I Don’t Know Enough to Teach Others.
So you think you really don’t know much about the Bible? When we sit at the feet of those who have spent a lifetime studying the Bible, it is easy for us to conclude that we know very little. However, have you ever considered how much more you know than those who lived with Jesus and heard Him reveal such profound truth? Look at the following examples showing how little those in the first century understood what He said.
Do you understand what He meant when at age 12 He said, “Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business” (Luke 2:49)? Surely you do. Yet, the Bible said that His own parents “. . . did not understand the statement which He spoke to them.” His own mother and father, who had talked to angels, did not understand these words! Do not sell yourself short!
How many of the parables do you understand? Do you understand the parable of the sower? When Jesus first taught this parable, His disciples had to come to Him for help in understanding it. Jesus said that if they could not grasp the meaning of this parable, they would not be able to understand any of them (Mark 4:13). He spoke other parables to them, which He privately explained to them (Mark 4:34). He taught at least 30 parables which you know and understand. Those who first heard His parables did not. Do not sell yourself short!
What else did they not understand? They did not understand how He could be the good shepherd (John 10:1-6) or when and why He washed their feet (John 13:1-7). They did not understand when He told of His betrayal (Luke 9:44-45), His death (Mark 9:32), His being turned over to the Gentiles who would mock, insult, spit upon and scourge Him (Luke 18:32-34) or His resurrection on the third day (Mark 9:31-32). Do not sell yourself short!
Think of what this means to us! Prior to His coming, not one individual knew what you know. No eye had seen it, nor ear had heard, nor had any mortal heart imagined what God planned to bring about through Jesus (1 Cor. 2:9). When He walked on this earth, those closest to Him failed to grasp it! Yet, you and I are so blessed to know that which angels longed to understand (1 Pet. 1:12). We understand the church, worship, salvation, the Lord’s Supper, the end of time, the place He has gone to prepare for us and the events when He returns. How blessed we are! Do not sell yourself short!
The heart of the matter is the grave responsibility we have to tell others. We know more, so He will expect more of us. Do not sell yourself short. Use what He has given you!