In 1 Timothy, Paul states:
“6 By exposing these things to your brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, nourished with the words of faith and good doctrine that you have learned. 7 But reject the profane and old tales; … Apply yourself, until I come, to reading, to exhortation, to teaching. … 15 Take care of these things and devote yourself entirely to them so that your progress may be manifest to all. 16 Look after yourself and the teaching
Oh brothers, teaching is a very, very important responsibility, to be taken very seriously.
Whoever is a teacher will be judged more severely. This is true both for those who are not true believers and for those who are believers. If one is a false teacher, he will be judged in the judgment of non-believers and will be judged more severely, because in addition to his other sins, he will also have dragged other people further from the truth.
Similarly, any believer who teaches will be judged for his teaching in the judgment of believers. Paul describes that judgment in 1 Corinthians 4. Every teacher, who administers God’s truths, will be accountable to God for his teaching. I read you:
1 Thus, let each one consider us servants of Christ and administrators of the mysteries of God. 2 Moreover, what is required of administrators is that each be found faithful. 3 Besides, I care very little about being judged by you or by a human court; in fact, I don’t even judge myself. 4 For I am not aware of any guilt; but I am not justified for this; the one who judges me is the Lord. 5 Therefore do not judge anything before the time until the Lord comes, who will bring to light that which is hidden in darkness and manifest the thoughts of hearts; then each will have his praise from God. (1 Corinthians 4: 1-5)
In this passage, Paul teaches us that what really matters is not being approved by men, but being approved by God, being found faithful in His eyes, because we will be judged by Him.
So teaching the Word of God is a dangerous endeavor if one is not called of God and does not strive with care. It is very serious to speak of the things of God in a wrong way or with errors. The solution is not to stop talking about the things of God, rather, the solution is to work hard so that we speak correctly.
James 3: 2 for we are all lacking in many things. Every believer continues to sin in various things. We clearly sin a lot with our words. Therefore we must not be in a hurry to be masters.
Proverbs 20: 9 Who can say, “I have cleansed my heart, I am clean from my sin?”
None of us can say that we have purified his heart to the point of no longer falling into sin. No believer is perfect. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
1 John 1: 8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
We keep sinning, and it is so easy to sin with our words. Our words condemn us if we don’t keep them in check.
then, the meaning of the sentence
Putting all this together, the phrase: “do not be many to be teachers” means that, before rushing to teach others, we must realize how dangerous the language is and how much our words can condemn us if we are not careful. to say only the right things, and particularly if we teach the truths of God in the wrong way.
Then, we must be sure that we have a true call from God to teach. Clearly, every father has this responsibility with his children. As for having the call to teach others, like all other spiritual gifts, you don’t have to recognize it yourself, but it should be the church that recognizes this in you.
Therefore everyone should consider the role of teacher as a responsibility to be taken only if there is clear guidance from God, confirmed by the church, and then always having a great commitment to know and teach the Word of God correctly. The gift of teaching , when lived like this, it becomes a great privilege and can bring much glory to God, and edify others.
Conclusion
So, today we started to consider how we use our language. We have seen that language can be used to glorify God, but language can also condemn us if we use it badly.
Specifically, in this article, we have considered the danger of teaching badly, or teaching with wrong motives.
It is very easy to have pleasure in teaching for the wrong reasons. Teaching can be a way to seek glory for oneself. It can be a way to try to satisfy your pride. Therefore, no one should be in a hurry to teach.
To understand if God has called you to teach, it is important not to value yourself, but let the church, especially those who are more mature, recognize the gift of teaching in you.
Then, since teaching is a very big responsibility, whoever has this responsibility should always take it with the utmost seriousness. Therefore, he should have a great commitment to know God’s Word well, and then to prepare well for every teaching he does.
When one lives like this, even though it is a great responsibility, teaching becomes an immense privilege.
In fact, usually, in God’s plan, the growth of the church, both in maturity and in number, depends very much on the presence of trained and faithful teachers.
Therefore, I pray that God will give us more teachers, more people called by God to teach. We need both people who teach face to face, and those who can evangelize, and men who can teach the whole church.
I pray that God will give us these people, and that they will carry out this commitment with great seriousness and humility, for the glory of God.
May we use our tongues for the glory of God!