Growing in Knowledge - 2 Peter 3:18 - Sunday Sermon

Good morning everyone.

>> Welcome to Boon's Fairy.

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that's a really important thing. You're

going to be getting an ebolin here

pretty soon, both with a um date for

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ministry. I know the date for men's

ministry. That's March 14th. That's a

Saturday. It'll be in the morning. More

to to follow, but if you want to mark

that uh as a guy, um we're going to be

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ministry as well. So, you can be looking

forward to that e-bulletin and dates and

things like that. Um,

another announcement I have is we will

be starting Esther next week. We're over

halfway done studying Esther in depth

and it's been already awesome studying

it. I think it's going to be a fantastic

study, learning a lot of new things,

being reminded more deeply of old things

that I've learned. There's just so much

application for our lives in this day

and age. Um, and at Boon Ferry, we like

to study that not just through sermons,

but also through Bible study uh

together. And we call those our

disciplehip communities. If you hear

someone say DC, that's what that is. And

it's basically a Bible study. It is a

it's not less than that ever, but it's a

little bit more because we meet on

Wednesdays at 6 and we eat together and

then we go into a study where there are

questions that you prepare in advance.

You can find those questions under our

disciplehip tab. and either click the

button that takes you all the way down

or scroll all the way down. And those

disciplehip questions, the first ones

for Esther are already up and they're

guiding questions to help you go deeper

in the study and uh get a lot out of it.

And then we discuss those together in

those groups. Um and doing that along

with listening to the sermon, they're

intentionally sermons are after you've

already studied on your own. Uh we think

it's important for you to look at the

primary material, God's word, first and

and be building convictions directly

from it. And then you can also hear uh a

sermon afterwards. It's a powerful

approach to studying God's word. And so

if you'd like to join those, next week

will be the first study on Esther. It'

be a great time to join. And you can

already be doing there's usually about

six questions, maybe sometimes a little

bit more. I would say if you had half an

hour, you'd probably be able to get uh

into some depth just going through those

questions. 45 minutes might be better,

but 45 minutes would be plenty to be

able to answer those questions in a way

that you can then participate in an

informed way in those studies. Um,

you'll see how what I'm saying right now

also relates to what we're going to be

talking about today. um regarding

growing in your doctrinal understanding.

Uh it's a powerful way when you just

make a commitment to come to a Bible

study like this and come regular to

regular to Sunday. Even if you don't

have a really wellestablished time of

studying the word of your word of God

yourself, that's at least three

different times that you're studying.

You're studying at home doing the

questions, you're studying in

discussion, and then you're you're

learning more about it through listening

to the sermon. So, a powerful way to do

it uh on top of something else that you

may also be doing. Um, we do have a

fellowship kind of uh uh a meal today.

It's more like appetizers or things like

that. And no, we were not trying to

grief you doing that on Super Bowl

Sunday. That's just how it turned out.

Um, although I was thinking, you know,

if you stay long enough, you could

receive the blessing of missing Bad

Bunny's halftime show. So, consider

that.

Anyway, um, yeah, that'll be right after

the service and just hang out for as

long or short as you like. But we do we

do like to do fellowship around food.

And not just cuz that's fun, but that's

what Jesus modeled to his disciples.

That's what the early church devoted

itself to. Um the apostles teaching, the

breaking of bread, the prayers, uh

evangelism, and taking care of each

other's needs. And so we want to be

about that as a church as well. So today

we are going to if you're if if you're

relatively new, you may not know this,

but we're looking to develop a a mentor

ministry at Boonferryy. Another way to

say that just with biblically explicit

words would be one-on-one disciplehip.

And uh so mentorship that's and

one-on-one disciplehip would be about

the same thing really. And um so during

sermons that are out of series, so we're

always just doing book series. Um and

but during a time where was like, oh, I

needed a little bit more time to study

this. Uh then there's an opportunity for

a topical sermon. And I don't really

have a problem with topical sermons. It

allows you to address specific topics

that are also biblical, but that's not

our general approach. Um, I thought,

well, it' be good to start doing these

mentor training videos. And you think,

well, I'm not ready to be a mentor. Is

this just going to be a a boring sermon

for me? What I found is that it's really

not difficult for people to get

application out of these kinds of

sermons because I'm just being going

through scripture that are relevant to

everyone, but with a special application

for mentors to consider how to uh teach,

lead, model to their mentees. So how to

actually disciplehip disciple someone's

or principles of these things it's good

for everyone to learn especially because

there's almost no one that never mentors

anyone if you're a mother there's uh

you're discipling your children you know

um and you also there's this iron

sharpens iron kind of disciplehip where

we're if you know uh the ways that God

calls us to teach and influence and

relate and model our faith to others

it's applicable to everyone um but they

are designed to be basically training

videos for mentors. And so we're going

to be going through another one. If you

remember back the most recent one that I

did last was it last week uh Steve or

week before

weeks are kind of melting into one

another for me just with all the work of

still moving into the house. But um he

talked about uh letting the word of

Christ dwell in you richly and how

there's a a sense in which the entire

congregation um there's mentorship that

that may be it should be intentional. it

may not be as focused or as consistent

in terms of meeting for coffee or

something like that like a one-on-one

mentorship uh ministry would be when you

really commit to that for a season. Um

but everyone mentors everyone when we're

worshiping together. We admonish one

another with psalm hymns and spiritual

songs and we do that most powerfully

when the word of Christ dwells in us

richly. And so that was I thought a

powerful sermon and a good one. But if

you remember back to my last mentorship

sermon, one uh phrase or metaphor that

might trigger your memory was the

bleeding edge. You guys remember the

bleeding edge? Um I also talked about

how the trees in the Arizona bioddome

started flopping over because there

wasn't wind cuz their core wood wasn't

being developed the way it should. They

need stress. And so this might already

be jogging your memory. What were we

talking about? Well, we're talking about

second Peter 3:8.

2 Peter 3:8

And in that verse, I'll just read it.

But grow in the grace and knowledge of

our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him

be glory both now and the day of

eternity. And I focused on the idea of

growing in the grace. And since we had

recently finished with Galatians, I

talked about the idea of sewing to the

spirit in particularly showing the fruit

of the spirit and growing in the fruit

of the spirit. And the idea of the

bleeding edge, the idea of the stress of

the tree, and maybe there was one more

like uh putting your muscles under

stress so that they're developed is that

when when you're not relying on the

spirit,

um the fruit of the spirit isn't being

developed. But that doesn't mean that

you can't be kind in a human way or

joyful in a human way. However, when

stressors come in, things that generally

make you that are not joyful thoughts,

not joyful ideas, not joyful

circumstances, and you run out of your

human ability to exemplify those kinds

of ideas, then you have to rely on the

Holy Spirit for that supernatural fruit.

