Discipleship: Teach the Teachable

"Teach the teachable and reach the reachable"

We have all felt it: the frustration of pouring time, energy, and wisdom into someone who simply isn't listening. You try to teach, help, or guide, but your words are met with a closed mind or a resistant heart. It can feel like pouring water onto stone, leading to exhaustion and discouragement.

There is simple wisdom in the work of a farmer, who knows not to waste an entire bag of seed on rocky, hard ground during planting season. He doesn't hate the rocky field, but he understands that planting season is not the same as plowing season. He wisely sows seed where the soil is fertile and receptive, investing his resources where growth can actually occur. Plowing represents the patient, preparatory work of prayer and initial witness, while planting is the focused, intensive work of discipleship with those whose hearts are ready. The farmer is aware that significant effort is required to repair the rocky field. He doesn’t ignore it, but if it consumes his time, seeds will never be planted in the fertile soil.

This principle highlights a crucial distinction in the spiritual life: the difference between salvation and discipleship. Salvation is a free gift received by faith, but discipleship is a costly, voluntary choice to become an active learner and follower of Christ (Luke 9:23). While all those who accept Christ as Savior are saved from eternal judgment, not all choose to be active learners. Have there been times in your life when you have walked away from God, become stagnant, or refused to obey? Of course, we have all been there. In these times we were choosing not be active learners of Jesus! Discipleship is not an elite category for "super-Christians," but the normal pathway of growth, maturity, and fruitfulness for every believer that is a difficult path (Matthew 28:19–20). Scripture even acknowledges that some Christians are content with salvation alone, remaining spiritually immature and unwilling to grow (Hebrews 5:12).

"Teaching the teachable and reaching the reachable" is a biblical approach for fruitful growth. This post will explore five key scriptural takeaways that illustrate this principle.

1. Wisdom Involves Discernment: Don't Cast Pearls Before Swine.

In Matthew 7:6, Jesus introduces a principle of spiritual discernment that feels deeply counter-intuitive: “Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces.” Here, Jesus teaches that God’s truth is precious and that discernment is essential in how we share it.

This point often runs contrary to our impulse to share truth everywhere, without exception. However, this principle is not about hoarding truth from those who are worthy; it's about wisely stewarding a precious resource. It is a call to recognize when an investment of spiritual truth will be trampled and despised rather than received and cherished, and to act accordingly.

2. Effectiveness Requires Knowing When to Move On.

When Jesus sent his disciples out, he gave them clear instructions that served as a principle of resource management. He said in Matthew 10:14, “And whoever will not receive you nor hear your words, when you depart from that house or city, shake off the dust from your feet.”

This is a powerful lesson in spiritual efficiency. The disciples had a limited time and a vast mission field; every moment spent on hardened soil was a moment not spent on fertile ground. The goal was not to argue endlessly with the unwilling but to strategically redirect their efforts. Shaking the dust off their feet was a decisive act of moving on to find more receptive hearts, stewarding their discipleship efforts for maximum impact.

3. Ministry Isn't About Stubbornness; It's About Strategy.

The Apostle Paul provides a real-world example of this principle in action. In Acts 18:5–6, he was passionately, and "compelled by the Spirit," testifying to the Jews in Corinth that Jesus is the Christ. However, when his message was met with hardened opposition and blasphemy, he didn't double down in stubbornness. He strategically pivoted.

Paul made a powerful and decisive declaration:

"Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles."

Paul didn't abandon his mission; he redirected it. He understood that his call was to proclaim the gospel, and he strategically moved toward those whom God had prepared to listen. This was not an act of failure, but a Spirit-led application of the principle of teaching the teachable.

4. The Goal Is Multiplication, Not Just Addition.

Perhaps the strongest biblical support for this principle comes from 2 Timothy 2:2: “And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”

This instruction is explicitly about multiplication. The goal is to invest deeply in people who are faithful, available, and willing to learn so that they, in turn, can teach others, creating an exponential impact. Think of a teacher in a classroom. One student is leaning forward, notebook open, asking questions. Another is leaned back, arms crossed, disengaged. The teacher invests in the engaged student not out of favoritism, but as a strategy for fruitfulness, knowing that this student is most likely to grasp the material and one day apply it or teach it herself. Teaching flows where learning is welcomed.

5. Your Receptivity Determines Your Growth

The book of Proverbs gives timeless wisdom on the two ways people respond to correction. Proverbs 9:8–9 states, “Do not correct a scoffer, lest he hate you; Rebuke a wise man, and he will love you. Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser.”

The personal application of this is profound. God Himself distinguishes between the scoffer and the teachable learner. Our own spiritual growth is not determined by the quality of the teaching we receive, but by the posture of our own hearts towards the Word of God. A receptive and humble spirit is the fertile soil in which the seeds of truth can grow. Our willingness to be corrected and taught directly determines our capacity to become wiser.

Conclusion: Questions for the New Year

What about you? Is your heart receptive to spiritual teaching, or is it hardened and resistant like rocky ground? As your pastor, deacon, Sunday school teacher, or spiritual leader shares instruction from God’s Word with you, do you find yourself turning away, refusing to listen? Maybe you need to consider the wisdom of the Greek philosopher, Epictetus. "We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak."

Is the 80/20 principle true in your church? A pastor’s time is often consumed by 20% of the congregation, leaving little time for the remaining 80%. These 20% individuals often refuse to listen. Loving pastors and deacons stay up at night weeping and praying over these people, but church leaders also have a direct command to teach the teachable. “And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”

Going into the new year, we all need to examine ourselves: are we teachable and reachable?