Nothing But Doctrine!

(warning! long read so take your time...)

"We ought to see the world through the lens of the Bible..."

As ministers, we know that "worldview" is important!! But let's not jump into any conclusions here. I'm not done. Worldview is:

1. At the center of how we live.
2. It determines the decisions we make.
3. It determines how we treat the people we love.
4. The emotions we experience throughout the day and the eternal impact we make.

Our worldview forms the “glasses” through which we see the world.

Unfortunately, many people in His church carelessly put together their worldview. The things they were taught as they grew up, the opinions they heard, truths they’ve read in the Bible - all get thrown together into a "worldview soup". Sadly, there are millions of them in the world today. It's brewing on a hot stove. And often, the result is a view of the world that is more theirs than God’s (and yes, we have a little guilt in that, too!).

Therefore, we need the good news. I love good news! The good news is God doesn’t want it to stay that way; he doesn’t want to leave us in the dark. God wants to give us his brain, his optical lenses. Why? So we can see this clearly in the fact that he sent his Son and gave us his Word. God wants us to know him. I believe we will need a stronger foundation. A foundation with the best news. A foundation that's more solid than our opinions or worldview. Not that opinions or worldview are alone worthless, they aren't stable. Yes, they are important helping us weigh the difference between a truth and a lie.

Jude 1:20 says, “But you, dear friends, must continue to build your lives on the foundation of your holy faith.” (nlt)

I have had hundreds of people come up to me asking what my doctrine is. Remember, doctrine means "teachings" or according to Websters, "..a principle or body of principles presented for acceptance or belief as by a religious group." One of the most common question is, "What does the church of Christ teach (doctrine) about _______?" Or perhaps...

"What does the church of Christ teach about baptism?" "What does the Baptist teach about baptism?" "What does the Catholics teach about baptism?"
"Does the church of Christ have a creed?"
"What does the church of Christ require a soul to be saved?"

These are great questions but I don't have an answer to any of them because there's really no answers. I have answers to the right questions. If I give the right answer to a wrong question, it's like trying to put a square peg in a round hole. We'll be beating each other up!! If I give the right answer to the wrong question, I am making whatever the right answer as "the church's; the affiliation's" doctrine (teaching). Hence, my doctrine is different from theirs. And we're divided because we believe and teach differently.

DOCTRINE is what God says. DOCTRINE is what the Bible says. If you're asking me questions, I am going to use the Bible as my only doctrine. Of course, many of you will say, "So are we." Then we move on pushing another "red button" shooting another missile called, "Interpretation". In defense, people bring up a phrase, "Well, that's your interpretation." I am sure there are thousands of interpretations in the world today: how we see the weather, understanding the war, politics...

I'm convinced that we need to continually remind ourselves and all the members of the Lord's church that their view of this world is determined by the foundation that they choose to build their lives on. If they build their lives around making money, they probably have one view of the world. If they build their lives around being popular, then they'll have an entirely different view of what’s happening around them.

Finally, let's step outside of our lives now. You're not "you" anymore. Your body is rid of worldview and interpretations. Let's begin to feed that body with God's Word, the Bible and see what God wants from us (please consider this a very important admonishment):

1. IF YOU KNOW THE TRUTH ABOUT GOD, IT HELPS ME KNOW GOD BETTER.
"Listen carefully to wisdom; set your mind on understanding. Cry out for wisdom, and beg for understanding. Search for it like silver, and hunt for it like hidden treasure. Then you will understand respect for the Lord, and you will find that you know God." Prov. 2:2-5 (ncv)

If you're living in the world without knowing God, is like driving a car, blindfolded. It doesn’t matter how hard you step on the accelerator or what direction you steer, you keep running into things and you never get anywhere. We need to know God, keep knowing God, and know the truth about God. We cannot grow with God based on our guesses, wishes, assumptions, and wild interpretations. Relationships grow with the truth; not a lie.

2. GROWING IN KNOWING GOD IS AN ESSENTIAL FOUNDATION.
"Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of instruction [doctrine] about washings [baptism] and laying on of hands, and the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment.” Hebrew 6:1-2 (nas)

Don't you want a foundation that provides the right decisions and the appropriate directions; a foundation that leads us to eternal life? How did you come to learn how to read and write? Knowing your A-B-C's! How did you come to know the truth about G-O-D? By knowing the basic fundamental foundation found in the Bible: Hear, Believe, Repent, Confess, Baptize, Salvation, and Living.

