Voddie Baucham - Home Education, Why and How

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Speaker 1: There we go. That's better. All right. Two things. One,

I've got this head congestion thing going on, so my

ears kind of plug up. So if I'm screaming at you,

I ain't mad. Here's the second thing. So let's talk

about home education, why and how. I have a home

education why message. And I have a home education how message.

I'm going to give you both of them. Here's the

third thing. I said there was two. Here's the third thing. Well,

so now that means it has to be four. The

third thing is really don't trust everything I say. The

fourth thing is that I just forgot it. Here's some

useful websites. BodhiBakam.org. You can go there and find out stuff. gracefamilybaptist.net.

That's our church website. Sermonaudio.com slash Votibachum. You can go

there and get sermons for a homeschool price, which is free.

If this is your first year homeschooling, you'll understand that

more and more and more. Well, homeschoolers are good at

a lot of things, but nobody can find free stuff

like we can. Amen? Amen? If there's a way to

do it for free, a homeschooler knows how. All right?

For those of you who, Facebook, facebook.com slash Foddy Bauckham.

If you tweet, twitter.com slash Foddy Bauckham. All those things

right there, just all that stuff. Please don't send me

20-page letters through any of these venues. All right. Home education,

why and how. A couple of trends. Number one, homeschool

families are abandoning home education. You see this. And we're

seeing it more and more, homeschool families that are abandoning

home education for a variety of different reasons. Two, homeschool

children graduating without a vision or a commitment to home education.

These two things really got me to thinking over the

last several years, seeing these trends, seeing the trend of

homeschool families jumping ship, deciding not to homeschool, or even

the ones that do. And there are a lot of you,

and you know who you are. You came here this weekend.

because you decided to homeschool for now, for this semester.

You don't know what's happening after this semester, but you're

committed for this semester. You're not committed to it as

a lifestyle. You're not committed to it in principle. You're

just going to do it for right now. If you

can't say amen, you ought to say ouch, okay? And

run into so many kids, so many homeschool kids who

just have no vision and no desire at all. for

home education. And I think this goes to the heart

of the why and the how, not understanding the why

and the how. Families jumping ship. Why are they? Strained

marriages that cannot sustain a long-term commitment to home education.

One of the messages that I'm going to be sharing

this weekend is don't let home education destroy your marriage.

It's happening. It's happening. There are people who homeschool their

kids 20, 25 years The last kid leaves, they look

at each other and realize that without the kids, they

got nothing. Because their whole life was centered around homeschooling

those kids. Those kids are gone. Their marriage is over.

It happens. It happens. Okay? So that's one reason some

people abandon home education. Two, a commitment to the God

of sport. A commitment to the God of sport. We

can't homeschool because... You know, little Junebug got to play football.

And you can't play football if you homeschool. So we

can't homeschool because, you know, God knows he can't be

a well-rounded human being if he doesn't play football. Three, deception.

You know, advanced placement courses in the high schools. You know,

you get to high schools and they offer these AP

courses with AP credits. You know, these advanced placement courses.

And you're going, man, this stuff is hard. I don't

understand this stuff. You know, this calculus stuff, this trigonometry stuff.

Over at the high school, they've got advanced placement courses in,

you know, geometry and calculus and all that good stuff.

By the way, how many of you know that in

order to teach geometry or trigonometry or calculus at a

public high school in the United States, you don't have

to have a degree in mathematics? You have to have

a degree in education. That's it. You don't have to

have a degree in mathematics. If you have a degree

in mathematics and you try to go to the public

school and teach math, they'll tell you you can't do that. Well,

I have a PhD in mathematics. I can't teach math

to high school kids? No. Why? Well, because you don't

have an education degree. So you have not been versed

in the ways of neo-Marxism and socialism. Therefore, you can't

teach our kids math. Don't you think we're trying to

teach math around this camp? How many of you know

that in these advanced placement classes all over Houston, all

over the state of Texas, that most of them are

not doing the subjects that they're giving credit for? They're

not doing it. Why? Because the kids aren't capable of it.

So the kids come in to this advanced placement geometry class.

Teacher gives a test. Most of the kids fail the test.

I'm telling you a true story here, by the way.

Most kids fail the test. So teachers are like, okay,

y'all made it to AP Geometry and what you really

need is some arithmetic. So now he's got a choice.

Flunk everybody and lose his job. By the way, inappropriate

sexual contact with a kid and they might move you

to another school. You flunk too many kids, you're out

of there. They won't tolerate that. So If you're going

to flunk too many kids and they don't understand the

subject that you're teaching, advanced placement, geometry, calculus, or whatever,

what do you have to do? You have to not

teach the subject that they're going to get credit for,

which is why when they go to Texas or to

A & M or wherever and take their test, they

get in, they get these wonderful scholarships because they took

AP calculus. They get there and take a test to

get placed in math in college and end up in

remedial math. And then you get mad because my kid

took AP at, you know, exemplary school. And then y'all

go say that he doesn't. The other one is the

Trojan horse. Not so much here in Texas, but all

around the country you're finding this. All around the country,

here's what they're doing. The government is getting smart. Government, G-U-P-M-I-N-T.

