“I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:14)

The word used for “press” in Philippians 3:14 carries in the meaning of “strong exertion.” Every muscle of the runner is burning. He can see the ribbon. He has only a few more feet to go in the race. He must press on.

It is the same in our lives as Christians. There are times when it just gets hard. But it is then that we learn what it means to walk by faith and not by feeling. You can’t live on an emotional high as a Christian. You must pace yourself in this race you are running. You can’t expect that every time you go to church, you will have some great emotional encounter with God. Sometimes you will. Sometimes you won’t. Growing up and learning to walk by faith are part of spiritual maturity.

When you first made a commitment to Christ, you discovered the joy and wonderful peace that comes from being forgiven. But you must realize that this is a walk by faith. You must press on even when it gets hard.

Maybe, as you have been running, you have found yourself in a place where you are dragging burdens, sins, or other things along. Maybe you find that you don’t even know why you are running the race anymore. Maybe you have become discouraged. Look up and remember that it is Jesus whom you are running for. Two thousand years ago, He loved you so much that He went to the cross and died there. He shed His blood for you. Then He rose again from the dead. Because He did that for you, you can live for Him today. He will give you the strength.

Greg Laurie, For Every Season: Daily Devotions (Dana Point, CA: Kerygma, 2011).

The subject before us is of such deep and vast importance, that it requires fencing, guarding, clearing up, and marking out on every side. A doctrine which is needful to salvation can never be too sharply developed, or brought too fully into light. To clear away the confusion between doctrines and doctrines, which is so unhappily common among Christians, and to map out the precise relation between truths and truths in religion, is one way to attain accuracy in our theology. I shall therefore not hesitate to lay before my readers a series of connected propositions or statements, drawn from Scripture, which I think will be found useful in defining the exact nature of sanctification.

(1) Sanctification, then, is the invariable result of that vital union with Christ which true faith gives to a Christian.—“He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit.” (John 15:5.) The branch which bears no fruit is no living branch of the vine. The union with Christ which produces no effect on heart and life is a mere formal union, which is worthless before God. The faith which has not a sanctifying influence on the character is no better than the faith of devils. It is a “dead faith, because it is alone.” It is not the gift of God. It is not the faith of God’s elect. In short, where there is no sanctification of life, there is no real faith in Christ. True faith worketh by love. It constrains a man to live unto the Lord from a deep sense of gratitude for redemption. It makes him feel that he can never do too much for Him that died for him. Being much forgiven, he loves much. He whom the blood cleanses, walks in the light. He who has real lively hope in Christ, purifieth himself even as He is pure. (James 2:17–20; Titus 1:1; Gal. 5:6; 1 John 1:7; 3:3.)

(2) Sanctification, again, is the outcome and inseparable consequence of regeneration. He that is born again and made a new creature, receives a new nature and a new principle, and always lives a new life. A regeneration which a man can have, and yet live carelessly in sin or worldliness, is a regeneration invented by uninspired theologians, but never mentioned in Scripture. On the contrary, St. John expressly says, that “He that is born of God doth not commit sin,—doeth righteousness,—loveth the brethren,—keepeth himself,—and overcometh the world.” (1 John 2:29; 3:9–14; 5:4–18.) In a word, where there is no sanctification there is no regeneration, and where there is no holy life there is no new birth. This is, no doubt, a hard saying to many minds; but, hard or not, it is simple Bible truth. It is written plainly, that he who is born of God is one whose “seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.” (1 John 3:9.)

(3) Sanctification, again, is the only certain evidence of that indwelling of the Holy Spirit which is essential to salvation. “If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His.” (Rom. 8:9.) The Spirit never lies dormant and idle within the soul: He always makes His presence known by the fruit He causes to be borne in heart, character, and life. “The fruit of the Spirit,” says St. Paul, “is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance,” and such like. (Gal. 5:22.) Where these things are to be found, there is the Spirit: where these things are wanting, men are dead before God. The Spirit is compared to the wind, and, like the wind, He cannot be seen by our bodily eyes. But just as we know there is a wind by the effect it produces on waves, and trees, and smoke, so we may know the Spirit is in a man by the effects He produces in the man’s conduct. It is nonsense to suppose that we have the Spirit, if we do not also “walk in the Spirit.” (Gal. 5:25.) We may depend on it as a positive certainty, that where there is no holy living, there is no Holy Ghost. The seal that the Spirit stamps on Christ’s people is sanctification. As many as are actually “led by the Spirit of God, they,” and they only, “are the sons of God.” (Rom. 8:14.)

(4) Sanctification, again, is the only sure mark of God’s election. The names and number of the elect are a secret thing, no doubt, which God has wisely kept in His own power, and not revealed to man. It is not given to us in this world to study the pages of the book of life, and see if our names are there. But if there is one thing clearly and plainly laid down about election, it is this,—that elect men and women may be known and distinguished by holy lives. It is expressly written that they are “elect through sanctification,—chosen unto salvation through sanctification,—predestinated to be conformed to the image of God’s Son,—and chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world that they should be holy.”—Hence, when St. Paul saw the working “faith” and labouring “love” and patient “hope” of the Thessalonian believers, he says, “I know your election of God.” (1 Peter 1:2; 2 Thess. 2:13; Rom. 8:29; Eph. 1:4; 1 Thess. 1:3, 4.) He that boasts of being one of God’s elect, while he is wilfully and habitually living in sin, is only deceiving himself, and talking wicked blasphemy. Of course it is hard to know what people really are, and many who make a fair show outwardly in religion, may turn out at last to be rotten-hearted hypocrites. But where there is not, at least, some appearance of sanctification, we may be quite certain there is no election. The Church Catechism correctly and wisely teaches, that the Holy Ghost “sanctifieth all the elect people of God.”

