“Theosaurus” Sermon Series (kinda)
We’ve got a cool new sporadic series called “Theosaurus”. You know what a Thesaurus is, right?!
“Wait, do you mean like an ‘onomasticon’?”
Umm, yes, actually… we do.
“That’s what I thought.”
Yeah… right.
Well, this is exactly like that but totally different. The goal of this Theosaurus series is to define God words so we can have language to express deep truth at the ready. It’s about theological literacy and knowing God. But it is also about knowing how to think clearly about sometimes complex theological concepts so our everyday interactions can be peppered with truth that a lost world desperately needs to hear! For some, it’ll be an education in big fancy God words. For others, it’ll be a refresher course and reminder to sprinkle their conversations with the gospel.
“Oh please, don’t bore me with big fancy God words. I know enough, uh… what do you call those things?… Oh yeah… words. I know enough words to describe God.”
Clearly.
Well, can you imagine trying to describe profound truth about an infinite God using just words from a McDonald’s menu?! Yeah, good luck with that. It takes more than talking about the big “Ronald McDonald in the sky” to describe some of the incredible truths revealed to us in the Scriptures.
“Why do you call it a ‘sporadic series?’” Because we’ll go one-word-a-Sunday for a week or two (or five?) between other series here and there. It will fit in well when the calendar doesn’t want to cooperate with our preacher’s plans. (“I know, rude, isn’t it?!”) For example, Dr. Mike Sweeney, President of Emmanuel School of Religion, will be preaching Sun, Apr 18, and then we’re starting Theosaurus with Baptism on week one, Sun, Apr 25. Here’s the schedule for this first installment of Theosaurus:
“Baptism” – Apr 25 – 2 Kings 5:9-14; Matthew 3:13-17
“Lord’s Supper” – May 2 – Exodus 12:43-51; Galatians 2:11-14
“Mother” – May 9 (Friendly Reminder… This is Mother’s Day!) – Matthew 23:36-38; John 19:25-27
“Incarnation” – May 16 – Colossians 2:6-12; John 1:1-4, 9-14
“Holy Spirit” – May 23 – Genesis 1:1-3; Acts 2:1-4; John 14:15-20
So, actually, it’s more like five straight words! (“Remember ‘or five?’”) After this first installment of Theosaurus we’re starting our (more serial-like) series called “The Prodigal God” for 5 straight weeks. At the beginning of “The Prodigal God” we’ll be launching our new Growth Groups (small groups) for the summer and they’ll be sermon-based (look in the bulletin for each week’s curricular focus for more.) Then we’ll probably do another week or two of Theosaurus… maybe… if it works well with the calendar. See? Clear as mud?
“Why the name ‘Theosaurus?’” Because “theos” is the Greek word for ‘God’ and “saurus” means ‘storehouse,’ or ‘treasury’. “Oh, okay. Makes sense.” Well yeah, but does it make sense that “peruse” originally meant to study hard and now it is often used to mean giving a cursory glance? “Huh?!” Lemme explain… In our postmodern world where words are constantly being deconstructed and relativized, sometimes to the point of rendering meaning, uh, meaningless, we must take care to ensure we Christians understand what we mean when we make truth claims about God. Did you know that, in modern intellectual property law precedent, policing words and trademarks is the responsibility of the owner of that particular word or brand? It might be okay if the world steals benign words like “peruse,” but what happens when they start stealing “redemption” or even “God”? And while “Theosaurus” is certainly not about legal action against non-Christians’ use of supposedly Christian words, it is about being a people whose language communicates the gospel in ways a needy world can hear!
“What kinds of words will we study?” Oh, lots of ’em… kinds (of words), that is. They will range from relatively simple words you may have heard numerous times before like Baptism, Communion (or The Lord’s Supper, or maybe even Eucharist), or Stewardship to nerdy sounding words like Atonement, kenosis (“Keno-what? And why didn’t you capitalize keno-what?”), Redemption, and Justification.
Come join us for this interesting study of some cool God words we’ll define from Scripture so we’ll be equipped to know God deeply and share the gospel with winsomeness and tact!