Theology

The health of any church depends, in part, on its leaders functioning faithfully as theologians. It’s part of the package for any elder (pastor, minister, leader, whatever term you are used to). Leading, feeding, caring and protecting. How are we to lead others on God’s behalf if we’re unclear on the nature of the church, it’s mission, God’s character and plan? How are we to feed the saints if we’re not wrestling with the great doctrines of the faith and setting them forth? How are we to care effectively for souls if we never consider what a human consists of and how they function in relation to salvation and walking in the Spirit? How are we to protect the flock if we’re unaware of theological trends and errors in the general atmosphere of the contemporary church at large?

The pastoral functions of any church leader require that theological reflection and processing be involved in the ministry. It is a dangerous error to presume that theology is a function of the academy or the research university. It is worrying to find many preachers and leaders who think that their task is not that of theology.

If you preach, then you influence. If you influence, then you lead. If you lead, don’t make the grave error of divorcing your ministry from that of theology. If you do, then both your ministry and theology will suffer. You will suffer. And so will they.

Last week I wrote a post that spoke against theological agenda-driven preaching. Yesterday’s post affirmed the value and relevance of theology. Are these positions contradictory? Not at all. We are living in a generation where there is an increasing biblical and theological illiteracy. So as preachers we have a responsibility to really know the important doctrines of the faith. And as preachers we have the responsibility of preaching the Bible so that listeners will know where that doctrine comes from and how to get it.

Here’s a quote from Spurgeon’s Lectures to My Students that seems appropriate:

Be well instructed in theology, and do not regard the sneers of those who rail at it because they are ignorant of it. Many preachers are not theologians, and hence the mistakes which they make. It cannot do any hurt to the most lively evangelist to be also a sound theologian, and it may often be the means of saving him from gross blunders. Nowadays, we hear men tear a single sentence of Scripture from its connection, and cry “Eureka! Eureka!” as if they had found a new truth; and yet they have not discovered a diamond, but a piece of broken glass. . . . Let us be thoroughly well acquainted with the great doctrines of the Word of God.

Know your theology, and preach the Bible well so that people can see not only what to believe, but how to derive that belief from the pages of Scripture. There are two potential challenges in this. One is ignorance of sound theology. The other is adherence to a system of theology not firmly rooted in the Bible. Let us preach to counter the increasing biblical and theological illiteracy, and let’s do it demonstrating healthy handling of the text!