All right, so last lesson on theological triage. We have talked about a lot. We've talked about the what, those six things, priority, urgency, minimizing, maximizing casualties, and survivors, allocating resources, efficient evaluation, trying to steer clear of fundamentalism and liberalism, and maximal life and health of the Christian and the church. We also saw last time that we're aiming for balance. We know what happened between Luther and Zwingli, and there are many other cases, sadly, in church history that are of similar nature. We talked about the fact if we don't triage correctly, we can wound one another and we can kill proverbially, metaphorically, and really one another. We've done that in the past. And then we also talked about wise men do triage. We talked about the fact that Augustine gave us this kind of phrase, in essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, and in all things charity. And we talked about the Bible system of triage. Now, I don't know if some of that information was new to you, but we saw from the Old Testament and from Jesus' view of the Old Testament, and then the apostles' understanding of what Jesus taught, that the Bible balances out doctrines. It gives things a first priority. which naturally means things are, there are certain things that are second priority. And we ended last time by talking about 1 Corinthians 15, three, I deliver to you of first importance, the apostle Paul says, that which I received, that Christ died for our sins, he rose again. And so the gospel to Paul, the gospel to the apostles was of first importance. So this morning, I want to do three things. I want to talk about how we weigh doctrine. How do we go about weighing doctrine? The scripture shows that there are first and second order things. So how do we go about weighing it? What are some calibrating questions we can ask? And then also I want to give you my own model of triage and bear my soul to you. Over 20 years of thinking in Christ boiled down to one PowerPoint slide is very humbling. So I beg your mercy. And then maybe if we get to it, some pitfalls to avoid. So let's start out by talking about how we weigh doctrine. It's an important question to consider. We've seen that the scripture doesn't present every doctrine with equal weight. Some things are of first importance, other things aren't. Differences, disagreements over what we would call secondary matters can be held without breaking fellowship. Some make us break fellowship. And more importantly, differences and disagreements over secondary issues can keep us from consigning each other to the fires of hell. And that is very important in the life of the church. So the health of the Christian over secondary matters is another story, and we'll address that in just a moment. But we're aiming for balance. We can't reject the scripture's picture of how doctrines are weighed. We're trying to steer clear of being a fundamentalist that raises really all doctrines to primary importance. And we're trying to steer clear of being a liberal, which basically puts no importance on doctrine and just says, we just ought to love Jesus and feed the poor. And one treats a gunshot wound and a sprained ankle the same, and the other treats a gunshot wound and a sprained ankle as no big deal. And so we have to have some balance. So how do we weigh doctrine? What is a method we can employ Well, the first thing I think we need to say is we never do triage based on friendship. We never do triage based on friendship. Sometimes bad examples are as instructive as good examples, so I'm going to give you the what not to do's up front and then we'll talk about a few what to do's. Never do triage based on friendship. This is a very difficult one for us because even among the mature, friends are very valuable to us. C.S. Lewis said, few value friendship because few experience it. And those of us who have true friends know the value of them. And when we have true friends, there's a high potential for that friendship to affect our balance as we triage. When we bleed together as friends, when we experience the freedom of friendship, some of you know what that's like, where you can laugh so hard you snort in front of your friend. You've got that level of friendship. Our hearts are united together very profoundly. It becomes very hard to triage when my friend advocates for a doctrine that I either disagree with or even more difficult when he's attacked for what he believes and I just jump to the case and I start throwing theological punches, although I may not agree with him. He's in a street fight, I'll ask questions after the fact. I'm just there to defend my friend. We do this also with our favorite Christian theologians. This was a problem in the Corinthian church. I am of Paul. I am of Apollos. So we never do triage based on friendship. Just keep that in mind. That doesn't mean we don't have friends and we're some cold stoic, but we can't do triage based on friendship. Secondly, we never do triage based on feelings. This is a closely related idea to friendship. Feelings are God-given, and if they're rightly informed, if they're guided, united to the truth, they're a powerful part of our witness to the resurrected Christ. Be angry and do not sin. That's a difficult one. That's an emotion, okay? The New Testament's full of examples where our emotions are commanded by God, but there's a danger. How we feel about