Teaching Humility

Luke 20:46 "Beware of the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets.”

Jesus is telling the religious leaders in His day that they are just conceited figure heads and not really spiritual leaders. The challenge for many today, is that they take what the Apostle Paul said about teachers being worthy of double respect and misunderstand this whole idea of being humble.

Instructions for Dying

[Jhn 12:24 NIV] 24 Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.

This is one of those tough concepts of dying to oneself. There are many aspects of dying to the flesh that can produce an increase in the spirit. You see when die to our flesh, we can produce spiritual fruit.

Teacher or Preacher

[Eph 4:11 NIV] 11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, 

It is interesting that we see the role of teaching singled out from the role of a Pastor. Pastor’s do need to develop their skills as a teacher, but in many cases a teacher does not necessarily mean you are a pastor.

In the Great commission from Jesus He said to baptize people into the Christian faith and to then disciple them to maturity. Discipleship is a very personal role and requires each one of us to develop ongoing relationships.

Above the Teacher

      

Matthew 10:24 "The student is not above the teacher, nor a servant above his master."

This statement by Jesus tells us that our goal as teachers is to make sure we point everyone to Jesus. You know some may think this means every student should only worry about being like their teacher or that as a teacher I need to create replicas of myself … and that should be enough, ….not even close right?

Committed Disciple

[Luk 14:26 NIV] 26 "If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters--yes, even their own life--such a person cannot be my disciple.

[Luk 14:26 NIV] 26 "If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters--yes, even their own life--such a person cannot be my disciple.

This is Jesus telling those who would follow Him about the level of commitment it would take to follow Him. What is interesting here is that we are told in the gospel to love our enemies and now we are told to hate who we love. This is classical Jesus language for saying listen closely and learn … your not understanding the idea of being a good follower, your not getting what a disciples is.

Intercession and Prayer

Can we truly be Christ-like unless we pray and intercede for others. Listen how prayer and intercession are uniquely different.

1Ti 2:1 NIV I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone ..

The Hebrew word of intercession is Paga’ and it means to encounter or to meet with someone on behalf of another person. As we talk about this subject try and keep in mind that we pray for ourselves, but we intercede for other.