The Dynamics of Devotion III, The Apostles Doctrine

The good news is those outlines will help you to do some follow up study on your own if you're so inclined. The bad news is I'm really not going to follow them very much today. So you can have them here to take notes on and maybe refer to, but. It's not really exactly what we're going to deal with in terms of the specifics on there, which is fine. At least it's fine for me. I hope it's fine for you. Ephesians 4, beginning in verse 11. And his gifts were that some should be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for the building up, for building up the body of Christ 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. Now specifically look at verse 14, so that we may no longer be children tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the cunning of men, by their craftiness in deceitful wiles. And then back in Acts chapter 2 and verse, let's pick it up at verse 41. So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about 3,000 souls. And here's what the new converts did. They devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. One of the things that we've been experiencing a good deal lately here in balmy old Pittsburgh are high winds. And that's why we've been hearing so much about wind chill factors. Because as the high winds come along and blow those near zero temperatures across your flesh, it feels all that much more intense, as we all know by now. And winds are, as the Bible says, a mystery. No one knows where they come from or where they're going. But we do see the results of the winds, don't we? I felt the result of the wind a week ago on Sunday night. I thought it was cold in here on Sunday morning. By the way, isn't it nice today? Thank you Lord. But last Sunday night on the 18 Below night, I was one of the lucky ones whose power went out for the night and the temperature just plummeted outside and inside. I'm sure what happened, although I didn't read this, was that probably the cold coupled with those high winds just snapped a wire or two or something like that, and we reap the benefits and the blessings of such close fellowship. Five in our bedroom with the Kerosene heater High winds leave results Winds of doctrine, beloved, are all about us. And they're leaving a trail, a visible destruction in lives and people in our country today. There's a lot of winds of doctrine at work. How many of you saw recently on television, I think this just last week it started. Our good friends at Time Life are now publishing a series of books on wizards and witches. And just as you're finishing with something like, I don't know, one of the more innocuous shows that they have on there that maybe the kids are watching before dinner, on comes two witches, a tarot card reader, and some psychic to tell you how edifying it would be for you to buy these books and learn something about the occult that you may not know. And the announcer, of course, moderates, you may not agree with all it said, but certainly will be fascinating. And there's enough people who are going to test that wind of doctrine and whose life will become a shambles because of their exposure to the demonic that it represents. We've all known and heard of people who've been touched by the cults and the false religions, all of them born out of the winds of doctrine that came along. We had our brush with those winds even this last summer and particular way, the denominations that most of us have come out of in some way, shape or form, or maybe perhaps are still related to are founded on winds of doctrine. Why do you think we have Baptists on the one hand and we have Presbyterians on the other? Because their doctrine was different. Some believed in church government of one sort of. And some believed in a doctrine of church government of another sort. Some believed in salvation with some things along with it, and some believed in just salvation and nothing with it. Some believe with baptism under the waters, and some believe with baptism by sprinkling. So we have all these denominations all around us. Or what about those of us who maybe are of the quote spirit filled pedigree? We have all of the churches of that persuasion that are even in their own way hearing the winds of doctrine. We have the word churches and the faith churches and the shepherding churches, and they're all hoisting their sails to a particular wind of doctrine and sailing on with it. Beloved, it makes a difference what you believe, doesn't it? You just can't stick your head in the sand and say, well, I just love everybody and love is all that matters. I'll tell you something. Love without truth is sentimentality. And much of the body of Christ is being demolished by sentimentality by not having Any sense of what truth really is about. And that's why Paul later on says in Ephesians 4, speaking the truth in love. I've heard too many people say doctrine divides. I just want love. I need practical teaching. I don't need doctrinal teaching. Or this one is. I just flow with the Spirit. You know, I'll tell you what you're flowing with are those high winds, and you're going to get just blown right off course. And it sounds so spiritual to say, I'm not interested in doctrine. Or really, I'm above doctrine. I mean, I've got the Holy Spirit to tell me. And, you know, as right as that all sounds, and as true as it is, that God's given us his Spirit within, it's wrong to believe that you can