a person, good or bad, can cloud what we believe about their doctrine. It boils down to something as simple as this. Nice people, people we like, get a free pass. But people we may not like can hardly say anything we agree with, though we may agree with them. It's kind of that emotional interpretation. The problem goes deeper, however. If you've researched the psychology of human beauty, it's a fascinating study. As I try to get a bigger picture of how we interpret things based on our feelings from a biblical perspective, I read some secular psychology as well. Think about what this psychologist says. This psychologist says, physical attractiveness does create a powerful first impression on the mind. So powerful, in fact, that we may go much beyond looks and simply start generating assumptions about a person's success, status, parenting, intelligence, even if they prove not to be true. The old country song says, he's easy on the eyes, but he's hard on the heart. We like to think as Christians we're not prone to these things, but we are. In a broken world, perceived beauty and truth are not always in harmony with one another. Proverbs 31.30, charm is deceitful. So if we do triage based on our emotions, we can cloud our judgment. Why do you think false teachers focus so much on the optics of their ministry? It's because beauty can trick the mind to triage doctrine incorrectly. Now, if you think that's an elementary point or something that's kind of, well, I get it, but I don't agree. I want to remind you that it was part and parcel of the fall of the human race. Genesis 3 reported that Eve said the tree was a delight to the eye. It was a delight to the eye. So once Eve moved from faith and the Word, she began to triage with her feelings. John speaks of the lust of the eye, 1 John 2.16. And the fact that this is such a prevalent way in which we judge the truth is marked by God in a very stark statement. When we consider who is fit to be king over Israel, do we remember the story of David? God says through Samuel, the Lord said to Samuel, do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature because I rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees. And here's the phrase, man looks on the outward appearance. There's triage based on what we see, perceived beauty. but the Lord was the heart. So maybe we can ask ourselves the question, have we ever triaged the truth of a doctrine based on someone or something's appearance or friendliness? Eve did. And she rejected God. So think about that. Think about that. We can't triage based on feelings and even perceived beauty, in a way. We can't triage based on the threat of loss, whether that be money, membership in the church. The threat of loss cannot be considered in our triage of a particular doctrine. If we triage a doctrine based on whether or not we'll lose money or persuasion, I think this is a very bad idea. And it possibly exposes that if we elevated one thing above the other, compromise may be close at hand. Hebrews 13.5 says, keep your life free from the love of money, and keep your triage free from it as well. We can't triage based on the threat of loss. And we never triage based on the fear of criticism. What will they say? What will they think? Now, some have no fear of criticism, almost to the point of sociopathic. They just can't relate to people. They just say it, let it fly, don't care how people feel. Others fear criticism so much that it keeps them from doing proper triage because they think others will count them out for being too narrow-minded or even too liberal. Paul began his letter to the Galatians in defense of the gospel by saying, As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches to you a gospel contrary to the one you receive, let it be a curse, for am I now seeking the approval of man? of God. On the issue of the gospel, he didn't triage based on the fear of criticism. Am I seeking man's approval with this? Now, interestingly enough, in the same letter, it was recorded of Peter that before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles, but when they came, he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. There's triage based on the fear of criticism right there in the Apostle Peter. So we can't triage based on the fear of criticism. Now, these are just four. There are other things lurking in our flesh, but we have to resist these temptations as we triage. Friendship, feelings, self-preservation. Self-preservation is a natural instinct, but they have to be put in check. They have to be balanced with the truth. And so could you imagine an emergency room doctor using these as a method to treat you? Well, this guy's my friend. He's going to get it. He's going to get treated before anyone else. That's never the way to do triage. So those are four quick ways never to do triage. Well, how do we weigh doctrine? Here's some simple questions we can use to consider how to do proper triage. I think we can boil it down to kind of four questions. The first question is a question of clarity, a question of clarity. When we're doing theological triage, we're asking how clear is the Bible on whatever doctrine we're considering? We have to recognize that in Scripture, some things are clearer than others. Not only does it weigh doctrine, but it also has varying clarity to it. Some things are hard to understand, amen? Amen, right. Consider our own confession, how it