Pastor, Where Is Your Final Authority?

A pastor who does not submit to the Bible as his final authority is a menace to the kingdom of God. Today, R.C. Sproul insists that the supremacy of Scripture is nonnegotiable in ministry and in the Christian life.

Where is the highest authority in your life? Not just what you claim to have as the highest authority, but what actually moves you towards the conclusions and the decisions that you take in your life? What actually functions as the authority in your life? And I’d like to add to this a plea, a twofold plea. One, that if it is not the Scriptures, my first plea with you is that you make that your final authority.

And here’s the second plea. If you don’t make that your final authority, and if the Scriptures did not function actually in your life as the final authority—now, I’m directing my words now to those who are in positions of leadership—then I would plead with you with all of the emotion that I could muster to get out of any position of leadership in the Christian community because you’re an absolute menace to the kingdom of God. I don’t care how nice you are. I don’t care how cool you are. I don’t care how talented you are. If you are walking around with your talents and your relational skills and subverting the authority of Christ, you’re a menace to His people. And I would plead with you for the sake of the people of God to get out before you do any more damage.