GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
GIFT OF TEACHING
DR. JIM DIXON
JANUARY 19, 1986
EPHESIANS 4:11, JAMES 3:1
In the Los Angeles area, in the San Fernando Valley near the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains, there was a school called Montrose Elementary School. The school flourished for more than 30 years, but then it died. As the community grew older, there were not enough young families to sustain it. The death of Montrose Elementary School meant nothing to the world, but it meant something to me because that school had been my school. It was there that I had received my early education. I had six different teachers at Montrose Elementary School, and I don’t think any of them were particularly impressed with me.
My first grade teacher was Mrs. Williams. I wasn’t sure whether I liked her, but I think she absolutely loved me because she didn’t want me to leave. In fact, she asked me if I wouldn’t spend an extra year in her class. My report cards in first grade said that I was absent 68 days, and she thought that was a little excessive since there were about 165 days total in the school year.
My second grade teacher was Mrs. Olson, and I can still remember her face as though I had seen her just yesterday. She was, I think, a very good teacher. It was Mrs. Olson who taught me the basics of reading. To her I’ll always be grateful.
My third grade teacher was Ms. Fouts. She was young, she was single, she was attractive, and it seems kind of ridiculous but all the boys in the class had a crush on her. What I remember most about third grade is that it was at that time that we were first allowed to use our ink wells. In first and second grade we had a little hole in the top of the wooden desk where the ink well should have been. But the administration had decided that first and second graders were too young to use ink wells. When my class graduated from third grade, they decided that third graders were also too young to use ink wells. We spilled the ink on the desk and we tried to spill it on people and things whenever we could.
My fourth grade teacher was Mrs. Deroe, and I can honestly say that I do not remember Mrs. Deroe smiling once. She was very stern. She was a disciplinarian. It was Mrs. Deroe who taught me some measure of accountability.
My fifth grade teacher was Mr. Moninger. He was the only male teacher in the whole school. I’m not sure that he was a good teacher, but I liked him because Mr. Moninger was also the after school coach. He coached me in football and in basketball and in baseball.
My sixth grade teacher was Mrs. Taylor. She was an elderly woman, and she was said to be very wise. I don’t know if she was wise. I do remember one thing that she said to us. She told our class that if ever we had to go to the bathroom (and of course we did from time to time) not to hold it. I remember her telling us that if you held it that could do great damage to your body and if you held it too long you could die. None of us really understood that, but we all began to go to the bathroom a lot. Mrs. Taylor had been at Montrose Elementary School longer than any other teacher. She had taught my brother Greg and she taught my brother Gary before him. When I graduated from Montrose Elementary School, well, on my report card, she put, “To the last of the Dixons, farewell.” That turned out to be somewhat prophetic because she died shortly thereafter. We never really understood why, but most of us just assumed that she’d tried to hold it too long.
Those were my elementary school teachers. None of them are famous today, but they were all very important to me because they taught me the basics of reading and writing and arithmetic. And I think we would all agree that children need teachers growing up. The Bible tells us that when you become a Christian, when you accept Christ as your Lord and Savior, in that moment, you are born into the family of God. You become a child of God. As children, we need to be taught. We need teachers. And the Bible tells us that in the course of our life on this Earth we never outgrow our need for teachers because we are, in this world before God, always children (though we attain various levels of maturity). So, God has raised up teachers in the church and He has given certain people this spiritual gift called teaching. Now, this morning, I’d like to give two teachings concerning this gift.
The first is this: this gift is dangerous. The Bible says, “Let not many of you become teachers. For you know that we who teach shall be judged with greater strictness.” You might ask, why would anybody want to become a teacher? It seems to invite the judgment of God. Yet the truth is that many, many people in this world do want to teach. There is a virtual glut of seminary students in the theological schools of this nation, most of whom want to teach. And yet there are not enough platforms in the Christian schools and churches to accommodate all of these people. Studies also show that more than 100,000 Christians in the mainline denominal churches want to teach adults. Everybody wants to teach. But the Bible tells us that we should not enter into teaching casually, because the Bible tells us that teaching is dangerous. In truth, it is kind of an arrogant thing, even an insane thing, to want to stand before a group of people and to believe that you can instruct them in the things of God, in the will of God, in the mind of God, and in the commands and precepts of God.
