Buying the Truth

Proverbs 23:23 says, "Buy the truth and do not sell it. Also wisdom, instruction, and understanding (NKJV)." While the Bible teaches us that God has revealed truth, and it is there for us to see we continue to wait for a mandate from above. People within the church wait for their colleges, or their leaders to tell them what they should believe. We seem to have come to a point where we expect those who are "enlightened" to share with us what they think we need to do. That is not the case.

We talk a lot about the church "being the church." If we are going to be the church it will be because we have made the necessary sacrifice to "buy the truth." Not "a" truth, but "the" one truth of God, revealed to us in His Holy Word. Throughout history the church has been the church when people have been willing to do this. It is when government type bureaucracy runs the church that it has seen problems. The apostolic church was not mandated by any government. It was not ruled by man. It was composed of people who had bought, and seen, and experienced the Truth.

I would suggest that the church is in trouble. We will not climb out of the whole in which we find ourselves until we ignore the man-made creedal statements, the liberal emerging-church type propaganda, the idea that others will tell us what God's Word means, and all of the other things that take the focus off of Scripture. We must buy the truth no matter what the cost. The church will stand when it's foundation in in the Word of God.

Biblical Standards

The Bible speaks 76 times in the King James Version of "abominations." These are things that profane the holiness of God and His people. Malachi 3:11 says, "Judah has dealt treacherously, and an abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem, for Judah has profaned the Lord's holy institution which He loves: he has married the daughter of a foreign god (NKJV)." Jesus told the Pharisees, "You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God (Luke 16:15)."

Here we have Old and New Testament accounts of abominations in the sight of God, or things that defile His people who are supposed to be set apart. If the Bible speaks about things that defile God's people, why are we so quick to discount the fact that there are things in which God does not want us to take part? I agree that the Old Testament laws are shadows of New Testament truths. I'm not saying that we shouldn't eat pork, in fact, the New Testament says that we can. But it seems like every time a conversation about things that Christians should not do some simply says, "Don't be legalistic."

There was a day where holiness teaching was far too often legalistic, but I have some news for those who live in this day: that time has passed. I'm not promoting wearing your hair in a bun, or skirts that go to the floor. What I am promoting is that the Bible does certainly teach that there are things that Christians should not do. Why can't we have that conversation? As I read the web sites and blogs of the emergent church, I see over and over again criticism of any kind of standard that comes from Scripture. Christians have come to a point in our day where we don't want to tolerate anything that tells us how to act. I wonder if that has something to do with the state of the church today. Can we get on track without admitting that there are certainly something things that the Bible says Christians should not do?

"Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God(1 Corinthians 6:9, 10)."

It's funny, we have made a lot of gray area in these commands, but they seem pretty clear.