Should Christians Homeschool?

Posted on by kevinjandt

LydiaWhat is your primary desire for your children?  I think the way you answer this question determines your worldview.

Many people will say they want their child to be happy, or they want them to be successful in life or a number of different variables of this sort.

Then the other worldview is parents that desire their children to be saved.  Perhaps these things are not mutually exclusive.  As a Believer I want my child to experience happiness, but I would rather them experience joy.  I want my child to be successful but what does success really mean?  Does that mean financially or some other manners of what looks like worldly achievement?

Even in the world of Christianity most parents have a very strong desire for this type of thinking.  They want their kids to get good grades so they can go to a good college and get a good job.  But where does this lead them?

Does a good job provide lots of money to spend on things you “need”?  I say that sarcastically.

In Kevin Swanson’s study of Proverbs He says “Over the last one hundred years in this country as well as in Europe, North America, and Asia the birth rate fell by half, while the average square footage of homes doubled in size.  Evidently, the modern world has come to appreciate drywall more than children!”

I’ve been there, I understand that thinking.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart.  You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.  You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.  You shall write them on the doorposts of your hose and on your gates.

These words which I command you today…  For me this is strikingly clear.  God has spoken and I must consider this a directive from the LORD.  Not a maybe, or if you feel like it, but a clear and concise call to parent with all diligence my children.

It’s pretty easy to go through the rest of this and come to the conclusion that God is telling us is that our children are to spend the majority of their time under our supervision.  I didn’t notice any exemptions, like you don’t need to worry about them when they are at their friend’s house, or when they go to public school.  Doesn’t Proverbs 13:20 warn us about who they should spend their time with?

I realize there is going to be pushback when I make this declaration.  Our worldview is challenged by this statement.  My worldview was challenged by this statement.

God gives us direction for our own good doesn’t He?

Deuteronomy 6:11-14 …–when you have eaten and are full—then beware, lest you forget the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage… 14 You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are all around you…

We are a people on the earth that are full and we live in beautiful houses.  How easy it is to chase after the gods of this world.  We have been indoctrinated to believe that our children’s education must be left to the professionals, when God says “No”; I want you to do that.

Is home-education better by a worldly standard?  Actually it is, How American Homeschoolers measure up, but this should not be the primary reason.  My goal is training my children first and foremost in the “training and admonition of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4).   Teaching them to Fear the Lord and understand His goodness and righteousness in hope that He will grant them repentance.

I must also do this in light of the gospel.  If I don’t train their hearts to understand the gospel I will only train little Pharisees.  Proper education includes a healthy dose of their separation from a Holy God and also the remedy that He came to seek and save them and they must turn from their sin in faith and repentance.

This is the gospel, the good news that Jesus Christ did the work.  He paid the price to reconcile sinful man to a Holy God.  Is Home-education a better option for your child?  I believe it is but not for the reason most people think it is.  It’s better because we have an opportunity to teach them diligently all day long without the destructive influences of a socialist institution that despises God.

May the Lord grant mercy as He shows us His design for education.

Kevin

Time well spent…

Posted on by kevinjandt

Kevin & Grace SF 2

This past week I traveled with my oldest daughter Grace on a business trip to San Francisco.  This provided many opportunities for her to understand the world on a much broader sense than she typically experiences.  I’m very thankful for this, as home educators we are often accused of wanting to protect and keep our kids in a bubble.  I certainly want to protect them, but I think allowing them not to see the sinfulness of the world would be a mistake and one of the biggest advantages to home-schooling is the opportunity for our kids to travel.

Certainly San Francisco provides many favorable circumstances to see man’s sinfulness on full display.  The sheer number of people is overwhelming for one.  When you spend time in a bigger city it challenges the mind with the incredible amount of activity; the noises, the traffic, the chaos and cacophony of different things swirling around you.

I had several things in mind as we prepared for our trip and one of them was to allow Grace to help us navigate the airports.  I remember the first time I flew on my own and how intimidating an airport can be.  We discussed lots of different ideas during this trip and having a focus on being attentive to her surroundings and getting a feel for human behavior were also key ideas that I wanted to help her understand.

