2015 – Page 7 – Sungrak Church

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2015.08.30_Obey the Word

August 30, 2015/in 2015 Lord's Day, Ki Dong Kim /by Helen Nam

Senior Overseer Ki-Dong Kim

Outline

[2Kings 5:1-14]

God
does not change.
His
chosen will is the same forevermore (Heb 6:17)
All things were purposefully created for Heaven (Heb 1:3).
Therefore,
God is solely pleased with the works that satisfy
His kingdom and righteousness alone (Mt 6:33).
How can a farmer work in service of grains?
As per he, who farms for himself (Jn 15:1)
The works of God
must be pleasing to Him (Mt 3:17),
and thus,
Though our thoughts may often seem correct,
this is not so (2Kgs 5:11)
The words of Jesus and the prophets alike,
were not on their own accord (Jn 12:48-50)
but that of God – this is our inspiration.
We must endlessly obey the word of God
and receive the responses prepared by Him.
For this, the Holy Spirit came (Rom 8:26- ).

ㅇThough man’s life is inseparable form struggle,
the resolution to such
is found in the words of God alone.

ㅇ True faith is built upon the foundation of God’s words,
those of which must enter our souls
as the response of God.

ㅇJesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.
Our prayers must be offered to God
in true faith

※ Let us go beyond mere thoughts
and strive forth in obedience.
Our life’s resolutions will be found within the Bible.

Summary

To follow God’s will is the way.

God is immutable. He is not an abstract notion that merely exists in the ideas of man; God is actually living. All creations exist because God created them, and it was for Himself that He created them. He created humanity for Himself, and gives them breath to this day for the same reason. One day, the universe will be destroyed, and even this, God will carry out for Himself. Simply put, God created all things according to His will, and thus fulfills all things according to His will.

People are generally used to being self-centered and tend to think that way. As a result, some even believe that God created the world for them. However human beings are such weak creatures who cannot make even their wish to live long come true. When Peter asked Jesus about what might happen to John, Jesus said, “If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you? You follow Me” (Jn 21:22). In this way, man’s life and death is determined by God for Himself according to His will.

Until we came to know Jesus Christ, we never knew God. Yet that has changed, for now we certainly know God is. Therefore we must realize that following God’s will is the way for us to go. We ought to remember that Jesus said, “I am the way” (Jn 14:6), and that God Himself said of Jesus, “Hear Him!” (Mt 17:5).

God definitely fulfills His word.

Even for the almighty God, there are two impossibilities – the first is lying (Heb 6:18), and the other is changing (Jam 1:17). Concerning this, Numbers 23:19 says, “God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent.” Every word of God is sworn upon God Himself, and hence God surely fulfills His words.

God commanded Adam, “Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Gen 2:17). However Adam ate the fruit and his spirit died as a result. At that time God did not say, “I will let you live this one time so don’t ever do it again”. God’s word cannot be changed even by God Himself. Just as He said ‘you will surely die’, Adam’s spirit was separated from God’s life, and consequently, mankind that was born from Adam became subject to eternal punishment.

Many people often pray out of habit, “Wash away my sins by the blood of Jesus!” But strictly speaking, ‘to wash away our sins by the blood of Jesus’ is not an appropriate expression. Sin is not something that can be washed out as if doing the laundry. Sin comes at a price. Romans 6:23 says that the wages of sin is death. This means that a sinner’s spirit will go to hell. In order to prevent this, somebody has to pay the price of sin. Hence God sent His only begotten Son to the world to shed His blood, and by that paid the price of sin for man who became a sinner on account of Adam’s transgression. In this way, God keeps His word at all costs, even if it means sacrificing His own self, for He has sworn upon Himself in giving His word.

The word of God was with God from eternity past. That word possesses glory, authority and power, equivalent to that of God. Therefore God’s word is God (Jn 1:1), and thus to disobey the word means to disobey God, and likewise, to obey the word means to obey God.

Hear the words of Jesus Christ

When Jesus was baptized and coming out of the water, a sound heaven was heard saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Mt 3:17). To God, His Son is the only subject of His love, the sole reason His joy. This is why God said to the disciples, “Hear Him!’ (Mt 17:5). God only loves His Son and is pleased with Him only, and this is namely, righteousness. God does not love or takes pleasure in anything else apart from Jesus. If we believe this, God will deem us as righteous, otherwise, unrighteous.

It isn’t so easy to acknowledge Jesus as the One whom God loves and is pleased with, because the life and death of Jesus were no different to that of an accursed man. Jesus said, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (Jn 3:14-15). Jesus who was hung on the cross was a cursed man in everyone’s eyes (Gal 3:13). Yet anyone who believes that He is God’s beloved One in whom God is pleased, God will acknowledge as righteous and give Him eternal life (Jn 3:16). On the other hand, whoever does not believe this truth has already been condemned in the Garden of Eden (Jn 3:18).

It is important that we understand what God is doing. God loves His Son and seeks His joy from His Son alone. Jesus possesses that joy of God within Himself, and has also given us that joy (Jn 17:13). This is so that we may bring glory to God in Jesus.

The word of God must be treated as God, for it is that which God has swore upon Himself and has been with God from eternity past. Jesus said, “The Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak, which is what I have told you. Thus whoever does not accept my words will be judged by that word” (Jn 12:47-50). Hence to obey the word of God is to obey God, and likewise to love the word of God means to love God.

