Aerie Views
by John O'Hair, DCS Headmaster
Please e-mail your responses to: johair@desertchristian.org
Is Christian Education a business or a ministry?
I was recently reading an article written by Dr. Mark Eckel, the plenary speaker at our ACSI conference this year, on the question whether Christian education is a ministry or a business. It got me thinking and wanting to put down in
writing my thoughts on the matter.
One of the things about being a private school is that we
operate financially like a business.
Families enroll students, tuition is paid and results are expected. There are business components to what we
do. So is this a ministry or a business?
I choose to refer to our endeavor primarily as a ministry
for several reasons. I know we have to
conduct certain aspects of this ministry in a business way, finances,
bookkeeping, paying teachers, and overseeing facilities. Those are all operational activities to be
able to conduct the real purpose at hand, partnering with Christian families in
educating and discipling students.
See there is a danger in looking at Christian education as a
business. The business model of
education is built on some presuppositions that are a problem with a Christian
worldview. Most people today think of private
education as a business. That is why
there is a call to bring competition into the market place of education. Break up the state monopoly in education and
let competition and market force develop good schools, people say.
In business you have a producer who provides a product or a
service to a customer. In the business
model the responsibility is on the producer to give to the customer what he or
she wants. When this idea gets into
education and becomes primary then several things go wrong in the worldview
department. The student starts to be
viewed as a thing (blank slate) onto which instructional inputs are applied and
after an appropriate amount of time and pressure a person capable of making a
contribution to the economy of the country comes forth. Ouch! People do not grow and develop this way;
we are not machines--let alone blank slates.
Another thing that is
assumed is that the producer (teacher or school) is capable of making something
happen to the child. People think good
teachers produce the educational objectives in students. There are things a teacher can control and
cannot control. The outcomes in a child
are not something a teacher has control over.
The problem here is that the responsibility of the child and family in
their education become secondary to the teacher! Hebrews 5:14 says that each person is
responsible for their own learning. The
teacher has responsibilities, to ensure the subject matter is being covered and
taught, that the classroom is conducive to learning, that students are
monitored for behavior and their learning.
The teacher is not responsible for whether a student learns or not, that is what
a business model implies.
Thirdly, in a business model the consumer is ‘always
right’. The consumer wants and needs
drive the producers endeavor. This is
opposite for a ministry. As a ministry
we are motivated by what God commands and tells us what is best for
people. We are committed to speaking the
truth in love over telling you what you want to hear.
A child is an image-bearer of God. Each one uniquely reveals something of God that no
other human in history has shown. Children
are also fallen people, they have a sin nature.
As John Eldridge says,’ they are glorious ruins.’ They are unique persons, designed and crafted
by God with certain attributes and talents which we can enhance or ignore, but
not produce. They are fallen people who
struggle with sin and its consequences. These individuals are also responsible before
God for their choices. They are not
blank slates or raw material (things) but significant individuals.
There is a responsibility for a teacher, as the Bible says
it is to be faithful (1 Corinthians 4:2), faithful to model Christlikeness, to
teach with passion, control the learning environment. Learning is the responsibility of the
student! These are not business
principles but Biblical mandates for both the teacher and the pupil.
My answer to the question about ministry or business is that
Christian education is a ministry, because we are passing on the truth of God
from one generation to another. Not
necessarily giving the child what they want but what they need. Not giving the parent a finished product but
developing the built-in bent that God has created in each child. All of this is done for the glory of God and
not for financial gain. We minister to
the child and family to advance the kingdom of God, not to make a profit!
The Sacred-Secular Split in Our Culture
Our mission statement for DCS says that we partner with parents in discipling and educating their children. To address this partnership with DCS fathers, we recently held our first ever meeting of “For Dads Only” at DCS. We invited the fathers of kindergarten to eighth graders on a Saturday to discuss the place and role of a dad in their children’s education in today’s world.
Part of the problem for Christian parents in our day is the underlying idea of a sacred – secular split in our culture. This split affects the responsibilities and relationships of the father and mother to their children and to each other. We live in a time where most people believe there is a fundamental difference between activities. Some activities we call sacred (bible study, church services, prayer meetings) and some we call secular (homework, movies, eating out). This split came out of the philosophical split that began in the 1800’s where the idea was put out there that reality is split into two parts. One area is the Naturalistic, where reality is based on the five senses only. The other area is the Idealistic area where reality is based on feelings and experience. Nancy Pearcy covers this split in her excellent book, ‘Total Truth’.
This fragmentation of reality is what led to the split between science and religion that in turn led to the idea of that which is secular and sacred. This in turn led to a split between public and private, and finally to a split between the real world and the world of home. Men are seen to go off to the working (real) world and women stay home dealing with the ‘unreal world’ of raising children and keeping house. This split took men away from the daily active role of raising their children and said that this was the woman’s job. Women feel this split and long to be involved in the ‘real’ world. This is partly behind the women’s liberation movement. Hence you hear some say they want a real career and not just to be a housewife who raises the children.
The Bible reveals that there is NO split between sacred and secular. Colossians 3:17 (NIV) says,‘And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.’ Whatever we do is to be done in the name of Christ, from homework to praying, every activity is equally spiritual before God. If this is true, then there is no ‘real’ world compared to an ‘unreal’ world. Biblically there is no split between private and public! We live our whole lives under the watchful eye of God - Hebrews 4:13 (NIV) ‘Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.’
