How Can I Teach Without Fussing?
2 Tim. 2:23-26:
Intro:
A. One of the concerns Christians express is, “How do I teach someone without making him mad or angry?”
1. “How do I correct a doctrine that is wrong and not create animosity?”
2. This is the kind of teaching Paul has in mind at the end of 2 Timothy 2. cf. 2 Tim. 2:23-26
a. “In humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they
may know the truth.” 2 Tim. 2:25
b. Correct (Strong’s: 3811), paideuo, ”to chastise or castigate with words, to correct.”
B. Some discussions create fusses. “But avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife. And a
servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient.” 2 Tim. 2:23-24
1. Strife (Strong’s: 3163), macesqai, “quarrel.”
a. The word was used of armed combatants, or those who engage in hand-to-hand struggle.
b. Then it was used of those who engage in a war of words—quarrel, wrangle, dispute.
2. “How do I chastise a person without creating a quarrel?”
I. Realize that proper correction is an act of love and kindness
A. A good friend is someone who will tell you when you food stuck in your teeth or your slip is showing.” (A friend
will not withhold information; an enemy will).
B. A good surgeon is invaluable when surgery is needed. “Open rebuke is better than love carefully concealed.
Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.” Prov. 27:5-6
II. “How can I communicate that I care during correction?”
A. Don’t fuss.
1. Think about what you’re going to say. “Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for
necessary edification, that it may impart graces to the hearers.” Eph. 4:29
2. Think about how you are going to communicate it.
a. “Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer
each one.” Col. 4:6
b. “A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” Prov. 15:1
B. Be gentle.
1. “But we were gentle among you, just as a nursing mother cherishes her own children.” 1 Thess. 2:7
a. Gentle (Strong’s: 2261), hpios,“mild.”
2. Ex: A good dentist will be gentle, warn when he has to hurt, and then apologize for the hurt.
a. A fuss often evolves, not because we did not have the truth, but because we did not have the touch.
b. We can use a reasonable amount of the pain-killer of gentleness and perform the same operation with
less pain.
C. Be prepared.
1. “Able to teach…” v. 24
2. didaktikos, means “skillful in teaching.” (This is the same word used of the qualifications of shepherds in
1 Tim. 3:2).
a. Where does skill come from? (Skill comes from instruction and practice. A personal who wouldn’t think of
driving or going hunting without practice will attempt to rearrange another person’s life and faith without
any teaching, practice, or supervision.
b. Many times a fuss/quarrel is a cover-up for a lack of information or a lack of skill and being unwilling to
admit it.
D. Be patient.
1. “Patient” or “…Not resentful under injuries…” (Williams).
a. I sometimes get into a fuss when I take rejection personally.
b. Ex:
. Israel murmured against Moses when she didn’t have food. Ex. 16:2-3, 7
. Israel wanted a king when Samuel was old and his sons were disobedient. 1 Sam. 8:7
c. I have fallen into the trap of thinking, “He is rejecting me by not accepting the gospel.” (My hurt feelings
can create a fuss).
2. Patience also mean giving folks time to work through their family and denomination past. Ex: Pam Cornett
during Bible study
a. A farmer doesn’t sow and reap on the same day.
b. Paul said, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gives the increase.” 1 Cor. 3:6 (My job is to plant seed and
fertilize the soul—then wait.”
c. If I try to force the harvest, the student may be baptized outwardly, but he may not be converted inwardly.
d. If I force the harvest now when he’s not ready, he may not remain faithful and fall away at some point in
future because he wasn’t immersed for the right reason.
E. Be aware of your power.
1. This chastising with words is to be done with power. “In humility correcting those who are in opposition…”
v. 25
a. Humility (Strong’s: 1877), prauths, “meekness, gentle, submissiveness.”
b. Jesus said, “Blessed are the meek…” Mt. 5:5a (Meekness has to do with strength under control, like a
horse which has been broken).
2. You and I have a lot of power at our desposal.
a. Information and knowledge. Ex: One lady was unwilling and afraid to study with me, because she wasn’t a
student of the Scriptures and she was scared she would be embarrassed by her lack of the Word.
b. Age.
c. Size.
d. Position.
. Paul could have made demands as an apostle. “Nor did we seek glory from men, either from you or from
others, when we might have made demands as apostles of Christ. But we were gentle among you, just as
a nursing mother cherishes her own children.” 1 Thess. 2:6-7
. Paul chose not to use his power and authority.
3. If I am not aware of my power or I deny that I have any power, it will be difficult, if not impossible, to keep it
under control.
a. Some people say, “Well, I just tell it like it is—I tell them how I feel, and let the chips fall where they may.”
b. A lot of folks have been “run off” because a person wouldn’t admit that 1) he had power and, 2) he had a
hard time controlling it. Ex: If I find myself using my position to demand my way, it might be good to ask,
“Do I have my strength/power under control?” “A fool vents all his feelings, but a wise man holds them
back.” Prov. 29:11
c. The issue is not whether or not I have power; clearly I do, but how much of that should I use? Ex: There
are 13,800 volts of electricity flowing into some of the transmission lines that run to my house. The line
actually coming into my house bring 220 volts.
. We would receive more benefit from a candle and a Coleman stove than to turn 13,800 volts of
uncontrolled power into our houses.
. The oven, cook top, and dryer need 220; the lights need 110.
. The challenge of using electricity well is to use is wisely. (Likewise, the challenge is not whether or not I
have power, but how do I keep it in control when I’m teaching somebody).
Concl:
A. One of the most difficult things in the world to do, and to do well, is to correct false belief and false teaching.
B. May I suggest that it needs to be done in a caring way.
C. One author gives a good rule of thumb, “If it is very painful for you to criticize your friends, you are safe in doing it.
But if you take the slightest pleasure in it, that is the time to hold your tongue” (Alice Miller, in The Friendship Factor by
Alan Loy McGinnis, 68).
–Mike Benson