How can we lack knowledge?
One of the culminating pleasures every year of the ABC experience is to hear the choir spend that half hour, forty minutes in a musical performance. I don't think anybody except them are award of the scores of hours and work they put into that in design to express to God in appreciation and worship in behalf of not only themselves but all of us as a congregation, and I know that God must appreciate the heart and the effort and the desire that they have put into it, and so, on behalf again of everybody here I just want to thank Mr. Shoemaker, and the entire ABC choir, and any others who helped at any way along the way with this element of the ABC experience. We have found that the work of the choir pays off long after they leave here. Many have gone out to their local areas, have joined choirs, and in the case of a few people have even been asked to draw on what they've learned and become choir directors or music coordinators in their churches, and they take this learning that they have gained from here and are able to serve for many years to come.
But also, I'd like to echo the welcome to all the family and friends who are here to celebrate the graduation of the students of the Ambassador BibleThe books (Greek, "biblia" ) that are acknowledged as canonical (authoritative) by the early Christian Church. It includes both the books of the ancient Hebrew prophets and those of the apostolic witnesses to Jesus Christ. Center class of 2009 as well as all the regular members who usually attend here as well. We don't want to leave you out as you've become their church family on the Sabbath every week for the last nine months as well.
We take turns with different responsibilities on the graduation weekend every year and this year it fell my lot to give the baccalaureate sermon. One of the definitions of baccalaureate is "a farewell address in the form of a sermon delivered to a graduating class." So that's what you will have today. Sometimes in the past when I've given the commencement address I've mentioned something that probably applies to baccalaureate sermons as well, and that is that in their research historians have recently come to the conclusion that commencement addresses were invented due to the premise that we should not throw you into the world without first being properly sedated (laughter). So I hope you're up to one last sermon from me today and one last lecture from Mr. Franks tomorrow, and we promise we will try not to sedate you.
History shows throughout the centuries that various people have tried to destroy the word of God, and early in the 6th Century B.C. there was one who literally destroyed if you will, the word of God as it was given to him, and he paid dearly for his arrogance. That was a king named Jehoiakim, king of Judah. Jehoiakim had a reign that lasted for eleven years, and it was basically disastrous.
Although he had the opportunity to follow his father, Josiah's righteous example, he turned to evil. Jeremiah described Jehoiakim as a presumptuous ruler who abused his own people and persecuted and murdered God's servants. And so God instructed Jeremiah to prophesy that unless they repented, Jehoiakim and Judah, Jerusalem would fall. So, Jeremiah took these words and he had them recorded by his scribe, Baruch. And he instructed him to read these prophecies to the people of Judah. God hoped that they would repent and respond and avoid this downfall. Certain princes heard Jeremiah's words and they quickly conveyed them to Jehoiakim and the king sent one officer to deliver this scroll to him, and he wanted to hear them. And so the officer read aloud from the scroll and after the man would read several columns the king would take a knife from the scribe, and he would cut these columns out of the scroll and throw them into a fire that was burning in front of him, very contemptuous.
In Jeremiah 36:23 it says, "The king continued until all the scroll was consumed in the fire that [was] on the hearth." Jehoiakim apparently thought he was accountable to no one; but God would have the last word, and since he persisted in his defiance he suffered the consequences. Jerusalem was overthrown. Judah was defeated by the Babylonians, and Jehoiakim was dragged away in chains and apparently died on his way to or in captivity in Babylon.
It's such a sad story. Jehoiakim had delivered to him in person the solution to the problems they were facing, but he pushed God out of his life. He was one who literally cut God's word out of his life and tried to destroy it. He put himself in great danger. You can't arrogantly challenge God in that way. God's word is the foundation of all knowledge. There have been many people who have handled the word of God before us; we have handled it and all of us human beings are, as Peter worded it,
I Peter 1:24 ..."All flesh is grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls away,
Verse 25 — "But the word of the Lord endures forever."... It has been here; it will be here long after we go. It cannot be destroyed and the principles that it talks about are permanent. They are everlasting. There's a fundamental lesson for all people in Jehoiakim's story, and that lesson that's been there from the beginning of time, Jehoiakim is just one personal example; but he was just another verse in a song that has been sung many times from the time of Adam and Eve.
Of the lessons in this story, there is one that leaps out at us; and it is simply this: "...people will be destroyed for a lack of knowledge."... That comes from Hosea 4:6 where God, at another time, made that statement. "My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge...." And that's not only a one-time dramatic event like Jehoiakim's, but that's just simply a timeless principle that applies to all people.
