For one whole year, Barnabas and Saul spent time with the saints in Antioch teaching them the Word of God. (Acts 11:22-26) To “feed sheep” is what Jesus commanded Peter to do. This same exhortation is what Peter was commanded to write by God the Holy Spirit. This is also what Paul told Timothy to do.
The example of teaching the Word of God was the Word of God Himself. Jesus demonstrated the importance of a teaching ministry. He taught with authority. He expounded Scripture. He used parables. He taught the multitudes from a boat and a mountain. He taught his disciples privately in a house, and He taught all who came into the synagogues.
Jesus was always ready and willing to share God’s Word because it is spirit and life, not dead rhetoric. But it is important for us to be as wise Bereans. The teaching ministry isn’t to pass along man’s ideas, but God’s revelation. It is feeding on God’s Word that builds us up spiritually. It’s feeding on God’s Word that equips us to confront the critics of our faith.
Every believer has the resident Teacher, the Holy Spirit. Every believer must be careful to “practice what they preach.” Although all believers should share their faith, not all are called to teach.
The real acid tests of our Bible study are practical application and love for one another, without which we have no right to call ourselves Christian.
