I have seen a “line of reasoning” in the Christian world that just doesn’t make a lot of sense. There are actually some people who will take a look at churches like NewSpring and say that we have allowed worldliness to creep into our methods of presenting the Gospel…and that creativity is not necessary because “the Bible is enough.”
Is that true? Really? Dang it!!! We’ve been doing that haven’t we? I guess we are going to have to cease all creative elements and…wait…I just looked at my Bible—WHOA, it’s opened to Numbers 15:37-41 and here God COMMANDS that a symbolic reminder be used to assist people in remembering His Word. Oh well, coincidence I’m sure.
Like I was saying, this creative thing…WAIT…in Numbers 22:21-35 God needs to communicate a message to Balaam and He uses a donkey! What the heck is that? Why didn’t God just drop a Bible out of the sky? After all, He is outside of time and space right? SO technically the Bible DID exist. What is God thinking?
Let me flip through and see if God used any more “creative and worldly” methods…
In Joshua 10:1-15 He made the sun stand still as a sign to Joshua that He is Sovereign and that He would always be with him. Now was that necessary? Someone probably got sunburned in all of that!
In I Samuel 17 He used a sling and a stone to prove to Goliath that He alone is God!
In Isaiah 20 He asked Isaiah to get naked and walk around for three years to communicate a point…I imagine the bloggers went crazy about this one!
In Jeremiah 13:1-11 He asks Jeremiah to “waste money” on this stupid loincloth…I mean what the heck, there are people in need and Jeremiah spends money on a loincloth and time trying to illustrate a point! What was God thinking? Didn’t He just know that all of that creativity was not necessary—that the Bible is enough?
In Hosea 1:1-3 He asked the prophet to go and marry a prostitute…named GOMER! I mean, DANG, marrying a prostitute is bad enough…but GOMER? Why, once again, didn’t God just drop a Bible out of the sky? Or why didn’t He just ask Hosea to exegete the Scriptures? Hmm…I’m seeing a pattern here!
In the book of Jonah He used a giant fish to communicate both His wrath and His mercy! Why didn’t He just ask Jonah to spend more time in the Torah if the Bible is enough?
Then there is Matthew 2:1-2, God used a star to communicate to some astrologers from the east that Jesus had been born! What was He thinking? He actually used their culture to engage them and, as a result, they met Jesus (before the religious who were diligently studying the Scriptures I might add!)
And then there’s that Jesus—what a guy! I mean, if the Bible were enough then why didn’t He go around just quoting Scripture all the time? Why did He tell all those stories? Why did He do miracles?
Look at Luke 13:1-4—what is Jesus doing? WOW! Was He using current events as a means to communicate urgency? I’ll bet someone gave Him a talkin’ to after that was over, seriously, was that necessary if “the Bible is enough!”
In the book of Acts there is a guy named Agabus (poor guy, he probably got made fun of in school) and we see in Acts 21:10-11 that he got creative in communicating to the apostle Paul—was that “compromising” the Gospel because Scripture was not used?
AND my gosh…if you are not into the creativity thing then please—PLEASE—do not read the book of Revelation!!! There are so many things that God uses in that book to communicate His power and Sovereignty other than Scripture in that book that, well, if you hate creativity then you just might go nuts!
NOW…I KNOW where some of you are going with this—so let me attempt to stop you. (I say attempt because some will blow this completely out of proportion!)
I believe that the Bible is the complete, infallible and inerrant Word of God! I believe that II Timothy 3:16-17 is true. I am all about what II Peter 1:20-21 says. One of my favorite chapters in the book of Psalms is Psalm 119, which is all about the Word of God. Hebrews 4:12 is TRUE…the Word of God IS living and active…and it IS sharper than a double edged sword!!!
I love Scripture…and through reading it, studying it AND applying it the Lord has done a great work in my life. AND…through reading Scripture I have came to understand that God is honored when His Word is communicated creatively and put on a level that everyone can understand.
AND I love to communicate God’s Word—actually I often go line by line, verse by verse. However, I want to communicate Christ in any way possible…through music, drama, videos and other so called “worldly” means. AND…if I am wrong, then according to Hebrews 13:17 I will stand before the Lord one day and give an account—get that, before the Lord—not a blogger!
The apostle Paul said in Scripture that Christ must be preached…and NewSpring, you have my promise that HE will always be our focus! BUT you also have my promise that church will never be boring—we do not have a boring God—His bride should not be boring either. The Bible is the most exciting book that has ever been written…and we will present it in its totality, with passion, sincerity and creativity!!!
Saying all of that—we’ve got some cool stuff headed our way! :-)