Title: The Church is His Body
(Ephesians 1:22-23)
Today is the 54th anniversary of our church's founding.
We thank God for the grace that God has kept for half a century, and we need to think about a few things as we look forward to the next 50 years.
What kind of place is the church and what should be the true form of the church's ecclesial character? I hope that you will hear the voice of God through the Word.
1. According to the Bible, the church is said to be the body of Christ.
Then, how is the church, the body of Christ, viewed as it is seen by the world today? There are too many negative views.
Why do you think it happened? Where do you see the reason?
Who do you think is the reason for what went wrong?
It is because the head is invisible even though the church is the body of Christ.
Because it has a body, but has become a body without a head.
Because there is nothing more abominable than a body without a head.
Because even though they say they are Christians, they are living a life without Christ.
I heard it in South America, but in South America, the saying 'There are churches, but there is no God' proves it. This will be the case everywhere.
Church of Jesus without Jesus! headless body! This is because they are churches where only forms remain like corpses.
Being alive means maintaining body temperature.
To be alive means that blood flows and moves according to the direction of the head. A church that has lost its body temperature, that is the corpse.
The medieval church was like that. It was the medieval church that was captivated by and where there was only controversy, condemnation, and judgment of heresy.
Blood flows through the living body, and an organic relationship is exchanged with each other. The veins, tendons, muscles, bones, and all the members maintain their own division of roles.
Therefore, if any one organ is paralyzed or stopped, it immediately becomes a diseased body.
Is today's church a church attached to the head, the Lord?
Can I prove that I belong to Christ, the head? I'll have to think about it.
Just as Jesus' parents went up to Jerusalem for the Passover, did not know that they had lost Jesus, thought that they were accompanying him, but found him on the third day and found him again in the temple.
Today's churches are busy with many church events, but we need to think deeply about whether they are the only churches that have lost the Lord, who is the head, and are only walking together.
2. The church must be the church that fills all things.
Today's text says, "The church is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all."
All things (萬物) include everything in the world.
It means that the church should have an influence on all fields such as politics (政治), economy ( 濟), education (敎育), culture (culture), and art (藝術).
If the church ends with a gathering of members alone, it is not the true church.
The church should be a community of faith open to all.
There should be fellowship as a community of faith.
Fellowship as a community of faith is different from the fellowship of business partners and East Asians. There must be participation in sharing (Diakonia=partake).
'Fellowship' and 'Diakonia' are different things.
In order to have fellowship with saints, you must first look at yourself from the point of view of others, not from your point of view.
Only then can true fellowship (Diakonia) be achieved.
When this happens, the church can fill all things.
When our heart is self-centered, faith can only be self-centered.
Such beliefs form only vertical relationships, not horizontal ones.
Therefore, there is only a relationship with God and no relationship with neighbors.
This is faith without the cross, a Christian without a cross, and a church without a cross.
Therefore, today's churches have become churches that have hung up on the cross and only look at it, but cannot live by the cross.
That is why that cross was ridiculed and despised and despised. Why did Jesus have to die on the cross?
Please take a closer look at the shape of the cross.
The cross should form a horizontal relationship as well as a vertical relationship.
The cross should form a vertical and horizontal relationship.
What is the meaning of the cross? Sacrifice.
Fellowship cannot be achieved without sacrificing consideration for others.
Weak people, people less than me, people less than me, people less educated than me
To have fellowship with people, there must be a relationship of sacrifice on the cross
loses.
But what does the church look like today?
It has been reduced to a noble church, a church of the rich, and a gathering of powerful and rich people.
If we go and build such a kingdom, it will be without a Lord, that is, without a head.
will be just the body.
That was the medieval church statue.
3. The church must continuously manifest itself in self-reformation within.
So where is the perfect church on earth?
The church is the gathering place for all sinners to repent and be called a new person. That is why it is said that the church is the gathering place of forgiven sinners.
While criticizing the church, I heard someone say, "The church is a place where only fools gather."
It is true. Because we were all sinners, crippled in our sins.
Since they are still carnal Christians, they may sometimes lean toward flesh and blood.
It is said that in the kingdom of God, flesh and blood cannot inherit. Because they are human beings with flesh, even the church is unsanctified and can be polluted with worldly things, assimilated and compromised.
