For far too long there has been a
troubling lack of any meaningful and systematic catechizing or
discipling taking place in the Body of Christ. It once was the case
that a new believer would undergo up to a year of teaching and
training prior to their baptism and acceptance into the local church
as a functioning member. This was not some “initiation” process
but, rather, it came from a serious commitment to follow the command
found in the Great Commission.
Mat 28:18-20 And
Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on
earth has been given to me. (19) Go therefore and make disciples of
all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son
and of the Holy Spirit, (20) teaching them to observe all that I
have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of
the age."
The phrase “go . . . make disciples .
. . baptizing . . . teaching . . .,” is all of one cloth. It is a
simultaneous and continuous operation.
Indeed, we have gone and certainly, we
have baptized but we have failed miserably in making disciples and
teaching. The current state of the Body of Christ is all the proof
we need. It is clear that the prophesies of wolves, evil men, false
teachers and so on have been and are being fulfilled.
Clearly,
the Body of Christ has missed the mark and the responsibility
lies specifically at the feet of those He called to be pastors and
teachers (to include elders).
We have either ignored or rebelled against God by both
rejecting and misappropriating His gifts.
Eph 4:11-16 And
he gave
the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and
teachers, (12) to equip
the saints for the work
of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, (13) until we all
attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of
God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness
of Christ, (14) so that
we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and
carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by
craftiness in deceitful schemes.
(15) Rather, speaking
the truth in love, we
are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,
(16) from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every
joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly,
makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
Unless
the foundation of salvation is, indeed, that which we do or don’t
do, then the discipling/teaching that has taken place in the church
is contrary to the Gospel of Grace. Simply take a walk through any
Christian book store and look at the discipleship or Christian living
sections. Almost without exception, the books are about “doing.”
This is contrary to the faith. So, too, are the plethora of
classes, seminars and courses offered by well-known yet miss-directed
celebrity Christians.
We
have sought “right practice,” without establishing a foundation
of “right belief.” We have tossed out sound theology and
biblical doctrine for a “sound-bite” system of faith. In short,
we have been clearly disobedient to the Lord’s commission in both
spirit and
letter. We have created
several generations of handicapped believes and confident pretenders.
As a result, the Body of Christ now resembles a mall or private club
more than it does the assembly of the redeemed.
In
my younger years in the Lord, I used to respond to the question, “Are
you a Christian”? with a proud and resounding “Yes!!” I no
longer do so. Today, my response, of necessity, is, “What do you
mean”? I’ve found a cruelly deficient definition of “Christian”
not only among the unredeemed but among the redeemed as well.
This
little work is not intended to be definitive – I am a historian,
not a theologian. But I hope that from this work, the Holy Spirit
will deeply convict the reader to seek to grow in the knowledge of
biblical doctrine and even theology. This seeking begins on our
knees asking God to not only convict but also commit us to the
diligent and proper study of His Word that we might live in this
world rightly and soundly, glorifying Him.
Ah,
you need a motivator? How about fulfilled prophesy?
2Ti
4:3-4 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound
teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves
teachers to suit their own passions, (4) and will turn away from
listening to the truth and wander off into myths.
John
Owen wrote:
“But in general, to be spiritually
minded in an eminent degree, they cannot but esteem it a thing
excellent and desirable; - but it is for them who are more at leisure
than they are; their circumstances and occasions require them to
satisfy themselves with an inferior measure.”
To
clarify
what Owen
was saying, most folks won’t
take the time or make the effort to do the work needed to have a
sound and clear knowledge of the faith. That’s for the paid holy
men or folks with nothing better to do.
Owen
says of those who fail to put their spiritual (Christian) duties
above all others:
“And where it is thus, this grace can
never thrive or flourish, it can never advance unto any eminent
degree.”
We
have raised several generations of crippled Christians. Repentance
is the only recourse we have to rectify our failure.
Three
Things Part 1
When
asked to explain my faith, I always begin with the simple statement
that as a believer in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and Redeemer, I
am obligated
to three things:
To
love God;
To
love my neighbor; and
To
love those who choose to be and act as an enemy towards me (since I,
as His follower, do not have the right to be anyone’s enemy).
Needless
to say, this is not at all what they expect. They expect some, “How
I came to Jesus,” story or a lot of references to sin and
obedience, etc. I sadly fail to meet their expectations.
I
always start with loving God. Why? Well, unless they can, at least
for the sake of argument, consider that there is a God, what’s the
point?
Now
– here’s your work:
Write
down all you know and understand
about God. Please give careful
consideration to His sovereignty, justice, holiness, love, hate,
goodness, judgment, condemnation, mercy and grace as sub-headings for
your work.
I
know that God is holy. He said so. But what, pray tell, does that
mean?
I
know that God is sovereign but what does that sovereignty mean?
Get
my drift?
For
the redeemed, these are critical issues for growth. For the
unredeemed, they are critical questions
to consider.
Oh,
it’s much more fun to know about spiritual gifts, miraculous
probabilities and the neat stories, but without a sound knowledge and
understanding of God, His character and attributes, everything else
is just stuff.
What
do you know and understand of His omniscience, omnipresence, etc.?
Mmmmmm.
Ouch?
This
is, of course, work that needs to be done. If you don’t ever
increase your knowledge and understanding of God, how
do you know if you are
loving Him or not? Of more concern, how do you know if it’s the
God of the scriptures you are loving?
Think
about food. Are there foods you “love”? I had several favorite
foods until I got to know and understand what was in them. Now I
steer clear. I love lobster – then I discovered that they are
carrion eaters (eaters of dead stuff like buzzards), no lobster,
thank you.
Knowledge
and understanding increase our ability to make wise choices. “God
is good”! is a correct statement, but unless you understand His
goodness, His sovereignty and His holiness, you’re going to have a
hard time whenever the compost hits the oscillating blades!
No,
I’m not going to admonish you to read your Bible. First, I
shouldn’t have to and, second, just reading the scriptures will
make your task harder and longer than it needs to be.
There
are some excellent
works that I would
recommend:
Jame Frame:
The Doctrine of God;
The Doctrine of the Knowledge of God;
The Doctrine of the Word of God;
The Doctrine of the Christian Life;
D.A. Carson:
The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of
God
As well as the works of A.W. Tozer, John
Owen, John Newton and for the hearty, the works of B.B. Warfield.
You
might also want to get a dictionary of theological terms – there
are some weird words out there.
Last,
but never least, I suggest you get a copy of the Westminster
Confession of Faith with the scripture references. It’s a great
concise tool for guided study.
There
are other authors I could have mentioned and many more I would warn
you against. Please stay out of the “Christian Living” section
of your local Bible bookstore. You will never get what you need for
a solid and sound foundation there. Oh, you may find some good and
neat stuff, but it’s mostly topical and sound-bite stuff – which
is fine only if you already have a solid foundation.
Yeah, sounds like I’m promoting seminary
doesn’t it? Seminary is fine, if you have the time and the $, but
too many sound teachers have written too many sound works for you to
have to do that.
In retrospect, I believe that the only reason God moved me to go to
seminary was so I might discover the wonder of the history of the
church (my Master’s degree) and to sit under Dr. Jim North, a most
diligent and wonderful church historian who made you feel you knew
the people, times, places and events you studied. I learned from him
that history is real people with real issues dealing with real events
that have a direct bearing on real people and real issues and real
events today and tomorrow.
More
to come …………………………..
Copyright,
Michael Sanders, 2012. All rights reserved.