(5) Sanctification, again, is a thing that will always be seen. Like the Great Head of the Church, from whom it springs, it “cannot be hid.” “Every tree is known by his own fruit.” (Luke 6:44.) A truly sanctified person may be so clothed with humility, that he can see in himself nothing but infirmity and defects. Like Moses, when he came down from the Mount, he may not be conscious that his face shines. Like the righteous, in the mighty parable of the sheep and the goats, he may not see that he has done anything worthy of his Master’s notice and commendation: “When saw we Thee an hungred, and fed Thee?” (Matt. 25:37.) But whether he sees it himself or not, others will always see in him a tone, and taste, and character, and habit of life unlike that of other men. The very idea of a man being “sanctified,” while no holiness can be seen in his life, is flat nonsense and a misuse of words. Light may be very dim; but if there is only a spark in a dark room, it will be seen. Life may be very feeble; but if the pulse only beats a little, it will be felt. It is just the same with a sanctified man: his sanctification will be something felt and seen, though he himself may not understand it. A “saint” in whom nothing can be seen but worldliness or sin, is a kind of monster not recognised in the Bible!

(6) Sanctification, again, is a thing for which every believer is responsible. In saying this I would not be mistaken. I hold as strongly as any one that every man on earth is accountable to God, and that all the lost will be speechless and without excuse at the last day. Every man has power to “lose his own soul.” (Matt. 16:26) But while I hold this, I maintain that believers are eminently and peculiarly responsible, and under a special obligation to live holy lives. They are not as others, dead and blind and unrenewed: they are alive unto God, and have light and knowledge, and a new principle within them. Whose fault is it if they are not holy, but their own? On whom can they throw the blame if they are not sanctified, but themselves? God, who has given them grace and a new heart, and a new nature, has deprived them of all excuse if they do not live for His praise. This is a point which is far too much forgotten. A man who professes to be a true Christian, while he sits still, content with a very low degree of sanctification (if indeed he has any at all), and coolly tells you he “can do nothing,” is a very pitiable sight, and a very ignorant man. Against this delusion let us watch and be on our guard. The Word of God always addresses its precepts to believers as accountable and responsible beings. If the Saviour of sinners gives us renewing grace, and calls us by His Spirit, we may be sure that He expects us to use our grace, and not to go to sleep. It is forgetfulness of this which causes many believers to “grieve the Holy Spirit,” and makes them very useless and uncomfortable Christians.

(7) Sanctification, again, is a thing which admits of growth and degrees. A man may climb from one step to another in holiness, and be far more sanctified at one period of his life than another. More pardoned and more justified than he is when he first believes, he cannot be, though he may feel it more. More sanctified he certainly may be, because every grace in his new character may be strengthened, enlarged, and deepened. This is the evident meaning of our Lord’s last prayer for His disciples, when He used the words, “Sanctify them;” and of St. Paul’s prayer for the Thessalonians, “The very God of peace sanctify you.” (John 17:17; 1 Thess. 4:3.) In both cases the expression plainly implies the possibility of increased sanctification; while such an expression as “justify them” is never once in Scripture applied to a believer, because he cannot be more justified than he is. I can find no warrant in Scripture for the doctrine of “imputed sanctification.” It is a doctrine which seems to me to confuse things that differ, and to lead to very evil consequences. Not least, it is a doctrine which is flatly contradicted by the experience of all the most eminent Christians. If there is any point on which God’s holiest saints agree it is this: that they see more, and know more, and feel more, and do more, and repent more, and believe more, as they get on in spiritual life, and in proportion to the closeness of their walk with God. In short, they “grow in grace,” as St. Peter exhorts believers to do; and “abound more and more,” according to the words of St. Paul. (2 Pet. 3:18; 1 Thess. 4:1.)

(8) Sanctification, again, is a thing which depends greatly on a diligent use of Scriptural means. When I speak of “means,” I have in view Bible-reading, private prayer, regular attendance on public worship, regular hearing of God’s Word, and regular reception of the Lord’s Supper. I lay it down as a simple matter of fact, that no one who is careless about such things must ever expect to make much progress in sanctification. I can find no record of any eminent saint who ever neglected them. They are appointed channels through which the Holy Spirit conveys fresh supplies of grace to the soul, and strengthens the work which He has begun in the inward man. Let men call this legal doctrine if they please, but I will never shrink from declaring my belief, that there are no “spiritual gains without pains.” I should as soon expect a farmer to prosper in business who contented himself with sowing his fields and never looking at them till harvest, as expect a believer to attain much holiness who was not diligent about his Bible-reading, his prayers, and the use of his Sundays. Our God is a God who works by means, and He will never bless the soul of that man who pretends to be so high and spiritual that he can get on without them.

(9) Sanctification, again, is a thing which does not prevent a man having a great deal of inward spiritual conflict. By conflict I mean a struggle within the heart between the old nature and the new, the flesh and the spirit, which are to be found together in every believer. (Gal. 5:17.) A deep sense of that struggle, and a vast amount of mental discomfort from it, are no proof that a man is not sanctified. Nay, rather, I believe, they are healthy symptoms of our condition, and prove that we are not dead, but alive. A true Christian is one who has not only peace of conscience, but war within. He may be known by his warfare as well as by his peace. In saying this, I do not forget that I am contradicting the views of some well-meaning Christians, who hold the doctrine called “sinless perfection.” I cannot help that. I believe that what I say is confirmed by the language of St. Paul in the seventh chapter of Romans. That chapter I commend to the careful study of all my readers. I am quite satisfied that it does not describe the experience of an unconverted man, or of a young and unestablished Christian: but of an old experienced saint in close communion with God. None but such a man could say, “I delight in the law of God after the inward man.” (Rom. 7:22.) I believe, furthermore, that what I say is proved by the experience of all the most eminent servants of Christ that have ever lived. The full proof is to be seen in their journals, their autobiographies, and their lives.—Believing all this, I shall never hesitate to tell people that inward conflict is no proof that a man is not holy, and that they must not think they are not sanctified because they do not feel entirely free from inward struggle. Such freedom we shall doubtless have in heaven; but we shall never enjoy it in this world. The heart of the best Christian, even at his best, is a field occupied by two rival camps, and the “company of two armies.” (Cant. 6:13.) Let the words of the Thirteenth and Fifteenth Articles be well considered by all Churchmen: “The infection of nature doth remain in them that are regenerated.” “Although baptized and born again in Christ, we offend in many things; and if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”*

