Doctrine Changes The World - Myles Holmes January 25, 2026

Hello and welcome to the Redemption Church Podcast.

We're a church in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada that exists to glorify God through the fulfillment of the Great Commission and the Spirit of the Great Commandment.

Thanks for joining us today.

Awesome.

It is good to be together this morning.

Especially good.

The harder you work for something, the better it is, right?

So we worked hard to get here, and I know that the Lord is going to bless us as we gather together.

Before we turn to God's word this morning, I want to take a few minutes just to share something incredibly important with you in the life of our church.

Many of you know that over the last year, Dave Locke, Dave Locke's wife, Sonia, has been battling Lyme disease.

Some of you remember that she recently went to Arizona to receive treatment, which brought real improvement, but didn't fully resolve the illness.

And so we wanted to let you know that on January 29th, in just a few days, Dave and Sonia will be traveling to Germany for about six weeks of further specialized treatment to do what we pray will take care of the rest of the Lyme disease and bring healing to her.

We're hopeful for what the Lord will do in this next season in Sonia.

And we want to let you know so that on the one hand, you would be praying for her and caring for her.

I know that Dave and Sonia would be incredibly encouraged by you, your text of care, your emails, just letting them know that you're praying for them, that you're thinking of them.

Over these next few weeks, I know that they would be incredibly encouraged by that.

But also very practically wanted to let you know that the elders have invited Dave to take a sabbatical, which will formally begin on February 15th.

Sabbatical is a season of intentional rest, and you can imagine what kind of rest is needed as Dave for the last year has really provided a lot of care for Sonia while also juggling just his involvement and leadership responsibility here at the church.

And so we've offered a sabbatical to him.

This is something we offered, not something that he he asked for, but something that we're very grateful to be able to offer with Mike Smith, Lord willing, stepping into a position of leadership as an elder in the church on February 8th.

And so just a few timeline things.

On February 8th, we will, Lord willing, install Mike Smith as an elder.

Dave will remain on the board until the week after that, as we transition uh Mike onto the board and Dave off on the sabbatical.

And I just want to maybe end this time of talking about the practical details with just sharing my heart of love for Dave and Sonia.

Um, if you know the history of this church, you know how intertwined it is with Dave Locke.

He's been an elder here for 11 years.

He planted this church alongside Dave Grant.

He really sustained it through some very difficult years in COVID.

And so I'm just incredibly thankful for the man that God has given us in Dave Locke and the way that he has shepherded this church in its founding through years of difficulty.

I think if anyone has earned a season of rest, it's probably Dave.

And so can we just thank the Lord for him and Sonia?

Also, I want to express our love and care for Sonia, who we have missed dearly over these past weeks and months.

And she has been walking on an incredibly hard and long road of suffering with this illness.

And so we want her to know that the church stands with her, and we'd love for you to reach out and care for her.

I know many of you have such a close relationship with Sonia.

And so why don't we just take a moment to pray for them now?

Father, we thank you.

God, our hearts are filled with gratitude for your servants, Dave and Sonia.

God, we thank you for years and years of faithful leadership that Dave has provided for this church.

God, we thank you for the ways that you have used him to strengthen this church, Lord.

Ways that are so numerous we we couldn't even know them all.

God, you have been so faithful.

God, we lift up Sonia to you.

God, we ask for healing.

We ask for wisdom and for care for the treatment that she's receiving.

God, we pray that in a season of uncertainty and suffering, Lord, that you would provide Dave and Sonia with a peace that surpasses understanding and with a hope that is that is inexplicable from the world's perspective.

God, we trust you.

Lord, you are the chief shepherd of this church.

You are our shepherd, and we thank you for your care.

God, thank you for caring for us.

Thank you for caring for Dave and Sonia.

God, we commit them into your hands.

We commit this church into your hands, and we pray this all in the name of your son.

Amen.

Amen.

Well, if you have your Bibles, you can open them up to Titus chapter one.

