A Biblical View of Education (Part 2)

A Biblical View of Education Through the Glory of God

Lord, as we return to You, to know what You have allowed us to hold back to Thy Kingdom, we pray, Lord, that this will be used in a manner that will be pleasing to You. We ask these things, Lord, to be with preciousness.

Amen. Your children have not already left their free and holy service, Church.

About four months ago, the last time I had the opportunity to preach, and we examined the roles of parents, teachers, and students in the process of education. We began in the book of Deuteronomy, and we found that the Scripture teaches that education begins in the home, being the responsibility of parents to educate their children.

We examined the Scripture and found that teachers are to be moral examples to their students, experts in their respective fields, and understand that they are partnering with parents to prepare their students for what God has called them to do.

Finally, we found that the Scripture indicates that students should desire to be taught truth. They should desire to be corrected when in error, and they should realize that they are being trained to carry out the calling of God upon their lives.

This morning, I kind of want to take an interesting turn from this, if you will. I want to examine the biblical principles that are involved in teaching the particular subjects that we do in our schools.

Language arts, mathematics, science, history of the arts, and yes, even shop class. We're going to see that each of these areas of study has a biblical basis, and therefore students should take each of these classes seriously as they pursue their education.

Doing All to the Glory of God in 1 Corinthians 10

Next this morning might seem an odd place to begin, but I think as we progress, you'll see why we started here. We're going to start this morning in 1 Corinthians 10, verse 31. And so it is our custom, if you would please stand with me as we read from the Word of God.

Again, 1 Corinthians 10, verse 31. Whether then you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Give no offense either to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God, just as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of the many, so that they may be saved.

God, we thank you for the opportunity to open your Word and study and learn and grow thereby. Father, please give us ears to hear, give us eyes to see. Open our hearts to thy truth. And I pray, Father, that you would help me to proclaim truth and not falsehood.

Keep me from error, Lord, that your Word would be proclaimed, that your people would be edified, and that you would be glorified. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. You may be seated. Now again, you may be wondering, what does this passage have to do with education?

However, if you'll be patient, The church at Corinth had confusion about several different doctrines and practices that led to envy and strife within the congregation. The Corinthian church was having issues with marriage, church discipline, the use of spiritual gifts, observing the Lord's table, among other difficulties.

This letter to the church at Corinth to help them straighten out their problems and to put them on the correct... We're going to look at our text here in 1 Corinthians 10 and study it, and then take the principles from 1 Corinthians 10 and we're going to apply them to the process of education.

Let's begin in verse 31. Whether then you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. We often think of glorifying God through the major aspects of our lives, especially in how we behave in church.

Do we sing as we ought? Do we pray as we ought? Do we give tithes and offerings as we ought? Do we observe communion as we ought? Whatever we do, do all to the glory of God. This statement includes more than just how we behave in church.

It includes whatever we do. Even events that seem to us as minor as how we eat food and how we quench our thirst. Historical context is rather interesting. We don't think much about how we eat and how we drink or what we eat and what we drink.

But in Paul's day, this was a major issue. Because of the widespread practice of idolatry and the sacrifice of animals to these idols, Christians in the early church had to address whether it was appropriate to eat the meat from animals that had been sacrificed to idols.

All to the glory of God. Look back in 1 Corinthians 10. Find verse 23. He writes, All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful, but not all things edify. Let no one seek his own good, but that of his neighbor.

Eat anything that is sold in the marketplace, without asking questions for conscience's sake, for the earth is the Lord's and all it contains. If one of the unbelievers invites you and you want to go, eat anything that is set before you without asking questions for conscience's sake.

But if anyone says to you, this is meat sacrificed to idols, do not eat it for the sake of the one who informed you and for conscience's sake. I mean not your own conscience, but the other man's. For why is my freedom judged by another's conscience?

With thankfulness, why am I slandered concerning that for which I give thanks? The conscience, being clear, was important to the apostle Paul. The apostle's place is in the book of Acts. Chapter 23, if you want to turn there real quick.

