The Authority and Sufficiency of Scripture in Ministry

Hello everyone, how are you doing?

I'm thankful for the privilege to come to you to speak the word of God. What a great occasion here in 10 years! One often asks, "Where does the time go?" When we make good investments, we'll see the fruit of it by God's faithfulness, and I'm thankful for what I see here.

So many new faces from the last time that I visited, and something tells me when I come back again, there'll be more new faces as well. We continue to pray for that—not just to have people, obviously, but to have people who are hearing the word of God. That's why even in this celebration conference, the theme is "A Sufficiency of Scripture," because without that, we have nothing at all. We have no hope, actually. As a matter of fact, if we don't believe the scripture, and if it's not sufficient, if it's not what it says it is, then what is the point of us even being here, even now? We should just eat, drink, for tomorrow we die, but that's not the case. Amen, it is indeed true; it is sufficient because it is God-breathed.

I'd like to introduce you to Carl. He is the staff pastor at Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California. He pastors the Anchored Fellowship group there and serves with Grace Advance. He and his wife Joanna have five children. Carl was one of my professors at the Master Seminary. I also spent some time with him. We served together at Fairview Heights Baptist Church in Inglewood, California, for a year while I was out at seminary. I went on my first missions trip with Carl. We went to the Dominican Republic together, and I really enjoyed a great time over there. He has a heart for missions and is also serving with a missions organization for Africa, taking some frequent trips over there to help our brothers out in Africa.

I can tell you some stories about Carl. He's a man who's fearless and can share some stories about trips to Haiti where, you know, people burn tires, gangs, and things like that. Carl is one of those guys who will get out of the bus and move the tire out of the street just so that the bus can advance. But anyway, Carl's just a great brother. I consider him an older brother.

You may remember that statement from John 1:47 where Jesus saw Nathanael coming towards him and he says, "Behold, an Israelite in whom there is no deceit." That's one of the things that I can truly say about Carl—that he's a man in whom there's no deceit. He is who he is; he's a person of integrity. Come on up, brother Carl, and administer God's word to us. Thank you.

Let me tell you what I'm going to do with this topic of the sufficiency of scripture in pastoral ministry. I've made some modifications to the message as I've heard other things already said in the conference itself.

First, I'm going to give us some definitions. I want to give you a definition of sufficiency, a definition of scripture, and a definition of pastoral ministry. From there, I want to then go to a text that would be a concentration, and I want to expand a thought from Ephesians chapter four.

In Ephesians 4:11, Paul writes, "He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ." What I want to do with the rest of the message is to look at what it means to equip and how scripture is instrumental to equipping the body of Christ for the work of service.

A definition of sufficiency comes from a worthy work, a dictionary for theological interpretation of the Bible. This is their definition of sufficiency: "The doctrine of sufficiency of scripture is at heart an assertion of the nature of God's relationship to scripture and consequently its authoritative significance. That is, scripture is, as we know, what God affirms. It is related to God—not simply related, but it is God-breathed. It comes forth, therefore, automatically has authority because God has a divine authority over all creation. So, what he speaks has authority."

A simple way to consider it is to think of a family with five children. When the father speaks, there is a certain voice and authority. When the children respond, they do so out of respect for the father's authority. In the same way, when God speaks, his words have authority. Therefore, the sufficiency of scripture in pastoral ministry is the belief that God's words are authoritative and should be followed in ministry.

There is a difference between me speaking and my dear wife speaking. Authority—He is the one that's in charge. So when God speaks, He speaks with the sense of divine authority. Do we all agree with that? Oh, we must, because if you don't, well then what do we have? We have a society that's saying it is its own authority, but it is not. That authority is divinely originated.

So, it goes on to say it is regularly distinguished into two aspects. Number one, material sufficiency or search. This scripture contains everything necessary to be known and responded to for salvation and faithful discipleship. And then it would say there's formal sufficiency, claiming that scripture as the word of God ought not ultimately to be subject to any external interpretive authority, such as the teaching authority of the church or a Spirit-filled individual, and so significantly is self-interpreting.

