Re-inventing the Wheel

I’ve been reading a couple of books lately about the church, what it should be, etc. (one will be here as a review shortly). I was getting a bit frustrated by this penchant we have to make everything new and “relevant”, when our greatest need is simply to be faithful to the testimony of Scripture. To be a biblical church is more important, and I think more useful, than to be the new, hip, hap’nin place the world loves to come to.

Just as I was trying to put some of these thoughts down, I happened to read the “weekly dose of Spurgeon” over at Pyromaniacs. Lo and behold, the Prince of Preachers already said some things about this very subject.

Kind of ironic. Here I was thinking about the fact that the church shouldn’t need to “re-invent the wheel”, and now I find myself thinking the same thing about this post. Why offer my own thoughts, when they’ve already been said better. So here are Pastor Spurgeon’s words. (you can read the Pyro post and its comments here)

In these days we are rather overdone with "great thinkers." Wherever you go you hear of "advanced thinking," "modern thought," and so forth. It is true that ten bushels of the stuff are not worth half a farthing in the estimate of those who hunger for spiritual food; but chaff takes up much room, and as the wind blows it about it excites great attention.

A fourth part of a cab of doves' dung, worth nothing in ordinary times, fetched a long price during the famine in Samaria; and to-day, when there is a famine of true theological learning, a great fuss is made concerning the crude speculations of vainglorious "thinkers."

I do not believe the apostle ever tried to think upon religious matters otherwise than as the Spirit of God taught him. He was content to abide within the circle of inspiration. I pray that we may never travel beyond our orbit, and quit the divine circuit of revelation. I find enough in my Bible to think about without going beyond that sphere.

If we should ever exhaust Holy Scripture, we might then try to think something "as of ourselves"; but as we shall never do that, we may be satisfied to tarry in revelation as in a land which floweth with milk and honey.

Let us not aim at being original thinkers, but at being witnesses and heralds of what God says to men. Our Lord Jesus strove not to be an original thinker, for he said, "My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me."

The Holy Ghost does not speak as an original thinker; for the Lord Jesus said, "He shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you."

As we have reminded you before, the original thinker of the Bible is one of whom it is said, "When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own." We are not wishful to emulate him in such originality. We are not sufficient to think anything as from ourselves!