| The Christian Life | November 1940 |
The Divine University of Higher Education
IN GENERAL, an education is associated with the acquiring of knowledge—much knowledge, accurate knowledge. But in order to obtain an education we find it necessary, additionally, that there be receptivity, sensitiveness, a sincere response, and conscientious use of knowledge as it is received. That “knowledge is power,” is a familiar proverb. Human wisdom has found this to be true, and the difference between the various strata of human society, and the advantage each member is able to obtain is usually closely related to the extent of his education and his energy in making use of it. For example, on large machines such as are common in factories today, the man in charge of the machine, who thoroughly understands its potentialities, may receive three times as much pay as some other man who also works in connection with the machine, but has a less important task and does not understand how to control and direct the machine in the accomplishment of its work.
Humanity is not alone in recognizing the great advantages resulting from knowledge. Hear the testimony of God’s Word also. Jesus said, “Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:32) Peter tells us, “God hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who hath called us to glory and virtue.” (II Pet. 1:3) St. Paul says that the gospel “is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth” (Rom. 1:16), and again, that he would be willing to forego all the advantages of his human life in order that he might know Christ, that is, gain an intimate acquaintance with Him and share His experiences.—Phil. 3:8-11
The prophet says of Jesus that “By His knowledge shall My righteous servant justify many.” (Isa. 53:11) Jesus, pointing out the difference between Himself and others and the great advantages He enjoyed, said, “O righteous Father, the world hath not known Thee: but I have known Thee.” (John 17:25) And again, “This is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent.” (John 17:3) And St. Paul, pointing out the ultimate unity and perfection of the Body of Christ, says that the purpose of all the gifts to the church is that they may “all come into the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God.” (Eph. 4:13) Thus we see that the ultimate unity of the church is to be based upon the same knowledge of God and the same faith in God that Jesus manifested in His life among men, and which were the foundation of His life and character.
KNOWLEDGE NOT ENOUGH
But knowledge is not enough. In addition, it must be honestly used. Jesus not only said “Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32), but also, “If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.” (John 13:17) Peter who said, “God hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him Who hath called us to glory and virtue,” adds in the same chapter, “If ye do these things ye shall never fall, for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.” (II Pet. 10:11) Paul not only declares that the gospel is “the power of God unto salvation,” but, writing to the Corinthian brethren, again with reference to the gospel, say “By which also ye are being saved [Diaglott] if ye keep in memory that which I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.”—I Cor. 15:2
The importance of using the truth, of obeying it, cannot be over-emphasized if one is to obtain through the truth the education that God intends. In the pages of history we find many lamentable illustrations of a knowledge of, but a failure to use, the truth. Going back to Eden we find God’s instructions to our first parents were definite and clear to the effect that if they ate of the forbidden fruit they would surely die. When. Eve was approached by Satan she indicated her thorough knowledge of this condition, and told him that it would be impossible for her to partake of the forbidden tree, because if she did she would lose her life. But evidently Eve let doubt enter her mind, and when Satan lied as to the results of her eating the forbidden fruit, she permitted his lie to take the place of the truth, the warning which God had given, and so fell into sin and under its penalty. It is interesting to note, in this connection, that one of the inducements offered by Satan to Mother Eve was that the eating of the forbidden fruit would increase her knowledge, in fact would give her information she never could gain otherwise—the knowledge of good and evil.—Gen. 3:5,6
The nation of Israel is another illustration of failure to make use of knowledge. St. Paul, speaking of his nation, said they had much advantage every way, but “chiefly because that unto them were committed the oracles of God.” (Rom. 3:32) But their rejection as a nation was due to the failure of Israel to make use of the instruction given in the Law and the prophets. St. Paul explains that the knowledge was “not mixed with faith in them that heard it.” (Heb. 4:2) The Prophet Hosea foretold the rejection of Israel centuries before it occurred, as we read, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to Me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.” (Hos. 4:6) Notice that the prophet says they had possessed the knowledge but had rejected it; that they had known the law of God, but had forgotten it. And we may be certain that this is the underlying principle which explains the failure of any servant to God, namely, that he has not used, not obeyed the instructions God has given to him.
