Category Archives: Teaching Objectives

We’ve previously determined that if we’re going to advance God’s work through our teaching, our goal needs to be love. To truly have the right effect, that love needs to be agape, divine love, which comes from a pure heart.

What It Means to Have Love from a Pure Heart

When something is pure, it is free of contaminates or additives. To love from a pure heart, then, means a selfless, sacrificial love free of our sinful attitudes and motives. With self mixed in, we may “do” what appears to be loving acts but they’re motivated by our own neediness and desire to be loved in return, by guilt and a fear of not pleasing others, or by insecurities and need for affirmation.

Only God’s love is so selfless and righteous in its pursuits. Consequently, if we’re going to love from a pure heart, we need His Spirit to generate it within us (Gal. 5:22).

What Happens When We Try to Love from an Impure Heart

With sin and self mixed in, our love for students tends to be …

conditional.

It’s dependent on whether they cooperate or agree with us.

Reality Check: We don’t deserve God’s love but He love us anyway without us first having to prove ourselves worthy. (Rom. 5:8)

inconsistent.

It’s based on the our mood on any given day or personal needs and desires. Students consequently can’t depend on the teacher.

Reality Check: We can rely on God’s love to always and consistently be there. (Rom. 8:38-39; 1 Jn. 4:16)

If we don’t exemplify God’s love, that which comes from a pure heart, we will do little to advance the work of God through our teaching. We’ll have more of a tendency to let discussions take on a more hostile tone. We won’t foster an environment most conducive to growth. We won’t be helping our students live a life of faith (1 Tim. 1:4), putting priority on that which most matters to God (1 Tim. 1:5). So, let’s get to know God’s love better and learn to rely on it more (1 Jn. 4:16).

Training Resource: Does your heart beat with the love of God? Worksheet

We live in a world where people are quick to attack those who believe differently than them. Often, in the Church, it’s about issues that are inconsequential in the big scheme of God’s work here on earth. As Bible teachers, we must be careful not to digress from what matters most. We mustn’t let discussions turn into heated debates and quarrelling. The objective isn’t to determine who is right. Rather, the goal is love.

This kind of problem among believers isn’t new. Back in the earlier days of the Church, the Apostle Paul urged Timothy to stay in Ephesus and instruct people not to get caught up in what might be false doctrine or “controversial speculations rather than advancing God’s work – which is by faith” (1 Tim. 1:3-4). He went on to say that “the goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith” (1 Tim. 1:5).

Why the Goal is Love

It shouldn’t be surprising that Paul identified love as the goal. Jesus Himself said love is greatest commandment (Matt. 22:37-40), as well as the greatest credential we have as Christians for people knowing we belong to Him (Jn. 13:35).

And so, again in 2 Timothy 2:22-23, Paul tells Timothy to “pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace” and not to “have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels”. When people are wrong, they’re to be “gently instructed, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will” (2 Tim. 2:25-26).

Love, not condemnation, will make the difference. Hence, “the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful” (2 Tim. 2:24). This doesn’t mean we don’t address issues but we speak the truth in love (Eph. 4:15). Our communication is marked by traits describing love in 1 Corinthians 13. We must remember that “If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal” (1 Cor. 13:1).

The Kind of Love We Need Toward One Another

The kind of love referenced in the above mentioned verses is agape, divine love. It’s a love that gets beyond our own need to prove we’re right at any cost. It’s a love that looks at the greater good. It’s a kind of love that comes from a …

pure heart,
good conscience,
and sincere faith.

Click on the above links to look at each of these traits that characterize the kind of love we teachers need to exemplify and encourage our classes to have toward one another.

This is the kind of environment we should foster in our classrooms. It’s not enough to help students develop friendships with each other. A phileo, friendship sort of love, won’t be a strong enough love to unite rather than divide over differences. We need to foster an environment of fellowship based on loving one another as He loves us (Eph. 5:2).

Training Resource: Does your heart beat with the love of God? Worksheet

Jesus prayed for His followers in John 17 that they would experience the fullness of His joy, be sanctified by His Truth, and live in complete unity with one another. That’s how He wants us to live in the world as we wait in hope of glorification … to be with Him where He is and to see His glory.

