May 27, 2018 Deny Yourself

It is Not Life That Matters, But Rather Eternal Life

God is the source of life. The world misunderstands life. People consider a breath itself to be life, that is why they want to keep breathing as long as possible. But there is a difference between life and breath. The Greek word for breath is “ψυχή” which literally means to breathe. It implies that when you stop breathing you cease to exist. But eternal life is different from breath.

The first man, Adam, didn’t have a spirit until God breathed into him the breath of life enabling him to receive God’s eternal life. When the Bible says he became a living being, it means he became a spiritual being which enabled him to receive God’s life. God gives His words to spiritual beings so that they can receive God’s life.

Having the life that God gives doesn’t mean breathing. At most a man can expect to breathe no more than 120 years on the earth, but the life that God gives is eternal. Therefore, we must seek the life that God gives rather than merely extending how many years we breathe on the earth. We have seen how unbelievers’ souls are cursed in life. When we cast out demons according to the words of Jesus, we can see how the demons reveal their true identity. Even though there are people who deny that demons are the spirits of dead unbelievers, we clearly know that those who don’t have the life that God gives are cursed forever and can never be saved.

On the other hand, those who trust in the blood of Jesus to cleanse their sin can have God’s life. Jesus said, “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”(Matthew 20:28) Jesus came to the world to give His blood so that we can have the life that God gives. Why is God so willing to give His life to man? Because only those who have God’s life will experience the resurrection with a new eternal body.

God sent the Holy spirit to give us faith and to seal us.  Ephesians 1:13 says, “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit.” The fact that we have received the Holy Spirit is the guarantee that God’s life is in us. 2 Corinthians 1:22 says, ”He has also sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.”

Following Jesus

When Jesus explained that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things and be killed and raised again, Peter rebuke him saying, “This shall never happen to you, Lord.” Peter didn’t listen to what Jesus was saying, or if he did, he didn’t think that Jesus would be raised. Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan!”(Matthew 16:21-23) If we are not mindful of the things of God, even believers can find themselves unwittingly opposing God.

Then Jesus said to His disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me(Matthew16:24). What does it mean to deny oneself? People have certain obligations in life such as the duty of a parent to nurture a child, the duty of children to care for elderly parents, and the duty of a husband to care for his wife. As a follower of Jesus, our first obligation and our highest priority should be to serve God first. All other responsibilities are subordinate to that(Matthew 10:37-38).

The purpose of having faith in God is not to enjoy a comfortable life on the earth. The Law pertains to the flesh so you can be rewarded for keeping the Law of Moses while you are on the earth. But Jesus did not come to the earth so that we would be comfortable in this life, but rather to give life to our souls. Jesus did not come to the world to provide wine at a wedding (John 2:4), to give bread to the hungry (John 6:26), or to help fisherman catch large numbers of fish (Luke 5:4). He came to give us life by shedding His blood on the cross.

We have been freed from our sin by the blood of Jesus Christ and we have received eternal life. This knowledge is the foundation of our faith. Some people boast that they have been blessed because they were able to buy a nice house. But unfortunately, they are unable to enjoy the nice house for long. It is meaningless to boast about anything which is not eternal. We should really be boasting about the blood of Jesus Christ(Galatians 6:14).

What is the meaning of the sacrament of Holy Communion? 1 Corinthians 11:26-27 says, “For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes. Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.” The Holy Communion is meaningless for those who don’t remember the suffering of Jesus Christ, and don’t proclaim what Jesus Christ has done for us all. Rather, they eat and drink judgment on themselves.

A Life That Denies Oneself

Faith is denying oneself. Those who have been baptized have already buried themselves. Colossians 2:12 says, “(You have been) buried with Him in baptism and raised with Him through your faith in the power of God, who raised Him from the dead.” By burying ourselves with Him, we have buried the old sinful man, his name, and his pride. Galatians 5:24 says, “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.” Every man has passions and desires. As children of God we must follow Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit since we have buried the sinful nature through baptism.

Jesus prayed to the Father asking that the cup of His suffering be taken from Him (Matthew 26:39), but in the end He denied Himself saying, “Nevertheless, not My will but Yours be done.” (Luke:22:42) Even the son of God denied His will to fulfill the will of God the Father. What then are we supposed to do if even He submits to the Father’s will? In order for Jesus’ disciples to follow Him, it was necessary for them to deny themselves. James and John were preparing their nets when Jesus called them and they left their father with the hired men and followed Jesus without delay(Mark1:19). They completely denied themselves.

Following Jesus can damage your reputation. Jesus Himself experienced this first. The Name “Jesus” means that He will save His people from their sins(Matthew 1:21). Even though Jesus was the son of God, He had to suffer and die to save sinners. The Name of Jesus is inseparable from pain and suffering and the curse of the cross. Indeed, ever since God revealed Himself through the person of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the world has cursed the name of Jesus to this day.

