A Biblical View of Education

The Responsibility to Teach and Train Children

As Miss Florence was playing, I found myself seeing the words in my head, wherever he leads, I'll go. I like those old hymns. Thank you. I have to confess to you that this morning's message is one of those that kind of beats up on the speaker before you ever hear it.

Now, being a dad of two, I am reminded ever more so of the responsibility to teach and train children. Now, for those of you who do not know, I am a school teacher. I teach high school chemistry. And high school students are an interesting bunch.

And although there are times when you think of them as your own children, when you have your own, it's different because they're yours, whereas these kids belong to someone else. So in preparing this particular message, I was reminded very much of the responsibility I have to teach my own.

So if you end up feeling like your toes have been stepped on this morning, know that mine have been stomped on during the week. This is a message I've been wanting to preach for a while, because this is a subject that is ever on my mind and on my heart because of what I do.

But education, I think we're going to find is not limited to the so-called three R's. Education is an important part of any society. It is through the process of education that the next generation of leaders, craftsmen, and professionals are trained.

Education is also an important part of a church. Christians need education, not just book learning, to become the Christians God has called us to be. We need to examine the Scripture to see if there are principles discussed in Scripture that apply to learning.

There really is not a passage in Scripture that says, run a school this way or teach your children in this manner. Therefore, when addressing education, we examine principles taught in Scripture and apply them to education.

For example, many of the principles that Scripture discusses in terms of teachers in the church, we will apply to teachers of school children. Another example would be that all knowledge is God's knowledge.

All truth is His truth. And therefore, all truth has a purpose regardless of whether I know what that purpose is. My students often ask me, how does this apply to my life now? It's kind of their excuse for, why should I have to learn this in the first place?

We'll come back to that in a few moments. The Bible has much to say about education, whether we realize it or not. The biblical view of education goes beyond the three R's. The three R's omit history and science, by the way.

Reading, writing, and arithmetic, those are the three R's. History and science aren't there. Those are the two I happen to enjoy. In grammar class, students are taught to communicate their own thoughts both verbally and in writing.

They are also taught to understand the communications of other people, both in the verbal and written forms. In math class, students learn how to think logically and articulate logical thought. In science class, students are learning how God put the universe together.

And the skills learned in math and English classes are applied in science classes. In history class, students study the motives and actions of men. It is in history class where students discuss and think about how men of the past have made decisions and the effect of those decisions upon future generations.

The bottom line is that all of these classes are important. Education also includes shop class and home economics class. Education includes learning how to care for children, learning how to take care of a garden.

Paul was discussing that this morning, weren't you? How to grow tomatoes. Learning how to do maintenance around the house. Education includes the truths, the doctrine taught in the church. Biblical education is about the development of the entire person.

For biblical education has as its result God being glorified. It is not the purpose of education to glorify men or the abilities of men, for all of man's ability comes from God. Therefore, parents and teachers need to be teaching their children and students this truth, that students should be doing the best they can in order to honor God.

One of the common questions that teachers are instructed to answer for students today is how does this apply to my life right now? My answer to that question is that there are some principles that students will learn in my class that they can apply now, but I am not preparing them to do chemistry at home.

I dare say their mothers would frown if they started getting out the pots and pans and trying to mix chemicals to see what would happen. I don't think this would go over very well. Rather, I am preparing them for what God has called them to do.

For most students, they do not know what that calling is and will not know for several years so I am preparing them for life in the future. Tony and I were discussing this a few weeks ago. Students ask him the same question, how does this apply to my life now?

You have a test next week. That's how it applies. This brings us to our text, and if you would stand with me please and turn to your Bibles to Deuteronomy chapter 6. Now this is the commandment, the statutes, and the judgments which Lord your God has commanded me to teach you that you might do them in the land where you are going over to possess it so that you and your son and your grandson might fear the Lord your God to keep all his statutes and his commandments which I command you all the days of your life and that your days may be prolonged.

O Israel, you should listen and be careful to do it that it may be well with you and that you may multiply greatly just as the Lord the God of your fathers has promised you in a land flowing with milk and honey.

Here, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These words which I am commanding you today shall be on your heart.

You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead.

You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. Let's pray. Father God, as we turn to your word this morning, open our hearts and minds to receive your truth. Give us understanding, Lord, and help us, Father, to know the importance of teaching and training those who are given to our charge that they might know thy truths, that they might grow to be obedient unto thee.