So, what it's saying is God's word is its own authority; the church has no authority over it. The scripture has authority over the church. Do we agree with that? And even a person that may say that they're Spirit-filled has no authority over the word of God; the word of God has authority over them.

This is why it's atrocious when you hear so-called preachers or teachers that are saying, “Well, the spirit told me.” Now, there is some sense in which, obviously, we'll cover it in a bit that we can be enlightened, even as brother Lance told us about illumination. We can get an understanding, but that understanding has no authority over the word of God.

Often, people that make a statement like that will follow up and then they will say, “This is what I believe it means.” Oh, that's a danger, is it not? I don't really want to know what you think it means. The question is, what does it mean? Or a person may say, “This is what it means to me.” That is incorrect. It's not what it means to you; it's what it means, and we discover that meaning by the principles of proper interpretation. This is why you need to be in a Bible church that believes these things.

Another definition says this, and it's from a work that's called "A Sufficiency of Scripture in the Biblical Canon." It was actually in an article by a Trinity Journal article, and it says this. First, there are four aspects. They say first it contains all the articles one must believe in order to attain salvation—everything we need to come to faith.

Number two, it contains all precepts that one must obey in order to live piously before God. Here are the precepts you need if you want to be serious about your Christian life. It's here; it's contained here. You can live a godly life before the living God because God has revealed the path to take.

Third, it said it's sufficiently plain to convey this information to an attentive reader. God's word is not secretive; the message is plain. If your heart is sincere, you can read it, study it, meditate over it, and pray in the sense of it.

And fourth, it's self-authenticating. God's word says it's God's word, and we believe that, amen? We do. We must. The scripture is, in fact, sufficient.

Then we think about scripture itself. A wonderful article by a French scholar, René Posh, did a work on the inspiration and authority of scripture, and he noted this in the Old Testament. Listen to what I'm going to share with you: in the Old Testament, he noted that 3,108 times it conveys the express word of God. Nearly 4,000 times the word of God, and some of those instances are 420 times independent, particularly when God is saying to Moses, "Write down these words."

In Psalm 119, the psalmist refers to the word or the words of Jehovah 24 times. In 117, 75 times the psalmist uses different expressions to tell us this is the very words of God.

Now, if we go to some of the other books, Isaiah 120 times it is the word of God—God is speaking. Jeremiah—consider this—430 times the word of God—God is speaking, God is saying. Ezekiel—329 times God is speaking, God is saying. Therefore, we must listen. In the Book of Amos, 53 times God is speaking. Haggai—listen to this—Haggai 27 times he's saying he's speaking. You say, "Well, it's only 27 times." Well, Haggai only has 38 verses, amen? Amen, amen. Zechariah—53 times God is speaking.

So we've determined it is sufficient, do we agree with that? Scripture is God speaking to us, speaking; therefore, we must listen. We can find any number of other texts. Go with me, if you will, to 1 Thessalonians.

1 Thessalonians chapter 2—what does it tell us there? 1 Thessalonians 2:13. Paul says, "For this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you received it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe."

Now notice that last statement: it is performing a work in you who believe. Why? Because it is the word of God. For the believer, it has been internalized. For the believer, they reflect on it and they meditate on it, and it changes. For the believer, they are like the person that is by the streams of water from Psalm 1. For the believer, they're like Joshua said, "If you would meditate on this book, then you will have success."

For the believer, it's like what God's word says in John 17:17, "Thy word is truth; therefore, sanctify them in truth." God's word is a transformative word to us, is it not? Absolutely it is.

So God's word is sufficient. God's word speaks to us. Then we might say that when we say God's word is sufficient, we're saying it has this divine capability to bring about every result that it intends to do.

Then what about ministry? We say, "Well, the sufficiency of scripture in ministry." What is ministry? I would say that ministry is really the practice of the Christian faith. It is the application of the word of God to the lives of people. It is the proclamation of the gospel; it is the teaching of the word of God; it is the demonstration of the love of God; it is the practice of the Christian faith.

