God's Plumb Line: Aligning Our Hearts with the Heart of God

By Steve Langford

In a highly polarized society, how are we to know which position on an issue reflects God’s will? Christians commonly appeal to what the Bible says to determine God’s will. “The Bible says!” They assume it must be God’s will because the Bible says it.  

           

The Bible does teach us how to know God’s will, but it points beyond itself to a way of thinking shaped by the Spirit—what the book of Colossians calls spiritual wisdom and understanding. We discern God’s will by thinking theologically. Knowing God’s will requires more than knowing what the Bible says. How to think theologically about what the Bible says is needed.

God’s character as reflected in Jesus of Nazareth is the key to thinking theologically. In our efforts to know God’s will, we Christians must interpret what the Bible says in keeping with who Jesus revealed God to be. We must embrace understandings and positions that reflect the spirit of Jesus.

This book presents seven markers, grounded in the character of God as revealed in Jesus, for understanding what the Bible says, so that our understanding reflects the love of God we see in Jesus. Borrowing an image from the prophet Amos, these seven markers make up God’s Plumb Line. They outline a way of thinking theologically so that our hearts align with the heart of God and our minds with the mind of Christ.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Release date: Aug 31, 2021
• ISBN: 9781649793386

Steve Langford

Steve Langford—also known as Pastor Steve—has dedicated his adult life to the study and teaching of scripture in the local church with a focus on spiritual formation. In the spiritual communities in which he has walked, he is known as a gifted teacher with a prophetic spirit. He served as a pastor for fifty years, first in Baptist life and then as an ordained elder in the Central Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church. Since retiring in 2019, he serves as a spiritual guide, Bible study teacher, and Bowen Family Systems coach/counselor in addition to writing. He holds a bachelor’s degree in biblical studies from Howard Payne University along with master and doctor of ministry degrees from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. His post-doctoral work has been in Bowen Family System Theory with an applied focus on spiritual formation and leadership in the local church. Pastor Steve is married to Etta, his wife of fifty years. They have three adult sons and four grandchildren.

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About the Author

Steve Langford—also known as Pastor Steve—has dedicated his adult life to the study and teaching of scripture in the local church with a focus on spiritual formation. In the spiritual communities in which he has walked, he is known as a gifted teacher with a prophetic spirit. He served as a pastor for fifty years, first in Baptist life and then as an ordained elder in the Central Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church. Since retiring in 2019, he serves as a spiritual guide, Bible study teacher, and Bowen Family Systems coach/counselor in addition to writing. He holds a bachelor’s degree in biblical studies from Howard Payne University along with master and doctor of ministry degrees from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. His post-doctoral work has been in Bowen Family System Theory with an applied focus on spiritual formation and leadership in the local church. Pastor Steve is married to Etta, his wife of fifty years. They have three adult sons and four grandchildren.

Dedication

This book is dedicated to all who long to know and live the ways of God in today’s world.

Copyright Information ©

Steve Langford (2021)

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Any person who commits any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

Ordering Information

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Publisher’s Cataloging-in-Publication data

Langford, Steve

God’s Plumb Line

ISBN 9781649793379 (Paperback)

ISBN 9781649793386 (ePub e-book)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021915473

www.austinmacauley.com/us

First Published (2021)

Austin Macauley Publishers LLC

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New York, NY 10005

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Introduction

The Bible says!

What the Bible says has shaped the spiritual lives of Christians for generations. We turn to the Bible to know what to believe about God and our relationship with God. We turn to the Bible for knowledge and understanding, guidance and direction, affirmation and reassurance, encouragement and comfort. Without a doubt, what the Bible says plays a key, shaping role in our spiritual lives.

Given this important role in shaping our spiritual lives, it is natural to look to what the Bible says when dealing with various issues. And it is normal to use the Bible to support our position on those issues.

The Bible says!

In conversations about controversial issues, we make this assertion to validate our position. We almost always say it with a tone of authority, often accompanied by great intensity and passion. Our assertion implies this is the only right position to take on this issue. It discounts and dismisses any opposing position. It essentially puts an end to the discussion, blocking any further dialogue or exploration.

