Does this describe your church?

On May 9, 1983, Pope John Paul II reversed a three hundred and fifty year old decision on the part of the Roman Catholic Church to condemn Galileo of heresy for concluding that the sun, not the earth, was the center of the universe.

When the church gets it wrong, it’s important to correct itself!

“Getting it right” is vital for the church, because the church is supposed to be a place where people can know they hear the truth. In 1 Timothy 3, the Apostle Paul makes a simple reference to the “household of God,” which is the church. Look closely at the single-sentence statement he uses:

“I am writing these things to you now, even though I hope to be with you soon, so that if I am delayed, you will know how people must conduct themselves in the household of God. This is the church of the living God, which is the pillar and foundation of the truth,” 1 Timothy 3:14-15.

There’s varying views as to whether this passage of scripture is stating that God is the pillar and foundation of truth, or that the “church of the living God” is described as such. In describing Himself, Jesus — who IS God — stated, “Jesus told him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me,” John 14:6.

Truth comes from God, and as children in His household, comprising the church of the living God, we should be pillars of truth as well!

When was the last time you heard the local church described as the “pillar of truth?” Do people see you, as a child of God, as being a pillar of truth?

The are a couple of ways we too easily stray from the truth, as described by W. Graham Scroggie:

Are there not two errors of which the people of God stand in danger – the one, of knowing the Bible intellectually without being concerned to know it experimentally; and the other, of striving after the experimental in prayer either in ignorance or neglect of its mental aspect and requirements? These are opposite errors which should be avoided. One might have an excellent knowledge of the content of Holy Scripture, and at the same time be blind to its divine beauties, and ignorant of its divine power, because his knowledge is of the “letter,” and not the “spirit.” In our study of Scripture something more than mental activity is needed, and that is, divine illumination.

Pastor Jimmy Kiker expanded on Scroggie’s statement as follows:

As believers, we are compelled to study and believe God’s Word, realizing all the time that we cannot understand it properly but by the Spirit of God. Sometimes we tend to be too intellectual in our approach, learning the letter at the expense of the Spirit. Other times, we may focus so on the more subjective work of the Spirit that we fail to apply proper mental falcuties which may guard us from error. Both are ditches to be avoided, and it is only as we surrender both our intellect and our emotions to the power of God that we find ourselves safeguarded by the Spirit of Truth.

Is “getting it right” important to your local church? Is it important to you? Could it be said your church, and you as a child of God, are “pillars” of truth?

Scotty