Ken Smitherman, President, Association of Christian Schools International (retired 2009)
Every once in a while it is good for us all to sit back and evaluate what we are doing and why we are doing it. This concept is no less important for families who are investing in Christian schooling for their children—an investment that for many involves more than money. The Christian school is often a less convenient choice than the local government school. It may require special transportation, and most often it calls for a commitment of time and energy that far exceeds the expectations of the local government school. Yet, you have chosen Christian schooling. I believe that your decision—the more difficult path for the education of your children—will reap benefits and rewards far beyond your investment of money, time, energy, and perhaps inconvenience.
There is a biblical account in the second chapter of Mark where Jesus is questioned about why He and His disciples are not fasting. In this particular situation Jesus explains some of the facets of the gospel as contrasted with Old Testament law, which diligent Jews for centuries had attempted to live by. As Jesus teaches His listeners, He sandwiches a little story within the greater story, and this little story is the analogy of a wineskin.
During this New Testament era, animal skins were sewn hair-side out to create a bottle or container for wine. Over time and use the skins would be stretched to their maximum and would begin to harden so that they were no longer flexible. It was common knowledge that you did not pour new unfermented wine into a hardened old wineskin because if you did, the skin would burst as the new wine went through its process of fermenting and expanding.
Jesus used this analogy to explain that the gospel was like new wine and the hearts and minds of His listeners were like old wineskins—aged, stretched, and made inflexible by their understanding of Old Testament law and their attempts to live by it. What He was teaching was that until there was a change of heart and mind, they would not be able to accept the new wine—the gospel.
“A person who is prepared and capable of responding to the situations of life in ways that are ‘good and right’ is a person whose soul is in order, under the direction of a well kept heart, in turn under the direction of God.” —Dallas Willard, Renovation of the Heart
With that background in mind, think about your decision to provide Christian schooling for your child. For just a moment, think of the heart and mind of your precious child as a “new wineskin”—unhardened, tender, flexible, stretchable, and ready to receive “new wine.” Both the “new wine”—the Christian worldview—and the container are ready. The earlier the process of Christian schooling begins, the greater the tenderness and flexibility of your child’s heart and mind.
You have been granted an awesome responsibility. And you have been provided with a place, your Christian school, where the development of a Christian worldview has the opportunity to go through its stretching and expanding process—nurturing in your child a godly understanding of who he is. Teaching from a Christian worldview places the focus on your child’s relationship to God and responsibility to others, and gives a biblical understanding of God’s provision for humankind. This “new wine,” this Christian worldview, is nurtured and developed in surroundings where the emphasis is on intellectual development through the academic subjects integrated within a biblical framework. Students are taught and nurtured faithfully and diligently by men and women who are followers of Jesus Christ.
And so, I would suggest that your decision to provide Christian schooling for your child is not only right but powerful for time and eternity.
New Wine New Wineskin 34.1