why theology

Bert Waggoner's Top Ten on Why Is Theology Important?

1. Theology provides us with the answers to life's questions regarding meaning in life: "Who am I?", "What am I doing here?", and "Where am I going?" 

2. Theology tells us not just what the Bible says, but also what it means. 

"What it means to sinner and saint in their journey from the city of anywhere to the city of somewhere - plagued by a thousand plights." 

"The church" if it is to be true, must preach the Word. If it is to be relevant, it must speak to the times. Christian theology is thus the blending of the changeless with the changing." (Bruce Shelley, By What Authority?, p. 140). 

3. Theology helps us recognize God not simply in life's boundary situations, but in the center of every situation. 

4. Theology is vital to Spirituality 

"Devotion to Jesus cannot long maintain itself apart from theological fidelity and integrity". (Donald Bloesch, The Crises Of Piety, p. 3) 

"Theology reforms our life and our doctrine which we need, because a holy life divorced from sound doctrine becomes moralism". (Donald Bloesch, A Crises of Piety p. 4) 

5. Theology makes us more or less articulate our experience of God's multifaceted grace. God does not wait until we have knowledge before giving us grace. We learn to articulate His grace in theology. 

6. Theology puts wonder in worship (Hebrews 12:28-29) 

7. Theology plays a strategic prophetic role in the Church. Paul the preacher/theologian constantly reflected this role. 

"There are blindnesses in every age of which no one is conscious because they are so widespread that they are recognized as normal. There is unbelief that so completely captures the mind of an age that it goes on unchallenged even within the Church. There are sins that establish themselves so securely in a civilization that no one any longer considers them to be sins and they may become knit into the very texture of the church. All three of these statements could be illustrated profusely from history; in fact, the witness of history is that usually the most dangerous blindnesses, unbelief and sin in the church remain unrecognized until they bring disaster upon it. 

"There is need, therefore for yet another service of God in the Church, a discipline in which the Church will mount the watchtower and scan the life and faith in all directions, in order to detect the presence of blindness, unbelief, unfaithfulness, and sin, and give warning before it is too late. (James Smart, The Teaching Ministry Of the church, pp.32, 33). 

8. Theology makes all practical things really practical because its primary concern is not with theory or speculation. 

"The two terms, "spiritual" and "theology," keep good company with one another. "Theology" is the attention that we give to God, the effort we give to knowing God as revealed in the Holy Scriptures and in Jesus Christ. "Spiritual" is the insistence that everything that God reveals of Himself and His works is capable of being lived by ordinary men and women in their homes and workplaces. "Spiritual" keeps "theology" from degenerating into merely thinking and talking and writing about God at a distance. "Theology" keeps "spiritual" from becoming merely thinking and talking and writing about the feelings and thoughts one has about God. The two words need each other, for we know how easy it is for us to let our study of God (theology) get separated from the way we live; we also know how easy it is to let our desires to live whole and satisfying lives (spiritual lives) get disconnected from who God actually is and the ways He works among us." (Eugene Peterson, Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places, p.4) 

9. Theology makes preaching as difficult as it ought to be. 

"All preachers should be theologians, and all theologians preachers." (Emil Brunner) 

"The false preacher is one who has to say something; the true preacher has something to say". (Charles Spurgeon) 

10. Theology makes praying as easy as it ought to be.

love wins

Wow! I agree with Timothy Stoner, love really does win - but differently than Rob Bell imagines.

