Fix Your Eyes

1. Theology and Worship are Inseparable

Theology is at its healthiest when it is consciously under the eye of the God of whom it speaks, and when it is singing to his glory.

Everyone is a theologian. Whether consciously or not, every person holds beliefs about God, forming their personal theology. This isn't reserved for academics; it's a fundamental aspect of human existence. The crucial question isn't if you have a theology, but is it a good one—does it align with Scripture?

Knowledge fuels worship. The book argues that a deep, accurate understanding of God (theology) naturally leads to a greater love for Him, which in turn ignites genuine worship. When theology is divorced from worship, it can become rigid and prideful, or worship can become shallow and unrooted, seeking mere emotional highs.

Fix your eyes on Jesus. The solution to this modern divorce between theology and worship is to continually fix our gaze on Jesus. He is the "author and perfecter of faith" (Heb. 12:1–2), who gives shape and substance to our theology and grounds our worship in His character, making both what they were truly meant to be.

2. Worship the God Who Is: His Unique and Shared Attributes

Worship is pure or base as the worshiper entertains high or low thoughts of God.

God's unique attributes. God possesses "incommunicable attributes" that belong to Him alone, setting Him apart as Creator. These include:

• Infinite: Without limits or constraints.
• Incomprehensible: Beyond full human understanding, yet sufficiently knowable.
• Aseity: Self-sufficient and self-existent, needing nothing outside Himself.
• Immutable & Impassible: Unchanging in nature, character, and essence; not swayed by passions.
• Omnipotent: All-powerful, with total control over all things.
• Omniscient: All-knowing, possessing all knowledge intimately.
• Omnipresent: Present at all places at all times.
• Sovereign: Possessing total and rightful authority over the universe.

Attributes we can reflect. God also has "communicable attributes" that we, made in His image, are invited to emulate by His Spirit. These include:

• Holy: Possessing absolute moral purity, perfectly perfect.
• Good: Perfectly virtuous, righteous, kind, and upright.
• Truthful: Perfectly honest and trustworthy, the origin of truth.
• Just: The standard of fairness and equity, impartial.
• Merciful: Eternally kind and gracious, extending forgiveness.
• Loving: Infinitely benevolent, desiring to bestow benefits.
• Faithful: Endlessly trustworthy, keeping every promise.
• Wise: Displaying all-wise nature in creation and commands.

Awe and emulation. Understanding God's incommunicable attributes inspires profound awe and humility, reminding us that "there is no one like our God." Simultaneously, His communicable attributes invite us into a relationship where, by the power of His Spirit, we can grow to reflect His character, connecting us to Him.

3. The Trinity: The Foundation of All Christian Faith

Indeed, in the triune God is the love behind all love, the life behind all life, the music behind all music, the beauty behind all beauty and the joy behind all joy.

One God, three persons. The doctrine of the Trinity is uniquely Christian: one God existing eternally as three distinct persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This means God is "one in essence and three in person," a mystery that defies simple analogies but is central to His nature.

Eternal love and contentment. Before creation, God was perfectly complete and content within Himself, experiencing boundless love and harmonious community between the Father, Son, and Spirit. This means God created out of delight and an overflow of His own nature, not out of need, loneliness, or a desire to learn how to love.

Impact on the gospel. A Trinitarian God fundamentally shapes our understanding of salvation. It means the gospel is not merely about a Ruler pardoning subjects, but a loving Father adopting "children of wrath" into His eternal family. The Spirit's ongoing work (sanctification) is to fix our eyes on Christ, making us like the mutually glorifying Godhead.

4. Christology: God Incarnate is Our Access to God

He [God] took pity on them, therefore, and did not leave them destitute in the knowledge of Himself, lest their very existence should prove purposeless. For of what use is existence to the creature if it cannot know its Maker?

God became man. The Incarnation is the profound reality that the Son of God became fully human without ceasing to be fully God. Jesus is 100% divine and 100% human, not a diluted version of either. This dual nature was essential for God to fully reveal Himself to limited, fallen humanity.

Our access to God. Jesus is the "front door" to knowing God personally. He carried the "certified funds" of God's entire nature to earth, losing none of His divinity. Through Christ, we gain intimate, relational knowledge of the Father, not just intellectual facts. His physical presence on earth, and His ascension in a resurrected body, assures us of God's presence and our future hope.

Suffering and the body. The Incarnation validates the human body as good, not evil, and refutes the prosperity gospel's lie that bodily suffering indicates spiritual lack. Christ fully experienced human suffering, death, and resurrection in His physical body, making it the central instrument of our redemption. His ascended, resurrected body in heaven means human flesh is now in God's presence, offering hope for our own future resurrection.

5. Pneumatology: The Spirit is God's Indwelling Presence

Those in whom the Spirit comes to live are God’s new Temple. They are, individually and corporately, places where heaven and earth meet.

God's active presence. The Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, is God's personal and active presence, working from creation to consummation. He was "hovering over the waters" at creation, led Israel as "people of the presence," and now, through Christ's completed work, is the "Helper" who dwells in every believer.

