Simple Church 2: Back to Basics (5) - "Does Doctrine Matter?"

All right. Well, let's get back to the ministry of God's word. We are in week five of eight of this sermon series that we have called simple simple church two back to basics. This afternoon we have what should be a straightforward but Nonetheless important message as we think about the place of doctrine in the life of the church.

If you have your bibles and I hope you do just to get us started I invite you to turn with me to first timothy chapter 3 and verse 14. First timothy chapter 3 and verse 14. I forgot to put the page number up on screen.

But if you did grab one of those red hardback bibles, that's page 10 52. First timothy 1. Timothy chapter 3 beginning in verse.

14.

First timothy chapter 3 from verse 14 and we're going to read all the way through to verse 10 of chapter 4. So first timothy chapter 3 beginning in verse 14 and reading through to verse 10 of chapter 4.

And if you're able to do so, can I invite you to stand with me out of reverence for god's word as we read it? First timothy chapter 3 verse 14 reading as always from the christian standard bible brothers and sisters.

These are god's very words. I write these things referring to the letter of first timothy. I write these things to you hoping to come to you soon. But if I should be delayed I have written so that you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in god's household.

Which is the church of the living god the pillar and foundation of the truth. And most certainly the mystery of godliness is great. He referring to christ He was manifested in the flesh vindicated in the spirit seen by angels preached among the nations.

Believed on in the world.

Taken up.

In glory.

Now the spirit explicitly says that in later times some will depart from the faith. Paying attention to deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons. Through whose through the hypocrisy, excuse me of liars whose consciences are sick.

They forbid marriage and demand abstinence from foods that god created to be received with gratitude. By those who know and believe the truth. For everything created by god is good and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving.

Since it is sanctified by the word of god and by prayer. If you point out these things to the brothers and sisters You that's timothy will be a good servant of christ jesus nourished by the words of the faith.

And the good teaching that you have followed. But have nothing to do with pointless and silly myths. Rather train yourself in godliness. For the training of the body has limited benefits. But godliness is beneficial in every way since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.

This saying is trustworthy and deserves full acceptance. For this reason we labor and strive because we have put our hope in the living god who is the savior of all people especially of those.

Who.

Believe.

And we pray that god would bless that reading of his word and grant us understanding. Let's pray ask for the spirit's help and then we'll get to work in the word today. Our gracious father we thank you so much for this privilege that we have.

But yet another opportunity to hear you speak to us through your word. And so father we pray that as we open up your word. That your word would give us life. Your word would give us light and above all Your word would point us to christ.

Father I pray that even as the word is being preached that your people would hear a better sermon than that which is preached through the ministry of your spirit. Father, it's our custom normally at this time to pray for one of our area churches, but This afternoon we take a moment to pray for all the churches here in the valley.

We pray for all of those churches who even with our maybe disagreements and other areas are still seeking to Proclaim christ and to see disciples made and to see people built up in their faith. Strengthen their labor strengthen their leaders.

Father I pray especially that you would call out more laborers. Because the harvest is indeed so plentiful. Father that's my prayer for every church in our valley. It's my prayer for our body. And father, we know that that happens through the ministry of your word.

And so we pray that your word would have its full effect in our time together. Asking in jesus name and for his sake. Amen. Please be seated. As I said this afternoon, I want to talk to you from the subject for a few moments does doctrine.

Matter.

Does doctrine.

Matter.

Since 2014 ligonier ministries the teaching fellowship founded by the late great r .c. Sproul. They've conducted a survey that they call the state of theology. Some of you may be familiar with that if you're familiar with ligonier ministries each couple of years they commission lifeway research to Collect respondents and to ask them to basically affirm Or deny various statements related to christian theology and ethics.

It's always a fascinating read. I encourage you to look that up. I believe it's the the state of theology dot com. It's a fascinating reading there. Like I said, they've been doing this since 2014. I've read every one of them.

While the 2022 edition this will be edition number four. Came out just a few weeks ago. And i'll be honest as I read it at least for me it made for some very depressing reading. Allow me to share with you some of the statistics that they shared that troubled me.

48 of evangelical respondents again, they kind of do this in two phases. They will just Have your just regular everyday folks as it were and then they will have respondents who identify specifically as evangelicals.

