GIFTS OF MINISTRY
Brian Favell
Part 3 - TEACHING
This is the time to re-emphasise what I
said earlier on - that we are all likely to have within us more than one of
these motivational gifts, and that our business is to discern in each other and
ourselves just which is our primary one.
If we forget that warning we can become very confused about the gift of
teaching, because it can be held and used in conjunction with all the others.
A prophet is very likely to teach and will do so like a prophet, not like
a teacher. A servant will have
things to teach others, particularly if he is that highly specialised form of
servant we call a Minister.
An exhorter, a giver, a leader and a
mercy person will have things to teach, but their teaching will be secondary to
their other calling, and what Is said here does not necessarily apply to them.
This chapter is for and about those who are teachers first and foremost.
And again, it's about both men and women even though I may seem to be
writing about men.
So what makes a Teacher.......?
First comes the conviction that his
ministry is absolutely basic: he KNOWS that
if a Christian is not rooted in unassailable truth, then whatever other
gifts he may have will not amount to very much in the long term.
So he is more than impatient with any who use Bible texts carelessly: he
will not stand for misquotations or texts used loosely out of context; he uses
words carefully and expects everyone else to do the same.
It's not wise to be too free with mere
opinions in front of a Teacher. He
will stop you in your tracks, cross-examine you to find whether you used any
actual facts and reasoning in the formation of your opinions.
He will unpack what you have said, turn it inside out to find its
ingredients which he will dissect and analyse; then briskly reassemble it,
package it and hand it back to you, tidy, clean and garnished - and leave you
wondering whether you want to claim it as your child any more! If you can endure
this process you may learn much: if not he may find it hard to endure you.
He delights in digging - in research
among books and papers and old records. And his delight is not to do with the
satisfaction of curiosity - that's not the Spirit's business.
His aim is always to uncover truth; to test it and prove it, then to use
it to test and prove other truths. And
there is nothing haphazard about this: his second name is Order: he is
methodical; he looks for pattern, system, design - the workman- ship of the
Spirit. For him more than most it
is unthinkable for God to be other than the God of Order.
He has a hunger for truth, for in it he finds the incarnate Lord.
But there are problems.
A Teacher is apt to find greater joy in uncovering truth and setting it
in order than in communicating it to others.
Teaching truth is his work perhaps, but finding it is his constant pleasure.
Not that he is slipshod in his teaching - quite the reverse.
He is much more likely to drive others round the bend by what they see as
fussiness, pedantry, unnecessary nit-picking.
But what they call nit-picking he sees as a meticulous and absolutely
necessary regard for accuracy.
The Holy Spirit speaks TO him in his
research and THROUGH him in his teaching, and lack of care and accuracy in
either would seem to the Teacher to be unfaithfulness to God.
A prophet or exhorter or even a leader may speak and preach and teach off
the cuff, extempore; relying on the Holy Spirit to provide the right
words....... not so a Teacher. For him exactness of words matters too much, and
the Spirit has already provided the right words in the quietness of his study.
Nevertheless this passion for exactness
may lead others to think he lacks warmth and feeling.
The meticulously detailed picture which he paints in his teaching may
seem too fussy and crowded: all they want to see are broad, bold outlines.
This in turn will hurt and perturb the Teacher.
A Teacher's concern to draw from others the standard of accuracy that he
himself uses will make them suspect him of pride - of deliberately 'taking them
down a peg'. Indeed this could be a temptation to him if he is not filled
through and through with God's love.
He may be thought super-critical - and he may think others careless and
slipshod - because he will not allow truth to be blurred or tampered with.
A teacher may seem too much concerned
with truth and principles, and not enough with practicalities.
But this is at the heart of his calling.
The prophets, servants, leaders and exhorters will look after the
practical side of things in the teaching that they do: it is the Teacher's job
to help them keep their feet firmly on the solid rock of truth while they are
about it. For this reason we
are not likely to find a great number of Teachers in any one part of Christ's
Body, though there will always be plenty of people who teach as part of their
ministry.
Another thing: all these
characteristics as I have described them (like those of prophets and servants)
are fully developed, strongly flavoured.
You are not likely to meet them in this strength unless you run into
someone who is already recognised and well known - perhaps famous - in his
ministry. Usually you will
only encounter hints - subtle whiffs of the flavour. These hints are to be recognised by the people around
him, and probably only somewhat later by the person himself. Given that recognition, he can be encouraged to step out and
use his gift, while others are encouraged to listen and receive instead of just
thinking "Who on earth does he think he is?"
And again: these gifts are not
restricted to those who have been spiritually 'turned on' in one way or another.
They will be found in any and every Christian - man or woman - who is
willing to be used by God. They
are likely to be stronger and clearer in someone who has been baptised in the
Holy Spirit, nevertheless they are there for the finding in everyone. And when
found and used, the whole Body is enriched.
Lastly: there is no divine law which says that an ordained minister MUST
be a Teacher or vice versa.
A minister undoubtedly has to teach, but that is a different matter!.