Join Tim Matthews and Jack Raymond as they discuss Doctrine: Rooted in Truth, Week 2.
The Lesson Plan
Doctrine: Week 2
(upbeat music) - Hello teachers and welcome back to the lesson plan where as always we are trying to help you create a memorable lesson that is effective and it is our job here or at least we strive to to help you in every way possible to make your lesson great each and every week. I'm back with the Jack Raymond, Jack. Can you welcome our teachers this morning? It's morning for us where we're at recording right now. - That's true and if you listen to episode one we do have our lights back on, I guess we didn't move enough but they're back on. But yeah, great to be with our teachers loving this series, this study so far and always, always just grateful to know that we have hundreds of men and women committed to God's word, committed to teach His word every Wednesday, every Sunday. And so we're gonna jump right into week number two, lesson number two, this is covering truth as a firm foundation. And of course, this is gonna be so important as we think about the world today where what do we hear all the time, Tim? "My truth is my truth, your truth is your truth." No, God is abundantly- - But what if my truth says your truth is a lie? - Is that true? - Is it still true? - Which, that is an absolute statement even though they say truth, there is no absolute truth which would be an absolute statement. So it makes no sense which- - It doesn't. It does make sense. - What? - This week, as our teachers are preparing for their lesson, I know you're gonna introduce our hook here in just a second, but I would encourage you as a teacher when you're done listening to the lesson plan podcast, man, as you're meditating on God's word this week, Cody Carnes, firm foundation, oh my gosh, probably one of my favorite worship songs, right? Christ is my firm foundation, the rock on which I stand. And if you just let that song play in the background while you teach this week, I'm telling you, you're gonna be a better teacher for it. It's all I'm gonna say. - Yeah, man, that's awesome. Love that song. So important to make sure that our hearts are prepared always before we teach. And so, but speaking of firm foundation, so that is the opening hook in your curriculum. It's talking about the importance of the foundation of your homes. So these are some interesting numbers, unfortunately, some kind of sad numbers for Texas, but-- - Or even the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex. - No, I feel like Dallas were always ranked high and good or bad stuff. This is unfortunately a bad thing to be ranked high in, but DFW is ranked third of all U.S. cities in the list of most searched foundation repair. So a lot of foundation issues, if you have that in your life group, take a minute and pray for them, because in 2024, the national average cost of foundation repairs was $4,500, because every house, every home, you need that good foundation, 'cause if you don't fix it, you're gonna have way, way, way worse problems. - That's right. As you were sharing those statistics, I just got this feeling in the pit of your stomach, that sinking feeling, because we bought our house in Carrollton in 2020 and love our house. It's an older build, great lot, beautiful trees, but it was built in Carrollton, Texas. And what we have discovered is that an addition, shifty soil, and so even in the four years that we have lived in our house, I just have to admit here, I mean, we're above the neck, you know, averaging foundation repair. - I mean, you're trying to get Dallas up to number one. - I mean, I'm part of the reason this is a growing cost, 'cause I mean, it had steel piers already, but there were still parts of our house that weren't buttoned up from underneath, and man, it's hit us hard, but speaking of that, obviously this is a great way just to dive in to just some local statistics, and I'm sure some other people in your life group will have some similar stories from the house that they built here in North Texas, but I do think another great hook could be talking about the Leaning Tower of Pisa, right? You know, because it is considered the most famous poor, excuse me, poor foundation in the world, right? I mean, it was built, you know, I think construction began in like 1178 or something like that, but you know, scientists travel yearly to measure the building's slow descent, and what's interesting is that the word Pisa actually means marshy land, which is where they built the Leaning Tower of Pisa on some marshy land, and they report that this 179 foot tower moves about one 20th of an inch every year, and obviously as it continues to lean, it threatens to fall on nearby structures and things like that. I think it was in May of 2008, after they removed like 70 metric tons of earth that the engineers finally announced that the tower had been stabilized and stopped so that it wouldn't fall and crumble and cause damage, right? And they said it would be stable for at least the next 200 years, all because, right? All of this was because of a poor foundation, right? So just a great, relevant way to kind of lean into this idea of, you know, what we build our foundation on is kind of the most important thing, especially when it comes to life. - Absolutely, absolutely. And so as you transition into the lesson itself, you know, as you just said, Tim, you're the main thrust of this lesson is what is the foundation for your life? You know, where are you building your life? And in the main point we give here in number week two is that the teaching of Jesus is a firm foundation we can build our lives on. And so talking point number one is gonna be Jesus is the way to eternal life in heaven and abundant life on earth. And so the passage here comes