The Bible can largely be divided into the Old and the New Testament. In the Old Testament are the Law and the words of the prophets, and their role was to prepare the way for Christ to come, just as it was revealed through John the Baptist (Mt 3:3). Thus if the Law and the prophets are omitted from our faith, a great number of people would be led astray by heresies and false christs.

The Old Testament is filled with prophecies concerning the Christ to come. According those prophecies, Christ must be born as the descendant of Abraham and David, conceived in a virgin’s body, and born in Bethlehem. Regardless of many great marvels a person might perform, if he is not a descendant of Abraham or David, nor conceived in a virgin’s body, nor born in Bethlehem, he is not the Christ. And yet if anyone follows after him, that person has probably never read the Law or the prophets.

Jesus Christ came through the way prepared for by the Law and the prophets. Speaking of this, John 1:14 says ‘the Word became flesh’. Our faith comes from hearing His words. As Romans 10:17 says, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (ESV), to hear the word of Jesus Christ is righteousness.

Overcome ‘my own thoughts‘.

One of the factors that hinder people from fulfilling God’s righteousness is none other than their own thoughts. The story of Naaman, the commander of the army of the king of Syria, is a very good illustration of this. Though he was honorable in the eyes of his king, he had a fatal flaw, which was leprosy. He appeared most splendid in his gold-ornamented armor, yet when stripped of it, he was nothing but a pitiful leper.

One day he heard there was a powerful prophet in Israel and visited Elisha. As he had already requested cooperation from the king of Israel through the king of Syria, his visit was not just a personal one. And in such circumstances, the reception Elisha gave Naaman was quite enough to make him furious. Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and you shall be clean”. Naaman became furious and said, “I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call upon the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper. Have I come all the way here because we didn’t have any waters in our country to wash in?”

When Naaman was about to turn and leave Israel in a rage, his servants persuaded him saying, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do something great, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” At that, Naaman changed his mind. He took off his splendid armor, showing his poor figure before servants, and went into the water seven times and was eventually made clean. If he had stubbornly stuck to his own thoughts to the end, he would have lived the rest of his life as a leper and God would’ve cursed. However, he overcame his own thoughts and obeyed God.

The biggest deterrent in our faith life is ‘my own thoughts’. The reason people fail to receive God’s help is because they cannot give up their own thoughts. For instance, Adam perished because he obstinately followed his ‘own thoughts’ and ignored the word of God which said ‘if you eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you will surely die’. Then again, King Saul was rejected by God when he followed his own thoughts and ignored God’s word which said to utterly destroy every single person and animal in Amalek. His intention was to spare the best of them to offer them as sacrifices before God, however, God desired obedience more than sacrifice.

Even today, many Christians lead their lives of faith according to their own thoughts. When the Israelites used to offer cattle or sheep as tithes, they did so in a way that God had commanded. That is, they had the cattle or sheep pass under a rod one by one, and the tenth one was to be offered to God. Even if the tenth animal was deficient compared to the rest, it was not to be substituted by any other. If it was, the both the first and the one substituted were to be offered to God (Lev 27:32-33). As such, in serving God, we must lay down our own thoughts even if they are of good intention.

Some people say, “I’ll start giving tithes later because I’m currently in difficult circumstances. I think God will understand me.” Isn’t this the way so many people have been going for years, or even decades? Can such people then question God by saying, “Why does my life have to be so miserable God?” God is now saying to us, “Consider your ways!” (Hag 1:5). Every problem to encounter arises from us following our own thoughts.

When Rehoboam, son of Solomon, became king, he pushed the construction of the temple, putting a heavier yoke upon the people than in his father’s reign. However, ten tribes excluding the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, refused Rehoboam and eventually moved up north to establish a separate kingdom. This was the beginning of the struggle between Southern Judah (Jerusalem) and the Northern Isarel (Samaria). An important thing to note here is that the Savior didn’t come from the Northern Israel which believed that building the temple was not so urgent and thus followed its own thoughts. Even the first to be destroyed by foreign invasion was not Southern Judah but Northern Israel. Likewise, the consequences of ‘my own thoughts’ can bring detrimental impact on the next generations.

Lay down ‘my own thoughts’ and follow the words written in the Bible.

Throughout our lives of faith, there are times when we are at a crossroads thinking, ‘Should I be doing this, or that? Which one’s right?’ Even though God’s will is clearly revealed in His words written in the Bible, people have such dilemmas because they are influenced by their own thoughts that much. We must realize that ‘my own thoughts’ is that which opposes the will of God and is enmity against God (Rom 8:6-8).

As we lead our church life, we often discover many aspects in the church that differ with ‘my own thoughts’. This is inevitable in the church where people of all different minds are assembled together. Then what would happen to the church if all of the church members refused to give up their own thoughts? Just as Naaman took off his armor and laid bare his wretched body, we must all lay down our own thoughts and stand before God in sincerity. We ought to lay down the glory, success, experiences and boasting of the past, and humbly bow our knees before God’s word.

Every answer is in the Bible. Not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen will pass away from the word of God written in the Bible; all will be accomplished (Mt 5:18). Thus when we are at a crossroads, we must do as is written in the Bible, instead of worrying over ‘my own thoughts’. If we lay down our own thoughts and follow the word, we will be prosperous altogether with the true and unchanging word.