So when we talk about the sufficiency of scripture in ministry, we are saying that the word of God is sufficient to bring about the results that God intends in the lives of people. The Christian life and the local church have an effect locally and globally. We are living out of faith in the local church ministry, using our natural talents and spiritual giftedness for the edification of the body and for Great Commission purposes.

Any celebration, conference, workshop, or seminar that is not driven by Great Commission purposes should be set aside, as it is not biblical or ministry. We have natural talents and spiritual giftedness that can be used for the glory of God. The pastor is called to equip the people of God for the Great Commission. He is a representative of the great Shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ, and is called to feed the sheep so that they would grow and the church can have a reach beyond its walls.

I don't know that I've ever met a person who said that ministry was easy. It's not easy; it's difficult, and it's demanding, and it's costly.

God has given some as apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastor-teachers for the equipping of the saints. This equipping is for the building up of the body of Christ, to be an edifice, a place where people are encouraged and trained to go into the world to reach the lost. This is our purpose.

Yesterday, Lance read the word of God, and no one was there, and he was saved because God's word is sufficient. However, many of us have had someone share the gospel with us. Someone came to us, and it was still God saying. God said to me when I was at the University of Cincinnati, "You really don't know the Lord, Carl. Oh, wait a minute, but I can tell you about Jesus Christ." I can tell that Jesus Christ came, lived a life, died, and rose from the dead.

The scripture also tells us that what we believe, we do. The demons also believe, but they have not come to grips with their need for the Lord Jesus Christ. In that moment, the Holy Spirit opens our eyes, and we realize that we are undone. Someone shared the gospel with me, and someone that was committed to the sufficiency of scripture and someone that had been trained in a local church, and then they went out for fulfilling Great Commission purposes.

Ephesians 4 tells us that the pastor is using the sufficient word of God to help the people of God be prepared for gospel purposes. There are six ways that the pastor equips the people of God with the word of God.

First, it is done through personal sacrifice. The scripture gives us the greatest example in the Lord Jesus Christ, who laid down his life for the sheep. A pastor endures the test of ministry and demonstrates a willingness to experience life accordingly. Life can be difficult, and the ministry can be difficult. It is not easy; it is difficult, demanding, and costly.

I have never met anyone in pastoral ministry for any significant amount of time who has not had heartache in the church. I've met some who are on their honeymoon, and everything is just wonderful, but it requires sacrifice. The example is the Lord Jesus Christ, and what must the man of God do when he finds himself facing those situations?

I believe he must be like David at the episode of Ziklag when they thought about stoning David. In Samuel, it says that David encouraged himself in the Lord. He would encourage himself in the word of God and in communion with the living God. John Owen had a habit of reading 40 chapters of some book when he felt like he was becoming worldly. I find myself there as well. The cure is to get into God's word.

Recently, my wife and I and some people from the Master Seminary were in Israel and Jordan for three weeks. It was wonderful to see the affirmation of God's word when looking at places. One episode that is forever in my mind is from 1 Samuel 13:14. Jonathan is going to battle with the Philistines, and he looks up and says, "If they call us to come up to them, we will be found innocent." Jonathan and his armor bearer had courage to face the Philistines. They climbed up and scaled up, killing 20 Philistines. This was not an easy feat as they had no repelling ropes or special boots—only sandals.

The people in the caves were inspired by their courage and chased the Philistines back a great distance. It is not surpassing the Navy Seals, but rather the Spirit of God that gave them success. We can learn from this example and apply it to our own lives. We may find ourselves in a desert, but if we make our way to the sufficient word of God, we can find relief.

The pastor uses the word of God to protect truth. We live in an age where truth is relative, but the pastor stands firm in the truth of God's word. We do not know what a man or woman is anymore. A person can take their child to school, give them lunch money, make sure their shoes are tied, and tell them they will pick them up at a certain time. However, there are wicked individuals who would tell a child they don't have to be the gender they were born as. This is spiritual idiocy.

We must protect the truth, which is God's sufficient word. It is the only thing that will give order to a society astray. We must be careful of people who will creep in and infiltrate the church. Paul warned the Church at Ephesus of this. We must protect people from heretics, Benny Hinn, and Andy Stanley's warped view of scripture. We must be protectors, not just avoiders. We must protect through counseling and being specific about who we are protecting from.