survive and not only survive, but be conqueror, more than a conqueror, without a sound biblical doctrine, your foundation, there's just too many. They're being blown about by those winds and losing their effectiveness in the body of Christ today and even here at North Way. Isn't it interesting? Look, in Acts 2, we believe the word of God is inspired and that God purposely chose the words that are there. Do you think he chose the order of the words? Why do you think that those 3,000 that were saved devoted themselves first of all to doctrine? That's what the word means. By the way, didiscalia is the word for teaching or doctrine or substance of things taught. So it means specifically ordered teaching. And doctrine is simply the exegeting out of Scripture those things that it teaches on specific subjects. It's putting it into a framework so that you can understand specifically what the whole counsel of God says about certain things. Why were these early disciples, these early converts, so committed the word devoted? Remember, this is our third week on the dynamic of devotion. Why were they devoted to it? Why did they, as that word means, affix themselves, set themselves with commitment toward this doctrine? I'll tell you why. Because they come out of a Jewish culture and a Roman government framework that was completely opposed to that which they were beginning to move in. And they realized that unless they had substance church, they would be pulled back in by those winds that were blowing. They realized that you basically become and do what what you believe. And their doctrine became for them the identifiable line upon which they would build their Christian experience. That's why they were devoted to it first. Now, I'm not a construction person by any means, but I have on occasion watched at a construction site when someone's building a house, they pour the foot of the concrete and. And they lay down a line, a string usually along the perimeter of the foundation of the house. And then according to that line, they lay one block after another. And that's how they know that wall, when it's done, is going to be straight and true and strong. Some years ago now, I guess about 10, I made an attempt at building a wall under the expert counsel of someone that I won't name that is part of the community. And when we were done, we knew that we were within tight parameters. And I walked back and looked at that wall. And it just like that, had a nice sort of chunky look to it. But anyhow, it stood the test of time. But I sure wouldn't have wanted to put too much weight upon it. And you see, without that line, without the truing up of that line, then the bricks are going to be sort of askance. And what does that mean? That means that the wall is not going to be strong. And when a high wind comes a wind of doctrine, that wall is going to be susceptible to collapse. And beloved, our doctrine, the apostle's doctrine, is that line upon which we build our Christian lives. And I want to ask you today, have you devoted yourself to doctrine? Do you know what you believe? I didn't mention this in the first service, but I'm being prompted to mention it now because I think it's true that in the excitement and exuberance and enthusiasm of starting a new community, one of the things that's been hard to do is to lay strong doctrinal foundations. Because we'd much rather do what we were doing a while back and be before the Lord. That's wonderful. But we have a need at North Way for strong doctrinal teaching so that those of us who are new in the Lord, those of us who have been walking in the Lord in a while, we all need to continue to be reminded and refreshed and re established in our doctrine. Now, there is a snare I want to caution us against in this whole matter of studying doctrine. The snare is between your neck and your hair. And it's not any part of your face. It's your mind. Your mind loves to get into doctrine. In my background, and probably some of you as well, there's a lot of people who love to let you know what they know, who are intent on knowing, knowing, knowing. In seminary, I always used to have them in my classes. And they'd always mess up the curve. They needed to know the grade curve. They wanted to know no, no more. And There's a health about a hunger for knowledge. But I want you to know that our minds will soon become our masters and not our spirit. And I want you to know that there's a lot of people today, evangelical Christians, who have slipped past the idea of pursuing doctrine and are now in the mode of seeing that doctrine basically as their idol. And they'll fight to defend that doctrine even to the point of crushing those for whom Jesus died, who maybe aren't where they are in this matter of doctrine. I want you to know this isn't some far off kind of experience that's happening. There is a pastor I can name right now here in this area in the North Hills, who is part of a denomination and is pastoring a church, who would say in their statement of faith, we believe in the inerrant scripture that every word in this Bible is inspired of God without error, without mistake. We believe it and this man is now preaching it because the Holy Spirit has filled his life and the denomination is saying, wait a minute, that stopped. These things ended and it's all behind us. And here he is preaching his heart out and being rebuked because he's preaching what the Word says. And I want to suggest to