This lack of knowledge can manifest itself in many ways. It can come as a result of ignorance. It can come as a result of arrogance, and every other way in between. You can literally cast it aside as Jehoiakim did in his arrogance, but there are other ways that it can be absent; that it can be a lack of knowledge; that it can persist in ways that are far more subtle; the ways that have always been around that really lead to ignorance.
What are some of those ways? How can we lack knowledge? How can people lack knowledge? What are all the ways that that can be done? I want to talk to you about that today as you prepare to exit ABC, and I hope to summarize your experience here and put it in the context of the world in which we live and put some directional thoughts in your minds, perhaps. So with the example of Jehoiakim and with Hezekiah's words in mind, let's leap from where they were all the way 'till today.
Let's talk about knowledge. If people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge, let's talk about knowledge in the world in which we live. We live, as we all know, in an un-paralleled age. It is not just un-paralleled in the history of humanity, it's un-paralleled in the history if you've lived fifty years, from what you knew at one time.
It's an amazing world. We live in a dynamic information age that is driven by scientific communications, what is called the digital revolution. The demand to be informed is relentless today. Popular magazines routinely carry articles on how to access information, on how to sort through it, sometimes even how to cope with it. We have to cope with the flood of information — a barrage. We often hear about the tidal wave of information that comes through electronic means. But along with all the flood that coming through these technologic advances, we have some of the old technology that is overwhelming us as well. Printing was great technology at one time, cutting edge, revolutionary. It's been with us for hundreds of years, but that is not fading away either. It's even adding to the knowledge.
Take a guess in your mind. Guess how many new books are published every week in the United States? How many new books are published every week in the United States? Any guesses? The answer is almost a thousand new books are published every week in the United States. In the United Kingdom it's three hundred a day, three hundred new books. That's just printed material.
Now when you look into the electronic angle of technology, that's truly amazing.
Let me ask for a show of hands. How many of you have with you right now a cell phone just out of curiosity? There's quite a few out there. If you don't, you're in a minority. I remember, it was twenty years ago this fall seeing my first portable phone, for the first time. Mr. Leroy Neff came on a visit to our church area in northern Pennsylvania. We came into the restaurant, and he had, on his hip the size of a car battery, carrying with a big strap over his shoulder, and it had a regular telephone handset on it. You know, you pick — you're laughing — it seems so bizarre now. At the time I thought, "That is so cool!" (Audience laughter) Man! He went out and took a call on it. He was standing in the lobby with his headset and this monstrous thing. It would put your back out to carry that around too long. That was the first one I ever saw. I remember that.
I also remember a time; let me ask you for a show of hands. How many of you ever had a telephone on what was called a party line? Okay, now look around. You can hold your hands up. You ought to see, there's a certain age factor here. You can put your hands down.
For those of you who've never even heard of a party line, our telephone at one time was on a party line that was shared with other families. A party line was basically a shared telephone system. That's where the technology had taken us at that point, and families in certain areas would share a phone system. Now because everybody's phone would ring when anybody was being called, everybody had a certain set of rings. I remember from nine years old ours was two shorts and a long (blp, blp, blllp), and that's how we knew to pick up our call. And you would hear other calls. And you'd think it would be ringing all the time. Well, it wasn't; you know, people didn't call all the time. But that's how we knew it.
Funny, how you remember things - two shorts and a long. I can't remember my name sometimes (laughter). Now you could have fun on a party line, too. If you were really careful and quiet you could pick the receiver up and listen to other people. Now the downside of that was other people could listen to you. Now could you imagine being on a party line with six other people on your cell phones today? Some of you have never even heard of that.
I never imagined back then, it never even entered my thinking, the concept of a personal telephone like a cell phone, even in 1989. I did not imagine then that we would have cell phones like we do today. I can reach down here; I cannot only call, I can check my e-mails; I can go on the internet; I can use my Word documents; I can download information. I can go anywhere, well, not anywhere; but most countries in the world I can go to and call anywhere else by satellite on this, and this isn't even very cool to some people compared to some things that are available. It's amazing!
All of this is due to the explosion of technology, and that explosion has been made possible by the transference of knowledge. The more technology we have, the more knowledge we have access to, which accelerates the technology, which accelerates the knowledge. It's amazing!
I came across a speech as I was researching some of this by a man named Thomas (Cook), spelled Kuk. He's president of the American Society of Baking, and he had a speech entitled "Coping with Technology," and it was an interesting summary of the world in which we find ourselves.
