Simple Kingdom Theology

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with the God, and the Word was the God. All things were made through him, and without him, nothing, not one thing, was made" (John 1:1–3). "And the Word became flesh and lived with us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth" (John 1:14). There is painting at a local museum near my house that I have, from time to time, found much humor upon gazing. It is one of many Madonna and Child paintings that is part of a more extensive collection of Christian art.  The reason I find the portrait so humorous is that the face of the infant Jesus appears already elderly and has an expression of ageless boredom. I laugh due to the thought process I have of what the young Lord must be thinking at that moment, as he looks already done with everything around him. "God and creator of the cosmos," I think, "put into the fragile body of a newborn!" It remi...

The daily life of 21 st century Christians is sorted into systems which provide rhythm, comfort, and stability. As a human living in this time, I am well aware of the categories my life divides into. For example, Sunday is the day for church and rest, while Monday through Saturday is a time dedicated to working and studying. In fact, if I zoom out a little bit, I can see that most of my life fits into a neat box of comfortable divisions and boundary lines. American culture as a whole is identified by what categories we do or do not fit into. These boundary lines give us a sense of identity, they protect who we are by outlining what we do or do not do. In our culture, our worldview teaches us to organize our activities under their respective classification. However, there comes the point where this method of organizing begins to create divisions. We identify who we are by who we are not. When we think of doing “spiritual” things, we probably think of prayer, fasting, worship, and ...

At the beginning of this year, my wife and I started getting involved with our current church community in downtown Tulsa. One of the ways in which I choose to participate is by attending a men's confession group on Thursday mornings. Sadly, before joining this group, my only encounters with confession were from unrealistic over dramatizations from movies I had watched before. I had no idea at the time, but this group would eventually shape the way I saw community and discipleship, as well as become a loyal tool in my prayer life. Forgiveness in Confession As someone raised Protestant and immersed in a charismatic background, I found myself asking, "but are we not saved by grace? Why then must we need to confess our sins if we have already been forgiven of them?"  We have indeed been cleansed of our sins by the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. However, we should not abuse the grace of our Lord and continue to live in our sin (Romans 6:1...

Shortly after I began my Junior year at Oral Roberts University, I was given the task of doing a word study on the Greek word  koinónia . (Fun Fact: This year at the National Spelling Bee Championship, the winning word was "koinonia.") This Greek word is usually translated as "fellowship," "participation," or "communion." A Biblical Example The first time in which the word  koinónia  is used in the New Testament is in the Acts of the Apostles. Directly after Peter preaches to the multitudes on the Day of Pentecost, a total of three thousand believers are added to the Church (Acts 2:41). Luke, who is the author of Acts, then gives a brief look into what this Church looks like and how it functions. He declares that the believers "devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship [ koinónia ], to the breaking of bread and the prayers" (Acts 2:42). The devotion of the believers to one another in the earliest stages of the...

Why does theology matter? It seems fitting that the first post of an everyday theology blog be about this subject. This will serve to evaluate the importance of this blog’s message and mission from here moving forward. What is Theology? Before discussing the importance of theology, it would be good to first define the term. Theology comes from the Greek words theós , meaning God, and lógos , meaning word. Quite simply, theology is the study of a divine being. It is ask ing questions such as is there a god? who is this god? what is he like? how do we know him? and what is man’s place in relation to this god? I use the lower-case form of “god” as a generic because people of all religious backgrounds ask these questions. For the Christian, these questions are pointed towards the Judeo-Christian God, his Son Jesus of Nazareth, and the Holy Spirit – together forming what the Church has called the Holy Trinity, one God in three persons. God’s people have been asking these question...