Teach

Questions and Notes

How does this fit the mission to Love God, Love People, Make Disciples?

If we are going to be disciples who make disciples, we have to be teachable

How does this move the vision to be woven up, in, and out?

Teach one another is a part of connecting with one another

What Values Statement did I plant in the message?

the most important thing disciples do is make disciples

Who will be transformed by this message? How?

Nin, lack of teachability doing harm to herself and others

What am I asking them to do?

examine yourself

how have I responded to correction?

who do I allow to teach me?

who do I refuse to learn from?

am I willing to challenge my own beliefs?

Notes

Instruct from R 15 and H 5 means to correct or advise

The teachers and teachable have:

Growing goodness (character) R

Growing knowledge (information) R

Growing tools (able) (skills in understanding) R

Growing progress (You are growing yourself) H

Growing teachers (accountability) R H

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Sermon

Oops - We all know we need to learn and grow.

Monica deals with deep terror in her life married to me. It happens when we are out on a walk together, at the zoo, or so many other places. Everything is fine, the sun is out, the birds are chirping…and then, like the moon rising to trigger the transformation of the werewolf, I am hit by the glow of a sign on a stand, with… ”knowledge”.

The running gag, is that when we see one of these “learnings”, thats what we call them, she knows she’s lost me and any momentum in our walk for as long as it takes me to plow through the information.

Worse, she knows that the next leg of the walk will be marked by me sharing what I learned, any knowledge I have that is connected to what I learned, potential sermon illustrations coming from this new insight, etc...

And I can’t seem to understand why she is not as moved by the knowledge of native fishing practices, bat behavior, or how world war 2 led to changes in the area as I am.

I love to learn. Love it.

I don’t love being taught though.

Hated math class all the way through school. But as a kid, going through math workbooks was recreation. In class, they made me do things like, “ShOw My WoRk” and “Do iT tHe RiGhT WaY”. Right way? my way worked.

Besides, why be taught by someone else what I can learn myself? I’m fine figuring it out.

Ugh - We resist being taught. We put ourselves above, we find ways to dismiss, we are unwilling to have our convictions challenged

Perhaps you can relate to that last paragraph.

Maybe like me, all the way through school, you only took it seriously if you liked the teacher or if their mastery was proved beyond a doubt.

Ed McIndoo was a powerful yet gentle preacher. I saw the way other preachers deferred to him, and he was the most likeable guy on earth. So I let him teach me.

Professor Sturms, who taught cultural anthropology… was calloused, clearly annoyed by students, and consistently challenged what I already knew (because between 18 and 21 I knew everything) so I skated through his class. Never mind his expertise and the missed opportunity to grow in my understanding of the world beyond what I knew from my vast experience...

Maybe like me, you struggle to ask for help when you’re out of your depth. You don’t like admitting you need help. Or worse, you won’t see when you need it. You assume if you can’t find the solution, no one else could anyway.

One of my favorite hobbies when listening to other preachers is to find the phrase that will let me dismiss them. Maybe they will quote an author I disagree with, “well, if they read that guy…clearly nothing else can be trusted.”

In one of the biggest “one another” statements, in fact it will be our closing one at the end of the series is Colossians 3:16. In it Paul says this:

col 3:16 “Let the word of Christ dwell richly among you, in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another...”

The problem is we tend to be much better at teaching…than being teachable.

One another implies a two way street. But we tend to want to teach ourselves and others, but not allow for others to instruct us. Especially when we’ve made up our minds on a matter, or what they have to teach pushes back on what we already know.

But scripture calls us out.

Proverbs 1:5 “let a wise person listen and increase learning, and let a discerning person obtain guidance—”

Proverbs 13:18 “Poverty and disgrace come to those who ignore discipline, but the one who accepts correction will be honored.”

Proverbs 19:20 “Listen to counsel and receive instruction so that you may be wise later in life.”

Proverbs 18:2 “A fool does not delight in understanding, but only wants to show off his opinions.”

James 3:17 “But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peace-loving, gentle, compliant, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without pretense.”