Semuon’s Letter

Christian faith is not a religion.
It’s not mysticism that practices moral cultivation; it is the body of Jesus Christ that believes in and testifies to a reality and factual truth. While many people do desire to overcome the world by faith, they failed to do so because they still cannot go beyond mysticism.
Jesus is not a mystical figure who dropped out of Heaven; He is a historical figure born from the body of a virgin. He is the Son of the living God who died, rose again, and ascended to Heaven, from where He sent the Holy Spirit to His church. Moreover, He is the image of God who manifested the nature of the invisible God. (2 Corinthians 4:4) Thus we are not people who are after something mystical but those who believe and have experienced the true substance of God’s being.

True prayer isn’t about asking for a chance miracle, but rather to confess, ‘Answer our prayers O God, according to Your will’ and awaiting His answer. So why do people still fall into mysticism like superstitious idolaters? It’s utterly pitiful that they are still full of doubts even after having received such an abundance of the Word.

If they thoroughly read and follow exactly as I have written in my book Pure Luck Does Not Exist. God’s Signs Do, I’m certain that they’ll be blessed just as I’ve been. However it’s frustrating as some haven’t even bought the book, and even if they have, they keep it buried without reading it, or just skim through it like they do a newspaper or magazine and won’t actively put it into action. Yet I do, which is why I’m being rewarded by the Lord today.

While religious people practice penance to atone for their sins, we believe in the Lord Jesus. We rely on His precious blood. Now that I’m old, I see what is before me. With confidence of the Lord’s promise, I will always have the power and healing signs of Jesus Christ in me until the day I die. Any branch that does not convey the sap of Jesus Christ is already withered and fruitless, losing hope in their soul. The sick should be healed when we lay our hands on them, for this is the sap of Jesus Christ flowing out of us. Others should seek spiritual inspiration from us and the truth from our lips.

As the end is drawing closer, I want to speak only of the truth. And I will only speak of the truth until the day I depart from this world. And I will wait, trusting in the everlasting promise of resurrection.

Though I’m neither righteous nor holy, I am a little giant who has received much of the grace of Jesus Christ. The earth will soon be destroyed just as God said. As written in the Bible, nuclear weapons are in the hands of mad men, and there are earthquakes, famines, murder and deception everywhere in the world. What hope is there? For this reason, we must to hold fast to Heaven. We have to return to the Bible to live. We must have faith, that which is greater than our own conviction, to live.

Pastor Ki-Dong Kim
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2015.08.23_Be Partakers of the Divine Nature

August 23, 2015/in 2015 Lord's Day, Ki Dong Kim /by Helen Nam

Senior Overseer Ki-Dong Kim

Outline

[2Peter 1:1-11]

God
is our true Father.
He
created all things for His Son only (Heb 1:2-3)
and revealed the Father’s truth to His Son (Jn 1:1).
There is an everlasting relationship between
God the Father and the Son of Man, His Son,
which is the only true love (1 Jn 4:18).
God’s word is love;
His grace is love;
everything He does is love (Jn 3:16).
This is
God the Father’s unique nature.
Hence
His given faith is also love;
it is His divine nature.
We do not have faith if we fall short of His divine nature.
Faith must have virtue,
and virtue, knowledge.
Knowledge is foundational to godliness,
and godliness promotes brotherly kindness.

○ Do not conform to the carnal mind
but follow the divine nature.
This is the fruit of true faith.

○ Love is a divine nature.
One must fructify love through perseverance
in order to attain the divine nature.

○ Without the divine nature
one cannot be in Jesus,
and will only conform to the flesh.

※Let us fill our souls with hope.
To be partakers of the divine nature
in turn, means to bless our own soul.

Summary

Receiving the love of God the Father is our faith.

God is our true father. Our relationship with God is not man-made and initiated because we decided, ‘God, I will serve as my Father from now on’. God begot us. Though many people confess God as the Creator, they only think about how He created the natural world and fail to realize that He is the Father who begot them.

Faith life is about receiving God the Father’s love. The love that parents have for their children is so enormous that it goes beyond children’s imagination. And God the Father’s love for us is greater than that which any parent can have in this world. Moreover, that love is everlasting. For animals, they cannot recognize their young if they become separated from them for just a few months. However, the love for one’s child never goes away, even until the day s/he dies. But what is greater than that is God’s eternal love towards us. Our faith life is in desiring that love.

To say ‘receive grace’ is equivalent to saying ‘receive God’s love’. Those that have received God’s love endeavor to please God, for they hope to enjoy His love more abundantly. And they worship God as an act to please Him. When children receive a reward at school, they want to show it to their parents more than anybody else and make them happy. In the same way, those who’ve received God’s love, please Him by bringing glory to Him through worship.

What is God pleased with? He is pleased with Jesus. God hears our prayers because we pray in Jesus’ name. To pray in Jesus’ name doesn’t mean we simply add the phrase, “In Jesus’ name” after we have listed everything we want. Prayer is when one who honors the name of Jesus desires to glorify that name and thus asks God accordingly. When those, who continuously receive God’s abundant love and also love God much in turn, pray, God is attentive to their prayers.

The soul is that which receives God’s love.

