Dr Greg Bahnsen - Basic Training in Education: Keeping Covenant With God (Part 1)

I want to welcome you tonight to the first of three special lectures that I'm offering on the subject of the education of our children. I've decided to call these lectures Unto a Thousand Generations. And before we get into the first lecture tonight, it would probably be good to explain why that title has been chosen. So please turn with me in your Bibles tonight as we begin our consideration of Christian education. To Genesis, the 17th chapter. Genesis, chapter 17. And while you're turning there, I indicate that our children have a very special place in the theology of Scripture. Now, children usually have a very special place in our hearts anyway. It's not difficult for people to have a sympathetic attitude toward children. When the federal building in Oklahoma City was blown up, you probably notice how over and over and over again, as a way of indicating how wicked the perpetrators of that crime are, the news would focus on how children, innocent children, were killed in this. And of course, it is terrible. I can agree with that. But I want to point out to you that it's not just in the general mentality of people in the world or parents who have a soft spot in their heart for children. It isn't just for those reasons that I say these things. God himself is very interested in children. And particularly God is very interested in the children of believers. They are precious in his sight. Parents often have a soft spot with respect, not just to their children, but to the way in which they have raised their children. It can be something that makes parents very defensive, also can easily reduce them to tears. You see that? Especially at this time of year. I'm giving this lecture in the month of June, and there's lots of graduation ceremonies going on, high school and college and so forth. And it's at a time like that that parents often stop and reflect on, how have I related to my children? How have I lived up to my ideals? How have I fallen short? And we get real tender inside because we all wish that we had done better by our children. So I'd like to tell you that God stands with you in those feelings about your children. He, too, has a great concern, a tender concern for your children. And God has given instruction to us as to how we may raise our children to his glory and for their good. Tonight, I hope that anything that I say will not be taken by parents as somehow an indirect criticism or slam. Those who have not raised their children in as an efficient Christian fashion as they'd like, they feel guilty enough, they don't need me to come and to add to the weight of their guilt. But Hopefully I can add something by way of insight to those parents and to others as to how God would enable us to look upon our children in a fashion that's faithful to him and to raise them in the fear and admonition of the Lord. And so it's really with that constructive and positive intention that I have us. First of all, look at Genesis 17, verses 7 and 9. God here is speaking to Abraham. Abraham is not just a figure from the Old Testament that shows up in Sunday school literature. Abraham is not just another story that we tell people. He's not just part of the museum or artifacts of Old Testament history. Abraham's history has a special significance in the history of redemption. Indeed, Paul tells us that Abraham is the father of us all who are believers, whether we are Jews or Gentiles. It's in the experience of Abraham that we see the model of faith. For if we have the faith of Abraham, Paul says, then we are justified as he was by faith. And so we look at Abraham tonight not just as a historical particular something in the past, but also as one who is very significant and a model for us. Particularly because Abraham received a promise from God that's relevant to our subject tonight. Genesis 17:7. God said, and I will establish my covenant between me and thee, and thy seed after thee, throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. And God said unto Abraham, and as for thee, thou shalt keep my covenant, thou and thy seed after thee, throughout their generations. Now you notice here that God promises Abraham something very important. He says, I will be your God. You will be in covenant with me, and I will be the God of your children as well. Now, is that just a prophecy? Is that just God predicting that Abraham's children will belong to him? No, it's God's commitment to Abraham and to his children. And he says, abraham, you are to keep covenant with me, and your children are to keep covenant with me. Now, we believe that the heart of an individual is in the hand of the Lord. We know that it requires the grace of God to change a hardened heart and to give life to a heart that's spiritually dead. We know that in the end, children obeying God's covenant comes down to God's gracious work in their lives. But God works through means to accomplish his gracious ends. We know that even though we are directly regenerated by the Holy Spirit when we are saved, that regeneration doesn't take place except we hear the preaching of the word of God or read it for ourselves in the Bible. So when God sends a preacher to declare the gospel and then regenerates the heart so that it can believe that gospel message, we don't say, well, since it's by grace, therefore there are no means necessary. God works through the means of the preacher. Likewise, if our children are going to keep covenant with God and enjoy his grace and blessing, it obviously is going to be to the glory of God, because it's his work that brings it about. But God works through means to accomplish what he wants to accomplish. And he wants to accomplish the keeping of covenant with him by our children through the agency of parents. Notice God says to Abraham, I am your God and