Practical Issues
Sound Doctrine
The Whole Counsel of God
Person of Jesus
In NT - 1 Timothy
In NT - Ephesians
In NT - 2 Timothy
Diverse Doctrines
Things Becoming Sound Doctrine
Sound Doctrine
by Graham Jones - The Church at Gun Hill"And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers." Acts 2 v 42.
Exhorting and Convincing Others
Now may we look at another Scripture concerning sound doctrine. This is to be found in Titus 1 v 9, where it says, "...holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers."Who should be doing this? Well Paul was referring to bishops; this is what bishops should be able to do. Now, by bishop, he did not mean a fellow with a funny-shaped hat, a gorgeous robe and a staff. A bishop, in the Greek, is episkopos, which means an overseer, an overseer of an assembly, an elder. As such, he must be able to hold fast to the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine to exhort and convince those that would speak against the Truth. In fact, Paul is quite emphatic, in verse 11, where he says that the mouths of the opposition must be stopped - not listened to, notice, not debated with, not given consideration, but stopped. In I Timothy 4 it says that there are seducing spirits and doctrines of demons. The devil wants you to believe lies. That is why there are so many religions in the world, because Satan wants you to believe lies. By knowing sound doctrine, we can oppose those doctrines of demons, by holding fast to the faithful word. In Hebrews 13 v 9, it speaks about diverse and strange doctrines. The Greek word for 'diverse' means 'multi-coloured', all sorts of opinions. We should not be interested in all sorts of opinions for doctrines; we want the sound doctrines. Yes, we may have different opinions on certain peripheral, non-important issues, but we must be one on sound doctrine. There, we cannot have differing opinions. There is no place for diverse and strange doctrines in the church.
Diverse and Strange Doctrines
The enemy is trying to sow those doctrines in the church. In the book of Revelation, it speaks about the doctrine of Balaam in the church, it speaks about the doctrine of the Nicolaitans in the church and it speaks about the teaching of Jezebel in the church. We do not want any of them. Balaam taught the people to sacrifice to idols and to commit fornication. He taught people to do that, to get into worldly relationships, so that they would fall and not be living lives that were pleasing to God.The Nicolaitans brought a world order into the church, a worldly way of government. We still have it today. Why is it that churches have to have business meetings, and agendas, and minutes of the last meeting, and the democratic vote, the voice of the majority? That is the world's way of doing things. It is not the Biblical way of doing things: that is not how they proceeded in the New Testament. They were led by the Holy Spirit. But now there is a world order. Nicolaitans comes from two Greek words: nikao, which means 'I conquer' and laos, which means 'people' and therefore has to do with conquering or oppressing the people. Balaam means something similar in Hebrew 'Lord over the people'. It now manifests itself in the structures and hierarchies of church organisations. These are man-made power structures with the clergy in control and the 'laity' (from laos) controlled. Why, I even get material through the post nowadays, inviting me to go on courses and seminars to learn about management principles and how they can be applied in the church. We do not need to know management principles; we are a people that must be led by the Holy Spirit. The doctrine of the Nicolaitans introduces the world's system into the church, to control, to subdue, to crush. The vast majority are the people, those at the bottom of the stack. However, Jesus, the Lord from heaven, said, "I came to serve." He had just washed the disciples' feet. He taught that great lesson that the greatest has to become as the least. Then, it tells us in the New Testament that God has not chosen a few to be ministers to boss everyone else around. God has given gifts to the church, ministry gifts, Spirit-filled men, to equip the church to serve, to minister and to edify one another. In other words, God wants you all to be ministers, to serve; we are brethren together.
After that we come to Jezebel. She introduced those corrupt spiritual things into the church, the world into the heart. Jezebel was that seductress in the Old Testament; her spiritual counterpart in the New introduces spiritual fornication: loving the things that are in the world. Well, these things have got to be thrown out. These mouths of false doctrine have got to be stopped. How can we do that? By sound doctrine; by Jesus; by knowing Him. Paul cried out in Philippians, "..that I may know Him."
The devil may want to trip us up - the doctrine of Balaam; he may want to subdue and crush us - the doctrine of the Nicolaitans; he may want to control us - the doctrine of Jezebel, but we are having none of it. Sound doctrine is essential.
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