To receive God’s love is a blessing. Though many people say they are asking for blessings, in actual fact they just list out what their flesh desires before God. They would fast and do all-night prayers saying, “Give us a bigger house. Help our business to grow.” Yet God’s concern is not with the flesh which can expire at any moment. Since the flesh came from dust, it will eventually return to it. No matter how much a person might have saved up for himself, once God takes away his spirit, all that wealth will fall into the hands of others. On the other hands, what God desires to give us is everlasting.

Jesus was God’s beloved one, yet His life was studded with suffering and humiliation. Why did He have such a life when He is the beloved One of God? Did He lack in faith? No, but the reason He was poor, scorned, and persecuted was because the Father had commanded Him to do so. He did not go beyond God the Father’s love but completed all the pleasing works of the Father.

The purpose of why we lead a church life is not in making our flesh comfortable but in receiving God’s love. When the people following Jesus became hungry in a deserted place, the Lord didn’t say, “Since you’ve had a hard time following me, I’ll provide you with enough food for the rest of your life.” Instead He fed them just one meal until they were all filled, then had the leftovers collected. Even if they were given a somewhat cold treatment, we cannot categorize those people as not having received God’s love.

Among the saints are some who experience life difficulties as a result of a business failure or a sudden illness. But it’s a misunderstanding to think that they have been abandoned by God. According to some theories, Paul, who had healed countless other people’s diseases, was actually suffering from an eye condition or a stomach disorder. Concerning this Paul said, “And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness’ (2 Cor 12:7-9). It is not the flesh but the spirit that receives God’s love.

Partake in the divine nature.

Faith is about taking part in the divine nature. It says in 2 Peter 1:2-4, “Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”

God has given us the Lord of Heaven’s throne. Since we have received such great love, we must not be silent but testify to let more and more people receive that love also. And for that, we must no longer follow the desires of the flesh but be partakers of the divine nature. Just as parents and their love for their children are inseparable, this nature of love cannot be separated from God the Father. If we have come to know the Father, we must rightfully be partakers of His nature.

For a chicken egg to hatch, a temperature of 37.5℃ has to be maintained. And the hen which incubates the eggs has to maintain a higher body temperature of 41.7℃. Otherwise, the eggs will not be incubated at the right temperature and soon spoil. Thus for the eggs to hatch, they must partake and share the hen’s body temperature.

The hen assists the eggs share her own body temperature by altering their position at regular intervals. By doing so, all the eggs have equal contact with the hen’s body temperature and thus maintain their temperature. Jesus said, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing!” (Luke 13:34). Just like the hen that wants her eggs to share in her body temperature, God wanted Jerusalem to partake in His love but Jerusalem had often turned away from God’s wish.

Add goodness to faith, and to goodness, knowledge.

We who received God’s eternal love through Jesus Christ mustn’t disappoint God anymore and become partakers of His divine nature. Instead of just being satisfied by the fact that we have faith, we must add goodness to our faith. To have goodness means the same as winning the favor of or being loved by others. Some people pray a lot and are deemed to have great faith, and yet they seldom receive love from others. For example, would others be happy if someone was praying out loudly without any consideration for the people around him? We need to be considerate of others and join in prayer when everyone is praying out loud, but also be quiet when everyone else is quiet. If we have faith, we should be able to understand the situation of the other members and have the virtue to harmonize with them.

Those who are new to the church ought to learn about church life from the members who first believed. They mustn’t compare the way they were treated in the world to that in the church and criticize the church for not having love, but rather make efforts to assimilate into the church quickly. Instead of rolling out of the nest when the hen is trying to incubate her eggs, they must endeavor to partake in God’s love.

Some people have the tendency to say things which hurt others or humiliate them. Who would want to be friends with such people? No matter how good looking a person might be, if they are fierce and have no virtue in their words or deeds, everyone will probably want to avoid them. Luke 2:52 says, “Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.” Jesus was not only loved by God but also people. We also need to be people of virtue, who win the favor of others.

If we have virtue, we must add knowledge. A true Christian should know and be able to speak about God whom he believes in. 1 Peter 3:15 says, “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear”. It is utterly tragic if a person has been attending church for decades yet is unable to explain the reason for their faith. John 17:3 says, “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent”. Hosea 4:6 says, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” If we have virtue in our faith, then we must add knowledge so that that virtue does not become void.

Add knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness and love.

Self-control is also a very important element in our faith life. Some people ask, “Do I have to stop drinking if I believe in Jesus? Isn’t it true that I won’t go to hell even if I drink?” Leviticus 10:9-11 says, “Do not drink wine or intoxicating drink, you, nor your sons with you, when you go into the tabernacle of meeting, lest you die. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations, that you may distinguish between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean, and that you may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the Lord has spoken to them by the hand of Moses.” It would be hard to expect a person who cannot quit drinking to handle sacred works of God.

Every day we hear news of accidents and incidents and notice how alcohol clouds a person’s judgment and reasoning. There are some who don’t even remember that they murdered another person while they were drunk. Not only has God forbidden it, but drinking gives rise to all sorts of negative effects in people’s lives. So how can person who can’t refrain from drinking possibly have a sound faith life?

