”So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold to the traditions you were taught, whether by what we said or what we wrote.” (v. 15)

I am all for effective innovation in the church.

I am all for novel resources, nimble ministries, and new ways to engage our neighbors and the nations.

Jesus’ church, as He tarries, should be continually fresh.

But, however fresh those expressions may be, we ought to only ever freshly express those things that are enduring, unchanging, and immutably true.

This is why we are told to stand firm, to hold to what we have been taught, and to steward it in our own season. People are perishing—not because they are missing the innovative things the church is doing, but because they have missed the truth and failed to love it. The Word is our ground. The Gospel is our refuge. The Lord Himself is our home. So we hold Him and His revelation firmly—and we communicate those convictions in our communities as we do.

So stand firm. Hold to what you were taught. And, as you innovate in church, invite them home.

— Tyler