By the way, that's how you spell that. The government

is getting smart. So... Here's what they're doing. All over

the country, they are coming and they're saying to people, listen, listen,

homeschool mom, we know it's hard. Here's what we'll do

for you. We're from the government and we're here to

help you. Here's what we're going to do. And they go,

we'll give you a laptop. We'll give you some cash. Okay.

And then here's the clincher. We'll keep all your records

for you. Homeschool moms all over the country are like, really?

For real? For real? Like, I don't, you can stop

right there. Don't sell it when it's sold. You're going

to keep my records for me? I'm all over that.

The money, the laptop, that's good. But you're going to

keep my records for me, right? And so they go

into a government program. So now the government gets to

count the child as being in the school system. So

they get the full freight of the tax dollar per

child for that kid. They hand off the curriculum to

you so you do the work at home. By the way,

not your curriculum, but theirs. They give you a kickback,

30 pieces of silver. And everybody goes off smiling. So

some people are leaving for that. What about these unconvinced children?

Some of them are unconvinced just because of the hypocrisy.

that they see. Home education will reveal the hypocrisy in

your life and in your family. Amen, hallelujah, praise the Lord, somebody.

It will do it, okay? It will do it. And

these homeschool kids, they're seeing it. They're figuring it out.

We're doing this for people on the outside. It's not real. Secondly, legalism,

this unsustainable legalism, which is rampant in the homeschool movement. Rampant.

When I entered into this world, I thought, this is

a homeschool movement. These are pioneering people, right? Not so much.

Not so much. The number one question that I hear

at homeschool conferences everywhere I go is, is there a

curriculum for that? Because God forbid that we should have

to actually just sort of think through how to adapt

something for our family. We want a paint-by-numbers kit. And

we want to evaluate the paint by numbers kit, not

by whether or not it matches our biblical theological. philosophical

approach to education, but by what do your kids look

like on the outside. So if you wash the outside

of the cup real good, you can sell stuff to homeschoolers.

And we end up mired in legalism. Worldliness worldliness. And

I'll explain that in a moment. A lack of vision.

We just don't have a vision for what we're doing.

That's why we say, yeah, I'm homeschooling for this semester.

We're doing it now. We're doing it because it kind

of works for us right now. But if something else

comes along that works better, then we'll jump ship and

we'll do that. A complete lack of vision for what

we do. What's the problem? Two problems. One, we have

the what without the why. That's one problem. We have

the what without the why. What are we going to do?

We're going to homeschool. Why? Why? Because I don't know,

we tried other stuff. Or we have the wrong why.

That may be worse. You know, you can have the

what without the why. That's a problem. You can have

the wrong why. You can be doing it for the

wrong reasons. The what without the why. Listen to this,

Proverbs chapter 20, verse 25. It is a snare to

say rationally, it is holy, and to reflect only after

making vows. What are you going to do? We're going

to homeschool. Why? I don't know. I'll get back to

you on that one. It's a snare. Again, Proverbs 2,

1 to 5. My son, if you receive my words

and treasure up my commandments with you, making your ear

attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding. Yes,

if you call out for insight and raise your voice

for understanding, if you seek it like silver and search

for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand

the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.

That's how we seek after it. What about the wrong why?

There are some wrong whys out there. And this is

where we get to the worldliness, by the way. This

is the irony. So you have people who can have

legalism and worldliness all at the same time. And you

see it in the homeschool movement. You've got the legalism

because we're just watching the outside of the cup. Our

only goal is that our children behave in a way

that they don't embarrass us. But then you can have worldliness. Why?

Why are you homeschooling? So that we can get higher

test scores. So they can have a higher GPA. So

that they can do better in college. And all those

things are true. But they're the wrong reason. That's wrong.

Or we just want to escape the evil of the

government school campus. That's the wrong why. That's the wrong why.

I always think I love to do this. You know,

people say, well, I'm bringing my kids home. Why? Well,

because of all the sin in the public schools. Really?

What are you doing about sin in your house? Because

I don't know about you. My kids' parents are sinners. Sinners.

And so people jump ship because if I can find

some higher test scores somewhere else, then I'll go there.

If I can find higher college GPA through another means,

then I'll go there. And that's what I mean by worldliness.

Why are you doing this? Higher scores, better grades, better job,

more money, better future. That's worldliness. We're not seeking God.

We're seeking stuff. That's the wrong why. What's the right why? Well,

I'm glad you asked. Here's what we're going to deal with.

Are these not projecting for you? I ain't wrong for

that because I got it plugged up over here. It

should be projecting for you. Y'all want to fix that?