out of John chapter 10. And this is one of John's seven IM statements that he highlights that Jesus said and which I think is so cool that we're going here because this is a great connection and call back to Exodus, which we just studied last year. - John out. - Yeah. - When God calls Moses and through the burning bush God reveals himself as Yahweh or we often translate that there in English as I am, who I am. And so when Jesus is making these statements he is clearly teaching and telling the people then in us today through his word that he is God. And so in John chapter 10, the IM statement here is that I am the good shepherd. And so here is our text, John chapter 10, verses one through 10. Verse one says, "Truly, truly I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way that man is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the gatekeeper opens the sheep hears voice and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he is brought out all his own he goes before them in the sheep, follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow but they will flee from him. For they do not know the voice of strangers. This figure of speech Jesus used with him, they did not understand what he was saying to them. So Jesus again said to them, "Truly, truly I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who come before me are thieves and robbers but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy. I have come that they may have a life and have it abundantly." And you see one more verse in John chapter 10 and verse 14. Jesus says, "I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me." And so what Jesus is teaching here is he's giving us this powerful contrast of how he leads as the good shepherd. In fact, this would also be a callback, a reference to Old Testament passage, Ezekiel chapter 34 where God speaks to his people Israel. And he talks about at this time in Ezekiel chapter 34 that Israel's leaders, he refers to them as hired hands. And so they are selfish leaders. They do it to gain popularity. They do it to gain authority, to gain status. They're not doing it as God leads in even back then in Ezekiel chapter 34, he talks about how he desires the best for his people. And so when Jesus says, "I am the good shepherd," he is showing the ultimate perfect model of leadership. And even before we unpack this lesson, something that as I was just reading and reflecting on the curriculum and reading and reflecting on this passage, it's so important for us as teachers to be prepared for the lesson ourselves. We want to be able to say, "Hey, I'm not doing this as a hired hand. "I'm not leading in my life if I'm not teaching "in my life group." For any sort of selfish motivation, it's a selfless. It's a Jesus first motivation because that's the model of Jesus. He says, "I am the good shepherd who lays down his life "for his sheep." And so James chapter three talks about how his teachers were held to a higher standard, a higher level of accountability and responsibility. And part of that means that we need to be men of character, women of character, we need to be people that are following Jesus' model of leadership here. - That's right. And you mentioned a callback. I mean, if you look at Israel's history, go back and the thread that weaves through the Old Testament history is that Israel's kings and leaders, right? They did not do this, right? By and large. There were some good ones, of course, but ultimately that all points to there is only one, right? And that is Jesus. He is the true shepherd. He is the good shepherd, right? And so as Jesus talks about himself and through the IM statements, as well as talking about how he is the good shepherd, and I do think it's important as teachers that we can talk about the characteristics of a good shepherd, right? What a shepherd does. He leads, he guards, protects, feeds, all those things. I mean, being a shepherd is a very selfless thing, you know? Again, call him back to Exodus, right? Why did God have Moses, you know? I mean, Moses ends up in the wilderness for 40 years. What is he doing? He's shepherding. Interesting that God would lead him to 40 years of that to teach him what it really meant and look like to lead the way that God desires us to lead, right? And so ultimately we see that modeled in the life of Jesus that he is that good shepherd, right? Psalm 23, also a great place to go, right? As it relates to God being our shepherd, right? Jesus being our shepherd. - Yeah, it's just such a powerful imagery. To Psalm 23, David of course was a shepherd. He writes Psalm 23, probably one of the most well-known Psalms and chapters of the Bible referring to God as our good shepherd. And so Jesus unpacks here. He says, you know, I am the good shepherd and all that that entails. In each of these seven I am statements, Jesus is revealing something of his nature, something of who he is. And so Jesus is revealing here, specifically some truths about his heart for his people. He says, you know, my sheep will hear my voice. And so he's always desiring to hear from his people. He talks about, as you just pointed out, Tim, just the protective nature, that he is also the door of the sheep, that he will protect the sheep from those thieves and those robbers, as he mentions in verse eight. And then again, in verse 10. And I would encourage us as teachers as well to really drill down at the end of John chapter, sorry, the end of John 10, 10, where Jesus says, you know, I have come that they may have a life and have it abundantly. And again, that's the point, number one, that Jesus is the way to eternal life and heaven in abundant life on earth. - Yeah, and I love how the curriculum mentions this. You know, I think of the quote that you're, you don't be so earthly