- 2 Timothy 4:2-4 Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.
It is ‘Teacher’s Day‘ this week, so I will speak to you about the true teacher of the whole world. A teacher is ‘someone who teaches you.’ Among teachers, there are ‘teachers of your own nation,’ and there are ‘teachers of the world.’ People often say that ‘Jesus, Buddha, Socrates, and Confucius’ are world-wide teachers. (Jesus) As the Messiah, Jesus taught ‘the way to lead the body, soul and spirit to salvation,’ and taught about ‘God.’
He also taught about what ‘sin and righteousness’ were, taught about how you should live your life, and taught about ‘the love of God’ and ‘the eternal Heaven.’ Those who listened to his teachings and followed [him] believed in Jesus as the Messiah, and came to live having received salvation for their bodies and spirits. Jesus’ greatest teachings were: teachings about the almighty God, teachings about why you should live your life, teachings about loving God with all your heart, will, and life, and loving others.
- (Buddha) Buddha was the leader of Buddhism: he taught about ‘the meaninglessness of life,’ and he also taught that if you live virtuously, you will go to ‘paradise.’ If you read the Buddhist texts, you can find that Buddha did not teach about ‘God.’ Buddha taught about the meaninglessness of life and how to live virtuously in many ways. Buddha’s teaching wasn’t about the path of salvation for the body and the spirit, but it was about living a virtuous life. Since he did not know about the omnipotent and omniscient God, he couldn’t teach about God. Therefore, he couldn’t teach about the eternal Heaven, and he couldn’t teach about fundamental goodness and righteousness. Fundamental goodness is ‘to realize about God and to live according to His will.’ This is ‘the greatest virtue.’ However, in Buddhism, the greatest virtue is seen as following Buddha’s teachings, and doing good deeds. Jesus told people to worship God. He said that any person or any soul-and-spirit should worship God. When he says to ‘worship God,’ he means to live a life of obedience before God every day, and to surrender your life to God’s words.
- (Socrates) Socrates discussed and taught about ‘life.’ He said, “Know yourself. Knowing about ignorance is the beginning of knowledge.”He discussed about life through academia and taught people. Once again, his words were not about the eternal salvation. He couldn’t teach about the eternal God either. Therefore, you cannot consider him as the teacher for all mankind.
- (Confucius) Confucius taught about ‘honoring your parents, being benevolent, and being well-mannered and virtuous.’ Confucius taught a lot about [fulfilling] human responsibilities and virtues. He said, “While you are not able to serve living people, how can you serve the spirits of dead ones? Without being acquainted with the rules of propriety, it is impossible for the character to be established.”But he, also, was unable to teach about the omnipotent and omniscient God, about eternal salvation, about fundamental goodness and righteousness or about success, nor could he teach how to resolve the issue of sin.
Even though they revered Buddha, Confucius, and Socrates—the so-called worldwide teachers —as teachers and accepted that teaching and way of life, they failed to resolve both the fundamental issue of life and the eternal issue. In this world, there are too many teachers who teach incorrectly about life and those whose teachings are self-centered.
Even if they teach well, their teachings pertain strictly to human beings, their teachings belong to knowledge and yield nothing special even after you learn them, and they are general teachings that everyone figures out as they mature. No one can live properly, or in an awesome, beautiful, and mysterious way with those teachings.
Great world-wide teachers need to: teach about ‘the Holy Trinity.’ teach about ‘eternal salvation.’ teach about ‘how to solve the problems of sin.’ teach about ‘the world of the body and the spirit.’ Only then are they truly world-wide teachers.
True world-wide teachers should interpret the Bible and carry out those words, should teach about ‘the purpose for which God created the heavens, the earth and mankind, should carry out that purpose, and thus fulfill the purpose of creation and His will. By doing so, they should fulfill God’s greatest desire and His promise in the Bible, and through that, they should fulfill people’s hopes too. [Only] the one who fulfils that will can be considered the true teacher of the whole world. The most important thing is this: true teachers should make lives into ‘people who are loved by God.’ In other words, [they] should make people into ‘the Trinity’s counterparts of love’ who love and live with the Trinity!
As you wait while preparing, do not miss the opportunity.
Matthew 24:44 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him. To whom does the opportunity come? Opportunities come to those who sincerely want what they had hoped and wished for in the past to be fulfilled. Opportunities do not come to just anyone. Opportunities come because they set ‘the condition’ before Heaven.
Even if they are the owners of the opportunity, if they misjudge the situation at that time, they might lose that opportunity. It’s always the case that opportunities do not just come, but that other things also come together. In other words, let’s say a good opportunity has come before you, but at the same time, there are other things to do.
So, while doing those other things, you lose the opportunity because you failed to center on it. Opportunities come like ‘a coincidence.’ Therefore, you need to empty your own thoughts, and take action while entrusting them to God.
You have to take action until the end to see what is an opportunity. You have to take action until the end to know that ‘you have grabbed an opportunity, that you have taken action at the time of the opportunity.’ For some opportunities, they come every day; for some, they come once in a few weeks, or once in a few months; for some, they come once a year, once in two years, or once in ten years. Opportunity is ‘the work that God is carrying out.’
You are doing your portion of the work from the work that God is carrying out. Many people want the opportunity, and they also enjoy it because it has come to them. But there are also times when they lose this opportunity. Therefore, you need to take action as much as you can at each time. Don’t try to take action only with a lot of time, but know that you gain ‘the opportunity’ even with a little time; therefore, you need to take action wisely at each time. No matter what you do, all of you should be prepared wherever you go and get it done when the opportunity comes. Only then will God take action through your body at each time.
Once you miss the time and opportunity, the next time and opportunity will come after a year or three years. Opportunities come every day, so I hope that you will not miss the opportunity but rule over it as the owner! God’s time, that is, the opportunity that God gives, comes like a thief. Therefore, not just anyone can receive that time. We can only prepare. Only those who have prepared can receive the ‘opportunity that comes like a thief.’ Therefore, you have to always prepare and be ready, and receive the appropriate time.
Main Scripture, Matthew 24:44, says, So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him. At Jesus’ time, the Samaritan woman also met Jesus by the well at a time she did not expect. But she grabbed the opportunity and fulfilled her wish because she had always prepared and petitioned. The same is true in this time period.
You should always be preparing, and not miss the opportunity. You should [wait] while preparing, and take action as fast as light when the opportunity comes!
And as you take action, you should ask to be able to take action with the Holy Spirit and the Lord. The opportunity passes in an instant. However, if you grab that swiftly passing opportunity, it will not pass at that instant but ‘over a period of time.’If you seize the opportunity, you can do the ‘things you should do’ within that opportune time. I hope that you will realize about God who takes action like a thief, and always take action in a prepared state.
Only when you are prepared will you grab the ‘opportunity’ through that preparation, when something that you have been hoping for comes. Therefore, I hope that you will prepare your heart, thoughts, body, and deeds in appropriate ways, according to what you want. You have to make sure to prepare the things that pertain to the thing you want and take action to the end. Those who take action like this are ‘blessed.’ I bless you to be full of the love and grace of God, the Holy Spirit, and the Lord.