the God of your children your seed after you. And both you and your seed shall keep covenant with me. Now, how long is this to take place? We, in our, I think, individualistic American way of looking at things, tend to think of salvation and a relationship with God on merely one to one basis. And I don't deny for a moment that there is a one to one relationship with God that's important for every individual. But God's interest in our lives is an interest in everything that pertains to us. For instance, if I own a car, I don't say, well, I have a saving relationship with God, and I also have a car over here. And these two don't have anything to do with each other. So the way I drive my car, what I use it for, how I treat it, things of that nature have nothing to do with my walk with God. No, we rather say, God owns everything that I own so that if he's granted me a car, I have to use it one in a thankful fashion. I have to remember him and I've got to make good use of it to glorify Him. I don't separate the things which are mine from the God who says, you belong to me. If I belong to God, then everything I have belongs to God too. It's one of the reasons why it's awkward to preach on tithing for me. Because you see, people shouldn't have any difficulty with tithing if they understood biblically that everything that I have belongs to God. He owns everything in my checkbook, not just 10%. The tithe is simply God's token indication that everything that is mine is his. So I give him 10% of my income as a way of saying God, I know it all comes from. So God owns my car, God owns my money, God owns my tv, he owns my house, and he also owns my Children, if I belong to God, God says, I'm in covenant with you, you are mine, and everything that is yours belongs to me, then my children belong to him as well. So that is quite different from our American mentality of thinking. It's just, you know, one generation, as it were. It's me and God and then maybe others and other generations. But God expects that this relationship he has with me is going to be communicated to my children, that they too are going to walk in his ways and belong to Him. And I'm under responsibility covenantally to raise them in that way. So we're really branching out and expanding our horizons here. We don't think of our relationship with God as just being a one generation thing. It also involves the generation of my children. Now let me ask you a question. How about my children's children? Do they belong to God? Well, can we all do logic here? A little transition, Right? If my children belong to God because I belong to God and they belong to him because everything that is mine is his is, then how about my children? Is everything that belongs to them God's as well? Well, doesn't it follow naturally, then that means their children belong to God too. And I. I don't do it as often as I should, but I pray for my grandchildren and I don't have any as yet. But I pray for my grandchildren because they're going to belong to God. Why? Because my children belong to God. And you know what? Can we extend this another generation? My grandchildren's children will belong to God. God said, I'm going to be your God, Abraham. I'm going to be your God and the God of your seed. For how long? For all the generations to follow. Turn to First Chronicles 16, 15, 16 and 17, if you would. First Chronicles 16, 15, 17. In this portion of 1 Chronicles, David is offering a psalm of thanksgiving. And you will find this repeated in the 105th Psalm. The portion that I'm going to read from you from 1st Chronicles is repeated in Psalm 105, 8, 9, 10. But as we find it in 1 Chronicles, the 16th chapter, notice verse 15. Remember his covenant forever, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations. The covenant which he made with Abraham and his oath unto Isaac, and confirmed the same unto Jacob with the statute to Israel for an everlasting covenant. Okay, so God's covenant made with Abraham is to how many generations? A thousand generations. What does a thousand generations mean? Here, boy. This is the death of biblical literalism, isn't it? Because having said a thousand generations, David goes on to say and confirm the same unto Jacob for a statute to Israel, for an everlasting covenant to a thousand generations, as a way of saying, God never intends to stop this relationship. It's going to go on forever and ever and ever. And now turn with me to Exodus 26 so that we can look for a moment or two at something in the ten commandments that many times is overlooked. Exodus 20 has God speaking the ten words, the ten commandments that are a summary of our covenantal duty to God, how we should live our lives. In the fourth commandment, God gives the command that we are not to make a graven image. And we don't have time to talk about the content of that. But you notice that God says in verse 5, Thou shalt not Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them. For I, Jehovah thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, upon the third, and upon the fourth generation of them that hate me. God says that when we live in a way that's contrary to his commandments, particularly about making graven images here, not worshiping him as he ordains that we share that with our children, and the judgment that he will bring on us, the curse that is ours for violating his commandments continues to a third and fourth generation. Now, if you'd have stopped right there, you might say, boy, God really is a jealous God. He's a wrathful God. Think about that. For generations, he's going to show his anger and displeasure that we have broken his commandments. And that's true. And it's something that should make us shudder. But I want you to read on now in verse six. And showing loving kindness, on the other hand, and showing loving kindness unto thousands of generations that