The School of Christ

1 John 2:20;27

I have been reading recently John Chrysostom’s Homilies on the Gospel of John. In the second homily he introduces to the reader a biographical background on the writer of the gospel, St. John, the brother of James and son of Zebedee. Just a quick survey of John’s life gives us insight to just how not only his gospel, but all the gospels and epistles are spiritually discerned and not academically communicated.

A few things about John.

· He was from a tiny village in Galilee

· He was poor

· He was a fisherman and was not very good at it. In fact his trade was on a lake and not an ocean.

· He was unlearned and ignorant (Acts 4:13)

· He had a temper

But yet it was John who gave us the most spiritually in-depth life of the Jesus Christ the messiah. John confounds the Greek mind in his knowledge of the true word (logos) which created, ordered and sustains the universe. He overshadows the greatest of the Hebrew minds in his understanding of how Jesus is the “Word made flesh.” John 1:14 The embodiment of the invisible God not only telling us the way of salvation but showing it unto us. He gives a greater revelation of the name of God, I am, to Moses by introducing Jesus as I am the way the truth and the life. I am the door, the light of the world, the Good Shepherd, The Resurrection, the Vine, and the Bread. These things John not only saw and heard but had many years to reflect upon before his writing them down.

My point is that you don’t have to be a scholar to know Jesus Christ intimately! This uneducated man has confounded so many other men and woman with degrees and PhD’s and the intellectual pursuit has left them confounded, confused, and in some cases have corrupted the pure gospel because of their lack of spiritual discernment. It was this same John that said “But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.”1 John 2:27 John tells us that only the Holy Spirit can help us to spiritually discern the mind of God and brings us to a spiritually intimate knowledge and understanding of the Holy.

I am not in any way knocking or condemning Seminary or Bible colleges. All I am saying is don’t allow anyone to make you as a Christian preacher, teacher, or sincere seeker of truth make you feel any less qualified or important because of your inability to be able to pursue a degree. I have found myself apologizing on many occasions for not getting the seminary degree that most churches require today and I am very thankful for Crestview Baptist Church in not making that a requirement. But I wouldn’t trade anything for those private moments alone in prayer and Bible study where God would open up his word unto me. I am thankful for the mentors that God put in my life to shape and mold me. But without the teacher of the Holy Spirit all these pursuits are futile. I want to encourage you to attend the school of Christ everyday of your life. All you need is a Bible, a good spiritual book, a prayer life, and a hungering and thirsting for righteousness. It might not get a you a diploma or certificate, but it will bring you into a personal and spiritual knowledge of Jesus like no other pursuit can give.

Reflect and meditate on Psalms 19:7-11 and 2 Timothy 3:15-17 for further encouragement

Pastor Robby