Why learn doctrine?

Early church teaching was not enough. Personal Bible study was not enough. I went to Bible school in my 60’s. It was not enough. I completed a Master’s degree in biblical and theological studies. It was not enough. Now I’m reading Stephen Charnock’s two-volume, “The Existence and Attributes of God.” It is not enough. The hunger to know God and the desire to know the whole counsel of God remains.

Paul said, “I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.” (Acts 20:27) What is it?

John Piper says when the foundation of what I knew cannot see everything, a deeper foundation is needed. It sees and feels everything, and he lists cancer, nuclear weapons, environmental crises, terrorism, abortion, burned-out cities, broken marriages, bummed-out kids, depression, but that deeper foundation does not fail or allow me to break or sink into despair. It allows me to be joyful, no matter what:

Again I will build you, and you shall be built. . . .  Again you shall adorn yourself with tambourines and shall go forth in the dance of the merrymakers. (Jeremiah 31:4)

How does God build His people to dance, no matter what? Piper points out, “This is the whole counsel of God. If you intend to dance in the April sun, just remember, either you do it with your eyes closed or you do it on the great granite tableland of the whole counsel of God, also known as doctrine.”

Yesterday I thought much about dying and leaving this world. Those thoughts threatened my joy, even as I watched a cheeky squirrel running back and forth along the fence, even as I nearly completed a bright blue and yellow quilt, even as I had a brief but blessed online communication with my oldest grandchild. But doctrine brings joy back:

“Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets. (Luke 6:22–23)

How can this kind of treatment feel like a blessing? Because my hope is in a reward secured by Jesus Christ and trusted because of the faith He puts in my heart — and this is doctrine. Without it, there is no leaping for joy when hated, excluded, reviled, and spurned as if an evil person.

I’ve seen how all that I see (as it pounds against my awareness because of modern technology) requires a deeper foundation, a greater understanding of this God in whom I trust. How can He bless me in this messed up world? How can joy remain as friends are diagnosed with stage four cancer, bombs fall in cities filled with terrified humanity, earthquakes destroy thousands at a time, terrorists kill at random, babies are aborted by the millions, divorce rates rise, children are abandoned and homeless, even godly pastors suffer depression, and many in my family seem headed to hell?

Doctrine. The God who can give me joy in this mess here will take me to the greater reward of eternal joy. It does not matter how twisted this world becomes because He will usher in a forever that is marked by eternal joy.

PRAY: Jesus, I just taste it here, even in the hurt of what I see. Your joy is not the same as the ‘happy, happy’ of this world for it floods my life here no matter what the latest news says, or hearing prayer requests that desire comfort without asking for the grace to leap for joy even when You do not remove the pain. Doctrine. It tells me about You and the more I know about You, the more I can think and speak of Your glory and blessing, and jump for joy even when my body yells a bit because it now creaks when I leap!

Testing what I hear

 

Someone I know is so in tune with spiritual matters that she senses the spiritual status of people around her. For her, this is so distressing that she avoids crowds because those who reject Christ have a strong effect on her emotions. She is also discerning with all media, so their television set is often turned off. I’m uncertain how this happens but know that God calls all His people to be discerning. He says:

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. (1 John 4:1–3)

Normally these verses are applied to sects that try to imitate Christianity. They will not acknowledge that Jesus is the Lord who came in the flesh to die for our sin, nor will they fully acknowledge their sin and need of His grace. However, this sort of deception also creeps into churches. Some may attend yet err in their understanding of His identity and of the way of salvation. They may claim to follow Christ but cannot spot errors. Christians are told to test all spirits and be wary of what they teach because some are religious but actually not for Christ but are anti-Christ. 

This attitude is described as one person in the following long passage. It also describes the power behind the subtle lies that can deceive even genuine believers for a little while:

Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.
Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming. The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter.
Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word. (2 Thessalonians 2:1–17)

Not everyone is gifted in discernment, but our protection from false teaching is secured in the Lord Jesus Christ. He works through His Word to help His people stand firm and recognize lies. The key is to read the Bible and keep short accounts with God so we can hear Him clearly. This long passage is a warning but also an assurance. I was chosen to glorify Christ, not to make up anything that suits what appeals to my flesh. Not only that, the One who called me also promises to keep me.

PRAY: While some of this seems complicated, Jesus I know that You are quick to impress my heart when someone teaches a lie that is against You. I might not have an immediate answer for them, but know that I can find truth in Your Word. I’m so glad to have the Bible and access to it, and to have the Holy Spirit who helps me recognize solid Christian teaching. I’m also thankful that You persist in feeding me truth to keep me trusting You — rather than anyone or anything else. Thank You, Jesus.

Why Study?

 

My folks were told that I would not live past sixteen. As a result, they protected me rather than teaching me how to live. As a young adult, I felt uninformed and unable to deal with many of life’s situations. After becoming a Christian, this ignorance didn’t seem to be a handicap because it drove me to the Bible to find out how and turned out to be a good thing.

