Pastor’s Message
Christian Education – The ROCK – September 2024 – Rev. Logan Landes
Education is a gift that has long been valued by Americans. Even now, the concept of better educational institutions and higher learning academies appeals to us collectively. The blessings of education and knowledge are gifts from God. He is the source of all wisdom, and He is the creator of knowledge.
Christian parents are blessed by God with the privilege and responsibility of their children’s education, not just of earthly matters, but of knowledge of the Lord. Proverbs 22:6 says, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” Also, Ephesians 6:4, “Fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.” The Bible is full of God’s loving instructions to parents encouraging and commanding them to care for their kids in all their needs, yes, the care for the body and the care for the soul, but also in care for the mind.
In answer to this, we have been blessed in many ways with schools and with professional educators. These are institutions and well-trained professionals that, when acting properly and godly, aid parents and benefit children by using their resources and expertise to educate children and broaden their minds in wholesome ways.
Parents are blessed by such gifts, but we must keep in mind where the responsibility of a child is ultimately placed by God. It’s not on the school or the teacher; the responsibility is ultimately placed on the parents. To put it plainly, who has God entrusted a child’s care to? The parents.
Luther, who was himself quite the educator and was himself a parent, understood this well. He placed an immense value on the home and the Christian education that took place there. Yes, parents can help their kids learn reading, writing, and arithmetic, but the main focal point of Luther regarding the education that parents are to be faithfully giving to their children is on matters of faith. Let us hold close the words of Deuteronomy 6:7, “You shall teach the Words of God diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.” The responsibility placed on parents is one of teaching God’s Word to their children. Luther understood this and taught faithfully and diligently of the need for fathers to teach their kids faithfully all that God commands and for mothers to lovingly nurture their children in the love and knowledge of God.
“For Martin Luther, the home was the foundation of all instruction as it was the primary training ground for Christian character. By the Fourth Commandment God established the place of the home to be the keystone of the social order. Parents should never abdicate their primary responsibility either to schools, to the church, or to the government. Luther realized, as every teacher knows, that where the home does not co-operate with the school, the efforts can often be undone. He warned parents about neglecting their prime duty to train those in the household. ‘If you parents and lords do not help, we shall accomplish nothing with our preaching. ... Every parent is a bishop in his own house.’[1]" (Koelpin)
Does this mean that Luther does not permit parents to use other means for education, such as schools, teachers, or churches? Of course not. The point isn’t that children can only learn from the parents, or that the parents are neglecting their God-given duties if they send their kids to school or to Bible class at church. It means that whatever is taught, whether it be at home, school, or church, must fall under the parents’ supervision. It is a parent’s duty to ensure that no matter where or from whom a child is gaining instruction, that the instruction is faithful to God’s Word.
As school begins again and kids are back in the classroom, may we as parents be diligent that the truths of God’s Word are being instilled in our children and that they are being raised in the fear and knowledge of our wonderful God. Let us be in God’s Word with our children, let us study through Luther’s catechisms with our children, and may we speak and do that which our children can imitate that they would grow in a deeper knowledge of God’s Word and a stronger trust in God’s promises.
Education is truly a gift, and God has bestowed parents with everything they need to prepare their children to face the world. Yes, reading, writing, and arithmetic are important tools for succeeding in our world, but these are not that which is most needful. If children are to step out into this fallen and twisted world where wrong is right and truth is lie, they must be equipped with that which is able to make them to stand firm in their faith and be shielded from every fiery dart and every lie from the devil and the world. They must be equipped with God’s Word, which is the Truth. To raise them up in the Word of God is to bring them up in the very Armor of God, which protects us from every assault of Satan, for his attacks are nothing more than lies fired at us like arrows.
Fear not, parents. This task is not something God has given us without also equipping us to do. God has given us the tools. He has given us faith. He has given us prayer. And He has given His Word, which is not like math books or science books, which we must work through. He has given us His living and active Word which works in and through us. He has given His Spirit who works faith and nurtures that faith in the reception of God’s Word and sanctifies us in the knowledge of the Gospel.
After all, we may be the parents of our children, but we must always remember that there is a Father much greater than us who cares for His children, which we each are. God does not neglect His children or leave them without that which they need. Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them…” God cares deeply for His children and blesses us with all that we need according to His perfect love.
In Christ’s Name,
Amen
-- Rev. Logan Landes
Bibliography
Koelpin, A. (2017). Luther on Education.
https://mlc-wels.edu/alumni/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2017/02/Ess-LUTHER-on-EDUCATION-converted.pdf
Weimarer Ausgabe, The Weimar Edition, the standard, critical edition
[1] WA 30, I, 57ff. Sermon , November 11, 1528.