Greetings MOL Family!
Have you been blessed by *our “How to Live” series, thus far? One of the greatest verses on how to live is found in the Scriptures: John 13:17
Knowing & Doing
If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them. – John 13:17
This is successful living. What little word of two letters is repeated? Did you notice it? How many “ifs”? Two “ifs”… What’s the first? — If ye know. And what’s the second? — If ye do.
What is it that is necessary in order for us to know? How do we get to the point of knowing? We study. How much study will fulfill the second “If”? How much does it take? We never reach the point. Is that right?
Now, this is one of the great difficulties with conventional education. Jesus summed it up when He spoke of the scribes and Pharisees. He said they say and do not (Matthew 23:3). They were greatly concerned with doctrine, with theory, with teaching, with precepts, with rules, with answers to theoretical questions. But He said, “You have missed the real point of doing.”
If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them. – John 13:17
We see the importance then of the second point. But now, let’s look at the importance of the first point. What is necessary if we are to do? We must know. And in order to know, we agreed we must what? — Study. The purpose of studying is to know, and the purpose of knowing is to do.
Now, please turn to Ministry of Healing, page 448 [The Wisdom of the Great Physician, pg. 148] See what words or expressions you find in this sentence, that belong with this text, that are parallel to the text we have just read. What is parallel to know? Knowledge, that’s right. What is parallel to do? — Utilized. What does utilized mean here? Use; put into action; put into use of some kind; do something about. And what is parallel or belongs along with the idea of studying to know? — Imparted. Christ imparted and His disciples received. He taught and they listened, studied, learned. And as the result they knew. And they would be happy, if knowing they? — Did it. But notice that:
Christ imparted only that knowledge which could be utilized. – Ministry of Healing, pg. 448 {The Wisdom of the Great Physician, pg. 148}
Do you ever thirst for knowledge? What kind of knowledge? — And for what purpose? Read on:
His instruction of the people was confined to the needs of their own condition in practical life. – Ibid
Could Jesus have taught the people of His generation how to reach the moon? If you read the proceeding paragraph, you’ll agree, He could have. Why didn’t He do it? It wasn’t necessary.
His instruction of the people was confined to the needs of their own condition in practical life. – Ibid
I hope every one will become a teacher. As teachers, settle it in your heart that you will teach nothing except that which has a useful purpose in the lives of those that you teach.
My! Think how much we could cut out of the great libraries of this country. Think how much we could eliminate from the curriculum of the various institutions of learning. Don’t teach anything unless the person who is learning it can do something about it, that is helpful and useful.
Now another question: If we’re to teach only that which can be utilized, only that which is of value in practical life, what about our learning? What should we learn? — Only that which can be put into practice. Think back over what you’ve learned the last 5 years, 10 years, 15 years, 20 years. Have you labored to learn something which has no practical value? We’re told we have much to unlearn as well as to learn.
It is very interesting, dear friends (really if it weren’t so serious, it would be just plain laughable), to watch certain educators squirm when they get right at this point, begin to squirm and begin to bring up defenses for this book and that book, this subject and that subject and show that certainly they have some use. Well, okay. I’m not going to chase anybody into a corner. We’re going together to broad fields, but the gate is narrow:
…straight is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leads unto life… – Matthew 7:14
But life, abundant life is broad and wonderful. But the way to get there is to study to know, and then to do.
From the Tree of Knowledge or the Tree of Life?
Christ imparted only that knowledge which could be utilized. His instruction of the people was confined to the needs of their own condition in practical life. The curiosity that led them to come to Him with prying questions, He did not gratify. – Ministry of Healing, pg. 448 {The Wisdom of the Great Physician, pg. 148}
Wait a minute! Didn’t He answer all their questions? Do you sometimes worry because you can’t answer all the questions people ask? Well, don’t worry. The Lord never intended you and me to answer all the questions that are asked.
The curiosity that led them to come to Him with prying questions, He did not gratify. – Ibid
But notice what He did when they asked that? He didn’t just brush them off and say, “Forget it.” Watch:
All such questioning He made the occasion for solemn, earnest, vital appeals. To those who were so eager to pluck from the tree of knowledge, He offered the fruit of the tree of life. They found every avenue closed, except the way that leads to God. Every fountain was sealed, save the fountain of eternal life. – Ibid., pgs. 448-449
What language! What a concept! Oh, folks, how rich we are. Even in our study of the Bible and in nature, it is easy for us to sink to the level of merely being curious. Now, Jesus let curious people come to Him. He let them ask questions. But He used that as an occasion for leading them from the tree of knowledge over to the what? — The tree of life. I hope every one of us here will get so interested in that tree of life that we’ll just eat of it every day.
Notice that next sentence. What was it that Jesus didn’t encourage people to do? — To go to what? — The rabbinical schools of His day. Why not? They were continually quoting human authority. Aren’t you glad that, that’s all past and gone? Aren’t you glad we don’t have to worry about that anymore? Well, perhaps we still do need to watch that point. Now, back to our text:
If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them. – John 13:17
We’ve already noticed that in order to know, we must study. And the purpose of knowing is to do. Now, my next question and don’t miss this: When should we do? As soon as we know we are supposed to do. Well, if you want to be happy, it takes both to make you happy, right? Isn’t that what it says?
If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them. – John 13:17
And the purpose of knowing is to do. And we’re to do that which we know. Do we agree now that the time to do is as soon as we know? And again, here we have something fundamentally different from conventional education. To many people, life is made up of two periods: A period in which they learn and then afterward a period in which they do. Correct? And so they spend 8 years, 12 years, 16 years, 20 years learning, learning, learning, looking forward to a time when they will put into practice that which they have learned.
In true education, as surely as the purpose of learning is to do, so surely the doing follows quickly on the heels of the learning. In fact, dear friends, we have not really learned truth until it comes out into our muscles, and is expressed in word and action. This is real education.
Until next week – Invite a friend, and we’ll see you then…
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Do you want to be happy? Do you have an earnest desire to partake of the Tree of Life? In it contains the healing of the nations, the way to satisfaction >> Taste & See
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*This study has been adapted from classes taken by Elder W.D. Frazee.