the role of theology in our community
1 Amens
We’re taking a break from one of our regular rhythms as a community- moving through a whole book of the bible, to take a few weeks and focus on some of the things that lay at the heart of our community- our commitment to one another and our involvement in one another’s lives… Today, I want us to talk a bit about the role of theology in our community.
Now- when I use that word- I know that some of you have an immediate negative emotional reaction- put some words on that- why would you or anyone react negatively to the word “theology”?
What’s the most basic, positive definition of “theology” that we can come up with? Probably, “the knowledge of God. “
So- if we say that evergreen is a place where people can seek God, know God, figure out what following God, living life in the way of Jesus looks like… then by definition, we are a community that is all about theology, all about the knowledge of God- now, we are also all about doing something with the knowledge, and that’s what being a missional community is all about as well, but in the same way that knowing should always be followed by doing, and knowing alone becomes a dangerous thing, so does doing alone. Our doing, our missional action should always be rooted in and flowing out of our knowledge of God, our understanding of His mission in the world, His desires for the world, informed by His character. And that means, of necessity, being a theological community…
Let’s go back to those passages we meditated on at the beginning of our time:
Prov 2:1-6
VS 1-2(on screen)
How do you define wisdom? What would you say the difference between wisdom and understanding is? Is it at all important to have both? Why?
The writer here says both of these are important enough to put effort into- tune your ears to wisdom- learn how to recognize when you hear it- concentrate on understanding- put effort into comprehending the world, God, His story… but even more…
VS 3-4(on screen)
This is not something we do halfheartedly- look at the words the writer uses- “Cry out for insight” Ask, seek… And the end result of this disposition towards wisdom and knowledge and crying out and asking and seeking?
VS 5-6(on screen)
Knowing God, gaining knowledge of God- It’s an if/then proposition. God reveals Himself to us, invites us to know Him. And if we will tune our ears, concentrate on understanding, cry out for insight, ask for comprehension… search, seek, then… then we will understand what it means to fear, to reverence God, and we will gain a knowledge of God. But what Proverbs makes clear is that even though we search for a God who wants to be found, who is all about revealing His character, His person to us, it doesn’t come without effort. It’s something we put our hearts, our minds, an investment of our time, our mental bandwidth into.
Is it an investment that’s worth anything? For those interested in the bottom line, I think that knowledge of God, like the writer says here, is a treasure- very valuable… but there’s a practical impact in our lives as well- a loop. When we seek wisdom, we learn to know and respect and reverence God. And knowing and respecting and reverencing God, leads to…
Prov 9:10 (on screen)
…more wisdom. And knowing God results in good judgment- making good choices in life…
What do you think- what’s the link between knowing God and good judgment. How in the world are those two things linked? Or are they?
Yeah- there’s this link between knowing the character of God, and knowing then what our character should be- good judgment.Â
So then, it’s no wonder, that as God draws a picture for us of what that ultimate rescue and renewal of creation will look like, he would phrase it like this:
Hab 2:14 (NIV)- (on screen)
There’s a connection, a deep connection between a picture of a world set right, a world put back together where people live in harmony with creation, with each other, and with the Creator, between that picture… and the idea of a world filled with the knowledge of God. In fact, the two are inseparable. This is where the whole story of history is going, where it all ends up- the earth filled with the knowledge of God, the understanding of His glory, His attributes and character, His love for us.
To talk about a world where people know God intimately is, by definition, to talk about a world where things are set right- where justice and love and righteousness are the rule of the day, not hatred and people causing pain to one another and evil. A world set right and a world filled with the knowledge of God are the same thing- and that is the conclusion, the end result, the final chapter of this story that God has been writing for all of history.
So- what does all this have to do with our community? And how do we live into this? Any ideas? What does a community that is not sufficiently theological look like? How can we be the opposite?
The community of people following Jesus is meant to be a picture of, a foretaste of the goodness that Jesus will bring in the world. So if we know that the end result of history is the whole world being filled with the knowledge of the glory of God, then our community as a whole, and we as individuals need to right now, be showing people what that looks like. We need to be filled with the knowledge of the glory of God ourselves and do what the proverbs say- chase hard after knowledge of God, cry out for it, ask, seek, work for it.
And I think we need to be able to talk about theology, about God, about how life in this world and the knowledge of God intersect and how one informs the other.