Lastly, there is no split between Dad and Mom on raising children. Scripture says that the father is the one responsible for the education of the child. Ephesians 6:4 (NIV) ‘Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.’ Both parents have responsibility for their children (Deuteronomy 6), yet the father is the one who is held accountable before God for the upbringing of his children.
DCS wants to help students learn about their world from a Christian perspective. We want students to see the mind and hand of God in all things. Since we are partnering with parents we want us all to be on the same page about this reality with parents and the school believing and behaving consistently with the truth revealed in the scriptures. Learning and living out of the reality that is, that all we do is not fragmented but equally spiritual before God.
Twenty-Five Years of Discipling Young People
For 25 years Desert has been discipling students while giving them a liberal arts education from a Biblical worldview. These three cords have been, are and will always be the distinctive for DCS. Dr. Spears of BIOLA says, ‘Education should be about revealing to students what is real or true about the world! Education used to be about understanding ourselves, our world and our role within it. Public education today is not so much about truth or morality as it is about tolerance and contributing to our economic growth.’
The cord of Biblical Worldview is about teaching that there is truth, with a capital 'T'. It is about teaching there is a God and He has spoken about reality. Being able to distinguish Truth from error is important; Jesus said that the truth would set us free.
The cord of Discipling develops the moral character of each child. Teaching children all that Christ has taught us gives them a moral foundation and expectation for living an abundant life. To know good from evil frees one to choose what is best
The cord of Liberal Arts is about developing the whole person by teaching them a broad spectrum of subjects and interests. This produces a foundation of general education that prepares the student for whatever future God directs.
As Richard Weaver says, “The aim of a liberal arts education is to develop the mind and character in making choices between truth and error, between right and wrong. A liberal education liberates!”
We live in a time where there are other philosophical approaches to education. Education without moral development leaves students to their own preferences as to right and wrong. Education without teaching students to think renders them incapable of understanding the difference between demagogy and reason. Education without God leaves students blind to the truth.
Let me relate a story about one of our graduates who went to the U of A. In a history class one day his professor asked the students if their ideas had ever been labeled illogical. Several raised their hands and the professor proceeded to tell them that there was no such thing as logical. There was no truth, only social constructs and to say something was wrong or illogical is nonsense. Our grad remembered the lesson at Desert that "an argument that refutes itself is nonsense," and sat there thinking, "how can I demonstrate the inconsistency of her argument." Now this professor had a single unchanging rule for their class. No student was allowed to leave once class was started. He decided to stand up in class, hoping she would ask him what he was doing so he could explain that her rule by her own definition was only a social construct and that he was doing nothing wrong by her own line of thinking. She glared at him but said nothing so he left the room and then wrote her a letter, apologizing for his behavior and explaining he was trying to show the inconsistency of her thinking. This student asked me to check the letter and we made sure it was respectful and clear. She wrote back saying she was glad she made him think. Really? And that if he ever did that again she would make sure he was removed from the University! I was so proud of how this student had the courage to stand up for truth and goodness.
This current generation needs to be prepared for this very different and challenging world. The ministry of Desert Christian is committed to developing the minds, morals and spirits of children who can grow up to live lives that reflect Christ, free to be and do what God has designed them for, in short, to live a life where they experience God's abundant life!
Developing hearts that are willing to follow Christ
I recently read an excellent interview in World Magazine* with Phil Vischer. Mr. Vischer is the creator of ‘VeggieTales’. The interview has several thoughts and ideas that really resonate with me about what we are facing here at DCS.
In the interview Mr. Vischer says that he spent 10 years with ‘VeggieTales’, “trying to convince kids to behave christianly without actually teaching them Christianity.” Telling kids to behave because the Bible says so, “isn’t Christianity, it is morality.” This is a very big distinction, our desire is not to produce moral people, it is to produce young men and women who are willing to follow Jesus as His apprentices. So many times Christian schools are teaching kids to behave, be moral, follow the rules without developing in them a heart to listen and follow Jesus wherever He leads. I believe that many of the kids who are told to be moral come to the belief that life will work out for them if they are moral. When they go off to college they see people living fun ungodly lives and feel they have been fooled about where life is found. They ‘fall away from their faith’ and live in the flesh. It is costly and painful to follow Christ, to be conformed to His image. This is why Paul told the Thessalonian believers that they would suffer to follow Christ (1 Thess. 3:4). If Christ was a man of sorrows acquainted with grief (Isaiah 53:3) why would we expect to be different from Him? This is not an easy message to pass on to kids. Do not get me wrong, obedience is important but not as an end in itself, knowing Christ is the end we must pursue.
A second though he shared was that we are not called to be a people of vision; we are called to be a people of revelation. Mr. Vischer pointed out that we have made our vision or our dreams sacred. We are told it is most important to pursue our dreams over everything. This is not right. We are to pursue God in Christ! He reveals, He speaks and we follow! Our hopes, our dreams, our visions for ourselves are secondary to what God is saying and commanding us. John Eldridge says discipleship is learning to follow Jesus in wisdom and spirit. There are two areas of revelation that we are exposed to, the Scriptures and the Spirit. We learn the wisdom of Christ through the scriptures. At DCS we want our students to be people of the Book. That they learn to read, study, memorize and meditate on the word of God. In the scriptures they will learn about Christ and what he commands us to do and how to live. In learning to follow Christ in spirit we learn to listen to the Spirit of God, to moment by moment keep in step with the Spirit. The Spirit of Christ lives in us who believe (Romans 8:9) so learning to recognize and hear His voice and follow Him is key to being His disciple. As a school we want to help students come to know how God has gifted and oriented them, to know themselves. That revelation must be in the context of following Christ or else they will follow themselves and put their interests over Christ’s.
