Teachers are Bad...or is that Bad Teachers are Bad...

I am not a good student. Maybe its just that I never was really REALLY into the classes I was taking, or maybe its that I am too much of a seeker of fun...or perhaps a bit of both, but I have never really been into school. I don't particularily want to go back...ever, don't miss the nights of homework, papers and exams, don't miss Doris the lunchlady and eating porkchops for dinner 3-5 nights a week in the cafe. And I have TRADITIONALLY had a hard time warming up to teachers. I always kind of considered most teachers to be former geeks who had graduated to being dorks with diplomas. But being a teacher aint easy. Its not enough that they have to deal with students like me on a daily basis, but they also have the responsibility of informing, transforming and conforming young minds to grasp the factoids that they are teaching, and if they get it wrong they stand to not only decieve a generation, but risk being labelled as False Teachers...and that my friends is not a good thing in the eyes of Ol' Paul.

Here we are again in 1 Tim., this time 1:3-11. Paul is getting some big stuff off his chest right off the get-go. It quickly becomes pretty clear that theres a group of dudes getting it all wrong. Their classes are filled with "meaningless talk", and they in fact don't know what they are talking about. Not sure what this meaningless talk was all about, but it seems pretty clear that they were missing the point of what it was they were suppose, as TEACHERS to be teaching. Paul then goes into some talk about the Law (ah...the good ol' Law) and whom it was (and wasn't) intended for.

So, what do I make of all this....or perhaps..."What does it mean to me"...heh heh. All sarcasm aside, here's a few thoughts....

Good work is by faith. Faith. Faith. Faith, faith, FAITH. I feel a Bon Jovi song coming on...Sid knows what I mean. God's work is by faith, not geneologies, not laws, not rules, signs, people, places things or sometimes "Y". It is by faith. You want God's work, have faith. You want controversies, teach false doctrine. And myths...don't even get me started on myths....
We can get so wrapped up in the Why-too's and the Wither-Fores of Christianity that we forget about the faith aspect, which is a truely remarkable thing. It makes the work of Christ hard to prove and impossible to deny. The Law is good, but without faith, hope and love, it easily become meaningless talk.

Then there is the other side of the coin, the one that focuses soley on Love, Hope, Peace and Faith. These qualities are uber-important to our journey with Christ, but devorced from the law as so many of our generation are tempted to do, they become distorted as well. We have HOPE in Christ because we cannot make it to heaven on our own based on our sinfulness and God's Holiness, but Christ makes it all work out. We LOVE because he has first loved us, it is a love that is completely without equal, and one that we should everyday seek to emulate. A LOVE that kept him on a cruel cross of wood and steel. It was the Law that put him there, but love that kept Him. And it is Faith in what he has done and is doing that make us his children. Faith, hope, love and the law...they need eachother to be whole and make for good, solid teaching.

We also see Paul making the statement that the Law is Good...if it is used properly. This, quite obviously, says to me that there were (and most assuredly are) many teachers using it improperly, or there would be no reason to bring it up. So how do we use it improperly? We become legalistic. We place rules above people in our value systems. Or, conversly, we let it slide, we make light of it or bend the law to suit our needs and desires. This too is an improper use of the law. Likewise, we can use Love, Hope and Faith improperly, and teach falsities about all of these wonderful gifts of God...and that, is being a Bad Teacher.

Paul is a man, and had every ability to be a false teacher that these men, that you and I have. And yet he is confident, as we are, that he was a man of sound doctrine, and that his teaching conformed to the glorious gospel of the blessed God. Just as He did to Paul, God has entrusted the truth of his message to us in the Scriptures, may we be worthy of what we have been given.

It's a little heavy to think that I am completely able to be a false teacher, but lets face it, I have all the qualifications. It is only God's hand in my life that keeps me on the right track, and Lord I pray that you would continue to guide both me and my brothers here. Keep us from being Bad Teachers....that would be....Bad.