Paul is testifying before the Sanhedrin, which was a council of Jewish Pharisees and Sadducees. Very much the decision makers in his day. And he was giving testimony to them concerning the gospel and his calling to preach.

And the text tells us in verse 1, Turn the page to Acts 24. Here he is testifying before Felix, one of the governors in the Arian. Let's begin in verse 10. Paul responded, I do serve the God of our fathers, believing everything that is in accordance with the law and that is written in the prophets, having a hope in God, which these men cherish themselves, that there shall certainly be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked.

In view of this, I also do my best to maintain always a blameless conscience before both God and before men. He sought to live his life such that his conscience was clear. Notice in the text here in Acts 24, he lays out the entire series of events that have led him to where he's at.

He wants Felix to understand, this is what I've done and my conscience is clear. I have not misbehaved in any way. We look here in 1 Corinthians chapter 10. This is what he means by talking about our conscience.

That it is supposed to guide us into what is correct and what is incorrect. And it is essential that our conscience be guided by scripture. For if it is our conscience that we're going to refer to when we make decisions about life, what we should do or what we should not do, what path should I go down or what path should I not go down.

It's our conscience that's going to give us peace about these paths that we could take. And our conscience needs to be guided by the word of God. We have liberty. Paul addresses that here in 1 Corinthians 10.

We have liberty to eat what we want, to drink what we want. It is therefore essential that our conscience be guided by the word of God. However, just because we have the liberty to do some act does not mean that we should do that act.

Others may have a conscience that does not allow them the same liberty. And exercising our liberty may cause them to stumble. This is Paul's point here in 1 Corinthians 10. Yes, we should do all to glorify God.

And that includes living in such a manner that we inspire others to excellence. Notice what he says here in verse 29. I mean not your own conscience, but the other man's. For why is my freedom judged by another's conscience?

If Paul wanted to eat the meat that was sacrificed to idols, he was going to eat the meat. To him that wasn't an issue. But he knew that his brothers might be weaker in their conscience and they might stumble because of his act.

And he was willing to put their needs above his own. He was willing to put their desires above his own. To him, that was glorifying God. Paul addresses the same issue in the book of Romans. Turn back a few pages to the left in your Bible to Romans 14.

Again, this was a major deal in Paul's day. Whether or not you should eat meat sacrificed to idols. Verse 13. Therefore, let us not judge one another any more, but rather determine this, not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother's way.

I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but to him who thinks anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. For if because of food your brother is hurt, you are no longer walking according to love, do not destroy with your food him for whom Christ died.

Do not let what is for you a good thing be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. For he who in this way serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men.

So then we pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another. Do not tear down the work of God for the sake of food. All things indeed are clean, but they are evil for the man who eats and gives offense.

It is good not to eat meat or to drink wine or to do anything by which your brother stumbles. The faith which you have as your own conviction before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself and what he approves, but he who doubts is condemned if he eats because his eating is not from faith and whatever is not from faith is sin.

We should not use our liberty to cause others to stumble. This is not glorifying God. As long as we are not being disobedient to God's word, we should put others above ourselves. Is it a sin to eat the meat?

No. Is it a sin to not eat the meat? No. Do that which your conscience allows. And if there is a brother who is weaker, who doesn't think it ought to be eaten, then don't. Back in our text in 1 Corinthians 10.

When he says whether then you eat or drink whatever you do to all of the glory of God, to them eating or drinking was a big deal. Because of the culture in which they lived. Paul's point is very simple, that whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

How you work. How you do your chores. Kids, how you obey your parents. Do you do it with a willing heart? Do you do it with a desire to serve? Don't. You should. Glory of God. Verse 32. Give no offense either to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God.

The same message is in Romans 14. Do not cause a man to stumble because of you exercising your Christian liberty. We should not cause any man to stumble. Paul expresses this idea by noting that we are to give no offense to either Jews or Greeks.

To those in the church, which he explicitly states, nor to those outside the church. As he is going to state in verse 33. Romans 12 .18, he writes, if possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men.

