(Repost) Faithful Teachers

James 3:1  “Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we shall incur a stricter judgment.”

Because of that warning, no man should rush into a preaching or teaching ministry. If he is not specially called or gifted of God, he will easily offend with his tongue and incur a greater judgment. The ministry is a serious place for those who regard its tasks in earnest.

The main function of a pastor is to teach because this is only gift that is identified in the list of qualifications for pastors.  The word is Didakikos – and is rendered “able to teach” in I Timothy 3:2.  A pastor must be a highly skilled teacher who works hard in his studies and proclamation.  He "labors" in the Word and doctrine according to I Timothy 5:17.  This sets him apart from deacons.

1.  Faithful pastors are to all teach the same truth.  We don’t have the option of developing our own theology, or to teach anything except the Word.  Developing our own stylized ministry and making ourselves the center of attention is not an option either because it’s not about us.  It’s about Jesus.

2.  The more faithful a pastor is in teaching the Word the more he will sound like other faithful pastors.  Faithful teachers all sound the same.  They are saying the same thing because they teach from the same source (God's Word).  They are standing in the same line as previous faithful teachers.  They are content to be numbered among the faithful.  They don’t need a personalized, stylized ministry that features “them.”  Instead, they feature the Word of God because that’s all we have been given.

3.  If you listen to someone who sounds like nobody else and says things you never hear anybody else say, go find another teacher because he is not faithful.  If you hear someone teach extra-Biblical revelations, concepts, notions, or ideas, go find someone else because he is not a faithful teacher.

“Preach the Word!........ For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine….. but will heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears, and they will turn away from the truth and be turned unto fables”  (2 Timothy 4:2-4)

That’s one of the problems we have in churches today – they are personality driven – instead of being scripturally driven.  It’s almost a celebrity culture.

Do everything you can to get “sound teaching” and “sound doctrine” embedded into your spirit.  In addition to sitting under faithful teachers, break out that old black book yourself and begin devouring its pages.