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Why Your Members Must Learn Doctrine

What's Driving Your Life: A 10-Day Turnaround for a Fresh Start

The Daniel Plan Study Guide with Streaming Video

Building a Better Life

Here are nine ways to clearly explain to your church members why they need to learn doctrine.

1. Because knowing the truth about God helps me know God better.

“Listen carefully to wisdom; set your mind on understanding. Cry out for wisdom, and beg for understanding. Search for it like silver, and hunt for it like hidden treasure. Then you will understand respect for the Lord, and you will find that you know God” (Proverbs 2:2-5 NCV). J. I. Packer once said, “We are cruel to ourselves if we try to live in this world without knowing the God whose world it is and who runs it. The world becomes a strange, mad, painful place ... for those who do not know about God.” Living in this world without knowing God is like driving a car with the windows blacked out. It doesn’t matter how hard you step on the accelerator or what direction you steer, you keep running into things and you never get anywhere. If you’re going to get to know God, you have to know the truth about him. You cannot develop a relationship with God based on your guesses or wishes about what he is like. Relationships are built on the truth. You can’t know someone if you believe a lie about them.

2. Because knowledge is an essential foundation.

“Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of instruction [doctrine] about washings [baptism] and laying on of hands, and the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment” (Hebrews 6:1-2 NAS). We all build our lives on a foundation that guides the decisions we make and the direction we take. But the only foundation that is strong enough to build on is knowledge of God. Just as you have to know your ABCs before you can read and write, you have to know the truth about G-O-D before you can live right. The old phrase “ignorance is bliss” is not true! Ignorance can put us at risk. And ignorance of God’s truth is incredibly dangerous. Our joy is at stake. Our families are at risk. Our place in eternity is at risk.

3. Because doctrine feeds my soul.

“In pointing out these things to the brethren, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, constantly nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine which you have been following” (1 Timothy 4:6 NAS). Have you ever gone on one of those liquid diets? What happens? In just a few days you would sell your firstborn child for a carrot?anything with some crunch to it. You hunger for solid food. That’s a sign of maturity; you need solid food to sustain you. Doctrine is solid food for our souls. This nourishment of our souls is not automatic! We have to choose to eat this solid food. We have to chew for a while on some of the truths in the Bible in order to understand them. In Hebrews 5:12-14 we are warned very clearly that if we don’t decide to dig into God’s Word, we’ll remain baby Christians. Baby Christians are believers who always seem to have so many needs that they can never meet the needs of others. You need solid food not only to keep growing in faith but also to sustain the spiritual life you already have. If you stop feeding on God’s Word, don’t think you’ll stay where you are. Without God’s Word, your spiritual life will weaken.

4. Because knowing the truth enables me to serve others.

“If you give these instructions to the believers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, as you feed yourself spiritually on the words of faith and of the true teaching which you have followed” (1 Timothy 4:6 GNT). Notice the order of the passage in 1 Timothy. First, you feed yourself, then you serve others by sharing with them what you have learned. Would you like to encourage others? Look at Titus 1:9: “He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it” (NIV). One of the keys to real encouragement is knowing the truth of God. Without God’s truth, your encouragement is just words?and that’s pretty weak encouragement. Suppose a friend shows up on your doorstep one evening filled with discouragement over a tough situation at work?or maybe your friend is out of work. How are you going to provide comfort and encouragement? Invite your friend in to watch a video of Rocky? Make a banana split? Pat your friend on the back and say, “It’ll be okay?” To which your friend probably would say, “How do you know it’ll be okay?” And that question pinpoints the difference between our saying that things will be okay and what God promises. It’s entirely different to remind a friend that God says he will never fail us or forsake us?that’s encouragement your friend can bank on. Then you can make the banana split!