Spirit's ministry today. The Spirit's work is not vague or abstract; He is intimately involved in:

• Convicting the world of sin and pointing to Christ.
• Uniting believers to Christ in salvation.
• Building and uniting the church as God's holy people.
• Sanctifying believers, making us holy and bearing spiritual fruit (love, joy, peace, etc.).
• Equipping the church with spiritual gifts for mutual service and God's glory.

Promise of permanent presence. The indwelling Spirit is God's "pledge" or "deposit," guaranteeing our future full presence with God in the new heavens and new earth. This promise assures us that God will complete His redemptive plan, and we will ultimately live in unhindered fellowship with Him.

6. Soteriology: Salvation is Union with Christ

And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption.

Salvation is union. Salvation is not merely a benefit Christ provides, but union with Christ Himself. He is the gift, not just the giver of gifts. All the blessings of salvation—justification, adoption, sanctification, and glorification—flow from this profound, intimate oneness with the Son of God.

Abiding in the Vine. Jesus emphasizes this union through metaphors like the "true vine" and its branches (John 15), where life and fruitfulness depend entirely on abiding in Him. Paul further illustrates this by describing the church as Christ's bride, a "one flesh" union (Eph. 5) where all that is ours (sin, shame) becomes His, and all that is His (righteousness, inheritance) becomes ours.

By grace through faith. This union is achieved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, empowered by the indwelling Holy Spirit. Our faith is not a meritorious work, but a clinging to the Faithful One. The Spirit makes this union a vital reality, not just a metaphor, transforming us daily into Christ's likeness.

7. Bibliology: The Word is God's Self-Revelation

The soul can do without everything except the Word of God, without which none at all of its wants are provided for.

God's communicative nature. God is a "chatty" God, not silent or distant. The Bible, comprising 66 books, is His gracious self-revelation, bridging the vast language barrier between a holy, boundless God and limited, sinful humanity. It's a gift of grace, testifying to His rescue plan.

Attributes of the Word. The Bible is:

• Inspired: "Breathed out by God" (2 Tim. 3:16), verbally and plenarily, through diverse human authors and their unique personalities.
• Authoritative: Possesses ultimate authority because God is its Author, the source of all truth and justice. Jesus Himself appealed to its authority.
• Preserved: God's sovereignty ensured the correct canon of 66 books was compiled and maintained throughout history, making it trustworthy.
• Living and Active: It's a dynamic, true story that "studies" us, piercing our hearts and discerning our intentions (Heb. 4:12), transforming us into Christ's likeness.

Equipping for good work. The Bible's purpose extends beyond mere knowledge; it is "profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work" (2 Tim. 3:16-17). It shapes our character, values, and actions, propelling us into service and mission.

8. Ecclesiology: The Church is Christ's Beloved Body

There is no such thing as an independent Christian.

A people, not a place. The church is not a building or an organization, but a people—a gathering of individuals reconciled to God through Christ, united to Him and each other by the Spirit. God's vision is for a multiplicity of individuals to form a unified "holy nation," distinct from the world.

Christ's bride, body, and flock. The Bible uses intimate imagery to describe the church:

• Bride of Christ: God's covenantal love, purifying her for final, glorious union with Jesus (Eph. 5:25-27).
• Body of Christ: The physical manifestation of God's presence in the world, equipped with diverse spiritual gifts for mutual service and witness (1 Cor. 12:27, Rom. 12:4-9).
• Flock of God: Vulnerable sheep guided, guarded, and carried by the compassionate Good Shepherd (Isa. 40:11, Ps. 23:1).

Local and global expression. The church is a global and historic reality, expressed through local congregations that embody these theological truths. These local bodies uniquely practice baptism (welcoming into God's family) and the Lord's Supper (rehearsing union with Christ), enacting the gospel story.

9. Eschatology: Worship the Coming King and the New Creation

If Jesus is still dead, then our faith is fake, our guilt is real, and our hope is naïve optimism. . . . But Jesus is not dead. . . . The kingdom is advancing because the king is alive.

The great reveal. Eschatology, the study of final things, is not meant to be scary or confusing, but a "great reveal" of God's ultimate plan. While details remain mysterious, God gives us sure promises of a future hope that is "better than we can imagine."

New heavens and new earth. Revelation 21:2-5 paints a picture of this future:

• New Jerusalem: A holy city, God's redeemed metropolis, coming down from heaven. It's the fulfillment of God's original plan for a God-honoring civilization, not a cloudy, disembodied existence.
• God's Dwelling with Man: The crowning jewel is God Himself dwelling with His people, unhindered and unimpeded, the ultimate consummation of our union with Christ.
• Evil Vanquished: "Death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away." This is guaranteed by Christ's resurrection victory over death.
• All Things New: God is making all things new (Greek: panta), not just creating new things. His re-creative work will touch every aspect of creation, including our resurrected bodies.

Resurrection and hope. Christ's bodily resurrection is the blueprint for our own. Our future hope is not escaping the body, but a physical resurrection, renewed and transformed like His. This confidence in a life-giving future, where Christ's victory over sin and death is fully realized, shapes how we live today.