If you don't have a copy of God's Word this morning, the ushers are making their way down the aisle, and you can flag one of them down.

They'd love to get a copy into your hands, which you can keep as our gift to you.

We are in the third and final week of a series that we are calling Doctrine Matters.

And this morning my aim is simple, but it really is large.

And I want you to see this morning that Jesus intended his truth not only to shape our lives as individual Christians, but he intended his truth through the lives of the church to change the world.

Jesus intended for his truth to change the world.

Now that sounds like a large and absurd claim.

If you can look past kind of the Christianese of it, the you know, the way that we usually talk, it really is large, isn't it?

That's because the world is large.

The world is filled with many different cultures, ideas, billions of people, powers.

The world does not feel like something that is movable, the world does not feel like something that is persuadable.

And especially these days, if you're anything like me, you're looking the way that the world is going and you're saying, This seems to be a train that cannot be stopped.

And yet listen to how Jesus speaks.

In Matthew 16, as Jesus asks his disciples a doctrinal question, one with eternal weight, he looks at Peter and he asks, Who do you say that I am?

Love one, this is why doctrine matters, because this is the internally important question that Jesus asks each of us, who do you say that I am?

And Peter responds, confessing Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God.

Now, now Jesus' reply is striking here.

He says that on this confession, on this truth that Peter has just spoken, Jesus says he will build his church.

Jesus will build his church on a confession of doctrine, and it will be a church whose power Jesus says will be unstoppable.

It's truth.

Truth confessed and believed, which will be the foundation upon which Jesus will build an unstoppable movement, he says in Matthew 16.

Then just a few chapters later in Matthew 28, as Jesus prepares those same disciples who stood with him in Matthew 16, as he entrusts his mission to these disciples, he summarizes that that mission in remarkably simple terms.

He says, Go and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and listen, church, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

So that as Jesus thinks about the mission of his church, the initiation of it is baptism.

That's the beginning, that's initiation into the faith.

The rest of it is learning.

The rest of it is teaching.

The rest of it is observing all that he has commanded to us.

Jesus has a vision that the movement, the unstoppable movement of the church will happen through the teaching of disciples.

Which means this.

This is the heart of this series.

It really culminates in this point, where in week one we saw that doctrine shapes your life, and week two, we saw that doctrine comes from God.

Here we see that all of this matters because doctrine changes the world.

Doctrine changes the world.

Doctrine is not a secondary accessory to the church.

Doctrine is the lifeblood of the church.

So that if you lose doctrine, if you lose an understanding of who God is, if you lose the answer to that question which Jesus asks Peter, who do you say that I am?

You lose everything.

That's what I want you to see this morning.

That God's mission moves through a church that is shaped by truth.

God's mission moves through a church that is shaped by truth.

Throughout the pastoral epistles, Paul makes clear to Timothy and Titus exactly how this will work.

That God's mission is moved when truth is guarded by leaders, lived by disciples, and displayed by the church.

I want you to see this first in Titus chapter 1, verse 9.

Titus 1:9

We're going to be jumping around this morning, but we'll begin our time in Titus 1.9, where we see that doctrine changes the world when the truth is guarded by its leaders.

Doctrine changes the world when it's when truth is guarded by its leaders.

Titus 1.9 says this.

Speaking of an elder, Paul says to Titus that 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.

Now, Paul is absolutely convinced that a church does not fail because its leaders stop caring for people.

Paul is convinced that a church fails because the truth drifts away from it.

So that what is needed is a leadership that is faithfully committed to guarding truth.

Loved ones, churches don't outright abandon the gospel.

What Paul is telling us here is that they instead hold firm to something else.

They lose what is supposed to be central to the church, and holding on to something else, they lose all strength.

You could think of the church as a fire, which must be tended to.

It is strong so long as someone is tending to the fire.

An elder must then hold firm, Paul says.

Must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught.

This is what it means to hold firm, to grip something tightly, to refuse to let go of something, to stay anchored in it.