love me and keep My commandments. In many English translations of Exodus 20, we just have a reference to showing lovingkindness unto thousands. The Hebrew literally is a thousand generations. I think it's better to translate that and bring that out, because God has just said, I'm going to show my anger unto third and even a fourth generation. But God shows His loving kindness just so you see how much greater his mercy and his grace is to a thousand generations. God wants us to think in terms of longevity, in terms of our relationship with Him. And I don't mean by that, just that I will have a long lasting relationship with God because it's eternal life that he grants me. God wants me to think about this relationship that I have with him as continuing on generation after generation, after generation, unto a thousand generations. And that's where the title of this seminar on Christian education comes from. Unto a thousand generations. Why is it that the education of our children in a manner that is faithful to the Bible is so important? It's important because God wants this relationship that he started with us in saving us to continue unto a thousand generations. We're to keep covenant with him and to see to it that our children keep covenant with him and that our children's children keep. Keep covenant with him and so forth and so on. Now, how is that going to happen? How are we going to keep covenant with God unto a thousand generations and see our children continue in the faith? Well, it's not going to take place if we don't look upon the instruction and education of our children as a Christian obligation and duty. If we make the mistake of thinking that we can divide the time that our children have in growing up between godly pursuits, godly standards, Godly goals and ungodly pursuits, ungodly standards and ungodly goals, and that we're going to accomplish walking with God and teaching them to do that, I hope you can see from the very start that that cannot possibly be acceptable. That is really philosophically and morally absurd. And you know why it is so? Because God explains that what we are to do with our children is not to teach them to divide their loyalties, to divide their way of looking at the world between secular and sacred, not to look at any time that they have is somehow not belonging to God, but to themselves or to others. If the Bible teaches us that all of the upbringing of our children is to be done in the confines of and under the light of God's word, then it's impossible that we could think their education is somehow a neutral matter, that their education falls outside of our religious duty. You don't have to be an advanced Bible scholar and in many cases don't even have to be a professing believer to be able to answer the question, according to Jesus, according to the one who is called the Christ, what is the Great Commandment? What is it that is the heart of Christian ethics? It's love, right? Even the Beatles sang about that. Love, love, love is all you need. People think, well, see, they're right in tune with the Christian outlook. Well, they weren't. But they got the word right. They got that much. Jesus does say that love is the fundamental duty. A lawyer came to Jesus, tempting him once, saying, lord, what is the first and the great Commandment? What is it that summarizes all our duty. What encompasses everything we're supposed to do in life? Can you give one command that guides us in everything that we do? And he said, well, the first and great commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind. Again, most Christians know that much. And again, many non Christians know that much too. So you've heard this. Nothing new about this. Now here's the tough part of the question. What is the foremost indication that we are willing to obey that commandment? What is it in the Bible that is the first and foremost test for whether we love God with everything that is in us? The answer may surprise you. Turn with me to the Old Testament, Deuteronomy, the sixth chapter. When Jesus was asked what the first and great commandment was, he quoted the Old Testament. Jesus was not against the Old Testament, and he was not against the law of God. In fact, Jesus said, all of our Christian duty is found right there in the Old Testament. When he gave that commandment, he was quoting from Deuteronomy 6. But I'd like to put it in its broader context so you understand how it arises and then how Moses by divine inspiration applies that commandment. Deuteronomy 6, beginning at the fourth verse. Hear, O Israel. In Hebrew, Shema. Hear, hai Yisra'. El. And so this is the Shema of Israel. It is the statement of Israel's faith. This is the call for Israel to hear God and obey him. Hear, O Israel. And here's their confession. Jehovah, our God is one. We don't have many gods. We don't have many authorities. Nor do we have a God with divided loyalties or a split personality. God is one, and he created all things. And therefore all things are united under his sovereignty, under his lordship. Hear, O Israel. Jehovah our God, he is one. And then here's the commandment that Jesus quoted, which is the summary of the Christian ethics. We all know this. Love is what God wants of us. He says, and thou shalt love Jehovah thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And so everything that is mine must be given over in loving submission to God. I hold back nothing. Nothing in my emotions, nothing in my priorities, nothing in my plans, nothing in my thoughts, nothing in my words, nothing in my deeds. But I love him with everything. I'm consumed with love for God. That all sounds pretty good to many Christians until we read on and say, now what is the first indication and test that you really do love God? In this way that everything within you is given over to covenantal fidelity to God. He unites