Teacher

2 Timothy 2:2

2 Timothy 2:2, And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

2 Timothy 2:24-26, And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, 25 in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, 26 and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.

• Knowledge
• Ability to teach
• Ability to Train
• Identifying the truthful

A kerux is the word for “preacher” in Greek means a herald. A person who ride into town to deliver significant news.

A didaskalos is the Greek word for “teacher” means instructor. Someone who explained or taught something to someone else. Preaching is proclaiming, heralding, and announcing news to people – the gospel – especially (but not exclusively) to those who haven’t heard it before.

Teaching is explaining things about the gospel that people don’t understand and instructing them on how to live in light of it. For thousands of years God has asked and equipped teachers to participate in the work of helping others come to know God and live as people of faith. These teachers and leaders have come in many shapes and forms, from many backgrounds, and with many levels of ability. But each has somehow heard a call to teach and has responded.

You may not even realize that you responded to a call. God is a teacher. We have a God who loves to teach. God has handled us as the consummate teacher would. The patience and teaching of our God is awesome!

We have the Bible because He is inclined to teach. Over centuries.

What patience? We have the lives we do, the faith we do, and the shared calling we do, because our God is patient, with such a tendency and liking to teach. Our God is a teacher at heart. He taught Adam in the garden. Taught Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Through Moses, God taught the people the Torah, the name for the first five books of the Old Testament, means instruction or teaching. Through prophets and kings and scholars as his mouthpieces, God taught His people, and is still teaching.

When God came and lived among us in the person of his Son, He taught. His miraculous works made the people marvel, but He never identified as a healer. His healings were “signs.” They served His teaching. They pointed to His person,

• His words of instruction,
• His parables,

• His Sermon on the Mount,
• His Olivet Discourse.

Jesus is the single greatest teacher the world has ever known, and it is no accident. Because our God loves to teach. He is a teacher at heart. Jesus was a teacher who Taught with Power. The ministry of Jesus began by engaging people in the synagogue as a public teacher. This teaching was an activity open to any layman who was willing to be taught.

The public teaching of Jesus, in the Gospel of Matthew, was surrounded by his healing ministry. During his teaching ministry, Christ also healed the multitudes of every kind of problem. This teaching/healing ministry also addressed the spiritual world of the demons.

In all His teaching and healing exercises, the primary foundational truth that Jesus was promoting was a simple one.

Matthew 4:23-24, And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people. 24 Then His fame went throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all sick people who were afflicted with

various diseases and torments, and those who were demon- possessed, epileptics, and paralytics; and He healed them. Jesus teaching was Unique The Sermon on the Mount is one of the New Testament’s most significant leadership lesson plans.

When Jesus was speaking to this mass of people, He was reflecting upon the group dynamics. Jesus shared lessons that could be understood by adults and children alike. The teaching style of Jesus held the attention of those who heard him.

Matthew 7:28-29, And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, 29 for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. Jesus’ teaching style drew the attention of massive crowds. His style was also one that showed he had authority. Jesus taught everywhere.

The ministry of Jesus was one that covered a variety of territories. Those areas included Galilee, Judea, Samaria, Perea, and Decapolis (“ten cities”). His ministry moved away from His hometown and into other areas due to a lack of faith, trust, and belief in Him.

Gospel of Mark explains it in a much stronger fashion.

Mark 6:1-6,

The Gospel writing Luke also speaks of Jesus’ traveling ministry.

Luke 13:22, And He went through the cities and villages, teaching, and journeying toward Jerusalem. Jesus taught with Compassion. Legalism and living by the letter of the Jewish law were powerfully present during the ministry of Jesus. Compassion took the second place to the law. However, this was not the strategy of Jesus. His mission was one of compassion. Jesus healed a person with withered hands. Mark 3:1-6 Jesus did not separate His compassion from His teaching.

Mark 6:34, And Jesus, when He came out, saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion for them, because they were like sheep not having a shepherd. So He began to teach them many things.

The parables of Jesus are strong examples of how Jesus could teach to the young, simple, and uneducated. His ability to teach was recognized by the highly educated teachers of the first century. Jesus always placed People First.

Jesus always challenged His Followers. One of the repeated commands Jesus told His followers is, “Follow Me”

Luke 9:23, Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. Jesus taught His Disciples to speak to God.

Luke 11:1, Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.”