And so, loved ones, notice that the command given to the leaders of the church is not to invent something new, the command given to the leaders of the church is to grip tightly onto something that has been passed down through the ages, given to the church for centuries and centuries.

Call of the elder in that way is simple.

To hold on to what they have received, to do this, notice in verse 9, look with me there, by both giving sound instruction in doctrine, but also rebuking and refuting those who teach contrary.

Now, this call is simple, but as we look down throughout church history, we see that it is incredibly difficult, isn't it?

So that not a single church which Paul wrote to in the first century still exists today.

Why is that?

Because somewhere along the line, the leadership failed in this command to hold firm to the trustworthy word, to instruct in sound doctrine, to refute false doctrine.

As simple as the command is, church history illustrates time and time again how incredibly difficult it is to do.

We saw this in the well, I mean, I didn't see it, I wasn't around, but but in the beginning of the 20th century, where out of a concern really for people and a desire to adhere to culture, what churches started doing was losing a doctrine of the inerrancy of scripture.

They stopped holding firmly onto truth, and they said, Well, well, you know, people are saying in this postmodern culture that, you know, all truth is relative, that there is no absolute truth.

So what if we just, you know, kind of stop holding on to the Bible, which makes all these absolute claims, and just say it's okay, you know, that that's fine, and just love people instead.

And you know what happened?

As soon as they let go of the word, they let go of life.

Now I have no doubt that those churches and their leaders were holding on to something, that they genuinely cared for people, that they wanted to do something great, but they failed in the most important way.

A leader is called to hold firm to the trustworthy word.

In our day, the temptation is the same.

If one generation feels pressure to surrender the authority of Scripture altogether, our generation feels the pressure to soften or even revise what the Bible says about human sexuality.

Now, the question for us isn't whether we should love those people.

Of course, we should love them.

The question is what happens when you untether love from truth?

When you do that, you lose the foundation to change lives.

All throughout history, we see that when the church loosens its grip on the trustworthy word, it loosens its grip on life.

That is why Paul says what he says in the epistle to Titus in chapter 1, verse 9 elders are not only called to teach it, they are not only called to refute it, they must hold firm to it.

Now, as you look through the scriptures, the scriptures are clear about the way that this is to be executed by leaders.

Paul says it, and he's already said it in Titus 1 9, they must hold firm to the trustworthy word.

So that before an elder can stand in a position of instructing in sound doctrine and refuting false doctrine, it must be something that has already gripped them.

That the word is shaping their lives.

Paul then tells Timothy in 2 Timothy chapter 2, verse 2, what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

2 Timothy 2:2

Truth is held firm to, so that it can then be entrusted to others in the church.

Here, the elder again is called to rebuke those who contradict sound doctrine.

In 2 Timothy chapter 4, verse 2, Timothy is charged to preach the word, to reprove, to rebuke, to exhort with complete patience and teaching.

2 Timothy 4:2

This is what leaders are to do, to guard the truth by holding to it, by teaching it, and by defending it.

It is the call of the leaders of the church.

Now that has direct application to myself, to Mark, who serves as an elder, to Mike, who in a few weeks' time will serve as an elder.

Maybe Mike right now is hitting the eject button.

You know, this is a big thing.

I know he's not.

It also has application for all of us.

The fact that God appoints leaders to guard doctrine tells us something important about God.

It tells us what is precious to God.

He guards what is precious.

That's a principle, isn't it?

In our lives, we guard what is precious.

In fact, there's a story in the Holmes family that has really become categorized as lore in our family.

One day I was in the kitchen.

I had just received a new bread knife.

You know where this is going.

In the kitchen, I care more about efficiency than I do about safety.

And so I was cutting a nice dinner roll and I was using my hand as a cutting board.

Does anyone ever do that?

Yeah, a few of you.

Thank you for your sympathy with me.

However, this was a new knife.

I was not prepared for how much better this bread knife was than my old bread knife, and so you know exactly where this was the story is going.