everything in your life, and you love him with everything that you have. And these words which I command thee this day shall be upon thy heart. And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest dead down, and when thou risest up, and thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thy hand, and they shall be for frontlets between thine eyes, and thou shalt write them upon the doorpost of thy house and upon thy gates. God expects us to love him in an obsessed way. We're to write his commandments on the doorpost of our house, so that everything that takes place in our family life, everything that takes place in our home is governed by him. And on the gates of our cities, so that our cities are consecrated to God, and they obey his law and submit to Him. We're to speak of his law when we rise up, get up in the morning, when we go to bed at night, when we sit down to eat, when we walk in the way with our children. His law is to be everywhere. So obsessed are we to be with covenantal faithfulness and obedience to his law, loving him with all of our hearts, that Moses says, you should even write the law. This is a figure of speech. The Jews, of course, tried to follow it literally, and that was ridiculous. But Moses said, you shall have the law written on your hand and on your forehead, which is a way of saying, everything you do in this world, all your activity, what you do with your hands, and everything you think and the way you see the world, you should be governed by the law of God. So everything so far, most Christians hopefully would say, amen. But did you catch that expression before? All of the detail and illustration? And these words which I command thee this day shall be upon thy heart. And thou shalt teach them diligently unto Thy children and talk of them when you walk in the way, talk of them when you rise up, talk of them when you lay down at night. They're to be on your doorpost, they're to be on your gates, on your forehead, on your hand. All of that is in the general context of teaching your children diligently. If you would keep covenant with me, Israel, if you would know that Jehovah your God is one, and that you're to love him with everything in you, then the first and foremost mark of that will Be the outward and public display of your covenantal loyalty is the way you raise your children. The Reformed Faith and Covenant theology have always placed great emphasis upon family life and children being raised in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. You see why? Because this is the first mark that we love God. This is the open indication that we have given everything to Him. It's not just that we tithe, keep tithing by all means. It's important. It's not just that we see our cars as belonging to God or our vocations, but above all, our children, so that the way that they are raised must not be divided between two loyalties, loyalty to God and then another ultimate authority. Whether it be the teacher or the teacher's reference, the science, or to reason or logic or public good works or whatever it may be that motivates teachers. Children must first and foremost love God. And they must be taught to see God in everything, so that everything that they do, no matter what it is, whether it's in the realm of mathematics or literature or history or science or civic relationship or athletics, and on and on we can go. Whether you walk in the way, whether you're rising up, lying down, wherever you are, all times during the day, make sure your children learn to keep covenant with me. Teach your children to see this world in light of what I have taught you, who I am and what my holy character is. Teach your children to act in this world as though their highest loyalty and authority that me God says, I will be your God unto a thousand generations, which is to say eternally. I want to perpetuate this relationship that I have with you. I want my saving grace to be seen in the life of your children, your children's children, and unto a thousand generations. And you see how you're going to do that. If you do this in a biblical way, if you see it as God would have you see it, you must, you must be obedient to God by raising your children and educating your children in terms of God's word. There is no place for a divided loyalty in this matter. In terms of our covenantal duty to educate our children to think God's thoughts after him in every area of life. Let me just run through a few other verses quickly with you. Deuteronomy 11:19. Deuteronomy 11:19. And you shall teach them, your children, talking of them. When thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. Okay, so this is repeating what we have seen already in Deuteronomy chapter 6. God says it again, again, teach your children, teach them well, teach them consistently, teach them persistently, teach them in all things to honor me. Deuteronomy 31:12 13. Assemble the people, the men and the women and the little ones, and thy sojourner that is within thy gates, that they may hear and that they may learn and fear Jehovah your God, and observe to do all the words of this law, and that their children who have not known may hear and learn to fear Jehovah your God. As long as you live in the land, whether you go over the Jordan to possess it, you see, the obligation is toward our children and our grandchildren. We want all in our family to hear the word of God, to embrace it, and to see the world in terms of it. And we want our children to pass it on to their children as well. Psalm 78:567. Psalm78:5 for he established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children, that the generation to come might know them, even the children that should be born, who should arise and tell them to their children that they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments. I don't want to take all of our time in