The same goes for smoking. When we cast out demons from believers and ask in what situation they came, in many occasions the demons answer, “I came into this person when s/he was smoking”. Whilst countless demons are on the watch for a chance to infiltrate and harm people, for a Christian to be smoking is a very risky thing to do. Religious people of course, would have no issues at all even if they drink and smoke. However, if we have received in God, we must exercise self-control in such matters.

Christians also need to have perseverance. If we’ve accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior, we must endure unto the day we meet Him. A pregnant woman supplies all the nutrients in her body to form a heart, pair of eyes and every other organ of the baby. From her bone marrows to her nervous system, everything of the mother is supplied to create a beautiful and complete human being. Some mothers even suffer a bad case of morning sickness in the process. Suddenly she craves a certain type of food, while even the smell of some foods makes her vomit. The baby is able to develop healthy and sound because the mother endures through all of this. In the same way, believers must persevere to the end for the sake of their own souls (Matt 24:13).

To perseverance we must add godliness. We ought to conduct ourselves in a manner so that whoever sees us may recognize us as those who serve and worship God. This doesn’t mean we should appear as people who are well-disciplined in our character. No matter how perseverant we might be, it’s meaningless if we are separated from God. We ought to be reverent of God and fellowship with Him always.

Upon godliness, we must add brotherly kindness. Here, the word ‘brotherly’ is not referring to one’s own flesh and blood. Jesus said, “And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so?” (Matt 5:47). The Lord wants us to consider and care for, not only those who are our own flesh and blood, but everyone as our own selves.

Finally, love must be added to brotherly kindness. How do we add love? What good is it to say to someone who has nothing wear, “You must be so cold. Wear something and keep yourself warm”? What good is it to tell someone who has no food, “You must be hungry. Make sure you eat properly”? A mother wouldn’t do that. Hence to love someone means to be their mother. A mother doesn’t just feel sorry for her children when they’re in need; she would even sacrifice her own self to solve her children’s needs. The only way to give love is through maternal love.

Take part in the divine nature in order to receive a rich welcome into that kingdom.

It is written in 2 Peter 1:8-11, “For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

When the Lord returns, two people will be in the field and one will be taken up while the other will be left behind. Two people will be grinding the mill, when one will be taken up and the other left behind. Two people will be sleeping in the one room, and one will be taken up and the other left behind. Will we be taken up when the Lord returns? In order to receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Savior Jesus Christ, we need to take part in God’s divine nature. Since we have faith, we now need to have virtue; to virtue we must add knowledge, to knowledge, self-control; to self-control, perseverance; to perseverance, godliness; to godliness, brotherly kindness; then to brotherly kindness, love (2 Pet 1:5-7). As a hen gathers a chicks, we must become partakers in the fervent love of God who is calling us.

Semuon’s Letter

When I rest upon a seat or lie against my bed, I momentarily travel through the conduit of my memories, only to conjure up a recollection of celluloid stills that transition ever so quickly. Elected by God at the age of nineteen, I have come thus far calling upon His name. At the age of twenty-four, I met the love of my life, Kang Soon, whom I married. This, then, became the start of my labor for God. However, as a young man without education or background, I was the symbol of misery and disillusionment. Nevertheless, in spite of this, God poured on my soul, the inspiration of His word, the inspiration of His blood and the inspiration of His Spirit, thereby driving me towards a place I had never previously pondered on – the presence of God’s powerful works.

When the Lord accompanied me with gifts and powers, never at any point did I conceal them, nor use them as a means to alleviate my concerns of survival in this world. Rather, I laid down my life in absolute devotion to the Lord and hence, remained faithful to the work appointed me. In light of this, my earnest prayer is that my body may become an instrument of God, and that His inspiration may become like an endless cascade of inspiration that surges into my soul. Therefore, given all knowledge, power and the promises of signs and wonders are contained in the Bible, I have lived in absolute accordance and reliance on it – I have come thus far in obedience to such teachings of the Bible.

Consider, a time when a certain individual aimed to suppress me with the knowledge he had gathered from his many years at school. However, I was in confident assurance that the Word of God is in fact, God Himself, that He was with God from eternity past, and that God accomplishes everything according to His holy word as the Triune God. Indeed, I did not relent. To whom shall I go, seeking the signs and wonders that testify to God’s glory? For, this was my earnest desire: That God may stretch out His hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders as I traveled about the world He created. Whilst I felt that I would otherwise be in possession of a fabricated faith, I was certain that if God were to reveal His divine powers in my life, I would be free from all fear of this world as an undoubtedly blessed servant of God.

I do not understand why people fail to believe the words written in the Bible. Such people, though they claim to trust the pastor, do not have faith in the Bible and the majestic authority and inspiration it contains. That is, given the Bible is filled with the inspiration of the word of God, the inspiration of the blood of Jesus Christ and the inspiration of the Spirit of God, I simply cannot understand why people do not believe in the Bible. These people highly anticipate and wait upon the receiving of money, however, they do not care to rest their eyes on the Bible, let alone, read it. As for me, I have never gone beyond the Bible, so as to gain or learn anything from elsewhere and thus, I have become one with the Bible, as if it dwells beneath my flesh – I am indistinguishable from it. From dawn to dusk, every day, I am deeply immersed into the joy of discovering and fathoming the mysteries contained in the Bible, which, in turn, become like streams of living water within my soul.

Oh! How such marvelous powers bring tears to my eyes.