I did cut the bread.

I also cut three of my fingers.

It was a fleshy cut, the kind of cut, you know, you can see it separated.

I'm looking at the scars right now from that cut.

And we were having friends over for dinner, and my friend was standing beside me.

He went over to my wife Amber, who is who is filled with compassion.

She's the most fascinate woman I know.

And he told her, hey, Miles, cut his hand, cutting the bread.

And Amber with this urgent compassion ran over and said, Is the bread okay?

Now, if you've known how many times I've cut my hands in the kitchen, you would sympathize with Amber's response there.

This is nothing new, but but I, you know, hold that against her because I say, in that moment, it was clear what you loved.

You loved the bread.

And I bring that up, you know, just I mean, it doesn't really work because I think more of the shame is on my shoulders in that story than anything else.

But it really comes down to this principle that we guard the things that we love.

We guard what is precious to us.

And in the same way, God entrusts leaders of the church with guarding the truth so that in the commission he has given to the elders of the church, the whole church might know what is precious.

By guarding doctrine, the people of God never forget what must be held on to at all costs.

So that loved ones, if God has commissioned the leaders of his church, the the bride of Christ, to guard doctrine, then the question for us is not whether truth matters, not whether doctrine matters.

The question for us is, is it precious to you?

This is the thing that God has put his finger on and commissioned the leaders of the church to guard, to teach, and to rebuke, to protect.

Is it precious to you?

Does your life reveal that doctrine matters to you?

Do you care what is taught in this pulpit?

Are you concerned that what you are fed is biblical truth, sourced in scripture?

Do you pray for the leaders to continue to proclaim truth in a world that values truth less and less to continue to boldly proclaim what is true?

It's a call to the leaders, but it cannot be done apart from the church.

Now, truth that is only guarded will never change the world.

It must move on from that.

And the reality is that there are a lot of so-called churches where all they do is guard the truth.

And because they never move to the next step, they never produce any fruit.

And what Paul wants Timothy and Titus to understand is that the truth must not only be guarded, it must also be something that God's people live out.

So I want you to understand, secondly, that doctrine changes the world when it is lived by disciples.

It changes the world when it is lived by disciples.

Turn your attention with me to Titus chapter 2, verse 1.

Titus 2:1

Here Paul says, teach what accords with sound doctrine.

In other words, your life is to have a shape.

It is to be molded by sound doctrine.

In Titus chapter 2, verse 1, if the calling of leaders is to teach sound doctrine, then we can ask ourselves, what is the calling of the disciples?

Titus 2:1

What is the calling of the members of the church?

If the leaders are to teach sound doctrine, the calling of the members of this church, of Titus's church, is to learn it and to live it.

Now, when doctrine stops at head knowledge, it ceases to be biblical.

Biblical doctrine always passes beyond knowledge towards living and doing.

We saw that in the Great Commission, didn't we?

Jesus says not only to teach, but to teach them to observe.

You're familiar with the language of James, who says that if you just hear the truth, but you don't do the truth, then you don't have any biblical doctrine at all.

As important as hearing is, as important as understanding is, if it does not lead to living, it does absolutely nothing.

Doctrine is biblical doctrine, is truth that leads to devotion.

There is no doctrine without devotion.

Now, Paul in Titus chapter 2 wants us to understand the purpose behind teaching sound doctrine.

Titus 2 · chapter mention

Look down with me at verse 10.

Look at what Paul says.

In the second half of verse 10, he says, so that in everything, having just laid out what their lives should look like, which we'll walk through in a moment, he says, so that in everything they may adorn the gospel, the doctrine of God our Savior.

Their lives are to adorn doctrine.

A doctrine of God.

Now that word adorn is incredibly important.

Paul is saying that when doctrine is lived out in our lives, the truth of God is then made visible.

Our lives adorn doctrine.

They don't add anything to God as though he's incomplete without our lives.

They don't improve anything about God as though he needs anything from us.

What Paul is saying is that our lives display God.

