How do we know the Teaching is good?

By Hayley Boud

We go to church on Sunday and hear a message.  How do we know the message is from God?  How do we know it’s a true or correct message?  How do we know if we can trust the teaching is right? We fellowship with other Christians; how do we know what they are saying is true and trust worthy?  How do we know the YouTube teachings are true or correct?  It’s important to know if the teaching is correct because the Bible says that in the end days even the elect will be deceived (Mathew 24: 24).

In Mathew 16:11-12, Jesus warns us to be careful of the teachings of others.  The Pharisees and Sadducees were the teachers of Jesus’ day and they knew the scriptures very well, but Jesus warned others to beware of the their teaching. 

The best way to know if something is false is to first know the real one.  For example, those that are trained to find forged money will first be trained in what is real money.  They will spend hours and hours learning how real money looks, feels and smells etc. 

When I began working as a haematology technician for a veterinary pathology lab I had to first learn what normal animal blood looked like under the microscope.  I started with normal sheep.  I had to look at the red cells, white cells, platelets etc of normal sheep blood.  I had count look at the shape and size of the red cells, count the different types of white blood cells and note their shape, colour, size etc.  I had to do 180 normal sheep blood before I was allowed to look at a sick sheep’s blood.

When I finally looked at the sick sheep blood, I could tell straight away what was wrong.  I immediately saw the red cells were shaped differently or the white blood cells were a different colour etc.  By being extremely familiar with normal sheep blood cells, I could then recognise when the cells were not normal.  Similarly, with God’s Word, we have to spend time reading it, analysing it, meditating on it, memorising it, practising it, sharing it, living it, in order to know what is the true and correct Word of God and what is false.

By knowing the Word of God very well and being extremely familiar with it, we can automatically know when there is a false teaching, we know, “this is different”.

Acts 17:11, the Bereans were commended because they received the Word with great eagerness and examined the scriptures daily to see if these things were so. 

The word Bereans means “despised”.  We are despised when we question someone’s teaching, especially if that someone is a pastor or someone famous.  On one hand we have to be careful not to be rude, proud, or to cause someone to stumble but on the other hand we need to be careful with our souls and the souls of those around us.  If we question Benny Hinn’s teachings, people who love Benny Hinn will hate us.  We will be despised but if we don’t question the teaching we (and others) might be lead in a wrong direction so sometimes we have to accept to be despised.  The best way to question the teaching is to make it a genuine question such as, “when you said this, what did you mean?”, rather than to point the finger and say, “you are wrong”.

God commended the Bereans for going home and examining the scriptures “to see if things were so”.  God will also commend us for going home and questioning the teaching and examining the scriptures to see if the teaching is correct.  God will be proud of us.  In Acts 17:11, the Bereans were considered, “noble-minded” and God will consider us noble-minded when we receive the Word with eagerness and examine the scriptures to check.

Noble-minded means to have an honourable and upright mind.  If we want to be honourable, we have to receive God’s Word with eagerness and examine the scriptures daily.  If we want to be righteous, we have to receive God’s Word with eagerness and examine the scriptures daily.  It makes sense because if we know the Word of God, then we will know how to live honourably and righteously.  Our conscience will remind us when we are not living according to God’s Word.  Because we will know God’s Word, we will know when our actions are different to the Word of God.

The Bereans “received” the Word with eagerness.  Received means to accept something after someone gives it to you.  For example, Hayley says, “faith comes by hearing the Word of God”.  I receive what Hayley says, I accept that word from Hayley.  I take it into my head with “great eagerness”. 

Then I examine those words from Hayley.  Is this true?  If I am examining the scriptures daily I should know already that this is true but even if I know this is true, I should still go back to the scriptures to double check.  By examining the scriptures, I find the teaching of Hayley matches the Word of God and I so I don’t just receive that teaching in my head but I also accept the teaching to go into my heart and I accept to be changed and transformed by it.  I will then make sure to live by that teaching.  If faith comes by hearing the Word of God, then I need to make sure I hear God’s Word: go to church, listen to the Bible online etc.

If Hayley says, “the Bible doesn’t say you can’t smoke”.  I receive that Word with eagerness and because I examine the scriptures daily, I know that this is a false teaching, I know the truth.  The Bible doesn’t say I can’t smoke but it says my body is a temple of the Holy Spirit and I need to keep my temple pure for the Holy Spirit so I must not smoke.  I also know that my body doesn’t belong to me now that I have given it to Jesus so I don’t have the right to destroy what doesn’t belong to me by smoking.  I also know that that Bible warns us not to be a stumbling block for others and that if I smoke, I might cause someone else to sin.

There are so many scriptures that would let me know that Hayley’s teaching is not correct. By examining the scriptures daily, we will know.  So after hearing the false teaching, I say no to accepting it.  I don’t allow that false teaching into my heart.  I remove that false teaching from my mind. 

I should also let Hayley know the truth.  As I said before, the best way is to question the teaching.  E.g. “some people say it is a sin to smoke because our body is a temple of the Holy Spirit.  What are your thoughts on that?”  We need to come across with humility so the person will accept our teaching. If we argue, point the finger, and talk rudely, the person will never accept and we will be despised for the wrong reasons.

It is also important to remember that most people learn by our example (Titus 2:7).  We can be teaching others without even realising it with our actions.  If I am kind, patient, peaceful, joyful etc, then I am teaching others around me how to be kind, patient, peaceful and joyful but if I am rude, impatient and grumpy then I am teaching others around me how to be rude, impatient and grumpy.  Sometimes we forget that we are teaching others with our actions.  If I drink alcohol, I am teaching others that it's ok to drink alcohol.  This is the opposite of Titus 2:7 where our teaching must be by doing what is good by showing integrity and seriousness. 

If I joke all day long and forget about Jesus, then my teaching is not only useless but I'm leading others in a wrong direction.  I need to be serious with my actions, my words and my life.