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Trusting the Bible Again: Why Jesus Demands Our Submission | Renée Sproles · Real Life Theology Podcast

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  Welcome back, everyone, to another episode on the Real Life Theology Podcast.
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  Today's episode features Renee Sprouls, who's going to help us see how our confidence in
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  Scripture ultimately rests on who Jesus is and what he taught about the Old and New Testament.
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  This episode calls Christians to embrace wholehearted trust and submission to God's Word.
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  In May of 2017, the satirical Christian website, The Babylon Bee, published this headline,
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  Man Sitting Literally Three Feet Away From His Bible, Ask God to Speak to Him.
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  The article continued, according to sources, local man Steve Harrison fervently prayed
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  Thursday that the Lord would speak to him and make his will for the man's life clear,
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  all while sitting literally three feet away from God's Word as revealed in the Bible.
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  I just really need you to speak to me personally, Lord, he prayed, forgetting that God's truth
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  has been perfectly revealed to him in the Scriptures.
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  As funny as this story seems, I'm finding this to be more and more true for the 20 to
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  30-somethings my husband and I teach and mentor in our parenting class.
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  For almost two decades, we've team-taught a parenting class that calls parents to teach
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  their children to come to obedience when they're most teachable.
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  For most of those 20 years, when we polled the parents about what they'd like to see
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  in their children after taking this class, they would say things like godliness, a trusting
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  relationship with their parents, and obedience.
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  But just in the last year or so, parents' answers to this question have drastically
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  changed.
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  Now they cite thinking for themselves, success, and questioning authority as the most desirable
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  traits they'd like to see in their children.
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  Now, aside from the daily consequences of allowing your two-year-old to think for themselves
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  and question your authority, this has far-reaching consequences, including how we view God's
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  reliable word.
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  And these parents are very much like our man in the Babylon Bee.
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  They're eager to pray.
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  They pray, and they pray, and they pray, but they don't seem to appreciate or fully understand
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  the connection to God's reliable word.
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  So, in case you didn't already realize this, let me be the bearer of some bad news.
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  It's no longer a valid assumption, even in church settings, that young adults believe
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  Scripture might have any active authority in their lives.
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  So this leads me to two questions.
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  Why are we so skeptical these days?
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  And how can we convince anyone that Scripture is the reliable word of God?
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  I'm going to give you two answers to each of those two questions.
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  I presume that we're skeptical of biblical authority because we're victims of our cultural
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  moment and of failures of those very authorities.
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  Yet, the good news is we can confidently submit to Scripture because of who Jesus is
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  and what He says about it.
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  In an interview with the Gospel Coalition, Tim Keller noted that the stage was set for
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  our cultural moment way back in the 18th century.
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  This is when Enlightenment thinkers insisted that the modern person must question all tradition,
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  revelation, and external authority by subjecting them to the Supreme Court of our own reason
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  and intuition.
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  Let me say that again.
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  The root idea of modernity is overturning all authority outside of yourself.
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  That is, most people now presume there is no moral authority more fundamental than our
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  own experiences.
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  So, if the Enlightenment set the stage for this kind of authority, dethroning of authority,
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  what are some of the recent players in this coup?
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  Talking to my friend Bonnie Blalock, who teaches those parenting classes with me, she came
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  up with three things that I think are really helpful in understanding what's happening
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  right now, 300 years later.
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  The internet, the iPhone, and social media.
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  Social is now at our fingertips.
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  We can retrieve a dozen expert opinions in 10 seconds.
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  Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Reddit, all enable us to shout our personal truths based
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  on our own moral authority.
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  Consequently, we treat our careers, our families, and even our faith on a cost-benefit basis
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  to us personally, just taking the best opportunities that are available to us.
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  So, now God, scripture, and other fusty, outmoded institutions seem dated and even untrustworthy.
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  Actual human relationships and church community take a backseat to our friends and followers
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  we build online, who are always available and always awake.
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  Add to this fact that now a majority of families are coming from divorced homes, including
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  in our own churches.
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  The young adults we're teaching were raised during a financial crisis due to what?
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  A failure of authority.
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  And it's no wonder that authority has become a dirty word for people under the age of 40.
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  And to be honest, in a world where authority has failed us so many times, a little bit
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  of skepticism in the face of worldly authority is warranted.
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  But the consequences of this worldview are real.
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  Let me give you some examples.
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  The consequences show in the college graduate who, baptized in your youth group and raised
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  by Christian parents, decides to move in with his girlfriend to see if they want to get
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  married.
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  The consequences show in those beach photos of those 20-something young women in your
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  church and in mine that are nearly nude.
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  The consequences show in the 72% of 18- to 24-year-olds who regularly use pornography
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  in your churches and in mine.
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  And the consequences show in those parents in our parenting class who just don't hold
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  obedience as a goal of their parenting.
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  So, how do you teach people under 40, the women and men in your discipleship groups,
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  your small groups, your classes, and your ministries, to uphold God's reliable word
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  when they really don't believe in authority outside of themselves?
