When teaching is part of the problem
Matthew at “Mt. Tirzah Baptist Church” has written a great article called “Laziness due to Ecclesiology“. His article is a follow-up on my article called “When mutuality is uncomfortable“.
Matthew says that teaching may be part of the problem, and he gives two different aspects to this: 1) when we study Scripture only to teach, and 2) when we exalt teaching as a special activity. Here are some of his comments:
What I’ve seen is that I study the Word of God much more intensely when I have teaching responsibilities than when I do not. This should not be the case. Should I not study just as intensely because the Word of God is always active and living? It is unfortunately a great source of laziness for myself and others when they do not have a teaching responsibility. Why are we not as eager to pick up the Word when we don’t have a teaching engagement?
However, there seems to be a deeper problem than what we first observe. I think the real problem is that we have exalted “teaching†to only that activity that takes place from the pulpit and to only that activity engaged in by a man filling the office of pastor. The problem is that all people in the church are called to teach each other.
Please read the rest of Matthew’s post. Hopefully, we can help one another think about teaching and what role teaching should play in our lives and the church meeting.