The Dangers of Liberalism

Introduction

Well, good morning. Turn if you will to 1 Corinthians, the fourth chapter. It’s wonderful to be back after being gone for a couple of weeks. We do have handouts. If anybody wants one, Mark is handing them out, so just let him know as he comes down the aisle there. And we have some others handing out as well. It really is wonderful to be back here. I enjoy worshiping God everywhere I go and with whatever group that I’m maybe preaching at that particular week. But to be back with my home congregation, there’s really nothing like that. And I just really I love this group and I love you all, and I feel encouraged to be in your presence and encouraged in this worship service thus far. We had a great singing that we’ve had up to this point and a wonderful prayer that was led, and I’m looking forward to the rest of our day of worship and of studying his word in this next hour after this hour.

And this is also going to share a similar theme to what Mr. Harkriter is going to be preaching on at the 11th hour, which is another reason that I chose that I chose to preach on this. In 1 Corinthians 4 and in verse 6, it says, Now these things, brethren, I have figuratively transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes. That you may learn in us not to think beyond what is written. That none of you may be puffed up on behalf of one against the other. To you today about the danger of liberalism. The danger of exceeding that which is written. The way to establish authority in anything, and it’s no different with the Bible, is three ways. First of all, command or direct statement.

Secondly, approved example. And thirdly, necessary inference. Mr. Bob will go into more detail at the 11 hour on those three those three ways of establishing authority. Well, any time that we think that we can establish authority in a different way, that we can go beyond the scope of what God has told us either generally or specifically that He is approved in Scripture. If we’re going beyond that, if we’re taking liberties beyond that, then you know, call that what you want, but the term that I’m choosing for today’s lesson is liberalism. That’s how I’m defining liberalism. So of course, we’re not talking about politics when we talk about liberalism. We’re talking about taking liberties beyond what God’s word authorizes. And I think we would all agree that that is wrong.

1. The Attitude of Liberalism

It is prohibited as we saw in 1 Corinthians 4 and verse 6. Now we’re going to talk about the attitude of liberalism. I’m going to talk about the sin of liberalism, and then we’re going to break down liberalism into three categories. So let’s begin by talking about the attitude of liberalism, and I want you to see that it really is a mindset. It’s never really about one issue. It’s a mindset that will affect how a person views every issue. I was speaking to a man just a couple of days ago that was raised in the Catholic Church. And Catholics do not believe that we have to go by the Bible. And he was talking about, now he’s no longer in the Catholic Church, but he was growing up.

He was a youth pastor of sorts or whatever it might be called. And he mentioned that he was taught the book of Acts by his bishop. And that surprised me a little bit. And he said that it wasn’t that they didn’t study the Bible. It was that their perspective of the Bible was that this isn’t our guide. This is just one of the books that we use. We have many catechisms. We, you know, we have the also the approved tradition of the church that is a guide. And so it wasn’t that they couldn’t understand the things they were reading, but they weren’t looking at those things as rules, as if it applies to us that we actually have to do these things. And so it might be that in a different way, let’s say somebody’s idea is, well, the Bible is just a love letter.

Dave Ramsey’s a radio host, and he talks about, you know, God loves you. He’s crazy about you, and he’s written a love letter to you. That’s what the Bible is. It’s not a blueprint for how to live and how to worship God. It’s just a love letter. And of course, if you have that lens that you’re looking at the Bible through, then everything that you read, you’re going to see through that lens, and authority is not going to be a very important matter in that case. So it’s a mindset that says, well, really, Bible authority isn’t necessary. Now, not all people that practice things beyond what God’s Word authorizes have this attitude. But this is part of the attitude that a lot of people have that, well, really, do we have to actually have authority for everything we do?

We don’t actually have to use the Bible that way, do we? People will just say that. They will say, well, okay, maybe authority is important, but if the Bible doesn’t say not to do it, specifically not to do that thing, then it’s okay to do it. They might say God’s grace doesn’t demand exacting obedience. Even though Jesus taught as much in Matthew 28 to observe every commandment. But, well, you know, if we are really trying to observe every commandment, then we’re legalists. You know, people who do that are being pharisaical. That’s the charge, and that’s the attitude that is had towards those who try to keep what the word says to every detail. The attitude also says there are very few essentials. There are a few essentials.

Namely, belief in Jesus. That’s, I mean, if you really believe in Jesus, then the rest, it doesn’t matter quite quite as much. The end justifies the means. That’s another aspect of this attitude. Whatever that end result is, if it’s a good thing, then whatever we had to get to that good thing must be a good thing in itself. I mean, whatever we have to do to bring people in the door, because if they come in the door, then eventually they’re going to be taught some things about the Bible. So if we have to provide food and fun or whatever else to get them in the door, then that must have been a good thing we were doing because look at the result that we got. Okay.

