Title: Intimacy vs Hostility / Day 4:18-21
Contents
Title: Intimacy vs Hostility
Bible: 1 John 4:18-21
Many people today are unhappy because they are not well aware of the issues of intimacy and hostility. This is a matter of character and spirituality, and it is also a matter of family, society and the nation.
We witnessed the worst terrorist attacks in history on September 11th in Washington and New York, USA. The World Trade Center Twin Towers destroyed in New York, at 110 stories and 443 meters above the ground, are the second tallest buildings in the United States after Chicago's Sears Tower, and were once the world's tallest buildings. There are 55,000 residents in the building alone, and there are various offices, hotels, shopping centers, financial institutions, and restaurants. It was estimated that up to 150,000 people a day, including tourists, came in and out, so it was virtually a building that could be called a city. However, watching this building being destroyed by a suicide collision of a hijacked civil aircraft in the air, and watching the video of the US Department of Defense building partially destroyed and countless innocent people killed mercilessly, everyone was terrified and astonished.
Through this incident, we think about how murderous and demonic properties of the destructive power of hostility in the human mind. In Genesis 4, Cain, the first child of the first class, stoned his younger brother Abel to death. It was because of the hostility of anger towards his brother. Such hostility is something that brings misery with great destructive power to many individuals, families, peoples, and nations. We will note that every individual, group, and nation, emotionally discerning, stands on the path of one emotion in the schema of hostility-distancing-intimacy, to a greater or lesser extent. However, as people lean from intimacy to hostility, they radiate destructive and murderous properties. Therefore, we need the wisdom of life to cast aside hostility, close distance, and promote intimacy. So, what should we learn from today's sermon?
1. We must learn to enjoy spiritual intimacy with God.
Verse 19 also says, “He first loved us.” It is saying that God is intimate. Therefore, rather than fearing God and keeping distance, we need to fellowship as a close father and draw closer and closer spiritually. Isaiah 43:1 in the Old Testament says, "Do not be afraid, I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are mine."
Our second child is shy. But this morning, the child woke up and said, "Oh, I slept well" and came to his father, hugged him and kissed him. As I watched the child express intimacy with his father, I thanked God. Because the ability to express and share intimacy is an invisible asset. Because living like that is happiness. If you look at your father with fear and horror, that one person will be engulfed in misery, despair, and sorrow. So do not fear God. Those who enjoy and share intimacy with the Lord will be spiritually happy and will have a successful life forever.
2. We must live with intimacy with fellow human beings.
This is one of the most important commandments the Lord has given to life. Verse 21 of today's text says, "He who loves God must also love his brother." Those who love their fellow humans and share intimacy according to the command to love their brother will discover a new world of happiness that they have not enjoyed before. In verse 18 of today's text, we need to pay attention to the words, "There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear has punishment." Anxiety and fear disappear for those who enjoy intimacy because of love.
But today, millions of people are living insecure with a loss of intimacy. Loss of intimacy between children and the elderly, between husband and wife, between parents and children, and between employees at work, brings anxiety, fear, and hostility, and causes unnecessary conflict, unhappiness and destruction. All humans need bread, money, and strength. But no less important is intimacy. Therefore, we must creatively develop and act the wise way of living in closeness among fellow humans. At that time, the individual's personality will become more noble, the family life will become more harmonious, the social life will become much more energetic, and the happiness promised by God will be attained.
In conclusion, people become anxious and angry when intimacy is deprived. When intimacy is satisfied, you enjoy stability and maintain a friendly state. The more mature a person is, and the more spiritual he is, the more successful he is, the more he expresses and enjoys intimacy. It is also a good competitive advantage in a positive sense. However, people or groups who have lost intimacy and become hostile are enslaved to evil spirits of violence, strife, destruction, and murder in anger, and live unhappy in sorrow, fear, and anxiety, and end up condemned to eternal hell.
Therefore, all of us must pursue a life of intimacy on two levels throughout our lives. One is how to enjoy good intimacy in a relationship with God, and how to share good intimacy in a relationship with fellow humans. As we open our eyes to this intimacy and gain new perspectives, I am sure we will grow greatly both spiritually and personally. A happy new life will begin in your home, business, social life, or church life.
shalom
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