Title: The Church as the Body of Christ
Contents
Title: The Church as the Body of Christ
Bible: Ephesians 1:22-23
2010.2.21.daytime
Now, through the Winter Olympics being held in Vancouver, Canada, the eyes and ears of all people are heading there. Currently in 5th place in medal rankings, with 3 gold and 2 silver, but today is the day when the gold feast will be held. I wish it jumped to 1st or 2nd place
They have nothing to do with me and you. What do Jeongsu Lee, Tebum Mo, and Lee Sanghwa have to do with you Do they drop gold dust just because they win a gold medal? Nothing. But why rejoice? Because I am a Korean citizen.
It was so sad that I was able to win gold, silver, and bronze medals in the 1500m final...
Oh well, Ho-seok Lee tried to overtake.. He fell with Si-baek Seong, who was in second place. It was very unfortunate!
The same is true of the relationship between the church and the saints. The church is the body of Christ, and Christ Jesus is the head of the church. Christ is the church, and the church is Christ. Saints are members of the body of Christ. Christ and the church are one. And they all exist for one reason.
1. to achieve salvation
Why did Jesus Christ come into this world? Wasn't he trying to save the world? Jesus accomplished that salvation on the cross and left a body like Christ in the world before ascending to heaven, and that body of Christ is the church. Therefore, the purpose of Jesus' establishment of the church on earth was to save the world.
Just as you cannot be saved without Jesus, you cannot be saved without the church.
God has entrusted everything to Jesus Christ. He brought all things to the knees of Christ. Therefore, all things are subject to Christ Jesus. Both the wind and the waves of the sea obey Jesus. Even the evil spirit Satan submits to Jesus Christ.
However, only humans do not obey Jesus and walk around with their heads up. And even Jesus, who came to save him, was crucified and put to death.
human! who is he?
- In the Garden of Eden, they disobeyed God's word and ate the forbidden fruit and betrayed God.
- Jesus was crucified and put to death.
- They persecute and destroy the church.
Only human beings want to destroy the body of Christ, the church.
In reality, the man followed the world's trends, followed the devil who took the power of the air, followed the lusts of the flesh, and followed his lusts. Therefore, we humans are by nature children of wrath. They are creatures worthy of death. Jesus Christ came to save us. And He opened the way of salvation and ascended into heaven. And he left the body of Christ on the earth, and that is the church. Therefore, the church is the body of Christ.
2. to unite
To say that the church is the body of Christ teaches that the church should be united by individuals to form one body.
Jesus united all things by dying on the cross. The cross is the channel between man and God. And it is a channel that connects humans to humans. At the center of it is Jesus. Just like the church, it connects God and man. The church is the key to heaven. Neighbors are also connected through the church.
In 1 Corinthians 12, the church and our body are well spoken in parables. There are several parts in our body. Hands, feet, eyes, ears, nose and mouth. However, they do not fight, but unite with each other to achieve the will of one body.
“The eye will not say to the hands that I am useless, or the head to the feet that I am useless.”
“There are no divisions in the body, but the members are made to take care of one another.”
“If one body suffers, all the members suffer together; if one member is glorified, all the members rejoice together.”
At the Winter Olympics, Brother Mo and Sister Lee Sang-hwa simultaneously won gold medals in the 500m speed skating event. It was clearly their feet that skated and ran, but the glory is that the whole body itself rejoices together.
Therefore, the church must unite with one another. Institutions and institutions should be united, ranches and ranches should be united, and members of the church should unite with each other. No one should look at the church's difficulties as if they were crossing the river with disrespect. As the saying goes, when we gather our little powers together, we must gather them together. The coins he collected with the hands of a child's bracken were put to good use, and he collected the gold and silver items he had most treasured.
During prayer, when he prayed over how to overcome the last crisis of our temple construction, President Kim Dae-jung thought of collecting gold when he was faced with the IMF crisis. Collecting gold was great back then. Koreans are weak in affection. If you do. At that time, he overcame the dangerous crisis well by bringing all the gold pieces that were stored in the closet and donating them to the country. Graduated from the IMF in a short period of one and a half years that is unprecedented in history
So I brought the gold pieces. I was impressed. Tears welled up. If we measure it in terms of money, it is not a lot, but I believe that sincerity is the most precious thing to God. A few years ago, a frozen saint also brought bonds. I also gave all of my wedding rings when I was building the temple of Yeonggwang Church.
This is the power of unity. We can too. Now, the big ones and the small ones. In the autumn, even the house is useless. This is a time when we all need every little thing.
Therefore, dear saints! Let's unite together. Let's join forces.
Dig wide to dig deep.
3. It is unity.
The church is a diverse group of people, but all of them must achieve unity.
“There is one body and one Spirit, in the same way you were called in one hope of your calling. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God, the Father of all. You are above all, you unite all, and you are in all.”
This is unity in diversity. So is the Bible.
The records of the Bible were written over about 1,500 years and were written by about 40 people, and although they were recorded in different places, they are all unified under one theme. Salvation.
God has given many gifts to many people in the church. The reason is very simple.
The various gifts are given for the purpose of perfecting the saints for the work of service and establishing the model church of Christ.
What does the Lord want? There is a clear purpose for all the saints to become one and to fully establish the body of Christ and to save the world through that church.
conclusion
Conclusion of the word.
The church and Christ are one. When Christ Jesus ascended to heaven, he left a body like himself on the earth, and that is the church. Each of us, the saints, are members attached to Christ. Therefore, each of us is forming the body of Christ.
What the church is doing is what we are doing.
Salvation.
Union.
Unification.
We, Jaesong Church, sincerely hope that you will become a church like this and become the saints who build the body of Christ and save the world.