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 Sermon > Official Service |
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Title |
Spirit, soul and body(14) - The 2nd lecture on - Spirit, soul and body(6) |
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Speaker |
Rev. Jaerock Lee |
Bible |
2 Co 10:3-6 |
Date |
2004-03-07 |
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Introduction
Dear congregation, this is the 6th session of the 2nd part of spirit, soul, and body, and I am going to explain about the aspect of soul, continued from the last session.
We human beings consist of spirit, soul, and body.
Our visible body is like the vessel that contains our spirit and soul, and this spirit and soul actually control the body.
We learn about spirit, soul, and body to realize about ourselves first and to gain the essential knowledge and strength that are necessary in changing ourselves into men of spirit.
I first explained how our bodies are formed, and now it is the time to explain about soul. In the last session, we learned what soul is.
Soul is the term for the following three things as a whole: memory device in man's brain, the contents that are stored in the device, and the thoughts using these contents.
If we store good things, we can think only things that are good and truthful. If we store bad things, we will think things that are untruthful.
Also, we can remember more clearly and for a longer period of time things that are stored in not only our brain but also our heart at the same time along with feelings, than things that are just stored or just sown in our brain.
Remembering and thinking what we see, hear, and experience is the operation of soul. And it is important in our Christian life whether we store things with truth or untruth.
Even the worldly people sometimes say, "It depends on how you think."
If we look at things positively, it is easier to get better results. But if we look at things negatively, we are likely to get bad results.
It is even truer in spiritual sense. Our life will change according to whether we have operations of soul in untruth or in truth. Even the result of the afterlife will be changed by this.
It will decide whether or not we will become men of spirit and receive God's blessings.
It will even decide whether we will end up in heaven or hell.
Therefore, we will consider in detail what kinds of operations of soul there are, so that we might be able to have operations of soul belonging to truth.
I hope you will check yourself on what kind of operation of soul you have.
I bless in the name of the Lord that you will be able to become brave before God who clearly knows man's heart and thoughts.
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,
When a man has operations of soul belonging to untruth, it will not only harm himself but also other people around him.
For example, this person might judge an innocent man and spread false rumors.
This not only builds up a wall of sin between God and himself but also gives such a hard time to the other person.
Sometimes you might misunderstand another person's good intention in a bad way and have bad feelings against each other. Have you experienced an occasion where you were misunderstood and hated by another person?
You yourself might have given a hard time to another person because of a wrongful operation of soul.
From now, we will consider some examples of untruthful operations of soul that we can find easily in our everyday life.
The first one is not being able to understand the differences between people.
People develop their own taste and value, and form their framework of what is right.
Even in clothing, some people like splendid and unique designs while some others like simple, sleek, and tidy designs.
Watching the same movie, some say it is interesting while some others say it's boring. Looking at the same person, some say he is clear, brisk and straightforward, while some others say he is careless and impatient.
Because people are all different in this way, those with similar personalities become close friends easily while those with very different personalities have uneasy feelings about or do not like each other.
For example, suppose Deacon Kim has an active and open character, so he wants to do things at one stroke. If he doesn't like anything about other people, he wants to tell it to the other person frankly.
But Deacon Lee in the same mission group does not express his feelings whether he likes something or not. In doing business, he first considers many things in detail, so it takes a long time to decide something.
So, Deacon Kim thinks Deacon Lee is very drawling, and he cannot understand it. So he begins to have some complaints and uneasy feelings and have a hard time because of that.
Also, in the same way, even Deacon Lee feels it difficult to interact with Deacon Kim, and he wants to keep away from Deacon Kim.
Not being able to understand each other also comes from the operation of soul belonging to untruth.
If we think only what seems to be right to us is right and only what seems to be good to us is good, we cannot understand other people who are different from us, and thus we cannot accept them in our heart.
The second example of untruthful operation of soul is judging others.
A person concludes about a person or a thing with his own framework or feelings.
We can find examples of this among people from different cultures.
In some countries people consider blowing nose at a dining table very impolite, but people in some other countries do not consider it impolite at all.
In some countries, wasting the food you were eating is very impolite because it implies that "your food is too unsavory to finish."
On the contrary, people in some other countries think eating up all the food is impolite, and they have to leave a little bit of the food they were eating.
Let me give you another example. Indians eat with their hands. A non-Indian man saw this and said it is not sanitary.
But Indians say they do not know how sanitary the forks and knives are in the restaurants, but they can at least wash their hands cleanly before eating, so it is more sanitary to eat with their hands. About the same thing, people think and feel in different ways according to what they learned. We have differences not only in different places and cultures but also in different times.
For example, when I was a student, if students sang popular songs in schools, some of them were even punished, and they were considered as disorderly students. But how is it now? Singing popular songs is not a problem at all; in some schools, they play popular songs during lunch time for the whole school.
Also, certain styles of clothes that were once considered to be modern begin to lose the popularity and are considered out of date later as the trend changes.
But after some decades, the same trend comes back as well.
Therefore, we should never judge according to the standards that change over time and place and that are not the absolute truth. Also we often judge others' intention and actions according to our own thoughts and feelings. Those who lie a lot can easily judge others are lying as well.
Those who like to speak ill of others are likely to judge that people are talking badly about other people, when they are whispering something.
Let me give you another example. There is a brother whose face turns red whenever he sees a particular sister.
It always happens because he once made a mistake to this sister, and he feels sorry whenever he sees her.
And a person, who saw this brother when his face turns red a couple of times, judges that this brother is in love with this particular sister.
