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CHAPTER 1

Why Should I Care?

According to The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, theology is defined in three ways:

1) The study of the nature of God and religious truth.

2) A system or school of opinions concerning God and religious, questions: Protestant theology; Jewish theology.

3) A course of specialized religious study usually at a college or seminary.

The definition begins by stating that theology is "the study of the nature of God." However, many Christians perceive theology as just part 3 of the definition — "a course of specialized religious study usually at a college or seminary." Is that what the study of God should be? Should the study of God and deep religious truth be restricted to the academic elite at colleges and seminaries? Why do so many Christians believe that theology is a special topic for a select few in the body of Christ and not meant for the average man or woman sitting in a church pew?

No one can say for sure why so many Christians (like my friend whom I mentioned in the introduction) are content for the pastors and elders of a church to be the keepers of the deep knowledge of God, so long as they pass along a practical tidbit each week to help the average church attendee through his daily life. Perhaps the key is that Christians today often believe that the deep things of God — doctrine and theology — are not practical, and that the practical things of the Bible are not deep. But this type of thinking flies in the face of simple biblical principles, two of which we'll look at now.

Knowing God Is Practical

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight" (Prov. 9:10). Most church attendees admit that they need wisdom. Each Sunday many come to church hoping for the preacher to give some principle that they can apply to their lives in the coming week that will make them a wiser parent, spouse, employer, or employee. Proverbs 9:10 holds the answer. The Bible repeatedly says that wisdom in practical daily living is preceded by "the fear of the Lord" and "the knowledge of the Holy One."

"And he said to man,
It's obvious from these Scriptures that wise, practical daily living is preceded by a knowledge of God that leads to fear, awe, and reverence of him, his power, and his purposes. In other words, theology is the root, foundation, and framework for practical living that reflects wisdom and understanding.

Christ Is Our High Priest

"For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" (1 Timothy 2:5).

I'll sum up the second biblical principle on the importance of theology with the phrase "the priesthood of Christ." Hang with me while I explain. In the Old Testament, God set up a system for entering into his presence in the temple. His dwelling place was called the Most Holy Place and was separated from the rest of the temple by a heavy veil or curtain. Once a year, only the high priest could pass through the veil and enter the Most Holy Place. This high priest was the mediator or middleman between the average Jew, who remained in the outer part of the temple, and God, who dwelled in the Most Holy Place. Before entering the Most Holy Place, however, the high priest was required to offer a blood sacrifice "for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people" (Hebrews 9:7).

In the new covenant (New Testament), Jesus Christ has become our great High Priest. Hebrews 8–10 tells us that Christ's death on the cross satisfied the penalty for the sins of mankind. His death fulfilled the bloody sacrificial system, making Christ the final perfect sacrifice for the sins of mankind. Rather than doing away with the Old Testament system, he fulfilled it (see Matthew 5:17–20). Now, Christ is the mediator — the middleman between all Christian believers and God. Hebrews 10:19–22 reveals the implications of this truth:

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

Through Christ, each of us has access to God's throne room and can boldly draw near to God in full assurance of faith. Upon salvation, we have Christ as our mediator and intercessor before God. He is our High Priest. We are not dependent upon another priest, pastor, the Virgin Mary, or any other spiritual authority figure to intercede on our behalf before God. If you know Christ as your Savior, you have the same Holy Spirit residing in your heart, the same Word of God at your fingertips, and the same access to the presence of God as the wisest and most godly spiritual leader you know of today. It's a copout to leave the deep things of God to the pastors and seminary graduates when, in Christ, we have the same access to God that they do. That was never what God intended.

Seek God

Don't be content with the Christian desk calendar approach to Christianity. Don't be satisfied with a daily practical saying or some three-step process for being a good wife or a better friend. God has both called you and equipped you to know him. We have no excuse to remain ignorant of his character. Seek God's face. Understand his character. Pursue knowledge of him, for apart from the "fear of the Lord" and "the knowledge of the Holy One" (Proverbs 9:10) we have no hope for being a wise mother, sister, wife, or friend.