It's a joy that abides even in times of

suffering. It's supernatural. It's

spiritual. So, the fruit of the spirit

is not just human kindness. It's the

kind of kindness that you do not have

the capacity on your own to show. It's

the kind of joy that you do not have the

capacity to experience on your own apart

from the spirit. The bleeding edge or

the stress of the tree or the stress of

the muscle that grows was talking about

how we really only grow in the fruit of

the spirit when we're being tested

because that's generally the only time

we really rely on him. Our flesh tends

to undermine deep consistent reliance on

the Holy Spirit. And so then God brings

something in where it's like you I'm

showing you you're going to run out of

your human joy here and you're going to

have to rely on my human spirit. So if

you've got kind of an Eeyore vibe uh

which will happen to me just wake up

feeling negative. I need the Holy Spirit

to overcome those feelings. Sometimes I

don't even know why kind of feeling

melancholy or something. But if that's

sort of a consistent trait in your life,

maybe God has put contexts in your life

that keep you to the point where humanly

speaking anyone would be melancholy. And

maybe he's doing that because he wants

to develop the fruit of the spirit

called joy in your life. So that you can

exhibit joy that's real, genuine, and

powerful, but last through any context.

I called that character development,

growing in the grace. Um, there isn't a

super hard boundary between growing in

the grace and knowledge because of all

of God's knowledge that he has to teach

us is also ultimately about grace as

well. So, I don't want to draw too

strong of a distinction, but it does say

that we are to grow in the grace and

knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. And

I told you I'd do kind of a one-two

sermon. One focusing on that grace idea,

another one focusing on the knowledge.

That's the sermon today. And I want to

set it up with another metaphor. I'll

just use probably one unless others come

to mind, but I'm prepared to use one. um

that hope hopefully this will anchor in

your mind um at least one concept about

how we should think about growing in

knowledge. I recently Christine asked me

to go to the doctor with her. Wasn't

emergency or anything like that, but

she'd gotten an MRI on her knee. She

squatted down months ago and then stood

back up and something kind of crunched

in her knee. Short of a pop, but it was

definitely a crunch. And ever since, I

think it's her right knee. ever since

right above her kneecap. I think your

patellar tendon runs, you know, attaches

to the bone below and then runs around

the kneecap and then attaches again the

bone above. And I was almost certain it

was probably some kind of patella tendon

thing. And the MRI showed that very

thing somewhere kind of right under the

kneecap and around the kneecap where the

patellar tendon is, there were two

arrows pointing at it and it looked like

something had maybe slightly ruptured

there. um and then that causes

inflammation. And um there's a whole

host of treatment options starting with

PT, considering some kind of

anti-inflammatory shot like cortisone.

And then maybe the last option would be

surgery and surgery is not guaranteed to

to do it. And so I'd already because my

own knees are um I wouldn't call them

wrecked, but definitely there's some

chronic ligamental pain as a result of

football. Just banged up, you know. I've

been researching ligaments and can you

strengthen them? If you can, are they

different than muscles? Because

intuitively in my experience all this

weightlifting, I feel like my ligaments

don't grow as fast as the musculature

does. And so I did some research. Don't

base anything you might do. The point is

not a physical point. This is going to

turn into a spiritual point. But I I

would say that even though I've read

peer reviewview articles, my explanation

of them and my understanding of them is

still very clearly in the category of

bro science. Okay. So, I'm don't don't

take any of this authoritatively, but

here's a couple things that I've been

learning. And there's a metaphor in here

that applies

very clearly and memorably and

relevantly to growing in in knowledge.

Ligaments will not grow under stress as

fast as muscles will.

Um, and that especially in the steroid

age, you see a lot of injuries of

athletes that are using performance-

sensing drugs because the testosterone

that they take will help their muscles

grow faster. you synthesize more protein

so you can break your muscles down more

and regrow them faster, but the

ligaments don't keep up and so they're

getting all these ligamental tears and

you can get ligamental tears whether

you're you're cheating like that or not.

Um, but ligaments will grow. And I read

this study and also had been watching,

this is kind of how I slipped into the

study. Um, arm wrestlers. And I didn't

know this, but there aren't really

actually muscles in your fingers, but

there's lots of ligaments. And the arm

wrestles keep talking about ligamental

strength. Ligamental strength. You guys

ever heard of old man strength?

You know, it's pretty common idea. Well,

they talked about that's what old man

strength is. This is definitely bro

science. They were like citing, you

know, uh, measurable, repeatable studies

that had proven some kind of hypothesis.

But all of their hands are so thick.

Like you look at the fingers and hands

of arm wrestlers and they're so thick.

You can through stress strengthen your

ligaments. You can, and the doctor in

this case was telling Christine that uh,

it could be that there is some muscle

weakness and also ligamental weakness

and and you can go to PT to do this. So

I was asking questions. Are there

specific exercises she should do or stay

away from some or is it just generalized

strengthening? Said just generalized

strengthening. So a lot of my chronic

injuries are not really muscle related.

They're ligament related. Why? Here

comes the idea that I want you to

remember and that we will be revisiting

throughout the sermon. If you stress

your muscle, your muscles can take a

bunch of damage, right? You might tear a

muscle as well. You got to be careful,

but your muscles can take a bunch of

damage. Then you get really sore. You

probably felt it two days later. It's

like I can walk, you know, and then you

do it again and it maybe it's a little

bit less sore. Your muscles adapt

quickly. Your ligaments do not. That

does not mean that you cannot strengthen

your ligaments over time. But if you go

too hard and don't give them enough

rest, then you start getting these

chronic pains, which from what I can

tell are most often related to

inflammation. So something around those

ligaments is inflamed. And then you get

knee pain. When it happens to me, even

when I walk downstairs, if I take months

off, I'm walking downstairs, it's this

knee over toe movement, and it still

hurts, right? So, with my knees, I'm

looking to slowly, methodically, and

carefully develop my ligaments. If you

don't continue to keep your leg muscles

strong or strengthening them and then

not only will your muscles weaken and

they seem to atrophy much faster than

ligaments like you seem to c this is uh

there's some studies that show this as

well uh that you'll keep what you've

gained in terms of ligament uh

strengthening longer than what you'll

keep with your legs. But atrophy is not

good. So especially I've been talking to

older people in our congregation, older

people in gyms too. they're just trying

to do everything they can when they're

focused on um fitness in this way uh to

keep what they still have. Um and they

always talk about well I don't want to

fall and break my hip and then the

health decline starts from there right

so there's some physical things here

that are good but this idea that you

have to be methodical careful regular

uh in your development of your ligaments

it's very similar with doctrinal

development you need to be careful

you're going to be hearing uh Paul and

Peter and other authors of the Bible

warn us about being careful around

doctrine over and over again. Uh they're

also going to be telling us that they

don't want us to be uninformed. And then

they'll list some kind of doctrine, some

kind of knowledge. You're not supposed

to be ignorant about it. God who says

Paul says if Paul says I don't want you

to be uninformed, well that means God

doesn't want you to be informed since

it's God's word and he inspired. So God

doesn't want us to be informed about

knowledge. And uh when there there's

just one major problem, one of the

reasons why we need to be careful is

that Paul also teaches us that there is

a way that you can study knowledge and

amass knowledge that will increase your

pride

that will puff you up. It'll have the

opposite effect of that it's supposed to

have because of our fleshly response. So

we have to be careful when we're

studying studying doctrine. But because

you're going to see there's just so much

doctrine to learn. Um, you might think,

well, it's it's just one book. I should

be able to learn this. You're going to

find out that when it comes to what Paul

said about that very thing that

knowledge will puff you up, he says,

"You do not know as you ought to know."

