Doctrinal Humility in a Postmodern World

Doctrine is so important that the Bible tell us of those who don't teach according to sound doctrine will be punished in eternal damnation. But also Humility is important because the Bible says in Psalm 138:6 “Though the LORD is on high, Yet He regards the lowly; But the proud He knows from afar.” We live in an age where you cannot be humble and believe in sound doctrine at the same time, or if you are doctrinally outspoken, you are not humble or if you are humble, you won't be that vocal about your beliefs.

Let me explain myself, we live in a postmodern world where something means anything to everybody and that in someone's worldview love can mean that you give a heavy metal serenata to someone who goes to an independent baptist church. So, part of the church is trying to be the cool kid before the world, and it has adopted some postures that has damaged the view of Doctrine and Humility. 

How so? Doctrine is undervalued as a the set of rules, or exclusive pastoral intellect and the only reason for studying it, is because you want to  be super spiritual/phariseic/legalistic. Humility is mistaken by the simple act of shut up, being laid back and accepting everybody opinions even  if they are wrong and heretical sometimes.

The problem is that this is not what the Bible says about it, and we are going to explain this in 3 parts:

1. Doctrine: Is our belief system, is what we believe, when we talk about doctrine it doesn't mean a big theological lecture but it comes down to what we think about God, what we think about Jesus and self. There is only two main doctrines in this world: Christianity and any other form of man made religions that can exist in this world. Our doctrine determines our view about God and also our practical devotion to Him. See, you can talk about your experiences but the question comes down to how much of what you've experienced is biblically grounded.

Being doctrinal is not just being intellectual but is studying the word of the God we love in order to worship Him. There is a lot of warning against those who preach and encourage bad doctrine because to twist the words of the scripture is to twist what God wants to tell us. So doctrine is important because it help us to understand who God is in His Majesty, who we are in light of that Majestic God, what we deserve in light of our sin and how we can come to have fellowship with this amazing God. 

2.    Humility: is our attitude on how we feel about ourselves. How much you think about yourself tells us how important you think you are. In Christianity, there is a great gain to not think about self at all, but to think to be like Jesus. Blessed are the poor in spirit because the absence of self importance is the catalyst to faith in Jesus, a spiritual person who is poor in spirit is filled with Christ. So humility speaks also about our view and our submission to the person of Jesus Christ, because if we are full of self then we won't see our need for Him unless our self dependence is tear down. 

 2.a. Humility  and the outgoing: so humility its reflected by how we treat others, so  sometimes the humble thing to do for the outgoing personality is not to hide his personality but  to renounce to self. Speaking out of humility and love for others and not just because you like to be the center of attention. The sound doctrinal person is called to humility in order to edify others.

2.b. Humility and the introvert: this is the other side, those who don't speak must be humble enough to be bold in order to speak when they ought to speak. For humility in them is not to be lay back since that's their comfort but to step out for the sake of others. They may seem humble if they say nothing at all but it actually may be their flesh finding comfort in their quietness.

3.        Doctrinal Humility: after defining what both of them mean, we can say that doctrinal humility is to see doctrine for the purpose God intended for it. I know that sometimes what we know can take us to think too much of ourselves but we need to be humble and that humility comes by understanding doctrine correctly. What we understand about God in our doctrine will lead us to have a certain way to look at self, so if you doctrine is leading you to pride then you are not understanding it correctly even though you read the right books and hold the right confessions. 

As we study who God let us not waste our time saving our knowledge for a debate battle but use it to worship Him for who He is. You don't put worms next to a big peace of the finest steak so don't put the worms of your pride next to the wisest and finest words of wisdom from God. Because what we learn is not about ourselves but about Him, your worship, your diligence to study the scriptures and prayer is the evidence of how much you believe what you know. 

Let us persevere in being faithful to hold the thoughts of who He say He is, even if we live in a post modern age where the majority of the church makes a big deal of things that don't matter and underestimate those which matter. That's why we will have people complaining about music style for worship but never questioning the soundness of the preaching or of the lyrics of the songs we sing at church.  We will have people counting and boasting on decisions but we won't give attention to how much of them have been truly saved. We carry a lot of fire but little light, a lot of excitement but not much instruction, let us be doctrinal but humble, read your word and pray, know God and worship Him, study Christ and submit to Him.