(10) Sanctification, again, is a thing which cannot justify a man, and yet it pleases God. This may seem wonderful, and yet it is true. The holiest actions of the holiest saint that ever lived are all more or less full of defects and imperfections. They are either wrong in their motive or defective in their performance, and in themselves are nothing better than “splendid sins,” deserving God’s wrath and condemnation. To suppose that such actions can stand the severity of God’s judgment, atone for sin, and merit heaven, is simply absurd. “By the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified.”—“We conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.” (Rom. 3:20–28.) The only righteousness in which we can appear before God is the righteousness of another,—even the perfect righteousness of our Substitute and Representative, Jesus Christ the Lord. His work, and not our work, is our only title to heaven. This is a truth which we should be ready to die to maintain.—For all this, however, the Bible distinctly teaches that the holy actions of a sanctified man, although imperfect, are pleasing in the sight of God. “With such sacrifices God is well pleased.” (Heb. 13:16.) “Obey your parents, for this is well pleasing to the Lord.” (Col. 3:20.) “We do those things that are pleasing in His sight.” (1 John 3:22.) Let this never be forgotten, for it is a very comfortable doctrine. Just as a parent is pleased with the efforts of his little child to please him, though it be only by picking a daisy or walking across a room, so is our Father in heaven pleased with the poor performances of His believing children. He looks at the motive, principle, and intention of their actions, and not merely at their quantity and quality. He regards them as members of His own dear Son, and for His sake, wherever there is a single eye, He is well-pleased. Those Churchmen who dispute this would do well to study the Twelfth Article of the Church of England.

(11) Sanctification, again, is a thing which will be found absolutely necessary as a witness to our character in the great day of judgment. It will be utterly useless to plead that we believed in Christ, unless our faith has had some sanctifying effect, and been seen in our lives. Evidence, evidence, evidence, will be the one thing wanted when the great white throne is set, when the books are opened, when the graves give up their tenants, when the dead are arraigned before the bar of God. Without some evidence that our faith in Christ was real and genuine, we shall only rise again to be condemned. I can find no evidence that will be admitted in that day, except sanctification. The question will not be how we talked and what we professed, but how we lived and what we did. Let no man deceive himself on this point. If anything is certain about the future, it is certain that there will be a judgment; and if anything is certain about judgment, it is certain that men’s “works” and “doings” will be considered and examined in it. (John 5:29; 2 Cor. 5:10; Rev. 20:13.) He that supposes works are of no importance, because they cannot justify us, is a very ignorant Christian. Unless he opens his eyes, he will find to his cost that if he comes to the bar of God without some evidence of grace, he had better never have been born.

(12) Sanctification, in the last place, is absolutely necessary, in order to train and prepare us for heaven. Most men hope to go to heaven when they die; but few, it may be feared, take the trouble to consider whether they would enjoy heaven if they got there. Heaven is essentially a holy place; its inhabitants are all holy; its occupations are all holy. To be really happy in heaven, it is clear and plain that we must be somewhat trained and made ready for heaven while we are on earth. The notion of a purgatory after death, which shall turn sinners into saints, is a lying invention of man, and is nowhere taught in the Bible. We must be saints before we die, if we are to be saints afterwards in glory. The favourite idea of many, that dying men need nothing except absolution and forgiveness of sins to fit them for their great change, is a profound delusion. We need the work of the Holy Spirit as well as the work of Christ; we need renewal of the heart as well as the atoning blood; we need to be sanctified as well as to be justified. It is common to hear people saying on their death-beds, “I only want the Lord to forgive me my sins, and take me to rest.” But those who say such things forget that the rest of heaven would be utterly useless if we had no heart to enjoy it! What could an unsanctified man do in heaven, if by any chance he got there? Let that question be fairly looked in the face, and fairly answered. No man can possibly be happy in a place where he is not in his element, and where all around him is not congenial to his tastes, habits, and character. When an eagle is happy in an iron cage, when a sheep is happy in the water, when an owl is happy in the blaze of noonday sun, when a fish is happy on the dry land,—then, and not till then, will I admit that the unsanctified man could be happy in heaven.*

I lay down these twelve propositions about sanctification with a firm persuasion that they are true, and I ask all who read these pages to ponder them well. Each of them would admit of being expanded and handled more fully, and all of them deserve private thought and consideration. Some of them may be disputed and contradicted; but I doubt whether any of them can be overthrown or proved untrue. I only ask for them a fair and impartial hearing. I believe in my conscience that they are likely to assist men in attaining clear views of sanctification.

J. C. Ryle, Holiness: Its Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties and Roots (London: William Hunt and Company, 1889), 25–35.

Preparation is the key to almost anything. There is an old saying: success equals preparation plus opportunity. Teaching is no exception. Effective Bible Teachers prepare effectively. Ineffective Bible Teachers wait til the day before.

Read

Effective Bible Teaching starts with reading, rereading, and rereading again the Bible text.

Start early. Start the day after. If you want to be really good, read a few weeks ahead. I think you do well to read mostly in one translation. By doing this, your mind will near-memorize the text based on the rhythm of the words.

Occasionally read in other translations. Notice the differences.

Encourage your people to read. At the beginning of every series, my normal is to say, “If you are not reading anything else these days, join me in reading the book of James as we study this together.” Most people need continual encouragement to read their Bibles. Nothing predicts spiritual growth like individuals getting into the Word for themselves.

You might, in fact, spend a little time in class talking about what people read. Ask: what did you learn about God? What did you learn about Christian living?

Most people say you ought to separate your daily quiet time from your time in preparation. The idea is you shouldn’t always be reading the Bible for what it says to others. You should read the Bible for what it says to you.

I’d invite you to turn that idea on its head. Start with reading the Bible for what it says to you. Then share this with others. We only have so much time. I don’t think it is necessarily a bad idea to read the text you are teaching on in your quiet time. For many Effective Bible Teachers, what they are teaching is an all-consuming life passion. Pray about that.

