Teaching the Bible is a wonderful privilege—whether teaching children or adults. It is God’s way of expanding the borders of the kingdom. How different is true Christianity from other religions in that respect! Islam is spread by the sword. Catholicism and Protestantism conquered nations by the sword. However, the sword of the Christian “is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:17). The marching orders of the church are “go teach all nations” (Matthew 28:19). Jesus said, “They shall all be taught of God…” (John 6:44-45). Nehemiah stated the objective of every teacher. “So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading” (Nehemiah 8:8).
It is a privilege to be a Bible teacher because not everyone can do so, for many reasons: improper temperament, lack of knowledge and skills, inability to practice what he or she preaches, and lack of zeal for the task, to name a few. James 3:1 says, “be not many of you teachers, knowing ye shall receive the greater judgment.” Teachers are special people—love them, honor them, stand with them and support them for their work’s sake.
Teaching is a privilege because of the One for whom we labor. God is the Bible School Superintendent. We teach what He desires. How marvelous and wonderful that God should want to use frail, many times inept, human beings to accomplish the greatest task in the world—the teaching of others to the saving of their souls! How privileged we are to be “fellow laborers together with God” (1 Corinthians 3:9).
It is a privilege to be a teacher because of what we are striving to accomplish. To win the hearts, minds and souls of men, women, boys and girls to Christ is the teacher’s goal. “Jesus came to seek and save the lost” (Luke 19:10). This is also our task (2 Timothy 2:2). Teachers change our communities and the way people live. Their example and training spill over from the classroom into our homes, communities and the lives of individuals. God wills it so. This is an expression of our light shining and our salt influencing those about us (Matthew 5:13, 16).
Every teacher must remember the overall goal is to bring the soul home to God. The classroom is your pulpit. The end result of your efforts is salvation! The lifetime spent in teaching others in the classroom, in the pulpit or in the home must end in increasing the kingdom. We should not be satisfied as teachers until we can see our students living the first and second commandments to “love the Lord thy God, with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind, with all they strength” and “to love thy neighbor as thy self” (Mark 12:29-31).
Teaching is a privilege because of its great rewards. One of those rewards is inner peace. You are fighting on the Lord’s side in the greatest of all battles. What satisfaction to know that you have prepared others to fight, tended their wounds and helped them win a victory over the devil. There is also the knowledge that you are doing what you can to make the world a better place: giving peace, hope, safety and harmony to a world that is seeking to destroy itself. Then, there is the ultimate reward of the faithful. “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your Lord” (Matthew 25:21).
Oh, teachers of God’s Word do not despair! Yours is the greatest task on earth. “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:9). Keep on keeping on! As G.P. Bowser, the great black preacher, said about the potential of his students, “He could be a diamond in the rough, and with a little polishing a diamond sure enough!”
