Apt to Teach

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There is a need, and we shouldn’t take it for granted. There needs to be a clear mindedness about us that doesn’t just sort of drift in the name of being led by the Spirit into being irresponsible. The Spirit is not irresponsible. Jesus said, “Go into every nation and MAKE disciples.” There is a forcefulness to it. “Baptize them, teach them to obey everything I commanded you” (Matt. 28:19-20). There is a forcefulness to it all. We refer to that as the great commission. Certainly, we need to take those words in their most clear and straightforward sense and realize that to go and teach is something that He has called us to do.

About an hour ago I was curious and went through the computer looking at this word “teach.”

“At daybreak they entered the temple courts and began to teach the people.” Acts 5:21

“We gave you strict orders not to teach in His name.” Acts 5:28

“They have been informed that you teach all the Jews that live amongst the Gentiles.” Acts 21:21

“If your gift is serving, let him serve. If it is teaching, let him teach.” Rom. 12:7

“For this reason, I am sending to you Timothy, my son whom I love. He is faithful in the Lord and will remind you of my way in Christ Jesus which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church.” 1 Cor. 4:17

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom.” Col. 3:16

1 Timothy 3 speaks of those that are overseers. This is an important thing to understand, that to be an overseer, to be one that is responsible in God’s house, one of the qualifications is that they be apt, or able, to teach. Apt implying anxious to do so, desirous of doing so. Able to teach, implying skillful in that process, having given it some thought. “Considering how we might spur one another on to love and good works” as the Hebrews writer said. There is a considering process to be able to teach or apt to teach. We’ve got to know why we’re doing it and how important it is and then give some thought to the process of teaching.

This theme of teaching comes out again and again. 1 Timothy 4, “Command and teach these things.”

“These are the things that you are to teach and urge upon them.” Titus 2:15

“These things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will be qualified to teach others.” (2 Tim 2:2) That was Paul speaking to Timothy, speaking of a generational handing down of this process of teaching.

I think you’d have to admit that you have been well taught over the years through the various environments that you have been in and situations that God has blessed you in. The things that have been entrusted to you -- reliable men and women -- those things aren’t meant to be an end in themselves. You are meant to be a channel to teach others the things that you’ve been taught.

If you were to sit down with a piece of paper and write down all the things that ten years ago you had no concept of that were in God’s heart and God’s mind, I think that you’d have to admit that you have been greatly enriched by God. And a reliable man or woman, a faithful vessel of God, is going to in turn teach others.

Now if you’re not clear in your mind about those things that have been entrusted to you, it’s not going to be a clear motivation in your mind of how to go about the process of teaching others. You’re going to rely on, “I bounce into so-and-so, and I say something and that’s about it.” Just these cheap interactions basically with no follow through. “Go into every nation, teach.” That sounds a lot more like an intentional, purposed thing, as the other scriptures we’ve been reading too. “Teach and rebuke with all authority.” Tit. 2:15

These are purposeful things that Paul, through the Holy Spirit, is commissioning and engaging reliable men and women in the process of: “Go and teach. Go and teach.” And I want to pass that commission on to you guys that this isn’t just about kind of bouncing off life. But there’s a process that has to be clear in our mind, that “man does not live by bread alone.” Inside the House of God, as well as outside the House of God, there’s a process that Jesus, the Master Teacher, has left upon us as an instruction, as His expressed will, and that is to “Go and teach.”

Now, there’s nothing that you would ever teach that wouldn’t require a little bit of thought, a little bit of preparation, a little bit of clarity, of the synchronization of it all. If I’m going to teach algebra, I’m going to start with a certain process and build up to it. If they don’t understand what positive and negative numbers are, if they don’t understand what variables are, if they don’t understand certain elementary aspects of math, I can’t teach algebra.

So built into the concept of teaching, is somewhat of a synchronization or a developmental process. You do it with your children when you’re teaching them words and teaching them a vocabulary. You allow certain grammar problems in the early stages. You are so tickled that they could even pronounce mommy and daddy, and so the process is a building one. In time what used to be cute of, “DaDa” is now, “No, say ‘Daddy.’” And you begin to instruct them to a deeper level of incorporating the English language into their way of thinking. It’s not cute when they get to be 15 to mispronounce things left and right or have bad grammar. So, you begin to help in that process.

The same is true with teaching. There is a commitment involved and it starts some place, and it proceeds in a reasonable way. It’s not just an exhortation. If I exhort you, I might touch something in you. I might admonish you in some certain way that affects your heart, that affects your motivation. I might stir something in you to act on a particular principle of God of which you are already aware.

There is a difference between admonishing and exhorting versus teaching. I can rebuke you and there may be some teaching involved, but what I am doing is addressing a specific issue. If I exhort you, I might stir you to action in a certain particular way about a certain subject, and there is some teaching value to that. But teaching in and of itself implies a progressive instruction in a way of Godliness, in a way of truth, in a way of thinking, of understanding. It can’t be a big splash. An exhortation can be a splash. A rebuke can be a splash. But teaching can very seldom be a splash. It’s a process, it’s a commitment. Just as it is with our children.

If you’re going to go into every nation and teach, if you’re going to feed God’s lambs from the words that are proceeding from the mouth of God, there’s got to be a commitment behind it and a reasonable way of thinking to see the needs and to build, and to build, and to build until you’ve brought them into a maturity of understanding. It’s not just a series of splashes, a prophetic knock on the head. It’s a process of commitment and building from the ground up to accomplish a particular goal that God would have for them in that area.