Stay Teachable

Today Ruth reminded us that learning never stops, so we should do our very best to stay teachable!

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Thank you, Lord, that you have been so so so very good to us. Lord God, we thank you that you are here with us now. And as we stop and listen to your word this morning, we just pray, Lord, that you will teach us something new, that we will draw closer to you. Lord God, I just pray, Lord, that you'll undertake that you will be at the center of everything for these next few moments in Jesus' name. Amen. And it's good to be in here today. And I'm really happy. I didn't know that Annie had come in until just then, so I'm really pleased that my friend's back. Um, I just, you know, I was just thinking when I realized that that Annie was there, that um Mari is just so little and he's learning so many new things, and that's really the kind of thing I want to talk about today. I want to talk about how we can always be learning. You know, when I was little, like I was starting to talk, I used to say the wrong words sometimes, you know, and um in my house, some in my mum and dad's house, some of those things have stuck. So if I I never say hot water bottle, I always say hottle bottle. And it stuck, and everybody still says that. And and and when my group got together the other day, we we were playing, we decided that we'd have board games and things, and Jackie asked, Do we have dominoes? And I went, No, I've got dotnos in my house. We've got dots on, haven't they? Dotnos, but you know, you grew out of those things. My niece, she used to my granddad, my granddad had a had a budgie, but she always used to call it a fudgie. And even when she knew it was a budgie, she went, but but but fudgy. So but those things kind of stick. Some of them you grew out of, some of them they just stick around, and um, some things in your family you just can't help but keep. And I was very curious when I was young, and I and I like learning things, and so I still go out of my way to learn things. I love finding out about something new or I love adding something onto something that I already know, and I I absolutely, even when I was young, I loved learning. I didn't really like school that much. I'm sorry to all you teachers out there, I didn't really like school very much, but I do love learning. And there were different reasons at different times and in different schools why I didn't like school, but I like I did like learning, and and you know, learning something is just not something that you just do once, you're not just you don't just go to school and begin reception and that's it, you know everything. Learn I learned things when I was in reception, I learned things when I was seven, and I learned different things when I was twelve because learning isn't a one-off experience. And sometimes I think that I've learned more after leave since leaving school than I did when I was at school, and when you're at work as well, you never stop learning, do you? I worked a lot in IT, and sometimes systems change, or you go or you go on a manage, or you go on a leadership course, and you do all kinds of things, and you're always learning something new. There's um I've just finished, as you know, I've just finished MIT, so um so um one of the things we have some different core values on MIT, and one of them is teachable. Guys, one of them is being teachable, and that's just it's described as an attitude of always being willing to listen, learn, and grow. And I really like that. Many people that when you think, I'm sorry for you young people, when you leave school, you don't finish learning. You might think that you finish learning when you finished school, but you don't. You keep learning things, you go on training courses, there's things called continuous professional development, or there's things called lifelong learning, so we never really stop. And as Christians, we're just called to this lifelong learning, this continually growing, continually learning something new, being teachable. Because Jesus didn't just say to Peter, James, John, and all the others, he didn't just say, Come on, then sit down here and we'll have a meeting. He didn't, he called them to be disciples, and they walked alongside him through day by day. It wasn't just a one-off thing, and so to be a disciple of Jesus, you're learning all of the time. Disciple means that we're learning to become like Jesus, and Jesus never called us just to believe. It's so easy to say, yes, all right, I believe in Jesus now, but that's not the end. He called them to follow him, he called them to walk alongside him, and he does the same with us now. He wants us to walk alongside him and alongside other people so we can learn and grow together. It's not just one-off thing. Think about this. When was the last time God taught you something that changed the way you think or live? Well, I was when I was reading, that was one of the questions that people asked. When was the last time God taught you something that changed the way you think or live? Or are you too settled in what you do? Are you too comfortable with what you do? Are you just coasting along? Are you just a little bit too stubborn to learn something new, like I am sometimes? Recently I was reading in the book of Proverbs in my Bible here, and I just want to read a little bit from the beginning of chapter four before we continue with anything else. It's Proverbs chapter 4, verses 1 to 8. Listen, my sons, to a father's teaching, to father's instructions. Pay attention and gain understanding. I give you sound learning, so do not forsake my teaching. For I too was a son to my father, still tender and cherished by my mother. Then he taught me and he said to me, Take hold of my words with all your heart. Keep my commands, and you will live. Get wisdom, get understanding, do not forget my words or turn away from them. Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you. Love her, and she will watch over you. The beginning of wisdom is this. Though it costs you all you have, get understanding. Cherish her, she will exalt you, embrace her, and she will honor you. Get wisdom. Get understanding at any cost. It's like when you go to the beach and you're looking for little treasures in the in the rock pool and you're lifting up stones to find out what's underneath, you keep going until you find something that you're really excited, really what's something that you keep on doing. It's something that keeps that you keep on with. It's not just one thing. Just keep at it, keep at it, keep at it, find wisdom at any cost. This this is um the royal family here that are talking in in the book of Proverbs. It's the royal family. And this with this teaching is passed down through the generations. The father just doesn't teach how to be a good king, he doesn't teach them how to manage money, doesn't teach them about how to look after all the wealth that they have. The thing that he's most concerned about, the thing that he wants his children to learn is wisdom. The first step to gaining wisdom is actively seeking understanding. In other places in Proverbs, it says that the wise actively seek instruction. And in the Psalms, the writers say to God, Show me your ways, or teach me your ways, over and over. And to get that kind of wisdom, we've got to remain teachable, be willing to learn. So let's think about a little bit about what a teachable person is like. It says, He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way. So being humble is one of the ways that we remain teachable. I read, when I, you know, like as I was reading, it says, true humility is being teachable regardless of how much you know. Oh, I was reading and I was finding things, you know, you find those sayings and you can never identify where they came from because it's been passed down and passed around, and you see these things written up somewhere. But true humility is being teachable regardless of how much you know. Humility opens the door for growth. We need to be careful about letting pride get in the way. Because pride says, I already know. I've already decided. Nobody can teach me. I've always done it this way. That can get in the way of so much, can't it? But humility says things like, show me, correct me, teach me, I'm listening. Pride convinces you that you that what you believe is your reality. It's very hard to ask someone, tell me where I need to grow, tell me where I need to change. You've got to be so vulnerable to do that. And I was talking about it in one of my little groups, talking about this the other day, about wanting to learn and wanting to grow and wanting to be teachable and wanting to be vulnerable and asking those questions. And we said between ourselves, this is something that you've got to be able to feel safe doing it. You've got to trust the people that you're talking to to be able to accept it. And I'm hoping that as our groups continue to grow and develop, that you'll find those people in your group, those people that you can trust, those people that you can go to and feel safe with to ask the questions because it helps us all to grow, to become more like Jesus. And that's one of the most, that's one of the valuable things about our groups. It's hard to ask. So sometimes we don't. And it's hard to ask, and sometimes we do, but we don't listen to the answer. But to feel safe and to be able to trust the people that we're asking, then that makes it just that bit easier, and it stops pride getting in the way. Teachable person is always also someone who is wise and righteous. I'm going to use this particular scripture a couple of times this morning, Proverbs chapter 9 and verse 9. Instruct the wise, and they'll be wiser still. Teach the righteous and they will add to their learning. So a wise person, a teachable person is also wise and righteous. There's really a lot of wisdom and instructions in Proverbs. If you haven't read it for a while, I'd advise you to go and read it. Go and read it. You should. Now, as we've just been talking about Proverbs, and I said it was from the royal family. I'm going to use an example of someone who was teachable from that particular royal family. And then I'm going to talk about a couple of other people, well, maybe more than a couple, a couple of other people who were teachable. I'm going to start off with King David. He's from this royal family that Proverbs has all came from. Now, if you remember King David, he got things wrong sometimes. And he got things wrong when he wanted he wanted Bathsheba, and Bathsheba was married to someone else. And he made sure that