Don't make me come back there. Okay. All right. There

we go. So here's the right why. Number one, we

do it because we're convinced by Scripture. We do it

because we're convinced by Scripture. And I hear you. You go, well, education.

The word education doesn't appear in the Bible, nor does

the word Trinity. Hope you believe that one. Because we

understand our role and responsibility as parents. Because we desire

to advance the kingdom of God and we desire to

bless the kingdom of man. That's why we do this. One,

convinced by scripture. What do we mean by this? Folks,

home education is not just preferable, but it's biblical. It's biblical.

Though not everyone can or must homeschool, Christians are obligated

to give their children a Christian education. You'd be amazed

at how controversial that statement is. I've made that statement publicly.

I've made that statement in a couple of books. And

there are people out there who just get all kinds

of mad at that statement right there. That Christians have

a biblical obligation to give their children a Christian education.

I don't. say that everybody has to homeschool. I don't.

By the way, even if we did, how would you

define it? Everybody has to homeschool. That's great. Can they

go somewhere for piano lessons? Can you be part of

a co-op? I mean, we could just go on and

on and on and on and on, just defining that, right? Thirdly, therefore,

government education, I know I misspelled it right there, government education,

which is anti-Christian by federal mandate, by the way, is

not a viable option for a Christian parent. Government education

is not a viable option. So I'm not a pastor

who you will hear say, public school, private school, homeschool,

whatever the Lord leads you to do, I do not

believe that those are morally equal options. And the government

education option is not an acceptable one for Christian parents

because the government education system is anti-Christian by federal mandate

and was designed to destroy the Christian faith, the American

education system. So where do we get this from? Well, scripturally,

we must view education as discipleship. Deuteronomy 6, 6 and 7.

These words that I'm commanding you today should be in

your heart. You should teach them diligently to your children.

And so talk to them when you sit in your house,

when you walk by the way, when you lie down

and when you rise. I had a public school administrator once.

True story. When I talked about this, I was doing

a worldview conference at a church and I talked about

education because you can't separate education and worldview. Education is

the number one shaper of worldview, period. And so I

talked about this and talked about this passage and she

came up to me again, public school administrator, committed her

whole life to public education system. Absolutely committed to public education.

Just could not believe that I had the audacity to

say the things that I was saying about the education

system and worldview. And she talked about this passage in particular.

She said, I just always thought that referred to non-school hours. Yeah,

I'm just I'm just wondering if I can ask you

two questions, ma'am. Number one, what hours are not covered

there in that passage? And number two, where was Moses

sending his kids to school? Luke 640, a disciple is

not above his teacher, but everyone, when he is fully trained,

will be like his teacher. Not only that, we must

protect our children from ungodly influence. We must protect our

children from ungodly influences. Can we eradicate ungodly influence? No.

We can protect our children. Psalm 1, 1 and 2.

This is one of those that you're going to be

looking at the back of your Bible like, was that

in my Bible before? And did it say what it says?

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel

of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners,

nor sits in the seat of scoffers. But his delight

is in the law of the Lord, and on his

law he meditates during non-school hours. I mean, anybody who's

been to college reads that passage and you go, he's

talking about the university. Psalm 14.1. The fool says in

his heart there is no God. They are corrupt. They

do abominable deeds. There is none who does good. There

are no good public schools. By definition, they're not good. Why?

Because they're fools who've said in their hearts there is

no God. Their curriculum says that. They're mandated public. by

federal law to say that. Therefore, there are no good

public schools. Proverbs 1.7, the fear of the Lord is

the beginning of knowledge. Fools despise wisdom and instruction. Proverbs 13.20,

whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion

of fools will be salt and light. Oh, my bad.

That's not what it says right there. Matthew 18, 7.

I love this because there are people who always say

things like, you know, your children, you're going to shelter

your children. You're going to send your children out in

the world and they're not going to know what to do.

And you need to send your children out there so

they can learn how to how to interact with sinful people.

I already told you they get that at home. But

here's the other problem. When you say that, here's what

you're saying. The body of Christ is incapable of bringing

a believer to full maturity. Only sinful men can complete

your sanctification. Matthew 18, 7. Woe to the world for

temptation to sin. For it is necessary that temptations come,

but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes.

I do not want to be that one in my

child's life. Temptation is going to come in my child's life.

I do not want to be the source of it.

I do not want to force them into settings where

they will be tempted. Woe to the one by whom

the temptation comes. Hey, I don't write the mail. I

just deliver it. That's Bible right there, y'all. Okay? We

must avoid unbiblical teaching. Romans 12.2. Here's another one. So

familiar that we completely miss it. Do not be conformed

to this world. By the way, what can you think

of a more conforming exercise than education? From kindergarten through

12th grade, a child spends 14,000 seat hours in school. 14,000

instructional hours. You tell me, what is a more conforming

exercise than that? There is none. Do not be conformed

to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of

your mind, that by testing you may discern what is

the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

2 Corinthians 10.5, we heard it earlier. We destroy arguments

and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God

and take every thought captive to obey Christ. Is math

a thought? Is science a thought? Is history a thought?

