“Excel in This Classroom of Christian Wisdom”

Christian Education Sunday – September 12th and 13th, 2009

2 Timothy 3:14-17

It is official – the new school year is underway. Children all over the state of Michigan have returned to the
classroom for the fall semester to continue their education. At the beginning of each new school year, whether you
are talking about 5-year-old Kindergarteners or 25 year old grad students, no matter what the age, students are being
reminded and encouraged by their teachers to strive for excellence in the classroom – to pay attention, to do their
work faithfully – to give their best effort possible. Because, if the students listen carefully to the teacher, if they
study the prescribed materials, then the probability of retention is much higher, and, more importantly, the students
will start to see the value of what they have learned and how they can make use of it in their daily lives. Hence,
teachers are spending time early on the school year to encourage students to “Pursue excellence in the classroom.”
Christian Education Sunday is not only the mark of the beginning of the regular fall education schedule here
at our congregation. It is an especially apropos occasion on which we encourage each another to excel in this
classroom of Christian wisdom – God’s classroom. Now, unlike secular education which takes a break here in the
state of Michigan for 3 months or so, Christian education really never stops, it never takes a break. Yes, for the
summer months, our Bible class on the weekends takes a break and the children and teachers in Sunday School get a
much needed respite. But, if you really think about it, this house of learning never takes a vacation. There is always
an opportunity here, in some way, to be refreshed in the knowledge that we have already gained by God’s Word so
that we retain it and become masters of it. And, there is always a chance for us to learn something new – and to
learn how to put our spiritual education to good use in our lives, because Christian education isn’t just education for
the future. Christian education is education for eternity, and therefore intrinsically vital to our eternal welfare.
Thus, excel in this classroom of Christian wisdom! Retaining what you’ve learned from infancy, and employing in
your lives what you have been thoroughly trained to use!

I. Retaining what you’ve learned from infancy

As our teacher, God the Holy Spirit offers to us the following counsel and instruction through the pen of
the apostle St. Paul, “But as for you, remain in the things you learned and have become convinced of, knowing the one
from whom you learned it, and that from infancy, you have known the Holy Scriptures which are able to make you wise
for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.”
Remain in the things you’ve learned! In other words, retain the things you’ve learned in your spiritual
education because they are vitally important to your eternal welfare. Hold on to them and grasp onto them for dear
life, because it is so easy and quite commonplace to forget what you once learned.
Think about your secular education for a moment, those of you who, like me, are a few years removed from
high school or college or graduate school. Do you remember everything that your teachers and professors taught to
you? If you were given a 10th grade Geometry test today, how would you do? Would you be able to remember all
the formulas? What if you were given an exam on U.S. Government. Would you pass? Could you remember the
various legislative bodies in our land and how they work together? If you had to take that French Revolution
History final once again, would you get an “A” this time, or would you struggle to come up with even one answer
that you would feel confident about?
I’d bet that most of us don’t remember a lot of the material that we once learned and knew in high school
and college and graduate school, because in order for us to retain the information we learned, we need to have
exposure to it in some way, either orally or in written form. Retention is dependent upon ongoing education, which
requires ongoing exposure to the teachings. And without that necessary exposure, not only do we lose valuable
information that we once knew, but we even begin to question the truths we once took for granted.
How true that is also when it comes to our education for eternity. From infancy, we learned of God’s grace
in Christ Jesus in the Scriptures. From infancy, we were taught by the Holy Spirit to look to Jesus and his cross
alone for forgiveness, for the blessed hope of heaven. It’s the most fundamental and simple truth of Holy Scripture,
summed up in a very familiar passage which you probably learned as a young child: John 3:16, “For God so loved the
world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” Jesus paid for
the sins of the world on the cross, and all who believe in him will live forever with him in heaven. It is the chief
message of the Bible – it is the height of divine wisdom, it is the cornerstone of Christian theology, and yet is so
simple that a child, who can barely put a sentence together, often says and believes the words, “Jesus died for me.”
Isn’t it sad, then, that such a simple truth, which reveals the one way to heaven, is so easily, readily and
commonly forgotten? The more that Christians remove themselves from the source of truth, the more that
Christians distance themselves from the God’s textbook, the Bible and God’s classroom, his church, the more that
Christians expose themselves to the doctrines of the world and the theologies of man’s sinful reason, the more likely
it is that they will forget God’s gracious promises when they need them the most, and the more likely is it that they
will question, and ultimately doubt even the simplest of Biblical truths!
That’s not what God wants for us as his students. Every teacher who steps into a classroom, no matter what
level it is, no matter what the subject is, every teacher wants their students to learn as much as possible and retain as
much as possible so that they can build upon their education in the future and use it when they need it. No teacher
wants any student to fail! Or, more positively stated, every teacher wants every student to excel. It is God’s desire
for you and me that we excel in his classroom, that we hold on to dear life to the spiritual wisdom which God has
given to us by his Holy Spirit from the time of our infancy. And in order to do that, we need to be learning from
the Word of God constantly. The education we receive here, in God’s classroom and from his Word, is not just
mindless information, not just a list of facts. It is truly education for eternity in which we place our trust for
salvation, and therefore our Christian education, which reveals our Savior Jesus to us, and the life we have in his
name, is the most important education we will ever receive.