this lady's husband didn't come back from war. And so the prophet Nathan came up to Peter and he told him not to came to David and said, told him this story about something, you know. And he said, What do we think? What would you do about that? And David said, Oh, you know, that's not right. And Nathan said, Well, that man's you. And so he went and he repented. And he said, and um, so he was so teachable because he was willing to repent, he was willing to accept what Nathan had said. He was the king of Israel, but he had a teachable heart. And then in Psalm Psalm 51 is a beautiful psalm of repentance, where David acknowledges that his sin was against God alone. He begged God to restore to him the joy of his salvation. And he said, Then I will teach transgressors your way, so that sinners will turn back to you. Because David realized that as he allowed God to work in his life, then in turn he would be a channel to teach those things to other people. So he remained teachable, but he was looking for other people that would be teachable and learn from his mistakes. So because we can all fall into temptation, we can all like be tempted, we can all fall into sin, just like David. But we can come to God and we can repent, we can overcome, we can learn from the experience, and we can use our experience to teach other people and to get them to walk alongside us and just learn from us, learn from our mistakes. There was another another person in the Old Testament, Naaman, he was a commander in the art in an army. He was a commander in the Syrian army, and he was infected with leprosy. Now his wife had this little servant girl who went and said, you know, if our if the master went to see the prophet Elisha, then he could receive healing. And he went. But the prophet didn't come out to see him. The prophet just stayed in his house and sent his servant with instructions. And so he went, hmm. Hmm. He hasn't even come to talk to me. He hasn't even come to talk to me. I'm not going to do that. No, no, no way. But then he was advised by his by his people, his his team that he had around him, his his the people that he was coming in command of, and this, and they said. They said to him, So if somebody if he had told you himself, you would have done it, so why don't you do it? And he went to the river, he did seven times like the prophet had said, and uh he had that choice, he had that choice to to learn, to do what he was asked to do, or he had a choice whether he would just go home the same way as he came. But he was he listened to the people around him who advised him to follow the instructions, and he was healed from his leprosy. Then we've got Thomas in the New Testament. We've got our disciple Thomas who came with all of his questions and all of his doubts. And after he was after Jesus appeared to him again and he said, Look, it's me, he just bowed down and he said, Oh, my Lord and my God. You see, doubt didn't disqualify Thomas, it became the doorway to a stronger declaration of faith. And we can come with doubts and disappointments and questions, and some of you might be carrying them right now. Doubts, questions, but be honest with God, be honest with God about those doubts, those questions, and invite him to meet you and your questions. Faith isn't about never struggling with doubts and never having questions, it's trusting Jesus through all the doubt and through all the questions and realizing that in the middle of all that he is faithful. And then we've got Peter. We know what Peter was like. Peter was so determined that he wasn't going to turn away from Jesus as he went, everybody else, Lord, but not me. I'll never deny you. But Jesus told him that he would, of course, and he did. But didn't mean he lost everything. Didn't mean that he lost everything. He was so sure that he'd be fine, that he argued with Jesus, everybody else but me, but he was teachable. And then Jesus appeared to him on the beach after his resurrection. He was he went for a walk with Jesus. He came back and God and Jesus restored him to all that he had before. He in all the middle of all the denials, in all in the middle of the questions and doubts, and things that we've already talked about, Jesus will still come to you. He's not going to reject us. We're not without hope. Peter also learned something else. He learned that salvation wasn't just for the Jewish people and the important people, but thank goodness it was for Gentiles too. Because we we received the story because the missionary journeys that went around the world following that were so so good and good for us. We've got the Ethiopian eunuch. He was teachable because he wanted the scripture explained to him, and he was so teachable that not only did he listen, but he obeyed straight away. And he went down into the water, he was baptized immediately. Paul, of course, was teachable as well, and this is going to be the last person I talk about. Um Paul was teachable as well because he used to persecute the followers of Jesus, he used to persecute people, but then he had an encounter with God, and he completely transformed so much of the teaching in the New Testament as from Paul. And so much we can learn from him. So, you know, we've got all these people that we can learn on, learn about. So let's remain teachable, like the people