So that loved ones, there is nothing you can do to add value to God.

There's nothing you can do to improve God, but your life has been given a commission by God to adorn him.

We understand this adorn language.

I can think back to my wedding day.

I can think to the moment that my wife turned the corner and she was beautiful long before that moment.

But on that day, she was wearing a wedding dress that really adorned her beauty.

It wasn't the show.

I, like every other male in the room, cannot even remember what it really looked like.

But it adorned a beauty behind the dress.

That's what Paul means when he says that our lives are meant to adorn the doctrine of God.

We don't add beauty to the gospel, we don't improve it, we can't.

He simply says that our obedience puts on display something that is already glorious.

And what I love about our church is that we we are seeing this left, right, and center.

God is using the lives of people to draw others to himself.

I remember the testimony of one woman who was baptized recently, who she had heard the gospel before and she had rejected it every time until she met someone in our church whom she described as they just had a light about her.

What was that light?

It was a life that was adorning the doctrine of God.

It was a life that was a wedding dress pointing to a greater beauty and glory.

It was a joy that only the gospel can produce.

It was a hope that only a Christian can have in the midst of suffering and in the midst of a dark, dark world.

It was a life that moved her.

She had heard the arguments.

People had tried to be persuasive and as important as words are, as necessary as words are, it was the life that adorned the gospel and doctrine of God that was the necessary key for her to see.

Our lives are meant to adorn the doctrine of God, our Savior.

That means that the gospel must be not only something we believe, the gospel must be something that shapes the way that we live.

Only once it shapes the way that we live, will the doctrine of God be seen as something that is glorious?

We know how this works in everyday life, don't we?

We see someone experience real change, and what is the first question that we ask of them?

Oh, oh, how did how did you change?

Like, how did that come about?

Maybe it's a physical transformation.

You know, what diet did you go on?

Or what exercise, like, how did you do this?

Sadly, the opposite is also true.

When the message that we proclaim doesn't match the life that we live, people will reject Christianity, not because they've heard a good argument against it, but because it just looks unbelievable given the life, the life that they see in front of them.

And so, loved one, I want to ask you this question, a question that I need to ask myself as well.

Do people see spiritual change in you?

Does your life adorn the doctrine of God, our Savior?

And I praise God that for so many of you, it does.

You know, just recently I was talking to another woman in our church who who just recently gave her life to the Lord and has experienced this transformation, and now she's bringing people out, and she just told me, you know, people keep asking me what's changed about me, and I just keep, I don't have an answer for them.

I just keep bringing them out to church.

And loved one, there should be this natural, visible transformation that has taken place in your life because of the gospel.

So that your life doesn't add anything to the gospel, but it reveals and makes known the reality that the gospel is true.

This is what Paul's getting at in Titus 2.

A life that is shaped by truth, when the scriptures are shaping us, they make the doctrine of God visible.

They adorn the doctrine of God.

Well, then how does that actually happen?

And very practically, in Titus chapter 2, verses 1 to 10, Paul gives us three ways that our lives function like a wedding dress, adorning the doctrine of God our Savior.

Titus 2:1–10

Three ways that our lives point to a glory greater than ourselves.

The first way is this: we adorn the gospel when our character reflects the truth that we confess.

Our character must reflect the truth that we confess.

Look at Titus chapter 2, verse 2 with me.

Titus 2:2

Notice that Paul begins with older men, and notice what he emphasizes.

Not that they must know everything, he emphasizes character, self-control, a sober-mindedness, a dignity, a soundness of faith.

Sound doctrine, Paul is saying, should produce a certain kind of person.

In verse 3, he looks to older women.

They are to be reverent in their behavior.

Again, Paul is showing us doctrine should shape your character, it should shape the way that you live.

The important thing is not what you know, the important thing is how you live.

Look down with me at verses five and eight, where look at verse five, where Paul's concern is an integrity, it is a purity, it is a self-control.