And yet, God does call some people to teach. Those people He warns that their lives will be judged with greater strictness. Their lifestyles will be judged with greater strictness. All Christians are called to holiness, but those who teach will be judged more strictly. He warns those who teach that their words will be judged with greater strictness. He reminds us that before Him not one idle word is spoken. He reminds us that it is a dangerous thing to cause anyone to stumble. He warns us that false teaching will be condemned utterly. He tells us that we are never to add to the teachings of this book, and we are never to take away from it.
Those who are called to teach are called to feed. As Jesus said to Peter, “Feed My sheep.” We invite the judgment of God when we do not teach the full counsel of God as contained in this book—nothing more, nothing less. Anything else is dangerous.
I’m sure that very few of you (probably none of you) have ever heard of James Dewar, but most of you have heard of his creation. In 1930, James Dewar created a spongy little edible called the Twinkie. Since 1930, the people in the United States have consumed 30 billion Twinkies. Now, most nutritionists and most doctors and physicians would tell us that Americans consume too many snack foods such as Twinkies, and they would tell us that it is dangerous. The Twinkie, believe it or not (I know this is hard to believe) has actually had its day in court. In 1979, San Francisco city supervisor Dan White was brought to trial. You probably remember the case. He was accused of shooting the mayor and a colleague. And (I’m sure for the first time in history) his attorneys created their defense on the basis of the Twinkie. They said that Dan White performed these horrible acts in a sugar-induced hysteria produced by the consumption of an inordinate number of Hostess Twinkies. They brought in nutritionists who testified that the Twinkie is not what they called nutrient dense.
They brought in a spokesman from the US Department of Agriculture. But when the testimonies were concluded, the judge made his decision. And he said that although he agreed that the Twinkie was probably not nutrient dense he wanted them to know that he was not dense enough to believe that a Twinkie could actually cause a person to shoot another person. And so it was that Dan White was prosecuted for manslaughter, and the Twinkie was more or less exonerated.
Now, in that same year, 1979, James Dewar was asked what he thought about all of this. He laughed and he said that the Twinkie never killed anybody, though he did admit that he had made a killing. But he said that he had put his mouth where his money was, because every day since 1930 when he first invented the Twinkie he had consumed three Twinkies per day. Now, James Dewar died last year, in 1985. For the final 55 years of his life, he had consumed three Twinkies a day. In those final 55 years, he consumed 60,255 Twinkies. And yet he lived to the incredible age of 88 years.
Now, you might want to know, “What does any of this have to do with the dangers of teaching?” Very little, really. But I love the story. I think most nutritionists would agree that James Dewar was an exception to the dangers of bad nutrition. And I think most of you would agree that if Barbara and I gave Drew and Heather nothing but Twinkies to eat we would be negligent, perhaps even criminal. I think the Bible wants us to understand that God is a nutritionist. He cares very much what you eat, and He cares how teachers feed. He demands that teachers feed their flock properly. Unfortunately, there are many teachers in the world today, allegedly Christian, who are handing out little more than Twinkies. In the mainline denominational churches today, there are literally thousands of teachers who do not instruct their people regarding repentance. And yet the Bible says that “Without repentance, there is no forgiveness of sin.”
In the mainline denominational churches today, there are thousands of teachers who do not instruct their people in the necessity of the new birth. And yet our Lord Jesus said, “Unless someone is born anew, they cannot enter the kingdom of Heaven.” In the mainline denominational churches today, there are thousands of teachers that do not instruct their people in the dangers of disobedience. And yet the Bible says, “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as He who has called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct. For it is written, ‘You shall be holy as I am holy.’”
In the mainline denominational churches, there are thousands of teachers who never instruct their people in the person of the Holy Spirit. And yet the Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit is the very source of power, the very source of joy, the very source of ministry, and the very source of growth in sanctification. In the mainline denominational churches, there are thousands of teachers who never instruct their people in the necessity of entering into ministry on this Earth, even though the Bible says, “Go ye into all the world and make disciples,” even though our Lord Jesus said, “You shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria, unto the uttermost parts of the Earth.
Now, many of these teachers perhaps instruct their people that they are to be loving and that they’re to fight for social justice. There’s nothing wrong with those teachings. They are good. But when divorced from the whole of biblical counsel, they amount to little more than Twinkies. It’s a dangerous thing to take away from the teaching of this book or to add to it. Those who have the gift of teaching are called to feed and they are called to feed well. The Bible says, “Let not many of you become teachers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.”