And there's this depth of knowledge that

God is looking for that is does not fall

short of obedience. A depth of knowledge

that does not fall short of application.

So, yeah, we need to grow in doctrinal

conviction, which by the way goes beyond

just learning it. Conviction is like

knowing that it's true, being anchored

in that. So, you might know something,

but you're not yet convicted because you

also know another interpretation of

something, and you maybe also know a

false teaching about it, and you're

like, I I'm not sure where I stand on

this yet. So, you might know about the

doctrine, you might have some knowledge,

but you're not anchored there yet. So,

that's what I mean by doctrinal

conviction. We need to grow in

knowledge, in doctrinal conviction,

anchoring our beliefs. If that belief is

possible to be anchored from scripture,

that's important. But then we also need

to grow in the application.

We also need to grow in the application.

You you'll hear me over the lifetime of

my pastor repeat this phrase over and

over again. Our goal is not to master

God's word. It's to be mastered by God's

word. Knowledge without application will

puff you up. So there's some danger

there. You know what happens if you

press your ligaments too far, too fast?

Chronic pain. And that that inflammation

is difficult to get rid of and and then

you try to go back and it gets inflamed

again. It's like this vicious circle.

You have to be careful when you're

stressing your body to not go beyond its

limit and allow it to recover. And in in

the doctrinal sense, it's not so much

about recovery. It's about you don't

want to have your knowledge vastly

outstrip your obedience.

That will cause friction in the church.

You might wonder um why I chose this

idea of um ligaments and joints in the

first place. Well, Paul says this and if

we go to Ephesians, Paul uses joints as

a metaphor for relationships in the

church in Ephesians 4. And I want to

start there in our our our doctrinal

idea here. Let me let me just read um or

in the idea of developing in knowledge.

Let's go to Ephesians 4 and uh verse 11.

And this is already you're being taught

the doctrine of how God set up the

church. You could call this the doctrine

of ministry. You could call this the the

doctrine church government doctrine is

in here. Uh there's also doctrines of

sanctification in here. So there's

already quite a bit of doctrine being

taught within this chapter. But here's

chapter 4 11. He gave the apostles, the

prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds

and teachers to equip the saints for the

work of ministry, for the building up of

the body of Christ. I want to highlight

something really quickly here. These

offices or titled leaders in the church

or people that have this function, let's

let's just think of shepherds and

teachers because that's akin to mentors.

And that's what this sermon is

ultimately looking at doing to try to

its purpose is to develop mentors for

how they would um build up the body, how

they would uh engage the ministry. Well,

listen to verse 12. Those who are

working in this way, the people that if

God has given, what's their goal to

equip the saints? So, equipping major

theme of this sermon. Are you equipped

in terms of your doctrinal

understanding? Are you growing in your

knowledge? Is equipping happening? But

what are they to be equipped for? The

work of ministry.

I just vetoed probably two or three

thoughts that would would basically be

saying something negative the church,

but I constantly feel called not to be a

critic of the church, but someone who

builds the church up. And so just being

I'm just not going to criticize at all

in this case. Uh that's what I'm sensing

I should do. But I will say this. Um it

is important to get this doctrine right.

If we're upside down as a church, if the

only people that are doing the work of

ministry are the leaders. That's not how

God has designed the church. That's the

thing that we ought to anchor our

doctrine in. Who is supposed to do the

work of ministry? The saints. That's

anybody here that comes to church. It's

the Christian. It's a part of the body

of the Christ. And who is supposed to be

doing the equipping for that? Well,

these types of of leaders that God has

given. So, everyone is supposed to be

being equipped. Um and and there are a

group of people that God calls to do

that equipping. And it's not like

they're the frozen chosen and you can

never become equipper. That's the whole

thing that we're looking to do is not

only continue to equip the body, but

develop other equippers. Make sense? And

it says that that when that happens, so

to equip the saints for the work of

ministry for the building up the body of

Christ. So how does the building up of

the body of Christ happen? People are

equip. Christians equip Christians for

that very thing. Okay? And maybe those

Christians have titles. Maybe this have

gifts in those areas like we might say

that the title of a shepherd teacher is

a pastor or an elder or something like

that. Um but if you're an evangelist,

you have the gift of evangelism and

you're developed in that way, then part

of your work of building the body up is

equipping other people to be able to do

that and and teaching them and mentoring

them how to do that. And then that

process builds up the body. It does not

build up the body for the only people

being doing the work of ministry is the

ones on stage so to speak or just a

really small group just in general in

ministry in church. The the work of

ministry is is for the saints. Let's

continue here real quick. And he says

until we all attain the unity of the

faith and of the knowledge of the son of

God to mature manhood to the measure of

the stature of the fullness of Christ.

So I want to stop right there for a

moment. We'll come back to this passage.

But maturity is the goal, right? So

equipping is part of maturity. Got to be

equipped. And notice how it says here

again until we all attain the to the

unity of the faith and the knowledge of

the son of God. Right back to that fa

very same idea that uh um second Peter

2 Peter 3:18

3:18 talks about growing in the grace

and knowledge. So yeah, you're going to

need to be equipped with knowledge if

you want to continue um to serve the

Lord or maybe even start serving the

Lord in the work of ministry. Part of

the equipping is knowledge equipping and

I wanted to show you that. So um I know

some of you will always like to write

the main point down and it helps you

listen to sermon if you have the main

point. This is one of those main points

that I'd like to prove over time, but I

will give it to you right now. If you're

looking like what's the main thing here

that we're talking about, it's the

maturity of faith requires continued

growth in doctrinal conviction and

application from the entire council of

God's word.