Counseling with the word of God is essential for pastoral ministry. Paul says in 2 Timothy 3:16 that the word of God is inspired and profitable for teaching, reproof, and correction. When counseling, we must have confidence in the word of God to use it in every situation. We can use it to rebuke, comfort, and encourage. Sometimes, we don't need to say anything, but just listen and pray.

When someone is about to cross the Jordan, we can look to the word of God for comfort. We can look to Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to be built up. We can use the word of God to equip the body of Christ for Great Commission purposes. We can use it to encourage fellowship and delight in the future of the church. Even something as simple as a picnic can be used to encourage one another and remind us of the word of God.

I'm sure there are conversations taking place about life, Christ, and the church. When I came, I heard the word of God preached, and that's why I'm here. The pastor also uses a sufficient word in praying. Paul is praying for the missionaries, and his prayer is biblically informed. He is praying that the God of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of all glory, will give them a spirit of wisdom, illumination, and knowledge of Him. He wants them to grow into a greater knowledge of Christ and to understand the hope of their calling with clarity.

As an illustration, he uses corrective lenses for distance. He has to use monovision, where he puts in one contact to help him read. He has been doing this for years and has not gotten a headache yet. When he takes it out, he can read, but in the back, it becomes a little unclear. He is praying that their eyes will be enlightened so that they can see their hope of calling and their inheritance with clarity.

Informed prayer is biblically informed prayer. Look at Ephesians chapter 3. Here, Paul wants us to understand the great love of Christ. Notice what he says in verse 18: that you may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth, length, height, and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge.

Do you ever just pause and think just how much Christ loves you? Do you meditate on that? You contemplate that? I have known the Lord since 1983—40 years that I've known the Lord. I was sharing this recently; I shared again, 40 years I've known the Lord. Pastoral ministry started then; it's like, you know, a bit over 30 years ago teaching at a seminary that is known for its commitment to scripture and doctrinal purity. But I tell you, friend, I say it every time, I still bask in the love of Christ. I've never outgrown it. As a matter of fact, the more I discover, the more I read, the more I think about it, the more I study it, the more I realize I don't know what great love He has for us.

Briefly, I just want to make this statement: it's through caring. He does it through caring for people. It's personal and intimate interaction with them. It's the thought in principle from James 1:27, because James there says, "What is pure and undefiled religion? Pure and undefiled religion is that you spend time with widows and with orphans and you keep yourself undefiled from the world." You care for people in their souls.

With my remaining time, I want to come to this last thing that we use a sufficient scripture for: it's preaching. It's preaching. So we said it's sacrificing, it's protecting, it's caring, it's counseling, it's praying. The last thing is preaching.

Number one, preaching must be instructional. If it's you, we're using the word of God, let's go to a number of places. Look at Romans 15:4 with me. Romans 15:4. Number one, it's instructional. Notice what it says in Romans 15:4. It says, "For whatever was written in earlier times was written for your instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope." Instructional—it is giving guidance. It is that parent to the child; it's that teacher to the student.

And so the word of God is at... Look at 1 Corinthians 7:10 with me. 1 Corinthians 7:10. Hear instruction. He says, "Paul says, but to the married I give instructions, not I, but the Lord." It is, in fact, authoritative that the wife should not leave her husband. That is your instruction. The word of God is sufficient.

When we make tough decisions in ministry, we must make sure that when we rebuke, it is based on God's authoritative word. Look with me at 1 Thessalonians 4:1-2. Preaching is instructional for what end? That we would understand this divine calling that we have, this privilege to walk in a manner worthy of our calling. Paul states that we should walk in this way to please God. We must remember what we were before coming to Christ and how the word of God attached itself to our mind and opened our eyes.

We can now please God; what a privilege! Paul also exhorts us to excel still more. In 1 Thessalonians 5, he requests that we appreciate those who diligently labor among us and have charge over us in the Lord, giving us instruction. We should see them highly in love because of their work.