in these examples. We're spirit-led, right? Yep. Matt just talked about this last week, spirit-led. So this verse in John 14, 26, it says, but the advocate, or the comforter, or the helper, depending on which version you're looking at, the advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things, and we remind you of everything I have said to you. We often talk about the baptism in the Holy Spirit or the gifts of the Holy Spirit or the fruits of the Holy Spirit, but this one thing about the Holy Spirit is he teaches us. He teaches us. We're Bible-based, and the Holy Spirit teaches us through the scriptures. All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebrooking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. The Holy Spirit reveals things to us through the scriptures. He reveals things to us as we are praying. He reveals things to us through other believers, whether it be our pastors, whether it be our mentors, whether it be family, friends, even our children. God teaches us things through life's experiences, through our successes, through our failures. And there's usually quite a lot of failures. Being spirit led means remaining teachable, and teachability is the Willingness to learn, unlearn sometimes, and relearn. I've got a series of questions just to ask you. Just think about this. Can you answer yes or no to any of these statements? And I'm not judging you, and just for you to think about. I'm going to try and read them slowly because I'm aware that I read fast sometimes. I'm going to try and read them slowly. I'm willing to listen more than talk. I admit when I am mistaken. I observe before acting on a situation. I desire more information more than answers. I enjoy asking questions. I'm open to suggestions and new ideas, even from people younger than me. I'm comfortable asking for advice or directions. I'm a patient and willing student. I enjoy reading for information that is practical and applicable. I am willing to change. Now if you're wondering what I think, what I think about when I should stop being teachable, my answer is I'll keep learning while I'm still breathing. We should always be learning, willing to change, willing to grow. I used to have um used to have a young people's group at my house, it's many years ago now, but they sometimes used to, we used to sometimes be reading the Bible and learning about the Bible, and then they used to ask a question. Sometimes I learnt more from working out the answer to their questions than if I was just sitting there teaching them. And um one of my life groups, there's a there's a young lady called Nicole in one of my life groups, and she'll quite often turn up and she'll say, I've got a question. And so she asks her question, and then we all discuss it among ourselves until she gets you know till she feels comfortable that she's got an answer. And then we've got an older gentleman in the group as well, he's called Malcolm, and he's 80 in a bit, and he'll quite often say, when we're discussing something, he'll quite often say, I never thought of it that way, because he's always willing to learn something new. It doesn't matter how old you are, how young you are, there's always more to learn. I was reading a book by someone called Dave Kraft, and he said, Learning is essential to remaining spiritually alive and fresh in Jesus Christ. When you're through learning, you're through. And that's kind of just what I want to get across. Keep learning. Keep growing. Again, Proverbs 9, verse 9 said, instruct the wise and they will be wiser still. Teach the righteous and they will add to their learning. Wise believers not someone who knows the most. It's not someone who it's not someone who puts up a barrier. God can't guide people who refuse to listen. Can we be a church full of people who constantly say, Lord, teach me? I want to close with some questions for you to reflect on. So can you think about these things? Some reflections for you. Where has God been trying to teach me? Have I resisted correction? Is pride preventing growth? Am I still hungry for God's word? What is one area where I can intentionally learn and grow this week? It's just a few things there for you to think about, to reflect on as we finish today. But I think that one at the end there, what's one area where I can intentionally learn and grow this week is one that we can work on. We ask that. What have I learned? What can I, what can, what can I apply to my life so that I can grow? No point just listening if we don't apply. Don't let anything get in the way of being teachable. Always stay open to God. Listen to one another, discuss with one another. Just be open to God. Remain teachable. Become wise. Let's just pray. Lord God, help me to remain teachable. Help us to be humble and not to let pride get in the way of the things you want to grow in our lives. We want to fall in love with your word, Lord. We want to enjoy the times we spend together with you. Make us open to your Holy Spirit. Make us open as He works in our lives. Whether that's through reading our Bible, whether that's spending time in prayer, whether that's learning from one another and the experiences that we go through. Help us to apply the things that we learn into our daily lives so that we can become more fully devoted disciples. In Jesus' name. Amen.