Wednesday, January 24, 2024 PM

Parents in the state, a biblical perspective. We're gonna start off in Genesis. So if you wanna go ahead and start rolling that direction, it's one of the easiest books in the Bible to find. If I was back in Bible college, my professor would still dutifully say, open your Bibles to the table of contents and locate the book of Genesis.

Mine's on page one. Let's begin with a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, I thank you so much for this night. I thank you for the time we've had together bearing one another's burdens, interceding for each other and those outside of our local body.

Well, we thank you for the opportunity to follow Christ and to do the very same work that he is doing for us all the time, interceding for each other. Pray that you will have heard our prayers favorably for the sake of your son.

Pray that you would help us tonight as we think about your word and its sufficiency and its authority in our lives today. We pray these things in the name of Christ, amen. I appreciate Chris Giesler passing along something to me earlier this week and some of the rest of us.

And I thought it would be helpful to talk about that briefly, but then talk about what the Bible has to say. House Bill 4130 in the state of Oklahoma was introduced by Representative Swope. And it is an act that really goes against, I would say the last two or three decades of education and homeschooling in the state of Oklahoma.

My parents started homeschooling my brother and I in the late 80s here in Oklahoma. And that was when homeschooling was still kind of frontier, kind of way out there. You basically wore tinfoil hats if you homeschooled in the late 80s.

But my parents forged on ahead and did it anyway. For context, in the late 70s, early 80s, FBI were kicking down pastor's doors and hauling them off to jail for having Christian schools that did not kowtow to the state.

So during the late 70s and early 80s, if you tried to do Christian education and you did not let Caesar tell you, or the state tell you how to educate children, then you could go to prison. A lot of things changed for the good and we are reaping the benefits of a lot of that today.

Oklahoma has been known for being the freest state in the union when it comes to homeschooling. And it's been a prayer of mine because I figured that that's going to be moving into the targeting ridicule of liberals because they don't like people being free.

They want people to be doing whatever they tell them to. So we have something interesting. There is a House Bill 4130 to amend a law that's already on the books about protecting children. Children are abused.

We've got people living in poor conditions, high on meth, abandoning their kids, leaving them in squalor. And they are evil. They are doing wicked things. And the state is God's minister to punish them and deter others from doing terrible things to kids.

We've got laws on the books here in the state of Oklahoma that are righteous, God-honoring, biblically valid laws. Well, this law is now being proposed to be amended come November with some addition, some new things added to this good law.

By Representative Swope from Tulsa, who did not have a great upbringing in childhood and she went through a lot of terrible things. So obviously she's responding to some of that. But to put it succinctly, and you can read it for yourself, it's about 32 pages long, but the important parts are on the last few pages.

The proposal is this, that on or before the school district start date, parents make, parents, all parents, no matter who you are, parents making the decision to choose homeschooling, podschooling, microschooling, shall submit a letter of intent to the Department of Human Services, and it goes on.

Meaning that you have to check in with the state and tell them what you're doing in the education of your children. And if you change your mind and try something else, you have to tell the Department of Human Services, who will then conduct background checks on you to see whether or not any red flags pop up.

And if that happens, then they're going to say, no, you're not allowed to educate your children in those ways. Now this is a grave departure from what we have enjoyed as residents of the state of Oklahoma in educating our children and having the freedom to do so.

And it's treating righteous parents as if they are under suspicion of doing evil. Just out and out, you have to check in with the state, otherwise you don't get to educate your children. And we don't know.

So the definitions in the law as they stand about neglect or abuse and so on and so forth are pretty standard definitions. Those definitions can change. And all those definitions are including but not limited to.

So when they talk about abuse, neglect, and those things that are criminal, they list things that say including but not limited to. And it's the not limited to thing that we need to pay attention to. Because if someone determines, and they have court precedents, that you're abusing your children if you don't educate them the way that the government schools are educating them, if you don't give them the whole plethora of the so-called sex education that the public schools are doing, then you're abusing your children.

If you don't teach them the doctrine of evolution, you are abusing your children. You're neglecting your children. If anybody can get a precedent like that, so on and so forth, then they're gonna say, no, you're under suspicion, we have a complaint against you, and so on.

