A former professor of mine once said, “If churches did a better job at teaching the Bible, I’d have much less to do here at Bible College.” Now before you discount the statement as some flippant remark or a veiled complaint about working conditions, hear how he defined it.
Many churches have professionally trained ministers and leaders who pour over the Scriptures to prepare well crafted lessons ready for application in a person’s life. This is not bad; rather, it is a key element of the homiletic process…in other words, we teach pastors to do this very thing in preaching.
But, as I am suggesting in the article, there is there a need for the “people” to wrestle with the difficulties and work toward their own convictions on theological truths.
What I Am Not Saying
- I am not advocating that every believer become an expert on Ancient Near East literature or the fine tenets of every facet of theological musing.
- I am not advocating that every believer become an expert on the top five non-Christian world religions.
- I am not advocating a dismissal of pastoral ministry and teaching. We have and need pastors who are well trained and able to guard the congregation from error while leading them to maturity in the faith, which necessarily includes teaching the church to think for itself on theological matters.
As an example, we are not all medically trained. When something is amiss in the body, we seek out a doctor (hopefully) who has given her life to medical studies. We SHOULD though…have a working knowledge of how the heart and lungs work and be able to recognize that a persistent cough or headache is not the body’s original design.
What I Am Advocating…and Why
To credit the man who first planted the thought in my mind, what Dr. Wilbanks was saying was that many churches failed to promote or expect the “people” to study and know the basics of core doctrine and a general framework of our faith.
Yesterday, I promoted a particular book on a specific theological truth in my message on the Incarnation. Bruce Ware’s book, The Man Christ Jesus, was a particularly helpful resource in the discussion on the Incarnation of Christ. The Incarnation itself is a “big deal” and a distinguishing doctrine in the cacophony of religious traditions. Even if the “people” are not experts in the doctrine, there is an implicit and practical need to become conversant with the main points. Why? So that you can speak of it to others, be encouraged in your faith, and recognize error when presented by others.
The example of the Bereans comes to mind from Acts 17:10-12 where we are told that the church (1) heard the teaching, (2) and examined the Scriptures daily, (3) to see if the teachings were true.
What Tools are ESSENTIAL for our Preparation?
This is the subject of another posting, but in general, for the person setting out on the journey for the first time here are six tools:
- Regular attendance in congregational and small-group teaching. (You cannot grow apart from exposure to truth). I cannot overemphasize this!
- A good Study Bible. These resources typically have introductory material that helps set the stage for understanding.
- Supplemental reading from a good Introduction to Doctrine resource like Grudem’s Introduction to Systematic Theology.
- A survey resource on the Old and New Testament. (more on that later).
- Some select charts and maps (a timeline of biblical history and a map of the biblical lands is very helpful for understanding.
- A general word study resource. These are readily available online. A good resource is the Word Study Bible.
Again, more on these in another post but a couple of thoughts for reflection:
- Are you a student of God’s Word and biblical doctrine?
- When is the last time you chased down a biblical truth for yourself, apart from a Sunday School lesson you were teaching?
- Do you know more about your favorite sport or sports team, political party, or “Brad and Jen’s life” than you do God’s instructions?
If you have thoughts on the subject or particular tools you use and recommend, share them in the comments and thanks for dropping by.
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