Some thoughts on class time

1) Tonight I want us to think about a small but very important fact.

2) An entire year of Bible classes is about equal to about 10 days in a public school system.

3) This is not very long. The numbers seems even worse if we lengthen the comparison.

4) Suppose that instead of 10 days of Bible instruction a person receives 120 days – 4 months.

5) 4 (or maybe 6 months) of Bible education is what many kids receive if they faithfully attend classes.

6) This should make us sit down and think

7) How much would a person know if he had just four to six months of formal education?

a) This six month period could be divided up any way we like.

However this was divided up, at the end of the time a person would not know very much.

8) Not long ago I saw some information on high school dropout rates.

9) It is said that about a third of all US students drop out of school before graduation.

10) About 2 dozen states actually allow children to drop out of school.

11) Studies show that in more cases than not these young people have some serious difficulties.

12) Tonight we are not illustrating things with someone who does not graduate from high school.

a) We are not thinking of someone who stopped his schooling at the 5^th of 6^th grade.

b) We are thinking of someone who has only 6 months of formal education (maybe 4 months).

c) How well equipped would such a person be for life?

13) Most local congregations offer young people about 6 months of Bible training from grades K-12.

14) This does not come close to rivaling the schooling offered in the secular world.

a) With secular schooling, parents often go all out.

b) They may work to get their children into the best schools.

c) They may seek to get their children into special classes with certain teachers.

d) Some parents go all the extra miles; no activity is too much because school is a priority.

e) When it comes to Bible classes that can be a different story.

15) As I thought about the time disparity between Bible classes and secular schooling I considered how the Bible describes God’s curriculum.

a) Is God pleased with the figures I gave at the start of this lesson?

b) Would He be pleased by a young person who receives 6 months of Bible instruction & 12 years of secular inst?

c) There is not a passage that specifically asks and answers this exact question.

d) There are verses that we can combine to give us an answer.

16) Mt. 4:4 says man is to live by “every word” from the scriptures.

a) No Bible class teacher can cover everything in six months.

b) Our Bible school program is an important tool, but if that is all there is, it is not enough.

c) There needs to be supplemental teaching in homes.

17) In Mt. 13:19 also contains a second and important lesson.

18) Jesus said people can hear things from the Bible and the information is not understood.

a) This is certainly true when it comes to secular education.

b) Children receive in many respects some “repeat” instruction.

c) This often happen in some freshman college classes.

d) A young person may not have been paying much attention in math and English classes.

e) Or, maybe they did not understand some things.

f) Later grades or later courses go back and deal with some of the same subjects again.

19) If a person receives only six months of Bible school instruction, that is not enough time to understand it all.

a) There will be some things young people do not fully grasp.

b) Some things may be difficult t comprehend and they need to be covered more than once.

c) Other matters may take some time before the mind can fully grasp them.

d) Once again a Bible school program is a great and important tool, but it is not enough.

20) In the verse after Mt. 13:19 (13:20) Jesus spoke about “rocky ground.”

a) Some students are “rocky ground.”

b) For whatever reason a student may not want to learn.

c) With 12 years of education this problem can sometimes solve itself.

d) A child not listen for a few weeks or months, but he gets enough instruction to get by.

e) Imagine just six months of instruction and people “tune out” some of the time.

f) With just six months or so of teaching, one cannot afford to lose anything that is said.

g) This is a serious problem.

21) If a person does not receive a complete earthly education, that is a temporal matter.

22) It may affect them for 10, 50, or maybe 80 years.

23) If a person fails in their spiritual education, they can be affected for eternity.

24) Acts 13:26 refers to the “word of salvation.”

a) Think once again about young people who receive 6 months of Bible school training.

b) We are trying to give them the information they need to be saved from their sins.

c) We get less than a year to help them in this regard.

d) Being a Bible class teacher is a very serious matter.

e) Being a teacher is also one of the most important and greatest works we can ever undertake.

f) In many respects a Bible class teacher is more important than a secular school teacher.

g) Bible class teachers are dealing with matters far more serious than the right way to do math or

h) The right way to carry out a scientific test. They are dealing with eternal spirits.

25) Secular teachers sometimes like their works because they know they can help people succeed.

26) This is should also be true for Bible class teachers.

27) Bible class teachers know their work will help students receive an eternal inheritance (Acts 20:32).

28) Imagine a person saying at the end of time, “I am saved in large part because of a Bible class teacher.”

29) Or, another one says, “I am here because my parents took the time to carefully teach me the gospel.

30) They took me to the various school activities, but in our house spiritual instruction was a priority.”

