A football legend retired this week. Tom Brady called it a career. It’s rare that sports fans agree on anything but there is a tremendous majority that agree he is the greatest quarterback of all time.

I’m not asking you to care about football or Tom Brady but consider this. (I’ll limit myself to three stats.)

#1 He has won more Superbowls than any other FRANCHISE.

#2 He finished with 710 TD passes. 102 more than second place.

#3 35 Postseason wins. That’s more than double Joe Montana (16) who is second on that list.

But, through all this, Tom Brady is fallible on the football field. It wasn’t his fault per se but his career ended with a loss. I hate that I am reminding myself of the 2018 SB where Brady fumbled the ball late to lose the game to the lowly Eagles and Nick Foles. (I still can’t believe that happened.) That fumble, that terrible, terrible fumble.

If you want to know something about the QB position, Tom Brady could tell you. He’s different from Michael Jordan. MJ was the best basketball player of all time (Lebron fans you can fight me in the comments) and his work ethic was tremendous. However, his talent was totally and completely undeniable. Now, the physical talent of Tom Brady…

Well….

Not great.

So, he has had to study, he has had to work hard to become the undisputed greatest of all time. If you want to know something about football, even about being great in a chosen field, I would listen when Tom Brady talks.

What’s that have to do with Acts 2:42? Everything. Because while the wisdom of listening to the advice of Tom Brady on being a quarterback is obvious, he’s still flawed. The apostles’ doctrine is flawless. Their teaching gives us “everything pertaining to life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3).  Last time, I discussed the importance of devotion and the first thing on our list to be devoted to is the apostles’ doctrine.

Doctrine matters.

I don’t know of another way to communicate it. The doctrine (teaching) that you believe makes the difference between life and death. This is not hyperbole. Jesus fed the poor, Jesus healed the sick, Jesus welcomed the children. Those are not the things that got Jesus crucified. What resulted in Jesus’ crucifixion was the message that He was preaching. The message that “I and the Father are One” (John 10:30), the message that He was the King (John 18:37), and the message that “before Abraham was born, I AM” (John 8:58), these are the messages that motivated Jesus’ enemies to murder Him. It was His teaching, His doctrine, that separated those who were His from the opposition.

Today, it is still Jesus’ teaching that separates those that are His from His opposition.

John 16:13-15

“But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.”

Jesus was going to reveal the truth to His apostles and New Testament prophets and that was going to be the basis of His One church. (Eph 2:20, Eph. 4:4) The apostles and New Testament prophets then communicated to us through the written Word.

2 Tim. 3:16-17

“All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.”

While the immature church needed the gifts in the absence of the written Word, they would no longer be necessary for a churches’ establishment once the Word was completed. (1 Cor. 13:10)

However, today God has spoken to us through His Word.

Hebrews 1:1-2

“God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.”

John 1:1-2

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.”

We have the apostles’ doctrine, God has gone to tremendous lengths through the centuries to make sure that we have His completed Word. The preservation of the Scriptures is one of God’s amazing miracles of which we are tremendous beneficiaries! Will you recognize the work that has been accomplished so that you might have the apostles’ doctrine? Will you honor that work? Will you pay attention?

Because unlike Tom Brady, the Scriptures never fumble.