Whether Jews or Greeks, Christians, non-Christians, in our context, we should put others before ourselves. Talks about when he says, do all to the glory of God. Now look in verse 33. So please, all men and all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of the many, so that they may be saved.

Not causing others to stumble. And being at peace with all men. These glorify God. We'll look in our text. Paul seeks the profit of the many. He seeks to raise up many by his actions. Specifically, he seeks their salvation.

He strives to please all men so that, which denotes his purpose, they may be saved. Paul used his Christian liberty to bring others to Christ. God is glorified when his elect are regenerated by the Holy Spirit through the preaching of the word.

Paul does not want his conduct to distract from the message. When we engage in activities that others deem offensive, we are causing them to be distracted from our message. Sum this up in one word, hypocrisy.

Common in the church because we're human. We're going to make mistakes. We know this. But it is often our mistakes that become a distraction to others. Meaning that we try to preach the gospel. We want to see people saved.

But our conduct gets in the way of the message. We're supposed to live in a way that glorifies God. That does not distract from the message of the preaching of the gospel. Now, given our society's obsession with being offended, let us be clear about what we mean.

The gospel offends men because it calls men sinners and calls them to repentance. Yet we should not stop preaching the gospel because it offends men. This is not what Paul is saying. Rather, we should not engage in activities that men saved or unsaved would deem inconsistent with the Christian lifestyle.

For this causes men to stumble and be distracted from the gospel message. We do not want them to be distracted from the message because we want them to be saved. Are we going to do things out of obedience to God that are offensive to men?

Yes, because the gospel itself is offensive to men. Because it calls men sinners. It calls men to repentance. It says, you're not good enough to get to heaven on your own. You cannot earn righteousness on your own.

It doesn't matter how many prayers you pray. I don't care how many decisions you make or how many aisles you walk. You cannot justify yourself before God to the unsaved men. This is offensive, yet we're still to preach the gospel.

And by saying we were going to discuss education. How does this principle apply to education and especially to individual subjects such as math, science, history, etc.? Again, recall our text. Whether then you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

Recall the purpose of doing all for the glory of God is to see unbelievers saved. So how do the subjects we take in school help us glorify God? Now I can tell just by looking that many of you have already graduated.

Some of you have some gray hair. I have a few gray hairs of my own. And as you can see, I don't have much hair left to begin with. We're parents. Some of us are grandparents. We're aunts, uncles. We have the ability to influence those young children who are still around us.

So just because you may have graduated high school already, don't check out on me. The purpose of education is to prepare people to serve in the kingdom of God. I don't think school systems are going to tell you that.

But if you think about the parents' job in the home, that's what you're preparing your children to do. You're equipping them and preparing them to serve in the kingdom of God. It is through education that students learn skills and improve those skills to be of benefit to others.

Recall the purpose of spiritual gifts that Paul states in Ephesians 4 .12. For the equipping of the saints for the work of service to the building up of the body of Christ. Christians have spiritual gifts in order to serve others in the body of Christ.

Well guess what? We also have intellect too. Education is about learning how to use our spiritual gifts as well as our other talents and abilities to serve others in the body of Christ. If you think about the world even and just living life, I'm sure there are people who work on your car.

There are times when you go see the doctor and occasionally we have surgeries. Guess what? You want to know that the doctor who's cutting you open knows what he's doing. He needs to have the skills necessary to do the job.

Well how about the person who changes the brakes on your car? It better be done right. If it's not, we're going to have some serious problems. Learning skills matters. Start with language arts. At least that's what they called it when I was in school.

I don't know really what they call it now. We have, I don't know, English class, literature class, composition, rhetoric, all kinds of terms. We're going to group them all under language arts. Under this heading we will include grammar, writing, reading, rhetoric, composition, literature, and even foreign languages.

Language is essential to communication. Understanding definitions of words and how to piece words together to form sentences and paragraphs is required for communication. Proclaiming the gospel requires communication.

Understanding the scripture requires communication. Consider, scripture gives us examples of this. Ezra the scribe who taught the people when they returned from captivity to Jerusalem to rebuild the city, to rebuild the wall, to rebuild the temple.

