Title: God is on our side.
God is on [us] side.
Romans 8:31-39
*I believe that preaching should be a touch on life's problems.
No matter how much I read the sermons of Jesus, he did not speak of a non-local tomorrow or future.
Even if 'tomorrow' is sometimes glimpsed, it was meant to say 'now'.
Today we are approaching a very real-world problem.
As I write the manuscript, I leave many words between words.
It would be difficult to find a comrade who can read it all the time.
My phone is off during the night and only turns on in the morning. On Saturday morning, when I turned on the phone, I heard a beep indicating that I had received a series of 'tinkling' and 'diffling' messages. When I checked it, it was a post that arrived at 11:52 on a Friday night. The contents are as follows.
“I’m sorry, Pastor. Because of my fault, I was subjected to subhuman disgrace and humiliation by a child. It's my fault. I apologize for everything. The only thing I donate is my body.”
It was something that made me feel that my personal suffering was at its peak. It was a terrifying aura that caused goosebumps. What? Why? who? Under what circumstances did you send me this sentence? The dawning dawn was terrifying. for fear of what might happen. Then I opened the Bible to calm my heart. It's because prayer didn't go well. As I was reading the book of Romans, the word [us] came into my heart in chapter 8, the main text of the day. And I started reading chapter 8 dozens of times.
Paul says:
“If God is on our side, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31)
Why did Paul say that God was on [our] side instead of [my] side? Is this the clue of grace that Paul is talking about? I don't know if this thought came from a sense of isolation called [I] in someone's desperate cry on the phone in my hand. Because it is clear that the cliff he feels is not from [us], but from [me]. But Paul does not say that God is [my] God, but [our] God. Just think it over in your mind for once. [Our God!] [My God!] I don't know if I'm the only one who feels that way, but when I say [Our God!], doesn't it feel like there are many other people around me besides the most supreme God, giving me strength? On the other hand, [My God!] Then you have the will, but don't you feel isolated, as if you are standing on a precipice somewhere?
On whose side is your God? Are you on my side? Or are you on our side? Perhaps Paul is writing this article for Jewish Christians who still have not given up on their selfish belief in God, and for those who claim the God of [my] side who claims that only the God they believe in is right. That is why everyone had to be condemned and condemned. Before Jesus came, God became someone's God and not anyone's God, as you know. Sinners, non-Jews, and the socially weak did not dare to [with me] God. Only the Jews could call God [on my side]. When God was [my] only God, condemnation occurred. It's pushing you out of me. rejecting us. But Jesus Christ changed [me] into [us].
Paul says:
“He who did not spare his Son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not with him also give us all things as a gift freely” (verse 32).
Again and again, Paul speaks of the love of Jesus Christ that made us [us],
“Who will dare accuse those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies; who will dare condemn them?” (verses 33-34).
What is condemnation? I am not treated as [we], but as [me] and you as [you]. I'm not at fault and only you are at fault, so isn't it so-called "condemnation" that the difference between you and me who is wrong is what is called a "condemnation"? It is condemnation that a person is more tolerable than external attacks or accusations. It is your separation from me. Among the declarations that wives and husbands quarrel with, one of the most eerie declarations is that ‘you and I have nothing to do with you anymore’. Now it is not us, but Namnam. It's hard to endure being condemned by others, but what's even more terrifying is to condemn yourself later. In this regard, Paul makes it clear that no one can condemn those whom God has justified. Couldn't it be because it's [we] that we can't do that? God accepted me as I was isolated and made God and I [us]. God justifies me when I say that I will be your father and you will be called my son. That is why it is not possible to condemn me because I am condemning God.
The Lord does not condemn us, who dares to condemn us? Even the Lord does not condemn me, because he is already one with me, so to accuse me is to accuse himself. Even if we scold our children at home, we don't do it outside because that's an act of scolding ourselves. I do it because my son and I are already one. This is the Lord's gift to us, to the Gentiles and non-Jews of our time. This is something that no one in this world can infringe on. Anyone who is aware of and accepts this need no longer be in the feeling of isolation of [I]. Condemned or not condemned. Because it is [we].
So Paul says.
“Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Tribulation, distress, persecution, hunger, nakedness, threat, or sword? ... I'm sure. Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor powers, nor present, nor future, nor power, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, can separate us from the love of God in our Lord Jesus Christ. None” (verses 35-39).
The point of this loud declaration is not that God only loves me. It doesn't mean you only love Jews. He was the God of only those who keep the law, the God of their own, but now he has become [our] God. That fact will never change.
First, we must have faith that God is not only [my] God, but [our] God. This is the Christian faith. The faith that says I am and you are you is the faith of the Jews whom Jesus despises so much. We must live the life of [our God].
1) To do that, you need to know how to set time apart. In today's society, time for ourselves, whether it is time to rest, meditate, pray, walk or travel, is considered a luxury or a waste. In "A Harmonious Life" written by the Helen Nearings, it is said that in their daily routine, they worked half of their day in the field and the other half took a break while reading. We need to have time for ourselves, alone, even if not half of our routine, at least one hour a day or one day a week. Our coming before the Lord on Sunday also sanctifies time.
Notice what Paul said when he said that “nothing can separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ.” It is the Lord's love that we must never infringe upon. We must not forget that we brought those isolated [me] into [our] garden. The gender of time confirms that fact.
2). Next is prayer. If you look at the birth process of life with an electron microscope, hundreds of millions of sperm approach the egg. When one of them meets the egg and fertilization takes place, something like a shield is put on, preventing the other from entering. That is how life is born. The same is true. We also deepen our experience of meeting the Lord, of loving, and of being loved in prayer. In that moment, a shield is formed around us, and no worries or insecurities in this world can attack us, and we confirm the fact that we are one in Christ. So it removes the distinction between me and you and makes us who we are.
I am still afraid.
My soul is cold because of someone who is not [we] but has become [me] and is standing in isolation and trembling, thinking about death. I hope he hears this declaration of Paul today.
“Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Tribulation, distress, persecution, hunger, nakedness, threat, or sword? ... I'm sure. Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor powers, nor present, nor future, nor power, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, can separate us from the love of God in our Lord Jesus Christ. None” (verses 35-39).
This is a confirmation of the love that God is one with me and exists as [us], and at the same time, it is practical that all brothers and sisters in Christ living on this earth cannot live together and live separately according to their own profit or loss because you are me and you. It is also a commandment.