Sunday School: May 31, 2009

 Read chapter 2 [Big Words] of Bitesize Theology…

Introduction: What we want to do this morning is to give some type of introduction to the study of theology so that we can be prepared for what is ahead of us. The study of theology is an exciting, heart-warming, enlightening study. And now that Jonathan has done a great job putting our hearts in preparation, we’re going to look at several questions we need to answer before we begin our studying to give us a foundation. Before we start let’s take a look at Jeremiah 9:23-24.

1)What is theology?

a. Page 2505 of the ESV study bible says this concerning theology… “The study of theology is considered by man to be dry, boring irrelevant, and complicated. But for those who want to know God, the study of theology is indispensable. The word “theology” comes from two Greek words, theos(“God”) and logos(“word”). The study of theology is an effort to make definitive statements about God and his implications in an accurate, coherent, relevant way, based on God’s self-revelations. Doctrine equips people to fulfill their primary purpose, which is to glorify and delight in God through a deep personal knowledge of him. Meaningful relationship with God is dependent on correct knowledge of him.”

b.So what does that mean? According to this statement…

i.“Theology is an effort to make definitive statements”: So theology is an attempt to make statements about God that are true. We’re trying to do something here when we study theology. And what we’re trying to do is make some steadfast, unshakable statements about God that are without a doubt 100% true. Basically, we want to know God as best as we can on this earth. We want to know what He has said about His Son, about how we should treat our friends and our enemies, about how the trinity works, about how redemption works. But here’s the deal, raise your hand if you think you can know everything about God. Exactly. That’s why we can’t sit in here and pretend that just because we go through this bitesize theology book that we’re going to arrive at some final knowledge of God. The reason we have to say that we’re only making an effort to make true, sure, solid statements about God is that we’re not going to be able to understand Him completely today, in this class, or even in this lifetime. We’re weak, feeble, foolish men speaking of an infinite, eternal, all-knowing God. So naturally we are going to fall short of understanding Him. We may not always comprehend everything we want to in here. So why even bother about studying theology if we can’t understand God fully? Why bother with it if we’ll never arrive at a final and full understanding? We’ll get to that.

ii. The second part of this definition we’re going to look at is that the study of theology is “based on God’s self-revelation”. What is God’s self-revelation? Exactly… the bible. And if anyone ever tells you that they can know God apart from this awesome book, then you can be sure that they are wrong. This is God’s breathed out Word and He has provided it not so that we could have a little bit of good advice for life. He has provided it and we would be smart to realize what it means that God breathed this out. If we don’t start gripping what that means our lives will be a lot less fruitful than they could be. We want to take God’s Word and let it construct our view of God. But we must be warned here. The study of Theology is not a better way of explaining the bible. It doesn’t add to it or help it out or anything like that. Scripture is clear and sufficient without us doing anything to it.

2) Why don’t ‘Christians’ study theology?

a. It’s difficult

i. It’s not easy to know God. It’s not easy to study His Word. It takes labor. It does take time. You can’t listen to a 30 second clip from John Piper and know God as much as you should know Him. It’s going to take personal, in-depth, lofty thinking. We don’t grow up with this kind of attitude either. We’ve grown up learning how to read and count through TV shows like Sesame Street and we’ve gone to schools where there are plenty of fancy powerpoint presentations with enough images to catch our attention. In other words we’re used to having other people think for us and then, as gently and as interestingly as possible, spoon feed it to us.

b. They’re not interested

i. For most church-goers, there are bigger issues at hand than plain old theology. People want to know 5 ways to fix their marriage, or 13 ways to save money, or funny stories that catch their attention and then a pep-talk about how they can be happier people. This is a problem. This kind of teaching is about people, and not about God. This kind of teaching attempts to show people how to live better and be happier. And while there is a place for it, every Sunday morning from the pulpit should not always be that place. It tends to brings in massive amounts of people to churches every Sunday because many people don’t care about God or what He has to say. They want to think that the main story of this universe is about them and not about God. And they’re dangerously wrong.

