Nice of you all to be here :) Tonight I'd like us to look at the subject of education. How we learn, and also what we learn will be important for our time on this earth. It will also, to a large extent, determine how well we fare in the life to come.

"When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul; discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee." (Pro 2:10-11)

Tonight's topic I've named "Train up a Child," but the truth is, the applications of this study are for all, regardless of age. Compared to the angels and demons that are as much a part of this spiritual warfware as we are, we are all but tiny infants. But being a "child" in the spirit is not a bad thing at all. In fact, it is a necessary one: "Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein." (Luke 18:17)

Notice that that verse speaks of receiving the kingdom; that is... being educated in spiritual things. Of course, most kinds of learning is important: math, science, and so on... but the Bible says, "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." (Mat 6:33)

Knowledge of Christ should be the subject of our study before all other matters. I received an email earlier this week describing all the accomplishments of man, the format being something like: "If you can do X, Y and Z, but do not know the Son of God, you have not been educated." I don't remember the list of all the Xs and Ys, but the point was well made :) What does it matter what we have learnt in our few years on earth, if we do not learn that one thing which safeguards us from eternal death? And it is never too early to begin learning about this subject. We must receive this knowledge as a child, the Master said.

The aspect of being a "child" of which Christ was speaking can be found in the context of that statement. After one of the Messiah's more moving teachings, concerning humility and being justified before the Father, those who accepted His words brought their children to Him to be blessed.

"And they brought unto Him also infants, that He would touch them: but when His disciples saw it, they rebuked them." (Luke 18:15)

This was not the first time a situation concerning humility and being childlike had been presented before the disciples. In the Gospel of Mark, we have a situation where the disciples were arguing among themselves as they travelled with Christ from one city to the next. "And He came to Capernaum: and being in the house He asked them, 'What was it that ye disputed among yourselves by the way?' But they held their peace: for by the way they had disputed among themselves, who should be the greatest." (Mark 9:33-34)

Pride, He knew, would be the greatest test of His disciples. It was pride that eventually caused Judas to turn away from Him. A powerful lesson was needed, but look at what He did to resolve the situation. "And He sat down, and called the twelve, and saith unto them, 'If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all.' And He took a child, and set him in the midst of them: and when He had taken him in His arms, He said unto them, 'Whosoever shall receive one of such children in my name, receiveth me: and whosoever shall receive me, receiveth not me, but Him that sent me.'" (Mark 9:36-39)

He then proceeded to give them a rather lenghty lecture about remaining separate from temptations, even to casting away body-parts if they offend... but through it all, the child sat before them in his innocence - a visible representations of the words of the Messiah.

A Chapter later, in Mark 10, these same disciples were forbidding children from being brought to Him. But when He saw them preventing the mothers from approaching, "But Jesus called them unto Him, and said, 'Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein.'" (Luke 18:16-17)

A child, above all else, is teachable. They are not secure in the things they already know. This is also important for us: "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding." (Pro 3:5)

Children are teachable, humble, and trusting. In our key verse for tonight, we see parents' responsibility to their offspring summed up in a simple sentence: "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." (Pro 22:6)

The Hebrew word translated "train up" means literally, "dedicate." We should ensure that our children are dedicated to a godly life, but in order to do this, it means that WE must have that dedication. The Bible says that every living thing will bring forth after it's "kind," and let's examine what that means for a little while.

In Genesis, when the Elohim was to create mankind, we find this: "And God said, 'Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.'" (Gen 1:26)

So... man was made in the likeness of the Most High. Adam was made in God's image. The Father and Son also brought forth after their "kind," for Adam was perfect, sinless, and free. But look at what took place after sin entered the equation: "And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth." (Gen 5:3)

Do you see the difference there? The Father created Adam in His image... and Adam brought forth a son in HIS OWN (Adam's) likeness. After the fall, sin was the inbuilt nature of man... and for that reason, humanity has always needed a Savior. That this sin nature took hold quickly can be read in the earliest book of our origins with the temptation and fall of Cain.

