Teach Yourself First

The Sunday School Teacher 17

Note: Some of you may recall, before my transition from the pastorate to the faculty, I was working on a book about how to teach Sunday School. I laid it aside for a time. With today's post, I return to it where I left off. Hopefully, I will be able to resume writing along the lines of my original plan, and have a book on the subject ready to publish in a few months. 

 

         I am persuaded that every good teacher teaches himself first.

Negatively speaking, I do not mean that every teacher applies the spiritual lesson to his own life first so that he may be edified, and is in this way protected from the hypocrisy of “do as I say, not as I do.” Every good teacher does do this, or perhaps I should say every right teacher does this. Paul said, Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all longsuffering for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting. (I Timothy 1.16) There were things God had to teach Paul before He could ever use Paul to teach those things to others, and the same holds true for every spiritual teacher to some extent. But while this is true, this is not what I am referring to when I assert that every good teacher teaches himself first.

What then am I referring to? Namely, that there is wisdom in inculcating within your own mind and heart certain perspectives regarding teaching, perspectives that will guide you, protect you, and enable you as you pursue the craft of spiritual teaching. Put another way round, the spiritual teacher needs to apply a certain mental approach to himself to be effective over the long term. Failing here will mean failure inevitably shows up down the line somewhere. So how does the spiritual teacher view himself? How does he teach himself before he ever steps foot in a classroom?

Allow me to offer you three primary answers here. First, the spiritual teacher views himself as a mini-pastor, as a shepherd with a flock entrusted to his care. He is not filling an hour of time or a lecturn. He is not punching a time clock, mentally enduring until his shift is over for another week. Nor is he declaiming to the masses while his ego runs amok. To the extent that he thinks of himself at all, his thoughts revolve around how he can be or become a more effective shepherd of the flock within a flock that has been placed in his care.

         Expanding on this illustration, a shepherd has three primary responsibilities. He must lead the flock, feed the flock, and protect the flock. In the latter category, this informs both his one-on-one conversations with his students as well as his choice of subject matter. From what do they need protected now? From what will they need protected in the future? I will pay my respects to the middle category elsewhere in this book, though the careful student will have already gathered much that will apply. In the former category, leading the flock demands that you be out front living what you teach, and living out what you teach as an example they can follow. It also necessitates assessment. Where are they, spiritually speaking, individually and corporately? What is their maturity level? What should you and can you actually hope to accomplish in moving them to new heights in their Christian life over the next calendar year? Having established spiritual goals for them, how can you best move them in that direction? What tools lie in the toolbox of your experience close enough to hand to bring to bear immediately? Put another way round, where are they at, where are they going, where do you want them to go, and how can you get them to go there? Your pastor should be able to walk up to you at any moment, and ask you about the spiritual welfare of the people in your class. You should have an immediate answer, and some idea of where you want them to go next and how to get them there.

         The second proper mental approach to have toward yourself is similar to the first. In the first instance, you view yourself as their shepherd. In so doing, you must assess where your students are, where they need to go, and how to get them there. In the second instance, you need to apply the same process to yourself. Where are you as a teacher? What direction are you trending? Is it healthy or unhealthy? If the former, how can you use it? If the latter, how can you strengthen it?

         As a teacher, you are good at something and bad at something, or perhaps I should say somethings. No teacher is good at everything except for Jesus. You have strengths and weaknesses. Do you know what those are? Are you working on improvements or lurching from week to week absent any overall plan? Worse yet, are you apathetically putting one foot in front of the other, merely existing as a teacher?

         If you have not already identified your assets and liabilities, do so now. Put this book aside, and take out a sheet of paper and a pen. Draw a large T on the paper. Place the word “good” on top of one side of the T and the word “bad” on the other. Now list whatever comes to mind in the context of you as a teacher. Perhaps you are organized. Good. Maybe your concept of discipline is yelling louder. Bad. Go on like that for a while, then take the list to your husband and ask him what he thinks. If you are brave, take the list to your class and bounce it off them. Now that will be an entertaining few minutes, I assure you. <grin>

Now then, having reasonably assessed where you are and where you need to improve, develop a plan to do so.  

About twenty years ago, I sat down at my desk in my office on a Monday morning and did exactly this. I consulted others as well. The resulting list was enlightening in a train wreck sort of way. And while I could have allowed it to get me down – a problem that was already on the bad side of my list actually – I did not. Instead, I made it a matter of thought, prayer, and counsel. After some time, I chose one thing on the bad side of the list to try to fix in the next twelve months permanently.

In my case, the first thing I chose to work on was my unhealthy sermon preparation schedule. Over the course of the next year, fix it I did. Instead of preparing sermons late on Saturday night and in the hours immediately prior to a church service, I shifted gradually until I was preparing sermons first days and then weeks ahead of time. I had more time with my family of an evening, and my sermons were deeper and better prepared. I do not mean to imply the process was easy or that the graph showed a steady upward incline, but eventually, with constant application and emphasis, and the grace of God, I moved something from the bad side of my shepherding T to the good side.

In addition to improving your weaknesses, the wise teacher builds on their strengths. What do I mean by that? If you are good at something as a teacher – and you are good at something, make no mistake – use it to its best advantage. Perhaps you excel at relationship building. Maybe God has given you the knack of illustrating scriptural truth in a memorable way. Perchance you have a solid ping-pong game. Whatever it is, come up with a plan to exploit that strength.