Or this attitude.

2. The Sin of Liberalism

We’ve got to use modern programs and modern organizations. We can’t do things the first century way. This is the 21st century. So it’s a progressive type type mentality. But I believe that what God’s word records for us is exactly what we need for all ages. And God’s word teaches as much. It doesn’t need to be changed, doesn’t need to be altered. You see, and let’s just be clear here. It is a sin whenever we take liberties beyond what God’s word authorizes. That’s actually a sin. Let me give you four Old Testament examples of liberalism in religious matters. One of them is Nadab and Abaihu in Leviticus 10. How were they liberal? Well, they decided, these two priests who were just consecrated as priests, to offer strange fire, which the Lord did not command.

Now it wasn’t that the Lord said don’t do it. It was that he did not say to do it. And whatever the Lord says to do, everything else is excluded. He doesn’t have to specifically say not to. And we see that over and over throughout the Bible. Another example, and by the way, what did God do to Nadab and Abihu? He consumed them with fire from his presence. Miriam and Aaron in Numbers chapter 12. They came and they didn’t like Moses’ wife, this Egyptian woman. And their attitude was, well, hasn’t God spoken through us? He hasn’t only spoken through you. They were trying to usurp that same authority and have that same place as Moses had, and God rebuked them. And Miriam was stricken with leprosy for a week.

Korah, Dathan, and Abiram in Numbers chapter 16. They came and rebelled against Moses and Aaron, saying, You are not the only ones who are holy. We are holy. Why do you exalt yourself above the peoples? They were wanting to take liberties beyond what God’s authority allowed and take a role that they were not allowed to have. And how did God like it? Well, the next day he swallowed them up in the ground. The ground opened up and swallowed them. He had swallowed them. And the 250 men who were part of that rebellion were consumed with fire. You know, over and over in the Old Testament, God’s hand is the heaviest when people pervert how to serve and worship God. Especially when it has to do with his worship.

Uzzah, this might be the best example of liberalism in the Old Testament. 2 Samuel 6. Remember, they were moving the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem. Well, how was the Ark of Covenant, the covenant, to be transported? Well, it was to be transported by being carried by the Levites on poles. Now God never said, now don’t put that thing on an ark. I mean, on a cart. Don’t put the ark on a cart. He never said not to do that. Maybe that was one of the reasons they thought they could do it. But remember, whatever God says to do, everything else is excluded. And so Uzzah was accompanying the ark as it was being carried on an ox cart, and when the oxen stumbled, he touched the ark, and zap, he was gone.

God killed him. So again, we see God’s disapproval of the sin of taking liberties beyond his authority. When we just assume, well, wouldn’t God like this? I think he would like it. I like it. I like ox carts. It seems smart to me, and it’s more modern, too. You see? Those human reasons should not come into play. Because God’s word does not change. And Uzzahers should have known that. As well as David and all the rest who are involved in that whole procession. The Bible teaches not to add to and not to take away from his word. We see this in the Old Testament as well as the New Testament. In Deuteronomy 4 and verse 2, for example, you shall not add to the word which I command you.

That would be my definition of liberalism, as we’re using it today, adding to the word. Nor take it take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you. In Revelation chapter 22, the very last chapter in the Bible. And almost the last verses, verses 18 and 19, for I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book. If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book. And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the book of life, and from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

We talked about that in my two lessons on the pattern of the New Testament church. That the idea of pattern there is the idea of a sketch or a drawing. And you might think of it as a blueprint. So if you are given a blueprint by God, are you going to look at that and say, well, I think we should add a little thing over here or something over here? We’re not going to try to change it because if it’s from God, then it’s perfect. We must observe the apostolic traditions. Look in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. I think this is what Mark intended to read earlier. Verse 15 there says, Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle.

Well, I thought we weren’t supposed to be traditional. Well, not when it’s man-made traditions that we’re bound to and that we teach as the word of God, then we have become Pharisees. But the traditions of the apostles, this simply means these are the things that God wants you to do. How God wants you to live and worship Him. Those traditions are not to be changed or altered. In chapter 3 and in verse 6, he actually says this, but we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw from every brother who walks disorderly, and not according to the tradition which he received from us. So we can’t change that. Paul wasn’t willing to alter that. And you know who else wasn’t willing to step outside of God’s authority?

