Rev. David Holwick D We Are Gifted, #4
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
February 8, 2009
1 Corinthians 12:28a
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I. Teaching makes an impact.
A. His profession matched his name.
His name was Mentor, which is a pretty good name for a
teacher.
He was born in 1800 in Kentucky.
In 1830 Graham Mentor gave a young man the only higher education
he would ever get.
Mentor taught him math, English and surveying.
More importantly, he loaned him his personal books.
The student developed a love of reading that served him well.
The student's name was Abraham Lincoln.
2009 is the 200th anniversary of his birth.
Whom are you mentoring?
Whose life have you influenced this week?
Perhaps there is a "Lincoln" out there who is longing for
someone who will take an interest in them.
-- to challenge them to make something of their life.
Mentoring other people is one of the best gifts you can give.
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B. Teaching is at the center of the church.
1) Jesus is addressed as teacher (Rabbi) about 40 times.
a) He taught in houses, from boats, and on mountains.
b) He taught with an authority no one else had.
2) In the New Testament, teaching is one of the highest gifts.
a) Three different passages mention the gift of teaching.
b) In the early church, teachers were valued above prophets.
c) Almost all the leaders were considered teachers.
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3) There is a sense in which every believer is a teacher.
a) Maybe not formally, but we are all passing on knowledge.
b) Some Christians have a special divine gift of teaching
1> Those who have the gift can make a huge impact.
II. Christianity is a teaching religion.
A. Our faith has content.
1) Eastern religions and New Age philosophies de-emphasize
the mind.
The classic image of yoga is you tie yourself into a
pretzel and say "ummmmm."
The goal is to empty your mind of thoughts.
2) But Christianity is built upon certain intellectual
content.
That's why the Bible says, "You shall love the Lord your God
with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind."
And that's why Romans 12:2 calls us to be transformed by
the renewing of our minds.
3) Anyone who takes away the intellectual content of our faith
has in reality taken away Christianity itself.
B. Anti-intellectualism is a dead-end.
1) Many in the church are infected by it.
Tonight we will have a group discussion of the popular
Christian novel "The Shack."
It's about a broken man who encounters God in an abandoned
house.
It is a literal encounter - God the Father is a large
black woman, the Spirit is a thin Asian woman and
Jesus is a klutzy carpenter.
At one point the man says he now understands that everything
he learned at seminary was basically all wrong.
Now I don't defend seminary just because I spent tens of
thousands of dollars to go to one.
But I do defend the idea that disciplined study about God
and the faith is not a waste of time.
It made me respect experts in these matters.
Interestingly, even the author of "The Shack" shows that he
has done some serious study about the nature of the Trinity.
Even if you have no special education, value teaching.
2) Maybe I am all alone in this.
Our generation stresses feelings and emotions over facts
and ideas.
We would rather feel good than study hard.
And even when we come to church, we judge the effectiveness
of the service by how it makes us feel.
Experience is in, and doctrine is out.
That's why so many Christians just love Jesus but don't have
a clue of what he is really about.
III. Christian teaching is a lot more than passing on facts.
A. A working definition of the gift of teaching:
Ray Pritchard:
"It is the special ability to study the Bible and communicate
its contents in a clear and accurate fashion so that others
can understand what the Bible says and how to apply it
to life."
B. Christian teachers should try to build character.
1) Help your students make godly moral choices in life.
a) They need to know what is right.
b) They then need to choose what is right.
2) It helps when you get to know them on a personal level.
a) A 30-minute lesson can only go so far.
b) If you want to have an impact on someone, find out
what concerns and inspires them.
3) Teachers need to watch their own character, too.
a) Being godly is more important than being right.
b) How much time do you spend each week on personal growth?
C. Christian teachers should try to build spirituality.
1) We want our students to have a relationship with God.
a) This is a lot more than knowing some Bible stories.
b) Have your students accepted Jesus as their Savior?
c) Teacher Henry Adams said, "a teacher affects eternity;
he can never tell where his influence stops."
2) Teach with passion so they will be passionate themselves.
a) Paul Gibbs leads an organization that tries to reach
young people and integrate them into the church.
He says that what our kids are going to catch from us
is not what we believe, but what we are passionate
about.
b) When students look at your life, what will they see
YOU are passionate about?
3) Teach with compassion, looking past their faults and
weaknesses to see their potential in Christ.
IV. Opportunities to use the gift of teaching.
A. Youth groups.
1) Our BYF is probably our most effective evangelism tool.
2) We teach them in classrooms, at retreats, and music
festivals.
3) Not everyone can reach young people effectively.
a) I remember two guys who volunteered to teach my
high school Sunday School class.
b) They were so sincere. But they had no idea what they
were doing.
c) If you have an idea, get involved.
B. Sunday School.
1) This is our classic learning environment in church.
a) But it is actually a fairly recent innovation - they
started about 200 years ago.
(The church has been around for 2,000 years)
b) In the past it focused on children, but now our adult
classes make up half the school.
2) To see if God has gifted you, try teaching a class.
a) You will learn the Bible much better yourself if you
have to teach it to someone else.
C. Public schools?
We have several public school teachers in our church.
They cannot teach the Bible like they could in S.S.
But it is amazing how often opportunities arise where
spirituality can stick its head in.
One of our teachers sent me this email a few days ago:
"I have a new student in my class named Robin.
He is the size of a peanut and wears big glasses.
One of my other students started to talk about age and Robin
shared that some people in the Bible lived to be 200.
I told him that it was difficult to measure years during
biblical times and 200 years might be an exaggeration.
"God love him, he put me in my place by saying that the Bible
is the word of God and he can trust it to be the truth.
All of the other students agreed with him.
They made me so happy for the rest of the day.
[Cheryl Provence-VanHorn]
V. Is Jesus more than a teacher to you?
Part of what it means to be saved is admitting that you need
salvation; you can't save yourself.
Jesus Christ is the Savior you need.
As long as you cling to your own good works as your hope for
Heaven, Jesus is not your Savior.
To be saved by Jesus means to stop trying to save yourself.
When you finally give up on yourself and say, "Lord, I'm a
sinner and I know it," in that moment you have begun to
understand genuine salvation.
So it comes down to this.
Is Jesus your Savior?
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Several of the ideas in this sermon were borrowed from Dr. Ray Pritchard's
"My Favorite Teacher," (Kerux sermon #26736), preached at Calvary Memorial
Church in Oak Park, Illinois, on April 22, 1990. Keep Believing Ministries:
http://www.calvarymemorial.com/
SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
# 1300 "Prophecy and Teaching: What's the Difference?," by Wayne A. Grudem,
Christianity Today magazine, September 16, 1988, p. 34.
#21737 "Abraham Lincoln's Teacher," by Tom Barnard, Preaching Now newsletter,
www.preaching.com, May 15, 2007.
These and 30,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be
downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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