A Stricter Judgment

I was telling Lindsay about my study in the book of James with Beth Moore. She asked me to blog some of the segment on 'teachers.' I think this is the section of the study that I could identify with the most and thus, it scared me the most. (Fear and trembling kind of scared.) Typing it out has sobered me all the more. Beth gets the credit for everything written, unless, of course, it's in purple.

James 3:1-"Not many should become teachers, my brothers, knowing that we will receive a stricter judgment."

Beth says,
"Some of you are teachers and some of you will be teachers, but, for those of us who operate within the biblical structure of the church, all of us have teachers. The following are a handful of land mines that go with the territory.

#1-The temptation to teach more than we know. (1 Tim. 1:7) Resist the temptation to teach more than you know, particularly in the face of natural disaster or human suffering.

#2. The capacity to mislead. Any leader is a potential misleader.(11 Peter 2:1-2)

#3. The capacity to be misled. Teachers are not the only ones who can mislead. (11 Tim. 4:3-4)

#4. The temptation to use the platform for personal agendas or opinions. Sometimes we can assume we've walked with God so long that every "religious" thought we have is from Him. Untrue. The best advice is to feverishly seek the filling of the Holy Spirit so when we cross the line, we feel conviction. At that point, we redirect ourselves or apologize to the group.(Jn.7:16,18)

While we're at it, let me save you an immense amount of pain: whatever you do, refrain from using the public platform as a disguised means of calling out someone in your group. We don't call out his or her name, of course, but we know who we're really talking to. Such a ploy is playing God and not just arrogance. It is cowardice. If the person really needs confronting, Scripture teaches the proper means.

#5. The demand for self-discipline. A decent teacher has to study. Hard. One of the signs of a teaching gift is an unexplainable thirst to study followed by the difficulty of keeping to yourself what you learned. A teacher who doesn't like to study is a talker. Don't mix up the two. The greater self-discipline is fighting ferociously to hang on to your intimate relationship with Jesus. God will never call you to sacrifice your intimacy with Him on the altar of ministry. We have to zealously maintain our prayer live and our love lives and teach out of the overflow of what Christ is teaching us.

#6. The pride and humiliation. Want to teach? Prepare to apologize a lot. (Prov.10:19a)

#7. God often likes to teach the bigger lesson to the teacher. Yep, many lessons will be taught to you before they're profitably taught through you.

#8. The human judgment. I'm not sure which is more toxic: the criticism of people or their adulation. If you can get people pleased, you cannot keep them pleased. Bind your wrist to the One who isn't fickle. (Gal.1:10)

#9. Stricter divine judgment. Why? Because "much will be required of everyone who has been given much. And even more will be expected of the one who has been entrusted with more (Luke 12:48b)."

#10. Others stumble with us. As James 3:2 says, we all stumble in many ways, but when a teacher stumbles, she is apt to be charge a group rate. No gift should be received with greater sobriety than influence.

But, wait a second. What if you're called to teach? If God calls a person to teach, in the words of Romans 12:7, "Let him teach." To shrink back is disobedience. Muse on a key word used in the NIV: "Not many of you should presume to be teachers" (James 3:1) To do so is to presume enormous scrutiny upon our lives. But Beloved, if Jesus has summoned you, you must go! "