In Nehemiah 8 .8 we read, they read from the book from the law of God, translating to give the sense so that they understood the reading. Ezra was to preach the word to the people. He was to explain it to them.

He was to give them the sense of the meaning so that they might know how to be obedient. In the gospel of John, chapter 1 and verse 18, John writes, no one has seen God at any time, the only begotten God who was in the bosom of the father.

He has explained him. And if you've heard that verse read around Richard Taylor very often, he will remind you every time, without fail, that the word explained here in the original is the word from which we get exegesis.

When we talk about exegeting a text, pulling out of the text what it means, that was the job of the son. He was to exegete or to explain the father. It requires communication. It requires the ability to articulate thought such that your hearers understand you.

Teaching is a big deal in the scripture. Consider Paul's first letter to Timothy. Several times in that letter, he makes reference to teaching or to instructing. Here's just some of the examples. Chapter 1, verse 3, instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrine.

Chapter 3, verse 15, the church of the living God is to be the pillar and support of the truth. Chapter 4, verse 11, prescribe and teach these things. Chapter 4 and verse 15, pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching.

Again, there are other passages, but these will suffice to show us the emphasis that Paul places upon good teaching, which requires the ability to communicate, which requires the use of language. We, therefore, need to study language.

How is it used? Why is it used? So that we will be more effective communicators of truth. Also, in studying the use of language, we are able to discern Paul's teaching so that we can avoid error. We need to learn definitions of words so that we know how they are used correctly, as incorrect uses of language often result in false teaching.

We need to be able to communicate with clarity. Christians are to be logical in both their doctrine and practice. As James says, let your yes be yes and your no be no. We are to be clear about what we say and write.

We, therefore, need to know definitions of words, how to articulate thoughts, and how to have discussions with a variety of people. And you'll notice our pastor does that a lot. How do you communicate with this group of people?

Or how do you communicate with that group of people? He wants us to understand how they think so that we know how to converse with them and share the gospel with them. Mathematics. Mathematics is about logic.

Mathematics teaches us to think in an orderly manner. For the Christian, this is most important, for we are to be a logical people. Because God is the source of all reason. He's the source of all knowledge.

Doctrine and practices are to be based upon Scripture. Recall the many times Jesus quoted Scripture and then rendered a conclusion, such as during his temptation by Satan when he was in the wilderness.

These are all examples of logical thoughts. Mathematics is where we usually are exposed to logical thought for the first time. Kind of wonder why so many of us have trouble with it. We like to be logical.

Sometimes we're very emotional. Science. Of course, this one's near and dear to me. Teach science. It's the study of how God put the universe together. In Genesis 1, God instructs man to subdue or have dominion over the earth.

Verse 27, chapter 1, God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him male and female. He created them. God blessed them and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it.

And rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth. Having a thorough understanding of something makes it much easier to subdue that something.

Or have dominion over it. Understanding how the earth's natural resources work and interact with each other helps us use these resources wisely. People today often want to claim that scripture and science should not be mixed.

Or should have nothing to do with each other. However, this is false. It is a way in which God has revealed himself. The fact that a creation exists implies the existence of a creator. In the same way, the presence of a book implies the presence of an author.

Or the presence of a building implies the presence of an architect or an engineer. Books do not come about by chance. Things do not come about by chance. There was not some tornado that blew through here, assembled this entire structure, and lo and behold, I flip the switch, the lights come on.

How did that happen? Yet there are people that would have us believe that this is so. Paul's line of thinking in Romans 1, verse 20,. For since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.

If there is a creation, there must be a creator. Consider also the words of Psalm 19, our call to worship this morning, verse 1,. The heavens are telling of the glory of God, and their expanse is declaring the work of his hands.

Those who want to claim that the earth and its inhabitants are present by chance does not make sense because chance cannot cause anything. Chance is a mathematical term. It is simply a mathematical analysis of the possibilities that an event might occur.

