By: Lawrence Kelley
I received this post via mailing list from a preacher in WI named Whit Sasser. This really struck a chord with me because I see so many of my brethren who spend all their time in tearing down false doctrines and not as much reinforcing and teaching the doctrine of Christ. Though I understand the need for knowing about false doctrines, I also feel we need to be built up and encouraged. Consider the example of Jesus. He certainly was not afraid of confrontation. However, He dealt with it as it came up rather than spending all His time looking for it. (jle)
There was once a woman who knew many true doctrines and twice as many false ones. With one very notable exception (which we will return to later), she was aware of all the dangers, perils and pitfalls the faithful could encounter. Daily, she warned her children about the falsehoods in the media, the errors of the cults and the evils of drugs, sex, and rock and roll. Being dutiful children, they listened to their mother intently and learned to be afraid of almost everything. Unfortunately, as they grew to adulthood, they ceased to be active in the Lord's work and one even gave up going to church all together. One day in a conversation with a friend it finally dawned on her that there was one spiritual danger she had forgotten. The danger of defining your faith solely by opposing the things that are wrong. This she should have done, without forgetting that following Jesus is about pursuing what is good and right. The exhortation is for us to inspire our children to go after all that is good and true and beautiful with a holy zeal and love for righteousness. Let us teach them to stand against what is wrong, but more importantly, to strive for what is right.
P.S. If you would like to be added to brother Sasser's mailing list, send an email requesting such to wsasser@tds.net.
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8 comments:
"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things." -- Philippians 4:8
To me, that verse is highly instructive: if parents (and teachers) would direct a child's mind strictly toward what is true- honorable- just- pure- lovely- commendable- worthy of praise, evil would be easily discerned.
Similarly in the church, if we adults would spend the majority of our time "renewing our mind" with pure truth, false doctrines would be obvious.
Teaching of truth does necessitate, though, some discussion of evil. As Paul wrote to the Ephesians, "Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead *expose* them."
wow, June. Great comment. I think if we become singularly focused on anyone teaching, we open ourselves for trouble, because there is so much that is involved with being a Christian and much of it involves us finding the correct balance.
You know Josh, I debated about whether or not to even post, but since you are my in-law, and your stuck with me either way, I decided to do it.
Who can argue about the need to teach godly principals in the family? No one, and no one as argued that we should neglect them, in fact, I don't personally know of anyone who does. Yet here are some points
In your comments you say "I see so many of my brethren who spend all their time in tearing down false doctrines and not as much reinforcing and teaching the doctrine of Christ."
This is a charge that cannot be substantiated. Who does that? And what proof do you have that they have done that? And, if they do, why would you want to address it because it would be false, are you not violating your own directive in making the statement?
And further, preaching the doctrine of Christ includes the destruction of error (c.f. 2 John 7-11; 2 Corinthians 10:3-5; Jude 3; 2 Timothy 4:1-5; etc...)
You Also say " Consider the Example of Jesus, he certainly was not afraid of confrontation. However, he dealt with it as it came up rather than spending all his time looking for it."
This assumes that there are people who spend "all their time looking for it." but who does that? But also, Jesus went to places (such as the synagogue and temple) where he knew he would find opposition, he did not avoid it, and when he dealt with sin, he dealt with it very pointedly and very directly. He didn't condemn sin in general, but dealt with specific things specifically.
This whole thing reeks of the "lets' just preach Christ and leave others alone" mentality But the fact is, that cannot be done. Preaching Christ includes the exposition of damnable error! But the fact is, if one preaches Christ , he must expose error (Ephesians 5:11) Not just "leave it alone" but "expose it"
Paul pointed out that the preaching of the gospel was going to be the method by which people would be saved (1 Corinthians 1:18-24. If we do not deal with the damnable doctrines that are causing their souls to be lost, how in the world do we expect them to see these errors for what they are and turn to the truth?
One of Brother Kelley's mentors, whom he studied with in a preacher training program wrote an article in a magazine that is now defunct, entitled "Accentuate the the positive and Eliminate the negative" But this cannot be done either if we truly preach christ! much of the gosple has negative warnings. Are we to leave off that fact that these errors will cause a person to be lost in Hell?
I know I don't want to stand before the Lord knowing I neglected large portions of his word in favor of "positive" preaching.
Another point is, a lesson that is particularly hard on some specific sin may seem harsh to the one involved in the sin, but it provides a great deal of encouragement and edification to the person who has overcome that sin.
I did a sermon on this some time ago, and I'll post the outline in my blog.
Anyhow, this was not intended to give you a tongue lashing (or keyboard lashing as the case may be). I just believe there is much more to preaching the gospel than simply knowing the truth. We must also defend it.
Kurt,
I knew you would have something to say about this post, but I had no idea it would pop up so soon. One thing I can say is that you never have to debate about posting something to me and regardless of our family ties; I love you and welcome the input.
