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 Sermon > Official Service |
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Title |
The Way of the Lord |
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Speaker |
Rev. Jaerock Lee |
Bible |
Luke 22:42 |
Date |
2011-04-22 |
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Scripture
Luke 22:42
"Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done."
This week has been a Passion Week.
I believe that you passed this week with reverent heart as you remember the meaning of Jesus' sufferings.
To save us all, Jesus was crucified and died on the wooden cross.
He was mocked, despised, abased, and distressed, and finally He died miserably on the cross.
He was spotless and blameless. He had no transgression to be treated as a sinner, but He took all the sufferings for you and me.
Jesus, however, didn't take the sufferings only for the moment He took the cross.
In fleshly sense, His entire life of 33 years was a series of sufferings.
He didn't only mourn for souls, but He was lonely and He was hungry, and He was weary.
Since Jesus put on the same body as we do, and since He had the humanity, He felt exactly the same as a man could feel physically.
Of course, as He lived on the earth, He saw, felt, and looked at everything in a spiritual way.
Yet still, He took the duty of the Messiah with joyful and thankful heart.
Even so, taking the duty of the Messiah required unimaginable love and sacrifice, and it was only possible when SELF was completely put to death.
Since Jesus had such love and sacrifice and put His SELF to complete death, you and I could be saved to become children of God.
Under the title of "The way of the Lord," I will tell you with what kind of heart Jesus went the path given to Him.
Through this message, I wish you may be blessed to walk the path the Lord took.
Since the Lord went the path given to Him completely, He received the glory and honor to be called, 'the King of kings and the Lord of lords.'
I pray in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ that you may walk along the path the Lord went, go straight into New Jerusalem, and sit on the place which 'shines forth as the sun.'
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
The Lord went the path, because He had love for Father God understanding Father's heart.
Jesus knew the deep heart of Father God.
He understood the heart of God who wished to acquire true children through human cultivation.
He knew the heart of God who created men and began human cultivation even though He knew how much perseverance, toil, and sorrow it would require.
The Lord knew the heart of love of God who even gave up His one and only Son to save sinners and to make them His true children.
Jesus knew such heart of Father God and He loved God the Father; and so He could go the way of the suffering of the cross.
Dear brothers and sisters.
Say, you are in love with someone, and you know that person earnestly desires something in his heart.
You also know why he wants it, and you do know well what you should do to get him what he wants.
If you truly love him, won't you do anything to get him whatever he earnestly wants to get?
Even if the work you should do is so difficult and agonizing, you will do it for one you love.
Furthermore, if you are the only one who can do it, you will eagerly want to do it for your loved one.
You know your loved one would be hurt in his heart if you didn't do it; you will by any means try to do it for him.
Jesus' heart was just like this.
Since Jesus knew the deepest heart of God the Father, He knew better than anyone that He had to manage the duty that was given to Him.
Moreover, the love that was in Father's heart was exactly in the heart of Jesus as well.
Since Jesus loved the Father, He went the way of the cross with joy and thanksgiving.
To follow the path Jesus went, you too, should first understand the heart of God the Father.
Father God loves you so much that He wants to give only the best to you.
Romans 8:32 says, "He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?"
If He gave His one and only Son for us, what would it be that God would spare?
Therefore, the word that God gives is from His desperate heart that your spirit and soul may prosper, that you may receive blessing, and that you reach Heaven and New Jerusalem.
If you realize, know, feel, and understand such heart of God the Father, you cannot but go the way He wishes you to go.
You will rather walk the path of faith without difficulties, but with joy and happiness.
You can voluntarily go the way with the fullness.
Moreover, if you love God from the depth of your heart, you will definitely go the way God wishes you to go.
You would take no chances that might take you on a wrong path that would hurt the heart of God.
Since Jesus had limitless love for God the Father, no matter what He did on earth, He did it according to the heart of God the Father.
If it were not the will and providence of God the Father, He would control what He could easily do.
He used the authority and power only according to the will of God.
For example, Jesus fed 5,000 people with five barley loaves and two fish and yet there were 12 baskets left over. What was it that He couldn't for Himself?
And yet, He lived a poor life.
Furthermore, Jesus could have commanded countless heavenly host and angels to destroy the people who came to arrest Him.
When it was time that He would be arrested in the providence of God, however, He was silently arrested as if He were a sheep to be slaughtered.
Even if He had tremendous power and authority, He didn't use it at all when it was not the will of God the Father.
Likewise, if you know the heart of God the Father well, and love Him, it is natural that, only according to the will and providence of God, you should go the way that He desires of you.
I hope that you too will follow the steps of Jesus, and go the way which is given to you with joy and thanks only according to the will of God toward you.
Secondly, the Lord went the path, because He had spiritual love which had no SELF in it.
'Not to have SELF' means that you don't stick to your opinion, you don't have anything you personally want to achieve, you don't seek to be praised, and you don't show yourself off at all.
Since Jesus had no 'SELF' like this, He could walk such a rough way of the cross.
In tonight's scripture, Jesus said, "Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done."
It is the confession which contains the heart of Jesus who wished the things would go on only according to the will of God.
Likewise, Jesus didn't think of His own safety or benefit at all, but He thought only of the will and providence of Father God.
Only when you have no 'SELF' like this, can you practice spiritually true love.
Only through this 'spiritual love which has no SELF in it' can you accomplish the will and providence of God the Father.
Even if you understand the will and providence of God the Father with your head, and know what to do, unless you have the 'spiritual love that has no self in it, you cannot obey Him.
Only when you have no 'SELF' can you eagerly obey Him no matter how you may suffer as you walk along the path.
Generally speaking, people will manage the work which can bring him glory and lift him up no matter what difficulties and hardships there are.
Many people endure grinding pains in making an effort to become successful in the world.
