Title: Life to the Top (Philippians 1)
Contents
Life to the top (Philippians 1:9-11) 2000.07.02.
Among the great news that came to Europeans while I was in Europe, three were about the summit meeting between the leaders of the two Koreas on the Korean Peninsula, one was about the European Cup soccer tournament in progress, and the third was that Korean doctors It was shameful news that the entire nation was uneasy as the hospitals went on strike with health and life as collateral and medical treatment was stopped, and even patients who did not receive treatment immediately died. We cannot agree or empathize with anything that threatens our health and our lives.
If any part of our body gets sick or injured, we feel a serious danger, but the heart among our members is directly related to our life. The heart acts like a pump that supplies blood to the whole body, and if this function is not done properly, our life will be in crisis and it will lead to death.
The state of our heart is important for our normal daily life. Likewise, what is important for our spiritual life and religious life is not our ordinary heart, but the heart of Jesus Christ as Paul expressed in today's text.
“God is my witness, how I long for all of you with the heart of Jesus Christ.” To say that Paul loved the Philippians with the heart of Jesus Christ means that he had the heart of Jesus.
When biblical scholars express the heart, they see it not only as a source of physical, intellectual, emotional, and volitional energy, but also as the dwelling place of plans, attitudes, and fears and hopes that shape an individual's thoughts. What is more important is that the heart is seen as a place where we meet God and come into contact with God. If your heart is broken, stopped, or has an abnormality, it will be difficult to meet God.
Heart is called 'heart' in English, but there are more places in the Bible that translate 'heart' as 'heart' than 'heart'. As part of the body, the heart's job is to circulate blood. However, it is meaningful to say that the heart is not just a part of the body, it is the center of mental life and a point of contact that enables communion with God.
Paul is revealing that he has the heart of Jesus Christ. In a sense, before he believed in Jesus Christ, Paul had a heart that was arrogant, arrogant, and arrogant because of the law, learning, and fame. Then one day, when he met Jesus, he began to change into the heart of Jesus. In a word, his heart before meeting Jesus was a sick heart. However, after meeting Jesus, his old and sick heart disappeared and was replaced with the heart of the Lord. It's like having a heart transplant.
Anyone who goes to the top must have a strong heart. Likewise, if you are living a spiritual life of earnestly living your faith and serving the Lord diligently, you must have a strong heart, and this heart must become the heart of Jesus Christ.
Also, the text we read today speaks of the maturity of our faith.
The apostle Paul said to the Philippian church, "Be rich in love, knowledge and understanding, discerning what is good, and being truthful, living blameless until the day of the Lord, bearing much fruit of righteousness. For example, it is a word of exhortation to mature, mature, and strengthen your faith.
We believers have one religious goal. It is our faith that matures. This is the goal and desire of our believers. And this is what we want and at the same time what God wants and what our Lord wants. It is because faith is more beautiful than anything else. And because faith is a living organism, it must grow in order for that life to have power. However, in order to mature in faith, it goes through several stages to grow.
One is the "infantile stage".
Every believer goes through this stage. This stage can be called the initiation stage of faith. This stage is called the infantile stage, and this stage has one characteristic. It is extremely "egocentric". Everything is "me" oriented. When you see young children, they think and act mainly on themselves. Even if they have food, they know nothing but their own mouth. If there is something I want, even if it belongs to someone else, I have to get it in my hand to unlock my intuition. That's why I'm wearing a bunch and being reckless. It's still young. This stage can be called the infant stage of faith.
This is also true of faith. The infant faith is also self-centered, so I put my position first. No matter what you do, you want someone to know. They prefer to be revealed rather than to serve in secret. My prayers come first, and the prayers are noisy. It is because the faith is still in its infancy stage.
If you look at the church, there are a lot of believers in this infant stage. So they are clumsy, immature, and weak in their faith. And the attitude of faith is unstable. We recommend that you stay on this step for a while. It is because that faith is not stylish and has no fragrance.
The second is "Youth of Faith".
Adolescence is characterized by strength, courage and vigor. Young people don't care. He wanders around without knowing where the night is going. This period is called adolescence. There is nothing to go through and nothing is impossible. So you can be arrogant. Goethe referred to this time as “youth is a time when you can get drunk just by being young”.
