Chapter Eleven

 Teaching Basic Living Skills In The Local Church

            Sound theology is not enough, by itself, to live a successful Christian life.  Many Christians have a good doctrinal background, but are wrong in their spirit.  They may not be practically applying good principles of life.  What good is the truth if it is never used?  Imagine the greatest theological genius of our time never applying that truth to his life!  He would be a wealth of information without doing anything to produce fruit for eternity.  Jesus indicated that His people were not chosen just to have knowledge.  They were saved to use that knowledge (cf. John 15:15-16).  Without the outworking or the use of basic living skills, the church would be a dead institution with a lot of accumulated knowledge.  I believe that basic living skills should include three areas of discipleship:  sound philosophy, sound morality, and sound ethics.  These three areas involve your purpose and reason for living (philosophy), how to live your life in holiness before God (morality), and how you deal with other people (ethics).     

     The new Christian should be taught to consider himself dead to all that typifies the old life, which  prepares him for a right philosophy of life.  All people have some philosophy of life, whether it is wrong or right biblically.  God desires for His people to have a philosophy which compliments His Word.  The Apostle Paul wrote the church at Colossae indicating that he prayed for them to continue in faith, hope, and love.  This Christian philosophy involved the past (faith in Christ), the present (love for the brethren), and future (hope that is laid up in heaven). 

     A proper Christian view of life should include the eternal aspects of how to live and what to expect from God.  True biblical thinking corroborates that our philosophy is not based upon old principles of life, but on the new principles founded by a new faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Any other worldly philosophy would cause the Christian to fail in his life.  If you try to live out your Christian life, directed by the principles that directed you before you came to Christ, you will lose out on the experience of learning the reality of the new.  Develop a sound philosophy based upon the Word of God!  Ask the Lord to show you any thing that is contrary to Bible truth, and then remove it from your life.  Allow God to teach you through His Word.  Be in submission to a Bible believing pastor, and be open to biblical change that conforms you to the character of Christ, and is in harmony with the Word of God.

     Sound morals are a must for the believer in Christ.  When a person is born again by the Spirit of God certain areas of their life will change immediately.  This new life of the Christian is vividly seen the Scripture.  The apostles taught that a Christian should live differently than the unsaved world.  This righteous living is evidence that a change has actually taken place.  The Apostle Paul wrote extensively regarding good morals and ethics (cf. Romans 6:6,14,22; 2 Cor. 5:17).  The Apostle John likewise testified that anyone who does not demonstrate righteousness is not saved  (I John 3:10).  This is a bold statement!  The morality of our day is so lax that some Christians have become apathetic to moral issues in the church.  we need spiritual awakening!  Jesus taught the same principle (Matthew 7:16,17).  It is evident that the Lord Jesus Christ wants His children to live according to His Word, make necessary changes in their philosophy, morals, and ethics in order to demonstrate righteousness to a lost world.

            In conjunction with a sound philosophical and moral basis for life, sound ethics must pervade the thinking of God's people.  Ethics is based upon three criteria: Biblical philosophy, Biblical morals, Biblical veracity.  Each of these areas is crucial in the heart and mind of the believer in Christ.  Without victory in these areas good ethics is impossible.  Ethics is the method of “character evidence” which manifests itself in our dealings with other men.  Ethics involves every facet of life and practice and should subjugate the Christian to the implementation of sound Bible principles.  These principles should be guided by strong convictions.  Strong convictions are based upon our desire to honor the Lord Jesus Christ in every area of life. We need a right philosophy because our philosophy affects our morality.  We need sound morals because they affect our ethics and theology.  We need good ethics and theology because they affect our ability to win people to Christ.

            Teaching on basic living skills influences many areas of discipleship.  I believe that every new Christian should be taught basic principles which will immediately bring victory in their lives. To accomplish this goal, it is imperative that we teach: biblical separation, truth and ethics, how to have a sound mind, a willingness to accept correction from the Bible, and the character of Christ.  I have seen these principles taught, and have observed that good discipleship is contained in sound biblical preaching and exhortation.  In order to give biblical counsel to the church body we must be prepared to teach and preach effectively.  Counsel from the Bible takes place in two ways: from the pulpit in preaching, and individual training.  However, the more we communicate corporately, the less individual counsel becomes necessary.  The larger the church, the more time consuming our responsibility in giving counsel becomes.  The Scripture teaches that "...where no counsel is, the people fall" (Proverbs 11:14).  Godly counsel involves the analyzing and solving of root problems using biblical principles and spiritual discernment.  "General" counseling in the church involves dealing with believers who are in a war between the flesh and the spirit.  Other counseling areas are too numerous to elucidate in this book.  It is imperative that we counsel.  However, the primary responsibility is not to counsel; it is to win the lost to Christ and then disciple them.  The Apostle Paul taught that faithful men were to teach other faithful men who continue the ongoing process (I Timothy 2:2).  It appears that Paul did not spend much time with individual counseling, but focused his teaching to the church in general.  However, we must also meet the needs of the church as a whole in "corporate counseling" (preaching, teaching, exhortation). 

            Discipleship begins with making disciples, and making disciples begins with soul-winning.  A pastor's responsibilities center around important key areas: he is to oversee the work of God (Acts 20:28), to pray and study the Word of God (Acts 6), win souls, and then teach those converts to fulfill their personal responsibility to fulfill the Word of God.  This cycle is critical to the functioning of the church.

 Decision ÷  Discipleship ÷  Reproduction ÷  Soul-winning

 Teaching basic living skills involves a continuous process of education, discipleship and counseling.  Pastor's often expect their church to function properly without teaching the church how this is to occur.  Part of the problem in the church today is the failure to preach with power and credibility.