14 For this cause I bend my knees to the Father 15 from whom every family in Heaven and on Earth is named, 16 that He may grant you according to the wealth of His glory to become mightily empowered in your inner being through His Spirit 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith that you, having been rooted and grounded in love, 18 that you might have strength to grasp together with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth of His love, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled to all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:14-19 (translated from the NA28 Greek text)
I would not pass the test for post modernism in any context. I am not politically correct nor do I care whether I am or am not. If that becomes a requirement for employment or something else that we view as temporally vital in this age, I will still refuse….
On the other hand, as I walk through my day in this world, that does not mean that those around me are not exposed to God’s love through me. As I have meditated a great deal on this lately, I have done much repentance as well. When unbelievers see me, get to know me, et cetera, they should be drawn to Christ because they see evidence of His love being manifest through me. Is that always the case? Oh that it was! If we walk in light of Jesus Christ and Him crucified in all of our relationships, how can we be self-centered jerks at anytime with anyone?
Christian maturity is something that consists of spiritual depth. The more we have, the less of the temporal we hang on to, the more humble we are, the more Christ-focused we are, the less self-focused we are. You see, I think doctrine is vital in knowing the truth about God and our Salvation, but when it comes to knowing Him and obeying Him, and walking in repentance, that is a whole other dimension. Now, John Owen was a tremendous theologian, but he was also humble and all about teaching believers how to walk in humility and mortifying their sin. William Tyndale was as well. Some balk at the study of theology saying things like, “deeds not creeds.” Doctrine is fundamental. Not everyone needs to know Greek and Hebrew nor be an expert in theology at the Doctorial level, but all believers should be able to share their faith with and lead a lost person to Christ, to give a reason for the hope that is within us. That means that there is some level of doctrine that we all need to know. The more the better, however, we should never pursue it at the cost of what Paul was talking about in his prayer in Ephesians 3:14-19, which I placed at the top of this post. Let’s focus on vv17-19,