The Gospel and The Kingdom

……but I love snow and sometimes I wish I could expereience this just once in my life.

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Recently, just a few weeks ago, I was required to read a small little book for my Systematic Theology class at my school .  It was a short book, but one I think has profound impact.  I can say this setting on this side of 6 years of theological education.  I wish I had read this book at the beginning of my academic career. 

Helmut Thielicke was a German Theologian and Pastor who had a passion, as evidenced by the writing of this book, for right theology accompanied by right practice in the life of the theologian.  There are so many students, whether they will admit it or not and present company included, that have begun their theological careers only to be stuck in the mundane tasks of their studies and have failed to draw close to the One who has called them to their task in the first place.  

While I may be only 1/3 of the way through my M.Div, I have, at this point in my theological studies, almost 170 hours of theological studies at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and its undergraduate college, Boyce College.  Also, I am currently in my fifth year of pastoral ministry.  God has blessed me with both the classroom and the pulpit and I take neither for granted.  So the exhortations below from Helmut Thielicke do not go wasted on me, and I believe I have the basis to offer these exhortations to others.  Below, you will find a smattering of quotes from His book.  

Helmut Thielicke begins with these words:

Now and then, I believe, I must see and hear my listeners not only as students but as souls entrusted to me.  And this soul of a theological student is in great danger, by no means today only, but perhaps especially today.

Why does Thielicke say such a thing?  He would go on to explain that theological students often fall prey to their own routine….meaning that their studies often "count" as their devotional time.  So what exists are a bunch of theological students studying God's revelation academically, and not for personal devotion to the Master who called them out of the kingdom of darkness and into the Kingdom of Light.   

Interestingly enough, Thielicke seems to think that most theological students will go through this period where the academic intake overcomes their own personal desire for personal, intimate worship.  Eventually, the student will come to see the importance of personal worship once again.  He refers to this period as "theological puberty."

During this period when the voice is changing we do not sing, and during this formative period in the life of a theological student he does not preach.

This is a striking comment made by Thielicke that I still do not know what to make of.  Do we actually keep young preachers, soon-to-be ministers, out of pulpits intentionally for a period?  Do we gradually introduce them to settings and surroundings so that they gain experience and mature in their demeanor, so that they learn to conduct themselves reverently with the Word of God?  Do we continually allow them our pulpits without them having proved themselves elsewhere?   This made for interesting discussion in class.  I will not post my final thoughts here, but would welcome what you have to say!

Thielicke would go on to describe how those students in theological puberty enter into dialogue with laymen with an air of superiority and a pride that is almost certain to bring their fall.  One thing that a theological student should learn very early on and put into practice is that when the Word of God is communicated to people in Scripture, it is done in such a way that the people may understand.  I am guilty of this as well - but we should eagerly enter into dialogue with laymen, but in such a way that the laymen are brought further along in the Kingdom, not turned off because of the ego of theological students.

Thielicke also addresses following theology blindly when he says to the young theological student:

Do not assume as a matter of course that you believe whatever impresses you theologically and enlightens you intellectually.  Otherwise suddenly you are believing no longer in Jesus Christ, but in Luther, or in one of your other theological teachers.

Great words for us to heed, indeed!  We are to take all things back to Scripture and burden ourselves with the task of constantly seeking the throne of God for wisdom and discernment in the task of rightly dividing His Word.  Thielicke continues later in the book:

Whoever ceases to be a man of the Spirit automatically furthers a false theology, even if in thought it is pure, orthodox, and basically Lutheran [come on, you knew this was coming - Thielicke is German!].  But in that case death lurks in the kettle.

God help us to be men of the Spirit!  I pray that we as theological students and ministers of the gospel of God's grace pursue our studies diligently, but that we also exhort one another to humble orthopraxy.  A wise, elderly man told me once that "knowledge is not truly knowledge unless it is applied."  That quote has stuck with me to this day - may all that we learn and read be not merely an academic exercise, but a means by which we draw closer to our Savior!