9. How Firm a Foundation
But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine…
Titus 2:1
Did you know that Hebert Hoover spent years of his life giving food relief aid to post-war Europe? If you’ve ever visited his presidential library, that will be the major theme (because no one wants to talk about his presidency and the Great Depression). The same is true for all the others…they choose a theme and that is what you hear about as you tour their library. The same could be said for Disney World. You go to various parks that have clear themes. One is an Experimental Prototype City of Tomorrow (EPCOT), one is about animals and Tibet (or something like that). The common denominator is that all of these places emphasize a theme.
If you have noticed, we have followed a clear theme this past nine weeks in our devoted groups. We are following a clear theme the entire year of our devoted groups. Because we are coming to our 9th devoted group (and the end/beginning of another 9 weeks) it’s good to review the theme and focus of our devoted groups this year.
Scripture has been the constant focus of every reading and discussion these first nine weeks. The goal has been to get us to think about the call for Christian educators to teach sound doctrinal truth from Scripture. A distinctly Christian school cannot be distinctly Christian if it is not distinctly biblical. Scripture is our foundation. As we move into the next 9 weeks we now move to a second related subject that defines distinctly Christian education, and that is the relation that education has to the local church. There are four basic building blocks that are essential for chrisitan education. We should be:
Committed to Scripture
Anchored to the local Church
Christ-centered in our character
Contending for the Faith
These four areas (themes) will take us through each nine weeks as we think through what makes us a distinctly Christian school. We are now moving into being anchored to the local church. Scripture creates the church, and the church rises and falls on its biblical position. We cannot claim to be a Christian school committed to Jesus if we have no use for his bride (the church).
My prayer for you is that you are first and foremost committed to biblical truth, and your goal is to incorporate that truth into your lesson plans, teaching, lectures, and lifestyle. My second hope is to encourage you to be committed to a local assembly of believers where the Word of God is held high. What we now want to begin to discuss is how our involvement in a local church matters to both our effectiveness and our commitment to God.
Before we begin the discussion of our next 9 weeks discussion, it should help us to review our commitment to Scripture. As you look back over the last 8 sessions, which one stood out as most helpful to your teaching? Which concepts do you think you employ well, and which do you think you need to work through?
To summarize where we have been, the last 8 weeks we talked about the following concepts:
Week 1: The Foundation of the Word of God.
Week 2: Being Equipped by the Word of God.
Week 3: The Sufficiency of the Word of God.
Week 4: The Permanence of Scripture.
Week 5: The Objective Truth of Scripture.
Week 6: The Ministry of the Holy Spirit and Scripture.
Week 7: Personal Devotion to Scripture.
Week 8: Context and Scripture.
Week 9: Review (this week)
If you go back to our web page and read the blogs, you won’t find the above titles (they are hopefully catchier) but this is the major theme of each.
My hope for your devoted group this week is that you all will discuss the last 8 weeks we’ve spent thinking about the Word of God, and review how God continues to use His truth in your teaching.
Discussion Questions:
Has any particular theme over the last 8 weeks resonated with you? Why?
Has any particular theme challenged you? Why?
How can you continue to incorporate Scripture into your teaching?
