The Students and Teachers of Righteousness

"Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, . . . that He may teach us concerning his ways, and that we may walk in his paths."  Isaiah 2:3

Israel had gone far from their obedience to God, but the world had even strayed further. It seemed that in a world filled with idols, that the demonic would have continual upper hand over the precepts of God. But Isaiah sees ahead to a time when the world will turn from idolatry and seek out God.

In their waywardness they had found ignorance. They did not know how to be pleasing to God. That result has always been the consequence of waywardness in life. If we do not follow God, if we do not honor God, we become ignorant of His will, His basic will for our lives. Sin blinds us to the paths of God. In our rebellion we need to be taught again. 

God meets us in that endeavor. Isaiah says the world sees that they can go to God and that a forgiving heavenly father will teach them what they need in order to be pleasing to Him.  When we exit from our season of sin, from our all too frequent rebellions, we find God is there in love to teach again paths of life, paths of peace, paths of right relationship with Him and with others.

It is the people of God who embody that process of spiritual education. God teaches through us. In these words from Isaiah is our commission to be ready to teach a hungry world what it has missed learning or forgotten in the darkness of sin. The world will turn. We must be ready for the day.

Education of Righteousness

" . . . Cease to do evil, learn to do good . . . " (Isaiah 1:16-17).


Is doing well a natural kind of knowledge? I mean, do we automatically know what to do when doing well is required? Does the suspension of evil always result in the commencement of good? For Israel there was a need to at least re-learn what they should have already known. Their nation was in shambles economically, politically, judicially and religiously. The people already had experienced the judgment of God. Their crying need was to first turn from their sin. But just repenting of their rebellious ways would not be enough. God expected Israel to proactively pursue righteousness. Specifically, God instructed them to "seek justice, reprove the ruthless, defend the orphan, plead for the widow" (v. 17).

It is possible to lose justice, to become so estranged from the proper function of the court that it is necessary to struggle to find the way back. What was lost was not just an understanding of justice, but a basic understanding of the character and nature of God. It is possible to become so complacent with ruthlessness that we have no word for the ruthless. Like children reared in a home with violence, we find ourselves condoning it, using it. To forget kindness is to forget that we must show to others kindness like that which God has shown to us. Defending the orphan, pleading for the widow can only come from those who value the least fortunate and least able to contribute to our common cause. But to neglect to do so is to forget what God has said He values and to fail to value it ourselves.

Not only can we come to a time where we must relearn goodness, but we can only do so by proactively seeking to do the things God calls to do. Like Christ, our obedience must be learned (Hebrews 5:8).

The Advocate

"My little children, I am writing these things to you that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." (I John 2:1)

When I was a child, one of the programs my parent always watched on television was "Perry Mason". Mason was the consumate lawyer and the show is probably responsible for setting some very high public expectations of lawyers. Since that show there has never been a broadcast season that did not have its fair share of  "lawyer" shows.

We understand the importance of a good lawyer when we face legal issues. It seems that at times it is not the tone of the law or the preponderance of evidence, but the quality of the lawyer that determines the outcome of a court case. We may complain about the fees lawyer's charge, but the work of an effective lawyer is worth the amount he charges.

We want an effective advocate in the court, someone who can plead our case powerfully and with desired results. But there is one court where the Judge is impartial and the law implaccable. It is the court of God's perfect justice. We are charged by His law to be transgressors. And the truth is, we are. Where can we find an effective advocate for God's court? John says we have One in Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the epitome of an effective advocate. When we stand in God's court, condemned by God's law as transgressors, with the evidence of our lives against us, Jesus says, "This one is Mine." The perfect life and sacrifice of Jesus answers the demands of  law. We have an Advocate who will not fail, who alone is able to answer the charges for us, who stands beside us because He loves us.

We have an Advocate. His name is Jesus. He will prevail.

Striving for Success in Prayer

In Romans 15:30 Paul asks the believers that they "strive together" with him in prayer on his behalf. We understand "agonize" to refer to someone's personal pain, sometimes emotional, sometimes physical. But there was one particular group of people in the 1st century world to whom the concept of agonizing applied: athletes. For them "to agonize" meant to diligently strive for excellence in their sport, to be willing to pay the price in order to succeed.

We may be complacent about prayer, and perhaps it was a tendency among some believers of Paul's day. But Paul said to "strive", to "agonize" in our prayers. Prayer is powerfully transforming in our lives and the lives of others. This transforming prayer is worth striving together

We may think that Paul's request is for us to suffer in our praying. That is one aspect. But it reaches beyond our willingness to suffer pain and goes to the very seat of our will itself. It asks the question, "Are you willing to do whatever is necessary, even so far as to suffer, in order for your faith to be successful? Are you willing to even humble yourself, discipline yourself, to reach the goal of the calling you have in Christ?" To agonize, to take the measure necessary to live our faith powerfully, victoriously.

An Educator's Fast

"Is this not the fast which I chose, to loosen the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free, and break every yoke. Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into the house; when you see the naked, to cover him; and not hide yourself from your own flesh? Then your light will break out like the dawn, and your recovery will speedily spring forth; and your righteousness will go before you; the glory of the Lord will be your rear gaurd. Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry, and He will say, 'Here I am.' If you remove the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, and if you give yourself to the hungry, and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your gloom will become like midday." Isaiah 58:6-10

When I see my students, I hear God's call to the fast He chooses. They are youth who are enslaved by the bonds of wickedness their births and life have put on them. They are hopeless and angry because their past is burdening their present, and their future is destitute. They are bound by bonds of wickedness that others have placed on them and they have become like their captors. I hear the call of God to loose the bonds of wickedness, to break the yoke of their poverty and ignorance. I am charged with more than being and educator; I am a liberator - offering not just liberation from ignorance, but light for their spiritual darkness.

If I only help my students to know their math facts, I have failed the fast of God. I show them that there is the One who can set the captives free.

Holding On To What's Real

" . . . take hold of that which is life indeed" ( 1 Timothy 6:19).

   At an auction one night I found myself in a bidding war for a glass bowl that I thought would make an excellent gift for a member of my family. I won the auction at a dearer price than I had intended to pay, but when I got the bowl, I realized that it was not the quality product I had thought that it was. I had paid great value for what was not valuable.
   We can be confused about life like that as well. People will strive for a certain kind of life, a particular position in life and later find out it was not nearly as satisfying as they had anticipated. How do we keep from spending our time picking up life's fool's gold?
  Paul warns people not be blinded by the things the world says are valuable, but instead to put real value on the God's treasurers. When we are rich in generosity, when we measure our wealth not by what we keep or gain, but by what we can and do give away, then we are able to grasp life that is really life.