2
Corinthians 10:4-6
The goal of Christian education is obedience. As rightly pointed out by the Apostle Paul
here, that obedience is at the end of his educating the Church. God’s desire is for his people to walk in the
path of obedience. AW Tozer in his book
“I call It Heresy: And Other Timely Topics from First Peter” argues:
Brethren, I would point out that
obedience is taught throughout the entire Bible and that true obedience is one
of the toughest requirements of the Christian life. Apart from obedience, there
can be no salvation, for salvation without obedience is a self-contradictory
impossibility. The essence of sin is rebellion against divine authority.[1]
Adam and Eve took the first
step toward disobedience. And ever since
the entire world is under a curse.
Disobedience never leaves humanity.
Humans continue to be disobedient to God. Humans don’t know any better under this
curse. Deep down in their conscience
they know how they have been transgressing against the law of heaven. But yet they are incapable to choose
obedience. And this is the fate of
sinners. But God is not finished with
humanity. He has predestined some to be
saved through his son Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:3-14, cf. Romans 8:29). And now, as God’s renewed people in Christ
Jesus, we are being discipled to learn obedience. The Apostle Peter calls Christians as the
elect whom he described in 1 Peter 1:2 “2 according
to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit,
for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood.”
In agreement with Paul, Peter too points
toward obedience as the goal. Salvation
has been received in Jesus Christ.
Obedience is to be the natural result.
And it is the mark of God’s children.
Whereas through Adam the entire humanity becomes disobedient, through Christ
God’s elect becomes obedient (cf. Romans 5:19).
In Christ we are enabled to obey God.
Therefore, as Tozer has pointed out, it is impossible for those who are
saved in Christ to continue living in disobedience. They have undertaken a new man, the obedient
man. The obedient man can’t continue
living in disobedience. This is what
Paul says in Ephesians 4:22-24: “22 to put off
your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt
through deceitful desires, 23 and
to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and
to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness
and holiness.”
A radical change for those who are saved in Christ is
thus expected. The change from living
the old self to living the new self. The
change is radical precisely because the mark of the old man is disobedience in
Adam, whereas the mark of the new man is obedience in Christ. When Horace Bushnell, in “Christian Nurture,”
called for serious Christian education, he was highly motivated due to the fact
that Christians neglected teaching their younglings how to become
Christian. They were so caught up with
the doctrine of predestination and misunderstood it severely that they saw
educating their children as a futile endeavor.
They believed that since it was God’s work to convert people to believe
in Christ, so they freed themselves the responsibility of bringing up their
kids “in the discipline and instruction
of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4).
Bushnell called their irresponsible behavior as the “ostrich nurture.” If we observe nature, we will find out that
ostriches leave their offspring on the sand in plain sight that other animals
can prey and trample on them. Christians
in the time of Bushnell behaved just like ostriches when they neglected the
education of their children. And so
their children grew up wild, not knowing what was right or wrong, living in
disobedience and rebelliousness. But
Jesus himself has commanded to “20 teaching
them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:20a). And “them” here is all nations (cf. 19). This “teaching” is part of Jesus’ commission
for the disciples to disciple all nations.
The goal is obedience. The goal
is to become like Jesus Christ, as expressed in Ephesians 4:13: “13 until we all attain to the unity of the
faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the
fullness of Christ.” And
Jesus Christ is the obedient Son of the Father, whom Paul says in Philippians
2:6-8 as: “6 who,
though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be
grasped, 7 but
emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of
men. 8 And being
found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming
obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”
Christian education, therefore, must strive to educate
for obedience. As Paul indicates in 2
Corinthians 10, there are many competing worldviews in the world. Any form of Christian education must recognize
this reality. Informal education in the
family is supposed to be the strongest stronghold for the Christian worldview
that leads to obedience in Christ. But
just like what happened in the time of Bushnell, we too experience many
setbacks today.
There are many issues in
the homes, that many times parents neglect bringing up their kids “in the discipline and instruction of the
Lord.” There is another reality as
well that there are young Christians who become Christians through evangelism
while at the same time their parents are not Christians. For these issues, many other issues I cannot
name one by one here, many then look toward the church to provide Christian
nurture. For many centuries, the church
has become the center of Christian nurture.
But yet, as recognized by Christ’s apostles, there are many false
teachers infiltrating the church as well.
In the case of 2 Corinthians 10, Paul is battling the false
teachers. The battle of worldviews is
fierce. There are many casualties in the
battle. False teachers confuse many
people with their eloquent speech and convincing presentation. Many have fallen into the deception. This battle is not over yet, it is in fact
still ongoing. In the rise of schooling,
organized formal education, the battle of worldviews is perpetuated into this
realm as well. Today we witness that
school is one of the biggest arenas for the battle of worldviews.
Education has always been dealing with the formation of
the mind, of the will, of the tendency, of the habit, of culture, and so
on. Whoever wins this battle, wins the
world. School has taken this battle very
seriously. School has claimed more and
more domains. Its place in the structure
of society has become very prominent, that in our modern world today we cannot
picture a civilization without school.
School gains prominence by housing knowledge. People send their kids to school with the
expectation that their kids will gain the necessary knowledge that will sustain
them in life. And the knowledge that
school hosts is selected, only the best knowledge believed to have the power to
achieve success. School is not only
campaigning against one another, but in reality, if we are careful in our
analysis, we will find that school competes with other forms of education. The weapon of school is knowledge, and will
always be.
