Title: Will My Sacrifice Be Acceptable?
Contents
1. Words that begin
The blessing that cannot be compared with the five blessings Su, Wealth, Gangnyeong, Ho-deok Yoo, and Jong-myung Ko are combined is the blessing of eternal life obtained through faith in the Lord Jesus.
The grace that cannot be compared with the sum of all the graces received from parents and teachers, from people, from nature and from things until death, is the grace of redemption received through faith in the Lord Jesus. Living apart from God the Creator is itself a sin, and the price of sin is death that all mankind fears.
However, there are no people who know this wonderful grace of redemption and the blessing of eternal life and give thanks to the Lord God.
Even among the members of the church, there are not many people who know this wonderful grace and blessings properly and give thanks to the Lord God and are faithful.
Church members who are exceptionally intelligent are likely to know and appreciate this grace properly, but it is not much better because they follow their own intellect rather than follow the power and wisdom of the Holy Spirit, who can master even the deep things of God.
But the Macedonian churches were different.
2. Abundant generosity offered in the midst of overflowing joy and extreme poverty
The Apostle Paul said that he would tell the Corinthians about the grace that God has given to the Macedonian churches.
Macedonia is a region that includes all of the northern provinces of Greece, and there were the Church of Philippi, the Church of Thessalonians, and the Church of Berea.
Those members received special grace from God that all other members of the church would know.
This special grace is not receiving any special benefit from God, but being faithful to the Lord God for the grace of redemption and the blessing of eternal life that we have already received.
Lee Sang-geun commented, “The grace that the grace of donation does not follow will not be the true grace.”
It was not because they were comfortable and wealthy that the Macedonian churches had a rich yearbook.
Rather, it was the opposite. The apostle Paul talked about the special grace of God that the churches received,
“In the midst of many trials of tribulation, their overflowing joy and extreme poverty have made them rich in generosity.”
The members of the church had to face many tests of their faith, including economic hardship with their fellow citizens under Roman rule, tribulation because of the social conditions of various religions, and especially the tribulation they suffered because of their faith in the Lord Jesus .
Moreover, because of the restrictions on social activities due to their faith, they suffered from extreme poverty.
The members passed the difficult and difficult exam with excellent grades.
The members of the church had overflowing spiritual joy in spite of many trials and tribulations.
First, there was an overflowing spiritual joy from the grace of redemption and the blessing of eternal life.
Second, there was overflowing spiritual joy from God's grace and blessing given to those who obeyed the Word in the Lord according to the Holy Spirit.
Third, there was overflowing joy from the grace of the Lord, who was with us in tribulation and made us overcome. According to 1 Peter 4:14,
“If you are reviled in the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory, the Spirit of God, rests upon you.” In 2 Corinthians 2:14,
“Thanks be to God who always triumphs in Christ and through us in every place the smell of the knowledge of Christ.”
May all of us be filled with overflowing spiritual joy that can overcome tribulation and temptation.
It is instinctive to rejoice over circumstances and circumstances, isn't that something everyone does?
Those who can rejoice even in tribulation are those who have the Lord Jesus in their hearts and walk with them.
Those who do not live according to their own decrees, but live a life that is governed by the love of the Lord with all of them, can rejoice even in tribulation and poverty. This spiritual joy transcends tribulation and temptation, as well as death.
Those who have this spiritual joy can truly give thanks to God and live a life of recompense.
The Macedonians overflowed with abundant generosity because of their overflowing spiritual joy and extreme poverty.
The Greek word hapolotetos (?πλ?τητο?) of “Annals” is the opposite of 'two-sided' or 'embracing two minds'; It means 'pure heart', 'purity of purpose', etc.
Therefore, the purpose of Apostle Paul is that the Macedonians made a lot of donations, but rather than that, they had a pure heart to help. Indeed, the members not only did what they could, but also worked hard to earnestly ask the apostle Paul for grace and to share in the service of all the church members, including the poor church members in Jerusalem, and they did it.
Those members of the church were different from those who shouted they would do it in front and pulled out their tails in the back.
Being a chaebol does not spend money abundantly on valuable things, and being poor does not mean saving money on valuable things. Giving to God is no different.
In Mark 12:41 et seq., the Lord Jesus took an interest in the giving of the treasury and watched as he sat down to the treasury and put money into the treasury. The rich donated a lot, but a poor widow gave a very small two lep. Lepdon was the smallest monetary unit.
Jesus called his disciples and commented on the people's offerings.
It is said that the widow who gave all her possessions, all of her living expenses, gave the most donations during her poverty.
The Lord Jesus did not stop the widow, saying, like some intelligent church members, that God accepts your heart, so you don't have to give it. He believed that the God who was in charge of life and death would take care of the widow who contributed more than tithe with spiritual joy, gratitude and recompense in the midst of extreme poverty. It's a joke, but God also has a conscience. If he doesn't bless such a church member, who will he bless?
In nine out of ten times, the Lord Jesus must have helped the widow.
The Macedonians were so praised not only because they were extremely poor and had an abundance of rich generosity.
Those members not only made it difficult for the relief offering that Paul the Apostle had hoped for, but they first gave themselves to the Lord, and according to God's will, they gave it to Paul and his companions. The members gave themselves to the Lord Jesus, not just out of human sympathy, but out of gratitude and loyalty to the Lord Jesus, as well as many almsgivings.
Because they were people of such faith, according to the will of God, they also gave offerings and themselves to Paul and the apostles.
There was one child. The child wanted to make a nice present for her mother's birthday. So I decided to make an expensive and nice gift. The child made a decision and started saving money every day.
However, no matter how much money I saved, I couldn't raise enough money to make a good gift until my mother's birthday. The child began to touch the mother's wallet.
Every day I took some money out of my mother's wallet and collected it. Finally, when the mother's birthday came, the child happily bought a present.
We put all our heart into the packaging, including a happy birthday card.
The child sang a congratulatory song in front of the mother's birthday cake that her father had bought, and held out the gift she had prepared in front of her.
“Mom, this is a very expensive and good gift!” But mom was not happy.
Rather, he gently pushed the child's gift in front of him. The child wondered and said, “Mom, why are you doing this? This is my gift!” Then the mother said.
“Son, do you not know why I cannot receive this?”
No matter how many relief offerings or thanksgiving offerings are given, they cannot be accepted if they are given with a heart apart from God.
No matter how large an offering is, if you don't give yourself to the Lord God, it is unacceptable.
In Genesis 4:4 and below, God does not say that God accepted Abel's offering, but did not accept Cain's offering. He accepted Abel and his offering, but did not accept Cain and his offering.
God wants us more than sacrifices.
The proof that we are given to the Lord God is that we are not governed by our own will, but that we are governed by God's will.
3. Conclusion
The blessing that cannot be compared with the sum of the five blessings is the blessing of eternal life obtained through faith in the Lord.
The grace that cannot be compared with the sum of all the graces received from people, nature, and things, including parents, is the grace of redemption received through faith in the Lord. Far from being grateful for this tremendous grace and blessing, there are many who do not even have the spiritual sense to realize.
Even among the church members who say they know, there are not many who realize it, and live a life of gratitude and gratitude.
However, God maintains our lives every day and gives us the grace and blessings we need.
When we worship, listen to the Word, or make various offerings, I ask that you first give yourself to the Lord God. <2009. 11. 15.>
(Poongseong Methodist Church. Book: Complete Commentary on 27 New Testament Books/ Interpretation of Difficult Scriptures I, II/ Salvation Before Jesus Came/Paul’s Understanding of Man/ Prosperity Prayer/ Seasonal Sermonbooks/ Sermonbook 18. -3051)