One of our values at evergreen is making room for doubt and questions. That is, if you are unsure about all this Jesus stuff, if you don’t know if you necessarily buy the Christian narrative of a good creation, a rebellion and fall, a redemption by God Himself and ultimately a restoration of that good creation- if all of that is still something you are processing through, we desperately want to be a community where you can do that safely, where you can struggle and wrestle with that, and not have people judge you for your doubt or your questions.
But… while we make room for doubt and questions, we want to avoid making a value out of not knowing. Making room for doubt and for varied theological opinions on a lot of different matters doesn’t mean making a value out of having no theological opinions. In other words, there are a lot of issues where I’m not so much concerned with what you or someone else might believe about them- things like speaking in tongues or the end times or whether Jesus was able not to sin or was not able to sin… I’m not so concerned that you share my opinion on those things- but I think it’s good to have an opinion, to do the thinking and processing and do some reading and some praying, and have some ideas…
And there’s a whole host of issues that I think it’s more than “good” for you to have an opinion on- I think it’s vital for you to have a good firm, grasp of some theological issues- the person of Jesus, the nature of God’s grace and salvation, what forgiveness is and how God offers to us and on what basis- these are not just “whatever” kind of issues.
God calls us as a community to know Him, to follow Jesus, to be Jesus to the city of Portland. If we’re going to do that, we should probably have some well thought-out ideas about who Jesus is, right? And I think we can speak about those things, not arrogantly, but strongly. With conviction.Â
A poet named Taylor Mali who is not a Christian, wrote this poem: It’s called “Totally, Like Whatever, You Know?”
In case you hadn't noticed, ?it has somehow become uncool ?to sound like you know what you're talking about? ?Or believe strongly in what you're saying? ?Invisible question marks and parenthetical (you know?)'s ?have been attaching themselves to the ends of our sentences? ?Even when those sentences aren't, like, questions? You know?
Declarative sentences - so-called ?because they used to, like, DECLARE things to be true ?as opposed to other things which were, like, not -?have been infected by a totally hip ?and tragically cool interrogative tone? You know? ?Like, don't think I'm uncool just because I've noticed this; ?this is just like the word on the street, you know? ?It's like what I've heard? ?I have nothing personally invested in my own opinions, okay? ?I'm just inviting you to join me in my uncertainty?
What has happened to our conviction? ?Where are the limbs out on which we once walked? ?Have they been, like, chopped down ?with the rest of the rain forest? ?Or do we have, like, nothing to say? ?Has society become so, like, totally . . . ?I mean absolutely . . . You know? ?That we've just gotten to the point where it's just, like . . . ?whatever!
And so actually our disarticulation . . . ness ?is just a clever sort of . . . thing ?to disguise the fact that we've become ?the most aggressively inarticulate generation ?to come along since . . . ?you know, a long, long time ago!
I entreat you, I implore you, I exhort you, ?I challenge you: To speak with conviction. ?To say what you believe in a manner that bespeaks ?the determination with which you believe it. ?Because contrary to the wisdom of the bumper sticker, ?it is not enough these days to simply QUESTION AUTHORITY. ?You have to speak with it, too.
We speak gently about a lot of things, carefully. But that doesn’t mean we lack conviction. And on some things, that conviction needs to come through. Because if we are not, as a community, through both our actions and our words, pointing people to Jesus, at the end of the day, we’re not doing a whole lot worth doing.
The New Testament says this:Â
(Col 2:2-3- On Screen) “My purpose is that they (Paul is talking about why he preached about Jesus) may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”
Now that’s a declarative statement… Do you want to know God? Start by knowing Jesus- God revealed to us, God walking among us, God with us. In Him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge- in some way, everything God wants us to know about Himself, His character, His heart is in Jesus.
I dream of evergreen as a community that invites everyone to follow Jesus and leads each other in the process of becoming missional theologians- people who know God, and are moved by that knowledge out into a world that is searching for God, to love that world, to serve that world, and to speak with declarative sentences about the God who has revealed Himself to us in the person of Jesus Christ.
Let’s sing and tell ourselves and the world about this God we serve, this Jesus we follow… And in a few minutes, I’ll ask you what you think and we’ll talk more about some of the practicalities of this…
Break- singing- 3-4 songs
Wrap up- what do you think? What do you wonder?
A couple of practical points
• If you’ve never read a book on theology, it’s time
• Theological discussions- the forum, theology pubs
• Ask, seek, pray…
Pursue the knowledge of God like nothing else really matters because in many ways nothing else does- or at least we can say, everything else matters in relationship to God, in relationship to the story of God and what God is doing in the world.