In the same way, we find this in the record of the great flood: "And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood." (Gen 7:7)

I've seen some studies that calculated the potential population of the world by the days of Noah. With people living as long as they did, and producing a reasonable amount of offpsring during that time, the population of the planet by the time of the flood could easily have been over 6 billion - the population of the world today. And yet... of all of those people only 8 survived.

It's a very sobering thought, as we approach a second cleansing of the earth; and this one by fire. We see how important it is to be within the Ark, and to call others to be the same. But consider this. All the people of the world were not just adults. Not only mature humans were on the earth in those wicked days. Also children, infants - people of all ages, and they perished in the waters.

Of their souls, who can say for sure... but we know that they lost their physical lives because of the wickedness of their parents, grandparents and so on. The Bible says: "The Lord is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation." (Num 14:18)

This verse has caused some potential trouble, because we know our Father is a God of justice, and the Scriptures also say: "The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be put to death for his own sin." (Deu 24:16)

How do we resolve this, then? Does it need to be resolved? Well, the answer lies in the word usage, as it often does. In the Deuteronomy verse, it specifically mentions being "put to death," that is, directly suffering the consequences of one's own sin. But in the other verses where another is affected by a person's wrongdoing, we find the word "visit" is applied to it. He will "visit" the iniquity of the fathers unto the children.

That word is, "paquad." It has several meanings, but for the most part, it means somethink like, "to appoint, to call to rememberance." While the individuals are not judged by the sins of their ancestors, there will be effects. The examples we have in our lives, as we grow up, determine a lot about the way we view the world. We read in the example of king David that after his sin with Bathsheba, his children were... problematic to say the least.

They all grew up with the example of a father who, although mostly righteous, had a severe flaw. Because of this (and their own choices, of course), they were unsuited to rule the kingdom. "So when David was old and full of days, he made Solomon his son king over Israel." (1Ch 23:1)

Solomon was born after David had repented of his wrongdoing, and resolved to live fully justified before the Most High. He perhaps received the greatest example of good and humble parenting, and as he chose to walk in the way of his father, and as he feared the Lord and prayed for His wisdom, he became a mighty ruler of the Israelites.

We see this verse often enough as we read over the history of Israel: "And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the way of his father, and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin." (1Kings 15:26)

But fortunately it works the other way also: "And he walked in the way of Asa his father, and departed not from it, doing that which was right in the sight of the Lord." (2Ch 20:32)

Notice the way the actions of a king are always compared to those who went before him, and was often a reflection of how they themselves did in the sight of the Lord.

The New Testament is not shy of examples either. One of Paul's most beneficial helpers was a young man named Timothy. As far as his credentials for being the apostle's helper, Paul writes this: "To Timothy, my dearly beloved son: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day; greatly desiring to see thee, being mindful of thy tears, that I may be filled with joy; when I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also." (2Tim 1:2-5)

From what I understand, Timothy's father was a Greek, but his mother (and grandmother, of course) was Jewish, and taught him all that she knew of the Lord. When therefore Paul came with the Gospel, he recognized in the "new teaching" the same God he had been seeking in the teachings of his parents.

"And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus." (2Tim 3:15)

Although he was still very young when he began to work for Christ, this advice was given to him: "Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity." (1 Tim 4:12)

Not all of us may be young, but the advice is still good :) It is encouraging to us, though, that even those of a young age can be examples to those around. Both Christ and Paul seem to have had the habit of using younger ones to show the ideal. Solomon had this advice for the young, "Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, 'I have no pleasure in them.'" (Ecc 12:1)

Our key verse was also from this wise man, and the message is the same - when we are young, that is the best time to begin our spiritual education.

It's often been mentioned that we know little of the Messiah's childhood. I suggest two reasons for that. The first is more obvious...

