Video: God’s Teachers 3: Imparting Doctrine (2 hours, 1 min)

Review

• Lesson 1: Character: 1 Tim. 4:11-16; 2 Tim. 1:12-14
• Lesson 2: Imparting Life: Psalm 128:1-4; 2 Cor. 3:1-3

Impart Doctrine

• God is THE only Teacher: Matt. 23:8-10
  • Via Bible: Psalm 119:99-100
  • Via Holy Spirit: 1 John 2:27
  • Via Humans: Acts 8:26-40
• Eph. 4:7-16: Christ teaches through teachers 
  • 4:11: 1 of 5 ministries
  • 4:12: for equipping all
  • 4:15: Speak the truth in love
    • KNOW THE TRUTH
      • God’s Spirit: John 16:13; 1 Cor. 2:6-16
      • God’s Word: John 17:17; cf. John 10:35
        • Scripture = authority, interpreter: Matt. 4:1-11
        • Think & Study: Acts 17:11; 2 Tim. 2:7, 15 
        • Pray: Psalm 119:12, 18, 125, etc. 
      • Jesus: John 14:6 (cf. John 1:14; 16:14; Luke 24:27) 
      • Love the truth: 2 Cor. 3:12-4:6 (cf. Gen. 44:33-45:3)
    • TEACH THE TRUTH
      • Goal = reveal Jesus (John 4:42; S. of S. 3:3-4)
        • Light → Life (Gen. 1:3ff; 2 Peter 1) 
      • Plainly: 2 Cor. 4:2
        • faithfully: 1 Cor. 4:1-2; 2 Tim. 2:2; 1 Peter 4:11 
        • may use: Outlines, Writing, Repetition
      • The whole truth–no more, no less: Rev 22:18-19
      • Acts 18:24-28: Apollos Example

Doctrines to Impart (modified from Discipleship Curriculum)

Principles:

1. Spend time in proportion to time spent in Scripture on subjects
2. Begin with clearest principles first
3. Teach what has been revealed to you

Scripture Prioritizes:

1. The Gospel: The Person and Work of Christ
   1. Theme of the Bible, especially spelled out in Gospels and N.T.
2. Loving/Discerning Truth 
   1. “Parable of Sower” given most attention in gospels
      1. Claimed as a sort of starting point in Mark 4:13
   2. If mechanism to discern truth is flawed, ministry and life will fail
3. Authority and Power of Scripture
   1. This is heavily taught and assumed by Jesus/Bible
   2. John 12:47-50: Standard by which we are judged
4. The Nature of God
   1. At the beginning of God’s written word to Israel (Ex. 20:1-6)
   2. Essential to worship, judgment, salvation (Ex. 20:1-6; Mark 12:32-33; John 8:24; etc.)
5. Ministry of the Holy Spirit
   1. Fruit, Sanctification, & Gifts of the Holy Spirit
   2. This is key to all ministry (Zech. 4:6; Phil. 3:3; etc.)
6. Growth and Discipleship
   1. Begins with baptism (Matt. 28:18-20)
   2. Acts 2
   3. Church
7. Prayer
   1. Seen as essential in Scripture; taught repeatedly by Jesus/Bible
8. Resurrection of the Dead & Eternal Judgment
   1. Listed as foundational/elementary doctrine in Hebrews 6:1-2

Why Write an Outline?

Often when I’m teaching the Bible I will provide some sort of outline. This practice began when I was in college doing Bible studies, and a friend suggested that a written outline be given because people were having difficulties retaining what I was saying. And ever since then, that philosophy kind of stuck.

Further than this, I think we do see the power of the written word in Scripture itself. Though Paul spoke many things in his ministry, we only retain and remember what he committed to writing through the Holy Spirit (which is now Scripture). Of course, our writing will not be Scripture, but it does show us a principle that the written word has value to preserve teaching even long after the teacher or spoken teaching pass on.

So, I’d definitely recommend writing an outline or something of the sort if you want extra reinforcement of your teaching.

How to Write an Outline

Now, to explain how to write a teaching outline is honestly more difficult for me. I think it just comes naturally/supernaturally, so it’s difficult to teach. I also think there is clearly no right/wrong way on doing this. Rather, whatever works best for you will be the best.