Is political science a thought? Take it captive to obey Christ.

Colossians 2.8, see to it that no one takes you

captive by philosophy and empty deceit according to human tradition,

according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not

according to Christ. How do we read that in our

Bibles and say it's okay to syndicate to the government

for their education? I don't get it. 1 Timothy 6,

20 and 21. Oh, Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you.

Avoid the irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely

called knowledge, for by professing it, Some have swerved from

the faith. We must also teach God's law. We have to.

We have to teach God's law. By the way, I

love this because people always use the salt and light argument.

By the way, the salt and light argument is the

only argument that Christian people have when it comes to

discussing home education. There is not another argument. That's it.

It's the salt and light argument. They used to use

the socialization argument. But that one, you know, it's not

even funny anymore. We don't even do that, you know.

What about socialization? Like, I know. That's why we homeschool.

I'm not a socialist. There's only one, only one. We

got to be honest, right? We got to be honest.

You can't just like build up straw men and destroy

your opponent. You got to be fair. There is one

One good and very necessary social skill that a kid

can learn in school. And it's only one. And that's

how to stand in a line. But if you have

enough kids, you can teach that one at home too.

But the salt and light argument. You need to send

your kid to the public school so they can be

salt and light. There's so many problems with this. But

for the sake of time, let me just cut to

the chase. A couple of problems. Let me help you

with this. Indicatives versus imperatives. Indicatives, imperatives. Indicatives, I'm indicating

what something is. Imperative, I'm telling you something to do. Indicative,

that is a chair. I'm indicating what it is. Imperative,

sit in the chair. There's a huge difference between indicatives

and imperatives. We've got to understand this. So people tell us,

you need to send your kid to school so you

can go be salt and light. We're commanded to go

be salt and light. So salt and light is supposed

to be an Imperative, right? Okay, let's just read the Bible.

You are the salt of the earth. That would be

an indicative, not an imperative. But if the salt has

lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It

is no longer good for anything except to be thrown

out and trampled under people's feet. Okay? So not only

do I have an indicative here and not an imperative,

but I also have a warning here that would move

me toward home education, not away from it. But wait.

are the light of the world. Uh-oh, another indicative. It's

not an imperative. It's an indicative. It's not an imperative,

which means that wherever you are, this is what you are.

We have not been told to go anywhere. A city

set on a hill cannot be hidden. By the way,

a city set on a hill is a city that

is separate and distinct, which is why we homeschool. Nor

do people light a lamp and put it under a basket,

but on a stand. So that it gives light to

all in the... It's really bad for them, y'all. In

the same way, let your light shine before others so

that they may see your good works and give glory

to your Father who is in heaven. There is an imperative.

But what does this have to do with the training

of the mind? What does this have to do with children?

Nothing whatsoever. So we rip this passage kicking and screaming

out of context. That's not even the worst part, y'all.

There's more that comes after this. Do not think I've

come to abolish the law. The prophets, I've not come

to abolish them, but to fulfill them. For truly, I

say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not

an iota, not a dot will pass from the law

until all is accomplished. Therefore, whoever relaxes one of the

least of these commandments and teaches, now we've got teaching,

and teaches others to do the same will be called

least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever does them

and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom

of heaven. Not only do they rip this passage out

of context and turn indicatives into imperatives, not only do

they insert the idea of educating our children where it

doesn't exist, but in the very next paragraph, their argument

is refuted again. In other words, that dog won't hunt.

Matthew 22, 34 to 36. Pharisees heard that he had

silenced the Sadducees. They gathered together and one of them,

a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. Teacher,

which is the great commandment in the law? Now this

is a legitimate question. Sometimes we forget this. It's a

legitimate question. There were several schools of thought. Let me

give you at least three. One school of thought was

that the first commandment was the greatest commandment. That the

first commandment was the greatest commandment. And it was sort

of the overarching commandment For all the commandments. Some argue

that the fifth commandment was the greatest commandment because it

was a bridge between the first table of the law

and the second table of the law. First four commandments,

vertical commandments, first table of the law. Last six commandments,

second table of the law, the horizontal commandments. And so

some argue that commandment number five, honor your father and

your mother, was a bridge between the first and second

table of the law and therefore it was the great commandment.

Others argue that the tenth commandment was the great commandment

because ultimately coveting is what led to the breaking of

any of the commandments. So this is a legitimate question. Jesus,

what are you going to say? One, five, ten. Which

school of thought do you hold to? And notice in

the law, the Ten Commandments. And he said to them,

you should love the Lord your God with all your heart,

with all your soul, and with all your mind. This

is the great and first commandment. You see, that right

there is basically a summary of the first table of

the law. Jesus, what's the greatest commandment? I'm going to

have to say one through four. And the second is

like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. By

the way, that's five through ten. On these two commandments

depend all the law and the prophets. We must teach

the law of God. We must. We must be gospel centered.

