Right Now Counts Forever

THE PROPHET ISAIAH WROTE, "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who proclaims peace, who brings glad tidings of good things, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, 'Your God reigns!... (Isa. 52:7)

In the ancient world, the outcome of critical battles could not be known by television or other forms of high-tech, instantaneous communication. There was no CNN. People anxiously awaited news that was carried from the scene by runners. Lookouts were posted high on the city walls, peering to see the first sign of an approaching messenger. When the first glimpse of a runner in the distance was achieved, an experienced lookout could tell the nature of the news by the movement of the runner's feet. Feet kicking up dust and moving rapidly were a sure sign that the messenger was bringing good news. But feet plodding along in the rigors of the "survivor's shuffle" indicated that the downcast runner was a herald of bad news. The feet of the happy runner were considered beautiful because they signaled the announcement of truth that was beautiful.

The gifts of God to His people are beautiful. There is no ugliness in them. lf we ask God for a fish, He does not give us a serpent. (It may not be a fish either, but that's for another article.) Like Him, we shrink at the idea of giving ugly gifts to those we love. So at Christmas and on birthdays, we give beautiful gifts to our loved ones, especially our children.

But what of the rest of the year? Every day affords us the opportunity to give something beautiful to our children: We can give them the beauty of truth.

When a teacher dies, I think not only of the loss of the person but also of the loss of access to the knowledge the teacher had accumulated over a lifetime, that is no longer directly accessible to us. When my father died when I was 17 years old, I lost my most trusted mentor. On countless occasions since that moment, I have ached for his presence, not only to enjoy his love but also to have access to his wisdom. There just was not enough time for him to pass along to me the wealth of his knowledge and wisdom. But one thing I do remember vividly from our discussions when I was a youth - he was far more interested in wisdom than in knowledge. He understood that one needs knowledge in order to gain wisdom, but that one can have knowledge without gaining wisdom. -' We did not have "homeschooling" when I was a child. Nevertheless, our home was a school. The chief classroom was the dining room table. It was during the dinner hour that I was most frequently exposed to my father's teaching.

Like me, my children were not homeschooled, yet our house was a place of education. In their youth, our ministry was exercised in a study center in the remote mountains of western Pennsylvania. In a manner similar to that of Francis Schaeffer's L'Abri, our students stayed in our home and ate at our table. Every meal was an occasion for "table talk," which was devoted to conversations and discussions of the things of God.

Now that our children are grown, they point back to those conversations as critical moments in their Christian educations. My regret, as well as theirs, is that we didn't have more time for such meetings. These times were a critical part of their education and an essential dimension of their family tradition.

Webster's defines "tradition" as "the passing down of elements of a culture from generation to generation, especially by oral communication," or "a mode of thought or behavior followed by a people continuously from generation to generation,' or "a set of such customs and usages viewed as a coherent body of precedents influencing the present."

The English word "tradition" comes from the Latin verb tradere, which means "to hand down." Actually, the Latin word contains both a prefix and a root. The prefix is trans, which means "over," and the root is dare, which means "to give." So the term literally means "to give over." The same combination of prefix and root is found in the Greek word for tradition, which is parodosis.

I stress this for two reasons. The first is that we clearly see the link between the idea of tradition and the idea of a gift. To pass wisdom from one generation to the next is to transfer a vital and beautiful gift. The second is that the passing on of knowledge and wisdom in the form of tradition is a crucial biblical concept.

Because Jesus uttered sharp rebukes to the scribes and Pharisees for replacing the truth of God with the traditions of men, we sometimes draw the invalid inference that Jesus opposed all tradition. That was not the case. Though He repudiated the supplanting of the Word of God by human tradition, He never attacked or denied the virtue of the divine tradition, the things of God for the people of God for all time. We also speak of the apostolic tradition, which is passed on to all generations of the church. In fact, it may properly be said that the New Testament contains the apostolic tradition and that the Bible as a whole contains the divine tradition.

In his first epistle to the Corinthians, Paul said, "For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you. . . , (1 Cor. 11:23a). These words comprise the introduction to Paul's statement of the institution of the Lord's Supper. As an apostle, Paul received his content from Christ and then, in turn, "gave it over" to the church. This is the way tradition functions.

It was the responsibility of the parents in Israel to "give over" the truth of God to their children. For example, God spoke to the Israelites through Moses, "'And you shall tell your son in that day, saying, "This is done because of what the Lord did for me when I came up from Egypt." It shall be as a sign to you on your hand and as a memorial between your eyes, that the LORD's law may be in your mouth; for with a strong hand the LORD has brought you out of Egypt You shall therefore keep this ordinance in its season from year to year... (Ex. 13:8-10).

My children went to school and to church, where they received a large measure of their education. Their catechetical instruction was especially important to them. But school and church school can only amplify what children learn at home. The chief responsibility for the education of our children rests with we parents. We delegate it at the greatest peril.

The cultural revolution of the 1960s has had a major impact on education. The revolution brought on a new order of customs, thoughts, and values. It created a new tradition that is on a collision course with the divine tradition. We no longer can assume, in this new order, that other people and institutions will pass the divine tradition to our children. That gift now rests chiefly in our hands.

Dr. R.C. Sproul has written two children's books, The King Without a Shadow and The Priest with Dirty Clothes, to help parents pass on the divine tradition.

Reprinted from TABLETALK, August, 1999.