Dancing to Doctrine: How Shall We Then Live?
“So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter”—2 Thessalonians 2:15.
When I was in high school, I remember sitting in English class debating whether man was born good or bad. On one hand there were writers such as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau who believed that man was inherently good, while on the other side, were individuals such as Herman Melville and Nathaniel Hawthorne who believed that man was inherently evil. Whatever position one takes will greatly influence how one lives and orders his or her life.
The Bible is unequivocal in its assessment that we are inherently evil at our core. We can agree with the Bible’s assessment and order our lives accordingly, or we could reject it and live life the way we want to live it. And here is where doctrine comes into focus. Doctrine enables us to see and assess the world the way God sees it. It is a systematic grouping concerning what God has said in His Word about Himself, us, this world, life itself, and what actions either allow or prevent us from living the life God has purposed for us.
The great Christian thinker, Francis Schaeffer, penned a book called “How Shall We Then Live?” It was an examination of the modern world, trekking its philosophic, scientific, and religious development from ancient Rome and tracing it from the Middle Ages and through the Renaissance, Reformation, Enlightenment periods into modern society. Schaeffer understood that we are the products of history—and the thought world we live in is in large part due to the choices of the past others have made. Knowing that our world is fallen and we are prone to every intellectual whim the spirit of the age presents to us, Schaeffer proposed an alternative—looking at the world through the lens of God’s Word while being anchored to the rock of Christ. It is only by being anchored to Christ that we can escape the spirit of the age.
Dancing to doctrine is understanding and living in God’s assessment of the world. God says that this world is fallen and evil. It is our responsibility to accept that. God says that we are sinners. Our responsibility is to accept God’s judgment. God says that we are sinners and need a Savior, which He has provided. Our responsibility is to accept His Savior. God has given us His Word to illustrate clearly how we are to live in a manner pleasing to Him while in the midst of this fallen world. All of these things God has decreed are grouped together under the banner of doctrine—and we respond by living according to the truths God has revealed to us, as Paul wrote, “So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter”—2 Thessalonians 2:15.
Doctrine is God’s invitation to increase our joy and this sustaining joy comes from finding satisfaction in Him. Aiming for God’s glory we learn and do what is pleasing in His sight. As John Piper has said, “God is most glorified in us, when we are most satisfied in Him.” Amen.
When I was in high school, I remember sitting in English class debating whether man was born good or bad. On one hand there were writers such as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau who believed that man was inherently good, while on the other side, were individuals such as Herman Melville and Nathaniel Hawthorne who believed that man was inherently evil. Whatever position one takes will greatly influence how one lives and orders his or her life.
The Bible is unequivocal in its assessment that we are inherently evil at our core. We can agree with the Bible’s assessment and order our lives accordingly, or we could reject it and live life the way we want to live it. And here is where doctrine comes into focus. Doctrine enables us to see and assess the world the way God sees it. It is a systematic grouping concerning what God has said in His Word about Himself, us, this world, life itself, and what actions either allow or prevent us from living the life God has purposed for us.
The great Christian thinker, Francis Schaeffer, penned a book called “How Shall We Then Live?” It was an examination of the modern world, trekking its philosophic, scientific, and religious development from ancient Rome and tracing it from the Middle Ages and through the Renaissance, Reformation, Enlightenment periods into modern society. Schaeffer understood that we are the products of history—and the thought world we live in is in large part due to the choices of the past others have made. Knowing that our world is fallen and we are prone to every intellectual whim the spirit of the age presents to us, Schaeffer proposed an alternative—looking at the world through the lens of God’s Word while being anchored to the rock of Christ. It is only by being anchored to Christ that we can escape the spirit of the age.
Dancing to doctrine is understanding and living in God’s assessment of the world. God says that this world is fallen and evil. It is our responsibility to accept that. God says that we are sinners. Our responsibility is to accept God’s judgment. God says that we are sinners and need a Savior, which He has provided. Our responsibility is to accept His Savior. God has given us His Word to illustrate clearly how we are to live in a manner pleasing to Him while in the midst of this fallen world. All of these things God has decreed are grouped together under the banner of doctrine—and we respond by living according to the truths God has revealed to us, as Paul wrote, “So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter”—2 Thessalonians 2:15.
Doctrine is God’s invitation to increase our joy and this sustaining joy comes from finding satisfaction in Him. Aiming for God’s glory we learn and do what is pleasing in His sight. As John Piper has said, “God is most glorified in us, when we are most satisfied in Him.” Amen.
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