Education (12-1-12)

Proverbs 1:7 - "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction."

The verse above states that knowledge begins with the fear of the Lord. This is the first step to knowledge and there is no way around it. Psalm 111:10 states - "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; A good understanding have all those who do His commandments; His praise endures forever." We read in Colossians 2:3 concerning Christ - "in Whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." This verse states that all wisdom and knowledge are found in Christ. In these verses we're dealing with three things that are closely related, wisdom, knowledge and understanding, and God is the Beginning and Source of all three and there is no wisdom or knowledge or understanding apart from Him. This isn't just my opinion, it's the clear teaching of Scripture. You would have to do a lot of work to try and make these verses say something other than what they clearly teach, but this presents us with a problem as it regards public education. God has been kicked out of our public schools. Gods Word and prayer have been excluded from public education, and the result is that they've thrown out the Source of all wisdom and knowledge. If all wisdom and all knowledge are hidden in Christ and you seek to get rid of Him, how much wisdom and knowledge do you have left? None. Any teaching that excludes Christ is foolishness. The Bible refers to those who deny the existence of God as "fools". We read in Psalm 14:1 and 53:1 - "The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.”" Proverbs 21:30 says - "There is no wisdom and no understanding and no counsel against the Lord." In Romans chapter 1 Paul talks about mankind turning away from God and the consequences that follow. He says that Gods existence is evident through His creation and God has made His existence evident within man, but mankind has become futile in his speculations and his foolish heart was darkened. He says in verse 22 - "Professing to be wise, they became fools." It's amazing, all these "well educated" people who have all kinds of degrees and titles and letters before or after their names, and yet they're fools. Professing to be wise they've become fools. In the worlds mindset, if you believe in God you're a fool, but that's the exact opposite of reality. In 2 Timothy chapter 3 Paul warns us what men will be like in the last days. One characteristic given in 2 Timothy 3:7 says that they are - "always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth." They can learn a lot, and spend a lot of time studying and filling their heads with what they think is knowledge, but it's foolishness and they're not able to come to the knowledge of the truth because they don't want to recognize God as the Source of all true knowledge. Paul talks, again, about this false knowledge in 1 Timothy 6:20-21 where he says - "O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding worldly and empty chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called “knowledge”— which some have professed and thus gone astray from the faith. Grace be with you." It's interesting that as a result of their profession of this so called "knowledge" they went astray from the faith. It's astounding to hear of the numbers of young men and women who are professing Christians until they go off to a secular college, and because they are not grounded in the faith they hear what is falsely called "knowledge" and thus go astray from the faith. Professing to be wise they become fools. Any educational system that excludes God has thrown out the very source of wisdom and knowledge. You cannot have an education apart from God. In Him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. When you take God out you have no wisdom or knowledge.

I'm talking about the public education system in general and not the teachers or the students in them. There are many teachers and professors who are Christians that God has placed in these positions to be a witness to their students. These teachers have the Source of wisdom and knowledge dwelling inside of them, and so they have true knowledge to impart to their students. I know a public high school teacher who isn't afraid to talk about God in his class room. He also leads a Bible study with the students on school grounds after hours. I know another teacher who gives his students assignments that have to do with whether the existence of God is logical or not, to make the students really start thinking. And these men are also reaching out to their fellow teachers and professors. There are also students in public education that are taking a stand for God and approaching all their learning from a Biblical standpoint, and sometimes their grades suffer because of it and they also endure ridicule from their fellow students. So please understand, I'm referring to public education in general, and not every individual teacher and student. There are those who recognize God as the Beginning and Source of wisdom, knowledge and understanding, and they teach and learn accordingly. And God has placed these individuals where they are for His purpose and for His glory, and He is using them to reach a foolish world with true knowledge, wisdom and understanding.

A true understanding and true knowledge come directly from God, from knowing Him. The more we know Him the more understanding, knowledge and wisdom we will have.  And the way we come to know Him is through His word. The Psalmist says in Psalm 119:98-100 and 104 - "Thy commandments make me wiser than my enemies, for they are ever mine. I have more insight than all my teachers, for Thy testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the aged, because I have observed Your precepts... From Your precepts I get understanding; Therefore I hate every false way." You want a true education? Know the Word of God. The only way to know it is to spend time in it. The Word of God makes you wise. The Word of God will give you more insight than all your teachers. Gods Word will give you more understanding than the ancients. Meditate on it and obey it, and by doing so you will continually be drawn closer to the One who is the Source of knowledge and wisdom, and in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Paul tells Timothy in 1 Timothy 6:3-5 - "If anyone advocates a different doctrine and does not agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine conforming to godliness, he is conceited and understands nothing; but he has a morbid interest in controversial questions and disputes about words, out of which arise envy, strife, abusive language, evil suspicions, and constant friction between men of depraved mind and deprived of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain." Those who seek to distort the clear teaching of the Word of God understand nothing! Know Gods Word so that you are not carried away by false doctrine and the opposing arguments of what some falsely call "knowledge". It's tempting to be considered wise by mankind. No one wants to be thought of as uneducated, and so it's tempting to fall into the worlds mindset in order to be thought of as wise by the world around us. But the false teaching and the false knowledge of the world is a trap, a trap in which Satan seeks to catch us, and he has been very successful in using that trap, especially on young adults in secular colleges who were not grounded in the Word of God. That's why Paul gives us this warning in Colossians 2:8 - "See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ." We need to be on our guard at all times and check everything you hear against the Word of God, the standard of truth, and see if these things are according to Christ, in Whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. In Acts chapter 4 Peter and John were arrested after healing a lame man and preaching the resurrection of Jesus Christ. After Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, responded to their accusations, we read in verse 13 – “Now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed, and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus.”

2 Peter 3:17-18 - "You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen."