The Necessity of Theology
Notes
Transcript
Introduction: Welcome/Prayer
Do you consider yourself a theologian?
What if I told you that all of us are theologians? That it’s a matter of degree, good or bad, that differentiates us.
What if I went further and told you, that as a believer, theology is not an optional topic for you?
That actually, God commands us to know and to study theology.
See, theology isn’t just for pastors, or those who have a “passion” for it. Theology is for everyone, and everyone has some sort of theology whether they realize it or not, either good or bad.
To help us understand this let us first define theology...
Theology is made up of two Greek words, Theos and Logos
Theos - God
Logos - word, speech, expression, reason
Theology is better understood as a theo-logia -
Logia is a form of the word Logos… and it means discourse...
So, Theology is a discourse (logia) about a particular subject… in this case God (theo)… It can also be understood as knowledge of God.
In our passage today 2 John 4-6, we are going to see how theology is not optional, rather it is commanded, and then we’ll look at how our theology is what forms our behavior, both to God and to others.
It is important for us to understand this before going further in John’s letter, for the next section starting in verse 7 deals with the topic of false teaching, and our passage today lays the foundation for that discussion.
READ 2 John 4-6
We’ll start by looking at verse 4, then we will look at verses 5 and 6 together. It is in verse 4 that John tells that theology is not optional. But before we get to that we need to see that theology is the reason of John’s rejoicing.
Theology is Not Optional
Theology is Not Optional
Theology is the reason of John’s rejoicing
The truth, in verse 4, is right understanding of who God is… specifically in John’s immediate context, who Jesus is…
Therefore, when John speaks of truth he is speaking of theology… truth is understanding God rightly and all things through that lens.
In John’s Epistles truth is primarily focused on who Jesus is… and that is appropriate especially in light of John 14:6
Jesus replied, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Yet, in order to know the truth as John desires for us to know it… and and as God desires us to know it… we must be walking in all truth which always points us to Christ.
Christ is the finished purpose of God’s glory, the Telos of Scripture, the intended end of it all.
So, to rightly know Christ and God we must walk in truth… and this is what causes John to rejoice...
This rejoicing of John is expressed in 3 John as well… listen to what he writes in 3 John 3-4
For I rejoiced greatly when the brothers came and testified to your truth, just as you are living according to the truth. I have no greater joy than this: to hear that my children are living according to the truth.
This joy is like that of a parent raising a child and sending the child on their own out into the world and learning they are doing well and living rightly as they were raised....
For John this is the end goal of discipleship… this is why he defends the truth so vigorously from false teachers and their lies.
In Jesus prayer to the Father at the Last Supper in John 17… Jesus prays that the disciples and those who follow them to be sanctified in the truth. Throughout that prayer Jesus keeps going back to how He revealed God’s Word, God’s truth, to them…
When we submit our lives to our understanding of God… to truth… and live according to it… we are walking according to it...
This is why ensuring you have a right theology of God is so significant.... and again, this is why John and the other Apostles, along with Jesus speak so frequently and so harshly against false teachers.
Acts 20:31 it was the threat of false teachers that Paul warned the elders of Ephesus about for 3 years, day and night.
Therefore be alert, remembering that night and day for three years I did not stop warning each one of you with tears.
25 of the 27 books in the NT speak on the topic of false teaching.
So, when John hears of those walking according to the truth, walking in accordance to sound theology… on the narrow path to the narrow gate… he rejoices… but John’s pleasure isn’t the main reason we walk in truth...
Look at the end of verse 4
Theology is commanded
To know God rightly is a command… it’s a duty, look back at the OT
Deut. 6:4-9
Listen, Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! You must love the Lord your God with your whole mind, your whole being, and all your strength. These words I am commanding you today must be kept in mind, and you must teach them to your children and speak of them as you sit in your house, as you walk along the road, as you lie down, and as you get up. You should tie them as a reminder on your forearm and fasten them as symbols on your forehead. Inscribe them on the doorframes of your houses and gates.
This is the Great Shema of the OT.... Shema means “Hear, Listen”
Israel is commanded to listen, and hear something important… one that God is one… He is unique… there is no other like Him… and second… we are called to love Him with our entire being.
The words of God must constantly be on our minds… they must be taught to our children, they must forever be before us…
This is similar to Joshua 1:8
This law scroll must not leave your lips! You must memorize it day and night so you can carefully obey all that is written in it. Then you will prosper and be successful.
God’s Word… His book, is truth. We must know it in order to walk according to it.
We are expected to know Him as He has revealed Himself…
And how has He revealed Himself? In Jesus.
In fact, here verse 4, John may have in mind specifically what he wrote in 1 John 3:23
Now this is his commandment: that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he gave us the commandment.
That the truth the church is walking in is belief in the name of the Father’s Son, Jesus Christ… and in doing so loving one another.
Which I think is a fair summary of John’s theology in these epistles.
But we must not think that to know Jesus is about blind faith in His name… it’s about abiding in Him…
And again, the discourse of Jesus in John 14 & 15 make it clear that those who know Him, those who abide in Him, know and keep His teachings… from Genesis to Revelation.
