Curriculum in this context is a syllabus, but it is bigger than that, a syllabus is in the curriculum. We are familiar with our educational system, when you want a child to grow up to become something, or someone, to become an expert at a knowledge, what you do is to create a curriculum of that thing for that child. For example, in Nigeria we have the 6-3-3-4 system of educational progression, where there is a curriculum for the 6 for the 3 for the other 3 and for the 4. The 6 being the elementary phase, what they simply do from what I have gathered from my own knowledge of going to school which I don't remember very clearly but from my daughters own I am getting more insight.
Now in my daughters class in the primary section, they are doing about 15 different subjects. Basic science, social studies, English, maths, verbal reasoning etc. These subjects they are doing is not haphazard, they just don't feel like she is a six year old girl she should just do all those things. But they intentionally crafted those things into a curriculum, because by the time she's leaving primary school, there is a particular foundational or elementary knowledge that she must be leaving with, haven acquired it.
So when we are talking about, curriculum I am going to give us four working definitions that we would be using this morning.
- Curriculum consist of the road map or the guideline. Let us notice these 3 words (road map, or guideline of any discipline).
- A curriculum, is the totality of student experiences that occur in the educational process.
Now if you see this definition, it is not experience but experiences, so it is more than one. The totality of it is the curriculum, the curriculum is crafted for students experience, the first definition made us to understand that a curriculum is a road map or a guideline to a specific discipline. Our second definition emphasized on student experiences. Let us see number 3 definition.
3. It talks about the courses offered by an educational institution.
So what we want to pick there is institution. The first word was road map and guideline, the second one is that it gives student experiences, and in our third definition we want to pick institution. So a curriculum is the courses offered by an educational institution. We are going to do a lot of basic understanding before we go on so that we understand when we are talking about curriculum, what does it mean? The fourth definition says:
- Curriculum is the total learning experience of the individual .
What we want to pick from this forth definition, is learning experience. In our definition number one we say curriculum is the road map, or the guild line of any given discipline, and our emphasis from there is that we want to look at what is the road map? We want to look at what is the guideline of a believer? from our number two definition, we want to look at the totality of the experience of a believer which is embedded in the curriculum. We want to look at the institution that crafted the road map, that crafted the guild line that leads to an experience for a believer. and number four we want to look at learning that takes place for believers.
This morning we will start our observation from Romans 15. The word curriculum has been broken down, now let us see through the Scriptures what the Lord has prepared as a curriculum for every believer. Romans 15:4 and the Bible says in New King James Version. For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.
Curriculums are usually written and documented. The Bible is saying to us, for whatever things were written whatever things that were used as our curriculum, as our syllabus as believers before, were written for our learning. Do we see it? It is written for our learning, so in the curriculum of a believer, it takes the believer through a learning experience. But it doesn't just take you through a learning experience without an end, without a goal, without an achievement, it says that we through the patience we have such a big curriculum, but for us to be able to go through the curriculum we require patience and comfort of the Scriptures i.e. the written word, the written curriculum called the Scriptures, might have hope, my experience at the end of the day is hope. (that we might obtain hope, that we might have hope).
Now this morning there is so much I would love to read, but because of our time, I am going to dwell on certain Scriptures so that we can zero in on them. And I will call other Scriptures for us to make references. We want to see what God did to build a curriculum for a believer, and what is the implication of this curriculum. We want to look at what God did to build that curriculum for every citizen of the kingdom. And what is the implication of that curriculum for every believer?
I want us to start by looking at Genesis 1:26-28 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Did we see what God did? It says and "God said let us" So when God was building His curriculum for every man, the first thing God did was that He described His vision, His focus, and His objectives. God did not just design His curriculum haphazardly. God started by describing His vision, what do I want this person to become? who do I want him to become? what do I want him to be doing? So the first thing God did in building a curriculum for man, is that He described His vision, and focus. He said see number one, I am making you in my image, I am making you in my likeness. And in all of these objectives, is so that you can have dominion.
That's the focus, that's the end result, that's the hope remember where we read in Romans 15:4 everything that was written in the Scriptures is written down for our learning so that through patience and the comfort of the Scriptures we might have hope. Hope in what? Hope in the focus, vision and in the objectives that God has laid down for you and I, which is embedded in the curriculum of God.
