How to Increase Knowledge and Decrease Pride | The Whole Counsel

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One thing, I remember reading in the 18th century, the young Calvinistic Methodist movement there.

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You're older than you look, John, you know that, don't you? Yeah, I know, I was there. So, I remember that Whitfield and Wesley and others on both sides,

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I mean, they republished Puritan works. In fact, Wesley put together a thing called the Christian Library, which he highly edited, partly because he felt that books needed to be manageable, manageable size for the modern man and purchasable.

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So, he had a library of over 40 volumes, in which over half were

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Puritan writers, which is surprising considering Wesley's theology, but he felt that they were good shepherds for the soul.

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Everywhere he went, he promoted these, and, you know, buy these books, it'll be good for you. And he also tried to get his friends to promote them, and I remember in one place a man named

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John Berridge, who was on the Calvinistic side of the movement. Berridge would not promote

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Wesley's library among his people, and it was not a theological Calvin -Arminian issue, it was the issue that his people were very simple, not very well -educated, and he did not want them to devote any of that rare time they had in the day to reading.

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He did not want them to devote it to any of the old writers, rather than to scripture. Hal Harris, also, similar thing.

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Welshman, who had only just learned to read in that century, he said he found that those who immediately, after conversion, filled their mind with old writers or with books, tended to not be as simple and as devoted to Christ himself, but tend to become proud.

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Let me ask you, if a person finds themselves in that quandary that Paul mentions, that, you know, knowledge puffs up, well, obviously, the answer to that is not ignorance.

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So, how do you encourage a person as their pastor? How do they increase in knowledge and not increase in pride?

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That's a great question. I think if they are increasing in knowledge in the true sense, that should humble them.

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So, if they're doing it well, it should be an antidote to that. Again, Paul's talking about head knowledge, isn't he?

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It's probably not the best phrase, but a merely rational appreciation of certain doctrines that never really penetrates to the affections.

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I think one of the antidotes to that is actually to be selective.

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We really need to make sure that people know what to read. Pastorally, that's not just a question of then that I answer with, well, read something old.

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It's read this particular book. And so, I might be trying to feed a particular sheep with something that will do them some particular good.

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So, that I'm trying to actually minister to someone in a particular circumstance with something that is going to help them spiritually, so that rather than just being an intellectual exercise in accumulating data, it becomes a spiritual exercise of receiving something that is good.

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And very often, it will be directed perhaps to a particular weakness, perhaps, in understanding, or it may be an area where they're starting to grow and you want to just help them in a certain way.

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It may be somebody comes to you and says, look, I've lost my appetite for Christ.

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It's almost like having a little medicine cabinet. And you say, okay, I think I have something for that. I think I have something for that with, as you've said, never the intention to introduce a replacement, or in that sense, even a supplement to scripture.

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Although perhaps the latter more so, that this is actually going to help you draw in some distinct scriptural teaching, so that we're really trying to make sure that we're not just sort of tickling an itch to know stuff or to get a reputation for knowledge.

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But this is designed, intended, prayed over with a view of feeding your soul.

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And when that happens, actually, you'll have a less high opinion of yourself than you started with, but a far higher opinion of God in Christ.