Chance is not a force that can cause the movement of anybody or anything. Take a simple coin. We see this before football games, right? They have a coin toss. You would think that you have a 50 -50 chance of turning up heads or a 50 -50 chance of turning up tails.

The fact of the matter is, once the referee flips the coin, if you know the force that he has applied to the coin, if you know the rotational velocity of the coin, and you know the air resistance upon the coin, you can predict whether it's going to turn up heads or tails.

It just tells you, well, there's a 50 -50 possibility. It might be heads or it might be tails. These variables about the coin, we can predict and know for certain, before the event happens, which is it going to be.

Now, I'm not going to stand here and tell you that I think coin tosses are rigged. That would be silly. But, I think you get the point. Chance does not cause anything. Chance is simply looking at all the possibilities that might occur and simply assigning a percentage and saying, I expect this to occur this many times out of 100, or out of 10, or 5, or whatever your basis is.

Christians should not be afraid of science because God is the creator of all. When the Bible is rightly understood, and when the creation is rightly understood, there will be no contradiction between them because they are revelations of the same God.

History, the Arts, and Shop Class as Training for Service

History is a crucial subject. Now, you might not know that from your experience in school because I think most history classes are what a former teacher once referred to as the heroes and holidays. You learn some names, you learn some dates, and as long as you've memorized those facts, and if you haven't really learned anything, you've memorized some facts, then you'll probably get a pretty good grade in your history class.

But that really isn't studying history. History is crucial because it is through the study of history that we learn about the consequences for being disobedient to God. We get to ask important questions such as, why did that person, at that moment in time, make that decision, and what were its consequences?

We see through the study of history how God blesses obedience and punishes disobedience. We also gain a thorough appreciation for many blessings that God has bestowed upon us. Compared to our ancestors, we have a very easy life.

We have many methods of efficient transportation. We have electricity, and we have methods of communication and information storage that are incredible when compared to the abilities of those who have come before us.

We stop to give pause and think that had to occur for you to be where you're at at this moment in time. Your parents had to meet, your grandparents had to meet, your great-grandparents had to meet, so forth and so on.

They migrated from place to place. Events that had to occur so that we could be here at this moment in time. In Psalm 78, we read about God commanding Israel to teach its children its history. Beginning in verse 1, Listen, O my people, to my instruction.

Incline your ears to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable. I will utter dark sayings of old which we have heard and known and our forefathers have told us. We will not conceal them from their children, but tell to the generation to come the praises of the Lord and his strength and his wondrous works that he has done.

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 may arise and tell them to their children that they should put their confidence in God and not forget the works of God but keep his commandments and not be like their fathers a stubborn and rebellious generation a generation that did not prepare its heart and whose spirit was not faithful to God.

We parents need to teach our children about what it was like to grow up in our day. We especially need our grandparents and great-grandparents to tell us what it was like to grow up in their day. I am blessed to have a grandfather who is still living.

And I asked him a couple of months ago he was born in 1926 in western North Carolina and I asked him Grandpa what was your favorite chore? Now because he grew up on a farm he worked all day long and it was surprising to hear his answer.

He said plowing. Now back in that day they did not have big tractors a disc apparatus pulled behind. They used the old-fashioned method of a donkey pulling a plow. Now he told me I think it was about age 11 that he wasn't yet old enough to set the plow for depth and width and these sorts of things but once one of his older siblings had it all set he'd plow for hours on end which explains why my grandfather loved gardening so much.

In his younger days he would have as many gardens as people would let him. They didn't have to be in adjacent lots they could be in various places. We need to pass on that. History is a subject that we should take seriously.

Successes and failures of our ancestors. We might live better for God. The arts is an area that is often overlooked in Christian circles. This is not hard to figure out why Godless music, pornography, Godless paintings and literature, etc. we can see why it quickly gets forgotten or is forgotten.

However, consider the 150th Psalm. Praise the Lord. Praise God in His sanctuary. Praise Him in His mighty expanse. Praise Him for His mighty deeds. Praise Him according to His excellent greatness. Praise Him with trumpet sound.

