Anyone that has spent any substantial amount of time in church knows what I am talking about when I say the term "Sunday School Answer". Even more so, you know the type of person that uses them. It's usually a guy, family is heavily involved in church, but probably doesn't work in full-time ministry, they usually wear argyle and have their hair combed perfectly (This is purely speculation). You get into Sunday School or Small Group or whatever you church calls it, the teacher gets into the lesson and in an attempt to integrate the class they start to drop questions about the bible and spirituality. Then come the "answers". You know what I'm talking about. The perfectly molded answer from the dude in the argyle that makes you feel like sub-par Christian. Apparently he has his junk together, either that or he's lying through his teeth. Is he wrong? Are you wrong? I had some good talks about this lately. I have constantly found myself apprehensive about praying among friends at the fear of looking self-righteous. I was with a group of very close guy friends the other night and felt a heavy desire to pray with them. Immediately, I felt the fear of coming off as being self-righteous. I tried to put that fear away and sequentially lead into a 5 minute preface on how I missed spontaneous corporate prayer. After this long dissertation, I asked my close brothers if it would be ok if we all prayed together and to my surprise they were excited at the thought.
This got me thinking. Why do we get so upset at the Sunday School answers? I've never wanted to be "that guy" in Sunday School that answered all the questions perfectly. I was even scared the other night at asking everyone to pray because I didn't want to come off as "the perfect Christian". I think this is where we find the dichotomy. Here's the difference: they become Sunday School answers when they are insincere. When we are just saying a statement to appease the people around us and make us look like a Super Christian then it is nothing more than a Sunday School Answer. On the other hand, if we are truly speaking the truth of the Bible and seeking to practice Christian disciplines out of sincerity, it ceases to be a Sunday School Answer. One one side we don't want to come off as a Super Christian and on the other hand, some of us find it cool to be on the verge of the world and still be a Christian. The answer: Seek Christ and allow Him to transform you into His likeness, not for your glory, but for His. That way, you will be neither self-righteous nor a fence-sitter.
So as always, I challenge you. Seek sincerity in your life. Seek Christ's likeness in yourself and allow that to manifest itself. Remember: God only looks for in us that which God produced.
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3 comments:
I believe that we all understand when we encounter a "Sunday School Answer." It is obvious when the answer is conjured out of rote memory instead of deep application. When life change is sparse in the person outside of the classroom, righteous answers inside are met with annoyance from the person's peers. But it is always refreshing to see a truly humble servant answer the questions with deep personal attachment to the answer. Lets us be a generation that doesn't just know the Truth, but understands it, applies it, and aligns ourselves with it.
Good stuff. I like how it pulled back to humility, as all things should. Keep writing, you have a knack for this. May God be Glorified in all that you say and do!
-Andrew McPeak
Andrew, I really appreciate your encouragement. It means a lot to me man.
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