Bezalel the Teacher

This week I want to do an end of summer wrap up,
and also retread some familiar territory.

Luann reminded me that I didn't do justice
to the topic of "teacher"
in the five fold ministry series.
And so this week I want to complete that series
and also reconnect all of this to our primary calling to artists
and creative people.
We are in a new season,
and it is always good to revisit the foundations 
when you enter another chapter.

So this week,
I want to talk about Bezalel the Teacher.
In Exodus 35:30
Moses speaks to the people
and publicly calls and ordains Bezalel
to lead the creation of the Tabernacle in the wilderness.

I'm reading from the New Cambridge Paragraph Bible 
with my own corrections to the translation.

And Moses said unto the Children of Israel:
"See, 
the LORD hath called by name Bezalel,
the son of Uri, the son of Hur, 
of the tribe of Judah.
And he hath filled him
with the Spirit of God,
in wisdom,
in understanding,
and in knowledge,
and in all manner of workmanship;
and to devise
artistic works,
to work in gold,
and in silver,
and in brass,
and in cutting stones to set them,
and in carving wood,
to make all manner of artistic work.
And he hath put in his heart that he may teach,
both he and Oholiab,
of the tribe of Dan.
Them he hath filled with wisdom of heart,
to work in all manner of work,
of the engraver,
and of the skilled artisan,
and of the embroiderer,
in blue, purple and scarlet,
and in fine linen,
and of the weaver,
even of them that do any work,
and of those that create
artistic designs.

When we look at Bezalel
there are two things we need to pay attention to.
First,
his name means the "Image of God"
and is an anagram of Genesis 1:26.
B'tselem Elohim.
From the nature of Hebrew names,
we can deduce that Bezalel 
is the prototype human being.
He is a representation of the highest calling of the human being.
And this begins to make our brains swim a bit,
because this human being is the director of an artisic army
called to create a beautiful place 
where human beings can eat and drink with God.
Bezalel's primary call
is the establishment of heaven on earth.
And the calling is to impose beauty on the wilderness.

Second,
all of this is possible,
because Bezalel is filled with the Spirit of God.

And this gives us a little window into New Testament reality.
The only person in the Old Covenant to be filled with the Holy Spirit is Bezalel.
And it is clear here and in Exodus 31,
that because Bezalel is filled with the Holy Spirit,
he is gifted.

I think it is interesting that Jim's teaching last week,
and the teaching on the five fold ministry hinges on this word
for a donation.
Bezalel is the physical gift to the people of Israel,
just as those who carry the various five fold leadership impartations
are also gifts to the church.
Bezalel is the gift of the Image of God to Israel.
He is the Incarnation of what it is to be fully human
in their presence.
They are seeing an example.
The gifts he carries are a subset of this.

So when we get into the New Testament,
Paul uses the word "charismata" to describe this.
This word is completely misunderstood because it is translated "gifts" by people who do not understand the charismatic reality 
of the Kingdom of God.

Charismata
is the plural of charism,
which is rooted in the word "charis."
That word is often translated "grace."
And in the New Testament the at word is rooted in the Hebrew word,
Chesed.
This word is very important.
In your Bible it is often translated 
"lovingkindness"
or "steadfast love."
It is the active favour and blessing of God
toward you.
It is the mercy and grace of God.
It is the substance of his love.

And so when we talk about the spiritual gifts,
we are talking about "tokens of love."
And these are not about functions.
And they are not rigid and systemic.
These are abilities just like your ability to paint, draw, or sing.
They are part of the manifestation of the Holy Spirit,
and they flow out of you,
and they can be developed.
These spiritual gifts can grow and mature
just like your artistic gifts.
And so Bezalel had seventeen of these gifts.

For the New Testament Christian
there is a difference between the 
Pastor,
Teacher,
Evangelist,
Prophet,
and Apostle,
and the "tokens of love."
The charismata.
They are different things,
and because the text is translated by people who do not believe in these things or understand them
we have confusion.
This is very simple.

A fireman's job is to put out fires.
He needs to learn a lot of things, skills 
to put out fires.
He learns first aid,
He learns how to tie knots.
He learns about water pressure.
He learns about burns.
He learns what causes and stops fire.
All of those things 
are like the spiritual gifts.
They are his "charismata" as a firefighter.

An Apostle,
can be gifted in healing,
miracles,
discernment,
prophecy,
and teaching.
They are the tools to be the Apostle.

And so we meet Prophets who are teachers.
We meet Evangelists who have strong prophetic gifts,
and we meet pastors who the ability to discern spirits.

The "charismata"
are like when I was a child and my grandma would come to visit.
And she would take out of her bag
a "goodie"
for us.
A little gift to show she loved us.
This is what the spiritual gifts are.
They are all about love.
This is why Paul interrupts his teaching on the gifts
to expound on love.
Chesed is love.
Grace is love.
God is love.
And the gifts are about love.

They are not about ministry function.

And this gets a bit confusing when we get to the teacher.
In Exodus
it says that God put it in Bezalel's heart
that he would teach.
In the earlier passage about Bezalel,
teaching is the last in the list of seventeen gifts.

So what is the teacher?
In the New Testament the word is disdaskalon.
It appears all over the New Testament and
always relates to teaching the Bible 
and teaching about the Kingdom.
Jesus taught them the Scriptures,
Paul taught the Scriptures,
Priscilla taught Apollos,
and so on.
And this is the rub,
the teaching is always described
as with "authority."
There is a supernatural power to the teaching.
There is a revelatory quality.
It is not just conveying information
effectively.

The teacher and the gift of teaching
impart 
knowledge,
wisdom,
and revelation.
Often this will be the ability to expound Scripture.

Over the years 
I have been privileged to sit under some amazing teachers.
Those who walk as teachers
incarnate the teaching gift.

When you sit under a particularly gifted teacher
you receive more than information.
You receive an impartation
and you will often receive more than the words
you are hearing.
It is multidimensional.

Probably the greatest teacher in our generation
is Bill Johnson.
I have been honored to sit under him many times
during the prime of his ministry.
When a teacher teaches,
the people get very quiet,
and something happens.
Honestly, one time I was at a meeting in Kansas City
and I could feel my brain moving in my head
while he taught.
Another person who had a supernatural gift of teaching
was Leanne Payne.
She said more than the word conveyed.

And some of the books written by great teachers
are like this as well.
You have to go back and re-read.
Paul obviously had a profound teaching gift,
and there are places in the New Testament like this.
A similar quality is in John's writing.

And the person who incarnates Teacher
will be a living parable.
Everything around them is a lesson.
They do not have to talk.
I think this is what St. Francis meant when he said,
"Preach the gospel at all times,
and when necessary, 
use words."

This brings us back to Bezalel.
Earlier in Exodus 35 
God moves the people to give.
It is the amazing offering
where there is too much 
and Moses begs the people to stop bringing
because God put it in their hearts to give.
And then a few lines later,
it says the God put it in Bezalel's heart to teach.

A teacher
is not a pond.
Often you meet people who get degrees or training,
but it is for them.
They are climbing the educational ladder,
and it is not about the students.
It is not about the next generation.

In the Kingdom
the gift of teaching 
and the function of teacher
are by nature generous.
The Lord puts it in your heart to teach.
In other words,
all the stuff you know and have received
you are wired to give away.
And in this giving
the Body grows
and others benefit from the things you learned.
They get to receive without cost what you 
paid a price to learn.
Again
we are back to the cross
and laying your life down for others.
Freely you have received,
and freely you will give.

And the consequences for not doing this are terrible.

Hosea 4:6 warns
that God's people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.
The Sons of Eli in I Samuel 
were judged because they did not teach the people.
The Levites throughout history
did not teach.
Proverbs 29:18
Where there is no revelation
the people cast off restraint.

Where there is no teaching,
the church and the culture withers and dies.
It will bring death
because there is no
passing the torch from one generation to another.
All those artistic abilities
that Bezalel and Oholiab received
needed to be taught to others
so that the Tabernacle could be maintained,
could be improved,
and could be sustained.
In every generation
we have to be like those who left Egypt.
We have to keep teaching these things to our sons and daughters.

And so the teacher is not a pond
where all the information pours in and you become home for tadpoles and slugs.
You may have degrees and credentials,
but they are not for you.
They are for others.
You become a lake where there is a flow in 
from the Holy Spirit
and a flow out to others.
And this is a gift.

And this gift is interesting,
because those who have the gift of teaching can't help it.
They are always teaching.
And those who are called to be Teachers
cannot help it either.
Both the charism and the Person of Teacher
are curious,
voracious learners,
and hungry to learn.
A teacher never stops learning,
and when they learn something new
they cannot wait to tell someone else,
just like the evangelist.
It is like a lake.
You cannot stop the flow.
And the interesting thing about this love gift
is when you teach,
you do not lose what you learn.

In fact,
sometimes
you learn more as you go,
because the revelation you are sharing 
is being poured into you.
Sometimes the Holy Spirit
will enable you to unlock the mind of someone else
or give you way to communicate you never knew.
It is a profound thing
to receive the teaching of the Holy Spirit.
Sometimes I listen to the recording of our sessions
and I wonder who is talking.
I didn't remember saying what I was hearing.
This is the gift of teaching.

And of all the gifts and People that the church needs today,
it is the teacher who is most needed.
We need Apostles who teach,
Prophets who teach,
Evangelists who teach,
Pastors who teach,
and an increase of teachers.

So back to the hand.
When all these functions are working,
you have a hand.
And the hand
can do anything.

This week I had a strange encounter.
I met several people who were either amputees
or born with birth defects
and they had no hands.
As so often
this was about the church,
and about what God is saying about the Body.
We this thing right now that is like the Borg in Star Trek.
It is half man and half machine,
and because it is both,
it is neither.
It is everything and nothing.
The church has been operating functionally for a generation,
based on man's opinions and ministry models.
This is was not the kingdom or the plan.
And this thing
because it is not operating in the five-fold ministry,
it like a person who no hands.
Just stubs.

As we end this week,
Let us pray for a birthing of a five-fold ministry in the arts.
Lord raise up Artistic Apostles, Prophets,
Evangelists, Pastors, and Teachers.
Raise up the Bezalels in our day
to build you a throne in the earth.
Raise up those who are truly generous
and concerned about the flow.
Raise up a million sanctified, fearless artists
and we pray that they would come together as little fires
all over the earth.
May we make a way for the coming of the Lord
and make a place for heaven on earth.
Give us wisdom and a heart to teach.
Amen.