Title: Praise of Christ
christ praise
Ephesians 1:3-14/ Second Sunday after Christmas/ January 2nd
The text of today's sermon, Ephesians 1:3-14, is the content of the hymn that early Christians sang 2,000 years ago. They prayed and sang hymns about this content in worship and prayer meetings. Herein lies their most basic belief. This is a hymn that should be sung not only by the early Christians 2,000 years ago, but also by us today. A hymn is a prayer from the depths of the soul and a confession of faith. It is a song of the soul that comes from the center of life. On many occasions today, worship and hymns fall down to formality or sentimentality. Both of them miss the fundamental meaning of the hymn. It must be a song of the soul. What and whom do we praise? The answer is clear. Praise God. Glory to him. Because God is the Creator, and we are the creatures. Praise is the spiritual attitude that acknowledges from the depths of the soul that the Creator is the Creator. Let's follow how today's text explains this fact.
divine blessing
Here you will be asked two questions. Of course you have to ask. One is what specifically the fact of gaining life refers to. Even if you believe in Jesus and become the Son of God or a child of God, it seems that there is nothing different from the people of the world. Believers grow old, make mistakes, feel empty, and become frustrated. Despite gaining life, there's not much you can get your hands on. There is no assurance of salvation. So I think it's because I don't have faith in myself, and I feel discouraged. On the other hand, they passionately cling to this kind of anxiety. Chasing after revival or attending special events I cling to various kinds of faith programs. When you attend such an event, you feel like you are experiencing something hot. But that's only for a while. It's like a pain patient taking morphine. When the effect goes down, the pain comes back. Even after receiving an apology and gaining life, why does life continue like this?
As I said above, the hymn about becoming the Son of God through the blood of Jesus Christ comes with two questions. One was that we still did not have full life, the other was that the crucifixion was a cursed death. If you are a person with thoughts, this is something everyone will be curious about. What should I do here? Should I absolutely believe it? Can I continue to be suspicious? Let's hear the Bible's answer.
the secret of salvation
The writer of Ephesians speaks of the forgiveness of sins through the blood of Christ as a “secret” (verse 9). The secret is known only to those who know it. It's kind of like a password. It is similar to identifying pia through passwords in the military. The enemy will not know the password. Even your allies won't know if they haven't heard the code. The salvation of God through Jesus Christ is a mystery. If it's obvious to everyone, it's pointless. At that time, people thought that crucifixion was only a stumbling block and foolishness. The fact that it was the way of apology was a secret. The fact that we are sons of God is no outward sign. It is a secret known only to us Christians.
How did the early Christians know the secret? As the writer of Ephesians explains: “For he has made us abound with all wisdom and understanding” (verse 8). Wisdom and understanding are the key to the secret door. Wisdom and intelligence are not just intellectual abilities. Just because you're smart doesn't mean you'll know this secret. To know God and to realize God's saving works is true wisdom. By quoting the book of Isaiah (29:14), Paul said that God destroys the wisdom and understanding of the world (1 Corinthians 1:20). Even at the time of Jesus, the Pharisees and scribes, who would be called the most intelligent people, did not recognize Jesus, but tax collectors and sinners did. Recognizing Jesus is wisdom and understanding.
The last question is: Why do some acknowledge the cross of Jesus Christ and not others? Why do some know the secret and some don't? This is also a question for us. How did we become Christians? Why would we risk our destiny on Jesus Christ and not on Buddha or Confucius? It's a really difficult question to answer. It's not that we're smarter or smarter than others. The conditions of life are neither particularly good nor particularly bad. It's not even better than the others. Why on earth did we come to know and believe that we were forgiven through the blood of Jesus?
The writer of Ephesians replied: “In him we were predestined and became an inheritance according to the plan of him who works all things according to the decree of his will” (verse 11). The writer of Ephesians has already mentioned this fact in verse 5. There can be no other answer than God's providence and His predestination. Now we are gathering at the Samteo Church. What is the reason and rationale for this? Was my will and effort involved? no. There is no other answer than that it was predestined by His plan. Is it futile because your efforts are not recognized with these answers? Do you think that the responsibility of those who do not believe in Jesus ultimately falls on the God who predestined it all? no. Providence and predestination are teachings that have nothing to do with them. It's different from that. It is a confession that our logic must be discarded in the face of God's saving action, and it is spiritual insight. What more needs to be said about a person who has received a spiritual blessing that we cannot afford? How can you calculate good or bad?
Now you should know why the early Christians spoke of God's providence and predestination, and why they had no choice but to praise God. We should sing the same hymns as they do. The world life you have to bear may be too harsh, too harsh, too boring, or too provocative to sing a hymn. It has to live as it is. However, your soul must be entirely inclined to the spiritual blessings that God has granted you through Jesus Christ. If you actually live that way, of course you should, you will be able to praise Christ in any circumstance. That is the most obvious reality of life. In 2011, let's all praise the Lord and live our lives. Amen.