31) In Rom. 10:8 Paul spoke of God’s word being “nigh” to a persons’ mouth.

a) If a child receives 6 months of Bible training, this is probably not going to happen.

b) A child may know a few of the basics, but they will struggle to call forth much of God’s word.

c) After 12 years in a public school system, there are some things that are “nigh” to a child’s mouth.

32) He or she can zip through the letters of the alphabet as well as the multiplication tables.

33) There may be a ready recollection of various facts and figures.

34) Children have developed other talents and skills they are ready to use after 12 years of instruction.

35) Far too often this does not happen with the word of God.

a) God’s will is, when it comes to His word, that the Bible be well engrained in human minds.

b) In this area we can really fail.

c) We can fail as congregations and we can fail as parents.

d) Children can be given great opportunities to know God’s word but they reject them.

e) We cannot always control what children learn, but we can do a good job of teaching them.

f) One universal goal we should have is helping people have God’s word nigh to their mouths.

36) Paul explains why this is so important a few verses later in Rom. 10 (verse 17).

a) He said “faith comes by hearing” (we listen to God’s word and that creates faith).

b) In the secular realm someone might say “knowledge comes by education.”

c) Virtually all would agree that this statement is true; this is usually how things work.

d) Bible knowledge also comes by education, but Bible knowledge is also the basis for faith.

e) If all our children receive is the equivalent of 6 months Bible training, what will be true of their faith?

37) In the majority of cases it is not only going to be weak, it is going to be shallow.

38) When it is time for that faith to be tested (and it will be tested), there is a high chance of it failing.

39) 6 months of faith preparation will not be a very good defense in the teen years.

40) It is probably not going to be a good foundation for young people who go off to college.

41) Training young people is preparing young men and women for the future.

42) Our teaching in and out of a class is not just knowledge.

43) It is preparing a future generation for spiritual warfare.

a) Our world is a difficult place.

b) With each passing year it seems to grow more and more hostile to the faith of the New Testament.

c) It is imperative that we train our children and our adults as fully as possible.

d) We want to use every tool at our disposal to ground people in God’s word.

e) We need to teach our people how to study and stress the need for personal and public study.

f) Our public Bible studies should be the best they can possibly be in a local congregation.

g) Eternal spirits are hanging in the balance.

44) 1 Cor. 1:18 says God’s word is the power to salvation.

45) This is the only piece of information that can or will say them.

a) In a secular education program our children may excel in one or more areas.

b) They may be great at math, geography, science, English, chemistry, history or some other subject.

c) Maybe they are at the top of their class and are asked to be the class president.

d) No amount of secular training is going to save their soul.

e) A person can be the best student in the school and still be lost.

f) The teaching provided without and outside of a local congregation is absolutely critical.

g) As Christians part of our job is to help teach people in every possible way.

h) This includes encouragement.

46) For quite a few months we have had a Sunday night visitation meeting.

47) This is a great thing for several reasons.

48) If people are not here, let them know they were missed and we want to see them next time.

49) We may do this if they miss Sunday worship or our Bible classes.

50) If people are not coming to Bible classes on Sunday morning, let them know they are missed.

51) If they are not here on Wednesday night, encourage them to come.

52) Children who do not come to class are not even getting the limited 6 months worth of training.

53) How are those children going to be spiritually strong in their later years?

54) In the book of First Corinthians (15:2) Paul said “hold fast the word.”

a) Children are good at doing this.

b) When they hear something in school they often say, “My teacher said.”

c) Children often listen and retain what they hear.

d) Bible class teachers are also able to benefit by this ability.

e) Children can also say, “My Bible class teacher said.”

f) Some are bold enough to say, “the Bible says” or “God says.”

55) Children will not say these things about God and Bible class teachers if they are not taught.

56) God’s word needs to be drilled into the heads of people.

57) Paul said the gospel is the “helmet of salvation” (Eph. 6:17).

a) How strong will this helmet be if there are only six months of training behind it?

b) If we want to protect our children and help them make right choices, we need to examine ourselves.

c) How diligently are we trying to teach our young people and fellow Christians?

d) Do we really recognize the value of someone who is a Bible class teacher?

e) Do we not see that if we can teach in some way this is an act that can change people’s lives?

58) A young preacher was told to be “urgent in season and out of season” (2 Tim. 4:2).

59) Have we ever considered that this verse also applies to us?

60) If applies if we have children, grandchildren, or there are some other people we can teach.

61) Teaching is one of the most important tasks we are called to do. Are we doing it?