We have a just-tell-me-what-the-Bible-says philosophy at The Journey.  This philosophy is one of the most important components of how we are attempting to honor God with our ministry.  Below are 3 reasons why we strive to stick with this simple yet incredibly challenging approach.

1.  God’s word matters more than our words.

     Believers and nonbelievers alike are capable of saying just about anything when it comes to the study of God.  People are full of good and bad advice, helpful and hurtful statements as well as educated and uneducated claims about theology.  For Christians, discerning what amounts to godly wisdom in all of the worldly muck out there is hopeless without the Bible (2 Timothy 3:16).

     I hate to say it but you can’t trust every Christian to say correct things about God, especially when we live in a time in which so many professing “christians” don’t just stick with the Bible anymore.  The Bible constantly warns us to be on the lookout for people who claim to be believers yet say heretical things about God and how our relationship with Him works (example Acts 20:28-31).  Did you catch that?  People who fall under the label “christian” are the ones that should worry you when it comes to heresy.

     In today’s world perhaps the biggest danger in regards to false teaching aren’t people who deliberately come up with heretical beliefs about God with the intention of confusing and corrupting the teachings of the church (though that threat is real).  Rather, I wonder if the greater threat to sound doctrine are the well-meaning church attenders who assume incorrect things about God based on minuscule sound bites of Scripture taken out of context.  Let’s face it, you can take snippets of biblical text and make all kinds of crazy stuff up, “christians” do it all of the time.

     I don’t ever want to be guilty of making a point about God that’s not true.  The thought of unintentionally teaching incorrect concepts about God frightens me!  Teaching through books of the Bible, pursuing and discovering the original intent of each inspired author is our goal at The Journey.  This approach is the safest and most affective method of guarding myself against becoming an oblivious heretic.  I know I won't get every last detail right but this makes the most sense to me.

2.  I don’t want to waste people’s time.

     I feel like a lot of American church today is simply done for show.  So many people want to be entertained at church and so many pastors want to entertain the people (Matthew 6:5).  I’ll admit that I really feel the pressure to perform well for the people in our culture and I want to be well received.  My biggest fear in ministry is that I’ll succeed at winning people to our church with this kind of motivation moving me.  If my personality in addition to the band’s groove and trendy atmosphere are what get people excited about the Journey then all of our efforts are ultimately meaningless.

     So what if a church can lure a large crowd into a building.  So what if a pastor can make people chuckle and have a good time.  So what if the band creates an upbeat atmosphere where people can feel like we’re living in the times.  What are we really trying to accomplish when we gather people like this?  If this is what church is about then I just feel like I’m wasting everyone’s time, especially my own.

     When I preach I really just need the biggest emphasis to be on what the Bible actually says, with a dependance upon God's power to change hearts and accomplish true worship (Rom 1:16).  When the band sings they really just need to sing about what the Bible says so we can concentrate of Biblical truth and not a guitar solo (I’m a guitar player, I love guitar solos, I can’t look away, ha!).

3. People are getting really bored with fluffy messages.

     If you’ve spent much time in church it’s likely you know what I’m talking about.  The recipe for a fluffy message consists of a funny story, some cliché/ambiguous statement about God, 2 or 3 unrelated passages made to sound relevant to those clichés, and don’t forget to throw in several dramatic pauses.  Rinse and repeat.

     Is it possible to attend church today and not hear anything concrete about God?  I feel like a lot of discussion I hear about God from people could be interpreted in countless ways.  Sometimes we have a tendency to say a lot without saying anything at all.  If you say something specific about God it’s possible you’ll be shamed or labeled offensive amongst fellow believers, be careful.  With that said, ambiguous/broad statements about God are championed by our society’s church goers, and arguably more so by non-church goers who still like to claim Jesus.

     We’re supposed to be people who build our house on the solid rock, right (Matthew 7:24)?  If I were to build my beliefs on all of the ambiguous claims about God that are flippantly tossed around our culture then I’d NEVER be standing on solid ground.  Felt-need christian clichés and claims about God that tickle our ears often don’t jive with what the Bible teaches anyway, rarely can the sovereign Creator of the universe be summed up with simple sayings.

     I want to teach specific truths about God that are taught in scripture even if those truths make me uncomfortable and go against my preconceived assumptions.  After all, am I willing to be corrected by the Bible or is that just something I like to say to play the part?  I can tell you first hand that over the past 3 years at The Journey teaching book by book, much of what I believe about God has been challenged and changed.  The Bible has altered my Christian beliefs (remember that’s what it says it will do, 2 Tim 3:16).  However, I’ve found that my ideas and assumptions about God paled in comparison to what God actually teaches us about Himself in the Bible.

     Fluffy/ambiguous messages about God lead to hopeless/incorrect views of God.  I don’t want what I say about God to amount to “empty phrases” (Matthew 6:7) as if I’m some pagan.

     In conclusion, I don’t want to fart around with our time in church.  One of the best ways I can think of to prevent saying incorrect things about God, wasting time with people and leading them to hopeless banter is prayerfully attempting to just say what the Bible says.

     These are some of the reasons why we have a just-tell-me-what-the-Bible-says philosophy at The Journey.

Cody Parman
Teaching Pastor
The Journey Church of Marietta