You may already be convinced of that. If

you're convinced of that, I'm halfway

done with my job right now. It for

today. Uh if you're not convinced of

that, then I still want to be sure that

you become convinced of that because it

is true. Maturity of faith requires

continued growth in doctrinal conviction

and application from the entire council

of God's word. And you might say, well,

who would disagree with that? I hear

Christians that I respect disagree with

this all the time, at least in their

actions or in in in certain words about

certain doctrines. And I I'll tell you

what I mean by that in a moment. Uh, but

this is not a point that I just think

everybody accepts easily and it's just

it seems obvious to me, but um I think

that sometimes our flesh will undermine

what we think we actually believe. On

this point, let me say it one more time.

Maturity of faith requires continued

growth in doctrinal conviction and

application from the entire council of

God's word.

That's the only point I'm trying to make

today. So if I'm a few on some rabbit

trail, I'm not doing a good job making

that point. Um, and it's not like I

don't get on rabbit trails sometimes. I

try not to. Okay. So that's the main

point today. Um, and I want to talk

about how difficult this actually is to

do. In fact, it's not possible on your

own. It's an impossible thing to do

apart from God. And there's reasons for

that. Part of what I'm going to be doing

in terms of the structure of the sermon

is showing you all the pl not all of

them but a lot of the places in

scripture where God tells us he doesn't

want us to be informed. I don't want you

to be ignorant about this. I don't want

you not know about this. I don't want

you to be uninformed. And then a

doctrine is taught. And so I'll be

taking you through some of those very

verses. But your development in

knowledge, your development in doctrinal

conviction and application is not

happening on neutral ground. Not ever.

What do I mean by that? Well, almost

every one of these passages,

um, we'll talk about how, like,

actually, let's just go to verse 14 of

Ephesians, right? We were already there.

Let me show you what I mean. The

non-neutral ground. Um, here's what Paul

says. Remember, he said to the measure

of the stature of Christ, we're supposed

to reach this mature manhood. We want to

be maturing in our knowledge of the son

of God so that we may no longer be

children tossed to and fro by the waves

and carried away about or carried about

by every wind of doctrine by human

cunning and craftiness and deceitful

schemes.

If you're not growing in knowledge like

this, you're liable to just be tossed to

and fro by what? Every new wind of

doctrine. So, every new fangled

teaching, human cunning

and craftiness and deceitful schemes.

And it's actually interesting. I didn't

do an exhaustive study on this, but just

about every verse I'm going to show you

about not being uninformed. The context

is in part growing in knowledge so that

you're not being taken in by these kinds

of schemes. Right? So that's like let's

call that like an outside uh negative

pressure against you. So when I say

you're learning doctrine in an uphill

battle, it's uphill because the enemy is

trying to deceive you and his servants

are trying to deceive you. And I I want

to be really clear. Just because another

Christian has a different interpretation

of a doctrine does not mean they're

practicing human cunning, craftiness, or

deceitful schemes.

When you get puffed up in your

knowledge, you you're not careful enough

at times. And it can be easy to like

accuse anyone that thinks differently

about things. Uh there are however

interpretation of scripture that are

outside of the boundaries of the truth

and Paul called that false teaching. The

Bible calls that false teaching and

those are to be rejected and those are

always practicing human cunning cunning

craftiness or deceitful schemes. So when

I say your the goal of pursuing

doctrinal conviction application is an

uphill battle. That's what I mean.

That's one of the things. There is

however also another aspect that lives

inside of each one of us. Uh and that's

our flesh that makes it even more of an

uphill battle. It turns out that just

learning what scripture says, your flesh

is generally fine with that. Even that

your flesh will resist. I don't know if

you've ever thought I should go read the

Bible and then you want to do everything

other than that, including take the

trash out, which I'd never want to do.

So, uh, but that's our flesh. It's just

like this this anti- anything right,

good, and true. Anything the spirit

wants for you, he's prompting you to

read or pray. Your flesh doesn't want to

do. Um, it's a rebellious kind of set

against kind of thing. So, your flesh is

also something that will undermine your

doctrinal development. Uh, so and and

there's more uphill battles uh than just

those two things uh related to. So

you're what I when I say that our

doctrinal development our our growing in

the knowledge is an uphill battle.

That's what I mean right I think you

guys totally understand that don't need

to go any further than that now

to prove I I some of my main point I've

already proved let me go to one more

point uh about uh one more place in

scripture that proves the last part of

my point because I'd said maturity of

faith requires continued growth in

doctrinal conviction and application. We

get that from Ephesians alone. You're

going to see that from a lot of other

passages too. Um especially the

application part. Um but I said from the

entire council of God's word. Why did I

say that? Well, because um second

2 Timothy 3:16

Timothy 3 verse 16 and 17 say exactly

that. Okay, this is what the Bible says.

So, uh 2 Timothy 3 16-1 17, we got it up

here. all scriptures breathed out by God

and profitable for teaching, for

reproof, and for correction, and for

training in righteousness, that the man

of God may be complete, equipped for

every good work. Since God designed all

of scripture to be profitable for

teaching, for approve, for correction,

for training righteousness on that goal

of becoming complete, on that goal

towards Christian maturity um that means

if you remove any part of that

scripture, something's incomplete.

Does that make sense? If the goal is

completion and all of scripture is

valuable for this pursuit,

then it would not be good for someone to

decide, well, I'm just never going to

study that doctrine. I'm never going to

study that book. I'm just staying away

from that. There's a there's an

intentional uh shortcutting

shortcircuiting of the completion of the

maturity. I see I see some people

nodding. You see that? Okay. So, but

it's more and more in vogue to just not

study portions of scripture. um like

even the Old Testament and we're talking

about why and what's the resolution for

that if if maybe you feel stuck in that

same way. But the reality is again is

that all scripture is breathed out by

God. He verbally inspired it. Every

word, every sentence, every paragraph,

every meaning of every paragraph, every

book

and the entire thing that means that

everything it says is what he says. And

it's profitable for teaching, for

reprove, for correction, and for

training in righteousness. That the man

of God may be complete, equipped for

every good work. That's the that word

equipping again. So you can see how when

I say from the entire council of God's

word, it's coming directly from God's

word. It's not just me saying that. All

right.

I guess I haven't uh proved the

application portion yet. Let me do that

quickly and then let's go into some of

the doctrines we're told not to be

uninformed by. Uh, can we go to 1

1 Corinthians 8:1

Corinthians 8:1? I've already mentioned

this a little bit. I just want to dot

the eye here on this point. 1

1 Corinthians 8:1

Corinthians 8:1.

