Title With the Lord / 2005. 2.20.
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Matthew 26:37-41, Isaiah 41:10
These days we are in the season of Lent. Lent is a season that has been observed since the early church and refers to the period of 40 days before Easter. There are no Sundays in those 40 days. Since Lent is a period of remembering and participating in the sufferings of the Lord, the 40 days are counted excluding Sundays, the day of the Resurrection. Our ancestors in the faith spent this period penance and fasting. This is because by participating in the suffering of the Lord, he tried to put that meaning into his life and heart.
Therefore, this period is a period of repentance and preparation for the resurrection. It is a period of sharing in the sufferings of the Lord. This Lent is not a time to mourn, although we spend it earnestly with a heart of repentance, thinking about the cross of the Lord. This is because the cross did not end with suffering and suffering, but became our hope through the resurrection of glory.
However, the heart of Jesus who had the cross in front of him was very painful because of the heavy weight of the cross. The weight of the cross was not simply a physical weight, but the weight of the sins of all mankind, so the weight of the suffering was indescribable.
So in today's text, the Lord speaks.
My heart was so troubled that I died.
Stay and stay awake with me. 26:38
When did the Lord ever say this? We have never seen Jesus suffer like this. Jesus was always calm, Jesus was always calm. Even in the face of the temptation that contained the wicked intentions of the Pharisees, the Lord's heart was never bewildered or shaken. When he was tried by Pilate, when he was whipped, and when he was nailed to the cross, he did not speak. He embraced the pain and drank the cup of death, like a person on the way, as if the cross was something to be embraced, as if it were cruelty to drink.
But today, the Lord says to Peter, John, James, and these three disciples, 'Be awake with me, because I am grieving so much that I am about to die.'
We always pray for the Lord to be with us. I want the hand of God's blessing to be with me. May the Lord be by my side to watch over me, guide me, help me and bless me. Because we live in a troubled world, it is only natural to pray that way. We need the help of the Lord because we are weak beings to stand alone in this harsh world. Because we live with a body, we must bring our weaknesses and problems before the Lord and ask Him for help. This is because, on this rough road in the wilderness, in this vast ocean, we can only get through it when the Lord is with us. Every time I prayed like that, the Lord said, 'I am with you', 'I will help you', 'I will guide you', 'I will protect you'.
I will be with you as you pass through the waters.
When you cross the river, the water will not sink you.
You will not be burned when you walk in the fire.
The flame will not consume you.... Isaiah 43:2
Fear not, for I am with you.
Do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you. will really help you
yea, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Isaiah 41:10
But sometimes the Lord says, 'Today you will come with me.' The Lord never said anything like that. But today, with the cross in front of him, he says, 'Let's all be with me.'
Faith is the belief that the Lord is with me and at the same time the faith that I know how to do with myself. Along with faith longing for the Lord's helping grace, faith is my obedience to the Lord's word. If I believe in the Lord's help and do not obey the Lord's Word, then it cannot be true faith. A healthy faith must have faith in the presence of the Lord and obedience according to the word of the Lord.
We Christians, especially Protestants, are very free, bright and enterprising. But there are also things that are lost in doing so. In order to have good faith and growing faith, you must have the temperance and determination to thoroughly ban things that should be prohibited at times and thoroughly keep the principles of faith that you must bear. However, sometimes we pass over things that are forbidden as an excuse to be free, and we ignore regulations and principles to be observed under the pretext of being legal. If you do not forbid what is forbidden and do not keep what you must keep, what will remain in your life of faith? It would be nothing but an indecisive shell of faith, immersed in laziness, self-indulgence, and uncertainty that could not even be called faith.
One day, at the prayer center, I met a professor of philosophy at Sogang University. In a conversation with that person, he said that he came from a denomination that represents Korea's conservative faith. When I was a child, I came back from evangelism on a Sunday, and I was salivating at how much I wanted to eat ice cream.
That's right. Sometimes, having the ability to keep things that we should keep from a young age, and to have the ability to control what we should do even if it is difficult is the power of faith. Keeping those rules does not lead to salvation. The salvation we received does not disappear just because we do not keep those rules. However, a faith that thoroughly observes such regulations in the name of faith creates a faith capable of carrying out whatever it is. Such thorough experience creates the spirit of martyrdom. Such a thorough spirit does not compromise with injustice and makes us live by holding on to the Word of God in the midst of suffering.