Read the text. Read it slowly. I sometimes read it backwards—start with the last verse, read a verse at a time from the end to the beginning. Read some context—a few chapters before and after. Read ahead into what you will be studying over the next few weeks. Effective Bible Teachers exude a familiarity with the text that can only come from living with it.

Study

Study is essentially bombarding the text with questions. I tend to go too quickly to the commentaries. Maybe you do too. If you want to be an Effective Bible Teacher you ought to say, “I noticed as I meditated on this text …” more often than you say, “The commentaries say …”

In the writing world, we like to speak of the six writer’s friends. These are also the friends of Effective Bible Teachers:

• Who?

• What?

• Where?

• When?

• Why?

• How?

You might read through the text six times with these questions in mind. First read with the “Who?” question in mind. Notice all the people in the passage. Ask, “What are they doing? What are they feeling? Why are they doing it? Where is this? When was this? How long ago?” Bombard the text with questions. Look for answers yourself before you depend on the commentaries.

This is not to say you shouldn’t consult the commentaries. Dr. Curtis Vaughn taught me Greek. I remember him talking about a preacher he heard once who said, “I have consulted no man’s books. I have looked at no man’s commentaries. I have not depended on the words of man. I have only consulted the Word of God in prayer for today’s sermon.” Sounds spiritual, doesn’t it?

He might as well have said, “I don’t really care what God has revealed to others about this text. I only care about what God has revealed to me.”

Here is an insight: you are not the smartest person, nor the most spiritual person to ever have studied the Word. To cut yourself off from the insights of spiritual giants down through the ages is just plain dumb. Your teaching and your people will suffer for it.

Again, we come to the word balance. Effective Bible Teachers prepare with a Bible in one hand and a commentary in the other.

Do your own study. Ask your own questions. Look for your own answers. Pray for your own insights. Then, read the best insights from others. What a wonderful word: both.

Apply

Study is about bombarding the text with questions and looking for answers—first your own answers, then the answers of others. The most important question is this:

Lord, what would you have me do about this passage?

Effective Bible Teachers are about making doers of the Word and not hearers only. They know it starts with them. Effective Bible Teachers often say, “As I studied this text, I was convicted that I need to …”

Paul said, “Follow me as I follow Christ.” Effective Bible Teachers say the same. They set an example for their people to follow.

The example of obedience is current. It is this week. Your people want to know what Jesus is doing in your life this week. Effective Bible Teachers are being changed by the Word this week.

Effective Bible Teachers ask people to drink from a moving stream. God’s work in their life is current. The constant prayer of the Effective Bible teacher is, “Lord, what would you have me do in responsive obedience to Your Word?”

It can be no other way. Imagine the opposite. Imagine a teacher who spends four or five or six hours studying, digging, preparing and yet, is not changed by the Word. What hope do they have of seeing others’ lives changed?

Josh Hunt, The Effective Bible Teacher (Josh Hunt, 2013).

There has never been a better time to be a Bible Teacher than today. This is true on several levels. For one thing, we have incredible tools at our fingertips that make Bible Study so much easier. Word studies that used to require Greek training, expensive books, and lots of time can be done with a few clicks on an IPhone—assuming you have the Logos app.

I want to focus in this short chapter on how technology helps us to prepare people for learning. (In another chapter, we will focus on how it helps us to shepherd the group.)

Why do people need to be prepared for learning? Howard Hendricks put it this way:

The Law of Readiness is this: The teaching-learning process will be most effective when both student and teacher are adequately prepared. It highlights one of the great problems for teachers: Their students come to class cold.5

Do your students come in cold, or do they come in ready to learn—eager to discuss the topic of the day? Here is some good news: the Internet can help.

It could be as simple as an email asking them a question or making a request.

• This week we will be studying worry. Do a little Googling around to see what scientists have found about the destructive cost of worry.
• I am really excited about this week’s lesson. (You are, aren’t you?) We will be looking at the story of when Israel conquered Jericho. See what you can find about what archeology has discovered on Jericho.
• Check out this video on the tomb of Lazarus. http//www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_n6RKhWqs4 Did you know it was still there?
• Ask a friend what he thinks it takes to go to heaven when you die.
• Who can bring snacks this week?
• Be in prayer for Bob and Tina this week. Bob’s dad is in the hospital.

Just letting your group know you are excited about what you are learning and are eager to share can create a sense of excitement and anticipation. Obviously, you only want to do this sincerely.

It is a common thing for me to get really fired up when studying the Bible. You probably feel this way at times as well. Not a bad idea to fire off a quick email to your group letting them know of your excitement.

Sometimes the world tosses you a bone. Think back when Rob Bell released his controversial book, Love Wins. Nothing will stimulate learning like a little controversy. You might send out some excerpts and say you will be discussing this on Sunday.

The Shack was another book that grabbed our attention recently. It is also a good example of a book with some controversy. Stir up the controversy by saying you will be arguing about this on Sunday.

Sometimes, you will want to email individuals. Perhaps you have some readers in your group. If you are doing a study of Moses, you might ask them to read along in Chuck Swindoll’s excellent book by the same title.

A lot of people receive four forms of communication on the same device: email, text, Twitter posts, and Facebook updates. You might take advantage of all four. A simple text that says: “Fired up about this week’s lesson on forgiveness. You don’t want to miss it!” could really boost learning readiness.

You might want to start a discussion on your group’s Facebook group. You do have Facebook group, don’t you? If not, they are free and easy to set up. Get your group talking on Facebook outside of class and see if it doesn’t impact your discussion inside of class.

Sometimes you will want to call someone—perhaps your teacher in training. Every group should have a teacher in training who substitutes on a regular basis. Call him up and ask him to do a little research on part of the lesson you will be discussing. Have him teach part of the lesson based on his research.

Sometimes you want to have a face-to-face meeting. Here is a rule of thumb: every teacher should share a meal with every person in his/her class at least once a year. Tonight we will be going out to dinner with a couple from our Tuesday night group. Group time will always be richer because of it.

One more approach. Email your group and ask them to bring something to class. We did this at a fellowship for my home group. People brought little pieces of memorabilia that revealed something of themselves. It was a touching moment.

