Theology actually matters

There's a great sermon series
that goes along with the book.

I've been reading my way through Doctrine by Mark Driscoll in bits and pieces over the last year, and my mind has been blown.

I'm not one for theological arguments and arguing over ridiculous Biblical ephemera that doesn't matter. Before reading Doctrine, I had pretty written off theology as boring and really not applicable to my life. I went to Northwestern College and had to take Christian Theology one semester; it was one of the most mind numbingly dull classes I ever sat through during college. The professor was dry, boring, listing off facts in a monotone, and wouldn't give a straight answer to save your live. I studied for the tests and promptly forgot pretty everything once I was done, because it didn't matter. Lists of big words and their paragraphs of definitions, long dead theologians, Biblical nitpicking that just came across as silly....none of it made any kind of impact on me. It was dull. It was boring. It was empty. Just academic knowledge for my head that did nothing for my heart.

I love Jesus Christ. I believe he was and is fully God and fully man, the second member of the Trinity, which also includes God the Father and the Holy Spirit. Jesus came into the world to live and to die for all of humanity's sin. He lived a perfect life, died a death he didn't deserve, and rose again three days later. His death paid the price for our evil and wickedness, leaving us humans righteous and pure before God. Jesus wasn't just a "good man" or a nice teacher or a hippie, He is God. He now sits at the right hand of God the Father in Heaven, and one day will return in glory to pass judgement and create Heaven and earth anew. In the meantime, those of us who  follow Jesus as Lord and Savior, try to live our lives like His, struggling and failing a lot, yet also finding great joy in striving to be more like Christ.

Seems pretty simple to me. I wasn't interested in what I saw as theological nitpicking and thought that "Theology" was for academic scholars with too much time on their hands. It just didn't matter to me, and seemed out of reach and over my head. Words like "theology" and "doctrine" didn't seem to have a place in the real world of actually living life. I've met many people who have their heads stuffed full of terms and definitions, who could make your head spin with all the Biblical facts they know....but it doesn't affect their hearts. They are arrogant, condescending, prideful, more concerned with what they know than what they actually do with that knowledge. They'd rather debate until they're blue in the face than, you know, serve in a food shelter or something. They don't have time for that, they're too busy doing exegetical studies from the original Greek!

To be fair, I have met a smaller amount of people who are very wise and knowledgeable and put into practice what they believe. They go deep in studying which really makes their faith bloom and thrive. They suck up Bible knowledge like a sponge, not just talk about it endlessly, but to live it out. Learning and applicability go hand-in-hand for them. But these kinds of people, in my experience, tend to be in the minority.

Over the last few years, I've been consistently listening to Mark Driscoll's sermons. I'm so thankful that Mars Hill Church posts so much excellent content online for free. I have learned more about Jesus and what it means to follow him in the last two years than I did during my whole time at Northwestern. Nobody is perfect and I don't agree with everything Mark teaches, but so much of his preaching has enriched and deepened my faith. Theological terms are interwoven into his sermons so seamlessly. Doctrinal issues that I would have dismissed or never bothered learning about, he's made understandable and applicable. And that's the key thing: Applicability in daily life. Simple definitions that aren't dumbed down but made understandable. I don't need pages and pages of theological gobbledygook if one good sentence will do. I don't need to know why God is love or who He loves or what His love is like or what "love" means in the original Greek....at the end of the day, I just need to know and truly believe that God loves me.

I've come to realize that learning some doctrine can further my faith, deepen it in unexpected ways. "Theology" doesn't have to be this loaded, scary word. It means "the study of God and God's relation to the world." Okay, I get that. Learning more about God, who He is and what He's like? Yes, I want to know that. I want to know more about this God I follow and strive to be more like. Kinda hard to become like someone if you don't know who they are, right? Like getting to know a friend, that's how I want my relationship with Jesus to be like. Not stuffing my head full of facts about His attributes or memorizing endless definitions, I want to know Him personally.

So, reading Doctrine has been an eye-opening journey for me. The authors (Gerry Breshears helped co-write) always bring it back to Jesus. Every definition and issue comes back to knowing Jesus more fully. Every chapter is about revealing more of who God is and how He relates to us. Things that I have always believed but never been able to articulate are summed up concisely and memorably. Mark writes the way he speaks: simple, powerful, applicable. Issues that I have struggled over in the past suddenly make sense. Oh, okay, I get it now! It's like a lightbulb has come on for me. I understand why every church needs to do communion. Why a believer should be baptized. And that different ways of doing them are okay as long as you understand why you're doing it in the first place: it's all about Jesus. It's not that we have to do something, another check mark on our religious to-do list, it's that we get to do it for Him, out of joy and thanksgiving for what He's done.

I've learned that knowledge of church history and those Christians who have come before can deepen my faith, furthering my relationship with God. Knowing big words, not to stuff my head and get puffed up with knowledge, but to expand my heart. Justification, propitiation, expiation, atonement....the reason to learn what they all mean is to know Jesus better. Not to argue endlessly, going in circles, but to love better, live fuller, believe more fully. It's not about what I know, but Who God is and what He's done for me. Thank you, Pastor Mark, for making these things come alive for me!

So, yes, I've come to realize, theology matters, because it helps me connect with Christ in a real way.