Read MoreNow- when I use that word- I know that some of you have an immediate negative emotional reaction- put some words on that- why would you or anyone react negatively to the word “theology”?
What’s the most basic, positive definition of “theology” that we can come up with? Probably, “the knowledge of God. “
So- if we say that evergreen is a place where people can seek God, know God, figure out what following God, living life in the way of Jesus looks like… then by definition, we are a community that is all about theology, all about the knowledge of God- now, we are also all about doing something with the knowledge, and that’s what being a missional community is all about as well, but in the same way that knowing should always be followed by doing, and knowing alone becomes a dangerous thing, so does doing alone. Our doing, our missional action should always be rooted in and flowing out of our knowledge of God, our understanding of His mission in the world, His desires for the world, informed by His character. And that means, of necessity, being a theological community…
Let’s go back to those passages we meditated on at the beginning of our time:
Prov 2:1-6
VS 1-2(on screen)
How do you define wisdom? What would you say the difference between wisdom and understanding is? Is it at all important to have both? Why?
The writer here says both of these are important enough to put effort into- tune your ears to wisdom- learn how to recognize when you hear it- concentrate on understanding- put effort into comprehending the world, God, His story… but even more…
VS 3-4(on screen)
This is not something we do halfheartedly- look at the words the writer uses- “Cry out for insight” Ask, seek… And the end result of this disposition towards wisdom and knowledge and crying out and asking and seeking?
VS 5-6(on screen)
Knowing God, gaining knowledge of God- It’s an if/then proposition. God reveals Himself to us, invites us to know Him. And if we will tune our ears, concentrate on understanding, cry out for insight, ask for comprehension… search, seek, then… then we will understand what it means to fear, to reverence God, and we will gain a knowledge of God. But what Proverbs makes clear is that even though we search for a God who wants to be found, who is all about revealing His character, His person to us, it doesn’t come without effort. It’s something we put our hearts, our minds, an investment of our time, our mental bandwidth into.
Is it an investment that’s worth anything? For those interested in the bottom line, I think that knowledge of God, like the writer says here, is a treasure- very valuable… but there’s a practical impact in our lives as well- a loop. When we seek wisdom, we learn to know and respect and reverence God. And knowing and respecting and reverencing God, leads to…
Prov 9:10 (on screen)
…more wisdom. And knowing God results in good judgment- making good choices in life…
What do you think- what’s the link between knowing God and good judgment. How in the world are those two things linked? Or are they?
Yeah- there’s this link between knowing the character of God, and knowing then what our character should be- good judgment.Â
So then, it’s no wonder, that as God draws a picture for us of what that ultimate rescue and renewal of creation will look like, he would phrase it like this:
Hab 2:14 (NIV)- (on screen)
There’s a connection, a deep connection between a picture of a world set right, a world put back together where people live in harmony with creation, with each other, and with the Creator, between that picture… and the idea of a world filled with the knowledge of God. In fact, the two are inseparable. This is where the whole story of history is going, where it all ends up- the earth filled with the knowledge of God, the understanding of His glory, His attributes and character, His love for us.
To talk about a world where people know God intimately is, by definition, to talk about a world where things are set right- where justice and love and righteousness are the rule of the day, not hatred and people causing pain to one another and evil. A world set right and a world filled with the knowledge of God are the same thing- and that is the conclusion, the end result, the final chapter of this story that God has been writing for all of history.
So- what does all this have to do with our community? And how do we live into this? Any ideas? What does a community that is not sufficiently theological look like? How can we be the opposite?
The community of people following Jesus is meant to be a picture of, a foretaste of the goodness that Jesus will bring in the world. So if we know that the end result of history is the whole world being filled with the knowledge of the glory of God, then our community as a whole, and we as individuals need to right now, be showing people what that looks like. We need to be filled with the knowledge of the glory of God ourselves and do what the proverbs say- chase hard after knowledge of God, cry out for it, ask, seek, work for it.
And I think we need to be able to talk about theology, about God, about how life in this world and the knowledge of God intersect and how one informs the other.
One of our values at evergreen is making room for doubt and questions. That is, if you are unsure about all this Jesus stuff, if you don’t know if you necessarily buy the Christian narrative of a good creation, a rebellion and fall, a redemption by God Himself and ultimately a restoration of that good creation- if all of that is still something you are processing through, we desperately want to be a community where you can do that safely, where you can struggle and wrestle with that, and not have people judge you for your doubt or your questions.
