A Few Thoughts About Teaching the Christian Life

Philippians 4:9 WEL Those things, which you have learned, received, heard, and seen in me, do, and the God of peace will be with you.

We must have these traits already.

Learned

• Purpose: Proverbs 1:1-7 NLT These are the proverbs of Solomon, David's son, king of Israel. Their purpose is to teach people wisdom and discipline, to help them understand the insights of the wise. Their purpose is to teach people to live disciplined and successful lives, to help them do what is right, just, and fair. These proverbs will give insight to the simple, knowledge and discernment to the young. Let the wise listen to these proverbs and become even wiser. Let those with understanding receive guidance by exploring the meaning in these proverbs and parables, the words of the wise and their riddles. Fear of the LORD is the foundation of true knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.
• Correction: Proverbs 12:1 NLT To learn, you must love discipline; it is stupid to hate correction.
• God teaches us, too: Matthew 16:17 NLT Jesus replied, "You are blessed, Simon son of John, because my Father in heaven has revealed this to you. You did not learn this from any human being.
• From illustrations: Matthew 24:32 NLT "Now learn a lesson from the fig tree. When its branches bud and its leaves begin to sprout, you know that summer is near.
• From godly mentors: Philippians 3:17 NLT Dear brothers and sisters, pattern your lives after mine, and learn from those who follow our example.
• Know the source of all wisdom and knowledge: Colossians 1:9-10 NLT So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding. Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better.
• Learning from chastisement: 1 Timothy 1:20 NLT Hymenaeus and Alexander are two examples. I threw them out and handed them over to Satan so they might learn not to blaspheme God.
• Learning to live Godly lives (from New Testament instructions: 1 Timothy 4:8, 11 NLT "Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come." ... Teach these things and insist that everyone learn them.
• Learned from gentle instruction before we were believers: 2 Timothy 2:25 NLT Gently instruct those who oppose the truth. Perhaps God will change those people's hearts, and they will learn the truth.

Received

• Acknowledge the source: John 3:27 NLT John replied, "No one can receive anything unless God gives it from heaven.
• By reading and studying the Scriptures: 2 Timothy 3:15 NLT You have been taught the holy Scriptures from childhood, and they have given you the wisdom to receive the salvation that comes by trusting in Christ Jesus.
• From others living a Christian lifestyle: 2 Timothy 3:10 NLT But you, Timothy, certainly know what I teach, and how I live, and what my purpose in life is. You know my faith, my patience, my love, and my endurance.
• From our brothers and sisters: Colossians 3:16 NLT Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts.

Heard

• From hearing the Scriptures read: 1 Timothy 4:13 NLT Until I get there, focus on reading the Scriptures to the church, encouraging the believers, and teaching them.
• We need someone to tell us: Romans 10:14 NLT But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them?
• Hearing encouraging words: Ephesians 4:29 NLT Don't use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.

Seen

• Seeing the damage of bad examples: 2 Kings 13:6 NLT But they continued to sin, following the evil example of Jeroboam. They also allowed the Asherah pole in Samaria to remain standing.
• Follow Jesus’s good example: John 13:15 NLT I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you.
• By working diligently to supply for ourselves and a little more to help others: Acts 20:35 NLT And I have been a constant example of how you can help those in need by working hard. You should remember the words of the Lord Jesus: 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'"
• Live a life of love. This does include telling hard to hear truths: Ephesians 5:2 NLT Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God.
• Live what you teach both in private and pubic: Titus 2:7 NLT And you yourself must be an example to them by doing good works of every kind. Let everything you do reflect the integrity and seriousness of your teaching.

Apply

• Confessing and forsaking sins: Proverbs 28:13 NLT People who conceal their sins will not prosper, but if they confess and turn from them, they will receive mercy.
• Apply what we read and are taught (in truth): Proverbs 22:17 NLT Listen to the words of the wise; apply your heart to my instruction.

Results

• How to live: Psalm 119:7 NLT As I learn your righteous regulations, I will thank you by living as I should!
• How to know God’s ways: Romans 12:2 NLT Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
• By learning and apply it, we receive: Proverbs 14:14 NLT Backsliders get what they deserve; good people receive their reward.
• We learn and apply it: Proverbs 14:22 NKJV Do they not go astray who devise evil? But mercy and truth belong to those who devise good.

Do

• The Lord Jesus says: John 13:17 PickNT If you understand these things, you are blessed if you do them.
• The Apostle says: James 1:22 NKJV But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
• We do what we believe. Doing does not forgive sins. Doing shows we are forgiven and changed: James 2:18 NLT Now someone may argue, "Some people have faith; others have good deeds." But I say, "How can you show me your faith if you don't have good deeds? I will show you my faith by my good deeds."
• Finally, Matthew 7:24-27 NLT "Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won't collapse because it is built on bedrock. But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn't obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash."

We need and He gives grace to help us: Hebrews 13:9 NLT So do not be attracted by strange, new ideas. Your strength comes from God's grace, not from rules about food, which don't help those who follow them.