TO DO AND TO TEACH
MEMORISE: The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, Acts 1:1
READ: Matthew 23:23 -28
23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
24 Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.
25 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.
26 Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.
27 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.
28 Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
MESSAGE
From the memory verse of today, we see the pattern Jesus observed when He was on earth. He began both to do and to teach. Doing comes before teaching. You must have been doing whatever it is that you want to teach before you teach it to anybody. If you have not done it yet, you don't have any authority to teach it. You see, teaching the word of God is not something to joke with at all. It is easy to memorize powerful sermons of notable men of God and deliver them smoothly. Your audience will most likely clap for you, but you have been marked for greater judgment in heaven if you do not practice what you are preaching.
James 3:1 says:
My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation.
The word 'master' used in the Bible verse above essentially refers to 'teachers' as captured in the New King James version. Whether you memorised the message you are preaching to others or not, whether the people clap for you and talk about how powerful your message is or not does not matter. If you are teaching the word, your judgement will be stricter than that of others. This is why you must first be doing the word before you start teaching it.
You have no right to rebuke someone for their disobedience to God's word when you yourself are disobedient to it (2 Corinthians 10:6).
The reason many children are disobedient to parents is that they see that their parents don't practice what they preach. I have always said it: the major reason you see many Pastor's children becoming wayward is that what the Pastor preaches on the altar is different from what he does at home. When you have removed the log in your eye, then you can try to remove the speck in the eye of someone else (Matthew 7:3). Practice what you preach. Do it first, then you can teach it to whoever you want to teach it to. In our Bible reading today, Jesus Christ says there would be great sorrow for those who do not practice what they preach.
KEY POINT
Practice what you preach.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Psalm 87-88
Hymn 14: NEARER MY GOD TO THEE
1. Nearer, my God, to thee,
Nearer to thee!
E’en though it be a cross
That raiseth me.
Still all my song shall be
Nearer, my God, to thee,
Nearer, my God, to thee,
Nearer to thee!
2. Though like the wanderer,
The sun gone down,
Darkness be over me,
My rest a stone,
Yet in my dreams I’d be
Nearer, my God, to thee,
Nearer, my God, to thee,
Nearer to thee!
3. There let the way appear,
Steps unto heav’n;
All that thou sendest me,
In mercy giv’n;
Angels to beckon me
Nearer, my God, to thee,
Nearer, my God, to thee,
Nearer to thee!
4. Then with my waking thoughts
Bright with thy praise,
Out of my stony griefs
Bethel I’ll raise;
So by my woes to be
Nearer, my God, to thee,
Nearer, my God, to thee,
Nearer to thee!
5. Or if, on joyful wing
Cleaving the sky,
Sun, moon, and stars forgot,
Upward I fly,
Still all my song shall be
Nearer, my God, to thee,
Nearer, my God, to thee,
Nearer to thee