relates to this doctrine of the clarity of the Bible. So it says, all things in scripture are not alike plain in themselves. nor alike clear unto all. That's why the Lord has given pastors and teachers to the church. Yet those things which are necessary to be known, believed, and observed, that means your Christian obedience. for salvation are so clearly propounded and open in some place of scripture or another, that not only the learned, the eggheads, but the unlearned, in a due use of ordinary means, that means reading the Bible, hearing preaching, and teaching on it, may attain to a sufficient understanding of them. So this paragraph in our confession summarizes some key Bible doctrines for us when we triage. It gives us a framework for assessing the clarity of certain doctrines. We have to recognize that everything's not as clear, equally clear, and some things are difficult to understand. There are heights to Scripture, there's depths to Scripture. Peter spoke of Paul's teaching that in all his letters, when he speaks of them in these matters, there are some things in them that are hard to understand. Here's an apostle looking at an apostle and going, that man has been given a depth of wisdom that I don't have, and they're hard to understand. He's recognizing a varying clarity there. In our Lord's teachings, John 6, verse 60, The crowds would reply, even his own disciples, this is a hard saying. Who can understand it? There's some hard sayings of Jesus, varying in clarity. But we have to recognize that by the illuminating power of the Holy Spirit, the Bible is clear in many, many things, both to the learned and the unlearned. That's not saying Christian and non-Christian. I don't believe it's saying that. I think this is referring to a very simple, uneducated Christian and one who's been given by God's grace access to resources that others have not. Things that are necessary to be known, believed, observed for salvation are clear on the pages of Scripture in one place or the other. Consider Psalm 19. The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. Law here is broader than the Ten Commandments, but it's not less than those things. So this is not just a limitation to a few simple gospel truths. This statement does contain it, but it includes what's to be known and believed. But it also contains, as our confession says, what's plainly to be observed, which are the central duties of a Christian's life, including good works. Those things are, I think, plain in Scripture. Loving your neighbor as yourself, forgiving one another, loving one another, serving one another. It's pretty plain. We understand it. It's just the heart's the problem. So one older Reformed theologian would say here that this, among other things, includes the Ten Commandments, that the commandments are plain to all Christians, okay? They're plainly known. One theologian writes this, we come to understand the plain things by ordinary means of Bible reading, interpreting its plain language, praying for light from the Holy Spirit, all the things we do here in worship. When we do these things, the Bible will become clear to us. You don't need to be a scholar to understand the Bible. Yet, scholars and teachers and pastors do help the church. James Renahan says this, the confession acknowledges that in the most basic things in matters of salvation, no obscurity exists in scripture. While recognizing that there are many passages, doctrines and circumstances that may be less clear. So explaining the gospel, flat out clear. Explaining the hypostatic union, maybe not. Anybody want to hop up here and give it a try? So I think we can say, with one very astute Reformed theologian, that the things concerning salvation, the gospel, without the external aid of tradition, and this man was pushing back against Roman Catholicism here, without the external aid of tradition or the infallible judgment of the church, they may be read and understood and profitable to believers. The Papists, that's what he called them, denied this. but we affirm it. And so the Reformed men recognized, Christians recognized that there are some things in Scripture that are flat out plain. So consider this, things clearly stated in Scripture are clearer than things directly derived, which are clearer than things that we deduce from logic or even the parables of the Lord. So things clear in scripture, Exodus 20, 10 commandments, pretty clear. You shall not bear false witness. That's pretty straight forward. Deuteronomy 6.4, there's one God, hero Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 1 John 1, 6 through 10, if anyone says he has not sinned, he makes God a liar. If we deny that we've ever sinned, we make God a liar. That Bible verse is pretty plain. Those things are clearer than something directly derived from Scripture. So consider, for instance, Acts chapter 5, when Ananias and Sapphira lie to the Holy Spirit. There's no Bible verse that directly says, the Holy Spirit is God. But we derive directly from a passage like Acts 5, when Peter says, you have not lied to men, but to God, ascribing deity to the Holy Spirit. It makes us put things together a little more, even our doctrine of the Trinity is that way. Father, Son, and Spirit. There's not a Bible verse. You know, a lot of Muslims have this objection against Christianity. Nowhere does Jesus say, I am God, worship me. Well, no, but yes. If you have eyes to see