Defending Doctrine

Doctrine (Latin: doctrina) is a codification of beliefs or "a body of teachings" or "instructions", taught principles or positions, as the body of teachings in a branch of knowledge or belief system.
(From Wikipedia)

There are two major movements afoot in these modern days concerning doctrine. One is defending doctrine, and one is dismantling doctrine. I have found both movements to be substantially hollow and counterproductive. In my view there are two doctrinal pillars about which Paul even warns about changing. They are the truth about Jesus and the truth about the gospel. Much of the evangelical world gets all caught up in doctrinal tributaries and denominations are formed primarily because of such fringe or non-essential teachings. But it is true that there are men today who either openly, or with cunning and sweet sounding words, have reduced the gospel to works and have stripped Christ of His exclusivity. That is what we rightly call heresy.

But it is quite easy to identify such heresies and condemn and confront them; much easier than to confront your own doctrinal disobedience and ambivalence. In fact, most of the western orthodox community has revolutionized Christianity in order to exist comfortable with the culture with specific emphasis on the believer himself. It is a form of humanism with a Christian label. And think of all the doctrine/teaching that fills the average believer’s life. Every week he hears his pastor expound doctrine; every week he discusses doctrine in Sunday School; every week he hears teachings on the radio and television; he many go to conferences and he may have teaching Cds; He may read books or magazines that teach Christian doctrine; and so the western believer is fed a constant stream of doctrine via many venues throughout his life.

And in the midst of all this teaching he may hear someone use the false teaching of someone else to Biblical authenticate what that person is teaching. It is not uncommon for a pastor to explain some form of heretical teaching in order to repudiate it from the Scriptures. And that is good and beneficial when it is given in the midst of a living family of teachings that find more expression through deeds than through systematic theology. Which brings me to my premise:

Teaching and defending Biblical doctrine without corresponding life manifestations is nothing more than self righteousness. A large part of defending doctrine is exhibiting it. Imagine for a painful moment that after the ascension of Jesus the Holy Spirit directed His followers to live lives of sacrifice and humility. Imagine believers unconcerned with money and careers, ambivalent to the trends of culture, and uninterested in earthly governments. Imagine pockets of believers living so remarkably and so gentle and humble, that those who came in contact with them were regularly prompted to inquire of them as to their motivation. Imagine a community of faith who actually demonstrated a belief that their lives were hid in Christ with God, and that all their affections lay in the world to come. Imagine a society of faith who counted their own comforts, their own needs, and even their own lives as sweet smelling sacrifices before their Lord.

And so I ask you…why do we have to imagine such a thing? Unless you are convinced that God does not wish us to live such lives, then we are forced to gaze into a mirror of spiritual indictment. What I am openly saying is that to a large extent, a very large extent, we have barely held onto the saving gospel of Jesus Christ in regeneration, but we have long since left the Biblical and Jesus model of allowing the Spirit of Christ to live in and through us. And do not think that I speak from an elevated platform looking down, no, I am right in your midst. As a matter of fact, many of these things I have identified became known to me through the Spirit’s magnification of things in my own Christian walk. Oh yes, we are all in this together.

But we do not need to stay where we are, and we must be vigilant and guard against any hint of self righteousness. Even our strongest words must never condemn without hope or indicate a victory that we have not yet experienced. We must learn again what it means to be clothed with humility. We must not compare ourselves with ourselves and find some morsel of carnal contentment. Jesus must be the template for everything, and the great doctrines and teachings of Scripture must be expanded once again to include the most uncomfortable and inconvenient life practices revealed in their pages. The Sermon on the Mount cannot just be great oratory; it must be the commands of Almighty God. The do’s must be equal to the don’ts. Something is wrong when God’s people can sit week after week, and year after year, and listen and learn what is being said and what is supposed to be believed, and yet with such an astonishing lack of conspicuous, if not spectacular, manifestations of those teachings in the men and women who hear and say they believe God’s Word. One of two things must be true: Either we do not believe God’s Word, or what is being taught is only a fragment of what should really be a panoramic expose of what it means to walk in His steps. And in believing that pitiful fragment…we have grown content, self righteous, and in many cases arrogant.

Imagine for a moment that what you and I have learned and aggressively espoused as Biblical truth has been flawed, incomplete, convenient, and contoured over the decades to accommodate even the most uncommitted and unsacrificial lifestyles. Imagine for a moment that the ears that are being tickled are not just the heretics and liberals, but they are ours as well. Oh my. When God called the Jews in captivity in Babylon back to Jerusalem to rebuild the walls and the temple, most did not go and many did not even hear God’s voice. Why? Because they had built prosperous and contented lives in Babylon, and to return to Jerusalem would require a sacrifice they had never known and were not willing to give. They had no guarantee that Jerusalem would be rebuilt, and many good and Godly people they knew in Babylon said the idea was just fanaticism.

And so it is today. Generations come and go with each new one building upon the shifting sand the former used. Comfortable and affluent lives are lived by professing believers in the west while millions struggle for food; even millions who name the name of Christ. The Apostle Paul is arrested in Jerusalem and led away in chains to be brought before the council. His very life was in jeopardy. However as they took him up the stairs, he asked the soldiers if he could speak to the crowd. That was the very crowd that was in an uproar over Paul and his teachings. And Paul witnesses of Jesus, not from the comfort of a pulpit, but in chains between soldiers and to a violent crowd and on his way to an uncertain future. And we say we believe men who die without Christ are lost forever but witnessing is not our lifestyle and passion. Most professing followers of Jesus will not actually witness to one soul in a year, and invitations to church suffice as “witnessing”.

We are cold and we are dead, and yet we say we are rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing. But imagine if God sees us as naked and poor and blind. What if takes the destruction of our present model in order for the Potter to make another? Are we willing to suffer the loss of all things to win Christ? Are we even willing for a mild reordering of our steps and priorites? Are we willing to die to ourselves complete with crucifixion, burial, and the glory of a resurrection that finds its eternal joy in serving the Risen Christ? Are we willing to even consider any of this?

We can continue to preach and teach doctrine. We can continue to point out the heretics and pat ourselves on the back because we are not like those men. We can continue to rush to the Sunday gathering and leave once more with a smile and the knowledge of religious obligation, but without the arresting and transforming power of God’s Spirit. And when we drive back into our neighborhoods and see the heathen man mowing his lawn, we can be assured he sees us as one of many in a hedonistic western culture, and in fact, he sees himself in us.

Imagine those who travelled from Babylon headed for Jerusalem. Some never made it and died after months of travel. And when they arrived in Jerusalem there were no stones and mortar waiting there, and there were no Home Depots with supplies. There were enemies that sought to destroy them, and there were ethnic Jews who criticized them and attempted to make them doubt. And back in Babylon those who claimed Jewish heritage continued to ignore God’s Word. At least they did not claim that Babylon was God’s creation and the Babylonian founding fathers were passionate followers of Jehovah.

I know, I am a curiosity if not an outright extremist. Enough for now. But I exhort you to read Matthew chapters 5-7 through several times, and in all honesty, see if you see the western church in those teachings. But if those words are too severe, we can run to the security of the doctrine of the Trinity or inerrancy and build our fortress around that. Remember, homosexuality is a sin. (applause here)