All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NIV)
“I went to bible college for four years, but I was never taught this!”
Todd was a young man who was a new recruit in the Westminster, Colorado Fire Department. His church in Boulder had just started a mens team ministry to their widowed and single parents.
Todd and his team had also just done something I’ve never heard anyone else do: he and his fellow team members met together for a couple of months and reviewed all of the scripture we covered in our orientationtwice.
In spite of the fact that Todd had recently graduated from a solid, bible teaching school that taught the word of God to him in depth for four years, he had never gained an understanding of how pervasive the idea of practicing good works towards widows, fatherless children, immigrants and the poor is throughout scripture.
Unfortunately, Todd had not been given all that is needed to do every good work, as 2 Timothy 3:17 states. And Todd is not alone in his experience. There is a pervasive ignorance throughout the local church on the topic of good works. The result is that the church has been handicapped when it comes to ministering to those in its midst with long term needs. No one knows what to do with these people.
We use the inspired word of God to teach doctrine, including the doctrine of salvation by faith apart from works. We use it to reprove believers for their rebellion and to correct their faults. And we should do all these things. But we are not using Gods inspired word to teach believers about the importance of good works after they are saved. And the irony of 2 Timothy 3:16 is that being able to do “every good work” is the culmination of a Christians life!
Were very good at teaching believers what they should not do. But we are not very good at teaching believers what they should do. The result is a great tragedy in the local church, with the most needy and desperate having their needs either going completely unmet, or the church attempting to meet those needs in superficial and ineffective ways.
And all the while we wonder why the world thinks the church is irrelevant.
This post first appeared in Doing Good Well and in NewCommandment.org.
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Learn how to form teams of men for every widow, single mom
and fatherless child in your church at NewCommandment.org.
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2 thoughts on “What They Won’t Teach You in Bible College (Or Seminary)”
Lets be specific about good works. If we missed the mark once, being unclear about good works will cause us to miss the mark again. Continuing to miss these critical aspects of the gospel will cause the church to spiral out of control. Help me if you can so I can attempt to turn the ship by teaching on good works.
This is so true! There’s an epidemic of “easy believism” where we’re told that accepting Christ is all we have to do. Then we go about our merry way. We ARE taught what NOT to do instead of what TO do too often. Accepting Christ is only the first step. Then if we are truly God’s child, we should want to do things to please Him. That is what shows the world the relevance of the church.