He stated, "Anyone born before 1970 can testify to the fact that life appears to have increased in intensity. That time appears to be rapidly accelerating. Today, technological momentum has increased far beyond our expectations. Instead of waiting the arrival of a much touted innovation people find themselves playing catch-up to innovations they never dreamed of, and don't understand."
Do you remember the introduction of the color television? In the late 1950s we were in awe; anxiously awaiting for the privilege of viewing our favorite shows in what was called "living color, living color." Don't know what "dead color" is, but what we were going to get was living.
He explains Alvin Toffler's description in his book The Third Wave, of how technology has advanced in a series of waves through history. He said, "In viewing our ancestral past we begin to see the first wave of technological advancements occurring between 600 A.D. and 1600 A.D., lasting approximately one thousand years. Toffler identifies this period as our agrian culture.
The second wave, the development of our industrial culture, lasted approximately three hundred years, ending around 1970. According to Toffler, "We are currently nearing the end of the third wave, the evolution of the information age culture. The effect," Toffler predicts, "is that each succeeding wave is actually compressing in time. It is shortening dramatically the capacity for knowledge."
He said, "Let us define knowledge as the amount of information available to a society. Let's also assume that advancements in our culture are directly related to our ability to share and impart knowledge, and act upon that knowledge. Using the end of the dark ages, approximately 1390 A.D. as our ancestral benchmark for documenting information, it took approximately three hundred and twenty years for our universe of knowledge to double in size. Between 1710 and 1870, that same pool of knowledge doubled again. It took only eighty years for that same knowledge base to again double. And from 1950 - 1990 it only took forty years. From 1990 to 1994 that same pool doubled in four years. From 1994 — 1996 it only took two years. By this time next year, the information we have available to our society will be doubling at a monthly rate."
And that is not saying that the knowledge doubles; it's saying the information available. There can be a lot of information that we've not had available but technology expands the scope of making knowledge that exists available to you as well as new knowledge coming on the scene. So there's new knowledge plus the capacity to have access that you've never had to knowledge that exists. As language barriers drop, as we're able to expand in so many ways, now this impacts our daily lives.
I won't go through everything that Kuk goes through in his speech, but I will quote one sentence that I think a lot of us can identify with. He said, "In a recent study by the Institute of the Future employees of Fortune 500 companies were to receive and send on average one hundred seventy-eight messages, faxes, phone calls, e-mails or letters per day, and that eighty-four percent reported that they were interrupted at least three times every hour by some form of message."
We're being flooded. It interrupts you. It made me think of the story, when I read that about the man that was teaching his child the "Lord's Prayer" and the child had been frustrated earlier in the evening by the lack of his parent's attention prayed, "Forgive us of our trespasses and deliver us from e-mail."
Kuk said, "Our society is so permeated with technological advancements that it is virtually impossible not to be influenced by one form or another. Technology offers enormous benefits and has made countless contributions to mankind. What is evident throughout history is that every culture and generation has had to cope with changing technology. However, never before has a culture been so radically influenced as we are today." And he spends a great deal of his speech talking about that influence, both positive and negative. He said, "It is little wonder that we feel a sense of being overwhelmed. We are being bombarded with constant announcements about advancements in science, medicine, and engineering."
I have to admit, one of my pet peeves for the last ten to fifteen years has come from these constant announcements about advances. It's affected my diet. How many of you like coffee and eggs? I don't mean together, you just like coffee and/or eggs. Me, too! I love them both. I love coffee and I love eggs. I've gotten to the point now I throw my hands up at research. One year coffee's bad for you, and eggs are good for you. Two years later, what did I say? (Laughter) Whatever I said, the opposite is true. The other one's bad; the other one's good, and the latest research tells you this, and later it's countered with that research, and you have all this knowledge, and after awhile I've thrown up my hands, and I'm gonna eat what I want to eat, you know? It's been around for a long time. I don't want to be in a constant state of confusion.
Well, Kuk said, "These advancements are the synergistic results of collaborative efforts using improved communications and technology." But he also said, "Because we do not know where technology is going such activity creates a profound degree of uncertainty; questions about privacy and our inability to understand how technology works, undermines our self-esteem. In trying to cope, tiny frustrations that we experience daily have a cumulative impact on our psychological and physical health. Exposure to world news events threatens our values and social mores. Issues of genetic engineering, multiple births, and medical wonders leave us astounded forcing us to question medical and scientific ethics."