Praise Him with harp and lyre. Praise Him with timbrel and dancing. Praise Him with stringed instruments and pipe. Praise Him with loud cymbals. Praise Him with resounding cymbals. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord. Notice the variety of instruments and even activities that are described here. We as Christians should be encouraging godly use of the arts through the arts that we are helped to worship.

We sing songs every Sunday. We sing hymns every Sunday. Somebody has to play the instruments. Somebody has to lead the singing. If there is a group that should have any interest at all in the propagation of the arts it should be the church.

When it comes to things like painting and decorating don't we want to have a pleasant place to come and worship? It may surprise you. Even shop glass should be used to glorify God. If you have your Bibles with you turn back to the book of Exodus.

I want you all to see this. I can't begin to tell you the number of times you read through Exodus because you get in a pattern of just reading through your real gung-ho. You start in Genesis you get to Exodus and kind of waver a little bit.

By the time you get to Leviticus and all the laws it's kind of boring. But you hang in there. But this passage in the last few months has stood out to me. We're in Exodus chapter 35 when God is giving instructions to Moses about constructing the tabernacle as well as the ark the land stand and items the priests were to use for the sacrifices offered to God.

That's the context. And begin in verse 30. Then Moses said to the sons of Israel See the Lord has called by name Bezalel the son of Uri the son of Hur of the tribe of Judah. And he has filled him with the spirit of God and wisdom and understanding and in knowledge and in all craftsmanship.

To make designs for working in gold and in silver and in bronze and in the cutting of stones for settings and in the carving of wood so as to perform in every inventive work. He has also put in his heart to teach both he and Aholiab the son of Ahissamah of the tribe of Dan.

He has filled them with skill to perform every work of an engraver and of a designer and of an embroiderer in blue and in purple and in scarlet material and in fine linen and of a weaver as performers of every work and makers of designs.

Now some might say this was a one time event. Instructed the tabernacle one time. They only made the lamp stand once. They only made the ark once. But I think the principle still stands. I suspect that many of us in our lifetime have known people who are really good with working with wood or working with metal.

Some people just have a knack for being able to fix cars. Some people are able to grow gardens and flowers. Some are able to sew. Some are able to cook. All those abilities. So don't take shop class just because you want a class that you can blow off in and have fun.

Take it seriously. The skills that you learn even there are skills that you can use to glorify God. It is the purpose of education to bring out of the student what God has placed within the student so that the student learns to do that which God has called him to do.

Now I want to be clear about something here because there are many in our modern education system who would tell you that a child is a blank slate. What they mean by that is that the child is not born with a nature.

The child is not born with any preconceived notions or abilities. That's not biblical. Back to your own situation in class. There are some who are really good at math but they couldn't write very well.

Others who are very good at science but they couldn't shoot a jump shot to save their lives. ...uniquely and it's the job of education to bring out of the child what God has placed within. Back to our original text in 1 Corinthians.

The Corinthians were having difficulty practicing Christianity according to how the Apostle Paul instructed them. They needed godly leaders who could communicate the truth. They needed godly leaders who understood how godliness was to be lived out in society so that whatever they did they did to glorify the Lord.

They needed to be educated and this is what Paul sought to do. As they were to glorify the Lord in all things so that unbelievers might be saved so we are to do the same. We are to learn how to use our gifts talents and intellect to help one another grow in the grace and knowledge of the truth as well as helping others to come to a saving knowledge of the gospel.

Subjects of language arts mathematics, science history of the arts and shop class can help us learn skills that are beneficial to us as we seek to glorify the Lord in all we do. In conclusion as we are all gifted differently according to the gifts given to us by the Holy Spirit so our successes in these subjects will vary.

We should always give our best even when the subject is not your strong suit. Parents and grandparents we need to communicate these truths to our children and grandchildren. Sunday school teachers and youth workers teach these truths to the students God has entrusted to you whether then you eat or drink or whatever you do.

Thank you Father God that you have called us out of the world that you have drawn us unto yourself through your word and through your spirit and we thank you for your son and his sacrifice on the cross.