Does a confident, radical belief that Scripture speaks to every area of life ever produce an mild, tempered application? It should, and I’ll tell you why.
If you’re on social media, you likely saw a particular meme make its rounds last week in light of the coronavirus. A man on his computer was informing his wife of the shocking news that it turns out his friend, who was an expert on politics only days earlier, turns out to be a disease transmission specialist today.
It hits a little too close to home for those of us who are quick share our opinion on Facebook and Twitter. Whatever the topic, we have a take – a take, mind you – we believe to be the right one. Social media has made confident experts of us all.
This tendency toward hyper-confidence is further complicated when faith is factored in. As Christians, our approach before the world and everything in it is rooted in our worldview, the true story of the world as revealed in the Bible. Because our take is informed by Scripture, it’s very easy to conflate our opinion with God’s.
What could be a disagreement on Twitter over tactics becomes a litmus test for faithfulness. “It’s not just that our opinion is the best; it’s God’s take too, take our word for it.”
As Christians, our approach to the world and everything in it is rooted in our worldview, the true story of the world as revealed in the Bible. Because our take is informed by Scripture, it’s very easy to conflate our opinion with God’s Word.
I want to be clear, I’m very thankful that there are those who apply God’s word to complex areas of life. Reading Marvin Olasky on journalism or Makoto Fujimura on art or my friend David Bahnsen on economics only strengthens my firm conviction that Scripture isn’t just a “religious” book meant only to rule our Sunday morning worship service. No, Scripture speaks to moms and dads and business owners and kings, not just pastors.
Indeed, there isn’t a square inch of life over which Jesus, speaking through the pages of Scripture, doesn’t provide coherence and direction. The Bible isn’t just about how to get to heaven one day; it’s about how to live on earth here and now. We sequester Scripture to our own peril.
Further, there are times in which silence is tantamount to cowardice. We read the stories of Wilberforce and Bonhoeffer and are inspired by their prophetic voices, calling those in error to repentance. In our day, for the church to be silent with regards to the modern atrocity of abortion, for example, is simply unfathomable.
Deuteronomy 18:19 is instructive:
“And whoever will not listen to my words that [the prophet] shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.”
This gives us confidence that, insofar as we’re being faithful to God’s Word, His voice speaks through ours. We speak because God has, to not do so would reveal a deep lack of faith.
Having said that, the very next verse must also be heard:
“But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.’”
Just as being silent when God has spoken is a sin, speaking authoritatively when God has not is also sin. You see, the prophet’s power was always derivative. As soon as the prophet took it upon himself to comfort or reprimand God’s people with his own words, he ceased to speak for Yahweh. So serious of an offence was speaking when God was silent that death was the penalty for doing so.
Just as it takes humility and courage to speak on behalf of God, it takes immense bravery to remain silent. Practically, this means we have to learn to speak in a confident way with respect to ends and in a qualified way in regards to means.
Just as it takes humility and courage to speak on behalf of God, it takes immense bravery to remain silent. Practically, this means we have to learn to speak in a confident way with respect to ends and in a qualified way in regards to means.
In other words, we confidently insist that believers ought to refrain from lust, and humbly suggest particular movies might not be wise to go see. We confidently insist that orphans ought to be cared for, and humbly suggest that Christians consider adoption.
The trouble is, social media doesn’t reward this sort of approach. You will get the most amount of likes if you’re absolutely confident that your approach is the only right one. You will stand out as an “influencer” if you’re flexible with regards to your first principles but strident with respect to your hot takes. But if we’re to be faithful to Scripture, we have to do the exact reverse.
Neither are we to ignore God’s word or embellish God’s words—we’re called to proclaim God’s word. We do so with simultaneous confidence and humility, knowing that life is complicated and there are often multiple ways of approaching the same destination. We aren’t called to be warrriors or experts, after all—we’re called to be disciples.
Dustin Messer is Worldview Director at Christian Academy in Frisco, TX and Curate at All Saints Dallas. You can follow him on Facebook and Twitter.