So 48 percent of evangelical respondents Believed that god learns and adapts to different circumstances. That's a heresy it's called open theism. 48 percent. Commenting on this ligonier said quote this may indicate the influence of open theism.

Which denies god's complete knowledge of future events and process. Theology which denies god's omnipotence and asserts that god undergoes change within the evangelical church. This finding may also indicate a lack of clear biblical teaching on the character of god in evangelical churches.

Try this one emphasize. 65 of again evangelical respondents Believed that everyone is born innocent in the eyes of god. That's another heresy. We call that one pelagianism basically the denial of original sin.

Ligonier again said quote the fact that all humans are born in a state of innocence Reveals that the biblical teaching or the original sin is clearly not embraced by most evangelicals.

Of course.

53 of all respondents evangelical or not Apparently believe that the bible like all sacred writings contains helpful accounts of ancient myths, but it's not literally true. 42 believe that gender identity is a matter of choice.

46 believe that the bible's condemnation of homosexuality no longer applies. 43 believe that jesus was a great teacher, but not god. And finally in what I happen to think is the most foundational problem.

38 Evangelical and non-evangelical together. 38 believe religious belief is a matter of personal opinion. It is not about objective truth. As someone who loves preaching teaching who loves doctrine and theology.

I have to be honest to you. I read these. Um, I want to say it was.

Tuesday.

Of the week that before we left town. And i'll have to be honest you I wept as I read those results. As a pastor I have to ask myself how on earth.

Did we get here?

I mean, let's be clear. I love church history. I love the study of history in general, but I have no delusions about some golden age where everyone believed in sound biblical doctrine. Like we've always had false teaching of various forms you see even in the new testament era.

No sooner has the church of jesus christ been established. Then you see false teachers kind of Invading the church and the writers of the new testament have to address it head-on. So there's never been a golden age.

But give me strength brothers and sisters this is bad. And it's one thing if the world out there is confused on biblical truth that I can accept. But how is that happening in the church the one place where that should be most avoidable.

It's like someone who is found dead in their home of malnutrition. When they had a full fridge in the house and they lived across the street from fred meyer or walmart. But allow me to extend that analogy a little bit.

It's not quite like that. Actually, it's like someone who dies of malnutrition with a full fridge in the house across the street from the store. And rather than eat or find food they leave a note telling you I don't need food.

I just need good vibes all that food stuff just gets in the way. And then you discover that even worse than that that rather delusional soul Is encouraged by the very family who ought to be encouraging him as a family member.

To feast because the food is there.

We think what does that analogy have to do with anything? Well, you see i'm convinced that the biblical and theological confusion that's described in that survey. And now I know what some people will say kofi.

It's a survey. It's not representative of everyone. These are professionals. They know how to actually write a survey that is representative. So when I see that kind of confusion, I have to believe that confusion is pretty widespread.

And i'm convinced that that biblical and theological confusion that exists it exists because. A great many churches a long time ago bought into a lie. A fraud was perpetrated on them and they did nothing to stop it.

The fraud basically says I don't have to care about doctrine and theology. Those things are ancillary. To the christian life, they're unimportant in the grand scheme of things. Generations of christians were told that doctrine didn't matter and guess what they believed the people who told them that.

And I put it to you that now we are reaping the rotten and poisonous fruits of saying You know how much I hate this phrase. It's no big deal. And I say we and us. Because again, it's the church that's done this and unfortunately, it's people like me who occupy this sacred desk who have sometimes perpetrated that lie.

They have said that it's okay to minimize to mock and marginalize.

Doctrine.

But I am of the conclusion that that day that period where it was fine to not care about these things. Which quite frankly should never have started that that day needs to end. I quoted this back in the first peter series those of you who remember it, but I agree with dr William downing longtime pastor of sovereign grace baptist church in morgan hill, california when he wrote.

Quote. The christian ministry is an instructional ministry. It's didactic Evangelistic. It's polemic and apologetic. The minister's task is not only to put to declare the gospel, but to educate the congregation.