Pastor Ki-Dong Kim
Lord’s Day Worship Column

2015 Audio

2015 Video

Credits

2015.08.16_Love the Lord

August 16, 2015/in 2015 Lord's Day, Sung Hyun Kim /by Helen Nam

Overseer Sung-Hyun Kim

Outline

[John 21:15-23]

God
is love.
He
loves our souls
just as He loves His Son (1Jn 4:8).
This is so
that we may be in Jesus Christ
and receive the same love of God as Him.
Since God loves us the same as He loves His Son,
we must receive His love to be His true saints.
He who is loved by the Lord will love the Lord (Jn 14:21),
and he who loves the Lord must love His beloved ones,
for that is complete obedience.
Faith is precious,
and so is hope;
but to love the Lord is forever precious (1 Co 13:13).
The first of the fruits of the Holy Spirit is love (Gal 5:22-23).

○Through our faith, we receive the Lord’s word.
By practicing love as commanded by the Lord,
let us demonstrate our love for the Lord.

○As He said “feed my sheep”,
become a true shepherd (mokyangsa)
if you truly love the Lord.

○As He said to feed His lambs,
a shepherd’s charge is to have patience,
the patience to rear His lambs.

※A shepherd’s duty is
to teach them to hear and observe the Lord’s word.
Let us become true shepherds by the Holy Spirit

Summary

One that experiences God’s gracious favor, remembers His grace and loves God

Christians are the ones who received God’s love. Nothing is more precious than receiving the love of God who is the Father of all things and the Creator. Anyone would give up the world if they could receive God’s love, for to have received God’s love means to receive something that goes beyond man’s dreams. One thing we have to understand is that God’s love poured on us through Jesus Christ is forever unchanging. Within the love God has given us is His determination to love us forever.

The sad thing is that there are people who, despite their faith lives, fail to experience God’s love. The reason for this is they don’t remember the love God had given them through Jesus Christ. But those who remember God’s love will love God all the days of their life in response to His love, and in result they would receive much of God’s help. On the contrary, those that forget, ignore, or doubt God’s love will not respond to His love, and thus cannot draw closer to God and live as though they are forsaken by God.

God’s love can be categorized largely into the first love and second love. The first love can be described as grace which we received by believing and accepting Jesus Christ, whereas the second love can be called favor which we receive through our response to His love.

Even if we don’t react to the first love, God’s love given us through Jesus Christ isn’t nullified. Nevertheless we can’t rest easy. If we don’t love the Lord, we’ll slowly become unsure of His first love and eventually, have a doubtful attitude before God. When that happens, we will lose our spiritual viewpoint and try to lead our faith lives with just our mental viewpoint. Moreover, we won’t be able to escape feeling like we’re in the dark though we might be busily engaged with our faith lives. If we continue to fail to receive God’s help in this way, then the old way of thinking and habits we had when we were God’s enemies will take over our personality and life.

When we first believed, we were utterly shocked after realizing how Jesus Christ who is the Son of God died on the cross for our sake. We repented of our past unbelief by relying on His merits, and became a new creation through baptism. That’s when we received the grace God imparted on us, by which we came into the church as those who now have the right to receive God’s gracious favor.

Christ Jesus is worthy to receive our love

For all of this to happen, there were many more significant events. Though God’s Son could’ve come out of the Father’s bosom and directly enter Heaven and inherit the throne, instead going into Heaven directly, He came down to this lowly earth. He wanted to come in the form of a servant lower than the angels, taste death and then ascend to the throne at the right hand of God. Though He is equal to God, He lowered Himself to be most humble before the Father. He had planned to first come to the earth and taste death, and after that, be seated on the throne of Heaven.

However God the Father desired His Son to be the Christ for mankind, and thus commissioned with the duty to die for the sake of mankind. It was to bear this duty that Jesus was in agony and prayed more earnestly at Gethsemane (Luke 22:44), and it was also as the Christ that He cried on the cross, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matt 27:46).

The Son of God becoming the Christ wasn’t His will originally. He was anguished of how man will dishonor God in the process of God saving mankind out of His love for them, and thus He earnestly prayed to the Father at Gethsemane to rethink His plan. Nevertheless, the Father did not hear His Son’s plea. The Son had already humbled Himself and come to the world, but the Father made Him suffer death for mankind. Here lies the love God has for us.

The Son of God who had already given up His glory to humble Himself before the Father had surrender Himself even more, and bear the suffering and curse we deserved upon His own body. He shed His blood and purchased us, and delivered us from death. Hence there is a truth we must remember. Jesus Christ is One who is worthy to receive the love we give with all of our life, and the love which all the redeemed souls together give unto Him.

Do you love me? Do you now understand that love?

After He resurrected, Jesus asked Peter, “Do you love me?” Until then the Lord had never commanded anyone, ‘you must love me!’ And in His question, “Do you love me?” was another question implied which the Lord had in His heart, and that was, “Have you now received God’s love?”

Before Jesus died on the cross, nobody on the earth had ever received love like that Jesus had shown. It wasn’t Jesus who said, “God is love”, but the disciples, who had witnessed His resurrection, and were deeply moved by the great love of God that sent Jesus to the world. If anyone believes Jesus as the Son of God, he would understand the greatness of God’s love as well as the truth, the passion and the agony of that love which was given by sacrificing His own Son.