Can she identify what different types of people she will encounter and are they a serious threat or not.  As we spent the majority of our time in the Fisherman’s Wharf area, this is bustling with activity, mostly tourists, but lots of people that make their living there in various different ways, including the lifestyle of living on the street.  What an eye-opening experience as Grace saw how sin leads to a life of rebellion and lack of a desire to belong in the norm of culture.  It’s a sub-culture all its own and I’m convinced many of them want it that way.   But let’s not think they are any worse or we are any better.  Without Christ we are all the worst of sinners and held captive to our own desires.

We experienced men digging through and eating from garbage cans, and a man urinating in public in the broad daylight tucked behind a small building.   These are some of the raw things we will not forget.  The other wonderful memories we formed together were seeing God’s beautiful creation.  The Bay Area is stunning in its natural beauty and as we looked over the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay from a high perch above its incredible to think how God spoke and it was so.

Deuteronomy 6 tells me as I father I’m to teach Grace and my other children diligently the law of God as we live life together.  There is not to be a time when we put God on the backburner and focus on more important things.  He is the focus.  He is the one that I need to constantly be showing and reminding my children that we are here to bring Him glory.  Just as the gigantic redwoods glorify and show His wisdom, we must also give glory to the Creator.

Grace Redwoods

My most satisfying moment on our trip came Saturday evening as we went to dinner.  We entered a restaurant that I’ve frequented often and two people from the event staff were already seated.  They invited us to join them and we had a nice conversation about various subjects.  As the food arrived I announced I’d like to pray and ask the Lord’s blessing on this meal.

This prayer opened a door for us to discuss the purpose of home-schooling from a Christian Worldview and not simply that we think it’s a better education.  I was able to discuss how Grace is learning about life and by spending time with her father she is learning wisdom as Proverbs 13:20 tells us.  Grace did a wonderful job of allowing her father to speak, but also interjecting at appropriate times.  She was able to beautifully articulate her education and engage two adults in a real conversation.  She was engaged with them and not an electronic device as I looked around to see most of the adults conversing with their I-Phones and not the ones across the table from them.

I told her that night that I was very pleased with the way she handled herself and this is the way we can show the world Christ.  Yes, we must speak and proclaim the good news but also the world will see a difference in our behavior and realize this is just not normal.

Monday morning the Lord opened a door for me to share my faith and really talk to a man I’ve known for quite a while.  He was very honest in his lack of belief.  As I told him that belief is a gift of God, but in no wise will this let him off the hook as he stands before God should he breathes his last breath.  He and he alone will be accountable for his sin.  I explained to him that he doesn’t believe because he likes his sin as we all did before God grants us repentance and I think he related to that on a certain level.

As I look back on these past days it will be a memory Grace and I will share as long as we live.  It will be a time that I will cherish as her father.    As she is growing so quickly into a woman I pray she will see how much her dad loves her and cares for her.  But most importantly she will know how much her Heavenly Father loves and cares for her.

 

Kevin

Do you despise Him?

Posted on by kevinjandt

forest

The Christian life is no different from most lives in that Believers experience the ups and downs that are typical.  We get sick, we have conflict with our wives or children and we are certainly not free from seemingly random things that occur.  I say seemingly because Scripture tells us nothing is by chance and God has all things under His sovereign control.

I believe this and do not subscribe to health, wealth and prosperity doctrines that are so prevalent today.  The one thing I understand is that God has purpose in everything He does.  For the Believer this has eternal consequences because the way we respond in trials and tribulations is a very significant part of our testimony.

James 1:17-18 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.  Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.

The old adage “it’s hard to see the forest for the trees” is applicable to the teaching of James, it’s stated very plainly, yet most often in the moment of trials we don’t want to see what God is doing in our lives because we are in pain at that moment.

We don’t consider it a gift when someone we love is sick or we wonder why God would allow this to happen…  What if you are subject to rebuke or church discipline?  Do you really consider God is treating you as a son or daughter?

If life or our circumstance is not as “we think it should be” the natural tendency is to be upset and angry.  Maybe we won’t say we are angry at God, but the fact is we are exhibiting nothing but discontent.

And discontent is sin!  (1 Timothy 6:6-9, Philippians 4:6, Matthew 6:25-34)

The opportunity to glorify God in a time or season of trial is a gift from God.  Believer, do you believe this?  I know we will agree to this when life is going well.  But do you really believe it when you are facing a trial?

James 1:2-3 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.

Let us examine ourselves today.  Do you count it all joy?  Why not, if not?  I hope this is very succinct because I don’t see this as a complicated subject, yet how many that name the name of Christ despise His goodness?

James 1:4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. 

NOTHING!

When Believers and I include myself in this conversation, do not consider trials pure joy we despise the good gift that God has given us.  We have our own idea of an outcome and have no desire to allow God, through patience, to work His perfect work in our lives.

Call it what you want, discontent, frustration, anger, circumstance…  Or call it what it is; distrust in God’s goodness.

I’m thankful for the trial that has recently come into my life, with our daughter Anna.  It has given me an incredible opportunity to learn patience and leadership as I guide my family and my wife through a tough time.  I’m being grown up, so that I can minister to others.  I can’t lead without having been there myself and although in the grand scheme of life’s trials, this is small in comparison.  Each good and perfect gift prepares us for bigger things.

Romans 2:4 Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? 

Let’s consider the purpose of a trial, for some it may lead to repentance, for some condemnation.

How will you respond?  This might show your condition before God.

Kevin

Jesus wept

Posted on by kevinjandt

jesus-wept

The shortest verse in the Bible says “Jesus wept”.  Have you ever wondered why?  Was Jesus showing his humanness and His empathy for the human experience?  This is the common understanding and we know it’s true from scripture. (Hebrews 4:15)

If you are like me you have probably read this verse many times and just thought, “Jesus has compassion for those around Him, especially Martha and Mary because He loved them”.  The Jews that were there thought this also if we look at verse 36.  I agree, He certainly had compassion and loved them, but I believe there is so much more to this verse than most notice.

John 11:14-15 – Then Jesus said to them plainly, “Lazarus is dead.  And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe, Nevertheless let us go to him.”

Here we see the purpose of Lazarus’s death, also affirmed in verse 4; Jesus says it’s for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.  He did it so the disciples would believe and He would be glorified.

This seems hard for me to believe, yet this is what the Lord says.  We are already well into Christ’s ministry, how is it they don’t believe?

John Calvin commenting – He does not mean that this was the first feeble commencement of faith in them, but that it was a confirmation of faith already begun, though it was still exceedingly small and weak. Yet he indirectly suggests that, if the hand of God had not been openly displayed, they would not have believed.

John 11:21 Now Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”

John 11:32 Then, when Mary came where Jesus was, and saw Him, she fell down at His feet, saying to Him, “Lord if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”

Watch what happens next, as I find this fascinating and where I think most people miss the point of this verse.

John 11:33 Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, (professionals hired to cry at a funeral); He groaned in the spirit and was troubled.

The word groaned here is – embrimaomai (to snort with anger); to have indignation on, that is, (transitively) to blame, (intransitively) to sigh with chagrin, (specifically) to sternly enjoin: – straitly charge, groan, murmur against.

Jesus was also troubled – tarassō – Of uncertain affinity; to stir or agitate (roil water): – trouble.

Jesus was clearly annoyed by the reaction of all of those around Him at the death of Lazarus and seems to be agitated to the point of anger.  He knew He was going to raise Lazarus, so it can’t be that He doubted what would happen.  Then it happens.

Jesus wept. – John 11:35

 

Why?  Let’s consider a few other verses that might give us some insight.

Matthew 9:36-38 But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.  Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few.  Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.

Luke 13:34  “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stone those who are sent to her!  How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing!

So why did Jesus weep?  He had compassion for sure, but His compassion and his groaning was over the hard heartedness of man that lives in a self-absorbed sin saturated world.  He wanted them to come in faith and repentance, but they refused.  They wouldn’t acknowledge Him as Lord and as their King; despite the irrefutable proofs of His miracles.  It was obvious wasn’t it?

Today we consistently see the same thing.  There is nothing new under the sun, and you can show the un-believer sin and his hatred of God, yet he can’t see it.  I can sometimes intellectually understand my own disbelief, yet I just can’t get out of my funk.

Does the Lord groan in His spirit over you or over me?  Is He troubled by our lack of belief or our compassion for the lost?  Does He groan when we live in willful rebellion to His Word?  I am struck by the depth of this chapter as it relates to me.  It’s easy for me to see the shortcomings of others yet fail to see my own sin.  It’s easy to be critical and see how much they need Jesus, and they do, but I need Jesus.

I need Him more today than the day I was saved because if He didn’t weep for me, I’m lost.  If He pulled His tears back from me I’d spiral into the depths of my own sin in moments.  The closer I draw to Him the bigger and more wretched my sin becomes.