Right now, as the law stands, if anything ever goes to court, the state of Oklahoma can take your children for seven days until they get a complaint officially filed. If they don't do that, then it expires and your children come back to you.

Seven days compared to the state of Washington, which is two years. They can take your kids for two years without ever having to file anything officially. So I'm not saying the state of Oklahoma's in a bad position, I'm just letting you all know what's on the books.

Why is it a problem, why is it a bad thing for us to have to check in with the state, with the Department of Human Services, and say, I'm going to educate my children this way, I'm just checking in with you, making sure it's okay with you while you do background checks on me like I'm a suspicious character.

Why is it a bad thing? Well, there's a lot of ways you can approach that, but I think that we need to think, what does the Bible have to say about parents and education in the state? What are the relationships there?

How are we to understand that dynamic? Just a brief overview, when we're talking about the forms of society as we have them in the scriptures, we can talk about the family that we see in Genesis chapters one and two and so on, we can talk about the state that we see in its nascent form in Genesis chapter nine and following, and we can talk about the church as we see it established by Christ and laid out for us in the book of Acts and so on and so forth.

But these are three distinct forms of society that have their own way of functioning. There's hierarchy in each of these. We have husbands and wives and parents and children and a family, don't we? We have elders and deacons and congregants in a church.

We have magistrates and judges and so on and citizens of our nation. These are various forms of society, but they each have their own biblical purpose. And when you begin reading the scripture, we begin to see that the family initially is propagation, but that's a thin word.

How about a thick word, dynasty, right? We are to, God made us in his image to be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and subdue it. To not only bear children, but to build houses and live in them and plant gardens and reap from them and do big things as families.

Oikonomos in the Greek is where we get our word economy from, okay? What is the state? Is a deacon, minister of God to punish evil doers and to praise the workers of righteousness. We can find that in Romans 13 and in first Peter as well.

And then the church is the pillar and ground of the truth. So preaching, that's a thin word, but making disciples, right? Make disciples of all the nations. That's the thick word, that's the rich word.

And the state is to punish, but more importantly, to deter. In between these different forms of society, there's a cooperation. For this reason, we pay taxes, Christ says, Paul says, right? So the state has an interest in the economy.

In our assessment from the scripture, the state has far too big of an interest in the economy, but the family is where it degenerates the economy. But between the family and the church is where we find education.

Now, the state is supposed to praise workers of righteousness. The state is to get the key to the city to somebody, to issue a certificate of praise and say, this is an upstanding citizen. How do they know who are good citizens and bad citizens?

Well, that's the church's job defining, hey, this is what the word says about what's true, what's false, what's right, what's wrong, so on and so forth. But education, when we read the scriptures, we discover the education, the bringing up of children and the fear and the admonition of the Lord lies between the family and the church.

Mostly the family, but the church has a role in it. Do you know who doesn't have any role in the education of children whatsoever in the Bible? The state has zero, zero role in the education of children, none whatsoever.

And today we live in a world where most people can't think of the difference between them, right? The state, you have to check in with the state to know whether or not you're educating your children properly, right?

Am I educating my children well? Are they educated? I don't know, I'll go find, I'll go check in with the state. Oh, state, please tell me whether I'm educating my children right or not. How did we end up with that mindset?

It's not a biblical mindset. And we're gonna talk about that tonight. So we're gonna start with the origin of education in Genesis chapter one. So let's read Genesis one 26 through following. Then God said, let us make man in our image according to our likeness.

Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So God created man in his own image.

In the image of God, he created him. Male and female, he created them. Then God blessed them and God said to them, be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.

God makes us in his own image. Unlike any of the other creatures, unlike any of the other creatures, we are called and designed to love God supremely, love each other rightly, and steward the creation responsibly.

Big task. Big task. But being made in the image of God in order to live out that unique nexus of relationships, we are not autonomous. We don't live by our own authority. We don't determine right and wrong for ourselves like Adam and Eve do when they eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and fall into sin.

We are reliant upon God. The worship switch is hardwired on. And we are but mediators. In that we are stewards. How do we love God supremely, love each other rightly, and steward the creation responsibly other than by mediating his truth?

