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 Sermon > Official Service |
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Title |
The Lord is the Christ(2) - The Lord is the Christ (2) |
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Speaker |
Rev. Jaerock Lee |
Bible |
Philippians 2:5-8 |
Date |
2013-03-29 |
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Scripture
Philippians 2:5-8
[5] Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,
[6] who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,
[7] but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.
[8] Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
I will start from what we left from Part I of "The Lord is the Christ" which was delivered last Sunday Morning.
Last Sunday, I explained the meaning of the 'Christ,' and also the meanings contained in the sufferings of Jesus.
Isaiah 53:5 says, "...The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed."
The life of a sinner cannot have well-being or prosperity.
Those who commit sin will become the prey of the enemy devil and Satan according to the law of the spiritual realm.
In Genesis 3:14, God said to the serpent – to Satan who instigated the serpent -, "dust you will eat all the days of your life;"
Here, 'dust' refers to men of flesh who commit sins.
The enemy devil and Satan will bring about various tests and trials to those who live in sins.
When they suffer from these things, the enemy devil and Satan rejoice seeing them suffer.
But those who have accepted the Lord as the Savior and live a life free of sins will not suffer from poverty, diseases, or accidents that are brought by Satan.
Because Jesus solved the problem of our sins by receiving the punishment Himself, we came to have well-being.
The reason why Jesus was born in a shabby stable and lived a life in poverty was to redeem mankind from their poverty.
Also, even if one is already diseased or infirmed, if he repents of his sins from his heart and tears down the wall of sin, he can be healed.
The scripture says, "by His scourging we are healed."
Matthew 8:17 says, "This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet: 'He Himself took our infirmities and carried away our diseases.'" As said, we are healed because Jesus was scourged and His body was hurt. The scourge at that time was a deadly weapon that had pieces of lead or bones at the edge.
And a well-trained Roman soldier scourged Jesus.
His flesh was ripped apart by the scourge, and His blood was shed from the wounds.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, and TV viewers.
While He was doing His ministry in the fragile human body, Jesus endured hunger and tiredness and He bore with the fearful scourging, big nails, and the pain of the thorns while He was being crucified.
Was it easy for Him to endure because He is the Son of God? By no means!
Jesus overcame all these sufferings with the power of love.
His utmost love for the mankind let Him bear with all the pains and sufferings.
And He did so when we were still sinners.
This love saved us who were cursed sinners, who were like corpses, from the unquenchable fire of Hell.
Therefore, I hope none of you will say, "I cannot believe in the love of the Lord, I cannot feel it."
You are breathing after gaining a new life, and you are commemorating the love of the Lord in the cross, all thanks to the love of the Lord.
We can do everything with the power of this love.
The hearts that are stained with sins that are scarlet can become white as snow.
We can sanctify our body and heart.
So, I hope all of you will quickly come forth as men of spirit and whole spirit who are sanctified.
I pray in the name of our Lord the Christ who suffered, that you may give joy and comfort to the Father God who has given out His only begotten Son.
Not like any other week of the year, I see that it is this week you are more deeply grateful for the grace and love of our Lord.
Last Sunday morning, I delivered the 1st part of the message, "The Lord is the Christ."
I explained what our Jesus went through to become the Christ.
Tonight, in this 2nd part of the message, "The Lord is the Christ," I will tell you what kind of attitude Jesus had to become the Christ.
I hope that you can understand the heart of the Lord all the more clearly.
As you more clearly understand His heart, I wish for you to be able to receive greater grace as you feel the heart of the Lord Jesus while watching the Easter Cantata in the 2nd half of this service.
I give thanks to Performing Arts Committee, its cast and crew, and staff from outside for your great work and effort for the Easter performance.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
To become the Christ, what kind of attitude did Jesus have?
First, He had an attitude of 'nothing but obedience.'
He was ready to show the perfect submission and obedience to whatever God the Father might wish.
Now, what was it that God the Father wanted of Jesus?
It was to send Jesus to this fleshly world and make Him an atoning sacrifice for sinners.
That is, sinless Jesus had to receive terrible punishment only felons should receive.
He had to be hung on wood, which is a symbol of the cursed, shed His blood, and die.
Jesus knew that if He obeyed the will of Father God He would have to go through all this, but still He said, "Amen."
It was just as 2 Corinthians 1:19 says, "For the Son of God, Christ Jesus ... was not yes and no, but is yes in Him."
