Young people are today facing a different world than the adolescent of ten years ago. Educational curriculum is undergoing a change that will have an effect on the outlook of students in the future, but even now the influence is evident. The "Inquiry Approach" that is being implemented in the biological, chemical, and physical science fields encourages students through a process of discussion and peer group evaluation to seek to arrive at correct conclusions. In the social sciences and in the arts this discussion system is also being used, and instructors are working more in the role of a coach and referee than a lecturer. Many Christian young people may benefit in their secular education from these methods, but there is a danger of trying to project the sound learning practices of the world into the assembly where the Spirit of God teaches.
Many young people go through a period in life where they assess their role in their local assembly as well as the role of their older brethren. They try to reconcile what they think Scripture says with what is practiced by their brethren. With the "Inquiry Approach" being used in education this assessment will most likely arise at an earlier age and will come from a wider range of people, since every young person will be exposed to this new methodology from primary school to university.
We can see some negative results of this philosophy already. In the past year students in many places have rebelled against authority, and "student activism" has become a household cliché. Many students have set aside authority, and if the Christian student is not careful he may find himself influenced by such lawlessness. The smashing of a two-million-dollar computer center at Sir George Williams University in Montreal may seem like a horrendous example of student willfulness, but can the world expect anything else from a group of young people who have been socialized in an era when many would have God dead and the Bible a fable? Some of the student grievances may be valid, but their method of "setting the situation right" is not in accordance with the Word of God.
The Apostle Paul testifies in Acts 22:33I am verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as ye all are this day. (Acts 22:3) that he was brought up at the feet of Gamaliel. In the fifth chapter of Acts we find that Gamaliel stood up among his fellow citizens and students and told them to leave these men who talk of Jesus to themselves. He said that others, such as Theudas, boasted themselves to be something, but were brought to nothing; and if these men who were followers of Jesus were not of God, their work could come to nothing. Gamaliel knew that if the teaching of these men was of God, no man could overthrow it. Did Paul obey his instructor's advice? No, he was in effect a student activist. The next time we read of Paul (Saul), we find that he was consenting to the stoning of Stephen (Acts 8:11And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. (Acts 8:1)). He was persecuting the Christians with great zeal.
God spoke to Saul (Paul) on the road to Damascus (Acts 9) in a miraculous but solemn way. He accepted Christ as his Savior and immediately began to serve the Lord. What did Paul say of the days when he was a student activist? In 1 Timothy 1, after delineating what he was characterized by before he was saved, Paul refers to himself as the chief of sinners. He realized that what he had been doing as a result of his independent, youthful ideas led him to a place of deep transgression against God.
Surely we young people can learn from Paul's experience. Granted, Paul was unsaved when he acted on his own counsel, and the circumstances in which he lived were unusual; but if we resent authority and do not bow to the Word of God by leading "a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty," we will find that God will speak to us. If a person accepts the word of one in authority only when it coincides with his own thoughts, then there is no authority. Authority implies that our own will is kept passive. We have the authority of the Word of God, and we are called to bow to it. The Apostle Peter says, "Likewise, ye younger, submit yours el v e s unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble." 1 Pet. 5:55Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. (1 Peter 5:5).
It is one of the hardest things to realize our complete nothingness before God; but if we read the Scriptures more and seek to study them, the Lord will speak to our hearts. There is a very real danger of traditionalism and legality among the Lord's people. The Roman system is a great departure from the truth as found in Paul's letters, but it began among the assemblies of God. The only safeguard against such declension is to know the Scriptures and in communion with the Lord discern God's will.
Paul gives many exhortations to a young person in his letters to Timothy; and, when we read them, the affection between the two is easily observed. In the first letter, Paul gives Timothy directives as to proper order in the assembly. Timothy was a godly young person, desiring to please the Lord, and Paul knew that he could be a help. He commended him as being one "nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine." Could you or I be described by these words? Timothy knew the Scriptures and sound doctrine. As a result, Paul could say, "Let no man despise thy youth." If we do not have Timothy's measure of godliness, then how can we openly criticize a state which to our mind is not correct, and expect that the Lord will bless us for it? If we do judge others, and are not in a position to do so because of our walk, then the Lord will test us. Paul tells Timothy how to walk in order that no one would despise his youth. He was to be an example to believers in what he said, in his walk in the assembly, in his love to others, in his spirit and faith, as well as in his purity of life. Paul encouraged Timothy to read the Word; and then, when he had knowledge and wisdom derived from the Word of God, he would be able to exhort the brethren and maintain the doctrine that Paul had taught him.
In Paul's second letter to Timothy, the state of things in the assembly had deteriorated, and yet he urged him to "hold fast the form [outline] of sound words"; and there was no hint of his giving up in discouragement. May we seek to follow Paul's charge to Timothy: "Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." 2 Tim. 2:1515Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. (2 Timothy 2:15).