Sunday Morning Sermon 10-26-09
John Newton
John Newton
Academic studies
I truly pity those who rise early and study late–with no higher prize and prospect in view, than the obtaining of academic honors! Such pursuits will before long appear (as they really are) as vain as the foolish games of children! May the Lord impress them with the noble ambition of living to and for Him. If these scholars, who are laboring for pebbles under the semblance of goodly pearls, had a discovery of the Pearl of great price–how quickly and gladly would they lay down their admired attainments, and become fools–that they might be truly wise! Their academic studies, if taken in the aggregate, are little better than splendid trifles!
Friend, what a snare have you escaped! You would have been nothing but a scholar–had not God visited your heart and enlightened you by His grace! Now I trust you account your former academic gains, but loss–compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus. What you have attained in the way of learning, will be useful to you–if sanctified, and chiefly so by the knowledge which you have of its insufficiency to any valuable purpose in the great concerns of life–knowing God and walking with Him!
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What great insights from a very wise servant of God!
It has always amazed me how often I have met others in the ministry who, when they learn that I am a minister, ask me where I went to seminary. Does it really matter? It also puzzles me how many church boards overemphasize the importance that those who would serve in their church must possess certain academic degrees and credentials.
Some of the coldest hearts that seem the farthest from God beat within the chests of men whose study walls are adorned with a myriad of accolades and diplomas. If they had devoted even a fraction of the time they spent pursuing pieces of paper embossed with their name to sitting at the feet of the Great Teacher, how much more effective would their ministries be?
As for me personally, the Holy Spirit has so much more often used the voice of a sincere lay person who walked daily in His presence to teach me what He wanted me to know. I have come to the place where I will listen a lot more intently to those who spend much time in prayer closets rather than ivory towers. It is the rare instance to find those who spend their time in both.
Thanks for posting this.