Therefore, the church is always in need of self-renewal and reformation.
Looking at the background of the Reformation in the 16th century, it was a movement to return to the Word because the church was far away from the Word of the Bible.
At that time, when the church was ruling even the realm of the world, the church had the authority to forgive sins, so they tried to sell it and build the church.
The church that was built was Peter's Basilica, which is now in Rome.
If you look at the many sky-high churches in Europe, they were all built at that time.
Compared to such churches, the Korean church feels very humble.
However, just as the reform took place because of that, the churches in Korea today should reflect deeply on this point.
If you find yourself drifting away from the Word because you have been immersed in traditions, institutions and practices for a long time, you should always return to .
This is the hallmark of the Reformed-Church's faith.
The reformation of the church means a return to the Word.
It is to put back all practices that have departed from the Word according to the Word.
You should never neglect this.
This is the characteristic and essential mission of the Reformed Church.
Because it cannot change itself, but its application must not be fossilized.
Because it is alive, it must always do the work of beating itself into submission.
In that sense, it should be a church that is always reforming all the non-biblical things that have been hardened by the practices of the church.
According to the Bible, the life that abides in you will naturally bear fruit.
He also said that apart from , you can do nothing, and you will end up withering away. (John 15:1-5)
As we celebrate the 54th anniversary of our church's founding today, what do we need to return to the Word on our own? We must reflect deeply.
And before the Word, actions of self-determination must appear.
In order for our church to be like a church, we must first become a church that offers proper worship. Because worship is the flower and fruit of faith.
Church education is necessary, the study of the Word is necessary, and evangelism and service are necessary to nurture them to become true worshipers.
What is a doctoral degree in theology?
What would you do if you had mastered the Bible?
No matter how hard you serve, no matter how well you speak, what do you do?
It is of no use unless you worship in spirit and in truth.
Because worship is self-expression and devotion.
The immediate task of the Korean church today is to nurture upright worshipers.
In the Old Testament sense, worship was an improvement in our relationship with God.
It was the offering of a ransom as an expression of repentance for a crime, while a sacrifice was a response of gratitude for protection and care.
In the New Testament sense, it came to appear as thanksgiving, praise, and worship for grace.
But how do you see how correct we are?
Since worship is an expression of one's faith, it must contain sincerity.
① Worship without sincerity, ② Worship without sincerity, ③ Worship without preparation, and ④ Worship without thanksgiving are only formalities and events.
So, if you look at the points of critics of the modern church, they point out that in today's churches, worship is gone and only 'religious games' are flourishing.
Religious play is just a game, and the emotion and gratitude for the support of the sacrifice and the grace of atonement are gone.
In fact, there are cases that deserve such criticism.
As the state collects religious taxes in today's European churches, the offering has disappeared, and therefore the visible act of worship in the church has also naturally disappeared.
So, what would worship with sincerity be like?
It will not be a worship service that you think of as your own convenience.
Worship always has an object. A sacrifice directed at that target must follow. A sacrifice is a sacrifice.
The Bible tells us to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice.
He also told us to glorify God with our bodies.
It is said that our body is a holy temple that houses the Spirit of God.
Seen in this way, true worshipers are not only participants in formal worship on the outside, but also mean living their lives with the Lord on the inside.
In order to become a proper worshiper, we cannot but look at the Bible.
In order to be true worshipers, we cannot neglect the church.
In order to become true worshipers, we cannot neglect the service of the church and the fellowship of the saints. Therefore, the flower of every act of faith must appear in worship.
Dear saints!
Our Sangdo Church has become a church with 54 years of experience.
Judging from the age of a person, he has reached a mature age.
As the Apostle Paul pointed out, beyond the stage of a child unable to eat milk or solid food, as he told us to leave the worldly elementary studies, myths, and genealogies, throw away false and false myths, and practice only godliness (1 Timothy 4: 7) As a church that offers complete worship, we must now take a step forward as a more mature church. We must become a church that restores true worship.
We must grow up as worshipers of life.
I believe that God's grace will come abundantly when we become such worshipers.
The grace of the Lord that fills all things in our lives
I believe it will come down to fullness in all areas. ♣