“Was Jesus home-schooled?”

Steve Brown:
Was Jesus home-schooled? The answer to that and other questions, on Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
Key Life exists to communicate that the deepest message of Jesus and the Bible is the radical grace of God to sinners and sufferers. Life’s hard for everyone, so grace is for all of us. But there’s a lot of confusion about how grace applies to real life. So, here’s seminary professor and author Steve Brown and Pete Alwinson from ForgeTruth to answer your questions.

Steve Brown:
Thank you Matthew. Hi Pete.

Pete Alwinson:
Hey man. How you doing?

Steve Brown:
I thought I’d put in a word for homeschooling.

Pete Alwinson:
Amen.

Steve Brown:
You never know.

Pete Alwinson:
Yeah.

Steve Brown:
Well, we’ll get to that question in just a minute. In fact, I thought we had heard all the questions, but we got a question that’s a little bit different, so we’ll talk about it later. Pete Alwinson comes in on Fridays. And listen, do check out ForgeTruth.com there is so much there. And you can get a copy of Pete’s book, Like Father Like Son. And if he would work a little bit harder on it, his second book would be out soon. But how are you doing with that?

Pete Alwinson:
It’s coming. I’m writing something else right now, but it’s coming.

Steve Brown:
You’re going to eventually, well, I’ll talk about it when you eventually get it out. By the way, if you live in Central Florida, this men’s ministry is incredible, and lives are being changed in major ways. You might want to check it out by going to ForgeTruth. com by the way, we love to get your questions. You can call 1-800-KEY-LIFE, 24 7, and record your question, and sometimes we put it on the air. Or you can write

Key Life Network
P.O. Box 5000
Maitland, Florida 32794

in Canada, it’s

Key Life Canada
P.O. Box 28060
Waterloo, Ontario N2L 6J8

or you can e-mail your question to [email protected] and I’m required to say this and it’s a good thing that I do. If you can help us financially, all of those contact places are places where you could do that. Be as generous as you can if you can help us financially, and if you can’t, we understand. But I do know that when you give a gift to Key Life, we squeeze every dime for the glory of God. Pete, why don’t you lead us in prayer, we’ll get to some of these questions.

Pete Alwinson:
You got it. Our Father, we do joyfully come into your presence today as we bow before you, as we think about who you are. And Lord, we thank you for watching over us all week that you are sovereign, that you are really in charge, that you’re good and merciful and kind, that you know what we’ve been through even at a deeper level than we know ourselves. And so, we come to you on this Friday and we thank you for what you’ve done that is good that we don’t even know about and we thank you for what you are going to do and Lord we bring our needs to you and there’s so many. Needs for wisdom, for the right decision, for the right job, the right relationships. Lord, we come to you and we ask and trust in you ultimately that you would provide for us. Be with our leaders this week-end as they proclaim your word, as they lead us into worship. And Lord, may we repent of our sins and rest in the grace that is ours in Christ Jesus. And would you be honored as we gather together? Thank you for Key Life. Thank you for the time of Q& A now. We commit it to you. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Steve Brown:
Amen. Pete, let’s go to our phone lines.

Caller 1:
Who taught Jesus how to read?

Steve Brown:
Well, that was quick and short.

Pete Alwinson:
Yeah

Steve Brown:
Who taught Jesus how to read?

Pete Alwinson:
You know, was he homeschooled?

Steve Brown:
He was God. He didn’t have to learn. He knew.

Pete Alwinson:
Ah, you know, that’s an interesting point. There is that point in the Gospels about Jesus growing in stature and in wisdom.

Steve Brown:
Favor with God and man.

Pete Alwinson:
Favor with God and man. He had to develop, so he really does, according to Hebrews, he really understands what it’s like to be human.

Steve Brown:
Yeah, he really does. And, but you know the synagogue has always been a place of teaching and parental teaching and the Scriptures speak to that a lot, has always teach your children, remind them, let them remember. So, Jesus knew that. We only know of one place where he wrote anything, and that was with a woman caught in adultery, he wrote on the ground. So, we know he could write. So he, probably from a variety of different sources.

Pete Alwinson:
Yeah. So, what’s the difference between the temple and the synagogue?

Steve Brown:
Well, the temple is the main place. The synagogue is the meeting of place with 12 Jews who make up a congregation that meet away from the temple. And when the temple was destroyed, the synagogue became the central place of meeting, just a meeting place of Jews.

Pete Alwinson:
Like the local church.

Steve Brown:
I guess.

Pete Alwinson:
Spread out all over the place.

Steve Brown:
Although I’m not sure. I’m talking off the top of my head, so I’m not really sure.

Pete Alwinson:
I think you’re right.

Steve Brown:
I think so.

Pete Alwinson:
From my reading, it started during the exile, right?

Steve Brown:
Yes, it did. And as you read the Book of Acts, you find that Paul very often went to the synagogue first.

Pete Alwinson:
That’s right.

Steve Brown:
To the Jews first, and then to the Greeks. And so, we know that it was an established ecclesiastical structure, early on. And a place of learning. Jews have often done that.

Pete Alwinson:
That’s right.

Steve Brown:
It’s been a place of learning and incredible invention and entrepreneurship.

Pete Alwinson:
Oh man. That’s right. I mean, education has been historically from the Jews. I mean, the law, the whole law of Moses, the Holy Torah affected the laws of all ancient civilizations. They’ve always been a learner.

Steve Brown:
This is an email. Are we as Christians called to holiness? And if so, how do we get there? How did you get there?

