The Importance Of Doctrine | Why Baptist? | 2 Tim. 2:14-18

The Importance Of Doctrine | 2 Tim. 2:14-18

Introduction:  A little over four years ago I did a series on Wednesday nights called “Why Baptist.” It’s hard to believe it’s been four years, honestly, but as I wrapped up that series last time, I determined that I would put that series on a rotation and do it every few years. I don’t typically do that, actually, I’ve never done that before, but I decided that revisiting the doctrines that form our foundation as a church ought to be revisited.

By the way, being reminded is a good thing:

It helps us know the whys, not just the whats. We don’t want to believe things just because we’ve always believed them. We want to know the whys.

Review is a vital part of learning. Our KJV mentions “remember” or some variation of it around 200 times. Most of the time our problems stem not from not knowing but from not remembering. We need to be reminded.

Remembering helps our faith. It’s easy to forget what God is like or what God has done, and remembering helps us not to forget, which increases our faith in Him.

So we’re going to revisit some foundational doctrines about why we’re Baptist. And by the way, we’re not Baptist because of tradition. We’re Baptist because of the Bible. We’re Baptists because we’re Bible believers. 

It’s good for us to do Bible Studies and be reminded of what we believe. Because the Bible is more than just a devotional book that tells us what to do or how to feel. It’s a doctrinal book that tells us what to believe.

Doctrine has been somewhat downplayed in modern church culture. There’s a move to emphasize unity over purity, but nowhere in the Bible does it say we should ignore Bible truth for the sake of fellowship. Our fellowship and unity is established on sound Bible doctrine.

2 Timothy 2:14-18

Paul’s letter to Timothy makes it clear that doctrine matters. Timothy was pastoring the church in Ephesus and as a pastor it was his responsibility to guide them into correct Bible teaching. 

Vs. 14 – Paul warns Timothy to help the people stay away from words that have no profit – teaching that isn’t useful because it’s false. The word “subverting” is the Greek word “katastrophe.” False doctrine is no small thing. It leads to destruction.

Vs. 15 – A man that pleases the Lord is diligent in his studies and teaching. You will avoid shame if you rightly divide the Word of truth. When you “cut it straight.”

Vs. 16 – The word “shun” gives us our response to false doctrine. It means to avoid unholy and useless teachings.

You don’t play with something dangerous. You avoid it. You don’t grab a mean dog by the tail or try to pick up a rattlesnake. You wouldn’t play catch with a grenade.

False doctrine is to be treated like that.

Vs. 17 – “Canker” refers to gangrene. If there’s corruption in one part of the body it must be dealt with before it affects the whole body. The infection could spread and prove fatal. Then he calls out two men preaching false doctrine.

Vs. 18 – Their teaching on the resurrection of God’s saints at the coming of Christ was wrong. They said it was already past and it had cost some their faith.

Paul was teaching doctrinal purity over unity. Not that unity doesn’t matter, but you can’t enjoy true unity unless everyone is on the same page. There is no unity without doctrinal purity.

2 Timothy is just one example of many in Paul’s letter about the importance of truth. As a matter of fact, the word “truth” appears in Paul’s letters (epistles) at least 49 times. Doctrine appears at least 23 times. He spent lots of time and sometime whole books disputing false doctrine. “Teaching the truth” is a major theme of Paul’s epistles. Doctrine matters. But in teaching doctrine, there are a few things about doctrinal teaching that are good for us to remember.

I.    Right Doctrine Is Not A Mandate

The Bible doesn’t teach that we mandate or try to force someone to believe what they don’t want to believe.

Every person will stand before God and give account directly to Him individually.

So every person must make the decision about what they believe for themselves.

Each of us has a right to be wrong.

We could mandate a person’s behavior but we can’t mandate a person’s conscience. You can try to force someone to behave a certain way but we can’t force them to think or even feel a certain way.

