The Master Teacher

Mark Dunagan
08/31/08 - Sunday Morning

 

There are a number of passages in the Scriptures that present Jesus as the only reliable teacher with regard to life here and in eternity:

• "Lord to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life" (John 6:68)

• "I am the light of the world; he who follows Me shall not walk in the darkness" (John 8:12)

• "If you abide in My word — you shall know the truth" (John 8:31-32)

• "I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he shall be saved" (John 10:9)

• "I am the good shepherd" (John 10:11)

• "I am the way, and the truth, and the life" (John 14:6)

In the above passages it is clear that Jesus promises "lasting results" to those who completely follow and trust Him. Jesus is not interested in mere numbers or a large band of mediocre adherents; in fact, He discouraged such a following (Luke 14:26ff). Instead, He is looking for the complete transformation of the individual.

He reveals my strengths

One fundamental task of any coach is to help people find their strengths; this is true of parents as well (Proverbs 22:6). In the Bible God and His Son reveal not merely where we need help, but equally, what we can do well:

• We can resist temptation, and not merely some, but any temptation (1 Corinthians 10:13).

• We have the ability to communicate with God in prayer (1 Peter 5:7).

• We can understand God's communication to us (Matthew 15:10).

• We have access to all truth (John 8:31-32; 1 Timothy 2:4).

• We can think ahead and intelligently ponder our choices before we make them (Ecclesiastes 3:11)

• We have the ability to truly listen (James 1:19)

"You cannot listen when you have an agenda. You cannot listen when you are just waiting for a pause in the conversation so you can insert your opinion. You cannot listen when you presume to know what the problem is before it has even been explored" (Jesus Life Coach, Laurie Beth Jones p. 210).

What the world will not teach you

• It will not teach you how to die

• It will not teach you how to serve

• It will not help you with your selfishness

• It will not give you the right priorities

• It is unable to give you a meaningful life

"Why did we bother with all the distractions we did? Back home, the O.J. Simpson trial was in full swing, and there were people who surrendered their entire lunch hours watching it, then taped the rest so they could watch more at night. They didn't even know O.J. Simpson. They didn't know anyone involved in the case. Yet they gave up days and weeks of their lives, addicted to someone else's drama. I remembered what Morrie said during our visit: 'You have to be strong enough to say if the culture doesn't work, don't buy it"(Tuesday's with Morrie, Mitch Albom, p. 42).

Create your own Culture

The idea of creating your own culture I believe is a biblical idea and I find the same principle in the following passages:

"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 set of scoffers" (Psalm 1:1)

"Refuse foolish and ignorant speculations" (2 Timothy 2:23)

"Avoid worldly and empty chatter" (2 Timothy 2:16)

"Nor --pay attention to myths and endless genealogies" (1 Timothy 1:4)

"Reject a factious man after a first and second warning" (Titus 3:10)

"But as for me and my house we will serve the Lord" (Joshua 24:15)

On the practical side, what this would include would be:

• You are free to ignore cultural trends.

• You do not have to spend free time with negative and ungodly people.

• You can reject the standards and, or excuses of the world.

• You do not have to spend your life living through others.

• You can stop chasing the wrong things.

• You don't have to have the "drama" in your life that other people have in their lives.

• You can create your own culture by picking the best from the cultures you have seen and bringing it all into subjection to God's will.

• If you are a teenager you can skip teen rebellion and angst

• If you are married you can skip boredom, coldness, and apathy.

• If you are a middle-aged man you can skip the mid-life crisis.

Use the sword

"Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword" (Matthew 10:34). Jesus then explains the sword He is referring to is the natural division that will take place among people in their relationships, even the closest, when they must decide to either serve Him or reject Him. The verse might seem negative, but it has a tremendous positive element in it as well, because the verse gives you permission to sever relationships that are harmful. "So often it quickly becomes apparent to me that what is holding them back is something that needs to be cut away — a false belief, a distracting 'assignment', an unhealthy relationship. Yet as humans, we tend to cling to what is familiar, even it it's pulling us down" (Laurie Beth Jones p. 21). Instead of feeling guilty for not being someone's "friend", Jesus gives us a godly justification. "No, I cannot hang out with you because you are getting in the way of me and making it to heaven".

Pick up the script that God wants to you read

What often gets us into trouble is that we are following a script that someone other than God has given us. It may be a script that someone gave us in school, or a script given by unbelieving parents or relatives. It might be one given by a corporate culture or by the culture in general. Here is another way to put it, "What is the story-line you are following in your life?" Is it a good story? It is a true story? Does it have a happy ending? This is one reason why I am frustrated at times about the amount of time we spend watching someone else's story on television or in the news and forget it is not the important story. The really important story is God's story and whether or not I make it to heaven. Paul said, "Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come" (2 Corinthians 5:17). This verse gives us the permission to abandon all the old scripts we have been following and start following God's script for our lives. I find it significant that the historical books in the New Testament, the gospels, and the book of Acts, record the life of Christ and the early history of the New Testament church. A lot of other history was happening at the time, but God did not consider the activity of the Roman Empire to be the important story. The spread of the gospel, that was the main event happening.

"Do you wish to get well?" (John 5:6)

On the surface this might seem like a strange question, "Of course the man wants to get well!" Yet Jesus' question does bring out something we often forget: before we can get better, we must first care about getting better. In order to change and take action, we must first desire and want the change. And look at it a moment from God's perspective, why should He heal someone who doesn't really care if he or she gets better or not? This is one reason why we must never allow Satan to lure us into an attitude that simply doesn't care. Along these lines the poet Auden said, "Love each other or perish". Apathy will destroy us (Revelation 3:16).

Get the small stuff done

"One hallmark of highly effective people is that they have a sense of urgency about the importance of even the smallest task. Yet all too many of us operate in sort of a mind fog that seems to tell us to 'slow down, take it easy, don't sweat the small stuff'. Small stuff not acted upon becomes big stuff that consumes you. One of the greatest antidotes to worry is taking action — now" (Laurie Beth Jones p. 63). Examples of this principle:

• Things not fixed around the house create stress between husband and wife.

• Little things put off unto the weekend often undermine the happiness of the family during the weekend, and get in the way of pleasurable activities.

• The little things must be removed that keep us from evangelism and making room for more people in our lives.

• The undone little things are often costing me money.

• We must remove the small things that make us feel overwhelmed and unable to help anyone else.

• A brief, important talk with my children, here and there, can make all the difference.