The Teaching style of Jesus

Ever since I was young, I found myself a bit frustrated with the Gospels because I wished Jesus would just teach me what I wanted to know. I often wished that the Gospel writers would have spent more time on the teachings of Jesus and less time on his travels to and fro and the various people and interruptions he met along the way. I mean, here is the greatest teacher of all time, and the gospels don’t really focus on his teaching - or do they?

In the first 10 of my 32 years working in missions, I worked in what could be called the logistics of missions. I have been responsible for the care and maintenance of the 50+ structures on this campus. I have led our accounting department and created the IT department as we moved from the analog world of the ‘80s to the digital world of the ‘90s, led the design team, and acted as General contractor for the administration building and many smaller projects. I wrote software for our accounting department and eventually ended up as operations director. I learned all these things by experience, trial and error, reading, and watching others who knew more than I did.

But after ten years of serving in this way, God led me to take a sabbatical and spend 60+ hours a week immersed in the word of God while completing a School of Biblical Studies. About halfway through the course, God led me to the story of Peter and Jesus in the final chapter of John. Since Peter was a fisherman, he decided to go fishing, yet he caught nothing. Jesus showed up, and he immediately caught more fish than he knew what to do with. After this, Jesus and Peter have a little talk, and Jesus asks him, do you love me more than these? Now, this question is ambiguous enough that it can legitimately be understood in several ways. But at that moment, I knew that Jesus was asking me a very specific question. Do you love me more than you love the things you have known and become skilled at? You see, I took Jesus to be asking Peter if he loved him more than the fish. He was asking Peter, in effect, do you want to go back to being a fisherman, or do you want to get back to your calling and be a fisher of men?

The instructions Jesus gave Peter were simple, “feed my sheep.” It was a moment of truth for Peter, and it was a moment of truth for me. Would I continue to do what I was good at and comfortable with, or would I change my entire focus of life and feed the sheep of Jesus? It was at that point that my entire focus changed from physical and administrative ministry to teaching and pastoral care.

But here is the ironic part: was that a move into “ministry” or away from it? The answer, of course, is neither. Jesus was just introducing me to the next lesson he had for me. You see, when Jesus taught his disciples, it was not simply a cerebral process, though he did challenge their thinking constantly. Neither was it simply “on-the-job training,” though he did a lot of that as well.

The teaching style of Jesus was focused on transforming people into the image of God. To restore the image of God that was lost to sin ever since the garden. And transformation is a holistic process involving mind, body, desire, and will. The teaching of Jesus focused on all those things together to one unified end. He was transforming people sold out to sin into disciples and children of God. Jesus understood that knowledge is not simply the accumulation of information.

In the end, you really only know the things you can do.

Typically, the bible speaks of knowledge as something more akin to “knowing” the piano than “knowing” the multiplication tables. The knowledge that the bible typically describes is gained when information is coupled with experience and becomes a living part of a person. Knowledge involves input, embodiment, and expression. Knowledge is as knowledge does.

The measure of a disciple is not their ability to repeat ideas they have heard, it is the expression of that knowledge by their life. Jesus instructed his disciples to judge teachers by the fruit they produced¹. We also need to assess our own lives based on the fruit we produce. Consider this familiar line from Galatians.

But the fruit of the Spirit is 
     love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, 
     faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; 
          against such things there is no law. 
And those who belong to Christ Jesus 
     have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 
[Gal 5:22 - 24 ESV]

The healthy, honest disciple of Jesus will increasingly bear the fruit described in this passage. This fruit is the fruit of true knowledge of God.

This challenge was given to me in the heart of the COVID nightmare when I was unable to travel or teach, and our schools were all shut down. Jesus took me back to the gospels to walk with him through his teachings again and to let them transform me. He told me to change my focus from knowing to doing. And he led me to start this Substack, which was to be a series of reflections, “On Walking the Way,” not just knowing about the way.

So this week, join me as I travel back to that road that only Jesus knows. Let’s walk the path instead of talking about the way things ought to be. Let’s encourage each other to trust the Master as we leave our safe and known lives to follow Jesus into the unknown of everlasting life. So, I leave you with this thought to ponder as you return back to your life:

Over time, our actions describe our beliefs better than our words.

Have a great week!

1.  “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, you will recognize them by their fruits. [Matt 7:15-20 ESV]