When He was yet young, we see this scene: "And when He was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast. And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem; and Joseph and His mother knew not of it. But they, supposing him to have been in the company, went a day's journey; and they sought Him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance. And when they found Hm not, they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking Him." (Luke 2:42-45)

I wouldn't judge Joseph and Mary too harshly there... the crowds that traveled every year up to Jerusalem must have been huge. More importantly, we're talking about the Messiah here. I'm thinking He wasn't a very disobedient child! I can imagine they must have had a great amount of confidence in Him, even at twelve, to stay where it was safe. Nevertheless, the young Christ stayed behind, and His parents were left to look for Him, and finally to turn back the way they had come.

"And it came to pass, that after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions." (Luke 2:46)

Regardless of the fact that it may have not been their "fault," Mary and Joseph still had to go through the consequences of taking their eyes off the Savior. They spent three days looking for Him. There may be a lesson in there somewhere :)

But look at where they found Him... in the Temple. And as to what He was doing, He was talking to the experts in the Law of God: "And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers." (Luke 2:47)

No surprise to us, in retrospect... but His parents were certainly caught off guard. "And when they saw Him, they were amazed: and His mother said unto Him, 'Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing.' And He said unto them, 'How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?' And they understood not the saying which He spake unto them." (Luke 2:48-50)

He didn't offer any excuses, only said, "Didn't you know what I was to be doing?" But He was still a child, and according to the very Law which He seemed to already know so well, He obeyed their wishes: "And He went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them: but His mother kept all these sayings in her heart." (Luke 2:51)

That's the first reason I think we don't hear a lot about Christ's childhood. He was, to a large extent, a typical boy - only more obedient than most, I suspect. But also, we don't see anywhere that an angel from Heaven came to Christ and told Him He was the Son of God. I think He learned a lot of who He was by studying... by seeing Himself spoken of in the Old Testament. "Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me." (John 5:39)

"And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up: and, as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And He closed the book, and He gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on Him. And He began to say unto them, 'This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.'" (Luke 4:16,20-21)

By that point, He knew... and I believe it's partly because He spent a lot of the time studying. That's the first reason I think we don't hear much about Him until He was 30.

Also, He didn't have a lot of playmates when He was young. Most people don't realize the effects of the events surrounding the young Man's birth. I speak specifically of this event: On the night He was born, three magi came from the Eastern countries to worship Him. The followed a star to Bethlehem, where He was born, but on the way, they passed through Jerusalem, and encountered Herod, the "king of the Jews," in a sense, under Roman rule. They told him of their mission: "When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born." (Mat 2:3-4)

Finding out where He would be born, he send the wise men there, and told them to let him know if they found this new "King," so that he also could "worship" Him. So they continued on their quest, "And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way." (Mat 2:12)

So they never did return to tell Herod that they had indeed found Him, "Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the wise men." (Mat 2:16)

I don't think Herod realized what he was doing, but he was following in the exact footsteps of Pharaoh, when he wanted to destroy the young Moses, another deliverer of Yah's people: "And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, 'Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river, and every daughter ye shall save alive.'" (Exo 1:22)

The Messiah was one of the probably very few Survivors... and so He didn't have a lot of playmates His own age. I think He spent a lot of it learning the Scriptures, learning who His Father was, and who He was.

If we want our children to be Christlike, we have the example of how to raise them, and instructions to help us. "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works." (2Tim 3:16-17)

If we wish our children to be "fully equipped" for every good work, this is the place to start. If WE wish to be fully equipped for every good work, this is the place to start, both for ourselves, and for those: children, family, friends, co-workers who we are ministering unto. Everyone who's looking at us, we're ministering to them. We're giving them an example.

In Christ, we are all children, we are all to be humble, teachable, and trusting - but all those around us are children as well, and when the Bible says: "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." (Pro 22:6)

We need not apply that only to OUR children, or even to children under 18, or 21. What about the children under 80? They also have lots more to learn, and we, by Yah's grace, may be the very book from which they read about the Savior. "Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men." (2 Cor 3:2)

Though this has been a relatively short study... I hope I've managed to bless you with this simple lesson :) May the words written on our hearts always be the words of the Holy Spirit. Shall we pray?

David.