Why You Need Confidence to Teach the Bible
What Bible Teachers Need Most
Let me tell you about the first time I prepared a talk from the Bible for a relatively large group of people.
I was eighteen; it had been a year since I had submitted my life to the gospel and fallen in love with Jesus. My public high school of roughly twelve hundred students had recently voted to select two graduating students to speak at commencement. Somehow, I was selected (clearly the criteria had not been being the class valedictorian).
When word got out that I had been selected to speak not everyone was pleased. A few faculty members and classmates even tried to have me removed from the schedule. Why the opposition? Well, I had spent my entire senior year telling just about anyone who would listen about Jesus. And now, a few individuals feared that I would take this opportunity—at commencement of all places—to do it again.
How Can I Begin to Teach the Bible?
David R. Helm
In this short, accessible guide, pastor David Helm provides proven, easily applicable tips for creating and communicating memorable, gospel-centered messages.
Still, I knew I wanted to say something meaningful to our class from the Bible. A lot was at stake. About three hundred of us were graduating, many of whom were not Christians and another seven hundred or more family members and friends would be in attendance. Given the situation, I knew I needed to speak with sensitivity, so I made it a point to spend time in prayer as I prepared my talk (and my mom was praying too!).
But as commencement drew near I was thrown for a loop. I heard through the grapevine that if I even so much as mentioned the Bible or spoke about Jesus, some of my classmates were going to walk out in protest. That gave me pause, not to mention a dose of anxiety. I needed confidence—confidence that God would accomplish his purposes through my talk and that the Holy Spirit would overcome my fears.
In the end, I decided to follow through on my desire to say something meaningful to my class from the Bible. I made my way to the lectern—full of fear, yet full of assurance—and encouraged my class to consider three phrases that I hoped would define the student body as we stepped into the future: “Doing justice. Loving kindness. And walking humbly.” If you’re a student of the Bible, you’ll recognize that those three phrases come right out of Micah 6:8.
Anyone who is going to teach the Bible needs real conviction that God acts through the proclamation of his word.
As I approached my conclusion, no one had given any signs of objecting to my “Bible talk” on justice, kindness, and humility. I closed by mentioning that these words appeared together in the Bible. I then explained that doing justice, loving kindness, and walking with humility were all things that the prophet Micah instructs us to do “with your God.” At that point, I pivoted to Jesus as the one we all need if we’re going to have any hope of fulfilling God’s understanding of justice, kindness, and humility.
As I talked about Jesus, I began to hear the loud sounds of footsteps falling on the wooden bleachers. Some family members and friends of our class were walking out. I still have the cassette recording that captures the stomping of those who exited the gymnasium. That said, not a single one of my classmates left. In that tension-filled moment, my classmates were all decidedly kind to me, just as I had tried to do my best to be sensitive but loving toward them. I still feel today as I did then: that to truly love people we must tell them about Jesus.
As I reflect on that experience now, over forty years later, I’m deeply aware that whatever faithfulness I may have expressed in those moments was rooted in confidence—not confidence in myself, confidence in God’s word.
If you’re just getting started teaching the Bible, that’s the first thing I want to put in your mind: beginning preachers and teachers (and experienced ones too!) need confidence in God’s word.
Anyone who is going to teach the Bible needs real conviction that God acts through the proclamation of his word. Additionally, you need confidence in the Holy Spirit. You need to trust that the Spirit can overcome any opposition to his word in the hearts of your hearers and you need to trust that he can empower you to overcome any fear you may have in proclaiming his word.
This article is adapted from How Can I Begin to Teach the Bible? by David R. Helm.
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