We're dealing with things that we've never had to deal with before. "In 1995, the Associated Press (AP) reported that fifty per cent of those polled felt that advancing technology was leaving them behind."
Now he goes on to talk about the fact that there's a word that's been developed that comes from information overload. That word is techno stress, and they are identifiable symptoms. You may have some — "inability to concentrate on a single issue, unfinished tasks, so many interruptions, and the stress that begins to add because you're not getting things done." The pressure's there - increased irritability, loss of memory, or patience, the feeling of a loss of control. Well, as he said in conclusion, "Our challenge is to understand how this relationship between time and technology impacts us and to develop a strategy to cope with it.
It's a very good speech. It's easy to look it up on the internet. All you have to do is "Google" Thomas Kuk, K U K in technology and you'll find it. We have this amazing flood of information that's made possible through the rapid, exponential growth of technology. Now usually, we ministers will read a scripture, and then explain it. I've just given you the explanation. Now I'm going to read you the scripture. Daniel 12:4 —
Daniel 12:4 — "But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase." "...many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase." Now I am not a prophecy specialist, but I think I've got this one figured out. This is one of the easier ones to say, "Yeah, I can tell you how that's being fulfilled. It's simply amazing."
Now, maybe about this time you're thinking, in fact, I hope you are thinking, "Wait a minute, he said that Hosea 4:6 is timeless; implying that people are being destroyed for a lack of know- ledge; that that statement is for today. But if there's any prophecy that is being fulfilled, its Daniel's that knowledge will be increased. If anything, we're being over- whelmed with knowledge. You can't have it both ways, you know. You can't say that we're being destroyed for lack of know- ledge and then turn around and say we're being overwhelmed with knowledge. So, which is it?
Well, I can say that. I can say that. There is no contradiction because I only quoted a portion of Hosea 4. You're right there. If you're in Daniel 12 you're right there at Hosea. Turn over a page or two to Hosea 4. Let's start in the beginning.
Hosea 4:1 — Hear the word of the (Lord) Eternal, You children of Israel, For the (Lord) Eternal brings a charge..., or the margin says a legal complaint, an indictment, ...against the inhabitants of the land: "There is no truth or mercy or knowledge of God in the land." Here is the key. It's knowledge of God. While there is knowledge, the amount of information available to society as Kuk defined it - while that kind of knowledge is exploding, the knowledge of God in the land is imploding; it's becoming less and less. It's disappearing into a black hole. "...There is no truth or mercy or knowledge of God in the land."
Verse 2 - By swearing and lying, killing and stealing and committing adultery, they break all restraint, with bloodshed after (upon) bloodshed.
Verse 3 - Therefore the land will mourn;... Mourning is an emotional reaction; it's the mental state as a result of something. There can be a mourning, but this shows the result of a lack of character in the people of a land. In a land that has swearing and lying and killing and stealing and committing adultery and breaking restraint and bloodshed. Yes, sooner or later there will be an emotional response and reaction to that, and it manifests itself in many ways.
Now you ABC students covered Jeremiah extensively at some point in the last few months. One of the fascinating themes in the book of Jeremiah is how often the blame for the lack of knowledge is placed on the doorstep of the religious leaders. The lack of knowledge in a population, the responsibility and the blame is placed squarely on the doorstep of the religious leaders of the land. Jeremiah 2:8 is an example. You don't have to turn there. We'll stay in Hosea 4, but it says,
Jeremiah 2:8 - The priests no longer asked (did not say,) 'Where is the Lord?' And those who handle the law had no real knowledge (did not know) of Me;... Now you look around in the religious world of confusion today and you have to reach that conclusion. That is so true. If it was true in Jeremiah's time, it is true today as well, and much responsibility today for the moral status and the knowledge of God being lost to the land falls upon the shoulders of the religious leaders.
Well we come to Hosea 4:6 - My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. ...Now it's already been defined; what that lack of knowledge is. It is not information. It's knowledge of God. Now notice: ...Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest before (for) Me; because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.
Now I asked you earlier, "How can we lack knowledge?" Well, we can cast it aside. We can actively, consciously rip it out of our lives like Jehoiakim did or we can set up conditions that lead to ignorance. Here, Hosea says the lack is caused by rejection. So how does rejection come? What causes rejection? If we brainstorm a little while, we could probably come up with a number of ideas. Disbelief, skepticism - you had some very good classes in here about the impact of post-modern thinking; anti-religious forces that are at work exerting more and more pressure in society to discredit, simply not caring. Not sensing any need will lead to a rejection.
