Scripture: Selected Scriptures
Date: February 9, 2014
Speaker: Jonathan Sarr
Every Christian plays a part in Christian education. If you are a Christian parent your responsibility is to give your children a Christian education, no matter where you send them.
In Men to Men, we have been learning of the responsibility of fathers to take the lead in the education of their children, and for Christian fathers, that means Christian education. But just because parents send their kids to a Christian school does not mean they’re faithfully fulfilling their responsibilities. Neither are parents who send their kids to public schools automatically abdicating their responsibilities, though I would say their job is much tougher. No, it would be far too simple to draw lines like these. We’d love to be able to think that because our kids’ history textbooks come from Christian publishers that we’re safe, or that because their textbooks offer Intelligent Design as a plausible explanation for the origin of life that we’re doing right by our kids. These things are good, to be sure. But they’re not enough. A “Christian” textbook doesn’t guarantee a Christian education.
The Church today comprises millions of educated people, but the sad reality is that nevertheless, Christian thinkers and fighters are in short supply. We educated Christians are easily stumped by secularists who know enough of the Bible to browbeat us with our shortcomings. They will at once insult Christians and commit blasphemy while insisting that we are being unloving to them unless we turn the other cheek and let them keep going. We’re baffled by this sort of commonplace nonsense. But why?
I would suggest that we have received an incomplete education. Most modern education today is like the one we received: long on knowledge and short on training. And we ought to do something about it.
Now, for sake of full disclosure, as you probably know, I am the headmaster of Evangel Classical School, a small classical and Christian school whose vision and practice is to address these very things. I am compelled by our way of doing education, but I happily acknowledge that it is only one way. What I’m interested in talking about this evening are bigger principles that transcend educational models.
So tonight I would like to make a singular point: We need to rethink Christian education. We need to rethink how we do it, and we need to rethink why we do it.
And to make this case, I’m dividing my message tonight into two major headings: The Problems and the Solutions . So first, I’m going to paint a pretty bleak picture, but take heart; I won’t leave us there. And though these lists are not intended to be exhaustive, they are a start.
Collectively we have been learning about the power of narrative. When you hear the same thing over and over and over again, you start to believe it, whether it’s true or not. As sinners, we engage in narratives that will justify our sin. The world engages in a narrative that will justify its unbelief.
Everywhere there is an agenda or a philosophy or a deep-seated belief, there’s a narrative to go with it. Let me offer a few examples.
Atheism
An atheist loves nothing more than for another person to deny God’s existence, because misery loves company. But what’s more, when someone else denies God’s existence, it justifies the first atheist’s unbelief.
Evolution
The world tells a strong narrative about the origin of life and where we’ve come from. And we’re flummoxed by the powerful (if not ridiculous) evolutionary narrative that is present everywhere from PBS cartoons to national park informational flyers.
We need to put our kids through educational detox when we get in the car after having been at a museum of natural history, working to set the record straight and make sure they don’t actually believe that the tyrannosaur died out 66 million years ago or that a billion years ago an intelligent tadpole decided to grow some legs for sake of his children’s children’s children, and that we humans are just a natural link in that chain. My four-year-old son can tell you that’s a laughable idea, yet the “scientific community” just screams louder and gets madder when we do laugh as we should. But sadly, rather than laughing as we should, we usually cower and avoid any conflict lest we offend someone.
Christianity
We let the world tell us what the Christian life is supposed to look like. As if expecting unbelievers to fight fair, we let the world dictate the rules of the argument, the terms, and the weapons. Let me give you an example.
The world has convinced modern Christians that it’s unloving to offend, confront on sin or make waves. And they’ve used the Bible to do it. But Jesus was not afraid of offending the right people, so what’s happened? Well, consider these verses, commonly plucked from their contexts and laid down as trump cards by our opponents:
And our opponents know these verses well, and they will use them against us. It’s an awfully convenient place to be when you don’t have to adhere to the standard to which you hold others. But what about these verses involving many of our New Testament heroes and their opponents?
Now, this is a small sampling of such verses, but you get the idea. The world would love to wield the first set of verses and ignore the second set, or they would say that Jesus Himself is a hypocrite because - though he encourages peaceful behavior - he says “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword” (Matthew 10:34).