We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. This text in Deuteronomy 6 is really going to be our starting point. We're not going to spend a lot of time here. We're going to be in several passages of Scripture thinking about biblical education.

But there are some notes that I want to make about this text. The first one is that Moses was commanded to teach the people. Look at verse 1. Now this is the commandment of the statutes and the judgments which the Lord your God has commanded me to teach you.

Moses was given charge over the Israelites. He was to teach them. He was to instruct them. This does not mean that he was merely to present information. He's supposed to explain it. How is it to be applied?

How is this to be used? What does it mean to be obedient? The second thing I want you to notice is that multiple generations are to be taught. He was teaching the parents. In verse 7, you shall teach them diligently to your sons.

The passage we read to our call to worship this morning, Psalm 78, mention is made about generations not yet born knowing about God and His truth. The third thing I want you to know, we are to internalize the information taught.

That is, we are to write it on our hearts. His Word is to reside in the very core of our being. Fourth, we are to teach diligently these principles to our children and yes, our grandchildren. I don't have grandchildren yet, praise the Lord, but my parents have several.

And although it's not possible for me yet to fully appreciate my mom's comment about it, she has told me multiple times that grandchildren are different. But they are to teach their grandchildren who are my children.

Fifth, we are to teach continually these principles. If you're a parent, you know you have rarely been able ever to give your child an instruction only one time and have that instruction followed continually.

I remember my mother using the hyperbole. If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times. I'm sure she didn't say it a thousand times, but she probably felt like she had. But we're to teach these principles continually.

Just as God has been patient with us and had to remind us of the same lessons over and over, we have to do the same with our own children. And then last, a biblical education begins in the home. Although there is much to say about many different facets of education, this morning we are going to address what the Bible has to say about parents, students, and teachers.

We're not going to address which of the three major methods of education, public schooling, private schooling, or homeschooling is best. Rather, we will simply address the three major groups of people involved in successful education.

All three of these groups of people are necessary. We will conclude with a brief look at what the goals of education are. That is, what do we want a student to look like when they've completed high school?

Or what do I want my children to look like when they leave my home? Now I guess in the interest of full disclosure, my wife and I were raised in central Illinois, a long way from here. They have more cornfields up there than we do here.

We were both raised in public schools. I now teach at a private school. We have several friends who homeschool. So I'm not here to tell you which method is best. I'm not here to tell you which one is best for your family.

I simply want to talk about the principles that Scripture discusses. And so the first thing that I want to do then is address parents. Parents are to teach their children the Word of God. In the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy, we read several passages whereby the Israelites are told of their responsibility to teach their children the law of God.

If you turn a page or so back to the left to Deuteronomy 4, and find verse 9, only give heed to yourself and keep your soul diligently so that you do not forget the things which your eyes have seen, and they do not depart from your heart all the days of your life, but make them known to your sons and your grandsons.

From our text this morning, Deuteronomy 6, beginning in verse 6, these words which I am commanding you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.

Turn a couple pages to the right. Deuteronomy 11. And verse 18, you shall therefore impress these words of mine on your heart and on your soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead.

You shall teach them to your sons, talking of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you rise up. And then in Deuteronomy 32, beginning in verse 45, when Moses had finished speaking all these words to all Israel, he said to them, take to your heart all the words which I am warning you today, which you shall command your sons to observe carefully, even all the words of this law.

If the Bible says it once, that makes it important, but the fact that the Holy Spirit through Moses has written the same instruction four times, it ought to get our attention. We parents are responsible for training our children.

But this is not limited to just the book of Deuteronomy. Our call to worship this morning, Psalm 78, beginning in verse 5, for He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel which He commanded our fathers, that they should teach them to their children, that the generation to come might know even the children yet to be born, that they should put their confidence in God and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments.

Proverbs 22 .6. One that we probably know very well. Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old, he will not depart from it. Ephesians 6, verse 4. Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

The teaching of Scripture is clear. Parents are to teach their children for in the truth of God, education begins in the home. Just as an aside, the parents of the students that I teach are welcome to email me at any time if they have questions about how their children are doing in my class.

And one of the frustrations that I have as a teacher is that I don't hear from enough parents as often as I should. Essentially, in our school, a D is considered failing. And students know this. And my grade book is online.

It's available at any time for the parents to go in and look and see how their children are doing. Are their assignments caught up? How did they do on the test yesterday? And it is very frustrating to look at students' grades and see the number of D's and F's and then look and see how empty my email inbox is.