Jesus Prayed That We Would See His Glory

Jesus concluded His prayer in John 17, “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am …” (Jn. 17:24). Jesus hadn’t yet ascended and already in anticipation of His coming death, resurrection, and ascension back to heaven, longed for his disciples to be with Him in heaven.

Notice that His emphasis wasn’t that they would experience all the magnificence of the place He lived but to be with Him and to see Him more fully — “to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world” (Jn. 17:24).

To get to know God the Son is to know God the Father. Jesus Himself said, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. … I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me …” (Jn. 14:8-11). Jesus is “the image of the invisible God” (Col. 1:15), “the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being …” (Heb. 1:3). This was His intent while on earth. — “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.” (Jn. 17:25-26).

As we wait for our heavenly home with Him, Jesus wants us to continue to grow in our knowledge of Him, praying that we would not just know about Him but truly know Him intimately and relationally. He told the Father, “I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them”. In heaven, as on earth, God’s priority is love. Heaven will be the culmination of our love relationship with Him, “for now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” (1 Cor. 13:12-13).

Pointing People to the Hope of Glorification Requires Confronting Their View of Eternity

What do our students believe about life after death? Much of what people believe possible about life after this one depends on their view of God.

• Do they believe God really loves us enough to prepare a place for us to be with Him forever (Jn. 14:2)?
• Do they believe He really has power enough to raise Jesus from the dead, assuring us that He does indeed have power over sin and death so we too can go to be with Him in heaven one day (1 Cor. 6:14)?
• Do they view God as faithful and good enough to fulfill His promise “that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (Jn. 3:16)?

Most importantly, lets help our students understand that heaven isn’t just about the Place where there will be pearly gates, streets of gold, angels, and no more tears. Heaven isn’t just an escape from the horrors of Hell. Rather, heaven is about the Person with whom we’ll spend eternity … the King of kings and Lord of lords.

Resource for Teaching Adults: Heaven: Sounds Good About Now Adult Discussion Guides

Jesus prayed for His disciples that they would experience His joy and live in this world like they belong to Him (sanctified). But, He doesn’t want us to live this life in isolation. He wants us to be a testimony to the world around us. One of the ways we will do that is to live in unity with fellow believers.

Jesus Prayed That We’d Be One, United

Jesus viewed our unity as so important He prayed for believers for generations to come. — “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.” (Jn. 17:20-21)

The psalmist wrote, “How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!” (Ps. 133:1) because of its benefits.

1) Believers benefit “as iron sharpens iron” (Prov. 27:17). We build up and encourage one another.

Jesus prayed for a unity that exceeds mere comradeship or conformity with one another. Using His own relationship with God the Father and God the Spirit, He prayed “that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you … that they may be one as we are one — I in them and you in me – so that they may be brought to complete unity.” (Jn. 17:21-23) — God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are three distinct persons yet one. Thus, the unity He prayed for us to experience is much deeper than outward conformity and agreement. We maintain our diversity but are united at the core of our being because of who we are in Christ. Only this kind of unity will cause us to be devoted to one another in love, honoring one another above ourselves (Rom. 12:10).

2) Unbelievers benefit because it puts us in a better position to fulfill our mission as Christ’s ambassadors, to be a testimony to the world around us.

Think about it: If a diverse group of people can come together as one, loving as He loves, maybe being a Christian has some merit. Perhaps this God is who He says He is. In a world where people are tired of all the bickering, divisiveness, and political maneuvering, to see something real stands out. Thus, we are in a better position to be a testimony to the world around us when we live in unity with fellow believers. — “Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” (Jn. 17:23)

Pointing People to the Basis of Unity Requires Confronting Their View of the Trinity

Since Jesus used His own relationship in the Godhead as the standard for unity, it’s important, then for people to grapple with the concept of the Trinity. Jesus prayed, “I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one. I in them and you in me – so that they may be brought to complete unity.” (Jn. 17:22-23).

We won’t experience the kind of unity that draws others toward our God, if we have an inadequate view of who He is for then we’re following an inadequate standard. Help students gain at least a basic understanding of the Trinity. Also help them realize that there are some things about God, like the Trinity, that are hard to fully understand or explain. If we could understand everything about God, He would cease to be the God of whom there is none greater for He would be no greater than us. Use concepts like the Trinity to fuel faith and awe in a great God.