There you go. Now, concerning food

offered to idols, we know that all of us

possess knowledge. Uh, 1 John chapter 2

1 John 2 · chapter mention

talks about there's this anointing we

have. It's the Holy Spirit. And because

of that anointing, we all have

knowledge. And that's true. Uh, so we

ought not to look down on one another as

if some of us have we're so much better

in knowledge. And that's kind of Paul's

point. This knowledge puffs up, but love

builds up. Stop right there for a

second. I might I might go further. I

only gave you gave you one, I guess. So,

I'm going to be going into into verse

two as well. Uh, but um, knowledge pops

up, but love builds up. It's not let's

be loving but not knowledgeable. That's

the point. That's not the point. the

summary of the whole Bible. Whenever a

Bible author or when Jesus summarizes

the Bible, it's that we're to love God

with everything we are and everything we

have, heart, soul, mind, strength, you

know, and and um what is it? Love the

Lord your God with all your heart, with

all your soul, with all your strength,

with all your mind, right? So that's

everything you are. And love your

neighbor as yourself. And that is the

summary of the purpose of all knowledge

of scripture. Period. So he's not saying

an uninformed love builds up. He's

talking about when you have this noisy

gong love where you think you know all

things and and even if you did but you

don't have lung if you don't have love

you're nothing says worthless because

the goal of that knowledge is for us to

be more like Jesus and our love for God

and love for others. So that's the kind

of love he's not talking about an

uninformed love uh but he's he's

juxtaposing how when people become

intellectually prideful is really the

opposite of love. you start looking down

at other people that are not as

intelligent as you uh biblically even

doctrally. You look down on them and

then what have you actually learned from

scripture which is summarized by loving

God and loving others. If what you

learned from scripture causes you to

look down on people. So verse two says

this. If anyone imagines that he knows

something he does not yet know as he

ought to know.

He does not yet. What is he saying? We

just can never really know. No, that's

not what he's saying. He says the kind

of spiritual knowledge that we're uh

looking to gain that leads to genuine

love for God and for others has uh

deepening layers.

You thought you knew that the Bible says

be kind to one another, tender-hearted,

forgiving one another as God in Christ

forgave you. And you even have a track

record of forgiving relatively quickly

and deeply cleanly. And then someone

sins against you in such an unimaginably

painful way and you find yourself stuck

for months and years not forgiving them.

How deeply did you really know about

forgiveness? The doctrine of

forgiveness. You know you're supposed

to, but you're lacking. You feel like

you're lacking the power to do. You're

stuck in not doing it. The kind of

knowledge we're talking about here is

knowledge that leads to obedience.

Doctrinal conviction that leads to

application. Okay, that's what the

knowledge we're after. If it's not, if

you're not applying it into your life,

the knowledge you're learning, it will

puff you up. It will puff you up. Maybe

you've met somebody that you're like, I

think there's some pride in the their

doctrine isn't wrong. The content isn't

even necessarily wrong, but they're

prideful about that they know it, and

they kind of make you feel less than

because you don't. Um, none of us are

immune to to doing that to letting our

doctrinal knowledge puff us up

intellectually. But that is not the goal

of the knowledge at all. Um, in fact,

this this was a point that I read from

some other preacher or scholar, so I

forget the name, but I just want to give

credit at least anonymously. um ought

not the knowledge that we gain from

scripture to lead to application and

when it doesn't ought that not to lead

to humility. I think that's pretty close

to a direct quote now that I think about

it. I didn't even memorize it. It just

came out. So, and what's being said is

there when you study God's word and you

find out what God requires of us and you

have a doctrinal conviction and then you

realize just how many times you don't

actually apply it, it ought to humble

you.

So what you have to do, what James calls

this, his metaphor is you like you're

looking at yourself in the mirror. You

see what you look like and then you walk

away and you immediately forget. That's

what it's like to be a hearer of God's

word but not a doer.

You know, it's forgetting what this

verse says about who you actually are

and who you're supposed to be. And

spiritual amnesia, another author has

called that. So that's really there. And

your flesh is is the amnesia by the way.

You know, it's like I don't remember

what I was just told cuz you don't

really want to do it. We all have that.

So again, I think I've proven the main

point already. Let's let's uh let's move

on for let me state it one more time.

Maturity of faith requires continued

growth in doctrinal conviction and

application from the entire council of

God's word. Just directly for the

mentors, but also for any Christian. If

you're convinced of that, then you're

going to want to help those that you're

taking some responsibility for some time

for their spiritual growth, that you're

discipling one-on-one, that they would

grow in doctrinal knowledge, that they

would grow in doctrinal conviction and

application, right? Which bleeds into

growing in the grace because if you're

learning about the doctrine of the fruit

of the spirit, well, it's going to be

character development, isn't it? Um, so

they're not fully separate. But let me

show you the very next thing we're going

to do is going to go through let's see 1

2 3 4 5 six about six verses I mean six

uh different verses all very short and

I'll tell you the summary beforehand God

could just keep saying he doesn't want

us to be uninformed. Okay, being

uninformed about any doctrine is not a

mark of maturity. Okay, I said that that

way exactly because I'm not trying to be

like guilt tripping you or hammering

anybody either here. You have time in

your life. I guess I don't know how much

time you have. But remember how I talked

about the idea that you have to develop

the strength of your ligaments slowly so

as not to exacerbate chronic pain and

inflammation.

At least that's what I've been reading

and that's also what I've anecdotally

experienced in my life. It's similar

with with doctrine. You don't want the

knowledge that you're gaining to

outstrip your obedience. So you want to

apply what you're learning.

God, I hear you loud and clearly. I'm

convicted that this is what I'm supposed

to do. So have some like put it into

action in your life by the power of the

spirit. Surrender to his power to do

that. Okay. Um but if you're uninformed

in the first place,

if you don't even know about something

at all, then how would you apply it?

So, we don't want to be uninformed about

what we're supposed to know about loving

God and others, which is a summary of

any doctrine. Uh, because if you don't

even know how God wants to be loved or

character attributes you're supposed to

love about him, and you don't even know

how deep the requirement is to

sacrificially love other people in some

area because you just have decided not

to study, that's not good. Um Paul talks

about that like like remaining an infant

in Christ and that's not good. So let's

go to the very first one. 1 Corinth uh

no 1 Corinthians 12:1.

1 Corinthians 12:1

I think it'd be worth turning there with

me. The also going to just be on the

screen, but I think it's good to know

where in if you have your own physical

copy of the Bible where this is in your

Bible, too. And it's just one simple

verse. Now, concerning spiritual gifts,

brothers, I do not want you to be

uninformed.

Why did I wouldn't have if it made

sense? And I thought long hard about

this. Let's just talk only about the

most core fundamental doctrines in

scripture. Well, uh, raise your hand and

actually raise your hand, not just

rhetorically, raise your hand if you

agree with this, if you disagree with

this statement. We should focus on the

fun fundamental doctrines of scripture.

