Prison or Passion

sunday school“A Sunday school is a prison in which children do penance for the evil conscience of their parents.” H. L. Mencken

“This Sunday School has been of help to me, greater perhaps than any other force in my Christian life, and I can ask no better things for you than that you, and all that shall come after you in this great band of workers for Christ, shall receive the same measure of blessedness which I have been permitted to have.” John D. Rockefeller

Never have I seen such disparate views on Sunday school than those of Mencken and Rockefeller. Mencken’s work I’m aware of; he was a writer with a brilliant mind and a bitter heart. Mencken was an outspoken atheist and critic of Christianity. Many of you may have never heard of this man.

Many of you no doubt know of Rockefeller. If you went to government schools like I did, all you learned about Rockefeller is that he was a greedy oil man, monopolizing our natural resources. We’ll set that lie aside and learn things I never knew about the man. He indeed co-founded Standard Oil with his brother, but did you know that he was a Sunday school teacher, abolitionist, and supporter of Abraham Lincoln? No, me neither. But then again that wouldn’t fit the godless, liberal template upon which historical revisionists rely.

So where do you fall in this wide canyon of contrasting views on Sunday school? I would guess none of you consider it a prison. However, do you have the same passion for Sunday school that Rockefeller had? Do you consider Sunday school as a “measure of blessedness?”

Unfortunately too many Christians view Sunday school as an “elective” to take or not take to get credit to complete your Christian pedigree. Perhaps you don’t consider it a prison; however you attend because you always have and that’s just what you do on Sunday.

If that is you, then you are not receiving a measure of blessedness. Sunday school is where you learn of and obtain a biblical worldview. It is where biblical wisdom is gathered, which is far greater than just receiving biblical knowledge through the instruction of the teacher.

If you view Sunday school as an option, let this devotion be a rebuke to you. I do so lovingly, but I do so unapologetically and unashamedly. I am standing on right ground in doing so:

    “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” (2 Timothy 2:15)

Do you imagine yourself approved of God as a Sunday school occasional attendee or truant? Do you find that question harsh? If so, why?

I’ve had many a Christian over the years ask me for counseling about their Christian walk, weak faith, and spiritual aridness and I always ask how often they spend time in their bibles. I think I’m going to add another question: How often to you attend Sunday school?

I clearly remember my first time attending an adult Sunday school class after recommitting my life to Christ. I was astounded at how much I loved it. I asked my Sunday school teacher if it was like this every week. He assured me it was and invited me to come back. I did so and have never stopped going. By the way, that Sunday school teacher is one of my best friends and he was the best man in my wedding. I met my beloved bride Karen in his Sunday school class.

But more importantly, a passion welled up inside of me to not just learn about God, not just to increase my biblical knowledge, but to also grow in biblical wisdom.

Do you have that passion? Do you remember a time when you did? Remember well Jesus’ words to the church of Ephesus:

    “Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place-unless you repent.” (Revelation 2:4-5)

Are you missing light in your life? Does the world seem to be getting darker and darker every day? In ways it is most certainly getting darker, but if you have the lampstand then you have light. The lampstand is the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ in our lives and the recognition that we belong to Him.

And it is more than just about you. Your brothers and sisters in Christ need you. You are a part of the body of Christ and when we assemble and someone is missing, then a part of the body is missing. We need each others encouragement and exhortation to mature us in the faith:

    “And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.” (Hebrews 10:24-25)

It is one week until Thanksgiving; how thankful are you to God for all He has blessed you with?

Why not show your true thanks with your obedience in attending Sunday school? Stop treating it as an elective and get back to the basic instructions before leaving earth (bible) you need to grow to Christian maturity.

In Christ
Dave
Ps. 37:4

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    Copyright © 2013 David Jeffers

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