So God designed the curriculum of your life and my life with His vision, focus and objectives clear. So we are not confused about who we will become. We are not confused about what we will learn, we are not confused about why we need to learn what is there. For example if you see a student going through medical school from year one they will start taking courses in the sciences, and from other departments and faculties. From year one it seems as if they don't know what they are doing, they start to take courses here and there building foundation. When God is taking you through that, it is not a waste of time, because He knows who you must become.
So when God is taking you through the elementary, I remember in Hebrew 5:12. I want us to see it quickly, because apostle Paul explained some of those things there. Hebrews 5:12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. It says by now you ought to become teachers, because through your learning experience, that is whom you should have become. The curriculum that you have passed through should make you to become teachers but you are still going back. It is just like a medical doctor who should have been performing surgery that is still learning anatomy. You are now going back to understand the human body, understand why the eyes and the nose function the way it functions.
I remember I was going through one of the subjects of my daughter and they were teaching them the sense organs, imagine a medical doctor that is already given or expected to be performing at a higher degree because of the curriculum that he has gone through, then he is now going back to primary school to learn about sense organs is it not an aberration? These are the issues here, it says; "for though by this time", Curriculum is always finished in time, and it is designed for time. By this time, when you are supposed to be convocating, you are still matriculating, there is a problem. it said; you ought to be teachers, you should have graduated, you should have convocated at this time, But need someone to tutor you again when you see "again" that means something have happened before.
They have been though this principles before, but again they still require somebody to teach them. and it says and you have come to need milk not want, there are sometimes when you want something, that's not your actual need. it says you still need milk. and not solid food. can you see there is a difference? You still need milk because you are still in the elementary class, not solid foot. You think you need and you want solid food but what you actually need is milk.
You need to go back to the basics. And I want us to read this Scripture down even to chapter six from verse 1 down to verse 6. Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, 2 of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. 3 And this we will do if God permits.4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.
It says for everyone who partakes only of milk, whose curriculum is only elementary, whose curriculum is only basic is unskilled, he has not gone through the ropes. That person is not processed, the institution of God, that person has not gone through it. You are still at the elementary phase, it's just like somebody that is supposed to go for a 5 year course and is still in year one and he thinks by the virtue of number of the years he has spent in the institution called the university, that he is supposed to be in year four or five and they are saying no you have failed too many courses you need to go back and retake them even though in your mind you are in year four and you are supposed to be doing SSE 401, you have failed 101, 201, 301 we can't allow you to take 401 until you pass 101 that's what the Bible is saying here, you want solid food, you want to take 401 but you have not passed 101, you can't move. Because of the number of time you have spent in the university, four years by your calculations you are supposed to be in year four, but by your learning, you are still in year one. That's what the Bible is saying, you are unskilled in your word of righteousness, you have not gone through and the Bible is saying here, that "for he is a babe" he is still a child. The curriculum of God is set in such a way that it is your learning, your result, and your experiences, that's why we keep focusing on experiences. your experiences, It is your experiential knowledge that scales you through, not the chronological time, that you have spent the class.
So you may have been born again for five to six years, if you don't have an experiential knowledge of the word of God, you cannot move. It is not enough to quote John 3:16, in the curriculum of God, the totality of your experiences is what makes for the curriculum and it has to be in line with Gods vision, Gods focus and Gods objectives. You can't design a curriculum for yourself. God has designed the curriculum afore time in Genesis 1:26-28, who you should be, who you should become and what you should do.
So if you are not in line with this curriculum, you cannot move. Until you are in God's image, until you are according to Gods likeness, you cannot have dominion. Gods vision is for you to walk in dominion, but how do you walk in dominion? by being in His image, by being according to His likeness and until you become that, you cannot have dominion. Let us use a lay man example, what God is saying is; until you go through medical school, go through the university, study medicine and surgery, until you go through houseman ship, God is saying I will not allow you handle the life of another, you won't attend to any patient, you won't have to work in the hospital. What makes dominion for a doctor, is that he becomes such a consultant that can start treating people, that can start operating people, but God will not allow you to near the operating table, until you go through.
So it is not enough for you to say I have spent five years, I have been born again since 1991, until the cumulative totality of your experience, and your learning takes you through the curriculum of God you cannot have dominion, you cannot have what God has envisioned for you. So child of God, the vision of God for you, as many as we are about 6 to 7 billion on the earth and increasing, and by 2,100 statistically the world population would have increased to about 10 billion or more. As much as we are increasing, there is a curriculum of God for each and every one of us. There is a general curriculum, there is a specific curriculum. If you go to the department of medicine or whatever they call it, if you are going to become an optician, you want to become a surgeon, you want to become a dentist, there is still a general thing all of you must go through maybe from year one to year two or three, when you get to year three all of you will start specializing until you become. When you are specializing in dentistry, you cannot become a surgeon. When you are specializing as an optometry, you cannot become a dentist.
