"Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we shall incur a stricter judgment." James 3:1

The Need for Teaching

But the Lord has also given teachers to His church (Eph 4:11) and it is partly through them that the Holy Spirit performs His work of teaching us. Also, it is not only those who are teachers who are to be able to teach, but the Lord insists that elders must be able to teach (1 Tim 3:2) and that, in fact, everyone who would be a bond-servant of the Lord must be able to teach (2 Tim 2:24). It is no more acceptable for an elder to be unable to teach than it is for an elder to be "addicted to wine". It is no more acceptable for someone claiming to be the Lord's bond-servant to be unable to teach than it is for them to be "impatient when wronged".

The Need for Biblical Teaching

James 3:1 makes it clear that teaching the Lord's people is a serious responsibility with serious consequences. Our teaching will be carefully evaluated by the perfect Teacher. Let us therefore consider what the Bible has to say about teaching the people of God.

No doubt there will be those who read this that have far more teaching practice and ability than the author, but thankfully we will not be looking to the author's practice or ability for our standard. Let us look instead at the perfect word of God.

What Teaching is Not

1. Teaching is not preaching. We know this from verses like 1 Tim 6:2 where Timothy was told to "teach and preach" certain principles. Or Luke 20:1 where we are told that the Lord Jesus was teaching and preaching.

Preaching is proclaiming God's word. It may be done to believers by boldly exhorting them regarding living the Christian life (eg. 1 Tim 6:2), or to unbelievers by proclaiming the gospel to them (eg. Luke 20:1).

Teaching is more the idea of explaining God's word. So whereas both teaching and preaching appeal to the minds and hearts of men, teaching is more of an appeal to the mind and preaching is more of an appeal to the heart. Of course the basis for both is the word of God.

We can all have our preferences for the type of speaking which we personally enjoy best. What we have to be careful about is to make sure that we don't impose our personal preferences on the ministry of others. Specifically, that we don't expect, pressure or demand teachers to be preachers or vice versa.

2. Teaching is not reminding. There is a place for reminding God's people of truths which they already know, particularly when they are not obeying them. But if our "teaching" is limited to merely repeating truths which the vast majority of our listeners have known for decades, we are not really teaching.

This places a large responsibility on the shoulders of anyone who would presume to teach. We must be people who study our Bibles enough to have something from the Bible to say that is new to our listeners, otherwise (by definition) we are not teaching them.

I sometimes fear that the elimination of about a dozen chapters from our Bibles (Ex 12; Ps 23; Isa 53; Jn 3; Php 2; Rev 4-5, 19, etc.) would effectively silence many men not only when they are presuming to teach, but also at the breaking of bread.

If we are characteristically repeating the same truths over and over again, whatever we are doing, it is not teaching.

3. Biblical teaching need not be "expository." (No doubt my life ends here.) Regrettably there are an increasing number of Christians who are propagating the idea that the best (and only real) type of preaching is expository preaching. Frequently they make this claim smugly and patronizingly.

The fact that there is not one example of expository preaching in the New Testament and only one in the Old Testament would mean that, according to these people, Christ, the apostles and the prophets didn't know how to teach.

Please don't misunderstand. We don't mean to criticize expository teaching. But we do mean to criticize the attitude that says all other teaching is second-rate.

What Teaching Should Be

Our teaching should be to the end of building up, encouraging, challenging and comforting God's people.

2. Teaching should be "original." "I am against the prophets ... who steal My words from each other" (Jer 23:30). There is a place for the inclusion of things we've learned from others in our messages, but we must be careful to be honest and responsible. We must be honest and upright when passing on things which we have learned from others. The temptation can be very strong to pass on "impressive" points as if they were our own.

What we pass on to others must be primarily what the Lord has given us through our own Bible study and prayer. If our messages are largely made up of thoughts from others (tapes, books, etc.) we are being lazy, dishonest workers. Even unbelievers know that plagiarism is wrong.

3. Teaching should be fresh. Not only must we not copy the work of others, but neither must we copy our own work. We should not rest on our laurels. To keep recycling our own thoughts or messages is a sure way to stale, powerless speaking, and it also keeps us from learning new truths.

For instance, if we are guided to give a message on the same topic as we have before, we had better be sure to put in just as much time, prayer, study and effort as we did the first time. We might come up with a message that is substantially the same, but at least it will be fresh. When we bake bread we may use the same ingredients each time, but it makes a lot of difference whether we bake all our bread one week and live off those loaves for the rest of our lives, or if we bake our bread fresh each week.

4. Teaching requires preparation. A healthy, vibrant personal spiritual life is a must. "If they had stood in My council, then they would have announced My words to My people" (Jer 23:22) Without serious Bible study on our own part, we have nothing to share with others.

We ought not to expect our messages to affect those who hear any more deeply than they have affected us. So if we have hastily prepared (or grabbed an old message), the message may be in our minds but it will have hardly have affected our hearts. In that case we ought not to be surprised if it only gets into the minds of our listeners.

5. Teaching must be Bible-based. A message is only authoritative in so far as it comes from the word of God (eg. Titus 2:15). Jeremiah 23:16 roundly condemns those who preach anything other than that which has come from the Lord's mouth. Psalm 19:7-8; 2 Tim 3:17 tell us that the Bible is sufficient in all matters of doctrine or practice.

There is no place for man's knowledge, ideas, wisdom or traditions in the teaching of God's word. Our messages must be taken completely from God's perfect word. "To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn" (Isa 8:20).

6. We must teach the whole purpose of God. Since "all Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness" (2 Tim 3:16) all Scripture should be taught. This includes teaching the uncomfortable and difficult sections of the Bible. Paul could say that he was innocent of the blood of all men because he did not shrink from declaring the whole purpose of God (Ac 20:26f).

We might mention that this also means that the Old Testament should be thoroughly studied and taught. The Lord Jesus and the apostles quoted and referred to the Old Testament constantly. And it is the basis for much of our understanding of the New Testament (eg. Mt 19:4f; 1 Cor 11:8f; Rom 4).

7. Teaching must be Christ-centred. Although mentioned last and although each of the other points are necessities, this one point stands pre-eminent. The origin, subject, centre and goal of our teaching must be the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the truth (Jn 14:6; Eph 4:20-21) and therefore every aspect of truth is inseparably linked to Him. If Christ is incidental to our message, we are wasting our time, our listeners' time and the Lord's time. If we do not lift up Christ in what we say, no good is done. All of God's plans for time (Eph 1:10) and eternity (Eph 3:11) are summed up in Him.

The Bible has been given to us to teach us about Him (Luke 24:27; Jn 5:39). Therefore if we claim to speak about the Bible and do not concentrate on Christ, we have missed the point.

The Lord Jesus is the Word of God (Jn 1:1,14; Heb 4:12-13; Rev 19:13). A message which is not about Him is a message which is not about the word of God and is not worthy of a believer's time.

In Closing

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