Sitting under a sound well-rounded ministry in the ordinary church. And its worship services should contribute to a biblical and doctrinal education. If not, there is a. Necessarily there's necessarily excuse me a given amount of failure in the very ministry very nature of that ministry itself.

Sitting under a godly expository ministry for several years ought to approach. The character of a seminary education. Now dr. Downing might be overselling it just a little bit.

But I think he has a point.

That if we come to church year in and year out if we come and we gather together as god's people. We should know a thing or two. To quote the farmer's ad we should know a thing or two about a thing or two.

Well rest assured of this at least as long as i'm here. And I know many of you share this conviction that's why you're here I redeem a bible fellowship. We believe that doctrine matters. We believe every doctrine matters.

We believe that every truth of god's word matters. Because after all if god said it if it's in the pages of this book There must be a reason why god put it there. And if there's a reason he put it there then we should seek to know it and to understand it.

That's why as a church. We're pretty defined in what we believe. And if you should decide to call this place home those of you who are thinking about that You are signing up for a great many things one of which is a lifetime of learning bible saturated christ-centered gospel focused Spirit empowered doctrine for all of life.

And should. And should it ever happen that I or anybody else who occupies this desk stops doing that? You have a right if you call this place your church home to call us to account and say wait a minute what happened?

Really what I want to do in this message. When I planned this series what I was going to do was to give an overview of basic doctrine and then I realized I might need to do it. I might need to do a little bit more work before that I might actually have to demonstrate why it matters to even care Before we can talk about any sort of basic doctrine.

And so as I was planning this series a few months ago, I changed out what I originally had. And this message became the result. Here's my big idea if you don't remember anything else in this sermon remember this bible doctrine is an Indispensable part of the church's life and witness.

And churches must be committed to its pursuit.

Let me say that again.

Bible doctrine is an indispensable part of the church's life and witness. And churches must be committed to its pursuit. It is not enough for us to just say well. You know, I believe the basics. No, I think in this day and age churches need to start making doctrinal and theological teaching and education a priority.

And so I want to make a defense of that in this message this afternoon For the rest of our time. I want to consider three mandates Related to bible doctrine that if they're pursued well Should lead to the church's health and vibrancy.

So three mandates related to bible doctrine that should lead to the churches and not just our church but the church of jesus christ at large Should lead to its health.

And.

Vibrancy.

Three mandates i'll try and do my best to move quickly because it would be first of all. Let's start with number one the the mandate of believing biblical doctrine. Let's just start there. The fact that you brother and sister you're called to believe.

Biblical doctrine. Some of you were around when we used to have our wednesday night bible study when I Talked about the four ways in which we know truth as human beings. Typically as human beings the way we know truth is one of four ways.

At least in the spiritual realm. There's the word of god the bible. There is human reason. There is what institutions tell us. And then there is our own personal experience. If you look at kind of history of the world, we've just seen a subtle shift from the first of those to the last of those.

So previous societies. The church basically functioned on the basis of the bible. And then we had the rise of the catholic church and then it became all about institutions. Well, we believe what the church tells us to believe.

That kind of carried on right up until the reformation where there was a recovery of the centrality of scripture. And then what happens? The enlightenment happens. Some of you may not know what happened in the enlightenment.

If you want to explain the world in which you live in 2022, you kind of need to know about what happened in the enlightenment. And so the enlightenment came along which basically said that human reason.

Is the sum of all things? That no enough of this. Emphasis on the supernatural and emphasis on the bible. No, it is human reason. Human reason. That is the great and grand cause of all things and the great and grand hope of all things.

Well, of course that didn't come about and so another movement came along called romanticism which basically said well actually. It's not about that. And in fact the enlightenment went too far. Yeah, they were right the bible in the answer.

The answer is deep within. And so that movement influenced poetry and art and greater cultural conversation and to this day it still continues to influence. And here's the thing all of those came into the church.

And so you started to see a christianity developed that basically said Bring all of you to church, but check your brain at the door. At this point some of you are saying if you've been paying attention to the sermon series.

Aren't you overdue for a weird and wonderful blog post at this point? Well, i'm glad you asked. You thought I didn't have one. Did you? Yes, I do. I did what I do every time I prepare a sermon. I typed into google, but I kind of know what to ask to get the weirdest results possible.