Well, secondly and finally, this gift is powerful. It’s dangerous, but it is also powerful. The Bible says His gifts were that some should be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors, and some teachers for the work of the ministry, for the equipping of the saints, and for the building up of the body of Jesus Christ. The gift of teaching, like all the higher gifts of the Spirit, actually has the power to equip the saints for the work of the ministry. It has the power to build them up into Christlikeness. This gift is powerful.
Now, perhaps you think the Bible is that which equips the saints. And of course, in our passage of scripture for today, the Apostle Paul said to Timothy, “As for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you have learned it and how from childhood you’ve been acquainted with the sacred writings which are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. All scripture is inspired of God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, that the man of God might be complete and equipped for every good work.” Certainly this book equips us. But the gift of teaching is rooted in this book. It has its source in this book and in the Holy Spirit. Its subject is this book. And when a person has the gift of teaching and is anointed by the Holy Spirit, this book comes to life. And that is power.
When I was in college, we had a teacher named Dr. Robinson. He taught history. In the year 1966, the student body voted Dr. Robinson the most outstanding teacher of the year. Dr. Robinson was not good looking. I don’t think his wife could even have said that. He was not what you would call socially adept. I think if you were having a party, you would not likely invite Dr. Robinson to it. He did not dress well. His clothes were horribly out of date. When he first came to school in the morning, he was usually dressed pretty well. His clothes were out of date, but he looked neat. But as the day went on, he just seemed to fall apart. By the afternoon, the knot in Dr. Robinson’s tie would be somewhere down around the middle of his chest and his hair would look like he just spent about three hours in front of an airplane propeller. The back of his shirt would just be dangling out beneath his suit. Usually one collar would be turned up and the other one down. Somehow (and I’ve never understood how) one pant leg, either the left or the right, would be kind of rolled up about six inches. He never had any elastic in his socks, and usually at least one sock would just fall to the shoes and there’d be about 10 inches of bony white leg exposed there.
That’s how Dr. Robinson showed up to class. But everybody loved Dr. Robinson (we called him Robby) because when he stood up to teach, suddenly history came to life. I grew to love history because of Robby, because of Dr. Robinson. Now, when somebody has the gift of teaching—the spiritual gift—they have the ability to make the Bible come to life. Now, there’s a difference between the gift of teaching and a gifted teacher. There are a lot of gifted teachers in the world. There are a lot of skilled teachers in the world. But you see, a person with the spiritual gift of teaching is a Christian who has been anointed by the Holy Spirit to make this book come to life in the minds and the hearts of the hearers. That is powerful because “the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of joins and marrow, of soul and spirit, discerning the thoughts and intentions of the human heart.” This gift is powerful.
Now, our Lord Jesus Christ was a gifted teacher. He was a great teacher. In fact, many secular historians would say that He was the greatest teacher who ever lived. Now, of course, Jesus Christ was far more than a great teacher. The Bible says that, “In Him, all the fullness of deity was pleased to dwell bodily.” He is the eternal Son of God. The Bible says He is the Creator of the worlds, the Lord of Lords, and King of Kings. But His teaching was so great that the people referred to Him as the master teacher, from the Arabic make word rab, a word that was borrowed by the Hebrews and by the Greeks. They also called Him Rabbi, which means “my master teacher.” And they called him Rabboni, which means “my great master teacher.”
What made Jesus’s teaching so powerful? What made it so great? He told a lot of stories. In fact, the Bible says He never taught without telling a story or a parable. He also had a sense of humor. There’s considerable humor reflected in the sayings of Christ (particularly in a Jewish culture, though many Christians are not aware of that today). But He was not a great teacher because of His stories or because of His humor.
He was great because He was anointed and He was anointed beyond measure. No one who has ever lived on this Earth has ever been so anointed as the Son of God. When He taught, it was literally light in the darkness. You might recall from the 24th chapter of Luke’s Gospel how when our Lord Jesus had died on Calvary’s cross, two of His disciples were walking on the road to Emmaus, seven miles from Jerusalem. They were sad. Their countenances had fallen, and they were grieving. Suddenly, the Lord Jesus Christ appeared, resurrected and alive, and He began to walk with them. But the Bible says that these two disciples had their eyes blinded supernaturally so they were not able to recognize the Lord. As the Lord walked with them, He said to them, “What is this conversation that you are having?” And the two of them explained how their Lord had just died and what a horrible tragedy had taken place and how much they had loved Him.
