This morning I want to look at teaching and the role of the Teacher in the Apostolic Reformation.

The first point of discussion is the difference between teaching and preaching.

Matt 4:23

23 And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.

Here we see that Jesus both taught and preached so the must be a distinct difference.

Preaching

' Strong's Greek #2784
2784 kerusso { kay-roos'-so}
of uncertain affinity; TDNT – 3:697,430; v
AV – preach 51, publish 5, proclaim 2, preached + 2258 2, preacher 1; 61
GK – 3062 { k?ryss? }
1) to be a herald, to officiate as a herald
1a) to proclaim after the manner of a herald
1b) always with the suggestion of formality, gravity and an authority which must be listened to and obeyed
2) to publish, proclaim openly: something which has been done
3) used of the public proclamation of the gospel and matters pertaining to it, made by John the Baptist, by Jesus, by the apostles and other Christian teachers

Teaching

' Strong's Greek #1321
1321 didasko { did-as'-ko}
a prolonged (causative) form of a primary verb dao (to learn); TDNT – 2:135,161; v
AV – teach 93, taught + 2258 4; 97
GK – 1438 { didask? }
1) to teach
1a) to hold discourse with others in order to instruct them, deliver didactic discourses
1b) to be a teacher
1c) to discharge the office of a teacher, conduct o­ne's self as a teacher
2) to teach o­ne
2a) to impart instruction
2b) instill doctrine into o­ne
2c) the thing taught or enjoined
2d) to explain or expound a thing
2f) to teach o­ne something

Preaching is to proclaim something. When you preach you proclaim the Good News that Jesus is alive. You proclaim healing in the name of Jesus. You proclaim liberty to the captives. You come and proclaim this is what the word says this is they way it is, no discussion needed! Preaching is in many ways similar to an advert.

Teaching is to impart instruction, to instill doctrine to explain or expound a thing or to teach someone. By its very nature a slower process and can be more discussion based. Teaching normally involves smaller groups, but not always. Teaching is more Discovery channel.

Both teaching and preaching can help you change, both can activate faith. Preaching because of its direct nature can either be completely blocked by the hearer to blast straight through any arguments in the hearers mind and straight to their heart. The expository nature of teaching breaks complex concepts into bite size chunks so that they are easily digested by people yet because it is more intellectual there is more space for arguments to occur in the peoples mind.

This is the very reason why Jesus both preached and taught. That is the very reason why we have both teaching and preaching here. Acts 20:20 Paul says that he taught publicly and house to house.

A sermon can quite easily move between preaching and teaching. Normally the pattern is to proclaim something (preaching) then to explain how it works in our lives and what we need to do (teaching) this can happen a number of times during a sermon.

The purpose of teaching

That we may obey

Duet 4:14:

14 And the LORD commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that you might observe them in the land which you cross over to possess.

Mark 6
34 And Jesus, when He came out, saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion for them, because they were like sheep not having a shepherd. So He began to teach them many things.

When I joined St John Ambulance in 1986 I was given a book of rules and regulations. In this little book it stated very explicitly in the front that ignorance is not an excuse. In other words you do something against the rules and regulations through ignorance you are still guilty and can be punished. It was therefore in my best interest to learn the rules and regulations.

I was not very keen o­n tithing when Esther and I got married. I had not been brought up with the concept of tithing, but rather give what you can. Then in 1994 we attended the Winds of Worship conference in Cape Town. There in o­nce of the sessions the person taught that tithing is in fact a form of worship. From that moment o­n I have never failed to tithe. I was incorrectly taught to start with, maybe not directly incorrectly taught but indirectly. Therefore I failed to see the benefits and need for tithing. When I was correctly taught I was able to follow.

I got Radar my German shepherd in Jan 2002 as a three month old puppy. The day I got her we took her to dog training at a club that we had been members of years ago with our first dogs. After a while I started to realize that I was not getting very far so we started to look around at other clubs. That is when we found that club I am currently at. There the people have the experience and practical knowledge to teach us. Because of the correct teaching and training I have been able to achieve a high level of training with her.

There are many aspects of the Christian life where we live completely wrong just because we have been taught wrong. The whole purpose behind the Apostolic Reformation is to teach people the correct biblical way of doing things.

How can you expect a person to do something they have never been trained to do? You cannot, so therefore God in His wisdom has created teaching as the way to learn His statutes and judgments so that we can live accurately.

This is also seen in Acts 18:24-28 where Aquila and Pricilla had to teach Appollos the correct way because he had not been correctly taught about baptism in the Holy Spirit.
That we may live holy lives

Ezekiel 44:19

And they shall teach my people the difference between the holy and profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean.

We do not know right from wrong, clean from unclean, holy from sinful / profane unless we are taught. It was the role of the Levites to teach the children of Israel these things. It is the role of the 5 fold to teach people in the church the difference.

Esther tells the story of a Muslim college saying that her favorite way to end a meal at the Spur was to have a Don Pedro. Esther then asked if she knew what was in it. Opps.

So often with us we land up doing things at are contrary to what God wants out of sheer ignorance or an incorrect mindset.

In Matt 20:20, 21 the mother of the sons of Zebedee asked Jesus if her sons could sit at His right hand and His left hand. Jesus was not impressed with this question. Instead of answering harshly He took His disciples aside vs 24 – 28 and taught them correctly that those who want to be great must become servants.

That we may be established

Psalm 24 3-4

3 Through wisdom a house is built,
And by understanding it is established;
4 By knowledge the rooms are filled
With all precious and pleasant riches.

When we understand something we are established in it. There are two ways to train a dog, the first is through repetition, and the second is through understanding. Until Radar understands the exercise she will often mess it up. With the competition work we do scent work. You lay out six cloths and then take two cloths and rub them to give them your scent. The steward then puts o­ne of the scented cloths out among the others and then you put the cloth o­n the dog's nose to give it a scent and dog must find the correct cloth. Most dogs can do this fairly easily, the problem comes when you move to the top level then the judge scents the two cloths and the dog must find the matching scent.

The concept is