Bible Teaching is Foundational

And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ – to the glory and praise of God. (Philippians 1:9-11

Explanation: Paul is expressing to the Philippians his desire for their immediate future lives as Christians in this world. The time period for this desire to manifest in the Philippians lives is between their becoming saints (born again, believers, in Christ, 1:1) and “until the day of Christ” (1:10). For the time that a person is born again until they leave this life on earth the goal of the believer is to:

1. Mature or grow in Christ and have the nature of God abound more and more in their lives.

2. This is achieved by increasing the individual believer’s knowledge and insight of God’s Word, which is the Truth. God’s Word reveals to the Christian God’s nature, God’s will, God’s desire, God’s plan, God’s attitude, God’s power. Knowledge of the Word also brings hope, faith, empowerment and understanding among many other things.

3. Knowledge of the Word then enables the Christian “to discern what is best” (Phil.1:10), or, “test and approve what God’s will is” (Rom. 12:2)

4. This empowerment to know and to have faith do God’s word will result in being “filled with the fruit of righteousness” in this life on earth between the point of salvation (phase one) and the time of glorification (phase three). Good deeds and fruitfulness occurs during phase two of salvation (“the renewing of your minds,” “the salvation of your souls.”)

5. At the Judgment Seat of Christ (2 Cor. 5:10) the believer who has grown in knowledge of the Word of God and attained the ability to discern how to think, speak and act like God will produce a fruitful life and be found pure and blameless on the day they stand before Jesus Christ.

6. This is phase two of the Christian life. Success is not guaranteed. Not all Christians will achieve being “filled with the fruit of righteousness” since it requires more than believing there is a God and faith in Jesus his Son for salvation (phase one). Success in phase two is achieved by knowing God’s Word. This is not knowledge like the Gnostics, but instead is an knowledge that leads to being able to discern, recognize, identify the Truth from the false, the Reality from the deception, God from gods, holiness from sin, etc. It is the renewing of the formerly corrupt mind and soul. Without growing in knowledge of God the born again believer will be left to live their life as a new creature in Christ without knowing who God is, who they are, what they are to do, how they will be evaluated, etc. Instead they will be left to find the answers to these questions by reasoning from the darkness of their Pagan past or replacing Pagan reasoning with creative, imaginative mystical logic based on cultural remains of Christian lore, tradition and fragmented pieces of Christian scripture or recycled theology.

Why is Bible Teaching Important and Why Bible Teaching is What the Church Needs Today

1. The born again believer is to become Christ-like

2. Knowledge of God’s Word

3. Discern what is God’s Will

4. Fruitful life of Good deeds

5. Result is a pure and blameless life revealed at the Bema Seat

Goal: Mature, Christ-like believers

Process:

1. Knowledge

2. Discerning

3. Fruitful

Evaluation: Pure, Blameless at Bema Seat