Therefore when Jesus asked, “Do you love me?” another significant meaning was behind it – Now you realize that I am God’s Son. The Father who dearly loves me, sent me to do His work, and you have now witnessed what He has done for you through me. Finally you have received God’s love!

The moment we came to realize the grace Jesus Christ showed us, we received the biggest shock of our lifetime, and began to love Him from then on. And in order that we may be sure of God’s love, He emphasized how God the Father loved even by sacrificing His Son. He said, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (Jn 3:14-16). He also said, “That the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, so I do. Arise, let us go from here” (Jn 14:31).

The degree to which each person loves Jesus Christ is directly related to the degree of understanding God’s love given through Him. If anyone doesn’t love Jesus Christ, it’s because He either doesn’t understand or has forgotten or is doubtful of God’s love. Even if a person is weak in faith, he will be saved as long as he believes in Jesus Christ the Son of God. However in order to be able to boast of the grace he has received, the shock from God’s love for him should never be erased from his heart.

Whoever doesn’t understand the depth of His love will grow distant from God

For a person who doesn’t have a deep experience of God’s love, faith life itself is very difficult and such people would struggle to even attend worship services. Their hearts feel burdened to give offerings, and when they hear about faithfulness, obedience and so on in the sermon, they start to have a headache. Hence without understanding the depth of God’s love, even a self-professed Christian cannot live as a true Christian. That is because such a person lacks in his strength to love the Lord. Though he worships, he cannot worship in spirit and truth, with thanksgiving and reverence because he doesn’t actually feel God’s presence with him. He cannot partake in giving glory and thanks to God through the worship, let alone contribute in the church worshipping God successfully.

A bigger problem for those who cannot feel God’s love is that they aren’t able to experience the working of the Lord. They themselves believe they are receiving God’s love, when in fact they are not receiving the love God is imparting as gracious favor. As a result, they don’t have any experiences of the Lord, and thus their faith continues to be something notional. As their faith is not secure, sometimes they determine their hearts but are easily shaken in their will, and when trials or temptations or suffering comes, even the little they have done in their faith life comes to naught. We ought to be able to answer the Lord when He asks, “Do you love me?”

If you’ve received love, respond. Love one another.

When Peter answered, “You know that I love you”, Jesus said, “Feed my lambs. Tend my sheep. Feed my sheep”. He gave the commandment to love and look after the Christians who received God’s love. This command was not only given to Peter but to all who believe in Him. Jesus had already said, “This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. Did I not lay down my life for you?” (Jn 15:12-14).

Jesus has already given us His gracious love through His death and resurrection, and gave this command to those who received His love: If you love me, then love one another! Loving the Lord itself is easy, for anyone that knows of God’s love will most certainly love the Lord. That is why Jesus didn’t command, “From now on, you must love me”, but instead commanded, “Love one another!”

To love one another is not something that happens naturally between people. It might be a different story if we were as well-disciplined as the Israelites, but until now we’ve lived as we please. And for such people to live together and love one another is contrary to our nature. Nevertheless, to love one another is the Lord’s command. The Lord is saying, “If you have received God’s love, you will surely love me. Then, is it not only right that you respond to that gracious love? The way you can respond is that you love those whom I have saved through my suffering, bloodshed, and perseverance.”

Just because one believes in Jesus doesn’t mean he automatically has the ability to love others. It is natural for one who believes in Jesus to love Jesus, but that love for Jesus doesn’t automatically get transferred to another person. That is why, Jesus commanded, “Do you love me? Then love one another”. Although the Lord is not on the earth in person, He left those He has saved instead. The church is the Lord’s body and each person is the member of His body. The way for us to express our love for the Lord on the earth is actually by loving the church.

It says in 1 John 4: 7-11, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” Then it continues in verse 20 saying, “If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?”

Love the church. Deny yourself.

If anybody loves the Lord, his concern will be for the church. Whoever loves the Lord will serve the church. Caring and serving the church includes the giving of offerings. Offerings are given to God. Jesus was often clashed with people over the subject of offering, and He made a very clear point at each of those times. Once offerings have been given to God, they get used in looking after the church, that is, in caring and loving the souls whom the Lord has left in this world. Offerings are fundamental to our faith life as something that can’t be given to somebody else to bear. It is a very important aspect when it comes to the saints’ service to the church.

In order to love the Lord, we must sacrifice much of ourselves. Jesus said, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Matt 16:24). If one’s aspiration for personal gain exceeds his love for the Lord, his future can only be bleak because it is hardly expected for him to receive God’s favor thereafter.

Ephesians 5:2 says, “And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.” God is invisible, yet we are experiencing Him, for Jesus Christ is manifesting Himself to us even now. Because He is revealing Himself to us this way, we can be sure even today that God’s love which He showed on the cross is true and everlasting.

Worship is where people who received the deep love of God gather together and confess their gratitude for that love. The church is the Lord’s body, where all members receive God’s love together and express their love for God together. In spite of this, people who haven’t realized God’s love deeply, seek their own interests only like they used to do, even when they’ve come into the church. Such people react very sensitively when it comes to any losses they have to bear, often times show they have a victim mentality towards the church, and only seek their own interests whilst leaving it to others to put love into practice.