and you have ears to hear, he says it everywhere. So things that are clearly stated are clearer than things that are directly derived and they're clearer than things that are deduced from logic or parables. In Hebrews 1, the questions asked. For to which of the angels did God ever say, you are my son, today I begot you? That's a question that's asking the reader to pull out of other passages in broader context a truth. It's a deduction from logic. Jesus' own parables. If you read Jesus' parables, Matthew 13, for instance, it's the parable of the sower. and he gives a parable, and his disciples are like, why do you speak to the crowds in parables? Nobody can understand this. The parables are, by their design, encourages further study, further thinking, deeper thoughts compared to the clearer things. Okay, so how clear is the holiness of God in Scripture? It's pretty clear. How clear is the sinfulness of man? It's pretty clear. How clear is the perfect life of Jesus, his death for sin, his resurrection? Pretty clear. How clear is the message of repentance from dead works? Clear. How clear is the message of salvation by grace alone in Christ alone? That's pretty clear. So as we triage, we have to ask ourselves questions like, how clear is the Bible on this doctrine? You have to study the word diligently. You have to search. You have to compare scripture with scripture. You have to pray. You have to listen to good preaching and teaching and learn. That helps you in your triage. Clarity will come more quickly for some doctrines than others. Okay, so first question we ask is how clear is the Bible on it? Second question. It's a question of relationship. What's this doctrine's importance to the gospel? How does it relate to the gospel? This assumes something. It assumes that the gospel is clear. And as we briefly stated, it's of first importance, 1 Corinthians 15. I hope you saw that from our last study. So we have to ask the question, what is this doctrine's importance to the gospel? In our past home group, this past Wednesday, we discussed the chapter concerning angels from basic Christian doctrine. The question was asked, what day the angels were created? And a little bit tongue-in-cheek, I said after day one and before day six. Does the doctrine of when the angels were created have a more or less significant relationship to the gospel than, say, the doctrine of the incarnation? So our connectedness to the gospel, how it relates to the gospel, is a question we have to ask. We can confess that angels were created. They were created in one of the six days of creation. But to divide over what day I think would be absolutely silly. That fact is reasonably unimportant to the strength and spread of the gospel. Whereas the doctrine of the incarnation that the eternal Son of God assumed human flesh, do away with that. We don't have anything to preach, brothers and sisters. If we deny it, we lose the good news. So, in relation to the Gospel, the Trinity, one God in three persons, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, utterly crucial to the relationship with the Gospel. The true humanity and true deity of Christ, utterly crucial to the Gospel. Justification by faith alone, crucial, utterly crucial to the Gospel. The authority of Scripture, same. Vegan, keto, carnivore diets, utterly not crucial to the gospel. Though if you take away my steak, I may fight you for it. We get the point, right? How it relates to the gospel is a calibrating question for our triage. Well, third is history. History. We have to ask, what is the testimony of the church concerning this doctrine? One famous saying about history goes something like this, those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it, doomed to repeat it. When doing theological triage, we're left, brothers and sisters, with an embarrassment of riches. Absolute embarrassment of riches. Unfortunately, and I think this is maybe even particularly an American problem, we are bad historians. Not only about culture, but about the church. I think when we arrived on the scene as Americans, we just thought, that's it. This is the promised land. No need to think about what happened in the past anymore. But the testimony of the church forms a very important part of our task of triage. The fact that the accumulated wisdom of the church down through the ages helps the Christian guide his thinking. It's not ultimate, okay, it's not ultimate. As one writer has said, it's not magisterial, it's not issuing edicts, but it is ministerial. Church history forms a helping role in doctrinal triage, and we'd be foolish to ignore 2,000 years of thought. We'd be utterly foolish. The testimony of the church helps distinguish orthodoxy from heresy, as one historical theologian puts it. It sets healthy boundaries to define what the church has always believed. The testimony of the church provides sound biblical interpretations and theological formulations, how we articulate the Trinity is a fact of Scripture, but a product of how the Church has thought about it over the last 2,000 years. The testimony of the Church presents examples of faith and love and courage, hope, obedience, It models costly commitment to certain doctrines. We don't follow those men who die for things that are just so obscure. It's like, wow, why did you do that? But we think of men like Athanasius being exiled five times for his belief in the deity of the Son of