Singer Hoagy Carmichael, the story goes, once decided to take up golf. So, lessons were arranged with an instructor. At the first session Carmichael was patiently shown the basics of the game: how to hold the club, how to stand, how to swing, etc.
Finally, after a half hour of this, the instructor felt Carmichael was ready to drive a few toward the first hole. The ball was teed up. Hoagy stepped up to it, swung, then watched the ball sail down the fairway, bound onto the green and roll into the cup–a hole in one!
The instructor was dumbfounded. Hoagy nonchalantly flipped the club to a caddy, then turned to the still speechless instructor. “OK,” he said casually, “I think I’ve got the idea now.”
Some people are quick learners!
Two pals were sitting in a pub watching the eleven-o’clock news. A report came on about a man threatening to jump from the 20th floor of a downtown building. One friend turned to the other and said, “I’ll bet you ten bucks the guy jumps.” His buddy said, “I don’t think he is going to jump. It’s a bet.”
A few minutes later, the man on the ledge jumped, so the loser handed his pal a $10 bill. “I can’t take your money,” his friend admitted. “I saw him jump earlier on the six-o’clock news.” “Me, too,” said the other buddy. “But I didn’t think he’d do it again!”
Other people are slow learners!
Indeed, some people are fast learners and some people are slow learners, but we all need to be life-long learners. The term “lifelong learner” has become a buzzword and cliché in many education circles—it refers to the ongoing, voluntary, and self-motivated pursuit of knowledge. Many schools have adopted this term into its mission statement, striving to not only produce graduates, but to inculcate a love for learning the will continue to develop throughout the duration of one’s life. Whether we pursue formal education through college or graduate school courses or whether we simply spend time with someone who knows something that we don’t know, it is vital for us to continue to learn—for when our minds stop learning, they start dying!
Scientist Albert Einstein once said, “Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death.” General Robert E. Lee said, “The education of a man is never completed until he dies.” Industrialist Henry Ford said, “Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young.” Chef Julia Child once said, “You’ll never know everything about anything, especially something you love.”
Life-long learning is not only imperative for the mind, but it is vital for the soul. Like the mind, whenever the soul stops growing, it starts dying! That is why, throughout the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, God highlights the importance of Christian learning. From Moses and Joshua in the Old Testament to Jesus and Paul in the New Testament, there is a clear theme of Christian learning for the health of the human soul.
In II Timothy 3:10-17, the apostle Paul places a special emphasis on Christian learning. As Paul approached the end of his life on earth, he wanted to commend Timothy for how much he had already learned and to challenge him to continue in what he had learned. He focuses on two crucial aspects of Christian learning: method and content. The method is learning from Christian mentors and the content is the Christian Scriptures.
1.) Learning from Christian Mentors (10-13)
Just as Jesus had mentored the twelve disciples, Paul spent a number of years
mentoring Timothy in the Christian faith and ministry. He begins this section by praising Timothy for following his example. Paul opens with the adversative conjunction “You, however” to contrast him with the false teachers who were polluting the Ephesian church. Whereas the false teachers had turned away from Paul and his gospel, Timothy had followed Paul’s “teaching, conduct, aim in life, faith, patience, love, steadfastness, persecutions, and sufferings.” Timothy learned all of these virtues from his mentor while they were together on Paul’s second and third missionary journeys.
Timothy followed Paul’s way of life—a life that was centered the person and work of Jesus Christ. Like his mentor, Timothy had put his faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ and was now working to spread the good news of forgiveness of sins and the hope of heaven to others. Paul’s words to Timothy highlight the importance of learning from Christian mentors.
The term “mentor” comes from Homer’s Odyssey. Odysseus, king of Ithaca, fights in the Trojan War and entrusts the care of his household to a man named Mentor, who serves as teacher and overseer of Odysseus’ son, Telemachus. Because of Mentor’s close relationship with Telemachus, the name Mentor has been adopted in English as a term meaning someone who imparts wisdom and shares knowledge with someone less experienced.
Today the word “mentor” means trusted advisor, friend, teacher, and wise person. Mentoring is a fundamental form of human development where one person invests time, energy, and personal know-how in assisting the growth and ability of another person. History offers many examples of mentoring relationships: Socrates and Plato, Haydn and Beethoven, Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers, Master Yoda and Luke Skywalker.
Like Timothy, we all need a mentor in the Christian faith. We need someone to model a holy Christian life for us! We need someone to walk with us through times of difficulty and speak words of Christian wisdom to us. We need someone to show us how the Scriptures address the big issues of life! Do you have a Christian mentor?
