Teacher

The Teacher

JOH 3:2 The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.

• Translation
• Teach versus Preach
• Jesus the Teacher
• What should we teach
• Vain teaching
• The Holy Spirit's teaching

Translation

didaskalos = an instructor

For many years I have been involved in SCUBA diving, first as a diver and later as an instructor. As a diver all I had to do was obey the rules and enjoy the diving.[file:///G:/My Web Sites/MaartensPRO/webpulpit/photogallery/photo00020093/real.htm]

But, as I trained further, I got to the stage where I received the Rescue Diver qualification. This placed more responsibility on me, because if somebody in the team got into trouble, it would now be my job to assist them and get them to safety.

Then, at last, I became an instructor. Everybody on the instructor's course are highly qualified and skilled divers. What they teach you in this course is how to teach beginners. Every student gets the opportunity to play the role of instructor, and all the other candidates are instructed to purposely make some mistake to see if the "instructor" can spot the mistake.

The basic idea here is that the same material is taught over and over again until it becomes second nature.

After the student qualifies as an instructor, the certificate is hanged against the wall and everybody is very happy. This certificate comes from a very specific institute, and you are not allowed to teach any other material as the material you are instructed to use. You cannot use your own methods of teaching. The certification institution gives you the specific methods you need to use in order to ensure the safety of the students. You are only allowed to add to the course your own experiences and lessons learnt.

The reality of this newly obtained certification strikes the next time the newly qualified instructor goes for a relaxing dive with friends. Because he / she is the instructor, he / she suddenly has to take responsibility for everything that happens on that dive site - whether the other divers are a part of his team or not.

So it happened that divers went diving in the Western Cape. One of the divers made a mistake and went too deep for too long. He got the bends, but the instructor got the blame! This person was put in a decompression chamber, but was so badly hurt that he will never be able to dive again!

Anybody that knows more than that diver knows, can teach him, act as a teacher. But this does not make this person an instructor. An instructor is somebody that went through the school of life, qualified and was appointed by the representing authority (Jesus Christ) as a teacher.

The marks of a teacher is that he or she sometimes uncovers things from the Bible that other people just seem to miss. They don't read books about Revelation and then teach others on Revelation, they get their messages directly from God. The Holy Spirit explained it to me like this: "First you sit down and I will serve you. Then you go and serve My people the way I served you". (I do not think it is necessary at this point of this course to reiterate that this new teaching has to be in line with the Word of God, that should be clear to everybody reading this by now)

There are not many teachers in the body of Christ, but there are many people who teach others just because they know more than the others do. There is nothing wrong with that. But you cannot attend a Bible School and then, just because you know more than the others, think that you have qualified as a teacher.

Even worse: There are people who specialise in psychology and then try and become teachers in the body of Christ, making the whole thing a man made thing, having the looks of Christianity but denying the power of it with statements like:

"Yes, the person is dead, but he / she is now completely healed in heaven. So you see, your prayer really worked"

Or even worse: "It is God's will that you suffer like this, because it teaches you humility" or some other lame excuse  for lacking the power of God.

Fact: Jesus came so that we might have life and have it in abundance. He paid for our sins and through His stripes we are healed. You do not need a doctors degree to translate this. It is not psychological. Jesus did not suffer psychological, He suffered real pain.

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Teach versus Preach

ACT 28:31 Preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him.

Preach = kerusso, kay-roos-so which means to herald (as a public crier), proclaim, publish

Whereas the Teacher teaches the students the basics as well as the intricacies of the new kingdom, the Preacher publishes the wonderful works that God has done. Like the Bible says: We have overcome Satan by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony".

Preaching proclaims what God has done and stirs up our hopes. We become on fire for God and have very high hopes for Jesus to do miracles in our midst.

Then the Teacher comes and explains why it is not normal for you to be sick or poor, and then give you the knowledge to fight off the attacks from the devil that is trying his best to keep you poor and sick.

"My people perish because of a lack of knowledge" The Teacher provides this knowledge.

Too many people play the roles of teachers in the body of Christ and get everybody totally confused. These teachers go through life, pray for things and, if it does not work, try and wiggle their way out of the fact that they did not have enough faith and try and put the blame on others (You did not have faith) or even worse, on God (God did not want to heal you or give you some more money, possessions etc.).

You can immediately recognize whether Teachers are welcome in a church or not. The church leadership who is too lazy to or cannot hear from God, sets up programs in the church. This program has a fixed structure so that everything is nicely in order and nobody will rock the boat. Everything is nicely in order - just like in a graveyard.

In this type of church teachers are not very welcome, as they tend to teach the whole truth - including those parts that you are not comfortable with. A church who believes in baby baptism will never allow a teacher to explain why baby baptism is not Biblical - as an example.

Instead, we should listen to what this Pastor / Evangelist / Teacher / Apostle / Prophet has to say, judge that based on Biblical principles and then decide whether this person has been appointed by God or not.

One pastor arrogantly announced in his church that if God wanted to speak to the leadership, He would use one of the leaders and not somebody from the outside or even from within the congregation! This is the first step to becoming a traditional church. 

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Jesus the Teacher

MAT 21:23 And when he was come into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came unto him as he was teaching, and said, By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this authority?

The same thing is happening today. Before churches are prepared to listen to somebody, they always want to hear who appointed them or gave them the authority. Yes, I know we get a lot of flakes out there, but if we learn to listen to the Spirit and obey, we will be much more successful than making use of our mini me's to teach us new things from God.

In any case, if a "teacher" teaches in your congregation, it is still the body of Christ that needs to decide whether this teaching is actually from God or not.

