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An important component of witnessing is that others understand the gospel message. This is accomplished through religious instruction. This devotion looks at instruction from both the teacher’s and the learner’s perspective.

Nuggets

• If we are the learner, we have to listen to what the content we are studying is telling us.
  
• As a teacher helping someone to understand, we need to help them focus.
  
• The real teaching has to come from above like the rain.
  
• God wants us to remember.
  
• God wants us to respect and learn from our parents.

This year, we are looking at self-discipline. We are using Vincent’s The Lesson of Ripeness sermon to look at the need to grow in our relationship with God. We morphed learning enough to be a teacher into determining some areas we need to grow so we can be mature disciples.

Resource
Vincent’s The Lesson of Ripeness
https://biblehub.com/sermons/auth/vincent/the_lesson_of_ripeness.htm

We have been looking at solidifying what we believe. When we witness, we need to be prepared to explain what we believe and why we believe it. We have looked at the Scriptures; the Trinity (God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit); man; salvation; grace; the church; divine ordinances; worship; God’s kingdom; end times; and evangelism and missions. Now, we are going to look at religious education.

Religion, according to the Holman Bible Dictionary, is “a relationship of devotion or fear of God or gods.” But in order to have that relationship, we must learn of God.

Resource
Holman Bible Dictionary’s definition of religion
https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/hbd/r/religion.html

The Holman Bible Dictionary has much information on education in the Bible times. While the Scriptures emphasize religious education should occur, God did not issue a law mandating that.

We are in a unique position. We need to be both teachers and learners.

I know. Most of us really don’t see ourselves as teachers. In fact, as I said, we morphed this series from being a teacher into being mature disciples.

But we are teachers as others watch us as we go about our lives. We may be the only Bible they ever read. Our homes may be the only churches they enter.

So, we are going to look at both roles. Remember, we are looking at the topics not only from the viewpoint of how we grow, but also through the lens of witnessing.

Devotions in the What I Believe series

What I Believe Series

Devotions in the Religious Education category

What Is Religious Instruction?
Jesus as a Teacher
Learning from the Holy Spirit
Learning to be a New Creation
Using Worship to Educate Our Thoughts

Let’s Put It into Context

What is the purpose of education? The Holman Bible Dictionary wrote, “The primary purpose of education among the Jews was the learning of and obedience to the law of God, the Torah.”

Resource
Holman Bible Dictionary’s definition of Education in Bible Times
https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/hbd/e/education-in-bible-times.html

To me, religious education is instruction to teach us about the plan of salvation and the character of God, in order to build relationships so that we can imitate Him.

General Instructions

“Pay attention, heavens, and I will speak; listen, earth, to the words from my mouth. Let my teaching fall like rain and my word settle like dew, like gentle rain on new grass and showers on tender plants. Remember the days of old; consider the years of past generations. Ask your father, and he will tell you, your elders, and they will teach you” (Deut. 32: 1-2, 7 CSB)

“Pay attention …” (Deut. 32: 1 CSB)

First off, we have to pay attention. If we are the learner, we have to listen to what the content we are studying is telling us.

We don’t learn by osmosis. We can’t just listen.

We have to figure out what it is intended for us to learn.
Next, we have to interpret what we think it is saying.
Then, we have to determine what we believe.
At times, we may need to dig further.
Finally, we have to determine how we need to use the content to change our character.

To access the What God’s Word Said to Me worksheet, use www.seekinggodwithelaine.com/what-gods-word-said-to-me

We have to put some work into it. We have to assimilate it.

a teacher helping someone to understand, we need to help them focus. Satan will be trying do all he can to put obstacles in the way. We will need to be encouragers as well as be knowledgeable of the content.

“Let my teaching fall like rain and my word settle like dew, like gentle rain on new grass and showers on tender plants” (Deut. 32: 2 CSB)

The real teaching has to come from above like the rain. It has to come from God.

We talked about the dew in the last devotion. The west winds, which happen in September and October, bring moisture from the Mediterranean Sea. It falls as mist during the night, mistakenly called a dew instead of a gentle mist.

To read a related devotion, access www.seekinggodwithelaine.com/wisdom-produces-compassion

A gentle mist isn’t cramming for a test. It isn’t waiting for the last minute to make a profession of faith.

It is a slow, steady soaking so we can consciously made decisions about what we will believe. Jarman noted the gentleness this represents. God loves us immensely.

Plants are better watered with the dew rather than the downpour. This is fitting, according to Jarman, as “the operation of the Spirit is always total and entire.”

Resource
Jarman’s God’s Doctrine as the Dew
https://biblehub.com/sermons/auth/jarman/god’s_doctrine_as_the_dew.htm

Jarman also told us about how the dew transfers from one plant to the next. That is very appropriate for our discussion on religious education. We are to pass our knowledge on to others.

But look at it this way. What if, as Jarman asked, it has to be a drizzle because there is some deficiency in our obedience to Him? We may need the downpour instead of the drizzle. We’ve said we learn more during the struggles.

Still, God is so gentle with us. He doesn’t write us off (we reject Him). He gently loves us back into His fold.

We need to welcome the showers as we receive guidance from God. He will tell us what sin we need to eliminate and how we need to change our character to become more like Him.