Paul is looking at the character of all those who call themselves Christian and make up the church, and he is saying, you better have character, because character is where doctrine becomes credible.

Of course, it's important to know God.

Where the rubber meets the road is your character shaped by your doctrine.

We look in the mirror of God's word and we reflect on this in our own life and we ask, does our character adorn the gospel?

Again, this is not about perfection.

Loved ones, praise God that this is about change.

Our doctrine, our doctrine is supposed to adorn the God who is our savior, that He has saved us from the mess that we were and changed us and transformed us into something else.

So that this has nothing to do with perfection.

It has everything to do with change and transformation.

Not are you perfect, are you growing?

Are you consistently faithful?

Is your character being molded by God?

Praise God that we don't need our lives to be shaped by the doctrine of a God who is simply just a lawgiver.

Our lives are shaped by the doctrine of God, our Savior.

Our Savior.

Here's the second way our lives, like a wedding dress, again, point to a greater beauty.

Our lives adorn God when our relationships display the love that we proclaim.

Look with me at the epistle to Titus in chapter two, verses three to five.

Paul moves immediately into relationships.

Older women with younger women.

Moving into other relationships in the church, the way that we are to interact with our employers.

Paul is teaching us something.

That our doctrine is not just simply what we believe, it's not just words on a page, our doctrine influences the way that we treat one another.

Now look at verse 8, where Paul says that we are to have sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say.

The outsider is to look in at the Christian relationships within the church and see that there is a consistency of life.

And what Paul is pointing out in these verses is that the truth we proclaim is either confirmed or contradicted by our relationships.

I can give you an example.

In Romans 16, Paul says, welcome one another as God in Christ has welcomed you.

Notice there that the gospel, the doctrine of God, is to shape the way that we welcome outsiders.

When a new person comes into the church, part of our heart is, man, I used to be an outsider.

I remember the first time I walked into this church, and God was so faithful to use his people to welcome me into this family, to preach the gospel to me, to disciple me, to walk alongside me.

And if God was faithful to do that to me, how much more should I allow the gospel then to reflect the way that I interact now with this person?

Our relationships say much about the truths that we believe.

So that you could say this our our relationships are a commentary on our doctrine.

You ever read a verse in the Bible, you're confused about what it says, and so what do you do?

You turn to a commentary.

What do the commentaries say?

And loved ones, if someone wants to know what the gospel is like, they should be able to look at the relationships in the church and see exactly what the gospel is.

That means that the way that you welcome newcomers says something about whether or not you believe that grace is for outsiders.

It means that the way that you serve others says something about whether you believe Christ came to serve you.

It means that the way that you commit to life together, to speaking the truth in love to one another, to bearing one another's burdens, to staying near to someone when their life gets hard and messy and caring for them, it says something about what you believe about the gospel.

Paul is looking at ordinary relationships here.

They're imperfect in every way.

And he's saying the doctrine, the doctrine when we we profess, if we lose these relationships, the doctrine we profess no longer sounds true.

So the doctrine of God our Savior must be adorned in our relationships.

Our character, our relationships.

One more way that Paul shows us that our lives adorn the doctrine of God, and that is when our faithfulness makes visible the hope that we believe.

When our faithfulness makes visible the hope that we believe.

Look with me at verses 9 and 10 of Titus chapter 2.

Titus 2 · chapter mention

Paul says, bondservants are to be submissive to their own masters in everything.

They are to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, not pilfering, but showing all good faith, so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God, our Savior.

Paul addresses here the lowest of the low in society and points to them, a people whose work is largely unknown, it's it's uncelebrated, it is often incredibly difficult.

And notice what he calls them to: to faithfully work to honesty, to a willing spirit.

So that in verse 10, everything they do may adorn the doctrine of God.

What Paul is calling them to is a faithfulness where faithfulness really, from a worldly standard, should not exist.

Paul calls us, calls the church to an ordinary perseverance, faithfulness in these small, repetitive, thankless tasks that become a loud reminder to the world that there is a God we serve, and He is the reason that we are here serving.

