At the Gathering every Sunday, we usually begin with a time of soaking. But then, before I speak, I ask for testimonies. Why? Because I want to gear my message to what God is already doing with the group. After all, the book of Acts begins with these words:
“The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach.”
Notice the sequence: Jesus began (1) to do and (2) to teach. For decades, we’ve taught first, and then eventually gotten around to the doing. But Jesus began with doing.
This is why I ask for testimonies before I teach. First, people share what Jesus has been doing in their lives. Then I teach about it.
For the person who shares of a firsthand experience with Jesus, my teaching may not add much. But I share the teaching for others who want to experience similar things.
I try to keep the teaching short. Earlier in my Christian life I heard and gave many teachings of how God ought to work, but He seldom did. We taught much, and experienced little. All too often, the teachings grew into a series of messages that went on in meeting after meeting.
In The Gathering, I don’t feel free to do that. We need to experience the word. Milk is teaching, but meat is doing. It isn’t that we’ve outgrown milk. We still include teachings in our worship services, just as I sometimes have a glass of milk with a meal.
But like many others our age, we’ve outgrown an all-milk diet. We need the experiences that result when we start acting on God’s word. But when Jesus said His meat was to do the will of God and to finish His work, it tells us all that we won’t be satisfied just to hear about God’s will. Our spiritual growth compels us to act on what we’re hearing. We need ‘A Bias Towards Action” that will translate what we hear from God into wise and loving action.
I’ve had a teaching ministry for years, but I’ve never felt free to teach theories. It didn’t seem right to spring my untested theories on others. I took my cue from I john 1:3. “That which we have seen and heard we declare unto you.” Before I teach scripture, have I seen it change my life? If not, I need to wait for Jesus to do before I try to teach.
Yes, sometimes we see something in the Bible that we haven’t seen happen yet. In such cases, we may need to teach a visionary message. “This and that is in the word, but I’ve never seen anybody walk in it,” we may have to say.
But it’s good to outgrow the milk stage of merely talking about scripture and move on to the meat stage of acting on it. As we persist in seeking God, we’ll find the grace we’re looking for. Then we’ll have testimonies that illustrate the word. Then we can teach with authority because we’ve seen the word work.
As apprentices of Jesus, we can expect to see Him both do and teach. In The Gathering, this is our culture. He is working among us, and we use teaching to put His works in a Biblical context and to provoke one another to do more.
First do, then teach. That’s the program.
Stan Smith :: © 2011, GospelSmith :: www.GospelSmith.com
