Talk of God
The “Prince of Preachers,” as he has has been known, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the famous English Baptist preacher of the 1800s wrote;
He who often thinks of God, will have a larger mind than the man who simply plods around this narrow globe.... The most excellent study for expanding the soul, is the science of Christ, and Him crucified, and the knowledge of the Godhead in the glorious Trinity. Nothing will so enlarge the intellect, nothing so magnify the whole soul of man, as a devout, earnest, continued investigation of the great subject of the Deity.
(“The Immutability of God,” Sermon by Charles H. Spurgeon at New Park Street Chapel, Southwark, England, 1855, quoted in Knowing God, J.I. Packer).
“Science of Christ?” It sounds a little ironic in our current cultural view of spiritual things and, for some, Christianity in particular. In a world that seems to be dominated by a secular-humanistic worldview, putting “science” and “Christ” together comes across as oxymoronic.
I remember years ago, during my initial stint in seminary, boarding a plane with a backpack emblazoned with the name of the Christian institution I was attending. The gentleman coming up the steps behind me observed the name of the school, with which he was unfamiliar. He inquired about it. I explained it was a Christian university. He asked what I was studying. “I’m working on a Master’s in Christian education” I said. He quipped, “Christian education? What’s that? All the subjects but science?” I remember informing him that Christians actually discovered the scientific method. That’s about as far as the discussion went.
Theology is known as the “queen of the sciences.” Why? All other sciences involve the pursuit of knowledge only in the realm of the natural. Theology necessarily pursues the supernatural. Furthermore, as the sciences were being established and truth acquired, the Bible was seen as the ultimate standard; the measure of all truth. All other knowledge was taken to be informed by the truth of God’s Word. Somehow the current view of rationalism, logic and true intelligence has come to exclude such standards. It should be no surprise that human thinking apart from God is drifting from the illogic of “relative truth” (relativism) to the absurdity of concluding there is no truth. No God, no truth. So what’s next?
The more God and the principles of theology are marginalized, the greater the emphasis on the temporal. We see people being applauded for their focus on the environment, for advancing animal “rights” for and fighting for causes that would seem to be in direct conflict with biblical morality. Even the church gets pulled into some of these things. “Social justice” replaces offering the hope of the Gospel. Minimizing the place of God in our thinking and study, conversations and culture, affects everything.
No doubt we need scientists who work to find cures for diseases and help find solutions to things that plague our planet. However, we more importantly need God and those who help us understand Him. The finite is passing away. Merely studying, discussing and focusing upon the finite eventually looks shallow in light of the Almighty.
Let’s not take the understanding of God for granted. Take time to know Him. What a gift to think that He has revealed Himself to us through His creation, through His Son and through His written Word. Plumbing the depths of these divine resources takes a lifetime and even then, one will only scratch the surface concerning the knowledge of God.
You may have heard it said, “Great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, and little minds discuss people.” There is an entire other category; those minds that discuss God. So, transcend, expand, enlarge, magnify your thinking and your “whole soul.” Talk of God.
“See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.” —Colossians 2:8