You know, this happens all over in the church.

One of the things that I'm praising the Lord for now is just the way that He's moving in our kids' ministry.

And in our kids' ministry right now, there is a real joy in being with kids and teaching them the gospel.

Now, I mean, for the last month or so, we've had a new kids director, Julie, and one of the things you learn when you meet Julie very quickly is that she's incredibly passionate about kids.

And you can't talk to her for too long before you're like, okay, I gotta get in the kids' ministry and serve.

And one of the things she shows you is that there's a reason why we do this.

This isn't just babysitting, this isn't just daycare for kids.

We do this because we have a hope.

We're planting seeds of the gospel, and we believe these seeds can grow into eternal fruit.

And so, why wouldn't we want to be here joyfully?

Why wouldn't we want to spend a Sunday morning teaching kids the gospel that will bear into eternal fruit?

I mean, there's nothing better you can do with your time.

And there's this real attitude there that is surging through the kids' ministry of man, this is such a good thing that we are doing, preaching the gospel to kids.

You know, our setup team does the same thing.

They come in early through the snow and they set up chairs.

And it seems like such a small task.

Why are you spending your Sunday morning doing that?

Well, because we have a hope.

We have a hope that this chair being set up is not just for someone to sit in an uncomfortable chair that feels like it's gonna explode at any point.

That's like where we have an amen, right?

I mean, that's what we feel in this church.

That it's being set up for someone to hear the gospel, and there is great hope in that.

Commit ourselves to faithfulness and serving the Lord because our hope is not in worldly reward.

It can't be, right?

It can't be.

There's not much worldly reward here.

I'm sorry to say it.

I mean, there's no there's no service we offer where if you serve the church, we'll change your oil or something in the parking lot.

We just don't, there's not much worldly reward here.

Man, is there a lot of heavenly reward?

Is there a lot of heavenly treasure?

And if your hope is in heaven, man, there is so much good that can be done when you faithfully commit yourself to the service of the Lord.

And it points to something bigger.

It points to the glory of Christ.

So that when these individual lives are gathered together, when their character, their relationships, their faithfulness are woven together into the community that you call the that we call the local church, something even bigger is happening.

God is putting his truth on display for the world.

And that's what I want you to see thirdly.

Doctrine changes the world when truth is displayed by the church.

Love ones, do you believe that?

About the church.

You believe that the church is not a human invention, but the institution Jesus himself created to confront the darkness of the world and its lies?

This is this is the institution that Jesus made.

Flip back with me to uh first Timothy.

Back a few pages to 1 Timothy chapter 3.

1 Timothy 3 · chapter mention

And look at verse 14 and 15.

1 Timothy chapter 3, verses 14 and 15.

1 Timothy 3:14

Paul in writing to Timothy says, I hope to come to you soon.

But I am writing these things to you so that if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God.

There it is again.

You see, doctrine and devotion, so that you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God.

But loved one, look what he calls the church, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and a buttress of the truth.

The church, definitionally, in 1 Timothy chapter 3, verse 15, is a pillar and a buttress of the truth to the world.

1 Timothy 3:15

What is a pillar?

A pillar is something that holds something.

Up high so that all might see it.

What is a buttress?

It is not a mattress for your never mind.

It gives stability to a structure so that it doesn't collapse.

Paul's point is simple.

In a world that is incredibly full of darkness and incredibly full of lies, where is the truth to be seen?

I mean, Love One, you agree with me that our world is filled with darkness and lies, don't you?

You go on social media and then you just, I mean, you scroll through algorithms that are just filled with so many people have committed their lives calling themselves influencers who are influencing people to idolatry and darkness and wickedness.

And so many people on social media are arguing about this things.

This person's arguing that side, and this person's arguing that side, and you gotta get involved because your side is the right side, right?

So much darkness, so many lies.

And in this dark, dark world, where are we to find truth?

Loved ones, scripture is clear.

It is the church.

