Why We Teach

When Adam and the woman chose to disobey God in the Garden, they unwittingly sentenced ALL humanity to be born with a handicap. By this I mean the capacity to be able to be led by the Holy Spirit of God, YET, with the inability to experience that until and unless one was ever born again.

This meant that, until Jesus was born fully alive spiritually, EVERY person ever to be born would have to live with an outside-to-in mentality. All direction would have to come from the world and impact their souls from that perspective. This was satan’s extended plan: he wanted to taint ALL earthly input to every human soul so that he could control every person’s mind, will and emotions.

And, it worked.

This is how the world came to be like it currently is: mean, selfish, greedy, jealous, envious, and so on. People have been enslaved by that world system ever since the tragic Fall of Man in the Garden.

Then Jesus came, lived on the earth as a man, for a purpose: “THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE HAS ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR; HE HAS SENT ME TO HEAL THE BROKENHEARTED, TO PROCLAIM LIBERTY TO THE CAPTIVES AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET AT LIBERTY THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED; TO PROCLAIM THE ACCEPTABLE YEAR OF THE LORD.’ (Luke 4:18-19)

He was beaten, was crucified, died and was buried all so we could be free of the world system.

Those of us who have CHOSEN to take Him up on that offer were placed INTO Him by the Holy Spirit of God: “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” (Galatians 3:27)

Because of that baptism, all believers went through that crucifixion, death and burial WITH Jesus: “Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” (Romans 6:3-4) (Also see Galatians 2:20)

This is not symbolic language; rather, it is literal language about a spiritual baptism which ONLY God the Holy Spirit could accomplish: “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.” (1 Corinthians 12:13)

(I’m thankful that God has spared us the experience of the pain and agony Jesus experienced in the death and dying process.)

God designed this spiritual process the way He did to accomplish a LOT and the Spirit had Paul write about it so that, if we RECEIVED these truths and made them personal to ourselves, we could also RECEIVE the benefits God intended in them for us.

The sad thing is that most believers never hear about these benefits other than that our sin is washed away (some don’t even fully believe that) and that we go to heaven when we die (and, thanks to bad doctrines…many don’t believe that either.)

Isn’t that pitiful?

I’m writing this today in hopes that more of us will latch onto the truth that in Christ we can stop living from the outside-to-inside. Instead, I believe that believers are designed to receive direction, guidance, comfort, peace and resolve from the Holy Spirit ACTIVELY living in our resurrected human spirits.

Not only do I believe this is true but also that it is God’s intention that ALL believers live habitually this way…being LED by the Spirit of God. That’s why the Word says things like this:

“Therefore, brethren, we are debtors—not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.” (Romans 8:12-14)

…and this:

“I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.” (Galatians 5:16-18)

The name of this teaching is “Why We Teach” and it refers to any spiritual teaching which includes pulpit teaching, Sunday school style, conferences, in-services, seminars as well as one on one sitting at a table and the more slow-motion, personal (and HIGHLY effective) discipleship style.

The primary reason we teach is that God says so. He has designated that some be teachers:

“And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers…” (Ephesians 4:11)

Now, I am aware that many teach for their own benefit so they can generate value or significance for themselves by somehow elevating themselves. This is flesh and will always yield death and not life. We are to serve only for the benefit of those whom we serve. Being children of God should be enough to make us feel valuable and significant.

Actually, this dynamic of some teaching so people would admire them or so they would feel more valuable is an excellent example of living from the outside-to-inside. This will NEVER satisfy a thirsty soul. Only one thing can:

“On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.’” (John 7:37)

The other reason we teach is the reason for apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers, which is to TRY to equip and build up believers.

“And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ…” (Ephesians 4:11-12)

And, how long would these 5 spiritually specialized individuals need to teach:

“till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ…” (Ephesians 4:13)

Have we, as a body, come to that place? NO! Not even close. In fact, the Church has NEVER been as disunified as it is right now…splintered as it is by denominations and congregations and styles…AND by those who affirm that disunity by practicing Christianity in ways which Jesus spoke and prayed against:

“I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may BE ONE, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may BE ONE in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may BE ONE just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may BE MADE PERFECT IN ONE, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.” (John 17:20-23 – caps mine for emphasis)

Instead, Man who followed the world’s guidance…from outside-to-in, has both allowed and celebrated AND taught that it is God’s will that the Lord’s ONE CHURCH be splintered into thousands of largely uncooperative autonomous units.