The law is not an end in itself. The law

is a tutor. The law points us somewhere. The law condemns.

The law makes us know that we need something else.

What is that something that we need? It's the gospel.

You're not going to get the law in our government schools.

You're certainly not going to get the gospel. Let me

take that back. You are going to get the law.

You don't get nothing but law in our public schools.

It won't be as obvious, but if you don't have

the gospel, all you got is law. I will put

enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring

and her offspring. He shall bruise your head. You shall

bruise his heel. First proclamation of the gospel. Romans 1,

16 to 17. I'm not ashamed of the gospel, for

it is the power of God to salvation to everyone

who believes, the Jew first and also the Greek. For

in it, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith

for faith. As it is written, the righteous shall live

by faith. Again, Galatians 1, 6 through 9. We must

be good stewards. We have to be good stewards. Again,

all of these, I'm just giving you the biblical arguments

for why we owe our children a Christian education. This

is the why part of what we are doing. This

is why we own the school. Mark 12, 15 to 17.

Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.

And they brought one. And he said to him, whose

likeness and inscription is this? They said to him, Caesar's.

Jesus said, render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's

and to God the things that are God's. And they

marveled at him. Now you might go, now what in

the world does this have to do with education? Bring

me a child whose image is on the child. God's.

Then you must not render him to Caesar. Unless the

Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.

Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays

awake in vain. It is in vain that you rise

up and Go late to rest, eating the bread of

anxious toil, for he gives to his beloved sleep. Behold,

children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of

the womb, a reward like arrows in the hand of

a warrior who sends them to his enemy to have

them honed and turned on him. I think not. Are

the children of one's youth. Blessed is the man who

fills his quiver with them. He shall not be put

to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gates.

Let me get to number two. Your role and responsibilities

as parents. This is why we do what we do.

Because of our role and responsibilities as parents. Ephesians 6, 1-4.

We know this. Children, obey your parents in the Lord,

for this is right. Honor your father and your mother.

It's the first commandment with a promise. By the way,

it's the only one with a promise. They may go

well with you. You may live long in the land. Fathers,

do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them

up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. We

have a duty and obligation to bring up our children

in the instruction of the Lord. Parents represent God's authority

in our children's lives. We model Christ's relationship to the

church in our marriage. We bring them up in the

discipline and instruction of the Lord, and we preach the

gospel to them with a view toward their conversion. This

is our job. I want those 14,000 hours. I don't

want to give them to someone who doesn't understand these

four things. For the sake of time, I am going

to move forward here Just a bit. Three, advancing the

kingdom of God. We do this because we want to

advance the kingdom of God. This is really important. This

is huge because we miss this in the homeschool movement.

And this is one of the reasons that our kids

oftentimes want to leave the homeschool movement. Because in the

homeschool movement, here's what you hear from people. Not, we

want to advance the kingdom of God, but we want

to run away from the kingdom of man. We want

to run. We want to hide. We don't want to

be around them. And so we advance the kingdom of

God by going and hiding somewhere and outbreeding them and

waiting until everything is in rubbles. And then we come

out with all of our children and then we take

everything over. That's not biblical Christianity. It is not. It

is not. It is not. Listen, I got nothing at

all against stretching your legs and having a more rural

life or whatever. If that's what you want, that's fine.

It's one thing to desire those things for purposeful reasons.

It's another thing to try to get away from people.

Some of y'all are going to have a problem in

heaven because heaven ain't the country. It's a city. There

are two and a half million unchurched people in the

greater Houston area. There's countries that aren't that big. I

want this city I want all of it for Christ.

I want this city. I don't want to run from

this city. I don't want to hide from this city.

I don't want my children to run from this city

or hide from this city. I want my children to

pour out their life for this city because God brought

us to this city. I educate my children at home,

not because I'm scared of this city, but because if

my city knew what I was doing, it ought to

be scared of my kids. That's the idea. We advance

the kingdom. That's what we're doing. Stop running. Stop hiding.

Your children are to be warriors. You are to be

a warrior. Don't run from the world. Do you know

who is in you? The power that raised Christ from

the dead? And do you know what's wrong with the

city that we're so trying to run away from? They

need what you have. And because they need what you have,

you run from them. Shame on us for having this

kind of mentality. Shame on us. And what's sad is

our children equate it with homeschooling. So when they're out

from under homeschooling, if they have a passion for Christ

and a passion for the city, guess what they think

they can't be? Homeschoolers. Because a lot of them have

never seen one with a passion for Christ and a

passion for the city and a desire to to advance

the kingdom of God. All they've seen is people who

are scared, who run away. That's not who we are.

That can't be who we are. We are residents of

the kingdom. He has delivered us from the domain of

darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved

son in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

We are heirs of the kingdom. Listen, my beloved brothers.

