TEACHERS MUST BE EXAMPLES

Victor M. Eskew

 

            In James 3:1, James gives a word of warning to teachers.  He writes:  “My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation.”  When a person teaches the Word of God, he is held by God to a higher standard of judgment.  A teacher has studied the truth.  He is motivated to tell others about the conclusions he has reached in his studies.  He exhorts his listeners to give heed to the things he is teaching.  He wants his students to not only hear his words, but to live them out in their lives.  James’ warning to teachers implies that they must be adhering to the things they are teaching their students.  If not, they will receive the greater condemnation.  Their punishment will be more severe because they are hypocrites.  They teach others to live in harmony with the truth, but they do not live according to their own teachings. 

            It is not enough for a teacher to present the truth.  A teacher must also live the truth.  He must be an example for his students to follow.  Paul was an example to those who heard him.  In I Corinthians 11:1, he said:  “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.”  In I Timothy 4:12, Paul exhorted the young evangelist Timothy to be an example of the believers.  “”Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.”  Jesus knew that He had to be an example to His disciples.  He taught them to serve, but He also manifested service in His life.  The account of our Lord’s washing the disciples’ feet in John 13 is a bold reminder to all teachers that we must be examples to others.  Listen to the words of the Master Teacher.  “So after he had washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and was set down again, he said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you?  Ye call me Master and Lord:  and ye say well; for so I am.  If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet.  For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you” (John 13:12-15). 

            In Matthew 23, Jesus gives one of the most scathing rebukes that can be found in the Bible.  He addresses the scribes and Pharisees.  These were the doctors of the Law of Moses.  They were the instructors of the people.  He rebukes their hypocrisy.  He says:  “…they say, and do not” (v. 3).  “For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on man’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers” (v. 4).  Eight times Jesus pronounces a woe upon these instructors.  It is important to understand that the condemnation was not about the things they taught.  The condemnation was upon the contradictory lives they were living before their disciples.  In Matthew 23:33, Jesus asks them a very thought provoking question.  “Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?” 

            As teachers we sometimes forget our grave responsibility to live the truth in our lives.  We teach others to be faithful, but we are not faithful.  We teach others the importance of the worship services, but we do not take worship services seriously.  We teach others to be involved in the work of the church, but we are not actively involved in the work of the church.  We teach others to shun sin, but we do not shun sin.  We teach others to be evangelistic, but we are not evangelistic.  We teach others to pray, but we do not pray.  We teach others to love and serve their brethren, but we do not love and service the brethren.  We teach others to sacrificially give, but we do not sacrificially give.  We teach others that leaders must be committed to the local church, but we are not committed to the local church.  We teach others to visit the sick and shut-ins, but we do not visit the sick and shut-ins.

            Every teacher needs to examine his/her life.  He must teach God’s Word.  He must also do God’s Word.  If teachers are not diligent in their examination, they will find that it is easy for them to justify their unfaithfulness to their own teachings.  There will be one to a thousand “good reasons” why they do not have to do what they teach others to do.  When this happens, others see the hypocrisy.  Sometimes they will reject our teachings because they know that our lives do not manifest the things we teach.  In Romans 2, Paul confronted this very problem with the Jews.  He begins the section by affirming the status the Jews had as teachers.  “Behold, thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of the law, and knowest his will, and approvest the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the law; and art confident that thou thyself are a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which hast a form of knowledge and of the truth of the law” (vs. 17-20).  After noting their position as teachers, he addresses their hypocrisy.  “Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself?  thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal?  thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery?  thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal?  thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery?  thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege?  thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God?” (v. 21-23).  In a final verse, he acknowledges the harm done by these hypocrites.  “For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written” (v. 24).  Dear reader, think about what Paul just said.  Then name of God was blasphemed by the Gentiles because these teachers of the law did not live the law.  Oh yes, they preached it, but they refused to live it.

            When Luke introduced the book of Acts, he began with a very important statement about Jesus.  “The former treastise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach” (Acts 1:1).  The former treatise is Luke’s gospel narrative.  It records the things Jesus did and taught.  Note that again.  It records the things Jesus did and taught (notice the order of the words).  As a teacher of God’s Word, Jesus not only taught the truth, He lived it.  As teachers, so should we.“  Remember the words of James as we close: “My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation” (James 3:1).