Well. Without the fundamentals, our lives are at risk. Our joy is at stake. Our families are on the brink of eternal damnation. Our place in eternity may be lost. So why opt for ignorance?

3. THE LIFE-SAVING DOCTRINE OF GOD FEEDS MY SOUL.
"In pointing out these things to the brethren, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, constantly nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine which you have been following." 1 Tim. 4:6 (nas)

When we hunger for solid food, that's a sign of maturity. We need soild food to sustain us. So doctrine (teachings of the Bible, the brain of God, the voice of God) is solid food for our soul!
This nourishment of our soul doesn't happen in an instance! We have to choose to eat this solid food. We have to chew for a while on some of the truths in the Bible in order to understand them. In Hebrews (5:12-14) we are warned very clearly that if we don’t decide to dig into God’s Word, we’ll remain baby Christians. Baby Christians are believers who always seem to have so many needs that they can never meet the needs of others.

I rather grow than remain a baby. It's embarrassing if I am a 37 year old man wearing diapers. If you stop feeding on God's Word, you're walking on thin ice that's about to break. Without God's Word, your spiritual life will weaken! And that's a fact!

4. KNOWING THE TRUTH IS AN "ANTI-VIRUS" AGAINST ERROR.
"So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ." Colossians 2:6–8 (niv)

When you're rooted in the Word of God, the Bible, it will be difficult for anyone to throw you off with a false doctrine.

Let me give you an example, namely cars. I am not good with cars when they go wrong. In order to drive a car, you don’t have to know anything about the engine. The car dealer pops up the hood and say, "Look at that engine!" Nice, but that doesn't tell me whether the car will ride into the horizon for eternity. I know it won't! You just push the gas pedal and the car goes. Likewise, you don’t have to know all of the truths in the Bible to become a Christian. All you have to know and believe is that Jesus loves you, that he died for your sins and that he was buried and that he was resurrected to give you new life.

But let’s get back in your car. Let’s say you’re driving down the street and the car starts to make a horrible sound. You think the sound is coming from the engine but you’re not sure. Spotting an auto repair shop, you pull in and ask a repairman what might be wrong. The repairman tells you, “You need to fill your gas tank with water. That will fix everything.” At that point, even a little bit of understanding about cars would be of great help to you.

The best way to protect yourself against errors of any kind is to know the truth. You can spot a deceiver once you know what the truth is.

5. WE'RE COMMANDED TO HANDLE THE TRUTH.
"Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth." 2 Timothy 2:15 (nas)

How you use the truth depends on how well you know the truth. The Scripture above isn't just for ministers, it's for everyone whom are learning how to, accurately, handle God's Word. God has entrusted us with them.

This is an amazing verse! Paul wrote to the church in Rome urging them not to continue on in sin that God's grace may increase (Ro. 6:1) and that the church remember they surrendered their lives to the Lord: 1. Died to self 2. Buried in baptism 3. Raised in Christ (Ro. 6:2-4). "But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted." Romans 6:17 (niv)

We're not to rely on what others are telling us. We're to take the responsibility to study the truth.

6. WE'RE COMMANDED TO LIVE THE TRUTH!
"I have been sent to bring faith to those God has chosen and to teach them to know the truth that shows them how to live godly lives." (Titus 1:1, NLT)

First of all, before you live the truth, you have to know the truth. And secondly, to know the truth, you must first learn the truth. Depending on your spiritual instincts is not enough (Proverbs 14:12), not if you’ve never taken the time to learn the truth.

7. WE'RE DEFENDERS OF THE TRUTH (AND IT'S A COMMAND)!
"Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence." 1 Peter 3:15 (nas)

We must always be ready! We must be able to defend the truth of God's Word. We're not going to give in to those who wants to compromise the truth with us. We're not Christians who merely water-down the truth.

"Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God." 2 Cor. 7:1 (niv)

Keeping those seven reasons for learning doctrine, it's time for us to take a new look at the part doctrine plays in our lives and make a commitment to be a student of God and His truth. Learning God's truth requires alot of work. It won’t be easy. Remember, it's nothing but doctrine: the teachings of God! The work will be worth it. You’ll never regret it.