TEACHING

Don Atkin

DOCTRINE AND EXPERIENCE

Our testimonies may be as various as our unique fingerprints, or the leaves on a tree, or the blades of grass in a garden.  Each of us is completely unique and should be expected to have unique experiences in our walk with God.

We live in a highly subjective world that has spawned “situation ethics” and promoted the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the boastful pride of life to the point that the culture is driven by desires and feelings.  When and where this bleeds over into the church (which it should not), people tend to elevate experience over sound doctrine.

Many will travel miles at great expense seeking an experience, but will not embrace the disciplines that lead to the mature and fruitful life that our Father desires for us.

On the other side of the ledger are people who develop a special doctrinal emphasis for their ministries, supporting their positions with various proof texts, and often drawing from Old Covenant types and shadows and/or humanistic cultures. 

And then there are those who believe that they understand “the deep things” of God in ways that set them apart from those whom God has set apart.  That is, they would seem to be especially special, even among God’s special people.  This “mystical” realm may be sought as a substitute for authentic experiences that are to be generated by the Holy Spirit.

Perhaps there is no stronger testimony to this truth than Paul’s words in I Corinthians 2:1-5:

And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God.  For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.  I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling.  And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

Surely, experiencing God’s power energizes our faith.  Paul was deeply concerned that we not be distracted by shadows, that we realize that the substance is of Christ, that we not be vainly puffed up by our fleshly minds, but hold fast to the Head, and grow with the increase that is from God.  He did not want us to be disturbed from the simplicity that is in Christ.

In the days immediately following their conversion, the believers in Jerusalem continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine.  There were three thousand souls that first day, the day of Pentecost, and others added daily until there were several more thousand.  There were twelve apostles (and no pastors or elders). 

So, what was the apostles’ doctrine?  And, how was it administrated?  We get a good glimpse of the apostles’ doctrine from Peter’s message:

1.      Joel’s prophecy was being fulfilled.  God was pouring out of His Spirit on all flesh.

2.      Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

3.      Jesus has been crucified, for which all of humanity shares responsibility.

4.      God has raised Him from the dead.

5.      Jesus has been exalted to the right hand of God and is seated on the throne of His father David.

6.      God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.

7.      We are to repent and be baptized for the remission of sins.

8.      We shall receive the Holy Spirit, who is promised to us, our children, and as many as the Lord will call.

9.      The people were exhorted, be saved from this perverse generation.

This is the biblical basis of the apostles’ doctrine.  Christ is to be experienced.  The Holy Spirit reveals Him to us.  The Spirit of Christ ~ the Anointed One ~ is our Teacher, and leads us into all truth.  He is the Way, the Truth and the Light.  He abides in us, shows us the way, teaches us and leads us.  He conforms us to His image from glory to glory, revealing His will for our lives, and empowering us to do what we see Him doing.

The Scriptures are the objective element upon which He breathes to reveal Christ to us.  Although the Spirit of God can bring revelation through innumerable ways, He will never lead us outside of the accurate rendering of Scripture.  The Acts and the Epistles are the “encapsulation” of the totality of the apostles’ doctrine.  The Holy Spirit will never lead us away from the centrality of Christ and Him crucified. 

Contrasting humanism with the ways of the Spirit, Paul draws upon an example from the Greek-Roman cultural traditions of his day.  He explains how adoption worked in the natural realm in Galatians 4:1-2.  He then went on to tie adoption to redemption in verses 6-7:

And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!”  Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

Subjectively, our experiences often come in small bites and at different times.  But, the foundational truth ~ the apostles’ doctrine ~ is that Christ is abiding in those of us who have received the Spirit of His Son into our hearts.  We are sons, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ.

The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs – heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. – Romans 8:16-17.

On another issue, the Scripture in context exclusively supports neither poverty nor prosperity.  History is replete with examples of titillating doctrines on both sides of this question, each with its own sets of proof texts.  Paul became poor, that others might become rich.  The biblical standard is stewardship with contentment. 

Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound.  Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.  I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. – Philippians 4:11-13.

God has emblazoned His word in our hearts, that we might not sin against Him.  It is revelation of truth that releases faith within us.  We please God as we live by faith (not formulas).  Faith in revealed truth releases life’s experiences to us.

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.  I do not set aside the grace of God. – Galatians 2:20-21.

 Don't minimize the importance of God's participation in bringing about understanding, insight, wisdom and direction.

Otherwise, we will remain among those who are children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting (Ephesians 4:14).

Properly functioning together with one another causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love (Ephesians 4:16).  While there are gifts, graces and governances provided for the healing, equipping, aligning, empowering and releasing of the body, it’s not about special people, special times and special places.   

So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people.  And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved. – Acts 2:46-47.