Page 135 - Ecclesiology revised short_Neat

get up. 8Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9Write them on the
doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

This passage was a command given to Jewish parents so that each generation will be taught to love God
with all their hearts. God was placing the responsibility of teaching children to follow God’s ways
squarely on the shoulders of each generation of parents. Failure to do so would result in a lost
generation. The principles of this passage fall upon all parents who claim belief in Christ. It is a parent
responsibility to ensure that their children know who God is, come to know Him personally, and give
their lives to Him. They are commanded to teach their children to love the Lord God with all their
hearts, souls, and with all their strength. This is a tremendous feat. The pathway to do so has been
outlined in the passage. They are to do this in EVERY activity of home and family life. All events are to
be used as teaching opportunities to accomplish this goal.

Since this command is given to parents, how is the church involved in the process? Remember, at the
beginning of this study, we learned that Israel was a type of the church in the Old Testament? Israel was
called out from the nations to represent God to them. In the same way, the church is “called out” to
represent Christ to the nations. And in Deut. 6, the pathway to continuing the righteousness of the
Jewish nation was through education -- through teaching God’s Word and God’s ways to children. In the
same send, the pathway to continuing passing down godliness through the generations of the church
comes through the church’s involvement and partnership with parents in teaching children God’s ways.
Today, this is called Christian Education.

Although the term Christian education does not occur in the Bible, the Bible speaks of the moral and
spiritual instruction of believers in general and of children in particular. It places a high value upon
knowledge, both of God and of His works. It describes the moral and spiritual fruits of this knowledge
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and defines its ultimate purpose.

2 Tim. 2:15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be
ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.

One of the purposes for the church is to be involved in disciplining others. This involves teaching people
about the truths of God’s Word that they may grow in their spiritual walk of obedience to Christ’s
commands. Paul, in writing to the Corinthians, was disappointed that after so much time, they were still
not able to handle the meat of God’s Word but were still drinking only the milk of God’s Word, therefore
not maturing in their faith (I Cor. 3:1-7). Maturity comes through the process of education and
application in God’s Word. And this task is assigned to parents and to the church.

The ultimate goal in education is that a student becomes like Christ! The process is a continual directing
of the process of human development toward God’s objectives for man: godliness of character and
action (becoming like Christ).

2 Tim. 3:16-17 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and
training in righteousness, 17so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Notice the pathway to equipping is through teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training. These are all an
integral part of the education process.

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