Why We All Need the ABCs

We live in an anti-intellectual, anti-authority society, especially when it comes to religious matters. Ours is an existential (based on human experience, empirical) society devoted to the 'warm fuzzy' feel good, self-centred mentality that is so characteristic of the New Age movement which has bombarded the country-including much of the church. As a consequence, the terms doctrine or theology are not very popular in Christian circles. In fact, they are often denigrated or belittled. We hear statements like, "We don't need to know all that theological or doctrinal stuff. We just need to know Jesus." Or, "Well, I am not a theologian and never expect to be. I just love Jesus." But knowing and loving Jesus in truth is dependent on the teachings of the Bible. Doctrine is simply another name for teaching and theology means "the knowledge of God." Often the term theology is used in a general way to refer to other areas of study that relate to the knowledge of God. Biblical theology is simply the truths of God's Word that give us the knowledge of God, of man, salvation, sanctification, the church, or life and life abundantly.

Jesus Himself said, "You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free" (John 8:32), and when praying His great high-priestly prayer to the Father He said, "Sanctify them through Your truth, Your Word is truth" (John 17:17).
Besides being an attitude of ignorance, such a attitude toward doctrine and theology ignores the Bible as God's inspired and authoritative Word. It treats God's Word as simply a lot of superfluous and outdated information-stuff we really don't need. This elevates man's wisdom above God's wisdom when the opposite is really the case.

Isaiah 55:6-11
Seek the Lord while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near.
7 Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; And let him return to the Lord, And He will have compassion on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.
8 "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Neither are your ways My ways," declares the Lord.
9 "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.
10 "For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, And do not return there without watering the earth, And making it bear and sprout, And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater;
11 So shall My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.

There is only one way to experience God's salvation and sanctification and that is through Jesus Christ and the life God gives us in Him. We can only experience this, however, as we listen to the teachings (doctrines) of the Bible, which is our index for faith and practice.

Through his false teachers, who often appear as angels or messengers of light (actually messengers of darkness, cf. 2 Cor. 11:13-15; James. 3:5; 1 Tim. 4:1),
Satan not only denies Christ as the sole answer but offers many other roads and substitutes to life, but they are all false and lead to destruction.

In Matthew 7:13-14 Jesus said, "Enter through the narrow gate, because the gate is wide and the way is spacious that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. But the gate is narrow and the way is difficult that leads to life, and there are few who find it."

To those who had already entered by faith into relation with Christ (as well as others who were listening; v. 28), our Lord describes the comparative unpopularity of their new position. The order of gate and way suggests the gate as the entrance to the way, symbolic of a believer's initial experience with Christ, which introduces him to the life of godliness. The first Christians were called those of "the Way" (Acts 9:2; Acts 19:9, 23; 22:4; 24:14, 22).
Though the mass of mankind is upon the broad way that leads to destruction (eternal ruin), the other gate and way are so small as to need finding. Yet the same God who provided Christ, who is both gate and way (John 14:6), also causes men to find the portal (John 6:44). Life. Here a contrasting parallel to destruction and thus a reference to the blessed state in heaven, though this eternal life begins at regeneration.

The Lord goes on to warn against the many false teachers who would arise to lead people through the wrong gate and down the path of destruction.

Matthew 7:15-20
"Watch out for false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are voracious wolves.
Mt 7:16 You will recognize them by their fruit. People don't gather grapes from thorns or figs from thistles, do they?
Mt 7:17 In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit.
Mt 7:18 A good tree is not able to bear bad fruit, nor a bad tree to bear good fruit.
Mt 7:19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
Mt 7:20 So then, you will recognize them by their fruit (NET Bible).

In the context, please note the fruit by which these false prophets are known-it is their teaching, not necessarily their behaviour. For how do these wolves appear? They appear in sheep's clothing. In other words, they look like sheep and talk like sheep. They are often kind and even moral. They use religious terminology and act concerned for people and society, but in reality, they are wolves preaching a false way either in relation to salvation or sanctification or both.

