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 Sermon > Official Service |
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Title |
Spirit, soul and body(10) - The 2nd lecture on - Spirit, soul and body(2) |
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Speaker |
Rev. Jaerock Lee |
Bible |
1Th 5:23 |
Date |
2004-01-25 |
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Introduction
Dear congregation, have you had a happy Lunar New Year's Day?
I suppose many of you took a good rest and visited your hometowns.
I also think many of you preached the gospel to your family members and relatives.
We had good holidays, and now we should endeavor in accomplishing our goals that we set in the New Year's service.
I hope our members, who are living during the last days, will not waste any time but make the best of every day given to us.
I bless in the name of the Lord that you will be able to confess "I have born abundant fruits," when your work is tested by fire.
Body
Dear congregation, members who are attending the service through the satellite all over the country, members of branch churches, branch sanctuaries, Light and Salt mission, Restaurant Mission, members who are attending the service through the Internet all over the world,
This is the 2nd session of the 2nd part of the spirit, soul, and body.
In the last session, we learned the definition of the word, 'flesh,' that is, it is the generic term for everything that perishes, changes, and disappears.
Since Adam committed a sin and corrupted, human beings' body, mind, and thought were changed into flesh.
And what contents were filled in the people, who changed and became flesh?
The contents in human beings are all things that are filthy and evil, and are against the will of God such as hatred, envy, jealousy, anger, desire, pride, adultery, seeking one's own, rudeness, and contempt.
Fleshly contents keep on filling the fleshly people. The reason why people become more and more fleshly is because human beings are made from the dust of the ground.
When God first created Adam, He molded the form of Adam from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. Then, God began to fill him with spiritual contents.
But Adam, who committed a sin, was disconnected from God who was supplying spiritual contents, became flesh, and consequently went back to the original dust of the ground.
Then, his nature returned to the nature of the soil. Namely, his nature changed according to what was mixed with him.
As those who have farming experiences must know it, the quality of the soil changes according to what is added to it.
On the one hand, if we fertilize it and mix good things, it becomes good soil. On the other hand, if we keep on mixing something bad, it becomes more and more infertile. In the same way, after men who are made from the dust of the ground become flesh, their characteristics are changed according to the contents that are in them.
Let us make it a little easier.
On the one hand, some people try to understand and go on even when there is something unpleasant.
On the other hand, some others do not control themselves, but get angry immediately when there is the same unpleasant thing. This kind of people are sowing the content called 'anger' in their heart.
If they keep on getting angry, their speech sounds more irritated, and they tend to get angry and raise their voice with small things.
Because they are filling themselves with anger, their soil gets filled with more of anger. These people do not tend to find out about themselves even when people around them advise them, "why do you get angry at such a small thing?"
They habitually get angry and ask back, "When did I get angry?" or say, "It's not that I get angry for no reason, but the situations made me get angry."
It is the same in all aspects. If we keep on lying, our lying characteristics become stronger. If we keep on beating others, we become more of a violent man.
Not only sowing with actions but also what we see and hear is important. Those who enjoy watching violent scenes in movies are sowing the violent things in themselves and they actually become violent persons.
According to what kind of fleshly contents we fill ourselves with, we follow the characteristics of those contents.
Dear congregation, those who are changed into flesh must continue taking flesh in order to gain the strength to keep and move that flesh. Furthermore, they have to take the things that have stronger fleshly characteristics as time goes.
What does this mean? For example, for us to continue our lives, we must take food.
The foods that we take such as fruits, vegetables, grains, and meat are all flesh that change and perish over time.
And the components of flesh taken from the food of flesh combine with the body of man of flesh.
And they form a new component of flesh in that man.
In other words, the nutrients in the food become flesh and blood to make up the components that constitute human body.
At this time, what kind of foods we eat decides what kind of fleshly components fill us.
And as the time went since Adam, people needed stronger foods that had stronger characteristics of flesh.
When they lived in the Garden of Eden, they ate only fruits, but after the fall of Adam, they began to eat vegetables and grains. And after the Noah's flood, God allowed them to eat meat.