minded that you're no heavenly good, but so heavenly minded that you're not earthly good, right, there's a balance, right? And our curriculum even mentioned that there's more to it, right when it comes to the gospel, but yes, it is ultimately about eternal life and heaven, right? But it's also about abundant life here on earth. Following Jesus is the way, the way to truth, the way to life, obviously eternal, but here and now as well, right? Following Jesus is the way life was meant to be lived. It's not just the way to salvation, although it is the only way to salvation right through Christ Jesus our Lord. But it's also, his way is the way to true life, happiness, joy and abundance in this world, right? And so I think it's a great way to kind of wrap up, I guess point number one. And I guess I've been tasked with diving into point number two, Jack, and point number two, talking point number two is that Jesus is teaching isn't just something to be believed. It's to be lived out, right? Head, heart, hands is kind of how I describe it sometimes as a teacher, right? When I'm sitting in front of people as I'm opening up God's word, I like to remind them. When I'm done with my lesson, my job isn't that you would walk out of this room and you have this big head full of Bible facts and Bible knowledge, right? My goal is that when you walk out of this room having learned some important things from God's word that your heart is big and that when you walk out of here, you have a passion and a desire to live differently because of what you've learned here. And so I love that talking point, right? It's not, Jesus's teaching isn't just something to be believed, it's something to be lived out. And matter of fact, one of the main passages that we use for this talking point is Matthew chapter seven, right? This is the kind of coming to the end of Jesus' sermon on the Mount, matter of fact, in our scriptures. This is the last teaching that Jesus has in the sermon on the Mount is a way to kind of, I guess, sum all of it up in terms of everything that I've just taught you, everything that I have just, you know, given you, exhorted you all of these things. And I love, you know, I tell people all the time, Jesus isn't just a master teacher, Jesus was the master teacher, he was the best, right? There is, there is no one else, Jesus is the best teacher. And one of the things Jesus often did is he taught in parables, he used wonderful illustrations. And so when we get to Matthew chapter seven, specifically verses 24 through 27 at the end of the sermon to Mount, here's what Jesus says. He says, "Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock and see the correlation, not just those who hear, it's those who actually puts what I say into practice is like the wise man who built his house on the rock, verse 25, the rain came down, the streams rose and the winds blew and beat against that house, yet it did not fall, why or because it had its foundation on the rock. But verse 26, "Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand, the rain came down, the streams rose, the winds blew and beat against that house and it fell with a great crash." And so Jesus is painting the picture of the wise man. Isn't just somebody who hears the word of God, but is somebody who hears the word of God and actually put it into practice. And so Jesus, all throughout the sermon of the Mount, so what is he doing, he's trying to help people get underneath the commands. He's trying to help people understand that it's about a heart, it's about a heart that loves God and a heart that loves God and loves his word will bear the fruit of obedience in their life. And so I love how he comes to the end and he talks about this man, this wise man and how important it is not just to be a hearer of the word but a doer. And obviously there's some allusions to James here as well in the curriculum, you know, James chapter one. I mean, James, his, I mean, whole letter can be summed up, you know, in that, right? Not just to be a hearer of the word but a doer of the word, that's what a true disciple is. And so obviously I think you can take some time as a teacher and really just dive in, you know, to this, to this specific illustration because I just think it's so foundational to, you know, what it means to build your life on Jesus' word and his teaching and to actually live it out. Because again, the study of biblical doctrine isn't just an intellectual exercise. It's about practical theology. It's truth that's meant to be lived out in our day to day lives. All right, I've heard it said in our curriculum, mentions this, wisdom isn't just knowing the truth but it's applying truth to our life. And Jesus paints that picture so beautifully in the Sermon on the Mount. And I'll also say this, you know, it's not just a picture of, you know, the everyday storms of life and what's gonna keep us standing, right? It's a picture also, ultimately of judgment, right? That when judgment comes, right? The wind and the waves come, right? When we stand before Jesus, it's only our faith in him which is evidenced by our obedience displayed throughout our life. That's what's the only thing that we have. That's the only leg we have to stand on, right? If we try to put our hope right in anything else, man, when the storms of judgment come, we're gonna be washed away. It's only for those who are standing on the rock that are grounded, rooted in the rock, that is Christ Jesus, that are gonna be able to stand when judgment comes. - Yeah, and so Jesus has given us the perfect example, the perfect illustration. We don't even necessarily have to come up with an illustration here of, you know, just as you said a minute ago, Tim, people love pictures, they love images, they love illustrations, and so