Category: Spiritual Theology

The theology of spiritual growth & sanctification

Purging Deeper Sinfulness

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After turning away from the more obvious sins in our lives, we may begin to think that we are fairly godly. But now we face the real battle against sin. Sinful thoughts and attitudes remained buried deep within our hearts and control us in ways we don’t realize. If we saw all our sin at once, it would overwhelm us and drive some of us mad…which is a warning against over-examining ourselves. Yet we still desire to grow in godliness. We want to share His nature and reflect it to others, and to do that we must continually give Him permission to uncover deeper areas of our lives. Better yet, we should eagerly ask Him to do so. Then our hearts will have an attitude of continual openness to His promptings. We will be more willing to open the door when we begin to hear the faint knocking of His Continue Reading →

Forces That Ruin Fellowship – Lesson From Second Century

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Why did koinonia and dynamic church life fade in Christianity? Many of us sense that church should be more relational and that everyone should be able to develop and exercise their spiritual gifts. Without this church seems more like a spectator experience (or a “busy-ness” experience) than a participation experience. By the end of the 2nd century several forces began to combine to reduce koinonia, or fellowship, in the Christian church. Fellowship became less important in the Church’s spiritual theology (the theology of spiritual growth.) Understanding these forces will help us to avoid the same problems today and recommit ourselves to true koinonia. As you read this list you might ask yourself if there are similar forces today that interfere with koinonia. Here is a list of some of the forces: 1. The Church was focusing on teaching proper doctrine so believers would not be led astray. Christianity was experiencing Continue Reading →

Is Our Highest Calling Worship or Evangelism?

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Subtitle: The Great Commission, the “Great Catechism”, and the Great Commandment Sometimes we hear people debate a Christian’s greatest calling. A couple of professors from Liberty University (one teaches at the seminary) posted an article that reflects this debate very well. They ask: “So is it worship or evangelism? Which one is our greatest calling that deserves our most fervent effort?” They go on to say that the two are so closely connected that both deserve our top attention. (The article is about two pages and can be found at http://www.lifeway.com/Article/great-commission-worship-witness-evangelism.) In my experience worship and evangelism have been the activities most mentioned in American Christianity as the most important things we do. But is this what we find in the New Testament? Are worship and/or evangelism taught as the most important things that all Christians are called to? Strangely, the authors of the article don’t actually cite any verses Continue Reading →

Part 2 -When We Explain/Consider Our Faith What Is Our Central Theme? Spiritual Marriage

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If loving God is the greatest commandment why do we find the theme of “union” of love in Church history? Isn’t it going beyond scripture to add “union”? The great spiritual writers believed it was biblical because scripture is very clear that our love for God is not unrequited; He returns the love (which He initiated in the first place). Our relationship of love produces a union, since each one is loving the other and receiving love from the other. Mutual love produces union, as Colossians 3:14 states: “Beyond all these things put on love, which is [a]the perfect [grk. teleiotes] bond of unity.” (NASB) Footnote [a]: lit. ”the uniting bond of perfection”. We experience this union in part now but it is “not yet” fulfilled. One day our love will be consummated; but that will only be possible when we are completely transformed so that we can be fit Continue Reading →

Part 1-When We Explain Our Faith What Is Our Central Theme? The Union of Love.

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When we think or talk about our faith do we focus on our union of love with God or do we focus on lesser matters? Do our hearers understand that God is the author of ultimate relationship or do they feel like we are trying to prove the faith? How do we speak to ourselves about what our faith is about? I believe our union of love with God in Christ is the grand unifying theme of biblical theology and spirituality. Every element of the gospel is best understood in the context of His desire to be in a strong and loving relationship with us and His desire for us to live in community with fellow believers. He wants to be our Father, our teacher, our lover, and our friend. Jesus summed this up in Matthew 22:37 by saying that the greatest commandment was to love God with all your Continue Reading →