So I asked if as I was preparing this message before I left town I asked the question why doctrine isn't important. It was a long shot. But the first article that came up. Pretty much summed up what i've heard time and time and time again as a bible teacher.

Allow me to read some parts of it for you. Quote solid doctrine is important. I get that. But how often do our secondary issues get in the way of our unity? Does it matter if i'm fully immersed when i'm baptized or just sprinkled?

Is infant baptism permissible? Should we limit communion to only those in our church or should we open communion to all who believe do these things really matter? Would christ be focused on these outward signs of faith?

Now he says I think not actually come back for the second to last week of this series. I'll make a case for why actually you should care about baptism in the law supper. But he says I think not. So why do our christian theologians?

Why do our christian theologians make such a fuss? Why do we have different denominations crop up because of these secondary divisions? This occurs because the christian laity has ceded too much control of their congregations to professional clergy.

Clergy who are a little too vested in theology. He goes on and says quote people aren't going to hang their hat on these secondary theological issues. They're looking for something more profound people are looking for hope the hope found in christ as christians.

We tell the world that christ offers the way to a restored relationship with god. Do we live like we really believe that? When I see some of the quote petty squabbles. He puts those in quotes within the christian church about secondary issues.

I can't help wondering if we believe that. If we want our christian churches to remain relevant, we must get back to our roots. We must refocus our efforts on the foundations of our faith. I actually agree with him.

We just don't agree what those foundations are. He goes on and says and we must not get all wrapped up in meaningless theological debates. Debates that divide our churches and weaken our witness to the world.

This was the last line of his blog post. We don't need more theology. We need more. I thought i'll let you guess what do you think he said we need more words. So who said jesus? That's exactly how he ended it.

And like I said, I I picked this because it's representative of stuff I've heard and no doubt clearly my mother-in-law said and several people have heard I don't do theology. I don't do doctrine. I just love jesus.

Allow me to quote a great theologian and philosopher. I believe her name is dora the explorer. I believe she says why? Not. Both is it theology on the one hand and jesus on the other. It's theology what people who have fallen out of love with jesus is that what they gravitate towards to jesus is boring.

So now they've gravitated to something else. Is that really what's going on here is the answer to the apathy? We see in the church and I agree with him on that much. But it's the answer to basically get rid of theology and just get back to a simple faith in jesus.

I would actually say far from it actually I would say actually it's precisely because we love jesus and because we love the gospel that we should care about the whole of biblical doctrine. This was the example in the early church.

We've quoted this verse already in this series act chapter 2 verse 42. It says they devoted themselves to first thing in the list the apostles Teaching. It's clear that the for just from that one verse we can pick up a few observations.

First of all, the the early church had a commitment to doctrine that that word there that says they devoted themselves carries the idea of persisting obstinately in something. But not only did they have a commitment to doctrine.

They had a commitment to doctrine as an authority. Note that it says it was the apostles doctrine the apostles teaching. That the teaching that the apostles had came with authority. Why. Because they were commissioned by christ to lay a foundation.

And as they laid that foundation the early church gave attention to and heed to what they said. And this was an ongoing commitment without getting into technical. This was an imperfect verb. It means it began in the past and they just kept on going and by the time that luke was writing He could say this was still their practice beloved.

There is a mandate that rests upon every believer and every local church to believe the doctrines of the scripture. And that's one reason here at redeemer we make a point to take doctrine and theology seriously.

We've preached for a number of books in the bible. And as we come to books in the bible and they address theological issues, we tackle them head on we don't try and avoid them. Because given enough time and enough space in an expository ministry you're going to tackle every kind of issue.

In short, we are unashamedly biblical and doctrinal and I pray that that never changes. But since we're on the subject of believing biblical doctrine, yes, there is the call to do so. But that assumes that there is such a thing as biblical doctrine.

And first I want to take you to one text. I think might be helpful. We read from first timothy flip over a few pages to second timothy to timothy in chapter one Tuesday chapter one. And verse 13. I'll draw your attention to.

These are paul's last words. He's writing them to his son in the faith timothy. Verse 13. And I wonder if you can hear with me the focus in paul's voice the Determination the almost desperation his voice as he says verse 13 chapter 1.