I could go on for days just quoting scripture, but I’ll only add one more

2 Timothy 2:24-26 “The Lord’s servant must not quarrel, but must be gentle to everyone, able to teach, and patient, instructing his opponents with gentleness. Perhaps God will grant them repentance leading them to the knowledge of the truth. Then they may come to their senses and escape the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.”

If we follow Jesus, if we believe in the scriptures…we have to be teachable. And that is not our default setting.

Aha! - Paul makes an observation about the Romans at the end of his letter. He is teaching, but observes that they can instruct one another. The author of Hebrews is concerned that they aren’t yet there. That we are supposed to teach one another is clear, what we (I) struggle more with is being taught.

I observed two passages that I think can help us.

First Paul at the end of his letter to the Romans. He is about to explain why he wrote the letter, and he begins this way:

Romans 15:14 “My brothers and sisters, I myself am convinced about you that you also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to instruct one another.”

He’ll then say, nevertheless, I have written to remind you more boldly on some points… referencing his gifting and calling from God to do so.

Paul is convinced they can teach each other. The author of Hebrews sees his readers different

Hebrews 5:11-12 “We have a great deal to say about this, and it is difficult to explain, since you have become too lazy to understand. Although by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the basic principles of God’s revelation again. You need milk, not solid food.”

A couple sentences later, they will say, “solid food is for the mature”

This morning, we want to go from Hebrews to Romans if you catch my drift. How do we become mature and teachable so we are able to effectively teach and be taught by one another.

What do the teachers and the teachable have that we need? 5 Keys from these passages.

Whee! We can learn to be learners and teachers by following principles found in scripture (

The Teachers and Teachable Have

Growing Character

Romans 15:14 “My brothers and sisters, I myself am convinced about you that you also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to instruct one another.”

Full of goodness.

Last week we touched on this idea. That if we are not living and speaking in a way that reflects Jesus, the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5 is a great measuring tape for us there. love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, goodness, self-control.

If we aren’t living that way…we have very little to teach.

If we are honest with ourselves, we all lack in these areas.

So who can teach? Those who are showing demonstrated growth can teach as they grow, in the direction they are growing.

If you hear me ever teach about love like I do it perfectly, something is wrong with me and I’ll need an intervention.

Though if I think I’m doing it perfectly…I probably wouldn’t listen.

Share with others your failings and what God is doing in you through them.

That is how you can teach with a flawed but growing character.

More importantly, and I’ll keep adding that tag, how can we learn from people with imperfect character?

It’s amazing how much this comes up in this series…actually, not surprising… get humble.

See your own failure, ask why their failure is so triggering to you and deal with you.

You can’t, ever, fix someone else’s character. That’s something God is doing, and they are choosing.

When you find yourself offended or hurt by someone else’s character or communication, THAT IS GOD showing you your character issues.

It took me way too long to realize that, but it changed my life. My hurting was no longer a place where I was the victim, it was where my opportunity to truly see myself lies.

Here’s the problem. We build defences around our view of ourselves. Good or bad. This is why the whole of God’s word is so powerful. 2 Cor 10 -

2 Corinthians 10:4-5 “since the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but are powerful through God for the demolition of strongholds. We demolish arguments and every proud thing that is raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to obey Christ.”

And it is in us that the first and most pervasive battle has to be won again and again, if we ever want to impact the world for the kingdom.

When we think we have it together, God’s word shows us our frailty.

When we think we’re worthless, God’s word shows us our dignity as image-bearers of Jesus.

That leads us to the next key nicely.

Growing Knowledge

Romans 15:14 “My brothers and sisters, I myself am convinced about you that you also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to instruct one another.”

Paul is glad that they know what they need to know.

The problem we have whether teaching or learning, is knowing what knowledge is useful when.

This is the study of a lifetime.

For years when I was counseling someone getting married or struggling, I would focus in on behaviors.

How should husbands and wives act toward one another.

All good, all right knowledge.

In years of experience in being married and watching and working with marriages I now zoom in on two things and attach the action to it.

expectations and ownership.

This is bonus material, but an example.

Expectations exist, but are rarely useful. Almost every time we are upset with our spouse (or any other relationship) they have violated an expectation of what they should have done.

