Title: The Greatest Person in Heaven (May 3)
Content span id="writeContents">◆ Text: Matthew 18:1~4
May is Family Month and today is Children's Day. Let's all sing the song "Love Love" together.
[Have you held your brother's hand and prayed?
Is there true love in our hearts?
Those who hate me can't love me
Didn't you love only those who loved me?
Jesus' love is unconditional
Whoever hates me, I love him.
A love that only gives me even if it doesn't benefit me
I am so happy just to give.
Have you ever held a sister's hand and prayed?
Is this love I have the love of Jesus?
Don't be jealous. whoever is ahead of me
Because it is my true joy that others are doing well
We always love with our lips
You talk well, but do you really love me?
A love that only gives me even if it doesn't benefit me
I am so happy just to give.]
It is often thought that love is to go far away. But to say that love begins with the closest means the love that God gives us through the love that He loves us. A person who has been loved will find that love right from the closest family. So, we can say that Christianity is a family religion. In this way, love is coming from a place that is close to you, and it is also sharing. Love is about being together, love is about sharing, and love is about getting along.
Today is Children's Day. While Jesus was preaching the word and meeting many people, the disciples came to Jesus while boasting about themselves.
“Who is the greatest man in the world? Who do you refer to as a successful person? Who is the greatest in heaven?”
I asked this question. In the heart of the disciple who asks a question, he is asking such a question in order to be praised with the pride that he is the greatest.
Wherever people live, there is always a sense of competition. Everyone lives with the idea of trying to get ahead of others. In our children's program, there was a saying, “Who is good at who?”. It also instills a sense of competition in children. Since I was young, I have been instilling a sense of competition like this. So in Japan, thinking about such a problem, we are a children's nursery rhyme program just like us. It instills a sense of competition, but Japan gave it such a title, “Let’s all do well.” The Bible tells us something like, "Let's all do well."
When each other competitively asked questions to get Jesus' praise, Jesus gave an unexpected answer. Rich people, powerful people, handsome people, decent people, people who get ahead of others, I didn't say that those people are successful people. Jesus unexpectedly pointed to a child and said, “Unless you are like a child, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven or be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” In other words, he said that living like a child is living a true life.
Then, what kind of life is the childlike life that Jesus spoke of? Looking through the Bible, among the characteristics of a child, we talk about the first, innocence and innocence. Little children accept what they are. Gentlemen, accepting what you are is what makes you successful in your faith. As you get older, you always talk about your stubbornness, your own calculations, and your own experiences. But children are not like that.
I went to Jecheon and held a revival meeting and preached about Abraham. When he was 100 years old, he talked about the words of Abraham giving birth to a son, and he raised an 80-year-old woman from the church. In order to convey the message that I am becoming a bad thing, I raised my 80-year-old grandmother and said, "Grandma Butler, are you saying you are pregnant?" Then all the members of the church laughed. Everyone, in our church too, if Hwang Hee-deok was pregnant, then maybe MBC and KBS would have come up with a lot of scolding.
It doesn't sound like a word. But the Bible is coming to us as a reality that does not sound like words. The old woman laughed too, and all the church members laughed. But the elementary school kid next to him was paying attention to his grandmother's face. After the meeting, he runs to his house and tells his mother.
“Mom, there’s a grandmother next door, right? You're pregnant."
It doesn't sound like a word.
“Hey, are you crazy? How does Grandma get pregnant?”
But the child's next story is really cool.
“Someone you can trust told me.”
“That grandmother butler is 80 years old and Abraham was 100 years old, so let’s wait for 20 years.”
But fortunately, the grandmother passed away after 5 years. That kid is like that.
“If I had lived until I was 100, I would have been able to have children… … .”
As for why, that child grew up and became a fourth-year seminary student.
“Pastor, I still believe the words I heard back then.”
You don't know how well a child listens. Even in our church, the children playing around in the nursery listen to the Word the best. I listen to it while joking. The church members seem to listen, but they don't. If you ask about last week's sermon, adults don't know. But the kids know. And children will never forget the story they heard as a child for the rest of their lives. The reason why children's faith and children's religious life is important is because they are engraved in their hearts throughout their lives.