That is the way the curriculum has been fabricated, it is the curriculum that you go through that you become. God has a curriculum for each and every one of us. We first go through the general and we are going to see that they will start going through the specifics. Verse 14 of that Hebrews 5 But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of ]use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
Did we see that? Full age until we are matured. Those that by the reason of use. Did you see that word? By experience, learning experience, have their senses exercised, they have gone through test they have gone through examinations and they have passed. Child of God don't tell me that there is something God has prepared for you and you have not gone through a test or an examination to prove that you understand what God is saying.
For Adam God gave him an instruction, you must not eat of the tree that is of the midst of the garden. Tend the garden of Eden, tend and keep it and when the examination was going to come, the devil came to test the learning experience of Adam, he said to His wife, has God said? and Eve failed.
Listen to Podcast: The Curriculum of A Believer
Jesus when He was going to start His ministry, His exam came, He was led to think, it was hell that the Holy Spirit led Him into the wilderness at such a time when He knew that the devil was around. It was because it was His test, the devil came to test His knowledge, to test His learning experience, do you understand what God told you? and he came to Him and said turn this stone into bread. And He said man must not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes out of the mouth of God.
Jesus moved to another stage, and He was tested, and he said you know what, just bow to me and I will give all these glories, and Jesus replied, you shall worship no one but the Lord God. And He started passing from phase to phase. Do you think God skipped the process for His Son? if He did not skip the process for His Son why do you think He will skip it for you? Jesus went through the complete curriculum, no wonder God left all the judgement for Him. He said judge them based on the curriculum you went through. That is why you will see that no judge preside on the of another country. For you to be a judge in Nigeria you have to be a Nigerian because the same constitution must bind us.
A judge in USA no matter how influential and powerful he is, cannot come and judge cases in Nigeria because we don't operate in the same constitution. So Jesus is qualified, that's what the Bible said concerning Him. He is worthy, worthy is the lamb that was slain when you use the word worthy what does it mean? It means the person is qualified. So Jesus is qualified by reason of His experience, He went through the curriculum just like you are going through it, and He came out successfully. The Bible says He was tempted in every way yet without sin.
He went through the curriculum, His learning experience was complete. He said concerning Himself, the prince of this word came, he came to test Me, He came to examine Me, He came to consider Me, and he found nothing in Me. What he found in Me is God, My experiences is God, because what I will become is God. God said let us make man in our image according to our likeness just the way we are let them operate in the same manner, let them become and let them have dominion. So our curriculum is specially designed, by the description of Gods vision, His focus and His objectives. I want us to move quickly, it says by reason of use having their senses exercised, to discern both good and evil.
Hebrews 6:1 Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God. Do you see it? elementary principles, basics by now you should have moved into your life's assignment and purpose, why are you feeding with year one and year three issues. You can't graduate like that. You can't graduate on elementary principles we are still looking at the elementary principles of Christ let us go on. Do we see the challenge? Let us go on, let us go forward, God told the children of Israel you have dwelt on this mount for too long, tell the children of Israel let them go forward. And that is the same thing God is telling us this morning, on this curriculum issue, graduate and move from one level to another, enough of staying on this elementary principles of Christ let us go on to perfection, let us graduate, let us come out with flying colours, let us pass all our exams and our tests, let us move on to perfection.
And you can't move on to perfection if you have not passed. Not laying the foundation from repentance to dead works and of faith towards God, if you want to understand the elementary principles, you can check out our message on the evening Bible school, where we dwelt with those elementary things. if you can understand them then you can go on. If you don't understand them you can't go on. "of doctrine of baptism" this is all the courses we take together, until we start going into specifics, "of laying on of hands, of resurrection from the dead, and of eternal judgement and these we will do if God permits. For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened and have tasted the heavenly gift and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit". I want us to pause a little on this verse. It says it is "impossible", let us not dwell in the impossibility, but it is saying here that when you go through the principles, when you go through the process, the curriculum, it said you will become enlightened, it said you will taste heavenly gifts and you will become partaker of the Holy Spirit. But he is now saying another thing there, he said it is impossible for those that have tasted the God word of God and the powers of the age to come if they fall away per chance, that is why drop outs are dangerous, when you see a believer that drops out, they are dangerous species.