Hold on.

To the pattern of sound teaching that you have heard from me in the faith and love that are in christ. Jesus. That word pattern is what I want to draw your attention to for just a moment. Carries the idea of a sketch an outline a model.

Some translations will have it hold on to the form of sound teaching. Essentially paul says to his son timothy timothy, you know this there's a pattern there is a form. There is a shape to biblical doctrine.

And son i'm about to leave here, but before I leave I need to remind you to hold on to that. One commentator summarizes it well. Quote. Paul had earlier on conveyed to timothy an outline of doctrinal beliefs.

That were important. He now wanted timothy to use them as a model in his own ministry. End quote. We'll talk more about this in in our final point. When we talk about well. Let me not tell you what my final point is, but we'll talk about that in our final point.

But for a moment, I want you to think about this with me.

That.

When we talk about believing biblical doctrine, it's specific. There are things that this book teaches that we are called to believe. And as you read the bible, there are categories that god's people have always understood this book to teach.

So the bible teaches us about god his being his existence his attributes. The bible teaches us about his revelation in creation and in scripture. The bible teaches us about his son the lord. Jesus. The bible teaches us about the holy spirit.

The bible teaches us about man and his creation as the image of god and his fall into sin and ruin. The bible speaks about the plan of salvation. The bible speaks about the church where this plan of salvation finds its focus.

The bible even speaks about The end of the story the consummation of all things. And all of those major themes have sub themes that run through the word of god and the bible nowhere tells us That we can be passionate about some of them and not care about others.

Can I can I pause for a moment? Can I pause for a moment?

I need to ask.

And if the citizens are true in this room is a question. I probably should ask How passionate are you about biblical doctrine? Please know what I said. I didn't ask. Do you believe biblical doctrine? I asked how passionate are you about biblical doctrine?

You all know how it is. If you spend enough time around something It kind of loses its shine. You it's just this is the way human nature is. The more familiar you get with something if you don't work hard you can start to just take that thing for granted.

You can just assume. Oh, this is just what it is. Okay, and you just kind of move on. And I think it's all too real and all too possible that the more time we spend around the teaching and preaching of god's word The more likely is that we get bored with some of that.

Sometimes we'll utter that phrase that in my opinion no christian should ever utter. Four words. I already know that. But what if we thought of it this way? What if we got rid of that phrase? I already know that we thought of it this way.

Let me give you some examples. What if we thought that we thought of biblical doctrine not as just some truths that we tick off and say oh we believe that.

Tick.

But then we kind of move on to everything else. What if we viewed biblical doctrine not just as a matter of the mind, but as a matter of the heart? What if every time we learn something about the covenants of god, we learn something about the god who never breaks his promises.

What if the doctrine of god's immutability the fact that god doesn't change and cannot change. What if we allowed that doctrine not just to inform our minds but to give our souls confidence in the face of trials because we Know that god is not going to change and he's not learning on the job when things happen.

What if knowing the origin of the bible even that boring stuff about manuscripts and textual history? What if knowing that blew our minds with wonder and love and praise as we saw god watch over his word both to Preserve it and to perform it.

What if in studying the doctrine of the atonement? We didn't just see theories about the nature of the atonement, but we saw the goodness of god revealed in the gospel. As god gives his son to ransom the most treacherous of all his creation.

Brothers and sisters, can I put it to you that maybe there is something of a if I can use this word a romance sacred sweetness to biblical doctrine. And that you can only know that romance that drama that sacred sweetness by knowing the doctrine.

Like I said, if the statistics are accurate. Some of you in this room have battled with that like what I like to call doctrinal fatigue. And now i'm not speaking to you as a pastor I'm speaking to you as your brother in christ and fellow struggling pilgrim in the way you need to fight that.

Urge.

Beloved doctrine matters and we don't just know it and we shouldn't just know it. We should love Doctrine, so there's a mandate to believe biblical doctrine. But secondly, there's a mandate to preserve biblical doctrine the mandate of preserving biblical doctrine.

You see the church doesn't just have a role in believing good doctrine. We also need to preserve. In fact, you can probably add another word here protect. We need to preserve and protect that doctrine.