However, in this youth, it is good to have courage, blood, and strength, but instead of it, he lacks depth in his thoughts and lacks the deep wisdom of life. So I often make mistakes and fall. Because I don't have a race wheel yet. These are the pros and cons of adolescence.
This is also true of faith. In the youth of faith, there is courage and zeal regardless of fire. So I serve and I am dedicated. We have all experienced it, but how passionate was that faith when we first received grace?. So I work hard. never tired. So it's good, but instead, there are a lot of mistakes and it's frustrating. I'm just trying to move forward. The wisdom of moderation is lacking. This is the youth of faith.
Every believer goes through this stage. Perhaps it is at this time that you feel the fresh taste of faith. The taste of faith in this period will never be forgotten. This is the first time to feel and experience the mysterious taste of faith, so that taste will remain in your heart for the rest of your life. The religious life of this period remains in my memory for a long time.
But staying in this stage for too long is not good. Faith must progress quickly to the next level. Only then will that faith flourish.
The third is "stage of coming of age".
If you look at the church, there are a lot of believers at this stage. A church that has many believers who have reached this stage is a mature church and a smooth church. There is no creak in this church. No blushing and no fighting. So, the church has grace and the things it does are going smoothly.
Believers who have reached this stage first know what they are going to do. So I know how to work for myself. I don't do it because someone tells me to do it, but because I have felt it, I do it on my own. So, on Sundays, I work hard all day and work hard, sweat and toil. Even though it's only one day off in the week, I put all my heart into it and work hard. Some people don't have enough of that. Some go out to the streets to evangelize after work every Saturday, while others go to church to prepare for Sunday.
When a believer matures, this spirit will arise. So that's what devotees are made of. Because that faith has matured. At the infantile stage, it's a no-brainer. At this stage, the believer rejoices at the loss and at the same time lives with happiness. They come from different sources, different dimensions, and different thoughts. I don't care what others say. It is because you already have the secret of faith that only you know.
Most of you will be at this stage right now. Volunteer to do church work with joy. The life of faith is like that. Because it has grown and matured that much. This is the difference between infants and adults. However, believers should not be satisfied here. It should be able to go one step further. That is the altruistic stage, that is, the stage of becoming like Jesus.
The fourth is the “altruistic stage”.
This is probably the most mature stage of your faith. That's why this stage is called the "altruistic stage." It transcends its own position and dimension. It transcends my boundaries and limits. And as rain, your eyes will open a little wider and you will have a bigger perspective. So we can speak of this altruistic stage when we speak of mature faith.
As your faith grows to this stage, there are several manifestations of spirit. One is the "spirit of sacrifice". The spirit of sacrifice arises at this stage. So believers at this stage have the joy of knowing how to make a joyful sacrifice for Jesus. If it's because of me, it's easy, but for Jesus' sake, you can give your life. So here martyrs appear and life of sacrifice appears. Many great men and martyrs who have appeared in history, and people who have led a sacrificial life, have all appeared at this point.
And "the courage to make life pure" also appears at this point. Today is an extremely material and secular age. Therefore, it is very difficult to live purely in today's world. Nevertheless, they live with their innocence. And you will live detachedly and meditate on the Word even in the bustle of life. It is there that the element of the pure life of the believer is made.
Psalm 19:8 says, "The teachings of the Lord are upright and rejoice in the heart, and the commandments of the Lord are pure and clear to the eyes." To become pure means to become closer to the original human form. That's why the Lord said, "Be ye innocent as doves." That is the maturity of faith. Maturity refers to being extremely good, sincere, and pure.
Kant's father was originally Polish. One day, while riding a horse over a mountain to visit his hometown of Poland, he met a robber. They stole everything from the robbers. At the end, the robbers ask, "Have you hidden anything more?" When I answered "no", he let me go. So it was just released.
But after walking for a while, he found a gold nugget hidden in his pants. how lucky you are The more you think about it, the more it is a windfall. If even that had been taken away, the damage would not have been only me. But the old man takes the gold nugget and goes back to the robber. go and say "Repent, I went and found a gold nugget hidden in my body, take it."
When I think about it, I am foolish like a child and wonder how I am going to live in the world with such thoughts. But this innocence is the power to save the world.