The Gift of Teaching for Body and Soul

Pentecost 19   
Acts 18:24-26   
October 23, 2011

Meanwhile a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus.  He was a learned man, with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures.  He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and he spoke with great fervor and taught about Jesus accurately, though he knew only the baptism of John.  He began to speak boldly in the synagogue.  When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately.  
 

THE GIFT OF TEACHING FOR BODY AND SOUL

Sometimes teachers get a bad rap.  After all, they get benefits and pensions that are better than the average business offers, and a teacher gets them for only working about 7-1/2 hours a day and having their summers free.  And...what’s so hard about teaching?  Anyone can do it.  I’ve heard it said that pastors who can’t hack the grind of the parish ministry end up teaching in a school.  I guess that makes me a failure as a pastor.

In one of the Mission: Impossible movies, one of Tom Cruise’s friends makes a humorous but rather disparaging remark about teachers and teaching the sums up my point.  Cruise’s character has been out of the field for a while and taken up teaching.  When he’s called back into action, his friend welcomes him and pokes fun at him with this little quip: You know what they say: Those that can, do.  Those that can’t, teach.

The Holy Scriptures, however, tell us that teaching is a spiritual gift - a gift of grace that comes to a person through the Holy Spirit.  While all of us in one way or another have the capacity and responsibility to teach (parents teach children, supervisors teach workers, kids teach their friends), the Holy Spirit blesses the Church of God, the body of Christ, with people who have an abundance of this gift to build up the body of believers.  When St. Paul lists the qualities of a spiritual leaders (pastors), he says they must be able to teach (I Timothy 3:2). 

One of the early gifts to his Church was a, brilliant, charismatic golden-tongued man named Apollos. St. Luke says that he was “a learned man, with a thorough knowledge of Scriptures.” A “thorough knowledge” is a priority for those who wish to teach.  Apollos’ knowledge may well have started in the home of his Jewish parents who taught him Bible stories about God’s dealings with his Old Testament forebears.  They made sure he had the right teachers and the best schools.  He experienced his bar-mitzvah - a time of training in the Scriptures much like our confirmation classes.  He learned all the history of the patriarchs. He memorized the kings of Judah and Israel.  He wasn’t content with a topical knowledge of those 39 books, but he learned the details as well. He dove deep into the prophetic books to catalog every word concerning the Messiah.   And somewhere along the way, the student developed a deep desire to be a teacher. 

Then at some point, someone came along who taught Apollos about a man named Jesus. Maybe some of John the Baptist’s disciples fled the country when their teacher was beheaded by Herod and ended up in the Jewish community in Alexandria, Egypt.  They brought the message about Jesus, the one whom John said was the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.  They no doubt told him about Jesus’ powerful preaching, and his compassionate and mighty miracles.  They may or may not have told him about his death on the cross and glorious resurrection.  But the Spirit of God led Apollos to know that Jesus was the center puzzle piece of all those prophecies about God’s Champion, the one who by his humanity was the child born of a virgin, and who would be despised and rejected by men.  He knew that this child would be divine, the mighty God, everlasting Father, prince of peace. 

Apollos, the thoroughly equipped student of Scripture, had another special gift of the Spirit: a golden tongue.  No doubt his education included the art of rhetoric - the skill of public speaking.  And filled with the gift of spiritual wisdom from the Word, and the gift of speaking, he boldly and eloquently taught others about Jesus.  And he traveled the world to do so.

When we pick up the history of Apollos in Acts 18, the Apostle Paul had only recently left Ephesus. He had gone back to his home church in Antioch and then went around visiting the other churches. But Paul had some friends who lived in Ephesus, a man named Aquila and his wife, Priscilla. These two believers were at the synagogue the day that Apollos spoke.  They were pleased with his message, because he spoke with great fervor and taught accurately about the Lord Jesus.

But Priscilla and Aquila - both gifted teachers in their own right - noticed something lacking in his preaching.  What he said was not false, but it was not completely accurate, either.   The glass was only 94% full.  Apollos knew only the baptism of John. John's baptism was a baptism of repentance. In that respect it was just like the baptism that Jesus commanded later. But John's baptism was one that looked forward to Jesus. That made it temporary and preparatory. Now that Jesus had come and finished his work of salvation wouldn't it be better to be baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as Jesus commanded?