Has not God chosen those who are poor in the

world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom,

which he has promised to those who love him? We

are seeking the kingdom. Therefore, do not be anxious saying,

what shall we eat or what shall we drink or

what shall we wear? Or how should we protect our

kids or how should we keep them this or how

should we keep them that? For the Gentiles seek after

all these things. Your heavenly father knows that you need

them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and

his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Preach the kingdom. This gospel of the kingdom will be

proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations,

and then the end will come. You don't do that

by hiding. Anticipate the consummated kingdom. And the seventh angel

blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven saying,

The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of

our Lord. and of his Christ, and he shall reign

forever and ever. Fourthly, we desire to bless the kingdom

of man. Again, we don't run away. We desire to

be a blessing to the kingdom of man. We have

what they need. And so we turn outwardly to bless

them with what we have. That's our desire. That's our desire.

Some of you, quite frankly, need to become more worldly

in another way. Not worldly like we talked about earlier,

but worldly in another way. Some of you just need

to learn how to appreciate common grace. Some of you

just need to learn how to look out and appreciate

a building that's built in an excellent way. Not just

that it wasn't built by a Christian, therefore I can't

celebrate it. Really, the image of God than the individual

who built that building, whether they know it or not.

Some of you need to just be able to watch

the Olympics right now. No, we can't watch the Olympics

because our kids might catch something. No, you know what?

Some of you just need to sit there and marvel

at what men and women made in the image of

God are able to do with their bodies because of

the commitments that they've made to excellence some of you

just need to go to the museum and sit there

and look at a piece of art that wasn't done

by a Christian and say you know what it's magnificent

some of you just need to listen to a complicated

piece of music and then listen to it again and

again and again and again and again until you begin

to get it and unfold it with your mind just

because you appreciate the beauty that God has placed in

creation We desire to bless the kingdom of man because

it's worth blessing. The image of God resides there. I

want to go to a good school and make some

good money so that I can live someplace and hide

from the world. No, uh-uh. How about this? I want

to use the gifts and talents and abilities that God

has given me so that I can turn outward and

be a blessing to the kingdom of man. That's the

mentality we need to put into our children. Not you

need to run and hide, but you need to be

a blessing to the kingdom of man. For the sake

of time, let me move forward. Let's get into the how.

And specifically, how do we educate our children with a

biblical worldview perspective or from a biblical worldview perspective? Toward

a definition. Everybody talks about worldview. Let's define it here.

Ron Nash in his book Faith and Reason writes, a

worldview is a conceptual theme by which we consciously or

unconsciously place or fit everything we believe and by which

we interpret and judge reality. James Sire in his book

Naming the Elephant, it's the best named worldview book ever probably,

Naming the Elephant, our ground floor assumptions, ones that are

so basic that none more basic can be conceived, compose

our worldview. It's our most basic assumptions. And then here

from the late Chuck Colson and Nancy Piercy, who just

came to Houston, by the way, teaching at HBU. A

worldview is the sum total of our beliefs about the world.

Here's the key. The big picture that directs our daily

decisions and actions. Folks, your daily decisions and actions are

directed by your worldview. If I homeschool from a standpoint

of legalism, giving my children rules and laws, but not

from a worldview perspective, then while my children are in

my home under my rules and laws, they will abide

by my rules and laws, but when they leave, they'll

live by their worldview. If I didn't give them a

biblical worldview but gave them rules and laws, then what

happens when they leave my home? We've got to shape worldview.

We have to shape worldview. How are worldviews formed? It's interesting.

Worldviews are formed informally, uncritically, intergenerationally, and intergenerationally, and over time.

This is how worldviews are formed. It always amazes me.

Now everybody's trying to do these worldview things in a

couple of days and whatever. It takes time to form

a worldview. Basic functions of a worldview. They function like eyeglasses.

You ever heard the term looking at the world through

rose-colored glasses? Or a map. Some of you used a

map to get here today. You looked down at your

map and then you looked at the world around you

to see if it corresponded to your map. Your worldview

is like the map that governs you in that way.

Or a puzzle picture. You put together a 5,000-piece puzzle.

You don't dump the 5,000 pieces out and then throw

away the box with the picture on it. Right? You

have the box so that you can gauge where this

picture looks like it fits in the puzzle. So those

are just three illustrative ways to understand worldview. Two main

competing worldviews of our day, Christian theism and secular humanism.

Two approaches to worldview. One is the worldview metanarrative. The

other is worldview elements. Let's look at this. The Christian

worldview metanarrative or overarching story. Here it is. Creation, fall, redemption, consummation.

