Title: Do You Respect Jesus?
Contents
1. Words that begin
When the Lord Jesus calls us through dreams, visions, or evangelism, people will react in four ways.
They either show no interest, reject them, only accept them, or lead a graciously accepting life.
Even among the church members, there are not many who believe in the Lord Jesus as the Savior to entrust not only their souls but also their whole lives, and accept them with respect.
Most church members only accepted the Lord Jesus for a while, and after that, they just keep guests in the corner of their hearts as if they were sitting in a sarang room, and they live according to their reason, will, and emotions. Even some church members do not even know that they have left the Lord Jesus, and are living in the illusion that they are walking with the Lord Jesus.
According to 2 Corinthians 13:5,
“Examine yourselves, whether you are in the faith, and prove yourselves, do you not know for yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you, otherwise you are rejected.”
2. Matthew, a tax collector who honorably accepted Jesus who was called
As Jesus was passing from Capernaum, the place where the paralytic was healed, he told Matthew the tax collector, who was sitting at the customs office, to follow him.
At that time, there is a reason why tax collectors could not attend the synagogue, were not qualified to witness, did not use the money as a bailout, and even their families were despised.
Unlike taxes, revenues from customs went into the treasury of the local monarchs, not the treasury of the Roman emperor. In Galilee they entered the vault of Herod Antipas. By the way, the collection of customs duties was not done by state officials, but through tax contractors. They set a higher one-year tax rate than their competitors, and contracted local tariffs. We had to make up for the shortfall, and we could have a surplus, so we were taxed unfairly or excessively.
E. Schweizer
“The tax collectors became outcasts because they defiled themselves by constantly dealing with the Gentiles, and were hired by the Romans or those belonging to Herod. Moreover, since it was left to the highest priced publican to collect the tax, he pressured his servants, or publicans, to collect the tax almost coercively and dishonorably. Therefore, the Jews despised tax collectors as did the Gentiles.”
In Judea at that time, there was a saying, “There are ferocious lions in the mountains, and cruel tax collectors in the streets.”
Despite such popular beliefs, Jesus loved Matthew the tax collector and called him as a disciple.
Hearing the call of Jesus' love, the tax collector Matthew gave up everything and decided to become a disciple and followed.
Unlike the other disciples, Matthew was grateful and moved by the grace that made him a disciple, so he took Jesus into his home and treated him with dignity.
Matthew, a tax collector who was despised and despised by the Jewish community, had an extraordinary spiritual sense.
After becoming a disciple, the publican Matthew not only took the Lord Jesus to his house, but also had his disciples, many tax collectors, and sinners come to the feast.
Matthew was a spiritually sensible man who knew the truth of the Lord Jesus, a grateful man, a gifted man, and a decision-maker.
As the saying goes, ‘play as you see fit’, Matthew held a large farewell party to say goodbye to his old life and his old friends who had lived apart from the Lord Jesus. Matthew, who had a great feast, knew how to spend money. It was different from those who spent money to become the head of a large temple or denomination, the president of a chalkboard factory who gave money to former and current principals, and those who bribed powerful people such as the president.
We are thankful for the grace that we have been saved by believing in the Lord. We are about to hold a feast with the Lord, so how grateful and thrilled it is to have been chosen as the Lord's disciple. If your faith grows to the extent that you are convinced that you have received salvation that cannot be obtained by anyone other than the Lord, and if your faith matures enough to be convinced that you will go to heaven instead of hell when you die, the Lord and the person who evangelized It makes you so much more grateful.
The more spiritually sensible Christians to know that, the more fresh and bright the denomination and world will be. However, when we look at the words and actions of some Christians, especially those stemming from lust for honor, water, or authority, we can't help but think that the Lord is being treated harshly rather than being honored. We cannot help but think that the Lord is completely ignored.
If the special envoy appointed by the president speaks and acts for greed, regardless of the president's instructions, is he treating the president badly and ignoring the president's instructions thoroughly? Our life now is to honor the Lord Jesus! Is it bullying?
