My thanks to Thomas Hudgins, New Testament prof at Liberty University, for his kind invitation to lecture today in three of his New Testament classes.
I guess if I were to summarize my talks today, they might have this theme in common: The careful study of the word of God has a goal, which is NOT the careful study of the word of God.
To goal is to discover Jesus and the downward path of Jesus and so to allow him to radically change our lives and our trajectories in life. That is, a genuine study of the Bible results in people who sacrifice their time and talents and treasure to mentor and intervene, to teach and disciple, to heal and restore.
Show me a Bible scholar who is off missions, and I'll show you someone who has no concept of the Gospel he is teaching.
This is not the legacy I want to leave. I'm asking God to make my last days days that matter for eternity. I want to live gratefully, humbly, and sacrificially. Jesus' ideals convict me:
Blessed are the meek.
The least shall be greatest.
Sell what you have and give it to the poor.
Don't gain the world only to lose your own soul.
Let's call forth the blessedness in our students.
Let's speak words of affirmation into their spirits, teaching them who they are in Christ and what he requires of them.
Speak the blessings of heaven into the raw material of who they are and who they can become.
This is what we do as teachers, and why we do it.