Pass It On . . .
Here I’ve been a believer and Bible reader most of my life and I’m saying this ~ Deuteronomy is a fascinating book. Here I’ve been in Christian school education for thirty years and I’m just beginning to appreciate this book’s depth, focus, and prelude to the gospel of Christ. Where have I been? I’m sure it has something to do with where I am in my life. Obviously the Scriptures come to us in different ways at different times of life, plus the Holy Spirit enlightens us to more of God’s truth as we grow older and experience more of this life. It also must have something to do with our assessment of the times in which we live and how God reveals His Word in those times . . . but this writing is not a diatribe about the state of our culture, but rather about me and the culture to come.
I am approaching my sixtieth birthday, and half of those sixty trips around the sun have been in Christian education. I have earned an advanced degree in the field and have served as a consultant to a number of Christian schools both here in the States and in Eastern Europe and Russia. I have written numerous articles on the subject and taught seminars promoting its existence and development. No one has to convince me of the crucial nature of our young folks receiving Christ centered instruction that provides the framework for a biblical view of God and the world. Scripture is full of reference supporting this, both in our lives and the lives of our children.
And then along comes Deuteronomy . . . not a book one would naturally “study”. It’s a narrative about the children of Israel, their history and the law restated. Restating the law . . . how exciting! The very title means, The Second Law”. Not something I could get real thrilled about, nor anticipating sinking my teeth into. So when it came time to pick our school’s year verse, the suggestion of Deuteronomy was a stretch. It was the Shema that did it. I was having a conversation with one of our school moms this Spring. She asked me, “Bill, have you selected a year verse as the theme for the coming school year?” I told her “No” and she encouraged me to read Deuteronomy, in particular chapter 6:4, and see what God would show me. I hate when that happens. I’m supposed to pick the year verse, not someone else . . . but I reluctantly looked at it anyway. It has changed my perspective in many ways, too many to recount or retell here. My summer was chiefly a time of reflecting on that verse and the surrounding thirty-four chapters. It took me on a trip into the formation of a people of God, by God. It told me how vital it was that we be sure that we “keep the law”, not legalistically or Pharisaical, but spiritually and generational.
What it DID was secure, confirm, and clarify for me what this ministry of Christian education is all about in the grand scheme of God’s purpose . . . PASS IT ON! The entire book is an Old Testament prelude to the good news of Christ in the New Testament. It’s Moses laying out the law a second time, and also stressing the call and responsibility to be sure that the next generation gets it. “Hear (Shema), O Israel, the Lord our God, He is God alone. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength . . . Impress this on your children”. And from that point forward, the book proceeds to confirm that there is no greater duty and no greater work than to teach God’s children the wonders of God’s work in the lives of God’s people! This work is reemphasized in Psalm 78, where Asaph challenges the people to “tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and the wonders he has done . . . so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children . . .”
So why aren’t all our Christian schools filled to capacity and funded abundantly? Because we do not see it as a priority. It sounds nice in Scripture and we believe it is true, but relegate it to forty-five minutes on a Sunday morning, or a three day youth retreat, perhaps even a whole week of DVBS . . . all of which is good and right, just not complete. The wonders of God that Moses and the psalmist speak of is a consistent, daily teaching that demonstrates God at work in the world, not just how we “feel” about God or “where we are in our Christian walk”. It’s about “seeing” the laws of God, the statutes, principles, and precepts as they relate to learning and the world in which we live.
Moses knew that in quite a realistic sense. He had been called to lead God’s people out of bondage and slavery and into the Promised Land. An eleven day trip turned into a forty year journey . . . a journey that would see a whole generation pass, and a journey that Moses himself would not get to complete. So passing on the “declaration of dependence” was something that, for the Israelites, lay at the very root of parenting and educating the young ones.
I believe there is no other issue, quite as important, that is before us as a Christian nation, as a body of Christ, and as the family of God than this discipling of the next generation in a biblical worldview. I beg you to look around you . . . study the times in which we live, survey the landscape of our young people, and search inside your own heart and mind as to what God wants for his people that is echoed in Deuteronomy. There might be a revival brewing in the reading and implications of this amazing book. It’s worth passing on . . .
One Response to “Pass It On . . .”
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Hi. Finally made it to your blog spot…. sorry it took me so long.
I always love reading your thoughts.