What is worth valuing?
Our house was recently burgled. While we were out, some men broke down one of our doors and came inside and stole a variety of things from us. As any of you who have been through this experience know there is a feeling of violation, of loss, and of helplessness. We live outside the Garden of Eden and man’s sin is painfully evident.
You progressively discover what else has been stolen for a few days after events like this. Just today I discovered they had stolen our iron! For me it has been interesting to see how I react when I discover that something else is gone from my possession. Most of it is stuff that can be replaced and aside from the annoyance of going and getting the replacement it is really not emotionally difficult. There are a couple of things I am truly going to miss. It is the things that have sentimental value that are hardest to lose.
I relate all of this to you to ask, what has value to you? Jesus said in Luke 12, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." He told us that possessions, even in abundance, do not make up one’s life. We live in a country and at a time in its history when we have lots of things! Our things do not make our lives. The ancient Hebrews knew about what is valuable. Proverbs says that ‘to gain wisdom is better than getting gold or silver’ (16:16). I wonder how many of us actually believe that truth in modern America.
Those of you who are choosing to send your child to a Christian school are making a large sacrifice. I used to teach economics and the idea of opportunity cost comes naturally to mind here. Economists observe this phenomenon that they call ‘opportunity cost’ being played out every day by people. When you purchase something it costs you not the money you spend on the item but it costs you all the other things you could have purchased with that money. So choosing to send ones child to a Christian school and paying tuition costs the parent all the other things they could have purchased with that money, like a new car, or a larger house or a phenomenal vacation. Opportunity cost reveals what it is that people value over other things or opportunities, what they are willing to give up in order to have a certain thing.
As a school we know that a person’s life does not consist of the abundance of their possessions. The bumper sticker that says, “He who dies with the most toys, wins!” is not true. People who have learned wisdom and knowledge have gained something of real value.
Desert Christian works to teach and disciple students to give them a Biblically integrated education and to develop their faith. Simply put, we are working to provide these students both knowledge and wisdom. So how much is a Biblical worldview for your child worth to you as a parent? How much is it worth to you that you have a school partnering with you to pass on shared values and beliefs? How much is it worth to you to have teachers who are people of faith caring and teaching your children?
The Purpose of a Christian Education
Recently at my church one of our associate pastors spoke on Ephesians 2:10 about the idea of purpose. What is our purpose? Why are we here? What does God want to do? It was a good reminder about this question related to education. Why do we educate our children? What is the purpose of a Christian education?
The answer to these questions is tied to the overall question for our purpose for being. For what purpose did God make us? Some say God made us because He was lonely. Others say God needed someone to praise Him! The truth is that God needs nothing. He is self-sufficient in Himself. We were not created to fill any gap for God.
Ephesians 1:4 says, “We were chosen by God before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.” God made us to be holy and blameless. Holiness is the same as being righteous, to be perfect and pure. To be blameless is to be someone who cannot be accused of anything wrong. No one can point the finger at you. We were created by God to be holy and blameless. Because we have willfully rebelled against God, none of us is holy and blameless. Christ’s work on the cross addresses both of these areas. His blood forgives our sin and makes us blameless and the sacrifice of his perfect body grants us the gift of the righteousness to our account. (Romans 5:9 & 5:19)
God’s redemption returns us to a place of relationship with God. We are now as God intended us to be, holy and blameless in Christ. So what is the purpose of relationship with God? I like the Westminster Catechism answer to the question of the chief purpose of man. The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him. We are created to bring glory to God and personally enjoy Him as God. Bringing God glory is reflecting the image of God in us to our world. Being who God made us to be in truth and humility. Enjoying God is our experiencing the wonder, mystery and goodness of God for who He is and what He does.
So the answer to the question of what is the purpose of a Christian education begins with the answer to the purpose of man. A Christian school has the high calling of instructing, modeling, and developing in young people their relationship with God. The Christian school gets to teach students about God, His world, His people and to prepare them for whatever it is God has for them to do. This then prepares the student to glorify God through their thoughts and actions and enjoy God.
At DCS if our students come to know God in Christ and learn to love God, love His people and love His world we will have succeeded in the purposes of God in the lives of those students. That then can be judged as truly doing good!
Why do we do Christian education?
Why? The ubiquitous question of all 3 year olds! It is a question to ask of any activity to discern the reasons for the activity. It is a great question to ask of any organization. So here goes, why do we do Christian education?
The more thorough answer requires some context. God has created human beings in His image, we are image bearers. The reality that God has created for human beings is that at birth we know nothing. We learn everything we know over time as we grow and develop. A third reality is that image bearers are complex beings. We have a mind, will and emotions, we are spiritual, relational, and physical beings. In short, we were built to grow up; our development takes place in all these spheres God has revealed in the Bible. He wants us to be mature in each of these spheres of our lives (socially, physically, mentally and spiritually). Christ modeled this as seen in Luke 2:52.