May all of us live a life of reverently receiving the Lord Jesus by obeying the words of the Lord Jesus.
Matthew, who was changed from being of the world to being of God, and changed from a publican to a disciple of the Lord Jesus, had a bigger purpose for a great feast.
A greater purpose than serving the Lord Jesus and his disciples, tax collectors and sinners was the evangelical mission to bring tax collectors and sinners to meet the Lord Jesus. Among the many people who gathered, including tax collectors and sinners, were not invited, but some came because of longing for the miracles and words of Jesus, or out of curiosity, and there were even leaders who came to catch the pods.
3. The Pharisees' Reproach and Jesus' Answer
In the East, the table was considered the closest place of fellowship.
Therefore, Jesus' act of sharing a table with those who were abandoned at that time was a revolutionary challenge to false traditions and customs and an event that revealed undiscriminatory love for all people.
Such actions of Jesus soon aroused the wrath of the leaders, the Pharisees.
The Pharisees who saw the scene did not dare to question Jesus directly, but to the disciples
“Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” he asked. This hill door is double-tracked.
It was because he hoped to damage his loyalty and respect for Jesus by reminding his disciples that his teacher, Jesus, was breaking the law. It was a really cunning alien. To those religious leaders, extra-legal love and beautiful Boeun were just a slander and a distance between them. Those religious leaders who boasted of their knowledge of the Law, or the Old Testament, did not have the spiritual sense to recognize Jesus as the promised Savior, far from receiving Jesus.
Jesus, who saw through the cunning alienation and slander of the Pharisees, spoke in parables so that they could understand, believe, and be saved instead of slandering and slandering like them. A doctor is useless to the healthy, but only to the sick.
And, blatantly, he declared that he did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.
“The healthy” and “the righteous” are satirizing the Pharisees, and “the sick” and “sinners” are parables of tax collectors and sinners.
However, Jesus did not say that the Pharisees were actually healthy because they were physically and mentally strong, nor did Jesus say that they were righteous because they were righteous. However, he was satirizing the Pharisees who boasted that they were healthy and righteous.
Next, the Lord Jesus, quoting Hosea 6:6, to the proud Pharisees that they are more than enough to be saved,
He said, “Go and learn what this means, I desire mercy and not sacrifice.”
The Greek word for “compassion” is eleon (?λεον), which is used in the same sense as “merciful,” “benevolent,” or “loving,” meaning that it is not just sympathy, but a feeling of helping.
And the Greek word for “sacrifice” is thusian (θυσ?αν), which means the sacrifice that the priest gave from the people. This word was also used as a synagogue to signify a sacrifice or worship.
In fact, many writers of the Old Testament knew that it was not the outward and formal sacrifices that please God, but prayer, praise and thanksgiving, a broken and contrite heart, doing justice and loving kindness, and walking humbly with God.
As members of our church, not only the spiritual and spiritual aspects, but also life itself must be a sacrifice that is pleasing to God.
If we look at Romans 12:1,
“Therefore, brethren, I beseech you by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”
Living as a holy living sacrifice is receiving the Lord reverently.
4. Conclusion
The ministers and members of the church must accept the Lord Jesus as the Savior, to whom they will entrust not only their souls, but their entire lives, and accept them with dignity.
After receiving the Lord, there are church members who either deny the Lord or have no interest in the Lord at all because they lead a self-centered or self-centered life. After accepting the Lord, there are church members who seek the Lord only when they need it while living a self-centered or self-centered life.
I hope that all of us who have received the Lord will accept Him more and more sublimely through the life of evangelism, denying ourselves, taking up our cross, and following the Lord.
(Poongseong Methodist Church. Book: Complete Commentary on 27 New Testament Books/ Interpretation of Difficult Scriptures I, II/ Salvation Before Jesus Came/Paul’s Understanding of Man/ Prosperity Prayer/ Seasonal Sermonbooks/ Sermonbook 18. -3051)