I’ve had some great teachers in my life. Granted, I’ve had some stinkers too; but I can look back over the course of my years in school (19 in all) and throughout my life and marvel at the ability of many of my teachers to leave a lasting impression in my life and the lives of those around me. I still see many of my teachers from even as far back as kindergarten from time to time and enjoy a close friendship with them.
As a preacher and Bible class teacher I am active in many people’s lives and each of them will probably remember me for something. I will either be remembered as an effective teacher who left a positive impact in their lives or I’ll be the stinker, consigned to the realm of jokes and bad memories. For that reason the qualities that my best teachers embody are important to me because I want to be that to others. But what made them the kind of teachers that after all these years I still look back on with respect and awe?
My greatest teachers are those who made their teaching personal. Ultimately the purpose of teaching, particularly the Bible, is to help people in areas in which they live, work, and even struggle. You wouldn’t very well take a person studying to work in accounting and stick them in a class detailing the intricacies of aeronautical engineering. Those future accountants need to be taught things that will pertain to their work. Thinking back to the great teachers I’ve had in my life I remember them for taking the material they were teaching and not just telling what I need to know but why I need to know it. In that sense they made it personal. What they taught wasn’t merely an intellectual discussion. It had real world application. That’s what we must do with the Bible. When we teach people the Bible, whether they are hearing it for the first time or whether they have listened to it for eighty years, we need to help them make it personal. It is not enough to just know it, we must do it (James 1:22) and that means it needs to be made personal.
My greatest teachers are those who made their teaching practical. There’s nothing that aggravates me more than hearing a simple subject explained in a difficult, convoluted way. Recently I heard of a local primary school who called in the parents of their students to explain why they were changing the way they taught math. This was not algebra, trigonometry, or calculus mind you; this was primary school math – adding and subtracting. It sounds like they’re taking something that is relatively simple and making it far more difficult than it has to be. That is the approach some people take to the Bible. It is inherently simple, but sometimes I’ll read or hear someone say something that should be and is so simple but convolute it to such an extent that I don’t even know if I know what I know anymore. Great teachers not only make their material personal but they make it practical.
My greatest teachers are those who made their teaching pointed. Those called upon to teach should teach and in the process should get to the point. For fear of ostracizing or offending, too often some teachers prance around a point that needs to be made. That is not to say that I do not understand the need to wade into some subjects with some people instead of jumping in headlong. But sometimes we can do that to such an extent that we never get to the point, or if we do it is so watered down by that time there is really no point at all. I think Jesus is a perfect example in this. He knew His audience including what they needed to hear and when they needed to hear it. But at some time in each of His interactions He got to the point. If we are going to be effective teachers of the Gospel we ultimately must do the same.
My greatest teachers are those who made their teaching passionate. There are some teachers who teach what they teach because they teach. There are other teachers who teach what they teach because they have to teach. And, yes, there is a difference. Those who teach just because they teach are hirelings. They do what they do just because of what’s in it for them, period. Those who teach because they have to teach would do it whether they get received anything in return or not. They teach because it is a passion. As it pertains to teachers of the Bible, they must be like Jeremiah. They must have a fire deep within their bones (Jeremiah 20:9). I’ve had both types of teachers and I can tell you which have impacted me the most. I have always been influenced the greatest by those who teach because they have to teach. They teach with a passion and it shows. We who are teachers of the gospel must do the same. The only way we can stir up a passion for the gospel in others is by showing a passion for the gospel ourselves.
James wrote, “My brethren, be not many masters (teachers), knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation” (James 3:1). Accepting the responsibility to teach the gospel is a serious and grave task, one in which we impact eternity in one direction or the other. But for all of us who choose to teach, whether publicly or privately, let’s make sure that we do it with the right intention, in the right way, and for the right cause. If so we can teach in such a way that we not only change people’s minds, but in a way that we can change their lives.
-Andy Brewer