When it states in RevelationThe disclosure of God's Word and plan to mankind. In the Bible this refers to making obscure things clear; bringing hidden matters to light; causing especially called individuals to see, hear, perceive, know and understand the things of God; the unveiling of biblical mysteries (Romans 16:25). about a people being rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing, it's to a church but it's not just a church issue. Society in general can fell like, "Hey, we're rich, increased in goods, and don't need anything." Rejection of knowledge can come that way. Romans makes a statement that there were those who simply didn't like to retain God in their knowledge. They just don't want to do what He says. That can cause people to reject.
But I would also submit to you that we face a new threat to growing in the knowledge of God and that is simply "knowledge overload." The world in which we live of knowledge overload poses a threat. KnowledgeThe broad range of information held by a person; an attribute of God (Romans 11:33); what we need to know about God (Hosea 4:6). is increasing and many are running to and fro. That has psychological, emotional and even physical side effects, but it also has spiritual side effects. It has a spiritual side effect. As we briefly read, the explosion of knowledge creates a dependence upon knowledge. It creates a dependence upon knowledge and technology. It pressures people to keep pace. It also creates a fascination with more knowledge. KnowledgeThe broad range of information held by a person; an attribute of God (Romans 11:33); what we need to know about God (Hosea 4:6). is fascinating, and people create a fascination with knowledge, and that can eat up time and attention. It can keep people more and more busy and people can cut God out. They can cut God out.
We can lack the knowledge of God if we allow anything else to push it out. The mind is a marvelous thing, you know. At creation God gave mankind the capacity to acquire knowledge, but He gave that capacity in the material sense. Humans have, on their own, the capacity to acquire knowledge in the material sense, and in our day and age we are amassing it in an abundance never before thought possible.
We live in an unusual, unique time but it also comes at the expense of cutting out the knowledge of God, and this too, was foretold. Let's go to II Timothy 3:1 we read another prophecy. Frankly, I told you earlier I'm not a prophecy buff necessarily. I don't consider myself well versed in prophecy, but personally I'm more concerned about this one than most others because of the impact it can have on the spiritual state.
II Timothy 3:1 — (But) know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: The margin says, "Times of stress."
Verse 2 - For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
Verse 3 - unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good,
Verse 4 - traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
Verse 5 - having a form of godliness but denying its power.... And, understanding that, we're told that - ...And from such people turn away! Now you have studied somewhat on prophecy this year. It is essential to know what is coming, but this is a prophecy of what is here. This is a prophecy of what is here. It's not about events, but it's a prophecy about the conditions of the soul, the spirit of people. This is our world today. This is the world in which you're going to go out and work. It's the world in which you're going to get married, and build your families, raise your children, go to school. It's the concepts that are shaping society. But notice verse 7 -
Verse 7 - always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. How interesting. It's in the context of the last days! What is so concerning today is the lack of basic knowledge that is so essential to humanity's overall well-being. In an unparalled period of information overload the world is desperately troubled because it is fundamentally lacking basic understanding and common sense about the things that make society and humanity work.
There's a famous analyzer of societal trends named John Naisbitt. You look at futuristic books you'll find his name. Naisbitt said, "We are drowning in information and starved for knowledge. We are drowning in information and starved for knowledge." What a paradox! The more information we acquire the less essential knowledge we seem to absorb; and that is not without consequence. A society cannot have that happen without consequence. So God, what He said through Hosea rings true, and there are thinking people in the world who are not even religious. They're not concerned about the religious side; they're simply concerned about even how shallow it makes people think. It makes people superficial in their thinking.
One newspaper editorial said, "With nearly one thousand new books published in the U.S. each week the pressure to stay informed weighs heavily, but there is a difference between information and wisdom." That was acknowledged in an editorial. People can see this. Understanding and information are not synonymous.
A British foreign secretary, Frances Penn said, "The images we see on television reflect only the symptoms and consequences of the problem. When we see world events described by commentators that does not lead to understanding but only to an emotional reaction and the acquisition of casual knowledge." A lot of casual knowledge so, in spite of the proliferation of information, informative knowledge is existing in a void.
There's a famous American writer who died not long ago, Saul Bellow, and he observed, "Information is to be found in daily papers. We are informed about everything; we know nothing." That's a powerful analysis.
Simon Heffer, a British journalist and author said, "Why, when we are so much better educated do we know so little?"
