Teaching them the Word of God

AMC Sermon 1st July, 2012

Acts 18:1-17

Main idea: Teach the word of God

Objectives: a. To teach that teaching is not just giving information.

b. To show them how the truth is not taught but caught by walking the talk.

A. Introduction

- Today, at every level of the church of God, and especially the Methodist Church of Sabah and Sarawak, we are particularly about teaching the word of God, the Bible, in Sunday School, Youth Fellowship and all the age group fellowships, small groups and during Sunday service like this.

- Why are we so particular about teaching the word of God in the church to children of God and disciples of Jesus? You may give your answers. Whatever your answers, at the end of the day, you cannot deny that we want to train ourselves, direct ourselves to be like Christ. In our attitudes, beliefs, behaviour and practices, perspectives, life values, principles, personality, characters, and worldview; we want to be like Christ. Christ is our best example/ model. To achieve this purpose, we need to teach the word of God. Can the Methodist Church in Sabah and Sarawak be faithful to teach the word of God (Bible) from generation to generation?

- In my personal term, I always see myself as training children of God in the church to become disciples of Jesus/ followers. I disciple my own children also. To do that teaching is of the key element of the process.

- May be Apostle Paul had similar thought in the passage today. In verse 11, it says, “…Paul stayed for a year and a half, teaching them the word of God.” The phrase ‘teaching them the word of God’ attracts my attention very much.

B. Context of Apostle Paul’s teaching

- Why it does not say Paul staying back at Corinth for a year and a half to pray with them? Caring and loving them? Doing some planning to reach out? Spend the time there to do business of tent-making and make more money to support his own ministry? Out of so many things, the author Luke said Apostle Paul spent the time to teach the word of God.

- Apostle Paul must be believing that teaching the word of God is the top priority in order to build a long lasting church or congregation at Corinth. If not, I cannot think other more worthwhile reasons to stay back for so long.

- After Athens, he proceeded to do mission in Corinth. He joined venture with a Jewish convert Aquila and his wife, Priscilla, to do tent-making. At the same time, he preached to the Jews and

Greeks. After the arrival of Silas and Timothy, Paul devotedly himself exclusively preaching and testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ. The Jews opposed him in the face and became abusive towards him. Paul was disappointed and he decided to move on and went to Gentiles.

- After he left the synagogue, we are told in verses 7 and 8, he went next door to reach out to Titus Justus, a worshipper of God and, he also reached out to the synagogue ruler, Crispus and his household; they believed and he baptized them. Besides, many Corinthians believed and were baptized. These peoples probably made up of the group whom Paul had to teach them in the one and a half year mentioned in verse 11.

- But why Jesus appeared to Paul in a vision in verses 9 and 10, and said, “…Do not be afraid, keep on speaking, do not be silent. For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city.”? Jesus assured Paul of protection. May be God used Gallio a proconsul of Achaia to protect him from the attack of Jews who pursued Paul. He just dismissed the Jewish request to prosecute Paul based on the grounds of words and names and Jewish laws as nothing to do with the government of the day; they need to settle it internally (verses 14 to 16).

- Apostle Paul being a human being, after the bad experience with the abusive Jews and the possible attack from them; moral decadence, corruption filled and idolatry of the Corinth city caused him to be depressed and helpless and scared. He needed the intervention of Jesus to uplift Him.

- Obviously, the vision of Jesus helped him very much. He was greatly encouraged and so he stayed back to attend to his sheep in verse 11.

- I can understand the need for Apostle to stay back at Corinth to teach the newly converted Christians the word of God. If he were to be serious about planting a church there in response to the evils of the day, he must build them up with the word of God so that they became permanent followers of Jesus.

C. Applications

- If Apostle Paul stayed back at Corinth to just teach the word of God for the young believers, the church, the Methodist churches must take heed of it seriously also.

- I always ask myself: can I produce strong and matured disciples of Jesus to help others to become disciples of Jesus? Can SCAC do it? Can SPAC do it? Can Agape Methodist Church do it?

- Can our preaching, teaching, worship and ministries produce people who are honest, responsible, mission minded, forgiving, caring and loving, become servants of God/ church leaders, ready to make sacrifice like Jesus, not agree to sex before marriage, not agree to homosexual practice, not practice corruption, practice good business ethics like practice good accounting system, not compromised on biblical principles like tithing, give willingly, be accountable to one another in marriage by being faithful to one another, responsible father and mother and children, not practising hypocrisy, etc?

- To do that we need to face two very important challenges in teaching the word of God.

- Firstly, whoever is in the position (pastor, Sunday school teacher, youth advisor, small group leaders or those leading the bible studies, church leaders, parents, etc) of teaching the word of God, can you and I not just give information? How do you bring across the word of God to your children? How do they understand the meaning of the 10 commandments? How do you bring across the message of God’s forgiveness of their sins? So that your students, your children, disciples of this church, and your family members will not just it as knowledge and mere information, where they can afford to listen and forget.

- I believe one answer lies with relevancy of our teaching of the word of God. If you are teaching forgiveness of Jesus for our sins? How do you help a person to feel the need for God’s forgiveness of his/her sins? To do it you need to understand what is a sin? Understand as much as possible the consequences of it. Why the need for a human being to forgive another human being? So, what you do and say must be relevant to the people whom you are teaching or ministering? So, is your teaching relevant to their life? When it is relevant, it attracts attention, people, young and adults will take it as a big deal. When that happens, the word of God, the truth strikes them, and it results in transformation of life, to be more like Christ.

- Secondly, the truths we are teaching are not taught but caught. Have you hear what some people say: Do what I say? If truths are to transform people they have to catch the truths from us, from those who teach by seeing us practising it. You only catch the truths and living it righteously from someone who is practising it. Do you still remember how are you are so convinced of believing Jesus and following Christ? Is it because you see the goodness of someone practising the truths of Christianity? How realized it is so important to be an honest person? How you realized it is so important to be forgiving? How you learn to be polite and respect others? How you realized the importance of doing mission? You must have caught it from a disciple of Jesus around you.

- So, we as church leaders, pastors, disciples of Jesus, can be good models for others to follow because no matter how good is a truth in Christians, it is not taught but caught. A person who is forgiven by you catches the meaning of forgiveness for his life from you. He will have a reference on how to do it to someone else.

- This is a real story told by E. Stanely Jones (died in 1973), a well known American Methodist missionary to India for 50 years. A Japanese Buddhist professor became blind as a result of a detached retina at the height of his career. He became a Christian. He came across the story of a person born blind from birth. Jesus answered the question of whose sin caused this man to be born blind, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.” This professor believed the work of God could be made manifest in his blindness. People flocked to hear his testimony because he could take the severe blow with Christ’s help and turned it into a victory. He went to Scotland to learn theology and got higher degree and came back to Japan to teach theology and wrote great books during the remainder of his days. He did not ask why but he only asked how. He is definitely a good example of how to turn something bad to something victorious. He was not self pity, helpless and depressed. He turned to Christ, and lived a life of victory despite blindness. Can you and I do better than him?

D. Conclusion

- Can you be a good example of a father or mother, a son or a daughter? Are you are a good example of a disciple of Jesus? If so, your life is actually teaching others around you. If not, let us work towards it.