Post by MIRIAM JACOB on Nov 2, 2007 5:21:36 GMT -5
BE TEACHERS OF THE WORD
For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil (Heb. 5:12-14).
A former pastor of mine (as well as my boss, since I was serving on the church staff at the time) was famous for reminding us that one of our primary jobs as believers was to train ourselves out of a job. In other words, we were to be busy discipling others to follow in our footsteps and to extend the ministry far beyond anything we ourselves could ever reach.
Sounds reasonable. But I wonder how much of us are really busy doing that. As a communicator, I need to be teaching and discipling and mentoring others to effectively communicate the Word of God—even if it means working myself out of a job. I find that difficult and more than slightly threatening at times. What if I so effectively train someone that their abilities to write and teach exceed my own? What if their fame and renown soars above mine and they get the speaking invitations and book contracts—and I don’t?
Is it any different in other professions or areas of ministry? Of course not. If we have walked with the Lord for any length of time, we should be mature believers by now who care more about extending God’s Kingdom than our own. Should. Ah, that’s the problem. We know what we should do, but are we doing it? Can God trust us enough to plop that perfect ministry opportunity into our lap and then whisper to us to pass it on to someone else? Can He rest in the fact that if He tells us to initiate a relationship between two individuals—even if it means we will get left out of the loop—we will gratefully and humbly follow through?
If you’re not sure, good. That’s an honest response. We all know we should do those things, and, for the most part, we want to. So why is it that we so often resist it?
Maybe we’re just not as mature yet as we’d like to think we are. Here’s a test: Romans 6:11 instructs us to “reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” What does that mean except that we should not react to temptation in the same way as we did before God’s Spirit took up residence within us? Before you were born again, how did you react if someone hurt your feelings? No doubt you took offense, as we all did. But now that you are born again, do you still take offense? If so, you aren’t reckoning yourself dead because dead people take no offense. Dead people do not defend themselves or jockey for position or pass along tidbits of gossip. If you don’t believe me, the next time you go to a funeral, go up to the coffin, look down at the corpse, and say, “Your mother wears Army boots.” I guarantee you, that dead person is not going to rise up out of there and punch you in the nose.
Likewise, that should be our response when someone says or does something to offend us. Should. If it isn’t, maybe we need to ask God to help us move beyond the “spiritual baby” stage of our Christian walk and replace the milk with meat, to move beyond focusing on ourselves and start focusing on discipling others for the Kingdom. It’s wonderful to be saved from hell and know that Jesus died for us and we will spend eternity in heaven. In fact, there is no better news to be heard, and may we never stop proclaiming it! But may we not stop there. May we be willing to become mature believers, dedicated to raising up true disciples—disciplined ones who gladly follow in the footsteps of Jesus down the lonely path to Golgotha, to the cross where they will lay down their lives for others, not only to see them saved but to disciple them to take their place. And how can we effectively train others to do that unless we ourselves are modeling such a life?
The sixteenth-century Christian martyr Rowland Taylor said it this way, showing that he understood the need to give his life away for the glory of God and in service to others: “God will raise up teachers after me who will teach His people with more diligence and fruit than I have done.” He could say this with confidence because he was a mature believer who had already given his life to teach and train others in the faith. Giving his body to be burned was simply putting the ribbon on the package.
(C) KATHI MACIAS.
www.kathimacias.com
For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil (Heb. 5:12-14).
A former pastor of mine (as well as my boss, since I was serving on the church staff at the time) was famous for reminding us that one of our primary jobs as believers was to train ourselves out of a job. In other words, we were to be busy discipling others to follow in our footsteps and to extend the ministry far beyond anything we ourselves could ever reach.
Sounds reasonable. But I wonder how much of us are really busy doing that. As a communicator, I need to be teaching and discipling and mentoring others to effectively communicate the Word of God—even if it means working myself out of a job. I find that difficult and more than slightly threatening at times. What if I so effectively train someone that their abilities to write and teach exceed my own? What if their fame and renown soars above mine and they get the speaking invitations and book contracts—and I don’t?
Is it any different in other professions or areas of ministry? Of course not. If we have walked with the Lord for any length of time, we should be mature believers by now who care more about extending God’s Kingdom than our own. Should. Ah, that’s the problem. We know what we should do, but are we doing it? Can God trust us enough to plop that perfect ministry opportunity into our lap and then whisper to us to pass it on to someone else? Can He rest in the fact that if He tells us to initiate a relationship between two individuals—even if it means we will get left out of the loop—we will gratefully and humbly follow through?
If you’re not sure, good. That’s an honest response. We all know we should do those things, and, for the most part, we want to. So why is it that we so often resist it?
Maybe we’re just not as mature yet as we’d like to think we are. Here’s a test: Romans 6:11 instructs us to “reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” What does that mean except that we should not react to temptation in the same way as we did before God’s Spirit took up residence within us? Before you were born again, how did you react if someone hurt your feelings? No doubt you took offense, as we all did. But now that you are born again, do you still take offense? If so, you aren’t reckoning yourself dead because dead people take no offense. Dead people do not defend themselves or jockey for position or pass along tidbits of gossip. If you don’t believe me, the next time you go to a funeral, go up to the coffin, look down at the corpse, and say, “Your mother wears Army boots.” I guarantee you, that dead person is not going to rise up out of there and punch you in the nose.
Likewise, that should be our response when someone says or does something to offend us. Should. If it isn’t, maybe we need to ask God to help us move beyond the “spiritual baby” stage of our Christian walk and replace the milk with meat, to move beyond focusing on ourselves and start focusing on discipling others for the Kingdom. It’s wonderful to be saved from hell and know that Jesus died for us and we will spend eternity in heaven. In fact, there is no better news to be heard, and may we never stop proclaiming it! But may we not stop there. May we be willing to become mature believers, dedicated to raising up true disciples—disciplined ones who gladly follow in the footsteps of Jesus down the lonely path to Golgotha, to the cross where they will lay down their lives for others, not only to see them saved but to disciple them to take their place. And how can we effectively train others to do that unless we ourselves are modeling such a life?
The sixteenth-century Christian martyr Rowland Taylor said it this way, showing that he understood the need to give his life away for the glory of God and in service to others: “God will raise up teachers after me who will teach His people with more diligence and fruit than I have done.” He could say this with confidence because he was a mature believer who had already given his life to teach and train others in the faith. Giving his body to be burned was simply putting the ribbon on the package.
(C) KATHI MACIAS.
www.kathimacias.com