Prepare Now to ‘Teach All Nations’

There I stood, bewildered. Staring at me were the eyes of dozens of sixth graders. That first day of school kicked off what would be the longest 10 months of my life!

Public school teachers typically undergo extensive college training, followed by a period of student teaching (observing and assisting a professional teacher) before being hired. Yet my path to that first day as a school music teacher was different.

Prior to that job, I had worked as a professional musician, which included a little teaching—mainly one-on-one lessons, ensembles and music-appreciation classes at private schools. Now that experience had led to being offered a more demanding position as a middle school band director. It was granted with the expectation that I would receive full teaching credentials within my first few years on the job.

I knew a lot about music—but very little about how to teach!

That year’s winter middle school band concert could be best described as “organized noise.” (Mind you, a few merciful parents who witnessed it put it milder.) I was forced to learn on the job rather than receive extensive university training.

Those in God’s Church know that we will soon be tasked with fulfilling a command of Jesus Christ in Matthew 28:19-20: “Go you therefore, and teach all nations…teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you…”

Unlike my experience, God does not want us to feel dazed on our first day. He is training us “in the backseat” and recorded many teaching examples in His Word that can prepare us for our future assignments in His Kingdom.

For me, one of the most helpful teaching tools was being able to observe master music directors in action.

Once a year, music teachers would attend a convention. At various other times, special performances would be held by select students from multiple schools. During these events, we had the opportunity to sit in day-long rehearsals directed by some of the country’s most experienced and successful teachers—known as master classes. I cherished these events for the invaluable training they afforded.

The Bible can be viewed as a Christian’s “teaching guide.” In effect, the first four books in the New Testament encompass Christ’s intense three-and-a-half-year master class with His disciples. Every story is filled with insight on how to effectively teach.

To best understand how to prepare now, we will thoroughly analyze the biblical account of the feeding of the 5,000. It highlights 10 skills straight from our Master Teacher, Jesus Christ.

As you read, focus not only on what Jesus taught—but also how He taught.

(1) Grab Their Attention

The “feeding of the 5,000” miracle was so impactful that all four gospel writers documented it. Therefore, one must draw details from all four accounts for a complete picture.

We pick up the story in Matthew 14: “When Jesus heard of [John the Baptist’s death], He departed thence by ship into a desert place apart: and when the people had heard thereof, they followed Him on foot out of the cities” (vs. 13).

At first glance, this verse seems to suggest that people strolled along to meet Christ at the place He was headed. Yet Mark 6:33 presents a more desperate picture: “The people… ran afoot thither out of all cities, and outwent them, and came together unto Him.”

What would motivate people to move in such a frenzy?

The answer is found in John 6: “Because they saw His miracles which He did on them that were diseased” (vs. 2).

In other words, Christ had grabbed their attention. He knew that words alone often do not suffice with physical minds.

Most likely, God performed several miracles in your life prior to calling you into His truth. Many of us have “I could have died or been badly injured” stories from before He called us. He had to intervene so we could make it this far.

Other miracles come in the form of provision, healing, angelic assistance, and so on. God uses them to grab our attention. And those are just the ones we know about—there are many others that happen without us noticing. It can be said that the biggest miracle of all is what happens at conversion—the God who made the universe puts some of His Holy Spirit in us!

Do you realize that God will give us the ability to perform awesome miracles after His Kingdom’s arrival? This can be difficult to wrap our minds around since none of us perform these today. Take time to read the miracles God is doing now through the announcements. They will serve as inspiration for what He will do through His people not long from now.

(2) Show Love

Back to the story: “Jesus, when He came out, saw much people, and was moved with compassion toward them…and He began to teach them many things” (Mark 6:34). The Greek word translated “moved with compassion” means “to have the bowels yearn, that is, (figuratively) feel sympathy, to pity” (Strong’s Hebrew and Greek Dictionaries).

Luke recorded, “He received them, and spoke unto them of the kingdom of God, and healed them that had need of healing” (9:11).