However, Bible study has its challenges. One is hinted at in this verse:

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. (2 Timothy 2:15)

Rightly handling the Word of truth means abandoning personal ideas and I-wants, never twisting Scripture  to mean what I want it to mean. Right study knows that the Holy Spirit will aid in the process, but I cannot rely on whatever I think He is putting into my head without seeking confirmation from God’s Word. That takes a lifetime of reading and remembering.

The Bible is God’s “user manual” for the people He created. After studying it for more than fifty years, I realize that it covers all things and presents them in fresh ways. Doing the math, that means the Lord has presented truth to me in more than 17,000 days and certain is my guide for life.

When MacArthur asks if Bible study is necessary at all, I almost laugh at the absurdity of the question. He goes on to say that some believers think that the Holy Spirit teaches us everything so study is not important. This idea seems to stem from these verses:

Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that he made to us—eternal life. I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him. (1 John 2:24–27)

This passage is more about protection from false teachers who deny Christ and try to deceive believers than it is an excuse not to study. Some lies and false teaching sound good, yet our inner ‘lie detector’ gives discernment to shield us from false doctrine. Not only that, even if we are tempted by their arguments, He keeps us from drifting away. The Bible even says that those who do drift away were not Christians in the first place:

They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us. (1 John 2:19)

The Holy Spirit does protect us, yet God still tells me to study the Word diligently and to handle it accurately. He also tells me the attitude I should have toward it and that its truths need to have a priority in my mind: “Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day.” (Psalm 119:97)

Feeling ‘blank’ about a lot of things motivates me to seek out the way God wants me to think, but that does not eliminate the reality of Satan’s lies, the world’s pull, or the desires of the flesh. Life is a battle against sin. I cannot claim ignorance as an excuse for failure or not knowing what to do. God spells out truth and direction in His Word so I can know both — as well as have the ability to fight sin and obey God.

PRAY: Jesus, I am so thankful for the Bible, and for You and the Holy Spirit. You make clear how I am to think and live as I read what You say. Your Word is precious and vital. You tell me: “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success” (Joshua 1:8) and have proven this to me over and over. Thank You. Give me an even deeper love for Your Word!

PONDER: Consider the opportunities God gives to convey spiritual truth to others. Can I do this better by rightly handling His Word? What skills do I need? How can I improve?

 

 

Priorities

 

READ Micah 1–4

Like the other prophets, Micah’s message contains both warnings and hope. He denounces sin in the lives of God’s people yet tells of a coming day when there would be peace among all nations. While he brings both good news and bad, I find his words and language less plain than most of the other OT minor prophets. However, these words are blunt and severe:

Hear this, you heads of the house of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel, who detest justice and make crooked all that is straight, who build Zion with blood and Jerusalem with iniquity. Its heads give judgment for a bribe; its priests teach for a price; its prophets practice divination for money; yet they lean on the Lord and say, “Is not the Lord in the midst of us? No disaster shall come upon us.” Therefore because of you Zion shall be plowed as a field; Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins, and the mountain of the house a wooded height. (Micah 3:9–12)

God is exposing their greed and their love of money. Financial gain has become more important than justice, spiritual instruction, and honest seeking of God’s will. These leaders claim to be protected by the LORD, but Micah tells them their fate. Yet he also offers hope, not for the near future but for the ‘latter days’ that most understand to be a future time when the current way of life will come to an end:

It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and it shall be lifted up above the hills; and peoples shall flow to it, and many nations shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between many peoples, and shall decide disputes for strong nations far away; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore; but they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid, for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken. (4:1–4)

This is not utopia but at least much better than their sinfulness at that time, and the life they will soon experience in exile. In those ‘latter days’ they will return to the Lord and, as the phrase about sitting under their tree indicates, each will study the word of God. Micah says, “For all the peoples walk each in the name of its god, but we will walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever.” (4:5)

The exile will happen, and the people will be dismayed, not realizing God’s purpose for it. Those who take them into captivity will be oblivious to God’s plan also:

Now many nations are assembled against you, saying, “Let her be defiled, and let our eyes gaze upon Zion.” But they do not know the thoughts of the Lord; they do not understand his plan, that he has gathered them as sheaves to the threshing floor. Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion, for I will make your horn iron, and I will make your hoofs bronze; you shall beat in pieces many peoples; and shall devote their gain to the Lord, their wealth to the Lord of the whole earth. (4:11–13)

It seems that the way God works is often a mystery to us as well. Christians are being “gathered as sheaves to the threshing floor” and this seems a terrible thing, yet in the process, the people of God are being made stronger. Our victories do not make the evening news, yet thousands are “sitting under their tree” learning the will of God and becoming fearless in the face of persecution and deadly threats. Greed is being changed to generosity as God’s people realize time is short and our bank accounts  and possessions will not pass the tests nor go into eternity with us.

For me, simply purging the excess seems wise — in contrast to my earlier days of accumulating stuff, more stuff than a person needs. I’m also motivated to giving, not hanging on to possessions and funds that God graciously provides.

We are in those ‘latter days’ and Jesus has proven His promise:

Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. (Matthew 6:31–33)

The ‘exile’ of Covid, the power of God’s Word, and the grace of God makes His priorities clear: seek Jesus, seek to be like Jesus. Don’t be concerned about this life and its stuff. Instead, devote all that I am and have to Him and His kingdom.