Class doesn’t begin when class begins. Keep up with people during the week. Use email. Use Facebook. Use Twitter. Text. Connect. Keep up. Assign. This is life together. It has never been easier.

Josh Hunt, The Effective Bible Teacher, 2013.

Bill Hybels has a saying that I just love: “We are going to teach our way out of this problem.” Here is what he means.

Suppose you have a giving problem in your church. You are not meeting budget. You are not able to meet expenses. You have bills that are unpaid. You have cut back everywhere possible, but there are still bills to be paid.

More than that, there are missed opportunities. There are ministries to launch. There are needs that need to be met. The fields are white unto harvest if you could just get the money to buy the tractors. How do you solve this problem?

You could organize a campaign. You could hire a consultant. You could put up posters and send out letters. Those things may have their place. Bill Hybels would suggest you do something else: teach your way out of this problem. Whatever problems you have in your church, Effective Bible Teaching is a big part of the solution.

Perhaps the need is not so much money as volunteers. Every church I know could use an infusion of volunteers. Jesus said the harvest is plentiful; the workers are few. The bottleneck of the evangelistic / disciple-making process has always been and always will be workers.

Big churches need more workers. I had a man in a large church say to me once, “Do you have any idea how many workers you need to staff a Sunday School of 3500 people?”

Small churches need more workers. I pastor a very small church in the country. It is what we used to call a preaching point. Twenty or thirty people—mostly farmers—gather each week to worship and study the Word of God. Do you know what the need is at our small church?

Workers.

And how do we get more workers? Jesus said the answer is prayer. (Matthew 9:37–38) I don’t take that to mean that we are to pray and do nothing else. I take it to mean that nothing else will matter until we pray. In the next breath, Jesus said, “Go! I am sending you out …” I see two things in that passage: pray and send out.

There is a third thing that will help: teach. Teach on the joy of serving. Teach on spiritual gifts. Teach on laying down your life. Teach on finding life by losing yourself in the service to others.

One way to implement this is to organize a church wide campaign where you coordinate three things around the theme you are trying to emphasize:

• Sermons
• Bible teaching in small groups
• Daily quiet time

The classic example of this is the Purpose Driven Life Campaign. It is a model of what can be done by organizing sermons, Bible teaching in small groups and daily quiet times around one theme. (By the way—I have on occasion helped churches with the Bible lessons in a campaign like this. Contact me if you are interested.) josh@joshhunt.com

Does your church have a giving problem? Teach your way out of it.

Does your church have a lack of workers problem? Teach your way out of it.

Whatever problem your church faces, you would do well to follow the advice of Bill Hybels: teach your way out of it.

Let’s zoom back the lens. Think about the capital-C Church as a whole. Here are four problems we need to teach our way out of.

Ignorance

Numerous studies have demonstrated the lack of Bible knowledge both in and out of the church. I had a man say to me once: “Joseph … he had that coat of many colors, right?”

“Right.”

“And that was the father of Jesus?” We desperately need Effective Bible Teachers.

The Pew Research Center did a survey of basic knowledge of the Bible, Christianity, and world religions. Questions included naming the four gospels and whether or not the Golden Rule was one of the Ten Commandments. Curious thing about the results: atheists did better than church goers. To be fair, this was a survey of religious knowledge, not just Bible knowledge. Church goers did do better on the Bible questions. Everyone flunked.

Church in decline

I have heard this stat for years: 75% of churches are plateaued or declining. Here is the latest: Based on our research of 557 churches from 2004 to 2010, nine out of ten churches in America are declining or growing at a pace that is slower than that of their communities. Simply stated, churches are losing ground in their own backyards.1 Surely Effective Bible Teaching would help with that.

With young people, the situation is even worse.

Another way of looking at it is generationally. About two-thirds of the Builder generation, those born before 1946, are Christians. But only 15 percent of the Millennials are Christians. The Millennials are the largest generation in America’s history with almost eighty million members. They were born between 1980 and 2000. And we have all but lost that generation.2

Surely Effective Bible Teaching would help.

Do church goers believe differently?

If we could get them to church, would it matter? Let’s look at this in two ways: first, we will look at what church goers believe. Then, we will take a look at how they behave.

Brad Waggoner reported the findings of a survey of church goers in his book, The Shape of Faith to Come. Here are some highlights of his findings:

• “The Bible is the written Word of God and is totally accurate in all that it teaches.” About half strongly agreed.
• “Christians must continually work toward their salvation or risk losing it.” Only 23% got it right.
• “If a person is sincerely seeking God, he/she can obtain eternal life through religions other than Christianity?” Only 32% got the right answer, disagreeing strongly.
• “Every person is born a sinner due to the sin of Adam being passed on to all persons.” About half got this right and half got this wrong.3

Notice these are central doctrines of the faith and the survey is among church goers. Overall grade of church goers seems to be about 50%. That was flunking when I was in school.

Do church goers behave differently?

We are actually doing better than some people report.

It has been widely reported that there is no difference between the behavior of Christians and the behavior of non-Christians. That is not exactly right. Here is the more accurately stated truth: there is little difference in behavior between those who claim to be Christians and those who don’t. Key words: “claim to be Christians.” When we dig a little deeper and compare people who …

1) Claim to be Christians

2) Read their Bibles

3) Go to church each week

with people who don’t do these things, some significant differences start to show up. For example:

• Christians live together outside of marriage about half as often as do non-Christians.
• Those who don’t go to church were about 50% more likely to divorce compared with church goers.
• Christians are about half as likely to commit acts of domestic violence.
• People who attend church regularly are half as likely to commit adultery.
• Not only did Protestants commit less crime, but also the Protestants who attended church on a weekly basis did so far less than other Protestants. For example, 4% of the weekly attendees had been arrested, compared to 8% of the monthly attendees, 12% of the yearly attendees, and 15% of those who never attend.4

In every arena, active church attendance tends to predict good behavior, and absence of church attendance tends to predict bad behavior.

