Passage

[2 Corinthians 11: 27-30]
"I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. [28] Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches. [29] Who is weak without my being weak? Who is led into sin without my intense concern? [30] If I have to boast, I will boast of what pertains to my weakness."

Introduction

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

This is the 2009 Sunday School Teachers' Devotional service. Let us give all thanks and glory to God the Father who has blessed us to have this devotional service. I also give thanks to all the devotees who have prepared for this service with all your hearts, minds, and souls.
Dear devotees, today's passage is in words of the apostle Paul.
Verse 27 says, "I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure."
He was jailed, beaten up, and almost killed many times.
1 Corinthians 4:11-13 says, "To this present hour we are both hungry and thirsty, and are poorly clothed, and are roughly treated, and are homeless; [12] and we toil, working with our own hands; when we are reviled, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure; [13] when we are slandered, we try to conciliate; we have become as the scum of the world, the dregs of all things, even until now."
Though the apostle Paul underwent so many hardships, he never wanted anybody to recognize or acknowledge him for his sufferings. He just said he did what he had to do as an unworthy servant, and everything was by the grace of God.
Now, what is the reason I am speaking to you about the apostle Paul for this devotional service?
It is for you to check whether or not you know correctly what you should do as Sunday school teachers.
It is also for you check how completely you are doing the things that Sunday school teachers are supposed to be doing.
You have become Sunday school teachers in thanksgiving for the grace and love of God the Father.
Therefore, I hope you will correctly understand what you have to do as Sunday school teachers and practice it to completely fulfill your duties.
[Main] Dear Sunday school teachers and other members, now, what are the things that Sunday school teachers have to do?
First, it is to give back for God's grace.
The way for you devotees repay the grace of God is to fulfill your duty in accordance with the will and heart of God.
You are little shepherds who lead the flocks entrusted to you into the kingdom of heaven.
Our Good Shepherd Jesus led the souls into the truth and life in perfect accordance with the heart of God the Father.
As in John chapter 10, Jesus is the Good Shepherd. He knew the conditions of His flock very well.
He also loved His flock even to the point of sacrificing His life for them. In this same way, for you to fulfill your duties as Sunday school teachers in accordance with God's heart, you have to resemble this Jesus in taking care of the souls.
Thus, you first have to try to make your heart the goodness and truth itself, as Jesus is the goodness and truth itself.
Only then will you have more authority over your words, when you teach your students to become good people and to live by the word of God.
But when you feed your flock with the word of God, you have to feed them according to the conditions of your flock.
In order to do that, you have to properly know about your flock.
You must know if they are spiritually healthy or ill and whether they are spiritually well-fed or suffering from malnutrition. Before you feed them with the word of God, you have to know the condition of your flock very well.
For example, you should not pressure those who are sick and have no strength to follow along quickly.
Our Lord wouldn't do that. He would first see why that flock has no strength and determine the problem areas. Then He would cure the parts that are not well and give them strength.
Sunday school teachers should do the same.
To know the spiritual condition of the souls is to know their measures of faith.
You should know specifically the measure of faith that each one has; whether or not he has faith and how much he knows about God and Jesus Christ; and whether he has experienced the Holy Spirit. You can then guide him accordingly.
To those who don't have faith, you should first plant faith in them. You should teach them correctly about God and Jesus Christ.
You should help them to be born again by the Holy Spirit and to gain the assurance of salvation.
You should not just teach singing and dancing in praises to those students who don't have either faith or life.
You should not just tell them the stories of the Bible as 'some interesting stories'.
In their heart you should plant faith in God through those stories and help them gain life through them.
You should help them to continually have the fullness of the Spirit so their faith can grow.
For those who don't have either faith or life, if you press them to live by the word of God, how hard it will be for them!
You should teach them in a way that they can understand why they have to live by the word of God. You must teach what sin is and the consequences of committing those sins.
But it doesn't mean you should point out their sins all the time, or judge or condemn any of them.
You can advise them with love, and supply them with spiritual strength so they can turn from sins by their own will.
You should teach them how to pray and also pray with them so they can receive power in prayer.
This way, the students themselves will receive grace and power from above to overcome this world and march towards the kingdom of heaven.
As you know very well about your souls entrusted to you and guide them accordingly in the truth, you will surely receive love from those souls.
As you know their hearts, they will also know your heart and you will become one. As your hearts are united this way, you don't have to press them or force to do anything. They will just follow you.
You won't have to visit them every Sunday to bring them to church.
But this should not be confused with treating them nicely in a fleshly way. The students may follow their teacher because the teacher is just nice to them.
But, such students can change their minds easily according to the situation.
