Community Covenant Church - Sunday Celebrations

October 10, 2004

“Defining Our Purpose: #3 - Educate”
Matthew 4:18-23; Colossians 1:9-14

While the purpose of the Church includes communicating the Good News of God’s salvation in Jesus Christ.. proclaiming.. preaching the Gospel, as well as Incorporating those who come to God through faith in Jesus Christ into the Church, our purpose does not end there... and you know that well, for Community Covenant Church has a rich heritage, nearly 100 years of Christian education....of Sunday School, in particular... a structure that goes by many different names today (Church School, C.E., discipleship, Christian Formation,) but by whatever name, it is a structure in the church that strongly declared that being a Christian involves GROWing in Christ.... it means that we come to our clearest understanding of God, and our deepest experience of God, by becoming more and more like Jesus Christ. Education in the Church affirms what Paul wrote to in Romans as God’s goal for us:

Romans 8:29a
For those God fore knew he also predestined
to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, ....

To the Corinthians he wrote:

2 Corinthians 3:18a
And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory,
are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, ...

And to the Ephesians:

Ephesians 4:22-24
You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

But the problem I see in my generation is that we have lost that transformational element of “education” in “Christian Education”. We have limited our definition of “education” to a head-knowledge kind of thing. We have convinced ourselves that it is enough:
- to know that Jesus was God’s Son, and our Savior,
- to know that the Bible is God’s Word,
- to know that the Church is a “family of faith”.

But “Education” whether Christian education, or secular education, is more than knowing something
If you look up “education” in the dictionary, you‘ll see it’s fuller meanings:

Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary “Educate”

1
a : to provide schooling for
b : to train by formal instruction and supervised practice
especially in a skill, trade, or profession
2
a : to develop mentally, morally, or aesthetically
especially by instruction
b : to provide with information (inform)
3 : to persuade or condition to feel, believe, or act in a desired way

Despite this fuller definition of “education”, , is it possible that we have limited Christian “education” to the realm of “information”, rather than to “transformation”.
* While Christian education begins with hearing the Gospel, our education is to go beyond the realm of information.

The goal of Christian Education, by whatever name it is called, is to re-form us into the image of God.. the image of Jesus, God in human form.

And our need for an education that truly transforms, is based in the truth that we have lost sight of our potential.. our birthright. and we have settled for less.
We have forgotten Genesis 1:27:

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God
he created him; male and female he created them.

This is our potential, our birthright, to reflect God’s image... but it was marred by sin. But, through Jesus’ death it is our potential again! But how to we claim it?
How are we re-formed into the image of God?
How are we transformed into the image of Jesus Christ?.

One of our purposes here at CCC is education..., CE, discipleship, Christian Formation... and by whatever name, it is the tool used by the Church, empowered through the Holy Spirit, to re-form us into all that God created us to be.

If we open the NT letter to the Colossians, we quickly learn that these early Christians had heard the Gospel from Epaphras , a person the Apostle Paul defines as “our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf” (1:7). From Epaphras the Christians in Colossae had come to a knowledge of God’s grace. We too have that knowledge of God’s grace... the message of His salvation in Christ.
But Paul goes on to describe more that he wishes for them to acquire and apply in their lives (more for us too).. Paul even offers a prayer that their “education” would continue:

Colossians 1:9-14
9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. 10 And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according
to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

* In praying that God will “ fill you with the knowledge of his will ” Paul is speaking about maturity in respect to knowledge, he is not describing the acquisition of specific, yet-to-be-discovered, information. Rather, he is describing a journey, of knowing God’s will through “spiritual wisdom and understanding”.
While good education does involve information gathering, it also involves something that takes more time... it involves the transformation of our thinking, our passions and our will.

As a prominent Greek scholar wrote concerning these words in Colossians:

...behind this and kindred phrases (which by themselves might sound as though they referred only to an intellectual process, of the mind but not necessarily of the will and affections) there lay the rich material of the experience of a personal God revealed in Jesus Christ. They did not mean merely a mental grasp of abstract propositions; they meant ‘the perception of God’s will as seen in Christ, and the response to it (or rather, to him)’ - ‘the entering into that divulged secret which is Christ’ - carrying all the implications of a changed life and conduct....

Citation: C.F.D.Moule, The Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary,
The Epistles to the Colossians and to Philemon, 1980, p. 53.

Christian education involves knowledge of Jesus Christ, but more than that, it involves entering into Christ by dying to ourselves and allowing His Spirit to transform us into His likeness.

In today’s “Thought Before Worship”, we hear that, in practical terms, from William Barclay, a prolific biblical commentator:
The devout student is the best of all students. There are too many who are devout, but not students (In other words... they claim Christ but don’t seek to know him better.) . They will not accept the discipline of study and of learning, and they even look with suspicion upon the further knowledge which study brings to men. There are equally too many who are students, but not devout. They are interested too much in intellectual knowledge, and too little in the life of prayer and in the life of service of their fellow men. A man would do well to aim at being not only a student, and not only devout, but at being a devout student.

William Barclay (1907-1978), The Revelation of John (Vol.II)

A purpose of the Church is Christian education, but true transformational education requires those who are devout students... those who seek an ever deeper knowledge of Truth and apply it to their minds, passions and wills.

