Wednesday, June 03, 2009

Doctrine Matters: Scripture Is Sufficient for Doctrine AND Practice

Cecil Andrews recently wrote a piece on the Post-Modern IKON group and Peter Rollins. What caught my eye was an email exchange he had with a father:

"I recently had an exchange of emails from a professing Christian father who was concerned at my article on the upcoming ‘Summer Madness’ event in Belfast where ‘emerging guru’ Brian McLaren will be the main speaker. The very way he signed off his first email spoke volumes – he wrote – Yours In Christ [the guy less concerned with doctrine and more with his children's needs]". The rest I'll quote and comment on below, but I want to look at this problem.

Doctrine and Jesus: without Scripture one can't know who the real Jesus is.

Isa 8:20 To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn.

Luke 24:44 And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.

Mat 24:23 Then if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or 'There he is!' do not believe it. 24 For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.

2Jn 1:9 Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. 10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, 11 for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works.

The problem is a low view of Jesus Christ ("the guy"). He isn't a "guy", He is holy and righteous and Judge. His eyes are like fire, piercing the soul. HE comes with a sword to trample over His enemies. He is to be FEARED and worshipped. Unless one reads and believes the Bible, they won't have the right Jesus nor the right response to Him,nor the right Gospel.

Pro 9:10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.

Eph 6:5 Slaves, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ,

God Is Knowable

God revealed who He is by Scripture. His Word starts in Genesis and ends in Revelation. From the first verse to the last, God is teaching us about Himself, our sin and need of Him, salvation, creation, destruction, Hell, justification, relationships, money, lifestyles.

The Post-Modernists reject the Word then claim know one knows anything, yet they also claim, oddly, that all Christians are hypocrits because they don't live according to Scripture (see the rest of Andrews' article on IKON). This is truely foolish thinking. If they want to know God, they must accept the Bible. Yet they reject the very way God has revealed Himself, so their questioning is ridiculous. Clearly this man has been influenced by Rick Warren who says:

"Rick Warren’s gospel is never clearly described. Here is one of his statements about it: “God won’t ask about your religious background or doctrinal views. The only thing that will matter is, did you accept what Jesus did for you and did you learn to love and trust him?” (Warren: 34). But, doctrine does matter because our doctrine of Christ determines whether we believe in the Christ of the Bible or the Christ of Mormonism or some other religion."--Bob Dewaay

The one who rejects the Bible on any level is the one who's paths are darkened. They cannot have peace with God or of God, nor can they have a stable life. They cannot please God.

Psa 1:1 Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; 2 but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. 4 The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away.

Psa 119:160 The sum of Your word is truth, and every one of Your righteous rules endures forever.

2Ti 3:16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 2Ti 3:17 that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.

God's Word Shows Us How To Live:

Doctrine leads to practice. Bad practice reveals bad doctrine. These two are intertwined. That's why Paul most often first established doctrine and THEN showed how to put it into practice. You can't practice something true (of Scripture) if you don't have, read, or believe the Scripture!

Joh 17:17 Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.

2Ti 3:16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 2Ti 3:17 that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.

His Word gives us understanding so that we know Truth and hate error's ways:

Psa 119:104 Through your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way.

Heb 5:14 But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

2Jn 1:6 And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it.

Cecil continues: "You can see from that, that where his children were concerned, ‘doctrine’, in other words, ‘belief’ was very much a secondary issue. I wrote back and sought to explain and share my convictions about how ‘from the beginning of time in the Garden of Eden there has been an ongoing 'Truth War'. I received a very gracious and at times open response to this email and at one point, this professing Christian father, who is involved in church-plant work, wrote – ‘I guess I have started believing that God may be as good as his Word [as in scripture] but we only see this in action and not in written word. But here is the crux of the matter: I don't have a clue. I am stumbling in the dark. I believe certain things about God and Christians and they might be justifiable but they might also be by-products of a distancing from God. I just don't know…’. This, for me, was a very real example ‘in action’ of the widespread loss of confidence, within professing Christendom, in the Bible being the inspired, inerrant and infallible living Word of the living God." (emphasis original)

Psa 119:104 Through your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way. 105 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

Pro 6:23 For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light, and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life,

Here's the thing: they determine the Word doesn't mean what it says or say what it means ("doctrine doesn't matter"), then claim it doesn't help them ("don't have a clue"), and THEN claim Christians are hypocrits (see IKON or other ECMers). This is foolishness in its clearest form. By what standard do they judge everyone? How do they know Christians are hypocrits? How do they know God doesn't care much about doctrine? Based on what? The Bible? But they reject the Bible as knowable and True. So how do they KNOW "Christians" aren't "doing" Christianity right? And how do they know they have the right God and not the god of Mormonism or Romanism or Buddism? See the tangled mess of their unregenerate thinking? As James 1 says, doubting (which is unbelief) causes a man to be double-minded and unstable in all his ways.

Perhaps this man, at the end of his tether and seeing the ultimate vainity of the way he's been thinking (clearly revealing a hopelessness and rightly so), is beginning to see that the Bible must be true and faithful, because God is true and faithful. His Word really is connected to Who He is: if God isn't trustworthy (how does one even measure that if there's no reliable standard, aka the Bible), then Scripture isn't either. In other words the only way the Bible can be faithful and knowable and true is precisely because God is. Ps. 138:2 says God holds His name and His WORD above all else.

Mat 4:4 But he answered, "It is written, "'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.

Psa 119:13 With my lips I declare all the rules of Your mouth.

2Ti 3:16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 2Ti 3:17 that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.

Heb 4:12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Scripture, being God-breathed, is a reflection of who God is, that is why we can rely on it and know it. If God is knowable its because His Word is too. Scripture is originated by God: it comes from His mouth. If Scripture isn't true, then God is a liar.

Rom 3:2 Much in every way. To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God. 3 What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? 4 By no means! Let God be true though every one were a liar, as it is written, "That you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged."

Joh 10:35 …and Scripture cannot be broken--

Psa 119:89 Forever, O LORD, Your word is firmly fixed in the heavens.

Ps. 138:2… You have exalted above all things Your name and Your word.

Psa 19:7 The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple; 8 the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes; 9 the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the LORD are true, and righteous altogether. 10 More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. 11 Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.

If you find yourself sitting in the seat of scoffers, or doubting God's Word (echoing the voice of Satan, saying "Has God said?"), I would urge you to read all of Ps. 19 and Ps. 119, listing all the things it says about the Word ("law", "precepts", "testimony"). This is God's stamp of approval and elevation of the perfection and sufficiency of His Word. After all, it comes out of HIS mouth.


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