For example, if their unbelieving parents ask them to go to some place else on Sunday, they may just follow their parents.
If they have true faith and life, they will not only hear the voice of their parents, but the voice of spiritual shepherds as well.
Even though they might be young, they can overcome such difficulties and choose the way of life.
On the other hand, if teachers just love them in a fleshly way and they do not plant faith in them, then they will just choose the way that seems beneficial to them.
Therefore, the most important thing is to plant faith and life in them.
Also, you Sunday school teachers should not give up on any soul but care for them until the end.
Jesus is the Good Shepherd, and He even sacrificed His life for His flock. This is the heart of God.
And since you have become Sunday school teachers to repay the grace of God, you should also be able to sacrifice everything for the souls.
When they go in the direction of the world, you should be able to keep them with the heart of the Lord, even with your life.
You have to pray and fast with the heart of our Lord the Good Shepherd for those souls who are in tests, difficulties, and hardships, and who have sicknesses and spiritual hardships.
You have to take care of them and keep them with love until the end.
Suppose your student is suffering from something, and you don't really care about it. Then, what would God think of you?
If his sheep cannot sleep because of pain, the shepherd cannot sleep either.
If a sheep is sick, the shepherd also feels pain.
This kind of attitude of shepherd is the heart of God.
You should care for the souls and guide them to the truth and life with this kind of heart.
Whether by fasting or prayer, you should cling to God to solve that sheep's problem quickly.
This is the first thing that you as Sunday school teachers should do: you must fulfill your duties in accordance with the heart of God and pay back His grace.
Dear Sunday school teachers, the second thing that you should do is to spread the love of God.
Please think about the ways that you can deliver the love of the Father God and the Lord Jesus to your students and people around you.
Romans 5:8 says, "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
It is in this way that you all have received the love of the Father God. You've received the amazing grace of the Lord!
However, is there any one among you who has forgotten that love and grace and thinks God doesn't love you any more?
God the Father shows His love in many different ways in your lives.
How much do you feel that love and how thankful are you for it?
You can feel the love of God in your everyday life if you are full of His grace.
You can feel the love of God not just when you receive blessings and answers to your prayers.
For example, they lyrics of the praise song 'Thoughts about the Lord' says the following:
"I look up to the sky everyday. Flowers by day and stars by night tell me of warm love of the Lord. The breezes deliver the Lord's love to me. I feel the trace of the Lord in a blade of grass and a rock. I remember the prayer of the Lord while seeing the dawn's stars. His prayer for souls rings my heart. I remember the ministry of the Lord seeing the waves. He fulfilled the will of Father with faith and obedience."
We can feel the love of God as we look into the sky, feel the breeze, see stars and hear waves.
Not only that, but it is also God's love when the dragonflies land on your fingers.
It is love of God when He shows various kinds of rainbows.
It is love of God when you receive fullness of Spirit in worship service, praises, or prayers.
It is love of God when you get an answer to a spiritual question; or strength and courage when you were discouraged.
God the Father is always showing you His abundant love. You should be able to feel this great love of God always anew and spead it to others.
When you deliver the love of God, the hearer will also feel His love and you will be even more inspired by the Spirit.
Therefore, you should not become lazy in spreading the love of God. You should not stop delivering it to students and others around you.
The land that has been frozen during the winter will melt slowly with warm sunshine. Likewise, anyone who feels God's love will open his heart.
God's love is the true, truthful love, which cannot be found in this world.
Those who feel how God the Creator loves them will have life and change in them.
They will live by the word of God with willing eagerness. They won't do it feeling forced.
By their own wills they will try to live by God's word with their thanks for God's love.
Therefore, you Sunday school teachers should be full of God's love first.
I hope you will deliver this fullness of God's love to students and other people around you.
2 Corinthians 5:14 first part says, "For the love of Christ controls us."
The apostle Paul was so full of the love of the Lord that he never stopped preaching the gospel even in great hardships and persecutions.
I hope you Sunday school teachers will be filled with this kind of love and passion.
Dear Sunday school teachers, the third thing you should do is to practice the word of God.
Of course, I believe you are already practicing the word of God since you volunteered to become Sunday school teachers. You attend all worship services, pray without ceasing and do your duties.
But if you evaluate yourself more highly than you should just because of those things, then it will be difficult for you to grow up in spirit.
Paul said in 1 Corinthians 9:27, "...but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified."
Also, he said in Philippians 3:12, "Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus."
The apostle Paul performed with God's power, but he never thought he had accomplished anything. He just kept on marching towards perfection.
You Sunday school teachers should also march on until you have perfect and beautiful hearts that God desires for you to have.
In worship services, you should listen to the message with more longing to keep every word in your heart.
You should not just routinely pray by habit, but offer up more perfect aroma in prayer every day.

