May 12, 2019 The Lesson of the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9)

Sermon Outline

God
is One.
He
scattered all of humanity over the face of the earth.
He commanded them to be fruitful and multiply over it (Genesis 1:28).
However,
humanity thrived over the earth after Noah’s flood (Genesis 10:32).
They went in opposition to the Picture of God’s Will (Genesis 11:1-4).
All of humanity’s speech and language was one at the time.
They had one heart and voice, and they moved as one.
But they went in opposition to the Picture of God’s Will (Genesis 11:16).
The Picture of God’s Will is that God sent His Word into the world.
Man is to be One only through the Word of God (Acts 17:26-29).
To be one through the word of man is ‘human-centered faith’ (Romans 8:6).
To be One through the Word of God is ‘God-centered faith’ (John 8:31).
There is no change of mind with what God has done (Numbers 23:19).
Man is great in number.
But they who receive baptism through the Holy Spirit become One Church.
There is One Leader and Head of the Church – He is Jesus.
Jesus is the Head of the Church (Ephesians 1:22).
The Head of Jesus is God.
God alone is the Righteous One.
◌ Man is as many as the stars in the sky and the sands of the seashore.
But he can become the One Family of God.
◌ Those who have receive baptism in the Name of the Holy Spirit
have buried the world and have gathered together.
They have become the people of Jesus Christ.
◌ God desires that we all become One Body.
He desires that we obey the Word and Will of God.
He desires that we become One Body in Jesus.
※ Our salvation is through faith alone.
Only the God-centered faith can give salvation.
The human-centered faith will perish and will not enter heaven.

Semuon’s Letter

50 years have passed so fast since the establishing of Sungrak Church. During that time, the challenges of the flesh, the ordeals of my youth, and many other difficult moments have passed. But a great mountain of labor still remains to be climbed and ‘the pains of childbirth’ remains to be endured. These ‘painful toils of childbirth’ – like that of a women in her final month of pregnancy – are still left and they need to be endured.

If I had the desire to become a pastor from the beginning, I would have entered seminary. Instead, I had devoted myself to reading the Bible and had read it 75 times. Once I had done so, all those complicated and entangled stories of the ancient past suddenly became One Complete Picture. I could not express to you how much grace I received. I was so overwhelmed. The hand of the Lord took a hold on me. And my spirit and flesh have not stopped laboring since.

I started my life of faith in a Methodist Church. I had no previous knowledge at that time, so I thought that serving in the church with great zeal was the way of one’s life of faith. I was so zealous in my service. To be frank, I disregarded the immediate needs of my family and pursued service in the church. When I met Pastor Kyung-Lin Oh for the first time, I thought he was truly an admirable teacher. I greatly respected him. But strangely enough, there were some members of the church who complained and grumbled against him. These people kept on doing so until they left the church. Once they left, they started their own gathering, starting with around a 800 members. But later, they reduced to only a 100 members. But Pastor Oh himself quietly continued his work and eventually ministered at DongDaeMun Church in Seoul. Around that time, I also departed from Yesan Church and went up to Seoul.

Once I went up, I pursued my life of faith for a short while at KwangSee Baptist Church. I remember the official minister there being only good and exemplary. But a powerful family at that church had a family member they wanted to promote. They ended up kicking the official minister out of that church. Sometime afterwards, I left there and became a revivalist. All throughout the country I was invited to conduct revivals. As I travelled in those various places, I understood the seriousness of the problem found in all the South Korean churches. The root of the problem was that the elders and other people were making problems. These churches were not obeying the will of God. They made their pastors their slaves, and the congregation acted as if they were the masters. Their churches could not grow, and their pastors could not endure for more than two years. I saw so many of such cases.

These churches were not walking in the way commanded by the Bible. After that time on, I decided to establish an Independent church. I was determined to build it up and minister in it based on the Overseer system. This is the Biblical way. The Church is the Body of the Lord, and the Lord is the Head of the Body. The Lord Himself is the Church’s Chief Shepherd, and the Overseer is the shepherd who handles the Lord’s affairs. All must clearly understand this spiritual reality and come to understand that the Overseer has been appointed by the Holy Spirit to dedicate himself fully to the whole Body of the Church. This is the pattern of how Sungrak Church has grown.

The church has done its works and will continue to do so until the Day the Lord comes again. The office of Overseer will be preserved. As an Independent church, this church will serve God in the God-centered faith. The church has already fired its arrow. Therefore, whoever despises the authority of the Overseer or ever persecutes or slanders him – let him understand that he has become corrupt. As we follow the leadership centered on the Overseer – and he being appointed by the Holy Spirit – we await the Day of the Lord’s coming. On that Final Day, this church will be raised high. The Master of the Church is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is God.

Semuon