Remembering Who is in Control
For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
Colossians 1:16-17 (NIV)
This passage in Colossians is an important proclamation about Christ and our world. Jesus is our creator, not only that but the creator of all, seen and unseen. He not only created beings and things but powers, rulers and authorities. So all leaders, rulers and powers are in existence by the will of Christ and they are there to do what God has willed. Christ has first position over everything and everyone and He holds it all together!
That last phrase is fascinating in the light of the current economic situation. At our recent annual meeting I talked about the cheers and challenges we as a school are seeing. Good things are happening; God is going before us and providing for us. We also face some challenges related as a result of the economy.
How do we deal with difficulties in our lives? How should we approach challenging situations? It is easy to praise God and get on with life when everything is going well, but how do we do this when there are difficulties?
There are a couple of things I believe we need to remember (by the way, in scripture God repeatedly calls on us to remember). The first thing to remember is related to the above Colossians passage. There is a God, we are not Him. He has created all that is seen and unseen and He is in control of it all. He is the one who holds all things together. I need to keep things in perspective; things are NOT careening all over the place out of control. God is on the throne and He is holding it together. God creates, sustains and brings things to an end. I can rest in this assurance even though it feels out of control.
Second, is remember that a school such as ours is God’s school; it is not mine, nor the administration's. It is not the Board's school or even the parents’ school. It is God’s school. God used several families twenty-five years ago to create it and he has sustained it over the years. In fact, we have stories about the many miracles God preformed in the past using His people to keep Desert Christian going and growing.
Lastly, as Colossians says, Christ holds DCS together even now. So remember there is a God, this is His school and He holds it together.
So what do we do besides remember? What can we do? We are created to join God in His work. In John 5:19, Christ showed us and told us what to do. We are to look for what the Father is up to and doing and we are to join Him in that work. What is He doing in your life? What is He asking you to do? Look to see where God is working and join Him there.
The result of our trusting, watching and obeying will be that God receives the glory for what He accomplishes in our midst. Soli Deo Gloria
Wanting What God Wants for our Children
What do you most want for your child? Every parent has dreams and desires for their children. What do you want for them? Success, health, happiness, good marriages, and good jobs are a few things parents want. I have heard parents say they do not want their children to experience what they went through. ‘I grew up poor’ or ‘I had some person in my life that made life painful or difficult.’ As parents we naturally tend to look back on our painful or difficult circumstances and not want that for anyone, least of all our kids. This is normal.
To desire good things for our kids is legitimate. I would not expect any parent to wish ill for their child. It is one reason that disciplining a child is difficult for a parent. It is why we say “this will hurt me more than it hurts you”. Yet what would life be like if we never experienced difficulties? We all know people who are spoiled. Spoiled people have not had to experience much in terms of want or difficulty or pain. What are they like as people? Is that what we want for our kids?
I think the more important question we need to ask as parents is, "What does God want for my kids?" As Creator, King and Lord what He wants for them is far more important than what I want. As Jesus pointed out, “If you being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him (Matt 7).” God is good and He wants good for you and your children. So what does God want and what are you asking God for on behalf of your children?
In Romans 8 it says that God’s will is that believers would be conformed to the image of Christ. God wants you and your children to become like Christ, to be conformed to His image. This is God’s will. So what does the image of Christ look like? The fruits of the spirit are the measuring stick for the image of Christ in me. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control all reflect Christ. A person with these qualities is reflecting the image of Christ. Who would not want these qualities reflected in themselves and their children?
We also live in a fallen world and as Isaiah says about Christ, He was a man of sorrows acquainted with grief (Isa. 53:3). If my children are to become like Christ they will go through times of testing and difficulty. They will experience sorrow and grief. If Christ was like this, why do I believe me or my children will not or should not go through this? How do the fruits of the Spirit get developed? James 1:2,3 makes more sense if we see that God uses challenges and difficulties to form the image of Christ in us.
The child who never faces difficulties and challenges does not ever have to trust God. It is the challenges and difficulties of life that put us in the place of depending on God to minister to us and walk with us through the valley of death. I do not fear the evil because, as David told us, the rod and staff of God comfort me. The key for us as parents and teachers is how to teach and model trust in God during those times to our children.
So I go back to my initial question, what do you most want for your child? The answer would be that as a Christian parent I want what God wants for them. That they would grow to become like Christ. Is that what you pray for them? Would you pray and ask God to do whatever it takes to make your child into the image of Christ? That is a very difficult prayer but a prayer in keeping with God’s will.
Why do we educate our children?
Our culture gives us reasons and we accept them many times without thinking about them. We are told people need an education so they can get a good job. They need an education so they can keep up with the modern world. Both of these reasons are based upon a worldview that permeates our national discussion. The first is based upon the idea that education prepares us as “human capital” to work and produce economically for societies benefit. The second is based upon a similar idea that we need technical knowledge to compete economically in our world.
Why do we educate our children? These answers by our society are, I believe, secondary to the real reason to educate a person. They are commendable but not the real end of education. I like to respond to these answers by proposing a different question, why does the world say, "get a good job" and not, "create a good living"? The first answer says education is about creating good employees. Why is it not about creating good entrepreneurs? But even that idea is still making education all about an economic issue and not a character or spiritual issue.
