Title: Take the first act
(Letter to the angel of the church at Ephesus, hold the seven stars in your right hand and hold the seven golden candles
Said the one who walked through the generations, I know your works and your toil and your perseverance,
They did not tolerate evil people, and tested those who called themselves apostles, but were not.
that what you have done is revealed, and that you are patient and endure for the sake of my name, you are not lazy.
I know that you did not, but I have something against you, that you have forsaken your first love.
Therefore, remember where you have fallen, repent and do the first deeds.
If you do not work and do not repent, I will come to you and put your lampstand in its place.
But this is what you have: you hate the way of the Nicolaitans.
I also hate this; he who has an ear will not hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
To him who overcomes, I will give the fruit of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.
to eat) (Revelation 2:1-7)
1. The church in Ephesus was the central church in Asia Minor.
It was also a traditional church that was followed by the martyr father.
There are words of counsel from the risen Lord to this traditional and authoritative church.
As shown in today's text, the church in Ephesus was praised by the Lord and
I also got a net.
Words of praise are;
① He said, 'I know your deeds, your toil, and your patience'
② not tolerating the wicked,
③ exposing false apostles and exposing heresy;
④ He said that he knew the perseverance that he endured in the face of persecution.
At this point, the church in Ephesus can be said to be a high church.
In fact, by AD 100, the early church faced many difficulties.
① Externally, the compulsion of idolatry, that is, the worship of the Roman emperor,
② Inside, false enemy Christians appear and spread heretical editorials to spread the truth of the gospel.
There were many people who wanted to damage Lee.
So, the church was in a difficult situation inside and out.
However, the church in Ephesus was praised for being patient with it and overcoming it.
So the Lord said that he knew their patience and hard work.
On the other hand, he said, 'Restore your first love', saying that there is something to be reproached.
is.
Therefore, to repent and 'do the first works' was a word of reproof and exhortation.
I did.
What we need to think about here is what the Lord's voice is for our church.
how? is to do
What is praise for us and what we need to get back.
In that sense ;
2. There are things to throw away and things not to throw away in the life of faith.
What is to be thrown away is as it is said in Ephesians 4:22 and below, 'Corrupt according to the lusts of temptation.
We must boldly abandon the old people's behavior of following the old customs.
In other words, before believing in Jesus, those kinds of activities that were associated with unbelievers in the world will quickly disappear.
means you have to go.
Drinking buddies, gambling buddies, and other things in the world by going to an entertainment establishment according to the greed of the flesh.
It means that we should throw away the things that followed the old customs that people enjoyed.
There are cases where we cannot give up the things that follow these old customs.
There are still some people who have not broken the old habits of the world.
In the early days, our Korean church was very strict about baptismal questions and answers.
I was always asked if I had stopped drinking and smoking.
However, a church official still could not quit smoking and secretly smoked it.
One day, while flailing on the threshing floor of his house, he took a break and no one was there.
lit a cigarette in the gap and asked.
But at that time, the pastor and his party were going to visit and passed by, but this deacon
Nim was so embarrassed that he put the cigarette holder behind his back.
how hot it must have been!
I was trembling here and there, but the pastor already knew everything.
The pastor said, 'Deacon! I'm busy, but I'll pray here and go.'
While praying, I said, 'Do you not know all about Heavenly Father?
So, my deacon, please listen to me aloud.” He prayed like that.
there was also
The behavior of the old people following the old customs like this must be thrown away.
Because it is said, 'Abandon even the appearance of evil' (1 Thessalonians 5:22).
But there are some things that should not be thrown away.
It is a fellowship of love between saints.
If you look at any church, when the church is in need, we unite with each other through tears and prayer and with love.
As the years passed, the church that became a single body grew and the number of members increased.
All in all, it is easy to lose the love of the saints when they were first founded.
Our Lord's counsel points to this very point.
The Ephesian church endured hard work, perseverance, and persecution for the Lord is a long one.
He said he had lost his first love.
This is precisely what the Lord is pointing out.
This may be the case for us today as well.
Our church is now 56 years old.
56 years ago, young people in their 20s at that time are now all in their late 70s.
There are very few left now.
If there is one word we can think of on Founder's Day today, it is the
I want you to get your love back.
He tells you to take back your first love.
The church must be zealous in the work of being united in love.
That's why he told us to strive to keep the unity of the Holy Spirit.
If there is a voice of the Lord coming to our church now, it will be this.
3. Ask them to think of where their first love was lost and find it.
We should all try our best to love ourselves first.
Because the more you love, the more everything comes back to you.
First, we must become church members who love the elders.
And we must become believers who obey the elders.
Only then will the elders love the members and take the lead.
Each of us must reclaim the acts of treating others as superior to ourselves.
I believe this is what the Holy Spirit is saying to the churches.
If you look at the history of our church, it started on June 8, 1947.
If it was 1947, it was the second year after liberation.
Those who were deported or displaced came to Seoul and gathered in Sangdo-dong across Haebangchon and Han River.
I'm tired.
On Sundays, I went to the door to worship, and most went to Noryangjin Church to worship.
gave
This is the beginning of our church.
is.
Now, we too, like the saints who served the church in the early days, regain the act of loving the church.
I have to
They first loved the church with the love of the Lord.
① A typical example is the case of Elder Jung Ji-gun’s grandmother at Ewha Pharmacy.
② In the case of Elder Lee Ji-yeon's mother,
③ In the case of Joo Jong-hee's mother-in-law Kwon,
④ In the case of Elder Lee Hee-sun, the husband of Kwon Bong-ha Ko,
⑤ In the case of Mr. Kim Myung-hwa's mother,
⑥ In the case of Kim Soon-il's parents,
⑦ In the case of Elder Bang Yun-guk’s parents,
⑧ In the case of Kim Jeong-bok's mother,
⑨ In the case of Deacon Noh Jeong-hee's mother-in-law,
⑩ In the case of Deacon Kim Chun-ja's mother,
⑪ This is the case of Elder Baek Sa-in's father.
⑫ Other cases of devoted love and service of many people.
As for what kind of faith they all led, they put the church first over their families.
Those were the minds.
And when it comes to serving the church, he gave priority to serving with his body and mind.
The ministers were those whom they loved terribly.
Those who volunteered that the pastor had to bring the first fruit when it first appeared.
It was.
As a result, our Sangdo church today has grown this much, and they
It is said that after that, the hands will be blessed and live as we prayed.
As we celebrate our 56th anniversary today, the first thing we should all think about is the first act.
is to return to
Then God will give us and our descendants even greater blessings.
We bury time capsules when we build the community service center, and the 100th anniversary of the foundation
We are going to open it this year.
It will be 44 years later.
The manuscript for today's sermon will also be included.
You will look down from heaven.
We should all start a movement to return to the first act.
God's grace is our
I wish you two to be together. ♣