 Knowledge
Why are people not thankful? Our first inclination may be to conclude that they have a problem in their soul. Often, we may think that not being thankful is the product of bitterness, stemming from the inner being of the ungrateful person. This could be the case. However, it is also possible that the problem is a lack of faith induced by a lack of knowledge. Christianity encompasses our whole being and that includes our minds. My point is that the reason we may lack thankfulness could be a lack of understanding and instruction that would lead us to recognize all we have to be thankful for and who our gratitude is owed too. Education Christianity certainly extends beyond mere mental assent, but it is not less than knowledge of God and His gospel. With the elementary knowledge (Hebrews 6:1) necessary for salvation (2 Timothy 3:14-15) believers also advance to a more mature understanding of who God is and how He has revealed Himself. The purpose of growing in this knowledge is not to satisfy our curiosity or to inflate our ego, but rather, to increase our thanksgiving and worship of our God and King (2 Corinthians 9:11)! Christianity is about the relational reality of fellowship with God. Too often people believe that the true religion of biblical Christianity is like all the other religions in the world. In those religions, the focus is on practices that either serve the worshiper or appease the deity. But in Biblical Christianity we are learning things that God has revealed about Himself and us, not so that we can have a better life or appease Him with proper behavior but so that we can know Him and fellowship through what A.W. Tozer called “The Knowledge of the Holy.” This means that central to the life and health of the local church and each individual Christian is continual Biblical education. So often when we think of education what comes to mind is classrooms and lectures and books. Of course, we do have a book (which is actually a library of 66 books) that we must read and study, because it is the way that God speaks to us and reveals Himself to us. However, our Christian education should not be limited to formal classroom settings. For instance, after we have listened together to the word of God being taught in the corporate worship gathering, then taking the opportunity to discuss it with our family or with other brothers and sisters over a Lord’s Day meal would probably help all of us to gain greater understanding and insight into that particular passage of Scripture. It also could be that Christian conversation around other activities where we discuss the things we are reading in our own daily study of scripture would help us to think through difficult theological issues. This is the same way Jesus and the disciples talked as they traveled in the gospels. Living in this time we ought to be extremely grateful for the vast resources we have, both personally and corporately, to study and learn what the greatest minds in the history of the Church have thought. We also have available (basically in real time) how other Godly Christians are applying the teaching of the Scripture to the same things that we are facing today. Teachers But even with all the tools and resources which are available to us virtually, God has always seen fit to provide His church with local pastors and teachers to educate the believers (Ephesians 4:11). We need to be grateful to God for giving us people who actually know us and our lives to instruct us in the truth and exhort us to apply the truth to our lives. I want to thank all of our Sunday School teachers who have labored hard in teaching so that the church could grow more health through the knowledge of God in His word. Thank you Bob King, Matthew Harness, Nancy Graves, James Tilley, Zach Massey, Sherry Jennings, Mary Wilson, Scarlet King, Samantha Tuell, Laura Ragsdale, Lucy Trammell, Shannon Hilmes, Sarah King, Debbie Blair, Ashley Harness, Robert Horton and Micheal Horton. Again, thank you for sacrificing so that we as a church could reap these benefits and learn more of Christ!
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |