Title: People of Jesus (III)
(Galatians 5:19-26)
This is a continuation of last week.
Last week, I thought about how the people of Jesus should live in the world.
① The end of all things is near, and we must stay calm and pray in the whole world,
② We must live with love among the saints, ③ We must first live with hospitality,
④ And he said that he would live by serving like a good steward.
If that is the case, it will continue today as well, but if there is one thing Jesus' people should not do in this world, what is it? is to do
Although the people of the world can do it without any hesitation, at least the people of Jesus are saying that there are certain things that must be done with restraint and self-control.
What would it be?
1. People of Jesus must refrain from doing things of the flesh.
The Bible often speaks of and distinctly.
Jesus' people told us to abstain from 'works of the flesh'.
I told you to refrain from all these things because the people of the world seek it, the people of the world enjoy it, and the things that the world does.
As recorded in today's text, the works of the flesh are in verse 19 and below, "The works of the flesh are remarkable: ① fornication, ② filthiness, ③ sensuality, (all these are human sexual matters), and ④ idolatry ⑤ witchcraft, ⑥ enmity, ⑦ strife, ⑧ envy, ⑨ anger, ⑩ strife, ⑪ separation, ⑫ heresy, ⑬ envy, ⑭ drunkenness, ⑮ debauchery, and the like.
From ancient times to today, the most fundamental problem in human history is the problem of sex.
If you look at the path through which people fall, they will become sexually corrupt.
Sexual depravity is mental depravity.
Mental and sexual corruption are two sides of the same coin.
This is the same principle for individuals, societies, groups, and countries.
The only way to corrupt the spirit of each nation is through sexual corruption.
The reason that the Roman Empire was destroyed by the barbarians was because the leaders and the entire people of that time had fallen sexually.
When a country or an individual becomes wealthy and affords life, they will inevitably face sexual temptation.
Therefore, we, Jesus' people, should refrain from such things.
Of course, since the people of Jesus are also human, no one will escape from temptation.
But, if you don't get out of it, you'll end up in your own ruin.
According to the Bible, these people are called those who have abandoned the faith.
1 Timothy 1:19 “Have faith and a good conscience, for some have forsaken conscience, and shipwrecked concerning their faith.” Among them were Hymenaeus and Alexander.
In 2 Timothy 3:7, it is said that such people always hear, but do not come to the truth. “Always learning, but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
All.
We, the people of Jesus, must control their fleshly desires in the fight against themselves.
Verse 24 says, “The men of Jesus have crucified their passions and lusts.”
Here, Jeong is translated as Lust in English.
Lust means lust.
It means to always look at the opposite sex with those eyes of lust.
The people of Jesus should not have such eyes as the people of the world.
Sex was also created by God.
It is said that everything that God has made is good, but using it as greed, it leads to sin.
It is said that Adam and Eve were naked before they sinned, but they were not ashamed.
However, it is said that after sin came in, he covered his lower body.
What does this mean? It means that sex is used as greed.
God has given us nature and instincts.
'It is good for food, it is pleasing to the eye, and it is desirable enough to make one wise...'
This is a basic human desire created by God.
Seeing the opposite sex and feeling beautiful cannot be a sin.
But he reached out and ate the forbidden fruit.
It is that human instinctual desires were not obeyed according to God's word, but were used as Satan's temptations, so those instinctive desires became a channel for sin.
This is what continues to this day.
If we do not obey God's word and act according to the fallen human instinct, this is what the people of the world do.
In this way, the people of the world are doing the same things they do in the dark. That is why I told you to walk as children of light.
What we do in darkness is shameful to say.
2. People of Jesus must be determined to make a decision.
The people of Jesus must beat themselves into submission to the laws of God's Word.
This concrete act of obedience immediately manifests itself as an act of determination.
Therefore, the people of Jesus must be determined to forsake what was formerly good.
When the early gospel came into our country and we ask questions about baptism, there is something we must ask.
"Did you give up catching the main color?"
That is, have you stopped drinking, sexual fornication, mah-jongg or gambling?
Because this is what sets us apart from the rest of the world.
What kind of people of Jesus can you say you are while doing what the world likes! was meant to.
Therefore, faith begins with a decision.
Because Abraham made the decision to leave his family and relatives, he became the father of faith.
Even the first saints of our country had the courage to make a decision.
There was a decision to burn all the right-hand complexes.
And then there must be a decision to follow the law of God's Word.
If we submit ourselves to the law of the Word, the fruit of the Holy Spirit begins to grow.
The fruits of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
This is different from the fruit of the flesh.
It is impossible with the power of the body.
These are the fruits of the power of the Holy Spirit.
The fruit needs to be pruned in order to grow.
In the parable of the vine, the branches bearing fruit are cleansed so that they may run more.
That cleaning process is the decision.
What is to be broken must be broken. We must not remain in sin for too long.
Even if we are weak beings who cannot but commit crimes, we must not lose our chance.
The opportunity to repent is not always available.
There are times. Now.
If you look at the characters of the Bible, no one was perfect.
They were all erroneous and imperfect people.
But when they decided, they decided. I threw it away when I threw it away.
That is repentance. Repentance is turning back the way you came.
The people of Jesus should not miss the opportunity to repent.
3. The people of Jesus should not seek and speculate in vain glory.
The people of Jesus are saying to let go of vanity.
Vanity (虛榮) means vain glory.
Why do people succumb to vanity? Because there is nothing inside.
This is because only the empty winds of the world are in it and the heart of Jesus is not in it.
Jesus Christ is the true way, the truth, and the life of our lives.
There is no pitiful human being like those who take the road that is not the way as the way, those who misunderstand what is not the truth as truth, and those who seek to end in the path of death that does not lead to life.
No matter how good the world's wealth and glory are, they all end in death.
Time is all that flies away in a moment.
There is no power to stop the passage of time, even if you use every technology to prevent wrinkles on your face.
It is the people of Jesus who should not live in such a hurry for things that will perish and speculate for the vanity of the world.
The Apostle Paul said that there are two types of people when dealing with the believers of the Corinthian church.
In other words, there are spiritual Christians and there are still carnal Christians.
Christians who belong to the spirit are people who have crucified the passions and lusts of the flesh, and Christians who are carnal are people who always live with the desires of the flesh.
Looking at it that way, we may still be carnal Christians.
Even though they say they follow Jesus, they are still led by the lusts of the flesh.
Still unable to control the desires of the flesh.
You are still being drawn to what your body likes.
At the same time, there are many cases where he rationalizes himself by saying, 'The spirit is weak, but the flesh is weak.'
So the people of Jesus are those who want to be yokeed with him and follow him.
Now what's left for us to do?
Instead of being a simple Christian, we should strive to become Jesus' people.
We must become people who live together with Jesus, not just people who believe in Jesus.
To that end, in the world, we must leave a mark as people of Jesus. It means leaving a mark on Jesus.
The apostle Paul said, “I have the marks of Jesus on my body.”
What signs do we have now?
If you still say you believe in Jesus and there are no traces of Jesus, then we must leave traces of living like the people of Jesus from now on.
Then our Lord will help.
He said that if you yoke with me, my yoke is light and easy.
The Lord's yoke is easy and light as long as you decide to bear it with the Lord.
I sincerely hope that we can all live as people of Jesus and stand before the Lord.♣