Was Jesus Himself. In John chapter 12 and verses 49 and 50. Jesus said, For I have not spoken on my own authority. But the Father who sent me gave me a command what I should say and what I should speak. And I know that his command is everlasting life. Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told me, so I speak.

3. Extreme Liberalism

I’ll just kind of make up what I think God would like. Jesus would not do that. And neither should we. You see here the sin and the folly of taking liberties beyond what God’s word authorizes. Now, any degree of liberalism would be wrong, would it not? Whether it was much or whether it was little. So we’re going to look at three degrees of liberalism. Starting with the most extreme, liberalism. This is really the attitude of pretty much anything goes. Let’s start with, for example, pluralism. Well, it’s okay to accept, you know, along with Christianity, we can also accept Islam as legitimate and so on and so forth. Or narrow that down within Christianity, as it were. People who just accept anybody, any church out there, as long as they accept Jesus.

Well, you know, Paul said in Galatians chapter 1 that the gospel had been converted. I mean, perverted, not converted. How are you going to convert the gospel? And you twist, when you twist it, what do you end up with? A different gospel. It looks similar. You might mention the name of Christ, and there’d be some semblance of service to him, but if they are not really observing what the gospel truly teaches, then what is it? It’s a different gospel. The acceptance of evolution is another example of this extreme liberalism. Hey, you don’t have to reject the Bible to believe in Darwinism. And you don’t have to reject Darwinism to believe in the Bible. You can just believe in all of it. The acceptance of homosexuality as a practice, as a marriage, as a practice among clergy, even.

Women preachers. And I would put this in the category of extreme liberalism. Not only does the Bible teach that men are to be an authority, but it also teaches in 1 Corinthians 14 34 that women in the churches are to remain silent. Miracle crusades, like Benny Hen and these others who are on TV with the spotlight, healing people for money and, you know, for reputation and for pride. Modern day apostles and prophets and prophetesses. This would be in this category of extreme liberalism. I think that most people out there in the world of Christendom, those all who claim the name of Christ would agree, probably a majority of them would agree that most of this stuff is liberal. And so they might consider themselves to be conservative and practice some of these things we’re going to talk about in this category of mainstream liberalism.

4. Mainstream Liberalism

Mainstream liberalism is not as extreme. It’s a little bit more palatable. And it’s more commonly practiced. I mean, in virtually any church you might happen upon, chance upon, these practices will be done. For example, man-made creeds, man-made rules, man-made titles for clergy, father, reverend. Even the term pastor is abused. Divorce and remarriage for reasons besides adultery. That is even taught from the pulpit. Hey, listen, you know, when you get baptized, it washes away all those past marriages, so you can just continue on in that sixth marriage of yours. And God will be pleased because He’s forgiven you. That is not what the Bible teaches. The social gospel. In other words, this is we use food and we use fun and so forth to attract people, to draw people.

And we use food and fun to help us to socialize and to keep people intrainterested. Why do you think so many churches out there are so big? Well, one of the reasons is they are attracting people with these carnal measures. Instrumental music in worship is another example. This is uh this is liberal. It’s taking liberties beyond what God’s word authorizes. Because the New Testament doesn’t speak about using instruments. It speaks of singing. So when we go beyond that, we are we are transgressing the word of God. Communion, observed just whenever. Doesn’t have to be the first day of the week. It doesn’t have to be every first day of the week either. It could just be the, you know, every quarter or just whenever it strikes our fancy that we think we want to take that.

5. Subtle Liberalism

So I think we can all see here that these practices would be would be beyond what God’s word authorizes. But this third category is perhaps the easiest to just slide through without people noticing. Because it’s subtle. That’s why I’ve called it subtle liberalism. I didn’t know what to call it. I thought about calling it conservative liberalism. But that kind of sounded to me like you know, jumbo shrimp or one of those oxymorons. But that’s really it of liberalism, what we’re going to talk about here is the conservative side of liberalism. But it’s still liberal. And any degree of taking liberties beyond God’s word is a sin. Now, God’s the judge. But I have to come to that conclusion based on scripture. That’s not my opinion. This liberalism is common among mainline or institutional churches of Christ.

And I want to make us aware, in case you’re not aware, of the liberalism that would be had by by many churches out there that would share the same sign. Church of Christ. First of all, middleman organizations. Middleman organizations. So let me just give an illustration of what I mean by this. So you have a manufacturer who. Now, this is not the church, okay? This is just an illustration to understand what middleman organizations are. A manufacturer who makes a product, let’s say it’s a hammer. The manufacturer wants ultimately to get that product to a consumer, but in this case, the manufacturer doesn’t sell directly to the consumer, but sells the hammer to the retailer, say it’s Lowe’s or Home Depot, who sells the hammer to the consumer.

