Sweetwater Presbyterian

Small in size, Large in Faith and Love

Learn From Me

“Learn From Me”

Services like this one sort of put us off our game. There is a different rhythm, a different movement than we are familiar with, normal elements of worship are rushed a little, the sermon turns into a homily - which is just a word that means a short sermon. We do things we don’t normally do. But there is a reason for this difference; a reason for these added elements and the main reason is to remind us that God is an important part of everything we do. We recognize God’s work in every aspect of our lives as we live as people of God.
Because that is who we are - we are people of God. In our Baptism we say that we are signed and sealed as God’s forever. So if we belong to him, that means that every part of our lives is important to God and God is involved in every aspect of our lives and therefore we need to stop occasionally and do things within our worship to remember how much God values not only our worship but also our work in and outside of the church.
You know you are a child of God - but Jesus also reminds you that you are a disciple. The word disciple means - One Who Learns. You are a disciple of whatever it is you study and learn about. Whether it be fishing or golf or archery or sewing or the Church. That is why those 12 young men who followed Jesus were called disciples because their job following Jesus around was to learn. They called Jesus Rabbi which means teacher. That was the type of relationship they had - this student/teacher relationship. And when Jesus left them for the last time his charge to them was to go out in to the world and ‘teach’ people what they learned from Jesus.
Teaching, education, is a paramount principle all through scripture. It is the purpose of scripture. We have all this information for the sole purpose of learning about God and who God is and how much God loves us and cares for us and what God expects from us.
While ‘teach your children’ is not one of the 10 commandments, immediately after the 10 commandments come these passages from Deuteronomy:

These are the commands, decrees and laws the Lord your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. Hear, Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you.
Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates.

If you type in to a Bible search “Learning” or “Teaching”, you find out there are 407 references to teaching in the Bible - which I think very clearly tells us how important the concept is to God. So that is why we have special days like this to remind ourselves of the educational ministry of the church because it is a vital aspect of who we are as the children of God; as Disciples of Christ and we ‘worship’ or honor God be recognizing the things that are important to him.
This call to education also challenges us to remember the importance of learning all we can about God, about Jesus, about the stories of the Bible so that we can better be those disciples God calls us to be.

Amen!