Title: The Church of God's Joy
Contents
♡♥♡♥♡ A church that becomes the joy of God / Psalm 37:3-6
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Let's sing hymn 82:1. “You are my joy and my hope and my life! Even if I sing to you day and night and sing praises to you, my heart is always filled with sorrow!”
Are the lyrics of this hymn you just sang a sincere confession of yourself?
I truly delight in God, and God delights in me this is the essence of Christian faith. It is for this reason that we strive to become more like the Lord while we live in the world and strive for a life of devotion and service.
Daebok Church’s motto for faith growth and all things in 2002 is ‘a church that brings joy to God’. Of course, the saints who have gained life through Jesus Christ themselves are those who have become the joy of God. Psalm 16:3 says, “The saints on the earth are honored, and all my joy is in them.” Above all, we want to focus on 'what pleases God' in everything we do as saints.
Once upon a time, the British emperor 'Lewis' passed a water mill in a corner of a town while patrolling the country to check on civil affairs. At that moment, I heard a cheerful singing sound from the water mill and stopped my steps. The emperor listened to the song intoxicated and went into the water mill. There was an old man who seemed to be the owner of a mill, singing happily while working. The emperor asked the old man to listen again from the beginning. The old man sings a song with an expression saying, “You can do anything.
“Even if the people of the world don’t envy me, I am not envious of the people of the world either. When I think of God’s great grace, the song of hallelujah comes naturally.” - Omitted -
The emperor, who heard the hymn, said, ‘Then the second verse should be called this way.’
“Even if the world doesn’t envy me, the British Emperor Lewis envy me. When I think of the love of the cross, the hymn of hallelujah comes naturally.”
Being envious even with the power of a ruler, the greatest power in the world, is the ‘joy’ of pleasing God. This joy is not forced. Nor can it be created by worldly comedy or any other pleasure. True joy comes from God who dwells in us. This is possible when the saints receive God's pleasure.
Now, while thinking about these meanings, let's think about the will of God that He tells us through the text and other words.
1. Trust in God becomes God's joy.
Let's look at Hebrews 11:6. “Without faith it is impossible to please him, for he who comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him.”
Whatever it is, the thing that pleases God the most is that the saints believe and trust God. Because faith toward God is the first step in Christian faith. In particular, the belief that God lives is the first step of faith. Going one step further, the belief that God delights in and rewards those who long for the living God is to direct all of the lives of believers toward God. So Solomon, the king of wisdom, says in Ecclesiastes 2:26, “God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy to those with whom he pleases, but to the sinner he gives toil, and he gathers and accumulates to give to those who please God… ' he confesses.
“Everyone, isn’t today the Easter when our Lord was resurrected? If we rely on our strength now, we will have no choice but to lose. So, let's ring the bell of the church and start worship according to our schedule. And let's leave the rest to God.”
The city council voted in favor of this statement. He was well aware that the French army was preparing to attack, but bells were ringing in each church, and hymns louder than ever. The French army heard this and thought that many Austrian reinforcements must have arrived overnight. Eventually, the French army changed their tactics, canceled the Feldrich attack and went elsewhere. The city won the victory through the work of God without an army.
This is the kind of faith that pleases God. When we keep thinking about this problem and that problem, we can't do anything if we are anxious and hesitant, thinking, 'What will happen if we do this or that?' If we have the belief that God is guiding all of our lives, we just need to follow the path that is set before us. This is the faith that trusts in God, and it is the life of faith with the reward prepared.
2. Spiritual worship becomes the joy of God.
Romans 12:1. “Therefore, I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. This is your spiritual worship.” It is said that presenting our bodies as holy living sacrifices is the joy of God. What, then, are we to offer our bodies as holy living sacrifices?
Sacrifice is a way of worship in the Old Testament times, offering sacrifices. This is to pass on the sins of man to the animal sacrifice, and to die instead of man. God accepted the sacrifice and forgiven man's sins. Therefore, sacrifice is the atonement for sins by the sacrifice of death.
To offer our bodies as a living sacrifice is to die as a sacrifice for ourselves, but the desires of all worldly sins die. And we live only as people who love God and obey His will. This is the living priest. In Romans 6:11-13, “In the same way, consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore, do not let sin reign over your mortal body, so that you obey its lusts, nor present your members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those raised from the dead, Present your members to God as instruments of righteousness.”
This means that the whole life of a believer should be worship of God. If you worship in a holy manner in a chapel and live your life as you please, leaving God's will in your life, this is not spiritual worship. In this way, the worship that is offered along with the life of obeying the will of God and serving the Lord is pleasing to God. Romans 14:18 testifies of this fact, “He who serves Christ by this is acceptable to God, and is also praised by men.”
3. An honest heart and doing good becomes the joy of God.
Let's look at 1 Chronicles 29:17. “My God, I know that you search the hearts and delight in uprightness. I have given all these things with an honest heart and gladly, and now I am very glad to see that your people here are also happy to give to you.” Hebrews 13:16 says, “Only in doing good and in sharing. Don't forget to cycle. Sacrifice like this is pleasing to God.”
As mentioned earlier, Christian good works are living sacrifices offered by life. Moreover, good works are commanded by the Lord to Christians. In Matthew 5:16, Jesus said, “In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”
The first Korean woman to have a funeral as a social leader was Mrs. Lee Seon-haeng. This woman was born in 1848 and left after only doing good things for her 80s. She is a devout Christian and became a blue widow at the age of 16. The first lady donated all her hard-earned wealth over the past 60 years to the education project. In 1923, he donated 350 rice fields to Gwangseong Elementary School, and also donated 800 stone fields for a year as a will, but he did not announce it to the world at all. In 1925, we helped the school built by the church by donating 26,000 pyeong of land to Seunghyeon Girls' School. The first lady donated her 2,500 sq ft of land and tens of thousands of dollars of cash to education and social work. Knowing this fact, the Japanese Government-General of Japan visited the first lady to receive a commendation and applied for a visit. However, the woman refused to do so and said this.
“I just did what I had to do. All this glory goes to our Lord Jesus Christ.”
The woman confessed that the good deed was not done by herself, but by Christ who was with her.
As mentioned in verse 3 of the main text, honest living with an honest heart and good deeds of charity, service, and service that care for neighbors and society are the joy of God.
In this way, trusting God, worshiping God in our daily lives, and doing good deeds with honesty and integrity are possible only by delighting in God. To the saints who delight in God in this way, his wishes are granted, he is considered righteous, and God is also pleased with him. Look at Zephaniah 3:17. “The LORD your God is in your midst, the Almighty who will save. He will rejoice over you, he will love you silently, and he will rejoice over you with singing and rejoicing. I will,” he said.
Now, let's make 2002 an opportunity to become God's joy. Therefore, I pray that the church and the lives of all of us can achieve a blessed life that is filled with God's pleasure.