Still, the differences are not as great as any of us would like to see. Effective Teaching can make a difference. Imagine if everyone who attended church was engaged in thoughtful, convicting, Spirit-anointed teaching.

Josh Hunt, The Effective Bible Teacher (Josh Hunt, 2013).

We desperately need an army of Effective Bible Teachers. What is an Effective Bible Teacher?

An Effective Bible Teacher teaches so that people live according to the Bible. Effective Bible Teachers create doers of the Word and not hearers only. Effective Bible Teachers make disciples.

Effective Bible Teachers result in classes that pray, people who serve, and individuals who read their Bibles and follow what it says.

Effective Bible Teachers create people who love the Lord God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength. Effective Bible Teachers lead people to know their spiritual gifts and serve according to their gifting. Effective Bible Teachers teach people to abide in Christ.

Effective Bible Teachers love the people in their group. They hang out with them. They serve them. They have them in their homes. They are with them.

Effective Bible Teachers lead people to love. They lead people to lay down their lives in service to others. They lead people to care.

Effective Bible Teachers lead people to love the Word as they love the Word. The Psalmist said it is sweeter than honey. In another place, “Oh how I love your law.” It was not mere duty and obligation. It was a delight.

Effective Bible Teachers make a difference. Their classes are different because of the way they teach. Their people are different because of their influence on the lives of individual members. Their corner of the world is different because it is infected by people who are salt and light.

People who listen to Effective Bible Teachers love it. They can feel their hearts changed each week as they are exposed to the effective teaching of the Word of God. They look forward to getting together. They rarely miss.

When they are in the group, they don’t look at their watches. They don’t fiddle with their keys. They don’t day-dream. They are engaged, interested, thinking, participating, disagreeing. They often find themselves with their hand up. Sometimes they blurt out things because they just feel they have to participate. They have experienced the truth of the Proverb that says:

The tongue of the wise makes knowledge attractive. Proverbs 15:2a (HCSB)

The Living Bible is characteristically fresh:

A wise teacher makes learning a joy. Proverbs 15:2 (TLB)

Things are quite different in the group that does not have an Effective Bible Teacher. Attendance is sporadic. People often arrive late. They look at their feet a lot. There is not much energy in the room. People rarely speak up unless called upon. They never write anything down.

We need an army of Effective Bible Teachers. It does not matter if they teach in a home group or in an on-campus Sunday School class. What matters is that the teacher is an Effective Bible Teacher. It doesn’t matter if they lead a children’s class or an adult class. Obviously, specific methods would have to be different in each case. What matters is that the teaching is effective.

Josh Hunt, The Effective Bible Teacher (Josh Hunt, 2013).

I think it is an unfortunate thing that you are called a teacher. Since you are called a teacher, you might have the idea that your job is to teach. I have never talked to a Pastor or Small Group Minister anywhere that felt that the sole job of a teacher was to teach.

You are a shepherd. You are a coach. You are a mentor. You are a friend. You are the pastor of a microcosm of the church.

Your job is not to just deliver information, you are to pray for, care about, visit in the hospital, remember birthdays, hug the babies, and love the people. You are to take on the attitude that Paul had toward the Thessalonians:

• But we were gentle among you, like a mother caring for her little children. We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us.
• For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, 1 Thes. 2:7–8, 11 [NIV]

What is a group, anyway?

• The church exists on several levels:
• World-wide invisible church where Billy Graham and James Dobson serve on staff
• Local church
• Micro-church. This is a small group or Sunday School class.

In the New Testament we read where the church met in temple courts and from house to house (Acts 5:42). We tend to focus on the geography—where they met—but I want us to focus on the type of group. These were small groups and large groups and the church needs both.

Notice it was the church that met house to house. I read in my quiet time this morning about “Nympha and the church in her house.” Col. 4:15 [NIV] Again, don’t focus on where they met. Note that this was the church. This was not a group of people from the church. It was not an organization of the church. It was the church.

We commonly see a different perspective from this today as we hear people say, “Are you going to Sunday School today, or just church?” Do you hear what the question is implying? The worship service is church. Sunday School, well, that is optional. This is not the New Testament perspective.

It would be more biblical to say, “Are you going to big church today or little church or both? Are you going to all of church or part of church?” Church is when we meet in small groups.

I would argue that most of what it means to really be the church—most of the one another stuff happens in, through and around small groups. Most of the loving one another, serving one another, bearing with one another and so forth happens in the micro-church, not at the congregational level.

At the micro-church level, you are the pastor

Just as your pastor spends part of his time in content preparation and delivery, you need to spend part of your time in content preparation and delivery. But, that is not all you are called to do. You are called to pastor that micro-church. You are called to make the group of people into a microcosm of the church.

The heart of a teacher, then, is the heart of a pastor.

Josh Hunt, How to Use Questions to Stimulate Life-Changing Discussions, Good Questions Have Small Groups Talking (Las Cruces, NM: Josh Hunt, 2010), 125–126.

This question is mentioned last because it is last in terms of logical order. But, it may happen first in the class, and it may be the most important question you ask. Accountability questions go like this:

What did you do about what you heard last week?

The sad truth is, most of us didn’t do anything. We say that small groups are about changing lives, but are they really changing very much? Here is the question: how much do you think the average small group member has changed because of their small group in the past six months? How many could name specific, observable change that has take place in the last six months. Write your answer here:

Let’s be honest. In what ways has your life changed in the last six months because of something that happened in your small group? Write your answer here:

In what ways have you seen positive, specific changes in the lives of your students because of something that happened in group in the last six months? Write your answer here:

Did you struggle to come up with anything? Congratulations! You have a normal group. In my experience, this is typical. Sad, but pretty common.

A new vision for your group

What if we went at group a different way. What if, instead of teaching on a variety of topics and texts that went into detail of various word studies and background and what not—all good stuff. What if we went at it this way. What if we were to consider a number of possible goals for the next three to six months for our class members. Consider these possibilities.