So, what’s the middleman? Well, it is the retailer. And so we see the same pattern with the middleman organization, that is some organization that the church will either send money to or will sponsor in some way or utilize in order to do specific areas of work that that church wants to accomplish. Okay? Now let’s get a little bit more specific and put some skin on this. Okay. So first let’s consider institutionalism. This is one aspect of these middleman organizations.

Before I go any further, you know, the first problem that we’re going to see in a lot of this is the work itself shouldn’t even be the work of the church. And I don’t have time to really go into it. But the problem I really want to focus on is the middleman organization itself. Okay? So let’s say, for example, you’ve got a church that wants to support evangelists, wants to send money to evangelists. Well, instead of the church doing that directly and the elders overseeing that as we see in Scripture, what you would have in this instance is the church sending its money to a missionary society. And that missionary society can then oversee that work and take care of the matter of sending out these evangelists.

Simply not a pattern we see in the New Testament. And I think it matters. Orphan homes is another example of a middleman organization. What is the orphan home? Well, it’s a middleman in order to take care of orphans, which shouldn’t be the work of a local church anyway. That’s an individual work, James 127. Or where you have a Christian college that will do the work of educating young people and giving them maybe some spiritual education in there too. Now, let me just say this. This is not a plug for Florida College. Florida College is mostly the faculty is Christian. The students there are mostly, probably I would assume mostly members of the church. But it’s not a Christian college in the sense that it receives money from other churches because it doesn’t.

It is totally privately funded, but that’s very unique. Just about all the time, if you see a Christian college, then it is accepting money from churches that are sending its money there in order to support this work. But that’s not the work of the church in the first place, and the middleman organization is not authorized either. So it’s wrong on two fronts. And we don’t do that here. We don’t send our money to any Christian colleges. Or let’s take a Christian hospital that the church will sponsor or utilize in order to take care of sick people, as if that were the work of the church in the first place. Now, another area of these middleman organizations, besides institutionalism, is the sponsoring church arrangement. Let me just be very brief on this.

This is where you have a church that takes on a big project that it cannot afford. Like I can remember at one church where I was that the men there had received a letter from a church that was starting this big fancy building program and was going to be able to therefore teach and entertain a lot more people. And so it needed money because it couldn’t afford to do this. And isn’t this a good work that we’re trying to do? So we need churches to send us money. Or another example of this is years ago in Tennessee, there was a church that their goal was to send literature to every household in America. But they couldn’t afford to do that. I mean, that cost millions. So in order to fund it, they were asking other churches for help.

And so churches would be sending their money to this middleman. You see, in that case, the church with the project is the middleman. And this initial church is using that middleman to do that work that that church wants to do and is giving up that initial church is giving up its oversight to the church with the project. Do we need to come up with our own ways of doing things? We’ve got God’s ways. Why would we want to try to improve on that? We can’t improve on it. You see, there’s no scriptural authority for these middleman organizations. Now you might say, well, show me a verse that says, Thou shalt not use a middleman organization, preacher. Well, remember, all we need to see is what God’s word does authorize.

And whatever God’s word authorizes, everything else is excluded. And God’s word doesn’t authorize middleman organizations. We do see elders overseeing the work of their own church. Look in Acts chapter 20 and verse 28. Acts 20 and verse 28, Paul here is speaking to the elders of the church at Ephesus, and he has gathered them at Miletus. They have come to him at Miletus. And he says there, therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which he purchased with his own blood. So it is the role of elders to be shepherds, to be overseers. And 1 Peter 5 2 mentions shepherd the flock of God which is among you. And so for the elders to essentially contract out the oversight to a middleman organization who will take oversight of that particular work is unscriptural.

It is unscriptural. And I have to say it’s a sin. And churches that do that need to change their ways. And we in this congregation will not let that happen. We will not do that. Now God is the judge. But that is what his word says. We also see that when money is sent to take care of a need, that that money is sent directly. In Philippians chapter 4. In Philippians chapter 4 and verses 15 and 16. Paul says, Now you Philippians also know that in the beginning of the gospel when I departed from Macedonia, no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, but you only. For even in Thessalonica, you sent aid once and again for my necessities. So the missionary society wasn’t sending him any money.

The church at Philippi was sending him the money directly and overseeing that. In Acts chapter 11, we have a famine going on in Judea. In Acts chapter 11, and starting there in verse 29. Then the disciples, each according to his ability, just determined to send relief to the brethren dwelling in Judea. This they also did and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul. So Barnabas and Saul were not the middlemen, they were the mailmen. And so they were just delivering the money to the elders, the elders of who? The elders of the church at Jerusalem, so it could serve as a middleman to then filter out this money to the other church. No, it doesn’t say that. This was the area of Judea.