But… while we make room for doubt and questions, we want to avoid making a value out of not knowing. Making room for doubt and for varied theological opinions on a lot of different matters doesn’t mean making a value out of having no theological opinions. In other words, there are a lot of issues where I’m not so much concerned with what you or someone else might believe about them- things like speaking in tongues or the end times or whether Jesus was able not to sin or was not able to sin… I’m not so concerned that you share my opinion on those things- but I think it’s good to have an opinion, to do the thinking and processing and do some reading and some praying, and have some ideas…
And there’s a whole host of issues that I think it’s more than “good” for you to have an opinion on- I think it’s vital for you to have a good firm, grasp of some theological issues- the person of Jesus, the nature of God’s grace and salvation, what forgiveness is and how God offers to us and on what basis- these are not just “whatever” kind of issues.
God calls us as a community to know Him, to follow Jesus, to be Jesus to the city of Portland. If we’re going to do that, we should probably have some well thought-out ideas about who Jesus is, right? And I think we can speak about those things, not arrogantly, but strongly. With conviction.Â
A poet named Taylor Mali who is not a Christian, wrote this poem: It’s called “Totally, Like Whatever, You Know?”
In case you hadn't noticed, ?it has somehow become uncool ?to sound like you know what you're talking about? ?Or believe strongly in what you're saying? ?Invisible question marks and parenthetical (you know?)'s ?have been attaching themselves to the ends of our sentences? ?Even when those sentences aren't, like, questions? You know?
Declarative sentences - so-called ?because they used to, like, DECLARE things to be true ?as opposed to other things which were, like, not -?have been infected by a totally hip ?and tragically cool interrogative tone? You know? ?Like, don't think I'm uncool just because I've noticed this; ?this is just like the word on the street, you know? ?It's like what I've heard? ?I have nothing personally invested in my own opinions, okay? ?I'm just inviting you to join me in my uncertainty?
What has happened to our conviction? ?Where are the limbs out on which we once walked? ?Have they been, like, chopped down ?with the rest of the rain forest? ?Or do we have, like, nothing to say? ?Has society become so, like, totally . . . ?I mean absolutely . . . You know? ?That we've just gotten to the point where it's just, like . . . ?whatever!
And so actually our disarticulation . . . ness ?is just a clever sort of . . . thing ?to disguise the fact that we've become ?the most aggressively inarticulate generation ?to come along since . . . ?you know, a long, long time ago!
I entreat you, I implore you, I exhort you, ?I challenge you: To speak with conviction. ?To say what you believe in a manner that bespeaks ?the determination with which you believe it. ?Because contrary to the wisdom of the bumper sticker, ?it is not enough these days to simply QUESTION AUTHORITY. ?You have to speak with it, too.
We speak gently about a lot of things, carefully. But that doesn’t mean we lack conviction. And on some things, that conviction needs to come through. Because if we are not, as a community, through both our actions and our words, pointing people to Jesus, at the end of the day, we’re not doing a whole lot worth doing.
The New Testament says this:Â
(Col 2:2-3- On Screen) “My purpose is that they (Paul is talking about why he preached about Jesus) may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”
Now that’s a declarative statement… Do you want to know God? Start by knowing Jesus- God revealed to us, God walking among us, God with us. In Him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge- in some way, everything God wants us to know about Himself, His character, His heart is in Jesus.
I dream of evergreen as a community that invites everyone to follow Jesus and leads each other in the process of becoming missional theologians- people who know God, and are moved by that knowledge out into a world that is searching for God, to love that world, to serve that world, and to speak with declarative sentences about the God who has revealed Himself to us in the person of Jesus Christ.
Let’s sing and tell ourselves and the world about this God we serve, this Jesus we follow… And in a few minutes, I’ll ask you what you think and we’ll talk more about some of the practicalities of this…
Break- singing- 3-4 songs
Wrap up- what do you think? What do you wonder?
A couple of practical points
• If you’ve never read a book on theology, it’s time
• Theological discussions- the forum, theology pubs
• Ask, seek, pray…
Pursue the knowledge of God like nothing else really matters because in many ways nothing else does- or at least we can say, everything else matters in relationship to God, in relationship to the story of God and what God is doing in the world.
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