We rarely stop to ask ourselves: Is that expectation fair? Did I communicate it in a way they understood it? Do I perform to that level?

Praise the Lord Jesus, who has every right to have the highest expectations, doesn’t wait for us to meet them before choosing to love us.

And ownership. I have a responsibility for the person Monica is today. She has spent more years living with me than her parents. If I liked who she was when we got married, her parents get credit. If I don’t like something now...

But it isn’t just about longevity. Every relationship can be changed forever if even one party decides to take ownership.

Because now I’m not a victim of Monica’s behavior. I’m a contributor to it. I have a role, which means I have power to fix it.

I realized after years that I had taught Monica by my words and actions that I didn’t like her ideas. So she would fight for them, and then I was upset that she had gotten so combative.

Do you see the power? I could have just barked out that Ephesians calls you to submit, Proverbs 31 says you are to be gracious, here is the knowledge!

We have to be willing to learn. We’re both a lot happier now. Far less stress, more joy, more smiles,

But it comes from not just knowing, but understanding. And that takes growing.

This could be a whole seminar…but we must move on.

Growing Ability

Romans 15:14 “My brothers and sisters, I myself am convinced about you that you also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to instruct one another.”

Let me go back to Ed McIndoo and Chuck Sturms.

I really regret now that I dismissed what Chuck had to teach. I continue to be grateful I received what Ed had for me.

Though I have to own my teachability, there was definitely a difference in their teaching ability. Chuck could teach the students who were already interested. His Junior and Senior level classes were apparently awesome. But so many freshmen like me got turned off his style, that I wasn’t willing to learn.

Ed was the master at making you want to learn and understand. He was the preaching prof after all. By the time I finished intro to speech my freshmen year, I wanted every other class he taught.

Too often we try to teach our kids, or others around us, and if they aren’t interested, or don’t agree with us, we blame them.

There’s no time for a full lesson on “how to teach”, and I don’t want to linger here too this time. But before you get frustrated with others, from kids, to coworkers, to family members who don’t seem interested in what you just learned about the life cycle of the Camas Lilly and the history of paper products from the sign on the nature trail…you can…you can choose to learn how to teach, persuade, parent, coach, etc…better than you do today.

Look for good examples, read and apply books, try new things. If you have to use anger to move someone…that’s not on them.

Let’s read this one more time:

Romans 15:14 “My brothers and sisters, I myself am convinced about you that you also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to instruct one another.”

but what about when we’re not? We need:

Growing Maturity

Hebrews 5:11-12 “We have a great deal to say about this, and it is difficult to explain, since you have become too lazy to understand. Although by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the basic principles of God’s revelation again. You need milk, not solid food.”

First of all, this is not a lesson in how you should teach someone. “Hey, you should get this, but you’re too lazy to think. So I have to keep bottle feeding you since you can’t quite manage the Happy Meal yet.”

Clearly as the rest of the letter shows, there was a deep relationship between this teacher and the congregation. Paul has moments like this with the Galatians and Corinthians.

We don’t need lessons in how to be harsh. We’ve all got that covered. I want us to hear the frustration in the author’s voice and ask a hard question: If they were writing to me, would they say the same?

There are lots of attitudes that will keep us immature.

Arrogance, fear, insecurity, victimhood, pride, and the list goes on. And we all wrestle with all of those at some level all the time. Until the day we are at home with Jesus.

But what will help us become meat eaters instead of bottle feeders?

Here are some ways to grow as learners. Write these down. Choose one you will work on every day this week:

1. Mental Discipline. “You have become too lazy to understand”

We can become unteachable and thus immature really easily when this is missing.

We are the products of who we have been and what we have been through. In moments of pain, we find ways to keep ourselves going. We develop coping thought patterns and habits.

It’s like a limp, it helps us keep moving when we’re hurt. Here’s the problem with a limp. You limp long enough, it throws the rest of your body off. You can do long term damage to your whole spine by protecting a wound on your foot.

We all know people who believe things that are completely irrational. What we fail to see is when we believe things that are completely irrational. We can’t see it when our limps have led to broken thinking.