I'm not my own truth. I mediate God's truth. Mediating his holiness. This is sacred. This is common. By mediating his authority. I'm not my own authority. I don't stand here in my own authority. Any authority I have is one that I am mediating from my creator who has designed all hierarchy for his own glory.

And so in that, the very nature of being made in the image of God is that we are the Sea of Galilee, not the Dead Sea. We are not the end. The Dead Sea, the water flows into the Dead Sea. And well, there's no outlet from the Dead Sea.

So it's dead. We're to be more like the Sea of Galilee. Water flows in, water flows out. We're a mediator. We're about to love others. We're supposed to love God, love others. We're supposed to be what God gives unto us.

We are to pass on to others. The very nature of relationship. Now, at the very end of Genesis chapter two, verse 24, I meant to write 24. It says, therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and they shall become one flesh.

The institution of the family, God made Adam and Eve and instantly made them husband and wife. The very nature of all human society begins with the primary relationship of marriage. You can't envision human society without beginning with what is marriage.

And from the very beginning, this is, there is the idea that a child will leave from the very beginning. A man shall leave his father and his mother, be joined to his wife and the two shall become one flesh.

Meaning, in a sense, the month of May in your 18th year of life is not graduation. I mean, well, it is. But biblically, graduation is what? When you leave father and mother and be joined to another. That's graduation in Genesis for the family.

And all education, whether it's reading, writing, arithmetic, but especially fearing the Lord, is aiming towards this, bringing glory to God, being made in his image, being fruitful, multiplying, filling the earth and subduing it in the name of Christ so that the knowledge of God covers the earth as the waters cover the sea.

All praise to God. What is the origin of education is here in Genesis. It's the family. And we see in chapter four that Cain and Abel are worshiping God. How'd they learn how to do that? What sacrifices to offer, where to offer it, how to go through those processes.

Who taught them that? Adam and Eve taught them that, obviously, didn't they? Okay. Education is going on from the very beginning. Let's talk about the purpose of education. Let's go over to Proverbs chapter one.

The purpose of education. Now a proverb is like a, it's a rich sentence that is to lay on the mind and it's just to teach through the pondering of it. It's the construction of, if you have like some sort of a cleaning solution, it just says spray and leave.

Okay. That's like a proverb. It's just spray and leave and it does its work, right? There's other forms of education, which are just fine. And some of your kids, I'm scrubbing it into their heads all the time, right?

But a proverb is a spray and leave kind of thing. It just sits there and it does its work. And so what are these Proverbs for? The Proverbs of Solomon, the son of David, King of Israel. The Proverbs are for what?

To know wisdom and instruction. They're useful to know wisdom and instruction. To perceive the words of understanding. To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, judgment, and equity. To give prudence to the simple, to the young man, knowledge and discretion.

Do you see that education is not only about information, right? Knowledge is there certainly, but the purpose of knowledge, the utility of knowledge, the application of knowledge, this instruction and wisdom and understanding, the moral aspect is here.

To know what justice is. To have good judgment, good discernment. To operate in equity, the biblical version of that. Prudence, discretion. Where do we get the idea that the ideal education system as far as the state is concerned is that they would simply offer bare information.

Leave your moralizing out of it, the right says to the left. But the left knows. Education and moral development are inseparable, right? And the right says, just, you know, you should not have anything about morality and moral development.

Just teach them algebra. Just teach them long division, right? Just teach them a noun from a verb. Don't get into all this moral education stuff. And the left is like, no, we're going to craft them in our own image.

You render your children to Caesar, to Caesar they will go. But in this debate of right versus left, I think the word from our Lord is no. No, it's the parents educating the children. Ultimately, they're responsible for the education of their children however that process gets through.

And look at the moral side of it, okay? The purpose of education is wisdom, justice, judgment, equity, discretion. A wise man, verse five, will hear an increased learning. A man of understanding will attain wise counsel.

Do you understand a proverb and an enigma, the words of the wise and their riddles. Now listen, verse seven. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

My son, hear the instruction of your father. Do not forsake the law of your mother, for they will be a graceful ornament on your head and chains about your neck. And so the purpose of education is to adorn the child with the fear of God.