That's the story that explains our worldview. God created the world. Okay,

so what's wrong with the world? Well, what's wrong with

the world is that man has fallen. Well, how can

that be fixed? through redemption in Christ. But that didn't

even fix everything because ultimately there has to be the

consummation of all things in Christ. And so you look

at every issue in the world and in life through

this metanarrative, this story that explains who we are and

why we're here. Now compare that to the metanarrative of

secular humanism. Instead of creation, they've got Big Bang. Instead

of the fall, they've got evolution. Instead of redemption, they've

got therapy. Instead of consummation, they have utopia. Okay? This

is the worldview of our culture. We need to understand

the overarching metanarrative, the overarching story. The elements of worldview,

our view of God, our view of man, our view

of truth, our view of knowledge, and our view of

ethics comprise our worldview. Look at the two side by side,

and here we go. If we had time, we could

walk through these and look at certain issues of our

day and talk about how these issues are viewed differently

based upon your worldview. View of God, secular humanism is atheistic,

which is ironic. It's the dominant worldview of our culture

and it's atheistic. But most people in our culture say

they believe in God. How does that work? Well, hold on.

Christian theism, theistic. View of man, secular humanism, evolution. Christian theism,

special creation. View of truth, secular humanism, relative. Ours, objective.

View of knowledge. Here's the key. Naturalistic materialism is the

view of knowledge in secular humanism, which means that nature

is a closed system and matter is all that matters.

If there's nothing outside of nature, that means there's nothing

that is supernatural. So if a secular humanist says he

believes in God, he believes in a God that is

not supernatural, which is not a theistic view of God.

Christian theism, reason and revelation. There's no war between science

and faith. In fact, it's faith that gave us the

hard sciences. You understand the history of science. You know that.

View of ethics. Secondly, humanism says that they're cultural and

that they're negotiated. What's true here is not necessarily true there.

What's true now is not necessarily true then. Christian theism,

objective and universal. All right. Teaching worldview. All right. Got

a few minutes. Teaching worldview. We do this through what

we teach, why we teach, and how we teach. What

we teach. Our philosophy of education. Our philosophy of education

always kills me. If you want to ask me a

question that I will not answer, ask me what curriculum

we use. I will not answer that question for you.

I won't. Because there's a more fundamental question than that.

You've got to determine your philosophy of education. If you

don't understand your philosophy of education and you're trying to

pick a curriculum, God help you. Even if you do

understand your philosophy of education and you're trying to pick

a curriculum. By the way, new homeschool families, here's always

my rule of thumb. New homeschool family, they come and

they go, we're just beginning to do this and I

don't know what to do. Here's what you do. Just

walk through there and grab something that's pretty. Because whatever

you get this year, chances are you're probably not going

to be using it next year. So just go grab

something that's pretty so it looks good while you're figuring

out why it doesn't work for your family. Curriculum, which

flows from our philosophy of education. Our curriculum choices must

flow from our philosophy of education. Not by what kind

of scores that family got. Our schedule. By the way,

all of these things go to shaping our children's worldview.

Your philosophy of education will shape your children's worldview. The

curriculum you choose will shape your children's worldview. And why

you choose it will shape your children's worldview. Your schedule

will shape your children's worldview. I'm amazed at how many

families start school on the same day that the school

system starts school. If you do that, you just might

be in sin. You need to start like the next

week just on general principle, man. Why on earth do

we start, you know, right? Tell me we're on summer vacation.

Why are you on summer vacation? Why you got to

have a vacation in the summer? Who told you you

had to have vacation in the summer? And then we

get all these people, and they're like, you know, I

just don't know what to do because of my schedule

and with this and with that. This is a true story.

And I get this family, and they come, and we

just don't know what to do. We so want to homeschool,

and we've got this, and we've got that, and we

just don't know what to do, but we really want

to homeschool. And I'm like, why don't y'all teach your

children in the evening? Because their schedule was kind of

free for them to do it in the evening. And

the guy just went. And I said, you don't have

to say it, sir. Let me say it for you.

Because here's what your face is saying. We can do that? See,

some of y'all, when you start, some of you are

like sharecropper homeschoolers. You know, sharecroppers. Emancipation comes. Slaves free.

A lot of them didn't want to leave the plantation.

Stayed right there. Sharecroppers doing the same thing they did

when they were slaves. That's some of you. You're doing

the exact same thing that you were doing before y'all

started homeschooling. You're doing public school at home because it's

the only thing you know. When do you start? When

they say start. You're free. Start acting like it. I

go on vacation when they start school. Why we teach.

Why should Johnny learn how to read? Well, Johnny needs

to learn how to read because, you know, if Johnny

learns how to be a good reader, then he'll make

good grades and good scores and he'll get into a

good school. Wrong answer. When Johnny asks you why he

needs to learn how to read, you look him in

his face and you say, because the God of this

universe has communicated himself to us through language. And if

you learn how to read, you don't have to depend

on other people to tell you what God has said.

It's important for a man to learn how to read

so that he can read the very words of God.

That's why Johnny needs to learn how to read. And

if that's not your answer, you're shaping Johnny's worldview. Do

you see this? Because a lot of people are like, well,

they're just teaching subjects at school. I'll teach the Christianity

stuff at home. No, when the school teaches Johnny why

it's important to read, the school is shaping Johnny's worldview.