3) Why should I study theology?

a. There are an insane amount of answers to this question but I think the first answer is that we want to. Scripture for this will be Philippians 3:7-10… Paul’s deepest desire is to “know him”.

i. Let me give an illustration here. A long time ago I went to preschool here at this church. And the teachers told my mom that I wouldn’t be a very social person because I was always playing by myself. But, occasionally, I would run across another guy who was a loner like me. We would generally latch together but there still wasn’t much talking involved in our relationship. My mom would come to pick me up at the end of the day and I would be so excited to tell her about my one friend that I found. I would tell her about how we played on the playground and made a tent out of towels and so on. She would eventually cut me off and ask me what his name was… ‘Um, I’m not sure’ was my reply. She would start laughing and we all know why. That was comical to her because how could I call this kid my best friend and not even know His name? This is how a lot of Christians are. They’re claiming that they know God, that they love Him, that they would give their life up for Him and yet they don’t want to study His Word to figure out as much as they can about Him. We could even say that they are unfamiliar with Him and yet they love Him? How can this be? We do not want to be like those people. We don’t want to be like the people Paul talks about in Galatians 4:8-11 either… “Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more?” Paul uses some curious phrases here doesn ‘t he? He says “you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God”. Sinclair Ferguson pointed this out at the next conference. The way he words this makes us realize that there is a relationship going on here. We are coming to know God and He is knowing us. But notice also the question Paul asks the Galatians after this. “How can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more?” He’s saying ‘guys, wake up! You’re telling me you know God. And yet you’re treating the world like a savior again? How can this be?’ Good question, Paul. Let’s hope no one can ever ask us this. Let us be those who want to know God, to be known by Him, and to then live as if that were true.

b. It IS relevant

i. Unlike people may think, Theology is very relevant to our everyday lives. It can change the way we think about everything. If someone comes up to us and asks how we feel about abortion, we’re more likely to consider about what God’s Word would say about abortion. So my response to people about abortion is not based on my opinion about how I feel about abortion but more about how God feels about abortion. Theology will help us think of things in this was. It will make us look at creation and instead of thinking to ourselves… ‘there’s a regular old tree, and mountains, and fields’ we’ll start thinking to ourselves Psalm 96:11…‘Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it; let the field exult and everything in it!’ Lord all of this is for your glory and I want to be for your glory as well.” Let’s not be a people who think that our opinion is what is most important. Let’s instead be a people who desire to know what God thinks about every aspect of our lives and then surrender to His opinion always.

4) How do I study theology?

a. We’ve already mentioned that we use the Word of God to study theology. What’s cool about this is that we’ve got a book. God gave us the answers in writing. He gave us something solid and dependable. If the question arose in this classroom if Jesus sinned or not then what would you guys do? Would you look into yourself and say “Gee I wonder if Jesus sinned. Well, let me think. I feel like maybe He did so He must of sinned. Right?” Wrong, you would go straight to the Word of God and say with a certainty “Jesus did not sin and I know that He did not sin because it says it right here.” Let us thank God for this rock.

b. We should be careful to grow in humility. Look at 1 Peter 5:5… Now let us go to 2 Corinthians 12:7-10. Kevin DeYoung pointed this out about this passage. Notice what Paul says in verse 10. He says that He got this torn in his flesh which is a messenger of Satan so that he would not become conceited or prideful. And then he thanks God for it. Why? Because it is better for a messenger of Satan to terrorize Paul than for Paul to become prideful in his revelations. I mean after all, think about how easy it would be for Paul to become prideful in his lifetime. The Holy Spirit is using him to write the Word of God so I imagine pride could have been an issue for the human Paul. But God gives him a thorn. We must also be careful as we study theology. There arre many who do not like the message that this church brings to the world. But that is no excuse or reason for us to be prideful. If we truly live out the theology that we have learned and will be learning then we will not be people who could be considered prideful. A great God has a way of humbling little men like us so the more we learn about Him the more humbled we should be.

c. We should pray. The scripture for this is coming from Psalm 119:18. Who’s got that one memorized? The psalmist here is praying to His God, “Please God, let me see the wonderful things that you have provided in Your Word”. This is a good and necessary prayer for us. Because without the Spirit of God we will not be able to see anything in this Word. It may hit our heads, but without prayer, it will never hit our hearts. We’ll know a lot about God but we will not personally know God if we do not pray. This is what Wayne Grudem had to say about students of theology who do not pray… “No matter how intelligent, if the student does not continue to pray for God to give him or her an understanding mind and a believing and humble heart, and the student does not maintain a personal walk with the Lord, then the teachings of Scripture will be misunderstood and disbelieved, doctrinal error will result, and the mind and heart of the student will not be changed for the better but for the worse.” In other words, theology is dangerous in the hands of people who do not pray.

d. We should want to rejoice. Look at Psalm 139:17… “How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!” Hopefully, in our studying, we will have moments where our heart wants to jump out of our chest. That’s good and that should happen. It happened to Paul in Romans 11:33-36... So let us praise God and rejoice when He does answer our prayers by opening our eyes to see something wonderful about Him.