You should keep in mind what kind of prayer is acceptable to God and pray accordingly.
You should also completely keep all the commands in the Bible that tell us to do and keep something.
The more you keep the Word of God, the more spiritual authority and power you will have. It's because the Word of God cultivated in your heart will come out through your lips.
Therefore, that word on your lips will be the truth itself. These people have spiritual authority.
Suppose the students follow your words only after you tell them to do something as many as ten times. It's because you have not cultivated the word in your heart yet. But if you cultivate the word in you, they will listen when you tell them something just three times or even once.
You won't have to say, "They won't ever listen to me."
When you practice the Word the Holy Spirit will also work with you as you teach. He will drive away darkness from your students and surround them with light.
He will help your words to be planted in the listeners' heart.
This way, you will be able to guide more souls to sanctification. You will have more rewards in heaven, and you will be a nobler person before God.
But if you teach diligently but do not really practice the Word, it's difficult for the Holy Spirit to help you.
You will bear relatively less fruit than your efforts. It will be the same for your heavenly rewards and honor.
So, Matthew 5:19 says, "Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven."
I hope you will first practice the truth and teach it so you can be called the great in the kingdom of heaven.
[conclusion] Let me conclude the message. Dear Sunday school teachers and other members, in this sermon, I talked about the three things that Sunday school teachers should do.
First, it is to pay back the grace of God. Second, it is to deliver the love of God. Third and last, it is to practice the Word of God.
If you will just keep these three things and try to fulfill them, you will be full of God the Father's grace.
The love of Father God will continually permeate your lives.
You will bear more fruit in the Lord and you will be loved by more people.
Finally, you will become an example of a Sunday school teacher whom God acknowledges.
Being a Sunday school teacher is such a precious duty.
Therefore, I hope you have both physical and spiritual qualifications to be a good teacher.
Especially, as you interact with students, you should not think that just because you are the teacher they have to learn from you.
You should have the kind of attitude to learn from the students, share God's love with them, and feel the heart of the Father God through the students.
I urge you to treat your students with the heart of the Lord, just as the Lord is guiding you to the heavenly kingdom with so much patience and endurance with His love for you.
I ask you to consider each soul very precious and lead them to truth and life.
In doing so, I pray in the name of the Lord that you will be commended by God the Father and also enjoy a happy life in Heaven with your students.

[Amen]

2009-06-09 Posted
2009-06-15 Updated