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| Daniel J. Musokwa |
Here is the Fourth and final (at least for now) installment
in this series titled, “The Christian Doctrine” by a good friend and dear
brother of mine Daniel J. Musokwa, Founder
and General Overseer of The New Testament Ministries Tanzania.
I would strongly encourage everyone to read the preceding three installments in
this series. They can be found at these links. Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3
Let us see the total sum of the DOCTRINE OF CHRIST,
other than teaching people to accept Him as their personal Saviour and Lord:
- Titus 2:2 Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and SOUND in faith, in love and in endurance.
- Titus 2:3-5 Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.
- Titus 2:6-8 Similarly, encourage the young men to be self-controlled. In everything set them an example by doing what is good. IN YOUR TEACHING show integrity, seriousness and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us.
- Titus 2:9-10 Teach slaves (workers) to be subject to their masters (employers) in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them, and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the TEACHING about God our Saviour attractive.
- Titus 2:11-14 For the GRACE OF GOD that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to:
- Say "NO" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to
- live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope-the glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, EAGER to do what is good.
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Grace is NOT that thing that says “just sin, it’s ok, I’ll cover
you!” NO. Grace is that thing that says “say ‘NO’ to ungodliness
and worldly passions. Live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this
present age!”
Titus 2:15
These, then, are the things you should teach. ENCOURAGE and REBUKE with all authority. Do not let
anyone despise you.
According to Paul, those above (Titus 2:1-15) are the things we should teach (our doctrine).
He further says that we are to ENCOURAGE and REBUKE with ALL authority
within the safety of these doctrinal parameters! Then if that is, in fact,
your doctrine he says “do not let anyone despise you!”
You will not understand the doctrine of Christ if:
1. You cannot distinguish between
the Old Testament and the New Testament.
2. You do not understand the Old
Testament sacrificial system which ended with Jesus Christ, the perfect
sacrifice.
3. You cannot distinguish between LAW
and GRACE.
4. You cannot understand that the words of
Jesus in the FOUR GOSPELS and the Book of REVELATION are “spiritual
words.”
5. You cannot understand the analogy of
the “Body of Christ” to the anatomy and physiology of the human body.
6. You do not understand the concept of
God as the personification of LOVE and JEALOUSY.
7. You still erroneously think that man is
a FREE MORAL AGENT!
a. If you think man that is a “free moral
agent” or that he has a “free will,” then your ‘understanding’ of GRACE rests
on a faulty and false assumption of God’s sovereignty! Yes God is sovereign,
but if your will to sin is out of God’s sovereign control, then our God
is in trouble – don’t you think?
b. Man is ACCOUNTABLE for his sins,
but God is ultimately RESPONSIBLE for man’s sin! (How can you say that Dan? How can you attribute evil to God? Shouldn’t
you at least blame it on the Devil? As you will see, it is not about “blame.”
God never blames anyone, not even the Devil! Ouch! We’ll see what the Bible
teaches).
8. You do not understand the HOLY SPIRIT as
the SPIRIT OF CHRIST.
9. You do not understand the utter
NECESSITY and REALITY of the FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT in a believer’s
life.
10. You do not walk in LOVE.
1 Corinthians 4:16-17 Therefore I urge you to imitate
me. For this reason I am sending to you
Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you
of MY way of life in Christ Jesus, which
agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church.
You gotta love Paul! He said “mind your
LIFE and DOCTRINE” because the two are inseparable! Your life is equal to
your doctrine which SHOULD BE equal to the doctrine of Christ!
Your Life = Your Doctrine = The Doctrine of Christ
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Paul was so confident and comfortable with Christ’s Doctrine in his own life that in the above verse he says “I urge you to IMITATE ME.” That is
quite a statement! ‘Yeah Brother Daniel, but that was Apostle Paul.’ So
what? Did he receive a different Holy Ghost from us? Was he being conformed to
a different image of Christ than we are being conformed into? Pastors, live
your lives such that you can truly be able to say to your parishioners “I urge
you to imitate me!” That’s not bigoted; it’s just good doctrine, bless God!
Then he says “I am sending you Timothy… he will remind
you of MY way of life in Christ Jesus… which AGREES
with WHAT I TEACH everywhere in every church!”
We need to
percolate and marinate in that for a while, it doeth the heart good.
Here’s more…
Hebrews 6:12 We
do not want you to become lazy, but to IMITATEthose who through faith and patience
inherit what has been promised.
And more…
Hebrews 13:7 Remember
your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of THEIR WAY OF LIFEand
IMITATEtheir faith.
In fact the DOCTRINE of any man or woman of God MUST be such that you
can IMITATE them without being ashamed when you stand under the scrutiny of the
Doctrine of Christ. Is the life of the one you are listening to characterized
by sacrifice or selfishness? Do they fear God or man? Are their lives an
illustration of total devotion to God or are they hedonistic and sly? Can you
imitate them with total scriptural confidence? Better still, what about your
own life? Knowing that you are the salt of the earth and all; can you
confidently tell new believers to imitate your way of life and see you as an
open letter to the world? Just food for thought for all of us. Remember; don’t
beat yourself up over the head with a giant spoon, we all need to grow. The
most important thing is; how thirsty are we? How much do we desire
Christ-likeness and the sound Doctrine of Christ in our lives?
Are we ready to
pay the price?
Finally my friends…
“Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange(alien) teachings…– Hebrews 13:9
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I was talking about “The Christian Doctrine.” Be
careful how you hear friends. There are so many traditions of men looming large
in the church which have no foundation or insinuation whatsoever in the
Scriptures. We couldn’t even try to learn to be equal with Christ in mind and
likeness if we do not understand and assimilate into ourselves, the Doctrine of
Christ. Otherwise we would remain just good Christians; healing the sick here
and there in His name… may be a few dead raisings and miracles… and that’s
about it… we’ve missed it. Watch your LIFE and DOCTRINE
my friend, that way you will save yourself and your hearers.
Shalom friends.
<<<THE END>>>
Daniel
can be reached at:
Daniel J. Musokwa,
General Overseer,
New Testament Ministries - TZ,
P.O. Box 2590,
Mbeya,
Tanzania
0715-905001 (SMS only)
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