Are you TEACHABLE ?

We must face the fact that many today are notoriously careless in their living. This attitude finds its way into the church. We have liberty, we have money, we live in comparative luxury. As a result, discipline practically has disappeared. What would a violin solo sound like if the strings on the musician's instrument were all hanging loose, not stretched tight, not "disciplined"? 

A.W. Tozer, Men Who Met God.

GOD GIVES DISCIPLES OPEN, TEACHABLE HEARTS; THE DISCIPLE IS SOMEONE WITH DISCIPLINE

Prophetic Passage about Jesus Before His time/ The Servant - Isaiah

Isaiah 50:4,5

Isa 50:4  The Lord GOD has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with a word him who is weary. Morning by morning he awakens; he awakens my ear to hear as those who are taught. 

Isa 50:5  The Lord GOD has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious; I turned not backward. 

1.        In this passage, we have a reference that is written nearly 600 years before Jesus’ life on earth. This is a prophetic passage -- and here we have the Holy Spirit showing us some specific matters about how God’s servants are taught. In Old Testament times, genuine prophets heard directly from God.

a)        One thing that’s very clear is that Isaiah, who is directly writing here, but also a reference prophetically to Jesus is this. Isaiah and Jesus were both “Taught” -- that's the real daily lifestyle of a true disciple -- after all, he or she wants to be influenced and taught by the person he or she is being mentored or coached by, isn’t it?

b)       In these few verses, we may notice the following:

i.          When was the Servant taught? What time of day ?  Notice that it simply says, “morning by morning”.

ii.        For what purpose was the Servant taught?  When we as disciples are taught, whom is this teaching for? It’s for others, it is for those who are tired, fed up, discouraged, and weary --

iii.      Who was the teacher of the Servant? Notice that this is the real purpose of THE MORNING Quiet Time -- to listen in the heart of hearts, in the morning to receive God’s teaching TO us for others. God is happy to teach us early in the morning -- and we must do what he teaches us to do, and then we can encourage and support others.

c)        Now this passage shows the inner secret life of the prophet Isaiah (when we read ahead, it becomes clear that this is also referring to Jesus who will be ), we see that God speaks to the disciple, to the one He wants to teach, and to you as you want to serve God with greater sincerity, heart. God is the one who opens the ears of the heart.

d)       Now notice the major focus of this verse. “Morning by Morning” -- refers to a habitual lifestyle that is unbroken. In other words, there is a certain rhythm, there is a predictability and there is a discipline, a routine that Isaiah had (and Jesus) had in being awoken by God. Only then could the servant of God actually communicate to the people of God what God had spoken.

e)        I can testify personally -- the morning is often the time when there is little external noise, disturbance, and distraction. Mental focus and mental clarity is very high -- and if we are sensitive to the Holy Spirit and yield our bodies to PULLL out of Sleep and push into the day, early in the morning, we will find that we are actually receiving a very clear understanding from the Bible early in the morning. This is something I have experienced many times again and again.

EXCEPTION: We must NOT burden the lady who is pregnant or someone is in surgery or ill or ailing with this verse -- this is not meant to find fault with those who genuinely need to rest and cannot do what is mentioned here. It is not God’s nature, to find fault with those in peculiar situations in life.

Note :- From the Sermon outline - series on Discipleship by Dr. Anil Jacob for Crossway.        

Stanley Thomas Isac

Stanley is serving as the Pastor of Crossway Church in New Delhi, he can be reached at stanleytisac@gmail.com