• We want our group members to have a daily quiet time.
• We want our group members to memorize one verse a week and be able to recall the last twelve verses.
• We want our members to be able to tell the story of the Old Testament without notes in about five or ten minutes.
• We want our group members to follow biblical practices of handling money. We want them to have less debt six months from now than they have today.
• We want our group members to know their gifts and be ministering according to their giftedness.

We could go on and on with this list, but I think you get the idea. Now. Pick one. Pick one goal for the next three months. Let’s say we pick the first one: we want our group members to have a daily quiet time.

Let’s have some fun. Let’s imagine that I could pay you a million dollars if three months from now eighty percent of your members were having a quiet time eighty percent of the time. (And, no, you can’t pay them part of your million.) What would you do?

What I would do would have a lot to do with accountability.

I would come up with thirteen topics that had to do with the goal of getting everyone to have a quiet time. These topics might include:

• How to have a quiet time
• Quiet time in the life of Jesus
• Overcoming obstacles to having a quiet time
• Sweet hour of prayer: learning to love prayer
• Why God sometimes says no
• The reliability of the Word
• The treasure of the Word
• Praying the Lord’s prayer
• Prayer is not just about asking
• Three good Bible reading plans
• The power of habit
• Biblical meditation
• Scripture memory and prayer
• The benefits and limitations of discipline
• When Bible reading seems boring

Next, I would develop lessons on each of these topics. That is the easy part. The real key is this: I would be willing to set the lessons aside in favor of accountability. Every week I would prepare a lesson, but I would start the group by asking how we did this week in our quiet time. I would model this by having a consistent quiet time myself and sharing with the group how God spoke to me in my quiet time this week. Then I would ask how God spoke to them this week. I would let them share. If the conversation got good, I would let them share for a long time. I might even set aside my lesson if the conversation got good enough.

I would fully expect that in the early weeks few people might be having a quiet time. (This would vary quit a bit depending on the maturity of the group.) As each week went by, I would see a few more people having a quiet time, and those that are having a quiet time would get gradually more consistent. Accountability is the key to seeing this happen.

I would not get lazy and just not prepare a lesson on the hope that the conversation would get good enough. I would prepare a lesson each week, then listen and use my judgment, listening for the prompting of the Holy Spirit as to how much sharing and how much teaching would be useful to the group this week.

We would also spend a little time each week talking about why we are not having a quiet time. We would brainstorm together ways to overcome obstacles to having a quiet time. We would rehearse the benefits of having a quiet time based on the joy that we are all experiencing in our time alone with God.

This scenario is not theory to me. I have done it many times and I can tell you it is not that difficult to get 80% of your people having a quiet time 80% of the time if you hold them accountable.

I believe you could do this with most any discipleship goal you could imagine. Pick one area of life change that you are after. Go after it for as long as it takes. Hold people accountable. Watch the results before your eyes. Where you don’t have results, ask why. Discover obstacles. Remove obstacles. Solve problems. Find solutions. Provide encouragement.

It is this process that is at heart of life changing groups like Weight Watchers. They hold me accountable. We all know how to loose weight. Weight Watchers may teach some helpful things on how to loose weight but the main thing they do is provide an atmosphere of accountability.

Most of us know what we ought to do. We ought to read our Bibles. We ought to pray. We ought to give. We ought to live in authentic community and deep fellowship with one another. We ought to know our gifts and serve in the area of our giftedness. We ought to, we ought to we ought to, but many don’t. Why? It is not because they do not know. It is because they are not held accountable.

Can we do this in an open group?

There are two kinds of groups: open groups and closed groups. Open groups are ya’ll come groups. They are open to outsiders. They are for outreach. Closed groups—sometimes called discipleship groups—are for developing believers.

Many believe we can have accountability in a discipleship group, but not in a Sunday School-style open group.

It is true that you can set the bar too high. You can set the bar so high that it intimidates and runs off new comers. Imagine you are in a group that is holding one another accountable for scripture memory. At the beginning of the group, everyone gets into pairs and each person rattles off a dozen or so verses-near word-perfectly. This is great for discipleship, but not so good for outreach.

Maybe you can’t set the bar that high, but you can have some accountability, even in open groups. I did a series on the book of Proverbs once. We started with the observation that there are thirty-one chapters in Proverbs and thirty-one days in a long month. I suggested that if you were not reading anything else, you might consider reading the Proverb of the day. Each week I shared my own reading, and asked the group if they had read any from the Proverb of the day that week. By the end of the course everyone was reading the Proverb of the day.

But, here is the real point. This is accountability that does not run off newcomers. If you had visited the group two months into it you would have found that many of us were sharing from our reading of the Proverb of the day. Is this intimidating? Not for most people. Accountability can be done in an open group.

Conclusion

Accountability is the missing ingredient in most groups. Most people need accountability. Most church-goers know what they should do. They don’t do it because they are not being held accountable. You can do accountability in an open group. The bar cannot be too high, but you can do accountability in an open group. It is not likely that we will ever make disciples without accountability.

Josh Hunt, How to Use Questions to Stimulate Life-Changing Discussions, Good Questions Have Small Groups Talking (Las Cruces, NM: Josh Hunt, 2010), 119–124.

Consider the analogy of a wedding anniversary. Mine is on December 21. Suppose on this day I bring home a dozen long-stemmed roses for Noël. When she meets me at the door, I hold out the roses, and she says, “O Johnny, they’re beautiful; thank you” and gives me a big hug. Then suppose I hold up my hand and say matter-of-factly, “Don’t mention it; it’s my duty.”

What happens? Is not the exercise of duty a noble thing? Do not we honor those we dutifully serve? Not much. Not if there’s no heart in it. Dutiful roses are a contradiction in terms. If I am not moved by a spontaneous affection for her as a person, the roses do not honor her. In fact, they belittle her. They are a very thin covering for the fact that she does not have the worth or beauty in my eyes to kindle affection. All I can muster is a calculated expression of marital duty.

