The first verses I read this morning affirm God’s TEACHING power:
Exodus 4:12; 15; 35:34, “Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak” . . . . You shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth, and I will be with your mouth and with his mouth and will teach you both what to do” and “(God) has inspired him to teach, both him and Oholiab the son of Ahisamach of the tribe of Dan.”
There are many teaching methods. God uses some of them to instruct us, but He has one that is unique: He inspires — that is, He puts truth in human hearts. These ‘lessons’ often flow from Scripture read and memorized, but can pop in without any outside reminders. The woman we read about said what she said because God put it into her heart to say it.
When Moses led God’s people out of bondage in Egypt, God told him to teach them. He said in Deuteronomy 5:31:
But you, stand here by me, and I will tell you the whole commandment and the statutes and the rules that you shall teach them, that they may do them in the land that I am giving them to possess.’
He spoke the words that Moses needed to learn so that this man could teach the people what they were supposed to do. From the beginning, this is the way God teaches — by His Word. It is also the way that His people are to teach others — by God’s Word.
The OT uses twelve words for teaching with both a human and divine subject. People teach other people (not God who has no need to learn). God teaches His people knowledge, instruction about His law, His will, and the ways we should live. Psalm 32:8. “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.” One important lesson from God is that knowing is not enough; true learning happens when we obey what He teaches by applying it to our lives:
Deuteronomy 5:1. And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, “Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the rules that I speak in your hearing today, and you shall learn them and be careful to do them.”
God said we are not to learn the ideas and practices of pagans. Instead, we are to teach them the ways of God:
Deuteronomy 18:9. “When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations.”
Jeremiah 12:16. “And it shall come to pass, if (pagans) will diligently learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name, ‘As the Lord lives,’ even as they taught my people to swear by Baal, then they shall be built up in the midst of my people.”
In the NT, Jesus is the teacher and His followers become teachers of one another. He taught constantly and everywhere: “Day after day I was with you in the temple teaching . . . .” He taught in synagogues, in the temple, from a boat, and on the side of a mountain; He devoted His entire life to sharing with others what God gave Him to teach them.
John 8:28. So Jesus said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me.”
He also taught His disciples about the Holy Spirit who would come and teach them what they were not ready to bear at that time, and even what to say when later challenged.
GAZE INTO HIS GLORY. The Lord’s teaching includes instruction in faith and spiritual matters, but also discipline, even punishment, because Jesus said, “Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline” so I will be zealous and repent of all sin, inviting Him to come in and rule my lives. His teaching goal is that I live to glorify Him:
Titus 2:11–12. “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age.”
No comments:
Post a Comment