this first lecture driving this point home. I hope you have understood it by now. God wants us to engage in generational covenant obedience. He wants us to obey him and be obsessed with his word and see everything in terms of it. And he wants us to teach our children well. He wants us to diligently make sure that our children see the world as we see the world in terms of God's law, and that they unite all of their life under his lordship and sovereignty. And he wants our children to teach their children that so unto a thousand generations, if we would keep covenant with God, it's not the only duty. But it is the first mark of public obedience to the covenant that we see to it that our children are raised to follow us. And covenantal obedience. In 1st Corinthians 7:14 we have a very short passing allusion by the Apostle Paul that is theologically dynamite. It may be brief, but it's extremely powerful. And I would argue that the very brevity of the passing allusion makes it all, all the stronger. The reason why Paul is brief about this is because he expected his audience to take it for granted. If you'd understood the Old Testament and its theology, you would Say very easily, just based on what I taught you already tonight, our children belong to God. They are set apart to God and his glory. But Paul indicates that in 1st Corinthians 7, in the 14th verse, where he says, for the unbelieving husband is sanctified, that means to be set apart or consecrated. The unbelieving husband is consecrated by the wife and the unbelieving wife and the unbelieving wife is consecrated by the husband. Or else your children would be unclean. But now are they consecrated holy, set apart. Now, this comes in the midst of Paul explaining why a believer who's married to an unbeliever should not depart and break that marriage. Paul says, even though it's an awkward and maybe a painful situation, you must not break up that home. You must not break up the marriage. Because if you're a believing wife, your husband's not a believer. He is nevertheless set apart, covenantally consecrated to God by his relationship with you. And then Paul reverses that and says, and a believing husband who has an unbelieving wife, she has been consecrated to God because she's married to him. Now, again, that doesn't fit into American individualistic, Baptistic Christianity. I know that well, that means we have to change. Changed. Because the Bible says that when God enters into a relationship with me, he enters into a relationship with my family. And everyone who's in the sphere of my influence has been set apart. Now, they may not live up to that. They may not live up to their consecration. They may not obey God. They may not come to faith and submit to him. And they would be all the worse for them if they do not. But what's important for our purposes to tonight is to see that the unbelieving spouse, husband or wife has been consecrated. And then Paul wants to prove the point. And this is what I think is interesting. He doesn't elaborate on this and explain it because he expects you to know your Old Testament theology. He just says it in passing. He says, if that weren't true, then your children would be unclean. But you know your children are not unclean in God's sight, they are holy. Well, that certainly does not mean that all the children of even one believing par parent are automatically Christians, does it? It doesn't mean that they're automatically submissive, good, obedient children. Some of them are hellions. They shouldn't be, but they are. Some of them don't have good heart. Some of them don't show regeneration. But God says they belong to me. They have been in this life set apart to a special relationship known as the Church. They have been consecrated to me. They are in covenant with me. And so our children belong to God. When we think about what's best for them and how we want to raise them, and particularly how we want to educate them, we have to keep in mind that that is not first and foremost our decision, because those children have been, if I can put it crudely, loaned to us from God. He says, they're mine, they're consecrated to me. But I'm making you their overseers. I'm putting them under your charge. And I expect you to teach them to see everything in terms of my word, to obey me and to love me and to give their lives to me. Our children belong to God, and that's why we must not turn over our children to pagans to be educated. It seems so obvious in this context, doesn't it? And yet many Christians, sadly, the vast majority as of this day, do not have any conception that the way in which they educate their children is a mark of their obedience and covenantal love to God. But God says, your children belong to me, and your first duty in obeying me and submitting to my covenant, the first open and public mark that you love me with all your heart is the fact that you diligently teach your children in all of their lives, every moment of their day, to think my thoughts after me. We cannot turn over our children, children, therefore, to pagans to be molded, because pagans will not teach covenantal obedience. Pagans will not teach who God is. Pagans will not unite all of life under hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one. Pagans will teach children that if there's religion in their lives, that's between them and God. It's a private matter. Now. Some pagans will actually try to teach their children that there is no God at all. Some will try to teach your children that they evolved from lower life forms. They might teach your children all kinds of wickedness in terms of moral relativism and so forth and so on. But at their best. I just mentioned them. At their worst. But at their best, pagans will say, well, religion's okay in private. At home, that's between you and God. But here at school, we study the public truths, the obvious common truths that all men are to know. We study the facts of history, the facts of science, the laws of mathematics. And we don't have to talk about Jesus when we talk about math. We don't have to bring God into the picture at all. We don't have to talk about Jesus or God when we talk about literature or grammar or reasoning or history or anything whatsoever, because all of those subjects are out there. And then you can have private time for Jesus and God, if you wish. What is the statement of faith of Israel? Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one. God is lord over everything. That's why his law is to be the guide in our thinking and our behavior. Written on our forehead, written on our hand all day long in everything that we do, including math, including literature, including history, including athletics, whatever it may be. God says you're not to have a divided loyalty if you turn your children over to pagans to educate your children so that they don't see the relationship between mathematics and covenantal obedience, mathematics and the creed Creator God, mathematics and the mind of God. If they don't see the connection between history and the sovereignty of God and His providence and his standards coming to expression, if they don't see literature and logic and grammar and everything else in light of God, then how are they seeing these things? They're seeing them in a false light, a light that does not glorify God, does not acknowledge that he's necessary in order to know anything whatsoever. In Colossians, the second chapter, verse 3, the apostle Paul says that all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are deposited in Christ. Pagan teachers go to the treasure house. They go to the storehouse of truth that is in Jesus, and they take things out without saying thank you. They take things out and pretend that they are not without they really are. They pretend that they are somehow neutral, independent, godless truths. But Paul tells us all truth and all wisdom is deposited in Christ. If you turn your children over to pagans to teach them, they will not then glorify God. All of life united under God, who is one. They will not teach that all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are found in Christ. But they will teach your children to see the world in two ways. They'll teach your children to see the world with a divided mind. To put it very simply, they'll have a secular approach to things and a sacred approach to things. And this is at the best, some pagan teachers will actually try to influence your students, your children, to not see anything as sacred. But if they do see anything as sacred at all, it's only a narrow part of life. But you see, if we only offer God a narrow part of life, what we call religious ritual worship, prayer, evangelism, going to church, what have you, we're not keeping covenant with God, what is the mark of Loving God. What is the first and great commandment? That we love him with all of our heart, soul, strength and mind. And that's visibly shown in that we're obsessed with God's Word in every area of life, and particularly in the training of our children. The Bible tells us something about the nature of children that we have to take into account if we would be faithful in raising them as God would have us raise them. The Bible tells us to be a child is to be easily influenced. Turn with me in your bibles to Ephesians 4:14. I'm looking at this text because Paul uses a figure of speech, and the figure that he uses is that of a child or of children. And I want you to see what Paul thinks of. Therefore, when he uses children to liken something to Ephesians 4:14, he says that we may be no longer children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the sleight of men and craftiness after the wiles of error. In the broader context, Paul's telling us why God has given teachers and pastors to the church to build up Christians and make them strong so that they will not be like children. But what is it that the Bible teaches us? Children are like. They're easily influenced by what's taught them. Every wind of doctrine, every doctrine, by the way, is just a fancy way of saying teaching. The Greek word is the same. Every teaching that comes down the pike. If you're a child, you get blown back and forth by that. You're easily influenced by what the teacher says. On top of that, the Bible teaches us something about teachers and their relationship to children. Let's look at Luke 6:40. Luke 6. In the 40th verse, Jesus says, the disciple is not above his team, but everyone, when he is mature, shall be like his teacher. Jesus says, and when the student grows up, when he's perfected, that can be misread. In English, that doesn't mean made perfect. It means to attain maturity, come to majority. And when the disciple grows up with when the student grows up, what will the student be like? Like his teacher. Because the teacher is not simply someone who dumps buckets of facts out on the students that they mop up and then they walk away with the facts. The teacher is a model to the students. Students learn to think like their teachers think, to solve problems like their teachers solve problems, to live by the standards that their teachers communicate and exemplify in their own lives, so that when a student matures, when the disciple is perfected, or grows up, he's going to be like his teacher. And that's why I say we must not turn over our children to pagans to be educated. If we do so, we are forgetting that children are tossed by every wind of doctrine. They are not stable. Now we'd like to think that they are. We'd like to think. I hear people say things which I know are well intentioned but are very foolish. They'll say things like, well, I want my children to be in an unbelieving school so they can learn to stand on