Week 6 - Sunday

Practice What You Preach

you, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that one should not steal, do you steal? You who say that one should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? (Romans 2:21-22)

Many of the Jewish religious leaders (the scribes and Pharisees) did not themselves obey, what they taught to others. As a result, the things they would teach the Jewish people, were undermined by their own disobedience. Jesus was particularly harsh in His criticism of them for this and He cautioned the people to obey what the Pharisees taught, but not to do what they did. Paul gives three examples of ways that the the scribes and Pharisees were guilty of not practicing what they preached. The Jewish religious leaders would surely have known and memorized the Ten Commandments. Even though they knew them well, they were still guilty of flagrantly breaking them. One of the Ten Commandments is, 'Thou shall not steal' (Exod. 20:15). Many of the Jewish people had to travel long distances to Jerusalem to attend the annual feasts and festivals that were held there. At the temple in Jerusalem, tables were set up where they could exchange money and buy animals for sacrifices. The Jewish religious leaders made a good sum of money from these concessions and would steal from the people by grossly overcharging them. Jesus drove them out of the temple and chastised them for turning God's house into a 'den of robbers' (Matt. 21:12-13). He also criticized them for cheating widows out of their houses (Luke 20:47). Another one of the Ten commandments the Pharisees commonly broke was, 'Thou shall not commit adultery'. When they found another woman they were more attracted to, they would legalize their adultery by divorcing their wives and remarrying . Jesus reprimanded them for this and told them this was still adultery (Matt. 19:9). A third thing Paul said the Jews did was rob temples. God's word clearly said that they were not to keep for themselves any idols made of gold and silver. They were commanded to destroy them by fire (Deut. 7:25-26). Even though the Jewish leaders claimed to hate the idols of false religions, apparently they were keeping them for their monetary value instead of destroying them as God had commanded them to do.

When those who teach others, do not obey what they teach, God says they have no right to teach at all. Those who teach others are especially accountable for obeying God's Law. If a person knows something well enough to teach it to someone else, it's pretty obvious they know it well enough to obey it themselves. When they don't practice what they preach, those they are teaching will often follow what they do instead of what they say. God holds teachers accountable not only for their own disobedience but also for the disobedience of those who are lead astray by their bad example.

Readings for today: Matt. 23:1-3, 23:13; Luke 20:45-47; Psalm 50:16; James 3:1