Work with your teachers. We actually want your children to succeed. I do not wake up in the morning and poke my wife in the shoulder and ask her, Honey, how can I make your life miserable today? I really don't do that.

The teaching is to be focused upon the Word of God that children may both know it and obey it. But not simply that our children know and obey the Word of God, but that they should know God Himself. Proverbs 1 .7.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Fools despise wisdom and instruction. Proverbs 9 .10. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

Proverbs 15 .33. The fear of the Lord is the instruction for wisdom. And before honor comes humility. Parents are to teach their children to fear. Yes, fear the Lord. This goes beyond awe and reverence and respect.

God is the creator and sustainer of all that is and therefore His ways and His rules are to be both respected and obeyed. And there should be a fear of disobedience. Our learning should be focused upon learning about Him and how to honor Him.

Parents should use every opportunity they have to teach their children God's Word. And Scripture is very clear. The only way to know God Himself is to know Christ. John 14 .6. I am the way, the truth, and the life.

No man comes to the Father but by Me. Therefore, parents and grandparents, we are to seek the salvation of our children and our grandchildren. Because it is only through Christ that they may know God Himself.

This means that parents are to teach their children how to study God's Word. Consider Paul's admonishment to Timothy. 2 Timothy 2 .15. Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.

We need to know how to handle God's Word, which means we need to know how to study God's Word. Our pastor has been teaching a Sunday school class about how to study the Scriptures. So those of us who are parents and grandparents in his class, we should be using these principles that he's teaching us to teach our own children.

We parents need to nurture our own children's gifts and abilities. Ephesians 4 .15. But speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.

Notice what Paul says here. Grow up in all aspects according to the proper working of each individual part. Each child is unique in their gifts and abilities, and God has designed His body to be this way.

All of the parts are necessary for the body to function properly. Therefore, each part of the body is to be trained to grow correctly and used correctly. My parents and I have often chuckled about the fact that my three sisters and I are four very different individuals.

We are North, South, East, and West. One of the ironies is for a while all four of us were in education in some way or shape or form. We're not now, but we are four very different people. I already see differences in my own two sons.

My wife and I have been commenting before about how Daniel's different from Stephen. And Daniel will be four weeks old Tuesday, and we're already seeing differences. I'm sure you see the same thing in your children.

They have different strengths. They have different weaknesses. And one of the things that I try and teach my students is this is the way God intended it to be. We all need to learn how to serve and how to be served.

There are times when we're going to be the servant and we're going to lend assistance, and there are going to be times when we need to ask for assistance. We need to know how to do both. We parents need to teach our children to have a receptive heart toward learning.

Hebrews 12, verse 5. And you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons. My son do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when they are reproved by Him. For those whom the Lord loves, He disciplines.

And He scourges every son whom He receives. It is for discipline that you endure. God deals with you as with sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? I'll be the first to admit to you that I did not enjoy discipline as a child.

I don't enjoy disciplining my own children. But the Bible has interesting things to say about this. God disciplines those whom He loves. Children should want to learn how to behave correctly. They should want to know how to do tasks correctly.

They should want to be trained and taught. They should desire and not reject godly discipline. Our focus should therefore be not on our own goals, but God's goals. And we need to be honest with our children.

A couple of years ago, I gave a test upon which my students did not do well. There were many 20's and 30's. And I put 20's and 30's on those papers. And I remember handing them back and seeing tears streaming down their faces.

And I asked them point blank. I said, what do you want me to do? Why? You want me to put grades on there you didn't earn so you can go home and tell mom and dad, hey, look at this grade I didn't earn.

And they said yes. We had a talk right then about honesty. That they should want to know the truth. If they don't know something, they should want me to be honest with them and tell them what they don't know.

And then go learn what they don't know. Parents, we should teach our children the Gospel. Recall Paul's reminder to Timothy about Timothy's upbringing. 2 Timothy 3, verse 14. You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them.

And that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Jesus Christ. Timothy learned the Gospel in his home growing up.

In 2 Timothy 1, verse 5, we read, for I am mindful of the sincere faith within you which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice. And I am sure that it is in you as well. Timothy learned the Scriptures growing up.

He had a godly mother and a godly grandmother who taught him the truth. He learned the Scriptures. There is much more that can be said regarding the subject of parents and our responsibility to teach our children, but let us summarize the responsibilities of parents very quickly.

We are to teach our children the Word of God. We are to teach our children the Gospel. We are to teach them to obey the Word of God. We are to teach them how to study God's Word. And we are to teach our children to develop their own skills and intellect.