THE GREAT EDUCATOR
God is the Great Educator, and has designed His plan with the object in view of preparing His creatures for the greatest usefulness and happiness in the eternal life promised to the loyal and obedient. Included in their education will be, no doubt, an opportunity to explore God’s infinite wisdom and power as revealed in the universe. From one point of view it might appear that the education of the human family was interrupted by the temptation in Eden, and these coming under the penalty of death. From one standpoint this is true; as, since the fall, no individual has lived long enough to obtain more than a smattering of knowledge of God’s great wisdom and power illustrated in the earth and the surrounding heavenly bodies.
However, God has overruled the opposition of Satan and the fall of the human family into sin and under the penalty of death, to open up to them other and higher branches of learning. First has come their experience with evil and its consequences. Later during the world’s thousand year day of Judgment they will have experience with truth and righteousness. Thus both good and evil will be learned. This higher education includes the development of such qualities as patience, meekness, generosity, sympathy, self-sacrificing love. We cannot imagine conditions in a perfect earth, where the inhabitants were pure and holy, in which these qualities would have opportunity for development by practice and personal experience.
A considerable period of time is required to gain an education, and a variety of experiences in acquiring it, especially in the development of character, which we may think of as gains and losses. In general, gains are the result of putting knowledge into practice, and contrariwise, losses are the result of failure to properly use knowledge. Knowledge may be compared to the materials of which a character is built. In the building of a house we have an illustration of the proper use of materials. The lumber, steel, plaster, paint—properly used—produce a thing of beauty and usefulness. But if the materials are not used, they will deteriorate and finally be entirely lost: the lumber will decay, the steel will rust, and the paint will become hard and useless.
One of the gains resulting from obedience to the Truth is an ever clearer understanding of righteousness, holiness, the character of God. For, as the Apostle Paul says, writing to the Hebrews, “strong meat belongeth to them that are full of age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.” (Heb. 5:14) Clearly the apostle here implies that the ability to use strong meat, or advanced truths, depends upon preceding faithfulness which has, through exercise, resulted in the development of the spiritual senses to discern both good and evil.
On the other hand, failure to obey, to practice the truth, results in weakness of character and the loss of truth. The Psalmist says “What hast thou to do to take My covenant in thy mouth, seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest My Words behind thee?” (Psa. 50:16,17) And St. Peter declares, “He that lacketh these things [the graces of the spirit which he had previously exhorted should be added to faith] is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.” (II Pet. 1:9) Notice here the apostle says that failure to make use of the truth in the building of character will result in blindness and forgetting so fundamental a fact that one was purged from his old sins.
These warnings, that there can be no compromise with truth, are most important for us to keep in mind. God expects us to obey His Word and only thus can we retain our spiritual health, grow in knowledge and grace, and finally reach our goal.
FAILURES ILLUSTRATED
There are many illustrations in the Scriptures of the failure to use the truth and the resulting loss of light. To Adam and Eve the Lord definitely stated that the penalty for sin is death, that they would return to the earth from whence they were taken. But only a few centuries later we find that their posterity, the inhabitants of the Near East, practiced the slaying of servants and animals, and burying them, together with a supply of food, in the tombs of their kings. Here we see the result of failure to use the truth, to practice it, that as men became more and more out of harmony with God, more and more degenerate, their understanding of God’s principles, including the penalty for sin, was lost.
The corrupting nature of sin is illustrated in the fact that the first death recorded in the Bible is the murder of Abel by his brother Cain. The same thought is suggested in the history of Satan himself, for we are told that he was perfect in his ways until iniquity was found in him. (Ezek. 28:15) But it was only a few centuries after Satan’s deflection until all the horrible evils afflicting the human race were attributed by St. Paul to Satan as the one responsible for them. Another example of the corrupting influence of sin is given by the Lord in the familiar parable of Matthew 24. Here the “evil servant” is described as first beginning to smite his fellow-servants, then eating and drinking with the drunken. In the great falling away from present truth with which we are all familiar, we see the same sequence: a departure from the principles of justice and righteousness and brotherly love; and then, growing out of that failure to practice the truth has followed the loss of light and the development of doctrinal errors.
This experience should forcibly impress this great lesson upon all of the Lord’s people and cause us to be very alert and sensitive to the Lord’s Word; diligent in our study and application of its principles in our own life, and accepting as elders and teachers only such as are humble and obedient to the word and spirit of the truth. “Knowledge [alone] puffeth up, but love [with knowledge] buildeth up.”
The special education which the followers of the Lord are receiving during the Gospel age is obtained in what we are accustomed to speak of as the school of Christ. In some universities they give special attention to the preparation of those who are to occupy positions for the instruction of others. Such schools are known as “teachers’ colleges.” These correspond very well with the special instruction which is being given to the followers of the Lord during the Gospel age who are being prepared to be associated with Him in the great work of reconciliation, during the Millennial age.
The Scriptures clearly indicate that all mankind are ultimately to know the Lord from the least unto the greatest, and that they are to have the law of God written not only in their minds but also in their hearts. That is, they are not only to fully understand the law of God, but will grow up to a condition in which they will love the law of God, His principles, with all their heart. The understanding and love of these principles are being developed in the saints during the Gospel age, but at the same time their education contains additional features, just as a teacher must thoroughly master the subject he is to teach to other students later in life, and also the art of teaching, so that he will be able most effectively to transmit his knowledge to the pupils.
PURPOSE OF CHRISTIAN EDUCATION
The occasion for this special education, is the fact that God has designed that in the dispensation of the fullness of times He is to regather in Christ all things. That is, all who will accept are to be brought back into harmony with God through the ministrations of the mediatorial Kingdom, in which Christ and the church will participate.
One of the texts which we love to think of is the promise made to Abraham, that in his seed all the families of the earth would be blessed. We are especially interested in that covenant with Abraham, because St. Paul explains that the real seed of Abraham is Christ; and that the Christ is made up not only of the Head, Jesus, but also that the church are members of Christ, and therefore members of the seed of Abraham which is to bless all the families of the earth. Looking back to the experiences of Abraham, we see that the promise was made to him several times that his seed should bless all the families of the earth, but the time came when God’s purpose was confirmed with an oath.
It is instructive for us to notice the conditions under which the promise to Abraham was thus assured to him. First, we notice it was not confirmed until a sacrifice had been offered, and this sacrifice was none other than that of Isaac himself—the promised seed. It is interesting to note that this sacrifice involved not only the willingness of the victim, Isaac, but also a sacrifice on the part of Abraham himself; and in this we can see a beautiful illustration of the great sacrifice for sins, Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all, the propitiation not only for our sins; but for the sins of the whole world. This great offering was not only a sacrifice by Jesus, but, just as illustrated in the experience of Abraham, it was a sacrifice on the part of the Great Jehovah, the Creator. “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
Another interesting thing in this connection is that this promise to Abraham was not confirmed until there had been pictured a resurrection from the dead. St. Paul, speaking of the offering of Isaac, says that Abraham believed God, and, in a figure, received Isaac back as from the grave. And as it was in the case of the Head, so it will also be in the case of the body members. They must be willing sacrifices, and the promised blessings cannot come to all the families of the earth until they have all had their part in the first resurrection. So too, our education will not be complete, and we will not be ready for graduation from the school of Christ, until we have demonstrated our desire for that education to the extent of laying down our lives.
THE WORK OF THE LORD
From this standpoint it is apparent that the chief work of the Gospel age has been the education of the body members of Christ. And with this thought in mind, how full of meaning is the apostle’s exhortation to the Corinthian brethren (I Cor. 15:58), “Therefore brethren, be steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.” It is interesting to note the meaning of the two words “work” and “labor” in this verse. The “work” is spoken of as “the work of the Lord,” in which we have the privilege of engaging. As the apostle exhorts, we should be very diligent in the carrying out of this work, “abounding in the work of the Lord.”
This word “work” means “business,” and is the same word which the apostle uses in writing to the Thessalonian brethren (I Thess. 1:1,2) when he says that he remembers their “work of faith.” Evidently, therefore, “the work of the Lord” is a work of faith: it is the development of faith in the body members of Christ, and the exercise of those members along the lines of faith, building up themselves and exhorting one another to the life of faith, including the preaching of the truth to all as we can make opportunities to do it.
The word “labor” has quite a different thought. This word is also translated, “a beating, wearying out work.” It is used by the apostle in the text referred to above, where he says that be remembers not only their work of faith, but also their “labor of love,” and their “patience of hope.” Because these three gave him great confidence with respect to them, he is assured of their election of God. So here we have the apostle’s thought that the saints will be so appreciative of the Lord’s work that they will engage in it to the extent of laying down their lives in order to co-operate with the Lord in the education of the body of Christ for future service.