However, even though they bring about some results, if whatever they do will not bring any glory or benefit to them, how many would still do their best to accomplish the work?
Only those who have no 'SELF' can do it.
Even if they bring about some results, they will confess from the depth of their hearts that they haven't done much of anything.
Since Jesus had such a heart, even if He died completely, He thought only of the kingdom of God, and of Father's glory.
Even when He was mocked, despised and insulted, He endured all of it with love that had no 'SELF' in it.
Dear brothers and sisters.
Say, there is a man who has nothing to be proud of and he owns nothing,
If he was told to become completely humble with no 'SELF' in him, he might be able to do it.
Since he has nothing to show off, and owns nothing, he might confess that he is nobody with relative ease.
However, suppose there is another man. He possesses wealth, honor, and power, and he is so outstanding in all things. What if he was told to confess from the depth of his heart that he is nothing?
Could he truly put his 'SELF' to death and confess that he is nothing?
If he could from the depth of his heart, God would lift him up and use him.
God would make use of his outstanding talents to reveal the glory of God.
It was the case with the Apostle Paul.
He had Roman citizenship, he was a Pharisee, and he received the best possible education. But before the Lord, he gave up all he had, and considered everything to be rubbish.
It was however a rare case.
It is not easy to make a confession from the depth of the heart that 'I have nothing. I'm nothing,' when he has much and he is in a high position.
Now, what kind of being is Jesus?
He is in the form of God. He is the owner of all things in the universe and He is the highest among the high.
Yet still, He completely humbled Himself, and came down to this most lowly place.
Since Jesus had a heart with no SELF in Him, He had overflowing spiritual love that He could eagerly take the suffering of the cross and death.
You should realize that only when you have no 'SELF' in you in the love for God the Father and in the love for souls can you accomplish true spiritual love.
If you insist your own opinion, if you do things as you please, you cannot practice the service which is the most basic form of spiritual love, and you cannot seek for others' benefit.
Therefore, I hope you can surely accomplish in your heart the spiritual love that has no 'SELF' in it.
And I wish you can obey any word of God with joy and thanks, even if it means you have to be completely humbled.
Jesus said in Matthew 16:24, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me."
I hope that you can deny yourself and accomplish the spiritual love that has no 'SELF'.
I pray in the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ, that, by doing so, you may willfully follow the path of the Lord who obeyed to the point of death for the kingdom of God the Father and for souls.
Thirdly, the Lord went the path because He had the love of sacrifice no one could ever have accomplished.
The duty of the Messiah was not a job someone else could have done for Jesus.
And to do the duty, He had to sacrifice everything He had.
Jesus had no personal life of His own.
He had no time for Himself.
He had nothing for His own good.
He had no time to sleep well, and He had no time to eat well.
That said, could He ever do as He pleased?
He gave everything He had for the souls, and whenever He had time, He prayed before Father God.
He never said, "Only if I could take a rest even for a while, only if I could eat more, and only if I could sleep more."
He didn't use anytime or anything for His own sake.
He gave everything He had; He poured out even the last drop of His blood for us.
It was the life of perfect sacrifice.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
Jesus practiced the love of giving everything He had through such perfect sacrifice.
He didn't take the duty because there was no one else who could take it.
Even if someone sacrifices himself, if he does it reluctantly, it cannot be true sacrifice.
If he does it with a feeling of obligation, or if he does it because others watch him, it cannot be true sacrifice, either.
Those who have love of sacrifice; they rather rejoice even when they give up everything they have.
Thinking of the fruit that their sacrifice will bear, they become glad as they make the sacrifice.
I myself have had this kind of heart many times.
For example, to provide aid to people, I sacrifice many things.
However, I've never thought the sacrifice is difficult; I've never done it reluctantly either.
I am rather glad and thankful when I think of the souls who would receive aid.
I'm so happy to take a load off their minds.
Likewise, the sacrifice which comes out from the true spiritual love makes the one who sacrifices glad and happy.
As he witnesses the result of his sacrifice, he can feel joy and happiness once again.
I urge you to practice this love of sacrifice in your everyday lives.
If you live the life of sacrifice that is from the depth of your heart, there will be surely fruit that follows.
Truly, sacrifice is necessary in the Lord.
In your believing life, as you pray fervently with sweat, the kingdom of God can be accomplished.
As you become faithful to your duty with sacrifice, more souls can be saved.
As you serve others seeking for their benefit, without seeking yours, you can do the work of God in peace.
All of these are the deeds when you have the love of sacrifice.
I wish you will practice the love of sacrifice like this, and follow the path that the Lord went.
I pray in the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ, that the will of God the Father may be accomplished through you, and that you may lead more souls to the truth.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
We can neither know nor feel what kind of way the Lord went completely.
How can we understand such countless sufferings the Lord underwent even though He was the Son of God?
No matter how hard we try to understand it, we cannot put ourselves into His shoes.
Even if it is possible, what we can feel is different from what He felt as the one and only Son of God.
Only the Holy Spirit who searches the depth of God the Father can feel His heart.
Just as you heard tonight though, to the extent you have the love to know the heart of God the Father, the love which has no 'SELF' on it, and the love that you can sacrifice everything, you can feel all the more deeply the way the Lord went.
You can feel How He felt as He went the way, what He thought of as He walked along the way, and how He could went the way with joy and thanks.
Only when you truly feel it in your heart, can you eagerly follow the path the Lord went.
Think over the message you heard tonight, and watch the Easter Cantata in the 2nd half of this service.
If you watch it as you feel what the Lord might have felt every moment, it will touch your heart all the better than previous years.
May the love of God the Father and of the Lord be imprinted in your heart all the more deeply on Easter Day through this message and the Cantata, in the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ, I pray! |
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