We are implored and commanded by God to grow in our faith and knowledge. Additionally, the Word of God must be central to our lives--not an afterthought or a giving to God of the leftovers of our time. He must be central, and get the first and best of what we have which includes our time. I would argue that it takes much more discipline to spend effective time with God that it does to give generously of our financial resources. There are so many things vying for our time and before you know it the day is over and we are exhausted at night and don't have much to give God at that time. This is why the study of Theology is so important--it brings us face to face with God and what He commands. Additionally we are strengthened by the spirit and we grow in knowledge and love for God the more time we spend with Him. Lastly, we are more equipped to defend our faith and reach the nations with the Gospel as God directs us.
Here are some verses that show why study of ST and the Bible is important:
1) These are not just idle words; they are your very life. (Deut 32: 47)
2) So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ. (Col. 2: 6-8)
3) I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word. (Psalm 119:16)
4) And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God...(Col 1:10)
5) But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. (1 Pet 3:15)
6) Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. (2 Tim 4:2)
7) Go therefore and make disciples of all nations...(Matt. 28: 19)
8) Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops (Prov 3:9)
What other verses or thoughts do you have on the study of ST and of the Bible in general?
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I just tried to answer this question and I couldn't post because I forgot my password. I will post later
Just a quick test
Hey Guys,
I appreciate the opportunity to join in this discussion with you all. I am new to blogging and I am a little unclear as to how we will post our responses to the chapters each week. Do we post in the format I am posting now or do we post somewhere else?
Thanks
Chuck,
Glad to have you involved in our discussion; basically each week we are going to read anywhere from 1 to 3 chapters. For each chapter we will have a separate thread, and in that thread you can post your own answers to the questions, your summary and thoughts, or anything else related to that chapter. Then we can see where the discussion leads. So you can respond to any comment in any of the threads, or you can post a new thread if you like. But generally we can keep the threads to 1 per chapter.
Look forward to your thoughts and insights...
Drew
Yo Drew, Chuck is our fearless leader at ELCA. He's a great Christian guy and very smart.
Drew where was that thing you said Piper would be at in Orlando...Chuck you may know it as well because I think you went last year. I want to go this year. Let me know the details.
I think the study of theology is important because we are called to draw near to God and grow in Christ. I think our number one defense of the gospel is how we live our lives. If we aren't studying and in the word, we will succumb to outside forces: "the god of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of he gospel of the glory of Christ." (2 Cor 4:4) Granted that this verse states unbelievers but it is our duty to strive to make sure our calling and election is sure. If we could be seperated from the pursuit of Christ then obviously we would fall into that category of unbelievers. Sin is rampant and as young men who represent Christ, we have to be vigilant that we are seeking the strength of the Holy Spirit daily.
My main goal in this study is to be held accountable in my pursuit of knowing Christ more intimately and on a deeper level. We forget that our sole purpose on this earth is to bring glory to Christ and to strive daily to become more like him. Everything else we do is trivial. But everything else we do is reflective of our commitment to Christ.
So systematic theology is the study of what the Bible teaches us today. Man, I don't think many Americans care anymore about what God says. We care more about how we are perceived by other people. An intense study of the scriptures will reveal to us that many times we have to stand up opposed to the culture. People think they are so enlightened because they are free thinkers when in reality they aren't free thinkers; they think whatever the mainstream media tells them, but they are blinded to it.
Guys, God has called us to help teach these kids and their parents the right way. I believe God has called each of us to do this but we aren't diligent in our pursuit of Christ.
2 passages/verses for you:
"For this reason I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus Christ which exists among you and your love for all the saints, do not cease giving thanks for you, while making mention for you in my prayers; that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in knowing Him. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of his calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe." (Eph 1: 15-18)
"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them." Eph 2:10
Guys as we go through this, we should pray for one another, that God would strengthen us through prayer and reflection.
That's all for now!
JG
Hello,
Thanks for the "very smart" comment - no pressure on that one. I am so smart that I typed out an entire answer just now and then lost it. I will get it back together. In regards to Piper, I heard him last year at the Ligonier conference in Orlando. He will not be back there this year, but he will be at the "Together for the Gospel" conference in April. They have an incredible line up of speakers and my brother has been on me about going with him.
The question that I answered in my lost comment was "why should we study ST?" It is an easy question on its face, but when we look into our hearts as to why we are studying it individually it becomes more complex. When I go to the Ligonier conference that I referred to earlier, you see a mixed bag of individuals who study ST and in particular from a Reformed perspective. However, what you will typically find are people who have a sincere desire to know Christ in a more intimate way and you also have people who are in love with knowledge and especially knowledge that is in some way controversial and against the mainstream of Christian theology. I do not want to be in that last camp. I believe the greatest enemy that I or most men have is pride. It plays itself out in many forms, but in the end it is still pride. I pray that as I go through this that Ps. 78 will be at the forefront of my thinking. As verse one says, "O my people, hear my teaching; listen to the words of my mouth." And what will be the affect of that? Verse 4, "we will not hide them from their children; we will tell the next generation." And that we will not be like verse 8 "a stubborn and rebellious generation" - So, why do we need to do this, because it not only will affect how we view God, but it will also affect our children and the generations to come.