It's not a trick question. Raise your

hand if you disagree with this

statement. We should focus on the

fundamental doctrines of scripture. Look

around real quick. Maybe maybe people

are afraid, but nobody's raising their

hand, right? And it was not a trick

question. You'll hear that all the time.

And I don't really disagree with it per

se, but you already saw how all scriptur

is profitable for teaching, for

correction, for training in

righteousness, all of it.

So then what's not foundational?

Well, if we're talking about in terms of

evangelism

and somebody is just come to faith,

there are some doctrines that we want to

be anchored in their hearts pretty

quickly, like the nature of Christ. He

is fully God. He's fully man. Like the

theology of atonement, especially when

it gets contradicted, like no, Jesus

really did get punished for our sins by

God. penal substitution or atonement is

a doctrinal necessity when it comes to a

conviction and the application thereof

when it comes to understanding the

atonement and so there will be things

that early on especially like early

development of someone that's just come

to faith they focus on but what about

when we're talking about I'm talking to

Christians because this is a sermon

designed for mentors right and obviously

we're not looking at okay we're just

going to put people who themselves

recognize they're still mature in as

mentors we're looking for people who

have a degree of maturity, who are

helping other people to grow into that

maturity. So now think about that same

thing. Should we only teach fundamentals

to those um to those uh mentees or to

the mentors? And then what is the list

of fundamentals? And where in the Bible

do you find that list of fundamentals?

And I'm not trying to be weird or

difficult. It's like I there isn't a

list like that. And what the scripture

says is it's all profitable.

And then it also says, let me read again

now concerning spiritual gifts.

Brothers, I do not want you to be

uninformed. So one of the reasons I use

this is that in general, if we're going

to say let's focus on the fundamentals,

most spiritual like most Christian

curriculum for disciplehip uh may or may

not include spiritual gifts, but it's

rarely considered one of the

fundamentals.

Right? So then if you focus on

fundamentals but

just never teach about spiritual gifts

and they also tend to be controversial.

So that's just another reason not to

focus on them or not to even teach on

them. I disagree with that. But

you still have to come back to 1

1 Corinthians 12:1

Corinthians 12:1. Now concerning

spiritual gifts of others, I do not want

you to be uninformed.

It's not obedient to be uninformed about

spiritual gifts.

I didn't even mean to be that like

hammeringly convicting, but if it is,

good. follow the conviction, think, "Oh,

you know what? He's right. I should know

about spiritual gifts. I should probably

start studying that." Um, but I'm not

saying order priority. Now's the time

for you to study spiritual gifts. You

should be discerning, and this is also

for mentors, discerning like what

doctrinal development does this person

need? I like to talk about uh desire and

deficiency because I I'll be telling the

if we're doing any kind of meetings

outside of church, I'll be telling the

the mentors, hey, consider in this

person that you're discipling, what do

they desire to learn about and where

might they be deficient? And you don't

have to be like, you're deficient on

this. You can ask them, hey, where do

you feel like you have gaps in your

doctrinal understanding? Deficiency.

Desire and defic deficiency. Um because

if that lines up, if someone says, you

know, I don't know much about spiritual

gifts and I'd really like to learn about

them, that may be a great place to start

because it lines up both with their

desire for what they want to learn.

They're excited about it and they're

somewhat deficient in understanding it.

Right? But this sermon isn't about

spiritual gifts. It's just one example

of how something we're not allowed well

that we're not supposed to be uninformed

about. Right? So think of yourself when

it comes to your own growth in

knowledge. Uh, I don't even think that

I've exhausted all understanding about

spiritual gifts in in my life, but I

generally know what I believe. I

generally know the definitions of at

least the spiritual gifts that are

mentioned explicitly in scripture. I

believe I know uh what gifts I have. I

believe that I'm intending for those

gifts to be um developed. And I know

that every spiritual gift that's given

is for the building up of the body of

Christ. So, I am supposed to employ my

gifts to build up the body of Christ.

Those are all important things for you

to know. That would if you if you could

say what I just said that you generally

know those things for yourself and how

to apply them, then I would not think

that you're in the uninformed category.

So, we're not to be uninformed about

spiritual gifts. How about another one?

1 Thessalonians 4:13-14.

1 Thessalonians 4:13–14

First Thessalonians 4:13-14.

1 Thessalonians 4:13–14

I think I said that right. Yeah. Okay,

let me turn there real quick. I guess I

can just read it here. But we, this is

Paul, Paul talking again. We do not want

you to be uninformed, brothers, about

those who are asleep that you may not

grieve as others do who have no hope.

Don't go to 14 yet. So asleep is like a

a gentle a careful

way of talking about those who are dead,

right?

So you I I've never actually heard it

called this, but like knowing doctrine

around death. How should we think about

death theologically? Uh which would then

also require you to know about the

doctrine of resurrection.

And there's something about hope

involved here. Why were Paul concerned

about them being uninformed about those

who have fallen asleep um so that they

wouldn't grieve as others do who have no

hope? Well, listen to verse 14.

For since we believe that Jesus died and

rose again, there's a doctrine of the

resurrection. Jesus called himself the

resurrection, first fruits of the

resurrection. Not that he said that

about himself, but that's said about

him. Even so, through Jesus, God will

bring with him those who have fallen

asleep.

Now, just rhetorically, who knows what

context First Thessalonians 4:13 and4

1 Thessalonians 4:13

finds itself in. Uh, we could call it

biblical end times theology. You've also

heard of it, probably called it

esquetology. Same thing, the doctrine of

the end times.

So, this is probably the famous, most

famous rapture passage. Okay? And and

Christians have different views about

what the rapture is, when it happens,

all that stuff. Not getting into that

today. Not that I don't enjoy that, but

that's not the point of today's sermon.

Uh Paul's goal here requires you to

understand and not be uninformed about

end times theology as well.

Just to summarize the point, no one's

going to miss the resurrection,

including the faithful departed.

It seems that the Thessalonians had

thought that those that had died would

somehow miss Christ's return, somehow

miss the resurrection of something.

Paul's like, "That's how it works. In

fact, uh, they're resurrected first, but

you meet them in the air with Jesus.

So, that's the rapture, but you're

caught up in the air with him. You can

read the passage on your own another

time, but he wants them not to have that

kind of hope. So now we're talking about

the doctrine

of death, the doctrine of resurrection,

um the doctrine of the end times,

the doctrine of the return of Christ or

from a different perspective, the

appearance of Christ. I'm trying to be

really generous here in relationship to

different convictions in terms of end

times theology. I think that's good,

too. Um, not that I don't have my

convictions, but the point is, well, if

if hope's on the line, that's quite a

bit of doctrine you need to have so as

not to fall short of having the hope

that Paul wants you not to be uninformed

about, right? Well, let me stop there

for just a second. And this is one of

those examples where I've found people

sort of justify not learning anymore

about it. And I I'm not even thinking

about a person or face. I've just heard

this over times. Well, I'll leave that

to the scholars. It's too complicated

for me to understand about esquetology.