We shouldn’t be thinking about how the church is going to satisfy our needs when we come to church on the Lord’s Day. The Lord’s Day is a chance for us to offer something to the Lord. But perhaps those who don’t realize this judge that praising God and praying don’t profit them in any way, for they refuse to participate with their voices. We have already received God’s love and thus we feed and live on God’s love. Now, how pitiful is it if we are busy trying to profit our old self that has already been buried underwater, to live such a weary and miserable life?

Create a virtuous cycle of service, experience and conviction.

Jesus said, “He who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him” (Jn 14:21). Whoever loves the Lord will constantly devote himself to loving the church. And to such a person who is responding to the Lord’s grace, the Lord will reveal Himself. Consequently, the one that serves the church will experience more of the Lord’s working, and thus have a deeper conviction to obey the Lord’s commands. The Lord reveals Himself to such people. Giving of service, experience (of the Lord) and conviction will thus create a virtuous cycle, by which the inspiration of God’s love displayed on the cross will remain in our hearts without growing cold.

There are some people who desire God’s help but instead drag God around. They themselves might think they are serving God well when in fact God is being despised by them. They feel frustrated at, even blame the church for their situation because they are unable to receive God’s help. As they cannot experience the Lord manifest Himself to them, over time they grow distant from Him and eventually fall back to a life of wandering in the valley of curse that had once bound them in the past.

There’s a very important meaning behind us gathering as a church. When we form the Lord’s body and care for it, incredible things happen. First, we overcome the enemy, for the church cannot be overcome by the authority of Hades. Second, as all the saints receive God’s gracious favor together as one body, we have an abundant experience of God’s working. If the number of people that constantly experience God’s help are growing in the church, it means there are many souls who love the Lord gathering in the church. If such fervent love for the Lord accumulates, the church will grow, and the power of the Devil will be weaken accordingly. As a result, many families will become prosperous together with the church, overcome sickness and poverty, and restore peace within their families.

Have the Lord reveal Himself.

The Lord is asking us even today: “Do you love me?” This is His greatest interest, and we must answer Him, “Yes, I love you Lord.” Our hearts should confess, “Yes Lord, I have received Your love – Your sincere love that gave Your life to me. I’ve received Your utmost love that gave everything of Yourself.” The Lord will then command us to look after the souls He saved. And as the Holy Spirit leads us, we ought to obey that command and serve the Lord’s church.

The Son of God came to the earth and left. There is one thing He gave us while He was on the earth, and He did not spare any of it but gave it all to us. And that is God’s love. Today, the Lord demands love from us. Whoever doesn’t love, doesn’t know God; for God is love. From now on, we must love the Lord more than ourselves. We must have the Lord reveal Himself through us.

In the church are many workers. Though they might be lacking in many aspects, God has forgiven them their sins and given them new life. Everyone whom God uses including pastors are holy servants who needs to be respected and loved. Volunteers in the church should be comforted, encouraged and cared for. It is because of them that the church can have worship services, and continue running education programs and mission work. They have sacrificed much out of gratitude for God’s love and because of their love for the Lord.

There are many in the church who are struggling, battered by the storms in this world. They are very weak and helpless like a candle before a hurricane. We need to help them overcome the hardships in this world by experiencing God’s love. We must help every member feel the love of God through the church. When we love and care for the church which the Lord has purchased with His blood, the Lord will manifest Himself to us.

Semuon’s Letter

By His death on the cross,
Jesus Christ made God known to us and has written the Word in our hearts with the blood that He shed, in order that we may understand God’s will. So how can we not be attentive to His words?
I read what the Lord Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground. I read the words He has written in my heart, in my soul. I read His words, “Hear O sinners! I have come into the world to redeem you. Be free, for I will carry all of your wicked sins and die on the cross. Be blessed in your spirit!”

Unless we read the words He has written on the ground, we cannot understand Him no matter how hard we try. Though I’ve lived with the sinful desires of my flesh in this world, I read the promise of the Lord, that He is coming soon to take my soul. I read the word of God, how He is speaking earnestly through the blood of His own Son and giving me faith. He dug into my flesh (dust of the ground) and opened my heart to write in my soul. I read His words of appeal in my soul…

For each and every letter inside my soul was written with the blood of Jesus Christ, I bow my knees before Him. The Bible is the blood-stained words written deep inside of me, like my own soul. How can I not reflect deeply on His earnest request and command which He has so written? He is my Lord and my God.

Lord, let my soul be covered in Your blood. Lord, let the words You have written my soul be proclaimed through these lips of mine. I am longing for the day that You will call me. I believe and yearn for Your kingdom where there is no envy, no persecution, no contempt, but only love that flows like a river forever and ever. Envelop me with Your words, bind me tightly in them, that I may only think and act by the Holy Spirit. For the flesh is full of carnal desires, it can never please God. Yet my soul is blooming like a lily among thistles.

Lord, I am Yours. The world is mire and darkness. Once I fall in, I cannot escape. Lord, for You love me, hear my prayers and answer. For I pray not for my carnal passions but only for Your kingdom, hear my prayers and let me forever be tied to Your words. Always grant me Your spiritual inspiration and may Your words take hold of me. My soul is blessed and overwhelmed to tears. Lord, come quickly. Amen.

Pastor Ki-Dong Kim
Lord’s Day Worship Column

2015 Audio

2015 Video

Credits