The love that won on the cross and wins the world is a love that is driven, determined, and defined by holiness. It is a love that flows out of the heart of a God who is transcendent, majestic, infinite in righteousness, who loves justice as much as he does mercy; who hates wickedness as much as he loves goodness; who blazes with a fiery, passionate love for himself above all things. He is Creator, Sustainer, Beginning and End. He is robed in a splendor and eternal purity that is blinding. He rules, he reigns, he rages and roars, then bends down to whisper love songs to his creatures. His love is vast and irresistible. It is also terrifying, and it will spare no expense to give everything away in order to free us from the bondage of sin, purifying for himself a people who are devoted to his glory, a people who have “no ambition except to do good”. So he crushes his precious Son in order to rescue and restore mankind along with his entire creation. He unleashes perfect judgment on the perfectly obedient sacrifice and then pulls him up out of the grave in a smashing and utter victory. He is a God who triumphs… He is a burning cyclone of passionate love. Holy love wins.

more amazing grace

Ok - if you liked these, here's even more ... Amazing Grace to the tune of the House of the Rising Sun ...

amazing grace

If you liked this and this, here's Amazing Grace performed to to the tune of Seven Bridges Road.

minimized cost

Oh my ... winning the world to Christ with minimal cost ...

for v. about

The gospel is for us, not about us. It isn’t about anything that we do, feel, or choose. It is the Good News about Jesus Christ and what he has accomplished for us. ~ Michael Horton, The Gospel Commission

HT:OFI

singleness

Great post in CT on what Albert Y. Hsu learned from John Stott on singleness (and more). .

John Stott is being remembered as an evangelical statesman, a pastor/scholar, and an inveterate birdwatcher. He was also a lifelong bachelor. While researching my book on a theology of singleness, I had the opportunity to meet Stott and interview him about his views and experience as a single. He later revised and expanded his candid remarks into a more thorough treatment of the subject, from which the following is excerpted.

On the balance of marriage and singleness: We must never exalt singleness (as some early church fathers did, notably Tertullian) as if it were a higher and holier vocation than marriage. We must reject the ascetic tradition which disparages sex as legalized lust, and marriage as legalized fornication. No, no. Sex is the good gift of a good Creator, and marriage is his own institution.

If marriage is good, singleness is also good. It's an example of the balance of Scripture that, although Genesis 2:18 indicates that it is good to marry, 1 Corinthians 7:1 (in answer to a question posed by the Corinthians) says that "it is good for a man not to marry." So both the married and the single states are "good"; neither is in itself better or worse than the other. 

Reasons people remain single: I doubt if we could find a clearer answer to this than in the recorded teaching of Jesus himself in Matthew 19:11-12. He was talking about "eunuchs," meaning people who remain single and celibate. He listed three reasons why people do not marry. First, for some it is "because they were born that way." This could include those with a physical defect or with a homosexual orientation. Such are congenitally unlikely to marry. 

Second, there are those who "were made that way by men." This would include victims of the horrible ancient practice of forcible castration. But it would also include all those today who remain single under any compulsion or external circumstance. One thinks of a daughter who feels under obligation to forego marriage in order to care for her elderly parents. 

Third, "others have renounced marriage because of the kingdom of heaven." These people, who are under no pressure from within or without, voluntarily put marriage aside, either temporarily or permanently, in order to undertake some work for the kingdom which demands single-minded devotion. 

Singleness as a gift from God: It's noteworthy that Jesus himself, before listing those three categories of single people, said that not everybody could accept what he was about to say, "but only those to whom it has been given." If singleness is a gift, however, so is marriage. Indeed, I have myself found help in 1 Corinthians 7:7. For here the apostle writes: "each man [or woman] has his [or her] own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that." "Gift" translates charisma, which is a gift of God's grace (charis). So whether we are single or married, we need to receive our situation from God as his own special grace-gift to us. 

On Stott's own experience as a single: In spite of rumors to the contrary, I have never taken a solemn vow or heroic decision to remain single! On the contrary, during my 20s and 30s, like most people, I was expecting to marry one day. In fact, during this period I twice began to develop a relationship with a lady who I thought might be God's choice of life-partner for me. But when the time came to make a decision, I can best explain it by saying that I lacked an assurance from God that he meant me to go forward. So I drew back. And when that had happened twice, I naturally began to believe that God meant me to remain single.

Looking back, with the benefit of hindsight, I think I know why. I could never have traveled or written as extensively as I have done if I had had the responsibilities of a wife and family. 

