Title IMF and hypocrisy (Mark 14:53-65)
Dear saints,
It is significant that our church held a service to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the founding of the church while commemorating the March 1st Independence Movement at a time when our church was raising the banner of the national exodus movement. The reason is that Wangsimni Church is also responsible for the nation during the independence movement and is committed to a new start as a church that will succeed the spirit of Korean Christianity, which was at the forefront of the independence movement.
First we need to think about where the church should rescue the nation from. What is the major cause that made our society go out naked on the side of a road where the cold wave of the IMF is raging today?
One of them is hypocrisy. There are husks of hypocrisy that we must cast off. As we put this aside, may we receive the grace of being renewed into the true image of the Lord.
First, we must get rid of the hypocrisy of pretense.
We focus here on one man, Peter. He is the disciple who ran away when Jesus was taken from Gethsemane to the house of the high priest and followed him from a distance. And he went into the high priest's house. The text says:
“(Mark 14:54) Peter followed Jesus from a distance as far as the inner courtyard of the high priest’s house, and sat down with his servants, warming himself.”
What is Peter's hypocrisy? It was the hypocrisy of pretense. We must make a ‘declaration of independence’ from the hypocrisy of pretense. It is hypocrisy for a Christian to sit in the world pretending not to be a disciple of the Lord. Is this hypocrisy not our hypocrisy? It is hypocrisy that, like the people of the world, when we are unfavorable to their standard situation, we hide in that world situation, act together, move together with them to promote safety, and only look sadly at the suffering Lord in our hearts.
This hypocrisy is our own hypocrisy, and it is Christianity's responsibility to make our society this way.
Thousands of Christians have been hypocritical because of lack of courage. We must get rid of this hypocrisy of pretense. Only when we receive the power of the Holy Spirit and the fire of the Holy Spirit can we become truly courageous and sincere Christians who cast off hypocrisy and work to exorcise our people from Egypt.
Second, we must cast off the hypocrisy of distortion.
Jesus said these words in front of the temple in Jerusalem.
“You must destroy this temple. In three days I will raise him up” (John 2:19).
At this time, Jesus did not say that he would destroy the temple. He said, “You must destroy it.” But the false witnesses said, “I heard him say, I will destroy this temple built with hands…”
That's a lie. It's a distorted word. Also, the Lord was “speaking of his own body that was sanctified” (John 2:21). And he prophesied that they would put Jesus’ body to die on the cross. Still, the Lord prophesied that he would be resurrected. And When he said this, it was clear that the Lord was referring to his own body, but the false witnesses were distorting it.
Without distorting the gospel, we must become true witnesses of the gospel, declaring that Jesus is the Savior of this nation, and that only if we believe in Jesus well will we become the leader to save the nation. We must decide that this movement will become the national exodus movement and the church that takes the lead in this gospel movement.
Third, we must cast off the hypocrisy of condemnation.
In order for our nation to truly be ‘metamorphic’ and make a fresh start, we must be freed from the hypocrisy that condemns others without repenting of our sins. The high priests who condemned Jesus had already sentenced him to death in order to kill him.
The hypocrisy of this condemnation has killed our Lord. Jesus died on the cross for those who should be condemned. Indeed, we need a prayer to break free from the politics of condemnation and the life of condemnation.
Our church, which celebrates the 90th anniversary as we welcome verse 3.1, must take the lead and accomplish a great work of love, forgiveness, and harmony.
This is the ‘Land of Love Movement’. This is a time when we need a dialogue that forgives even those who point their swords at me in order to build the kingdom of love.
Yesterday morning, in the morning newspaper (June 2, 1998, Chosun Ilbo), I saw an article called “Housewife who made a robber cry.” At first glance, I saw the title, “The man who made a woman cry,” or something like that, is it about a housewife who deceived and caught a robber? I saw it, but it was the opposite story.
In the era of the IMF, we are in a situation where many people will sin. However, when we offer love and helping hands instead of condemnation, we believe that we can not only escape the hypocrisy of condemnation, which is to take the beam of our own eyes and pick the specks of others' eyes, but also build a true kingdom of love and harmony.
Dear saints,
Now, on the occasion of the 90th anniversary, we pray in the name of Jesus that we will become a leading church for the people's exodus from Egypt by removing hypocrisy from the path of the nation and turning the IMF era into a path of blessing. Amen.