As human beings changed into more flesh, they had to eat foods that had stronger characteristics of flesh to gain energy to be active.
When we see animals, herbivores that eat only plants and grass are usually calm and mild. But carnivores that eat other animals tend to be tyrant and cruel.
The fact that human beings who used to eat only plants came to eat meat is that they were stained with flesh as much. However, even after the flood, God did not prohibit them from eating every kind of meat.
God distinguished the detestable animals for the Israelites and prohibited them from eating those animals.
Those detestable animals have evil and vicious characteristics as much.
But in the New Testament times, God lays even fewer limitations for the Gentiles who believe in the Lord. Among the detestable animals that were forbidden to the Israelites, God prohibited only the blood and animals that were hanged.
The Gentiles had been eating those detestable animals for thousands of years.
So, if God prohibits the Gentiles who accepted the Lord all kinds of detestable foods, it would be very hard for them to keep it.
That is why God made the limitations the least. However, He still prohibited detestable foods for the Israelites who had been keeping the Law.
But it would still be better for non-Israelites not to eat the meat of detestable animals.
It is not a sin to eat those meats, but the less we eat, the less components of flesh we are going to get, and thus, it would be beneficial for us to get rid of evil and become sanctified.
Of course, as said in 1 Timothy 4:5, "for it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer," we get sanctified by the Word of God and prayer, not by action but by faith in our heart.
But as we gained spiritual knowledge about flesh and spirit, we can take a more beneficial way in becoming sanctified by the Word of God and prayer.
Dear congregation, likewise, the kind of food one takes affects the process of forming his flesh, and in early days of one's life, the effect is greater. Also, the kind of food that the mother takes when she is pregnant affects the baby's nature and characteristics to a great extent.
The babies' nature and characteristics change according to what kind of milk they take, namely whether they take mother's milk or cow milk.
When the babies take the milk of an animal, the characteristics of that animal is added to them.
Once I read an article about a boy who was raised by wolves, taking wolves' milk, and his actions and characteristics were just like those of wolves.
Of course, one reason is that he was raised and learned from the wolves, but since he received the characteristics of wolves by taking the milk, he much more easily became like a wolf.
Also, foods with chemicals or that are chemically treated are changed from the nature, and it is obvious that they are not better than natural foods.
Long ago, a TV broadcaster in Japan tested the IQ of a Korean child, and that child became well-known because his IQ was 210.
And the way his parents raised him was very impressive. Since the time the mother was pregnant, the parents made themselves mild and did not even quarrel or get angry.
The mother selected the kind of foods that were said to be good for developing the brain power.
Because of that, not only that child but his younger ones were also geniuses.
How about the Israelites, then? They are the smartest people among all nations of the world, because they keep God's Law, although it is the Law of the Old Testament.
The Jews count for the most number of Nobel Prize winners. Considering these things, when you raise children, the less fleshly things you take, the more excellent children you can raise.
Of course, feeding them with less fleshly foods is not everything.
What is more important is that the children should experience good and beautiful things, not evil and filthy things of the world while they are growing up.
If you keep the children's body, thoughts, and mind from fleshly things as much as possible, they can be excellent children.
It would be the best to raise them within the truth of God. But even in this world, if they raise the children giving them fleshly things as least as possible, the children can be wise and good in their heart.
Dear congregation, as the people were changed into flesh, they gain energy by taking foods of flesh, and as time goes, they wanted to take things that were stronger and fleshlier.
By the way, flesh needing more flesh and getting stained with more flesh is not only about human beings and foods.
When people live on this earth, even their mentality seeks more of fleshly things, and they get corrupted into more fleshly things.
We can see this through the civilizations.
People invent and discover the necessary things with reasoning power.
They invented letters to communicate with one another, and improved the necessary technology, knowledge, and culture.
And they could hand over to their descendants their technologies and cultures with the languages and letters.
They developed higher level of civilizations. But even the reasoning and languages of people are also flesh, and the civilizations that were developed by human beings are all flesh.
Since human beings themselves are flesh, what they make is also flesh after all.
