Evaluating 40 Days of Community

[*NOTE: Quotes from the 40 Days of Community Workbook are blockquoted.]

"We're Connected to Grow Together...By Teaching Each Other."

We are all teachers of the faith. We may be good teachers or we may be bad teachers, but we are teachers.

To an extent this is true, especially concerning the faith. However, Jesus does not call us teachers but disciples, and we are to make disciples, teaching them to obey everything that Jesus commanded of His first disciples. In Matt 23:8, we read (NET): "But you are not to be called 'Rabbi,' for you have one Teacher and you are all brothers." We are not to call ourselves teachers, but brothers or sisters. As such, we are to be open to instruction from our brothers and sisters in the Lord, but we should not rely on them.

Rick's comment that we are all teachers is not entirely clear. It is true that we can have influence over and can teach one another, but Paul does very clearly state "all are not teachers, are they?" (1 Cor 12:29, NASB). However, teaching is a fruit of a mature Christian as the writer to the Hebrews attests: "For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who becaues of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil" (Heb 5:12-14, NASB).

Also, Rick's statement is without the scriptural warnings concerning false teachers and the stricter judgment for those who operate in the capacity of a teacher. For those of us who are of greater influence and desire to teach, we would do well to heed the warning in James 3:1 (NASB): "Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment." The Bible only identifies two types of teachers: true and false teachers. What Rick means by a "bad" teacher is not entirely clear to me; he may be intending someone who teaches error, although it seems he either means a hypocrite or perhaps even someone who doesn't live a moral life.

In writing to an ordinary group of believers, the Apostle Paul states, "I know that you have all the knowledge you need and that you are able to teach each other" (Rom 15:14b, NCV).

The NASB says "And concerning you, my brethren, I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able also to admonish one another." Admonish is not the same as teach; rather it is to warn or forewarn, to exhort, even to cousel. Rick seems to want to mix up teaching with counsel, advice or insight. I think its important to make a distinction between these, because the Bible makes the distinction and it warns of "false teachers among you" (2 Peter 2:1).

King Solomon ... said it is vital to learn from our friends (Prov 12:15).

This is true only if our friends give us godly advice. Should Job have listened to the counsel of his wife who told him to curse God and die? Or how about his friends whose advice was ill-informed? King Solomon actually said, "The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man is he who listens to counsel" (NASB). This is not the same thing as saying that we must learn from our friends, but we must take godly counsel. King David welcomed the reproof of a righteous man (Psalm 141:5), but friends can give us ill-counsel. "How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night" (Psalm 1:1-2, NASB). Our reliance must be upon our Lord and saviour--we must learn from Him. God said through Jeremiah "But who has stood in the council of the LORD, that he should see and hear His word? Who has given heed to His word and listened?" (Jer 23:18, NASB). Who was Jermiah's counsel? If it is imperitive that we learn from our friends, where were Jeremiah's friends? Yet still, godly people will be used of God to warn those of us who are straying to keep us all on the straight and narrow. It is vital that we be open to correction and reproof as King David was.

Let the words of Christ live in your heart. We must know God's word before we can teach it. ... Use God's word to teach and cousel each other. ... Too often we look to the world's conventional wisdom when we're seeking answers. ...once we learn from the wisdom of God, we must correctly appy it in our lives.

Amen! This is godly wisdom. But how is it that Rick is abiding by his own advice? Does he not look often to the world's conventional wisdom teaching others to do the same, frequently making use God's word as a stamp of approval to prooftext his own ideas? We must allow God's word to renew our minds and change our human way of thinking, correcting what we have been taught, much even from teachers in the church. We must take on the mind of Christ and not follow after the ways of this world (which has infiltrated the church) in an attempt to try to be successful and market Christianity in unbiblical ways and with smooth words, trickery and worldly appearances. I want to reiterate Rick's statement: we must know God's word before we can teach it.