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Sermons
SER-mun:
noun, 1) a religious lesson, 2) a chance for the preacher to
rebuke people he is mad at without them being able to talk back, 3) a somnastic.
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There are many wonderful Churches of Christ with
uplifting biblical speakers. However, hard-line Churches of Christ use a
preaching style that often uses up to 30 scripture quotes in one sermon:
1. Each scripture is intended
to build the point or points.
The problem with this preaching style is that the context is usually lost
by the third or fourth scripture citation, if it was ever established.
I have heard many preachers and members
of these Churches of Christ express pride in the fact that so many
scriptures are cited in sermons. Preachers are admired if they can recite many
scriptures in a sermon off by heart.
The only way so many
scriptures can be cited all in one sermon is to ignore each context of each
scripture. This is fine if the entire congregation and all the
visitors know the context of each verse cited, but this is seldom the case.
For instance when a sermon on the inspiration of the scriptures is
preached, there is usually a progression from Jesus' commissioning of the
apostles and imbuing them with power from the Holy Spirit, to the Day of
Pentecost, then statements by the apostle Paul to the church at Ephesus
(2:20--"the church is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets").
The clincher is from Paul's letter to Timothy (II Tim. 3:16--"All Scripture
is Godbreathed"). Then Peter's comments about Paul's writings (II Peter
3:15). Wrap it up with Jude 3: "The faith that was once for all delivered to the
saints". That about does it.
I probably heard II Timothy 3:16
quoted at least one thousand times in sermons. I do not ever remember the
context being given. I do not ever remember
being mentioned the fact that Paul is speaking
about the Old Testament Scriptures in this passage. The hard-line Churches of Christ see
the Old Testament ending at the cross and the New Testament beginning with the
Day of Pentecost. They see a sharp dispensational change between the Old
Testament and the New. To have the one favorite verse on the inspiration of
the scriptures refer to the Old Testament scriptures (the New Testament had
not yet been written) would seriously rankle, if the context were known.*
2. Even when the truth is being taught, to jump from passage to passage without
understanding who wrote the book and to whom, is a poor way to teach the Bible.
3. The biggest issue that arises
from contextless sermons is the theme that the New Testament has a hidden
blueprint for the work, worship and organization of the local
congregation that is obvious if an honest person reads it (Taking the
Lord's Supper every first day of the week, having no financial cooperation
between congregations, no instrumental music, etc.).
This doctrine of a hidden
blueprint in the New Testament can only be taught by ignoring the true context
of the passages and imposing a distinctly hard-line Church of Christ
presupposition onto the
New Testament. **
Assumptions:
-
One has to assume that God is a rules-oriented God when it
comes to authorizing New Testament worship.
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One has to assume that whatever
the early churches did in response to Christ had to be because they were
following rules that were handed to them orally by the apostles that were
never written down.
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One has to assume that these unwritten rules are so
important that,
in order to preserve the sanctity of these rules when others disagree,
one has to divide and split churches.
When the context of these
favorite blueprint passages are studied they do not indicate rules at
all--only examples of the early church's response to Christ.
4. These sermons are exciting to members of hard-line Churches of Christ,
because they see their raison d'etre so powerfully laid out in scripture
upon scripture, like a beloved memorized catechism comfortingly repeated as a
ritual week after week. And for the same reason, these sermons are boring,
if not irritating, to those who come to church wanting their understanding of
their relationship with God to be expanded and empowered to be able to
face the stresses and temptations of life.
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When the context of these
favorite blueprint passages are studied they do not indicate rules at
all--only examples of the early church's response to Christ.
They see their raison d'etre so powerfully laid out in scripture
upon scripture, like a beloved memorized catechism comfortingly repeated as a
ritual week after week.
"The New Testament is as perfect a constitution for the worship, discipline, and
government of the New Testament Church, and as perfect a rule for the particular
duties of its members, as the Old Testament was for the worship, discipline, and
government of the Old Testament Church, and the particular duties of its
members."
--Thomas Campbell,
"Declaration and Address"
* II Tim. 3:15
"and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make
you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16All
Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and
training in righteousness, 17so that the man of God
may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."
Notice that Paul told Timothy he knew the Scriptures from
Timothy's infancy. The only Scriptures he could have learned from infancy would
have been the Old Testament.
**Though this same way of establishing authority has its roots in
the
Presbyterian Church from which Alexander Campbell came ( its
earliest antecedents).
Click here for a Legalism Questionnaire
What does the New
Testament claim to be?
For more on the
Blueprint for the local congregation see
here.
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