Again, why do we educate our children? The Bible states it is to prepare our children to be the adults that God has designed them to be! God wants us to mature and grow up in all areas of life, physical, socially, spiritually and intellectually. As the writer of Hebrews says (5:14) “the mature have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil”. The purpose of education is to train children to know the difference between good and evil, right and wrong, beauty and ugliness. To be able to think. To clearly understand right from wrong. To choose to conform to God’s design and pattern.
The naturalist worldview says that reality is only what one can learn through their senses. This worldview says that we are only biological machines. There is no spiritual or metaphysical part of reality. Ethics are only those things that promote efficiency and social order. Their view of education is to ‘tinker’ with the machine to optimize it. Preparing one for some future utility (benefit) for the greater whole is the goal of this worldview. This is the view that permeates our cultures views on education.
The Christian worldview takes a very different view of reality. The Bible makes it clear that people are both physical and spiritual beings. We learn through our senses and we learn things through revelation. We are image bearers of God, designed by Him to reveal his glory in unique ways. Ethics for us are about transcendent truths that God has declared and revealed about how He has designed us to live and act. Education is teaching and training us to understand the reality of God and our world and choose to act according to His reality. Developing all the facets of the person as they are designed to be is the goal of education in the Christian worldview.
What do you as a parent want for your child? Why do you want them educated? Are you interested in more than test scores? I know that all parents want the best for their kids. What is that best? Who is defining the best for you? Jesus said in his prayer in John 17:14-17 that we are not of the world, we live in the world. The world is not the one to tell us what is important; He gave us His word and prayed that we would be sanctified by the truth. As Luke 2:52, said of Christ, so I believe every Christian parent wants their child to grow in wisdom (mentally developed), stature (physically developed) and in favor with God (spiritually developed) and man (socially developed). Christian education aims to develop the whole person not to prepare them for a job!
Created to Remember
The start of every New Year presents the opportunity to look back and to think forward. We look back to remember and we think forward to dream. This is why you see so many articles by news outlets about what happened the past year and what to look forward to in the year to come.
Recently at church our pastor spoke about remembering and one passage he used was Psalm 106. The Psalmist laments how the people of
God has created us to remember. God himself remembers, “He remembered his Covenant with them, and, immense with love, took them by the hand. He poured out his mercy on them while their captors looked on, amazed’. (vs. 45, 46 The Message) In making us in His image God created in us the capacity to remember. We are built to remember! This is why I believe every child can learn and remember.
Notice in those verses how forgetting leads to bad things. The people’s unfaithfulness was rooted in their not remembering what God had done for them! This issue of not remembering is a problem of sin, choosing to not remember. There are things we need to remember and there are things we need to forget! Because of sin it is easy to forget what we should remember. This is why God continually commands us to remember what He has done.
God has been so good to us in the DCS community. Through the years He has provided all along the way. God is so faithful and generous with us! So as we start the New Year, take time to remember what the Lord has done for you this past year. Give God glory and thanks! Happy New Year!
On Gratitude and God’s Good Gifts
I love this time of year, from Thanksgiving to Christmas. The weather is cool, the kids are excited about time off from school, and these two holidays are just plain fun! Our family alternates where we celebrate Thanksgiving each year between my wife’s family and mine. This year we had her family over and with guests, we ended up with thirty-four people for dinner! What a joy to have all those loved ones to celebrate a feast together. We took time to give thanks to God for all his blessings to us. We also took time to express our thankfulness for each other. Gratitude is so important!
Gratitude is a function of goodness. For without goodness there would be nothing to be thankful. Gratitude is recognition of goodness. It is a declaration of acknowledgement for goodness being present and received. One of the most basic questions each person asks and works through is the question, “Is God good?” We all have an answer to this question already in place. The revealed truth for this question is that God is good! Gratitude is a proclamation of goodness and should be our natural response to the presence of God’s goodness.
Gratitude is a very important value and characteristic for people to develop. I know every parent wants their children to develop a grateful attitude and we start teaching it early to our kids. The reason we have to teach it is because of sin in our lives. Original sin is present in even the youngest of us. One of the ways that sin is seen is the presence of demandingness in each of us. Because of sin, we demand we get what we want. On an episode of the Simpsons, Bart at the dinner table when they go to pray prior to a meal says something close to, “God I do not know why we thank you for what we have purchased, prepared for ourselves without you.” That is an example for the presence of sin in a life. It is an attitude of contempt for what we have been given, and not gratitude. Contempt is ugly and gratitude is beautiful.
Being only a month apart, it is interesting that Thanksgiving and Christmas are so close to each other. There is a message in that observation alone. We first get to express our gratitude for the many blessing in our lives and then we get to prepare for the celebration of the coming of our Lord, Immanuel (“God with us”), to live among us. God sent, gave His only son who left the glory of heaven to come live on earth in the presence of sinful people. God gave! God was, is and will be generous beyond measure! Jesus showed us the goodness of God, His grace and truth. What a thing to celebrate, God’s generosity to us!
As 2 Corinthians 9:15 so eloquently ties it all together,
"Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!"
A Clash of Worldviews in Education
Our understanding of the nature of education is built upon our understanding of the nature of man. Who are we? Where do we come from? Why are we the way we are? There are two different answers to these questions in our world today; The Humanist/Darwinian view and the Biblical view.