So they invited the charismatic preacher into their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately.  The Bible is silent about how the conversations went.  But I would guess that Apollos, who knew his Old Testament like the back of his hand, would have remembered Proverbs 27:17: As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.  St. Luke tells us that when he left Ephesus and continued his world tour, he was a great help to those who by grace believed.  For he vigorously refuted the Jews in public debate, proving from the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ.  The teacher was not above learning.  And so the Holy Spirit provided other teachers to round out his religious knowledge, to fill his glass to the brim.  He became a more complete preacher and teacher.  The Lord of the Church honed his gift of teaching so that he could do what spiritual gifts are supposed to do: build up the body of Christ.

St. Paul lists several spiritual gifts that the Lord has given to his Church in Romans 12.  And there he says, “if it is teaching, let him teach.”  From the founding of the Holy Christian Church till today, the Lord provides his people those who are gifted with the ability to teach.  They fill the pulpits of our churches, and they fill the classrooms of our schools.

40 years ago, the Lord answered the prayers and blessed the efforts of a small federation of churches who assembled a team of teachers to teach high school students in Southeast Wisconsin.  Shoreland Lutheran High School was born.  And THE GIFT OF TEACHING...FOR BODY AND SOUL was set into motion. 

Your high school, just like any school, is a place where you put your trust in those who teach.  You expect teachers to provide an education that will train the body and mind in a way that your children will be able to be productive people who can support themselves in this world.  You expect teachers to train your children to take knowledge and turn it into wisdom.  But those with the spiritual gift of teaching - a gift for the body of Christ - teach to the body and mind so that children learn to know their own gifts, and then hone the gifts that the spirit has instilled in them. 

Those with the spiritual gift of teaching also understand that they teach to the soul, and to matters of faith.  That’s because they know the complete story of Jesus - the message that gives us the certainty of forgiveness and the hope of eternal life.  They know not only his message and miracles, they know about his death on the cross that wipes clean every sin ever committed by every person who has ever walked this earth.  They know how Mr. Death could not hold Jesus in the grave, but that he broke the back of Mr. Death by his glorious resurrection on that glorious day we call Easter.   They know the power and the compassion of the Son of God, who is 100% divine and 100% human.  And they love to teach how high and how deep and how wide is the love and grace of God for each and every man, woman and child who touch the dust of this earth. 

Those who have the gift to teach love to teach the not only the matters of faith, but the matters of life as well.  They teach how hatred is a cancer with teeth that eats away in a person’s heart, but the love of Christ and the power to forgive drives hatred away.  They teach how the fear of death and the fear of the unknown can paralyze a person and keep them from serving the Lord and others, but that trusting in the promises of God can overcome all our fears.  They teach that sadness and trouble and persecution are a part of the world we live in, but that Jesus has assured us, Don’t be afraid; I have overcome the world.  They teach that a life of pride leads to death, but a life of humility and repentance brings peace and comfort to a troubled heart and soul.  They teach that each of us must deny ourselves and carry our cross, because then and only then will we truly find peace with God.  They teach that true happiness is found in Jesus, and in Jesus alone.  You see, earthly knowledge passes away, but what we learn from teachers about faith and life will never pass away.

The Holy Spirit has blessed so many of our church body with the spiritual gift of teaching.  Our church body invests untold amount of dollars and man hours into refining and elevating the gift of teaching, so that we can impart a God pleasing education for body and soul and build up the body of Christ.

But then the body of Christ needs to take the lessons learned and share them with the world.  The graduates of our school have used their lessons to build solid Christian homes, and teach their children about Jesus.  They have set an example of Christ living in them in their jobs and neighborhoods.  Church members who learn do the same thing.  The most important lesson we can learn is that, as Christians, we live in glass houses.  People are ready to criticize and condemn when Christians don’t walk the walk - God forgive us when we fail to live the lessons you have taught.  But when Christ is alive in us, they may want to know more about our faith, our conviction and our joy.

Far from being a last resort, God has touched each of us through this gift of teaching.  We have learned many things from the many teachers in our lives.  But most of all, we have come to know our Savior through the Word and the teachers who have shared it with us.  Thank the Lord for teachers, and the schools that use the gift of teaching to develop body and soul. 

Rev. Thomas E. Bauer    

Shoreland Lutheran High School      

Somers, WI