So they were sending it to the hands of the elders of the churches in Judea to take care of that work of taking care of their destitute brethren. So, basically, it’s as simple as this. Not basically, it is just as simple as this. The New Testament pattern of sending money is the church sending its money directly to the need. Whether that need was an evangelist or a destitute Christian or a destitute church.

It was because that second church was destitute. It was a time of famine or something like that when the money was sent to those other churches. That’s the pattern. You might say, well, that’s nitpicky, preacher. We need to observe the pattern. And I think we need to study hard in order to make sure we’re doing it in every detail so that we’re not adding to the Word of God. I want to now change the direction from the middleman organizations to very briefly mention church benevolence to non saints. Okay, all that means is a church sending its money to people who are not Christians and becoming a benevolent society like Salvation Army, which is a religious group. Did you know that? It is a religious group. But anyway, I preached on this already in the lesson, second lesson I did on the pattern of the New Testament church.

So I’ll be very brief. Frankly, there’s just no scriptural authority for sending church money to people who are not Christians. We do see individuals doing that. And we see that authorized, rather, in James 1 and verse 27, Galatians 6, and verse 10. But there’s a difference between individual action and church action. New Testament churches gave money to destitute brethren. That’s the pattern we see time and time again. And these were faithful brethren. 1 Timothy chapter 5. So not just anybody who just claims, yeah, I’m a Christian. Alright, now, finally here, social activities as a work of the church. This is another area of this subtle liberalism. And really, this is not so subtle. This is basically the social gospel that I already mentioned. It’s the idea of the church collectively.

Planning, organizing, and funding fun activities. Meals, ice cream socials, carnivals, festivals, youth retreats and game nights. I can remember a young man telling me years ago that the church where he was a part, he was part of their youth ministry, that it had bought X boxes. So let’s take the church money and let’s buy X boxes so our young people can get together and have fun. Social activities as a work of the church. Well, there’s no scriptural authority for that. We do see the church getting together and eating together, for example, in Acts chapter 2. They would do that in their homes, though. And they came to the temple area, and that’s where they would worship. And as I mentioned in my second lesson, there are home activities that are not church activities.

And Paul mentions in the last verse of 1 Corinthians 11: if anyone is hungry, let them eat at home. So we need to make that distinction between home activities and church activities. And finally, here, brethren, the work of the church is spiritual. It is not carnal. The church is the pillar and the support of the truth. And so in all of this, I think we can see very clearly that we need to be cautious. That we need to be very careful. And as the future of this church continues, and as our young people grow up, they need to hear this kind of teaching. And they need to be aware of these issues so that the church will not enter into a similar type thing. And so that we can be very careful to stay within the boundaries of what God’s word allows.

Conclusion

In conclusion, let me say this. Some liberalism liberalism, I’m having a hard time getting my tongue to work today. Some liberalism is a good thing. What do I mean? Well, it’s good to be liberal in your giving. It’s good to be liberal in your sharing. It’s good to be liberal in your serving of others. It’s good to be liberal in your prayer life and pray a lot. It’s good to be liberal in your Bible studying and study a lot. It’s good to be liberal in your evangelism and evangelize a lot. You know, we are known by some to be anties because we’re anti everything. We’re against this and against that and against the other. Well, I’m not ashamed at all of being against anything that the word of God does not authorize.

But let us not be known just for the things we’re against. Let us be known as a people who are active, who are zealous, who are shining forth the light of Christ in this world of darkness and glorifying the name of Christ in those deeds that we do that the world can see. Let us be known by that. And let us not just think, let’s make sure we’re in a church that doesn’t do the bad stuff. And that’s a good thing. We need to make sure that we’re in a church that doesn’t do the bad stuff. But we need to make sure that we, as a church, and we as individuals in our individual lives are living for Christ with passion, with zeal, and with joy.

Would you bow your head with me in a word of prayer? Our God and Father, thank you so much for your word. We pray you’ll be with us through the rest of today’s worship and our study hour, that we will focus wholly upon you. Guide us and strengthen us, Father. Help us to be careful, not just in practice, but also in our attitude. That our attitude will be one that is not prideful, but one that is humble, to submit to the limits of what your authority allows. It is through your Son that we pray. Amen. We’ll take a break now. It didn’t leave us very long. Sorry about that. I didn’t realize how long I went. And we’ll reconvene at 1055 for another period of worship afterwards.