1. In
the name of Jesus. Amen. We’re in a blog world where every person has
a voice and an opportunity to be heard. Finding information today is easy.
Discerning the quality of information isn’t easy, that’s what we’re trying to
teach our children in the classroom, how to use proper discernment with
information using technology. The disciples recognized the authority of Jesus
teaching, so did the demons in the healing miracle here in Mark 1:21-28. Mark 1:22 says, “And they were astonished
at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the
scribes.” Study this Jesus and His
message of salvation recorded in the Bible and you too will know the truth, and
the truth will set you free! The Scripture
readings we heard a moment ago might
help us in understanding how we might use technology as Christians.
2.
Sometimes as
Christians the devil often tempts us to think that we’re better than other
people because we’re more devout in our Christian living than those around us. Maybe we think that we’re better than someone
else because we’re not as lazy as they are or because we know more than they do. There are many times in our lives that we may
feel we’re superior to those around us.
But, the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Corinthians tells us that as
Christians we’re not to think of ourselves more highly than those around us. He writes in 1 Corinthians 8:1-3, “Now about food
sacrificed to idols: We know that we all possess knowledge. Knowledge puffs up,
but love builds up. 2 The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know
as he ought to know. 3 But the man who loves God is known by God.”
3. Paul was speaking to the congregation in Corinth and
many of them had just converted to Christianity from their pagan beliefs. They didn’t feel right in eating meat that
had once been used for sacrificing to the idols they had once worshiped. These Corinthians
were worried about purchasing some of this sacrificial meat in the marketplace
and offending the one true God by eating it.
It’s understandable that some Corinthian Christians who were recently
rescued from idolatry would feel uncomfortable about contact with any aspect or
reminder of idol worship. The strong
Christians in Corinth knew that God didn’t forbid the eating of the meat that
was bought in the marketplace, because it didn’t belong to an idol, but to the
Lord.
4. It’s here that Paul is speaking to the stronger
Christians. Sometimes knowledge or pride
can stand in the way of our relationships.
As in the parable of the Pharisee
and Publican, when the Pharisee thought he was better than “sinners” like the Publican. Those who “know” look down on those who don’t know. Those who are proud of their superior
knowledge lack love for those who have less knowledge. Knowledge
puffs up, but love builds up. The
strong Christians in Corinth were forgetting that love is more important than
knowledge. This is how the Lord would
have us live our lives. He wouldn’t want
us to offend anyone in our Christian walk, causing anyone to sin or fall away
from the faith. That’s why He wants us
to live our lives carefully following Him in all that we do and making sure
that we don’t harm anyone’s conscience, especially those who are new Christians.
5. Maybe
some of your students are dealing with a bit of pride in being able to use
technology better than their fellow classmates.
They might need to hear the words of St. Paul that, “knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.” They also might need to be reminded of what
happened at the Tower of Babel when the Lord brought confusion to people’s
languages in Genesis 11 when the people who were building the tower were trying
to “make a name for themselves.” It’s
true that with every new invention comes gain and loss. Such as we can see with Facebook, Twitter,
the internet, tablets, and smartphones. There are advantages to having access
to such an incredibly rich store of information, but speaking long before there
was Twitter or Google, Malcolm Muggeridge saw the problem of having too much
information where, “knowledge puffs up,
but love builds up.” Muggeridge
writes, “Accumulating knowledge is a form
of avarice & greed and lends itself to another version of the Midas story,”
he wrote. “Man is so avid for knowledge
that everything he touches turns to facts; his faith becomes theology, his love
becomes lechery, his wisdom becomes science. Pursuing meaning, he ignores
truth.” In other words, Muggeridge saw that it was possible to see so many
news clips that we’re no longer seeing and to hear so many sound-bites
that we’re no longer hearing. King Solomon echoes these words when he
writes in Eccl. 12: 12 My son, beware of anything beyond these. Of making
many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.” In fact, the whole book of Ecclesiastes
reminds us that our lives remain empty, void, & meaningless if God isn’t at
the center and put first, that includes our acquiring of knowledge through
technology, what does Scripture say in light of this subject or that subject???
6.
Speaking
centuries before Muggeridge, the prophet Isaiah and our Lord Jesus described
their audiences quite similarly. “This is
why I speak to them in parables,” said Jesus, “because ‘they look but do not see and hear but do not listen or
understand'” (cf. Matthew 13:13, Isaiah 6:9-10). We’re living in a time that’s complicated by
towering opportunities of knowledge, news clips, sound bites, blogs, and editorials,
all piled so high that we can’t see around our fortresses of facts. It’s true,
we as human beings have a skill in building towers of Babel, built to see
beyond ourselves but we end up blocking our vision of what really matters.
7.
We
need to teach our students that instead of building towers of knowledge that make
names for ourselves, we need to hear God’s vision and voice. Jeremiah 33:3 says, “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable
things you do not know.” Far better than a world of mere facts is a world
made visible by the Word of God & His Son Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh.
8.
In
Mark 1:21–28 Jesus’ authoritative teaching and power over the unclean spirits
creates a stir among the people in the early days of His ministry in Galilee. Today,
we often see the same thing. People continue to be interested in and even
amazed by Jesus’ teaching, and yet many fail to depend on Him for life and
salvation through His death on the cross for the forgiveness of their sins and
His resurrection from the dead. We need
to teach our children to move beyond just acquiring knowledge and facts through
technology. We’re working to show them
that it’s through God’s Word and the Holy Spirit that we’re brought into saving
faith and life. And to base their life
and faith on God’s Word as it points them to Jesus as their Savior and not in
the wonders of technology. Yes,
technology is useful and it can help us in the day to day activities of our
lives, but it isn’t, “the be all, end
all” to life. We don’t want it to
become a false god to our children.
9. May we help our students learn to
see the power of Jesus’ death on the cross and His resurrection from the dead,
that because Jesus lives we too shall live.
The gift of their baptism, that they are washed, sanctified and made
holy through water and the Word of God, and the gift of the Lord’s Supper, His
body and blood given and shed for us for the forgiveness of our sins. May we help our students to see that Jesus is
our ladder & tower to heaven, He’s the way, the truth, and the life. Amen. Prayer: Dear Jesus, So often I fail to
search your Word and rest on your authority. Give me eyes to see your truth and
a heart that submits to your will. And Jesus,
move us to an unquestioning trust and mature faith in You. By the power of Your
Word and Spirit, make us steadfast in the hope of glory. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment