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It is my firm conviction that the attitudes we see in Christian culture regarding #Asbury, shows such as #TheChosen, and “evangelism campaigns” like #HeGetsUs have a common denominator: the denial (be it tacit or explicit) of the sufficiency of Scripture.

In each instance, any effort to demonstrate discernment, to examine these issues and see if there is Biblical truth to any of them, is often met with animosity, scorn, or ridicule (or a combination of all of them). These things have become something of a golden calf within modern evangelicalism and any attempt to biblically examine or question their warrant for Christian use is equated with questioning God Himself.

Why is this? I believe it boils down to the idea that Scripture simply isn’t enough for many professing Christians. Studying, understanding the true meaning, and determining the application of the Scriptures is time and mind-consuming work. It is not flashy or adrenaline-pumping. It doesn’t give us instant gratification but forces us to examine God’s Word and what it means. It requires us to measure ourselves against it as the standard. It is laborious but rewarding beyond measure.

Yet, in our 24/7 world where access to any kind of entertainment or information is merely a mouse click away, we think the Scriptures themselves simply are not enough. We need something more. Something visual, something experiential.  We think that the world will not come rushing to Jesus unless we give them glitz, glam, and feelings of euphoria.

We then look outside the Scriptures for our answers. Madison Avenue style advertising, Hollywood story-telling, and top 40’s music charts certainly draw in the crowds, so why not adopt these ideas? If it even brings one person to Christ, let’s do it, right? Wrong.

Yes, God can draw a straight line with a crooked ruler but that is not what He has given us. His command is not to woo and emote people into the kingdom. It is to make disciples. It is to proclaim the whole of the gospel. To preach on the sinfulness of sin, the just wrath to come, and the only means of escape through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

This message doesn’t scintillate the senses but it brings about conviction within the heart. It doesn’t produce immediate emotion that can be led and manipulated. Yet, it will produce a result. Either conviction that brings about repentance and faith or the continued hardening of an already rock-hard heart against Christ. The difference is in what or whom we trust.

When we look to the Asbury-style events, the TV shows, and media campaigns, we trust in our own cleverness and the ingenuity of man. When we do the laborious work of studying Scripture to show ourselves approved, we trust in God and His Word alone. We trust in the power of the Holy Spirit to regenerate and transform. We are not the means of salvation. We are merely God’s instruments as He does the work through us by the proclamation of His Word.

Why do some of us call these movements and campaigns into question? Quite simply because we wish to be Bereans, comparing the claims of these things against Scripture to see if they be true. When the rest of the professing Christian culture gets up in arms about this, simply remember that where they would rather trust in the means of man, we are looking to God and His Word alone as the true means of discipleship.