I must admit, now that you have pointed a few things out, I can see where I may have been a bit unclear on a few things I said. The reason for this is because I like to keep my comments brief when posting someone else’s work—a mistake I will not easily make in the future.
Perhaps I was a bit unfair in saying that I see many of my brethren who spend all their time tearing down false doctrines… I probably should have said “a majority of their time” or something to that affect as absolutes are rarely accurate. I assure you that just because you don’t know of those of brethren; it doesn’t mean they are not out there. Many of whom I am speaking, I am in contact with on a regular basis. As far as naming them, I won’t do that.
Let me make one thing very clear, however. I never stated nor did I mean to imply (if that is what you think I did) that there is not a time to expose false doctrine and combat them from the pulpit or otherwise. I guess my discouragement comes from the fact that the destruction of others is the dominant theme in much of what I read and hear. Are we not to follow Paul’s example to declare the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27)? I guess I just understand the “whole counsel of God” to be more than (but not excluding) exposing false teaching.
I am sorry you feel that “this whole thing reeks of the ‘lets just preach Christ and leave the others alone’ mentality,” but I have never heard of such a mentality and don’t care for labels myself so I don’t really know what else to say about that. I am also sorry because I never said that we should just preach Chris and leave the others alone, nor do I believe that.
I do agree wholeheartedly with your final comment. There is much more to preaching the Gospel than simply knowing the truth. However, there is also much more to preaching the gospel than exposing false doctrine. We as preachers ought to do our best to make sure that we preach about everything that the Bible teaches.
I have done my best to respond to everything you said. However, if you would like to continue this further. You know where to find me. Again, thanks for commenting. You might learn something ha ha
I see the point, and I didn't mean to imply that anyone necessarily didn't preach the whole counsel of God.
And I apologize if I jumped to a premature conclusion, it is just generally when I read or hear statements like that, it is generally a dodge or an excuse for not dealing with sin and error.
And here, I do not mean to imply that you do that, it is just, I suppose a knee-jerk reaction, because I spend too much time on myspace :)
but my next question would be,
when you say "the majority of their time" How do we determine how much is too much? By what standard are we to judge how much refutation of error is needed?
I do think, simply by looking at the book of Acts, the Apostles spent a great deal if not "most" of their time in controversy while preaching against error. In almost every city that Paul went to, the first place he went was the synagogue, a place where his preaching always caused controversy. It was controversial because he used the Word of God to convict them of sin, He didn't go in a teach them a series on how to have a better family, or how cope with lives problems. While, these are legitimate bible topics, they where not what was needed, They were envolved in error and that is what Paul dealt with.
Even in Paul's writing he dealt a great deal with error.
But yes, I know I might learn something, that is why I continually read these blogs you put out :)
Honestly, I wish I could know how much is too much. I wish there was a definitive way to know that I am preaching what I should when I should. Personally, I just do my best to follow the scriptures and teach on as wide of a variety of topics that I possibly can.
I made the point in a comment rather than in the post that being singularly focused on anyone area of the Gospel can be dangerous, and that is why we have to work so hard to find that balance. If you figure out the secret, be sure and let me know.
One thing that comes to mind regarding the refutation of error in Acts and in Paul's writings is that the apostles, for the most part, were dealing directly with the ones who were practicing error. Maybe that is a direction we should consider.
Thanks again for your comments.
OK, One other question
While I agree that a great deal of Paul, and other's preaching was to non-believers, the epistles were not written to Non-Christians, and they dealt with a great amount of error.
And, Paul, as he spoke to the elders of the church of Christ at Ephesus Said " and remember for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears" (Acts 20:31). What was he warning them? Well, the context shows he was warning them against the false teachers or "previous wolves" who would rise up, even from among themselves. This would, obviously , had to have a fair amount of "negative" or refutation of error.
But, as we both stated, there is really no way to tell when we have preached too much on error. Preaching should be balanced, and we need to suit our preaching to the times and to what is needed for "necessary edification" be it sermons on the family, or refutation of error, we must always teach the truth.
oh, and I just realized that that wasnt' a question, but rather a statment. :)
I think I understand and agree with much of what Josh is saying. I have heard it preached that there are a lot more negative things than positive things in the Bible, so it's okay to preach about negative things more. I've also heard it said it is a lot easier to preach from a negative viewpoint than from a positive viewpoint. I experienced 2 years of preaching with a person (a wonderful, godly, and helpful man when he wasn't preaching) who did that and I lost my focus on what being a Christian should be all about. I lived in guilt about what I wasn't doing or able to do. When a preacher mostly preaches on what we shouldn't be doing and what's wrong with other religions, it can be very discouraging, especially to our youth. Try teaching a Bible class of middle school children or high schoolers negatively. The call here is to not for teachers/preachers to take the easy way and focus on the negative in their lessons; it is to take the more difficult way of studying deeper and figuring out ways to teach Bible truths in a positive way.
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