So, what is theology and why should I care? Theology is basically just the study of God — who he is and what he does. Proverbs says that such knowledge of God is the foundation for wise living. So we study theology that we may know God and be enlightened to the benefits of our relationship with him. This is a supernatural journey with God. As Paul prays for believers in Ephesians 1:17–20, we are dependent on God our Father to give us "a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him," that we may "know what is the hope to which he has called [us], what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe." I hope you will adopt this as your prayer as well, for you cannot unlock this on your own.

Paul goes on to explain that the same power that raised Christ from the dead is the power at work in us who believe. So our journey now, in prayer to God and study of his Word, begins with learning of his character and work and then examining our lives to see if our responses daily reflect belief in our glorious inheritance in him. This leads us into the next chapter.

What Is Faith?

We walk by faith, not by sight.

— 2 Corinthians 5:7

I once heard an interesting story concerning Vince Lombardi's strategy for coaching his football team. Each season at spring training, the legendary coach would begin the first team meeting by reviewing the fundamental concepts of the game — starting simply with the football. Perhaps he found that his team tended to get so caught up in the details of their positions and plays that they lost sight of the fundamental procedures and goals of the game. In a similar fashion, many Christians focus so much on the minute details of their problems that they lose sight of the fundamental concepts that govern life for a believer in Christ. This chapter focuses on one of those fundamental concepts — possibly the most important concept in all of Scripture — faith.

Lessons of Faith

God has taught my family hard lessons on faith over the last few years. The most intense lessons came when the Lord moved us from South Carolina to Seattle, Washington, which I recounted in the preface of this book. At the time of our move, my husband had been unemployed for nearly a year. After the end of that year of unemployment and the upheaval of moving across the country to a new home, my young husband was diagnosed with a heart condition that called for an immediate open-heart surgery. The initial surgery was fairly successful, but his heart stopped later that afternoon. He was revived, and after a second surgery that day, a week in the intensive care unit, and another week battling pneumonia at the local medical center, he finally made a full recovery. The Lord used those circumstances to work on both of us, a young married couple, in a very intense way, testing and molding our faith in him beyond anything we had experienced before.

That series of trials provided a number of opportunities for me to observe my husband, our families, our friends, and myself as we responded to both positive and negative circumstances affecting our lives. I began to notice a disconcerting disconnect between what some Christians said they believed and how they acted, and I began to contemplate these things. What enables one man to face open-heart surgery with calm assurance, while another man is devastated because his car's transmission needs to be overhauled? What force drives one woman to near hysterics as she contemplates flying in a plane, while another woman seeks to encourage her family even as she shares the news that she has breast cancer? As believers, we expect those who don't know Christ to react to negative circumstances with fear and worry. But does it fit with our belief system when such reactions characterize those who claim to believe in Christ and trust in his Word?

Let's study what the Bible says about faith, starting with the "faith chapter" in Hebrews 11. After we've defined faith from Scripture, we'll survey Scripture's examples of people who lacked faith and follow up with passages that give us evidences of genuine faith. What we'll see in Scripture is that true faith definitely plays out practically in a believer's life. The goal in this part of our study is to remove any disconnect between what we say we believe and what our actions show our true beliefs to be. Faith in Christ is a very practical piece of theology. To say we have faith in him while living a life characterized by anxiety and worry is to deny him by our actions, if not our words.

Hebrews 11 and Faith

What exactly is faith? We are told in Hebrews 11:6 that "without faith it is impossible to please God" (niv). If there is no way to please God apart from faith, then we must understand what faith is and what faith is not. Rather than defining the term myself, I'm going to rely on the Bible's own definition of the term:

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead. By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death; he could not be found, because God had taken him away. For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. (Hebrews 11:1–6 niv)

According to verse one, faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. And it is for this surety that the ancients, the Old Testament characters mentioned in this passage, are commended. They were sure. They were certain. They were confident. But sure about what? Certain of what?