In verses11-13, Paul focuses on one of the aspects of his life that he wanted Timothy to remember most from their mentoring: enduring persecutions and sufferings. He reminds Timothy of what happened to him many years earlier in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra, which was Timothy’s hometown. Timothy witnessed it firsthand Paul being seized by a violent mob and was stoned almost to the point of death. Timothy also saw how God preserved his life and used him to spread the gospel despite the sufferings that he faced. Paul reminded Timothy of these events to encourage him to endure persecution and suffering for Jesus Christ in his own life. Paul goes on to make the blanket statement for all Christians: all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.
This statement is as true today as it was when Paul wrote it 2000 years ago. Have you ever caught flack from someone because you made a stand for Jesus Christ? Has anyone ever gotten angry with you because you insisted on going to church on a Sunday morning when they wanted you to do something else? Have you ever been mocked by a group of people who are getting drunk because you have said you have had enough? Have you ever been laughed at because you committed yourself to a life of sexual purity?
The easiest way to avoid persecution is to sin like everyone else. But if you desire to live a godly life, you will be persecuted! Have you learned that lesson yet?
2.) Learn from the Christian Scriptures (14-17)
In verses 14-17, Paul shifts from the method of Christian learning to the content of Christian learning: God’s Word, the Holy Scriptures. In verse 14, when Paul tells Timothy to “continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you have learned it”, he is referring to what Timothy had learned from their mentoring relationship and to the fact that he had learned the sacred writings from his mother Eunice and grandmother Lois (II Tim. 1:5). These “sacred writings” certainly refer to the Old Testament Scriptures and possibly some of the early New Testament writings (Some of them were written and in circulation at this point). These writings are the content of Christian learning because they have the power to make people “wise for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.” The Scriptures do not have the power to save a person’s soul, but they point to Jesus Christ, the one who can save!
The Old and New Testament writings are merely the product of human minds and pens; their origins are from God himself. Though the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, God himself breathed the very words that we find on these pages! That is why they are useful for the tasks of ministry. “God’s word is useful for teaching”—this refers to the fact that the Bible teaches us what we need to believe to gain salvation and how we are to conduct our lives as Christians. “Rebuking and correcting” speaks to the disciplinary function of Scripture. It shows us our ungodliness, convicts us of sin, and shows us how to make our souls right with God and other people. “Training in righteousness” refers to the way the Bible gives guidance for maturing in the faith progressing toward godlier conduct.
The purpose or goal of the sacred writings is revealed in verse 17, “that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” God’s Word is meant to convict people of their sins, point them to faith in Jesus Christ as the only hope of forgiveness and eternal life, and to nurture and mature that faith in such a way that they become competent to share this message in ministry to other people!
Today the vast majority of American universities teach that the Bible is simply a collection of ancient human writings, and that it is not historically accurate. But here in this passage, the Bible claims to be the very Word of God, divine in its origin, containing the power to make us wise unto the salvation that is offered through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Do you believe that this book was written by God? Have you experienced its power?
It is quite appropriate that we would study these verses on Reformation Sunday, when we remember “Sola Scriptura” or “Scripture Alone” which was one of the key doctrines heralded by Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformers!
The Formula of Concord is an authoritative statement of faith that was produced by some of Martin Luther’s early followers. I would like to read the portion of it that speaks to the Bible as being the content of Christian Learning. The Solid Declaration reads:
We pledge ourselves to the prophetic and apostolic writings of the Old and New Testaments as the pure and clear fountain of Israel, which is the only true norm according to which all teachers and teachings are to be judged and evaluated.
The Bible is indeed the standard whereby every thought, action, idea, philosophy, and belief is judged!
Every time I think about the topic of education, I think about a song that I used to listen to when I was back in high school. I bet most of you have heard these words at some point in your lives. The song goes like this:
We don’t need no education
We don’t need no thought control
No dark sarcasm in the classroom
Teachers leave them kids alone
Hey teacher leave them kids alone
All in all it’s just another brick in the wall
All in all you’re just another brick in the wall
Unfortunately, this song hasn’t only been the anthem of disgruntled high school students, but the attitude has also worked its way into the church. The truth is that we do need education and we do need thought control! As Paul told Timothy, if we are to live healthy Christian lives, we need to learn from Christian mentors and we need to learn from the Christian Scriptures. Will you find a mentor? Will you open your Bible?