Sunday School as Liberation
From Gospel Translations
(New page: {{info}}We must never underestimate the power of truth. The world is full of confusion because the “god of this world” is the “father of lies” (2 Corinthians 4:4, John 8:44). But J...)
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By John Piper
About Education
Part of the series Taste & See
We must never underestimate the power of truth. The world is full of confusion because the “god of this world” is the “father of lies” (2 Corinthians 4:4, John 8:44). But Jesus is the light of the world. He banishes the darkness of falsehood wherever he is heard. He is truth and all he says liberates from the bondage of error. “You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” Truth frees.
I get excited when I think about our Sunday School as a place where the love of truth is cultivated and the knowledge of truth is imparted. God alone can judge the power of a steady, weekly diet of truth in the life of a child or an adult. What greater gift can we give to our youth than the truth about God, about the world and about themselves?
Our lives are controlled by what we value. Our values are shaped by how we perceive the world. True perceptions of reality help us to value what is truly good and truly beautiful. False perceptions lead to an enslaving love of evil. To love evil and do as you please may feel like freedom; but it is bondage, because its end is destruction. It is like the freedom of a skydiver who enjoys the free-fall but does not know his parachute is defective and will not open. He thinks he is free, but he is enslaved to the irrevocable and destructive law of gravity.
Freedom is not doing what you please. Freedom is knowing the truth, loving the good, and never fearing the future. Sunday School exists to give a knowledge of truth, a love for the good, and hope for the future. In other words, Sunday School is for freedom. It is a school of liberation.
Have you Sunday School Workers ever thought of yourselves as a squadron of God’s commandos, weekly storming Satan’s bastion to liberate his hostages? Listen to 2 Timothy 2:24, 25: “The Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome, but kind to everyone, an apt teacher, forbearing, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant that they will repent and come to know the truth, and they may escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.” When you love your students and teach them truth, you are God’s gentle storm troopers! It is truth taught in love that batters down the walls of Satan’s prison. He cannot hold out against the truth.
O, never, never underestimate the power of truth. We handle glorious things every Sunday. We are in a great battle for liberation. Do not be deceived that you hear no bombshells. Do not be discouraged that your medals are few. The Last Day will reveal that the greatest centers of power and of lasting liberation were not in Washington or London or Bonn or Geneva, but in classrooms where truth was taught and young people were “freed from the snare of the devil.” This is no exaggeration. It is absolutely true.
Next Sunday evening (July 12) we want to have a Mid-Summer Celebration of Sunday School and honor our faithful workers. There will be refreshments after the service. I hope to see you all there.
With great appreciation,
Pastor John
