'Best Practices' for Bible Teachers (Part XXIII)
By Buddy Hanson The Covenant News
Becoming a Better Servant in Christ's Kingdom
How will the biblical ethics you are about to present provide a positive impact upon your learners if they add them to their lifestyle? This should be the first thing to consider when preparing your next message. Remember that you have not been called by God to be an accurate announcer of His truths, nor has He called you to merely add to your learners' mental storehouse of unused biblical knowledge. The main objective of all Bible teachers is to help learners transform their behavior by adding God-centered ethics to their worldview and subtracting man-centered ethics.
Keep in mind that whether you are in the pulpit, in someones living room leading a small group, or sitting around the kitchen table with your family, your chief objective is to be an instructor, and not an informer. In order to accomplish this commanded duty and high privilege:
Keep your presentation easy-to-understand and follow.
Introduce and explain only one major concept in each message.
Use your knowledge of the learners to present the information in a way that will help them build mental bridges to connect the new information to truths they already know and with which they are comfortable.
Presenting information in this manner will help them recognize how to expand their current behavioral paradigm, without it appearing to them that you are calling for a dramatic shift in the way they live their lives. An effective way to introduce new concepts is through rhetorical questions, if you are lecturing, or by inviting questions if you are in a small group situation. Both of these tactics enable you to raise awareness among the learners about areas of obedience that should concern them. For some, this may be simply a matter of tweaking their behavior, but in others, it may cause them to recognize that they need to make a major behavioral adjustment in order to present a more consistent daily walk with God.
What are you going to emphasize in your message?
In putting together your series of messages, frame your syllabus, or course of study according to the following Seven Points of Emphasis.
The Seven Points of Emphasis
ONE: Identify the Key Concepts -- Football coaches have a teaching truism that states: "You achieve what you emphasize." For example, if a team's defense didn't create many fumbles or interceptions the previous year, coaches will emphasize for the players to "create turnovers" as they begin practices for the new season. By creating this awareness, the players will be looking for opportunities to either rip the ball from the ball carrier, or try to intercept a pass, rather than batting it away from the receiver.
TWO: Whole-Part-Whole -- You can "achieve what you emphasize" by organizing your messages in such a manner by presenting the overall Big Picture of where you are going in the first message, then in the next few messages point out how the various Little Picture individual responsibilities relate to the ever-present Big Picture theme. In the concluding message review the Little Picture responsibilities and accountability's, as you put them back together to comprise the overall Big Picture. This will help the learners to reinforce these new concepts and clarify to themselves how they can incorporate them into their worldview and lifestyle.
THREE: God's Revealed Wisdom Trumps Man's Made-up Wisdom -- Make it your goal to develop a practical determination in the learners to filter their daily decisions through the biblical truths in which they profess to believe. This will help them overcome the temptation of practical atheism which excludes God's ethics from their daily decision-making.[1] As you do this, point out how the truths in this message relate to the learners' calling as faithful members in God's family, and how, by including these truths in their lifestyle, they will be a more consistent servant in Christ's Kingdom.
FOUR: Discerning God's Absolute Ethics from Man's Relative Ethics --Also include a balance of God's Laws and His Gospel in each message. By doing this, you are placing the learners in a position to recognize which parts of their worldview and lifestyle are out of sync with God's will (Law), and how they have been empowered by the Holy Spirit to prefer and obey God's perfect and holy will to their imperfect and unholy will (Gospel). This way, each message should help your learners diagnose their condition, as well as the cultural conditions they face, and then build confidence in prescribing self-governing biblical remedies.
How successful would you expect your favorite team's coach to be if he didn't carefully instruct his players in the rules of the game?
How successful would you expect to be in living a God-honoring, holy lifestyle, if you didn't do your best to follow God's Laws?
FIVE: Remind them to live according to Faith, not according to the Moment -- After an underdog defeats a favored team, sports writers usually ask the coach if this win will help his young team "play with confidence." Almost before the question is completed you can see the hairs on the coach's neck begin to bristle, as he replies, "I hope it doesn't!" As he notices the puzzled look on the reporter's face, he continues: "Our players should have confidence in who they are and what abilities they have. If they gain their confidence after a good performance, they can just as easily lose their confidence after a bad performance. To approach games with that mindset is no way to be a winning player! The reason for this is that all games are going to present adversities, and if players are waiting on someone else to do something good in order to play to the best of their ability, they will lose. Each player must trust in his abilities and concentrate on carrying out his responsibilities, because that, and only that will lead to victories. Ultimately, winning depends upon consistent performance from each player, not waiting for someone else to do something. This is why winners are victors of circumstances, not victims of circumstances."
Whether they realize it or not, coaches who make statements like this are mirroring the biblical truth to "live by faith,"[2] not by the circumstances of what they may or may not "see."[3] Explain to your learners that if they have a tendency to base their obedience upon whether or not they are having a "good," or "bad" day, they should challenge themselves to dismiss such thoughts quickly because the root of these thoughts can be traced directly to Satan.
Since life is full of mental ups and downs, Satan would like for nothing more than to keep us on a mental roller coaster where we are "up" one day, and "down" the next. Satan knows that if he can get us to obey God only when everything is going our way, he has made a major step in stifling our testimony and effectiveness. He knows that if he can get us to "live for the moment," he has caused us to be a slave of situations and circumstances, instead of being a faithful servant and slave of God. Remind your learners that, as Christians, they serve the triune God who rules and overrules all moments.[4] Therefore, we can approach each situation with boldness and confidence because we know that we are on God's winning team, and are no longer on Satan's losing team. No longer are we "tossed to and fro" by every idea that comes down the pike.[5] The days of our being captives of situations and circumstances are over! Now, we are conquerors of situations and circumstances.[6]
SIX: Help Them Recognize How They Learn -- While it is important for teachers to recognize the basic styles of learning, it is also important for your learners to realize how they prefer to learn, so they can put themselves in the best position to understand the information. Each of your learners will best understand by either hearing, seeing, or being physically involved in the message. What this means, for example, is that a visual learner will appreciate being given the text from which your message is based, so he can read it before your lecture. Those who "learn by doing," will appreciate a handout that extends your message by suggesting some role play situations with their family, or friends.
SEVEN: Presenting a Practical, Pragmatic and Pious Testimony -- Above all, make it clear that you are going to present messages that are relevant to their everyday lifestyle, so they can be prepared to present a daily testimony that is a Christian antithesis to the foolish plans of non-Christians. In addition, assure them that you are confident they will take great strides in conforming their thinking and behaviors to biblical ethics during this study.
Next week's topic is "Preparing to Win the Culture War."
Buddy Hanson is President of the Christian Policy Network and Director of the Christian Worldview Resources Center and has written several books on the necessity of applying one's faith to everyday situations, circumstances and decision-making.