What's Your Standard?

By what Standard are We to measure all religious beliefs and practices? In Matthew 21:23-27 Jesus was asked two questions by the Jews: (1) What authority did He have for His actions? and (2) Who gave Him that authority? Jesus answered that there were only two possibilities (1) From heaven (God), or (2) From men. He made it clear that to perform any religious act based upon human authority is sin.

All authority inherently resides in God (Genesis 1-3; Romans 9:11-24). God has given His authority to Jesus Christ (Matthew 28:18-20), who in turn delegated it to His apostles so the truth could be revealed to men (John 16:13; 14:26; Acts 2:1-41). As time passed, the apostles recorded the words of God that became the New Testament and is now God’s inspired Word (Ephesians 3:5; 2 Timothy 3:16-17). Since it is the case that no inspired men exist today, and no one has the miraculous gift of the Holy Spirit, then the only authority from God we receive is through His Word, the New Testament (2 John 9-11; Revelation 22:18-19). Since God will judge every one of us based upon His word alone (John 12:48), this demonstrates that the Bible is sufficient to provide everything we need to understand how to be saved, how to stay saved, and how to properly worship God (2 Timothy 3:16-17; James 1:25; 1 Corinthians 13:10; Jude 3).

With this in mind, common sense tells us three things: (1) To reject Bible authority is to reject Christianity, (2) To reject Christianity is to reject Jesus Christ, and (3) To reject Jesus Christ is to reject the only means of salvation (Acts 4:12; John 3:3-5; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9; Revelation 20:10-15; 22:18-19; 2 John 9-11). It is clear that society has evolved to the point that it no longer recognizes or respects authority in any manner, shape or form; and that’s fine, if we are willing to accept the eternal consequences of such an attitude. Jesus is quite clear, that most people think they are saved, when in fact they are horribly mistaken (Matthew 7:12-23). Simply being sincere in ones’ beliefs is not enough to save. The apostle Paul was sincere in his mind, as he arrested Christians and took them to be put to death, but later discovered he had been sincerely wrong (Acts 9).

We are not asking you to believe us, any more than you should believe what your ‘pastor,’ or ‘priest’ says. We must all believe only what God tells us through His word. Paul reminds us, “Let God be true, and every man a liar” (Romans 3:4;). Therefore, anyone seeking salvation by man invented plans (i.e. faith only, etc.), are doomed to fail until they obey only the plan authorized by God as found in the New Testament (Acts 2:38; 1 Peter 3:21; Matthew 10:32-33; Hebrews 5:9). Won't you choose to research what God's plan truly is for you? Won't you set aside what you have always believed to be true, and obey only what God reveals through His Word? Men and Women in the city of Berea were considered by God to be Noble. Why? because they did not allow their conscience to be their guide, but instead searched the Scriptures and compared it to what Paul had taught them to make sure they taught the same thing (Acts 17:11). That is what we are asking of you, become someone whom God can call noble.