Teachable

We’ve been discussing, on Wednesday nights, some of the qualities that should be in church members who are helping in the ministry.  We’ve already seen that you must be faithful, godly, and Spirit-filled.  God uses people who are here regularly, who are growing in godliness, and who are filled with the Spirit.

Today, we are going to discuss the fourth quality: Teachable. People who want to help in the ministry don’t usually start out knowing all they need to know about the work the Lord wants them to do.  They need to learn.  And so you must be teachable.

Consider the Lord Jesus Christ.  Jn 8:28 says, “… as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things”.  Also see Is 50:4-5.  If Jesus needed to be taught what to say in his ministry, then surely we must be taught.  And to be taught, we must be teachable.  People who aren’t teachable are rarely helpful in the ministry.

You are to learn what you are taught.  One of the great examples of a teachable minister is Timothy.  Paul taught him the ministry.  Paul said to him in 2 Tim 3:14, “But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them”.

According to this verse, when you are teachable, you “learn” what you are taught, you respect the person from whom you learned, and you continue in the things that you learn.  Often people have trouble in the ministry when they err from what they’ve been taught.  They start learning from someone who has a doctrine that is contrary to the good doctrine they’ve been taught.  Learn well and don’t be afraid to continue in what you have learned.

You are to do the things you learn.  In Phil 4:9, Paul wrote, “Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you”.  It’s not enough to learn what to do; you must do it.

Someone can teach you how to preach the gospel and do personal work.  But if you don’t witness, people won’t get saved.  Someone can teach you the need to give to missions and how to give to missions.  But if you don’t give, missionaries don’t receive support.  And so forth.  Put into practice that which you learn.

You are to learn what you are taught well enough to be able to teach others also, according to 2 Tim 2:2.  I say that the best student in the classroom is the teacher, because you have to learn the lesson better than the people you are teaching.  What you learn you should learn well enough to pass on to the next generation.

It’s a joy to see Robert and Auré now doing in a church and on the mission field what they learned here.  Even better will be the time when you see them reproducing themselves, and new works started out of theirs.