Is Sound Doctrine Important for Life?
Most of us have not heard of the 2008 Milk Scandal. A particular large company that sold a brand of milk and infant formula wanted to pass a quality control inspection which required an increase of nitrogen and protein content in their products. What was their solution? Rather than adding nutritional protein, instead they tainted their diluted milk and formula with Melamine.
What's Melamine, you ask? It's a product used in some dish-ware, dry erase markers, formica, and insulation. Sounds healthy, right? What could go wrong with adding this chemical to baby formula? When the inevitable happened, 16 babies were all diagnosed with kidney stones at exactly the same time, and scientists were able to trace the poisoning back to this particular company. Out of almost 300,000 victims, six babies died of kidney damage - but another 54,000 were hospitalized. You may not have heard of this terrible misfortune because it didn't take place here in the United States - but in China - yet the horror of this event still rings true for all of us.
Can you imagine it: the intentional, mass poisoning of the unassuming and the innocent - for the direct selfish gain of the poisoners? As atrocious as that sounds, it has been happening for 2000 years in the church - and it is happening in the world today. The intentional, mass poisoning of the unassuming and the innocent for the direct selfish gain of the poisoner - false teachers who threaten sound doctrine in the believer’s life.
There always has been, and there always will be a threat to sound doctrine - to truth. It began in the garden when Satan sought to deceive Eve with the question, "Did God actually say?" (Genesis 3:1). God's Word - God's truth - sound doctrine - will continue to be threatened until the end of the age by demonically-motivated and carnally-inspired false teachers who threaten to poison the innocent's milk.
For that reason, here are three ways sound doctrine is important in our lives:
1. Sound Doctrine Saves Us From False Teaching
Paul described the qualifications of the pastor/elder to Titus, saying:
“He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it” ( Titus 1:9).
What are we to do with false teaching? With false teachers? Should we spend all of our time learning what the new atheists and progressive "Christians" argue or believe? Should we just give them a free pass and honor the 11th commandment, "Thou Shalt Be Nice"?
William Newell said, “Mad dogs are shot; infectious diseases are quarantined; but evil teachers who would divide to their destruction and draw away the saints with teaching contrary to the doctrine of Christ and His Apostles are everywhere tolerated! How ghastly and ruinous is this false toleration!”
Even Peter acknowledged that there will be heresies abounding in the church when he wrote: “But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed” (2 Peter 2:1-2).
This is why it is important for us to be a part of a church that teaches and upholds sound doctrine. Ask your pastor(s) this question: “Is sound doctrine important to you?” And see how they respond. The answer should be something like, “Of course! If we understand God’s truth, that will impact every area of our lives.” If they bristle at the notion of doctrine being important, that should raise red flags.
In the second century, Irenaeus - who was combating the Gnostic heresy, said this:
“I have labored to bring forward the blasphemous belief of these false teachers to make clearly manifest the utterly ill-conditioned carcass of this miserable little fox...it will not now be necessary to use many words in destroying their system of opinions. For it is now in your power, and in the power of all your associates, to familiarize yourself with what has been said, to overthrow their wicked and undigested doctrines, and to set forth doctrines agreeable to the truth. Even to give an account of them is a tedious affair...But I shall furnish means for overthrowing them by meeting all their opinion in the order in which they have been described, that I may not only expose the wild beast to view, but may inflict wounds upon it from every side.”
What are we to do with false teaching, with poison? We avoid it, we expose it, and we combat it with sound Biblical teaching.
2. Sound Doctrine Saves Us From Church Division
Paul appealed to the Romans, saying, “watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them. For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive” (Rom 16:17-18).
He's just instructed them to greet one another with holiness considering all the churches in Christ. It may have been that as Paul was thinking about the harmony of the churches, he may have been reminded of the looming threat to their peace and unity (not only to the first century church - but to every church in Christ throughout these last days!).
So Paul's appeal to them is two-fold:
a) Watch out, and b) avoid
The church in Rome was to keep a watchful eye and be quick to avoid - whom? "Those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught".
The phrase "create obstacles" is the word skandalon (sound familiar? It should! Our English word 'scandal' comes from this word). Skandalon is the word used of the piece of wood that holds an animal trap open. You could even use the word "snare". This is where the bait was laid to trap an animal - not to cuddle it or pet it - but to slaughter it.
Paul has already taught in Romans 14:13 about these obstacles or hindrances that trip up believers, when he said: “Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother.”
Watch out for those who create these obstacles! Avoid them!
But also notice Paul says they, "Cause divisions". His solution is not to fight these false teachers but to divide from them. Division is inevitable for the Christian - you will either divide against false teachers or against true believers! Remember, Jesus said to His disciples that He was sending them as sheep among wolves.
One person pointed out that there is no way to love the wolves without hating the sheep, and there's no way to love the sheep without hating the wolves. In short: there are some who don't qualify for a holy kiss!
When we embrace sound doctrine, that will keep us both from stirring up division, as well as those who stir up division themselves. We have unity because we understand what we believe and what we do not believe - and this bolsters harmony with our brothers and sisters in Christ who are also seeking to know God’s truth and express it among the members of His church.
3. Sound Doctrine Equips Us For Godly Growth
I take a variety of dietary supplements - and these are all intended to add a bit more vitality to my (hopefully) otherwise healthy diet. In like manner, Peter encourages us to not stay stagnate but to add various supplements to our faith in Christ:
“5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, 7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. 8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins” (2 Peter 1:5-9).
As we grow in grace, we are to add virtue, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, and love. But in case you noticed, there was one more supplement to our faith-growth: knowledge. Peter does not mean empty facts and figures or theological theory when he encourages the church to “make every effort” to grow in their knowledge. He knows that this is in tandem with living a solid life before the face of God.
At the end of his letter, he says, “There are some things…that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. 17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. 18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:16-18). When we are carried away with error, we lose our own stability. Alternatively, when we grow in the grace and knowledge of God, we not only know sound doctrine - we also embody sound living.
As we’ve referenced in our previous article, this quote from John Calvin rings true for each of us:
“We have given priority to doctrine, which contains our religion, since it establishes our salvation. But in order for doctrine to be fruitful to us, it must overflow into our hearts, spread into our daily routines, and truly transform us within. Even the philosophers rage against and reject those who profess an art that ought to govern one's life, but who twist that art hypocritically into empty chatter. How much more then should we detest the foolish talk of those who give lip service to the gospel? The gospel's power ought to penetrate the innermost affections of the heart, sink down into the soul, and inspire the whole man.”
Yes and Amen, Lord - so be it!