5. Because knowing the truth protects against error.

“So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ” (Colossians 2:6–8 NIV). Once you get rooted in God’s Word, it will be difficult for anyone to throw you off with a false doctrine. Take cars, for example. In order to drive a car, you don’t have to know anything about an internal combustion engine. You just push the gas pedal and the car goes. Likewise, you don’t have to know all of the truths in the Bible to become a Christian. All you have to know and believe is that Jesus loves you, that he died for your sins and that he was resurrected to give you new life. But let’s get back in your car. Let’s say you’re driving down the street and the car starts to make a horrible sound. You think the sound is coming from the engine but you’re not sure. Spotting an auto repair shop, you pull in and ask a mechanic what might be wrong. The mechanic tells you, “You need to fill your gas tank with water. That will fix everything.” Obviously, at that point, even a little bit of knowledge about cars would be of great help to you. The best way to protect yourself against errors of any kind is to know the truth. Agents at the United States Bureau of Engraving and Printing are taught to recognize a counterfeit bill not by looking at counterfeits but by staring at new money eight hours a day, looking for flaws. Once you know the truth, you can spot a counterfeit every time.

6. Because how I think determines how I act.

“For as he thinks within himself, so he is” (Proverbs 23:7 NAS). Beliefs determine behavior. Thoughts result in actions. If you were sitting in front of me right now and I were to tell you that I had taped a $100 bill under your chair, you would almost certainly check the bottom of your chair. At least, if you believed me you would. Let me stretch this illustration a little. We live in a world that tells us, “Here’s where to find the $100 bills.” So we spend our lives struggling to find fulfillment in our jobs or satisfaction in our vacations, and all we come up with is old bubble gum! The amazing thing is we often keep going back to the bottom of that chair again and again. You’d think we’d have learned the first time, but our beliefs keep determining our actions. You cannot change the way you act without changing the way you believe. God’s truth changes the way we act. It will change the way you parent. It will change the way you work and the way you handle your business. It will change the way you think about the future and the past. It will change you!

7. Because I am commanded to study the truth.

“Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15 NAS). Knowing the truth enables you to better use the truth. Second Timothy 2:15 isn’t just for pastors; everyone is to learn how to accurately handle God’s Word. The Bible doesn’t tell us that all of us are to be teachers; that’s a gift some have and others do not. But the Bible does tell us that we are all responsible to know the truth for ourselves. We’re not to rely on just what others tell us. We are to study the truth for ourselves.

8. Because I am commanded to live the truth.

“I have been sent to bring faith to those God has chosen and to teach them to know the truth that shows them how to live godly lives” (Titus 1:1 NLT). There are two important facts in Titus 1:1. First, to live the truth, you have to know the truth. Second, to know the truth, you must first learn the truth. You wouldn’t expect to pick up a trumpet and know how to play; you’d have to learn. It’s the same with God’s truth. You and I can’t keep God’s command to live the truth unless we take the time to learn the truth. If we don’t give our hearts to learning the truth, we become like Sheila. Interviewed about her faith, she revealed the self-centered attitude that many struggle with. She said, “I believe in God, but I can’t remember the last time I went to church. My faith has carried me a long way. It’s Sheila-ism. Just my own little voice.” That so-called faith might carry her a long way, but she has no idea what direction it will carry her! Depending on your spiritual instincts is not enough, not if you’ve never taken the time to learn the truth.

9. Because I am commanded to defend the truth.

“Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence” (1 Peter 3:15 NAS). The Bible demands that every one of us be ready and able to defend the truth of God’s Word. The Bible even tells us what attitude to have as we defend the truth. A lot of people “DEFEND THE TRUTH!” in loud capital letters, with an overbearing and even angry attitude. The Bible tells us to be reverent toward God and to be gentle toward others as we defend the truth. You’ll discover that people who are confident about the truth, who have built a good foundation, are able to defend the truth with gentleness and a quiet reverence. It’s those who are unsure who have to yell the loudest.

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Are You Focused on the Immediate or the Eternal?