The Humanist/Darwinian view is that man is the product of time and chance, contending that man is a being that evolved from the primal soup millions of years ago. Man is merely an animal, a higher order of animal, but still only an animal. Man is basically good (like your dog) and perfectible (he can be conditioned to behave certain ways). The issue of evil and corruption is not due to man himself but due to corrupted and evil social institutions, like religions. The French philosopher, Jean Jacque Rousseau, in the 1700’s said that ‘man was born free and is everywhere in chains’ due to the corrupt institutions of Western Culture. He also said children are born with minds like blank slates and when properly taught can be molded into productive people. The Humanist/Darwinian view is a mechanistic and utilitarian view of people and the world. People are only cogs in a larger machine and are considered valuable based on their contributions to the evolutionary advancement of mankind.
The Biblical view is quite different. The Bible teaches us that man was created by God, created after God had first created angels and animals. Man is neither an angel nor an animal. Man is both physical and spiritual; he has a biological body and an eternal invisible spirit. Men are created in the image of God, so there is much in each of us that is set by God. We are glorious! People are not puppets but volitionally free individuals who co-author their life story with God. We were created to learn and we all learn, yet we are gifted by God in individual ways! We are also sinners. Adam’s disobedience in the Garden of Eden has an effect on each of us to this day. Our sin nature produces the destructive thoughts and choices in each of us. In contrast to the Humanist/Darwinian view, society is not the problem, man is. We are as Larry Crabb says ‘glorious ruins!’
The implications of these two worldviews on education are in stark contrast. One contrast relates to the question about the nature of education. Is education only about imparting information? This is the prevailing idea of the Humanist/Darwinian view. Since we are only physical beings, putting information in our minds is all we need. Everything else is biologically hard wired. This is why so many believe that education is the answer to large social problems like teen pregnancy, AIDS and poverty. This prevailing worldview sees that education will solve our problems. This is also the reason why some emphasize education is only about academics. Simply put this view sees education as teaching children to prepare them for a job.
The Christian understanding is that education is three fold. Informing the mind (Job 34:3) along with training minds to distinguish truth from error (Hebrews 5:14) and developing character from learning to distinguish what is good and evil and then act in a good way (James 4:17). This view understands that knowledge is important particularly when distinguishing truth from error. Knowing the truth is very important. It also understands that the spiritual moral side of man has to be addressed as much as the mental side. Simply put Christian schools must be in the business of training minds along with training character!
A second contrast is how these worldviews look at the role of the teacher. The Humanist/Darwinian side views teachers as responsible for whether a child learns or not. The teacher is the technician who if she pulls the right levers will produce learned and competent people. If children fail to learn it is the fault of the teacher. The teacher is the focal point of the educational processes’ success or not.
The Biblical view says the teacher has a responsibility to model character and pass along content to the student (Luke 6:40). In this view the student is responsible for learning (Hebrews 5:14). The teacher is responsible for the content, and the environment for learning. Success is placed at the foot of the student. The teacher is responsible to be faithful (Luke 16:10).
There is a clash of worldviews in education. At DCS we strive to proclaim truth and act in keeping with the truth because we believe ‘the truth will set you free’. We see education as an activity that God has called us to in the work of redeeming His glorious image bearers.
Grace and Truth
John 1:14 - And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Grace and Truth, two very important ideas. These are the two most important ideas in Christianity. Jesus, incarnate, gave us a tangible view of God. What John said he saw was the glory of the Father a glory full of grace and truth!
Some of the teachers at DCS are currently watching the Truth project for certification purposes. The first video is on truth, it is excellent. The point is made that Christ came into the world to testify to the truth (John 18:37). Jesus came to tell us what is true. We live in a fallen world. A world where there are lies being put forth. Satan started it off by telling Eve the exact opposite of what God had said. Since then there are two camps – two kingdoms (the kingdom of God, a kingdom of light and truth and the kingdom of Satan, one of darkness and deception) Colossians 1:13. Christ who is The Truth came as the light of the world to testify to the truth.
Truth is very important. This is one reason we work at teaching from a Biblical worldview. We want what we teach to be tethered to the truth. No one is neutral, everyone teaches from a perspective and it is possible that ones perspective is based on error and permeated with lies. It is said that the Greeks discovered logic. They did not invent it; they discovered that it is a reality all around us. They discovered that the errors in ones thinking could be identified and that the wrong conclusions could be explained.
Currently in the
Yet, Christ incarnated two traits! Grace and Truth! We must work to embody both these elements in our lives and study. Grace is the mercy and compassion of God for those enslaved and imprisoned by lies. Too often Christian schools just emphasize Truth without the equally important component of Grace. If we only emphasize truth, we tend to get self righteous, proud and dogmatic. If we only emphasize grace we get sloppy and fall into license. The key is to focus on both, Truth and Grace.
We live in a world where there are lies and deception all around. Our culture is full of lies! Why is that so, because we ourselves are deceived and we believe lies! The place to begin is to address the lies in our own lives and appropriate the grace to God to us. Remembering that God has not dealt with us as our sins deserve! He has shown us grace and we can show ourselves and others that same grace. This is why Paul exhorts God’s servants in their approach to teaching. 2 Timothy 2: 24-26 – The Lord's bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged,25 with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth,26 and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.