If you are good at relationships, identify the most investable person in your class, and build the relationship into a mentor/mentee one. Pour your life into them. Disciple them into spiritual maturity in an area. Then do it again with someone else. If illustrations are your bag, teach an object-based lesson series that pulls people in. If your lone talent is ping-pong, organize a tournament complete with Rice Krispies treats and trophies, repeat it quarterly, and make it a can’t-miss event for your class.

In short, exploit your strengths and work on your weaknesses.

Lastly, of the three primary thoughts I want to discuss in this chapter, I think it is important that we examine how to properly respond to feelings of inadequacy and failure as a Sunday School teacher. I suspect you understand me here, for most people do all too well. You have tried and failed with a specific lesson or a particular child. Alternatively, and even worse, you have fallen short more broadly, all along the line, as a teacher. Or at least you feel that way. What is the proper mental approach to take when your own heart and mind are accusing you of being a wildly successful flop?

I have often told others I have two spiritual gifts: criticism and discouragement. Quick as a wink, I can tell you where the other guy is wrong, and quicker than that I can think myself into a toxic subconscious stew flavored with a long list of shortcomings and flaws strongly seasoned by ineptitude. In such cases, I have learned not to trust myself, but to reach instead for the Word of God. What of all that God has said to me do I need to be reminded of? I remind myself of these things, and then choose to believe God rather than my own feelings.

For example, I remind myself that I am doing the Lord's will for my life. Of course, this naturally assumes you are doing the Lord's will. But if the class you have undertaken to teach is at your Master’s command, then there is good cause still to continue in it. I get that you may feel ineffective, but if God has told you to do it, then you dare not walk away simply because you feel you are making a hash of it. In the military, this concept is termed mission command. You have been tasked with a mission. Until you hear differently from your superiors, use your best judgment to continue working toward the objective. This requires discipline and initiative even in, or perhaps I should say especially in the face of failure. One of the reasons David Livingstone conquered both Africa and himself was his stated mindset, “I will go anywhere provided it be forward.” If you are doing God’s will, keep doing it.

Second, I remind myself that God blesses His Word. So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: It shall not return unto me void, But it shall accomplish that which I please, And it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. (Isaiah 55.11) After a few months on the job, I may feel I am ill-equipped to be anybody’s idea of a Sunday School teacher. But it is not my equipment people need so much as the Word of God empowered by the Holy Spirit and applied to their life. I may have laid eggs big enough to hatch twin dinosaurs in the pulpit, but it was not my sermon prowess that was going to accomplish anything spiritually anyway; it was always and ever the work of the Spirit using the Word of God that changes people into the image of Christ.

Third, I remind myself not to measure the result too soon. Lightning does not grow tomatoes, for all it dazzles every eye that sees it. No, bearing fruit is often a slow progression of two steps forward and one step back. Sometimes, that progression is even reversed. As I heard one preacher say a few months back, we often overestimate what God will do in a particular church service and underestimate what He will accomplish in a decade. In the early years of my long Chicago pastorate, I plodded forward one frustrating week at a time. It seemed that for all the work and time and sweat and tears and prayer expended, we were not getting anywhere. But I vividly remember sitting on my church platform one Sunday night just before the service, and thinking to myself, “I like this church. If I were not the pastor, I would join it anyway.” While I was busy working, it had become a healthy, happy, growing assembly of the saints practically without my notice. And it took about ten years to get there.

Fourth, I remind myself that some of the seed at least will land on good ground and bear fruit eventually. Behold, there went out a sower to sow: And it came to pass, as he sowed, some fell by the way side, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up. And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth: But when the sun was up, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit. Right about now, you are feeling this, are you not? You are saying to yourself, “Exactly. I could not possibly describe my time as a teacher better than those last few sentences.” My beloved brother, my dear sister, do not stop there; go on to the final verse of the passage. And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased; and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred. (Mark 4.3-8) Someone is listening, whether you think they are or not. And they are storing up the Word of God in their heart. Perhaps even the unlikeliest of pupils.

On a random Monday night, I drove several hours to hear a preacher I had not heard for many years. I slipped late into the service and took the first seat I could find along the right aisle. To my utter shock, a former buskid of mine was sitting immediately next to me. Now married with children, she and her family had been attending that church for many years, and I had no idea. We had a delightful reunion during the song service! As I write this, from my desk looking out over the pond in my backyard, there comes to mind a young man in Bible college who spent his summer doing ministry in Kazakhstan. When I first met him, he was a junior high public school kid in Chicago’s inner-city. Led to Christ by a man in our church, I baptized him and then was surprised to see he kept coming to church despite his dysfunctional family, entire spiritual immaturity, and the enormous sin challenges that surrounded him. Now then, a decade later, he does ministry internships in former communist countries while he prepares for ministry. What else might his life hold? I do not know, but I do know that as sure as I live and breathe, some of the seed you are sowing will fall onto good ground.

Lastly, when I feel that black dog of failure nipping at my heels, I remind myself that faithful obedience is success, in and of itself. God reminded a fearful Joshua in the early days of his leadership, fresh off Moses’ death, This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. (Joshua 1.8) This is the only use of the term “success” in the entire Bible. God is not telling Joshua that if he will stay in the Word of God, everything will always go well. No, God does not believe in the prosperity gospel regardless of the fact that so many of His followers do. God was telling Joshua, “If you will stay in the Book, and obey the Book, you will be a success.” Not accomplish much success; be a success. Faithfully doing what God says is the success, both before and whether it appears to ever result in much.

Teacher, teach yourself first. Then, properly armed and orientated, take the field and do battle for the Lord.