Intro to Doctrine

This class is called “Faith Essentials” because I believe that having an understanding of each of these topics is vital to growing in faith. Not that we need to have all the answers, but because we need to at least have a base understanding of what God says about these topics.

→ Introduce the Q&R jar … “We want to help you have a basic understanding of as much of Scripture as we can, so we encourage you to ask questions.”

❓ Why do you think doctrine is important?

Today serves as an intro to what the class will look like this year. We’ll talk about a few reasons that doctrine is important for individuals, leaders, and the church as a whole.

→ Some of the issues we discuss in this class are best held with an open hand—we may not always agree and that’s okay. But you should know what you believe and why.

Ephesians 4:11-16

And he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ, 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God’s Son, growing into maturity with a stature measured by Christ’s fullness. 14 Then we will no longer be little children, tossed by the waves and blown around by every wind of teaching, by human cunning with cleverness in the techniques of deceit. 15 But speaking the truth in love, let us grow in every way into him who is the head—Christ. 16 From him the whole body, fitted and knit together by every supporting ligament, promotes the growth of the body for building itself up in love by the proper working of each individual part.

1. God wants us to grow in understanding

❓ Why is it important to grow in knowledge and understanding?

❓ How do we avoid the pitfalls of “disembodied doctrine”, or puffed up knowledge that is ultimately vanity?

Scripture is clear that God’s intent for us is to grow in knowledge and understanding of who He is and what His Word says.

Look at our key passage, the “work of ministry” in verse 12 is to “reach unity… in the knowledge of God’s son…then we will no longer be little children, tossed by the waves and blown around by every wind of teaching”

We would do well to emulate the example of the Bereans in Acts 17 — they were the people of “more noble character than those in Thessalonica” because they not only received the word with eagerness, they examined the Scriptures daily to make sure that what they were learning was true. And this increased the number of those who came to faith in Jesus.

How often do you cross-reference what you hear or are taught with what’s in scripture? The author of Hebrews makes this point in a pretty convicting way:

“We have a great deal to say about this, and it is difficult to explain, since you have become too lazy to understand. 12 Although by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the basic principles of God’s revelation again. You need milk, not solid food. 13 Now everyone who lives on milk is inexperienced with the message about righteousness, because he is an infant. 14 But solid food is for the mature—for those whose senses have been trained to distinguish between good and evil.” (Hebrews 5:11-14)

The expectation we can discern from this passage is that we should continually be growing in our understanding of what is good and true—namely, what the Bible says, and what righteousness looks like. Why do we continue to grow in maturity, knowledge, and understanding? That brings us to our next point:

2. Healthy doctrine helps us discern good and evil

❓ This can be a deep question, but how do we really know what is good and what is evil?

In presuppositional apologetics, there is an assumption that truth lies outside of our experiences in some way—it must, because we as humans are so finite. We just simply can’t know things that exceed our own selves. Thus, the answer for good and evil must come from God.

As a side note, this is often where any debates with atheists hit an awkward snag, because they would claim that there is a moral law, but their worldview by definition negates any kind of “objective” moral law.

Romans 12:9 reminds us that we must “hate what is evil; cling to what is good.”

We cannot hate what is evil and cling to what is good if we don’t know what it is. How can we know? Only by study of the Word. It’s also important to note once more that there is a reason for all of this. The first half of Romans 12:9 tells us that “love must be sincere.” and all of Romans 12 is set within the context of serving the church as a whole, and living sacrificially.

❓ What are some ways we often see poor examples of living in love? How can we improve?

Knowing what is right and true helps us to live better, more fulfilled, and more Christ-like lives.

3. Healthy doctrine is applicable to daily life

❓ How do you think doctrine should affect our daily life?

How do you think this matches up with your life, relationships, and habits right now?

In his Systematic Theology, Wayne Grudem says, “Theology is meant to be lived and prayed and sung.”

A healthy view of doctrine (and healthy growth in understanding) can and should have an affect on our daily life.

Biblical teaching is teaching that aligns with righteousness (1 Timothy 6:3), so any teaching on doctrine should help us grow in righteousness and grow more in Christlikeness.

To that end, throughout this class, we will try to keep everything at a practical level and make sure that we are thinking through theology as a way to grow closer to Jesus and closer together as we grow in righteousness.

4. Healthy doctrine brings unity to the church

❓ How can doctrine bring unity within the church? Why is that important?

❓ Why do you think God wants unity within his church?