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  Even if they want to believe in God's reliable word, they are very likely skeptical when
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  they're faced with a teaching they don't like or they don't understand.
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  They may not come right out and say it, but they probably believe they can pick and choose
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  what to use from Scripture to live their best life and reach their goals.
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  Let me give you an example of what this sounds like.
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  I recently reviewed Jen Hatmaker's book, Fierce, Free, and Full of Fire, The Guide to Being
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  Glorious You, where this philosophy was on full display.
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  A self-professed hippy-dippy big love Jesus type, Jen Hatmaker has almost one million
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  followers on Facebook, many of whom are in your churches and some I know are in mine.
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  She talks about love in her book, and this is what she says.
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  Loving people just makes sense to me.
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  I am unable to separate policy, theology, rhetoric, theories, or interpretations from
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  the people they affect.
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  I lack all objectivity.
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  I evaluate the merit of every idea based upon how it bears on actual people.
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  And to be very clear, I believe loving people fits perfectly under the umbrella of loving God.
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  So when loving God results in pain, exclusion, harm, or trauma to people, then we're absolutely
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  doing the first part wrong.
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  It is not God in error, but us.
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  To be clear, Hatmaker has decided that when she subjects Scripture to the supreme court
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  of her mind, her opinion wins.
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  So what in the world would persuade people under 40 to submit to God's reliable word?
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  I'll suggest that they need to know two things about Jesus, and their confidence in God's
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  reliable word will rise.
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  First, they need to know who Jesus is, and second, they need to know what He says about
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  Scripture.
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  Over 40 years ago, John Stott wrote a little book on the authority of the Bible.
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  You can still get it today, it's like $2 online.
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  He asked this very question.
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  He said, why should people believe that the Bible is God's written word, inspired by His
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  Spirit, and authoritative over their lives?
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  He said we don't take blind leaps of faith, just white-knuckling our way through the difficult
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  passages and the incredible ones, and we don't simply believe because the universal church
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  has considered Scripture perfect, reliable, and authoritative, though it has.
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  And we don't believe Scripture is self-authenticating, that we feel or experience that it's true
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  in our own lives, although it is.
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  No, the overriding reason for accepting the divine inspiration and authority of Scripture
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  is plain loyalty to Jesus.
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  We believe in Jesus.
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  He was not just a good man.
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  He was not just an example to be followed.
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  He was not simply a revolutionary pushing against the religious establishment.
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  Jesus is the image of the invisible God.
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  He's the firstborn over all creation.
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  All things have been created through Him and for Him.
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  He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.
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  He is the head of His body, the church.
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  He purifies us from sin.
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  He reconciles us to God, that we, once enemies, now get to be holy and blameless and pure.
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  He's the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, and all the fullness of God
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  dwelt in Him.
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  He is seated at the right hand of God.
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  Does this sound like somebody we can invite into our lives as a personal assistant or
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  a life coach?
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  Does this sound like someone we can ignore when it comes to what he believes about the
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  authority of the Bible?
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  If we believe Jesus is who He says He is, then we bring our minds into submission to
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  the mind of Christ.
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  We conform our thoughts to His thoughts.
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  It is from Jesus we derive our understanding of God and ourselves, of good and evil, of
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  time and eternity, of heaven and hell, of our duty and our destiny.
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  Our understanding of everything is conditioned by what Jesus taught.
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  And everything means everything, including what He taught about the Bible.
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  And what did Jesus think about the Bible?
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  Well, let's start with the Old Testament.
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  He made several direct statements about its divine origin and its permanent availability
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  and validity.
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  He said He had not come to abolish the law and the prophets, but to fulfill them.
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  Indeed, till heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass away from God's
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  Word until all is fulfilled.
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  And He said again, Scripture cannot be broken.
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  In Matthew 19 5, when asked about marriage, Jesus says that a man shall leave his father
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  and mother and cleave to his wife.
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  And He said God says a man shall leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife.
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  But if you flip back to Genesis 2 24, you see that it's the inspired writer of Scripture
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  who said a man shall leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife.
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  So to Jesus, what Scripture says, God says.
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  And Jesus didn't simply believe the Bible.
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  He guided and regulated every step and detail of his life by it.
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  Let me give you some examples.
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  When tempted in the wilderness, Jesus turned to the Old Testament Scriptures to resist.
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  When the apostles questioned His need to suffer, He insisted Scripture must be fulfilled.
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  And when the Jewish leaders criticized His teaching, He criticized their treatment of
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  Scripture, saying that the Pharisees added to Scripture with their tradition and the
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  Sadducees neglected to believe the supernatural parts of Scripture.
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  To be clear, Jesus endorsed the Old Testament as the Word of God.
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  But what about the New Testament?
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  It wasn't even written yet when Jesus was walking the earth.
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  Can we trust it as reliable as well?
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  Stott notes in his booklet that Jesus foresaw the writing of the New Testament Scriptures
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  and deliberately made provision through appointing His apostles and authorizing them.
