We continue our Message Series on the Word of God. Our key passage for this Message Series is 2 Timothy 3:16-17. Open your Bibles there and read along with me again, 2 Timothy 3:16-17….. And so, what is the Word of God good for? The Word of God is good for making people do good! What is the Word of God good for? The Word of God is good for making us do good! Do we really think about doing good everyday? I know I need to work on this more.
How does Scripture make us good? We noted first of all that all Scriptures (both Old and New Testament) are words from God who is always good! We humans were created in God’s image and we are meant to do good! Everyday, we must think about the goodness of God and that we imitate God’s goodness!
And so, God has given us instructions for us to do good and God has translated and protected His Word for us today! We must study God’s Word to do good and the next step is to teach others God’s Word so they too will do good! How good is our world today? We have a lot of work to do don’t we?
All Scriptures is God-breathed and is useful for teaching! How important is it to teach God’s Word? Do we want people around us to do good? Only by the studying and the teaching of the Bible can people do good! Why is society getting into all sorts of troubles? – We have taken away the simplicity of the 10 Commandments from public teaching! And the Great Commission from Jesus Christ to His Followers is Matthew 28:19-20.. 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.”
And so, we need to note…Not only are we to study God’s Word,
1. God commands us to teach His Word to people!
If we use a concordance to search the Bible for the words “teach and teaching”, we will find 100 verses in the Old Testament and also about the same amount int the New Testament. God has a lot to say about teaching; and let us note, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God; and so, we can actually say that faith comes by being taught the Word of God. The Word of God must be taught for faith and salvation comes by faith which comes from what God says!
And so, we are told to teach and what to teach, but who are we to teach and how should we teach?
There are many verses which tells us who we are to teach and how we are to teach, but I believe we can summarize the answers to those by listening to Chapter 2 of the Letter to Titus. Please turn to Titus 2 and read along with me…
And so, who are we to teach? We note in Titus 2, the following need to be taught: older men, older women, young women, young men, and slaves (in other words workers).
We also noted from the Great Commission that when Christians make disciples, they are to teach them God’s Word; and in the Old Testament, an emphasis is given to teaching children. And so, what does this all mean? It pretty much mean, everyone is to be taught God’s Word! However, we must also consider many Scriptures stating that there are many people who have unteachable spirits. The Bible is to be taught to everyone but there will be people who just don’t want to be taught!
2. Christians are to teach those they are responsible for and anyone else willing to be taught! God gives responsibility to many to teach at church and at home!
Now, we know we are teach God’s Word and we must always look for opportunities to teach God’s Word, but is there a certain way God wants us to teach?
3. How does God want us to teach His Word?
From the Great Commission and many other Scriptures about the gifting of the Holy Spirit, when teaching, we are to: a. yield and depend on the power and presence of the Triune God! (Exodus 35:34, Matt. 28:20, 1 Corinthians 12, Ephesians 4, others). And so, pray before teaching to yield all to God!
And look again at Titus 2:7-8….And so, when we teach…
b. be an example (be careful of hypocrisy); this can be a problem to many of us; make sure you focus on God speaking, not your own wisdom or philosophy when teaching.
c. show integrity and take teaching seriously so that no one maligns us (Titus 2:7-8)
Remember that when we are teaching God’s Word, we are representing God!
Let us apply what we just learned. Let us take time to pray and consider how God is calling us to teach.
1. Pray for a right heart with God; confess sins to Jesus, yield to the Holy Spirit, pray for the glory of Christ! Remember that when we are teaching God’s Word, we are representing God!
2. Who are you responsible for to teach God’s Word?
3. Who are people you think God has placed in your life who may be hungry for God’s Word (relative, church family member, friends, coworkers)?
4. Now, for each one of the people God has placed in your life to teach, write up a plan on how you will teach them (approach, communication, time, place, what will you teach?).
5. It is God’s will that we teach someone; pray for God’s will to happen in your life.
