Called to Teach (3)

“Now when they bring you to the synagogues and magistrates and authorities, do not worry about how or what you should answer, or what you should say. For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.” Luke 12.11, 12

Teaching in the everyday
Every Christian is called to a ministry of teaching. We all need to grow in the Lord, because we all ought to be teachers. We must be prepared to bear witness to our unsaved friends and neighbors, and we must make the most of every opportunity to encourage other believers in their walk with and work for the Lord.

We don’t need a formal classroom to carry out this work. We don’t need the permission of pastors or church leaders. We have a calling to make disciples as we are going about our everyday lives.  In everyday situations – all the as-you-are-goings of our lives – we have abundant opportunities to turn a conversation or situation to matters of the Kingdom and to help others consider Christ’s promises for their lives.

But how do we do this? Do we have to memorize all kinds of persuasive outlines? Store up an abundance of complex answers to objections? What must we do in our everyday situations, with believers and unbelievers, to fulfill our calling to make disciples as we are going?

Listen to the Spirit
In a nutshell, we must learn to listen to the Spirit of God.

Now the Spirit does not speak in audible tones – at least, not typically. The Spirit speaks through the Word of God, the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. Thus, if we are going to be able to hear the Spirit, it will be important to make sure, every day of our lives, that we are spending significant time in the Word of God, letting the Scriptures dwell within us richly, hiding the Word in the depths of our souls, building up a reservoir of understanding and experience that can be available to us at those times when the Spirit is prompting us to teach someone something about Christ and His Kingdom.

But we will also need to be sensitive to the Spirit’s leading in everyday situations. How does the Spirit prompt or otherwise influence us? In a variety of ways: He may put someone on our hearts, so that we can’t seem to get that person off our minds. By so doing the Spirit may be preparing us for some encounter with that person, or summoning us to pray for and contact a particular individual (Phil. 1.3).

In other situations, the Spirit may pick up on some word, phrase, or expression someone makes, striking it in our souls like a gong or cymbal, so that we focus on that word with anticipation until the Spirit leads us to some way to connect that word with spiritual truth.

The Spirit may also use conviction of sin – in others or in us – to get us moving in the direction of a conversation about spiritual things.

Situations that are on everybody’s minds – a sudden disaster, an election, a public scandal, a drop in the economy – can also be effective ways for the Spirit to lead us to engage others about eternal matters. The better informed we are on such matters, the readier we will be to speak about them, and to use them as pivot points toward spiritual matters (1 Chron. 12.32). Or the Spirit may prompt someone else, who sees something in us, to open the conversation by asking a question about spiritual things (1 Pet. 3.15).

Be prepared!
However the Spirit prompts us to engage a teaching moment, we need to make sure of a few things before we open our mouths.

First, the words we use in conversing with others must be seasoned with grace (Col. 4.6). You can’t teach people by condemning or belittling them. You must reach out to them with grace, as a servant, eager to minister to whatever the expressed need may be. Grace flows through our words when in our conversations we show genuine interest in others, patience to explain matters, gentleness whenever we are challenged, and love in our tone of voice.

Also, as Jesus showed, asking questions can help prepare the minds of others for whatever the Spirit may give us to share and them to hear. By getting their thinking in gear and allowing them to put their own thoughts forward, we can create a level ground for sincere conversational give-and-take.

Finally, keep in mind that you don’t have to do everything at one time. Teaching is an ongoing calling. We’re not driving Gospel dump trucks around the town, looking for unsuspecting lost persons or immature believers to dump our whole load on all at once. Rather, we are more like physicians, listening carefully in order to diagnose the need, offering a little help here and a bit of medicine there, and realizing that sometimes cures for what ails us can take a long time.

Listen for the Spirit in the teaching moments of your everyday life. He can lead you in how to proceed.

For reflection
1.  In the hymn, “More about Jesus,” we sing the line, “Spirit of God, my Teacher be/showing the things of Christ to me.” How do you know when the Spirit is teaching you the things of Christ?

2.  What are some ways you might expect the Spirit to prod, push, or point you toward a teaching opportunity?

3.  Give some examples of questions you might ask to begin a conversation with one of your “students.”

Next steps – Transformation: In the light of today’s ReVision, reflect on the week gone by thus far. Can you see any times when the Spirit may have been prompting you to speak to someone? Today, try to be more alert to Him. Whenever you sense the Spirit leading, simply open your mouth and begin a conversation: ask a question, make an observation, solicit an opinion. Go with the Spirit wherever He leads from there.

T. M. Moore

This week’s study, Learning Jesus, is Part 5 of a 5-part series on Following Jesus.Each week’s study is available in a free PDF which you can download by clicking here.

Christians learn best when their learning is framed within a Christian worldview. Our free online course, One in Twelve: Introduction to Christian Worldview, is available any time, and at no charge. Click here to learn more about this helpful and challenging introduction to Christian worldview, presented in 12 diagrams by T. M. Moore.

Take up the challenge of your Personal Mission Field – and do so with a friend. Watch the video on our Mission Partners Outreach for more information about how you can begin to follow Jesus in your Personal Mission Field (click here).

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.