Well, the acquisition of knowledge is automatic. It's a function of our five senses but the core of the problem is whether our acquired knowledge and information and learning fits into the framework revealed by God. One of the things that God tells us is that we are spiritual creatures. We have a spirit in man. The real forces that motivate humans are spiritual in nature.
When you look at II Timothy 3, and you look at those nineteen things stated; ask yourselves, "Is this a physical event or is it a spiritual condition?" Every single one has to do with the spiritual state of humanity. Which of those are not spiritual in origins? They come from the way we think.
So, in I Corinthians 2, the ApostleAn exclusive ecclesiastical role historically held by very few; literally "one sent," but for a particular purpose: to deliver a message. In the New Testament this refers to a special envoy or messenger of the gospel; a special messenger from God (Luke 11:49; Revelation 18:20); more specifically the original 12 (Peter, John, Andrew, etc.) plus Paul, Barnabas and a few others. Jesus Christ is called the Apostle (Hebrews 3:1). Paul made this statement:
I Corinthians 2:11 — "For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him?..." It's through the brilliant capacity that God made as the human mind that was also in His image but it has a human spirit. But it's through that amazing capacity and what we are physically that humans unlike any other part of the creation have the capacity to learn and to acquire knowledge and to put things together and to figure things out, and it's fantastic, and it's because of that spirit of man which is in him; but He said, "... Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.
Verse 12 — "Now we have received," those to whom he was writing, "we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which (who) is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.
Verse 13 — "These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
Verse 14 — "But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." So much knowledge, but so little spiritual understanding.
So beyond the material knowledge that we need for survival, each of us needs spiritual understanding and insight into the things of the spirit that can only be revealed by God, Himself, and in His word. Without a substantial spiritual foundation our natural understanding will always fall short of showing us how to live fulfilled lives; abundant lives here and now, not to mention the prospect of everlasting life in the kingdom of God.
Now, this information and knowledge glut in which we're living is a two-edged sword even spiritually. On the plus side, it offers opportunities for accessing the word of God for research, for going in, accumulating knowledge about the word of God like we've never had before. It unlocks so many doors of understanding; how to go in-depth to God's word. It opens doors for preaching the gospel to the world like we've never had before, and even for our own opportunities to learn here at ABC.
I think the first year of ABC, ten years ago; I think someone told me there were two students with laptop computers. Is that about right? There weren't that many. Now, I think everybody has a laptop. Nope; not everybody, huh? Some do it the old fashioned way. That's okay. I remember coming in here some years ago to teach a class and I was sort of amazed, and a little bit intimidated at first. You see all these laptops open; somebody raises their hand and says, "Well, here in this commentary it says this." And you go around and look and they've got four commentaries open on their computer screen, and they're just punching buttons, and they're drawing all sorts of information of the things that you're trying to teach them. It's a different world.
Well, that's wonderful but the other side of the sword is that it offers much distraction and useless information. I would submit to you, and I want you to think about this that the day of living in the age of information overload, which includes the dependence on, and the fascination with information, that one of the greatest threats that presents is that it can become Jehoiakim's knife in our hands. That can become Jehoiakim's knife within our hands.
It's not cutting out the pages of the BibleThe books (Greek, "biblia" ) that are acknowledged as canonical (authoritative) by the early Christian Church. It includes both the books of the ancient Hebrew prophets and those of the apostolic witnesses to Jesus Christ. and throwing them in the fire. It's not that. It's cutting time with God and time with God's word out of our lives in little snippets. If the glut of information becomes a factor where it pulls us in so much that we cut out time with God, and time with God's word it becomes Jehoiakim's knife in our hands.
Now this is where the BibleThe books (Greek, "biblia" ) that are acknowledged as canonical (authoritative) by the early Christian Church. It includes both the books of the ancient Hebrew prophets and those of the apostolic witnesses to Jesus Christ., and for you ABC graduates this year, and your ABC experience enters the picture. The inspired word of God stands and always will stand as Jehoiakim found out the hard way as the solid source of all right knowledge; all true knowledge. The BibleThe books (Greek, "biblia" ) that are acknowledged as canonical (authoritative) by the early Christian Church. It includes both the books of the ancient Hebrew prophets and those of the apostolic witnesses to Jesus Christ. provides the proper framework for the essential knowledge through which all other information can be properly understood. That is the framework. Without that foundation we will live in a confused muddle. We will have so much material coming at us so fast we will be inundated with such an avalanche of information that we won't be able to keep up with it or sort through it because much of it conflicts with other information; especially in the world of understanding how to live.