Those who enter upon the narrow way must beware of false prophets, who claim to guide believers but really practice deception. Sheep's clothing is not to be regarded as prophets' garb, but is an evident contrast to vicious wolves. God's people in all ages have needed to beware of deceptive leaders (Deut 13:1; Acts 20:29; 1 John 4:1; Rev 13:11-14).
By their fruits. The doctrines produced by these false prophets, rather than the works they perform, since outward appearances may not cause suspicion. The test of the prophet is his conformity to Scripture (1 Cor 14:37; Deut 13:1-5).
Corrupt tree. One that is decayed, worthless, unusable. The worthlessness of such a tree calls for its swift removal from the orchard lest it infect the others.

As mentioned, we live in an anti-intellectual, existential, emotional, self-cantered, and Satan-inspired environment that seeks to bring people into religious experiences. But this environment either denies Christ and the Bible as God's final Word, or it seeks to subtract from or add to Christ as God's solution.

Recently, we heard a prominent daytime talk show host talk about how bad television is becoming and its negative influence on society. In a genuine desire to combat 'bad' television, she wants her shows to be a force for transformation, designed to help people turn their lives around. Now this sounds good, right? But it is so deceptive! Unless people know God's Word even Christians will easily be misled. New Age terms were used such as "centre yourself," "meditate," "get in touch with your spirit," "empty yourself," and invite the great source (or whatever you want to call it) to "come into your heart." One show was devoted to showing how you can have all the money and success you want simply by thinking positively.

God's Holy Word teaches us that to combat such false teaching, we need to know and be trained in the Scripture. This is a very strong thrust of the Bible, especially, the New Testament.

Ephesians 4:11-14
It was he who gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, Eph 4:12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, that is, to build up the body of Christ, Eph 4:13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God-a mature person, attaining to the measure of Christ's full stature.
Eph 4:14 The purpose of this is to no longer be children, tossed back and forth by waves and carried about by every wind of teaching by the trickery of people who with craftiness carry out their deceitful schemes (NET Bible, emphasis mine).

Colossians 2:1-5
For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you, and for those in Laodicea, and for as many as have not met me face to face.
Col 2:2 My goal is that their hearts, having been knit together in love, may be encouraged, and that they may have all the riches of full assurance in their understanding of the knowledge of the mystery of God, namely, Christ,Col 2:3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
Col 2:4 I say this so that no one will deceive you through arguments that sound reasonable.
Col 2:5 For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit, rejoicing to see the order and the firmness of your faith in Christ. (emphasis mine)

2 Pet. 2:1-3
But false prophets arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. These false teachers will infiltrate your midst with destructive heresies, even to the point of denying the Master who bought them. As a result, they will bring swift destruction on themselves.
2 Pet 2:2 And many will follow their debauched lifestyles. Because of these false teachers, the way of truth will be slandered.
2 Pet 2:3 And in their greed they will exploit you with deceptive words. Their condemnation pronounced long ago is not sitting idly by; their destruction is not asleep (NET Bible).

So how do we protect ourselves and other believers from this onslaught? And where do we begin so we can also truly experience the grace of God in Christ? In other words, where does this process begin? It should begin with the basics-with a study like the ABCs For Christian Growth, Laying the Foundation. The key terms used in this title ('ABCs,' 'Christian Growth,' and 'Foundation') were carefully chosen because they each express biblical ideas and objectives God has for the Christian. So many Christians today are biblically illiterate. The sad fact is, this is true even in churches that claim to be Bible-centred. Because of this, and as an incentive for the study of the ABCs, I believe it is important and helpful that we see the emphasis the Bible has on the key terms used in the title for this series of studies.

If you are a new Christian, you may not be aware that very little time today, in contrast to the past, is devoted to in-depth Bible study and expository preaching. In times past, solid Bible teaching occurred both Sunday morning and evening as well as on Wednesday night. This was the minimum for most evangelical Bible churches, but that is not the case today. Some churches are seeking to maintain a strong Bible teaching emphasis through small groups, and this has replaced Sunday and Wednesday evenings. But too often these small groups are more fellowship and sharing oriented, than Bible centred. The fellowship, the sharing and caring play an important role, but never to the exclusion of the Word.

Thus, since the terms used in the title of this series are not only biblical, but have a strong focus in the Bible, I believe a brief look at these terms is needed to grasp their significance, their need in the church of today, and the objectives of this series of studies.