Preaching is not only instructional, but also exhortational and applicational. We take the commands and principles of scripture and exhort the body of Christ to excel, to be more, to strive and to hunger for more. We then take the implications of a text and apply it to our lives, leading to transformation. This is what God wants me to be: He wants me to think differently than how I lived before.

Preaching is also eschatological, which means taking Paul's pattern where Paul said it is already and not yet. We have received, but we have not fully received. I am sanctified, being sanctified, and I will be ultimately sanctified. I have a knowledge; I'm growing in knowledge, and I will have a full knowledge. We are striving for that, are we not? It is that race that we're in, and we're saying that I want to be more and more like Christ. At least that should be our objective; that should be our heart; that should be our passion.

When we preach eschatologically, we need to look to the future. We need to have a perspective that this life is not our home, and we look to a future that is grand and beyond anything we can even imagine. When we'll be in the very presence of the living God forever, and we will enjoy Him forever, this should motivate us.

This is also the thought of Colossians 3:1-3, where Paul said to the Colossians to look above. "Well, Christ is seated at the right hand of God." Amen, is He not there? He is. This should motivate us in life. It is also this reality in Hebrews 12, and we look to the example of Christ. Even in Christ in His life, He said, "For the joy that was in front of Him," He looked ahead.

If you look too much in this life, you'll be discouraged. But if you look ahead, it's a motivation. What is awaiting me? It's the thought of 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. We don't have sorrow like those that have no hope. We have a hope for our loved ones that have gone before us. We're going to meet Him in the air. We won't perceive those who fall asleep, for the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God. The dead in Christ will rise first; then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.

Do you look forward to that day? I do as well. I want you to note something here: my mom went before me at age seven, my dad went before me just before my graduation from college, and my sister went before me 10 years ago. Forget Orlando; it's not the city beautiful. The city beautiful is above, amen? That's where she is.

But I want you to notice that we have a hope, and this should motivate us in life. We say we will meet the Lord. The focus is not me being united again with my mother or with my dad or with my sister or anyone else; it is the Lord. Somehow there's going to be such a great transformation that is impossible for us to have any need or want because we have the Lord.

This is why I would tell people that would say to me, especially when I was playing like football in college, that, "Hey, your mom's looking down on you." Really? No, no, they are with the Lord. Why look down on me when you have the Lord? Why be worried about a football game at the Citrus Bowl when they have the Lord?

In the natural, we say, "Well, surely there is some element." I don't know all, but I do know this: the Lord will consume them. This is why there must be eschatological preaching that gives you perspective in life. Our society is absolutely maddening, but eschatologically we say, "Well, God will make all things right, will He not? All injustice will be made right by the Lord."

The experience itself is an act of worship. The preacher involves in preparation, contemplation, and then he is involved in illumination. I had to change a gear, if you will, and I prepared, and I thought about scriptures. What scriptures are relevant? How can that be said? What about this issue? What about what I already heard Todd say, and what about what I already heard Clay say, and what about what I already heard Lance say?

Then I said, "Okay, Lord, I think this will honor you." Preparation—so I've been worshiping the Lord in my preparation. Then contemplation, because you think thoughts about God and you think about the reality of this great transformation that will take place one day, and we'll all leave our sin behind. That's contemplation.

My mind is illuminated by Lumen; certain things are crystallized, at least I hope it's been clear to you. Going from being a sinner to becoming a preacher of the word of God is an amazing thing. It is only possible because of the word of God. When a person reads the word of God, they realize the connection and the cross-references that are communicating a worshipful experience.

The scripture is instructional, exhortational, and applicational. We learn from John 4 that we should worship in spirit and truth, from Psalm 100 that we should come before the Lord in thanksgiving and praise, from Colossians 3:16 that we should sing to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, from Psalm 86 that we should revere the Lord in accordance to His great name, from Romans 12 that our lives should be a living sacrifice, and from Revelations 4 and 5 that one day we can sing to the Lamb.

Father, we thank you for these words you have given us. Give us grace, amen.