Title: Eyes Looking at the Open Sky
“You stiff-necked men and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always do like your fathers against the Holy Spirit. Which of the prophets your fathers did not persecute? They killed those who predicted the coming of the righteous, and now you is the redeemer of the righteous man, and he became a murderer. You received the law of the angel, and did not keep it.” When they heard this, they were pierced in their hearts and gnashed their teeth at him. Stephen, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and looked up. And when they saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, they said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” And they cried out with a loud voice, and covered their ears, and with one accord they rushed at him, and threw them outside the city and stoned him. The witnesses took off their clothes and put them at the feet of a young man named Saul. They stoned Stephen, and Stephen cried out, "Lord Jesus, receive my soul." And he knelt down and called out aloud, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." Talk and go to sleep."
“I asked God for strength to get anything,
I was born weak and learned to be humbly obedient.
I saved my health to do big things
On the contrary, I became ill and was able to do good things.
I was looking for wealth and happiness
By being poor, I have learned wisdom.
Once in power, he wanted to win the praise of all.
I became powerless and depended on God.
I wished for all the good things to enjoy life
God has given me eternal life so that I can enjoy everything.
I didn't get anything I wanted
I got everything I was hoping for.
I am lacking, but even the things I did not ask for were answered.
I am blessed most abundantly of all."
This article was found in the diary of an unknown black soldier found during the American Civil War.
What a deep inner faith this writing has matured!
One day, I had a service at a black church.
The impression I got back then is still moving today.
They felt that their hymns, prayers, and fellowship of love was a hot truth, not a pretense
What happened is still vivid today. Now we are in the season of autumn.
Like the lesson that autumn gives, we should consider each other for the maturity of our faith.
is.
1. The autumn sky is high and blue. What are you seeing in that sky?
People go out to see the mountain now that it is the season of autumn leaves.
Just looking at the colorfully flowing mountains in front of your eyes, you are intoxicated with its beauty.
However, there are many cases where we do not see the providence of God that causes the leaves to fall off after being dyed. To see it, the seeing eye of the inner man must be opened.
Autumn is a season of contemplation for those whose inner eyes are opened,
is also a season.
So poems come out, songs come out, the actions of returning to the homes of the prodigals.
I think it's coming out. Autumn also reminds us of maturity as a person.
This change of seasons reminds me of many things.
The lush leaves that covered and obscured the sky on a summer day,
Now, one by one, when they fall and pile up as fallen leaves, all the things that were hidden in the forest are exposed.
will be revealed. Digging valleys, bumpy rocks, and even discarded rubbish, everything hidden in the forest becomes visible.
When that happens, our eyes will look at nature to the sky.
The autumn sky is so clear and blue.
Compared to all the dirt on the ground, the autumn sky is so clear and clean.
What do you feel when you look into the cloudless sky?
The sky is the sky that is there yesterday and today.
The sky I saw as a child is that sky, and the sky I see as I get older is that sky.
is. But now the eyes of my soul looking at the sky must be different.
Things on the ground will one day fade away and fall off like fallen leaves!
And like fallen leaves, they are blown away by the wind somewhere and disappear without a trace.
But, that sky is eternal.
It is our eternal hometown that must one day be lifted up to that heaven.
In the seasons of life, the youth that was lush like summer is gone, the status disappears, and the honor is forgotten.
It's going to fade, but in the end, our eyes will stay in that sky.
In that sense, I think of the deacon Stephen, who was the ordained deacon of the early church.
2. Stephen's spiritual eyes brightened and he looked at the open sky.
There I saw the Lord standing at the right hand of God.
Stephen was an ordained deacon at the church in Jerusalem. He was also the first martyr.
As the persecution of the Jerusalem church began, Stephen, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, persecuted the Jews.
shouted out loud. You don't know how brave I cried.
“You stiff-necked people and uncircumcised in heart and ears, always resist the Holy Spirit,
Like your ancestors, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed those who foretold the coming of the righteous man, and now you are the raptors and murderers of the righteous. A direct opening was opened.
They said that the moment they heard these words, their hearts were pierced, and instead they sharpened their teeth and stoned Stephen. This is how I record it at that time.
“When they heard these words, they were pierced in their hearts and gnashed their teeth at him, and Stephen
Fully looking up to heaven, looking up, and seeing the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, he said, “Behold, I see heaven opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” It was truly amazing.
