“Liberalism:
Are We Drawing Closer to God?”
In the church a serious wind of
change is taking place (Eph. 4:14). This
movement is so powerful that it is blowing down many of the “old paths” the Lord’s
church has held to (Jer. 6:16, Prov. 22:18).
Those who advocate doctrinal change will say that this movement is
caused by an acceptance of culture and a desire to have a deeper relationship
with God, but I say that rebellion, emotionalism, and Biblical ignorance are
the causes of this change.
The liberal movement in the church
has tried to bring us in synch with our culture in several ways. First, as a direct result of the women’s
liberation movment, change agents are advocating an extended role for
women. For example, a person can now go
into a congregation of the Lord's people and find women serving at the Lord’s
Supper, preaching, praying, or even leading song service. Next, we have tried to be culturally oriented
by being more accepting of denominations.
Change agents say that we need to be more relaxed in our views on who
is, or who is not our brother. Today,
many church of Christ preachers are exchanging pulpits with Baptists,
Methodists, and Lutherans as if they are no different than us. A final way in which liberals have tried to
make the church cultural is by making additions and changes in our
worship. For instance, the church used
to believe that acapella music was the only way to worship God in song (Eph
5:19, Col. 3:16). But now some are
bringing instruments into worship as an acceptable alternative. We used to be convicted that singing unto the
Lord vocally with our mind engaged was proper, but now we are being told that
hand clapping is just as acceptable to the Lord as vocal singing in spirit and
truth (Jn 4:24). Also, alterations to
fit culture are being made to the Lord’s supper. For example, some churches of Christ are only
serving the Lord’s supper once a month or once a quarter. When we view these major changes in the church,
we should automatically ask, “Are we really drawing closer to God?” or has the
Lord removed some churches from their place of exaltation because of
unauthorized change (Rev 2:5)?
I am convinced that one of the major
causes of change in the church is a rebellious spirit. Due to some major transformations and impacts
by culture and society a rebellious generation is rising up and leading the
church away from the doctrines we have held to for years. Many factors in society caused a rebellion
against authority. For example, in the
1960’s drugs, long hair, antiwar protests, and acceptance of eastern religions
was simply a rebellion against authority.
Another factor that caused this rebellious generation was a lack of
discipline. When Dr. Spock published his
ideas on discipline, many people began to rethink their method of discipline
which led to children rebelling against authority. Instead of spanking their children, people
began to ground, give time outs, or simply reward unacceptable behavior so they
would not squash their children’s spirits.
While this seemed like a good approach to some, the voice of experience
shows us that it was not the right way (Prov. 13:24, 19:18, 22:15, 23:13-14,
29:15,17, Heb. 12:7). Children who are
not disciplined at a young age grow up to be adults who reject the authority of
the Bible. To God, “…Rebellion is as the
sin of witchcraft” (I Sam 15:23). God
does not want people to rebel against His will but to obey it (Lk 6:46, Matt
7:21). King Saul serves as the perfect
example of how rebellion leads to change in worship. In I Samuel 15, God told Saul to utterly
destroy the Amelekite nation, including every animal, man, woman, and
child. For the most part King Saul did
utterly destroy the Amelekite nation, except for the King and the best
of the animals, which he planned to give as a sacrifice to God. However, the Lord saw his action as a form of
rebellion, and it made Him regret that He made Saul king, and He eventually
tore the kingdom from Saul. Surely, none
of us would doubt that Saul’s motives were good. He simply wanted to change God’s command a
little so that he could make a more pleasing sacrifice to the Lord. But, God did not want Saul changing what he
commanded, even if Saul thought he could improve his worship to God. God said to Saul, “Behold, to obey is better
than to sacrifice and to heed than the fat of rams” (I Sam 15:22). In the eyes of God, rebellion is sinful and
results in spiritual death (James 4:17; Lev 10:1).
Another major cause for the change
epidemic that is plaguing the church is emotionalism. We live in an age where our emotions often
overrule truth (Jn 4:24). Change agents
equate emotions and feelings with spirituality.
Many worship assemblies have turned into an entertainment circus,
instead of a place where man and God could be brought together through
reverent, worship.
“For example, Lynn Anderson cites a Sunday
morning assembly in which a ‘communion trio’ sang to the congregation and
thereby ‘helped us express emotions for which the congregation knew no
song. The congregation sat profoundly
moved and with uplifted faces as tears flowed’” 1
(Miller, pg. 52).
Notice
how Anderson equates an unauthorized act of worship (a communion trio), crying
and emotions with spirituality. The
Bible clearly teaches that emotions should not guide our worship. Christians are commanded to “prove all things”
(I Thes 5:21). God says to man, “Come
let us reason together” (Isa 1:18). The
Bible commands man to combine reason, logic, truth and emotions in our worship
(Jn. 4:24). The truth of God’s word
should govern our worship, and then our emotions should be engaged. The Apostle Paul is a perfect example of how
our emotions should not be our guide in life.
In Acts 23:1 Paul claimed that he had lived all his life in good
conscience before God. Basically, Paul
is affirming that everything that he did in life (including killing Christians)
he felt was right in God’s sight. But,
Paul’s feelings about the church and Christianity were not a proper guide. Jesus said truth, not emotion alone, is what
saves a person (Jn. 8:31-32).
A final cause for change in the
church is biblical ignorance. In the
past 20-30 years, a growing ignorance of the Bible has erupted among our
children. This has led to biblically
uneducated adults who are now leading the church. In the past Christians were known for their
biblical knowledge. People used to think
of members of the church as walking Bibles.
For instance, in a small town court, when the judge was informed that
there was no Bible present to swear the defendant in, instead of adjourning
court, the judge asked a member of the church of Christ to come forward and
allow the defendant to put his hand on the Christians head since he knew the
Bible so well. But today, most
Christians do not know the Bible well enough.
God said in Hosea 4:6, “My people are destroyed for a lack of
knowledge.” Many today, are like the
first century Christians in Rome who had a zeal for God but not according to
knowledge (Rom 10:2-3). To counteract
this biblical ignorance that is pervading the church we must study to show
ourselves approved unto God, workers who do not need to be ashamed, rightly
dividing the word of truth (II Tim. 2:15).
Solomon, the wisest man to ever live, said, “The heart of the righteous
studies how to answer” (Prov 15:28). God
has a pattern for worship, and He expects us to “hold fast the pattern of
sounds words” (2 Tim. 1:13).
The words of the Proverb writer are
concise and to the point; “Do not associate with those given to change; for
their calamity will rise suddenly” (Prov 24:21). Truly, those who are bringing in unauthorized
change are walking down the broad and wide path that leads to destruction (Matt
7:13-14). May God help us to not give in
to the push for change in the church.
“Whatever you do in word of deed
do all in the name of (by the authority of, Acts 4:7) our Lord Jesus
Christ” (Col 3:17).