II. Employing the wisdom you have been thoroughly trained to use

Sometimes when students are sitting in the classroom, they aren’t able to see the value of all the information
that the teacher is trying to get across. At Michigan Lutheran Seminary in Saginaw, every student was required to
take at least one year of Latin, which as you probably know, is a dead language. It isn’t spoken anymore anywhere
in the world. The average student in the Latin classroom, who had no aspirations of become a pastor or teacher,
really couldn’t understand the value of learning Latin. “Why do I have to learn this stuff? I’m never ever going to
use this in life or in my future career! Why do I have to take Latin? There’s no point to it.”
 Paul, by inspiration of the Spirit, says something very important about the education that we receive from
God’s Word. “All Scripture is God-breathed and useful...” Some may argue that the Bible is outdated, that is isn’t
applicable to the 21st century Christian, that there are parts of the Bible that we don’t need to pay attention to
anymore. In reality, though, nothing is further from the truth. All Scripture is useful, even the parts that we don’t
know a lot about. The records of the worship life of Israel in Leviticus is useful as it points ahead in such a perfect
and vivid way to the sacrificial work of Christ. The list of names in 1 Chronicles 1-9, most of whom we know
absolutely nothing about, that long list of genealogies which appears rather pointless to some is in fact a record of
God’s faithfulness to his people in multiplying them like the sands on the seashore and the stars in the sky, keeping
his promise to them to preserve them for the arrival of the Messiah. While there might be a tendency for us to
think to ourselves, “I know the basics of the Christian faith, and that’s good enough for me,” if we are true students
of Scripture, not only will we excel in mastering the wisdom we’ve known from infancy. We will also seek to
enhance our Christian wisdom through the Scriptures so that we can make use of its truth every single day.
Listen to the ways that the Bible is useful for us: “All Scripture is God-breathed and useful for 1)teaching,
2)rebuking, 3)correcting and 4)training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every
good work.” God’s Word teaches us – it is truly a textbook – and not one of those textbooks you buy for a class and
never open it. It is a textbook of eternal truth for all time, one that we can come back to as a reference of comfort
and strength when we need it the most. God’s Word rebukes us, so that we do not become comfortable in sin, but
always are aware of our need for our Savior Jesus, in whom there is forgiveness for all sins through his blood. God’s
Word corrects us – it improves us in two ways. 1st – It functions to work upon our hearts to bring us to repentance
and to faith, which applies the benefits of Christ to us personally, restoring our relationship with the Father, and 2)
it shows us what is pleasing to the Father, so that our lives are living sacrifices that are holy and pleasing in his sight.
And finally God’s Word trains...literally it brings us up in faith and godly discipline so that we can pass it on to the
next generation and bring them up to treasure, to love, to appreciate God’s gracious Word in their lives too.
Today, as we begin this fall regiment of Bible classes and youth instruction at our congregation, I pray that
we all will seek with sincere hearts to excel in godly wisdom. I pray that as many of you as possible will take
advantage of the many opportunities that are offered here to indulge your hearts and minds in the godly wisdom of
the Scriptures – on Thursday mornings, on Saturday night and Sunday mornings in our family Bible hour, and then
in your homes every single day, which is where families set the spiritual foundation for the next generation! Let’s
never forget, you and I, that the education that God gives to us through his Word in this place, is the most
important education we’ll ever receive, because our Christian education is not just education for the future – it is
education for eternity! Amen.