Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them.
He taught them. He didn’t send them to the Pharisees, to Rome, or to any other source to learn how to be His disciple. Instead, He called them to Himself and then He taught them. And much of the time, He was quoting the Old Testament.
And then they wrote down His teachings, and they taught others, and then the others taught even more others. But the reason there was something to teach, is because Jesus taught teachable disciples.
Today, we have so many sources of teaching, and I wonder if it’s made us lazy. It’s so much easier to be taught through listening to a podcast than to sit down and open our bible. A whole world of teachings is available at our fingertips, and it is enticing. But so very much of it is simply untrue and, unfortunately, because we are not actually reading our bibles, we are drawn in by what sounds good to our ears, perhaps unaware that it contradicts the Word of God.
Only the Scriptures will teach us what is true and if we don’t believe that, we are starting from a deficit. Without a plumb line, everything will be skewed.
There are good sermons, good books, good podcasts, good voices out there who are teaching good theology, grounded in scripture. But there are also plenty who are teaching a “different gospel, that is no gospel at all.” People who don’t like what the bible teaches, so they’ve decided it’s not true, and they’ve made up their own truth. They twist the bible to fit what they believe, rather than allowing what they believe to be formed by the bible. It’s not a new thing. It was actually happening in Jesus’ day, Paul’s day, and every “day” since. It’s no less dangerous now than it was then.
The problem is not that we aren’t teachable, it’s who or what, we allow to teach us.
A couple of lines from John, chapter 6:
“On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?”
“From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.”
They didn’t like what He taught, so they walked away, much like so many people are doing today. He didn’t chase after them to try to convince them, and He never once apologized for the truth. He gave us free will, and He allows us to use it. But what we can’t do is reject His Word and still claim to be His disciple. It just doesn’t work. If we attempt to separate Jesus from the whole of the scriptures, we only end up with a god of our own making.
Listen to this interaction out of Matthew 16:
When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.”
Many people said (and say) many things about Jesus, and those many people were wrong. But Peter knew the truth, and I believe it is because He was with Jesus, following Him, learning from Him. He was teachable to the truth because he was following closely to the One who is truth.
We are not told that we shouldn’t listen to other teachers. The scriptures tell us that God gave teachers to the body. But there is a way we are to listen to others who are teaching us.
Acts 17:11: “Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.“
They eagerly listened to the teachings of Paul, but then they verified what he taught by searching the scriptures. Sadly, many today use their feelings as verification of whether something is true or not. How it makes them feel, and whether or not it lines up with what they think should be true. Truth is now subjective to each person and their viewpoint, their feelings, their experience, and their trauma. And when you have a generation of people seeking to have their feelings validated, it is guaranteed that there will be a multitude of people willing to step in and do that as a means to build their own platform, bank account, or kingdom. God help us.
I am asking myself what may seem like simple questions, ones I’d like to answer quickly, but I know that it requires an honest look at my life:
Am I still teachable? Who is teaching me? Do I verify what I’m hearing by going to scripture? Am I willing to learn hard things from the Bible?
Lord, forgive us for what we’ve done with Your Word. I pray for a revival of the holy scriptures in me, and in Your Church today. I pray for a great thirst to come over us, a thirst for Your truth, found in Your Word. I pray that the heart of the Bereans would be in me, and that Your Word would be my plumbline, always.
Karla Jo Wasion 