Title Ephesians 04:11-16 The Perfect Man
Contents
Title: The Perfect Man
Bible: Ephesians 4:11-16
Education is the most important element of our faith.
When missionaries first came to our country, one of the most difficult projects other than preaching the gospel was education. There are many schools established through missionaries. Higher education institutions such as Yonsei University, Ewha Womans University, and Soongsil University, as well as numerous middle and high schools such as Baeji, Gyeongsin, Osan, Ihwa, and Shinjin Girls' High Schools were all established by missionaries. Through these educational institutions, many national leaders who played a very important role in the modern history of our nation from the late Joseon Dynasty through the Japanese colonial era to after liberation were produced. Not only in our country, but around the world, there are many schools established by missionaries and maintained through the support of the Church.
The first is someone who can relate to the world (verse 14).
Therefore, our education is to make those who always put God's will first. We must have the courage to stand firm in the face of things that go against the Word of God. We and our children need to be able to say, like Esther, “if you die, you will die” like Esther. “Even if it is not so” that is, even if God will not rescue us we must have the courage to jump into the furnace. (Daniel 3:18) Otherwise, it is not the light that illuminates the world but the darkness of the world. You will be the one who gets buried in Or you will lose your saltiness and become useless, ridiculed and trampled upon by people.
The second is the Christian who embraces the universe in love (verse 15).
We often see negative believers in the church and in society. If you believe in Jesus, your heart should be generous and you should become a tolerant person, but on the contrary, you become a very self-righteous and closed-minded person. Throughout history, the Church has always produced such self-righteous and self-righteous fundamentalists. Not to mention heretics big and small, but even within the traditional church, these kinds of people have always been there. These are the people who stand opposite the secularizing crowd and think of their faith as completely separate from society and the world.
These people put the Bible first. "It is written like this in the Bible. You must do it this way" - This is it. But because they try to understand the Bible only literally, they turn it into lifeless dogmas and laws. The Bible is a book written by people who were moved by the Holy Spirit, so it contains truths and lessons that do not change with the times. This unchanging will of God was written thousands of years ago in the clothes of that time period. It is difficult to correctly interpret the unchanging will of God by ignoring the circumstances of the times. We need to strip off the circumstances of the times that can change in the Word, and apply the unchangeable will of God by putting on the clothes of our current situation. Because the process of interpretation is difficult, God has appointed teachers in the church.
A perfect person never refers to such a perverted person. At the bottom of his knowledge must be love. His knowledge and understanding and the will of God must be put into action by putting on the clothes of love. But by doing the truth in love, you grow in Christ in all things. Who is that Christ? He is the head of the church and the Lord of all. The whole universe was created by him and is still in his providence. Therefore, a Christian sees the world through the eyes of Christ, the Lord of all. It is not about throwing away the world that has been distorted because of sin, but about right judgment and building it upright. We must not pursue that distortion, but we must not turn away from the world itself. We are witnesses of light and salt, who embrace the whole world as people of love and bear the responsibility to restore it to God's true creation.