On loneliness: God created us as social beings. Love is the greatest thing in the world. For God is love, and when he made us in his own image, he gave us the capacity to love and to be loved. So we need each other. Yet marriage and family are not the only antidotes to loneliness. 

Some pastors work on their own, isolated from their peers, and in consequence are lonely. But the New Testament plainly envisages that each local church will have a plural oversight. See, for example, Acts 14:23 and Titus 1:5. So in All Souls Church in the heart of London we have always had a team ministry, and we have found it an enormous enrichment. I have also been greatly blessed by Frances Whitehead, my faithful secretary for more than 40 years, and by the "apostolic succession" of my study assistants. 

In addition, single people are wise to develop as many friendships as possible, with people of all ages and both sexes. For example, although I have no children of my own, I have hundreds of adopted nephews and nieces all over the world, who call me "Uncle John." I cherish these affectionate relationships; they greatly lessen, even if they do not altogether deaden, occasional pangs of loneliness. 

Final words of advice for single people: First, don't be in too great a hurry to get married. We human beings do not reach maturity until we are about 25. To marry before this runs the risk of finding yourself at twenty-five married to somebody who was a very different person at the age of twenty. So be patient. Pray daily that God will guide you to your life partner or show you if he wants you to remain single. Second, lead a normal social life. Develop many friendships. Third, if God calls you to singleness, don't fight it. Remember the key text: "Each person has his or her own gift of God's grace" (1 Cor. 7:7).

dispensationalism

From Michael Patton, Why the Dispensationalist Did Not Cross the Road ...

10. They were not a part of the ‘crossing’ dispensation.
9. They thought that the other side was for Israel and this side was for the church.
8. Charles Ryrie was still on this side of the road, why cross?
7. It is pointless since Jesus is just going to bring them back after 7 years.
6. Like the OT prophets and the church age, they were unable to see the other side.
5. They counted and it would take 18 steps. That divided by 3 is 6. 666. Therefore, crossing the road would be taking the mark of the beast.
4. By taking a consistently literal approach, they thought that “cross the road” meant something about the crucifixion.
3. Dallas Theological Seminary has yet published anything telling us how to do it.
2. It was crossing from HWY 69 to HWY 70. That road is meant only for Israel.
1. They thought we would be raptured before we got there anyway.

tolerance

Tolerance is the virtue of people who don’t believe anything. ~ G.K. Chesterton: Quoted in The American Hour, by Os Guinness

HT:CB

to ignore sin

What looks more glorious? A God who loves us by ignoring our sin? Or a God who pays the enormous debt for our sin by taking it upon Himself? When sin is seen as the rebellion it is, grace is costly — and tranformative! When sin is shrunken to the point that our accountability to God is removed, then grace is cheap, and it leaves us unchanged. — Trevin Wax, Counterfeit Gospels

HT:OFI

faith boutique

Too many would agree ...

mercy and wrath

God, because in his mercy he willed to forgive sinful men, and being truly merciful, willed to forgive them righteously, that is, without in any way condoning their sin, purposed to direct against his own very Self in the person of his Son the full weight of that righteous wrath which they deserved. — Charles Cranfield, quoted by John Stott in The Message of Romans

HT:OFI

classic fail video

I can't watch some of these but others are just too funny to not post this ... classic fails ...

divorce

Chris Brauns shares some excellent thinking on divorce. I particularly like the phrase, "divorce is like amputation".

preaching hell

"If you would ever be a healthy and scriptural Christian, I entreat you to beware of any ministry which does not plainly teach the reality and eternity of hell. Such a ministry may be soothing and pleasant, but it is far more likely to lull you to sleep than to lead you to Christ or build you up in the faith. It is impossible to leave out any portion of God’s truth without spoiling the whole. That preaching is sadly defective which dwells exclusively on the mercies of God and the joys of heaven and never sets forth the terrors of the Lord and the miseries of hell. It may be popular, but it is not scriptural; it may amuse and gratify, but it will not save. Give me the preaching which keeps back nothing that God has revealed."  ~ J.C. Ryle Holiness: Its Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties, and Roots

HT:Erik

eyes open

I normally pray with my eyes open ... hmmm ...

a better way

I agree with Trevin Wax's observations of the below less-than-good approach to those of other faiths.

