A couple of days ago we started into our recap of The Implanted Word Conference held in Calgary just prior to the CBWC Assembly. Our focus was on expounding and applying the four classical attributes of Scripture for the life of the church. In my last post, I quickly summarized the doctrine of the authority of Scripture and pointed you to the first sermon by Pastor Shaun Martens. Now I want to move on to the doctrine of the necessity of Scripture. Not only is the Bible authoritative, but it’s absolutely necessary.
Maybe the idea of the necessity of Scripture sounds a bit strange to you. “Isn’t it obvious that Bibles are necessary? Don’t we all agree on that?” Maybe you’re thinking of this idea of necessity almost like a packing list that you run through before going on some kind of spiritual retreat. “Sleeping bag… check! Toothbrush and toothpaste… check! Towel… check! Bible and notebook… check!”
I remember going to Gall Lake one time and Missy forgot to pack me a towel. If I was packing, I would have forgotten a whole lot more. It was horrible. At 6 in the morning on the first day, I was climbing out of the shower and reaching for my towel when I realized it wasn’t there. There’s something about being wet, cold, and naked that makes you feel a bit vulnerable and desperate. I panicked a bit before I just decided to dry myself off with paper towels. A towel really is necessary, but you could get by without one if you had to.
However, when we talk about the necessity of Scripture, we’re talking about an entirely different kind of necessity. Whenever we start to think about necessity one of the questions that’s always close at hand is, “For what? Necessary for what?” Underlying the necessity of the Scriptures is a more fundamental necessity: the necessity of the word of God. The word of God is necessary to bring the gospel to us, to awaken us from spiritual death, and then to shape and form the whole pattern of our lives at the people of God so that we become a peculiar people—the people of the world to come, even as we live in this present evil age.
Here’s the second sermon from the conference on the necessity of Scripture