* Separation of School and State, message given by Marshall Fritz
The Value of Christian Education
In economically challenging times, people always review and consider what they are spending their money on and why. Decisions are made whether to save, curtail, or modify spending. One area I see this happening in, and rightly so, is with education choices. Our own families here at Desert Christian are weighing the financial commitment needed to send their children to a Christian school.
Why spend precious resources for something that one can get free by going to a public school? Each family must wrestle with the question of what is the best educational option for their children. There is no one answer that fits all. Each family must choose what they hear God is telling them to do as a family.
I can articulate some reasons why parents make the sacrifices necessary to choose a Christian education.
All education comes from a prevailing perspective or worldview. No one is neutral! Even when someone says they are neutral, that is in itself a position and the question can be asked, neutral to what? A Christian education is not neutral. A Christian education is about learning from a Biblical perspective about every subject covered, from Math to PE and from Drama to Sports. Colossians 1:16, 17 - proclaims that all things were create by and for Christ and that Christ holds all things together. Therefore everything we study was made by Jesus and for Jesus and therefore from a Christian perspective Christ and God should not be left out of the discussion and learning. A Christian education offers this distinctive.
An education involves a community. A Christian education is also a community effort. We learn from the company we keep! In a Christian education the community is other believers. While every child may not be a believing child, the parents (or parent) agrees with the Christian values and mission of the school. To be surrounded by others who value and support what you value and support drives home the message to your children. A Christian school offers this type of environment.
A Christian education is interested in the development of the whole child. Some schools only want to develop the mind of the child. As Christians, we see that children bear the image of God and have four major areas to develop in their lives: one’s mind, one’s body, one’s relationships and one’s spirit as Luke 2:52 points out in the development of Christ as a human. A child needs to develop their mind, body, spirit and social abilities. A Christian school offers an education that touches and develops all those areas from a Biblical perspective.
Making choices in a difficult economy requires that one weigh all the costs. I so appreciate all our families who have thoughtfully considered and then committed their treasure to provide a Christian education for their children.
Keeping the Unity of the Spirit
Our theme verse for the 2010 – 2011 school year is Ephesians 4:3 – Make every effort to keep the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace.
One of the things I like best about being an independent
Notice, Paul says to ‘make every effort to keep unity’. We serve a God who loves diversity and unity. The world’s way to create unity is to promote uniformity. Unity requires that we acknowledge the differences yet unite through something greater and outside of ourselves. In this case it is the Spirit of God. The Spirit gives us life in Christ (Romans 8:1-11), baptizes us into the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:13) councils us (John 15:26) and leads us, teaches us (John 16:13) and convict us (John 16:8-11). Every believer regardless of the tradition they come from has this ministry from the spirit to them in common with every other believer. We are united in Christ and His Spirit—not in a uniformity of outward practice and beliefs. So one application for us is to acknowledge the diversity around us and remember that the Holy Spirit who is alive in us is the same Spirit alive in all other believers.
We live in a progressively fragmenting society. Philosophically, fragmentation began to enter the field of ideas in the late 1800’s through Immanuel Kant’s’ teachings. We are living out the acceptance of those views of reality today. These days, no one is expected to know about anything broadly. Education is now about specialization and all topics are compartmentalized. It is one reason why I believe we have lost a sense of community in modern
The effort to keep unity is to be done through the back drop of a bond of peace. As you are well aware, there is little peace in our world yet it is spoken of and dreamed about often. World peace is a stated objective of many. What makes for peace? Where does it come from? How does an individual attain it? The world thinks peace comes from the absence of war, weapons or conflict. I like what Isaiah says in chapter 32:17 – “the work of righteousness will be peace.” Peace comes from righteousness. In doing right, one of the outcomes is peace; the knowledge that one did the right thing. It is like the proverb we have here in America; “tell the truth and you will never have to remember what you said.” There is no doubting, or second guessing when one tells the truth. Likewise, when one does what is right no matter the outcome whether it is pleasant or painful, that person has peace about doing what is right. Another aspect of this is that there is a righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. The righteousness of Christ makes us right with God and gives us peace with God. Trusting in His righteousness leads to peace. So the application for us is to do what is morally right and personally trust in the righteousness of Christ which will create a communal bond of peace.
We are different and diverse community at DCS, yet God calls us to be united in His Spirit through a bond of peace. A community that lives this out is going to be ‘a light on the hill’ to all those around them. So as we begin this year, let us make every effort …
Walking in Step with the Spirit
In his book, The Safest Place on Earth, author Larry Crabb talks about walking in the flesh verses walking in the Spirit. Anyone in a community is either walking in the flesh or spirit at any moment in their life. Dr. Crabb looks at ways we were created to live and examines how the corruption of sin has produced motives in us that lead to walking in the flesh.
We as people were commanded by God in Genesis 1 to “rule over the beasts of the field, the birds of the air and the fish of the sea”. We were created and commanded to rule. To rule over the animals God had created. Note that he did not command Adam to rule over people. God is our King! He is our ruler. Leadership is important, but it is not about ruling! (Look at what Jesus said on this in Matthew 20:25-28)
Now Genesis 3 follows after this command by God and man disobeys and falls. Corruption enters the world. Dr. Crabb says that our command to rule has been corrupted so that we have a passion to control. We are desperate to control any and everything. This is a major motivation behind our walking in the flesh. We expect that we can be in control of pretty much anything, particularly people. This is one reason I think we have such a hard time with change. Change shows us we are not in control, much like suffering. As I tell the kids, “there is a God and you are not Him!” If we are in control, we do not need God!