It says if they fall away to renew them again to repentance, to make them come back to school is difficult, it is usually impossible since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God and put Him to an open shame. That is when they will start to say what are we doing self? have I not been there? Half baked Christians, believers that have not moved to perfection. Drop outs are dangerous. To have them back is difficult simply because they have tasted, they have seen. What is the Bible saying to us? You can't taste and want to go back, haven gone through the curriculum, you can't want to go back to ignorance and darkness, you can't want to go back to a time when you knew nothing, imagine yourself now maybe a graduate of a higher institution, is there any time you wish you were in year one, back to your ignorance when you knew nothing you won't wish it.
But for somebody that the Lord has given to a reprobate mind that goes back, their case is a sorry case. But what is the Lord saying to us? There is a curriculum, after we have gone through to the basics, God now starts to take us through the specifics, and I want us to see example of Apostle Paul from Galatians 1 we will real from verse 11. Apostle Paul, when he encountered God, he encountered Jesus on his way to Damascus, and he started working with God and there are certain things he said about his journey. And he said But I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. My curriculum I did not receive it from man.
This is a curriculum that God designed, He described His vision to me and if we want the references, go back to Acts and see How God described the specific assignment of Paul to him. He said I did not receive it from man, it was not according to man. Verse 12, For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ. Did you see? The curriculum is; there is a learning experience that must occur, you must be taught. Nor was I taught it, it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ. When God was designing His curriculum, after He described to us His vision, His focus and His objectives, God started developing experiences to meet His objectives. God had His objectives clear and He started designing and developing experiences. He said in the garden of Eden, they lost it, for them to become all that I want them to be they must have me back.
That is why the Bible says that; for God so love the world that He gave. In building this experience, God had to give up, His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him shall perish but have everlasting life. So we now have God back into our lives via the sacrifice of Jesus. What was God doing, God is reconnecting us back to His objectives because if you don't become born again, you cannot remain in His image and according His likeness. And if you are not made according to His image and likeness you cannot have dominion which is the vision of God for every man. So God connected us back through Jesus He developed an experience for us in Christ that helps us to reach the vision of God.
The dominion that we all crave for is in Christ, the curriculum that God has designed for that experience is Christ. Christ in us the hope of glory. Until we come into Christ we cannot get into the experience of our dominion. And let me go on. Verse 13-16 For you have heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it. 14 And I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers.15 But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, 16 to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood. What is the vision for God for me? that I might become a means through which the Gentiles receive salvation, So God created a curriculum for me that was outside those that had a massage to the Jews.
And he said I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem because those in Jerusalem had an assignment to the Jews to those who were apostle before me but I went to Arabia and returned again to Damascus then after 3 years I went down to Jerusalem to see Peter but I remained with him fifteen days but I saw no other apostle except James the Lords brother. What happened was that there was a curriculum, there was a special assignment. If God was going to raise you to become what no man has become before that means you don't have a teacher in the flesh, If God is going to raise you to start an assignment to go on a mission that nobody has gone before, you have no teacher in the flesh. Apostle Paul said I did not confer with flesh and blood because flesh and blood did not have a curriculum that is required for my assignment. So there was a curriculum that God designed. So when he said I went to Arabia, he didn't say I went to a man in Arabia. God separated him for three years.
Three years going through thorough study. A learning experience that the world has not yet recovered from. He gave himself up to that experience because if he had a message to the Jews maybe God would have sent him to Peter and James but he had a message to the Gentiles , a set of people that have not been reached before, an assignment that had not been done before. The only one that could teach him was Jesus. So a specific curriculum was designed for Him. When he came back, if you read on he said when they spoke to me the only thing I picked from them is that you should be giving to the poor which thing I also love to do. So their curriculum was not relevant for me, when you are undergoing the elementary principles, you will be in a large class you will see so many people, but when you come to the point where you need the specifics God will isolate you. And you will undergo a curriculum specially designed by God for you. So that you become the man for your assignment. When God is speaking to you about what you need to do in a general class, understand that He is only preparing you. Sooner than you expect when His elementary phase is over, you are moving into the specifics, and what happens when you go into the specifics?
