Transcript of a published teaching by David K. Bernard, transcribed from YouTube. An attributed primary source — not Acts 2:38 Life doctrine text.
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Summary
Summary prepared by Acts 2:38 Life from the transcript below — the preacher’s words follow in full.
The pastor's question, and the vocabulary he prefers
- The host's frame, carried from the verbatim layer: today's question comes from a pastor, about what are sometimes called church standards — requirements for church leaders or members that aren't expressly commanded in scripture. His example: a church requiring any man in a ministry role — a musician, a church usher — to wear a dress shirt and probably a tie to all services, when the Bible says nothing about dress shirts and ties, which didn't even exist in Bible times. Are churches that implement these violating scripture, or is there scriptural support?
- His answer: they're not in violation of scripture, but let's expand it — and for a broader discussion, look at his book Practical Holiness. He doesn't actually like the terminology holiness standards and doesn't use it. The Bible does teach principles of practical holiness, and holiness first and foremost involves our spirit, our attitude, the fruit of the spirit, our speech, the things we read or watch, the stewardship of the body, sexual relationships, our fellowship — really, holiness covers your whole Christian life.
- All holiness teachings should be based on scripture. Some are express statements — don't lie, don't steal, wear modest clothing; those are commands. Other things are applications of scriptural principles: I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes; turn my eyes away from beholding vanity; avoid the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes. How do you apply that when modern technology — movies, television, internet, video — was unknown back then? That's still holiness teaching, because you're trying to apply what the Bible says.
Scriptural convictions are objective; personal convictions are liberty
- A holiness teaching should become a scriptural conviction: if I'm tempted to lie, I should feel convicted because the Bible tells me it's wrong; if I want to dress immodestly, the same. That's objective. Somebody says, well, I don't have a conviction against that — does the Bible teach it? If the Bible teaches it, it doesn't matter whether you have a conviction or not; you should obey the Bible. And pastors and teachers have the responsibility and the authority to establish holiness teachings for the church, because it's not arbitrary: it's simply applying the Bible to contemporary life.
- Then there are personal convictions: not the teaching of scripture, and not the pastor applying the teaching of scripture, but something you feel, which can be valid. A man converted in their church was almost a professional golfer; he felt his obsession with golf destroyed his first marriage, so after he received the Holy Spirit he just didn't play golf for a long time. He never told him he couldn't play golf. Later he picked it up again casually, sometimes taking a visiting preacher out and showing him some pointers, but he never resumed it with a competitive spirit. That was a personal conviction God gave him for his own spiritual health.
- That's where Christian liberty is: if I want to have that conviction, that's good; if I try to force that on you, that's bad. If it's a personal conviction, it should be left to each individual — the pastor shouldn't try to force it on everybody else, and even his own personal conviction he should present as his preference, his advice, not as a matter of heaven, hell, sin, holiness, or even rebellion.
Guidelines: the church may set them, within reason
- What the question actually concerns, he'd prefer to call guidelines. If you want to sing on the platform, you're representing the church: the holiness teaching should be part of that, because you're a role model and example. But the church, and the pastor as overseer, also has the right to set guidelines for what is appropriate to the occasion — authority inherent in just being a leader. Businesses do this all the time: here's our dress code; this is how you're representing us.
- Does the church have that authority? Yes, within reason — but it should be related to what's appropriate for the occasion and for the culture, and the church should not make those things a matter of heaven, hell, sin or salvation, or rebellion, but present them pragmatically: this is what we're asking you to do. Sometimes choirs wear choir robes for uniformity's sake, because people's styles of dress could be distracting, or some are dressed very well and some rather poor — is it required? For that church, if that's what the church wants, you should. Is it a matter of holiness? Of course not.
- The caution: the church can be so out of touch with the rest of the world that what is intended to be a good representation may seem archaic or foolish — especially if we're perpetuating something out of peer pressure, what will the neighboring pastor think, or just traditional culture: this is what we've always done, we don't know why we do it. His own practice: preaching with a coat and tie almost all the time — but business casual where a place says that's the expectation, and casual where overseas, home missions, new, or urban churches tell him their people don't dress up. In a missions environment, a multicultural church, a young church, a new church without a religious traditional background, what we think belongs on the platform may not really be that important, and we shouldn't feel obligated by what our churches did 50 years ago or what the majority do — that's traditional and cultural expectation, not scriptural teaching.
Reach the whole community, and keep the distinction clear
- The church should decide what makes the most sense in their own local environment for reaching the people they're trying to reach — but target the diversity of the community, not a narrow demographic. People who build a young urban professional church, styling themselves to appeal to a certain kind of person, should ask: what if a 60-year-old person wants to come? What if a person of an immigrant or minority background, with a little more respect for forms of dress and expectations in church, comes — are you turning them off? Are you self-selecting the people you want, or trying to reach your whole community?
