But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will
send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your
remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. (John 14:26)
I wonder how many readers of this devotion will remember their first grade
teacher in primary school. I certainly remember, with vivid detail, my first
grade teacher – Mrs. Painter. She immediately became my hero when we reported
for the first day of school. I can now dismiss my manly pride and admit that I
was scared stiff the first day that my mom left me at the door of the classroom
with a last hug and a kiss. My older sister had taught me, long before, to sing
the little jingle, “School Days,
School Days; Good old Golden Rule Days.”
School days, School days
Good old Golden Rule days
Readin’ and ‘ritin’ and ‘rithmetic
Taught to the tune of the hickory stick
You were my queen in calico
I was your bashful barefoot beau
You wrote in my book “I love you, Joe”
When we were a couple of kids.
I was an approving participant until we got to that infamous line, “Taught
to the Tune of the Hickory Stick.” That struck fear into my conscience for,
Lord knows, I often required the ‘hickory stick’ at home to keep me faithful to
the law and rules of the house. I soon learned that Mrs. Painter did not wield
the ‘hickory stick’ with malicious intent, but rather in measures tempered with
mercy and grace. I truly loved her. She reinforced my faith by opening every
school day with a reading from the Psalms, a prayer, the Pledge of Allegiance,
and a few stanzas of “My Country ‘tis of Thee.” I remembered it all so very
well, and I particularly kept in mind that ‘hickory stick.’
Well, reader, there is nothing new under the sun. Our Primary School days are
not that much different from the observers of the Law of Jesus’ day. The Law
was truly given as “our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we
might be justified by faith.” The Greek word for Schoolmaster describes
someone who not only oversees learning and enforces discipline, but also serves
to protect the young scholars. When we have put on the Mind that is in Christ
Jesus, we do not forget the imperatives of the Law of God, but we observe them
with a better will power – HIS WILL – and that tempered by HIS LOVE! We
have long ago bade farewell to our Primary School teacher whom we respected,
loved, and for whom we may have harbored a hint of fear. We obeyed her out of
respect for her person and fear of discipline, or of disappointing her. But now
we still remember the lessons of Primary School, and we retain them out of
common sense and maturity rather than out of fear of reprisal.
The Law of God, given from the heights of Sinai’s Summit, have not been
disannulled or revoked. In fact, they bear a greater burden of obedience to the
Christian than the God-fearing Jew of old time. The Law was given as our
Schoolmaster to teach us boundaries of behavior. The Old Testament Church could
not fully comprehend the extremities of the Love of God from afar – not before
Emmanuel came and proved that limitless love that expunges the Law from those
Tables of Stone and writes it upon the soft sinews of the heart of the Christian
believer! Let us examine a fuller reading from Galatians 3: But the
scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus
Christ might be given to them that believe. But before faith came, we were kept
under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.
Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might
be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer
under a schoolmaster. For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ
Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. (Gal 3:22-27)
Though we loved our first grade teacher in Primary School (The Commandments of
God) with a sincere and enduring love, we have grown up with the precepts and
admonitions that she taught that we have internalized as part of our character
and persons. We are no longer confined to our little desks equipped with
inkwells and book compartments under the seats, but we are now free to go out and
make application of those first precepts we learned, under the Law, in love and
kindness to all around us – and to God our Father. The Law of God taught us
impossible boundaries of conduct – impossible unless motivated by LOVE.
Jesus is our great Teacher, but more than that. He departed the Gates of
Splendor to descend to this pig sty of sin and humanity. He walked, talked,
taught, and did works of mercy among us for thirty-three years. He taught us
the PURPOSE of the Law of God. As He taught the rich young ruler, we cannot
keep the Ten Commandments unless we begin by keeping the first; and, if we keep
the first, we cannot help keeping the others. It is the Love of God, shared in
prolific measure, to us from Him that enables us to return that love to Him on
high. And how can we truly love God if we do not love His manifestations in
Creation – the animal kingdom, His natural provisions in beauty of structure
and flowers - and our fellow man?
Yes, Christ walked among us, and taught us by Word and example, all that is
needful for our soul’s thirst and hunger. Today, He sits as our High Priest,
Advocate and Intercessor at the right hand of God the Father. But His role as
Teacher continues in the Presence among us of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost is
the Third Person of the Godhead, but, unlike many charismatic churches, He will
not mention Himself – that is not His role. His role is to teach and remind us
of all things written in the Holy Scriptures of our Lord Jesus Christ.
“he
shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance,
whatsoever I have said unto you.”
It follows as an imperative that we must first, at the very
least, read the Words of Scripture if the Holy Spirit is to REMIND us of that
which is written there concerning our Lord. For there is one God, and one
mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom
for all, to be testified in due time. (1
Tim 2:5-6 (KJV)
Instead of Primary School, the mature Christian is now operating at the
Master’s level at which those things learned and believed are put into practice
at a higher level than out of the compulsion of fear. We obey out of love. We
have mastered the Law by the redemption of Jesus Christ who satisfied the
demands of the Law. In a sense, we were even saved by Christ through the
dictates of the Law. The Law demanded the wages of sin (death) for the sinner
(all of us). The requirements of the Law could only be satisfied by One who was
worthy under the Law (sinless) to be our surrogate and a propitiation for our
sins. He taught us, too, to take up the cross daily and follow Him – to drink
from that same cup of sorrow from which He drank, and to experience that same
spiritual gratification, which He derived, by sacrificing for others. Just as
He traveled that Dolorosa Way of Suffering and Shame, He asked us to not only
take up our crosses and follow Him; but to follow Him ALL THE WAY to Calvary’s
blood stained brow. The Christian dies daily to self, and glories in that sense
of living for others just as Christ did in preparing the way for us to follow.
The Christian must always remember his Primary School lessons, but now he must
learn how to employ those lessons in service to others. I often ask my youth
group some question involving the practical application of some geometric
problem with which the solution I am certain they are intimately familiar. Most
often, they cannot render a practical answer because, though they know the
theory and geometric principle fully, they have never considered its practical
application. Jesus gave us the practical application of the Law, and it is
LOVE.
The Two Great Laws which Christ recited from the Old Testament are the keystone
of support for the Commandments of God: 35 Then one of them, which
was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, 36 Master, which is the great
commandment in the law? 37
Jesus said
unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all
thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first
and great commandment.
39 And the second is
like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40 On these two
commandments hang all the law and the prophets. (Matt 22:35-40) Observe the love of God, and of our
neighbors, are the two Stones of Landmark in keeping the Ten Commandments of
God. Observe, too, these two Laws do not abrogate a single Commandment of God,
but rather bolster the obedience of the Ten Commandments by the gracious
imperative of love – love demonstrated by the two beams of the cross. The
greater vertical beam illustrating our Love for God, and the lesser horizontal
beam our love for others.
Yesterday, we were in Primary School, but today, we have moved on to the
Master’s Degree program – but we never graduate until, in the process of time
and at God’s own choosing, we are called Home from School, and life truly
begins beyond the hallowed Gates of Splendor.