He didn't say, "Father, I cannot do that. Why does it have to be Me? Why should I do that?" He didn't try to avoid it.
He didn't ask, "Father, is this the only way?" He didn't try to find an easier way out.
Only with Amen, He just obeyed.
From the perspectives of justice and love, Jesus had a clear understanding of the reason why God the Father was sending Him to the earth.
That is, in order to redeem mankind from sin once and for all, there must be 'blood-shedding' of a sinless man.
It is because Leviticus 17:11 says, "...for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement."
However, all mankind is Adam's descendants, and all are born with original sin.
No matter how good and righteous a life a man manages to live, he cannot redeem mankind from sin.
Therefore, the Son of God had to come to this earth in flesh.
Through the borrowed body of the Virgin Mary, He had to be conceived by the Holy Spirit.
Our Jesus knew about this law of justice very well.
He also knew very well about God the Father's love for souls who were sinners.
Jesus felt the same burning love of God the Father who wishes to lead the souls to salvation even through sacrificing everything.
And thus, Jesus could willingly obey the will of God the Father.
He was never forced to obey.
Not only He understood the will of God the Father, but He was one with God in heart, and so He desired to accomplish the will of God.
He regarded 'the work of completing the way of salvation for sinners' as not only God the Father's job, but also His.
In one heart and with one will, He wished to accomplish the providence of human salvation.
That's why He could not but just obey.
As you accomplish the works of God's Kingdom, if you have the same heart as the Lord's, you will naturally obey the will of God.
First of all, you must understand the good will of God contained in the order of God.
And you must count the work of God the Father's kingdom as your own.
If you are ready like this, you can obey no matter what the work might be.
On the contrary, those who say, "It is the Father's job. Why should I do it?" will disobey even though it is a deed of goodness.
So far, I have only obeyed the will of God.
Even when He ordered me to do what seemed impossible to do or to understand by human thought and ability, I only said Amen.
Chances were that, once I said Amen, I could understand the good will that was contained in it.
In addition, as I obeyed and took a step forward, the fog was cleared and the road was shown.
In the end, I've been able to harvest abundant fruits and reveal the glory of God.
This is one of the many things God the Father praises me for.
In a fleshly sense, God seemed to put me in a difficult situation on purpose, but even in such a situation, I only searched for the good will of God.
I have received so much difficult spiritual training that words cannot explain.
In each and every moment of the training, I even understood the deep will of God and why God was putting me under such difficult training.
By faith, I hoped God would give me great blessings and glory after the training, and I just obeyed in silence.
God the Father said He was touched to see me like this.
And the Father allowed me to bear much more fruit than what He had originally had in mind.
This is the kind of obedience that God the Father is pleased with.
With this kind of obedience, our Jesus could become the Christ.
I urge you to become pleasure to God the Father with this kind of obedience.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
In order to become the Christ, secondly, Jesus had a willing attitude of sacrifice and devotion.
Here the term 'sacrifice' is an act of giving up one's life, fortune, honor, or something important or valuable for the sake of others.
'Devotion' is the process of spending a lot of time or energy on an activity.
Our Jesus gave up His everything to come the Christ, the Savior of sinners.
To accomplish the providence of salvation of the cross that God the Father had planned before ages, He devoted all His heart and body.
He had no wish to seek His own benefit.
He completed the way of salvation of the cross with an attitude of taking any harm, no matter what it might be.
As its result, the wall of sin that separated sinners from God was demolished.
It was just as Ephesians 2:16 says, "and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity."
To reconcile sinners to God, Jesus Himself became the atoning sacrifice.
However, He gave us the duty of reconciliation.
Regarding this, 2 Corinthians 5:19 says, "namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation."
In order to manage this duty of reconciliation, we must also sacrifice and devote ourselves just as the Lord did.
We should not expect to pursue peace with all men without sacrificing ourselves.
Especially, if you wish to become a servant of God or a worker, you must be ready to devote and commit yourself.
Jesus said in Luke 14:26-27, "If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple."
Our servants of God and Levite workers should remember this verse since you received such great grace and love for this grace period of 3 months.
You can now have clear answer to what kind of attitude you should have to live for the Lord.
To receive this 3-month grace period from God the Father, I had to take the 'sword of punishment' on your behalf.
Because of the shock that I absorbed, my ability to see and hear became poor; the functionality of my entire body seriously declined.
I neither have a disease nor is something wrong with my body.
When there was no energy in my body, I had to absorb the massive shock; I barely managed to keep my breath.