Christ has high hopes for, and deeply cares about, everyone He teaches—even if it sometimes involves correcting us.

In Mark 10:21, Christ had to give a rich young man who wanted to follow Him a difficult message. It was preceded by the phrase, “Then Jesus beholding him loved him.”

A teacher must have love for his students and demonstrate genuine interest in them (I Cor. 13:1-3).

The true starting point for us as future teachers, however, is loving God. Recall Christ’s famous interchange with Peter: “Simon, son of Jonas, love you Me more than these? He said unto Him, Yes, Lord; You know that I love You. He said unto him, Feed My lambs” (John 21:15).

Love, teaching and learning are interconnected in the Bible.

In marriage, husbands are told to “love your wives, even as Christ also loved the Church, and gave Himself for it; that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word” (Eph. 5:25-26).

Paul told the Philippians he prayed that their “love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment” (1:9).

In addition, Christ tells Laodiceans: “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten.” To chasten means “to train up a child, that is, educate, or (by implication) discipline (by punishment)” (Strong’s). It is translated throughout the Bible as “chasten,” “instruct” and “teach.”

As teachers in training, we must grow in God’s love—outgoing concern for other people. We must apply Romans 12:15: “Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.”

It is heartwarming to see this in action when someone requests prayers from the Church. The cards and letters that flood mailboxes, along with phone calls and prayers, make a world of difference to a suffering person.

Visiting, serving and communicating with brethren is also a way to grow in love. (See Hebrews 13:1-3 and James 2:15-16.) These acts also prepare us for a coming time when many will be in desperate need for loving leaders to guide them.

(3) Listen

Return to the scene in the account in which Christ was teaching and healing those in the crowd: “And when the day began to wear away, then came the twelve, and said unto Him, Send the multitude away, that they may go into the towns and country round about, and lodge, and get victuals [food]: for we are here in a desert place” (Luke 9:12).

Mark 6:36 adds, “for they have nothing to eat.”

At this point, Christ demonstrated another important teaching technique: He attentively listened.

Aware of the awesome miracle He was about to perform by feeding the people, Jesus could have stopped the disciples in the middle of their statement. Yet He allowed them to finish what they had to say. Hundreds of years before, He had inspired Solomon to record: “He that answers a matter before he hears it, it is folly and shame unto him” (Prov. 18:13).

People will listen to others if they know they are heard. What we can achieve if we do not take time to listen is “folly and shame.” If we want to be useful in God’s hands and help others, we should actively work at becoming better listeners.

Interrupting is one of the rudest things one can do to another human being. Christ did not even interrupt the Pharisees when they attacked Him.

To learn from the Master Teacher, we first must listen to God. This enables us to better listen to others.

(4) Give Assignments

Christ was told that the masses were hungry, and the disciples wanted Him to send everyone away: “But Jesus said unto them, They need not depart; give you them to eat” (Matt. 14:16).

I can only imagine the disciples’ inner reaction at this point: Excuse me, Sir, there are more than 5,000 starving people here. What is it again You want us to do?

Christ did not hesitate to tell them, “Give you them to eat.” He gave them an assignment.

Throughout the gospels, Christ gave challenging assignments to His disciples. The Mark 6 version of this story opens with the apostles having “gathered themselves together unto Jesus and [telling] Him all things, both what they had done, and what they had taught” (vs. 30).

This is a type of what the Church will do in every corner of the world!

When we are assigned something from Headquarters or a local minister, we should not doubt, make excuses, or disregard it. Rather, we should understand it is an opportunity to serve God and others and jump on it with joy! (Read Matthew 4:22, Luke 12:36, and Revelation 3:20.) Such a diligent attitude will help us develop faith and meekness for the time when we will need to give assignments to others. It will help us develop empathy to say, “I know how you feel, but I know you can do it!”

(5) Ask Questions

Mark 6:38 continues, “He said unto them, How many loaves have you? Go and see.” Christ engaged the disciples with a question.