Many of you have seen my parents. They've come down I guess a couple of times in recent years. My dad finally retired a couple of years ago. He was a civil engineer. He's a very smart guy. But I remember him coming into my room when I was in high school, and he would see me studying chemistry and he would just shake his head.

And he would say, I do not understand how that comes so easy to you. I had different strengths than he did. I have different weaknesses than he did. But he encouraged me to develop my own strengths. He didn't try to make me in his image.

Anyone who has either had children or if you have worked with children, you know how difficult it is to nurture them as individuals. Because we have our own strengths and our own weaknesses, it is hard to work with those who do not match your strengths and weaknesses.

This is one of the challenges as a teacher. Not every child thinks like I do. Second, let's talk about the students. First of all, students, you are responsible for having a malleable heart. A heart that can be formed.

A heart that can be shaped. There's a text in Proverbs 1. It's been on my mind for a few months. It's one of those where you read something over and over again and then finally one day it just stands out.

It's like there are neon signs pointing in this direction. It just stuck with me. Let's begin in verse 20. Wisdom shouts in the streets. She lifts her voice in the square. At the head of the noisy street she cries out at the entrance of the gates in the city.

She utters her sayings. How long, O naive ones, will you love being simple-minded? And scoffers delight themselves in scoffing and fools hate knowledge. Now pay attention to verse 23. Turn to my reproof.

Behold, I will pour out My Spirit on you. I will make My words known to you. Now I've already told you, I did not enjoy correction as a child. And I do not enjoy disciplining my own children. But look at what the text says.

God says, turn to My reproof. The student should desire to be taught. But look at the promise that God has with it. Turn to My reproof and behold, I will pour out My Spirit upon you. It's a promise of God.

Turn toward His correction. Turn toward His truth. Turn toward His discipline. I will pour out My Spirit upon you. I will make My words known to you. If there are students struggling with a subject, one of the first things I'll ask them is have you prayed about it?

Have you asked God to give you the knowledge? Have you asked Him to give you the wisdom and insight? Are you being obedient to what He has called you to do? Students are responsible for learning the material presented.

We've already read from 2 Timothy 2. Here's the verse again. Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed. Accurately handling the word of truth. One who accurately handles the truth presented to them need not be ashamed.

Students are to be diligent to learn the material placed before them. I don't assign my students work just to keep them occupied. The work that I assign them is relevant to the course. Relevant to wanting them to master the material.

They are responsible for putting forth the effort necessary to learn the material. This is part of being diligent. You do what is necessary to accomplish the task. Students need challenges. They learn the most about themselves and God when they face challenges.

Just as adults do. If you think about your own life, when you've learned the most about God, I suspect you would think it was when you had trials and struggles in your life. Why would our children be any different?

There seems to be a quest today to make everything simple. I've often wondered how I survived childhood without a bicycle helmet or knee pads. No, I'm not saying you should try to get your children to be injured.

That's not what I'm getting at. They need challenges. And believe it or not, there are times when they need to fail. Because they need to understand that it is God who is in charge and not them. Effort does not guarantee results.

This is a hard one for kids to understand. A young lady told me one time, I studied four hours last night for your test. I showed her the 48 that she earned and asked her how'd that go for you? She said not real well.

What she needed to learn was the importance of consistency in her study. It wasn't the fact that she had studied four hours that was the issue. It was that she would study the four hours the night before the test.

If she'd spent the entire week and spread that four hours over several days, her mind would have retained the information better. In 1 Corinthians 3 .6 we read, I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth.

Just because Apollos preached the Gospel didn't mean there was going to be conversions. But because God was the one causing the growth, He's the one who gets the credits. Here in Corinthians, Paul is addressing the Corinthian church regarding the unity of the body.

He clearly tells them that men may put forth effort to preach the Gospel and grow the church, but it is God alone who gets the glory for the growth. Just because students put forth effort does not mean that understanding will come.

For understanding comes from God, and He may choose not to give it to you. However, it is through the student's effort that God grants understanding. Our pastor has several times over recent weeks discussed the issue of evangelism.

We believe in the sovereignty of God. Why evangelize? The simple answer he has told us is because God says to. And the more complex answer that he gives is because God has not only ordained the ends, but He's also ordained the means.

It is through the preaching of the Gospel that sinners are converted. Likewise with students, it is through study that we learn truth. I want to address teachers. Teachers are called. The ability to teach is a gift.