- The aim is a positive impression to the community: they will listen to what we say, take us seriously, think we're worshiping God seriously, think we are interested in them — a professional, or if not professional, an appropriate appearance that represents the gospel well. Guidelines to accomplish that purpose are reasonable and even desirable.
- His caveats: make sure that's really what the guidelines are doing, and not out of sync with your local culture; and make a clear distinction between what you consider to be the teachings of scripture — holiness — and what you're just presenting as pragmatic and helpful for the impression you're trying to make in attracting people to the kingdom of God. There is value in the impression that we come to church and take it very seriously — we respect God, we respect the house of God, we respect the people of God — but we don't need to go overboard to look extravagant, out of touch, or overly strict or formal in a way that pushes people away from the gospel instead of inviting them to listen to the gospel.
Transcript
I would say they're not in violation of scripture, but let's talk about it. Let's let's expand this. And uh for a more broader discussion, you can look at my book, Practical Holiness. Now, a lot of times I hear people using the word holiness standards. I don't actually I don't really like that terminology and I don't use it. So, let's start with that. The Bible does teach principles of practical holiness, which we've had several episodes on different concepts like dress, hair, stewardship of the body. Um and of course I think really holiness first and foremost involves our spirit, our attitude, the fruit of the spirit, our speech, um you know the things that we read or watch uh the stewardship of the body, all that sexual relationships, our fellowship, all that is holiness.
Really, holiness covers your whole Christian life. So I like when I talk about holiness, I like to say holiness teachings that all holiness teachings should be based on scripture. Some are express statements, you know, don't lie, don't steal, wear modest clothing. Those are commands. Other things are applications of scriptural principles. I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes. Turn my eyes away from beholding vanity. Avoid the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes. Well, how do you apply that? and modern technology uh was unknown back then. Things like movies, television, internet, video, none of that was known. So, how do you how do you fulfill um this teaching regarding the lust of the eyes in a modern context?
So, but that's still holiness teaching because you're trying to apply what the Bible says. So all true holiness teaching should come from the Bible either by expressed statements or a contemporary application of a biblical statement or biblical principle. And then we have the related term convictions and uh there are what I would term scriptural convictions or impersonal convictions. So if it's a holiness teaching that should become a scriptural conviction. We should be convicted. So if I'm tempted to lie, I should feel convicted. I should feel wrong because the Bible tells me it's wrong. If I want to dress immodestly, I should feel wrong because the Bible tells me that's wrong.
That that's a scriptural conviction. That's objective. And so somebody says, "Well, I don't have a conviction against that." Well, does the Bible teach it? If the Bible teaches, I don't care whether you have a conviction or not. You should obey the Bible. U and even if it's an application of a principle, it's not so much what you personally feel. It's following the word of God. And in that sense, I do believe pastors and teachers have the responsibility and the authority to establish holiness teachings for the church because it's not arbitrary. It's simply um applying the Bible to contemporary life and they do have authority responsibility to f to do that and I we've discussed that.
But then there are personal convictions. So, it's not the teaching of scripture and it's not the pastor trying to apply the teaching of scripture, but just something you feel that can be valid. I I had a man who was converted in our church and he was almost a professional golfer and he told me later he felt like his obsession with golf destroyed his first marriage. So, after he received the Holy Spirit, he just didn't play golf for a long time. I never told him he couldn't play golf. And later he picked it up again more or less casually. And when we'd have a visiting preacher come to town, he would sometimes volunteer to take him and show him some pointers.
He he was a golf instructor. But for that time, he abstained from golf. And even after resumed it, he never resumed it with a competitive spirit. That was a personal conviction. It was not what the Bible said. It was not me as a pastor demanding it, but it was a personal conviction that God gave him for the interest of his own spiritual health. So I do think we can have personal convictions and that's where we have Christian liberty where if I want to have that conviction, that's good. If I try to force that on you, that's bad. Now, if it's a biblical teaching, scriptural conviction, I think we should all seek to agree and follow it.
But if it's a personal conviction, then we have differences. Okay, that's kind of a background. So when you talk about standards, if you mean holiness teachings, well, yes, we should follow that. If you mean an practical application of a holiness teaching, I think we should follow that. If you mean a personal conviction, I think that should be left to each individual. I really don't think the pastor should try to force that on everybody else. He should give Christian liberty. And even if he feels a personal conviction, he needs to be clear that that's his personal conviction. And even if he wants to other people to follow it, he should present it as this is my preference, my advice, but not try to make it a matter of heaven, hell, sin, holiness, or even rebellion.
