Who and what are you living for?
There’s an old story about St Augustine. Early on in his Christian life, he was intensely absorbed in the writings of Cicero. And around this time, he had a dream that he had died. And now he was standing at the pearly gates. And the keeper of the gate said, "Who are you?" And he said, "I’m Augustine." Then the keeper said, "What are you?" Augustine said, "I’m a Christian." The gatekeeper said, "No, you’re not a Christian. You’re a Ciceronian!"
Augustine said, "What are you talking about? I’m a Christian!" And the gatekeeper said this: "All souls on earth are judged by what dominated their interests. In you, Augustine, it was not the Christ of the gospel. It was the Cicero of Roman literature. You are not a Christian. You cannot enter here!"
Augustine was so startled that when he woke up, he resolved then and there to be fully committed to Jesus Christ for the rest of his life. And to live for Him.
We can study all kinds of things out in the world, and at times we need to because it may relate to our job or the major we signed up for in terms of schooling. But no matter how much other things we come to learn about in this world, none of it should ever replace the learning of the Scriptures which by designed enables us to come to know God more fully.
In the same way that Christians can be spiritually alive and healthy by their intake of the Word, so it is with churches. Here is how Paul put it when he wrote to Titus in chapter 2:
1You must teach what is in accord with sound doctrine. 2Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance.
3Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. 4Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, 5to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.
6Similarly, encourage the young men to be self-controlled. 7In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness 8and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us.
9Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them, 10and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive.
Now a good and fundamental reason why we need to be absorbed in the study of Scriptures is this: “What feeds our minds is also what fuels our lives.” Don’t forget this. Holy and righteous living cannot be divorced from the knowledge and understanding of God’s Word. Or to put it another way: Sound doctrine enables Christians to live healthy lives.
Now look carefully how Paul develops this in the first ten verses of Titus 2.
Verse 1: Speak things fitting for sound doctrine
Verse 2: Older men are to do things which come from being sound in faith.
Verse 3: In addition to living rightly, older women are to be teaching younger women what is good (cf. v. 4), and to live their lives in a way that will not bring dishonor to the Word of God (v. 5).
Verses 6-7: So it is with the younger men. Their holy living comes from having purity in doctrine.
Verses 9-10: All others (bondslaves) are to live their lives in such as way as to adorn the doctrine of God and Jesus in every respect.
Again notice, how Paul repeatedly emphasized this one principle: Sound living comes forth from sound doctrine. What you believe will impact the way you live your life.
So many Christians want to jettison theology or doctrine because they see it as either boring and too deep to comprehend (thus more heady than hearty), or they see doctrine as controversial. All they want to learn is the practical stuff. “Just give me the application,” they shout. Therefore, they read their bibles only looking for the application.
But if there is one thing the bible makes abundantly clear is that sound application comes out of sound doctrine. If we are going to apply something practical to our lives, we must understand where it came from and why. Otherwise, all you will be doing when you merely apply application to your life without understanding the doctrine that gave birth to it, you will merely be reforming your life from the outside, rather letting God transform your life from the inside.
You see, the application ought to take us to the doctrine that gave rise to it, so we can understand the reason for the command or principle and to also get to know God more fully. When God reveals something to us, He does so with the intention that we will also see and understand that what He has revealed is also a revelation of Himself. God wants us to come to know Him deeper and more personal.
Therefore, don’t merely read your bibles looking for applications to apply to your lives. Don’t preach messages merely giving to your listeners applications for their lives. Learn doctrine. When you do, you will come to also see a revelation of God contained in the doctrine and it will also help you then to understand WHY you are meant to apply something to your life.
Paul did this so many times when he wrote his letters. For example, in the Book of Romans, he wrote chapters 1-11 on doctrine, then chapters 12-16 on practical living. In Ephesians, he wrote chapters 1-3 on doctrine, then chapters 4-6 on practical living. In Philippians, he wrote chapters 1-3 on the preaching of Christ (ch. 1), the humility of Christ (ch. 2), the knowledge of Christ (ch. 3), and then in chapter four the last chapter in his letter, he wrote about practical Christian living that shows the presence of Christ in our lives. Paul does the same when he wrote his letter to the Colossians. In chapters 1-3, Paul discusses the character of Christ (ch. 1); how He is exalted over philosophies (ch. 2), how He has given to us an exalted calling (ch. 3), then finally in chapter 4, Paul gets practical.
Remember what Peter said? “Be holy for God is holy” (1 Pet. 1:16). Holiness is the practical application to our lives, but the doctrine of where it came from is found in the holiness of God. Why are we to be holy? Because God is holy and He expects His people to be the same since they share also in His divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4).
So then, like Augustine, you claim to be a Christian? Very good. Can such a claim be backed up by the time and effort you spend in the study of spiritual matters that are contained in God’s Word? Do you merely read your bible devotionally in order to check off another day? Do you really get into it? Do you really read beyond what the bible bookmark tells you? You claim to be a Christian, well that’s good! But how much of doctrine are you filling your heart and mind with? Who or what are you trying to get to know? If it is God, then your saturation of the Scriptures will be no problem for you to do on a regular basis.