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  Now apostle is the title that Jesus Himself chose for the twelve to indicate their role
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  and to send them out to preach.
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  We may not think much about this word, but it's an important word because it carries
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  the connotations of the Old Testament prophet as one who is sent.
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  And Jews would understand that an emissary, one who is sent, was an actual legal term.
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  You are empowered to represent someone as their apostle, as their emissary.
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  And the first one we see in Scripture is Eleazar, when Abraham sends him to go get a wife for
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  Isaac.
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  He had full legal authority to find Rebekah.
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  And when that agreement was made, it was as if they were married.
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  So the apostles were personally chosen by Jesus.
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  They were commissioned and authorized by Him.
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  And they were sent out by Him to preach.
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  And they were given special inspiration by the Holy Spirit.
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  Jesus promised this very thing.
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  He said that the Spirit would remind them of everything Jesus had said and teach them
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  many things that were too hard for them to hear at the time.
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  In these ways, Jesus made a purposeful preparation for the writing of the New Testament.
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  The apostles understood this, that they were speaking on behalf of God, inspired by the
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  Spirit.
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  And the early church devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching.
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  And when the time came to set the canon of the New Testament, the question that was asked
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  was whether it possessed apostolic authority.
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  So it's really sad today to see people take Peter and John and the apostle Paul and talk
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  about them as if they're just giving their own opinions.
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  They were inspired by the Spirit of God.
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  Paul went to heaven and got his gospel from Jesus Himself.
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  These are not just opinions, they're the inspired Word of God.
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  So if we decide to trust and follow Jesus, we must believe what He taught for the simple
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  reason that it is He who taught it.
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  And this is a hammer blow to our contemporary way of life.
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  Many people you are mentoring and I'm mentoring think they have the right and even the obligation
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  to select which parts of Scripture they want to follow and which ones they cannot.
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  But in light of who Jesus is, that makes no sense.
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  Why should they trust Him as Savior if they think they're wiser and more clever than He
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  is?
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  Either He is who He says He is and His views judge our views, or He's lying and deluded
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  about who He was.
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  So Jesus' authority and the absolute authority of Scripture stand together.
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  If we believe who He said He was, we must accept the entire Bible as God's Word.
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  So how do we respond?
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  We respond as Jesus did.
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  We believe it and we act upon it.
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  Jesus was entirely submissive to Scripture and the authority of God's Word.
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  We have no liberty to excuse anything from Jesus' teaching and say, I believe this, but
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  I really don't believe that.
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  Unlike Jen Hatmaker, progressive Christians, and some of those parents in our parenting
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  class, we have no competence to set ourselves up as judges and accept some parts of the
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  teachings of Scripture and not.
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  All Jesus' teaching was true.
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  It's the teaching none other than the Son of God.
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  We're all here today because we believe Jesus is Lord.
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  But a Christian is someone who not only confesses Jesus is Lord, but brings every aspect of
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  our lives under His sovereign reign.
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  Submission to God's reliable Word is part and parcel of submission to the Lordship of
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  Jesus.
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  Selective submission is no submission at all.
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  Kevin DeYoung noted in his book about the reliable Word of God, counselors can counsel
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  meaningfully because Scripture is sufficient.
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  Bible study leaders can lead confidently because Scripture is clear.
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  Preachers can preach with boldness because their biblical text is authoritative.
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  And evangelists can evangelize with urgency because Scripture is necessary.
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  God's Word is final.
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  God's Word is understandable.
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  God's Word is necessary, and God's Word is enough.
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  Jesus affirmed this.
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  He guided and regulated every detail of His life by Scripture.
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  In every age, Christians will do battle wherever these attributes of Scripture are under attack.
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  But more importantly, we must fight the fight of faith to really believe and obey what we
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  find in Scripture.
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  May the Spirit of God give us the fortitude and grace to do just that.
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  Thank you.
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  So let me pray for us.
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  We honor you, Father God.
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  We praise you as the maker of all creation.
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  We praise you for sending your Son, Jesus, to help us understand how much you love us,
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  to reconcile our rebellious hearts to you.
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  We lift you up as worthy of all praise.
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  Help us live according to your Word.
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  Help us seek you with all our hearts, and help us not to stray from your commands.
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  May we hide your Word in our hearts that we may not sin against you.
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  Praise be to you, O Lord.
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  Teach us your decrees.
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  May we recount with our lips all the laws that come from your mouth.
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  May we rejoice in your statutes as we rejoice in great riches.
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  May we meditate on your precepts and consider your ways.
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  May we delight in your creeds, O God.
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  May we never neglect your Word.
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  In Jesus' name.
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  Thank you, guys, for listening to this episode of the Real Life Theology Podcast.
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  I hope you enjoyed this session by Renee Sprouls challenging us to follow God's reliable
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  Word.
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  Please stay tuned with the Real Life Theology Podcast for more great content on disciple-making
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  and theology down the road.
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  I hope to see you guys on the next episode.