The Importance of Sound Theology

Main Point: To say theology isn’t important is to say knowing God is not important

A few years back I had a conversation with an elder of another church in the area

During the conversation the elder invited me to visit his church

Not wanting to be rude, I said thank you but no thank you

He pressed on, and as any good salesman would, tried to overcome my objections

To which I tried to politely get out of the conversation

He made another attempt and I knew I had to give a reason and explained “I have some theologically different beliefs and would not be a good fit for the church”

His response was telling. He responded “We don’t teach on those topics, all they do is cause fights”

This is a common trend in many churches today.

The desire to avoid teaching topics that may cause dissension

Instead much of the church today teaches series on parenting, getting ahead in your career or managing your finances

There are big arguments today around the question of what should be preached

Doctrine or “Christian living”

Obviously, you know where I fall on the spectrum, but it raises the question:

“Why is doctrinal preaching important?”

I think the primary reason is, theology is how we know God

As we learn about Biblical theology, we are learning about God

It’s not just “How does salvation work” but “What does how salvation work tell us about who God is”

As we look at today’s passage, I want you to understand that the goal of theology isn’t to be smarter, but to know God more.

Studying theology and doctrine is to study God

Galatians 5:7–15 ESV

You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? This persuasion is not from him who calls you. A little leaven leavens the whole lump. I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view, and the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty, whoever he is. But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed. I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves! For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.

False Doctrine Does Not Come From God

The Galatians were believers

Strong believers are not immune from bad theology

A great example are the Wesley brothers.

Charles and John were great evangelists, founders of the methodist denomination and writer of many a hymn we sing today

They were also arminian

This is the belief that salvation is rooted in mans free will

That Christ on the cross created an opportunity for all to receive salvation if they choose God

At the same time in London there was another great preacher, Charles Spurgeon

Spurgeon was on the other end of the theological spectrum and was a Calvinist

Spurgeon believed that salvation is an act of the sovereignty of God

For Spurgeon the cross did not win the opportunity for all to choose salvation, but won salvation for all God chooses

For the Wesleys the election was conditional on faith of the believer

For Spurgeon the election was unconditional and faith a gift of God

Today this argument rages on

There are thousands, if not millions of Youtube videos ridiculing the other side

there are entire channels committed to this debate

That being said, Spurgeon, a staunch Calvinist looked highly upon the Wesleys even saying at one point he expects to see them in Heaven

I tell you this story because:

Strong believers are not immune from bad theology

One of my friends put it best, “In some area’s we are all heretics”

The fact that the Galatians were believers brings us to another point about the importance of theology

Good theology does not save, but bad theology can prevent salvation

To me, the biggest concern I have around bad theology is the eternal impact it can have on the people around us

It’s easy to teach them to put their faith in things like baptism, sinners prayers, or universal salvation we are teaching them a gospel that is not the Gospel.

This isn’t the case in Galatia

The real problem here is that they have been hindered from obeying the truth

they have been lead astray

Not out of salvation, but away from obedience

Paul makes it very clear that this false teaching is not from God

And this brings us to another reason sound theology is important:

Sound theology protects us against bad theology

If this persuasion is not coming from God then we should not want it

We should desire to flee bad theology and in the process cling to the truth of who our Holy God is

Small Errors are not Acceptable

Yes, each and every one of us have some theological errors, but we should not want to keep them

In verse 9 Paul introduces us to a great analogy

“A little leaven leavens the whole lump”

Paul has spend most of the book of Galatians discussing Abraham, but here he transitions to Moses

The reference to leaven is a reference to Exodus 12 where God institutes the feast of unleaven bread

Prior to the passover, God commanded the Jews to remove all leaven (yeast) from their house

they were to only eat unleaven bread

It’s also possibly a reference to the teaching of Jesus when he says “be ware the leaven of the pharisees” using leaven to by symbolic for the teachings of the pharisees

In this case, what Paul is saying is a little bad teaching can infect the entire church

Often we say “don’t sweat the small stuff” but at the same time we often inherently know the small stuff matters.

Did you know:

For a 20 year old, 1 daily cup of Starbucks coffee on your way to work can equate to $50,000 over a 40 year career

This could end up being $330,000 if invested

1 Can of pop per day is 54,750 calories. That is about 15 pounds.

Likewise walking 10 minutes a day can equate to 5 pounds per year being lost

Reading 10 pages a day can add up to 12 books per year

Probably the most telling example of how small mistakes can have a great impact is shown in the example of a boat leaving London and setting sail for New York

If that boat is 1 degree off, it will miss New York by some 1000 miles and end up near Bermuda

Small mistakes in our life like a daily trip to Starbucks, or wasted time watching YouTube videos can have very big impacts on our life

Likewise

A little error in theology can lead to dramatic errors in our life.

For example:

The error mentioned earlier, that of the Wesleys, has lead to the even worst heresy of universalism (the belief that everyone will be saved and no one will go to hell).

Or in the example Paul is dealing with, requiring circumcision, can lead quickly to legalism; the teaching that your actions affect your salvation

While we may see these as small, insignificant issues, the Lord doesn't

God Does Not Take Heresy Lightly

In fact, Paul, being inspired by the Spirit lets us know that those troubling the Galatians will “bear the penalty”

The greek word here is the word judgment

Rest assured, there is a judgement coming for false teacher

What’s worst about false teachers is that often they persecute the one teaching truth

That is what’s happening to Paul

The false teaching of circumcision is causing Paul to be persecuted everywhere he goes

But Paul ends his call for sound doctrine with what one commentator called “his most vulgar statement”

He wishes they would emasculate themselves

Sound Doctrine Leads to Proper Living

Specifically Paul calls us to live properly in relation to one another

When we have proper theology, we must be careful to not allow our freedom to hurt others

Don’t let our freedom lead to sinfulness

Instead we are to love one another

Our sinfulness harms others

In Romans we are taught that we should limit our freedom if our freedom causes others to stumble

This is the main reason I do not drink, to not cause another to stumble

“the fulfillment of the law is to love one another”

Sound doctrine helps us love our brothers because sound doctrine gives us a proper understanding of ourselves

When we understand theology properly we recognize we are not better than others

We are not better than weaker brothers and sisters

We are not better than false teachers

We are not better than unbelievers

In fact, sound theology shows us that without God’s grace we would be in the exact same spot as many of them

Takeaway: How does the answer to our question change the way we live