"Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true." Acts 17:11
The Bible should be the test of all preaching! That man who desires to make himself the umpire and final standard of appeal to the congregation, involves himself in a fearful responsibility and virtually claims for himself infallibility. Yet some ministers appear offended if their authority is questioned, or if their preaching is tested by the Word of God.
Paul did not do so! Though inspired, he commended the course of those, who, instead of taking his word for it, examined the Scriptures for themselves, to see whether those things which he taught them were so. To adopt a contrary course, and blindly follow a minister or priest, is downright Romanism! And, if pursued universally, this would . . .
. . . arrest the progress of the Gospel,
. . . and clog the wheels of truth,
. . . and stamp error with immutability.No, my brethren, your minister is not to be the umpire or standard. There is but one who could say, "Follow Me!" and that was Christ! We point you to Him. We direct you to His Word as the standard of your beliefs, and to His example as the pattern of your lives.
"To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them." Isaiah 8:20
—John Quincy Adams, 1876
His example is Solus Christus. We are to imitate Christ Jesus in all things. We are to love what He loved, and hate what He hated. We are to pattern our lives, in every aspect, after Him. If we are not trying to be like Him, if we are not being made in His image, then we have no right trying to call ourselves His disciples.
His Word is Sola Scriptura. Scripture, the Bible, is to be our only and final authority on all matters pertaining to doctrine, congregational practice, family life, and personal holiness. The Bible is not an end in and of itself, but it points us to Christ Jesus. Most Christians have some other source as their authority instead of God's Word: what the early church fathers taught; what church traditions taught; what creeds, confessions, catechisms, and constitutions teach; what the Reformers taught; what a particular system of theology teaches; what their particular denomination teaches; what the "experts" tell them; what they have "experienced"; and various other pragmatic considerations.
"The Bible should be the test of all preaching!" Period! In context!
Grabbing a particular verse and then preaching on it tends to predominantly result in eisegesis—from every denomination. The same is true of people who do verse memorization and who have "life verses." A verse independent of its passage is used predominantly to support false interpretations. If you are going to preach, you should be preaching on full passages so that you convey the correct context. If you want to memorize anything, memorize full passages so that you understand and apply the correct context. If you want something applicable to your life, then have "life passages" so that you are applying the full context to your life.
The only thing that is the final standard of appeal for the Congregation's beliefs is God's Word. If that "offends" you, then you have bigger problems. Too many people professing to be "Christians" blindly follow the man behind the pulpit rather than examining Scripture and holding the man accountable. This is why you have modern cults like Steven Furtick's Elevation Church. If you call their gathering a "service," they get angry with you and, like a chorus, say on cue, "It's not a service! It's a worship experience!" If anything you say is negative of Furtick or Elevation, they turn on you like a pack of rabid wolves. This re-iterates what John Cooper wrote about celebrity preachers. They become people's idols.
If you get angry when someone tries to filter your traditions, creeds, confessions, catechisms, constitutions, statements of faith, systems of theology, denominational teachings, experiences, etc., through the Bible, then the Word of God is not your only and final authority. If you get angry when someone tries to filter your preacher's teachings, practices, and lifestyle through the Bible, then most likely you are part of a cult!