Monday, September 24, 2012

Good Teaching and Group Life


In 1 Timothy 1:3-11, the apostle Paul establishes one obvious though often overlooked principle: good doctrine is vital for good churches. This concern appears immediately in the command he gives Timothy in 1:3:

“As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine.”

Here was the situation: the church at Ephesus was in danger of being led astray by teachers who had risen up from among its own members; “certain persons,” as Paul calls them. Paul himself had already been engaged in warning and guarding the church according to Acts 20, but now with the shepherd leaving they were in great danger. Thus, Timothy was to provide the leadership and pastoral care necessary to protect the flock in the apostle’s absence.

The question becomes, though, why is such protection even necessary? What is the problem with “different doctrine” in the church? Paul gives two reasons why false teaching is dangerous.

First, Paul says that false teachings “promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith” (1:4). Simply put, “different doctrine” doesn’t build up the church. In terms of the old children’s tale, trying to build the church with unorthodox teaching is like the little pig building a house out of straw: it takes little to blow it down! By contrast, in God’s plan, sound doctrine and strong teaching are the bricks and mortar by which the church is built up and made secure. As Paul says elsewhere, we are to be mature in our understanding as Christians “so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine…” (Ephesians 4:13-14). Apart from sound doctrine, the church is weak and vulnerable, prone to attacks from the Enemy.

Second, Paul says that sound doctrine is linked to “love” (1:5). What a contrast to today, where many people even in the church think of doctrine and love as incompatible! Not so with Paul: true, robust Christian love is built on good doctrine. How? Think of it this way: the truth of God as revealed in the Gospel is meant for us as a blessing- the greatest of all blessings in fact. If we rob people of this truth through false teaching, we rob them of the blessing of God in Christ. What could be more awful and hateful than that?! By contrast, the most loving thing we can do is to lead people to the truth of God that they might know him and his blessing. The measure of our love for others is ultimately the extent to which we show them the true way of salvation.

So, good doctrine builds up the church and promotes the highest Christian virtue of love among God’s people. Now we ask, how does this affect our Life Groups? Here are a few suggestions:

1.     Learn sound doctrine yourself
You can’t defend what you don’t know, and you can’t lead if you don’t know where you’re going! As leaders, we have to put in some extra time to better understand the truth.

2.     Pick the best studies and prepare well
Ask yourself: is this curriculum or workbook taking us deeper into the truth of God, or is it just “fluff”? Also: how can I best facilitate this study in order to guide us all into a better grasp of sound teaching?

3.     Approach error in love and wisdom
We’ve all been there: during discussion time, someone says something that just is not right or healthy doctrinally. What do we do as leaders and shepherds? We do what we are called to do: in love, with discretion and care, we seek to guide the group to truth. Again, we do this in love and with wisdom. Our job is not to police or attack the sheep, but to guide and guard them. We must learn how to do this.

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