I am more and more convinced that doctrine must become the center piece of a pastor's preaching. It is amazing to me how many people do not understand the essentials of the Christian faith. I am not talking about preaching the premillenial kingdom dogmatically, but preaching the identity of Christ, the bodily resurrection, the trinity, the sinfulness of man, and the blood of Christ. I am talking about preaching the essentials of the faith.
My mom used to tell me to major on the majors and minor on the minors. I agree with this approach to theology. Far be it from me to argue about the understanding of the millennium! I will die arguing for the trinity, the identity of Christ, and the resurrection. I will die preaching the sinfulness of man and mankind's need to be rescued. I will die preaching One God. I will not compromise on the significance of scripture to inform our worldview and theology. Still I will extend charity when it comes to the sign gifts, our overarching systematic theology, or weather Jesus will return before or after the tribulation.
I am constantly amazed at how few people who have grown up in the church can speak intelligently about essential doctrines of the faith. Pastors and preachers we must do a better job!! We must preach the essentials from the pulpit over and over again. We must show people how to handle scripture by how we do it when we preach. Not everyone needs to be a scholar, but understanding the essentials of the Christian faith is basic and, well, it's essential.
I have coached football, volleyball, and baseball at a variety of levels. One thing that never changes is the need to focus on the basics. It never ceases to amaze me how many times I have seen a professional athlete do something a high school athlete should have been taught not to do. We can not spend enough time on the basics, the essentials. Quit preaching about raising kids and start preaching the gospel and doctrine. Most Sunday school teachers are not capable of teaching solid doctrine with the same effectiveness of a trained preacher. Paul didn't once preach about raising kids or "living your best life now." Paul and Peter preached the doctrine of the gospel. Let's follow their example!!
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1 comment:
Amen, and amen!
On Jerry Breedlove's blog, Crossroads Fellowship, he blogs today about the prosperity doctrine, the "word-faith," "health-and-wealth," "name-it-and-claim-it" doctrine. That is a key example of why teaching solid doctrine is important.
At our youth group (PJAM - Pizza, Jesus, Apologetics, and Me) this past week, we did research on the word-faith movement's beliefs, and there is no other conclusion possible than that they are heretical. They have a heretical view of who God is (he is bound by the "laws" of the universe), of who Jesus is (just a man, not God, but who had perfect faith and so lived in wealth and prosperity), of humanity (the Holy Spirit would never want to live inside of a "broken down" body; any one of us could have died for the sins of humanity if we'd had perfect faith) and the Trinity (see all of the above!). But Christians get sucked into it because they have no idea what true Christian doctrine is. They can't tell truth from error without good teaching.
Keep up the good work!
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