The Preacher's Authority Series

Please turn to Proverbs 14 (p.537)

As in the past, the church today is plagued by many false kinds of authority. Some go beyond the bounds of scripture to dictate in discressionary matters. Others claim authority over sickness, disease and the demonic. Another kind of mistaken authority is intellectualism, the notion that if you have a degree, or office, you automatically should command people’s lives (cf. 1 Cor. 2:1-5). A fourth kind of mistaken authority, perhaps the dominant one in our day, is experiential. Such statements as “I know this is right (or true) because I feel it is” are tragically common, even among Christians. But intuition is not knowing. Feeling and emotion cannot discern truth and have no necessary relation to the truth. There is no reliability or authority in mere experience. Yet it is common for people to believe something is true simply because they feel it is true or because they experience something that leads them to conclude that it is true. With utter disregard for careful biblical study and interpretation, they whimsically mishandle the truth and thereby forfeit true spiritual authority.

Proverbs 14 describes this folly:

Proverbs 14:11–16 11 The house of the wicked will be destroyed, but the tent of the upright will flourish. 12 There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death. 13 Even in laughter the heart may ache, and the end of joy may be grief. 14 The backslider in heart will be filled with the fruit of his ways, and a good man will be filled with the fruit of his ways. 15 The simple believes everything, but the prudent gives thought to his steps. 16 One who is wise is cautious and turns away from evil, but a fool is reckless and careless. (ESV)

• This antithetical proverb demands that presumption is deadly. …The prideful assumption here is that one’s unexamined thinking is correct (Prov. 12:15)…One may choose a path, genuinely believing it to be the best one (even God’s path!), but notwithstanding the sincerity, such a path still ends in death. Sincerity has never been the final test of truth. ... Pride, presumption and autonomy begin with promise, but they cannot sustain that hope into the future. Jesus echoed the same warning: ‘Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide, and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter by it. For the gate is small, and the way is narrow that leads to life, and few are those who find it’ (Matt. 7:13–14) (Kitchen, J. A. (2006). Proverbs: A Mentor Commentary (pp. 308–309). Fearn, Ross-shire, Great Britain: Mentor.).

• The preachers greatest temptation is to tell people what they want to hear. It is the same warning that we looked at last week from 2 Timothy 4:3-4 3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. (ESV)

• The deadliest belief is the presumption that if we tone down the message, tell people what they want to hear and share stories and nothing but affirmation, and entertain them, then we can attract a larger ministry and more people will participate. The clear result however is to lull people to moral sleep and the end thereof is death.