Every Man a Teacher of the Word
Every Man a Teacher of the Word
Ezra was not a celebrity pastor. He didn't have millions of followers, or a megachurch built on his attractive personality, contemporary clothing, style, or feel-good sermons. There were two entities that sent him into the fledgling, had-been city of Jerusalem. God who favored him for his love of the law and king Artaxerxes who recognized in Ezra his ability to know and execute God's ways.
“And you, Ezra, according to the wisdom of your God that is in your hand, appoint magistrates and judges who may judge all the people in the province Beyond the River, all such as know the laws of your God. And those who do not know them, you shall teach. Whoever will not obey the law of your God and the law of the king, let judgment be strictly executed on him, whether for death or for banishment or for confiscation of his goods or for imprisonment.”
The New Testament parallel to this can be found in the qualification of elders (1 Timothy 3:2, Titus 1:9). However, elders do not begin teaching when they become elders. Instead, they are identified after they have been seen and heard teaching and living according to the Word prior to their ordination as an elder. This is indicative of a Word-teaching culture in a church. This is evident from Paul's admonition to Timothy for the older to be teaching the younger women, all in the context of sound (healthy) doctrine.
Paul even says to the Roman believers he's never met, "I myself am satisfied about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able to instruct one another" (Romans 15:14). There he is putting confidence in the Spirit of God to reveal the truth of the Word to the born again believer.
May we all pursue the command to handle the word of God rightly (2 Timothy 2:15), so that our worship of God is fueled by the truth of who he has revealed himself to be in his Word.
In his Word with you,
Loren