In the Gospel of Luke and Matthew, Jesus teaches his disciples how they should pray to God. The familiar “Lord’s Prayer” in Matthew 6:9-13. This prayer that Jesus taught his disciples had six foundations to build on

• Honour the God of Creation
• Ask for God’s Kingdom to come to earth
• Request God to supply today’s needs
• Ask to be forgiven with a qualification: As we forgive those who sin against us.
• Direct us away from temptation
• Protect us from evil

The final exam is coming. Our lives here will end if Christ doesn’t first return as Judge. But in the meantime, He continues to teach. Through the teachings of his apostles. Through the faithful, patient, careful teaching of His word through pastor-teachers in the church.

How different is our world and history, and our own lives, and our hope for days to come, because our God is a teacher at heart?

Good teachers don’t issue the final exam on the first day of class. They begin where the students are, and don’t reject them, or demean them, or write them off for their ignorance of a subject they are yet to learn. Rather, they seek to inform them, and change them — to improve and move and advance them — through the work of teaching.

The mentality of a teacher is like that of Priscilla and Aquilla in Ephesus when they discerned an oversight, and error, in the teaching of Apollos. Even though Apollos was already becoming a recognized and celebrated teacher of the faith, they didn’t start by issuing a public judgment on him.

Acts 18:24-28, Now a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man and mighty in the Scriptures, came to Ephesus. 25 This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things of the Lord, though he knew only the baptism of John. 26 So he began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Aquila and Priscilla heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. 27 And when he desired to cross to Achaia, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him; and when he arrived, he greatly helped those who had believed through grace; 28 for he vigorously refuted the Jews publicly, showing from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ.

Rather, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. They demonstrated the heart of a teacher to this up-and- coming teacher. Their patience gave them space to do the work of teaching, rather than rushing to judgment.

Why we Teach? You are called. Read the story of Moses’ call to leadership in Exodus 3:1–4:17. Notice some of Moses’ feelings and concerns that you might have experienced when first asked to teach or lead. God’s call to you may not be as flashy as Moses’ call through a burning bush, but God’s invitation to you and God’s promise of support are just as strong as they were in biblical times.

Like Moses, your first reaction to a call or invitation may have been reluctance or fear. That’s normal. When God gives us a task, it can seem overwhelming, and we may feel ill-equipped. Moses even had the gall to argue with God and pointed out all his own personal shortcomings. God assured Moses that his gifts were sufficient, and that help would arrive when needed.

Like Moses, we can be assured that God will use whatever skills we have and that we will find the help we need to be an impactful teacher or leader. God’s Presence. God does not call us and then leave us alone. As a teacher and spiritual leader, you have the promise that God will be with you.

Story after story in the Bible tells us that God wants to be in relationship with us and to be present for us at all times. God says to Moses "I will be with you,"

Exodus 3:12, So He said, “I will certainly be with you. And this shall be a sign to you that I have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”

When God sends Aaron to assist Moses, God adds, "I will teach you what you shall do".

Exodus 4:15, Now you shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth. And I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and I will teach you what you shall do.

John 14:14-16, If you ask anything in My name, I will do it. v15 “If you love Me, keep My commandments. 16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—

When giving the Great Commission to His followers as He was ascending to heaven, Jesus promised that he would be with them always (Matthew 28:19-20). You can trust that God’s Spirit is present with you in the classroom, enabling you to accomplish things you could not do on your own.

You can also trust that God’s Spirit is guiding the participants in what they hear and where and how they are called to respond. God is already present and working in the lives of the people you lead. God will continue to work within them long after you are no longer around.

God's presence also assumes God's grace.

In church we often hear, sing, and read about the concept of grace. Very simply, grace means God’s loving concern and empowerment for every person. It is this grace that surrounds us, supports us, and helps us lead and teach.

You are not responsible for changing the lives of your students by your teaching. It is the God of grace who does this. You just tell the story of God’s love, and trust God to do the rest. Means of grace are things we do that bring us into contact with God and open the possibility for us to grow closer to God.

1. Teach the Truth

I Timothy 1:5-7, Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith, 6 from which some, having strayed, have turned aside to idle talk, 7 desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm.

The apostle Paul warns that certain people should stop teaching. The doctrines these certain people were teaching were described by Paul as ‘different’.

These doctrines cantered around shallow and speculative imaginings instead of the true Gospel. The men teaching these false doctrines, wanting the prestige and power that comes with being looked upon as teachers, were actually leading people away from the Truth of God.

Not only were they teaching false doctrines but also, they were doing it for selfish reasons. They delivered these false doctrines with an air of authority, as if what they were saying should be accepted without question.

We see much of this type of rhetoric today. Leaders, both secular and religious, who confidently claim to have knowledge others do not have, or they claim to know how everyone should behave or what is best for everyone. However, their only source of authority is their own selfish ego.

We must get back to teaching what the True source of authority, God’s Word, has to say about our priorities and our lifestyles.

