologically driven as my dog’s breakfast.

I bring others into a meeting to discuss the scripture passage because there are people at different stages of life that will see scripture through a different lens.

You would be amazed at some of the conversations that take place in some of our meetings for example I will bring in women who point out, “You know what Perry, that is the fourth sports illustration you’ve used this week. It’s not really connecting us.” Or…I’ll bring in singles and ask how they believe this passage applies to where they are in life.

In fact…I will bring in people that may be different on some minor theological issues that I would happen to think of because I want to take an all-around view of scripture.

This, perhaps, explains why he couldn’t decide whether he was pre- or post-millennial for his end-times series.

The Bible is to be read through the lens of Scripture, not that of whoever happens to be in the room with the pastor that morning. If different people see different things in the Bible, who is to decide which one is true, or which one is God’s word for the church that week? It’s a methodology that will produce unfaithful, weak, man-centered and inconsistent preaching.

How should it be done? The Westminster Confession gives us useful advice.

The infallible rule of interpretation of Scripture is the Scripture itself: and therefore, when there is a question about the true and full sense of any Scripture (which is not manifold, but one), it must be searched and known by other places that speak more clearly. (WC I.IX)

Truth through focused study, not focus groups.

Purposefully ashamed of the Gospel

Besides giving away the Sabbath, Rick Warren advocates that preachers abandon the Bible in church. Consider this passage from p. 297 of The Purpose Driven Church. (All of the following quotes, except the third and fifth, are from the same section in Warren’s book and are reproduced in order and without any omissions, and are only broken up with my own interjected comments.)

Select your Scripture readings with the unchurched in mind.

As I said in my Sabbath post, when Sunday is just another day, believers get abandoned.

While all Scripture is equally inspired by God, it is not all equally applicable to unbelievers.

This is a gross distortion of Scripture itself, and a good example of the general characteristics of false teaching. Warren starts the sentence by quoting from Scripture (though inserting the while and the equally), then finishes it by contradicting the very passage he seems to be quoting. The first part comes from 2 Timothy 3:16 and says

All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness.

Why did Warren leave out the bolded section? It’s all profitable. It’s all profitable for reproof and correction. Surely that’s what the unchurched need to hear, isn’t it? How does one repent unless first reproved and corrected?

Warren continues:

Some passages are clearly more appropriate for seeker services than others. For instance, you probably won’t want to read David’s prayer in Psalm 58: “Break the teeth in their mouths, O God….Like a slug melting away as it moves along, like a stillborn child, may they not see the sun….The righteous will be glad….when they bathe their feet in the blood of the wicked.” Save this passage for our own personal quiet time or the local pastor’s breakfast!

Can’t you hear the embarrassment? Shucks, God, why do you have to say stuff like that? It just isn’t cool to go all swords and sandals on us mellow Southern Californians.

The example he picks is actually perfect for preaching the gospel to sinners. We need to understand God’s judgment before we can fully appreciate our own sin and God’s grace. David provides the key to understanding God’s anger in the last verse of the psalm:

Then men will say, “Surely the righteous still are rewarded; surely there is a God who judges the earth.” (Psalm 58:11)

Again, it’s instructive what parts of the Bible Warren is leaving out of his own book.

Warren again:

Certain texts require more explanation than others. With that in mind, at Saddleback we like to use passages that don’t require any previous understanding.

Isn’t that why God ordained preachers to explain the Scriptures to us? See Piper’s powerful explanation of the preacher’s job.

We also like to use passages that show the benefits of knowing Christ.

Perhaps he could start with Psalm 58. Not getting your teeth broken in by God sounds like a distinct benefit to me. There are certainly benefits to knowing Christ, but there are also costs. We are called to sacrifice all and take up our cross. It’s not the same as joining Club Med.

We have talked a lot on this blog in recent days about Warren and Noble’s new reformation, but one of the points that the original Reformers corrected was the Catholic church’s practice of hiding the Bible from the people in the pews.

What might Luther say about Warren’s papist idea?