To wear wisdom, instruction, knowledge, understanding, to know how the world works. Maybe not have all the information, not a walking encyclopedia, but to be in any situation and know how the world works.

You may not have gone down this particular section of the river and been in these rapids before, but you know how to paddle this kayak, right? This is being educated in a biblical term, to be able to know what the world is really about and to fear the Lord.

So reading, writing, and arithmetic, but all of that in the fear of the Lord. To drive this home, we look at Ecclesiastes chapter 12, verses nine through 14, the outcome of education. We receive a corrective perspective in this passage on education, especially corrective to the academy and all those expressions of the academy.

Verse nine, and moreover, because the preacher was wise, the Kohalath character in Ecclesiastes is Solomon, okay? And moreover, because the preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge. Yes, he pondered and sought out and set in order many Proverbs.

The preacher sought to find acceptable words, and what was written was upright words of truth. The words of the wise are like goads, they spur you on. And the words of scholars are like well-driven nails, they stick around.

Notice, given by one shepherd. Solomon, for all of the struggles that he had with seeing the way that the world worked and being cynical from time to time throughout the book of Ecclesiastes, notice at the very end, all of knowledge and education and wisdom is centered around one truth giver.

There's a unifying of all truth and understanding, and it's in not some sort of unmoved mover, not some sort of secret knowledge giver, but notice the metaphor he chooses, a shepherd, a shepherd. Do you think that possibly Jesus had in mind, I am the good shepherd more than simply some of the Psalms, but he had in mind this as well?

Jesus, who is the way, the truth and the life, that he's the good shepherd. Verse 12, and further my son be admonished by these of making many books there is no end, and much study is wearisome to the flesh.

That doesn't mean that books are bad or that studying is bad. Paul says that physical exercise does give a little profit, right? But what's of most value? Well, verse 13, let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter.

Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is man's all, for God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil, fear God. What does it mean to fear God? To think of him first and to think of him most.

He's the controlling factor in our decision-making and our valuing and our pondering and our considering. If we're looking for relevance or the importance of any decision or bit of information we come across, think of God first, think of God most.

This is the fear of the Lord, understanding who he is from his word. So the outcome of education is, you can wear yourself out studying and there's no end to how many books that can be written and read.

But the outcome of it is, well, very much like the purpose and the origin of it, isn't it? All right, and then let's go to Colossians chapter two and consider the glory of education. Glory in the scripture is a word in the Old Testament, especially comes with the word kabod, which means weight.

Abraham was called a glorious man because he was a weighty man. He had a lot of stuff. As he traveled through Canaan, it was like he was such a weighty man that the entire landscape just kind of dipped in and all sorts of people and all sorts of things happened around him because he was full of glory.

God made him weighty. The word glory also has the idea of light, brilliance. So it not only catches your eye, it also gives you light by which to see. When we think about glory being weight and light, I think of a star, I think of the sun.

And this weightiness and this brilliance has captured us and it illuminates us. In other words, whatever is glorious is what we're in orbit around, how we see things. What are you in orbit around? What holds the most influence and weight and significance in your life?

This is your glory. When we read through the scripture, sometimes it's almost, in God I will glory. And God complains against the Israelites who take little wooden statues, little tiny bits of stone, and they put their lives in orbit around these light, weightless, meaningless things, vanity.

So what is the glory of education? In other words, when we think of education, what should it be in orbit around? What is it always to be spinning around, being illuminated by, being understood in that significance?

Colossians chapter two, Paul writes, for I want you to know what a great conflict I have for you and those in Laodicea. And for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh, their hearts may be encouraged being knit together in love and attaining to all riches of the full assurance and of understanding to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the father and of Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

So where are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden? Not Harvard, not Oxford, right? Not in some secret text from the ancient world and not from some future discovery to be made by the James Webb telescope.

Where is all of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden there in Christ, who is God of very God, man of very man, of the right hand of the father, king of kings and Lord of lords. How fitting that our king has all wisdom in all understanding that he indeed is the truth.

