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Ephesians 6 commands fathers (parents in essence) to "bring them [children] up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." In the age in which we live, this is making your child a disciple of Jesus Christ. The public school would not make that impossible, but based on biblical principles, it would make it exceedingly difficult. The school system would provide a battle against obedience to the command in Ephesians 6 and the fulfillment of Christ's Great Commission with children. Bringing children up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord is bringing them up in the truth. The church is the pillar and ground of the truth (1 Tim 3:15). God deposited His truth with the church for keeping (pastoral epistles), that is, believing, obeying, and teaching. He didn't give the truth to the state. He didn't even give it to the family. He gave it to the church, so "the nurture and admonition of the Lord" occurs within the church. Timothy is delivering that command to the church. It is very, very unlikely, if not impossible, to fulfill the command in Ephesians 6 without a church (Christian) K-12 education. No truth can be truthfully understood outside of a biblical (Christian) perspective. That is the true story about the world. I'm saying a Christian school is required. It's important we keep it going here and do what we need to do for our church and with the view to help others.
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Jesus talks about the end of summer in Matthew 24:32, "Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh." What does that mean? When the tree buds, it's spring. It's really not very complex. In this time of year when the sap begins to flow through those branches, they become somewhat swelled and tender as that life begins to pulsate and pour through and push out the end of the branch in the form of a leaf. There is a tenderness to the tree. There is a need to care carefully for that tree in that period of time. When its branch is tender, because it's soft with swelling sap and it pushes out its leaves, you know its spring, and spring means summer is near and summer means harvest. In Matthew, harvest is a time of rewarding that which is good and of burning and punishing that which is evil, so what the Lord is saying that when you see the leaves come forth in the spring, you know that the coming of summer is near and there will be soon a harvest. They would perceive the harvest to be the second coming, the coming of God's judgment. Jesus is saying that the generation that sees the signs that He is talking about in Matthew 24, signs that He is coming, you know the end is near, like harvest follows summer. It's a simple metaphor, but for you, think of the Lord's coming with the end of summer.
You’ve heard the analogy or metaphor, “black hole.” I use it on a regular basis (hopefully not too much). Actual “black holes” are very mysterious and subject to much speculation in what people call ‘the field of science,’ perhaps astrophysics or astronomy. If you look at a dictionary definition, a basic one, you get one, “a region of space having a gravitational field so intense that no matter or radiation can escape,” and, two, “informal, a place where people or things, especially money, disappear without trace.” The metaphor is the latter. I use it for time. You look to where you will expend your time and if it seems like something just eats up time, you might call it a “black hole” as it relates to time. You put more and more in and it just eats up the time with what seems like very little to show for it. I believe that we can feel that way about serving the Lord. We do something for the Lord that takes a whole lot of time and it seems like there is very little to show for it. It seems that way, but it is not true. Whatever you pour into the Lord’s work has value, even if you don’t see any results. The actual black hole can be what you do in the world. It might not seem like a black hole, but it actually is one. The Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:58 that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. Work for the Lord, right work and properly motivated, never goes into a black hole. None of it is loss.
The Apostle Paul writes and explains in Romans 6 why sin won’t have dominion over you any longer once you have been declared righteous, justified, by grace through faith. The first fourteen verses say you have a new life, which isn’t the same as the old, a righteous life, not a sinful life. Then verses 15-23 argue that we have a new master, the old master being sin and the new master being righteousness. If your master is righteousness, if Jesus Christ is your Lord, then you won’t live in sin any longer. You have a new master. With Romans 6 in mind, one should expect a believer, someone with a new life and a new master, to live for his new master. His life will be characterized by righteousness, that is, doing right, obeying the Lord. Sure, there will be a struggle, but he is not under the dominion of sin any more. He was in Adam, but now he is in Christ. He is an entirely different family with a new nature. An assumption of successful pastoring is that the church is made up of people with a new life and a new master. A pastor can’t get people without life and with the old master to obey righteousness and to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. He can help those who are already saved. They want to do what’s right. They aren’t by nature going to be indifferent to or fighting his righteous leadership. They will be fully cooperative, because that is who they are.
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