“Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a
workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth”
(2 Tim. 2:15 NASB).
In spite of the crazy spring conditions that we are
experiencing this year, there are still some pretty flowers popping out of the
ground. While I may not be much of a plant guy, my wife loves them and my 4
year old son is fascinated by them. Therefore, since I love both my wife and
son, I am slowing learning things about them, but please don’t test me on them
because I am likely to fail. :) Lol. Of course there is a big difference in the
level of understanding concerning plants in our household. My wife spent two
years getting an associates in horticulture, and worked in that field for
years. Thus, my wife took her love for plants very seriously.
As Christians, God calls us to take our study of His Word
very seriously! God wants us to be students of His Word similar to my wife’s
love for plants. She took the knowledge that she received and applied it in her
occupation. So while you might not be called into paid occupational ministry as
a result of becoming a student of God’s Word, you are still commanded to
continually educate yourself about what the Bible teaches and apply it to your
life.
As a student of God’s Word, it will not be long until you
discover topics that can and have been highly debated. This brings us to the
question: what are we supposed to do about such topics and passages? For some,
they refuse to take a stance in an effort to avoid conflict. However, that is a
very dangerous position. Yes, they might be able to avoid conflict with others,
yet God never calls us to avoid conflict altogether. As the old saying goes,
“If you don’t stand for anything, you’ll fall for everything.”
A careful examination of the Bible reveals three primary
doctrines worth standing for, even to the point of being willing to die for: (1)
the Trinity, (2) justification by faith alone, and (3) the Bible alone as our
ultimate ruling authority (for more info see http://eugenechristianchurch.blogspot.com/2017/04/man-image-of-god-13-something-worth.html).
Anything beyond these three things is often times
considered to be a non-essential since it does not necessarily affect a
person’s salvation. This offers a lot of freedom within Christianity; for
example, the frequency of communion, the use of musical instruments in worship
services, jewelry, clothing, women in church leadership, a person’s view of
Biblical prophecy, Christians serving in the military, voting and politics,
Calvinism vs. Arminianism, etc. Therefore, while we can disagree about topics
like these, they do not affect how we treat each other as Christians.
However, at the same time, it is still vitally important
for us to understand why we believe what we believe with Scriptural support in
these areas for several reasons:
First, taken to the extreme, many of the “non-essential doctrines”
can lead to essential matters. For example, “once saved always saved” (one of
the five pillars of Calvinism) can cause some to fall away because they believe
that they will be saved regardless of what they do after accepting Christ.
Second, it can cause a believer to miss blessings
associated with a proper Biblical understanding. For example, when Arminianism
is taken to the extreme it can cause believers to doubt their salvation since
it teaches that a person can forfeit their salvation.
Third, the Bible is meant to be understood. Yet when we
refuse to address areas that are not necessarily related to salvation, we begin
to call to issue whether the Bible is inerrant as it claims (2 Tim. 3:16-17).
Fourth, it can cause people to think that they can just
pick and choose what they want to accept, rather than considering God’s Word in
its entirety. This is a very dangerous result of refusing to deal with what
some might consider as non-essentials as it has and continues to lead people astray.
Therefore, last month when we began this new series (see http://eugenechristianchurch.blogspot.com/2018/04/theology-201-1-religion-politics.html),
we began it with the purpose of seeking to help you to understand God’s Word
better and to help prevent you from being led astray on account of false
teaching. At the same time, the Bible does allow for liberty on certain
subjects: “In essentials: unity. In non-essentials: liberty. And in all things
love!”
In His service,
Matt
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