In Romans 12 .7, teaching is listed as a spiritual gift. The ability to teach comes from God regardless of the subject area. Each of us can recall teachers who were better than others, teachers who cared more than others, teachers who were more effective than others.

Just because one is able to present material does not mean one is a good teacher. A gentleman with whom I work has been teaching literally longer than I have been alive, and he shared with me an anecdote about a gentleman who retired from the military.

20 years, I think. Went and got his teaching certificate and then came to come teach high school. I think physics may have been the subject. Well, he quit after the first day. He could handle 20 years in the military.

He could not handle one day with high school students. It is not something that everyone is called to do. Teachers have to desire to do the job. 1 Timothy 3 .1 If any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires to do.

An overseer is essentially what a teacher does. You oversee students. You manage students. And you really have to want to do the job on some days because the students will just beat you up. There are days when I am so thankful for the job that I do, and there are some days I wonder, why do I do this job?

Teachers must recognize the tremendous responsibility that is theirs. James 3 .1 Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment. I think this applies to teachers in the classroom, not just teachers in the church because there are more things I am teaching my students than just chemistry.

Teachers need to be humble. Paul knew the Gospel better than just about anyone. Yet, in the book of Colossians, there's an interesting passage in chapter 4. He begins in verse 2, "...devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving, praying at the same time for us as well that God will open up to us a door for the Word so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak.".

Remember, it is God's work to save souls, not man's work. And here's the Apostle Paul. As well as he knew the Gospel, as well as he understood how to preach, he's asking the Colossians to pray for him, number one, that he would have opportunities to preach, and number two, that he would have the right words to speak.

And if the Apostle Paul is asking for help, I suspect the rest of us need to do so as well. The same thing is true then of teaching in the classroom. A teacher may present material. A teacher may help students practice skills.

But ultimately, it is the Holy Spirit that enables a student to understand the truth. It's not my credit to claim for what it is my students learn. God's the one who opens their heart to the truth. Consequently, teachers must rely upon God for results.

John 15, verse 5, I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me, you can do nothing. If it weren't for God working on the hearts of My students, they wouldn't learn anything.

Teachers need to be firm, but gentle. This is kind of interesting because we don't often see those two going together. But in 2 Timothy 2, verses 24 and 25, the Lord's bondservant must not be quarrelsome, but kind to all able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition.

If they're in opposition, they need to be corrected. But there's a gentleness that needs to be applied if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth. Teachers need to be experts in their fields.

The cost of being a teacher and not knowing your subject can be detrimental. In 1 Timothy chapter 1, the Apostle Paul writes, beginning in verse 5, but the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith.

For some men, straying from these things, have turned aside to fruitless discussions, wanting to be teachers of the law even though they do not understand either what they are saying or the matters about which they make confident assertions.

If you don't understand what it is you are trying to teach, you're wasting your students' time. You're wasting your own time. As the text says here, you're straying. And the last thing any teacher should want to do is to lead their students astray.

An interesting passage in Romans chapter 2 dealing with the same issue. In Romans chapter 2, Paul is addressing the Jews and the law as it relates to the Gospel. He says in verse 17, but if you bear the name Jew and rely upon the law and boast in God and know His will and approve the things that are essential being instructed out of the law and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of the immature, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and of the truth, you therefore who teach another, do you not teach yourself?

You who preach that one shall not steal, do you steal? You who say that one should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the law through your breaking the law, do you dishonor God?

For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you just as it is written. False teaching leads students astray. When teachers are exposed as hypocrites, it makes it more difficult for other teachers to teach and students to trust their teachers in order to learn the material that's been presented to them.

Teachers need to inspire their students to learn. I told you before, I don't really spend a lot of time trying to help my students understand how chemistry matters to them now. But I do spend time telling them about my long-term goals for them.

I tell them what kind of people I want them to be in 5 years and 10 years out. That I want them to be godly men and women. That I want them to be godly husbands and wives and fathers and mothers. I tell them that my goal is for them to glorify God in all that they do.

Part of inspiring your students to learn is partnering with the students. Convincing them that I actually want them to learn. Working with their parents to do what I can to help them learn. I try to run my classroom in accordance with Scripture.

Some folks find this strange. But I think when you think about it, it makes sense. How many second chances has God given us? Times when we get things wrong. Yet God forgives us. I give my students opportunities to retake tests.

Because I want them to learn the material. I want them to take that test home on which they got that poor grade and I want them to study those concepts. I want them to learn them. And I want them to come back and demonstrate to me that they know them.