Here is the way Edward John Carnell puts it:

Suppose a husband asks his wife if he must kiss her good night. Her answer is, “You must, but not that kind of a must.” What she means is this: “Unless a spontaneous affection for my person motivates you, your overtures are stripped of all moral value.”6

The fact is, many of us have failed to see that duty toward God can never be restricted to outward action. Yes, we must worship Him. “But not that kind of must.” What kind then? The kind C. S. Lewis described to Sheldon Vanauken: “It is a Christian duty, as you know, for everyone to be as happy as he can.”7

The real duty of worship is not the outward duty to say or do the liturgy. It is the inward duty, the command: “Delight yourself in the LORD”! (Psalm 37:4). “Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice!” (Psalm 32:11).

The reason this is the real duty of worship is that it honors God, while the empty performance of ritual does not. If I take my wife out for the evening on our anniversary and she asks me, “Why do you do this?” the answer that honors her most is “Because nothing makes me happier tonight than to be with you.”

“It’s my duty” is a dishonor to her.

“It’s my joy” is an honor.

There it is! The feast of Christian Hedonism. How shall we honor God in worship? By saying, “It’s my duty”? Or by saying, “It’s my joy”?

Worship is a way of reflecting back to God the radiance of His worth. Now we see that the mirror that catches the rays of His radiance and reflects them back in worship is the joyful heart. Another way of saying this is to say

The chief end of man is to glorify God
by
enjoying Him forever.

John Piper, Desiring God (Sisters, OR: Multnomah Publishers, 2003), 93–94.

By Mike McKinley

The New Testament compels God’s people to take the gospel out into the world. Jesus gave his disciples a standing order to go and make disciples (Matt. 28:19). He told them that they would become fishers of men (Matt. 4:17). Peter advised the churches of Asia Minor to be ready with an answer when people asked them about their hope (1 Pet. 3:15).

But it seems like something has gone wrong. Many Christians do not live like fishers of men. Not many people ask us about the hope that we have in Christ, and when they do we’re not really ready to give an answer. Evangelical churches talk a lot about evangelism, but according to popular surveys and anecdotal impressions most church members don’t share their faith very often.

WHY DON’T WE EVANGELIZE?

I’d like to suggest five reasons that churches and church members don’t share the gospel as part of their normal course of life. Other articles in this Journal suggest ways to remedy this situation, but for now let’s stick with diagnosing the problem.

1. Churches Isolate Christians from unbelievers.

First, churches isolate Christians from unbelievers. Simply put, a lot of Christians don’t know any unbelievers. Though our daily lives put us into regular contact with many people who don’t know Jesus, it’s easy to go through life without having close relationships with any of them.

Churches enable this isolation in a couple ways. Many churches run a host of weeknight programs and then define being a good church member in terms of attendance at those programs. As a result, the calendars of many Christians are filled up with church activities and there is little time to have neighbors and co-workers into their homes.

In addition, some congregations cultivate hostility toward the world. As our culture becomes more explicitly hostile to Christianity and biblical morality, it’s easy to allow a bunker mentality to set in. When that happens, the outside world becomes a bogeyman and the way for God’s people to be holy is to keep their distance from it. So Christians live lives on parallel tracks from the world, with their own schools and businesses and sports leagues and scouting programs, but very few chances to build relationships with unbelievers.

2. We believe that evangelism is extraordinary.

A second reason Christians don’t evangelize is that we believe it’s extraordinary. We suspect that evangelism is only for those who have the gift of evangelism, or for pastors and other professional Christians. And so they simply don’t feel like they are capable of sharing the gospel. From time to time people in my congregation will bring their friends or family to me so that I can tell them about Jesus, and I have to challenge them to step up and do it themselves! After all, in Acts 8:1–4 it’s not the apostles but the “normal” Christians who take the message about Jesus out of Jerusalem and into the wider world.

3. Churches don’t talk about the cost of following Jesus.

Third, our churches don’t talk about the cost of following Jesus. Yet evangelism will be costly. There’s really no way to tell people that you believe God took on human flesh by being birthed by a virgin and then, after dying on a cross, rose from the dead and soared back up to heaven without at least running the risk of losing their favor. But that’s okay. The apostle Paul says that God intentionally saves us in a way that will seem foolish to the “wise” of our world (1 Cor. 1:18–29). Our message will not be well received by those who are perishing, but will be like a stench in their nostrils (2 Cor. 2:14–16).

If I understand Paul correctly, it’s actually God’s plan for you to suffer some as you share the gospel. If you don’t agree, read through the book of Acts and just make a note of every time someone shares the gospel and something bad happens to them.

But many churches never confront their people with the reality that following Christ will cost them. We teach them that God is all about them and their sense of personal wellbeing. So when it comes time to pay the price and share the gospel, many of us simply aren’t willing to lose our reputations.

4. We look for immediate results.

Fourth, we look for immediate results. Of course, it’s easy to become discouraged about our evangelism. Maybe we read a book or listened to a sermon and went out and shared our faith, only to grow discouraged when nothing visibly happened. I think many Christians have simply given up on evangelism because they made an effort and didn’t see any results.

But we simply aren’t in a position to judge what God is doing in any given situation. It may be that in God’s plan we are supposed to be the first in a long line of people who evangelize a person before they come to Christ. I can think of plenty of examples of evangelistic conversations and efforts that seemed like a waste at the time. It was not until much later that I found out that the person had come to Christ.

The gospel is the power of God for salvation (Rom. 1:16), and the word of God is alive and powerful (Heb. 4:12–13). We must cultivate confidence that the Lord who causes the growth will accomplish his redemption. He will save souls. He often does not do it according to our timetables, and he may not choose the people we would choose. But he will use us if we are faithful.

5. We aren’t clear on the message.

A final reason we don’t evangelize is that we aren’t clear on the message. When someone asks to join our church, one of the things that I ask is for them to briefly summarize the gospel message (think 60 seconds). And I am consistently surprised by how many Christians find it difficult to do that. It’s not that they don’t believe the gospel—they do.

It’s not that they are ignorant—many of them know their Bibles very well. And while they might be nervous or surprised by the question, it’s still a disturbing trend. There’s no way to share the gospel if you aren’t prepared to share the gospel.

Mike McKinley, “Five Reasons We Don’t Evangelize,” 9Marks Journal (2013): 24–26.