If the Foundations Be Destroyed...

If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?

This is the question David asked in Psalm 11:3 when he was tempted to distrust God, and flee as a bird to his mountain to escape the persecution of King Saul. But David was determined not to flee. “In the LORD put I my trust,” he said. For the last few weeks, David’s question has become the burning question in my heart
as I search for a curriculum to use in the youth Sunday school. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable . . . for instruction in righteousness, 2 Timothy 3:16. Though not the ultimate goal of Sunday school, a principal aim should be to systematically take a member through all Scripture, every verse of it. The Explore the Bible series is the only resource published by LifeWay® Church Resources with that in mind, but it is no longer available in a youth format.

There has been a titanic shift in the philosophy of youth ministry. Today it is almost impossible to find a whole-Bible curriculum when just a few years ago we were up to our necks in them. Now most of what can be found is primarily issue-driven or heavily laced with worldly philosophies and amusements. “High energy,” “cutting edge,” “hip,” “high impact.” These are the catch phrases of the neo-youth minister. There seems to be a near contempt for the straightforward exposition of the Scriptures. It was said to me one time that it was more important to deal with “youth issues” than to espouse a whole-Bible approach, but that is like building a house without a foundation.

A whole-Bible format of teaching lays a firm foundation for the faith of God’s saints, for no individual at any age can be confronted with an issue upon which God has remained silent. Neither is there any other approach upon which the blessing of God so surely rests. Jehovah said, “For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it,” Isaiah 55:10,11. And elsewhere it is said, “Thou [Jehovah] hast magnified thy word above all thy name,” Psalm 138:2.

I received my B.S. in Education ten years ago and was taught the “wisdom of the Egyptians” in the education of jr. high and high-school students. The neo-youth ministry is merely the old worldly wisdom. Worldly methods will be successful in worldly institutions, but Chrisitans are a “peculiar people,” 1 Peter 2:9, a “holy nation,” and worldly methods are destructive toward spiritual ends. There is no such thing as a youth or a non-youth issue, for the issues that perplex adults are merely the issues that remain unresolved from their youth, Proverbs 22:6. It is therefore all the more urgent that young people are given a firm foundation with a whole-Bible approach. Topical studies and issues indeed have their place in youth ministry. The ultimate aim of one building a house is more than laying the foundation, but who among us would be foolish enough to proceed without one?

Let us lay a good foundation for the training of our youth, for if the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?

 

Thanx, uhdum. Even though you do accept CCM!