I am writing this work during a time of great polarization, both in our nation and in The United Methodist Church, the denomination in which I have served the past three decades. The people who make up both of the opposing sides of the polarization identify themselves as Christian. Consequently, they commonly appeal to what the Bible says to support their position. They are quick to proclaim The Bible says! Both sides quote book, chapter, and verse from the Bible to underscore their position as the only possible right position to take on the issue. In doing so, some (not necessarily all) use the Bible in a militant way—to attack and discredit the other’s position while fortifying their own. The assertion The Bible says is used to justify their position as the right, i.e., biblical position, and to discredit the opposing view.

Using the Bible as the final authority regarding a particular issue is nothing new. The Bible has been used this way throughout Christian history. We see such polarization in the early church as the Jewish Christians struggled with the inclusion of the Gentiles (Acts 15). Both sides quoted the Hebrew Scriptures in support of their position. (See Acts 15:5 and 15:15–­­­­­17.) The Reformation of the sixteenth century gave birth to new denominations as key leaders—Luther, Calvin, Zwingli—appealed to what the Bible said as they broke away from the Catholic Church. That pattern has been repeated in the creation of every new Christian denomination since the Reformation. In the United States, the Bible was used to both defend and oppose slavery in the mid-1800s as the nation moved towards civil war. In the twentieth century, the polarizing issue was the role of women in the church. Is a woman allowed to preach?

Those on both sides of the issue appealed to the Bible, quoting book, chapter, and verse, to support their position. The presenting issue¹ in today’s polarization in The United Methodist Church is the place of LGBTQ+ persons in the church. As was true in conflicts in the past, the assertion rings out from both sides, The Bible says!

How can people who claim the same religious identity and appeal to the same book hold positions that are polar opposites? How can both sides claim The Bible says! to support their position?²

We have been slow to recognize that appealing to what the Bible says has not resolved our polarizations. Instead, the Bible—or, more accurately, how we have used the Bible—has contributed to the polarization!

Clearly, something more than what the Bible says or doesn’t say is needed to move us beyond this pattern of recurring polarization over issues. A different source of authority is needed to resolve such conflicts. To be sure, this different authority must be one that honors and respects the Bible. The Bible cannot be disregarded. It is, after all, the source book for Christians. It is the divinely inspired record of what God has revealed of God’s nature and God’s ways. But a different measure of right and wrong, grounded in the Bible, is needed to overcome the impasses we encounter. A different way of knowing God’s will is needed.

The Bible gives us the guidance we need. It points us beyond itself, teaching us how to know God’s will. It points us to thinking that is guided by the Spirit. This Spirit-guided way of knowing God’s will is reflected in the New Testament book of Colossians:

We have not ceased praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding so that you may lead lives worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as you bear fruit in every good work and as you grow in the knowledge of God (Colossians 1:9–10, emphasis added). ³

This text ties knowing God’s will to spiritual wisdom and understanding—thinking guided by the Spirit. We discern God’s will by thinking theologically and by exercising spiritual discernment.

The Apostle Paul taught that learning to think theologically is the Spirit’s work. In 1 Corinthians, Paul spoke of the wisdom that comes from God through the Spirit.

No one comprehends what is truly God’s except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God. And we speak of these things in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual things to those who are spiritual. Those who are unspiritual do not receive the gifts of God’s Spirit, for they are foolishness to them, and they are unable to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. Those who are spiritual discern all things, and they are themselves subject to no one else’s scrutiny. For who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ" (1 Corinthians 2:11b–16, emphasis added).

The Spirit gives us the ability to understand spiritual things—in Paul’s words, the wisdom that comes from God.

This Spirit-given wisdom stands in contrast to how we humans generally think—what Paul called human wisdom. In his letter to the churches of Rome, Paul expressed the same idea. He called the Roman Christians to move beyond the world’s way of thinking. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect (Romans 12:2). The original language carries the idea of stop being conformed to the world’s way of thinking and living. Discerning the will of God is only possible, Paul says, as we learn to think differently from how we were trained to think. The Spirit teaches us to think differently, from the perspective of the ways of God rather than from the ways innate to our human nature. The Spirit teaches us to think theologically so we can exercise spiritual discernment. In other words, more than knowing what the Bible says is needed if we are to know God’s will. How to think theologically about what the Bible says is needed.⁴

Our ability to think theologically grows as our understanding of the nature of God and the ways of God grows. The Spirit shapes our thinking, aligning it with the nature of God and the ways of God. As a result, the mind of Christ guides how we think, including how we read and understand the Bible. The Spirit leads us to an understanding of the Bible that reflects the grace-based