What are the principles to live by? Jehoiakim literally rejected it. Most of the world rejects it today as well. They just do it in a different way, and certainly in a less dramatic way. But all of those who've been called by God through that miracle of His calling have been given a tool with which we can live our lives.
You ABC students were given an opportunity, which you took. I'm glad you took it. You took an opportunity to come into an environment for nine months to learn how to use that tool in a way that you'd never had access to before. You'd never had the opportunity to learn how to use the tool in this way. You had the tool, but you were given the opportunity here, and so that leads me to the central question to you of this sermon.
Was your experience at ABC designed to educate you or to equip you? Was it designed, this opportunity that others built, but which you accessed, was it built with the intent and the design to educate you or to equip you?
Well, from a faculty perspective it was both but with a greater emphasis on one. It was both, but it had a greater emphasis on one. Our goal was to educate you in order to equip you. It was to educate you in order to equip you. Ephesians 4 tells us that in the church, Christ has given different responsibilities, and one of those was that of teacher, and it follows that with a statement, "For the equipping of the saints."
You are to teach so that people can be equipped; so that they can be given the capacity to do something that is right; to live their lives. We were not interested from the foundation of ABC all the way through the preparation of every year. We were not interested in simply multiplying your knowledge. That wasn't the goal; just to multiply knowledge for you. We weren't interested in throwing knowledge at you that would compete with all the other knowledge coming at you. That was not it. We were very interested in multiplying your knowledge if it would equip you. We wanted to equip you, and if the knowledge you gained, if the knowledge you've gained in the last nine months has equipped you to have understanding of the principles of how life works.
If it equipped you to understand how to get wisdom from God, and how to get wisdom from the stories and the from the accounts of others who have gone before you, and from others who are living with you now, and the experiences of life. If it equipped you of how to draw from what you read into the BibleThe books (Greek, "biblia" ) that are acknowledged as canonical (authoritative) by the early Christian Church. It includes both the books of the ancient Hebrew prophets and those of the apostolic witnesses to Jesus Christ. and to translate it into how do I use this in my life; if it equipped you to think in a clear manner by giving you a filter of godly knowledge that helps you sift, and sort, and evaluate all the competing philosophies, and all of the ideas, and the social trends that are coming at you. If it equipped you to filter all of that stuff through the knowledge of God; if it equipped you with strong relational bonds of friendship with peers and teachers that became a supporting net of others who will be there with you and will support you; if it equipped you with the knowledge, and the zeal, and the personal commitment to mold your character for the rest of your lives according to the highest moral standards. If it equipped you to do these things then our purpose for this educational experience for passing on the knowledge of God will have been achieved.
We educated you to equip you so you could lead your lives toward the destination that God has called you to; so that you could become leaders of other people who are on that same path, toward that same destination, so that as you grow older you will continue to be stronger in these ways so that you will be pillars in the church as a young person, and a stronger pillar as time goes on. We educated you to equip you. The way we see it you have not been to an educational institution so much as to a training facility; to be trained to use the tools you have been given.
In 2005 I received an unusual Father's Day gift that came to mind as I was thinking of you ABC graduates in your experience here, and the tools that you have been given. I'll show it to you momentarily. It was a gift based on a scripture in Ephesians. While you're turning to Ephesians, I'd like for you to consider this thought in preparation for what you're going to read.
On graduation ceremonies, the ceremony itself, one participating in that, is said to walk. We had a little party this past Monday for Tom Disher, who received his degree, his MBA, but he wasn't able to walk at graduation; he wasn't there. You're going to walk tomorrow afternoon. You're going to pick up your diploma; you're going to walk out. We want you to walk, and then we want you to stand. We want you to walk, and then we want you to stand. We want you to take a stand, and then we want you to stand; to stand well armed and well-equipped. It's Ephesians 6 we're heading toward. Ephesians 6:11 —
Ephesians 6:11 — "Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil." And the devil will use anything that he can. KnowledgeThe broad range of information held by a person; an attribute of God (Romans 11:33); what we need to know about God (Hosea 4:6). of itself isn't bad but he will certainly use the knowledge overload to try to use it to bad things.
Verse 12 — "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
Verse 13 - "Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand." You can stand. It's possible to stand, but not without being prepared; not without being equipped.
Verse 14 — "Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
Verse 15 — "and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
Verse 16 — "above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.
