Are You Teaching?
The Holy Spirit of God chastised the Jewish Christians through his penman in this manner:
“For
when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you
again which be the first principles of the oracles of God;
and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.” Hebrews 5:12
How does a person receive the
opportunity to become a Christian? It’s
a simple enough question but a lot of people do not seem to know the
answer. Scripture tells us clearly, plainly
and simply enough for any normal person to understand. In Acts
8:5 “PHILIP WENT DOWN TO THE CITY OF
To become a Christian the lost soul
must be born again (John 3:3-5, I Peter
1:22-23). Peter recorded that the
soul is purified from sins by obeying the truth. Again, this indicates that Christianity is a
taught religion. Salvation is obtained
through a spiritual, not a physical birth.
Hebrews 8:10-11 shows that
one cannot be saved unless he first knows the law of God. This is in contrast with the Jews who were
born into God’s covenant and later had to be taught the law
of Moses. Today, every person must first
be taught the gospel before salvation is possible. (Mark 16:15-16) The Lord said
“IT IS WRITTEN IN THE PROPHETS, AND THEY SHALL ALL BE TAUGHT BY GOD. THEREFORE EVERYONE WHO HAS HEARD AND LEARNED
FROM THE FATHER COMES TO ME” (John
Christianity is also a teaching
religion. Someone must do the
instruction. Who has this
responsibility? Jesus commanded his
disciples “GO YE INTO ALL THE WORLD, AND PREACH THE GOSPEL TO EVERY CREATURE. (Mark
Are You Teaching?
Each succeeding
disciple, each succeeding generation of disciples have the same
responsibility. Paul told Timothy “AND
THE THINGS THAT THOU HAST HEAR OF ME AMONG MANY WITNESSES, THE SAME COMMIT THOU
TO FAITHFUL MEN, WHO SHALL BE ABLE TO TEACH OTHERS ALSO.” (II
Timothy 2:2) My friends, somehow you learned the
truth. Will you not share that truth
with other poor, lost souls so that they may have the same opportunity?
Since every child of God has the responsibility
of teaching the gospel, we must study and learn to be properly equipped for the
task. Clearly, it is not possible to
teach what we do not know. What must we
know? For a person to first become a
Christian he must know at least the plan of salvation. If a person recognizes their need to be saved
and obeys the gospel, then they know enough to teach that much to others. How much did Andrew know when he led his brother
Peter to Christ? “…WE HAVE FOUND THE
MESSIAS, WHICH IS, BEING INTERPRETED THE CHRIST.” (John 1:40) Sadly there are
far too many of the Lord’s church who will not teach anyone. The problem may be either they cannot or that
they will not teach. Many because they
have not studied and learned what they need to know; many others because they
have not heeded the rebuke of the Hebrew writer and have forgotten what they
did learn. Let’s look again at this
admonition: “For when for the time ye
ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as
have need of milk, and not of strong meat. 13For every one that
useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for
he is a babe. 14But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full
age, even those who by reason of use have their senses
exercised to discern both good and evil.”
Some members of the Lord’s church
say they are not able to teach others.
This admission may be true. If
so, they need to repent and start studying.
It may just be an admission that the person is either afraid to try to
lacks confidence in their ability. The
best way to overcome such obstacles is by working at it. As the writer to the Hebrews stated, it takes
use to have one’s senses exercised. It
takes use and exercise to develop and strengthen our abilities. How about you, friend, I know you know as
much as Andrew did. Are you
teaching? Why not? Do you need to repent and pray to God because
of your neglect?