As a pastor, you deal with many immediate needs every day—from counseling issues to leadership concerns to preparing your regular weekend messages. And added to that, we’re in the middle of an election year, when everyone is fighting for our attention.  It’s easy to get caught up in the here and now. But faithful ministry in our world today that impacts our communities requires something else. Every pastor needs to keep an eternal perspective.  Keeping an eternal perspective means realizing there’s more to life than just here and now. C.S. Lewis once said, “All that is not eternal is eternally out of date.” You’re in an eternal struggle for the hearts and souls of people in your community. Nothing matters more than that struggle.  An eternal perspective realizes there are long-term implications for every action we take. Pastors who make a difference in the world around them focus on those eternal implications rather than the immediate ones. At the most, you’ll only live on earth for a mere 90 or so years, but your time in eternity will never end. Your ministry on this side of eternity is simply a prelude to the real thing.  Noah understood this. The Bible tells us, “[Noah] was the only truly righteous man living on the earth at that time. He tried always to conduct his affairs according to God’s will” (Genesis 6:9 TLB). Noah was single-focused, always asking, “What does God want me to do?” That’s what an eternally focused life looks like. Noah had a filter. Each decision he made was guided by God’s will.  Hebrews 13:14 captures what it means to be eternally minded: “For this world is not our home; we are looking forward to our everlasting home in heaven” (TLB). If you believe and base your ministry on that truth, it will change everything for you and your church. Suddenly, yesterday’s contentious business meeting and your church’s budget failings won’t matter nearly as much.  Your focus will be on what doesn’t change—helping people to worship the Lord, build Jesus-honoring relationships, become more like Jesus, serve God faithfully, and tell others about Jesus.   A ministry with an eternal perspective focuses on the purposes of God, which never change. That’s why I wrote in The Purpose Driven Church: “Unless the driving force behind a church is biblical, the health and growth of the church will never be what God intended. Strong churches are not built on programs, personalities, or gimmicks. They are built on the eternal purposes of God.” Programs, personalities, and gimmicks might produce short-term ministry success, but the results of pursuing God’s purposes last forever. When you have an eternal perspective on your ministry, you realize the most important areas of your work can’t be easily seen. Paul says, “We set our eyes not on what we see but on what we cannot see. What we see will last only a short time, but what we cannot see will last forever” (2 Corinthians 4:18 NCV). A thousand years from now, our church buildings will be nothing but piles of rubble. Our budgets and our strategies won’t matter at all. What really counts is the lasting impact we’ve had on people who will worship Jesus for all of eternity.  If you truly understand this perspective, you won’t need to stress over the ebbs and flows of your ministry week. The headlines won’t depress you each morning. Your church’s budget shortfalls won’t cause you concern.  Instead, as you focus on what God’s Word says about eternal issues that matter most, you’ll be free to make a difference with your ministry. Remember the words of Proverbs 19:21: “Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails” (NIV). If you are building a ministry on God’s eternal purposes, you can’t fail. God’s purposes will always prevail.

