Title: Life of Service
Contents
1) Service and Incarnation
2) Service and self-denial
Therefore, to serve means to utter self-denial. Otherwise, Jesus Christ cannot be revealed through me. If the person serving does not deny himself, the 'I' will be revealed. If I am exposed, it is not service.
There is a phrase that is often used in the general church, "I have been blessed". If you have been touched while listening to a sermon, it is usually said that you have received grace. But true grace means meeting with God. So, the nation is caught by the object that the being met. So it is no longer I who live, but the one I met who lives. These experiences radically change me. Now I am no longer me. Seeing 'I am not me'. What is 'I am not me'? That is 'grace'. In other words, it is to experience oneself as it is as grace itself. It's not grace because you have something. 'I' itself is grace.
I would like to introduce a poem called 'Spring Road' by Jeong Ho-seung.
even where the road ends
there is a way
even where the road ends
there is a way
Become a spring road by yourself
There are people who walk endlessly
The river flows and stops
Birds fly and don't come back
Even if all the petals between the sky and the earth are scattered
Purple
Even where love ends
There is someone who remains with love
love yourself
There are people who walk endlessly on the spring road.
Those who become their own path at the end of the path, and those who become love at the end of love, are those who have received grace. Those who experience that I am the way, the truth, and the life are those who have received grace. He is always 'carving' and endless 'love'. Because he is love and grace, it is not difficult to love. Serving is not difficult. Because he became grace and truth itself, not me.
3) Service and Vision
In today's text, the hungry, thirsty, stranger, naked, sick, and imprisoned are mentioned. But the Lord identifies Himself with them. That is, the hungry Christ, the thirsty Christ, the stranger Christ, the sick Christ, the prisoner Christ. Here is the vision of service. Our vision is Christ. Meeting Christ is our hope, our joy, and our purpose. But Christ unites Himself with the least.
Who is the least of my brothers? We meet Christ through them. When we turn away from them, we turn away from Christ. “I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me,” he said.
These young people are the ones who have been abandoned at home, excluded from society, hurt, and suffered. But I have a vision for them. It is because they are the least of them. If they meet God and become captivated by the love of Christ, they will become great workers in this society. And society changes. This is my philosophy on social change. The vision of service is for the very little ones.
4) Service and the Kingdom of God
The purpose of service is to enable each person to discover their worth and beauty in God. And by giving love and living with the confidence of love to receive love, it is to form a community where we live together. That is the kingdom of God.
5) A CALL TO SERVICE
We are all called to service. It is a call to service when God called Abraham to "leave your country, your hometown, and your relatives." At that time, Abraham becomes the source of blessing. So are we. However, the reason we cannot live a life of service is because we cannot give up and leave. We are tied to what we have. We hold on to what we hold on to. must be thrown away. I have to leave. So we must live a life of service. The value of our lives is not in what we possess. Have you lived a life of service? depended on And God is calling us to a life of service.
All monasteries make three vows before God. Those are poverty, purity, and obedience. However, Mother Teresa's Love Mission in India, who received the Nobel Peace Prize, must make the fourth vow. That is free 'service'.
The spirit of service has gone too far in this day and age. We are called to revitalize that spirit. Jesus himself says, “Follow me.” “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”