A call for a new Reformation in the church: Reformed Rock Stars

One of the great weaknesses among those who hold to Reformed theology is our tendency to look at the writings of other, more famous and well known Reformed theologians and treat their opinions as authoritative. Well Sproul says this or MacArthur says that or Piper preached this. We have shelves full of the works of dead theologians and living leaders of the faith. We go to conferences based on which famous Reformed theologians are speaking. If Together for the Gospel featured a half dozen pastors from East Dirtlick, Alabama and Pig Snout, Iowa instead of the Devers and Mahaneys of the church, I can guarantee that there wouldn't be five thousand men there and I wouldn't drive from Michigan to Kentucky to hear them speak. We are as caught up in the ccelebrity culture as the rest of culture, but instead of revering athletes or movie stars, we revere men who write the best books or give the best sermons.

If I had a dime for every sermon or talk I heard, or every sermon or talk I gave, that made multiple references to what this Reformed theologian or that thought on a topic I would be wealthy indeed. An argument over Scripture is not ended by a triumphal quotation of a litany of Reformed theologians. I can name 6 Reformed theologians, you can only name 3 so I win!

There is nothing wrong, and much that is right, with studying the works of the great men through the ages that were used of God. I appreciate the work of men like Calvin, Spurgeon and Edwards. They are a great aid in studying the Word, but they are not in and of themselves authoritative. We weaken our argument rather than strengthen it when we make our first line of argumentation the thoughts of a theologian instead of the Word of God.

Are Reformed theologians, even the most famous and oft quoted ones, ever wrong? Certainly they are. That is as true of modern men as it is of others. Modern Reformed theologians are as apt as any other man to bow to cultural pressure. When you sell tens of thousands of books a year, when you pastor a church of thousands of people are you immune to pressure? Of course not. That is not an indictment of their character, that is a truth of humanity. I think R.C Sproul is flat out wrong about infant baptism. I think that John MacArthur is just wrong about premillenial dispensationalism. Does that mean I think these men are useless or false teachers? Of course not. But I do think that when we examine an issue, it is absolutely incumbent upon us to start with the Word of God. Isn't that obvious? Well, not really. I fear that in too many cases, and I have done this, we make up our minds about something based on tradition or comfort and then we go to the Scriptures and try to make it fit. We come across an issue in the Word and don't like it, so we try to find cover for our rejection of the issue. I think headcovering is a prime example. If a man comes under conviction about headcovering, and then says so from the pulpit you can rest assured that some people will get mad and perhaps even leave and we can't have that. So we do a dance around the issue and try to find other men who agree to give us theological cover.

That is why it is encumbent upon the Christian to not just read what the giants of the faith wrote on a topic, but also to compare what they say to the Word of God. In fact we should flip the order around and use the Word first and then dig into what great men of the faith say about doctrine.

Reformed theology is more than a checklist of doctrines. It is certainly more than a club where we affirm certain beliefs in order to be associated with men that the world considers wise. It is a comprehensive way of viewing the Scriptures, and sometimes we will come across things that make us unfomfortable, that challenge and refute what we believe. But we who claim the title of "Reformed", of all people, need to lift everything we believe up to the light of Scripture, not church tradition, not "the Baptist way of doing things", not what this confession or that creed says. What does THE WORD say? Going back to the Word, again and again, as many times as we need to, for the rest of our lives is what makes us truly Reformed.