Oakbrook Evangelical Free Church

Powerpoint PDF: The Noblest Calling
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“The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money.” (1 Tim 3:1-3, ESV)

Introduction:

Examples:

Teaching Can Be Frustrating

Did you hear the Texas tall tale about the teacher who was helping one of her kindergarten students put on his cowboy boots? He asked for help, and she could see why. Even with her pulling and him pushing, the little boots still didn’t want to go on. By the time they got the second boot on, she had worked up a sweat. She almost cried when the little boy said, “Teacher, they’re on the wrong feet.” She looked, and sure enough, they were.

It wasn’t any easier pulling the boots off than it was putting them on. She managed to keep her cool as together they worked to get the boots back on, this time on the right feet. He then announced, “These aren’t my boots.” She bit her tongue rather than get right in his face and scream, “Why didn’t you say so?”

Once again, she struggled to help him pull the ill-fitting boots off his little feet. No sooner had they gotten the boots off when he said, “They’re my brother’s boots. My mom made me wear ‘em.” Now she didn’t know if she should laugh or cry, but she mustered up what grace and courage she had left to wrestle the boots on his feet again.

Helping him into his coat, she asked, “Now, where are your mittens?” He said, “I stuffed ‘em in the toes of my boots.”

“Able to teach” (Gr. didaktikos, v. 2) means apt, qualified, and

competent to explain and defend the truth of God. Some elders

evidently gave more time to this ministry than others did (5:17),

but all had to be competent in the Scriptures (cf. Titus 1:9). The

style of communication undoubtedly varied according to individual

gifts (mass communication, small group teaching, personal

instruction, etc.). Nevertheless all would have been expected to

teach only after prayerful meditation on the Word and practical

application of the Word to their own lives.

“The PE make it clear that the primary leadership is in the hands of the teachers. . . . Paul sees the church led by its teachers, those who can preach the truth and refute error; its primary leadership does not lie in the hands of administrators.”

B.I. Leaders Who Teach

I. Jesus Was the Teacher

Mark 4:38 “they woke Him and said to Him, Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?”

Mark 9:38 “John said to Him, ‘Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons’ ”

Mark 10:16-17 “as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, ‘Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ ” ESV

John 11:25-28 “Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, “and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” “She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.” “When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying in private, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.””

II. Jesus is the teacher

Matthew 23:8-9 “But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. “And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven.” ESV

John 13:13-14 “You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. “If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.” ESV

What is the goal? – When is enough, enough?

Matthew 10:24-25 ““A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. “It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master…” ESV

Luke 6:39-41 “Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?” ESV

What is the subject?

Matthew 28:19-20 “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ‘teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”” ESV

Can’t take it all in…

John 16:12-13 “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.” ESV

John 20:16 “Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher).” ESV

Wouldn’t it be cool it he were our teacher?

Acts 1:1-2 “In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen.” ESV

II. Leaders who teach

3:2 “. . . an apt teacher. . .” SKILLED IN TEACHING (didaktikon)

This need not mean that the person is real good in front of a group, since not all elders devote all their time to formal teaching or preaching (1 Tim. 5:17). Rather as Titus 1:9 says, “He must hold firm to the sure word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to confute those who contradict it.”

In other words he must know Biblical doctrine well and be able to explain it to people. He must be astute enough theologically that he can spot serious error and show a person why it is wrong and harmful.

Didaktikon - SKILLED IN TEACHING

~ Not necessarily up front

~ Knowledge of the Word

~ By example

~ Main difference between elders / deacons

Ephesians 4:11-12 “And he gave some to be apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,” ESV

1 Timothy 4:6 “If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed.”

1 Timothy 4:11 “Command and teach these things.” ESV

1 Timothy 4:16 “Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.” ESV

2 Timothy 2:15 “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.” ESV

2 Timothy 2:2 “and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” ESV

President Ford Benefited from Spiritual Mentor

As a young Michigan Congressman, Gerald Ford met a gospel-film executive named Billy Zeoli who stopped by his office and gave him a Bible. Over the next few years, the two men became close—so close, in fact, that Ford came to call Zeoli “an alter ego, a second self.”

Among their bonds was a love of sports: Ford had been an All-American football player, and Zeoli created a ministry for professional athletes. It was at a pregame “football chapel,” Zeoli says, that Ford renewed his personal commitment to Christ. Zeoli was holding a service at a Washington-area Marriott hotel for the Dallas Cowboys, in town to play the Redskins. Ford went to hear his friend preach on “God’s game plan.”

Ford was especially moved by the sermon and hung around to talk with Zeoli privately afterward about Christ and forgiveness and what it meant. The inquiry felt real and raw; but was that the moment Ford committed himself to Christ? “It’s hard to say when a man does that,” Zeoli says plainly. “That’s a God thing. But I think that day is the day he looked back to as an extremely important day of knowing Christ.” Ford later affirmed in a published tribute to his chaplain that he and Zeoli “both put our trust in Christ, our Savior, and have relied on him for direction and guidance throughout our lives.”

When Ford became vice president in the fall of 1973, Zeoli began sending him a weekly devotional memo that would be waiting on Ford’s desk Monday mornings. It always had the same title—”God’s Got a Better Idea”—and began with Scripture and ended with a prayer. Zeoli sent 146 devotionals in all, every week through Ford’s presidency. Ford referred to those memos as “profound in their meaning and judicious in their selection.”

Beyond the memos, Ford and Zeoli would meet privately every four or five weeks for prayer and Bible study. Their conversations took place in either the Oval Office or the family quarters upstairs.

Comes down to some bottom lines…

1. Have you admitted your need for forgiveness and welcomed Christ into your life as your Savior?
2. Do you here and now say to Christ,

~ Here am I Lord, teach me.

What do you need to eliminate?

Do you have have a pencil and paper?

~ Open my ears Lord. What are you teaching

me now?

~ Where am I disobedient? Please forgive me.

~ Help me be a doer of the Word not merely a hearer.

What the first Christians did

Acts 2:42 “And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.”

Now is the time

Isaiah 30:20-21 “And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. “And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.” ESV

Hebrews 3:15 “As it is said, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”” ESV

Hebrews 3:12-13 “Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” ESV