Big Boy Theology: Motive and Means

    Grace and peace to you all. This post will serve as sort of an introduction/housekeeping piece for our new Bible Study; we will not be doing any "big boy" theology just yet. 

Before I begin our housekeeping I wanted to briefly state that I truly am grateful and excited for this new Bible study. Not only is it an excellent idea (thanks for that Dennis and Jordan) but also a wonderful application of Deuteronomy 11:19 which reads, "You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise." The message here is that we, as Christians, should talk to one another about God, and His commandments, as often as we can in any and all areas of our lives. My heart is encouraged at the thought of getting to talk to you all more constantly and deeply in all different kinds of matters pertaining to life and godliness. 

Now, I will briefly recap what we discussed last night in regards to the motive and means of this particular Bible Study. In essence, this study was started with the hopes of discussing more Systematic, or "big boy", theology. This is indeed very well and good (not to mention exciting and encouraging) however we cannot merely stop at the head (or brain) of true religion but we must also reach the heart (or motive) of it. IE our systematic theology must lead us to increase in godly living, holiness, worship, love, and joy, etc. We must learn to apply our systematics to our daily lives. 

In support of this, I want us to cast our attention to the proof text that I used last night in our first meeting; that being 1 Thessalonians 3:6-13 which reads, 

    "6 But now that Timothy has come to us from you, and has brought us the good news of your faith and love and reported that you always remember us kindly and long to see us, as we long to see you— 7 for this reason, brothers, in all our distress and affliction we have been comforted about you through your faith. 8 For now we live, if you are standing fast in the Lord. 9 For what thanksgiving can we return to God for you, for all the joy that we feel for your sake before our God, 10 as we pray most earnestly night and day that we may see you face to face and supply what is lacking in your faith? 11 Now may our God and Father Himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way to you, 12 and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you, 13 so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints."

For the purposes of this post, I want to draw your attention to a few key points in this passage. Those key points being:

• Timothy's church lovingly remembered Paul and desired to see them (3:6).
• Paul's inexpressible (or inexhaustible) joy for his brothers' presence in his life (3:9).
• Paul unceasing prayer for his brothers (3:10, 5:17) and his desire to serve them more (3:10).
• Paul's desire for Timothy's church to grow in love for the church [local] and the Church [universal] (3:12).
• Paul's desire that their love lead to an increase in godly living in putting off sin ("blameless") and putting on of Christ ("holiness") so that they all would be ready for the return of Christ, with His Church, to Earth at the final days. (3:11-12).

All of this being a picture of what I want us to be. Even when we can't see each other due, to life circumstances and conflicting schedules, I still want us all to constantly love and pray for each other so that we would all increase in love for one another so that we are all ready for the return of Christ at the end of days. 

Now that we have covered the motive for our study let us now consider the means, or format, of our study. 

In essence, our study is really quite simple. I will write on one of our pre-selected topics and then post the link to the blog in the group chat; from there you all will read that particular blog and answer the given questions in the chat to start the discussion along with any further questions you may have on the topic of that blog. Because of all our very different lives and schedules, we will dedicate two weeks of discussion in the chat per topic. That way we all have ample time to read, study and consider the topic at hand. Of course, if we want more time to consider the topic at hand we can increase, or decrease, the discussion time as needed. But to start I feel two weeks will be best so that we can all enjoy and profit from our discussions. The two weeks will also allow me enough time to thoroughly read, study, and write on everyone's area of interest. 

As it stands now, our topic schedule will look something like this (Note: The titles listed here are subject to change):

1. How to do a Devotional/How to read our bibles (topic selected by me)
2. The purpose of the local church (topic selected by Jordan)
3. What it means to be a Christian [tentivally titled: Grasping the grace of God in our daily lives] (Topic selected by Chris)
4. How to express your faith and how to handle the [negative] consequences thereof (topic selected by Jordan)
5. Eschatology [tentivally titled: The hardest topic I've ever had to research why did I want to study this?] (Topic selected chiefly by Dennis, and me)

And, as promised, here is a list of various resources for you all to check out when you get the chance:

• Dr. James Whites' Church History Lectures
• Charles Spurgeon Sermons
  
• Renewing Your Mind with Dr. R.C. Sproul
• 5 Minutes in Church History with Stephen Nicholas
  
• Luther: In Real Time
  
• Simply Put
  

Discussion Questions:

1. I've never exclusively written a lesson and not verbally delivered it later. Is everything presented here clear/make sense?
2. One thing I miss about teaching in person is hearing everyone's highs and lows of the week. How would y'all feel about including our highs (something good that is worth sharing) and lows (something bad/not so good that is worth sharing) in the Chat when we answer our discussion questions? 
3. Based on your past experiences, what has made for a really great Bible study? What has made for a really bad Bible study?
4. As mentioned above, Paul expressed his love for Timothy's church in prayer for them. Is there any way we could pray for you to express our love for one another?

then resources. 

Discussion question: In your own expericen what makes for a good/great BS, how can we pray for each other,