Moreover, the repentance letters from pastors, Levite workers, and members greatly added mental shock on me.
However, I could endure it because I was confident that you and God could be reconciled through my sacrifice and devotion.
In addition, God the Father gave me a word of promise that He would allow for you to start anew from Easter Sunday.
Therefore, you should never do things to break peace with God from now on.
When you commit sin, a wall separates you from God, and peace is broken.
A sin leading to death builds a wall that can never be broken.
If you make peace with God, you can confidently ask whatever you wish.
And you can receive answers to whatever you ask.
Moreover, if you pursue peace with all men, you will become a true child of God.
If you become a true child of God, a different level of spiritual authority will follow you.
Just as our Lord manifested the power of God as the Son of God, you can also become a man of ability.
The Lord is very pleased when you become the true child of God after you and God are reconciled through His sacrifice and devotion.
But you should remember only when you sacrifice yourself just as Jesus did, you can make peace not only with God, but also with all men.
Dear brothers and sisters.
To become the Christ, Jesus was full of love in His heart.
Earlier, I said He had an attitude of obedience and He was willing to sacrifice Himself to become the Christ.
Our Jesus could do all this because He was full of love in His heart.
To become the Savior for sinners, He was able to obey even to the point of His death.
He existed in the form of God, but He emptied Himself, took the form of a bond-servant, and sacrificed Himself completely.
All of these were possible because His heart was full of love for God the Father and souls.
If you love God the Father from the depth of your heart, you there is nothing you can do but obey His will.
You won't say, "Do I have to do this?" You will not avoid His will either.
You won't say, "I don't want to do it." or, "Why should it be me?" You won't try to disobey, either.
You will say only "Yes" and "Amen"; the greater your love, the more you try to do His will.
'The power of love' is so great that it can turn impossible into possible.
Song of Solomon 8:6 says, "...For love is as strong as death..."
And the next verse (8:7) says, "Many waters cannot quench love, Nor will rivers overflow it; If a man were to give all the riches of his house for love, It would be utterly despised."
Our Jesus could obey the will of God to the point of dying for sinners; it was also thanks to the power of love.
The love that Jesus had far surpassed the fear and pain of the suffering on the cross.
It was just as 1 John 4:18 says, "There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear..."
For this very same reason, God the Father was able to give His beloved Son over to suffer a terrible death.
His love for souls was far greater than the pain He would receive as He watched His Son suffering.
This is also how Jesus was able to overcome the pain and sorrow and was able to complete the providence of salvation of the cross.
Regarding this, 1 John 4:10 says, "In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins."
If you believe in the love of such God the Father, and depend on the Lord from the depth of your heart, you can surely overcome any difficulties or sufferings.
Romans 8:35 says, "Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?"
And Romans 8:37 says, "But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us."
I myself underwent so many refinements of blessing for the 30 years of ministry, and I could overcome them by the power of love.
When I was known to the whole world as a bad person due to false broadcasting, I overcame it only by faith in this fact, that 'the Father loves me.'
Even if all men were pointing their finger at me, the fact that the Father knows the truth, and He loves me comforted my heart.
I hope that you will love God the Father all the more and be loved by God the Father.
With that power of love, you can conquer the world.
By the way, even after you come into spirit and whole spirit, you may receive persecution.
It is the case when you are persecuted for the sake of the Lord's name.
It is just as the Lord said in Matthew 5:11, "Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me."
Even facing such persecution, those who truly love God from their hearts can easily conquer it.
They will rather rejoice and be glad.
It is because the Lord said, "Your reward in Heaven is great."
Those forefathers of faith who fervently loved the Lord; they rather rejoiced and were glad to be persecuted for the sake of the Lord.
But if you consider it difficult even to live by the word of the Lord, can you say you truly love the Lord?
The Lord sacrificed everything for you.
How can you not love such a Lord?
If you love Him, you will obey Him; if you love Him, you can sacrifice yourself.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
Philippians 2:5 says, "Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus."
Tonight, I explained 3 attitudes our Jesus had in Him to become the Christ.
They were, the attitude of nothing but obedience, the willing attitude of sacrifice and devotion, and the love for the Father and souls.
I hope you can feel such a heart of the Lord as you watch the Easter Cantata in the 2nd half of this service.
I have the desire for the heart of the Lord to be copied exactly onto your hearts.
May you never forget the grace and love of God the Father, and pursue only the way of truth until the Lord comes back, in the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ, I pray! |
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