2 Timothy 3:16 says: “All Scripture is breathed out by God
and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in
righteousness” (ESV).
Throughout his chapter on the church, Machen presents four
vital qualifications for any minister within the church. Throughout this reflection,
I will explore two of those four qualifications. The first qualification is
that leaders “should encourage those who are engaging in the intellectual and spiritual
struggle” (147) and second, leaders should encourage “a renewal of Christian
education” (149). The theme which ties these to points together is the importance
of doctrine.
In the first place, Machen emphasizes the importance of
walking alongside church members who are struggling to understand and live out
their spiritual life. Machen presents the importance of leaders defending the
teaching of the Bible or the doctrines of scripture. Machen posits that an
emphasis can be put on spreading the Christian message through missions and
evangelism, while at the same time, failing to produce a vigorous “defense of
the gospel” (147) within the local church. I believe this is an incredibly
vital point. The church of mainstream America is failing to produce solid
biblical teachings, and what is often heard in a Sunday morning service is a message
focused on self-betterment and the achievement of the American dream. Young
people, and I am speaking personally as a young adult, are hungry for solid
biblical teaching and scriptural defense. Our churches can passionately send
missionaries to Africa and Asia, but if the Gospel is not being preached and
defended within the home church, then we as the church are failing, and the gospel
will not be understood and lived out in our American culture.
This idea flows right into the second point of Christian education.
Machen states: “The growth of ignorance in the Church is the logical and inevitable
result of the false notion that Christianity is a life and not also a doctrine;
if Christianity is not a doctrine then of course teaching is not necessary to Christianity”
(Machen 149). When the church teaches its members that the Christian life is
simply that, a lifestyle, then all of a sudden, the lifestyle is up for individual
debate. People, fallen sinful people, choose how they want to live out their
definition of Christian life. This becomes incredibly dangerous because when
that lifestyle is not firmly based upon the message of the inspired word of
God, then it is subject to deception and ultimately, destruction. One can “talk
the walk”, but the fruit will only be produced when one “walks the talk”. 1 Corinthians
3:11 says: “For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid,
which is Jesus Christ” (NIV). Jesus Christ is the foundation from which all
true doctrine will flow.
In conclusion, the church would be wise to heed to words of
Matthew 7:24-27: “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts
them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain
came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house;
yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone
who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a
foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose,
and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash”
(NIV). The wise man or you could say, the wise church will build upon the vigorous
and passionate defense and teaching of the holy and inspired words of Christ
throughout the entire biblical narrative.
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