Committed to being Christians

justin271119
Apr 7
4 min read

This article will be the first in an eight-part series on the commitments of Heritage Bible Church. We have a doctrinal statement, which can be found on our church's website, but we also wanted to put down in writing the beliefs and practices that we believe will act as pillars for decades to come. These 8 commitments form all of worship and life here at Heritage Bible Church. They are like pillars, foundational supports of all that we do; if any were to be removed, we believe that it would compromise the overall mission of our church. These should not be seen as merely a list of things we believe, but should shape the way we live as we seek to bring heaven to earth and build ourselves up in love as the body of Christ. We see these as necessary to form our church's unique identity, as well as forming a culture that we believe will produce lasting fruit in coming generations.

So here is the first:

We are committed to biblical and historical Christianity,

the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints (Jude 3).

Biblical

Christians are a people of the Book. We don't worship it, but we do hold it high as the very words of the living God. We don't wield it legalistically, but rather submit ourselves and our opinions to its sharp and piercing truths. We don't visit it like we do our favorite vacation spot, but rather seek to have its pages line our hearts and minds. This is who we are: Bible-saturated, bible-educated, bible-dedicated Christians.

What we believe does not spring up from human invention or from the ever-shifting Overton Window of our current cultural religion, but rather is derived from and directed by the never-changing truth of God's Word.

Biblical Christianity is more than simply seeking to conform our lives to the do's and don'ts found in Scripture. It is a relentless pursuit to see all of life through the lens of the Bible. When we think about how church should operate, how families should be structured, how homes should be run, and how government should be used, we ought to strive to see all of those institutions through the lens of the Bible, not merely look to the Bible to find directives. When we see a rock, we should think first of Yahweh our Rock (Psalm 19:14), and second of the natural object that the world knows as a rock. When we look at a president, we should see a chair of authority given by God (Romans 13), and then a public office voted on every 4 years. We want to see through the Bible, and therefore be biblical.

Historical

The second major word in the commitment above is historical. Its worth noting the difference between historical and historic, the former describing actual events that took place in history, while the latter is used in situations where the event in focus altered the course of history from the moment of its happening onward. So when we say that we are committed to historical Christianity, we mean that we are not radical, progressive, and inventive in our theology and practice, but are rather seeking to tether ourselves to the Church that has been being built by our Lord down through the ages.

Many of the trends in American Christianity are actually novel ideas that can't be found anywhere in the history of the Church. What a slap in the face of the saints that have gone before us to neglect their labors, or worse, look down on the work and witness of their lives as ineffective and outdated for our current cultural moment.

A sure guide against the temptations to innovation and perversion is a high regard for the work of God in his people in history. No truth is new, because God is old, and God is truth. If your fancy new theological idea can't be found anywhere in the Bible or in history, it's probably heresy.

A possible ditch, though, is blindly following the traditions of the past without measuring them against Scripture. This can lead to traditionalism, which is equally as dangerous as liberalism. As one scholar once said, very well I might add, "Tradition is the living faith of the dead, and traditionalism is the dead faith of the living." While we don't view tradition in the same way that a Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox person would, we do believe in looking at the way the Church has believed and conducted herself in history as a guide for faith and practice today. This is why we say the creeds; this is why we confess our sins; and this is why we read, pray, and sing the Scriptures.

The faith God has handed down is like a baton in a relay race, and it must be faithfully passed on from generation to generation. It is our turn to steward that gift, and we do that by living in the Bible and also in history, cherishing the light that has shone in previous generations and avoiding the darkness.

This series of articles is from our church's 8 Commitments. These are guiding declarations regarding faith and practice that shape how we do church, both now and in the future.