Who can teach?

¹⁸ And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” 

One of the things that really struck me in our recent sermon series came in the text from the final sermon. In it, we explored the question and answer: “Who needs the gospel? The world does.” The text was Matthew’s Great Commission passage, Matthew 28:16-20.

Here’s what smacked me right between the eyes: every disciple can teach.

It needs to be said that some disciples are gifted to teach in a way that others are not (elders, for example in 1 Tim. 3:2).

But every disciple can teach in some way. Otherwise, it makes little sense that Jesus would give the Great Commission to all (not some of) his disciples, and then call them to teach the new disciples. If all are called, then all can teach.

And in the sermon, I argued that “teaching” has to do with the simple idea of handing over something (the act of teaching), and then receiving that something (the act of learning). This comes from the root of the Greek word for “teaching” used in the passage. Part of the stem of that word is the word for reaching out and receiving something.

So I concluded: “Don’t we hand over our ideas on politics? Sports? Hobbies? Certainly we should all hand over the truths of the gospel to other Christians.”

I plan to write a couple of more posts on this in the days/weeks ahead. For now, I simply reiterate that every disciple can teach.

Do you know Jesus? Are you getting to know him better? Then share what you’ve learned with another Christian, and watch as teaching happens!

"The Trellis and the Vine" is my go to book for thinking about discipling. Click here to check it out.