Men have always been ungrateful to God in the same manner, and continue to be so. If he does not grant all our wishes, we immediately launch into complaints: “Since he has been accustomed to aid us hitherto, why does he now forsake and disappoint us?” There is here a twofold disease. First, though we rashly desire what is not expedient for us, yet we wish to subject God to the perverse desires of the flesh. Secondly, we are rude in our demands, and the ardor of impatience hurries us before the time. – John Calvin

How about you?

If you can’t see your sin then I beg you to repent.  Do you truly weep over your sin or are you merely a professional weeper hired to perform a service?

If you are a Believer do you weep and groan over the lost?  How much compassion do you have for those around you that are without a shepherd?

May the Lord be merciful to those who can see their sin!  It cost the One that paid the price dearly and that’s something we should weep about.

Kevin

 

Please Pray For My Family

Posted on by kevinjandt

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“When God intends great mercy for His people, the first thing He does is set them-a-praying. – Matthew Henry

Our beautiful Anna Joy was born a week and a half ago but what most won’t know she was admitted back into the hospital less than a week after her birth due to a high fever and weight loss.  We are so thankful for Dr. Omar and his skill and compassion as he immediately recognized Anna did not look the right color and sent her in without delay.

After a number of tests, including a spinal tap, it was determined she has meningitis.  The original suspicion was bacterial and since has now been downgraded to viral.  It looks as though she will spend up to two weeks in the hospital hooked up to an IV and receiving constant doses of antibiotics.  Fortunately, for Anna this is not a major deal.  She will never remember it and it is very unlikely there will be any long term damage.  We praise God for this and delight in His provision.

The one that will suffer more than anyone in the family is my lovely wife Jen.  She has rarely left the hospital or the room in nearly a week.  She sleeps on an extraordinarily uncomfortable fold-out sofa, where nurses are constantly coming and going checking Anna’s vitals.  Of course it also includes the round the clock noises that are synonymous with a hospital stay.  Jen misses the other girls desperately and is challenged with all of the questions and doubts that float around in our minds when we have little else to consume our thoughts.

Psalm 139:16 Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.  And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them.

It is hard for me to fathom the depths of this verse.  Is this not a crystal clear answer to all our questions as to who controls Anna’s outcome?  This is God’s Sovereignty on display in all its glory.  How can we doubt or have fears?

As I write this today there is little chance that Anna is in serious danger, but we didn’t know that four or five days ago and we had serious concerns about her health.  Yes, we both fully trust God in this situation, but it doesn’t mean we should not take those concerns to the Lord.  This is our opportunity to align our hearts with His as we seek Him.

This is why Believers pray.

Do we want her to be healed?  Of course, that is what “we want”, but Jesus also asked the Father “if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me.”  And then we must see what our ultimate purpose of prayer is going to be, “nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.” (Matthew 26:39)

Is it possible that we often miss the main point of prayer in our desires for what we want?

Matthew 6:31-34 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’  For after all these things the Gentiles seek, For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.  But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things.  Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

As much as we desire what we desire, Believers should desire His will!  I don’t know how Jesus could make this anymore clear?

The challenge is that our will fights against the will of God consistently and passionately.  We really want what we want and somehow if we believe we are children of the King He should do what we want.  Sometimes Always His ways are higher than our ways and we just need to get out of the way and place our trust in those ways.

Acts 17:26-28 And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being…

God is in complete control of all things at all times and there is not a sparrow that falls to the ground outside of His Sovereign Will.  (Matthew 10:29)

I desire prayer for my family in this time but I desire it according to His will, not what I think I want, because more often than not my desire is the wrong desire.  (Jeremiah 17:9).

I desire that we be drawn closer to God and we depend on Him more and always.

I would desire that Jen and Grace would learn to trust Him more and seek Him for all their needs.

I desire that God would be merciful and grant Madeline repentance unto faith in Christ.

I desire that I would be a fearless man of God in leading my family and proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ to all the nations.

I desire that God would be glorified and that I would serve Him with a pure heart.

Will Anna be healed?  I hope so, but I don’t necessarily hope for her physical healing, I hope for her spiritual healing.  I hope for Madeline and Lydia’s spiritual healing above all things physical.

In the end this is the only thing that matters.  You see when we only desire His will all our needs are met no matter the outcome.

Matthew Henry – The target of our prayers is always “God’s glory, and our own true happiness.”

 

Kevin