That’s why it matters that we genuinely know what we believe. Because if we’re going to convince anyone of it, we have to articulate it, not force it. Bible-believers don’t believe in conviction by force. We can’t force people to believe a certain way. But I do believe if we can articulate things well enough that carries more force than force.

And if someone chooses not to believe correct doctrine, there has to be some form of separation or distinction. As much as we want to enjoy unity with as many people as possible, we have to come to terms with this fact:

 II.  Things that are different are not the same.

This is a fact of life. We accept it in most cases:

A dog is not a cat. A Ford is not a Chevy. Culver’s custard is not ice cream.

We accept that in all areas of life, but for some reason we don’t want to distinguish things spiritually.

Things that are different are not the same.

If churches are different they’re not the same. If Bible versions are different they’re not the same. If doctrine is different, it’s not the same.

If there are two different churches and one practices infant baptism and the other practices baptism after free will salvation, those two belief systems are not the same.

For us to assume that doctrine doesn’t matter is to ignore a basic Bible principle that purity supersedes unity.

Amos 3:3, “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” It’s a hypothetical question but it’s also an easy answer. No, they can’t.

Two people can’t run together in opposite directions. If you’re going different directions you’re not going to the same place. Like running in a potato sack race. When people are running together in sync they do great, but as soon as the step gets off down they go.

We’ve been called to study and rightfully divide the Word of Truth.  That sounds simple enough, but the temptation will be there to compromise what you believe in order to be unified. Paul had to tell Timothy to shun the ones teaching false doctrine.

There is so much pressure from the outside telling us to compromise what we believe. We’re told to claim absolute truth is judgmental. We’re not respectful for someone else’s truth. We should drop our lines and come together in unity because that matters more than anything. That way of thinking is everywhere.  

“Love Wins” is the battle cry. And I believe in charity for sure. Jesus said we are to love even our enemies. If someone believes differently than we do, that doesn’t cancel our responsibility to love.

But love doesn’t mean tolerance or blank-check acceptance. Love doesn’t cancel out matters of doctrine. The “Love Wins” crowd says, “Love is the supreme character trait we all need to embrace. Look past lifestyle choices and belief systems and morality and just love.”

But things that are different are not the same. We can’t compromise Biblical belief systems, for the sake of love and unity. But it’s happening all around us. That leads to the next thought about Doctrine tonight:

III.  We Have To Guard Against Letting Go Of The Things We’ve Received.

 Look over at Proverbs 22:28, “Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set.”

In most places, property lines are marked by boundaries like tree lines or fences, but it used to be that boundaries were marked by stone walls or lines. The boundary corners would often be marked by a large rock, tree or other natural landmark. I was driving in Oklahoma a couple of weeks ago and they have large piles of rocks to mark the corners of their property.

The pictures is that your family heritage was based on your property and you didn’t want someone removing your landmark and stealing your heritage.

 It’s a similar idea when it comes to what we believe. What happens when the old landmarks are removed from our faith? Look at Proverbs 23:10, “Remove not the old landmark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless:”

Removing a landmark was like kicking down a boundary that was there for your protection. It kept you from wandering into a field you shouldn’t be in, and it kept others from overtaking your heritage.

But Solomon refers to the “fields of the fatherless,” which is interesting language. When someone is fatherless they’ve lost contact with where they came from. They’re no longer connected to their roots.

The fatherless implies there are those that don’t know where they come from. And when someone doesn’t know where they come from, there’s no attachment to keep them anchored. If we pull up our anchors we could drift anywhere.

As a Bible-believers, we must be careful about kicking down boundaries and wandering into the fields of the fatherless. People that have no attachment to their roots.

There are countless field of the fatherless in this culture. Meaning, they are trying their best to disconnect from anything in the previous generation.

And it’s not just spiritual. It’s happening in America. People removing statues and renaming things, almost trying to erase anything from history. But the danger is if you don’t learn from history you’re doomed to repeat it. We need to remember. It helps us remember the good and it helps us avoid the bad.