you, beloved, that that's no different than the Pharisees of that first century who would say one thing and do another, who were so intent on being right in their doctrine that they missed the God of their doctrine, even the person of the Lord Jesus. And it's happening today. You hear it on the radio. If you listen with any kind of discernment, you can hear the people who are defending doctrine to the point where of cutting out the spirit of God. And they are pervasive because they sound right. But it makes a difference what you believe. The Bible says in these last days that because of the doctrine of devils, many will fall away, many will be led astray. The Bible means to be walking on a line. You put the A in front of it. That means the opposite of walking on the line. So instead of walking according to that line, they fall away and miss God's purpose. You need to know what you believe if you're going to be assured of your salvation. I would venture to say there are people here today who don't know with confidence that you're born again, even though you've been hearing it. And you think you believe it, but you don't know because you haven't dug into the Word and found your doctrine to be true. There's people here who have no power in your Life because you don't know that the Holy Spirit is available to you. You don't know what you believe about the Holy Spirit. Beloved, how much more this matters? When we go out to talk to people, do you think someone in the world doesn't know when you're not convinced about what you believe? Have you ever had the experience of beginning to give a testimony to someone and just sharing with them? And you're talking about Jesus is the way, the truth and the life, and he's the one that brought you into eternal life. And they say something like, well, I don't know how a God of love could consign people to a hell forever. Suddenly inside you begin to melt down. Now what do I say? How do I answer that question? I'll call a friend. Get me to a phone. I'll get an answer. Really, people know when you're challenged on what you believe, do you know how to respond? Do you know why there's a heaven and a hell? We need to know these things, beloved, if we're going to go out of these doors and be a light to the world and the salt of the earth. Now, there's just one other thing I want to say about why we need doctrine, why we need to pursue it, why we need to be devoted to it. And it has to do with the erosion of absolutes in our culture. The Bible says in second Peter 1:4 that we are subject to the corruption that's in the world today of the passions of the world. How many of you find yourself when you're away from fellowship in the Lord? Maybe you haven't been with the Lord for a while or in fellowship. You begin to just get hardened to what's going on around you in the world. You find that you're not nearly as sensitive to what's happening around you. And absolutes become relatives, and things that you know are wrong or right become gray, and you're convinced of it. And so it's okay in some circumstances for an engaged couple to live together. I mean, after all, I mean, if the husband doesn't have a job, the husband to be, that is, and the wife to be, has a job in an apartment, he's got to do something. So why does he just move in and stay with her until we're going to get married in four months anyhow? I don't think that happens out there somewhere. Church. The enemy wants to come in and take our absolutes and make them relative. You want to know why, really, the enemy was able to inflict the curse of abortion on this country because we back not that long ago, began to see it as a relative situation. And in some cases, well, you know, and that's not in any way to be insensitive to the dire need in some people's lives. But beloved, by opening the door and not knowing what we believe about the sanctity of life and what God says about life, we let it come in. And there's a need today, like never before, for absolutes. This is right and this is wrong. Where are we going to stand in this culture and the winds that are blowing? Now, on your green sheet, I have three points about doctrine. I'm only going to highlight one little bit about each one rather than go through the whole list. There are three kinds of doctrine that we could talk about today. The doctrine of God, the doctrine of man, and the doctrine of devils. The doctrine of men has to do with those things which man says he believes but basically doesn't do. I'll tell you, there is in all of us an inclination to do that, to say one thing and do another. And that is simply the doctrine of men. Jesus said of The Pharisees, Matthew 23, you can look it up later. They say and do not. They say and they do not. What is another word for saying and not doing it? Hypocrites. They're hypocrites. They're saying one thing, but they're doing something else. I was caught up in my tracks. As I was preparing and praying for this morning, the Holy Spirit deeply touched me and said that, you know, it's very easy for us to do that same thing here in our community. It's very easy for us to say all these great things about ourselves and not do them. It's easy to say, I love my neighbor but never spend any time with him. It's easy to say, I worship the Lord in spirit and truth, but when I come in here, I'm here with judgmentalism and criticism. It's easy to say that I believe in the gifts of the Spirit, but I'm never open to those same