Even when Stephen was stoned and his head was ripped to pieces, he looked up to the sky and did not lose his courage. And he looked at the Lord who was watching him from the sky. The Lord is watching over his loved ones until the very last moment. Here we receive a great spiritual lesson.
What do our eyes see now and believe in Jesus?
Are you still not seeing the open sky and believing in Jesus?
Were they not the kind of believers who still pursued it by looking only at the earth?
Are you still not able to see the open sky and fulfill your duties?
We must reflect deeply.
If you had the experience of looking at the Lord with the gates of heaven open and standing on it like Stephen, wouldn't you be swept here and there like Bupyeongcho, looking at people bigger and listening to them more? You will reflect deeply.
If we look inside each church these days, we can see that there are many different phenomena from the early church.
you will see There are also our clergymen.
It means that there are many carnal Christians without seeing the open heaven.
Therefore, in the church that should form a community of faith, what kind of human thing to achieve
That said, there are many cases where
Those who want to achieve through the church rather than the heart of sacrificing for the church, which is the body of the Lord
The fact is that there are many Christians in the running state.
The church is a community of faith that forms the body of the Lord.
Therefore, the church must yield to each other and strive to keep the unity of the Holy Spirit.
where you should go
Therefore, the office of the church is not a claiming office, but only service.
In other words, the church is just doing the Lord's will.
Therefore, we must not be bound by or biased by human emotions.
When a believer loses the purity of his faith, he is no different from an unbeliever.
The church is a training ground to practice the Heavenly Citizens Movement.
Giving to each other, each esteeming others better than themselves,
First, it is a community of love that respects.
On the other hand, it is a place where you have to risk your life and fight for the truth.
Everything is okay, but we have to work hard to build virtue.
This is different from general social groups and workplaces.
The law of society cannot be the same as the law of the church.
Every church must surrender its claim to Christ.
Because the Lord sees through the motives of people's hearts, if they are not pure, the Lord blocks them. So the Lord pointed out and rebuked the impurity of the hidden motives of the Pharisees, scribes, and priests. When you hear such reproof, you just need to repent.
But they united to kill the Lord and crucified him.
Even today, this has not changed. If the hidden motive is impure, artificial
The Lord blocks the work. This is also the mystical power of the Church.
For 2000 years of the church, all kinds of unrighteous forces have tried to destroy the church in an unjust way
The reason why the church is still so strong is because there are mature believers who see the open sky.
3. Seeing the open sky gives us courage to overcome reality.
Even if the whole world has thrown stones at him, Stephen will watch him from the
Looking to the Lord, I was able to overcome reality.
And he could have the heart of Christ.
“They stoned Stephen, and Stephen cried out, saying, Lord Jesus, receive my soul.
And he got down on his knees and called out loud, saying, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." After saying this, he fell asleep.
This was the prayer the Lord said on the cross.
You will see Stephen who became one with the Lord.
Today, when we think of Deacon Stephen, we cannot help but feel ashamed.
We blush each other over trifles, we attack each other for petty pride
It makes me feel jealous, and deeply reflect on whether or not my heart is boiling.
We, too, must face the Lord, whom Stephen saw.
Do not think only of the things on earth, but the Lord who is watching you from the open
I'll have to look. Only then will you have the courage to escape from the pain and suffering of reality and the dreadful puddle. Before talking about the futility and impermanence of life, we must have open eyes to look at the sky.
Jacob also saw the open sky. He was homeless on the road he was running away from his brother.
I saw the open sky that night. And it was the vision he saw that night that changed his life. I heard a voice saying, "I am with you, and I will prosper wherever you go, and I will not leave you until I have done what I have told you."
Dear saints!
For me, on the night of December 5, 1950, I looked up at the night sky while breaking up with my mother at the Taedong River.
When I think of the words I said to my mother, "Please pray for my mother," "Then, I can only live by prayer..." while looking at the night sky with tears in my eyes, I believe that that strength was the strength of my life that I have endured up to this time.
I can't see you again in the flesh now, but he's going to die on this earth.
Because I am convinced that even for a moment, I must have died praying for this son.
Stephen looked to the open sky and saw the Lord watching from there
I hope that we too will become all the saints who win until the end while looking at the open sky. ♣