“The School of the Holy Spirit”
Proverbs 9:10

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Pastor Kevin Vogts
Trinity Lutheran Church
Paola, Kansas
Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost–Christian Education Rally Day—August 19, 2018

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.

The last verse of today’s Old Testament Reading is a famous saying from the book of Proverbs: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”  We consider this verse under the theme, “The School of the Holy Spirit.”

The Latin phrase non compos mentis means “not competent mentally,” from which we get the word “nincompoop.”  In his book Non Campus Mentis: World History According to College Students, professor Anders Henriksson compiles actual examples of hilarious nincompoop things really written by college students on tests and papers:

“Prehistory . . . was [everything] prior to the year 1500.  Prehistoricle people spent all day banging rocks together so that they could find something to eat.  This was called the Stoned Age.”

“Judyism had one big God named ‘Yahoo.’”

“Old Testament profits include Moses, Amy, and Confucius.”

“Joan of Arc was famous as Noah’s wife.”

“Christians started [a] new religion with sayings like, ‘the mice shall inherit the earth.’  Later Christians fortunately abandoned this idea.”

“During the Dark Ages it was mostly dark.”

“An angry Martin Luther nailed ninety-five theocrats to a church door. The Pope’s response was to declare Luther hereditary.”

“[History is important because] those who forget the past are condemned to eat it.”

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”  However, the opposite is also true.  If you don’t have the fear of the Lord and knowledge of the Holy One, no matter how much education in the world you may have, spiritually you are a nincompoop.  As the book of Hebrews bluntly told the early Christians: “By this time you ought to be teachers, but you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food!”

How are we doing today compared to those early Christians, whom the Scriptures chastised for their lack of spiritual knowledge and spiritual immaturity?  Josh McDowell, is a missionary with Campus Crusade for Christ, famous for his books More than a Carpenter and Evidence that Demands a Verdict. In his latest book, Beyond Belief to Conviction, he reports that of those college students who describe themselves as Bible-believing Christians, 91% also say that there are other ways to salvation, apart from faith in Christ. 

But, in the Bible, Jesus himself says: “I am the way, the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me. . .  whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s only-begotten Son.”  Peter says in Acts: “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”  So, it seems that on this most important doctrine of the Christian faith, how to get to heaven, 91% of today’s Bible-believing college students need to learn, as Hebrews says, “the elementary truths of God’s word all over again.”

Without the education provided by God’s Holy Spirit, we are all, spiritually, like the early Christians chastised in Hebrews: “You need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again.”  For, without the education provided by God’s Holy Spirit we are all, spiritually, non compos mentis, nincompoops.  Paul puts it this way in Romans: “There is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless.” 

The only antidote to overcome our natural spiritual ignorance is what we could call “The School of the Holy Spirit.”  As Paul says in 2nd Corinthians: “‘No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him’—but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. . . We speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit.”

I was director of communications for five years for the largest Lutheran university in the United States, and market research shows that the #1 thing students and their parents are concerned about when choosing a college is affordable tuition.  That’s the greatest Good News about the school of the Holy Spirit. You have received a full-ride scholarship, all tuition, fees, books, room and board, everything has already been paid, for you.  “For you were redeemed,” Peter says, “not with silver or gold . . . but with the precious blood of Christ.”  Through the blood of Christ you have received a full-ride scholarship right into heaven itself.

Every year students anxiously wait for their college acceptance letters, to find out if they have qualified for a place in the school of their choice.  Paul says in Colossians, “The Father has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.  For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”  By his sacrifice on the cross, Christ earned your acceptance, Christ qualified you for a place in the kingdom of God.

As I mentioned in my children’s sermon, you were enrolled in the school of the Holy Spirit at your Baptism, or whenever you first heard and believed this Good News.  As Peter says in Acts: “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  The promise is for you and your children.”

We’ve been getting lots of packages at the parsonage the past few weeks as Anna and Sarah ordered their textbooks for their new year of studies at the University of Kansas.  Paul describes the textbook for the school of the Holy Spirit: “The Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.”  “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom.”

Our daughters are living in their own apartment in Lawrence, but this year the University of Kansas opened a half-dozen gorgeous new residence halls that look more like luxury condominiums.  Things have sure changed since I went to college!  Well, in the school of the Holy Spirit there are the most wonderful residence halls of all, with a place reserved especially for you: “In my Father’s house are many rooms. . .  I am going there to prepare a place for you. . .  I will take you to be with me.” 

If you’ve ever taken a college tour you may recall that they put a lot of emphasis on the dining options, and often include a meal as part of the tour.  That’s because studies have shown the #1 concern mothers have when touring their children’s prospective schools is the quality of the food, and mothers are the most important influencer in their children’s college decision.    Well, the school of the Holy Spirit has a meal plan that is simply divine: “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?”

Peter says, “Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”  Classes never end in the school of the Holy Spirit. It is life-long, continuing education.  The Lord’s continuing education classes meet here every week, in the Lord’s house on the Lord’s Day, as we gather for worship, and gladly hear and learn his Word.  And the Lord’s continuing education classes also meet in your own home and heart as you read the Scriptures and pray.  You haven’t graduated from life yet.  Throughout your life partake of the Lord’ continuing education classes, so that by the power of his Word and Sacraments you continually “Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” 

At the end of your life, there will be a final, pass-fail exam, as Paul says in 2nd Corinthians: “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.”  But, once again, there is fantastic Good News, for your final exam has already been taken for you, and passed for you with flying colors, by the professor himself: “We have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”  “He has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation.” “Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you.”

There will be the most fantastic final commencement for you from the school of the Holy Spirit, a great graduation celebration, as you graduate from this life to eternal life.  As Revelation says, “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, they will rest from their labors.”  In this great final commencement instead of a graduation gown you will be clothed in a white robe of Christ’s righteousness and holiness, and instead of a graduation cap you will receive the “crown of eternal life.”  And the best graduation party ever will never end.

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”  The bad news is, without the education provided by God’s Holy Spirit, we are all, spiritually, nincompoops. 

But, Paul says in Colossians, “In Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”  And the Good News is, as Paul says in Ephesians, “God poured out upon us the riches of his grace, giving us all wisdom and understanding.”

Hopefully, from our formal academic education, we and our children will have a better grasp than those students in “Non CAMPUS Mentis” of history and other secular subjects.  But, even more important than learning all the wisdom of this world is our education in the faith, that we receive throughout our lives in the school of the Holy Spirit.  Paul puts it this way in Colossians: “[May] God fill you with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.”