their own to be good Christians. I don't want to put them in a hothouse environment. You know what I say to that? Small, weak plants belong in a hothouse, not out in the storms of life where they're going to be blown around and destroyed. I don't mean that every child of a Christian home that goes to a pagan school, to an unbelieving school is destroyed automatically. I know better than that. God is gracious. He does a wondrous work. I went and high school to a pagan high school and I trust that God by his grace used me as a witness there. I learned to defend my faith. So I know that those circumstances don't have to all be deadly and destructive. But I also know that we shouldn't be making our decisions based on the exceptions to the rule. The principle, the generalization the Bible gives us is that children are going to be influenced by their teachers and blown by every wind of doctrine. And when they grow up, they're going to be like their teachers. So now let's take the two things we've learned tonight and put them together and see if we can't draw a very obvious conclusion. God expects that my children are going to be raised in the fear and admonition of the Lord. He says, if you love me with all of your heart, if you're going to keep covenant with me, if you're going to keep the first and great commandment, then that will be seen in that your children are educated. They are raised all their lives, every moment of the day with respect to every area of thought. They are going to be raised in light of my word. The second thing that we've seen is that children are not discerning, they are easily influenced and they will become like their teachers. If I am under obligation to see to do the best I can under my human responsibility to have my children grow up to honor God unto a thousand generations, remember I'm concerned not just for my children, but my grandchildren and my great grandchildren If I'm concerned that my children are going to have the best opportunity to see all the world in light of God's Word, I can't turn my children over to somebody that's going to influence them not to do that. It is not keeping covenant with God, it's not recognizing what the Bible teaches me about children and it isn't showing the kind of love for my children that God wants me to show. God commands us to teach our children regardless of the subject matter from the perspective of his Holy word. Ephesians 6:4 Fathers, bring up your children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord and so don't give your children to idolaters to teach them to follow idols. Don't give your children to self centered people where they're going to learn to live lives of self centeredness. Don't give your children to teachers, pardon me, who are going to set an example of ignoring God in what are considered all the important areas, leaving if any, leaving only a very small area of private ritual and religion for children if there's going to be any God in their lives. Cornelius Van Til once wrote in an essay that is now published in a book entitled Essays on Christianity Education it is our task as Christian educators to teach those who belong to Christ the things that will encourage them to wish to belong to Christ with all their heart and mind. That is to say, it is our task to develop the minds and hearts of the children of the covenant of God's grace so that they will want to be self conscious Christians as they develop to full maturity. Our children are not going to self consciously desire to submit to God's covenant and to see every area of life in terms of the truth of God's word. If we have taught them that six to eight hours a day through 12 or 13 years of their life, it's perfectly alright to be taught by people who don't relate everything in life to the teaching of God's Word and see things in the light of God's existence and his sovereign will for history. Psalm 1:1 David tells us of those who sit in the scoffer's seat. And I've often thought to myself as I look at what's happening in the decaying situation in the public schools that a good description for the desk in the public school is the scoffer seat where children learn not to meditate upon the law of God day and night, but rather to think their own thoughts, to have their own self esteem, to be proud of their own independence. Why then would I encourage you tonight to make sure that your children are raised in the fear and admonition of the Lord, including their educational hours. It's because I know you all wish to keep covenant with God. And the nature of God's covenant does not permit us to have our children educated outside of the covenant, contrary to the covenant or an indifference to the covenant that God has given us. The first and great commandment is to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, strength and mind. And therefore, when it comes to education, we show that we love God in that we think his thoughts after him, and we teach our children to think his thoughts after him and honor the lordship of Jesus Christ. Now, many people think that there are reasons why Christian education should be preferred today to the state schools in the first place. They'll tell us that it'd be better to have your children in a private Christian school or to home school them to do the education at home under Christian influence. Because in the public schools today, we see that they have departed from the educational basics and many children are not getting a decent education, even of a secular nature. They'll point out to us that over 25% of those who graduate from the public schools today are illiterate. Now, that's a devastating statistic, and it's getting worse, by the way. My guess is we're getting the soft presentation when we're told it's a quarter. They are illiterate in the the most functional sense. A good number of those who graduate