Robert Lowery

I recently completed a session at Haus Edelweiss outside Vienna, Austria.  For the seventeenth summer I have taught a class for TCM International, and each year I have received so many unexpected blessings as a result of working with students, the short-term workers, as well as the full-time staff.  I am a blessed professor.  But this year, more than ever, I was reminded about the importance of being a teachable professor among teachable students.  Let me explain.

My students at Lincoln Christian Seminary in Lincoln, Illinois, as well as my students scattered throughout Eastern Europe and Central Asia have heard me say repeatedly that one of the most important principles for studying Scripture is the principle of humility.  Specifically, as students we must submit ourselves to God’s Written Word and allow it to have priority over our agendas, even our prejudices.  Far too often in our Bible study, the Word remains the object and we the subject, while ultimately we must acknowledge that we are the object and the Word is the subject because through it we hear God speak.

This years students came from Moldova and the Czech Republic, and they were among some of the most teachable students I have had the privilege of teaching.  The subject?  Eschatology.  On the first day, I told them that often “eschatology” (a word first used in 1844!) is too narrowly defined because scholars often limit it to such subjects as what happens after death, the final judgment, heaven, and hell.  I offer a broader definition:  Eschatology focuses on the person of Jesus Christ because we are reminded that both his first coming and the final coming ought to impact the way that we live as his disciples.  The topics listed above are only a narrow slice of the subject because the Christian life is an eschatological life because it is a life that finds its center in Jesus Christ, what he has done, is doing, and will do.

I also told the students that even though there are many controversial topics that Christians debate (e.g., the work of the Holy Spirit or the role of women in ministry), none can provoke a firestorm quicker than eschatology.  I asked them to set aside what they had previously been taught and invited them to listen with me to countless passages of Scripture.  They were eager to do so.  And so we read, listened, probed, and prayed over our studies together.   We desired to hear our Lord speak through the Word.  And he did.  The students raised questions and offered perspectives that I would have never considered.  And I learned from them.  I pray that they learned from me as I attempted to share with them the fruit of my studies.

From time to time I record a class discussion because of the observations made either by the students or by me.  I don’t want to lose so many precious insights.  The students often smile when they see me hit the record button because they know that something is being said that I think is incredibly special.  Then each evening I returned to my room and listened to the recordings and transcribed what I heard.  And each evening I marveled because of how teachable the students were.

On the last day of class, after the exam had been given, I collected the name cards that the students displayed on their desks and I put them in my folder labeled “TCM 2009.”  I told the students that at least once a week I will pull the folder out from the desk and read through the names and pray for each of them.

Near the end of the class I told them that a vital prayer that we should offer often is this:  “Lord, may we all be teachable so we can teach others your Grace.”  Amen.

Related posts:

1. A Teachable Professor Among Teachable Students