I am looking forward to going through this with you guys.
Jon,
good point about being blinded and darkened by sin. sin is a slippery slope, just when you think you have conquered it is usually when you will fall. just like anything else in life you are either growing or dying; there is no 3rd direction. spiritually we are either being sanctified to be more like Christ or we are regressing. that is why complacency is such an enemy and we must seek God--and anything else we want to become better at--with diligence.
Paul accuses the Jews of having 'zeal without knowledge.' if we are passionate for God but are ignorant of Scripture we aren't getting anywhere. where the Word is, there is the Spirit; if we want to grow and have zeal combined with knowledge we have to seek it out. think of the weight room. you can't get bigger benching the bar. eventually you have to put weight on it. same thing for us spiritually, it is the discipline of studying and praying that is key.
i like your reference to ephesians because paul is always talking about growing in the knowlege of God. the book of colossians starts out almost exactly like ephesians.
check out ligonier.org for info on the conference in march. i think we should go. you can also buy past years conferences online for $63. but its worth the investment. maybe if we all invest in some of these resources we can share them between us. i have the ligonier conference from last year and it is outstanding.
look forward to hearing more from you guys--Drew
Chuck,
great point about pride; at the forefront of our prayers has to be the Ezekiel 11 prayer of asking God to give us hearts of flesh instead of hearts of stone. then we can take learning and knowledge from God and use it in ways that are honoring to Him. And then in turn like you said we can teach this wisdom to our children and to future generations.
jonathan mentioned accountability; i think we should all challenge ourselves beyond this blog to saturate ourselves in the Word. One thing I have noticed lately is that I learn a lot by watching instructional DVD's (ligonier, francis schaeffer, etc...) on spiritual issues. i do this when i workout instead of watching some mindless show. also i have the book of romans on CD that i have been listening to in the car. Moses wrote that "these are not just idle words; they are your very life!" if this is true, and David writes about being in love with God's word and seeking it passionately, we have to find ways to keep God's Word at the forefront of our minds throughout the day --not just in the morning or at night or when we can fit it in. What do you guys think about this? What other ways can we be filled with the Word beyond just our morning devotional time--which should be the foundation of our day...
Great point about pride. If you want to rid yourself of pride, then just coach football for a season. When I used to have to block Travis Cunningham at practice in college that always helped me out with pride as well.
Seriously, this book is great on challenging us with our pride--Satan's best weapon and our easiest tempation--it really isn't a temptation, before we realize it pride has crept in. I think that the Holy Spirit is the only one that can convict us of some of our sins. I know I can be a cynical person in my mind. I don't mean I'm negative outwardly because I know not to act that way but sometimes I think this person is so dumb or something like that. It was a lot worse when I wasn't leading a Christian life in the Air Force. My friends and I used to make fun of everyone. Either they were out of shape, never said anything intelligent, didn't get anything done, couldn't push themselves, etc. God really convicted me of this a few years ago. Now, that isn't something I would come up with on my own. My point is that only the time spent with the Holy Spirit can convict you of things. Right now my major conviction is the TV and rated R movies...heck PG-13 movies. A few years ago it was what music I was listening to. I am supposed to think pure thoughts but if I am putting junk into my mind then it is impossible not to think bad thoughts. Every man's problem is the firm commandment that even if we look at a woman with lust we are commiting adultery. What you listen to on the radio can stimulate certain thoughts. What you see on TV does the same thing. Chuck you mentioned soft porn in Sunday School. It's easy to stay away from things on the internet but what about the little things we let our minds see. If we put junk into our minds then junk will come out. Drew I think about when I traveled all the time with the AF--I could have done whatever I wanted whenever I wanted and it be fine--not only fine but encouraged by many of the people I was with. You travel all the time---you could live another life. My point here is if we neglect to spend time with Christ--we will lose our guide, our source of strength and conviction.
Guys, go read the following from the book: pg. 135 last paragraph of Chapter 8 and then on pg 297 the last paragraph before point 4 (I hope we all have the same book)
I was convicted big time there.
Drew--your analogy to football was very impressive. There is hope for your son.
We have to remember to seek knowledge not so we can win arguments and elevate ourselves above others; Scripture commands us to be humble and gentle especially with those who have not grown as much in the Word. We seek knowledge and wisdom because God commands us and because we want to know Him and how to better bring glory to Him with our lives. One thing I am always convicted of is that we will have to stand before Christ and give an account of our lives. Therefore I want to be renewing my mind and being transformed into His likeness more each day so that I can be more capable of living a life worthy of Him and pleasing to Him. But also realizing that it is only by faith in Christ and His work that I can ever be justified--no amount of good works or good living can take the place of Christ. But, despite my depravity, I can be sanctified each day by the Spirit and that is the goal.
Peter says "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble"
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