To teach is to touch a life forever.
"A good teacher is like a candle - it consumes itself to light the way for others."
“And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others.” (2 Timothy 2:2)
According to Homer's Odyssey, when King Odysseus went off to fight in the Trojan War, he left his son Telemachus in the hands of a wise old man named Mentor. Mentor was charged with the task of teaching the young man wisdom. More than 2,000 years after Homer, a French scholar and theologian by the name of François Fénelon adapted the story of Telemachus in a novel titled Télémaque. In it he enlarged the character of Mentor. The word mentor soon came to mean "a wise and responsible tutor"—an experienced person, who advises, guides, teaches, inspires, challenges, corrects, and serves as a model. In Second Timothy 2:2 Apostle Paul describes spiritual mentoring, and the Bible gives us many examples. Timothy had Paul; Mark had Barnabas; Joshua had Moses; Elisha had Elijah.
The purpose of this sermon is to present a set of basic Biblical principles that define the consecrated responsibilities of parents, believers, preachers and teachers in their role as mentors. The intent of this teaching is not to provide comprehensive rules, or a systematic code of conduct, but rather to describe ways in which God’s sacred call can be exercised in a responsible manner. The question is What Am I Passing On?-to the next generation? What are you leaving them as a tribute to the years that you have spent here on earth? And does that legacy have eternal implication? Present generations who comes to know the Lord are followed by other generations whose hearts have become careless and insensitive to the Lord. Will you consider becoming one whom God can use as an instrument to impart scripture knowledge and Godly wisdom to help others grow toward perfection? The success of our next generation, whether it be the church, our family or our nation, depends on how faithful we obey our God by training others with the glorious gospel truths of Christ in such a way that they passionately, devotedly teach others in the Holy Spirit.
Bible says “Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; And His greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall praise Your works to another, And shall declare Your mighty acts.” (Psalm 145:3-4)In psalm 48:12-14 we see that Israelites are instructed to "Walk about Zion, and go all around her. Count her towers; Mark well her bulwarks; Consider her palaces; that you may tell it to the generation following. For this is God, Our God forever and ever; He will be our guide Even to death." Just as the Israelites needed to know exactly how everything was to be in Zion so that they could pass the information on to the next generation, the older generation of today needs to know exactly how things are to be in the church in order to pass that information on to the next generation. With the passing of each generation, knowledge, values and even faith are handed down from the older to the younger. Paul thanked God for the "genuine faith" of Timothy, which he says, "dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also" “2 Timothy 1:5
Many students of church history are familiar with the story of Susanna Wesley, who counted John and Charles among her nineteen children, only nine of whom lived to adulthood. Susanna was said to have prayed for her children two hours a day, along with teaching them their basic school subjects. She was well-prepared to care for and lead her large family. She herself was the daughter of a well-known minister, the youngest of his twenty-five children. Susanna benefited from a godly home and passed the heritage onto her children. Although his Christian heritage probably did not span as many years as that of the Wesley’s, Timothy also benefited from a godly home. His mother and grandmother, Eunice and Lois, are two largely unsung heroines of the Bible. The importance of a godly mother's role in the life of a child cannot be overemphasized. Think of Timothy, for example, the young man the apostle Paul considered his spiritual son and a valuable partner in ministry. In his second letter to him, Paul recalled how Timothy had been influenced by "the genuine faith" of his grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice (2 Timothy 1:5). God used two generations of loving mothers to prepare Timothy for the crucial work he would have in spreading the gospel and establishing congregations of believers in Christ.
Before we examine the text, let me point out that transferring values to next generation is applicable on several levels. The primary application is parents to children, pastors to believers, leaders to followers and teachers to students. Our task is to hand off God’s truth to other faithful men, who will be able to teach others also. But the text also applies to every Christian in every relationship with other Christians. Christian husbands must hand off the truth that God teaches them to their wives. While the husband is responsible to shepherd his family, the communication is not just one way. Wives also must share with their husbands the truth that God teaches them. Parents are responsible to entrust the truth to their children. More mature believers must see their responsibility to impart biblical truth to younger believers.
All of us who know Christ are responsible to share the gospel with those who are lost, so that they may be saved. The idea is that if God has entrusted any truth from His Word to you, it is not to make you feel good and then keep it to yourself. He gives it to you so that you will pass it on to others. Keep in mind that second Timothy chapter 2 verse 2 follows and is built on the truth of verse 1. To entrust God’s truth to others, you must be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. With that as a foundation, What Paul is saying here is that Timothy has been given something that is valuable and that needs to be protected. It's a deposit - something that one person has placed in trust to another person's safekeeping. And Timothy, Paul says, is to protect it, keep watch over it, and with God's help ensure that it's kept safe. In other words, it's something that's in danger of being lost if it's not protected.
What exactly is he talking about? Paul tells us. In 1:13 and 14, he calls it “What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus. Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you—guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.”In 2:2 he calls it "the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses." Paul is talking about the message that he's entrusted to Timothy. He's talking about the glorious gospel itself. It's exactly what Paul mentioned in chapter 1:8-10:
So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God, who has saved us and called us to a holy life--not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.
This is the good deposit we've received, and Paul says: protect it. Guard it, teach others. It's too valuable to lose. The message is that God has saved us and called us to a holy life. He has done this not because of anything we have done, but because of his own purpose and grace. It's not because we merit it or deserve it. It's simply because of God's grace. God's purpose and grace were given before the beginning of time, but have been revealed through Jesus who destroyed death by his death and has brought life and immortality to light through the good news of what he has accomplished at the cross. This is the good news for which Paul was willing to die.
This is the good news that has been entrusted to Timothy that must be protected. By implication, this is what we are always in danger of losing. The danger we face is gospel attrition. As one person puts it:
You don't need much more than a cursory scan of history to see that solid Christian institution can easily lose the truth of the gospel if they are not attentive. Losing the gospel doesn't happen all at once; it's more like a four-generation process.
The gospel is accepted
The gospel is assumed
The gospel is confused
The gospel is lost
It is tragic for any generation to lose the gospel. But, as Philip Jensen says, the generation that assumes the gospel is the generation most responsible for the loss of the gospel. So this is one of the most important things we must do as a church: Paul says safeguard the truth and preach it and entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others. The apostle Paul also commanded his son in the gospel, Timothy, in 2 Timothy 2:15 “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.”
What Paul says is Timothy your character, your attitude and your Integrity is your success. A study attributed to Harvard University found that when a person gets a job, 85% of the time it is because of their attitude, and only 15% of the time because of how smart they are and how many facts and figures they know. Attitude is the most important word in the English language. It applies to every sphere of life, including one's personal and professional life. Can a Christian be a good Christian without a good attitude? Can a leader be a good leader without a good attitude? Can a student be a good student without a good attitude? Can a parent, teacher, salesman, employer, employee be good in their roles without a good attitude? The foundation of success regardless of your chosen field is attitude. So Paul says Timothy “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.”
Now a Subject on teaching cannot be complete without asking some questions about the qualities that make for excellence in learning. What are the qualities that make an educational institution or a teacher stand out among others? How do students learn to appreciate education, not just in order to pass exams but to develop their knowledge, skill, attitude and aptitude to the full potential? No one has yet fully realized the wealth of capacity hidden in the soul of a child. Therefore the effort of every true education should be to unlock that treasure.
The human soul is like a seed, which has all the potential to become a fruitful tree. No farmer needs to give any information to a seed about how to become a tree. The only thing a farmer can do is to create the right environment and provide right enhancement, so that the seed can safely grow and become a fully mature and fruitful tree.
Similarly, the role of a teacher is to create right environment and give right encouragement, confidence, inspiration and appreciation to their students, so that they are able to discover their true potential and become themselves. Each and every person is born with particular purpose and gifts from God and those specific qualities need to be identified, nurtured and refine ; whereas, our society and education system, almost ignores the purpose of each individual and cancel their specific gifts and qualities. What education is determined to achieve is to fill the minds of children with right information. Thus, teaching becomes much more challenging and important than learning. A strong, moral, refine and discipline mentor or teacher is the safeguard to a nation's life and future.
What is true education? Intellectual education influences the head and values based education influences the heart. In fact, education that does not train the heart can be dangerous. If we want to build character in our church, offices, homes and society, we must teach the Biblical truth, values and ethics. Education that builds fundamental traits of character--such as righteousness, integrity, honesty, compassion, courage, persistence and accountability--is absolutely essential. We don't need more academic education; we need more Godly values. A person who is Godly and morally sound will be a lot better equipped to move up in life or succeed than a morally bankrupt person with excellent academic qualifications.