Also, ignorance/laziness in regard to theology is not excusable
The Israelites had to offer up sacrifices for sins they commited in ignorance… ignorance does not excuse us… especially when we have been blessed with the resources and abilities to know and to understand...
And to ignore our duty of knowing Him… of knowing and growing in the truth sets us up for Romans 1:18
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of people who suppress the truth by their unrighteousness,
To idle in the truth and not to continue to grow in it… is a form of suppression. To stunt growth… is to suppress growth… we drift towards unholiness, not holiness...
That is why throughout the NT you hear the language of discipline and practice… and self-control… and focus… b/c everything in this world wants to keep you from the truth. Wants to keep you from studying and growing in your theology and understanding of God...
It moves you to worship idols rather than God… as you offer sacrifices in the form of time, money, energy, and affections, to sports, work, hobbies, social activities and social media engagement…
It is not that those things are evil… but when they prevent you from giving to God what is rightly His… they are mechanisms of evil… they are idols… they are devilish distractions that take your eyes off the road to righteousness just long enough to get you to Hell.
It is not an easy thing to walk according to the truth… this is why Jesus in Luke 14:25-35
Urges people to consider the cost of following Him… of being His disciple… it’s not solely because of persecution but because of the effort it would require...
It requires you to kill yourself daily… to die to self regularly...
For me, as I prepare sermons… I have to die all the time to do them… there is nothing natural in me that says, yes, I get to read and write a sermon! No… there are so many things I would rather pursue or put my time in than to do what is necessary to prepare the sermon...
But I know what is true… I know what must be done… despite how I have been conditioned over the years, God has called me to a task. Thus I do what is necessary to do what is true to my purpose and faithful to His Name.
It would be arrogant of me to say no to God b/c I don’t feel like it… rather I ask God to help me. I ask God to give me strength. I ask God to help re-condition me, to help train me to enjoy the labor He has put before me.
And the labor is not without its reward… this is how my cup is filled… this is how I get to know Him more… this is how I am able to live my life free from the fear of death b/c I know that I abide in Him.
But it’s not easy… it’s necessary though and the work itself is not always pleasure inducing... though the fruit is always worth the labor.
It’s the fruit of the labor that gets you through the dark moments. The painful moments. The moments of anxiety, uncertainty, and fear.
But it requires discipline, practice… we have to recondition ourselves from the ways of the world to the ways of truth.
Romans 12:1…
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
A living sacrifice… breathing and walking, yet continually sacrificing your desires for God’s.
God wants you to know Him… to know Him through His Son who is the Word of Eternal Life.
And as we get to know Him… that knowledge, that truth… our theology of God forms our behavior...
Theology Forms Our Behavior
Theology Forms Our Behavior
Theology guides our actions (not only towards God, but others)
We know how to rightly love b/c of what God commands
John in verses 5-6 encourages the church to continue to love one another…
And that love is known and expressed by walking or living in accordance to the commands of God.
Loook at Matthew 22:37-40
Jesus said to him, “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’This is the first and greatest commandment. The second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’All the law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”
Jesus tells us that it is upon these two commandments that the entire Law depend on… So, to obey the Law is to obey those two commands… the Law helped the Israelites understand what that looked like in their given context...
Yet, at the same time the Law has not been abolished or voided either… Matthew 5:17
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have not come to abolish these things but to fulfill them.
Jesus, His work and who He is, fulfills the Law…
Romans 10:4
For Christ is the end of the law, with the result that there is righteousness for everyone who believes.
Romans 13:8
Owe no one anything, except to love one another, for the one who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.
And when we wonder what loving our neighbors and one another looks like in light of the NT, we simply only have to look and study the teachings of the Apostles.
Which includes the Gospels, acknowledging that the knowledge of the Gospels is b/c of the teachings of the Apostles… so the whole New Testament, whether it be Paul, or John, or Peter, or any other Apostle… all of it helps us grow in our knowledge and understanding of God and what He commands of us...
Theology helps in understanding how to love others also by giving us insight into the who and the why of us.
We understand our purpose when we walk in the truth of God
Our theology shapes our understanding of mankind
The Imago Dei is fundamental to our purpose
How we understand the creation account and the significance of God creating mankind and out of all of creation gives mankind His image, is fundamental to everything.
It speaks to who God is and to His purpose
It speaks to how we are to value one another… thus instructing us in how and why we love each other… and the need for physical interaction in the form of a community.
G. K. Chesterton speaks to the difficulty of loving one another in light of this understanding by saying, “All men matter. You matter. I matter. It’s the hardest thing in theology to believe.”
It speaks to how we are to treat the unborn and love the elderly
It speaks to how we are to care and respect the poor, the marginalized, and the oppressed.
Our theology, our knowledge of the truth helps us understand how we ought to act in the midst of a pandemic..
Abstaining from gathering as a body in person will only go for so long…
There will come a time, I don’t know when, but a time when we ought to gather back together.
