For those of you who don't know, I'm about to start a year long course at the Emmaus Scripture School. In fact I start in less than 7 hours. This semester (I can't believe I'm calling periods of time 'semesters' again) I'll be taking 4 classes - The Life of Christ, Romans, Biblical Interpretation and Old Testament Survey. I have to say that I'm honestly excited about all 4 of the classes. There isn't one that I wish I could skip - unlike my previous stint at learning, when classes had names such as 'Metric Spaces', 'Topology' and 'Differential Equations'. Oh the pain of it all.
The benefits of doing this course are fairly obvious, but there are also a few things I need to look out for. It's very easy to distort a good thing, so I must be wary of that as I progress through the year. I guess one of the key verses when undertaking a course on the Word of God is found in James, where he writes,
"But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves."
This, above all else, is something I need to constantly search myself for. I don't want this year to become an exercise in hearing and learning, but with no change to character or lifestyle. If all I attain from this course is better head knowledge of the Bible, then I will not have achieved the courses goal. We are called not only to renew our minds, but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds.
I agree with Charles Price when he says that all true spiritual experiences start in the mind. I mean "to repent" literally means "to change mind". But if what happens in your mind doesn't sink into the heart and work itself out in your day to day actions, then it will constitute a 'dead faith'.
R.C. Sproul writes,
"We can affirm a sound theology and live an unsound life. Sound theology is not enough to live a godly life. But it is still a requisite for godly living. How can we do the truth without first understanding what the truth is?"
This is almost a paraphrase of what James writes. Hearing the Word and being able to get 100% in a theology exam is not enough. Yes we are to hear the Word and let it penetrate our minds. Yes what we think matters, because as R.C. had written earlier, "when our thoughts are corrupted, our lives follow suit." But as I said before, if what we think doesn't change what we do, then our thoughts are worthless before God. A renewed mind and an understanding of the truth are necessary stipulations for spiritual growth, but as Sproul writes, these things are not sufficient in and of themselves. He says that,
"Without the gracious operation of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, the mere presence of doctrine, even sound doctrine, will leave us cold."
This coldness is what I think I most need to be guarded from, and if anyone is reading this then some prayers in this area would be greatly appreciated.
Pride is another pitfall. Doing a course like this could so easily leave me thinking I'm better than other Christians, simply because I've taken a year out of my life to study the Word of God. It's up to me to continually humble myself before God and others, realising that it's not me, but the Spirit of God who brings His Word to life and writes it on my heart. It will be all too easy for me to detach the Word of God from the Spirit of God and allow myself to be puffed up by 'my own' knowledge, but this must not happen. I'm just thankful that I'm surrounded by a solid family and solid friends who have looked out for me spiritually up to this point, and who I know will continue to do so throughout the year.
There's more I could say, but I'll leave it at that for now. I'll be sure to keep you all updated on how things are going, and to share some of the wonderful truths that I'm bound to learn. However, given that I'll now actually be doing something with my life, my blog posting might get a little more infrequent. Then again, it might not. We shall have to see.
I'll end with the quote that hangs on the door of the room in which I'll be taking the classes. It reads,
"I am still learning."
The benefits of doing this course are fairly obvious, but there are also a few things I need to look out for. It's very easy to distort a good thing, so I must be wary of that as I progress through the year. I guess one of the key verses when undertaking a course on the Word of God is found in James, where he writes,
"But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves."
This, above all else, is something I need to constantly search myself for. I don't want this year to become an exercise in hearing and learning, but with no change to character or lifestyle. If all I attain from this course is better head knowledge of the Bible, then I will not have achieved the courses goal. We are called not only to renew our minds, but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds.
I agree with Charles Price when he says that all true spiritual experiences start in the mind. I mean "to repent" literally means "to change mind". But if what happens in your mind doesn't sink into the heart and work itself out in your day to day actions, then it will constitute a 'dead faith'.
R.C. Sproul writes,
"We can affirm a sound theology and live an unsound life. Sound theology is not enough to live a godly life. But it is still a requisite for godly living. How can we do the truth without first understanding what the truth is?"
This is almost a paraphrase of what James writes. Hearing the Word and being able to get 100% in a theology exam is not enough. Yes we are to hear the Word and let it penetrate our minds. Yes what we think matters, because as R.C. had written earlier, "when our thoughts are corrupted, our lives follow suit." But as I said before, if what we think doesn't change what we do, then our thoughts are worthless before God. A renewed mind and an understanding of the truth are necessary stipulations for spiritual growth, but as Sproul writes, these things are not sufficient in and of themselves. He says that,
"Without the gracious operation of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, the mere presence of doctrine, even sound doctrine, will leave us cold."
This coldness is what I think I most need to be guarded from, and if anyone is reading this then some prayers in this area would be greatly appreciated.
Pride is another pitfall. Doing a course like this could so easily leave me thinking I'm better than other Christians, simply because I've taken a year out of my life to study the Word of God. It's up to me to continually humble myself before God and others, realising that it's not me, but the Spirit of God who brings His Word to life and writes it on my heart. It will be all too easy for me to detach the Word of God from the Spirit of God and allow myself to be puffed up by 'my own' knowledge, but this must not happen. I'm just thankful that I'm surrounded by a solid family and solid friends who have looked out for me spiritually up to this point, and who I know will continue to do so throughout the year.
There's more I could say, but I'll leave it at that for now. I'll be sure to keep you all updated on how things are going, and to share some of the wonderful truths that I'm bound to learn. However, given that I'll now actually be doing something with my life, my blog posting might get a little more infrequent. Then again, it might not. We shall have to see.
I'll end with the quote that hangs on the door of the room in which I'll be taking the classes. It reads,
"I am still learning."
Snap....i have just started two courses, biblical interpretation and an old testament study in the IBI. I guess we are both real Holy now...wasn't that what you were saying in your blog....
ReplyDeleteLook forward to sharing notes and having some in depth discussion on the topics the next time i'm down!!
I'm glad you saw through the facade of humility in this post. The bottom line is that doing this course makes me holier than most people, and thats all that matters.
ReplyDeleteThats cool you're doing the same classes as I am. Talk about your iron being able to sharpen iron, eh? Eh!?