7 Vital Signs of Spiritual Growth – Teaching

Acts 2:42 states, “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching…”

The first thing stated about the Fellowship of Believers – or church – is that they devoted themselves to the teaching of God’s Word as presented by the apostles.  If it was first, it must have been important, right?

When I was a teen, I decided I wanted to learn how to play the guitar.  I got one for Christmas.  I proceeded to learn how to play G, C, D, and E-minor chords.  Then, I tried to figure out B-minor.  That one was hard.  So, I stuck to only playing songs with those 4 chords.  Turns out, I wasn’t that committed to learning the guitar, so I let it sit for years and finally sold it to a friend.  Years later, in my early 30s, I was helping a youth band lead worship at our church.  But, I had no real knowledge of how to play the guitar.  I was worthless as a teacher because I had never invested the time to be taught.  Regardless, I was trying and failing.

Have you ever been there?  I hope not, but just in case, please allow me to share what I’ve learned so that you don’t have to learn the hard way like I did.  You have to learn before you can teach.  Sounds like a simple enough statement.  It has to be put into practice though.

Those 7 words from Acts could write a book on how we should work inside the church to raise up new generations of leaders for God’s glory.  If we will dig into God’s Word with people who have knowledge and experience in studying and acting out in their faith, 2 things will happen.  First, we will draw nearer to God and His will for our lives.  Second, we will become equipped to teach and mentor others along the way as well.  This is a never-ending process.  It is not like school, where you graduate some day.  A good friend of mine, Ryan Dunn, just delivered a message in which the punch-line for me was, “Never graduate from the Great Commission.”  If you will commit to constantly learning and constantly putting that education into practice, you’ll never graduate, but instead will continue to grow daily for the rest of your life.

Back to that guitar story – I met a man who has become one of my best friends.  Brian Ward not only taught me how to play the guitar, he encouraged me to learn the bass.  He and I have led worship together for many years now, and though I have moved away, I still get the chance to do that with him occasionally.  By letting down my guard and allowing him to teach me something I didn’t know, 2 things happened.  First, I became a much better musician, which has translated into expanding my ability to lead in worship musically.  Second, it allowed me to teach others around me what I have learned – namely my children right now!  I’m still learning.  Trying to get better every day.

In what part of your life have you experienced something similar?  How can you translate that into the same desire to learn from God’s Word and the mentors He’s placed in your life?  And then, most-importantly, what are you going to DO with that knowledge?