Asking questions is one of the simplest and most effective teaching tools. At the school where I used to teach, I recall being expected to have a “guiding question” for each lesson. I did not know back then how often God uses questions to get us thinking. Sometimes, He uses a series of rhetorical questions, as in Amos 3:3-5. Similarly, Job 38-41 contains a series of hard-hitting questions that made Job conclude in chapter 42: “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear: but now my eye sees You” (vs. 5).

It is no accident that God inspired the tagline on the Church’s website to be: “The Greatest Questions. Plain Answers.” Think of some of our literature with questions as their titles. Also, consider the many prophecy questions the Church has had answered. Even many of our callings can be traced back to one question that sent us on a quest for doctrinal truth. In addition, we ask ourselves tough questions during self-examination.

Clearly, God wants us to continually ask ourselves questions, which leads to the next teaching point.

(6) Evaluate

John’s version of the event records a fascinating exchange with Philip. In this instance, Christ used a question to evaluate one of His apostles in training: “When Jesus…saw a great company come unto Him, He said unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat? And this He said to prove him: for He Himself knew what He would do” (John 6:5-6).

Two points can be taken from this passage: Christ was evaluating Philip’s faith and He had evaluated the situation to devise a plan.

Good teachers assess their students periodically to ensure material is being retained. Similarly, we go through tests and trials to develop patience (Rom. 5:3; Jms. 1:3).

Since we are preparing to be teachers in the Kingdom, we should be growing in the ability to evaluate ourselves and our circumstances to better make righteous judgments.

Did the young man pass the test? “Philip answered Him, Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little” (John 6:7).

Philip missed the point! He was thinking physically, not spiritually. And he was not the only one: “One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said unto Him, There is a lad here, which has five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many?” (vs. 8-9).

The unsatisfactory result of this assessment led Christ to employ the next teaching technique.

(7) Set the Right Example

At this point, the disciples were as lost as I was on my first day as a public school teacher. What took place next no doubt left everyone astonished: “And He said to His disciples, Make them sit down by fifties in a company. And they did so, and made them all sit down. Then He took the five loaves and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, He blessed them, and brake, and gave to the disciples to set before the multitude” (Luke 9:14-16).

Christ led by example. This is one of the most important points the Bible can teach us about teaching. By the time Jesus performed the actual miracle in the account, He had already exemplified seven teaching skills!

You may have come across a few ineffective teachers in your life. They told you what to do, or just handed you “busy work,” but they did not take time to demonstrate how to do it.

Here, Jesus was showing the disciples how it should be done. Throughout His earthly life, Christ Himself followed the example of our heavenly Father.

The first time Christ referred to the Father in the New Testament, He did it in the context of setting the right example. Early in the Sermon on the Mount, He said, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matt. 5:16).

We are to follow Christ’s example as He did the Father’s (I Pet. 2:21). As spiritual Israel, we should strive to set the example ancient Israel failed to set (Deut. 4:5-8). We must do so with those inside and outside of the Church. People should notice something positively different about us as we live God’s Way.

(8) Avoid Self-will

The next point applies to all of Christ’s actions in this story: He would not have been able to do any of these miracles without getting out of the way and seeking the Father’s will.

Some brethren may feel a little apprehensive about the concept of teaching in the future. Yet Scripture makes clear that God will supply all the tools we need if we obey Him.

We should be growing in the ability to yield to God when He leads us to good works. Doing so requires we have faith in Him and stop trying to impose our own will.

God has limitless power (Matt. 28:18), but self-will blocks Him from working in us. If you ever hear yourself say something He says to do is “impossible,” you are witnessing self-will at work. Remember, God says that with Him “all things are possible” (19:26).

We should take Him at His word.

(9) Use Repetition

After the people ate, the disciples “took up twelve baskets full of the fragments, and of the fishes” (Mark 6:43-44). But this was not the end of the story.

