Sharing Some Thoughts on Article 1 of Our Statement of Faith

The Bible Is Not Background Noise

There’s a battle in the church that doesn’t always look like a battle. It looks like noise. TV on in the background. Kids on tablets. Grown adults scrolling. A Bible sitting on the end table, closed and quiet. And yet that Book is the one thing in the room that is actually alive and speaking and I’m convicted how often I act like it’s optional instead of essential.

Our church says, “We believe in the inspired Scriptures, the complete revelation of God for salvation and the authority for Christian faith and life.” 

That little sentence is huge. It’s us saying in a world full of voices where everyone has a hot take or a platform that there is one voice that sits above them all. God’s voice in His Word.

God has actually spoken

I remember one morning lying on the couch, Bible open, notebook out, trying to squeeze in some study time. The kids were all around me, locked in on their screens, Ryguy watching Veggie Tales and Kai Kai listening to Forrest Frank... All noise... bouncing off the walls. And it hit me like a punch. 

I was feeding my soul on Ribeye steak while handing them veggie straws and cheezits.

I was letting them fill their minds with digital junk while I sat with the very words of the living God in front of me... How dare I do that... 

When we say Scripture is “inspired,” we’re not saying it’s just “deep” or “emotional” or “beautiful literature.” 

We’re saying it’s God breathed. The same God who spoke light into darkness has spoken words onto these pages. He used Moses and David and Paul and John but behind them and through them is His voice.

That changes everything. Because my feelings change. My opinions change. The culture definitely changes. But if God has spoken then His Word doesn’t have to chase trends or adjust every time the world shifts. Instead my heart and my thinking and my choices have to adjust to what He’s already said.

The Bible is complete not half finished

Our statement says Scripture is “the complete revelation of God for salvation.” I love that word complete. Not starter pack. Not beta version. Not “good but you need some extra secret knowledge on the side.” Complete. God has given us everything we need to know Him and to be saved and to follow Jesus in this life.

I think about when I’m putting together something for the kids like a crib or a toy and I’ve got the instructions laid out and I decide I don’t need them. I start guessing. Then I end up with ten extra screws and something that wobbles when you touch it. That’s how a lot of us treat our lives. 

Christians through history have called this sola scriptura... Scripture alone... as our final authority. 

We still read books and listen to sermons and learn from history but at the end of the day all of that has to bow to Scripture. When Hebrews says God has spoken through His Son and the apostles record that witness in what we now call the New Testament combined with the Old Testament that pointed to Him we’re being told this is the foundation that’s not going to change on you.

So when someone says “God told me…” in a way that contradicts the Bible or when a movement acts like you need some new revelation or cultural lens to truly understand what God meant we have to be okay saying no. Not because we’re stubborn but because we trust God has actually finished what He meant to say in His Word.

Authority for real life not just church talk

If God breathed out this Book and if it’s complete then that means it comes with authority. Not the kind of authority we nod at on Sunday and ignore Monday. Real authority over what we believe and how we live.

In faith this means who God is and who we are and what sin is and what the cross really accomplished and what it means to be saved and what the church is for that all has to come from the Scriptures not from our favorite YouTube preacher or political commentator or social media feed.

In life it means my marriage sits under the Bible. My parenting sits under the Bible. The way I use my phone. The way I talk about people when they’re not in the room. How I think about money and sex and power and politics and forgiveness and enemies all of it. There is no “Jesus space” and “my space” there is just His Lordship over everything and His Word is how He makes that Lordship clear.

I see this when I’m tempted to justify myself. Maybe I snapped at Tiff or lost my patience with the kids and everything in me wants to explain it away. But then I open the Word and it doesn’t let me wiggle out. It confronts my pride and calls my sin sin and then points me back to the cross. That’s authority. It doesn’t just pat me on the back it tells me the truth and then gives me real hope.

The pushback and the pressure

We shouldn’t be surprised that a world that says “follow your heart” doesn’t like a Book that says “your heart needs to be changed.” 

We see it all the time. Stories like pastors getting arrested for reading the Bible in public. Culture clapping for things God calls sin. People calling evil good and good evil.

As a dad that honestly scares me some days. I think about the world my kids are growing up in and the kind of pressure they might face just for believing basic biblical truth. It would be so easy to start trimming the Bible down to what feels safe or socially acceptable. To talk about the comforting parts of Scripture and quietly hide the parts that confront.

But the Word of God doesn’t need our editing. Scripture says it’s living and active sharper than any sword it cuts down into the thoughts and intentions of the heart. It’s not a dull museum piece that we protect it’s a sword that God wields. Our job isn’t to blunt the blade it’s to get out of the way and let it do its work.

What this looks like in the house and in the church

So how does all this land in a normal day.

It looks like deciding the Bible is not the background music of our lives but the main voice in the room. It looks like grabbing the kids and saying “Hey let’s read this together” even when everyone is tired and the house is loud. Sometimes our family Bible time goes great and sometimes it’s chaos and someone is upside down on the couch and another one is asking about snacks but we keep opening the Book anyway because this is where the life is.

It looks like me catching myself when I start to sound more like my favorite podcasts than like Scripture and going back to the text. It looks like our church measuring everything we do by “does this line up with the Word” not “does this feel cool” or “does this get the best reaction.” 

Programs can change. Styles can change. God’s Word can’t.

It also looks like repentance. Real repentance. For treating YouTube as essential and the Bible as optional. For knowing more about Marvel Superheroes than the gospel of John. For sharing opinions online that I’ve never even weighed against what God has said. The good news is the same Bible that exposes that in us also points us to grace.

The gospel right at the center

Because the whole point of all this talk about Scripture is not just to say “We have a perfect Book.” The point is that this Book tells us about a perfect Savior. Every page is moving toward Jesus. The Law showing our need. The prophets pointing ahead. The Gospels revealing His life death and resurrection. The letters unpacking what that means for normal sinners like us.

The Bible tells me the truth I’d rather not face that I am not a basically good person who just needs a little encouragement.

I am a sinner who has broken God’s law rebelled against His rule and cannot fix myself. 

It also tells me something even more shocking that God so loved the world He gave His only Son that Jesus lived the life I haven’t lived and died the death I deserve and rose again so that everyone who turns from sin and trusts Him is forgiven and adopted and made new.

So if you’re reading this and you’ve drifted from the Word or maybe you’ve never really taken it seriously hear this. 

The God who spoke the universe into existence has spoken in Scripture and in that Word He is pointing you to His Son. You don’t have to clean yourself up first. You don’t have to perform. You come to Christ by faith. You let His Word tell you the truth about your sin and the truth about His grace and you build your life on what He has actually said.

God has not left us guessing. He has given us His inspired complete authoritative Word. The question isn’t “Is the Bible enough” it’s “Will I actually believe it and submit to it and let it shape everything.”

And that’s not just a doctrinal question on a website. That’s a question that shows up when the alarm goes off tomorrow morning and the Bible is right there and we decide again whether we will take Him at His Word.