If doctrine is not devotional, and consequently not practical, then it leads to cold, legalistic, head knowledge. That’s never transformed anyone’s life to Christ-likeness.
In his commentary on Titus 1:1, Calvin wrote, “The only lawful commendation of doctrine is this, that it instructs us to fear God and to bow before him with reverence.”
The point of doctrine is that you might know God and worship him in spirit and truth. Every other kind of doctrine is pointless.
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It will forever be a mystery as to how Judas could hang out with and be taught by Jesus for three years and then turn around and betray him. Judas should be an example to us that even the most “spiritual” people might not really be spiritual on the inside. In The Cost of Discipleship, writing about Jesus sending out the disciples in Matthew 10, Dietrich Bonhoeffer said,
No power in the world could have united these men for a common task, save the call of Jesus. But that call transcended all their previous divisions, and established a new and steadfast fellowship in Jesus. Even Judas went forth to the Christ-work, and the fact that he did so will always be a dark riddle and an awful warning (p. 205).
We need to heed the warning of Paul in 2 Corinthians 13:5 when he said, “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? — unless indeed you fail to meet the test!”
If a Christian really believed that his friend had some ability, power, or goodness within himself to choose Jesus as Lord and Savior apart from the free, sovereign, electing grace of God, he wouldn’t pray that his friend get saved. He would simply figure out more relevant or strategic ways to draw out what is already inside his friend.
If people had the ability in themselves to be born again, prayer wouldn’t do a thing. The ability to save your own soul implies spiritual autonomy. An autonomous soul cannot be influenced by anything. Alternatively, by definition, prayer is pleading with God for him do something.
The new birth of a sinner is not an exception. The problem is that people are spiritually dead (Eph. 2:1-5), and there needs to be more than an mere influence on their stone hearts. There needs to be an ultimate influence. There needs to be a complete heart transplant.
So, go to your friends and plead with them to look to Jesus (Rom. 10:13-17). But plead to God that he might save their souls — by his grace he might grant them repentance that leads to life (Acts 11:18; 2 Tim. 2:25).
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People who oppose the gospel do not have good intentions. Their intentions, in fact, are evil because they come out of an evil heart (Prov. 27:19; Mark 7:14-23; Titus 1:15). Their “intentions” oppose the only way that we can obtain salvation, namely through Jesus.
How do non-believers oppose the only true way of salvation? They do it through self-righteous asceticism by abstaining from foods, drink, or other things (Col. 2:21-23; 1 Tim. 4:1-4; Titus 1:10-16). Or they do it through self-righteous relativism by doing whatever they want (Rom. 1:21-25; 1 Cor. 6:9-11). Likewise, Christians can fall into these sinful traps, too. For the Christian’s heart is new, not perfect.
We are sinners, not because we have good intentions and fail to bring them to fruition, but because we are bad from the heart (Mark 7:20-23; Rom. 7:18). By nature and choice, we worship created things rather than Creator God (Rom. 1:25). The only remedy for this is Christ’s righteousness, which makes even our best deeds look like filthy rags (Isa. 64:6). Non-Christians need to repent to Jesus from their self-righteous ways and come to him for salvation. Likewise, we Christians need to repent to Jesus from our own self-righteousness and press on to become what we already are in Christ.
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Pitfalls in Communication: View Series
Continued from Part 5
Let’s have a short review of everything we’ve discussed over the past six weeks about our communication. We assume the worst about people and assume they know what we are thinking. We communicate differently than our neighbors, our friends, and the opposite gender because we are all from different cultures. We tend to withhold important truths, manipulate facts, or change the subject. We want to avoid talking to people face-to-face because it’s uncomfortable. We have unreasonable expectations and therefore, become greatly disappointed in others.
That’s a pretty dismal pedigree. All of these things happen because of something called sin. It lives in us—even Christians—and it wreaks havoc on our relationships. Listen to James, the brother of Jesus, talk about why we have problems with other people:
What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and you do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions (4:1-3).
Jesus Christ has perfectly spoken on God’s behalf to the world. And in turn, he has perfectly spoken to God on our behalf as our advocate (1 John 2:2). That same passage in 1 Timothy says that Jesus “gave himself as a ransom for all” (v. 6). If haven’t received Christ by faith as the ransom for your sinful life—communication pitfalls included—to obtain peace before God (Rom. 5:1), then you will never experience peace with others. Sure, there might be superficial peace and joy and it might seem great. But if you haven’t addressed your greatest problem—your own sinful self—all your other problems will never get solved.
