In a book called The Closing of the American Mind, Alan Bloom points out the remarkable fact that today’s educational institutions, especially colleges, are very committed to one great proposition: there is no such thing as truth. In other words, they are very committed to the idea that they’re not committed to anything. If one of our young people was to walk into a provost’s or administrator’s office at the local university and ask the question, “What kind of people is this institution trying to produce?” the answers you’d get in response would probably be something like this: “At this institution we really aren’t trying to produce anything in people because in principle we do not believe there is even a target to shoot at.” I read recently about a remarkable contrast between speakers at a Yale University convocation. One speaker stood up and spoke about the meaning of a Yale education – and he spoke of character formation, knowledge acquisition, kindness and service to your neighbor, and the application of wisdom to work and society. Then another speaker stood up and in his speech said, “Actually, a Yale education means whatever you want it to mean.”
I hope you all notice that it is impossible to have no commitments in your discipleship goals. Poorly thought out goals or having no clear direction at all are goals themselves.
Does God give us goals for discipleship? Yes: 3 John 1:4 “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.” In 3 John, John is not speaking of his own physical children, but of his disciples in the church. What is the goal of all our discipleship of our families and of others? That all the people we disciple would “walk in truth.” In other words, they would know the truth, believe the truth, and live according to the truth. God’s goals for discipleship are:
1) Faith in Jesus Christ, 2) Character, & 3) Wisdom in Living according to God’s Law.
No institution that I’m aware of other than the church (in its elder and deacon qualification lists – 1 Tim 3:1ff, Titus 1:7ff) has a standardized test for measuring God’s goals of discipleship. We might ask, “what did so-and-so get on their SAT or ACT?” Maybe we should come up with a standardized test called the WITT – Walk In Truth Test. If I was an employer, that would be the score I’d be most interested in. In fact, were I an employer, I would certainly be excited to see high test scores and a high GPA, but what I’d really want to do before I hired the person is wash a car with them. And see if that sun-baked, 2-month old bird dropping is still there when they are done. That will teach you more about how that individual meets God’s goals of discipleship than their scores. Another issue I wish people took tests on and got grades for is: Do they tell the truth? In discipleship, especially with your children (or children you have influence over), this is a vital character issue that we must always be aware of.
The Book of Proverbs (the core curriculum): A study of the book of proverbs yields 9 major themes which could all come under the same three things listed.
The Principle of the Tongue and the Truth The Principle of Hard Work The Principle of Self-Control and Avoiding Temptation The Principle of Conflict Resolution and Getting Along with Others The Principle of Receiving Reproof and Respecting Authority The Principle of Trusting God The Principle of Humility The Principle of the Virtuous Spouse
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