Three Ways to Grow While You Wait

God wants to do something incredible through your ministry. No one can take that away. Your critics can’t. Neither can Satan. But that doesn’t mean you won’t have to wait for it. Sometimes God cracks a door and lets you see your future before you’re ready to walk through it. Why does he do that? First, if God showed you all your future at once,it would scare you. You’d take one look and say, “Oh no, God wants me to do that?” You’re simply not ready right now to see everything God wants to do through you. God also wants to keep you close to him as you trust him to do what he is calling you to do. It’s like he writes his plan for you on a scroll. You unroll the scroll a bit and do what he says. Then you unroll a bit more, and he gives you a little more of the vision. You’re not the first leader God has let glimpse the future long before it’s become reality. In fact, he has done that over and over again throughout history. Centuries ago, God gave Habakkuk a vision for Israel and then told him: “But these things I plan won’t happen right away. Slowly, steadily, surely, the time approaches when the vision will be fulfilled. If it seems slow, do not despair, for these things will surely come to pass. Just be patient! They will not be overdue a single day!” (Habakkuk 2:3 TLB). God wasn’t late for Habakkuk. He won’t be overdue when it comes to his vision for your life either. God’s timing is perfect. God is always at work, lining up everything according to his plan. God can do more in five minutes on his timing, than you can do in 50 years on yours. While you wait, God has something important for you to do. You're supposed to be preparing by learning. So what do you need to learn while you’re waiting on God’s vision for your life to be fulfilled? Learn discernment. You need to learn which doors to walk through and which ones to walk past so you can avoid wasting time, money, and energy as you pursue God’s vision for your ministry. Paul writes to the church of Philippi: “This is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ” (Philippians 1:9-10 NIV). God wants you to grow in your love for others, but he wants you to do that with both knowledge and discernment so you’ll make the right choices about the doors he puts in front of you. Learn courage. You may already know the right choices to make about the doors God has placed before you, but you need to grow in your courage. You don’t have the faith right now to take the right step. Pastor, it’s not enough to know what to do. You need the courage to actually do what the Lord is calling you to do. Courage isn’t the absence of fear. It’s stepping out in faith despite your fear. When Solomon received the assignment of building the temple, David gave him some advice:“Be strong and courageous, and do the work. Don’t be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord God, my God, is with you. He won’t leave you or abandon you until all the work for the service of the Lord’s house is finished” (1 Chronicles 28:20 CSB). I’ve been scared about every single important decision in my life, but I decided long ago not to let fear dominate my life. So I have constantly acted contrary to my fear. God doesn’t sponsor flops. If he gives you the vision, you have nothing to worry about. Learn to open doors for others. Waiting isn’t easy. When you have a glimpse of something God wants to do through your life, you want it now. But you’re not the only one waiting. Look around in your ministry, and you’ll see other people waiting for their own open doors. Often, they will have doors in front of them you can help open. As often as you can, learn to open those doors. Love other people. Care about how God will use them. God will put people in your life to do the same for you. Don’t waste your waiting time. Let God help you grow into the leader he wants you to be on the other side of the door.

6 Ways Leaders Need to Show Discipline

Great leaders have at least one common denominator: personal discipline. Take the Apostle Paul as an example. He had tremendous self-control. He talks about it in this passage: “Don’t you realize that everyone who runs in a race runs to win, but only one runner gets the prize? Run like them, so that you can win. Everyone who enters an athletic contest goes into strict training. They do it to win a temporary crown, but we do it to win one that will be permanent” (1 Corinthians 9:24-25 GW). Paul wanted to be successful and understood he couldn’t live haphazardly and accomplish what God called him to do. He showed self-discipline throughout his ministry, and so should we. Here are six specific areas of our lives where leaders need to show self-discipline. Their mood: Most great things in the world are achieved by those who don’t feel like doing them. The Bible says, “A man without self-control is as defenseless as a city with broken-down walls” (Proverb 25:28 TLB). Without discipline, you’re at the mercy of your moods. You’re without defense and a helpless victim of your emotions. Their words: Proverbs 13:3 says, “Whoever controls his mouth protects his own life. Whoever has a big mouth comes to ruin” (GW). Leaders who say the wrong things at the wrong time can expect problems. Their reactions: The Bible says, “If you are sensible, you will control your temper. When someone wrongs you, it is a great virtue to ignore it” (Proverbs 19:11 GNT). Leaders don’t fly off the handle even when provoked. When you get angry because of someone else, you’re letting that person have control over you. A disciplined person acts rather than reacts. Their schedule: We all have the same amount of time—168 hours a week. But leaders know how to use their time effectively. Ephesians 5:15-16 says, “Live life, then, with a due sense of responsibility . . . Make the best use of your time” (PHILLIPS). Discipline is the reason some people get more done than others. You don’t have time to do everything as a leader, so you need to schedule your priorities. If you don’t decide how you’ll spend your time, others will decide for you. Their money: Leaders must live within their means. The way you manage the resources God gives you is a glimpse into how you’ll manage the resources of others. Luke 16:10 says, “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with a lot. Whoever is dishonest with very little is dishonest with a lot” (GW). Their health: For many of us, our bodies need more exercise, more rest, and fewer calories. Proverbs 23:2 says, “If you have a big appetite, restrain yourself” (GNT). Leadership is a marathon. If you want to go the distance, treat your body with respect. The rewards of a disciplined life go well beyond your ministry. You’ll have less stress and less debt, and you’ll live longer. But most importantly, you’ll be more ready to be used by God. The disciplines you establish today will determine your future.