“Remember the days of old; consider the years of past generations …” (Deut. 32: 7 CSB)

We’ve talked before about how God wants us to remember. God wants us to remember His laws and commandments. He wants us to look back at all the times He has helped us through situations that were impossible for us but possible for Him (Mt. 19: 26).

To access the Remember glossary, use www.seekinggodwithelaine.com/remember-glossary

I know. This is the opposite of what the world is telling us lately. It says we have to erase our past.

We can’t. We have acknowledge our actions. We have to learn from our past. If we don’t acknowledge where we are, we won’t know what all we will need to do to get where we want to be.

“… Ask your father, and he will tell you, your elders, and they will teach you” (Deut. 32: 7 CSB)

This is kind of a continuation of erasing history. The past is outdated. Parents made wrong decisions.

That isn’t how God wants us to operate. God wants us to respect and learn from our parents.

We shouldn’t think that we can learn everything on our own. We need a teacher.

That teacher cannot be someone who someone who has no experience or knowledge. Many times, that means someone older than us.

Interpret for Me

“ Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, and Pelaiah, who were Levites, explained the law to the people as they stood in their places. They read out of the book of the law of God, translating and giving the meaning so that the people could understand what was read” (Neh. 8: 7-8 CSB)

The important part of the instruction is that the learner has to understand. Oh, no. “‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not my ways.’
This is the Lord’s declaration” (Isa. 55: 8 CSB). We aren’t going to understand everything.

Why is understanding the Scriptures important? Finlayson wrote, “The sacred Scriptures are useful to us in proportion as they help us to worship God more reverently, intelligently, and spiritually; and therefore we truly honour them by diligently seeking to understand their real sense, and to profit by their meaning.”

Resource
Finlayson’s The Bible Ought to be Intelligently Understood
https://biblehub.com/sermons/auth/finlayson/the_bible_ought_to_be_intelligently_understood.htm

Think about that. We are called to worship God.

• We aren’t called to know if it was creation or evolution.
  
• We aren’t called to know how to fix the social ills of this society.

We are called to admit our sins, believe in Jesus as Savior and Redeemer, confess God as Sovereign Lord, and demonstrate that commitment by obeying Him.

Horder wrote, “It is the duty of the pulpit to give the sense of Scripture.” Remember in What Is Missions?, we said that preaching could mean church work as simple as one person talking to another person, telling how to ABCD.

To read a related devotion, access www.seekinggodwithelaine.com/what-is-missions

We may think that the Scriptures were written in the King James Version because we no longer use that style of speaking. However, the original text was written in the common language of the day. They would readily understand it.

True. Scriptures will be difficult for some to understand. “Instead, God has chosen what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen what is weak in the world to shame the strong” (I Cor. 1: 27 CSB).

That is why God has given us the Holy Spirit to instruct us. “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you” (Jn. 14: 26 NASB).

Making the Connections

Religious instruction is like any other instruction. Some things we get right away. Sometimes, it takes a while before the lightbulb comes on.

Parker put it this way. He wrote, “The Word does not always produce an instantaneous effect: the Word has sometimes to filter well down into the thought and into the heart and life …”

Resource
Parker’s Doctrine as Rain; Speech as Dew
https://biblehub.com/sermons/auth/parker/doctrine_as_rain_speech_as_dew.htm

God will reveal things to us as we need to know them. He will help us understand what we need to know.

Making the Connections to Self-Discipline

Some find Scriptures confusing. Others, it seems that they feel they should understand all of it perfectly without reflection. How can we prepare to witness to those feeling that way?

We’ve been looking at defending our beliefs when we are witnessing. That means we have to be secure enough to convince someone to accept our beliefs.

Our questions should still serve us to determine on what we need to focus.

• What does the Scriptures say?
  
• What do I believe?
  
• Why do I believe the same/differently than the Scriptures?
  
• What are the talking points when witnessing to a non-believer?

Related Links
I have created a worksheet of the questions above. Access https://seekinggodwithelaine.com/what-i-believe-worksheet

How Do We Apply This?

The Homilist felt that religious teaching is gentle, penetrating, and refreshing. That is so true.

We can’t bulldoze instruction over someone. It has to penetrate our hearts and our lives so we make changes in our lives. That change has to be a positive change in lives.

Resource
Homilist’s Genuine Religious Teaching
https://biblehub.com/sermons/pub/genuine_religious_teaching.htm

Yes, we have to become teachers and learners. Paster Chad gave us wonderful encouragement.

“Each and every one of us, through the power of the gospel message, have the ability to bring change in this world because, by just simply speaking the gospel, introducing people to God through His Word, people will come to know Him, and peoples’ lives will be transformed. Once you’ve had an encounter with Christ, your life will be transformed. We understand that, if we can introduce people to Christ and they can come to be saved, then the problems of this world will seem like bygone issues.”

To listen to the full sermon, access https://www.rochesterfirstbaptist.org/podcast/episode/2885fe16/daniel-and-the-sovereign-god-daniel-10-1-27-pastor-chad-williams

That is why religious instruction is necessary. It is how we bring people to Christ.

Loving Father. We want to learn about You. Help us to listen to the Holy Spirit so that we can learn to imitate You. Amen.