As many of you probably know (friends from back in Texas) I taught school for a good number of years in the Prairiland district. I actually taught 9th grade algebra my first two years (If A = B...) before moving down to JRH where I taught Reading and English until I retired. So imagine with me here for a moment, this scenario:

You are a parent and want to sit in and observe my class the first week of school; maybe because your precious child is a student of mine and you want to make sure I won’t ruin them. So those first five days of school have begun, and you hear me greet the class each day with glowing smiles and words of affirmation as I welcome them to a new year and grade level.

Then, I begin to tell the students there will be weekly tests, like spelling and vocabulary words for example. I then go on to inform them that even though they might study beforehand and try really hard, it is unlikely that any of them will pass many of the tests, let alone ‘ace’ them with a perfect score. But...my class is not about ‘being perfect’ or ‘passing tests’; on the contrary, I assure them if they just keep showing up and ‘doing the work’, that they will all advance to the next grade level at the end of the year.

How impressed with me are you going to be after that first week of ‘confidence building’? I’m guessing you might have some serious questions for me. Is something not wrong...with this picture? So why do we do this in our churches today as we continue to remind, reinforce, and ingrain into the hearts of our members...that not only were they ‘sinners’, they continue to be sinners, and will always be...sinners until they get to heaven? “Don’t beat yourself up for failing that test over and over. God loves and accepts you just the way you are.”

Do you know what ‘sinners’ do? They sin.

And ‘born again believers’ who ‘abide in Jesus’...guess what they don’t do any longer? They don’t sin. (1 John 2:6; 3:6,9; 5:18; John 8:34-36; 1 Pet. 4:1-2)

Do you know why? Because Jesus ‘set them free’ (Luke 4:18; John 8:32,36), then put His Spirit in them so they could ‘do all things through Christ’ (Rom. 8:11; Phil. 4:13) and since they are ‘in Christ’, they are now a ‘new creation’ which means they walk as Jesus walked. (2 Cor. 5:17; 1 John 2:3-6)

This might be a good time and place for you to actually ask...”How can this be?” Mary and Nicodemus asked that very question when told some hard to-believe-things. So instead of wearing proudly, that mantle so many like to show off...how they are a ‘saint who sins’ because they are ‘not perfect, just forgiven’...why not come back to class, (like I did just over five years ago) and allow the Holy Spirit to maybe re-teach some valuable lessons we might have missed early on.(1 John 2:26-27)

I remember teaching a 6th grade math class one year only to realize how challenging it is for kids to learn how to work with fractions...if they never learned their multiplication tables. Some of those foundational building blocks are critically important to a solid education, whether you are talking about simple addition and subtraction, or learning phonics and the basic reading blocks when sounding out letters and words.

I am convinced that is where may sincere people are today in our churches and are suffering greatly for it (Hosea 4:6). We are continuously encouraging new believers to go ‘find their destiny in God’ and flourish in their ‘ministry’ so they can ‘do great things for God’...without having first taught them the most critical, basic, and essential truth any believer should know how to do...and that is to abide in Jesus. (John 15:1-8; Matt. 7:21-23; 1 Cor. 13:1-3)

How versed are most of us in not only doing ourselves, but also being able to explain to others how one can be ‘led by the Spirit and ‘hear God’s voice’, which is what His children (and ‘sheep’) do? (Rom. 8:14; Gal. 5:18; John 10:3,4,27) And even more importantly, how ‘up to speed’ is our knowledge base when it comes to understanding the serious consequences when we DON’T ... abide in Him and ‘do the will of God’? (John 5:14; Matt. 7:21-23; Gal. 5:21; Eph. 5:5-6)

Here’s a ‘truth bomb’ for us: God does not need our help in building His kingdom and church (Matt. 16:18); He needs our total heart surrender (Luke 6:46) so He can work through us to do what He came to do, which was build His church. Yes, there is a role for ‘teachers’ and ‘pastors’ to name a few of the ‘offices’ of the ‘5-fold ministry’(Eph. 4:11), but let’s not forget who the ultimate ‘Teacher’ is- (John 16:12-13; 1 John 2:26-27)

When it comes to teaching others, especially when it comes to the ‘things of God’...we cannot give to others what we don’t have ourselves (Acts 3:6). I’ve heard ‘well meaning’ Christians make statements like: “Don’t look at me, I’m a mess; Look to Jesus!” Yes, we all understand the sentiment of what is being expressed here; but again, maybe the real need at hand is to shine the spotlight of God’s word on ourselves and ask...’WHY...are we ‘still a mess’?; especially if we claim to have been ‘born again for x-amount of years’? What do we know about those who are ‘born of God’, according to 1 John 3:9 and 5:18? Should we too, not be able to exhort others, as Paul did to ‘follow me as I follow Christ’? (1 Cor. 11:1)

Consider this: Multitudes of professing believers can quote Eph. 2:8-9 frontwards and backwards with much conviction to the point it almost sounds as if they are dismissing the need or importance of actually ‘obeying God’, because we are ‘saved by grace through faith alone...and not of works lest we should boast’. So what if we lay those two verses next to Matt. 7:21; Heb. 5:9; and Luke 6:46 and find some ‘middle ground’? But before we do that, let’s add Eph. 2:10 into the mix where Paul announces to the world that “we are His workmanship...”!

IF...the Spirit of God is truly working in us to ‘conform us to His image’ (Rom. 8:28-29), then why are we still a sinful mess? If you are into ‘flipping houses’ and you purchase a ‘wreck’ and then go in and do a lot of ‘work’ before putting it back on the market...and everyone who comes to look at it notices it’s still a ‘wreck’...what does that say about Your...’workmanship’? Thanks, but no thanks? Maybe that’s why so many people out in the ‘world’ are not really interested in ‘buying what we have to offer’ when we ‘pitch’ to them this supposed ‘life changing gospel’? What say you?