2. An Example

The teacher must be an example! In life, and in spiritual commitment. Luke wrote concerning that which Jesus both practiced and taught.

Acts 1:1, The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach,

1 Timothy 4:12, Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity.

But the opposite will bring condemnation.

Titus 2:12, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age,

1 Timothy 5:22, Do not lay hands on anyone hastily, nor share in other people’s sins; keep yourself pure. No one who shows virtually no interest in the lost and known to be worldly needs to be in a teaching capacity.

There are many sincere people who are struggling to overcome such problems, and for this they are to be applauded. One must realize that there is a certain level of

maturity to be achieved before one may assume the revered role of a public teacher of the Scriptures.

1 Peter 5:2-3, Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; 3 nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock;

3. Faithful

A teacher must be sound in his religious convictions. It is important what a man believes. Those who subscribe to false ideas regarding the plan of salvation, the church, worship, the nature of the Bible, and moral issues (e.g., divorce/remarriage) must not be permitted to spread their error.

In view of these requirements, it becomes easier to understand why the inspired writer James admonishes.

James 3:1, My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment.

We must take this responsibility very seriously. The future of the church depends upon its teaching program. Let us attempt to do a more responsible job.

2 Timothy 2:2, And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

4. Pray without ceasing

I Thessalonians 5:17, pray without ceasing, The believer should always rely on the Holy Spirit’s guidance, strength, and wisdom. We must never believe that we have everything so figured out that we no longer need to trust God to superintend our ministries. Christians should bathe every endeavour in pray to our Lord and Saviour.

5. Motives must be right. There are already too many professing Christians teach who do what they do merely to make themselves look good, to seem important, or to gain wealth.

Philippians 2:3, “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves”

The believer should teach others from a humble heart, thankful for the opportunity to be used by God for His glory.

Acts 20:28-31, Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. 29 For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. 30 Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves. 31 Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears.

6. Teacher’s relationship with God should be

right.

1 Peter 3:15, But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defence to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;

This passage does not say that we should charge headlong into an argument, debate, instruction, teaching, or preaching at the drop of a hat, crushing our opponents with our well thought out apologetic rhetoric. Rather, it says that Christ should be the Lord of our hearts at all times.

The Holy Spirit will give us the ability to make our defence in a gentle and respectful manner. 7. Study diligently the word of God. Although this passage may be directed at leaders in the church, it certainly applies to anyone wishing to teach spiritual truths to others.

2 Timothy 2:15, Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. Anyone considering teaching must first be a student of the Bible. This passage tells us that it requires commitment to study God’s Word in order to know it well enough to teach others.

8. Make the Meaning Clear

As we lead a Bible study, it’s important to recognise that there are right answers and wrong answers, and better answers and worse answers. The answer that is right and best, is the answer that makes best sense of the details of the passage in its context.

Carefully reading the contents of the passage involves looking for repeated words and themes, linking words, and the structure or flow of the passage, until we are clear on its meaning. It’s always important to keep in mind the author’s intent.

Bible writers are addressing real people in specific situations. Each passage is included for a specific purpose, so that the readers will make a specific response. This purpose often becomes clear as we consider the context of the passage. What happens before or after?

How is it linked to the rest of the book? How does it fit in the Bible’s overall plan and message? Thus, good leaders will keep pointing their members back to

the Bible, asking questions like

Which verse did you get that from?

How does that fit with the preceding verses?

How does that fit with the author’s intention? What should you do when someone’s answer is clearly wrong? 9. Teachers are not infallible.

God is infallible! We are not. There are certain essential truths in the Bible that are non- negotiable. However, there are other verses, passages, and portions of Scripture for which there may be more than one interpretation.

We must leave room for honest differences of opinion amongst Christian brothers and sisters. There may be something that we have not understood properly. Leave room for other views as long as they do not contradict clear biblical teaching.

Conclusion

To be a teacher of God’s Word is a lofty and honourable undertaking. However, anyone embarking on such a journey must meet some prerequisites. One must be a committed follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. No one is able to correctly interpret the Word of God if he or she is not dedicated to Him and His glory.

In addition, the man or woman who desires to teach the Bible must have a deep love for God’s Word. The prospective teacher must believe that everything to live a godly life is contained within the pages of God’s written message to humanity.

The teacher should be convinced enough of that fact that he or she patterns his or her life on its precepts and desires to see others do the same. The teacher must never forget the Person behind the message. We must never get so caught up in teaching a particular view or favourite doctrine that we forget we are saved because Jesus paid for our sins on a cross.

Salvation is not based on the accumulation of knowledge. Saving faith is not based on what we know but it is based on whom we know.