It’s clear throughout much of Scripture that churches are meant to stand in unity.

The church is the bride of Christ, and he wants to “present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or anything like that, but holy and blameless.” (Ephesians 5:27) We are most effective as a church when we are going the same direction in unity.

Ecclesiastes 4:12

Matthew 12:25

What does our witness to nonbelievers look like if every church is full of infighting and disagreement, even on basic tenets? We must present a united front, and that comes from a united (or at the very least, an amicable) understanding of the doctrinal points of Scripture.

More Scripture on Church Unity

1 Corinthians 1:10

Colossians 3:12-17 frames unity in the context of dwelling in the word of Christ:

Therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and dearly loved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and forgiving one another if anyone has a grievance against another. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you are also to forgive. 14 Above all, put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. 15 And let the peace of Christ, to which you were also called in one body, rule your hearts. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell richly among you, in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another through psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs,[d] singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. 17 And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

❓ In your experience, has doctrine been divisive or unifying? Share your experience.

Our highlight passage for this week (Ephesians 4:11-16) specifically calls out that we (especially pastors and church leaders) must work to equip the saints to build up the body “until we all reach unity in the faith”.

Unfortunately, the enemy has done a really good job of making doctrine a divisive topic, when God’s design is that doctrine should be something that allows us to unite under a single banner.

6. Healthy doctrine helps us worship more fully

❓ How is our worship more pleasing to God when supported by healthy doctrine?

In an article for The Gospel Coalition, Sam Storms (a pastor here in OKC) rightly says that “our worship must conform to the revelation of God in Scripture.”

There are a lot of dynamics to that statement, and we won’t hit all of them here, but I do want to discuss this topic a little bit, knowing that it can be a bit divisive.

Let’s look at a key passage for this idea. It’s found in John 4:23-24:

But an hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and in truth. Yes, the Father wants such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and in truth.” (John 4:23-24)

Let’s look at what we see, and draw some conclusions.

We are called by Jesus to worship God in both spirit and in truth.

❓ What is the danger of worshiping in spirit only or in truth only?

It’s easy to focus on worshiping in a way that feels very spiritual and very meaningful, especially in today’s culture and world, where it doesn’t seem hard to find highly sensationalized “experiences” within churches and Christian movements.

When we are called to worship in both spirit and truth, a large part of that is making sure that our worship is founded in scriptural truth and doctrinal integrity.

This is a very broad concept—I don’t simply mean the songs we sing, although that is obviously a part of this conversation.

This includes the way that we magnify Jesus corporately on Sundays (small groups, music, preaching, services, etc)

This includes the ways that we lift the Lord up in our homes

This includes how we approach God in our personal prayer and devotional lives.

If we seek to worship God without knowing truly who he is and what is right, then we are at risk of idolatry, that is, worshiping a facsimile of a god, but not the true God. Now care should be taken, because this can be a slippery slope

It is obviously possible to worship God fully without having all the answers or having everything figured out (nobody will ever have everything figured out) But we can always make sure we are seeking to worship God in deeper truth, instead of simply what feels right.

Scripture is very clear throughout that God gets to tell us how we ought to worship Him, not the other way around.

7. Healthy doctrine helps us love with urgency

❓ How can healthy doctrine help us love people better?

❓ How can healthy doctrine help us live with a greater sense of gospel-centered urgency?

This goes back to our earlier point:

Healthy doctrine helps us live in unity and love each other better, all for the building up of the church. In our Ephesians passage, Paul reminds us that doctrine:

“promotes the growth of the body for building itself up in love”

Doctrine that doesn’t encourage us to love each other well and encourage each other well is a doctrine that is contrary to the Bible

Doctrinal truth should always point us to the greatest commandments: love God and love people

The same way that we always want to know more about the people we love and our love grows for them, that’s how it works for our relationship with God. Then applied doctrine is showing us how we can love others better.

8. Conclusion: Doctrine Doesn’t Need to Be Scary

We are all theologians in some way—what does your theology say about you?

Our goal is for everything that we learn in this class to help us fall in love with Jesus more, love each other better, and serve our church with healthy and glad hearts.

❓ Do you have any questions for me?

Remember our key verse: Ephesians 4:11-16

Feel free to read Romans over the next few weeks—I call it “Paul’s Systematic Theology” because it covers a lot of doctrinal points from creation to the gospel, and applies it well to our daily life.

Don’t forget our Q&R jar either!