How do we know when someone is competent? How do we know whether they know what they are doing? Why, we ask to see their papers.
Whenever we are not content with the word of God on a given subject, we do not have the option of remaining neutral, of doing nothing. The only alternative to the word of God is always the word of some man. But of course if we are to compete with the words of the everlasting God, this means that we have to come up with something pretty impressive. And so we do our best.
Our current cultural mania for certification and accreditation, embossed and signed by all the appropriate authorities, cannot be explained apart from our obvious discontent with the praise of God. This discontent is followed by our frantic attempts to fill up the void with the authority of a suitably impressive accrediting agency.
The problem, although much in evidence in our day, is not really a new one. “How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God?” (John 5:44) When Christ spoke these words, He was teaching us why certain men, published theologians all, were incapable of saving faith. Their desire for the approval of man necessarily hindered a true faith in God. These two things, man-pleasing and God-pleasing, do not agree well together.
As always happens, our deep desire for the approval of men leads to odd internal contradictions. We have marriage counselors who have themselves been divorced four times, but that’s all right. At least the certificate on the wall of the office is current. We have schools which struggle unsuccessfully to produce literate graduates, but their teachers, programs, textbooks, and drinking fountains are all state certified. Everything about it is just fine . . . except for the results of the task it is supposed to be performing. We really are well-trained. Private educators will tell you that when parents are checking out their school, and are doing so because they are thoroughly unhappy with what the accredited schools are doing, they will still ask, “Is your school accredited?” Why? Does that help any? It is as though a drowning individual sought to get assurances from the lifeguard that the beach was wet.
Unfortunately, we have the same problem within the church. Paul tells us what kind of character a prospective minister should have. He must be a one-woman man, he must be temperate, and must not have a quick temper. We have a better idea, which involves a good deal of graduate study. In order to get his certification, he must ignore his wife for three years, and teach her what the back of his head looks like. Now this is in no way a criticism of the classical Reformed emphasis on a learned ministry. The problem is not that we seek learning and wisdom in our pastors; the problem is that we measure it by means of stamped papers, as though his wisdom were a pure-bred spaniel.
Thus we look for approval from agencies, preferably with a big sign out front, because we need the appearance of solidity, of permanence. Very few people are desperate enough to approach strangers on the subway, or individuals sharing a line at the grocery checkout, in order to ask them, “Do you think I am doing all right?” But an official voice, a voice that speaks with an appearance of authority, is something else. This is why certification will always tend to become a bureaucratic affair. We want approval from the Federal Agency of This n’ That.
But only God can give the increase, and this is how He shows His pleasure to us. For example, the believing pastor should always be eager to be “diligent to present [himself] approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15). This approval is registered when God blesses the work of our hands. In business, in ministry, in family, we offer our endeavors to God, and seek His blessing on them. When He blesses, it rarely comes in the mail, suitably for framing. This blessing is organic, and always has a rational relation to the thing God has blessed. A man with a blessed marriage has wisdom to share with those who struggle. But a man with certification in marriage counseling may or may not have that wisdom.
Some try to interpret this blessing as mere quantitative growth, but this is far too simple. Cancer grows. Thistles grow. But our task is to seek the certification of God in what we do. This certification involves blessing according to His Word. Unless God blesses, the one who labors at building the house labors in vain. “And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands for us; Yes, establish the work of our hands” (Ps. 90:17). When this is a common prayer in the church, we will see far less scrambling for honors, degrees, and credits. This is not to condemn such things in themselves, but only the idolatry of them. Christ did not tell us to tear out the best seats in the synagogue. But He did tell us how to think of them.