But the worst part is that we listen to them! We listen to the world when they decide what a Christian looks like. That’s what has yielded a generation of spineless Christians who would rather compromise than offend. It is because of the world’s narrative about God and Christ and Christianity that we hear things like…
“If God is so loving, how is there evil in the world?”
“If God loves everyone, why does He send people to hell?”
“Those judgmental Christians are always looking down their noses at anyone who’s not like them.”
Or when the homosexual says, “Those Christians call themselves loving when they are marked by hate.”
We have listened to the narrative of the world when they fling Matthew 7:1 in our faces: “Judge not, that you be not judged.” As soon as we confront on sin, they say we’re being judgmental. Not only is this NOT what Jesus was talking about, it’s an ad hominem argument, attacking us to take the attention off of them. They don’t like what we have to say, so they call us judgmental. And it works! We clam up!
And then it becomes comfortable. It’s easy then to justify our cowardice and call it peacemaking, or meekness.
This relates to another problem I’d point out, namely…
So, we’ve listened to the narrative of the world for so long that we’ve become accustomed cowardice, to going with the flow, and not wanting to be accused of being judgmental or offensive that we’ve lost much of our sense of principle or any righteous jealousy for God’s glory. We now lack the ability and the courage to fight.
Ability
We lack the ability to fight. We don’t know what to say when we have to opportunity. We don’t cannot see errors in our own thinking, let alone the thinking of our opponents…if we have opponents at all.
As Christians who have listened long to this narrative, we are educating ourselves and those in our charge to be peacemakers rather than world-shapers; we’ve taught them that actions speak louder than words so much that both our actions and our words have lost their power. Christians have become indistinguishable from other morally upstanding citizens like Mormons or Jews.
And we’ve been quiet long enough, and have now adopted the world’s narrative enough that we think by peacefully living our lives, we can avoid offending with the gospel.
But are there other problems? Why, yes!
Now you may be wondering why I am suggesting that ignorance of history is such a huge contributor to our current plight? I aim to answer that, but in brief, we study history too narrowly, too shallowly, and from the wrong perspective.
First, it’s too narrow in the sense that we don’t study broadly enough, simply put. If the kingdom of Christ will comprise saints from every tribe, tongue and nation, than all of history falls under the umbrella of God’s redemptive history, and we must examine it as such. Why did the laws of Hammurabi (probably king of Ur when Abram was called out of Chaldea) resemble the laws that God gave Moses at Sinai 1,000 years later, but with so many key differences? How did the evil behavior of Roman emperors perfectly pave the way for Christ’s advent? We must examine history in this way if we wish to see the world as it actually is, and the world doesn’t - it cannot - do that.
Likewise, our modern study of history tends to be shallow, or superficial. The world tries to examine history as a series of consequences to men’s independent decisions rather than the masterful unfolding of a sovereign plan. Of course, we can see the folly in this.
Finally, as modern American Christians, we recognize our particular position in Western Civilization. Abraham Kuyper likened Western Civilization to a river that flows from Babylon to San Francisco. When we see history this way, from our perspective, we can appreciate a host of tributaries that have both sweetened and polluted the waters in which we are wading. As such, we don’t know where we’ve come from, and we don’t know where we’re going.
So what do we do with all of this? Is there a magic ointment? A potion, elixir or spell? Is there an educational panacea?
Well, first, before going any further, we must take decide to take action, responsibility, initiative, ownership. Whatever problems exist will only get worse if we don’t do something about it. But once we’ve decided to take action, what do we do? I’d like to offer a few practical (but still principle-driven) suggestions.
We absolutely must study the Bible if we are to know truth from error. If we don’t fill our minds with the Word of God, the world and it’s narrative will fill our minds with lies.
Earlier I made the case that we’re not doing “enough” if we’re living our lives without words. That’s true, because words are necessary. But it’s also important to recognize that we are engaged in a fight when we lead robust lives in a joyful way. We love the Giver of gifts as well as the gifts He gives. We enjoy His gifts for what they are: blessings to enrich our lives and bring happiness to His people. That enhances the sweetness of wine, flavor of barbecue, the smile behind a child’s laughter and the beauty of a symphony. And this should look different from the Mormons or the Jews or unbelievers who are just trying to have fun. This is a fight, and we have ignored it too long. We must learn to fight with our lifestyle and with our catechesis. With how we live and what we proclaim.