But as Rick Warren, in his book The Purpose Driven Life records very clearly, what we define as “truth” will affect how we live . He write about four “unreliable” sources... “authorities” that define “truth” and life for many today. See if any of these “rings a bell” for you. Do you find yourself defining “truth” by:
1. Culture - “Everyone is doing it””
2. Tradition - “We’ve always done it”
3. Reason - “It seemed logical”, and
4. Emotion - “It just felt right”

(p. 187)

The problem is that all these “authorities”, all these sources of “truth” as defined by men & women today, are flawed because all have been affected by the Fall. Our sin has made them all unreliable. We hear that reflected in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians:

1 Corinthians 1:20,25
20 Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? .....25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.

Education in the Church is a radical change in how we perceive our world, for it defines a Truth outside of ourselves, an objective Truth called the Bible, God’s Word, and the living Word of God know as Jesus Christ.
So, rather than being one of many elements in our worldview, Christian Education, our knowledge of God in Christ Jesus, and living in Him, defines a brand new worldview, which in turn helps us to perceive & understand all things more clearly. As Paul wrote to the Romans:

Romans 12:2
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is —his good, pleasing and perfect will.

The goal of Christian Education is to re-form us into the image of God.. the image of Jesus, God in human form.

And as we look at the story of Jesus, we quickly see that this “education” is not an optional thing.. as we might think of college or graduate school education. Rather, God comes to us and tells us to follow Jesus.
You know the accounts. We read in

Matthew 4:18-23
18 As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 19 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.”
20 At once they left their nets and followed him.

21 Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, 22 and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.

23 Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.

As Matthew presents Jesus’ message, he does so as a continuation of John the Baptist’s proclamation, that the God’s Kingdom is coming and we need to get our lives in order.
Jesus’ call to follow him requires an immediate response... a radical reorientation based on God’s authority. We see that in Simon Peter, Andrew, James & John’s responses. They understood that to be ready for God’s Kingdom they had to put down their old life and follow Jesus’ calling into a new life and new understanding of the world. Soon, in the Sermon on the Mount recorded in Matthew 5, that radical reorientation would be fleshed out in greater detail.

In a Jewish/Greek culture where disciples were responsible for seeking out their own teacher (Rabbis) the greatest teacher of all, Jesus Christ broke that custom. ..”coming down” to their level socially. (incarnation) And in that recognition alone, we are given a different
perspective on Christian “education”. Rather than being something we choose, it is someone who calls us... someone to who we respond.... someone declaring the way we must go if we are going to be ready to see and to serve God’s Kingdom.
Soon Jesus’ disciples would be educated by Jesus, but they would also be called to become educators: Jesus commissions them, and us, to pass on His message of the Kingdom, and pass on His teachings (Matthew 10:7 and 28:18,19). As part of their discipleship they were also called to demonstrate God’s rule over sickness & demons by offering healing others (10:8).
Christian Education is more than conveying the knowledge of what Jesus taught, it is also about instilling the pattern of Jesus’ actions into our lives today, to teach, preach, and heal all diseases... to demonstrate God’s rule over all sickness and all spiritual forces who oppose Him.
In fact, while some argue that head knowledge eventually leads to works of service, Ephesians 4 implies otherwise. In talking about those Christ has gifted to build up the body, Paul wrote:

Ephesians 4:11-15
11 It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12 to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.

It is in the reality that Christian education is an intrinsic, not optional, part of our faith, and that Christian education is much more than a knowledge of God in Christ,. that we have a question to answer. For if we are going to accept “Education” as one of our core purposes at CCC we have to ask, “How do we educate?... What does Christian Education look like at CCC?”

Well, it is more than Sunday School, but certainly includes it. It’s more than Confirmation, but includes it. A while back our denomination revealed the acronym G.R.O.W. as a wonderful way to understand Christian Education/Formation.

G. = God’s Word .
Community Covenant Church recognizes God’s Word as the truth by which we Educate... the Truth by which we define and change our lives.
This week I read a research paper published in the medical journal “Pediatrics”. It offered proof for what many who had eyes to see have seen for years... that sexual behavior among teenagers is directly related to the amount of exposure they have to sex on television.
Why wouldn’t that make sense. If we allow TV to define “truth” about life, then sex before marriage... even sex before leaving High School, even Middle School makes sense. But, if God’s Word defines the truth by which we live, then our behavior will be radically different than the norm.
God’s Word is the Truth from which we educate.

R. = Relationship
Growing in the likeness of Christ involves growing in relationship with one another, for it is there that we grow in our ability to love as Christ loved... to love fully & unconditionally. (More next week Purpose #4 - Demonstrate (love))
Christian Education happens when we share our lives with one another. It is there we see God’s grace at work, and have opportunity to grow in grace.

Christian Education also happens whenever we are
O. = Obedience to God
The only way we can grow in Christ is by following the lead of God’s Spirit. Christian Education in it full transformational sense, requires obedience to God. If God calls you to reach out in ministry, but you choose not to go, know that you will be missing an opportunity to know God better, to grow in your faith, or to grow in your ability to share God’s love.

And finally, the G.R.O.W. acronym reminds us that we are “educated” in Christ whenever we worship God.

W. = Worship
In two weeks, during worship, we will be talking about worship, but suffice it to say that when we worship God, we are surrendering to God.
- We are bowing before Him,
- we are acknowledging our need for Him,
- we are singing His praises and listening to His Word.
- Like Christ, we are doing the Father’s will, and not our own.

And it is from such a base of worship... on the morning of the first day of every week, that we build our lives

Today as we affirm our purpose to COMMUNICATE the Gospel, and INCORPORATE new believers into our family of faith, let us take our EDUCATION very seriously.
GROW ... GROW to become more like Christ Jesus everyday
AMEN