2016.09.04_The Self-Existent One

Our God is the self-existent God.

The people in this world often view Christians as a minority group. Not only that, they treat actively involved Christians as if they belong to a secluded part of the society, namely, ‘the outsiders’. Are Christians really ‘outsiders’? The truth is, it is the opposite. We are in the center, not only of this world, but of the Universe as well. You will be sure of this once you come to know who God is and what He has done.

God has introduced Himself, as ‘I am who I am’ (Ex 3:14). This means that He is not a creation but that He exists from eternity and to eternity. As God introduced Himself to Moses by saying ‘I am who I am’, He did not need to add further explanation because there is only one self-existent God.

‘I am who I am’ means that He was all by Himself when nothing existed in the world. There was no concept of space before creation took place. Even then, He had held His existence. Thus, we can conclude that all creation exists within God. There is nothing that can be compared to God.

‘I am who I am’ also means that He is the Creator. All things are created by God, belong to God, and serve their purpose for God. In other words, God is the Lord of all things. Nehemiah 9:6 reads, “You alone are the Lord. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you.” Not only did He create all things but He also cares and manages them.

A life apart from the Self-Existent God

The core message of the Bible is that God is self-existent and that men that are led by God will live and men that are not led by God will perish. As part of creation, man maintains his proper state of life while he is led by God. Although the Israelites had taken so many lives in battles, it was not considered a crime because they were followers of the self-existent God’s word. Regardless of an individual or nation, God does not care whether they are right or wrong but whether they belong to God or not.

The world is making its living apart from God. In the Bible, the most well-known case of people perishing apart from God would be Sodom and Gomorrah. They were devoid of humanity, and because of that, all of the people in that city perished. The problem is that the fate of humanity itself is not far from the fate of the people of Sodom and Gomorrah.

What is the cause of our sickened world? The sin that took place in Eden is related to the fundamental cause. Humanity’s inherent sickness, which is to live on its own, derived from The Devil’s seduction. God had given a commandment to Adam that said not to eat the fruit of knowledge of good and evil, but the Devil seduced them by lying and saying that if they ate it, they would become like God. Upon falling for the seduction, humanity turned from God and has fallen to destruction.

With the fallen of Adam, the first man, humanity has separated from God infinitely. And the separation has begun to be thought of as normal. When men’s evil reached its limit, God has destroyed the world by flood. Nevertheless, men’s struggle to live without God has never subsided. They had built the Tower of Babel to sustain their names, and God confused their language and scattered them all over the place. In result, the world is racing again towards a different kind of destruction.

A life that relies on the self-existent God

The Bible shows that humanity’s way of hope is in despair. Abraham is standing at the starting point of the way which God has prepared. He revered God and was never self-conceited although he was a man of knowledge and wealth. We can see his absolute obedience and faithfulness through his actions, to name a few: Offering a tithe to Melchizedek the priest, offering his only son as a sacrifice to God, wholehearted reception of God’s angels. Unlike other people in his time, he completely humbled himself before God and responded promptly to God’s word.

When God revealed to Moses and said, “I am who I am”, the Israelites who lived in Egypt confirmed that the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob was the self-existent God. With an acknowledgment of this, they were led out of Egypt and became a nation led by the self-existent God. God commanded them to fear the Lord with all of their heart and observe the Lord’s commands (Dt.10:12~15). It is because only the life led by God can bring about the true happiness.

Some question, “If God is living, why hasn’t He helped me? Isn’t God just?” Nevertheless, they are misunderstanding God by thinking that He is a humanist or He has given in to social justice. God does not care about ideologies. People say, “Do we have to be bound by God? We have the right to choose our own way according to our rationale”, and to God, it is the same as if they are saying, “We have the right to be destroyed.” They say, “God, I have my own dreams and my own way of life”, and it is the same as if they are saying, “Please do not bother the cancer cells in my body. They have their own right to exist.” They say, “People need to seek their own happiness instead of focusing only on church work”, and to God, it is as though they are saying, “Why are you trying to take our own right to go to the Hell?”

Humanity has entered the wrong way from the beginning. The world is the place where the devil rules and endeavors to separate men from God. For humanity that lives in this circumstance, God has provided a certain frame of life. That is the Commandments. There is a definite will of God because God gave commandments to man. God wants us to live a life under His guidance. The testimony of those who followed His commandments wholeheartedly show vividly that they relied on God and not on themselves (Pm. 119:89~105).