With that said, here are some principles that work best for me in writing my outlines:

• pray for revelation and the Lord’s wisdom and care BEFORE starting to type
• keep in mind this goal: the outline can stand on its own as a skeleton even when people don’t hear or forget your teaching
• use Google Docs (or similar thing) that can easily be accessed from other devices, so you can refine it during your day as God reveals more to you
• start by writing down anything that seems relevant to the teaching to come (at this point, it only has to make sense to you)…this is your brain dump
• start giving shape to these thoughts by writing down main points / headings
• then place subheadings and supporting points under these
• add Scripture references that support your main headings (refer to the “brain dump” mentioned above)
  • if you have only 0-1 Scripture references for a heading, lose that as your main heading and get one that is more Scripturally supported
  • if you have a lot of references (which is good) you probably want to disperse these passages in the subpoints/subheadings rather than dump a ton of Scripture in the main heading
• write out the entirety of any Scriptures or quotes that you wouldn’t want them to miss (these are the things that if they don’t remember anything else they NEED to know these) – there shouldn’t be more than 3 of these
• try to keep it to 1 page (if some content needs to be longer, consider writing an article and attaching it to the 1-page outline)

Again, these are just some general principles I might think about (while occasionally breaking all of them myself :). So please see principle #1 and abide by that first and foremost: “pray for revelation and the Lord’s wisdom and care BEFORE starting to type”

Ladies and gentlemen,

I thought this was an excellent debate from 2 respected gospel scholars who have come to completely contradictory conclusions regarding the gospels. Peter Williams has done tremendous work (in my humble opinion) showing why it is very reasonable to trust the gospels as authoritative. In contrast, Bart Ehrman is a self-professed Christian-turned-skeptic. The debate is a little academic, but worth it to mine through (praying for Ehrman to have a “Saul of Tarsus” moment!):

Review

• 1 Tim. 4:11-16: faithful in doctrine and life
•  2 Tim. 1:12-14: by dependence on God’s Spirit

Impart Life

• Psalm 128:1-4; Acts 20:28: You
• 2 Cor. 3:1-3 (cf. Acts 9:1-2): Others

Grow Yourself in Christ

• Acts 2:37-41: Begin
  1. Repent
  2. Be baptized
  3. Receive the Holy Spirit
• Acts 2:42-47: Continue
  1. Study Scripture
  2. Fellowship
  3. Prayer

Grow Others in Christ

• 1 Thes. 1:4-2:12 (especially 1:5): 
  1. Speak (Eph. 6:18-20; Col. 4:2-4: with prayer)
  2. Holy Spirit conviction
  3. By example

From our Hope College Retreat in 2006, here is the late Earl “The Pearl” Washington teaching about true Christianity vs. false Christianity using the book of Revelation:

• 1:2 – focus on individuals at the end of Paul’s life, not “projects” or “movements” directly
• 1:3 – constant prayer/praise for Timothy
• 1:4 – intimate bond with those he disciples–tears when he left; joy when together
• 1:5 – knew his family
• 1:6-7 – impart Spirit —> ultimately for ministry
• 1:8-12 – God’s teachers suffer–it’s our high calling
• 1:12 (compare with 1:14) – God entrusts and guards the deposit in us
• 1:13 – follow what I taught you
• 1:14 – we guard by the Holy Spirit the deposit
• 1:15 – MANY departed from Paul
• 1:16-18 – praises 1 who was loyal
• 2:1 – sees Timothy as his child
• 2:1 – strengthened by God’s grace
• 2:2 – faithfully share and entrust to others good deposit
• 2:3-6 – you must suffer–endure it well
• 2:7 – think + God’s help = understanding
• 2:8-13 – I endure; we endure —> salvation for others, salvation for me: 
  1. look to Jesus without
  2. trust Jesus within
• 2:14 – Pass on what Paul teaches
• 2:14 – Pass on: don’t argue over words
• 2:15 – rightly handle God’s word
• 2:16-19 – reckless teaching leads astray in doctrine and character
• 2:19-21 – only holy vessels honor God, though all vessels serve their purpose
• 2:22 – pursue holiness with others who are pursuing holiness
• 2:23-26 – God’s servant = kind, patient, gentle to all; able to teach
• 3:1-5 – avoid those rejecting God’s ways
• 3:6-9 – some with depraved minds will keep learning but not find truth – stay away from them!
• 3:10-17 – persevere in doctrine and life – see me + Scripture as teachers in this
• 4:1-5 – patiently and persistently preach God’s word (even when less want to hear it)
• 4:6-8 – Paul about to die and be crowned with all Christians
• 4:19-22 – greet some, and some greet you; Jesus be with you

I highly encourage everyone to read The Cedar of Lebanon – A Testimony from China! Takes approx. 5-10 min. to read.