God as he fought the Arians. The testimony of the church protects against individualism. My Bible and me, that's all I need. It helps us to stay away from picking and choosing doctrines that we would either overemphasize or ignore. What's the church said about a certain doctrine over its history? It also helps us to focus on the essentials. It's no wonder that the church has mainly sought to define and defend the Trinity, the gospel, the deity of Christ, and the Holy Spirit. Total depravity, the inspiration, inerrancy, sufficiency of scripture. Because those things, if they're lost, it all unravels. History is indispensable regarding proper triage. Think about it. If we walk into the emergency room, let's just use Dana over there. We walk into Dana's emergency room, and Dana has forgotten everything he's learned over 30 years. and he has to start over right then and there with you. And he's like, how does the liver function again? I probably don't want to be under Dana's care. So forgetting what we've learned, not using history to tether our thinking and guide it and form it, I just think it's foolish. Who can underestimate the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed, those things that we've fought so hard to define as biblical truth? The progress of doctrine over church history has brought much clarity to us, so don't ignore it in your triage. That means we have to read church history, not just biographies, right? We have to read doctrinal wars. Practical. Last question is practical. Practicality. What is this doctrine's effect upon the church today? Various doctrines and various times of the church have been under attack. And the church has seen a need to kind of rise up to the challenge, define and defend truth, and deny heresy. For instance, some churches today, in light of the rise of just the destruction of marriage, sexual ethics, abortion, the sanctity of life, they've added to their constitution statements about those matters. because of all of these problems, it seemed necessary for them to put those things in there more specifically and formally. In the church's life, there could be a growing consensus among the people of God that we really need to say something publicly about this because this is under attack. And so we're asking questions of how does it affect the church practically? As much as we love them, R.C. Sproul and John MacArthur, you would not want those two men as elders in your church at the same time. You wouldn't. One would be vying to baptize your child. And the other one would be like, no, we can't do that. That would cause a lot of issues, right? So with regard to mode of baptism, we have to consider the practical effects of that doctrine on the church. As much as we love those men, as much good as they've done to our own souls and to the cause of the gospel, we wouldn't want them as two elders in the same church. It would be a mess. Church government, the same way. One man, a Presbyterian, would say, well, we can allow for synods and councils to step in on church matters and give their edict and pronounce their formal decrees upon issues in the church, whereas a Baptist would say, no, we're autonomous as a local body. We govern ourselves, okay? So you wouldn't want two elders that had those two views competing. It would be pretty messy, be pretty messy. Well, in the time remaining, let me bear my absolute and utter soul to you. Much more can be said. So let me give you what I've thought about as a helpful model of triage. Let me say up front, I want you to think about this, take it home, consider it. You may modify it. You may think some of the things that I have in here are Out of balance. That's okay. We can talk about that. But let's consider, I think, a fairly simple approach to doctoral triage. So as I triage, I'm going to give you kind of three tiers that I'll look at, three levels. The first tier is that of life. Without these things, you don't have life. The second is a matter of health. Those things ebb and flow. They have a categorical ranking there in some way. And then third things are adiaphora. That means things that are indifferent, make no difference to the Christian or the church. So this is a humble suggestion. So what would I put in the first tier as doctrines essential to the believer's life, the gospel, and the church. There you go. I love it. That's the gospel. I labeled it a little differently because I didn't want to put 14 things and I couldn't fit them on one slide. But the authority of scripture is one of those things that if you deny the inspiration Inerrancy, sufficiency of scripture, how else do we know God? How else do we come to know salvation? Justification by faith alone, in Christ alone. And the reason I put Apostles Creed and Nicene Creed is because they're the most historic and basic universal summaries of the Christian faith. It summarizes the deity of the Father, the deity of the Son, the deity of the Spirit, It summarizes the gospel in a very basic form. I'm not putting those creeds as above Scripture. I'm saying those things are products of the articulation of Scripture. That's why I put, I should have put the authority of Scripture up top, but I'm saying it's the foundation or the basis for all of these other things. On justification by faith alone, Calvin says it's the main hinge upon which salvation turns. If we do away with justification by faith alone, Luther says it all