Theology Matters pt.1

A friend of mine last week on one of the post responded to my thoughts about theology and why it matters for the life of every Christian. He began his comment by stating, " I agree that knowing the word of God and right doctrine is what God wants and is key to giving him the glory he wants and deserves. The bible is full of warnings about false doctrine." When I read this I cheered and was happy we agreed. His comments created more thoughts in my head though and created a deeper desire to write even more about theology. So, Lord willing, this week I would like to write 4 posts more on theology and discuss why theology matters for the life of every single person who would desire to be called a child of God. 

The place to begin any thoughts on theology is to first, define what theology is. There are many misconceptions out there about what theology truly is at the core. And my friend in his response showed some of the misconceptions of theology. He stated, "However, it does not matter how much you know or weather you can quote book, chapter, and verse, if you do not live the word daily". First, let me say I agree with him in that those Biblical "facts" or Biblical memorization does not truly matter and being able to quote the entire book of Romans or being able to list every single king of Judah by dates, will not change your eternal state. I agree with him. But the problem is, his definition or thought about what theology is, is not correct. Webster's defines theology as, "the study of the nature of God". For me theology is defined as a study of God's revelation to us. And just the simple word theology only focuses our study on God and His nature. Theology is much broader than that. The theology or study of the Bible is called Bibliolology, this is where a person studies the Bible and the nature and character of the Bible. The study of or theology of salvation is called soteriology, and this is where a person would study the Cross and the plan God created to save people. The study of and theology of the church is called ecclesiology, and this is where a person would study the point of and order to the life of Jesus church. Theology then is a study of something in the Christian faith. A study of the Holy Spirit, or the future, or Jesus, is all theology. Being able to list facts or quote the Bible is not theology. Theology is reading the Bible for the understanding of and growing in, knowledge of a particular and critical aspect of the faith. A person can study by simply reading through the Bible and taking notes and unpacking it that way. A person could also study by just reading a particular topic at a time, like the Holy Spirit, as they read through the Bible. Or a person can even systematically work through all the passages on a particular topic, like salvation. 

So before we can truly understand why theology matters, we first must understand theology and what it actually is and is not. My friend was right when he added, "Just look at some of the priest in Jesus's day. They know the law but used it in a bad way, to only gain something for themselves. They did not live the way God wanted them to live, even though they were great with theology". But the reality is that these men were not studying theology. They were studying facts, making lists, and creating rules. Theology is swimming in the ocean of who God is, and letting that soak into the soul. I personally have been impacted in my study of theology when I read books on the nature of God that pull out the truths of the Bible. God's nature when I work through the theology of it then impacts my soul in such a way I begin to get a glimpse of the majesty, beauty, and expanse of God. Then I realize how small I truly am.

Oh and one more thought on what theology and the study of it is. One can study theology simply from the Bible alone. Just reading through the Psalms and jotting down notes about what is learned of God's character from that book is a theological study. If a person were to do this hard work, the theology of God would change their lives for ever. Yes, books can help and books can add to the study, but basic and simple theology and study is found only in the Bible, which is God's revealed Word to His children about who He is. 

So before anymore post this week, we need to realize that theology is the study of God's revealed nature to us, and not the list of facts or quotes or Bible trivia we can spout. Because those are not theology.

10 Best Gift

I was laying in bed last night, not being able to sleep. So rather than count sheep, I began to count in my mind the greatest gifts I have ever received. After I hit number 10, I realized this was a great way to fall asleep, becasue I was falling asleep worshiping God. Here is the 10 greatest gifts I have ever received.

1. God choosing me for regeneration
2. God saving me when I was then able to repent
3. God then securing and sealing me with His Spirit after I believed
4. God's perfect Word, so that I would know how to glorify Him
5. My wife as my compliment and partner for this life
6. 4 beautiful, healthy, Jesus loving children
7. A christian family that imparted Biblical truth
8. A church home that supports, encourages, and holds me accountable from a distance
9. A ministry in a new church where people are growing more in love with God
10. Friends and fellow ministers of the Gospel who give me strength and courage

Do I see any common themes? Do I see something missing? What ties them all together?

Death

Psalm 116:15
"Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of His saints".

Questions for Idolatry

If we are truly honest with ourselves, even as lovers of Jesus, we still struggle with idols of the heart and find ourselves many times worshiping something or someone other than Jesus. Every single sin we commit, is a simple act of unbelief in God. Which means that every time we sin, we sin becasue of an idol that has replaced Jesus in our heart. So we need all the help we can get to identify the idols in our hearts. Here is a list of questions I try to ask myself daily, so that I can identify idols that I am currently wrestling with and need to surrender to God.

1. What am I preoccupied with? 

2. What is the first thing on my mind in the morning or the last thing in my mind at night?

3. How would I answer this question, "if only _____, then I would be happy, fulfilled, and secure"? 

4. What do I want to preserve at all cost?

5. What do I want to avoid at all cost?

6. Where do I put my trust?

7. What do I fear?

8. When a certain desire is not met, do I feel frustration, anxiety resentment, bitterness, anger, or depression?

9. Is there something I desire so much that I am willing to disappoint or hurt others in order to have it? 

Walking these questions through your mind daily will help in identifying the idols of the heart. So what idols do you worship beside God? 

Am I really pro-life?

