Title: My place at the right time
Contents
♡♥♡ My place at the right time / John 7:1-13
***Introduction
Everyone, do you have a lot of work you want to do?
I also have a lot of things I want to do. Did you say, “The world is wide and there are many things to do”? But not everything you want to do can be done. This is because each person has his or her own abilities and appropriate work. A wise person is a person who discerns this well and does his or her work.
In Proverbs 25:11, it says, “A word appropriate for the occasion is apples of gold on platters of silver.” In Acts 1:4, before Jesus ascended into heaven, Jesus told his disciples, “Do not leave Jerusalem, but hear from me, Wait for what the Father has promised.” This is to teach you how important it is to have the right words at the right time and the right place to be at the right time. In addition, Psalm 37:23 says, “The Lord has set the steps of a man, and is pleased with his way.” Ecclesiastes 3:1 says, “There is a season for everything under the heavens, and a time for every purpose to be fulfilled.” .” he said. This means that everyone has a task assigned to him and a purpose that accompanies it. And it is God who is in control of all this.
But in the world this is not the case. There is a saying in our saying, ‘Send horses to Jeju Island and people to Seoul.’ In other words, it means 'People have to work in the big water and get recognition on the big stage.' So, people flock to big cities where there are many opportunities for advancement, and they try to enter the world stage to gain recognition. It is because if you get recognized on a wide stage, your life will be guaranteed as much as you become famous and famous. This is the worldly point of view and values, ‘a career-oriented life’.
If so, would this same worldly law apply to us Christians today?
It is the Middle Ages, when the corruption of the church reached its peak and the winds of the Reformation were blowing. A man of faith named Martin, who lived in Basel, realized the truth of the Bible. But Martin did not dare to publicly announce or assert his realizations because he feared the power of the church at the time of the fall. Instead, he took a brick out of his living room and put the following words on parchment. "Five. Merciful Jesus. I know that salvation can only be achieved through the merits of the blood of the Lord. We know that we can be saved only through faith in the grace of the cross of the Lord. Holy Jesus. Thank you for sacrificing for me. I love the Lord. I love the Lord.” This text, written and hidden by 'Martin' of Basel, was discovered about 200 years later.
However, at about the same time, a person of the same name lived. His name is Martin Luther. Martin Luther, after discovering the truth of Christ, spoke firmly. “My Lord is before angels and men. And you confessed me before God the Father. Why am I afraid to confess my Lord before the princes of the earth?”
Martin Luther's life-threatening action led to a worldwide Reformation. It is through this reform that the Reformed Church of today was born.
As in this story, the Christian life is not governed by the laws of the world, but by the laws of God. The Lord said in Mark 8:35, “Whoever wants to save his life will lose it. Whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.” This means that the Christian life is not determined by worldly values, but is governed by the will of God. The appearance of the Lord's life in the words of this hour's text teaches us this.
First, let's look at the content of the text.
After performing the miracle of feeding the 5,000 with five barley loaves and two fish, Jesus returned to Galilee. As soon as the Feast of Tabernacles approached, Jesus' brothers said to him, "Go and do this great thing that you are doing into the great Judea, so that many may see it. If you want to show yourself, you must not be buried in this narrow Galilee.” Perhaps, in the eyes of Jesus' brothers, it was sad that almost everyone left Jesus despite his great power and great preaching. Did you not think that the great power and talent of Jesus was a waste? There is a problem with the way Jesus did not reveal Him, but most of all, the people of Galilee were of low standard. Isn't it the best opportunity because it is a good time and a large number of people will gather in Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles? This is the worldly view of the brothers who did not believe in Jesus.
Jesus rejected the offer of his brothers, saying, “My hour has not yet come.” Then, after the brothers went to Jerusalem to keep the Feast of Tabernacles, Jesus also went to Jerusalem secretly. People who heard the teachings and miracles of Jesus were looking for him and evaluating him. But Jesus did not reveal Himself. About halfway through the feast, Jesus went to the temple in Jerusalem to teach the people. Why did you do this?
