Morality and Theology

I have been preaching on waging a noble spiritual warfare from 1 Timothy 1:18-20 for some time. Paul charges Timothy to be "holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith." This is literally speaking of "the faith"! The word "reject" is a strong word which means "to violently discard." So this text is saying by violently discarding this [a good conscience], men [false teachers] make shipwreck of their faith [the faith they once embraced]. This teaches that bad theology is the result of bad morals. The first thing to go in a life is a good conscience, morality, and then then that leads to a need to tailor ones theology to one's morality.

The same is true in the views one has of every day life. I was listening to a speaker this week who challenged his listeners to develop a theology of suffering before they encountered it. Why? Because it is not an issue that you might suffer it is only an issue of time when you will suffer. Live long enough and you will suffer.

Martyn Lloyd Jones has some excellent application to this whole issue when he writes,

"If you go wrong in your doctrine, you will go wrong in all aspects of your life. You will probably go wrong in your practice and behaviour; and you will certainly go wrong in your experience. Why is it that people are defeated by the things that happen to them? Why is it that some people are completely cast down if they are taken ill, or if someone who is dear to them is taken ill? They were wonderful Christians when all was going well; the sun was shining, the family was well, everything was perfect, and you would have thought that they were the best Christians in the country. But suddenly there is an illness and they seem to be shattered, they do not know what to do or where to turn, and they begin to doubt God. They say, "We were living the Christian life, and we were praying to God, and our lives had been committed to God; but look at what is happening. Why should this happen to us?" They begin to doubt God and all His gracious dealings with them. Do such people need 'a bit of comfort'? Do they need the church simply as a kind of soporific or tranquillizer? Do they only need something which will make them feel a little happier, and lift the burden a little while they are in the church?

"Their real trouble is that they lack an understanding of the Christian faith. They have an utterly inadequate notion of what Christianity means. Their idea of Christianity was: "Believe in Christ and you will never have another trouble or problem; God will bless you, nothing will ever go wrong with you"; whereas the Scripture itself teaches that 'through much tribulation we must enter into the kingdom of God' (Acts 14:22), or as the Apostle expresses it elsewhere, 'In nothing be terrified by your adversaries: which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God. For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake' (Philippians 1:28-29). Our Lord says, 'In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world' (John 16:33). There is nothing which is so wrong, and so utterly false, as to fail to see the primary importance of true doctrine."

--Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Heresies