And if their answer is not the one that I

just gave you, they're shaping his worldview away from Christ. Johnny,

why should Johnny learn how to write? Well, because you're

made in the image of God and God communicates. You're

also commanded to communicate the gospel on behalf of the

God who saves us. And you're to do that in

a winsome fashion. You need to learn how to communicate

so that you can communicate the gospel winsomely. That's why.

Why should Johnny study math and science? Well, so all

the good jobs don't go off to Johnny. That's the

world's answer, right? No, no, no, no, no. Johnny, the

heavens declare the glory of God. And day by day

they pour forth speech. Through studying math and science, you

learn to read God's general revelation as well as his

special revelation. That's why it's important. Why should Johnny learn history?

History is the study of God's providence over time. That's why.

You want to know who God is? Look at the

way that he has dealt with people. through history. Do

you see the difference in these answers? The difference between

these answers and what you and I were told and

how our worldview about education was shaped? By the way,

that's one of the reasons that we're sharecropper homeschoolers because

our worldview was co-opted. We don't even know how to

think about education. How we teach shapes our children's worldview.

Attitude and Christian character shapes our children's worldview. How do

we teach? It's your attitude toward teaching. Believing what you teach.

That's why curriculum matters and you don't want the curriculum

that I use because you don't believe it. And expecting excellence.

This is how we do it. This is how we

do it. Why do we do it? Because it's biblical.

Because we understand our role as parents. because we want

to advance the kingdom of God and bless the kingdom

of man. How do we do it? We do it

in a way that shapes our children's worldview and bends

it toward Christ in every aspect of what we do,

of what we teach, when we teach, and how we teach.

All of these things are important. This is not just

about what works for this semester. If that's your attitude,

you missed it from the get-go. You don't just do

this in hopes that it might work. You do this

because it's right. You do this because of your commitment

to make an investment in discipling your children over the

long haul. If you do not have that attitude, you

will quit. This will test you in so many ways.

This will test you. Number one, if you're just now

getting ready to homeschool and your children are coming from

another school, especially if it's government school, here's what I

need you to know. Your children are not as smart

as you think they are. That's the first thing that

you're going to run into because you think your kids

are smart because all kids are making good grades in school.

Kids who are not making A's and B's in school

are the ones who don't show up, don't try, they're problems,

and they have attitudes. Everybody else, not everybody, everybody else,

making A's and B's, everybody, okay? The honor roll is

for everybody, all right? You bring your kids home, you

realize they're not as smart as you think they are.

Here's the second thing. You realize they're more sinful than

you thought they were. There's stuff you don't see. They

get the good conduct report and all that sort of

stuff because it is much easier to be respectful for

those people out there than it is for you. You

bring your kids home and you're going to uncover things

that you had not seen and that you did not

know were there. Thirdly, you're going to learn that you

are not as patient as you thought you were. And

that you're much more sinful than you thought you were. Amen, somebody.

Home education will do that to you. You can't homeschool

effectively until you have a little revival. Okay? Okay? But

watch this. If I'm just sort of trying this out

for a semester, my kids come home, they're not as

smart as I thought they were. They're more sinful than

I thought they were. I'm not as patient as I

thought I was, and I'm more sinful than I thought

I was. Guess what I'm going to learn in that

first semester? It was a lot easier when they weren't home.

If that's what you're doing, just quit now. You either

believe in this or you don't. If you believe in this,

you've got to be in it for the long haul.

And you've got to be in it because it's right.

Here's the other thing. If you're just in this because

you heard that it makes kids more well-behaved and get

better grades, then here's what I'm going to ask you.

I'm going to ask you to go check yourself. Because

if that's your goal in raising your children, you've missed

the mark. If your only goal is to wash the

outside of the cup, If your only goal is to

see a certain level of performance, you missed it. That's

not why we do what we do. God sent our

children to us. He has entrusted us with them. And

we have the privilege, the authority, and the opportunity to

invest everything we can into their lives. That's why we

do what we do. Some of them may end up

being rocket scientists. Others of them may end up being

yard men. But praise God that all of them will

be well, thoroughly discipled. That's our goal. Let's pray. Father,

Thank you for the incredible privilege that you've given us

of just being parents. And then on top of that,

you've given us a place where we have freedom and

the opportunity to invest in the education and discipleship of

our children. This is an overwhelming concept. And we cannot

accomplish this in and of ourselves. Therefore, we ask that

you would grant by your grace that we might serve

our children well with a view toward them coming to

know you in repentance and faith and serving you well

in turn. Remind us that this is not about test

scores and outward behavior. This is about the investment of

our lives and the lives of those whom you have

given us. This is about the advancement of the kingdom

of God. This is about blessing the kingdom of man.

Give us grace. Give us patience. Give us long-suffering. Give

us wisdom. Give us wisdom. Give us everything that we

need to do everything that you ask. That we might

make much of Christ. In whose name we pray. Amen.