Then the Bible tells us that Jesus began to teach them as they walked. He began to open up the scriptures for them and explain to them, beginning with Moses and continuing through the whole of the Old Testament, how the Messiah had to die for the sins of the world and how it was necessary and how it was promised that the Messiah would rise again in power and great glory. These two disciples were so fascinated by His teaching as they walked along that when they came to their village they asked Him to stay and spend the night and continue to teach. So Jesus agreed, and they sat down to have supper. And as Jesus took the bread and broke it, the Bible says that suddenly their eyes were opened and they saw who they were with. And Jesus, in that moment, vanished out of their sights.
When Jesus was gone, the two disciples said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within in us as He opened up the scriptures for us?” You see, that’s the gift of teaching. God gives that gift to some people in the church, in His body. He gives the anointing of the Holy Spirit in some measure that this gift might be imparted. I honestly believe that Bob has the gift of teaching. I’m kind of prejudice, but I think Bob has this gift in great measure. I believe he has this gift as strong as anybody I’ve ever seen. Now, Bob tells a lot of stories and he’s certainly humorous, but the power of his gift is not in that, but it is in the anointing of the Holy Spirit upon him. And yet, no matter how anointed a teacher is, it is useless unless there are good students willing to hear and willing to grow—unless there are Christians who hunger and thirst after righteousness, unless there are Christians who long to draw close to Jesus Christ.
In this church, we have classes on Wednesday mornings for men and for women. We have Bob’s class every Sunday morning. We have other classes from time to time, and we would invite you to receive teaching. Some people say, “Well, I go to worship service. I hear a sermon, and that’s good.” But I honestly believe there’s a difference between the gift of preaching and the gift of teaching. I believe that preaching is primarily proclamation, and teaching is primarily explanation (though obviously the two overlap). But we want to encourage you to become part of this church’s teaching.
You know, the Earth is 93 million miles from the sun. That’s extremely important because if the Earth were any closer to the sun, we’d all have a big problem. And if the Earth were any further from the sun, we’d all have a big problem. Scientists tell us that the Earth orbits in a zone that is called the zone of habitation. It is a zone where life can flourish and grow. The Earth is the third planet from the sun. The second planet is Venus. The average temperature on Venus ranges from 600 to 800 degrees. It’s a little too close. The fourth planet from the sun is Mars, and the average evening temperature on Mars is minus 150 degrees. It’s a little too far away. But you see, our planet is in that narrow band called the zone of habitation, a place where life grows.
Now, I’ve come to believe that many Christians view their relationship to God kind of like the Earth’s relationship to the sun. They kind of have a comfort zone that they want to function in. They’re afraid to get too close to God for fear they might fry, and they’re afraid to get too far away from God for fear they’ll grow cold. So they have a zone of habitation, kind of a comfort zone. But God wants us to understand that the Christian life just doesn’t really function like that. You can’t get too close to the living God because the Bible tells us that the closer you get to Christ the more joy you’ll have, the more meaning you’ll have, the more fulfillment, the more power, and the more peace. That is why Jesus said, “Come unto Me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me. For I am gentle and lowly of heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Come unto Me.”
There are many ways to draw near to Jesus Christ. One of these ways is through teaching. It is dangerous, but it is powerful. It is for the work of the ministry, for the equipping of the saints and for the building up of the body of Christ. Let’s pray.
Lord Jesus, You are the master teacher. You are omniscient. You know everything. And Lord, for endless ages, You will continue to teach us. Lord, in this life, in this world, You have chosen to teach through people in Your church that You have given the gift called the gift of teaching. Lord, for those in this church who have that gift, we pray for faithfulness and for protection and continued anointing. Lord, for all of us in this church, we pray that we might long to be close to You, that we might hunger and thirst after righteousness, that we might long to grow in our knowledge of You, that we might grow in our service of Your kingdom, and that we might seek to receive from this gift. Lord, we love You. We want to be like You. We want to see You face-to-face. Be with us, Lord, as we go from this place. In Your name we pray. Amen.