Quality communication with the people around us really can happen. You don’t have to be a communicative failure. Things can never be perfect, of course. But the gospel of Jesus Christ doesn’t exist just to save you from hell and damnation. It exists to bring restoration between us and God and also to every area of life—especially relationships with others.
In the gospel, we find forgiveness on God’s part and repentance on ours. In your life, you will have to do both with people, and if you can sincerely live this out with others, I trust that God will bring healing and redemption to your all of your relationships.
The problems we have in our lives have nothing to do with not knowing the right techniques or strategies or skills. Rarely will they have anything to do with another person or our environment.
Whether it’s problems with marriage, friends, parents, children, school, work, sex, food, alcohol, drugs, laziness, entertainment, overworking, or anything else, it all boils down to worship. The problem is that we worship the wrong things. We worship created things, instead of the Creator God.
Our hearts are idol factories. Every minute of the day, we want to worship something. And until we worship Jesus, our hearts will continue to churn out idols in mass production.
Here’s a 40-second sample of Tedashii’s song “Make War,” on his new album Identity Crisis, which was released today. The speaking at the beginning is from John Piper in his sermon “How to Kill Sin.”
Do you know anyone who believes in Jesus, has received him as Lord and Savior, and has true Christian fruit in their lives, yet refuses to call themselves “Christian” because they don’t like the label? Instead of being “Christian,” they will say, “I’m a Christ follower” or “I’m a Jesus follower.” Know anyone like that? Are you like that?
Remember that Jesus said in John 10:16, “So there will be one flock, one shepherd.” There are only two kinds of people in the world: those who have been born again of the Spirit and those who have not. Whether you like it or not, Jesus Follower, Christians are your family and you can’t disown them. God doesn’t.
Update: To clarify, I don’t think calling yourself a “Christ follower” (or “Jesus follower”) is wrong. Those are true of me. Further, I don’t believe we only have to label ourselves as “Christian.” However, when we avoid labels that the Bible uses (such as “Christian” or “born again” or others) in order to distance ourselves from others who believe in Jesus, then I think we have a problem.
If you don’t know what I’m referring to, this might clear things up:
Proverbs: View Series
Continued from Part 4
Everyone knows someone who can’t pick a good friend to save his life. Let’s be honest.
The married guy picks friends who go to the bar every night and play Xbox as he ignores his son who’s ready to play ball outside. The married woman befriends divorced women who drink too much cheap wine and tell her it’s time for a younger man. The kid in high school is only friends with the star quarterback because he knows the right answers to the test. The junior high girl sits at lunch with the popular girls who gossip and slander every other girl because their jeans are “so last year.”
Now the point is not that we stay away from people like this. The problem is not conversation or acquaintance or even the occasional hang-out. Jesus hung out with “losers.” These kinds of friends need the gospel just as much as we do.
The problem arises when bad friends replace our inner circle of godly, wise friends. The real problem happens when they replace Scripture and Jesus-loving friends as they try to get us to worship idols.
Over 25 passages (not verses) in Proverbs talk about friendship. In the first chapter, Solomon writes to his son, “If sinners entice you, do not consent. If they say, ‘Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood; let us ambush the innocent without reason”…do not walk in the way with them; hold back your foot from their paths” (v. 10-11, 15). It might not be murder like this case, but it might be continual gossip, slander, hate-speech, complaining, quarreling, alcohol, drugs, sex, or entertainment. All those things lead to bloodshed – both your own and someone else’s.
In 13:20, Solomon says, “Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.” I know that somebody will argue, “But I share my faith with my friends! You need to be around non-Christians more!” I’m not arguing against that. But remember that Paul wrote, “Do not be deceived: ‘Bad company ruins good morals’” (1 Cor. 15:33). We must minister to non-Christians. But when they become our inner circle, our wise counsel, or our support during trial, we will be overcome by their foolishness and become fools ourselves.
Solomon also gives instruction for how to be a good friend. In 25:17 he advises us, “Let your foot be seldom in your neighbor’s house, lest he have his fill of you and hate you.” This means don’t invite yourself to his house for every football game. Later in 27:14 he writes, “Whoever blesses his neighbor with a loud voice, rising early in the morning, will be counted as cursing.” That means don’t try to bless your neighbor by mowing his lawn at 7 am when it’s his only day off for the whole month.
Finally, Solomon tells us that a good friend can gently rebuke us for our good: “Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy.” A true friend is one who can honestly call out sin and folly in your life. Do your friends point you to Jesus when you need it most? Or do they point you to every possible idol and encourage you to worship at the altar of demons?
I think that there are more Christians addicted to entertainment than we think (and more than would admit). I think to some extent, obviously, we are all addicted to entertainment. Piper offers some thoughts on how to break free from this very common addiction.