God gives us life; He does not put us into affliction or strip us of anything. Even the breath we are taking right now is possible because of God. We ought to be able to receive all things from God by remembering that God is the Lord of all things. We must fix our hardened-heart that wants to live on its own, and determine to live by relying on God.

Let us be united in Jesus Christ, the head of the church.

Who is Jesus Christ? He is the one who helps us to live relying on the self-existent God. For this, He came to the earth, washed the sinner’s feet, sacrificed himself as the ransom for the sin of the world, and restlessly intercedes for us after the ascension. He also does not leave us like an orphan but helps us by sending the Holy Spirit. God is with us, even in this very moment, and provides us His flesh and blood through the Lord’s servants.

Jesus Christ is not lower than God (Heb. 1:2~3). He is God overall and to be praised forever (Rom. 9:5). Such Greatness had come to the earth and helped us. He edified our weaknesses, cleansed our sins from living on our own, and helped us to become the people who rely on God wholeheartedly. Through His grace, we became the people who rely on God by our own choice.

The church is formed by people united with God in Jesus Christ. God made all things subject to Christ and made him the head of all things. The church is above all things and Christ is above the church. The church is the body of our Lord. The church is the fullness of Christ who fills everything in every way. Jesus Christ is before all things and yet with all things. Hence, everything in heaven and earth are united in Jesus Christ.

God made everything under Christ, however, Christ will make all things subject to the Father (1Co. 15:28). When the day comes everything that belongs to Christ will rise again, and He will hand over the kingdom to God the Father after he destroys all dominion, authority and power of the world (1Co. 15:24). We are helping-servants for the work of the Son, handing over the Kingdom to God. Thus, we ought to take pride in ourselves. We must not lose heart by any affliction or despair. It is because failure cannot stand a chance against us, who serve the almighty God.

Let us discipline ourselves to live by the grace of the self-existent God.

In order to live according to the will of the self-existent God, we need to learn to live by the grace and practice it. Through this, our faith will be edified more beautifully than anything in the heavens and earth. The Lord has revealed that our iniquity to live on our own has derived from the Devil and convicted the Devil. Hence, our life must not be the same as the old. And here are the seven key elements we need to follow in order to live by the grace of the self-existent God.

First, we want to be thorough as we give tithes and offerings so that we can build our faith that overcomes the world. New believers must give tithes and offerings, as well. If you are not thorough about tithes and offerings, your faith can be weakened and this can be an infinitely indelible drawback for your soul. Our faith towards God should be shown through our actions. By them, we can build the faith that overcomes the world.

Second, we need to have successful worship. Worship is a sacrifice to God where we give ourselves as a sacrifice. Hence, whether we pray or praise, the whole congregation must be united in one heart and with a loud voice. The prayer and praise does not take place only when one feels like it. The prayer and praise are not only the saint’s precious duty towards God, but also are the commission, only given to the church, which promotes the Gospel. We need to gather all of our attention when we listen to the sermons.

Third, we ought to fulfill the voluntary work and duties of church thoroughly. Regardless of how busy or important the work of the world is, we ought to strive to succeed in the work of God’s kingdom. For which, we must analyze, mull over, and prepare for a whole week. Since it is a sacred work of God, we must continue this throughout our whole life. Even if we are to die tomorrow, we must do this today.

The forth, we must keep the new commandment. As the people who have received the grace of God, that is our permanent duty to keep until our departure from this world. The new commandment in other words is caring for other saints. Inside the church, there are people who are tempted or heart-broken. If you have received grace you should visit and comfort those who are feeble; help those who are tempted so they can turn around.

Fifth, we must align our will to the church’s direction. The whole church must sound as one voice. Although the work that God continues through the Overseer does not agree with your thoughts, you should be able to align your heart gladly with the church.

Sixth, we ought to pray continually. We cannot live without continual prayer. In order to experience God’s protection against the enemy’s relentless attempt to attack us and protection in advance at every important corner of our ways, we need to pray continually. It is through the power of prayer that we walk with God.

Seventh, the church must prepare itself to be best in evangelizing. It must prepare and reinforce the required qualities to become an evangelizing church. The hard work and cooperation of every single part of the body of the church will lead to an elite church. In accomplishing this, the whole congregation must pray together, envisioning one dream.

Let us rely on the word of the self-existent God. Let us live only by God’s grace. We have the right to get God’s help. We are God’s servant to serve God forever; we are God’s children to please God forever.