What does Jesus' rejection mean?
See verse 5 of the text. “This is because even his brothers did not believe in Jesus.” and adding an explanation. This means that the thoughts of the brothers are not at all based on faith. In other words, it indicates that the thoughts of the younger brothers are purely a way of worldly success. It has absolutely nothing to do with God's will and plan. It's just an idea to express yourself to the world and to be recognized by people.
By using the word “my time,” Jesus makes it clear what refusal means. The “my hour” that Jesus spoke of is “the moment when God’s will is accomplished”, that is, it is the time of “dying on the cross for the sins of mankind.”
Jesus' manifestation of himself was not, as his brothers thought, to become famous by showing his power, or to advance his career. Jesus was thinking only of manifestations to accomplish God's will. This is our Christian way of life. If you deviate from this way, you may be recognized and famous in the world, but you will not be recognized by God at all.
What did Jesus' secret action mean?
After rejecting the will of his brothers, Jesus went up secretly to Jerusalem alone. And he taught the word of God in the temple. Why? Why did you say you won't go at first and then go up?
There is only one reason for that. This is to restore the meaning of the Feast of Tabernacles. People were simply observing a formal feast. It was not a festival to think about God's will and glorify God. The Feast of Tabernacles is a season to give thanks while remembering God's grace to Israel in the wilderness during the Exodus along with thanksgiving for the autumn harvest.
At the Feast of Tabernacles, water rituals are performed to remember this grace. Every day for a week, the priest drew water from the Pool of Siloam and poured it on the altar of the temple. And he exclaimed the words of the prophet Isaiah, “With joy I will draw water from the well of salvation.” In this way, the Feast of Tabernacles was a festival where the priests and the people of Israel joyfully drew water from the Pool of Siloam and poured it on the altar, giving thanks for God's saving grace.
In addition, this ceremony of drawing water and pouring it on the altar on the Feast of Tabernacles was related to the Holy Spirit. This water also signifies waiting for the water of life in Ezekiel 47, which flows out of the threshold of the temple, which the prophet Ezekiel saw in vision. What is the water of life? That's the Holy Spirit. So, the most important core of the Feast of Tabernacles is water, and water is about the Holy Spirit. Their ancestors lived by drinking living water from the rock, but now they are teaching them that they must drink the Holy Spirit that Jesus gives them to live. See verse 37. “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the scripture says, out of his belly will flow rivers of living water.”
In this way, the manifestation of Jesus is to make sure that everything finds its place at the right time.
Now, we have to find our own time and our own place.
Jesus made us live in this age and gave us this place because our work is here. Our Christian life is not given for worldly honor or power, or for bodily abundance, pleasure, or self-satisfaction. Just as Jesus did not come into the world to rejoice with the world and be recognized and exalted among them. Jesus changed the distorted and crooked thinking and way of life of the people of this world to center on God.
Man can never be satisfied with the things of the world. I thought I would be happy if I had money, authority, a nice house, a car, popularity, and people recognized me, but it is not. Rather, the more you have, the more empty you feel. So, as life becomes more stable, people tend to fall in love with something and become obsessed with it. Throwing yourself into hobbies, trying to go crazy in business, and driving yourself into pleasure is because there's a void that can't be filled.
Where are you currently staying? Isn't this a place to show only formal beliefs to cover up your worldly life? Like the brothers of Jesus, you are close to Jesus on the outside, but don't you live with worldly thoughts in your heart? If so, you will never be satisfied.
We Christians cannot escape the thirst for life without the living water of the Holy Spirit. The living water, which started from the temple of God, naturally flows toward the lower place and becomes more abundant. That is, silently and humbly obeying the Word at the time and place that God has prepared for me. At crucial times, God will put us to action. In that case, we must go boldly in accordance with the will of God.
In God's will, lack is a sin, but too much is a sin. I pray in the name of the Lord that you will receive God's approval by living faithfully and faithfully in the place you have been given at the given time, according to the will of the calling that has called you.