The writing on the stone cannot be erased. Then someone was like that. “How hard is it to engrave in stone?” Guys, it's really hard to get it engraved in your heart. But in the mind of a child, it is easy to be engraved. The innocence and innocence of little children are the most important things in faith.
Second, children are imbued with love. And it's new every day. I see children in our church sometimes fighting. Be brave and fight. Whatever it is, we fight like we'll never see each other again. But when you see them the next day, they play so kindly as if they had a fight. So I asked rudely.
“Hey, how are you guys having fun after fighting like that yesterday?”
Then, when the child responds, “That was yesterday, wasn’t it?”
Folks, that's the answer.
“That was yesterday.”
What is belief? It's always called a new creation. Forgetting all wrongdoing, forgiving and reconciling.
During the last meeting, there were people who lived like enemies in a church for 7 years. No, what's wrong, we haven't talked to each other for 7 years... … . What kind of hymns do you sing with such a heart, what sermons do you listen to with such a heart, and how do you call yourself a believer with such a heart? After hearing the story, it's not really that big of a deal.
Ladies and gentlemen, it's not really that big of a problem to go wrong and have problems in the church. It's a very minor thing. Well, he looked at him and smiled, but why did he laugh when his lips went up? … . I'm arguing with everything. I've been like an enemy for 7 years. Why is grace good? During the three-hour meeting, all the resentment accumulated over the past 7 years is melted and forgiven. If you can't solve this while living your life of faith, you can't do it. Like little children, “Isn’t that yesterday?” You have to be a believer who can say that.
Third, children have dreams. We must become a church that instills dreams of faith in young children. Today's 2nd service was held with young children. Really, I worried a lot while worshiping with young children. And how should I preach? From the first grade of elementary school to the adults, everyone gathers and worships together, and today, there were a lot of people in the second part of the worship service. I was worried. But what I'm really grateful for is, 'Hey, even children in our church receive grace.'
Maybe the little children of our church watch the worship service so well... … . Listen carefully... … . I thought of that while I was preaching. ‘We should become a church that can instill faith in those lovely children. Our church should raise those children as children of faith. I have to raise them as children with a dream of faith.’
You must instill in your children the dream of faith. And your children are not yours. It has been entrusted to you by God. Think of it as your property and don't take it lightly. We must nurture the precious life that God has entrusted to us for your children, help them in faith, and raise them in such a way that we cooperate. You must have a dream.
I introduce it to you from time to time, but Edison's story teaches us what dreams we should have for our children. Edison didn't even go to elementary school. I was kicked out of school because I didn't understand so much. If I ejaculated and sent him to school, I couldn't even make it for a month, so the teachers sent me out that he couldn't teach. Edison's nickname is idiot idiot. You can't understand it at all. Now I can no longer go to school.
When she had no choice but to give up, Edison's mother prayed before God like this.
“People give up, but I don't give up on God. People say my son is an idiot, but I believe God will use him great. Instead of entrusting it to the teachers of the world, I entrust it to God.”
I had a wonderful prayer.
How do we explain Edison, an idiot, to become the world's greatest inventor? What changed his life so much? Edison's mother's prayer, that prayer, made it that way. Doesn't our church have such an example? Gentlemen, if we pray to our children with a dream like this, if we pray with faith, we will surely believe that our children will become victors in faith.
What can you give your children a dream? Guys, make it with your mouth. Give your children hope. Give your children confidence. Give your children faith. So, I hope that your prayers will make your children successful in faith, just as your children have dreams, and as Joseph lived with the dream of faith he had as a child despite all kinds of difficulties, the dream came true.
I earnestly pray that our church will not be a church that approaches children in any worldly way, but a church that truly instills dreams through faith, a church that nurtures people, and a church that wins through faith. We will pray together.
“Thank you, Father God, thank you for the grace you are always with us. In particular, today we celebrated Children's Day in the midst of the family moon. Help this church to be a blessed church that can instill faith in children, instill dreams of faith, and speak hope. I earnestly pray in the name of Jesus. Amen."