falls apart. It all falls apart. So none of these things can be understood and believed without the unqualified authority of scripture alone. Now in this tier, We have to distinguish between what must be affirmed and what must not be denied. Let me explain what I mean by that. A young believer must affirm that he's a sinner, repent, and trust in Christ alone as his only hope, much like the people on the cross. Consider the people on the cross. Did he have an understanding of the hypostatic union? Did he have an understanding of the Trinity? I don't think that was revealed to him at that moment, but he knew who Christ was, and he knew that he was a sinner, and he knew he needed forgiveness of sin. So we have to distinguish between what must be affirmed and what cannot be denied. As we grow in Christ, if we come to deny the deity of the Son, if we come to deny the Trinity, if we come to deny the authority of the Bible, we're probably off in the weeds somewhere and it becomes questionable in other areas of your life. Does that make sense? Okay. As a matter of salvation, we should not expect that the same young believer articulate those more fine-tuned doctrines right up front. We try to catechize to help answer those questions, but we can't say those things must be immediately known. Within this here as well, what must be affirmed to be saved and what must be affirmed as characteristic growth in a Christian's life over time are two different things. Orlin in his book says this, it would be unhelpful to require that every Christian affirm every first rank doctrine at the moment of his or her conversion. And in real life, people often come to Christ without hearing about every first-rank doctrine. And they grow in their understanding of these doctrines over time. And he puts in parentheses, hopefully more quickly than slowly. And that's your elder's desire as well. And within this here, we have to recognize that ignorance, this is very, very important. Ignorance or confusion is not heresy or denial. Some of us in Durham are confused about the Trinity. That doesn't mean you're heretic. That doesn't mean you're denying it. You're trying to understand. So ignorance or confusion is not heresy or denial. Ignorance and confusion are not the same as studied, willful, knowing denial of a doctrine. Does that make sense? Okay, all right. So first tier, life. Without those things, either affirmed or not denied, You, number one, can't know Christ, and number two, we can't have an existence as a church. Now, second to your doctrines. I had to really just summarize this because this is the most challenging category, and if you've never done this exercise, it is extremely difficult. Extremely difficult. I just want to say 20-something years old down to one slide like this is just almost ridiculous. We may be tricked into thinking that just because it's a second-tier doctrine that it's unimportant. We can't think that way. We can't think that way. Second-tier doctrines don't deny the essentials of the gospel, but they do exert a significant influence over our witness of the gospel. Second-tier doctrines, unfortunately, are where most of the division with denominations, with churches, and among individual Christians happen. Christian churches vary on baptism, second tier doctrine. The Lord's Supper, church government, and this is where we've historically done most damage to fellow Christians. But second tier doctrines concern health, health of a Christian, health of a church, not life, but health. We can be alive but unhealthy. We can be alive and very healthy, so there's a varying range here. It's a spectrum, we could say. Not all second-tier doctrines are equally secondary. A second-tier doctrine may border on the life level, and another one may border on the indifferent level. Church discipline, borderline life issue within the church. If neglected, it leads to disastrous consequences. It could lead to a church, in the words of Christ, losing its land to sand. Losing its land to sand. Below discipline matters, issues of worship. Can our worship include elements that are not prohibited? That's an Anglican view of worship. Well, it's not prohibited and it's not sin, so we can include it. Or should it only include those things that are prescribed by God? That's the position of this church. Maybe you object. Maybe you object depending on your mood for the day. But second tier doctrines concern health, not life. And I can't give you an exhaustive list. That's why I put it there. Church confession, which is our profession. And then our constitution, which is our practice. We look at those things and we gauge health of the church and the Christian in those areas. Second tier doctrines play different roles depending on context and usage. I'll give you a perfect example. When you joined the church, did Trinity say, you must know everything there is to know about the 1689 London Baptist Confession in all of its specific detail? Whoa. No. However, Being an elder at this church has different doctrinal criteria. We free men agree 100%, only confession, but we don't require that of membership. So second tier issues have a different role depending on context. Does that make sense? Okay. Well, what about these, any questions so far? Go ahead. like, um, baptism, right, could stem from a first year issue. Absolutely, I'm going to make a point, you're thinking in the right way. Yeah, like, like