When kids come home from
school, their pride lies in the acquisition of knowledge. Come time to share the knowledge, and the
parents realize that their kids have been formed by the school’s worldview, so
the worldview of the parents collides with the worldview of the school. In the battle, what will the kids choose to
continue to believe? Often the kids
choose the worldview being propagated by school. Because often the timing of the battle
coincides with the development of the kids who begin to see their parents as
antique. School, mostly, houses cutting
edge knowledge, which in itself holds a huge power that captivates the mind of
the youngsters. The information age has
catapulted the importance of school in life.
Most people today believe that school is not only important, but also
necessary. In order to secure the
cutting edge knowledge, school strives to station the best professors in the
field in each respective knowledge category.
Therefore, how can simple parents or pastors compete against world
renown professor or researcher or the Nobel prize winner and the likes? For sure the authority lies with school. The battle of worldviews has been won by
school ever since.
So Ivan Illich called for “Deschooling Society.” That’s the title of Illich’s most famous
book. The structure of society has been
shaped by school. Every single facet of
life is marked by school. So Illich has
had it. He saw the failure of such
system. He saw that human society is
being imprisoned by school.
Access to
knowledge is no longer free. It is
controlled by school. It is determined
by school. School becomes the judge of
what is right or wrong, what is good or bad.
It is the common belief today that whatever the school says is right. For sure, school has won the battle of
worldviews. Regardless of what worldview
it is being perpetuated by school, as long as school is the one saying it, it
must be true. Whereas, all other forms
of education do not enjoy the luxury of the power of school. All other forms of education is easily
doubted. They do not have the fortress
as thick as school. They do not have the
neat organization of knowledge as tidy and solid as school. They are not centralized, but scattered, and
so easier to be attacked and subdued.
This is a scary picture. Because
if school follows not the truth, the result would be catastrophic to the entire
society. With the amount of power in its
hands, the end could be devastating for whoever sets out himself against
school. Illich’s call is important, even
though it would be impossible to do so.
His call is a reminder of what sort of power is now in the hand of
school. The formation of the life of the
people depends solely on school. And the
most dominant worldview in school today is based on science. Science in itself is not bad. It is a good discipline. Science has helped human life big time. It is a gift of God to all of us. But science cannot be the foundation of
worldview. Its scope is limited. It can only understand what is past. It cannot understand what is in the
future. It can only understand what is
natural. It cannot understand what is
super natural. Even its understanding of
what is past and natural is limited to the scope of the knowledge as it has
it. It cannot go beyond what it can
understand. And wanted or not, science
itself knows that it does not understand everything. There are too many things that even the
cutting edge science cannot know or understand.
However, since science has been so anchored within every stage of school,
of which kids since very young has grown up with, it has been accepted as
always true, permeating into every layer of life, including the spiritual
realm. No wonder, most school today
propagates a certain kind of worldview that is based on science. Anything that is contrary to the
science-based worldview will be considered a threat. This is where the battle is in our today’s
world.
Many Christians, after growing up in Christians home, in
church, in Christian school, upon entering a school with no religious
affiliation, begin to lose their faith.
Since the beginning they have been bombarded with worldview that assumes
that science is the explanation of everything, even the existence of God. Again, don’t get me wrong, I do not battle
science per se. I myself respect science
as a discipline. But what I am against
is the view that uses science as the basis of the way of life. Science doesn’t have that right. Doing so is stepping outside its boundary. But a lot of people who know nothing else or
believe other beliefs other than science-based worldview have their way to push
their worldview ahead. With the power of
school behind them, a lot of professors and teachers implant their belief into
the mind of their students very powerfully.
With their minds easily impressed, they are ready to be shaped by the
worldview of the school. With the great
strength school has, the battle of worldviews is not difficult to tip in favor
of the school.
Now, this fact calls for a more serious Christian
education in all forms. The challenge is
great. Our children must be prepared and
equipped very well for the battle they are going to face.
Teaching them that there is no spiritual
battle is not the way to go. They need
to know that they will be attacked from many different directions simply
because they believe in Christ Jesus.
They need to be ready that they will be target of antagonism simply
because of their Christian worldview.
They need to be trained in such a way that they will be able to “take every thought captive to obey Christ.” This is not an easy endeavor. It requires a serious effort, a hard work, an
earnest prayer, a fervent discipline, and a sharp mind. But we are given “divine power” as Paul calls it.
This divine power is very strong and enough to “destroy
arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take
every thought captive to obey Christ.” This divine power aims at the obedience of
God’s people, the elect. Once their
obedience is complete, their disobedience is punished. Their disobedience is when they reject to
follow God. They reject God by erecting
for themselves an idol. And their idol
is the manipulation of science beyond its natural limitation.
Therefore, we can’t neglect the education of our
children. We cannot adopt the ostrich
nurture. We cannot let obscure school to
frame the mind of our children. We need
to bring up our kids “in the discipline
and instruction of the Lord.” Even
in the school that propagates the science-based worldview, Christians must
strive to square off the battlefield.
Some people have endeavored to do so.
Ravi Zacharias is one example of those who try to level the
battlefield. Christians must not be
afraid of battling obscure worldviews.
Such worldviews must be taken captive to obey Christ. This is our battle together. And we have been given the divine power to
demolish the faulty arguments. Besides,
Lord Jesus himself has promised that he would be with us until the very end of
the age (Matthew 28:20). Rise up
Christian soldiers, we march into battle, in the name of our King, Jesus
Christ, to the glory of his name forever.
Amen.
The Business of Christian Education XCIV
[1]
A. W. Tozer, I Call It Heresy!: And Other
Timely Topics From First Peter (Camp Hill, PA: WingSpread, 1991), 3.
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