gifts flowing through me. It's easy to say that I believe in sanctification and holiness, but my personal life is marked and distorted by sin that I've allowed to be there. Church. Let's never let it be said that this is a place that where they say it and don't do it, because I believe that grieves the Spirit of the Lord. And I know that that is something that none of us would want to consciously say is true of Us, it's Pharisaism. Now the second thing that's there is the content of doctrine. And we don't have time to talk about all those meanings. What does it mean to be pure? What does it mean to be sound in doctrine, to be whole in doctrine, the whole counsel of God? You need to know this. Paul told Timothy 15 times, Be refreshed in your doctrine. What does that say to you? Why do The Pastoral Epistles 15 times admonish the elders and Timothy to take heed into their life and their doctrine? Why? Why? Because the winds kept coming, you see, to blow them off course. Don't think that you're somehow now above that, but rather, let's see that all doctrine is progressive. We can make progress in our understanding and our belief. I'm blessed by some of you here today that over the years, recent years of your life, you've changed in some of your doctrine, you've progressed, you have a more full and complete understanding than you did some years back. I read a book this week in preparation for today, or part of a book called Love Covers by Paul Billheimer. Again, I've referred to his books on prayer. This is a book about unity. And he tells this story in there of his struggle, doctrinal ways, when after he wrote the book, destined for the throne, he was invited by the TBN network out in Trinity Broadcasting, it is out in Southern California, to come and teach a seminar in prayer. So here he is, 80 years old. 80 years old, flies out here to San Diego, I think it was, or Los Angeles. And he gets, and he meets these people and they're just full of love and they're affirming him and they're, they're so appreciative of his book and what he said. And they give him an eight week seminar on teaching and he suddenly realizes that here he is basically in his whole background, he's been a Bible believer, but very disinterested in the charismatic movement. And he finds himself on a television station and actually a network with a whole bunch of charismatics. And he said what really got him was what he saw there was love. What he saw there was the power of the Holy Spirit. And he began to recognize that there was something wrong in what he thought he believed and what he saw around him. And so he had to go back and examine his doctrine about the Holy Spirit and about the gifts of the Spirit. I'll tell you something, for someone 80 years old, that's something, isn't it? And God bless him, he struggled with it. And I'll tell you, in the story he recounts, I'm talking about months of anguish before he realized that God was more displeased with the judgmentalism of his flesh and his unbelief and his skepticism than he was displeased about the flesh of those who perhaps had an emotional mistake in their deliverance of a gift in the spirit. And he repented and changed his doctrine. We always are progressing. The Word of God is progressive revelation from Adam and his first encounter with the Lord. We see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and the patriarchs and the kings and the prophets, and we see more and more of God until we get to who Jesus and Hebrews. One tells us that he is the consummate Revelation. And in the book of Revelation, we see in the very end that we will be with him. So just like the Bible progresses, so doctrine progresses and becomes increasingly full. What I'm saying in that is this. Simply, I don't care if you've known the Lord for 30 years, 40 years, we can progress and grow in our doctrine. Don't ever think that when there's an adult education offering coming up that you know that that's so presumptuous. Paul Oles is going to be teaching on eschatology. Last things that means here in a couple of weeks. So I know about the Rapture. Well, maybe God wants you to know something new about the Rapture. Maybe he wants you to be sensitive to growing in doctrine. Thirdly, what about the consequences? What will it matter if I'm devoted to doctrine? I listed four things there. One is our character changes, doesn't it? I mean, doesn't what you believe dictate what you will become? It should. Second Peter 1:4 says, because of the divine promises of God, his nature is taking shape in us. Because we believe in His Word, his nature is coming alive in us. I'll tell you what we believe. What we believe about God and His Word shapes who we become. I don't know a person who's strong in doctrine, whose life is a shambles. Why? Because they're building line upon line, precept upon precept. Here a little, there a little. How about you? Is your character reflecting the establishment of sound doctrine in your life? But once you become that, then you do it. First the character, first the being, then the doing, then the actions that follow it. Something that changed my life was when I really found that I believed that everywhere I went, God was with me. Maybe you're here today and you're struggling with whether or not you should go to a particular kind of a movie. How about a party? I remember in fraternity parties in college, used to always struggle with, gee, I really should be there. Then