baptism and then new covenant theology. Yeah, yeah. Hold that thought because I actually have that in my notes somewhere, but that, that's right thinking. These, these tears are not wooden, rigid boxes, but are very organic in a way. Others, they influence one another. Um, hold that thought, but that's a good thought. Third tier, diets, alcohol use, beards, tattoos, political views, Bible versions, all those things that Christians fight about on the internet. Public-private homeschool, et cetera. Those are apia forum. Those are things that are indifferent and should not devise. God help us if they do. Ortland says in his book, and he wisely says this, most of the battles you could fight, you shouldn't. Most of the battles you could fight, you just shouldn't. But this is where we fight the most in the church. It's here we act like a culture, beloved. We have no forbearance and patience in these areas. It's almost like, well, I've arrived at that conclusion. Why don't you see it? And it's impatience. Strangely, though, we face a similar danger when we think that something that is unimportant is not really Well, we think that it's unimportant simply because it's not an issues divider. So as we look at this third tier, we can't say they're unimportant, but they're not something to divide over, okay? So I hope we get the flavor of what I'm trying to say there. They hold importance because they're often the most emotional. That's right. You're exactly right. You're exactly right. That's right. Well, I did want to say just to Daniel's question, Though that pyramid is kind of in an ascending order of importance, bottom things shouldn't divide, middle things we are going to divide. We're not a Presbyterian church. Top tier things are what unite us all. Those are of ascending importance. all flows from the top down. Our view of God informs everything. It is the root and foundation of all theology. So, we could say something like if we get it wrong here at the bottom, some way or let's just call it second tier doctrines. We've gotten it wrong here somehow or maybe it's a blessed inconsistency. We've got it right here but we got it wrong here and a lot of times in our thinking that's the way it happens. But it's very organic in the way that these Well, let me run through real quick some pitfalls to avoid. We're over time. Delusion. Refusing to do triage is triage. You can't live your life of faithfulness to God and usefulness to your neighbor without doing triage. You have to do it. You've probably done it this morning based on my chart. So, avoid that pitfall. You have to do this. Every Christian does it. Another pitfall to avoid, precision. You can't expect to be consistently precise in every circumstance. I'm sorry for those of us who are black and white having a gray in our brain. That exists in the world and I'm speaking to me. Not all things fit nicely into those little levels I spelled out. Life is messy. Church life is messy. As much as we strangle of God and of our neighbor, there are some things that are so messy they boggle our mind. So don't fall into the delusion or into the pitfall of precision. Distortion is another. It's easy to over-exaggerate a doctrine that has a particular history with you. When you fought battles over a doctrine that's affected you personally, most of us in this room have wrestled with Calvinism, and we've had those heated discussions, you can have a very high tendency to over-exaggerate those things and warp them in your triage. It's all you see, and it's the dividing line for everybody in your life. So, the pitfall of distortion and labeling. Labeling. Be very careful how you label people. Notorious heresies in the past were handled with laborious precision, pages upon pages of deep thought. We drop the H-bomb as Christians in a way that makes me shudder. We are so prone to call one another heretics, and we don't a lot of times know what that means. So labeling is a pitfall. Well, I'll close with this word from Augustine. He wrote to an intelligent man named Dioscorus, And Augustine said this, if you wish to submit with complete devotion and to construct no other way for yourself of grasping and holding the truth than the way constructed by Him who as God saw how faltering we were in our steps, the first way is humility. The second way is humility. The third way is humility. And however often you should ask me, I will say the same thing, not because there's not other precepts to be explained, but if humility does not precede, accompany, and follow every good work we do, and if it's not set before us to look upon, and beside us to lean upon, and behind us to fence us in, pride will rest from our hand any good deed we do. while we are in the very act of taking pleasure in it. So as we think about theological trios, as we interact with other Christians, humility, humility, humility, brothers and sisters. I beg it, I need it. So we'll close there. Any final quick questions? Thank you for your time. I hope this helps. Okay, let me pray for us. Father, thank you for your mercy. Thank you for the mercy of this study. If these are brand new things to us, Lord, help us to not lose sight of them so quickly. If they're old things to us, Lord, help us to have a heart that's renewed afresh to think about humility in our doctrine. And I pray, Lord, that your Holy Spirit would give us grace to do that. Glorify yourself today in Christ's name, amen.