Today’s passage is Numbers 3:14-39. The Lord tells Moses to count the Levite males a month old or more according to the three clans of Levi. The Gershonite clans had 7,500 and camped on the west side of the tabernacle and were responsible for everything related to the tent coverings and curtains. The Kohathite clans had 8,600 and camped on the south side and were responsible for the ark, table, lampstands and altars. Eleazar was responsible for those clans. The Merarite clans had 6,200 and camped on the north side and were responsible for the tent frames, posts, bases, pegs and ropes. Moses, Aaron and his sons camped on the east side and were responsible for the care of the sanctuary. Other than they anyone who approached the sanctuary was to be killed.
Learning Obedience
When I first became a Sunday School teacher at our church, I was shocked at the way it was conducted.
As both a lifelong educator and a Westerner, the way Wooridle taught the middle school and high school students was contrary to everything I knew and believed about learning.
The children were herded into a big hall and seated with their teacher, a member of the church and not a trained teacher, each class ranging from two to six students.
A pastor gave them a 30 minute sermon during which the teachers attempted to get the students to focus on what he was saying instead of playing with their phones, sleeping or talking. Afterwards, the teachers would take their classes and go somewhere to chat with them about interpreting their lives according to the sermon they had heard, say a prayer, and encourage them to do their QT.
It took me a long time, years in fact, to accept that this method actually worked, partly because it mirrored the Korean style of education except for small classes and caring teachers, a style that is absolutely contrary to the Western style of education.
As a Western teacher and school principal, I naturally believed my style was superior to the Korean style. The debate on that for secular education will continue to be argued because each has its merits and demerits.
What I did not understand was that the point, purpose and goal of Wooridle Sunday School is snot education but salvation.
When I finally did understand that, all I could do was hit myself on the head and say “Du-uh!”
I was blinded by my own area of expertise instead of being guided by the mission of the church and the commands of Jesus.
I brought my secular, worldly attitude to a religious activity and then complained that the church wasn’t behaving like the world! I was a proud, blind and pompous educational pharisee!
As a result, I did not carry out my responsibilities to the best of my ability because I was not obedient to my spiritual community’s way of doing things.
I have since repented and now approach my Sunday School class with a more loving attitude, focusing on my boys’ salvation, engaging them in an attempt to interpret their lives through Scripture, asking them questions, sharing my own story with them. I still have a long way to go in my care of them, but I want to do better and I’m looking carefully at other teachers in order to model my behavior on theirs instead of judging them as I have for a long time.
God has been gracious and merciful to me in my training as Sunday School teacher. I pray I can help bring my boys to salvation.
Application: call my boys during the week to see how they’re doing and tell them I’m looking forward to seeing them on Sunday.
Lord, thank you for teaching me more than my boys at Sunday School. Let me be obedient to my spiritual community’s ways, and give me your love for my boys.
