Category Archives: Teaching Objectives

When students understand the implications of the truth they’re learning to their lives and put it into practice, they grow and spiritually mature and soon begin to bear spiritual fruit.

If students aren’t moving from application to “bearing fruit in every good work”, they are likely just going through the motions. Truth hasn’t truly taken root.

To Move from Application to Bearing Fruit Requires That the Word Has Taken Root

Jesus spoke a parable about different kinds of soil on which the seed of God’s Word falls (Matt. 13:1-23). Only good soil will produce a crop. Consequently, Bible teachers who want to see students move from application to bearing fruit must understand, to the best of their ability, the condition of their students’ hearts in order to properly cultivate it.

Hardened soil would need to be broken up and softened. While both rocky and thorny soil would need to be cleaned of its debris, removing rocks versus thorny weeds takes different approaches. From this teachers can see that a “one size fits all” approach is not the best way to fruitful results.

Fruitfulness Takes Cultivation But Ultimately God Brings the Growth

Cultivating soil may require tilling, fertilizing, and watering for planted seed to take root, grow, and ultimately bear fruit. God, in His grace, allows us as teachers to be co-workers with Him in this process (1 Cor. 3:7-9). We must always remember, however, that ultimately God is the One who brings the growth.

So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. (1 Cor. 3:7)

Consequently, when students bear fruit as a result of our teaching, let’s thank God for the privilege of being a part of their journey but ultimately give God the glory. God could have done it without us but chose to use us in the process.

And, let’s guard against making students feel dependent on us to learn and grow. Let’s teach them how to cultivate and nurture their hearts on their own. Remember that Jesus said, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (Jn. 15:5)  — Here are some tools to help students learn to do that:

• Getting Spiritually Fit Discipleship Tool
• Let’s Walk the Walk Devotional
• New to Bible Reading Discipleship Tool
• Sowing Good into Our Lives Discipleship Acrostics

The process of getting to know God in more personal way begins with learning about Him. Once students are filled “with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives”, it’s time to move from understanding to application, to …

“live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way” (Col. 1:9-10).

Understanding Precedes Application

If students don’t see the implications of the truths they’re learning to their lives, they will be very unlikely to apply it to their lives. Once they gain a good understanding, they can better look for opportunities to put it into practice.

The Greek word, peripateo, translated in the NIV as “live a life” portrays the idea of a walk — a way of life. If we think of physically walking, we realize that it requires putting one foot in front of another, something we intentionally do whether we think about it or not. When we walk, we have a destination in mind, we’re going somewhere. And so, as we walk, we progress toward a given objective. Keep in mind that we weren’t born walking but rather had to learn how to do it. At some point, as a young child, we understood the implication of putting one foot in front of the other while standing up.

Similarly in our walk with the Lord, we move from knowledge to understanding and then from understanding to application. We learn what we’re to do and where we’re to go but also also must understand how — what it will take to get there.

The Purpose of Proceeding from Understanding to Application is to Live in Ways that Please God

When we know and love someone personally, on more intimate terms, we want to please that person. And so, we must make sure students understand that walking in a way worthy of the Lord isn’t just about obeying His laws, doing what we’re “supposed to do” as Christians.

To “please Him in every way” means inwardly as well as outwardly, in what we do privately as well as in public, through the words we say but also in the thoughts we think. Jesus illustrated this in the Sermon on the Mount when He acknowledged that “You shall not murder” but added that irate reactions and the way we speak to people also matters (Matt. 5:21-26). He mentioned that “You shall not commit adultery” but also equated looking as someone lustfully with committing adultery in one’s heart (Matt. 5:27-30).

As Bible teachers, we need to encourage students to “do” something with what they learn but we also need to address the motivations of the heart. We need to spur them on toward good actions but also godly attitudes. We teach for changed lives but from the inside out so that students truly “live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way” (Col. 1:10).

Teacher Training Resource: Application: It’s God’s Idea, Not Merely a Good Idea Worksheet

Colossians 1:9-10 shows what it will take to get students from merely knowing about God to truly knowing Him in a more personal and intimate way. The path to knowing God better begins with laying a good foundation of truth that moves students from head knowledge to understanding. It then goes from understanding to application, from application to bearing fruit, and from fruitfulness to knowing God better. (Subscribe to this blog to be notified of upcoming posts covering each step in this path.

Grasp the Importance of Laying a Good Foundation of Truth

The Apostle Paul prayed for the Colossian church, asking God to fill them “with the knowledge of His will” because he knew the importance of truth. We’re sanctified by truth (Jn. 17:17), becoming godly because of it (Titus 1:1), as truth is that which sets us free from all that binds us (Jn. 8:32).

Jesus told a parable of a wise man who built his house on a rock, a good foundation, so when the storms beat against the house, it didn’t fall (Matt. 7:24-27). We can build magnificent structure that can come crumbling down if not constructed on the right structure. Foundations are important, so in teaching we must begin by laying a foundation of truth, God’s Truth, upon which students’ lives are built.

In his prayer, Paul used the Greek word for knowledge, epignosis, which denotes a “precise and correct knowledge” (Thayer’s Greek Lexicon), an “exact or full knowledge” (Vine’s Expository Dictionary). This is gaining such a thorough head knowledge of truth that you can recognize that which is true from that which is not.

Take Students from Head Knowledge to Understanding

Knowledge of God’s Truth won’t take students very far if they don’t understand it. Consequently Paul continued his prayer that the Colossians would be filled “with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives” (Col. 1:9). This is about seeing the implications of Truth to life, making the connection between what they learned and how it potentially affects their lives.

Pay careful attention to the means by which this happens — “through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives.” Bible teachers can’t make students understand. That’s the Spirit’s job. When Jesus promised the Holy Spirit, He said, “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth.” (Jn. 16:13)

As Bible teachers, we can only explain “spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words” (1 Cor. 2:13). Students can only receive and truly understand those words “through the Spirit” (1 Cor. 2:14). No wonder the Apostle Paul zeroed in on praying for the Colossians. Spiritual truths are spiritually discerned and that by the Spirit of truth (1 Cor. 2:13-16).

For Help being a Bible Teacher who Prays: Praying Like You Truly Believe Worksheet

For Help being a Bible Teacher who Relies on the Spirit: The Holy Spirit & My Teaching Devotional