Also, some people judge if somebody who has bad eyesight does not recognize them and just passes by, thinking, "Does he have something against me? Why does he just ignore me?" Sometimes people judge others who always have rigid face thinking, "Why does he always have rigid face whenever he looks at me? He probably does not like me."
What would you think if a man and a woman you know well are standing in front of a hotel?
Many of you would judge, just by seeing them standing in front of a hotel together, "They have been in the hotel together."
Furthermore, they add some explanations saying, "I saw them looking at each other differently from long time ago."
I sometimes experience this kind of thing. When I shake hands with so many members, I happen to just pass by some of the members even though I try to look into each one's eyes and smile at them.
Then, some use their own thoughts and think, "Why does senior pastor not look at me? What did I do wrong?" They are more likely to think in that way if they have something wrong before God.
They even think, "Senior pastor is ignoring me because I have done this wrong," and get disappointed.
Of course, if this is realization given by the Holy Spirit, you can just be thankful in your heart and turn back, and keep going.
But those who use their fleshly thoughts become disappointed and heartbroken by themselves, and become more stagnant.
A lot of times, irrelevant answers come from judging. For example, suppose you ask a person who often comes to work late, "What time did you come to the office this morning?", and this person says, "I didn't come late today," having a bad feeling.
You just asked him what time he came, but he judges that you are asking it because you think he was late this morning as well, and answers something completely irrelevant. In this way, people judge so much in their everyday life, even in the church until they go into the spirit. But they do not even recognize their mistakes.
Sometimes, we judge so confidently saying, "It's too obvious," or "I know at least that much."
But human knowledge has limitations. Even if we saw and heard it ourselves, we cannot see the inner parts of the matter. If we just presume what we have not seen or heard and judge another's mind, it cannot be correct.
1 Corinthians 4:5 says, "Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men's hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God."
We should keep in mind that only God who watches innermost heart can see and judge everything.
The third example of the untruthful operation of soul can be condemning.
We do not only judge others but also condemn them according to our thoughts.
For example, about the brother whose faces always turns red whenever he sees a particular sister, you judge him saying, "Oh! He is in love with this sister," and further condemn him saying, "He has a lot of adulterous mind in him."
About the person who has bad eyesight and just passes you by, you do not just stop at judging him by saying, "Why does he not greet me even when he saw me?" but go further to condemn him, "He is too arrogant to take account of anyone."
Therefore, James 4:11-12 say, "Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you--who are you to judge your neighbor?"
When we judge and condemn others, we are already arrogant like we ourselves became God, and we will be judged by God.
Moreover, if we judge and condemn in spiritual matters, the problem becomes more serious.
1 Corinthians 2:14 says, "The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned."
The worldly people judge and condemn when they hear about spiritual things because they do not understand them with their own framework. For example, if a person testifies, "Doctors could not cure me, but I came before God, received a prayer and was healed," those who do not acknowledge the power of God judge with their own thoughts.
"How can a person be cured only by receiving a prayer? He must have received the prayer taking the medicine."
They sometimes judge the one who is testifying that the testimony is made up.
They also judge the mighty works of God's power such as stopping the sun and the moon and changing undrinkable, bitter water into drinkable, sweet water saying, "That cannot be true."
They judge these things saying they are made up. How foolish are the ones who judge and condemn in this way?
Some people say they believe in God but judge and condemn the works of the Holy Spirit.
For example, if somebody says he saw a vision or has received revelations, they say it is wrong or it is mysticism.
These are certainly God's works recorded even in the Bible, but they judge these works of the Holy Spirit with their own framework of faith.
There were many Jews like this at the time of Jesus as well. They judged and condemned Jesus according to their own standard, no matter how much Jesus performed powerful works.
For example, when Jesus healed the sick on Sabbath, it is obvious that they had to focus on the fact that God's power was manifested through Jesus. But the foolish Pharisees did not think about God's power but condemned Jesus was a sinner for He worked on Sabbath healing people.
If healing the sick with the power of God on the Sabbath day were a sin in the sight of God, God would not have shown His power through Jesus.
Also, if Jesus were a sinner who did not keep God's law, God who is holy would have never shown His power through Jesus who was a sinner to heal the sick.
But the Pharisees could not discern what was right being confined in their own framework of thinking and condemned Jesus the Son of God.
Some people dare to judge and condemn God according to their own standard.
For example, some people say God is bad because God let Adam eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and consequently suffer from pains, not understanding God's providence in placing the tree. Also, some others suffer from trials and pains because of their own wrongdoings, and say God gave them those sufferings. Or they say, God does not answer to their prayers, and thus God does not exist.
They judge and condemn God according to their own standard because they do not know the truth. This is building up such a great wall of sin before God.
They might commit the sin of blaspheming and acting against the Holy Spirit so that they might not be given the spirit of repentance. I hope none of you will be one of these people.
Other than these things, there are many other operations of soul that are not right in the sight of God, and about these I will continue in the next session.
Conclusion
Dear congregation, 1 Corinthians 3:18 says, "Do not deceive yourselves. If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become a "fool" so that he may become wise." When we look at things and people within our own limit of knowledge and thoughts, we are apt to make errors having untruthful operations of soul.
This is committing a sin before God. Thus, we will not only be blocked from receiving blessings and answers but also give pains and sufferings to others.
On the contrary, if we consider our own wisdom foolish and try to discern things according to the standard of truth that God considers right, we can truly be wise persons.
We will be able to gain spiritual wisdom with which we can please God and receive answers and blessings.
I hope you will check your operations of soul through this message so that you might be able to have only truthful operations of soul.
I bless in the name of the Lord that you will be acknowledged as wise ones by God. |
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