The list of the acts of the flesh mentioned in Galatians 5 reveals the actions produced by a persons’ passion to be in control. Jealousy, fits of rage, dissension, factions and the like come from a persons demand that life work they way they want. When life does work out the way they want, these characteristics rise to the surface as evidence of our demand to be in control.
In contrast, walking in the Spirit is motivated by a different passion, a passion to trust. God is King, He is in charge! He rules! These are truths we know in our heads. The question is do we believe it in our hearts? Does he control the circumstances in our lives? Does He know what is or is not happening? Does He care? These are all questions we ask ourselves almost daily. God is good and He wants us to trust Him, to believe He is working in whatever circumstances to achieve His purposes and plan. To rely on Him and trust His control of the circumstances, as Romans 8:28 says, “we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him…”.
To rely upon the Lord is synonymous to a passion to trust Him. A passion to trust God will produce an entirely different type of result in our lives. These fruits of the Spirit; Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control are evidence of a person passionately trusting God.
I am not saying we never stand up to wrong, that we never speak out. We should and must do so, but not out of a passion to control the circumstances but out of a passion for what God has said is right and good. As a spiritual community when we see something we do not like, it is a good time for us to stop and examine what is bothering us and ask questions. What is God telling me? Does He want me to confront this, to reflect the impact it has on me and others, or to seek to understand the issues. I know in all of this, He is asking us to trust Him in this situation. He is not asking us to burst out in fits of rage, discord, dissentions or envy.
Let us follow the Spirit’s lead, as Galatians 5:25 says, “let us keep in step with the Spirit.”
Checking the Fruit of the Spirit
We either walk in the sinful nature or we walk in the spirit. There is no third possibility!In Galatians 5, Paul points out these two paths. In verse 19, he identifies the outward evidence that are the result of our walking in the sinful nature – sexual immorality, impurity, debauchery, idolatry, witchcraft (we believers know these are wrong). As he continues, the next behaviors of the list are the ones we see more of in the midst of believers. Hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy. The list ends with two more that we believers know are wrong, drunkenness and orgies.
Paul’s list does not place a scale of which are worse than the others. Walking in the sinful nature produces destructive behaviors. These behaviors are evidence we are on a path to death! These behaviors do not please God. (Romans 8:6 & 8)
Paul then, in Galatians 5, contrasts the outward manifestations that are the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. You can look and tell about how a person is walking by the fruit seen in their outward actions. You can see if a person is being patient or is responding in a fit of rage. The way someone is being gentle as opposed to someone creating discord.
In Ps. 51:6 God reveals that He desires truth in our inner parts. God wants us to be honest with ourselves. It is wise to look at ones actions and ask yourself, what impact they are my behaviors having on those around me? Proverbs 14:8 – a prudent man gives thought to his ways.
So is fruit of my actions something that reveals love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control, or does my behavior produce hatred, discord, jealousy, rage, ambition, dissension, factions and envy? Am I raging? Am I full of joy? Am I sowing discord here? Am I displaying kindness in this situation?
As a community here at DCS we see how individuals behave. From students to parents to teachers to administrators, we see either the fruit of the sinful nature or the fruit of the spirit in people. So as Jesus said in Luke 17:3-4, “if your brother sins, rebuke him and if he repents forgive him”, we can confront the sin we see in others by pointing out the evidence of walking in the sinful nature to them. Remember, how we confront also reveals whether we are walking in the flesh or in the spirit!
So look at yourself and take a fruit check! Am I bearing the fruit of the spirit or the fruit of the sinful nature? God wants us to be growing in producing the fruit of His spirit. 2 Peter 1:5-9. My prayer is for a fruitful spring around here at DCS!
January 2010
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery – Galatians 5:1
The apostle Paul faced a constant issue in preaching and advancing the Gospel in his day. This problem continues to be an issue into our present time. It is the problem of living in grace or living under the law. Notice the prepositions of that last sentence, in grace as opposed to under the law. The law sets a standard and requires us to live within the confines of that standard. Living in grace is different. It is enjoying and partaking of an environment, not achieving a standard. It is the difference between swimming in a community pool during the summer and doing the high jump at a track meet.Paul wrote to the Galatians wanting them to understand that they were no longer under the law as believers in Jesus. They were free! Christ had lived a perfect life and his righteousness was now imputed to them. They met the standard of God in Christ through trusting the work of Christ and not by their efforts to be moral. The Galatians had started out well but were now trying to win the favor of God by their efforts (Galatians 3:1) Many today think and act the same way, I accept Christ by faith but now I have to live a righteous life to be ok with God. Paul refutes that idea in this book of Galatians.
In Galatians 5 verse 6, Paul points out that circumcision (any external standard of religion) does not matter, the only thing that counts is faith working itself out in love. I understand this to mean that the thing to look for in the life of a believer is evidence of love. Our faith must be producing the fruit of love. One of the things we desire to see of students at DCS is that they are growing in love. Love for God, others and creation. Do they love God, people and learning? The only thing that can produce that type of love is the spirit of God as we trust God.
So how does this get integrated into a Christian school? We want to be truly Christian as a school. How do we work out being a place of grace? First is to realize that we want to see our children learn to love – love God, love people
