On Thursday of this week, many in America will take time to celebrate Thanksgiving. While the "fixin's" of Thanksgiving (family/fellowship, food, and football) are good and to be enjoyed, the "main dish" is always gratitude - acknowledging the blessings we've been given and for which we should express thanks.
And it's important to remember the ultimate Giver is God, the one to whom, ultimately, we should direct our thanks. In this sense, Thanksgiving is an opportunity to practice theology as we remember who God is and the things God has done for which we are thankful, and as we express our gratitude to God. (Check out Psalm 136:1-26; 1 Thessalonians 5:18; James 1:17) To help us reflect on how Thanksgiving and theology can go together (like mashed potatoes and gravy!), I've included a few brief quotes from David Pao's book, Thanksgiving: An Investigation of a Pauline Theme. The following quotes are all from his first chapter, importantly titled "Thanksgiving as God-centeredness."
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Too often I think the value of theology is under-appreciated, and the task of theology is misunderstood. Too many reduce theology to an abstract, esoteric task that doesn't really have anything to do with things that matter most. This is a view of theology that I do everything I can do work against. Instead, as I've tried to show before, we need a better picture for theology and how to do theology well. Theology matters. In line with this re-presentation of theology, I'm grateful for Kevin Vanhoozer and what he says about the PURPOSE of theology. (In case you don't know the name Kevin Vanhoozer, let me suggest he's a contemporary theologian that many of us should be listening to. Check out this article Christianity Today recently did on him.) This quote on the PURPOSE (and value) of theology is from a recent book Vanhoozer co-authors with Owen Strachan, The Pastor as Public Theologian: Reclaiming a Lost Vision, page 125. Listen to this: What are theologians for? ....We reply: for confessing, comprehending, celebrating, communicating, commending, and conforming themselves and others to what is in Christ." This last phrase is shorthand Vanhoozer uses to talk about the reality of what Christ's death and resurrection accomplishes for us and offers to us. Vanhoozer continues: Theology serves the church to the extent that it helps disciples fulfill their vocation to put on Christ and grow into 'the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ' (Eph. 4:13). The real work of theology is indeed public: growing persons, cultivating a people. It is about helping individuals and communities to grow into the fullness of Christ. In sum: the real work of theology is the work of getting real - conforming people's speech, thoughts, and actions to the mind and heart of Jesus Christ, the source and standard of all truth, goodness, and beauty." Reading books on biblical and systematic theology can be a great way to grow in our knowledge of (and love for!) God and His Word. I was recently reminded of the value of reading these sorts of books, as I dug a bit more deeply into how we should think about "covenants" in the Bible.
To someone who's new to reading the Bible, the word "covenant" may sound abstract and intimidating. But that's not the case! "Covenant" - at a very basic level - refers to a relationship that is forged between two people (or parties). Covenant is about relationship. And as we read through the Bible - both Old and New Testaments - covenant language keeps coming up that pushes the storyline along. God exists in relationship with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Even. God enters into covenantal relationship with Noah, Abraham, Israel (often called the Mosaic Covenant), and David. The Old Testament looks ahead to a New Covenant, which is ultimately fulfilled in Christ (even if the full experience of that New Covenant has elements that remain future). Here's the bottom line. Covenant is about relationship (in this case, relationship with God!). And covenant comes up a lot in the Bible. Both of these things should alert us to the value of having some basic understanding of covenant. Enter: Peter Gentry and Robert Wellum, and their recent God's Kingdom through God's Covenants: A Concise Biblical Theology (Crossway, 2015). Here's an excerpt from the book (pp. 255-56) that is saturated with depth, meaning, and implication: I ran across this quote from Christian theologian and teacher Sinclair Ferguson (I noticed this via Dave Harvey, pastor and author, via Twitter). I did a little bit of additional digging, and it looks like this quote comes from Sinclair Ferguson's book, The Christian Life: A Doctrinal Introduction. I happen to agree with Sinclair Ferguson on this point - which won't come as much of a surprise if you've spent some time exploring the Brookside Institute blog posts on theology and catechesis. The question I encourage you to reflect on (and comment on here!) is this: HOW is Christian doctrine "one of the most important growth points of the Christian life"? Or, stated another way, how will Christian growth be stunted if we neglect Christian doctrine?
My wife is a big fan of putting lime on watermelon. These two foods - lime and watermelon - are fine by themselves, by the way. Most people don't think about putting these things together. (Or at least I don't.) But when you do put them together, the taste is awesome. Putting these two things together actually makes a better result than when they're consumed independently.
This semester I'm scheduled to be back teaching at Grace University, and I'm putting two categories of systematic theology together that most people may not think about putting together. I'm teaching a class on "Church and Last Things" (or, if you want the fancy terminology, on "Ecclesiology and Eschatology"). As different people have learned what I'm teaching, a very understandable follow up question has been this: "So what do those two things have to do with each other, if anything?" Were random, hermetically-sealed categories of systematic theology just thrown together, or is there a relationship between the Church and Last Things that can be appreciated? What does Ecclesiology have to do with Eschatology? Reading commentaries can be a great way to grow in our knowledge of (and love for!) God and His Word. I was recently reminded of the value of reading commentaries in this excerpt on Ephesians 3:17-18 from John Stott's God's New Society: The Message of Ephesians (InterVarsity, 1979), p. 137:
Looking for some good Bible study helps for yourself? Check out BestCommentaries.com for some good commentaries, or check out some online Bible Study helps and a list of helpful theological resources I've highlighted on this site!
One of the top five questions I get (and get again and again) as a pastor surrounds how we make sense of God's sovereignty on the one hand and human freedom (or responsibility) on the other. The question usually goes something like this: "If God is absolutely in control of everything, how can humans be free?" Or "How can God hold us responsible for choices He's ultimately in control of?"
I'm not going to solve this mystery here. (There's my disclaimer!) But I do want to include an excerpt about this topic from Against the Flow by John C. Lennox (Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford and Emeritus Fellow in Mathematics and Philosophy of Science at Green Templeton College). You can find out even more about John Lennox and what he's doing here. I intend for this to be good food for thought as we consider and process this mystery of God's sovereignty and human responsibility: Based on the number of "hits" each month, here are the top 5 posts here on the Brookside Institute blog for the last six months - since January 2015..
Did you miss any of these? Click on any of these "Top Posts by Month from January-June 2015" to be taken to the post, and check 'em out! (It's not too late!) Here's a sampling of some of the things I've been reading and reviewing this week. The hope is that these bite-sized sections of books, articles, blog posts, etc will stand on their own and be beneficial (or at least thought-provoking!) in-and-of-themselves. But I also hope that some of you will like these excerpts enough that they pull you into the larger work from which they've been taken.
Let's start sampling: Here's a sampling of some of the things I've been reading and reviewing this week. The hope is that these bite-sized sections of books, articles, blog posts, etc will stand on their own and be beneficial (or at least thought-provoking!) in-and-of-themselves. But I also hope that some of you will like these excerpts enough that they pull you into the larger work from which they've been taken.
Let's start sampling: |
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