What a testimony of the Lord!

This is one of my favorite poems of all time, I have it affixed to my Bible.

Poem by M.E. (Margaret) Barber (a mentor to Watchman Nee):

Thou servant of the living God,
Whilst lions round thee roar,
Look up and trust and praise His name,
And all His ways adore;
For even now, in peril dire,
He works to set thee free,
And in a way known but to Him,
Shall thy deliverance be.
Dost wait while lions round thee stand,
Dost wait in gloom, alone?
And looking up above thy head
See but a sealed stone?
Praise in the dark! Yea, praise His Name,
Who trusted thee to see
His mighty power displayed again
For thee, His saint, for thee.
Thou servant of the living God,
Thine but to wait and praise;
The living God, Himself will work,
To Him thine anthem raise.
Though undelivered, thou dost wait,
The God who works for thee,
When His hour strikes, will with a word,
Set thee for ever free.
(Dan. 6:20)

A friend asks, “Why should I trust a God I can’t see or prove even exists?”

If such a scenario hasn’t happened, it will. Even some reading this now are probably saying, “Good point,” to this argument.

So…how would you respond?

Let’s listen to Dr. Jerry Root share his own story of responding to such a question after a class he taught (which, I believe, captures so well the crux of the real flaw with the initial question).

Here is the transcript:

I [Dr. Root] said [to this atheist student], “…You’re from Brown University, you must be very bright–ivy league school–tell me about that, what are you studying?”

She says, “Biochemistry.”

We talked a little further and I said, “Well we talked about spiritual things in this class. What did you think?”

She said, “Well, as a biochemist,” which I thought was a little premature–she was only a sophomore. She said, “As a biochemist, I live by the principle if I can’t perceive it empirically I just don’t believe it.”

I said, “That’s the principle you live by? If you can’t perceive something empirically you won’t believe it?”

She says, “Yes.”

I said, “Would you please set that principle forth for me empirically?”

I hope you see the problem. It’s an inherent contradiction. It’s a proposition that is not empirically perceived…

She saw the contradiction. She was a bright Brown student, and she freaked out.

She said, “I’ve never seen the contradiction in my own presupposition.” She said, “Why, everybody at Brown University believes this.”

I said, “No, there’s Christians there, too.”

And I said, “And you know what? Just to be fair to materialists, I’ve met materialists who would never subscribe to that. So let’s be fair.”

But I said, “This is the thing. Um, John Polkinghorne, who taught at Cambridge University and was…had a degree in theology and a degree in physics. He taught physics; he was the president of one of the Cambridge University colleges. He said, ‘If you ask the scientist, “Why is the kettle boiling?,” the scientists would tell you based on the measureable features, on observable features: the heat from the burner is agitating the molecules and it’s burning it up. I mean, it’s ah, ah…at a hundred degrees centigrade sea level it boils.’

“He says, ‘That’s a good answer, that’s the answer the scientist would give you.’

“He said, ‘But you could also say, “I would like a cup of tea, and would you like one, too?” And the second answer you couldn’t arrive at by mere scientific method.'”

And so this becomes very, very important.

And I said to her, too, “Mortimer Adler, the philosopher, who was at the University of Chicago, said, ‘In three generations we’ve gone from saying, “That which is measurable is that which is important for science,” to saying, “That which is measurable is the only thing that’s important.”‘”

Lecture by Jerry Root, Lanier Theological Library, Sept. 18, 2019

In case you missed it, here’s the point:

Everyone begins with unproven assumptions. Let’s call those presuppositions. Even the one who demands scientific proof is beginning with the presupposition that empirical, scientific proof is a necessary prerequisite to following Christ. Where does such a notion come from? It is a presupposition that cannot be proven (which is the ultimate irony).

Of course, Christians also have presuppositions.

I presuppose that Jesus is Lord, and that the Bible is His Word. I believe such conviction only happen by revelation, and that revelation comes primarily and specifically through God’s Spirit and God’s Scripture (as we have humble hearts to obey/receive)…but also comes in a general way through reason, observation, and nature.

So if we can all agree that we all start with presuppositions, the true question is:

Whose presuppositions are the most sound, consistent with reality, and ultimately true?

Now that’s a question worth exploring!

Brian