When you are in elementary class, you can be consulting your colleague, you can say I read a Scripture about this what do you think? and you share together. Those are the elementary things, talk about baptism, laying on of hands, you talk about eternity but when it comes to going down into the specifics, it is you and God. When Moses was to receive an assignment from God, what did God do? God allowed him to walk far away from the noise and the distractions, and he came to a place and God delivered his assignment. So much so that God testified it when He was speaking with Aaron and Miriam, He said if there is anyone among you a prophet I speak to you in vision and dreams but Moses that carries on a specific assignment for Me I speak to Him as a man speak to His friend, Face to face.
So if it is the specific assignment for your life, God will take you to a place of isolation like Paul, where what you are receiving from Him is direct. It is just like you want to create an image you start by drawing the sketch, you put it little by little but by the time you go fully into what you are trying to make, you will now start to put colours, and by the time you are putting colours into that image, that image will now start to look like something. When you are making the sketch is it not looking like what you trying to make? That is when God is taking you through the elementary, the sketch of your life is coming up, when you get to the specific and God starts to put colour on you, you will start to look like the image that He has framed. So what God does is that He delivers experiences, and the experiences that God developed to form the objectives in our lives is Christ. He said we should all come to the fullness of Christ.
When God built His curriculum, God collects materials. God starts giving you examples of people, that He has worked with. you will start seeing a picture, not in fullness, the only person that you can see yourself fully in is Christ. but when God collects materials, that is when He will use Scriptures like, look at your father Abraham I called him alone and I blessed him alone. All these things are part of your learning experiences. He will ask you go and study a character, Paul, peter, Elijah, john, they are not the real thing they are shadows. So God collects materials and use them as examples so that you have a glimpse, you have an idea of where He is taking you to, and who He is making you to become.
God locks down on the specifics of your task. In Genesis 2:16-17 when God forms the man, God puts Him in the garden of Eden then God gave an assignment, tend and keep this garden. God started locking down on the specifics. when he was in Genesis 1:26 He was still talking about His vision, His focus and His objectives, then God started looking out on specifics, in that this is what I want you to do for Me.
God develops methods, plans, and processes. The method that God will use for A is different from one He will use for B. When Peter was going to have encounter with God to go to Cornelius, Gods method was a trance, and he started seeing sheet coming down and he started saying this is an unclean thing I can't. But when Paul started to hear the Macedonian call, was it the same method? No! but for the two of them God was sending them to a place right? but was it the same methods? No! So God develops plans, methods and processes in His curriculum. That is why you cannot use my curriculum for your life. When God starts locking down on specifics you cannot download, my own curriculum and want to use it to become who God wants you to be it cannot work. The best you can become is a photocopy of me. Because in the design of God that curriculum is suited for me. And that is why at a point Lot could no longer carry on with Abraham.
Lot kept tagging along until there was a rift and he was asked to choose his own side let me go my way. The Bible says Lot is a righteous man, that means he was a man that loved God, Abraham was a righteous man, He was a man that loved God. From when Lot chose His own side, was there any record of an encounter, a covenant, a visitation? except he just need to rescue him. But for Abraham, when he went to the site, the Bible records that God appeared to Him and cut a covenant with him. It is a show that he is in the curriculum for His life.
God creates your experience. For Elijah God created His experience, when he was in the cave and he was eating from the ravens and drinking from the Brook that experience was not created by man, it was God. For Elisha he did not have to go to the brook, even though he carried a double portion of the anointing, for Elijah he had to go to Zeraphath to a widow, Elisha's provision came from a woman that had her husband, even though Elisha carried a double portion of Elijah's anointing, their experiences where different, because their curriculum is different. So God creates for His experience in His curriculum. each and every one of has an experience specific road map or guild line in Gods curriculum. for Every believer, we all come to God from the same entrance and we journey together with the elementary principles and when we become teachers, when we become established, when we move on, God starts to give us our specifics.
And when God starts to give us our specific and when we move, in the direction of our specifics, they will now become all that God wants us to be. God is dynamic God was not going to show Himself on the earth through you the same way He wants to show it through me. As we are differen, there are different sides of God. So He has a curriculum for you, child of God go through it. And the curriculum that God has instituted for our experience is Christ Jesus. Run into Him, and say God I am ready for all the experiences, whatever experience you have for my life I am ready to go through, every believer has a tailor made specific curriculum designed by God for him/her and it is only in God that we can have access. No man can give you access, they only can give you access into their own curriculum, yours is unique and different.