being able to give them that powerful picture of, hey, the wind and the rain are gonna come to both houses. Speaking of James, that's how he begins. He says, "When you experience trials of various kinds." - That's right, and again, you know, we can nerd out a little bit here. - Yeah. - I mean, I know Dr. Schneider did at the summit with his, you know, the Greek rendering of the word, you know, spurring one another on, and all of that. You know, the Greek word for faith, right? It has the meaning of, it's not just about believing in something, it's putting our trust in it, it's belief in action. So when the New Testament talks about faith, right, it's not just about belief, but it's about trust, and trust is manifested, right? When you truly trust something, you're gonna act on that trust. One of the simple illustrations I use in my class often is like when people walk into a room, they see a bunch of chairs. And almost without thinking about it, people will walk over to the chair and they'll sit down in it, right? It's one thing to believe that a chair can hold you up when you sit down on it. But it's another thing when you actually go to sit down in the chair, because you assume you believe you have trust that the chair's gonna do what it's intended to do. So you don't really trust the chair to do what it's supposed to do until what? And until you sit down on that thing, right? And so again, that's just another simple illustration to teach people, like that's what it means to have faith, right? You truly believe in Jesus, well, you're gonna trust Him at His word, and when you trust Jesus at His word, you're gonna act in accordance to it, which is why sin, you know, oftentimes by and large is a lack of trust in God. God, I don't trust your will and your ways in this. I'm gonna do what I think's best and how does that work out for us, right? When the waves come, sand, not good, right? - Not good, not good, yeah. - But, you know, Jesus, you know, is worthy of our trust. And we, when we demonstrate trust in Him, it's gonna be shown in the way that we live our life. That's how we demonstrate, we really believe in Jesus because we live out His teaching. So, Jack, let's move on to point number three. Take us home. - Let's do it. All right, so talking point number three, and this is one where, you know, as teachers, this should really fire us up. This should fill us with passion. I've heard it said before, you know, you want your teaching style to match the tone or the heart of the text. And so, we're gonna be in first Timothy chapter four and then second Timothy chapter four. - Arguably, some of the best-name books in the Bible. - Yeah, yeah, shout out to Timothy Matthew's right there. Yeah, but talking point number three is gonna be, we have to know sound doctrine so we can recognize falsehood. In both of these passages is where Paul will tell Timothy, say, "Hey, I charge you in this." And so, Paul is speaking with great passion, great urgency. These are some of the second Timothy we believe to be the final biblical letter that Paul writes. And so, there's always a lot of weight to people's first words and certainly to their final words too. And so, in first Timothy chapter four, we're gonna read verses 12 through 16. Paul writes, "Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believer's an example in speech and conduct and love and faith and purity. Until I come to vote yourself to the public reading of scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given to you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you. Practice these things, immerse yourself in them so that all may see your progress. Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching, persist in this by so doing you will save both yourselves and your hearers." And so, a lot of times we focus on that first part of verse 12. We're probably familiar with it. We've probably heard where Paul tells Timothy, "Let no one despise you or maybe your translations has looked down on you because of your youth." And of course, that's important, but what I often forget is that second half of verse 12. What does he tell Timothy? He says, "Set the believers an example in what? In speech, in conduct, in faith, in love and impurity." So five areas where he says, "Hey, set the example in this. And how is Timothy to do this?" We says, "Until I come to vote yourself to the public reading of scripture." He says, "You're going to set an example for these other believers in the church of Ephesus, by being rooted in God's word." And he just keeps driving this home over and over and over. I mean, just like all these different commands, verse 14, "Do not neglect the gift you have." Verse 15, "Practice these things." Verse 15, "Again, immerse yourself in them." Verse 16, "Keep a close watch on yourself and on your teaching. Persist in this." And the goal is that end. So by doing this, you will save yourself and your hearers. And so the clear, clear, clear challenge that Paul is giving Timothy and us as teachers of God's word is, "Hey, you need to be rooted in God's word. You have to know sound doctrine, teach and live it out otherwise. You're going to fall into false teaching." - That's right. This reminds me of, and many of our teachers probably have heard this before. I know our pastor has used this as an illustration. I think it was John MacArthur who originally put it out, but it's him giving the picture of the FBI counterfeit division and talking about how they identify currency that's counterfeit. And you would think that, well, man, I learned to identify a counterfeit by studying all the counterfeits. But what he says is actually how they're trained and how they develop their skill and being able to identify a counterfeit is actually by studying the real