Doctrine DIVIDES
No doubt that it does. But how should we look at that? Is it a problem we should try and solve?? Well first off, a pastor who faithfully preaches the Word of God is worth FAR more than people even understand. I thank the Lord, literally every single day for the fact that He has my family in a church where we have access to that every week. It’s like GOLD.
SO HERE’S THE DEALIO, PALS: The job of a pastor in Christ’s church is to preach the Word. That’s what he is authorized to do. Not as a club over the head, and never lording over people, but with complete patience and teaching (1 Peter 5, 2 Timothy 4:2). Along with the foundation of the gospel, the true teaching of Holy Spirit inspired scripture is what makes a church viable. Having a building, attenders, a budget, unity, vision for the future, passion, like-mindedness, a worship team, a pastor, and even utilization of the Bible can all happen in ways that have absolutely nothing to do with God.
Now, scripture is clear that pastors aren’t supposed to be out there looking for fights, or should have the desire to poke people in the eye on purpose - but it is VERY important for pastors to understand that the truth that we’re commanded to faithfully preach in patience WILL offend people, and to not back away from that. Trying to solve for that is an exercise in futility. It truly takes boldness and courage to preach the Word of God. It takes spiritual maturity and a willingness to die to self. Rather than a bent toward being liked as a celebrity, the men appointed to preach should be more willing to fearfully wield the heavy burden of glorifying the Holiness and truth of God in only the way He has authorized. That’s where the true power is.
In many cases today though, all over the world, pastors have abandoned teaching and preaching the Word out of an attempt to avoid the consequences of offending people. Many have tried to Disneyfy doctrine to inject it with appeal - not recognizing that the Holy Spirit does the work in people’s hearts via teaching it the way it is. They’ve abandoned absolute fidelity to scripture because they want to do things different than what God has prescribed for His church. We’ve seen the effects of this in the many various Christian off-shoots that centralize and teach things they absolutely shouldn’t. Their followers don’t even recognize the problem.
As I’ve said before, a pastor is to be God’s mouthpiece, not His PR firm. Sadly, rather than understand and embrace the fact that God’s truth indeed divides, many instead offload doctrine. Holding the line on truth, no matter how lovingly it’s communicated, is seen as mean and too hard edged from those who don’t actually want God. But giving people lackluster or incomplete ideas about God to try and make people who don’t want God to want God, actually, only hurts people. Again, it’s not a club over the head, but pastors have to stop avoiding the full counsel of God from scripture. It’s loading up a sick person on cotton candy and withholding them from having to swallow a bunch of gross vitamins. Might taste good, but it leaves them malnourished and vulnerable.
The truth is, sound doctrine also UNITES true believers. We can’t forget that. ANYTHING worth believing will be controversial in some way. There IS no absolute truth that doesn’t spark some kind of conflict.
At the end of the day, a doctrine-less church is a powerless church. Hold the line. Scripture is true. God is good. Lives are at stake. Christ is King. Teach about grace. Teach about wrath. Sin kills. Hell is real. Give them heaven. Expect rejection. Don’t back down.
