“My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation.” (James 3:1)
If you have been called and have heeded that call to be a teacher to those who seek the face of the Lord, then you are the responsible party, you will be held responsible for what you offer to those who will listen. It is not your responsibility to make them hear, “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.” (John 6:44)
The words of God give us highlights, as it were, of many who heeded that call, not all of course, for then His Book would be as John spoke of in John 21:25, “And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen.” But those we are told of we are to use as they were intended, as an example for us.
Whether you lead a large congregation, teach the very small children on Sunday morning, have a small group meeting at your house, or place what the Lord has given you online, you must realize that every explanation that you offer, every time that you expound upon the Scriptures, you are speaking for Christ. If you are meeting in what is called an organized corporal setting more than likely all those there will not contend with what you say, they fear that attention will be drawn to them, that they may be wrong, and so they will sit there quietly, attentive, and faithfully. This is how easy it is for cults to exist, the finer the speaker, the more lavish the surroundings and the attire of those on the stage, the easier it is to deceive those who sit in the pews, for there is one singular truth about most of them, they will not study the Scriptures.
How many of those who teach a prosperity theology would remain prosperous in the items of this world if they began to preach on the suffering servant who denied all the world had to offer, who joyfully served His Father with no place to sleep, not a coin in His pocket, who “endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Heb. 12:2) In a very short time there would be many empty pews in that assembly.
The Almighty does not reward His faithful servants with items that are temporal and only for their enjoyment, those that could quite easily fall into the category of 1 John 2:16, “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.” But we still like to see them as a benefit, as it were, as proof that we are indeed in His will.
When the Lord said to Abraham, “I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.” (Gen. 15:1) When Job was finally shown who the Almighty is, when Moses was placed in the cleft of the rock, Paul on the road to Damascus, when these men were given just a small glimpse of the glory of God, it changed them. Here then is the point of this poorly written letter to you, “For we walk by faith, not by sight:” (2 Cor. 5:7)
Nevertheless, if we as teachers do not see any fruit being produced in the work that we believe the Lord has set before us, in the work that we believe He has set our feet to, how are we to know that we are on the right path?
I give you another example here, and I pray you will apply it in wisdom. All those who are trapped by the cult of Romanism, over a billion souls today, can essentially prove to you by their sheer numbers, by the incredible wealth that the organization known as the Roman Catholic Church holds, by the massive edifices that cover the planet that their faithful congregate in will say to you that they are the one true church. Yet the truths of the words of God deny, rebuke and reprove all that they teach.
If you believe the Lord has called you to what you are doing for Him, how much fruit do you need to see to validate that claim? How much did Jeremiah see? “Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me.” (John 21:22)