So we started our message back in first simply chapter 3 in verse 15. You did you catch that description that paul has for the church? Paul calls the church first simply 315 the pillar and the foundation.

Of the truth.

Those two words pillar and foundation some translations have them as support and ground. Paul essentially tells timothy that. But this the the local church ought to be the one place where the truth is loved without question.

Regardless of how much it costs and how much it hurts because the reality is in paul's mind there's nowhere else that can be called the pillar and foundation the support and ground of the truth. Commenting on his verse the reformer john calvin said in his commentaries.

The reason why the church is called the pillar of truth is that she defends and spreads the truth by her agency. The church has a divine mandate upon her life not just to believe the truth but to preserve and protect it.

Primarily that mandate is expressed through the faithful ministry of pastors and teachers in the church. And this is a big pauline emphasis,. I wish I had time to look at all the verses I have in front of me.

I'll just give you one or two. So we read second timothy 113 verse 14 paul says god the good deposit. The good deposit I would argue is the same thing as the pattern of sound teaching. He says god this good deposit this sacred trust.

The teachings of the scripture. You're to god these things. Through the holy spirit who lives in us. In second timothy chapter 4 verses 1 and 2. As paul lands the plane on his final communication with his son timothy He tells timothy that He charged him Solemnly in the presence of god in christ Jesus who is going to judge the living and the dead.

And because of his appearing in kingdom that timothy was to preach the word. He was to be ready in season and out of season. He was to correct rebuke and encourage with great patience.

And.

Teaching.

So yes pastors and leaders and teachers have a primary responsibility in this. But so do you even if you're not a pastor a preacher or a leader? You see biblical doctrine matters for your life, too. Bible helps us to understand that sound doctrine exposes and it confronts sin.

That it's the mark of a good servant of jesus christ. You want to be a good servant of jesus christ. I think we all want to be. Well, one of the marks of that is having good sound doctrine. In a number of places.

Paul will talk about.

Truth.

That leads to godliness. Could it be that so much of the ungodliness we see in so many churches? Stems from the fact that the doctrine of god's word is not being preached. While I do believe that pastors and elders have a primary responsibility in guarding biblical doctrine.

The reality is the whole church has a responsibility. And if that is true If we all have a role to play then doesn't that imply a few things? Doesn't that imply that you need to know the doctrine that you are called to preserve?

Doesn't that imply that you're not. You need to not only know the doctrine but you need to have some sort of vested interest in it. And doesn't that imply not only knowing the doctrine and having a vested interest in it, but again having a heart love for these things.

Over the years i've watched Other pastors in my life as they try to call churches to this. And i've watched them be told things like well that's not my problem. You know, you're the pastor. Of course you care about these things, but we have other things going on.

As I remember one person saying in my church back in london Pastor I have a family and job a job and other responsibilities. I'm glad we have folks like you who really care about this, but this can't be my problem on top of everything else.

But let me begin by saying that I don't always feel as passionate About these things as I know I should I have to discipline my own heart to care sometimes.

I.

Feel moments of distraction and Disinterest and I have to labor in prayer and in the word to maintain zeal so I get it. Please. I I genuinely understand. But we have to be careful that an attitude doesn't start to pervade our body that pervades so many churches.

The attitude basically says this. All that doctrine and theology and all that biblical stuff. Yeah, I believe it but you know what to be really invested in it. That's for a special few. That's a special interest for a select few.

No, I think my point I want to make very simply here is that we must all care about these truths. We must all take our place in holding the line and protecting the truths of the faith. It's not by accident that paul tells timothy 1st timothy 4 16.

Pay attention to your life and to your doctrine persevere in these things because in doing so you will save not just yourself.

But those who hear you.

Well, maybe up to this point I've convinced you of the need to believe in sound doctrine and i've convinced you of the need to preserve and protect that sound doctrine. Okay. Well, how do we do that? I would argue that there is a biblical method not to the madness, but to the mandate as it were.

So we're called to Believe sound doctrine. We're called to preserve sound doctrine. Finally, there is the mandate of confessing biblical doctrine. Confessing biblical doctrine. You see. What god's people have done down through the ages is as we have come to agreement as to what the bible teaches On certain doctrines and certain truths of the scripture.