What’s So Great About Grace Community Church?

I love Grace Community Church!  There is so much there to love!  I love the people, I love our corporate singing, I love the teeming masses of tiny children running here and there, I love our cream-colored building across from the park, I love the Romans class that’s been going on for 12 years, I love our home Bible studies, and most of all I love how we handle the Word of God. 

But don’t all churches handle the Word of God, you may ask?  Walk into any church on a Sunday morning and you’ll see an open Bible in the pulpit.  There will be scriptures read and sermons preached in services everywhere on the Lord’s Day, making Grace far from unique.  But there is something else that makes Grace stand out from the crowd – something that was so irresistible to me I had to return.  What sets our church apart is how the Bible is treated here, how it is interpreted and applied, how seriously our pastors and teachers take the charge, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).

How distinct is Grace when it comes to God’s Word?  Let’s explore the ways!

Treading Carefully and Reverently

There are so many preachers today who are counselors sprinkling in a Scripture or two to make their advice sound more biblical, motivational speakers who seek to please the crowd (think Joel Osteen), suave Scripture-twisters who use the Word to cajole or threaten the audience into putting more money in the plate, and pseudo-professors who attempt to impress with their extensive knowledge.   Grace preachers thankfully are none of these.  They are faithful stewards of the Word, servants of God who do just what that word implies……serve God’s Word, in as close to the original form and intent as possible, to His people so they can feed upon it and grow.  They recognize the Bible as God’s precious, inspired, infallible, sufficient, and authoritative Word.  It is not their word to be handled in any way they choose.   

It’s a tough job but that’s basically the gist of it.  They do not try to improve on the Word (they can’t), they don’t alter it, they don’t pretty it up, they don’t ignore difficult passages, they don’t draw attention to themselves, they don’t try to make the Bible relevant (it already is relevant), or make it more interesting (what could be more interesting than hearing the God of the universe speak?).  They read it, explain it, and expound on it so hearers can know “Thus says the Lord”.   This is so simple and yet so hard to find in many churches today.

What Does It Mean?

You will not hear a preacher at Grace say the words, “What this Scripture means to me is…..”  And no one will ask the following question to anyone in a Grace class or assembly: “What does this Scripture mean to you?”  Perish the thought!  May it never be!  That’s because since God is the Author of the Bible (written by men under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit), God’s intended meaning is all that matters.  What we think a Scripture says in our own minds or what we would like for it to say is irrelevant.  God’s intended message being conveyed in the text is the true meaning of the text – not personal opinion, not speculation, not feelings, nothing more and nothing else. 

The typical Grace preacher then will never take a survey of his audience to see what they think a particular Bible passage says to them.  He will not even ask himself what he thinks it says.  Rather he strives to find the true meaning of a passage in this way:  He takes into account the book in which the passage is written (Old Testament or New?) the human author and his role (prophet or apostle?), the audience to which the book was written (the Colossian church or the Israelites?), the cultural and historical setting at the time the book was written (i.e. how should the admonishment that a woman’s head should be covered be applied today?),  and the context of the words in each sentence, the context of the sentences in each passage, the context of the passages in the book, and the context of the book in the overall Bible. 

Grace preachers mine for God’s meaning as if searching for gold, discovering its treasures not inventing them. 

Just as a waiter never alters the dish of a master chef, a godly pastor never changes or modifies the message of God's holy Word.  He serves it faithfully to his flock every Sunday.

Context, Context, Context!

Since I’ve let the cat out of the bag mentioning the word context, let’s explore that a bit.  The dictionary defines context as “the parts of a piece of writing, speech, etc, that precede and follow a word or passage and contribute to its full meaning.”  I praise God for teachers and pastors at Grace who know that the Bible is not an incoherent jumble of magical phrases and incantations that anyone can pluck out of context and interpret any way they want.  They are very careful to examine and explain every passage in its historical and grammatical context.

A good example of taking Scripture out of context, misinterpreting it, and misapplying it is the popular use of Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV).  The verse is as follows:

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

This verse is often quoted by many to prove that God wants everyone to prosper and have a bright future.  But that is not what the verse is saying.  This is not a general promise to anyone and everyone in whatever situation they find themselves in.  This was God’s promise to Judah (the Southern Kingdom of Israel) regarding the later plans He had for them after their captivity under Babylon (God would send Babylon to punish Judah for worshiping idols).  Reading just the previous verse ten can instruct you on how to correctly interpret this verse:

This is what the LORD says:  “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place.”

Another common example of taking Scripture out of context and therefore misinterpreting and misapplying it is the popular use of 3 John 1:2 (usually quoted out of the NASB), which reads:

Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers.

Many people have taken this verse and said, “Whoo hoo!  God wants me to prosper!  It says it right here – I’m claiming this verse, baby!  I’m gonna win the lottery, and buy a bigger house, and go on a cruise, and….”  But that is not what this verse is saying at all.  Not only is this a blatant misinterpretation and misapplication, but the verse is not even being read carefully.  The apostle John in writing to Gaius, a brother in Christ, is simply telling him in a greeting that he hopes things are going well for him.  Its modern equivalent would be, “Hello.  How’s it going, Gaius?  I hope all is well with you.”  That’s it.

No Over-Spiritualizing Allowed

It’s here that many Christians might take issue with the pastors and teachers at Grace.  All this talk about grammatical context, historical setting, authorial intent, and careful interpretation and application sounds dull, mundane, and even downright un-spiritual to many.  “Shouldn’t we just read the Bible and pray over the text?” they might say.  “Doesn’t it say in 1 Corinthians 2:11,12 that ‘no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God’ and ‘we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God’?  Doesn’t that mean the Holy Spirit will miraculously give us the proper meaning to any passage in the Bible?”

It is true that the Holy Spirit within us helps us to understand God’s Word.  In fact, it says further in 1 Corinthians 2 that a person without the Holy Spirit cannot understand the things of God.  God does give us understanding – but how does He do it?  Not through a haphazard treatment of the Scriptures or from transcendental meditation, but through diligent and consistent study, which God commands (2 Timothy 2:15).

Our God’s infinite brilliance and thoughtful provision is seen clearly in how He revealed His Word to us.  God did not communicate to us through pictures or drawings which could be easily misinterpreted and disputed, and He did not pass His Word on to us through oral tradition, which could be easily changed.  He had His Word written down.  Simple, but brilliant!  In this way God insured that His Word would not be changed, that it could be translated into any tongue so that all the peoples of the world could know His will, and since it uses the common medium of language it could be studied and comprehended much like one would study for a history test.  In short, the understanding of God’s Word comes from His Spirit and comes through the normal mode of careful reading and studying.

Grace preachers don’t regale us with fanciful stories of mountain-top experiences, visions, dreams, and other mystical occurrences in which they receive a “word of knowledge” from the Lord.  They put time and energy into study and prayer to understand God’s Word.  And with the help of the Lord they get the job done.

I could go on to describe how Grace preachers avoid reducing passages into allegories unless called for (such as in Galatians 4:24), how they never try to get a cheap laugh at the expense of misinterpreting Scripture, how they promote the clear understanding of God’s Word and not their own personal genius, how they dearly love the Word of God, how they love and want to serve God’s people……but I think my point is made.  The care, dedication, and reverence that pastors and teachers at Grace display in their handling of God’s Word is one of the things that makes Grace a wonderful church.  Grace may not be perfect (we are imperfect people with struggles and problems just like any other church) but thanks to our good stewards of the Word it stands on a firm foundation, one that the Lord will be happy to build upon as He forms us into the image of Christ.  I believe God will bless this church and complete the work that He started in us collectively as long as we stay true to His Word.

Onward, GCC!