Why The Rock Baptist Church?

By TS

“11And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, “12for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ…14that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting….” Ephesians 4:11-12, 14

There are many, many churches in Greenville. Why another one? There seem to be very few churches that understand and attempt to put into practice the teaching of the above passage of Scripture. The body of Christ needs to be properly equipped for the work of ministry. This does not happen by accident, but only by a deliberate effort to bring it about.  It is the desire of Pastor Stout to offer such a church to those of the body of Christ who desire it.

At the very beginning of Jesus’ public ministry (see Matthew 4 and Luke 4) Jesus was tested by Satan. The test was real. If Jesus had failed any of these tests, He could not have fulfilled God’s purpose for Him. He would not have purchased our salvation by His death at the cross. Yet, Satan’s test was subtle, very subtle. He simply twisted the meaning of various passages of Scripture and applied them to the situation at hand. Humanly speaking, his false interpretation could seem clear and to make sense. Humanly speaking, it would have been easy for Jesus to believe Satan’s twisted interpretation of Scripture and receive it as true. This is an extremely important lesson for us: Jesus knew Scripture well enough to recognize how the passages were being twisted. Beyond this, He also understood Scripture well enough to know the proper Scriptural rebuttal to the twist. I personally have marveled at the depth of Jesus’ knowledge and understanding of Scripture, as evidenced by how he used it in response to Satan’s attack. The example Jesus provided at this scene provides a model for us to strive to copy.

All believers have been drafted into an intense battle (Ephesians 6). Their responsibility is to respond as a good soldier, enduring hardship and not getting entangled in the affairs of this life (2Timothy 2:3-4). They need to be taught properly from Scripture in order to understand their responsibilities to God in this position and to be equipped properly to fulfill them.    

The Bible teaches us that Satan counterfeits himself as an angel of light (truth). We see this illustrated in his attack on Jesus during the tests in Matthew 4 and Luke 4. Likewise, he has many servants who also disguise themselves as ministers of light. The result is that believers will be attacked by a constant barrage  of false teaching. The Scriptural passage opening this article admonishes us “that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting….”  We need to understand that Satan will throw at us a continual stream of false teachers seeking to divert us from properly preparing for the battle. These false teachers will even try to prevent us from recognizing that the battle exists. The only defense against the attacks is a thorough understanding of Scripture with an emphasis on doctrine. (By contrast, way too many churches today seem to avoid an in depth study of doctrine, considering it to be “too divisive.”)

Perhaps a recent event can illustrate the situation. I was recently talking to a man about church. He mentioned that he goes to a certain church that  gives great emphasis to the importance of faith, of family, and of fellowship in a person’s life. Everything he said was true. It was refreshing to hear his testimony. Yet, the problem was that was he said was not complete.

Jesus taught that the greatest commandment is to love God with all of one’s heart, soul, mind, and spirit. The second is to love one’s neighbor as oneself:

36 "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?" 37 Jesus said to him," 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' 38 "This is the first and great commandment. 39 "And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself'  (Matthew 22:36-39).

The things the man mentioned to me represented a good summary of the second commandment. However, it is only secondary. Loving God first is the primary commandment. To implement this properly requires a thorough understanding of doctrine and a willingness to submit to it.

For instance, I believe that the basic “rule of life” (i.e., standard by which God judges our actions) is to walk by the Spirit and to exhibit the fruit of the Spirit, as discussed in Galatians 5:18-25. How does this passage relate to the two commandments mentioned by Jesus Christ in Matthew above? Showing how these passages relate to each other is an important teaching ministry of the church.

So, why have yet another church in Greenville? It appears that few churches in Greenville seem to understand, believe, and attempt to carry out all of the responsibilities revealed in Scripture, such as those discussed above. It is our desire to offer a church which believes that a true walk with God is focused first of all on God Himself as well as what Scripture teaches He wants from us in all areas. Our relationship with our neighbor is truly important, but needs to be understood in the context of a bigger picture.

It works both ways. Not only must the church leaders (evangelists, pastors, and teachers) strive to equip believers for the work, the believers also have the responsibility of submitting to God’s will for them.

Approximately 700 years before Jesus Christ was born, the Israelites (Jewish people in Old Testament times) were very much like the people of today. They had a historical background of faith in God. However, they found the attractions of the world and the comforts of false religion to be greatly appealing. God told the prophet Isaiah to declare the following observation about them to them:

“…this is a rebellious people, lying children, children who will not hear the law of the LORD, who say to the seers, "Do not see," and to the prophets, "Do not prophesy to us right things; speak to us smooth things, prophesy deceits.”    Isaiah 30:9-10

Unfortunately, there are too many professing Christians in churches today with this same attitude. If a pastor teaches something from Scripture they don’t like, they move on until they find one that does. To them, the issue has nothing to do with making an accurate interpretation of Scripture. Whether or nor something is true is irrelevant to them. They only want to hear “smooth things,”  things that will make them feel good at the moment. Eternal consequences are irrelevant. This is really a subtle effort on their part to appease their conscience as they make an appearance of serving God, while in truth they are rebelling against Him and the things He has revealed in His Word. At the first hint of hardship suffered as a result of being a soldier of Christ, they leave. “This is not why I came to Christ.” They are like the stony soil on which the seed fell in the parable of the sower (Matthew 13:3-9, 18-23). They spring up quickly.  They want to tell God what they are willing to offer Him, but do not want to hear God as He tells them He wants from them. When opposition and difficulties appear, they wither.

If you desire to be like the good soil in the parable, the soil on which the seed that fell on it produced a hundred fold, sixty fold, or thirty fold, we urge you to consider if God might have you serve Him with us or at least find another church that understands these things. If you are already in one, you should not take this for granted, but praise and thank God for it.

As a closing thought, notice the reverse order in the sequence of numbers above. Normally, we would say them in increasing order: thirty fold, sixty fold, and then a hundred fold. I believe God reversed the order for a subtle but important reason. We should all have an intense desire to be all that God gives us the grace to be. We should yearn for the grace in our lives that would allow us to produce one hundred fold. We don’t shoot for a low goal first, and then when we see some fruit in our lives, decide whether to move on to another stage or merely content ourselves with what has already been done as sufficient. Enduring hardships as a soldier is hard. Taking an early retirement can be tempting. However, it is not God’s will for us. He wants us to shoot for the high goal. Because of human frailty, we may fall short; nonetheless, we strive for the high goal. Once we are in the eternal state and have received the eternal rewards promised us for our service at this time, we will praise Him for grace that allowed us to return “any” fold. However, God’s desire for us for now is to serve Him with all of our heart and get a one hundred-fold production of fruit in our lives, if God gives us the grace to do this. By contrast, the imposter is only interested in what God can do for Him, not what He can do for God.