The Game Plan

Thirty years ago this month, the New York Jets defeated the Baltimore Colts in one of the best-known football games in history. Sports fans remember Super Bowl III for flamboyant quarterback Joe Namath's brash prediction of victory. But students of the game also credit the 16–7 win to some shrewd decisions by Jets' coach Weeb Ewbank. When Ewbank died in November, he still possessed an original handwritten copy of the game plan he followed so successfully 30 years ago.

Almost 2,000 years ago, Jesus gave us another game plan: the New Testament. Mention doctrinal instruction, though, and many Christians groan, "Boring." "Impractical." "Divisive." Or even "Who cares?" Part of the problem is, we tend to confuse doctrine (which means teaching) with dogma (which usually refers to a human opinion masquerading as a religious rule). Jesus warned about the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees because their ideas and attitudes were wrong; but he made healthy teaching an essential part of our Great Commission responsibility (Matthew 28:18–20). Why? Because wise, loving instruction is like an anchor to keep us from being "blown here and there by every wind of teaching" (Ephesians 4:14).

Why care about doctrine?

Good teaching builds healthy churches. The apostles' teaching was a centerpiece of early Christian devotion (Acts 2:42). When the apostle Paul wrote about "sound doctrine" (in Titus 1:9 and 2:1, for example), he used a Greek term that means "healthy" (hugiaino). Doctor Luke used the same word when he quoted Jesus in Luke 5:31, "It is not those who are well who need a physician but those who are sick," and in Luke 15:27, where the prodigal son returned to his father "safe and sound." Like a physician who gives his patient a healthy-eating prescription, we can use the inspired Scriptures for positive guidance—"teaching" and "training in righteousness"—and for negative discipline—"rebuking" and "correcting" (2 Timothy 3:16).

Good teaching demonstrates love. Paul told Timothy, "Watch your life and doctrine closely" (1 Timothy 4:16) because anything less would betray the trust of God's people. In an "anything goes" world, biblical instruction helps us go God's way. It helps us avoid the legalistic extremes of the Judaizers (Galatians 5:1–5), the loose living of the cheap grace promoters (Jude 4), and the pseudo-spirituality of the Gnostics (Colossians 2:18; 1 Timothy 6:20, 21). We must do our homework and teach truth practically and enthusiastically—not instead of loving people, but because we love them.

Good teaching isn't dull. Historian Edward Burgess tells about a custom the Jews observed in biblical times. When a young boy began studying the Scriptures and the Hebrew alphabet, he was given a slate on which to write, and chalk made from a mixture of honey and flour. After a period of instruction, the rabbi would point to the slate; and if the child could identify the words correctly, he was allowed to lick the sweet-tasting letters off the slate as a reward.

The psalmist wrote, "How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!" (Psalm 119:103).

How keen is our taste for truth? Dynamic, life-related Bible study will feed our souls with God's wisdom and help us avoid being "carried away by all kinds of strange teachings" (Hebrews 13:9). There's nothing boring about that.

Let's stick to the game plan.