15-5

My Mind: What Do I Believe

We say we love God, but do we really know Him? God doesn't just call us to love the idea of Him, but to 'love the truth' about Him (2 Thessalonians 2:10). We can sing, play music, dance, kneel, and raise our hands, but "there is no authentic worship of God without a right knowledge of God." With that thought we come to a couple of words that people dread: Theology and Doctrine. "Sadly, doctrine and theology rank fairly low on the popularity scale these days. But biblical worship is impossible without them." Theology means 'the study of God,' so every Christian is a theologian. Some are good theologians, and some are not so good. Whether or not we are good theologians depends on whether our view of God lines up with what the Bible teaches or not. Doctrine means 'what is taught.' "The study of doctrine isn't opposed to studying the Bible; it is studying the Bible. It's how we find out what God is like, what He wants us to believe, how He wants us to worship Him. So that means we need to be reading. We need to be studying. Because we'll be learning about God for the rest of our lives."

"I've met guys who don't read theology books because they don't want their understanding of the Bible to be influenced by anyone else. What they're saying is: 'God couldn't possibly use another person to help me understand His Word more clearly.' That's ridiculous. I need all the help I can get. So do you." Charles Spurgeon said, "He who will not use the thoughts of other men's brains proves he has no brains of his own."

What was the last non-fiction, theological book that you read? Our reading needs to go beyond best-sellers, novels, and music magazines. We need to take advantage of other people's ideas, even though sometimes we might disagree with them! That is where our study of the Scripture will be our guide.

There are a few misconceptions about doctrine and theology that Kauflin points out:

1. Studying this Stuff Shouldn't Be So Hard: "Studying doctrine and theology is hard. Becoming a good theologian is harder than learning a new riff, and initially not as much fun." But "there are no shortcuts. Only a grace-movitvated, steadfast, lifelong pursuit of the god who created and redeemed us for His glory."

2. We Know God Better Through Music Than Through Words: I understand that many of us musicians prefer playing music than reading a book or listening to a sermon. Music stirs the emotions and helps us retain the words that we sing. The problem is that if we are bad theologians, we will not know if what we are singing about is grounded in Scripture or if it is just a clever tag line someone made up! For that we need our Bibles. We need good theology. "Good theology helps us keep music in its proper place. We learn that music isn't an end in itself but rather a means of expressing the worship already present in our hearts through the new life we've received in Jesus Christ."

3. Theology and Doctrine Cause Problems: Some people say they aren't interested in theology because it only causes divisions. But "when we're dodgy about our theology, we're really saying we want our own Jesus. But our worship isn't based on people's personal opinions, ideas, or best guesses about Jesus. Nor should we base our understanding of Him on anyone's individual experiences. He has a name, a particular history, and a specifically revealed body of teaching. god has theology; will we sharpen our own biblical understanding to find out what it is? Will we worship the Son of God, the Redeemer, the second person of the Trinity, the Alpha and Omega, our High Priest, sanctifier, and the intercessor and seek to understand what all this means?" Does doctrine divide the church? "Yes and no. Sure, Christians often disagree over doctrinal issues of secondary importance. Given the degree of sin that still remains with us and the enemy's desire to separate us, that's no surprise. But divisions have also protected the church. The New Testament warned us that false prophets and teachers would infiltrate the church's ranks. Many of the most precious truths we live by were more clearly defined as a response to heresy. The result has been clarity and agreement on foundational truths from God's Word that the church has cherished for centuries. Truth has often been tested and confirmed in the fires of controversy and conflict." The truth is that "theology and doctrine make life simpler. They protect us from reading verses out of context, restricting our diet to our favorite passages, and making decisions based on impulse rather than truth. They put meat on concepts we tend to use mindlessly like glory, gospel, salvation, and love. They help us understand what we're actually doing every Sunday. What complicated life is not doctrine but ignorance of doctrine."

As we learn more, we must be careful that we do not become too proud of our knowledge and start looking down on others who do not study like we do. "The more we study God, the more we should realize that what we know will always be dwarfed by what we don't know. If we are arrogant because we use big theological terms or have memorized more verses than our friends, we've lost sight of the God we claim to know. As Paul remind us, that kind of knowledge 'puffs up, but love builds up.' Good theologians are increasingly humbled and amazed by the God they study. Instead of causing problems, doctrine and theology rightly applied will solve problems. They inform our minds to win our hearts, so we can love God more accurately and passionately."

"Mind and heart belong together. Strong, passionate desires for God flow from and encourage the faithful, thoughtful study of God-His nature, character, and works. We're deceived when we think we can have one without the other. God intends us to have both. If our doctrine is accurate but our heart are cold toward God Himself, our corporate worship will be true but lifeless. Or if we express fervent love for God but present vague, inaccurate, or incomplete ideas of Him to those we're leading, our worship will be emotional but misleading-and possibly idolatrous. Neither option brings God glory. My prayer for myself and every worship leader is that we'll become as familiar with the Word of Truth as we are with our instruments. Hopefully even more so. If we do, there's a strong possibility people are going to walk away from our meetings more amazed by our God than by our music. And that will be a very good thing."

Enjoy the Journey