THE GOSPEL OF BALANCE

"A false balance is abomination to the LORD: but a just weight is his delight."

Proverbs 11: 1

hurches all across the country are thundering out the glorious Gospel of Balance in a way never before witnessed since the day of Pentecost. Peeling forth from pulpits across the land, ringing through the rafters of sanctuaries and headlining the editorial sections of Christian magazines, a magnificent refrain has broken forth in praise of the glory of Balance. No doubt, both traditional and contemporary hymn writers will soon catch the spirit and set pen to paper to compose new hymns that will add to the chorus. Undoubtedly, in some circles, research will uncover evidence proving that Balance was in fact the very first of the Baptist Distinctives, settled upon by the Sub-Apostolic Church Fathers sometime anterior to the Nicene Counsel.

This is the vital issue of our day, the great need of the hour. Balance! Balance! More Balance! The lesser subjects of Scripture - the Trinity, the Deity of Christ, the Virgin Birth, the Sinless Life of God's Son, the blood atonement, the bodily resurrection, the Second Advent, the Inspiration of Scripture, Separation, the Great Commission, foreknowledge, predestination, election, the call of God, justification, glorification, prayer, faith, hope, charity, the Ten Commandments, the Sermon on the Mount - these have all been rightly set aside and minimized in this Great Awakening of Balance, so that Christians may consecrate themselves anew and afresh to do all to the glory of Balance. This great, sweeping Revival of Balance originated in the late twentieth century when a preacher publicly rebuked a woman for coming to church wearing a pair of slacks. This was the rebuke heard round the world. Since that terrible day of infamy, throughout the world, whenever preachers assemble together and speak guardedly in lowered tones about the sensitive doctrine of separation and standards, without fail, they make certain to clarify, "I don't believe that you should scream at a woman for wearing slacks to church. We must be balanced." And in deep, reverential moans of affirmation, the profundity of that heretofore unrealized truth is assented to. "We must be balanced." A tragedy indeed that so many centuries of church history passed before Christians finally recognized this great principle. "We must be balanced." Yet God be thanked, though for so long we have wandered in blindness, in the very mists of spiritual night, have seen through the glass but darkly, we now know better, and have

reformed our ways and are engaged in this Great Reformation of Balance.

Yet perhaps we may make some further corrections and improvements. For I cannot help but notice an absent note in this magnificent refrain. Specifically, we may point out the fact that balance itself has gone undefined. It is spoken of constantly now, but always in this vague, abstract, undefined way. This of course begs the question: "Exactly whose idea of balance are we talking about?" After all, it should be apparent, even obvious to one and all, that your idea of balance may not agree with my idea of balance. And, conversely, my idea of balance may not align well with your idea of balance. What seems perfectly balanced to you may seem to me as quite misguided, quite radical, the very epitome of extremist absurdity. So I ask again: Whose idea of balance are we talking about? In other words, these influential preachers are speaking in these conferences and symposiums and issuing this clarion call to balance. Yet they have neither defined balance nor provided bedrock, infallible foundational principles whereupon an absolute standard of balance is to be constructed. They are just speaking in this generic manner, and presenting this subjective topic as though universally everyone quite naturally shared the same definition of balance. Which still begs the question: Whose idea of balance are we talking about? The manner in which the subject is presented leaves one with the distinct impression that the balance that these preachers have in mind is their own idea of balance. In other words, everyone must adjust their ministry and principles to align with their definition of balance. And if you do not do so, why, quite obviously, you are very unbalanced, a thoroughgoing extremist, a radical.

Now this betrays a fundamental problem. Because once another Christian leader has taken upon himself to classify which churches and which Christians are balanced and which are not, we have obviously just lost the entire principle of the autonomy of the local church, as well as liberty of conscience and the priesthood of the believer. In fact, once a Christian leader outside of my local church can establish the definition of balance to which I must be subjected, we have laid the foundation for a brand new papacy.

Additionally, we recognize that said leader's idea of balance may be an entirely false standard, completely at variance with the Word of God. Such a thing as a false balance certainly does exist. It is entirely possible to have something that looks like balance in the eyes of a popular majority, and will meet with approval as the very epitome of balance by the subjective standards of a specific culture, which however, is not true Biblical balance at all, but an artificial balance. It may appear as balance, may pass itself off very convincingly as balance, and yet omit essential features of New Testament Christianity, such as separation from sin, worldliness and materialism, sharp and public rebuke of sin and

false doctrine, church discipline and involvement in the church's mission to contend earnestly for the faith which was once delivered to the saints. Simply stated, a leader or a church can present a model of balance as a pattern for imitation which is nothing less than a false balance. And of course, this is an abomination in the eyes of God.

It also follows that if a human leader can present a false balance as a model which other churches ought to imitate, then Satan, that master-counterfeiter, seducer and deceiver may do the exact same thing. Which is to say that a false idea may entice churches all around the world, resulting in a global departure from Biblical truth. Satan has succeeded phenomenally at this before, especially when he gave us John Darby's Dispensationalism and the Scofield Reference Bible. He might just as easily do so again when a subjective standard is set up as a rule before which all must bow.

All of this gives us just cause for pause and for due deliberation. We must ask ourselves, "Is balance really the main principle that God's Word preoccupies itself with? Is this really the Grand Theme of the Scriptures? Does the Word of God really center around this question of balance? Should it really be our great fixation today, our great preoccupation?" Perhaps after careful and prayerful consideration of these questions we may determine that we need to reevaluate our standards. The standard by which we must assess our churches and ministries is emphatically not "Are we balanced?" The standard by which we must evaluate them is "Are we Biblical?"