thing. You study the real thing so well that when a counterfeit comes across, you're able to spot it and identify it. And I think that's the point when it comes to this idea of sound doctrine. Like, how do we know what is true? How do we know what accords with God's words? How can we spot something when it doesn't line up? Well, it's by knowing God's word. It's by having sound doctrine. It's by knowing the truth so well that when something that comes across, right, or something that hits our ears, we go, "Ah, that doesn't sound right." Why? Well, because we know the truth so well. We know sound doctrine so well. And I mean, the scripture tells us, there's going to come a time when people will not put up with sound doctrine. I mean, it doesn't take long to look around, right, to see this is just playing out right before our very eyes just like in Bible times, just like today, you know, now more than ever, that people will believe just whatever they hear, right? But for us as Christians, we can discern the truth because we know it, because we're rooted in that sound doctrine. Amen. Yeah, and Tim, that's the final passage right there. Second, Tim, the four, one through five where, you know, Paul talks about, hey, there's going to come a time where people will have itching ears. They're going to want to hear what they want to hear. And that is so true in today's world. Talk about a timely God's word is always timely and always applicable to our lives. But this is one that, as you said, you don't have to look long. You know, you don't have to scroll on social media long. Tim, I know you're not on social media, but in today's world, it's so easy to spread a false teaching, you know, so fast. You can just jump on Instagram or Twitter. You know, we were talking about Gen Z lingo and Tim and I were embarrassing ourselves with what we know and don't know about no cap and skiv-a-dee and all these stuff. My seventh grader is mortified anytime I just try to use one of these things. Like, Dad, you have no idea what you're saying and I don't. - No, yeah, but that's the world we live in too is where ideas spread in an instant. And so it becomes all the more urgent to know the truth, to as teachers and to help our people understand, hey, we've got to know the truth as we go into our workplace, as we interact with our neighbors, as we teach our children, as we teach our grandchildren, as we teach, you know, everywhere that we go, because God has clearly already called us, number one, to teach in a life group setting, but my guess is God has called us to several places where we're teaching and living out his word. In fact, that very last verse of 2 Timothy 4 verse 5, and this is the final chapter of his final letter, Paul writes to Timothy verse five. He says, "As for you, always be sober minded, enduring suffering, do the work of an evangelist and fulfill your ministry." That's what we want to do as teachers, that's what we want our people to understand is, they need to fulfill their ministry of teaching and living out God's word. - Amen. Well, as we wrap this up, teachers, I do want to just encourage you the took for week number two is absolutely phenomenal. It's a very simple illustration that Dr. Bill Bright, right one of the founders of Campus Crusade for Christ, you know, an organization that began on the campus at University of California, Los Angeles in the 1950s. There's this beautiful illustration called the fact, faith-feeling train. And one of the things that said about it in the curriculum, right, in terms of a quote as it relates to this illustration, right? It says, "Do not depend on feelings. The promise of God's word, not our feelings, is our authority. The Christian lives by faith in the trustworthiness of God himself in his word. And the train diagram illustrates that relationship between fact, which is God in his word, faith, which is our trust in God in his word, and feelings, which are the result of our faith and obedience, right? So in other words, fact, God's word, sound doctrine, right, God in his word should be driving our train of life, right? And we as believers are called to place our faith and trust in God in his word, despite our feelings, despite everything else in our feelings, which again, God gave us feelings and emotions, but they should be pulled by God in his word and our faith and trust in God in his word. And if we do that, right, that's the way, right? That's the train tracks of living that abundant life, that life full of peace and joy and contentment and all of that. And so just encourage them, it's a great took, simple illustration, and draw it up on the board and help people walk through that. Maybe even have some examples of God's word says this. Here's what we're called to do, and we let our emotions follow. 'Cause I don't know about you, Jack, but man, I can't trust my heart. - No. - I think my wife says, you lead before you say I do, right? - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - When she's just women's roles, she's like, hey, I can't trust my feelings because my feelings before coffee versus after coffee in the morning are different, right? And so that's very, I mean, our hearts are fickle. Our hearts are just eatfully wicked, right? God and His word, truth. That's our firm foundation, so. - Teachers, grab your coffee before you drink coffee. - Have you drink some stuff? - I don't drink coffee. - I don't drink coffee. I don't know what it is, but Jack, always a pleasure. Love you, man, appreciate your ministry. Thank you for what you do, leading our young marriage before you say I do ministry and all the other ways that you serve our church, but it's always a pleasure being with you, man. Thanks again. - Thanks Tim. 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