And what do they seek while they develop civilizations? It is the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life.
1 John 2:16-17 say, "For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. And the world is passing away, and [also] its lusts; but the one who does the will of God abides forever."
The civilizations made by human beings were to satisfy the five senses, to seek pleasure, fame, authority, and knowledge to feel the satisfaction from their achievements.
That is why the more civilization is developed, the more fleshly things people seek. Therefore, they become more lustful and corrupted.
And when the evil prevails, even the whole civilization sometimes gets destroyed completely by the punishment of God according to His justice.
It was the case with many strong nations in the history.
Even though the nation was established with healthy and great ideal in the beginning, once the nation became strong and gained a lot of wealth and authority, they got corrupted as time went.
As said in James 1:15, "Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death," the desire that seeks fleshly things leads to sins, and when the sin is prevailed, it causes death.
Dear congregation, the key point of today's message is that flesh is something that perishes and changes and are useless and meaningless, and at the same time, what the flesh needs and takes, and what is made by the flesh are all flesh after all.
The foods that men of flesh eat are flesh, what men of flesh see, hear, and enjoy are all flesh, and what men of flesh make for the needs is all flesh.
As Jesus said in John 3:6, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit," everything that is related with men of flesh is, after all, meaningless flesh.
However, what is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Since the time one receives the Holy Spirit and is born again, he can give birth to spirit following the works of the Holy Spirit.
In this way, those who give birth to spirit belong to spirit, and they will gain the right to live in the eternal heaven, namely, they will get eternal life.
The fleshly body that gets diseases, gets old, and perishes change into healthy body by the grace and power of God.
The fleshly heart that is full of sins, evil, and untruths change into spiritual heart that is full of goodness, light, and love.
Even their words change into spiritual words, not the words of fleshly people.
The words that fleshly people speak change over time. They are the words of judging and offending each other.
Even if they try to communicate well, the language of fleshly people is an imperfect one that is very likely to cause misunderstandings.
However, those who are accomplishing spirit do not speak fleshly words that are evil, deceitful, and changing, but spiritual words that are holy, truthful, and beautiful.
Those who follow the works of the Holy Spirit in this way seek spiritual things and fill themselves with spirit. That is why it is said what is born with the Holy Spirit is spirit.
Because they fill their thoughts, minds, words, and actions with spiritual things, they change into spiritual beings.
They keep on giving birth to spirit with the Holy Spirit, and enjoy the complete spirit once they get to heaven later.
Their bodies change into a spiritual body that is so beautiful and light as it has almost no weight. Their hearts will always be filled with happiness, joy, thanks, and love.
The language in heaven makes people feel happy and graceful just by talking to each other, and there will not be any case where people do not have enough ability to express what they have in their mind and thus cause misunderstandings.
In fact, because the heart of people itself is transferred to another person, they can communicate even without words.
Conclusion
Dear congregation, on the one hand, if we give birth to flesh and take flesh as the flesh wants, we will become more evil, corrupted, and filthy.
On the other hand, if those who have received the Holy Spirit do not accept the flesh but take spiritual things, they resemble God who is spirit, and become holy and perfect men of spirit.
Because we are created from the dust of the ground, things change according to what kind of components we add to the soil of each person.
Now, I urge you to check what kind of components you are adding to your soil each moment.
Are you sowing hatred, envy, jealousy, desires, anger, or judging, following the lust and boastful pride?
Or are you sowing spiritual things such as love, service, humbleness, goodness, self-sacrifice, and obedience? Galatians 6:7 says, "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.
If you are sowing with spirit, you will definitely harvest spiritual fruits.
You will reap fruits of blessings such as spiritual and physical health, prosperity in everything including the family, workplace, and business, and receiving the answers to your wants.
You will receive the wisdom, sagacity, and strength to do your duty and will reap the fruit of revival.
I hope all our members will give birth to spirit and change your soil into good soil, so that you can bear beautiful, spiritual fruits.
I bless in the name of the Lord that you will finally be acknowledged as God's true children who are filled only with complete spirit and enjoy the glory that shines like the sun in the kingdom of heaven. |
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