The church is the hope of the world.

Not because the people are great.

I mean, we had new people here last week, and I'm sorry to tell you, I had to say to them, listen, it won't be long before you're here that you figure out that we're a bunch of broken people.

Now I didn't start pointing at people anyone specifically, like especially, you know, watch out for that guy.

But I probably could.

And I include myself in that.

Because we are an incredibly broken people.

It is the church that changes the world because the church is Jesus' chosen instrument to display a glory beyond itself.

You know, in God's display case for the world, do you know what he's put?

He's put the church.

And this idea that the church is the pillar and the buttress of the truth is not Paul's idea.

This is Jesus' idea.

All throughout the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus is preaching about the kingdom of heaven.

Lord willing, Adam's gonna preach next week, and he's preaching on one of those passages where Jesus is teaching about the kingdom of heaven.

And all throughout the Gospel of Matthew, people are asking the same question: Where is the kingdom of heaven?

Where is it?

What does the kingdom of heaven look like?

And then in Matthew 16, Jesus answers that question clearly.

When Peter confesses that Jesus is the Christ of the Son of the Son of the living God, Jesus says, On this confession, I will build my church.

And he gives Peter the keys of the kingdom.

And that is fascinating if you know who Peter is.

This is the one whose life will be marked by constant failure, who will deny Jesus three times.

Jesus is handing the keys of the kingdom of heaven to Peter and saying that his kingdom will be displayed through a, not through a flawless people, it'll be displayed through a people who are faithful to him, so that the church is entirely imperfect.

And loved one, if you're here and you don't know Jesus and you're trying to figure out this Christianity thing, I want you to understand that it only works if you are imperfect, that the only thing that Jesus asks of you is that you bring him your sin because you have nothing else to offer him.

Jesus truly is the savior, so that the people he came for was those who were in need of a doctor, of those who were in need of salvation.

Jesus looks at these people and he says, I will build my church on them.

Sinners like Peter, like me, like you, who are in need of grace.

He will build an institution called the church, which he himself will choose to proclaim his truth to the world.

Loved ones, if you love Jesus, you cannot be indifferent to his church.

Christ has bound his mission to his people.

Christ has chosen to display his truth in a dark, dark world, to extend his kingdom, to confront the darkness of this world.

And you know what he's chosen to do it?

It is the local church.

The church is the pillar and the buttress of the truth.

Over these weeks we've seen that doctrine truly does matter.

Do you believe it, loved one?

You believe that doctrine shapes us, that it that it comes from God, and therefore it changes the world.

Do you believe that doctrine matters?

To love Christ, then, is to love what he is building in his church, and to believe the truth is to belong to the people who obey it.

God's mission moves through a church that is shaped by truth.

May God continue to shape us by his truth, for his glory and for the good of the world.

Could you pray with me?

Father, we thank you for your word.

God, thank you that you have not left us in the dark, groping for life and for answers, but you have spoken clearly.

And the message that you have proclaimed is a message of hope, of good news.

That despite our sinful rebellion against you, Lord, you have sent your son that he might be savior of all those who believe in him.

And that in saving your children, God, he would create the church, which is the pillar and the buttress of the truth, the the a light shining in the darkness of the world, a light that is, Lord, we're not saying we're great in and of ourselves.

A light that is proclaiming and adorning the doctrine of God our Savior.

Lord, we thank you for showing this to us over these past few weeks, and we pray, God, that this would be a place, that Redemption Church would be a family of God that does not simply say that doctrine matters, but but truly lives it out.

That doctrine would shape our character, that it would shape our relationships, that it would shape our faithfulness in serving you.

God, truly make us a people who adorn the doctrine of God, our Savior.

God, make this church a beacon of hope in a dark, dark world.

God, we pray that you would do it.

And we respond to you now, Lord, asking that you'd be magnified in our lives, glorified by the way that we live.

God, we love you.

And we pray this in the name of your son.

Amen.

Would you stand with me and respond in singing?