Title: People Who Live with Jesus
Matthew 23:5-12
*This is the manuscript of the sermon for March 11, 2007.
It was last Thursday.
At the Methodist Training Center in Ilyeong, the 11th <The Road to Emmaus in Seoul> team member preparation prayer meeting was held. It was a place to demonstrate and discuss the words of lay volunteers who will mainly preach the word. Among them, it was a time when an elder named Go Wan-gyun confessed his life path in the words of ‘The Way of the Cross’. Elder is serving as a member of the 11th team this year. The testimonies of those who entered the spiritual training training, like Kwon Chung-guk Han, who gave their testimony on the first day of the last day of our Word Crusade, are truly gracious. After constructing the present Sillim First Church with his own money, Elder Koh used to sit in the back seat before the start of the service, fearing that it would become an obstacle to the church, and then return home as soon as it was finished. I became an elder at the age of 60, fearing that becoming an elder would be a stumbling block to the church. As soon as I heard the elder's testimony, I thought, 'Oh, this is the one who lived with Jesus.' After your talk demonstration, we sat down and talked about various things. These were essential questions such as why we are so focused on spiritual training, what spiritual benefits are there from doing this, and what we want to gain through this kind of training.
The conclusion is as follows.
Let's have Jesus in our hearts and become a person who lives like Jesus.
This is also the word of Jesus pointed out through Matthew 23 today.
So, while criticizing the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, Jesus taught his disciples as well. Because there were many possibilities for the disciples to do the same.
Let's read 8-10 together.
The word ‘student’ was translated as ‘brother’ in the original text. Saying no one should call you father doesn't mean you shouldn't call your parents father. Just as a priest is called ‘Father’ today, a leader was called ‘Father’ in those days. In that sense, don't call other people your father. Three times here... … don't do it … … is only one (heis)’.
The Gospel of John teaches this in 13:13-14.
One)
The late Elder Changmo Moon is a great doctor who is called the Schweitzer of Korea. He was over 70 years old and had paralysis in his hands and was inevitably retired from early morning until late at night at the Department of Otolaryngology. He is famous for starting treatment at 6 in the morning, a warm consideration for those who do not have time to visit because they work early in the morning or go to school. When patients did not have money, they provided free medical examinations, and sometimes even paid travel expenses to poor patients. He was the president of Incheon Provincial Hospital (1946), the president of Masan National Lung Hospital (1947), the president of Severance Hospital (1949), the director of Wonju Christian Hospital (1959), and the first mayor of Haeju (1945), the secretary-general of the Korean Tuberculosis Association (1953), the president of international universities ( 1957) and the 14th National Assembly member (1992), he said that he did not miss a day of seeing patients even though he was in charge of many tasks. How can one person do so many things and lead such a devoted life? This was possible because Jesus became the master of his life.
Elder Moon was born in Seoncheon, Pyeongbuk in 1907, and was introduced to Christianity by his father's invitation to enter school. When I was attending a private school run by Namchang Church, the principal said, “You have a good family and you are smart, so if you just believe in Jesus, you will become a great person,” so you went to Sunday School. After that, he went to Paichai Middle School, where he led the church Sunday School and grew his faith. At that time, Elder Moon gathered the children at the house of a priest over Muakjae and started Sunday school, but the number of meetings kept increasing, and it is now Hongje Methodist Church. He always lived by saying, “God made me a doctor, so it’s natural to see patients until I die.” In 1957, he thought that it was only the Lord’s work for a promising doctor to go to Wonju, which was very underdeveloped at the time. They say it was forced. In Wonju, where there were only three churches at the time, he organized the Christian Presbyterian Church and actively helped establish the church. As a result, there are now over 400 churches in Wonju.
Elder Moon published an autobiography, which has a unique title. The title is <Shipari attached to the tail of Chollima>. Regarding this ridiculous title, Elder Moon confesses, “Just as the safari attached to the tail of a cheonlima can fly thousands of li without any effort, so I was able to come this far because God, who protects me, led me.” What a humble and wonderful confession! Just as a ship fly can go a thousand miles if it is attached to the tail of a thousand lima, even if it is not a big deal, even if we are lacking, we can live such a great life even in a short life if we take Jesus as our Lord and follow Jesus' leading.
2)
4)
The miracle of life happens when you live a life of service like this. Your life will change 180 degrees, and you will experience the miracle of living while preaching the gospel and serving others.
The demon-possessed man in Gerasa was utterly miserable. They were so violent that even chains could not tie them up, so they were left among the tombs in the mountains, screaming and committing suicide. An army devil called Legion captured him and made him so. But when Jesus came to him, identified the demon and drove him out, he was made whole. The Gospel of Mark describes it this way:
“15 When they came to Jesus, they saw a man possessed by a demon, a man possessed by a military demon, clothed and sitting in his sanity, and they were afraid. … … 20 He went away and preached to the Decapolis what Jesus had done for him. Then everyone was astonished” (Mark 5).
When the devil ruled and ruled him, he was a very tragic victim. But when he drove it out and Jesus became his master, he became a whole new being. To be clothed, to be sane, and to be seated means that he is no longer an abandoned person, an outsider, but an established being. And they “preached” (keryssein) what Jesus had done in their area, and then everyone said they were “amazing” (thaumazein). These terms are all technical terms used for Jesus. It is meaningful to use these technical terms to a person who was possessed by a demon and then recovered. After that, he did a great mission in the area and probably even established a church. It means that they preached the gospel and carried out the work of Jesus. This miracle story is probably a collection of what was handed down in that church.
What kind of life do we live?
Who is your owner? Who do you live with as your master? Please do not give the control of your life to the vanities of this world, the things that disappear after a while. Jesus Christ, who was like God, yet emptied himself in the form of a servant, who humbled himself and obeyed even to death on a cross, and thus whom God highly exalted and gave the name that is above every name. I hope that you will serve only the bay. Confessing only this man as the Lord, and saying, “There is one teacher, one Father, one leader, and one Jesus Christ.” I hope to live with this confession. So, like <Shipari with the tail of Cheollima>, I pray in the name of the Lord that we will become saints who live a great and blessed life, fulfilling God's mighty works in our finite life, serving many people.