Sermonette: The Good Teacher
#1667s
Levi W. Graham
Given 20-Aug-22; 16 minutes 2022-08-20
listen:
description: (hide) The question Jesus asks the rich young man, "Why do you call me good?" (Matthew 19:16, Luke 18:18), has been for many an enigmatic conundrum, leading many to ponder whether Jesus (as God incarnate) is not claiming that He is good. What Jesus is actually doing is teaching the young man what he lacks in spiritual growth. Likewise, when any of us asks God to point out our lacks or weaknesses, we should be ready for an honest appraisal. Jesus mentioned the last six commandments (those applying to the relationship with other human beings) but left off the first four (applying to the relationship with Almighty God). If the young rich man had truly been aware of the sovereignty of the "good teacher" he would have responded to His request. No one can call a teacher good if they refuse to do what He asks. Like in the commendation of the seven churches of Revelation, Jesus does not forget the good deeds we have previously done, but He exposes the chief weaknesses and the impediments to our spiritual growth. The Good Teacher (God incarnate) exposes the hearts of the students with the word of God that is sharper than a two-edged sword (Hebrews 4:12), reinforces prior good works (Hebrews 10:32-35), and warns them to avoid the penalty of the fire of judgment for trampling His instruction underfoot. We should never take the Teacher’s instruction lightly. When interacting with others, we should emulate Christ’s example of accentuating the positive.