Building my theology. Body

I am an introvert, which explains a lot. I am an only child – which explains a whole lot more! I enjoy cycling alone, running alone, driving alone, eating alone. Pretty sad, huh? Actually, it’s not because I enjoy the company of myself. Rather, I enjoy God’s company, and I enjoy thinking.

But. In the 8th grade I joined a traveling ministry team of eight other junior highers, and since that time I have learned how to “do life and ministry” with other people. Christianity as a team sport. I make my daily pilgrimage with my wife and kids, with my church staff, and with my journey group of Christ-followers.

Why did Jesus have 12 apostles? Moses had Joshua, Elijah had Elisha, Paul had Timothy. Why 12? That’s the number of tribes? Maybe. I think Jesus was modeling Christianity as a caravan. And if you actually think about it, Moses also had the elders, Elijah also connected with a school of prophets, Paul had Luke, Titus, Barnabas, Acquilla, Priscilla, and so on.

Why 12? Why a group? Because 1 Corinthians 12 says we are each a part of the body, and we each have different gifts – we need each other and the puzzle isn’t complete without our part. Why four gospel biographies of Jesus? Because it gives high definition view, stereo sound, more evidence and different perspectives on the life of Jesus. In other words, if Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John don’t come together for their weekly small group meeting, they are going to miss out on understanding part of the life of Jesus.

19 books. Matthew, Mark, John, Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 & 2 Thessalonians, Hebrews, James, 1 & 2 Peter, 1 John, Jude, Revelation. Do you see what these have in common? Which ones are missing? These books were written to “bodies” of people, to local churches. The other books obviously were shared eventually with the churches. Point is, the Bible itself is to be read and studied together in the Body.

The first potential church split? Maybe Acts 6, but certainly Acts 15. Legalistic teachers confuse Antioch Church with Jewish teaching, so they send a delegation to Jerusalem Church and convene a conference. They LISTEN to everyone’s case, understanding of God, experience, etc. Then, they understand God’s direction on the matter. The Bereans? They studied together [acts 17].

What happens when we don’t do theology together? 3 John, a postcard written from John to Gauis, gives us a glimpse. He had tried to write to Gauis’ church, but a member – or elder - named Diotrophes was evidently blocking his message, and didn’t allow other traveling Christians and teachers to visit. When you’re in a church where one person controls the message, and holds the remote control on the truth, and won’t allow for other teachings from the Spirit, there’s one piece of advice – don’t drink the cool-aid!

We understand that owning a personal copy of scripture and studying it alone is a recent (300 years) phenomenon, and more unique to the last 100 years. As joyous as it is to have “quiet time” and personal study, it is not the full design of God for handling his word. I cannot be a spiritual introvert.

I must do theology with the Body. Studying truth is not a dictatorship – one person holding the reins. It’s not a democracy – everyone voting on the message. It is a divine dialogue between the Father who spoke it, the Son who acted it out, the Spirit who teaches it, and the children who must understand and live it out.

God has no “only children”. There are no introverts in his kingdom. We must do theology together.

Who's In? God knows.

God has a redemptive story. We must understand it for ourselves, and so that we can accurately and effectively share it with those who need it. According to scripture it includes the truths:

1. Humans need salvation.
2. God wants to save.
3. God can save however he wants, whenever he wants, whoever he wants.
4. God has chosen to save through the sacrifice of his son Jesus Christ.
5. God has directed people forward in faith and backwards in faith towards this sacrifice.
6. God has used different faith pictures and terms to explain this salvation at different episodes in history:

• Adam and Eve through Noah – faith in God shown through sacrificing animals
• Abraham through Joseph – faith in God shown through sacrificing animals and nation building
• Moses through prophets – faith in God shown through sacrificing animals and law keeping
• Jesus through today – faith in the sacrifice of Jesus

7. Jesus’ ministry in the Gospels represent a unique episode, where He could offer his salvation to people however he chose.
8. From Acts forward, salvation is explained to people, Jews and Gentiles, in terms of repentance, belief and faith in Jesus Christ.

So what message do I give for salvation? I understand that God can save however he wishes. But, as Robert Coleman states in Master’s Plan of Evangelism, whether or not God wants to save in different ways is not my concern: I have only been given one message for salvation – Jesus Christ.

Details:

Here are the ways in which salvation was offered to people in the book of Acts. On a side note: the “kingdom of God”, which figures prominently in Jesus preaching, is barely discussed in Acts, only mentioned 6 times by the apostles when teaching.

2:38 – Peter, to Jews: “repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus”

3:19 – Peter, to Jews: “repent and turn to God”

4:12 – Peter, to Jews: “salvation is found in no on else, for there is no other name given under heaven by which we must be saved”

5:42 – apostles, to Jews: proclaimed the good news that Jesus is the Messiah

8:12 – Philip, to Samaritans: proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ

8:25 – Peter, to Samaritans: preached the gospel

8:35 – Philip, to Ethiopian: the good news about Jesus Christ

9:5 – Jesus, to Paul: “who are you Lord?” “I am Jesus”

9:20 – Paul, to Jews: Jesus is the Son of God

10:36-43 – Peter, to Cornelius: death, burial, resurrection of Jesus, “everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name”

13:26-38 – Paul to Jews and Gentiles: “through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you”

14:15 – Paul to Gentiles: “we are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God”

16:31 – Paul to Gentile: “believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved – you and your household”

17:3 – Paul to Jews: “the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead. ‘This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah’”

17:30 – Paul to Gentiles: “God commands all people everywhere to repent”

20:21 – Paul to elders: “I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus”

24:24 – Paul to Felix: faith in Christ Jesus

26:20 – Paul to Agrippa: “I preached that they should repent and turn to God”

28:23 – Paul to Romans: kingdom of God and Jesus