Those who fulfill such thorough practices of faith thoroughly observe Sundays, obey the Word, devote themselves to the best of their ability, know how to give joy, make sacrifices, and live a bright life.
In the Old Testament, what kind of meat should you eat and what kind of meat you should not eat. Don't touch anything. If touched, what to do for seven days. In some ways, it seems tedious to do. Sometimes I wonder if my faith in God clings to such things. Nevertheless, why did God make such a taboo clause in faith in the Old Testament times? Why would God, who is the Spirit, give such details of the fleshly regulations? Because there are benefits that come from keeping those things.
First, we learn obedience to God.
The second is to confirm that you are a spiritual being by not following the desires of the flesh even though you are in the flesh.
Third, by keeping these things, I am proud that I am of heaven even though I live on this earth.
It doesn't have to be a problem for us today whether to eat or not to eat meat. In Acts 15, through the Jerusalem Council, which was the first council of the apostles, it was decided that ??things sacrificed to idols, ??fornication, ??things strangled, and ??eating blood should be forbidden, and that other things should be done according to the people and customs of each.
So there are no such taboos in our time. However, there are taboos and rules that Christians must follow. It is to keep the Lord's Day, to tithe thoroughly, to keep the purity of one's body, and to be temperate in the beginning of the week. Especially during Lent, when we remember the sufferings of the Lord. Traditionally, Lent had traditional taboos such as forbidding festivals, avoiding entertainment, and fasting. Keeping these taboos well is also a good tool for my faith. Keeping the traditions of the seasons, spending them reverently, and living in moderation according to the seasons is the Christian image and principle. In pagan regions where Christian culture is not universal like ours, we Christians should take the lead in such Christian cultural activities.
As an active tool for keeping Lent, living a more devout life, praying more, reading the Bible more, and living a more devoted life of faith will be better. At least not at other times, even during this period, if you decide to pray and attend the morning prayer, you will be sending it to the awakening. Even reading the Bible, which was neglected on the excuse of being busy, will become awake in its own way if you focus on your heart and read a set amount during this period. It will be the same as taking care of our neighbors by devoting ourselves in the name of the Lord while restraining ourselves from the times we always cursed in the world for a while.
Keeping those things well does not mean you will be saved. Conversely, it does not mean that the salvation you have received will not disappear if you do not keep those things well. However, by doing this, the self-esteem of the saved child will increase. And that pride will increase confidence and joy in your heart.
Valentine's Day just passed. This day is said to be a day to give chocolates to loved ones. Did everyone get chocolate? Congratulations. How good is it to have someone who loves you? However, in fact, this Valentine's Day is also said to be a holiday with no clear basis in foreign countries.
It seems to have spread rapidly in Korea with the wave of commercialization. If we keep these strange feasts according to the fashion of the world, but we do not care about the feasts of our faith, which we confess that we regard as life, how can we say that we are true Christians? If Christians do not celebrate Christian feasts as a feast, who will keep them and convey their meaning?
Jesus, having the cross in front of him, said to his disciples:
My heart was so troubled that I died.
Stay and stay awake with me. 26:38
'stay'--where are you staying? It is to remain at the place of the cross of the Lord. It is staying in the place of the Lord's sacrifice. It is to remain in that humble place of the Lord. It is staying in the place of the Lord's prayer. It is staying in that place of obedience to the Lord.
The lyrics to Psalm 136 say:
Were you there then when the Lord was crucified?
Were you there then when the Lord ran upon the tree,
Were you there then when you laid the Lord in the tomb?
Oh! Oh! Sometimes it makes me tremble, tremble, tremble,
were you there then
This is a hymn that asks if we stayed in the Lord's place and were with you.
Jesus put the cross in front of him and prayed in pain, and the disciples were asleep. Then the Lord spoke.
Could you not have stayed awake like this one hour with me? 26:40
The words of the Lord seem to bring you sighs and tears.
Saints, in Lent, the Lord speaks to us again. 'Stay ye and stay awake with me'
May Lent be a time of kneeling at the foot of the cross, breaking the lusts of the flesh that weigh heavily on our eyelids, letting go of laziness and breaking old habits. So, I pray that this Lent will be a season of awakening in obedience to the Lord's word, 'Stay awake with me.'
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