How tragic! Every bit as tragic as the original Fall of Man has been.

Getting back to Paul’s letter to the believers in Ephesus (and us), why was it necessary for the body of Christ to be built up and equipped?

“that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting…” (Ephesians 4:14)

Teachers operate on behalf of God so that believers would not easily fall prey to whatever outside-to-inside stimulus (temptation) the devil, through the world, has to serve up to us. Sadly, this is EXACTLY the state of the Church today: many are spiritual babies who are virtually helpless against the

spiritual onslaught we experience daily.

God’s presumption is pertinent, since it is all HIS design. He assembled His Church knowing that we were born flawed and were born into a long-term spiritual war. He has built into our post-salvation experience a system from heaven in which these are both addressed. This is where teaching and discipleship come in to help.

God’s desire is that we learn to live a new way (“walk in the newness of life” – Romans 6:4) by being transformed through the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:1-2). This happens through teaching, discipleship, reading God’s Word for ourselves and through spending time alone with God.

Unfortunately, this isn’t happening in much of the Church for two main reasons:

-  This requires personal responsibility and initiative and the current design of institutional Christendom actually fosters the removal of those from the individual believer and places it on the backs of “professional” ministers.

-   It also requires that people being taught not only really HEAR what is being taught but that they RECEIVE what is being taught.

“Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.” (Philippians 4:8-9)

Some form of the word “receive” shows up over 250 times in the New Testament. It comes from a Greek word which means to actively seize something and allow it to become associated with or a part of you.

I believe, through experience…both as a teacher and the one being taught…that the smaller the group the higher the chance that whatever is being shared will become a part of us and bring real, lasting and righteous change. This is why Jesus spent most of His time discipling and teaching a dozen people, even though He spoke to thousands at times. But even then, His target audience was a much smaller group.

When Jesus told the parable of the sower and the seed His disciples pulled Him aside and asked Him a very good question…which He then answered.

“And the disciples came and said to Him, ‘Why do You speak to them in parables?’ He answered and said to them, ‘Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.’” (Matthew 13:10-11)

This is why I am not impressed with huge congregations…although lots of good can happen in those, I suppose. I tend to more enjoy smaller, more intimate gatherings in which everyone can see everyone else’s faces and in which anyone will feel free to do what the disciples did in Matthew 13: ask the Teacher…the Lord…anything they wanted.

The sad fact is that no matter what a teacher knows or how skilled or prepared he or she might be, much of what he teaches might NEVER be received. Modern believers have been DISCIPLED by satan to be passive and so many are.

So, what is a teacher to do? TEACH anyway. We are called to teach effectively, communicating clearly so as to optimize the chance that those we teach might learn and receive what we teach. However, we are NOT called to be received.

Read this famous passage of Scripture and see what it says about receiving:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” (John 1:1-13)

Look at what Jesus had accomplished before coming: He was and is God, He made EVERYTHING, He brought life, He was light and He sent a human, John the Baptizer, to introduce Him to the other people. He came to His own, the Jews, and they did not RECEIVE Him; He came to the world and it did not know Him.

Was Jesus a failure based on the fact that hardly anyone has or will receive Him? NO! What was His mission?

“…the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” (Luke 19:10)

The lost who chose and will choose to receive Him are saved. Those who do not…are not.

So, those who the Spirit of God equips and sends to teach…simply teach. Our goal is to do that as well as we know how. Whether or not what we have is received…that’s the responsibility of those who come.

Why do we teach? God says to…so we obey Him.

This piece was written primarily to teachers…to encourage them to keep at it and do their best. In addition, it is written to those who are taught (which ideally includes teachers…because we’re all still learning and being transformed.) It is, then, an encouragement to ACTIVELY receive truth when it is presented to us.

The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.” (Philippians 4:9)

We’ll know if we have received when we PRACTICE what we were taught. These things will be a part of us and will characterize us. And, as a special bonus, we will sense the presence of the God who brings peace.

How amazing!

May this teaching be received and fruitful in the lives of other believers! Amen!

Pastor Mike McInerney

Mike McInerney Ministries, Inc.

© November 2, 2025   (for use with permission)