“My purpose in meeting you is not any sort of conversion. I respect you and your beliefs. You’re not going to change, and I’m not going to change.”

After his analysis, Wax offers this improved paragraph ...

I respect you as a person made in the image of God. I respect your right to hold to any faith that you choose. I would never coerce you or force my religious beliefs upon you, as such a practice would detract from the truth that you, like me, are made in the image of God. And yet, as a follower of Jesus Christ, I am commanded to share the gospel. When the time comes for me to seek to persuade you to follow Jesus, it is not out of a heart of oppression or desire for control, but out of love and concern. Since I truly believe the gospel offers hope for all humanity, I cannot keep it to myself. The gospel is too precious and you are too valuable for me to keep silent.

amazing grace

Justin Taylor just pointed at this great video of The Blind Boys of Alabama singing Amazing Grace to the tune of House of the Rising Sun.

legalism

"There are many pastors today who, for fear of being branded 'legalists', give their congregation no ethical teaching. How far we have strayed from the apostles! 'Legalism' is the misguided attempt to earn our salvation by obedience to the law. 'Pharisaism' is a preoccupation with the externals and minutiae of religious duty. To teach the standards of moral conduct which adorn the gospel is neither legalism nor pharisaism but plain apostolic Christianity" (Stott, Between Two Worlds, p. 158).

DW via PC

sex as part of all things

In Sex and the Supremacy of Christ, Justin Taylor suggests we do a Bible word search on all things rather than sex to see what the Bible tells us about sex ... because sex is a subset of all things. I like it.

• Sex is created by God (“by him all things were created”—Col. 1:16).
• Sex continues to exist by the will of Christ (“in him all things hold together”—Col. 1:17).
• Sex is caused by God (he “works all things according to the counsel of his will”—Eph. 1:11).
• Sex is subject to Christ (“he put all things under his feet”— Eph. 1:22). • Christ is making sex new (“Behold, I am making all things new”—Rev. 21:5).
• Sex is good (“everything created by God is good”—1 Tim. 4:4).
• Sex is lawful in the context of marriage (“all things are lawful”— 1 Cor. 10:23).
• When we have sex, we are to do it for the glory of God (“whatever you do, do all to the glory of God”—1 Cor. 10:31).
• Sex works together for the good of God’s children (“for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose”—Rom. 8:28).
• We are to thank God for sex (“nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving”—1 Tim. 4:4).
• Sex is to be sanctified by the Word of God and prayer (“everything . . . is made holy by the word of God and prayer”— 1 Tim. 4:4-5).
• We must be on guard not to be enslaved by sex (“I will not be enslaved by anything”—1 Cor. 6:12).
• We are not to grumble about sex (“do all things without grumbling”—Phil. 2:14).
• We are to rejoice in the Lord during sex (“rejoice in the Lord always”—Phil. 4:4).
• We are to be content in sex (“having all contentment in all things at all times”—2 Cor. 9:8 mg.).
• We are to practice and pursue sexual relations in holiness and honor (“each one of you [is to] know how to control his own body [KJV: “possess his vessel”; RSV: “take a wife for himself”] in holiness and honor”—1 Thess. 4:4).
• Spouses are not to “deprive one another [sexually], except perhaps by agreement for a limited time,” that they might devote themselves to prayer (1 Cor. 7:5).
• But then they are commanded to “come together again [sexually], so that Satan may not tempt [them] because of [their] lack of self-control” (1 Cor. 7:5).
• In this fallen age, sex is both pure and impure—“To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled” (Titus 1:15).