TOPIC:‌“The Soul of a Teacher”

‌           by Rev. Dr. Reg Dunlap

 

TEXT:‌I Timothy 4:12

 

‌‌“Be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conduct, in love,

‌‌in spirit, in faith, in purity”

 

‌Two great men of the past come to my mind as I begin this message. The first is Horace Bushnell, great minister of Hartford, Connecticut, for so many years. The second is Henry Clay Trumbull, the past editor of The Sunday School Times, and great soul-winner. Both were great friends.

 

‌When Horace Bushnell saw his friend, Henry Trumbull, throwing his whole life and labor into the work of the Sunday School, he said: “Don't you think Henry you are devoting too much of your time and strength to the Sunday School?” Then this great Sunday School missionary replied: “No, I don't think I am.” It wasn't until years later that Horace Bushnell said to him: “Henry, I've come to see that the work you are doing is the greatest work in the world.” Then after a slight pause he said: “Sometimes I think it's the only work in the world.” Say what we will, he was right!

 

‌It is all very well to speak of the Sunday School as the “greatest work in the world,” but if it is going to continue to be so, we must have men and women who will see boys and girls as lost souls in need of eternal salvation. Yes, souls which are lost, but souls which can be redeemed. Now this is the business of every teacher and officer in the Sunday School.

 

‌Now then, the question comes, What are some of the things which will make for a better and more efficient teacher in the Sunday School? I believe Paul, in writing to Timothy, gives us those graces that we must have for such a position as a Sunday School teacher. Let me name them.

 

I.

 

‌Consider, to begin with, the PATTERN which the teacher must DISPLAY. The words of Paul to Timothy are: “Be thou an example” (v. 12). In other words, be a model example of what others ought to be.

 

‌I ask you, What kind of an example are you setting for the boys and girls that make up your Sunday School class? Do you practice what you preach to them? If the teacher is ever going to make the Christian life attractive to the pupils in their class, then they must concern themselves with this inescapable responsibility of being “an example.”

 

‌Consider some of the areas in which . . .