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Title: Who Do You Allow To Teach You?
I usually prepare my sermons on Tuesday or Wednesday afternoons. I’ve shared before that I like to do this because it gives me the rest of the week to look back over the sermon, make changes, and prayerfully consider how I might make the message more accessible to you, the congregation that I am charged to teach.
But there is a component in that scenario that I hadn’t considered until I read this passage that we will look at today. And that component is you. I literally could be the best preacher in the world, but my messages would have no power, if you didn’t choose to sit under my teaching. I also could be the absolute worst preacher in the world, and if you didn’t sit under my teaching, my poor sermons would not hinder your walk at all.
As we look at today’s passage I want you all to think about this very question: Why do you listen to me? Why do you listen to Jared? I’m not asking, why are you here at Heritage, but more specifically, why do you chose to listen to me. I want you to compare that answer with the reasons that John will give us for why we should or should not listen to other people on our quest for Truth.
I. “From the Beginning”
In verse 24 John re-introduces the phrase “In the beginning” which, as you know by now, is a recurring phrase and theme in all of John’s writings. We dealt with this phrase about two months ago in great detail when we looked at I John 2:7-8 when John says, “Brethren, I write no new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning.”
And, if you recall, I argued that sometimes “In the beginning” refers to the dawn of time, such as when John uses the phrase in the Gospel of John 1:1 when he says, “In the beginning was the word…” This is obviously a reference to the dawn of time.
But in other places, like 2:7, this phrase refers to the dawn of Christ’s ministry on Earth. John, like Paul, is very concerned that the Gospel message is not being changed, updated, or adapted by the people for any reason, and that is exactly the type of heresy that John was warning against.
Both Docetism and Gnosticism were offshoots of the church, both recognized, and claimed Christ, but in their “evolution” had begun to altar who Christ was. (For Gnosticism, the teaching that matter was evil, therefore Christ was not fully man, for Docetism the teaching was that Christ didn’t really come in the flesh, but only appeared to be flesh)
In all instances John’s message is the same: The Gospel, the one you heard in the beginning, does not change. If you abide in the real, original Gospel, you will receive the promise of eternal life.
II. The $50,000 question
(read v26/27)
These two verses, in the hands of the wrong person, saved or unsaved, can be devastating to a body of believers.
Anybody care to guess why? (They say we don’t need anyone to teach you.)
Show of hands, does anybody believe you don’t need Biblical teaching?
Another question: If that is what John is indeed saying, that we don’t need teaching because we have the Holy Spirit in us, does that create a consistency problem with the rest of Scripture?
Some Potential Conflicts:
1. Jesus Himself:
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.
Mark 6:34
2. The People Jesus Taught:
Then they asked Him, saying, “Teacher, we know that You say and teach rightly, and You do not show personal favoritism, but teach the way of God in truth:
Luke 20:21
3. Paul:
For this reason I have sent Timothy to you, who is my beloved and faithful son in the Lord, who will remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach everywhere in every church.
I Cor. 4:17
You get my point. I think we need to more clearly understand what John is saying, so that it doesn’t have such huge conflicts with the clear biblical principle that right and good teaching is a truly holy thing, a commandment of the God we serve.
Fortunately, John does offer the qualifier for who can teach us when he says, “for the same anointing teaches you concerning all things…”
Now, we all know this anointing is the Holy Spirit. And there are several ways the Holy Spirit intervenes to teach us in our walk, let’s name some:
1. Scripture
2. Prayer
3. Teaching (sermons, lessons, books, etc.)
4. Personal Experiences
But all of these things MUST have one qualifier, you must be able to look at that thing that is teaching you, whether that thing is a person, or a book, or an audio sermon, and you must be able to honestly answer this one question:
Does the anointing abide in them? You must look at me each Sunday and ask yourself why you keep listening to me. Why do you continually let me teach you? The answer must be because you believe that the anointing of the Holy Sprit abides in me. If you do not truly and fully believe that, you are under commandment from John in the scriptures to NOT listen to me.
Now, let me add a practical footnote. Does this lesson mean that we can’t or shouldn’t try to learn ANYTHING from the non-believer? (A non-believer wants to teach me how to change my oil, or sew a pattern, or throw a curve ball…should we listen?)
Yes. This commandment is concerning teachings of TRUTH about GOD, not other life issues.
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