The Gifts of Teaching and Exhortation
Romans 12:7-8
Teaching pertains to imparting knowledge, understanding or truth. Exhortation is encouraging action on the truth. Both of these are defined as gifts by the Apostle Paul. Both are extremely valuable to a Christian. Your Bible is sometimes hard to understand [2Pet.3:15-16] even as Peter stated. But God has supplied His Holy Spirit to help each of us understand [Jn.14:26], a perfect teacher. That same Holy Spirit combined with a man of God preaching, will encourage you to act on the truth of God’s words.
All of us are able in some way to teach and or exhort others. I desire each time I teach a lesson to do it in a way that it is easily understood and that it will encourage the hearer to act on the truth taught. These two gifts are coveted by me because I personally know the change that can result in a person’s life as a result of good teaching and exhortation.
To possess both gifts is rare, so you can be good at one and no so good at the other. Let’s look at some qualities of each, and our best example is Jesus Christ.
The Qualities of a Good Teacher
Knowledge of the subject [1Tim.3:16] God manifest in the flesh [Jn.1:14] full of grace and truth, the Lord had all
knowledge of all subjects, His teaching was perfect
- Experience [Lk.2:40-52] Jesus put in the time and effort to learn [Heb.5:7-8] yet learned he…, the Lord learned through his experiences, and that perfected his teaching.“Wait” on your teaching, attend to, and work at it [Heb.5:12-14]
- Example [Heb.4:15] He set the perfect example- No hypocrisy, it devalues your teaching.
Practice what you preach – You teach others 24/7 with your example
Compassion for the student
- You care that they understand For their benefit , not yours, [Mk.6:34] had compassion and began to teach them.
- You forgive their mistakes Jesus takes you as you are, but loves you too much to leave you that way
- You rejoice in their success [Heb.12:2] for the joy that was set before him [3 Jn.1-4]
The Qualities of a Good Exhorter Some today call them a “motivator” or “motivational speaker”
- Believes the Truth themselves Jesus talked it Testify
- Acts on the Truth themselves Jesus walked it Testimony
- Doesn’t give up on you [Phil.2:8] unto death, even the death of the cross Compassion, He didn’t give up on you or me.
Do you have the qualities of a good Teacher or Exhorter? Do you covet these Gifts? You should.