Most evangelical Christians consider themselves pro-life. We cry out that abortion is sinful, against the Word of God, and destroying humanity. We preach pro-life, stand at rallies, and tell our friends that abortion is wrong. We consider this to be one of the just causes God wants us, as His people, to champion for. We even say, "to be Christian is to be pro-life".

So here is the question though, are we really pro-life? To be pro-life is to be for human life, period. This means we stand for all of human life and the dignity of humanity. So to be truly pro-life means; -we stand for the unborn,
-we stand for the disabled,
-we stand for the elderly,
-we stand against human trafficking,
-we separate sin from sinner (i.e- homosexuals we see as sinners just like we are, not as dirt)
-we stand against discrimination,
-we stand against prostitution,
-we treat ever single human being with dignity and respect, and
-we stand against physical abuse of any kind.

Now that is a big list, but every single thing in that list deals with human life and God's cherishing of all human life. So to be pro-life is to be for all and every single human life. That means to really call ourselves pro-life means we had better stand for everything in that list, period. So are we still pro-life?

Riches and Righteousness

So for the month of March I am reading 30 passages on the topic of money from the Bible. As I read through them I will probably write some on this blog about what the Bible teaches about money and what God's real desire is for His people when it comes to the truths about money. Many Christians have  serious misunderstanding when it comes to money so, Lord willing, I want to write some as I work through the Bible to clear up some of these misunderstandings. But I wanted to begin today thinking about the connection of a person's riches and their righteousness.

There are some false doctrines out there that teach, that to be rich is to be sinful and to be poor is to be righteousness. The idea of the poverty gospel, which says that Christians can't have wealth and riches, is a false doctrine. But the prosperity gospel, which is also a false doctrine, teaches that once you become a child of God, He will bless you to the point that you will be wealthy. This false doctrine teaches then that if a Christian is poor, they must be sinful or not blessed by God. This false doctrine teaches that riches is a priority for a Christian and that to be righteous is to be rich. Both the prosperity and poverty gospels are wrong. If we would just read through the Bible we would see that our righteousness before God and His blessing has no real connection to our riches at the core.

Think for a second about all the rich men in the Bible who also loved God and He blessed them in their riches; Abraham, Jacob, Job, and Solomon. Then think about all the rich men in the Bible who were not righteousness before God and yet He still gave them wealth; Lot, Solomon, the rich young ruler. Then think about all the poor people in the Bible who were still righteousness before God and He still blessed them, just not with riches; Elijah, Jeremiah, Lazarus (from the parable of the rich man and Lazarus), and Jesus himself. Then think through all the poor people in the Bible who were not righteousness before God and their status as poor was a result of brokenness; Cain, "sluggards" from Proverbs, and the "busybodies" in 2 Thessalonians.

So the Bible gives 4 camps of riches and righteousness. This means that we, as God's children, must not say that riches is either good or bad. We must not draw a line and say that having wealth or being poor makes and shows a person to be righteousness. Our understanding of money must be much more complex and Biblical than just labeling a rich person bad and a poor person good or vice a versa. God has more to teach His children about money that a simple, and even stupid, statement about money and riches in the life of a believer. God has much more to teach his children about good debt and sinful debt. He has much to teach in the Bible about true generosity and sinful giving. And He has a lot to teach His children in how to use their financial state for His glory.

Conversion sightings

Yesterday I wrote some on conversion and tried to define it from my simple mind. I discussed a little about the truth of a false conversion. As I was thinking and praying about this more after I wrote the blog, I began to realize there is definite ways that we can not only see in ourselves but also in others, when a conversion is true from God or false from a person. Yes, a conversion is a change in the person's entire being, but there is also some tangible, real, hard evidence, that we can see from a person who has experienced change from God or has tried, in their own pride, to duplicate this change in their own life. So here are some aspects of a person, that we can see and know for sure they have been converted by God. 

#1-A person who has been converted will have, as Jonathan Edwards calls it, a gracious gratitude. The truly converted person understands grace and the grace they have been given from God. So the converted and changed person will not only rejoice in the grace of God in their life in gratitude, but they will also show this gratitude to God for His grace, by extending grace to others.

#2-The converted person delights in God's holiness. This means the person has been changed in their own attitude toward sin and becasue they now love God, they realize God is holy and in the power of the Holy Spirit, kill sin in their lives. The person understands God is sinless, and in their life, worship God for this truth and live a life in the power of the Spirit, striving for holiness themselves. This does not mean though that the converted person every stops sinning, becasue we are still sinners in need of a Savior daily. It just means the person desires to get rid of sin and strive for holiness. 

#3-Humility comes from the life of a convert. A true converted person that has experienced and been changed by God, understands God's place and their place in life. The greatest command to love God and love others, flows from this person in the form of true humility. The person is very confident in who God has saved them to be. But this confidence comes through as humility and grace shown to others. 

#4-The person who has been converted by God, will obey God at all cost. Radical obedience in the life of a convert is a great sign of true conversion. They now love God, so they will do whatever it takes in order to obey what God commands from His Word. The true convert puts obedience to Jesus at the top of the list and will sacrifice all, including their own desires and wants, in order to obey and do the will of the God they now love.

These are 4 tell tale signs that a person has truly been converted by God or is just faking a false conversion for their own pride or self-comfort.