I posted yesterday a quote from the well-known professor and Bible teacher, the late Dr. Howard Hendricks:

We must be able to discriminate between what cannot change and what must be changed.

Here’s an example. An internationally known preacher, who shall remain nameless, said this about Calvary Chapel, a movement which, in my observation, is still doing a wonderful job welcoming all kinds of people:

In 1967 a bunch of Jesus freak people in the beach areas of Southern California go to Calvary Chapel and for the first time that I know of in history, the church lets the very defined subculture dictate what it will be. Out go the ties, out go the hymns, out go all the normal and formal things…it’s a false form of Christianity.

It’s hard to know where to start. I ran this by two pastor friends from completely different traditions: one said, “He needs to open his Bible!” The other erupted into howls of laughter.

The first time? How about Acts 15 when the church met to discuss precisely the question of whether the Gentiles (“a very defined subculture”) could come into the church without obeying all the Jewish rules. The conclusion that the church leadership reached in Acts 15 was clear:

[James said, ] “It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God.” (Acts 15.19, NIV)

How’s that for accommodation? To paraphrase, “Out goes circumcision, out go the dietary laws, out go all the normal and formal things.” As for adjusting to meet the subculture, Paul could not have been more clear:

For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. (1 Corinthians 9.19 – 22, ESV)

And yet this brother insists that to abandon wearing ties and not sing the old hymns leads to a “false form of Christianity.” Again, to quote Dr Hendricks: “We must be able to discriminate between what can’t change and what must be changed.”

The scariest thing of all, and a warning to us all, is that this preacher is a devout student of scripture. It’s easy to see what he’s missing. What am I missing?

Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. (1 Corinthians 8.1, NIV)