Pete Alwinson:
You know, the true holiness that I possess is through faith in Christ. And so, I’ve declared, righteous declared sinless through the faith, through faith in Christ. But that becomes a progressive thing that he brings into our life and into our soul. He puts upon conversion, he puts the law in our heart, the Spirit in our life. We have a want to. And as we study the word of God, he brings changes, but it’s a long process, isn’t it?

Steve Brown:
And the process works because of our forgiveness and our redemption and the imputation of Christ’s righteousness. When somebody says, look, I’m not as good as I want to be, but I’m going to get better, they won’t. But if they say I’m not as good as I want to be, and I’m going to run to Jesus because he’ll forgive me. And then you wake up one day, and do you know what the mission statement of Key Life has been for a hundred years?

Getting you and those you love home with radical freedom, infectious joy,

and here it comes, wait for it

surprising faithfulness.

And the faithfulness. Now, a word needs to be said about holiness, too. That means being set apart.

Pete Alwinson:
That’s right.

Steve Brown:
It doesn’t mean not smoking.

Pete Alwinson:
That’s right.

Steve Brown:
I mean, you shouldn’t smoke, but that’s not what it’s talking about. It’s talking about the vessel that is set apart for God’s purpose. And so, holiness isn’t getting better and better in every way every day. That would be sanctification when it happens, but holiness is what we are. We’re set aside. We’re special. We’re different.

Pete Alwinson:
And so, when we think, when those people bring that question up, they’re really talking and thinking about the whole idea of sanctification and growing in righteousness.

Steve Brown:
Yeah.

Pete Alwinson:
More so is what we’re talking about.

Steve Brown:
That’s true. Exactly.

Pete Alwinson:
And we do grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus. And that’s why there’s some disciplines that we do too. There’s things we don’t do and things we do. Discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness.

Steve Brown:
With always the safety net of a God who has already accepted you and forgiven you.

Pete Alwinson:
That’s right. And that’s the, grace is really the biggest energizing power of all sanctification because knowing that I am forgiven completely is what energizes me to want to be better in practice.

Steve Brown:
That’s right. Good stuff. What brings up, this is an e-mail? What causes revival?

Pete Alwinson:
Yeah. Wow. You know, there’s so many, God does. Yeah. That’s the good answer.

Steve Brown:
Maybe the only one.

Pete Alwinson:
I know. Right. And J. Edwin Orr did a lot of studies on.

Steve Brown:
I read his book.

Pete Alwinson:
I mean, there are principles of revival, I suppose, but we, you can never nail God down to it.

Steve Brown:
No, it’s kind of, it can become kind of a, let’s manipulate God into doing a revival for us. And he won’t be manipulated. And I, you know, you read those things that are present in revival, like prayer, seasons of prayer, repentance and those kinds of things. But sometimes they’re going on and we don’t have revival.

Pete Alwinson:
That’s right. That’s right.

Steve Brown:
So, God decides I think. And I’ve asked him, you know, every morning, could you do it again, it’d be a good time right now. We’re in trouble here.

Pete Alwinson:
That’s right. That’s right.

Steve Brown:
I think we’re not far from an awakening in America.

Pete Alwinson:
There needs to be because we’ve reached what appears to be a tipping point of declension or falling off into the pit. I mean, if you feel like our country has gone weird and you’re feeling like you’re crazy, you’re not. Our country’s gone crazy.

Steve Brown:
Yeah, that’s true.

Pete Alwinson:
And we do need a revival or Jesus to come back and clean the whole thing up altogether.

Steve Brown:
You know, I think that the awakening, if we have another one, and I’ve experienced one in the Jesus Revolution. If we have one, it’s going to be different than what we think. You know, there have always been certain signs that are traditional signs of awakening. And I think the new one’s going to be different than that, and it’s going to come from weird people who do it in a different way than we’ve done it all the time. And it’s not going to be a revival of old stuff, old religious stuff. It’s going to be a revival that is brand new, in new wineskins, making a difference in millions of lives. And I think the, I think like AA, you know, you don’t get sober till you can’t. And when you can’t, then you can, and we’re getting that way kind of in our culture.

Pete Alwinson:
Yeah. God has to bring us to the end of ourselves and he knows how to do that. But pray for revival and I think seek holiness yourself.

Steve Brown:
Yeah. Absolutely. That works. What does the Bible teach about cremation? I’ve told you before my wife says when she dies she’s going to be cremated because it’ll be the only time she was ever warm.

Pete Alwinson:
Oh My goodness, I’m not going to go there, but you’re right, I mean, nothing really but what we really ought to ask is, what does the Bible say about resurrection?

Steve Brown:
Yeah.

Pete Alwinson:
And so, we could say, well, the Bible says that resurrection is a miraculous work of God. And so those that are lost at sea are burned in fires or whatever will be miraculously resurrected.

Steve Brown:
That’s true. And so, there’s some denominations that forbid cremation.

Pete Alwinson:
Yeah.

Steve Brown:
But I don’t think the Bible even addresses that particular issue.

Pete Alwinson:
Right. I agree with you.

Steve Brown:
Okay. When I was young, I watched a cremation as a part of my education.

Pete Alwinson:
I bet that was weird.

Steve Brown:
Well, I decided that’s not the way I want it. You know, I want to be there all in one piece.

Pete Alwinson:
Anna wants to be warm and you want to be in one piece. I get that.

Steve Brown:
That works. We’ve got to go. Key Life is a listener supported production of Key Life Network.