In 2001 I attended a church service at St. Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh, Scotland while on a church history trip. I went on this trip because I was interested in seeing Scotland, and I was still deciding where to pursue my Ph.D. and wanted to check out the universities in Edinburgh and Aberdeen. The sermon in this church service was surprising to put it very lightly. The visiting speaker opened his sermon by saying, “Give up Christ for Lent” (I am not exaggerating.) and then told us he said that to get our attention. He criticized the biblical portrayal of God. He said that the God of the Old Testament is an immature being who will get you if you do not do what he wants and is different from the God of the New Testament. He also threw in some social gospel and a little liberation theology. In his conclusion he said, “Don’t worry about doctrine. Just help people.”

I suspect John Knox would have had a fit if he had heard such a sermon in his old church, and he would be right to be concerned. Much could be said in response to that sermon. For example, this preacher’s distinction between the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament is probably based on the common but false dichotomy which identifies the Old Testament God with anger and judgment and the New Testament God with love and mercy. I will write on the attributes of God in more detail in a future post, but for now it is sufficient to say that anger/judgment and love/mercy are both abundantly represented in both testaments. I would also add that meeting people’s physical needs while neglecting their souls ultimately does little good. “36For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? 37For what can a man give in return for his soul?” (Mark 8:36-37).

Let us not forget, however, to point our fingers back at ourselves. We would be right to cite Mark 8:36-37, but let us also remember James 2:15-16 – “15If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?” When someone comes to us with a great need that we can meet are we willing to help, or do we simply encourage him to keep praying about it and trust God? Encouraging him to trust God is certainly valid if done sincerely and not as an escape. Yes, we do need to use discernment so that we do not simply enable people who want to mooch off of others and refuse to take responsibility for themselves, but it is easy to go to the other extreme. During the sermon a professor from SEBTS who led the trip was sitting in front of me. He kept shaking his head. The next time he preached in a chapel service he argued that conservative Christians have abdicated the ministry of meeting people’s physical needs to liberals and that conservatives need to reclaim such ministry but based on a biblical theology.

Conservative Christians argue that the God of the Old Testament is no different from the God of the New Testament, and rightly so, but do we betray that claim by neglecting the Old Testament in our reading and teaching? God inspired both. We should read, preach, and teach the entire Bible, not only the parts that are popular and comfortable. Some biblical standards and doctrines will not fit well with modern evangelicalism, but that is all the more reason to address them.

In addressing problems, however, let us also look at ourselves and consider how we may be failing as individual Christians. In everything let us seek to more fully pursue ministry, benevolence, and our individual lives on a sound, biblical foundation and always putting God’s priorities and God’s agenda above our own.