Title: Teaching Yourself/Romans 2:21
Content Teaching yourself/Romans 2:21
Around the beginning of the vacation, there was an advertisement from a famous English language school that was recruiting students. However, too many students applied, so we took a simple test and selected according to the number of students. However, a student who failed the test came to the head teacher and said, 'I was preparing for a year ago to enter this academy, but I failed.' Then he made an assessment that if he only admitted to the school, he would study hard. So, the head teacher had no choice but to admit this student. However, after about a month, this student does not study in class and makes jokes or pranks, ruining the class atmosphere. And to lure other hard-working students to skip class and go to the movies or go to entertainment. At the end of the month, the head teacher regretted choosing this student and kicked this student out of the academy.
This is also the case in the kingdom of God. God chose the Israelites, the slaves of Egypt, and made them His people. The people of Israel were chosen not because there was something good or outstanding among them. Rather, they were inferior to other peoples and lacked many things. The people of Israel should have been humble, remembering that they did not deserve to be chosen at all. However, the Israelites did not live according to the law, considering the God-given law and circumcision as a privilege and pride. So the people of Israel are expelled from the kingdom of God.
The important thing we must not forget while living our faith is that 'I am not worthy of being saved'. To know that there is no difference between me and the children in the bullying circles at school or those who are marked as day-to-day (?) or problem children. In my heart, I wanted to do something worse and more lewd than that of those children, but I didn't have the opportunity and I just couldn't act, but I admit that I am the same sinner. It is by the grace of God that I stopped at a certain limit rather than just being in my heart.
It was a responsibility, not a privilege, that God gave to the people of Israel. The people of Israel were obliged to live by teaching them the law they had received from God. But they themselves stole, committed adultery, and worshiped idols, teaching the Gentiles 'Do not commit adultery, do not commit adultery, or worship idols.' Just because you know the law doesn't mean you live by it. When we break traffic laws, it's like we know more but don't obey the laws than we do because we don't know them. If you teach it to another person, you know the law so well that you can almost memorize it. However, even if you know it well enough to teach others, it is not something you can keep by what you know. Politicians know the law. You can also lecture on law. However, we often see many politicians being arrested for taking bribes and breaking the law. In this way, just knowing what we know is nothing.
Just because we listen to sermons and know the Bible well does not mean we automatically live according to the Word. Even knowingly, you can sin. So when we hear the word, we must teach it to ourselves. In Romans 2:21, we read, "Then you who teach others do not teach yourself? Do you not steal, you who proclaim not to steal?" It is not enough just to know, and even if you teach it to others, it is not safe. So you have to teach yourself. Many church-going youth do worse things than their unbelieving friends. He is deeply immersed in entertainment and comics, drinking and smoking, lewd videos, inappropriate fonts, and chatting late into the night. Why do believing youth live the same life as the youth of the world? Because they do not teach themselves what they know. You can automatically live as a Christian if you just go to worship.
because you think We have a natural desire to be at our own pace and not to be restricted by anything else. We are people who have no intention of living according to God's will. So when we hear the word, we must teach it to ourselves, even by force. You should not give in and give in to applying the Word to yourself and teaching. If you give it a little more time, you will avoid the Word by giving excuses like this and that. We must thoroughly teach ourselves through the Word, whether we are studying for an exam or not. Just as a boxer puts his opponent into a corner and hits him mercilessly, we have to put ourselves in a corner and hit mercilessly with what we know.
The reason we should consider worshiping and listening to the Word as our responsibility is that when we stand before God's judgment seat, those who attend church are not judged the same as those who do not attend church. When God judges, unbelievers are judged according to their conscience, but believers are judged by the word he has heard and understood. Therefore, those who hear the Word even once will be judged much more severely.
Dear youth, it is not for our own benefit that God has called and saved us by faith. If He saved us for our own sake, we are free to live as we please. The reason God saved us, who had no choice but to perish through our sins, was for God Himself. So we must teach ourselves the Word of God, so that the beauty and glory of God may be revealed in the places we live. God's name is glorified through our words and actions. Please remember that God is judged by the world according to our little words and actions.
Pastor Namhee Won