Paul says, now I say this, lest anyone should deceive you with persuasive words. It's like Paul knows his audience. For though I am absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in spirit rejoicing to see your good order in the steadfastness of your faith in Christ.

As you therefore have received Christ Jesus, the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. Isn't our prayer for our children?

That's my prayer for my children, verses six and seven. And what a happy home that is. Verse eight, beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit. Right, they're gonna use persuasive words, he said earlier.

Now he says, they're gonna cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit according to the tradition of men. In other words, scholasticism. In other words, experts say, studies show, no one's believed that nonsense in 25 years, right?

Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world and not according to Christ. For in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily and you are complete in him who is the head of all principality and power.

This is not a passage for just how we understand our worship in the church or what kind of preaching and teaching we should have in the church, okay? We shouldn't ecclesiasticize the scriptures and say the Bible is for the church only.

Like, when it comes to the Bible, we'll use it in church, but you know, family and state, we use other means. The Bible doesn't belong directing the family. We have modern families now. The Bible shouldn't be anywhere near the state, right?

Because they inherently are already very wise and righteous. Right? Not at all. A bit of what we're talking about is a biblical perspective on things, the origin of education to the glory of education, ultimate first and foremost about God and his glory is revealed in Jesus Christ.

So, when it comes to House Bill 4130 and the idea that we should be checking in with the state to let them know how we're educating our children, it's none of their business. That doesn't mean that we're not under authority.

We are under authority. We're under the authority of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. How does he want us to educate our children? It may be that we school them in our home. We may group up with the families in co-ops and do it that way, or as they talk about the pod school or the micro school, but parents are responsible for that.

It could be that churches and families gather together to form a school like Christian Heritage Academy. Ultimately, the education of these children, who's responsible for it? Parents are. Parents are.

And the teachers there at CHA and the administration at CHA, they are accountable to the parents, aren't they? In a big way. I've sat on a CHA board meeting. They are very concerned about being accountable to the parents, because that's where God put the responsibility.

And it's not that families have to go at it alone, because obviously the church is involved in helping encourage and equip parents to help them educate their children and to minister to those children and to share the good word of God with them.

So, I wrote a letter to my representative, letting him know this was a bad idea, saying the things that were good already on the books that were good, and why we should not pursue these new additions.

And I encourage you to do the same. I encourage you to do the same. It's not too hard to figure out who your representative is. Just go online, say, who is my representative, and type in Oklahoma, and then all sorts of stuff pops up, all sorts of resources, phone numbers, emails.

It takes about 10 minutes. So, I encourage you to think about it, pray about it, reflect on the truths of scripture, and contact your representative and say, this is a really bad idea. There are some people who have come to the state of Oklahoma precisely because this kind of stuff doesn't happen here, right?

And so, we don't want this kind of stuff to happen here. Not only is it unbiblical, it's just really annoying. Any questions or thoughts as we close? Thank you. Well-planned. So, yeah, Tuesday, February 6th, down at the Capitol, I know at 10 o 'clock, down at the state Capitol, not too far from here, is Abolition Day.

They have a pro-life day called Rose Day, but has been proven time after time that pro-life industry is about regulating abortion, not eliminating it. Abolitionists are into eliminating abortion altogether.

We have a huge win on the books. Surgical abortion is outlawed in the state of Oklahoma. We have a big problem on the books. Chemical abortion is abounding everywhere. So, we are going to be gathering February 6th, 10 o 'clock, down at the state Capitol for Abolition Day.

Do you know what time or events are for Homeschooling Day? Oh, boy. To take to your representatives. Okay, okay, very good. So, you can show up early and take care of some of this business, and then also go and join for Abolition Day.

Thank you for bringing that up. I was gonna mention that, and I totally forgot. So, very good. Yes?

With parental advocacy in the state.

Okay. So, if you're interested in hearing more about that and how to help, go back there and talk to Kristen before we head out, because I think that's very important, thank you. Thank you. All right, anything else?

Okay, well, let's close in a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the night. We thank you for the opportunity to study your word. I pray that we would think your thoughts after you about these situations, that we would be biblical in all of our approaches to these situations.

We thank you for a true, everlasting, sufficient, and rich word that we can rely upon.