Live what you teach.

Hey everyone. It’s independence day here in the United States. So despite everyone talking about freedom, today we will talk about what we shouldn’t do as preachers and leaders.

“Now if you call yourself a Jew, and rest in the law, boast in God, know His will, and approve the things that are superior, being instructed from the law, and if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light to those in darkness, an instructor of the ignorant, a teacher of the immature, having the full expression of knowledge and truth in the law— you then, who teach another, don’t you teach yourself? You who preach, “You must not steal”—do you steal? You who say, “You must not commit adultery”—do you commit adultery? You who detest idols, do you rob their temples? You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? For, as it is written: The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”

Romans 2:17-24

Hcsb Bible

To understand this passage, you have to know the context of the church that Paul is writing to. During this early time of the church, there was a major distinction in the church between Jews and Gentiles. A lot of Jews knew the word of God a lot more than the new gentiles most likely and thought of themselves as better than the gentiles. The first part of this chapter were about Gentiles or unbelievers.

The second half pertains to the Jews or the teachers. So as Jews they were relying on their past actions in religiosity to seem as righteous. The same way some preachers and Christians that have went to church for most of their life.

What ends up when that happens is that the leader gets relaxed and doesn’t keep his life up to standard that they preach. When that happens, people will hate god and curse him because of the actions of leaders in the church or long-standing members of the church. We see this in this passage and also in life. In my interactions with the atheist and unbelievers that I know, one of the most prevalent reasons why they don’t go to church is because of the hypocrisy of the leaders in the church.

I know I am a youth pastor and so I am pointing the finger back at myself. Even though we have freedom in the United States and freedom to do whatever we want under the grace of God, doesn’t mean we should do whatever we want. Our actions have consequences physically and spiritually.

So as leaders in the church, we need to keep ourselves in line and need to hold ourselves to a higher standard. Just like how everyone is accountable for what we know and do when we die, we as leaders are held more accountable for what we do. Especially when you decide to teach heresy or be a hypocrite.

So at the end of the day, understand your freedom, but do what we should. Live out what you teach.