What we are doing now is an act of love and sacrifice out of love for neighbor.
We are not abstaining because we fear the virus… we don’t… not because we think we won’t get it or that we won’t die from it…
We don’t fear it because we don’t fear death and we trust a sovereign God.
Therefore, we live as those who have eternal lives, and have no need for fear. We don’t live recklessly or carelessly either… we take appropriate measures...
But gathering together, observing the ordinances, among other things are commanded for us to do… even at the risk of death.
So, our staying home right now is done out of love for neighbor, recognizing that we have other means to hear the Word of God and to worship together...
While at the same time understanding something is missing… something is lacking and this is not how things will remain. Therefore, at some point, we will need to gather back together.
Theology helps us understand the limits of what we give up in the name of “Love your neighbor”...
But if you are not walking according to the truth then you cannot know those limits nor are you even equipped to have conversations about the issue.
As much as our theology speaks how we ought to live amongst one another…
It also speaks to how we worship God as a body
John 4:24
God is spirit, and the people who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
How can we rightly worship God if we do not know the truth? If we are not walking according to it? We can’t.
This is why what we sing, must be accurate in the truth it portrays.
This is perhaps the Achilles heel of the church today… so much heresy and false teaching is propagated by theologically poor songs
The church has been seduced by the sounds of passionate melodies and chords of youthful emotions… Where truth is sacrificed for fleeting moments of emotional and experiential ecstasy.
As if the ultimate end of man is not knowledge of God, but an experience of God… but any experience void of truth is not an experience of God.
Worship of God isn’t restricted to Sunday morning music however… it is ultimately in how we live… and theology teaches that as well… the psalms are full of commands and desires speaking to this truth.
Psalm 86:11
O Lord, teach me how you want me to live! Then I will obey your commands. Make me wholeheartedly committed to you!
Psalm 43:3
Reveal your light and your faithfulness! They will lead me, they will escort me back to your holy hill, and to the place where you live.
If we want to abide with Him eternity, we need to learn how to abide here with our brothers and sisters in Christ as He commands us to...
This is why we commit our lives to the study and knowledge of Scriptures… and in doing so recognizing we do not need to go anywhere else for the truth.
Theology rooted in the truth is sufficient
Ian Bradley in an article of Christianity Today on the topic of how Christians are to engage on the topic of ecology wrote...
“What we need is not, as is so often argued, ... a new theology of nature but rather a return to the original message contained in the Bible and preached and practiced in the early church. ... Greening Christianity does not involve grafting on to it some alien philosophy but simply restoring its original character. Indeed, it means stripping off a whole series of alien layers that have accumulated to reveal the original greenness of the Garden of Eden and the cross on Calvary.”
No need to add/change it up
The Word of God… the rightful understanding of it is enough to speak to all issues of the current culture and current day. Does not matter what culture or what day you find yourself in… His Word is enough.
We do not capitulate to culture and allow culture to interpret Scripture...
Nor do we allow external variables such as skin color, socioeconomic issues, or the majority view of society, interpret or frame how we are t understand God’s Word.
God’s Word is enough… and anyone who comes to us and says we need more, or there is more, or that God’s Word cannot speak to this, is a liar and needs to repent of their falsehood.
John is clear hear that this commandment is on that is from the beginning. It is not new… meaning… you have heard it before… you know it… you are responsible to obey it and to hold fast to it.
The false teachers that John is rebuking here are trying to teach something new… but there is no need for anything new. Jesus Christ is enough.
Knowing Him, is enough.
And there’s no need to dress Him up.
If we abide in Him, remain humble, and present Him honestly, then His love, His truth will be known.
And either people will hate it or they will accept it.
Their response however is not our main concern. Our main concern is to be faithful to God.
To walk in the truth, and if we walk in the truth, then we will be walking in love and our behavior will reflect that reality.
We keep praying for revival, but I wonder if we pray for revival so that we ourselves don’t have to do the heavy lifting of ministry.
If we want revival to happen, we must be willing to walk according to the truth, and in doing so loving one another in accordance to that truth.
And that might mean we give up nights filled with Netflix, or whatever hobby or pursuit that keeps us from knowing Him and being equipped properly to live according to His truth.
If you dedicated 30-40 minutes a day of reading Scripture you could read the entire Bible 3-4 times in a year. Most shows on Netflix or Amazon, are longer than that. Judge yourself in how you use your time.
We must learn and discipline ourselves to work the field of theology so that we may be ready for the harvest when it comes. If we never work the field, if we never read, never study, never ask questions and wrestle over the truths of Scripture, we will never taste the fruits of His truth that we are meant to enjoy.
Let us have a new understanding, or maybe for some it’s a renewed understanding… that our need for theology is a need rooted in love. That when we labor to grow in our knowledge of God, our labor is an act of love...
We may be good at calling each other and connecting relationally with one another, but if it is absent of the truth, what good is it? Let us combine all of our efforts for the sake of one another… let us increase our knowledge of the truth so we may increase our effectiveness of the deeds of love of which we share with one another as we glorify God in all we do.