So there's a ground there. Now, what you're talking about is maybe even a little different. That is uh some I would prefer to use the term guidelines. So if you want to sing on the platform, you're representing the church, want some guidelines. Well, I would first of all say the holiness teaching should be part of that because you're a role model and example. But I do think uh the church would have the right and the leadership of the church and we think of the pastor as the overseer uh would have the right to set guidelines for what is appropriate to the occasion. So to me uh that that he has authority to do that that's inherent in just being a leader because that's true in the business world.
You know businesses all the time said here's our dress code for you. Uh here's what how you're representing us. This is how you we want you to act. So I think let's say uh but I think it so does the church have authority to do that? I say yes within reason, but it should be related to what's appropriate for the occasion and for the culture. So sometimes the church can be so out of touch with the rest of the world that what is intended to be a good uh representation may seem to be archaic or foolish. And so if we're just perpetuating out of peer pressure, what will the neighboring pastor think or or like a a traditional culture?
Well, this is what we've always done. We don't know why we do it, but we do it. So I think we should be more sensitive. So So does a church have a right to set guidelines? If you're going to be in leadership or if you're going to sing from the platform in addition to holiness teachings, we want some things just to represent the church. Well, I I think yes, within reason. But the church should think carefully um that it should not make those things a matter of heaven, hell, sin or salvation, rebellion, etc. But should just present them pragmatically. This is what we're asking you to do.
So, you know, maybe if you're going to sing, um they want you to wear I mean you wear like a sort of a uniform for uniformity sake. Sometimes choirs will actually have choir robes. Why? Because you know people can have so many different styles of dress it could be distracting. Or some people might be dressed very well and some rather poor but that enforces uniformity. So is it required to wear a choir robe? Well for that if that's what the church wants you should. Is that a matter of holiness? Of course not. Do you have to have that? No. So that would be up to the local church and but I think it should be related to the expectations of the community.
So when I preach, you know, almost all the time I'm going to go with a tie, coat and tie. Uh there's sometimes some places I've gone, they will say this is going to be business casual. So I usually don't wear a tie because that they're not expecting it. There are some places I've ministered where overseas or maybe in a home missions, a new church, an urban church, and they say, you know, our people don't really dress up, so they don't expect it. You're the general superintendent, so whatever you want. They'll respect that you're the leader, but just want you to know, uh, people are going to be dressed more casually.
And so there may if you are in a missions environment whether overseas or home or you've got a multicultural church, you've got a young church, you've got a a new church that doesn't have a religious traditional background, then maybe some things that we think of well on the platform you should wear this may not really be that important. So, I don't think we should feel obligated because, well, this is what our churches did 50 years ago or this is what the majority of churches do. Um, therefore, I better do this or else somehow I'm not really Pentecostal or I'm a compromiser. Well, if it's a matter of scriptural teaching, I've already discussed that.
Of course, you should follow it. But if it's just a matter of traditional expectations, cultural expectations, or church expectations, I think the church should decide what makes the most sense in their own local environment for reaching the people that they're trying to reach. When I say that, I don't think they should target a narrow demographic. I think they should target the diversity of the community. Because sometimes I see people not I'm not talking about just UPCI but people they want to establish like a young urban professional church and so they want to make a point of this is an older man talking you know their hair messed up like they stuck their finger in a light socket and making sure their shirt tail is pulled out and they're wearing jeans because they're trying to appeal to certain kind of people.
I think the church should try to appeal to the whole all in the community. I sometimes look at some of those and say, "Well, you're trying to appeal to the 20somes, but what if a 60-year-old person wants to come? What if a person of an immigrant or minority background comes that has a little more respect for forms of dressSign andin expectations in church? Are you really turning them off?" So, are you saying, "I want to self- select the people that I think that I want the church to be, or are you trying to reach your whole community?" So, I'm not trying to criticize anybody because I realize my personal preferences are not necessarily determinative, but I guess I would say yes, having reasonable church expectations for what is appropriate in presenting your your your leadership or your image or your message to the culture.
So basically what you're trying to do is I want to present a positive impression to our community where they will listen to what we say, take us seriously, think we're worshiping God seriously, think we are interested in them and want to have a a professional or if not a professional an appropriate appearance that represents the gospel well. So, if you have some guidelines to accomplish that purpose, I think that's reasonable and even desirable. My caveat would be make sure that's really what it's doing and not out of sync with your local culture. And also make sure you make a clear distinction what what you consider to be the teachings of scripture, i.e. holiness versus what you're just presenting as pragmatic and helpful for um the kind of impression you're trying to make in attracting people to the kingdom of God. I I do think there's a value in saying we come to church and we take it very seriously and we respect God. We respect the house of God. We respect the people of God. And so I think it's appropriate to create that kind of impression, a sincere impression, but I think we don't need to be going overboard to look extravagant or out of touch or overly strict or formal in a way that pushes people away from the gospel instead of inviting them to listen to the gospel.