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Date: Monday, June 28, 2010
Today: The beauty of Christian Education
Passage: 1 Tim 4:11-13 NIV
11Command and teach these things. 12Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity. 13Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and toteaching. (emphasis added)
In Paul’s epistle to Timothy, Paul commands Timothy to teach the Church
We have various forms of Christian education going on within the church; some of them are Sunday school, Bible Classes and so on
Christian education is a very important duty of Church. In these days, Church must be instructed about the various types of false teachings and methods which are out there, many of which are not from God.
Education-Christian as well as secular, plays a very important role in the formation of the individual’s personality and even character
I remember two of my high school teachers, who were very good in teaching
They taught in such a way that even those who hated those subjects fell in love with those subjects
Everybody used to get 70 % or more for their subjects
I think Christian education must be more graceful than that
The goal of Christian education, more than grading the students, should be the benefit of everyone who is a student
In preaching also, the same attitude should be there
All listeners should get something, while some may get all of it
Some people are very good listeners
But we have to make sure that everybody got something when somebody gets everything that was taught or preached
Jesus is our role-model. People rushed to hear Him preach. Jesus used parables and various metaphors in teaching, to ensure that everyone got his message
There is a need for teacher training, in the Church
All teachers, including Sunday school teachers need teacher education in one way or other
They need instruction in basic theology, which will help them teach their students the right way and help them answer many of their questions
Lay ministers or those who are gifted to exhort and teach, will also benefit from teaching, so that allegories can be avoided while they exhort
Besides all of these tools, we are blessed with lot of good study Bibles, which are like portable Bible-schools!
We must make very effort to learn the scripture
Many of the believers do not know what is in the Bible
These days, many non-Christians study the Bible in order to find out mistakes in the Bible. I have heard non-Christians quoting lot of verses from the Bible, using them to ask questions to Christians, and trying to confuse them
If we have been Christians for years and we do not know what is in the bible, it is a shame
God, who oversaw the writing of the scripture, is more than happy about the students of the Bible. He will help us to understand it. He will not say, “Shame on you” But He will say, “come on; let me teach you”
We have got many gifted and talented teachers among us
Some of them went to Theological schools. Some learned on their own
But they used some of the best books and tools to study properly
Are we available to study the scriptures?
May God put in you a deep desire to study the scripture
Blessings,
BG
Prayer: Lord, help me to learn the scripture right and also to teach others right. I do not want to be ignorant of the scriptures. So help me God; Amen.