When my granddaughter Kariss comes to stay at our house, she usually wants doughnuts for breakfast. I am not supposed to buy any doughnuts for myself, but I can hardly say no when Kariss looks at me and says, "Poppy, I want to get some doughnuts." So like a good grandfather, I take her up the street to the doughnut shop.
Kariss usually wants glazed doughnuts, but while we're there I figure I might as well show her some other kinds she should consider. She usually goes for my choices, so by the time we get home there are more doughnuts in the box than she can eat by herself. We have taught her not to waste food, so when Kariss says, "Poppy, I can't eat all of these — will you help me?" I feel obligated to respond as a good grandfather. Not wanting to contradict the lesson that we have been teaching her, I assist my granddaughter with the doughnuts. That way I can eat doughnuts, but say I didn't buy any for myself!
This doesn't happen very often, which is good because there is one major problem with doughnuts as a meal. They are succulent, but insignificant when it comes to any real nutritional value. They taste sweet and bring momentary pleasure, but they don't leave anything of lasting value behind that the body can use to nourish itself. Anybody who tries to subsist on a diet of doughnuts is going to be sadly lacking in the sustenance needed to grow-at least to grow in the right way.
I'm afraid that this "doughnut principle" applies to churches that are more concerned with satisfying their members' spiritual "sweet tooth" than in providing nourishment for solid spiritual growth. Doughnut churches can be very popular, because what they offer tastes so good and there are a lot of people who are willing to sacrifice sustenance for succulence. But the church that wants to be authentic in its ministry must be bibliocentric, or Bible-centered, in its message. When the Word of God is not central to the church's proclamation, what you are left with is a spiritual doughnut shop.
The Bible is amazingly clear and concise when it comes to the heart of the church's proclamation. Talking about God's Word in the context of the church's ministry takes us back to the Pastoral Epistles, the books of 1-2 Timothy and Titus that tell us how the church of God ought to function.
In this chapter I want us to consider several passages from 2 Timothy, particularly 2 Timothy 4:1-4, which addresses the church's proclamation. This is the Bible speaking of itself, for the apostle Paul instructed Timothy, the pastor at Ephesus, "I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word" (vv. 1-2a, italics added).