And it is complicated. It is difficult

material. It's not always easy to try to

figure out a conviction. Like I'm not

sure what have you ever read Revelation?

It's not exactly easy sledding in terms

of interpretation. Apocalyptic writing

that genre is

there. There's some serious interpretive

decisions that you have to make, right?

So it might take longer to build

convictions, but people to say, "Well,

I'll leave that to more mature

Christians or I will leave that to the

scholars or, oh, it's just too

complicated for me." Well, it said we're

not to be uninformed about something.

And it's directly in the context of

esquetology. And uh I don't see a way

out of of not continuing to learn about

that.

Again, should we learn about everything

all at once? Well, that would be like

blasting your ligaments every day.

Chronic pain, puff you up in pride.

You're not going to be able to like

apply it all all at once. You can learn

slowly, methodically, and regularly.

So, I just wanted to show you that like

esquetology is not supposed to be off

limits in terms of doctrinal growing.

Again, who would call that fundamental?

And yet, there's a command not to be

uninformed about it. Okay. Uh Hebrews 6

1-2. There's only there's only one more

verse after this.

I'm doing my best to finish early. And

it is not because of the Super Bowl. I

don't even care about the Super Bowl.

Not even sure I'm going to watch it. If

you really know me, you know I'm just

I'm not really a fan. And it's not it's

not anything negative about the NFL. I

just have never really been a fan, per

se. I'd rather watch tennis, to be

honest. But um

I just know like uh less is more.

Believe it or not, I know that sermons

can run really long and so I'm working

on it. But um Hebrews 6 1-2, therefore,

let us leave the elementary doctrine of

Christ and go on to maturity.

If you've been to college or I mean, I'm

assuming almost everyone has been to

elementary school. I didn't go to

American elementary school. School

systems different in Germany, but you

learn elementary things, the initial

things you need to learn, and they lay a

foundation. And he says, let's let's go

beyond that elementary foundation uh and

go on to what maturity and let's not

just have to keep laying the foundation

over and over again of repentance from

dead works, of faith towards God. You

could call those like there's there's

some doctrine about repentance from dead

works and of faith towards God. And then

let's go on here about I think it says

washing of hands or did I only give you

one verse there? No, I give you the

second one. Is are we on the second one?

I'll just keep reading. Um, I need to

actually get to Hebrews, though.

Evidently, I didn't do a great job

giving the AT AV team the verses I

actually wanted to read. So, that's not

their fault. But here it says, uh, uh,

therefore, let us leave the elementary

doctrine of Christ and go on to

maturity, not leaving again, laying

again a foundation of repentance from

dead works and faith towards God, and of

instruction about washings, the laying

on of hands, the resurrection of the

dead, and eternal judgment.

Eternal judgment is part of the

elementary foundational doctrine of the

gospel.

Now here I'm going again intend to stop

short of being too critical of the

church. But we do need to evaluate the

current state. Uh biblical illiteracy is

growing. It's not diminishing

statistically. Look at the Barner

research. Also just anecdotally like I'm

I it's it's not getting better right

now. I'm an optimist.

I'm definitely an optimist, but it's

definitely on a downward slope and you

can see the effect in our in our in the

in the church and you can see the effect

in the society. Um,

I've actually heard Christians say,

"Well, all that stuff about the eternal

judgment, that's pretty high level

doctrine." No, it's not elementary.

You're supposed to move on from that

stuff.

So not move on as though like to leave

it alone but like found it, get

convicted, apply it in your life and

then move forward.

Eternal resurrection of the dead,

eternal judgment. So just because people

out there will struggle with learning

something and never lay the foundation

doesn't mean this is like 500 level

teaching. It's 100 level. It's it's

those Yeah, it's elementary.

So that's that's a bunch of doctrines

just there. And and it says he wants us

to go beyond them. Go build beyond those

elementary doctrines. Um so you you

ought to consider do you still struggle

with what Jesus and Paul and the New

Testament and the Old Testament and

authors all agree about the eternal

judgment? You know, do you do you

struggle with that? Um and here's just

shortly before we finish with our last

verse, uh what I want to say about that.

Sometimes learning a doctrine in a way

that's will convict you and then

applying that conviction requires

repentance before you even do it. This

really will be the last point I make

before I conclude the sermon, but it's

just an example of how our flesh uh can

undermine us growing in knowledge.

You've probably experienced this. Maybe

you've had your own struggle this or

maybe you have a friend that continues

to struggle with this and it seems to be

happening more and more in the Christian

church these days.

In fact, I heard a comedian say it's on

the way. And uh I think he's Jewish.

He's Russian Jewish. I'm not sure if

he's a Christian or not. Probably not

based on the comedy genre in general. Um

but he said, "So uh I've been reading

the New Testament lately." And then a

lady in the audience goes, "Uh uh me

too." And he goes, "Would you recommend

it?" I've been reading the Old

Testament. Sorry. Been reading the Old

Testament. I don't know what I said, but

I've been reading the Old Testament. She

goes, "Me, too." And he goes, "Would you

recommend it?" And he has such a dry

sense of humor. Everyone's already

laughing like, "Would you recommend it?"

And uh I can't even hear what she said.

He goes, "You know, I if you like Game

of Thrones but want more violence, I'd

recommend the Old Testament. And if you

also think Game of Thrones is too short,

and I thought that was hilarious. I've

never seen Game of Thrones. Um has some

moral boundaries for me to watch, so I

don't do it. But um I knew what the joke

meant. You know, Game of Thrones is very

violent and very long. And uh so I

laughed at that. So everybody knows

the Old Testament has quite a bit of

violence in it. And some of the violence

really offends people because it's

commanded by God,

right? So you hear people say, "Yeah,

God commands genocide. God indeed

commands for entire people groups to be

wiped out in scripture." And then people

struggle with that. Okay. So now let's

think about what would be the solution

for them to have a conviction about what

that means and then apply that

conviction in their lives or mentors. So

let's say this is so hyper specific so

I'm not being too intending to be too

prescriptive here but let's just say

that a mentee is really struggling with

that and you're a mentor and you're

wanting to help them. What? Well

the doctrine of God's justice would be

involved, wouldn't it? Is it really

just? Also the doctrine of

It's partly anthropology but of sin. Uh

sometimes called the doctrine of

depravity or total depravity.

