I have been a gospel preacher for 29 years now. If you count the times when I preached as a teenager, I have been preaching for 46 years. Elders of the church put me in the pulpit for training the first time when I was 12. For all those years as I was growing up, and up to today, I still wonder why so many people in the world and even in the Lord’s church trust in the words and opinions of uninspired men for their salvation and spirituality, instead of trusting in what the Bible says.
1 Cor. 1:19-21 say, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent” (quoted from Is. 29:14). “Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.”
Paul was saying that people need to trust in God’s wisdom for salvation and spirituality, not in the words and opinions of men. The only way to know if the man, woman, or preacher (including myself) is preaching or teaching the whole Truth is to search the Scriptures yourself like the Bereans in Acts 17:11. There are, of course, still preachers who preach the whole Truth today, but I know the huge majority are preaching only what they think you want to hear. Why? Because of the sake of their ego, and money, and job security, and some because they themselves won’t accept the whole Truth.
1 Cor. 4:7 says, “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.” The treasure Paul is writing about is the gospel, and it went on to become known as the Holy Bible, the Word of God. What a wonderful treasure. The gift of God without measure. It is God’s power for our salvation (Rom. 1:16, 17), because it holds His righteousness that saves us. When we obey what the Bible says we will be saved by His righteousness. When we make up our own ways to be saved (such as the sinner’s prayer, which is not in the Bible), and leave out any of what God says about how to be saved (which is faith, repentance, confession, and baptism to obtain forgiveness of sins), we are trying to be saved by our own righteousness, and leaving His righteousness out. Read how the Ethiopian was saved in Acts 8:26-39. Then read Gal. 3:26-29; Rom. 6:3, 4; Mark 16:16 without ignoring what God says about baptism, and be prayerful in your study. God bless you and all who seek to know His will for their lives.
Timothy Sundlie - Evangelist for the La Crosse church of Christ