But we will defend against our own rationality and others to protect what we have built. No matter how much it hurts us and others.

God is calling you today to get disciplined in your thinking. That means you need to think about thinking. Read, listen, allow people to challenge you and be willing to admit you have blind spots and possibly irrational spots.

It is this issue that led to my statement earlier about dismising preachers or authors who reference others I disagree with. It’s easier to do that than to let myself be challenged.

Or if they critique an author or pastor I respect, I want to dismiss that too.

Here’s the deal… you might be wrong. About doctrine, politics, biblical application, etc.

It takes mental discipline to accept that. And then more to do the work of allowing those things to be challenged, refined, and even corrected.

It also takes discipline to allow others to do the same.

We need to allow the conversations to happen. I think one of the reasons we lose kids when they go to college is that we don’t help them ask the hard questions while they are still under our roof.

We need to learn mental discipline, and help our kids learn to think critically, even about their own ideas and what we teach them.

2. Fundamentals - You need someone to teach your the basic principles of God’s revelation again.

If you have ever been on a sports team, you have heard coaches talk about fundamentals.

Basketball players never stop practicing the dribble.

Soccer players never stop practicing the pass.

Derwin Gray has a great study on Hebrews you can find in our Rightnow media library. He talks about being a high school football player and being so mad at his defensive coach for making them practice this one play in the Texas heat over and over and over.

The next game, he sees the offence line up in the play that they had practiced. He is in just the right spot, makes just the right move, intercepts the ball.

The other team tried that play 2 more times. He intercepted both of those too.

That film is what got him division one scholarships, which ultimately led him to the NFL. He isn’t still mad at the coach who made him practice the fundamentals.

That’s why you will hear me repeat myself about evangelism, being a disciple maker, trusting God’s story, our identity in him, denying yourself, over and over again.

We can get so caught up in complex conversations about interesting doctrine that we forget the basics. I think this is one of the reasons end-times generates so much passion. It’s interesting and complex, we can argue for days and years.

I’ve watched Christians divide over differences of opinion on a matter Jesus said no one could know about.

Jesus flat prays for us to be untied. Paul commands it. And we’re like, yeah, but did you hear that guys views on the rapture and millennial reign?

Maybe this morning, you need a renewed focus on the basics.

3. Be challenged.

Challenge yourself. Read books by dead guys. Take advantage of opportunities here at the church, to get into a group or class that will push you.

Look for areas of immaturity and choose to find solid food to work through.

I’ll point toward Rightnow media as a huge gift you have for this.

Do you manage your money in a way that honors God?

There are several studies to help you grow

Anxiety?

God’s word has the answer, and there are some great teachings in that area.

Anger? Fear? Parenting? Do you struggle with being teachable?

I have found great video series and study guides on RNM that are already yours.

Beyond that, treat every person and situation as a chance to learn and understand God’s word better.

They may not be smarter or more knowledgeable than you…but I guarantee every person has something to teach…if you’re willing to shut up and listen.

Let’s have the worship and prayer teams come forward.

if you need prayer, confession, change...

What changes?

We need More and better teachers in our lives. Not either or.

Like I just said, we need to see everyone as someone who can teach us.

But we also need to let them.

When we are unteachable, there are several bad things that happen.

One, we stall our own growth.

Two, we isolate ourselves. If I am the only one I can learn from, my mind will get ingrown and nasty.

Three, along the same lines, we push the very people away who might want to, or even be led by the Spirit to teach us.

Paul said:

Romans 15:14 “My brothers and sisters, I myself am convinced about you that you also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to instruct one another.”

And Hebrews shows us the opposite

Hebrews 5:11-12 “We have a great deal to say about this, and it is difficult to explain, since you have become too lazy to understand. Although by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the basic principles of God’s revelation again. You need milk, not solid food.”

Church, today, I pray for us to be known as a teachable people.

We should be able to learn from one another, to learn from those we disagree with, those who are younger and older, those we like and those we don’t.

This One Another was a little flipped for me. It’s simple to read it and say, “teach one another” I can do that! It’s a whole lot more challenging to stop and say, “I will be taught by one another.”

I pray you will take a step that direction this morning.

Pray