Um what does that doctrine say? Well, it

says that human beings apart from God's

grace will just devolve into sin and

they'll keep devolving to sin. Uh

another part of that doctrine is that

sin is is utterly evil and wicked apart

from God's grace and it just keeps

getting worse. And so if you understand

and have convictions about just how evil

sin is and just how just God is and then

you see him doing something that in your

heart you're like

how is that just? What has to happen is

you need to submit

to his definition of what someone

deserves for having done that and then

also submit to what he calls justice.

And maybe you need to repent of your own

heart's refusal

to accept that that is what is actually

just. And it's almost always because

you're not defining sin like God does,

nor defining justice the way God does.

But if you don't, then you just limp

along forever. And you know what false

teachers these days are saying? It's

like, let's just unhitch the Old

Testament from the New Testament. Let's

stop teaching it. Let's stop talking

about it. They started with it's just

too controversial. Now it's like, meh.

Right. Much of the New Testament is this

an exposition of what the Old Testament

means in light of what's being revealed

about Jesus Christ. You unhitch it, it's

like cutting a tree's roots off and it's

just floating in the air, except it

doesn't just float in there. It crashes

down. You can't unhitch them. But if

you've already concluded, oh wow, yeah,

well this at least now God's not so

violent and not so severe and at least I

can accept that now and I don't have to

go there and constantly be reconvicted.

Well, you know, danger is in that

direction of not resolving that. Um, so

just one more example about how it's not

just good enough to study scripture. You

have to surrender to it. Otherwise, the

doctrine doesn't become a conviction.

And if you don't have a doctrinal

conviction, it won't apply in the way

that it should. Okay, last verse I told

you and then we're done. Matthew uh

22:29.

I decided to have Jesus own words as the

final statement here. Matthew 2:29 says

this, "But Jesus answered them, you are

wrong because you know neither the

scriptures nor the power of God."

Remember in that passage about Timothy

where he says all the word of God is all

inspired and powerful for teaching, for

rebuke, for correction, for training and

righteousness. That's also in a passage

about esquetology about the last days.

And in that passage, it talks about how

people just go from bad to worse. And

they're always learning but never

arriving.

Always learning but never arriving at

the knowledge of the truth. Their truth

cogs are stripped. Their ligaments are

cut. The joint won't even move. There's

no one's really being built up. And so

it is possible to learn, learn, learn,

learn, and learn. But the cogs are

stripped. And so there's no catching and

you don't arrive at the knowledge of the

truth. This is what happened to the

Sadducees. And Jesus says that you are

wrong because you you know neither the

scriptures nor the power of God.

And so leading into communion today,

it's important to think about

yes, you should be being developed in

your doctrinal um understanding. I

wanted to show you these two books

really quickly. We probably um have

copies for you and we can get more or

you can purchase them on your own. And

when it comes to doctrinal development,

this book has been unbelievably valued

to me. This is systematic theology.

Wayne Grudum um a systematic theology

sounds like what it is, a systematic

approach to doctrine. And he will just

take you through, let's say you want to

learn about the doctrine of

justification. He'll have a whole

chapter on that and take you through

what the Bible says on it. Okay? So, and

I'm not saying the elders always agree

with everything he said, but we consider

him to be a trustworthy and faithful

source. He has his own views. He'll tell

you about them, but he never strawmans

others. At least not in my experience.

Seems humble to me. I've never met him,

but I've seen him teach before. And so,

this is a huge just initial doctrinal

development tool. If I were you, I'd get

it. And uh you can start working through

it slowly. We do plan on hosting

eventually some doctrinal studies for

the entire church around that. This is

Christian ethics. Only just came out

recently in 2018. Christian ethics is a

little bit different. So he would not

necessarily talk about uh he might talk

about the doctrine of the law and

principles thereof. Uh well one of the

principles of the doctrine of the law is

that God has ordained property rights

but in a systematics you will not

necessarily hear about how that applies

to economic or political ideology.

Right? In a Christian ethics you will.

So there's a whole chapter I haven't

read it yet. Can't wait to read it

though at some point um about how should

we think about capitalism, socialism,

communism and any other form of

government. And then we he will guide

you through the scriptures about like

well have you considered this law where

God ordains property rights? How does

that work with socialism versus

communism? How does it work with

capitalism? How should we think about so

world view development from the

application of doctrine as well? Okay.

Again Christian systematics Wayne Grudam

Christian ethics Wayne Grudam fantastic

resources. You're going to see them

being brought up beforehand. Um I had

forgotten to say that but I just want to

come back to this idea. Um, just because

you know God's word does not mean you're

surrening to its power. And communion is

a time where we can do that, where

you're like, you know, I it's, yeah, I

need to keep growing. Don't know that

much about spiritual gifts, just as an

example. I'd like to learn more. And

there's time for that. And we want to be

helpful with that as well. Um, however,

when you already know what scripture

says and you know in your life right now

you're not doing it,

you're not being kind to your wife, your

husband, your children. It's not like

that hard of a concept, but you know

what it is. You've run out of human

kindness, you're you're at your wits end

with them, you're always feeling

impatient, and what do you need? Well,

you need to surrender to the Holy

Spirit. You can't have the knowledge

without the grace. There needs to be

transformation. And God wants to help

you. He wants you to surrender to his

spirit and fill you with the kind of

strength that helps you then apply what

you've already learned. So as we come to

communion, I want you to consider are

there ways which I have not been willing

to develop a doctrinal conviction in

this area because I'm like me I'll leave

that for others to learn. It's an

apathetic maybe even lazy attitude. It's

not God does not want us to be informed

uninformed. Uh what about uh if you

know what scripture says but you keep

just not doing it. Could you come to

communion? God just forgive me for wash,

rinse and repeating this thing.

I confess it a sin. Give me the strength

to walk out this room and not live that

way anymore.

Or whatever it is. Remember all of God's

word is living and active and sharper

than a two-ed sword. And part of its

power is to convict us even down to the

bone. To paraphrase that verse. So let's

not come to communion today without like

with leaving grace on the table.

What does that mean? It means that

everything in all of scripture doctrally

or character development or or when it

comes to grace,

it's impossible to apply to your life

apart from the cross. It all requires

the cross. It requires the power of the

cross for you to be forgiven. It

requires the power of the cross for you

to be changed. So that's why we come to

communion. Let me pray.

Father, thank you

for the time and the patience and

the illumination of the mind that you

give us about developing this way to

just pray my main point one more time. I

pray that we would all grow towards

maturity of faith. That we'd understand

that that requires growth in doctrinal

conviction and application and that that

comes from the entire

word of God. I pray now as people come

forward to communion that we would come

forward with humble, surrendered,

convicted, consoled, or even encouraged

hearts and that we'd worship in spirit

and truth

during and after communion. and that you

would continue helping us to develop uh

and and build your church, participate

in how you're building up your church

when it comes to one-on-one disciplehip.

And I pray all these things in Jesus

name. Amen.