Joyful, robust living is a threat to the enemy; someone may just want what we have. A confident joy amid trials borne out of love and confidence in God makes the world ask us to explain our hope. So we need to live differently and then speak.
And sometimes the speaking may just get dicey.
We need to learn how to identify errors in our own thinking. This may require some logical training. This training will also help us to identify fallacies in the thinking of our opponents.
We need to learn the rules of combat. We should learn to argue like Paul and Peter did, with boldness and grace. We’re natural arguers because our sin goes deep, but we tend to do it without having learned how to do it. Pit a street thug with a black belt and watch who wins 9 times out of 10.
We need to not only read the Bible, but we must be able to use it, which requires still more work and study, commitment to memory and more.
We need to recognize the fight when we’re in it. We must know what sorts of things present a real threat to the enemy, and do them. On the lifestyle/testimony front, they’re things like these:
We must approach worship as warfare. We must train ourselves and our children that corporate worship isn’t about navel gazing and feeling refreshed for our own sakes. The refreshing comes as we take the focus off of ourselves and loudly and robustly proclaim His glories, as we take swing after swing at the gates of the citadels of unbelief. It’s serious business to be laid bare, hewn open and exposed by the Word of God and to consciously submit ourselves to it. This is not optional volunteer stuff; this is corporate warfare, and it requires battle-mindedness.
So, we must get in the fight. We must get down from the safety of the grandstands and get in the arena. And for some of us this is as simple as a mindshift; what we do may look similar, but our reasons and motivation and intensity will change.
REMEMBER THE POINT: These are the sorts of things that must be a part of a proper Christian education if we would turn the world upside down. But what else can we do? We can train our children to love history.
When you love history, the world opens up to you. The Christian student who loves history can see and appreciate so much more than his unbelieving contemporaries.
And though there are particular histories (say, Church history, or Washington State history), it’s all part of one, big redemptive plan of God involving sinners and saints.
And I would add that knowing your place enables the study of history to be even more lovely. Take our position in the Pacific Northwest, as Protestants in what may loosely be called a Christian nation, in 2014. From that perspective…
The world gets none of this when they try to separate the Author from His own story.
And there are moral lessons to be learned, too. Let me just briefly point out a handful of things that I’ve learned by reading pagan history:
The gospel is not man’s idea.
Though men know they’re eternal creatures and that they’re damned and that they need a savior, the best they have come up with are gods like grown up versions of themselves. The incarnation is inconceivable to the natural man. The Roman gods are magnified versions of all that’s evil about Romans, and vice versa. These gods along with the ancient Mesopotamian and Egyptian gods would never consider giving of themselves for the sake of their worshipers. That is unique to the true God.
Demons really hate God.
What the gods of men require of their worshipers demonstrates a real hatred of any who bear the image of God. Generally speaking, they hate their worshipers and require defilement and defamation of the image of God in men.
The preservation of Israel is supernatural.
In Deuteronomy, Israel drove out nations greater and mightier than herself, and most of these mightier nations have disappeared. Little tiny Israel - who receives no mention in Herodotus - is still a nation today. It’s not surprising that Egypt still exists, but Israel?!
What Romans 1:30 looks like applied.
What do “inventors of evil” look like? They come up with new ways to sin, harm others and gratify their own desires. A truly seared conscience and callous heart has no regard for human life and actually give approval to practitioners of evil. (E.g., Persian kings and Tiberius, Caligula, Nero and others)
Do you get the idea? There’s more to be learned in the study and love of history than timelines, and it all equips us to better impact our culture for Christ.
(And again, if you’d like more information on any of this, please feel free to ask me when we’re finished.)
Let me give one more.
Like the study of history this one deserves its own message, but let me just touch on this briefly.
We commonly limit the value of fiction to entertainment when it’s much more.
