Just a few vague thoughts for those who teach others this morning. Blessings and enjoy.
That verse is quite sobering isn’t it? Not everybody should teach, first of all. Second, those who do will be held to a greater standard of accountability than those who do not. Friends, if you teach, you will answer for every single thing you did while teaching whether good or bad.
We don’t just decide to teach; God calls teachers. I actually get that this is a dilemma in many places, as teachers tend to be whoever will volunteer to do it. This is sad, but true. The truth is, some are called for this ministry and some are not. Yet, there are many teaching out of some sense of obligation I suspect, because it’s just, “what they do.” If God calls you to teach, answer that call; you will be blessed. If you are just teaching, “because,” maybe it is time to re-think that. You won’t be blessed, and you won’t ever love it.
Teachers need to teach. Teach us something, please. I mean a couple of things by this. One, I can read my own Sunday School lesson. Reading the lesson from the book is not really teaching. Sorry, but that’s simply a fact. Two, don’t be scared to teach me something I might not want to hear. Sunday School teachers get more time with students then the preachers in many cases; use it wisely. Your job is to show me God’s Word in a way I might not have seen before, and to teach me how to leave your class and put it into action.
Prepare, prepare and prepare some more. Some students spend some time getting ready and preparing for Sunday School. Teachers should spend far, far more. Getting up Sunday morning, reading the lesson and underlining some things is not enough. I have already done that myself. Again, show me what I haven’t seen, and how I can apply it.
Below is a copy and past of a post I did on this topic that I want to end this one with:
Hush Teacher
If you didn’t spend substantially more time praying, studying, and meditating on your lesson than I will spend listening to it?
Hush
If your preaching/teaching is not built completely around a solid foundation of Scripture?
Hush
If your preaching/teaching is all about how I can have a better life?
Hush
If your every exposition of Scripture starts with, “Let me tell what this means to ME?“
Hush
Are you preaching/teaching ANYTHING counter to Scripture?
Hush
Are you “hearing” extra Biblical guidance from God about MY life?
Hush
Is God giving you a bunch of rules for us all to follow?
Hush
Is your entire lesson reading from a Sunday school book or some canned sermon you got online?
Hush
If any of these things are true about your preaching or teaching?
December 12, 2017 at 08:18
Very powerful. Great reminder of our obligations as teachers and the high standard God places on us. God loves us and will judge us. Uh oh! Be blessed.
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December 12, 2017 at 08:21
Yessir, uh oh is correct. We will be accountable for how we handled that responsibility. Thanks Michael.
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December 12, 2017 at 08:22
Preach it, Wally! I’m waving a handkerchief on this one.
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December 12, 2017 at 08:30
Thanks Matthew. I woke up this morning with it on my mind…that usually means write it down!
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December 12, 2017 at 08:31
I know exactly what you mean. I try to put down a thought immediately or it may escape me completely.
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December 12, 2017 at 09:00
Exactly!
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December 12, 2017 at 08:50
I totally get this. Oddly enough, teaching stresses me out. I love doing it, but I’m one of those extroverted introverts. Get me around a group and I can talk and do my thing, but by the time I’m done, I feel like I got hit by a bus. I also grow exceedingly anxious about teaching something wrong or not well enough. I try to teach regularly, but I also try to be a student too so I can recharge for the next quarter.
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December 12, 2017 at 09:00
Thanks Elihu. Yes, it’s nice to just get taught sometimes, isn’t it?
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December 12, 2017 at 09:02
Yup. But I also feel compelled to teach because God gave me such an abundance of great teachers and education growing up. So, I try to find a balance and I take this verse very much to heart.
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December 12, 2017 at 09:06
Oh Amen. I never had great teachers growing up of course, but have had some good ones over the last decade, who have taught me so much.
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December 12, 2017 at 09:08
A good teacher is worth their weight in gold! I’m thankful for all the people who taught you and for the gift you have in sharing it online! 🙂 God be with you.
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December 12, 2017 at 09:17
For me, James 3:1 is one of the scariest verses in all of Scripture.
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December 12, 2017 at 09:21
I concur my friend, and consider it seriously every time I teach in “real” life, or on line.
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December 12, 2017 at 10:10
Good stuff, Wally! I think I may have already related this but when I taught kids’ Sunday School many years ago, the SS superintendent passed out a lesson plan every year and that was it. No one sat down and talked with me when I first volunteered and there was zero…and I mean ZERO…follow-up after that. A good example of how NOT to administer a SS. Praise God for all the teachers out there who seek to honor and lift up the Lord in front of their students.
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December 12, 2017 at 10:35
That is very common Tom most sadly. In this case hope the teaching will be used and yet not hurt another.
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December 12, 2017 at 11:35
Wally, I saw the coolest bumper sticker recently. It said: I TOUCH THE FUTURE. I TEACH.
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December 12, 2017 at 11:40
That’s awesome Steve
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December 12, 2017 at 17:07
Excellent and sobering at the same time!
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December 12, 2017 at 17:09
Thanks as always Lynn
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December 12, 2017 at 19:15
as a life long educator, I told many a principal, as a few told us his teachers, that teaching is a vocation.
A vocation is different from a “job”..
Vocation: a summons or strong inclination to a particular state or course of action…”
As in it is a calling.
And I for one believe it to be a Divine calling…
and sadly, many of those “called” haven’t a clue as to Who has called them or to what they have been called to do…
Great words of teaching my friend!!!!
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December 12, 2017 at 19:35
Thanks Julie. This one was hard.
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December 13, 2017 at 00:56
It has always been one of my pet peeves to have a Sunday School teacher that just read the lesson to us and didn’t teach. Like you said, you can read the lesson yourself. Elaborate on the lesson, teach me something that isn’t in the lesson but is applicable or something, don’t just read aloud to me what I’ve already silently read to myself!
Thanks for the post!
Blessings~
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December 13, 2017 at 08:08
Exactly. Stay tuned, today I am posting an open letter to students. I am an equal opportunity crab LOL.
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December 13, 2017 at 20:44
LOL,! Well, that only seems fair!
Blessings~
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December 13, 2017 at 12:29
The baby pic is hilarious 😂😂
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December 13, 2017 at 12:42
I know right
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December 13, 2017 at 23:33
This is very good!
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December 14, 2017 at 07:10
Thanks brother Jim
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December 14, 2017 at 13:16
=)
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December 16, 2017 at 06:36
When I was teaching “How to Study the Bible,” in our 2 year School of Ministry, I was one of the few classes that did not have an assigned book and had to develop my own lesson plan. I learned so much from that class.
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December 16, 2017 at 08:39
That’s tough I did the same for a class. What a way to learn the material
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January 5, 2018 at 07:22
Good word… rebloged theunfetteredpreacher.com
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January 5, 2018 at 14:17
Thanks for sharing this Bill
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