The Fallacy of One-Size-Fits-All Discipleship

You can mass produce many things—cars, furniture, plastic bottles, etc.—but you can’t mass produce disciples. One-size-fits-all simply doesn’t work when you’re trying to help people become more like Jesus. God wired each of us with a unique SHAPE. The Bible says, “You shaped me first inside, then out; you formed me in my mother’s womb” (Psalm 139:13 MSG). Our creator specially designed each and every one of us. The unique ways God made us affect everything about us—including how we fulfill God’s purposes. SHAPE is an acrostic that describes our uniqueness. God gave us Spiritual gifts, Heart (passions), Abilities, Personality, and Experiences. No one else in the world has the same mix of those five attributes as you do. A person’s God-given SHAPE helps them identify where they can best serve the body of Christ. But our uniqueness is about much more than how we serve. In fact, our SHAPE affects how we worship, fellowship, evangelize—and how we grow. There’s a myth that maturity is measured by how much Bible knowledge you have. Of course, that’s a factor in maturity, but it’s not the only one. We all know someone who’s a veritable storehouse of Bible knowledge yet is just downright mean. God’s Word hasn’t made it into their character. If maturity was just about learning as much of the Bible as possible, then we might all grow in the same ways. But people grow differently. Some people learn by listening. If they hear it, they get it. Others learn through reading. Still, others grow best when they’re discussing truth with other believers. We also know that many people grow by rolling up their sleeves and getting to work. Don’t give them the latest book on prayer; pray with them. Give them opportunities to serve. That’s how they grow. The problem is that most of our churches only teach in one way. They expect everyone to grow through listening to someone talk. Auditory learners love that. But not everyone is an auditory learner. It’s no accident that most churches have more women in discussion groups than men. Many women like to discuss. Many men like to act. They’re ready for action. There’s nothing wrong with either of those preferences. It’s how God wired them. So, as you build a discipleship program in your church, you have to understand that the best way to help the most people grow is through multiple reinforcements. That’s why I strongly believe in spiritual-growth campaigns. These short-term campaigns have multiple components, such as devotional reading, small group discussion, memory verses, ministry projects, and more. You teach the same truth through hearing it, reading it, talking about it, discussing it, doing it, and memorizing it. You do it all at once. If you’re not using spiritual growth campaigns, I recommend giving it a try. As you engage them in different ways, you’ll see people who have stalled spiritually for years start growing. Throughout the years at Saddleback, we’ve used several tools to help people grow through the unique ways God wired them. For example, SHAPE interviews help our members discover their God-given design so they can find ministry fits in the church. Not only does this get people connected to ministries, but it also helps them find out more about themselves so they can grow according to their SHAPE. Another tool we’ve used is a spiritual health assessment, where you can evaluate your growth progress. The Bible tells us to examine ourselves. This tool gives people a tangible way to look into their spiritual lives. We’ve found this tool helps just about everyone, but it’s particularly good for those God wired to be more introspective. Also, to help people who particularly enjoy being in nature, we created a prayer garden, where they can go to pray after every service. But the tools aren’t as important as the principle. You can’t make cookie-cutter disciples. Though we all go through a discipleship process, everyone grows in different ways and at different rates. Look for ways to expand the opportunities for people to grow in the unique ways God has wired them.