from the public schools who may not be completely illiterate still are not able to fill out an application form or follow instructions and so forth. So people will say, get away. This is just really ineffective bad education. And that may be true. People will say the public schools represent bad social influences. And of course, of course there are terrible social influences there in the junior and senior high especially. But even in elementary schools, we see children bringing razor blades and guns to school and engaging in illicit sexual relations and promoting drugs and drinking and so forth. It just, it's horrifying. The younger and younger and younger these illustrations get. It wasn't that long ago, just barely a generation ago, that misbehavior in school meant chewing gum or running in the halls or talking out of turn. But now our referral forms in school don't include such innocent activities as that. They include the use of alcoholic beverages, setting fires, possession of firearms, assault upon fellow students, assault upon teachers, vandalism, distribution of controlled substances, forgery, gambling, theft. The public schools are just a hellhole when it comes to behavior. And that's all very true. People will say we should get our children out of public schools to avoid the social experience experiments that take place there, the way in which children are guinea pigs for liberal and progressive outlooks in terms of society and the state and how we should relate to one another. People think our children should get out of the public schools to avoid teenage pregnancy, abortion, sexual perversion, sexual license. Many people think that children should be taken out of the public school so they'll finally get the discipline they're not getting at home and send them to Christian schools where they believe in that sort of thing. Well, people give all of these reasons and this may surprise you. I don't believe that any of them have anything to do with the subject. All of those reasons are utterly irrelevant. Well, when I say utterly irrelevant, I don't want to pretend that they don't represent some positive extra benefits to Christian education, but they're not the reason for Christian education. I want you to envision a world where the educational basics are being taught in the public schools and taught well, where children are graduating with high SAT scores, they're able to read, and they know a lot about science and grammar and all the other things that they should have learned. I want you to imagine schools that are well disciplined, where children don't burn down the classroom and threaten their teachers and bring guns to school. Imagine a situation where abortion is not secretly available through the school nurse. Imagine situations where children are taught to be polite and respectful, to submit to their teachers. If we had schools that return to that idyllic picture, I would still tell you tonight that has nothing to do with why your children should not be there. Because the main reason for Christian education, the overwhelming rationale for training up our children in such a way that even their math courses, their history courses, their literature courses are taught from a Christian perspective is because this is what it means to love God with everything that's in you and to offer up your children to him and to pray that they will become covenant keepers and their children's children covenant keepers as well. The main, the foremost reason for Christian education is not escape from the public schools. Christian education has its own particular, its own unique reason. And that unique reason is because we want to keep covenants with God to obey his commandments. It's high time that we started seeing the schooling of our children, the education of our children as an extension of our family rather than something that's added to our family or that's outside our family. And you should Be aware that many public school teachers and administrators teach that the schools are necessary to correct the family and the dysfunctional way in which children are raised and so forth. The school is not an alternative to the family. The school must be an extension of your family. And that means whoever educates your children, whether it's you at home or others you bring into your home, or others that you hire in a private school, whoever educates your children, you must look upon that transaction, that activity, as an extension of the life of your home. And what did God tell Moses should take place in our homes? When you rise up, when you lie down, when you sit, when you walk in the way, when you go through your doors, when you come back into the city, no matter what you think, thinking of the forehead here, no matter what you do thinking of the hint, the law of God must govern it. And so your children should be educated as an extension of your family life in a covenant keeping, godly fashion, one that honors the lordship of Jesus Christ and teaches our children that all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are deposited in him. Martin Luther said many years ago, I am afraid that the universities and schools will prove to be the gates of hell unless they diligently labor in explaining the Holy Scriptures and engraving them in the hearts of the youth. I advise no one to place his child where the Scriptures do not reign paramount. And he understood the covenant when he said that. Martin Luther is exactly right. And I would voice what he said. I would advise none of you who hear this lecture to place your children where they will be educated in such a way that the Scriptures do not reign paramount in all of their thoughts. And I would warn you that if you do that, though God can be gracious and obviously save them, nonetheless, that if you do that, you may be putting them at the very gates of hell.