The answer is in verse 6. Anyone who comes to God must believe that "he exists" and that "he rewards those who earnestly seek him." "He exists" alludes to a special name God used to reveal himself, "I am." God first refers to himself as "I am" in Exodus 3: "God said to Moses, 'I am who I am'; and He said, 'Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, "I am has sent me to you"'" (Exodus 3:14 NASB).

The Hebrew word translated "Lord" in the Old Testament is "Yhwh," meaning "the existing one." It is based on the same word, Hâyâh, that is translated "I am" in Exodus 3:14. Although I grew up in the church, I was well into adulthood before I really began contemplating the meaning of God's name, "I am."

"I am." "I exist." "I am real."

It's not crazy for us to doubt much of what we experience in life. A little skepticism can be quite healthy, but we must have no doubt whatsoever about God and his existence. He is! The issue here is not what he is. It is enough simply that he exists.

God's existence alone makes the rest of life's inconveniences and struggles fade in comparison. I have often had to focus on this concept when facing difficult situations. I remember a particular time when I was driving home after a frustrating day at my new teaching assignment. I wondered how I ended up in that place and what I should do about it. I was stressed, discouraged, and anxious. All at once, I remembered him. My anxiety faded as I meditated on the fact that he is. He is real. He is trustworthy. He is in control. He is, he is, he is. Your job may not be _______ (fill in the blank), but your God exists and he is real.

Many Christians in today's churches seem much more convinced of the reality of their problems than the reality of their God. Our cell phone bill, the transmission in our car, or the coworker in the next cubicle consumes our thoughts. Whether we are single or married, stay-at-home moms or working women, we tend to get so tied up in the minutiae of life that we miss the biggest truth, the ultimate reality. God must be big in our minds. God needs to be at the forefront of our thought processes. He needs to be the first consideration in all of our daily circumstances, not the last resort that we consider after exhausting all other options. Believing in his existence — focusing with trust on his reality — is fundamental to a faith that pleases God.

God is, and his existence alone puts the rest of life in perspective. The extension of this concept is to ask, "God is — what?" Colos-sians 1 and Hebrews 1 show us exactly who and what he is:

[Jesus] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities — all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. (Colossians 1:15–20)

God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son. ... And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature. (Hebrews 1:1–3 NASB)

These passages present Jesus as God who came to live among us to show us his glory firsthand. In Colossians 1, Paul teaches that Christ is the image of the invisible God, and through Christ all things hold together. According to Hebrews 1, Jesus Christ is the exact representation of God's nature. Christ is our formerly invisible God who came to live among us so that we may know exactly who he is. Furthermore, he is the one who holds all the issues of our daily lives together. By him all things consist. If you want to know God, you must know Jesus Christ. We'll explore Jesus in more depth in chapters 10 and 11.

The Rewards of Faith

According to Hebrews 11:6, the first aspect of faith is our firm conviction of God's existence. The other facet of faith is the belief that "he rewards those who seek him." That sounds easy enough, yet many Christians live their lives acting as if God is the big bully in the sky. I have watched friends hide as unobtrusively as possible lest they draw God's attention, fearful that he might catch their eye and ask of them some horrid act of sacrifice. Many of you can identify with them. You sit in church services singing the alphabet song with your fingers in your ears, desperately trying to avoid conviction to do anything that pulls you out of your comfort zone. I know one friend who was reading a book about walking deeper with Jesus. The author made a comment along the lines of "don't read any farther if you don't want to be challenged in your faith." My friend said she put the book down right then. She believed God exists. But she thinks he lives to ask hard things of the people who follow him too closely. Whatever rewards he promises for those who diligently seek him are not nearly enough to warrant her trust in him. Very few of us would admit we think of God this way, but if we examine ourselves, we notice that our actions often contradict our words.

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Excerpted from "Practical Theology for Women"
by .
Copyright © 2008 Wendy Horger Alsup.
Excerpted by permission of Good News Publishers.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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