The difference between a lecturer and a Christian who is teaching their children is this: the lecturer has as his first aim the imparting of knowledge; the parents have as their first aim to introduce their hearers to a living Person, the Lord Jesus Christ. Their desire is that those who hear may know Him and respond to Him in faith and love, believing upon Him to the saving of the soul.
The lecturer can do his work by natural means; the Christian needs supernatural help. He can only do his work by the Holy Spirit, and is therefore helpless unless his work is accompanied by a holy life and much prayer.
As teachers of the Word, we must aim at the highest and the best. It is true we may not entirely succeed, but what we do must be a good foundation for those who follow after. Our foundation must be deep and strong, so that the superstructure built by others will stand well (see 1 Cor. 3:10). With this in view, I propose stating a few important principles.
Up to a certain age, children must not be pressed to make profession of conversion. I say “pressed.” I am as convinced of the real possibility of early conversion as it is possible to be. Many hundreds of testimonies to the early assurance of salvation have come to my notice. It would be impossible to deny or explain them away, for they come from missionaries, teachers, and evangelists, who are proved men and women, and whose word and judgment are unimpeachable. The Lord taught child conversion, speaking of “little ones which believe in Me.”
Nevertheless, it is not wise to press children to say that which they may imperfectly understand or still more imperfectly express. Sympathy with every right desire must be shown, but any manifestation of life or expressions of the heart should be spontaneous.
A good moral basis should be laid. This is the outstanding feature of our Lord’s ministry, as we see from the Sermon on the Mount.
There is a kind of teaching that seems to disparage morals, from which children might gather that “being good, ” “trying,” and “doing good” are of no value.
This of course is wrong, as we learn from many Scriptures (for example, Acts 10:35 and Romans 2:6-11). God is well pleased with everything right and good, and every wish and effort in that direction. He is Himself “good.”
It is true that “being good” and “doing good works” will not save the soul, but it is as foolish to disparage moral effort as it would be other necessary and excellent things. Eating and drinking will not save your soul, but they are necessary. Tidy dress, healthy exercise, pleasant manners will not save the soul, but who would speak slightingly of them?
So obedience to parents, truthfulness, thoughtfulness, kindness, and unselfishness do not save the soul from sin and judgment, but the man who in his zeal against “salvation by works” leads a child to think lightly of them and relax moral effort has done that child a lasting and cruel injury. It is as if, in pointing out that the “kingdom of God is not meat and drink,” he should lead one to think that such things were no use, or worse still, “deadly things,” and lead them to starvation. Let every teacher have a strong moral basis in all his teaching.
To this end every child should be taught the Ten Commandments, the Beatitudes, the Lord’s Prayer, 1 Corinthians 13, and large parts of the book of Proverbs. They should be urged to commit to memory the books of the Bible, and such scriptures as the parent thinks most desirable (for example, Isaiah 53 and Psalms 22, 23, or 32).
Hymns well chosen are a great storehouse of truth, and have, in many cases, been used in later years to bring conviction and lead to repentance.
Conversion should not be taught or urged as the ultimate end of all the teaching. Conversion should be shown to be a beginning, not the goal or end. It is entering the door, so that we may walk in the way. It is being born that we might enter into living. It is coming out of the darkness in order to walk in the light. It is receiving Christ in order to walk in Him.
To keep emphasising the fact that the believer has eternal life is to put the emphasis wrongly. The believer is called to “lay hold on eternal life” (l Tim. 6:12). That is, having received it, to live vigorously in the power of it. He should make it clear he has it by manifesting it in life and conduct, and not let his assurance rest in argument, but in manifested life. This is the teaching of 1 John (see 2:3-6; 2:29; 3:6-10; 3:14, etc.).
Constant appeals should be avoided. They lose their value and the ear becomes used to them. There are times when the Spirit of God will lead us to be urgent, but generally let the Word be carefully taught, and let it have time to generate in the heart and bear fruit. If I were asked for the one thing above others from which evangelical Christians are suffering today, I should say premature profession, leading to false assurance. The fruit is picked before it has had time to ripen. Persons who have “been converted once,” believe they are safe, though walking obviously as the world does, in diverse lusts and pleasures.
Never let having a past experience be a ground of hope. It is he that believeth that is saved. In other words, faith is a continuing principle, not a past event.
A wide range of truth should be taught. Some Gospel preachers never get further than this: “You are a sinner, God loves you, Christ died for you, you believe and you are saved.” These things are blessedly true, but to repeat them endlessly in one form or another is not either a desirable or adequate presentation of the Gospel of God. It does not meet the need nor remove the difficulties of those who hear it.
You must be a more efficient minister of the New Covenant than that. You must be better furnished if you are really going to preach Christ crucified: the wisdom of God, and the power of God in all His fullness.
The glories of Christ are endless. However true your little creed is, it will not satisfy the hungry soul with the Bread of Life nor lead the seeker to fall in love with the divine Lord in such a way that he can and will receive Him with faith and hope and love.
The Apostle in Romans 10:14 asks, “How shall they believe on Him whom they have not heard?” Let us put it thus: “How shall they believe on Him of whom they have insufficiently heard?” Is this little creed a sufficient preaching of Christ? I think not.
“The whole counsel of God” should be declared so that Christian character can be formed. The word Gospel is not limited in its meaning to the way a sinner can be justified; it includes all good news from heaven.
We want not merely Christians, but healthy, strong, happy, well-established, and well-instructed Christians. That is our aim that they may be “presented perfect in Christ Jesus.”
We must prepare honestly and well. In this, if you sin, your sin will surely find you out.
The great Campanile at Venice, after standing many years, cracked and fell. It was found that shoddy material had been built in where it could not be seen. Let us lay this to heart, and build with good mortar, tempered with prayer and patient perseverance. “Let every man take heed how he buildeth” (l Cor. 3:10). May God give us perseverance in the task. It is patient continuance in well doing that will result, by His grace, in success.