Good fiction - as I’m defining it - is fiction that depicts life and the world as it actually is. And I’m not ruling out fantasy fiction, but I am ruling out fiction where evil is portrayed as good, and good is portrayed as bad. When the reader is forced to sympathize with a murderous demoniac, and the clergyman who is trying to free him is portrayed as an unloving, judgmental, closed-minded bigot, the bad guy is a good guy, and the good guy is a bad guy. That is a false depiction of reality.
Rather, the best fiction for helping us to see our world better is fiction that depicts the world and morality as the Bible does. And how does this all work?
For starters, reading fiction provides the reader enough distance to be able to see clearly. Sometimes we are so close to our life or our sin that we can’t actually see it. That’s where the love and counsel of godly friends is helpful; they can see us being boneheads more clearly than we can.
Similarly, fiction provides enough distance from this life to enable us to see this life more clearly. It’s like holding a mirror long way off, and seeing our reflection in it.
A child may not see her selfishness, but she may be able to see Edmund’s selfishness when he’s talking to the White Witch. And she may be able then to see how much she shares in common with Edmund.
A child may not see herself as being an ugly hoarder, but it you call her a dragon, it may just strike a chord.
We may not see ourselves as the bad guys in a real-life situation, but when we see strange commonalities between our own behavior and the behavior of Saruman with White, our ears perk up when the Ents arrive and destroy Isengard. “Uh-oh!” we think. “Is that going to happen to me?”
Second, historical fiction that is well-researched and well-written can take the reader on a visit outside his own time and place. This is tremendously beneficial. In the same way as John Piper encourages the imaginative reading of Scripture for depth of impact, good historical fiction can also help bring history to life.
Third, if fiction were objectively bad, it wouldn’t have been used by our Savior to teach powerful lessons. So of course it can help us to see our world better; otherwise, Jesus wouldn’t have used it.
Fourth, the inclusion of good fiction in our children’s curriculum presents opportunities to face hard issues head on now. There are great moral and thematic tensions present in good fiction.
Fifth, if you’re going to read at all, some measure of fiction is basically unavoidable inasmuch as writers of history or newspapers have been known to exaggerate from time to time. So resign yourself to reading some fiction some of the time, but intentionally include it in your children’s reading.
I would also argue that we read faithfully and critically the very best that pagan authors have ever produced, and that requires the reading of fiction. That helps us to understand their worldview and important issues in their thinking.
All that said, if you’re wanting some examples of good fiction, when in doubt, go to the classics. There’s a reason they’ve withstood the test of time. They are not all good, and certainly don’t all have a Christian worldview, but their handling of timeless themes helps them to endure.
So what do we do when we walk out of here, or go home and help our kids with their homework?
Shall we needlessly offend in Jesus’ name? Should we go out these doors and pick a fight with the first unbeliever we see, calling it courageous and do it in Jesus’ name? Probably not. That wouldn’t exactly compel any to believe that having Jesus is better than not having Him. Rather…
Our Christian education must train students how to learn, to think and to laugh. Our curriculum must be rich historically and deal intentionally with hard worldview issues. And this must all have Scripture at the center of it all as we loudly proclaim the pervasive lordship of Christ. After all, we want our kids to be used of Christ to be His hands and feet as far as His lordship extends.
I’ll close with a recent anecdote. Two weeks ago I was speaking with a new friend, a South Korean pastor named Steve who is interested in starting some Christian schools in South Korea. By his testimony, his generation has a strong Christian foundation and presence, but the younger generation is almost entirely lost. In recent years divorce and suicide rates have skyrocketed and many of the arrows point the same direction: education. He believes that it is the overemphasis on the academics and competitive work environments, scholastic and professional competition and more. Many students would rather do homework than go do church, and their parents have allowed it.
In short, an entire generation has sold its soul for sake of worldly gain. And Steve interested in doing something about it, recognizing that there’s more to life than high test scores and high salaries. The ironic part is that through intentional Christian enculturation with attention to the things we’ve talked about tonight, the next generation will be far better prepared than we are to effect lasting change in the home, the marketplace, the church and the community as they will not only be book smart, but they will be better prepared to combat our enemy and recognize where we’ve come from and where we are headed.