Verse 17 — "And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;" In this you find the knowledge of God. We did not give you new knowledge of God; we simply tried to take what existed, and help you understand it, and know how to apply it. It is there; it will always be there.
Well, my Father's Day gift was one many of you've seen when you come into my office, and as I said, it came from this scripture. It's a sword with the inscription on it, "Take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God," taken from Ephesians 6:17. It's a beautiful sword. It's made by professional sword smiths. It means a lot to me. In the letter written from my daughter and son-in-law who gave this to me, they wrote a little bit about the manufacturer, where they got it, and explained the inspiration which came from this verse.
They also wrote, "Not that you would ever actually use the sword, but it is battle ready." It is battle ready. It only holds a false edge but could be sharpened if you wanted. So this is a replica of a real sword that people would have used at one time to wage their wars.
Now can I use this physical sword effectively, right now? No, I would probably be a menace to society, and self, and innocent by-standers if I tried to play warrior games, you know. (Laughter) It's because I'm not trained in swordsmanship. This did not inspire me to go out and get involved in, what do they call them? The fairs, the medieval, the renaissance stuff, I'm not into that, you know. It didn't inspire me to do that, but that's not what it was given to me for.
It wasn't given to me to be used physically in some way. It was to be a reminder. It was to be a symbol, and I treasure this sword as a symbol of this. This is my real sword that I do use, and have to use every day; the one that we've wanted you to be trained in.
You too have been given symbols. You'll have symbols of different types in life, and all of you ABC grads will walk out of here with one of your symbols tomorrow. You'll walk out of here with a diploma that I hope you'll hang on your wall, and I hope that you will look at it on a regular basis, as a reminder of the education that you've received here, an education that was designed to equip you to use the word of God. To have it strapped to your side, to carry it with you, to be capable of using it, and to be battle ready for the realities that do come in life.
I don't face any realities where I need this in life, but I face realities every day where I need this sword. And I've found that usually when I have failed in life it's because I didn't use this sword effectively. When I've succeeded in life, it's because I did use this sword effectively because that's the way life is.
Mr. Register, in his assembly the other day, said to you that he not only wanted to give you knowledge about how to live your life, but to prepare you for the unexpected; that the knowledge of God would prepare you for the unexpected; for the knowledge that you have as a foundation. That will be what you fall back on when the unexpected events in life come your way, and they will.
There will be unexpected good and unexpected bad. And believe me, success and good can sometimes be as spiritually destructive as bad things if you don't handle it right. There will be ups and downs. There will be blessings and cursings. There will be successes and failures. They will come while the world is following Jehoiakim's example in cutting the word of God out of their lives, if you will take this sword, and if you will treasure it, and if you will use it you will find that a sharpening will take place. There will be a sharpening experience only it's not the sword that will be sharpened; it will be you. It will be you.
Hebrews 4:12 says, "...the word of God is quick (living) and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword..." I could have a metal smith put the finest edge on this sword possible, and it would not be as sharp as the word of God. And it says that it "...pierces even to the dividing of soul and spirit, and of the joints and the marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." The sword of God's word will hone and it will sharpen you; your character, your thinking, your heart.
You have centered nine months of your life now on God's word. You came here to gain knowledge; probably in some cases it's been an information flood itself, the onslaught of knowledge that you had here. It came fast and it came in a great volume, and we just poured it on. For a long time to come, in fact, as long as you live you're never going to reach the point of saying, "I've got it all down." You'll always be learning about the knowledge of God. This is the knowledge that has stood and will stand the test of time. While all other theories rise and fall, this will stay constant. This is the knowledge that explains life. It explains cause and effect. This is the knowledge from the source of all knowledge. This comes from the one that's seen it all and He's in control, and He knows where it's going. This is the knowledge that deals with the greatest missing technology today; the technology of the spiritual workings of life, spiritual technology. Understanding how the human spirit and how the spirit of God work, and how to make life work.
This is your handbook for that. This is the knowledge that will equip you for life if you use it well. You're leaving here well grounded in the word of God. We've tried to give you that word of God to equip you so that you'll know how to use it. So you don't need, every day, to come in and have instructors explain it to you because you've learned how to use it yourself. It's not to say that you don't need instructors. We all need instructors all of our lives, but as you are equipped, you learn to use this book for life.
Take up this sword and strap it to your side, and use it well, and let it sharpen you and hone your character. And while the world is drowning in a flood of information, let this be your arc of stability in life and salvation.
