Teacher

“I have told of my ways, and You have answered me; Teach me Your statutes” (Psalm 119:26).

Teachers are very important in every aspect of life. Just think how ineffective you would be in life if there was no one able to teach you. How effective could you be in your work if there was no training for your position? You could not be good at what you do without an example to follow or a person to show you the ways of your occupation. And what about parenting? If we do not have good examples to follow we are not going to be very good parents ourselves. And in our spiritual life if we do not have an example we are the blind leading the blind. We need good teachers to show us how to follow Jesus. Paul encouraged the church to follow his example: “Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1). Paul’s words show that if we want to be good teachers we need to be great followers of the Example that is in Christ.

The world is full of people who can teach. But what makes a good teacher in the Lord’s kingdom is someone who is humble enough to be taught: “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me…” (Matthew 11:29). God is looking for people who will take His yoke so they can teach His way and not the ways of the world. This kind of teacher is born of a different seed: “[F]or you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God” (1 Peter 1:23). God has made His abundant life available to His church through their faith in His plan. They have dedicated their lives to becoming the person that God wants them to be and have died to the old ways to be molded by the “logic” of God. When this decision is solidified in the hearts and minds of the individual it is made evident to the people around them: “[S]o that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world” (Philippians 1:27). God’s church teaches the world by being taught by God.

To teach God’s word we must not only take Jesus’ yoke upon us, but we must also learn what He teaches. Have you ever wondered why there are so many different beliefs in the world even though in Ephesians 4:1-4 God states that there is only one faith? The reason for this is as simple to the faithful believer as first grade arithmetic is to a rocket scientist. Not many in this world are humble enough to accept the fact that we as humans do not have the ability to know God’s way: “I know, O LORD, that a man's way is not in himself, Nor is it in a man who walks to direct his steps” (Jeremiah 10:23). Mankind has a great desire, maybe even a lust, to be independent. Although this is an achievement in the physical life it is a mistake in our spiritual walk with God. He dressed His love in flesh and sent Him to earth so we could learn two things. One is to know how to love and the other is to know how to be loved: “We love, because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19). If we are going to be teachers of God’s way then we first need to learn His love.

Teaching is not just the ability to get facts out to others, but it is being able to teach others how to use effectively what is being taught. As the Lord’s church we must be willing to learn from Jesus as He totally dedicated His life to fulfilling His Father’s will. And when we say totally dedicated we mean there were no limits to His willingness to follow God: “Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:8). It has been said that God only had one Son and He was a teacher. He taught us by being obedient (Hebrews 5:8-9). Let us be eager to learn all we can about the true Person of the Christ so we can avoid the false teachings that entrap the souls of the world.

In His Grace,
Cub