Be careful of kicking down your connection to the past or feeling no obligations to the previous generation. I think in an effort to forget some things that were negative, we try to get rid of all it, and that’s like pulling up an anchor and putting yourself in a position to drift anywhere.

Be careful of that when it comes to the things of God.

Some people are so quick to judge a formal or reverent approach to services, but I’m not sure that making a church service feel like a coffee shop is more conducive to meeting with a holy God.

Some people are so quick to get rid of their “father’s” music that they make the music service more like a concert than worship. But who is the music for? Us or God?

Some are so quick to detach from the standards of the previous generation that nothing matters anymore as long as your conscience is clear. Things that used to be universally unChristian like social drinking and personal holiness are suddenly placed in the “acceptable” category.

Or some stop valuing their “father’s Bible” because it sounds too ancient. We need a trendier sounding translation if people are going to be reached. But at what cost? What are we losing? If doctrine is changed or verses are left out, things that are different are not the same. If a version of the Bible removes verses that point to repentance or the blood or the trinity, we ought to take that seriously.

My point tonight is not to get into the weeds but to recognize we can’t just wander into the fields of the fatherless and expect no repercussions.

That’s why I choose to stick closely to the things that have been handed to me from my mentors. What they did was proven. And until I take down a fence I need to understand why it was put there in the first place.

It’s a little like watching a home remodeling show and how people will get excited about “opening up the space” so they decide to take out a wall before checking to see if it’s load-bearing. That doesn’t end well. That wall’s there for a reason.

And yet when it comes to faith, we see many people letting things go before understanding why they’re necessary.

Doctrine is essential. We can’t flippantly let go of it just because everything else is changing.

To review what we’ve talked about:

We won’t mandate doctrine because we believe in Individual Soul Liberty. Meaning, we believe every person makes their own choices. So we won’t mandate it, but we will teach it without apology and distance ourselves from those who teach false doctrine.

Because things that are different are not the same. Two can’t walk together except they be agreed. You can’t fit a square peg into around hole. Two sets of doctrinal beliefs and practices don’t equal some beautiful picture of unity like we’re led to believe. You can’t have unity without purity. 

And we have to resist the urge to let go of the things that we’ve received simply because of pressure to kick down fences.  Many people are doing it, but if we believe that Doctrine Matters and things that are different are not the same, we have no choice but to hold the line.

Doctrine Matters. It should matter to us. It should make a difference to you. And as we look at some Baptist Distinctives, would you decide not to dismiss it simply because it’s doctrinal in nature? Too many people look at this kind of study as non-essential. But based on the direction of our culture and the pressure being put on Bible believers, I think it’s not only essential, but foundational.

 Doctrine Matters If We Want:

 To Stand – If we’re going to stand against the pressure that downplays objective truth and exalts the individual self-truth to the highest place, we need Doctrine. If we’re going to stand when others say Doctrine is less important than love and unity. If we’re going to resist that, we must be convinced from God’s Word what we believe and why.

 To Preserve – If this is a matter of conscience, then our children must be convinced Doctrine Matters. Because this isn’t by force. We can’t make them believe it. We must know what we believe and why well enough to articulate it in a convincing way for their sake. If we can’t convince the next generation that it matters, who will be left carrying the baton?

If it’s going to matter to them, it needs to matter to us. Otherwise, guess what they’ll be doing when they are handed the reins? They’ll start kicking down fences before they realize why they were put up in the first place. To preserve what we have, we must be convincing to the next generation.

To Please – I go back to 2 Tim. 2:15, “Study to shew thyself approved.” That means pleasing. So yes, if we’re going to stand up we need to know doctrine. And if we’re going to preserve what we have for the future, we must believe it matters. But most importantly, when we rightly divide the Word of Truth, it puts us in a position that pleases God. Can you tell me anything that matters more than that?

 So doctrine matters because standing against pressure matters, preserving our faith matters, and pleasing God matters. That’s why doctrine matters. I pray that we will have a renewed sense of the importance of doctrine as we look at some foundational truths from God’s Word over the next few Wednesday nights.