TEACHING

TEACHING

Nevertheless, the one who receives instruction in the word should share all good things with their instructor. —Galatians 6:1-10

And so this is how it has been from the time of Jesus gave the commands to —- “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20). The normal process of spiritual growth comes because “the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others” (II Timothy 2:2). It is important that those who have trusted Jesus to have reliable men who are able to teach them. Those responding to the gospel should be “Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation” (I Peter 2:2). But they surely better have reliable men who themselves have been discipled to disciple them. Otherwise they open themselves up to false teaching.

One evidence of a faithful teacher is the “fruit” they produce. At the Concord State Prison there are those who seek after new believers to suck them into their false systems. The babe in Christ needs “milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil” (Hebrews 5:12-14). Because the infant in Christ doesn’t understand “the teaching about righteousness” false teachers are able to confuse them. These false teachers encourage the infant in Christ that their teaching is a teaching that only they or their group has. They claim to have insight more than anyone else and their “fruit” they produce is arrogance and a self-righteousness cloaked in Christianize. These infants in Christ did not have the “elementary truths of God’s Word” taught to them and so they are prime targets for Satan’s lies.

Look at the fruit of one who professes Christ. What is their life like? Are they servants? Are they involved in discipleship relationships? Are they teachable? Is their authority the Word of God? Do they believe in the Jesus revealed in God’s Word? Are they self-focused or others-focused? Are they involved in a local church? Or… are they resistant to these things?

Father I am so grateful to know You and Jesus Christ who You sent. May I be faithful in teaching Your Word, teaching for application, in whatever circumstance You put me in. Oh, that I would grow in this by the power of Your Holy Spirit and in the authority of Jesus. May it be so. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zaaiFp4RSM