From Doctrine to Experience

From Doctrine to Experience
By John Woodward
August 23, 1999

Our family recently enjoyed several days of southern hospitality of a friend in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Her home overlooks the Smoky Mountains which we admired from her front porch. The scene reminded me of the Psalm 121:1,2: "I will lift up my eyes to the hills--From whence comes my help? My help comes from the LORD, Who made heaven and earth."

We also were delighted to see the little hummingbirds darting about from the bird feeder to their favorite trees. We were well fed too-- with delicious southern cuisine like grits, sausage, biscuits, and gravy!

I was also nourished spiritually as I scanned our hostess's bookshelf of Biblical resources. A classic volume caught my eye: The Progress of Doctrine in the New Testament. In its pages are T. H. Bernard's Bampton Lectures at Oxford, given back in 1864. I was pleasantly surprised that this scholar not only taught the doctrines of God's grace in Christ, but also challenged his hearers to apply these truths to their own lives. Bernard identified the centrality of texts such as 1 Corinthians 1:30: "But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God--and righteousness and sanctification and redemption."

Hear his admonition about this theme: "This is not a statement of doctrine, but the summary of a life. Surely I must ask, is it a life which I am living now? [In the New Testament] I see an ever-present consciousness of being in Christ, and a habit of viewing all things in Him. Must I not look down into my own heart and ask whether my own inward life bears this characteristic? Let me accept nothing in exchange for this. Men bid me live in duty and truth, in purity and love. They do well. But the Gospel does better; calling me to live in Christ, and to find in Him the enjoyment of all that I would posses and the realization of all that I would become." (p. 184,185)

We would do well to make Bernard's application our own. Is our knowledge of Christ and His provision only doctrine to expound, or reality to live by? Jesus is not just a source of teaching and an example to follow; He is the believer's life-source!

Christ summed up the essence of our personal relationship to God: "And this is eternal life, that they may KNOW YOU, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent." (John 17:3). And Paul confirmed this aim in Philippians 3:10: "that I may KNOW HIM and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death."

Don't settle for a Christianity which merely consists of duties and doctrines; abide in Christ. He lives to be Your helper, your spiritual food, your Savior and your life.

We are grateful for the precious truths of Your word, O Lord. Cleanse us from sins of omission when we hold truth without applying it. We yearn to not only believe Your doctrine, but live by it in the power of our resurrected Savior. In His name, Amen.

JBW

August 23, 1999 Vol. 2 # 34

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