A few chapters later, when the disciples “reasoned among themselves” about a comment Christ had made regarding spiritual leaven, He asked them: “Do you not remember? When I brake the five loaves among five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took you up? They say unto Him, Twelve” (8:16-19).

Human beings have a strange capacity to forget miracles—even the most dramatic ones! Christ knew the value of repetition for learning, so He reminded them of the first miracle, before reminding them of a second—almost identical—miracle: “And when the seven among four thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took you up? And they said, Seven” (vs. 20).

Our minds do not automatically retain spiritual knowledge (Rom. 8:7). That is why we must work hard at remembering the truths of God. And why Peter and Paul wrote so much about “remembrance.” It is also why we must attend Sabbath services every week and hear timeless Bible truths presented in multiple ways by God’s ministers. And even why we are to rehearse the plan of salvation year after year during the Holy Days.

The use of repetition is crucial to us learning—and later becoming effective teachers.

(10) Balance Judgment and Mercy

After the 5,000 were fed, Christ “constrained His disciples to get into the ship, and to go to the other side before unto Bethsaida, while He sent away the people” (Mark 6:45).

Later that night, Christ again shocked His disciples by walking on water (Matt. 14:24-33). This time, He balanced judgment (bidding Peter to join Him on the tempestuous water to eliminate his unbelief) with mercy (immediately catching Peter when his wavering faith caused him to sink).

Christ had employed this same balance when asking them to feed the masses themselves. He pushed them to trust that God would back them up, but mercifully intervened when their faith lacked. (See James 2:13.)

Mark 6:51-52 documents their reaction to the walking-on-water miracle: “And they were sore amazed in themselves beyond measure, and wondered. For they considered not the miracle of the loaves: for their heart was hardened.”

The next encounter with those who had been fed miraculously demonstrates how Christ applied this balance. When Jesus was asked how He had made it to the other side without a boat, He answered, “You seek Me, not because you saw the miracles, but because you did eat of the loaves, and were filled” (John 6:26).

Reading this out of context may come across as harsh and judgmental. But considering all they had experienced, it was quite the contrary. Christ was concerned because they were not getting it.

The masses just wanted another miracle. “What sign show You then, that we may see, and believe You?”

The dialogue shows that even some of His disciples struggled: “When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples murmured at it, He said unto them, Does this offend you?…From that time many of His disciples went back, and walked no more with Him” (vs. 61, 66).

Surely this development brought no pleasure to Christ. Yet He knew a loving teacher must balance mercy with judgment if he is to help his students grow.

The next verse shows how bad things can turn quickly when a loving teacher tells people what they need to hear instead of what they want to hear: “After these things…the Jews sought to kill Him” (John 7:1).

Becoming a godly teacher involves learning to temper judgment with mercy—no matter the consequences. With the help of God’s Spirit, we should grow in discerning righteous judgments based on God’s Law, getting to the heart of any matter (Heb. 4:12), and administering mercy to others whenever possible (Jms. 2:13).

More Than Teachers

The feeding of the 5,000 amounted to a master class for the ages. It is just one story, out of many in the Bible, that displays these 10 teaching points in action.

Most of us are not in positions to teach in God’s Church now (Jms. 3:1). In fact, we are instructed to not even attempt to teach those in the world (Matt. 7:6). Instead we are to be sharpening our skills as servants—letting ourselves be taught—as we manage our lives and endure trials and tribulations in this present, evil world.

Yet there are places where we are able to teach in our lives now. Parents, you are commanded to teach your children God’s Way (Prov. 22:6). Older members are instructed to take younger members under their wings (Titus 2:2-8). You can also teach simple skills that others may want to learn to hone your abilities as a teacher.

Though I no longer work in the education field—and most Christians today may have never been professional teachers—we are living through the ultimate student-teacher training. Just as a schoolteacher should learn classroom management prior to being entrusted a classroom, our experiences now will prove invaluable later.

At that point, when the saints stand in front of their classes, our real teaching job begins!