Title Let's buy people's hearts
Contents
♡♥♡ Let's buy people's hearts. / Matthew 5:13-16
*** Introduction
If there is one thing in common among the many characteristics of living things, it is to form a 'community'. That is, the same kind forms a community. People are no exception to this phenomenon. People include family community, faith, work, delay, school, hobbies, etc. They form different kinds of communities and create their own identity within them. For example, in a family community, there would be fathers, mothers, children, grandparents, relatives, etc., and in the workplace community, there are many identities including the president, directors, managers, managers, and workers at the bottom of the factory. They do their job through their respective identities. A healthy community is possible only when an appropriate status is formed and each member performs well in a job that suits his or her status.
With this premise in mind, let's read the text of this hour once again. This verse is a verse we know well, but this time, I would like to look at the verse in a slightly different direction than before.
The text begins with the word “you” and points to a specific class. In the words that follow, those designated as “you” are “Christians.” In other words, “Christian community”. And the figurative expressions such as 'salt' and 'lamp' signify the status of the 'Christian community'.
By the way, verses 13-15 explain the correct role that salt and lamps should play. Finally, the interpretation of the word appears in verse 16. “In the same way, let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” If there is one realistic theme from this verse, it is ‘Buy people’s hearts with your life.’
Among internet news sites, there is a place called 'newsnjoy'. It is an internet newspaper created by Christian journalists. These are young journalists who are aiming for a new renewal of the Korean church. Not long ago, I published an analysis material called ‘The Current Crisis of Protestantism in Korea’.
It was found that the number of Protestants is statistically higher than that of Buddhists. However, recently, the statistics that ‘there are many converts’ are on the rise. In other words, more and more people are coming to Christianity and leaving to other religions.
After all, it indicates that the number of people who go to church and are disappointed with the church is increasing. This means that there is also a feeling of rebellion against the failure of the church community to fulfill its social responsibilities.
It is often said that when you see a Korean church in a foreign country, you are surprised by two things. They say that they are surprised by the huge number and rapid growth of Korean churches, and once again by their social irresponsibility.
After all, we Christians are now winning people's hearts. The phrase ‘buy people’s hearts’ can be said to ‘buy people’s hearts’ in a worldly expression, but the church has been trying to win the hearts of people in a strange way.
Do you still not see the churches that have become members of the same body, slandering and slandering each other, and trying to take away members? In the past, when a large church was split in two, fighting and raising blood in front of the world became a news item. How are you going to win people's hearts?
The Lord said, “In the same way, let your light shine before men… ” he says. In other words, it is the Lord's request, 'Let our Christian life appear as a bright light in front of the world.' This is an act worthy of Christian status and a way to win people's hearts.
If we are true Christians, we should seriously consider why a Christian community is needed on this earth. In other words, we need to set the direction of our lives while remembering what God asks of the church community and what the world expects of us.
The Lord has called us “the light of the world” and “the salt of the world.” A light that does not illuminate the world has no meaning any more. Salt that gives flavor to the world and does not keep the world fresh is no longer salt. Christians are literally those who belong to Christ. And those who live like Christ in the world.
Jesus did not come to a place far from the world, such as a medieval monastery or a prayer house today. The Lord came to the center of the world's crowded life. In John 3:16, God also said, “For he loved the world, he gave his only begotten Son.” During the three years of public ministry, the Lord did not stay in a secluded place except for a brief time to pray. He has always worked in the midst of a world of sinners, the sick, persecution, suffering, and pain. The Lord has worked so hard that there is not even a moment to rest. That fact was made clear by the crucifixion of the Lord. Jesus died only six hours after He was crucified. Ordinary people said that they could hold on for a day or a few days without dying. The Lord did not spare health for Himself. The Lord has poured out His all into the world. Even blood and life.
In any region, if each church tries to imitate the Lord and try to renew the community, our society will change amazingly. Don't look at other people and other churches, let's give our Daebok Church new strength. As the Lord did, let us be a light in front of people with our words, actions, and life, and lead people's hearts to the Lord.
The book 'Alive' became a bestseller of 1974. The story presented here is a true story.
On October 13, 1972, the Lung Child F227, a charter flight from Montevideo, Uruguay, on its way to San Diego, Chile, made a miraculous crash landing in the Andes Mountains due to bad weather. During the crash landing, both wings and tail hit the mountain peak and fled, but managed to land on the snow-covered hillside. There were 15 amateur rugby players, 25 friends following as cheerleaders, and 5 crew members, a total of 45 people on board. Some of them died in the crash landing, while others were injured and died on the mountain. The snow-capped Andes are a death valley that even experts shun.
The government gave up the rescue after a 10-day search flight. There was absolutely no food on the plane. There were only a few sweets in the pockets of the young men. 16 people were rescued by enduring 67 days of fighting with cold and hunger to the end. What kept them alive for more than two months, needless to say, was the body of a dead friend. In a memo written to his father, ‘Nico Richer’, who died on the mountain after being ill for several weeks from an injury, wrote: “Something that even my father would have never believed has happened here. Splitting the flesh of a dead friend. There is no other way than this. Now I know it's hard to live long. I sincerely hope that my flesh will save my friends after I die.”
Christian faith is not a life for oneself. The moment I become a Christian, I am already starting a new life that I have been given to the Lord. Let's buy people through our lives and give them to the Lord. In 2 Corinthians 1:14, Paul said that those whom he led to God boasted before God. “On the day of our Lord Jesus, you become our pride, and we yours, as ye roughly know us.”
Why don't we make a decision together now? Let the confession of the apostle Paul become our confession. Galatians 2:20. Let's read together and finish the talk. “I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”