Let Us Love God

The life of the Christian denying himself is ultimately manifested on the Lord’s Day. Christians keep their feet from breaking the Lord’s Day and from doing as they please. Instead we must give priority to the work of the kingdom of God. In English the gathering of the saints on the Lord’s Day is called “Service.” Service means just that – service. Do you serve the Church on the Lord’s Day? Moses considered the Sabbath the most important day, more important than anything else. So much so that he commanded that those who broke the Sabbath be stoned. How can those who, when they attend a worship service on the Lord’s Day, cannot wait to leave the worship so that they can go do their own thing, how can they truly please God who is exalted above all things?

God wants us to love Him with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind and with all our strength(Mark12:30). God has already loved us the way He commanded us to love Him. It is now time for us to please God with this kind of love. In order to love God like that, you must deny yourself. How do you deny yourself? By letting God rule and reign in your life as Lord of all.

When Jesus’ disciples asked Him to increase their faith, He said, “Which of you, having a servant plowing or tending sheep, will say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come at once and sit down to eat’? But will he not rather say, ‘Prepare something for my supper, get yourself ready and serve me while I eat and drink; and afterward you may eat and drink’? Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded of him? So you also, when you have done everything which you are commanded, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.” (Luke 17:7-10)

As you can see through this illustration, it is uncharacteristic of a servant to demand compensation for doing what is expected of him. This is the attitude that we as Christians are supposed to have toward Jesus Christ. If your faith is God-centered, you will not demand any compensation for anything you have done for God. Instead you should love God more and more, and you should place God as the highest priority in your life. Let us deny ourselves completely and serve God and the Church at the very least on the Lord’s Day. As God’s servants we can give Him one whole day a week. Then, God will surely raise you up.

When someone asks me how I feel, after more than half a century of pastoral work, I cannot reply with one or two words. I can only say, ‘my heart is in pain’. God called me to be a pastor by his grace. I became an evangelist and planted a church. The church grew, and I started my pastoral ministry. After that, I set up a theological seminary, and I also trained disciples. I even did foreign missions. But what I can only say with a few words is that my heart has only pain and hurt.

I have received so much grace from the Lord, and I will never forget it. Until the day that I die, I will still endeavor to obey. I also have much to thank humans for. After conducting pastoral work in the church, there have been many whose hearts have been cleansed by the Lord’s holy blood and who have received peace by the Holy Spirit. But even amongst these, there have been so many cases of ungratefulness. There have been so many cases when they could not keep the meagre standards of unbelievers. I saw this, and only tears can come out of my heart.

What is pastoral ministry, you ask? Pastoral ministry is to have pain in your heart. It may simply be the case that I am rejected because I lack in some capability. But in most cases, it is because people’s hearts are so cold. I have now entered the senior years of my life as a pastor, but there are just so many things that hurt my heart. The truth is that I am truly worthless. But my soul is joyful that I could do the work that was willed by the God who is heaven. Therefore, in terms of my spirit, I am blessed and happy, but in terms of my human person, I am so sorrowful. To have hurt in your heart – to really have heart in your heart – is truly what pastoral ministry means.

Without showing any signs of idle emotion, I have used all my strength for my pastoral work. Until my flesh goes back down to the dirt, I will continue to walk on this road. But my heart has much hurt and it is hard to endure. What is it that hurts my heart? I cannot even say. I am afraid to confide these things with humans, and I am especially afraid to open my heart to love them. It would have been better if I had no love at all. Then, my heart would endure less pain. It is because I have loved too much that my heart is in much pain. It seems that my heart will continue to have this hurt, and then I will leave this earth. And when I am finished my work on this earth, I will leave it behind, and await the Resurrection. I will go to Paradise, where I can rest peacefully.

As I pray, tears come to my eyes – I cry – and I cry because my heart is in pain. Like the root of the tree, it is located deep within the ground. It endures all the four seasons of the weather, but no matter how much the four seasons constantly change in the outside world, the things that give pain to my heart come nevertheless. To meet and visit people is the work of a pastor. It gives me fear to meet with people, it gives me fear to pick up the phone, and it is burdensome in my soul to receive urgent and heavy requests from saints. I have lived my whole life in this way, and it seems that I will go this way to the end.

When our Lord had stayed momentarily on this earth, just how much pain must He have had in His heart? He had loved his disciples. And they had praised Him with their lips. But how much hurt must He have had in this heart when He clearly knew their hypocrisy? The Lord had said ‘I am grieved to the point of death” …Is it truly not a foolish thing to find happiness in this world? The Lord Jesus had already experienced the world , and for the sake of that world He gave His love and grace to the people of the past. In the same way, He also gives us this grace and love in equal measure.

Coming Soon

Outline translated by John Kim and Daniel Hong
Letter translated by John Kim
Interpretations by Daniel Hong
Korean Summary by Ki-Taek Lee