Update about Chacapampa

Chacapampa update 

Hey brethren

This is the update about the work I'm doing in the mountains. There is a lot going on so I will list it and detail it as pray request. Please feel free to ask any question about it. Just letting you know this is no my personal update that will be posted tomorrow. Is just what is going on in the field.

Here we go:

Rita and Espiritu: this is the couple that we've been trying to disciple, they seem to still having problems, as I said before there is things that we can't deal with, there must be a married couple coming to treat these with them. The other day we made them talk so they can pray for each other, but they end talking and arguing the whole time. Later on we talk we both of them and confront them about their issue to understanding each other, Espiritu works outside and he doesn't have a settled schedule, he sleeps from 4 to 7 hours daily (he said mostly 6). The thing is Rita asks him to do stuffs while he is at home and most times what he wants is to rest, but she is so demanding about it and he gets mad because she says but you only been driving, sitting all time, as if no stress, concentration and pressure were involved. And Rita as well works hard raising and making sure 4 kids go to school, eat, do homework, is as well other kind of stress. We talked the, about starting by understanding each other and then pray for each other and in that way try to seek restoration in the Lord. The thing Espiritu prayed for her and Rita prayed for herself, she seems to be resentful about what he did to her, I know I can't understand her but I'm trying to emphasize forgiveness in my conversations. I know she has been mistreated by him a lot before, but please pray that she stops victimizing herself bringing things of the past to justify her lack of forgiveness it as well restoration for her wounds. Also for Espiritu, he seems to be changing but he feels frustration to not be able to deal with things in a different way only because he hasn't be taught. Please for humbleness of heart on him and for wisdom about how to deal with him and he can be patient in how brings forgiveness to his family. We go to his house Tuesday and Fridays.

2. Saturday bible studies: I'm having a bible study with 2 young man on Saturday called Jonathan and Franz, they professed salvation not long ago. So cool on the 2nd bible study we had, I asked Franz what was the most cool or important teaching we have been through so far and he mention the study we had in Matthew 7 have made him think a lot, about going through the narrow gate and as well walking through the narrow path and the fact that every good tree bears good fruit and the impossibility that a good tree bears bad fruit, it seemed that has thought a lot about it which was really cool. Now we are going through the book of 1 John, we normally have a bible study, then cook and have dinner while watching a movie. For this coming Saturday a guy name aldrin will possibly join us, his grandfather is a believer and I look up to this kid because of his maturity and determination.

3. John: he is a kid from a town 90 minutes away by walking named Antacocha. He is starting to talk to us a lot and he may also come on Saturdays and spend the day with us for the bible study, he hasn't confirm yet. Pray that he can confirm us about it.

4. Mission House and Mr. Gilda: the owner of the house wants us to leave and we need to move soon. She is being really problematic but I always try talk to her and be nice and polite to her and her daughter. Is hard because she is really conflictive. We may moving to the house of a lady named Nicolas, she is moving out of the town towards the end of the year because her daughter is going to college. They are a really dear family.

5. Gospel impact: I just came in a time where catholic authorities were demanding to the people go through their rituals to "get to heaven". The thing is they have been exposed to bible teaching because Liz (another Peruvian missionary) and different mission teams that have come from the states and people are wondering sometimes if what they do is right or not. I'm been able to share directly the Gospel with others and has been amazing, some of them asked many questions about religions, others about the evidence that the bible is true, but all of them have been fruitful. There is openness to the Gospel but pray that they be willing to leave their tradition because of Christ. 

6. Helping them on the field has helped me to see that they value hard work and as well has helped to gain the respect of many. Adult men are often talking to me about different matters but I always try to lead the conversation to the Gospel somehow. Also pray that we get the chance to share the gospel with the catholic authorities, they need Christ as well.

7. Pray for Liz and Henry as they are in Chacapampa, pray for their lives and health. They are so encouraging to me and so useful for the ministry, I learn a lot from them.

Thanks for your prayers