Teach Sound Doctrine

INTRO.- 1 You must teach what is in accord with sound doctrine. We must teach. Teaching is important to God’s work.

ILL.- One school teacher said: As a 7th grade biology teacher, I was teaching my class about the flow of blood in the body. After my lecture I asked the class the following: “Why is it that if I would turn upside down, my face would turn red since the blood would flow to my head, but when I stand upright my feet don’t turn red?” I was taken aback when a boy blurted out, “that’s cuz your feet ain’t empty!”.

We start off in life with an empty head and it needs to be filled with good stuff which begins with mom and dad and then school.

Matthew 4:23 “Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.” Jesus taught and we must teach. We must teach the good news in a world of bad news.

Acts 2:42 “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” The apostles’ teaching is scripture for us.

Colossians 1:28 “We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ.” Teaching helps to mature us in Christ. Faith comes by hearing...

1 Timothy 4:13 “Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching.” We must teach God’s Word most of all. Sound doctrine is found in scripture.

ILL.- A Presbyterian and a Baptist minister were discussing baptism. After a beautiful message on the subject by the Baptist minister, the Presbyterian minister asked if the Baptist considered a person baptized if he was immersed in water up to his chin. “No,” said the Baptist.

“Is he considered baptized if he is immersed up to his nose?” asked the Presbyterian. Again the Baptist’s answer was “No.”

“Well, if you immerse him up to his eyebrows do you consider him baptized?” queried the Presbyterian. “You don’t seem to understand,” said the Baptist. “He must be immersed completely in water—until his head is covered.” “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you all along,” said the Presbyterian, “it’s only a little water on the top of the head that counts.”

The truth is that it’s more than a little water on the top of the head. The truth of God’s Word is immersion. That’s what the Biblical word baptize actually means in the Greek language: to dip, plunge or immerse. Also, according to Romans 6:4-6 teaches that we are buried with Christ in baptism and raised to walk in newness of life. Baptism rightfully symbolizes the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. In baptism we die to sin and self. Sound doctrine does make a difference. I’d rather preach the message of Acts 2:38 than dismiss it as unimportant.

PROP.- Paul tells us that we must various groups of people in the church and what to teach.

1- We must teach older men

2- We must teach older women

3- We must teach young men

4- We must teach slaves/workers

I. WE MUST TEACH OLDER MEN

2 Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance.

We’ve heard it said that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. OR CAN YOU? But can you teach older men? Yes, and they should be receptive to being taught. Older men should be more mature and realize the need for being taught and especially, being taught sound doctrine or scriptural truths.

ILL.- I remember when I was just a young preacher in my 20's in Iowa that one day I got a phone call from one of my older members, asking me to come to his house to talk to a Jehovah Witness person who had called on them. I thought, “Why me?” “What could I say that he didn’t already say?” He was much older in the faith than I was and I figured he knew more than I did.

Why would he bother to call me? I guess he thought I might know something or know to say something that he hadn’t thought to say. Actually, he was showing maturity and humility by calling me. He was open to being taught or learning from someone younger but some older men have closed minds.

Someone said, “A closed mind is like concrete; all mixed up and permanently set.” That can hold true for anyone, any age. We should be open to truth, but especially, guided by God’s truth.

God’s truth is eternal and God’s word is always right regardless of what the world says. Even though many so-called intelligent people say there is no god, we know better. We know better because of scripture, “In the beginning God,” and many other scriptures. We also know better because common sense tells us there is an intelligent creator behind the starry universe, planet earth, plant and animal life, and the human body.