The Revelator also uses these two words “labor” and “works” in Revelation 14:13. In this familiar text we read that at a certain time it will no longer be necessary for the saints who have finished their course to sleep, but that they will then be changed immediately and share in the first resurrection. The Revelator says that he heard a voice saying, “Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth; Yea, saith the spirit, that they may rest from their labors; [‘wearying out work’] and their works [their ‘business’ their ‘work of faith,’ the work of the Lord] do follow [with] them.”
What a beautiful picture is painted by these three verses and the use of these two words. The one indicates the glorious work in which the Lord’s people are privileged to engage. At present they are co-operating in the education of themselves and the other members of the body of Christ; but this work of education continues with them beyond the veil, when they will have the privilege of co-operating with the Lord Jesus in the mediatorial kingdom for the reconciliation of all the families of the earth, and bringing them up the highway of holiness to human perfection and perfect harmony with God and His principles.
GOD WANTS FINISHED PRODUCTS
It is a blessed experience to go to the school of Christ and to be enrolled as a student, but of course God’s great object is not the present work of educating the saints, but their graduation from that school. In other words, God is interested in what we may speak of as finished products, and so must our interest be also; even as St. Paul says, writing to the Corinthian brethren, “and this we wish, even your perfection.” The apostle’s interest in the development of the church was a beautiful, impersonal one. He was interested in their completion, their full development in the likeness of Jesus Christ; and it was an entirely secondary concern as to whether he or another was the instrument God would use in that work. Note his words as recorded in I Corinthians 15:9-11; “For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am: and His grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all; yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. Therefore whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed.”
There is a very helpful lesson for all of the Lord’s people in these words of the Apostle Paul. As with him, so our concern is to be only for the development of the character of Christ in the brethren; and whether God uses one instrumentality or another for the accomplishment of that work is immaterial. We are to be as happy if the Lord uses someone else to accomplish His good purposes as if He used us. In any event, as the apostle expresses in the passage just quoted, it is the power of God which accomplishes the Divine purpose in the hearts of His people, and any servant of the Lord in order to render a helpful service and to give a good example to the brethren, must feel as the apostle states he did in an earlier portion of this epistle, that the work which he and Apollos were privileged to do among the Corinthian brethren was only that of servants, and that God gave the increase.
Progress in the school of Christ, or development in the likeness of Christ, involves exercise, experience, activity, along various lines. For instance, one of the avenues of service in connection with the work of God is evangelism. Another the apostle speaks of as laboring in the Word, or the study of the Lord’s Word. A third is the exhortation of the brethren; and he says that we are to exhort one another daily, lest any be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. Another avenue of activity and exercise is the judgment of self; and the apostle says that if we would judge ourselves we would not be judged, but that if we fail to do so, the Lord will take us in hand and chasten us that we may not be condemned with the world.
Still another means for our growth and development is association with the brethren in the church, and taking part in the affairs of the ecclesia. This includes suitable activity in connection with the meetings, and in all the interests of the church, including the selection of the servants of the church, and care to see that the collective testimony of the ecclesia is in no way injured by teaching or conduct contrary to the word and the spirit of the truth. In all of these avenues of activity the Lord’s people are to be vitally interested; in fact, they are to lay down their lives in thus carrying out the work of the Lord, the work of faith, along all of these lines.
In the school of Christ we must be careful to see that we are engaging in a rounded, complete work; that we are paying the proper attention to all aspects of the Christian life; that we are using the Scriptures for the purpose for which they were given, namely, to prepare the man of God “unto every good work.” The spirit of the Lord, the spirit of a sound mind, will guide us in the proper division of our time among these various lines of endeavor. We must be careful, however, not to overlook the importance of dwelling in the Word, and realize that we are to live “by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” The degree of our devotion and time spent in the study of the Lord’s Word is revealed in our lives, in our speech, and in our ability to contribute to the meetings and the spiritual welfare of the brethren in the ecclesia.
We are to keep in mind that the Christian life is an intensely personal matter, and realize the force of the Apostle’s words: “Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but [only] one receiveth the prize. So run that ye may obtain.” In other words, we are to consider our relationship to the Lord in the school of Christ as an individual student; we are to be completely devoted to Him, to make His Word and His spirit our guide and constant occupation.
What a glorious privilege we have of attending the school of Christ, to have the benefit of His instruction and example. If faithful, devoted students, we are being prepared therein for our privileges and responsibilities in the future as kings and priests and judges.
|
“Who would faint while such a prospect —Hymns of Dawn
|