Have you ever thought why the chief priests, elders etc. asked Him this question? They wanted to know who gave Jesus the authority to proclaim what He just proclaimed. Then Jesus must have said something that really shocked them, don't you think?

Let us have a look at why these people were so shocked at the teachings of Jesus, so shocked that they asked Him who gave Him the authority to teach this:

MAT 21:21 Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done.
22 And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.

Yes, it was because Jesus pronounced that we could get anything we asked for that made these people think. But Jesus knew that they did not ask the question because they really wanted to know the answer. He knew that they asked Him because they thought He would not be able to answer this question. Not one of them ever saw Jesus in any of their Bible Schools or seminaries.

That is why Jesus decided to answer them in the manner He did:

MAT 21:24 And Jesus answered and said unto them, I also will ask you one thing, which if ye tell me, I in like wise will tell you by what authority I do these things.
25 The baptism of John, whence was it? from heaven, or of men? And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say unto us, Why did ye not then believe him?

A real teacher does not care to prove himself or herself to unbelieving people. They know they have the truth and the fact that God moves with them is proof enough for him or her. God moves with them with signs and wonders. If these things do not follow you, you might have the wrong certificate on your wall.

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What should we teach?

MAT 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

Everybody has to be taught to observe all things Jesus commanded us. What did He command us?

• We will live by the Word of God

MAT 4:4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

This means that we need to believe what God Word says, and not what our eyes see. We do not deny the reality, we just deny the authority the reality has over us.

• We will worship God only

MAT 4:10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

We sometimes worship our pastors, teachers, work, wives, cars,  status etc. instead of ensuring that God is the One who gets the glory.

Let me ask you this: When somebody at work do something really great, do you tell others about it, or do you try and get the credit for it. and if you cannot get the credit for it, you pretend it is not such a great idea anyhow?

If you hear about a miracle that happened in another home cell or church, do you proclaim that as well in your preaching, or do you only proclaim the things that you personally prayed for?

• Let your light shine

MAT 5:16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

Sorry for those people who thought that good works did not count any more. They do not count to get you into heaven, but they surely count so that people can see them and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

• Make friends with your brother. Before you bring your gift to the altar, first check if somebody has something against you, If they have, first fix that before you bring the gift.
• Do not divorce your wife except in the case of fornication. You do not "fall in love" and "fall out of love" like in the movies, it is an act of your will. Like Don Francesco puts it: "He did not die because it was fun, but because it had to be done".
• Love your enemies and bless those who curse you. It still leaves you with the choice of cursing every tongue that is raised against you, but you bless the person yourself
• Be perfect just like your Father in heaven is perfect. The only reason we sin is because we enjoy it and because we think we can get away with it.
• Lay up treasures for you in heaven. These treasures could be leading your friends to God. This should be more important to us than a new car, dress or whatever.
• Do not judge. The same judgment we use on others are going to be used against us. So if we do not judge anybody, God will not judge us.
• Pray the Lord of the harvest to provide laborers. There is a lot of work to be done and we need to take up that call. Ask the Lord to use you, in your work, among your friends, family, everywhere. It is not true that you are only working for the Lord if you are being paid by Christians. You can work full time for the Lord by being a witness to others in the way you conduct yourself at work under stress. People have more respect for a Christian attitude at work than the same attitude in church.
• Preach the kingdom of God, heal the sick, raise the dead and cast out devils. We have become very good at preaching the kingdom rules, but we need to heal the sick, raise the dead and cast out the devils as well.
• Do not look for a sign. An adulterous generation looks for signs. BUT, healing and raising of the dead are not signs, they are commandments. We have to heal others, raise the dead and cast out devils. We cannot use these as signs that we are in the will of God or not or that we are very spiritual or not. People are healed and raised because Jesus gave us that authority and He honours His Word. That is no indication of our relationship with Him. That is measured differently.
• Have a honest and good heart. If we have a honest and a good heart, the seed will grow in it. But if we are always fighting on the inside of us, blaming God when our prayers "do not work", then our hearts are not right. The Devil will steal the Word from us.
• We have to have root in ourselves. If we do not have root in ourselves, we will only last until tribulation comes, then we will forget everything we have learnt. You need to know that God loves you and He is a Rewarder of those that diligently seek Him (not the casual enquirers). If you know that and ensure that it becomes a part of you, these tribulations will not do anything to you.

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Vain teaching

MAT 15:9 But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.

We have many commandments of men that sound very spiritual, but are actually only commandments made by man - all in vain:

• Submission. This is a favourite in charismatic churches, especially if there is a danger that "their" people could go to another church. The people of the church are not supposed to submit under the leadership of the church, because the church system does not work according to the worldly system. In the church, we submit to one another and the leaders are the servants.
• The organ. I love the organ, especially if somebody knows how to play it properly. But the fact remains, David never learnt how to play this instrument. So do not get hung up on types of instruments
• Believe in God, come to the altar for prayer. Duh.. When people are taught to trust in God and speak to Him, why interfere with this process? Allow them the privilege to experience God. If they wat to be prayed for, of course that is OK. But do not measure your success based on the amount of people who came forward. Quite the opposite! If they come forward, it is because they are not yet comfortable sorting out their issues with God all by themselves. For newly born children of God that is fine and understandable. But for others? It is high time we as Christians learn to grow up.

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The Holy Spirit's teaching

LUK 12:11 And when they bring you unto the synagogues, and unto magistrates, and powers, take ye no thought how or what thing ye shall answer, or what ye shall say:
12 For the Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what ye ought to say.

See the Holy Spirit.

JOH 14:26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

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Last modified: 08/25/08