I began to realize, as things happen, that God didn't have some list. On this list are movies and parties. And this person, what he'd done, he'd sent a much more powerful source of understanding and direction. That was the Holy Spirit within. And when I believed that, you see, then wherever I went, I knew by his leading within if I should be there or not. You might be spending time with someone right now that you know you shouldn't be. Maybe you're married and you're spending some time with another person and the Holy Spirit within you is telling you that's not right. Once you believe that's the Holy Spirit, it's going to change your action. What you believe affects what you do. You want to get your life really changed. Just believe that God's with you wherever you go. Now, the neat thing is that means when you walk into hell, he's there too. But also when you walk out of his will, you're taking him. And it prompts you, it changes you. But the third thing that doctrine does, it changes our destiny. If we really believe that we're going to be rewarded. I read Matthew 25 the other day and I thought about that again. Lord, do I really believe that the way that I use these talents that you give me is going to determine my reward in heaven? Do I really believe that? Do you believe that? Because if we do, you see, if we believe it, if that's a doctrine that we've built in our lives, it's going to affect our destiny. I can't have a person come and say, well, I really believe that God wants my priorities to be God first, family second, and the work of the ministry third. And they work 80 hours a week. I just don't believe that they believe that. I believe they think that, but they don't have the conviction. Belief brings conviction. Finally, doctrine brings balance. I rejoice in the flow of the prophetic word in our our body and the way that God is encouraging us. As I was praying about this, the one thing that the Lord seemed to impress me with is that doctrine teaching is given to be a balance in the prophetic word. And the Lord gave me this picture and this aisle way kind of demonstrates it. But the doctrine is a bank, or are the banks, as it were, of a large river. And that we set that doctrine in place. And the prophetic word is like the bubbles in the stream that give the stream the motion and the life. It's the current. So that when a prophetic word comes, it's contained within the bounds of the doctrine, the banks of the doctrine. And we're not whoosed up this way and whoosed out that way. And so someone comes and says, my children, my children, get thee away. Up to a high mountain and hide. And I know that's not the Lord, because I've built a bank of doctrine that tells me that I'm to occupy until he comes. That I'm to be the light of the earth and the salt of the earth, light of the world and the salt of the earth. You see, that's what doctrine is for us. And if you don't have that, listen what happens. Someone comes along and says, I just sense that God's telling me to share this with you. And they lay something on you about your own depressive maniac. Well, I got it. Maybe I am. And you believe that because you haven't established yourself in the doctrine of who you are in Christ. Understand what I'm saying? There's a lot of people out there that have a word for you. And you better know the doctrine the banks of that river so that you can test that. And if it's of God, you see, the joy is you can just flow in that and be lifted up in that. And that's one of the purposes. So it's who we are, it's what we do, and it's where we're going. That's what doctrine does for us. I think that's pretty significant, don't you? And it keeps the balance in our lives for the future. Now, in conclusion, what can you do? You say, well, I've not really studied much doctrine. I've never read a systematic theology. I don't really know what the Bible says about a lot of things. Where do I start? Well, let me say this. First of all, the little Bible cards that we made available to you are still back there. It's never too late to get started reading the Bible. This is the source. 2nd Timothy 3, 16. All scripture is inspired and is profitable. For what? For doctrine. That's second Timothy 3, 16, 17. Look it up. So read the Bible and let it be for you a source of doctrinal direction. Get a bumper sticker and put it on your glasses. Right? Read the book. Remind yourself any way you can read the book. Get in the word of God. Secondly, there are a number of good and very straightforward and simple doctrinal things to read if you don't have one you call the office and say I'd like to get one of those books that that Jay was talking about to help me get some understanding of my doctrine Derek Prince's foundation series is an excellent easy to read tool that will help you a lot Paul Little wrote two books one know what you believe and then secondly know why you believe helpful little books but important third avail yourself of the teaching that's around you go to the classes that we're going to offer be involved where there's teaching and avail yourself of the other resources that are there there's no excuse I don't think one of us can stand before God and say I just didn't have anyone to teach me God these early disciples set the tone devoted to doctrine so that church when the high winds come we're not going to be blown away and I'm excited about seeing seeing what he's going to do with us. Amen. Praise the Lord.