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 Sermon > Sunday Morning Service |
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Title |
God-Pleasing Family |
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Speaker |
Rev. Jaerock Lee |
Bible |
Acts 10:1-2 |
Date |
2008-09-14 |
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Passage
Acts 10:1-2
"Now there was a man at Caesarea named Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian cohort, a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, and gave many alms to the Jewish people and prayed to God continually."
Introduction
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
Today is Korea's traditional national holiday, Chusok. You who have remembered this also is Lord's Day and are attending this worship service are truly blessed.
Keeping the Lord's Day is your act of faith that recognizes the authority of the Creator God.
God created all things for six days and rested on the seventh day. And He commands us to remember and keep the Sabbath holy.
Those who believe this fact and revere God can keep the Lord's Day in any situation.
But I believe members of some of your families may not be evangelized yet.
Then you may think, "How good it would be if all family members could attend worship service in the church on a day like today that is both a holiday and Sunday!"
But you don't have to be discouraged. It will be a blessing for you when your family members are evangelized through you.
I hope you will act in truth without changing as you look forward to your goal of family evangelization.
I pray in the name of the Lord that you will keep this message in mind so that your families will have more opportunity to become families of the spirit that are pleasing to God.
Main
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today's reading passage talks about the family of Cornelius.
He was a centurion of what was called the Italian cohort, of Roman Empire that was ruling the world at that time. He was stationed in Caesarea.
For your information, at that time Caesarea had public offices and garrisons of the Roman army located there.
At a later point in time before the apostle Paul was taken to Rome as a prisoner, he stayed in a prison in Caesarea for 2 years.
During that 2 years time, he preached the gospel to the Governors Felix and Festus. Caesarea was this kind of city.
Cornelius was a Gentile for Israelites. They strongly believed that only they themselves were the elect chosen by God.
This belief was common even after the resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ. Therefore, they thought salvation through Jesus Christ could only apply to the sons of Israel.
In this situation, God worked on Peter and Cornelius who were respectively in Joppa and in Caesarea.
Through an angel God let Cornelius know where Peter was so he could invite him to his home. Also, God showed a vision and called Peter to respond to the invitation of Cornelius and preach the gospel to him.
When Peter came to the house of Cornelius, Cornelius had been waiting with eagerness with his family members, relatives and close friends.
He served Peter so respectfully that he had even bowed at Peter's feet.
When Peter preached the gospel of salvation of the cross through Jesus Christ, something amazing took place.
The Holy Spirit came upon everyone who gathered there.
Not only Cornelius, but his family members, relatives, and his friends who were there received salvation together.
Brothers and sisters, do you want same thing to happen to you also? Yes, it would be wonderful if you could evangelize your family members, relatives, and friends so that they could all be saved at once.
Then, how could Cornelius have received an answer and blessings as amazing as this?
God works in justice, and Cornelius certainly met the conditions according to the justice of God. What were the conditions? Verse 2 in today's reading passage has the answer.
It says, "...a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, and gave many alms to the Jewish people and prayed to God continually."
First, Cornelius was devout and feared God with all his household. He did not fear God by himself but with all his household.
This means he was respected, loved, and trusted by his family members.
That is why all other family members obeyed him and were united as one. As Cornelius loved God, his family members came to love God, too.
Now, how is it with you? Are you acknowledged by your family members as good fathers or mothers?
It's the same with those of you who are children. Are you acknowledged by your parents as good children?
I hope you will check whether your family members trust you and listen to you when you say something to them.
You pray hard and work faithfully for God's kingdom. You may not only give members of your family advice but you may also consistently teach the truth to them.
Still, why won't they listen to you when you preach? Why haven't they come before God yet?
Do they go to church reluctantly by being forced, and refuse to live in the light?
Why is it so? It's because you are not really trusted by your family members.
You may even pray with tears and offer fasts for the salvation of your family members.
You may even plead with them, forcefully beg them, or at other times try to console them in order to evangelize them.
Still, if your children say, "Dad, you do what you want. I will do what I want," what a heartbreaking situation this is!
This proves that there is no bond of love between parents and children. When you parents explain the way of salvation to your children, if your children don't listen to you, you have to think again whether it is just your children's fault.
If you think about the fundamental reason, it's not really so. Everyone is born with original sin, but when children are little babies, they are very pure and lovely.
But as they grow up, they become more and more evil by seeing, hearing, and learning untruths from other people.
That way they become disobedient. So, whose fault is it primarily?
It's primarily the fault of parents. People usually say children mirror their parents. If the parents are a good model demonstrating how to fear God, the children must naturally learn by their example while they are growing up.
And you know very well what it is to fear God.
As in Proverbs 8:13, it is to hate evil.
If the parents have cast off all forms of evil and have treated their children with goodness, truth, and love, then the children should resemble their parents naturally.
God's word is spiritual light and thus the spiritual light will come out from those who act according to the word of God.
Darkness will go away from their surroundings. The enemy devil, Satan will go away and the tests and trials will also go away.
Then, they will have only peace and happiness.
For example, suppose there was a father who was very commanding and suppressive toward other family members thinking that they are supposed to listen to him and do as he says. If somebody didn't listen to him, he would severely scold them.
Then the family members would follow him, not because they loved him, but because they were afraid of him.
In a family like this, there are some children who have piled up complaints and anger in their hearts toward the father and one day when they grow up to some extent it bursts out. They may even become problematic children and get into trouble.
If this kind of a father listens to the word of God, casts off his evil and changes, how peaceful and happy his family will become!
He wouldn't insist on his opinion alone any more, but try to listen to the opinions of his wife and children and understand them.
Then, does that mean his authority as the father will decrease? No, in fact, he can be respected even more by his family members from the bottom of their hearts. To make this happen, I hope you will try to change your way you talk to them when you ask your children to do something.
For example, when you ask them to do something, you should not use a commanding voice, just saying, "You, help me do this now!"
A request given in a strongly commanding manner would cause opposition or rebellion in most other people.
If you say, "I would really appreciate it if you could help me with this," then it is much softer and nicer.
Also, some parents get frustrated when they see their children repeat the same mistakes or wrongdoings again and again.
Then, they speak far too many words that contain their anger and frustration saying they are teaching their children a lesson. You cannot correct your children this way.
In this kind of case, you should just point out what your child is doing wrong, and you have to explain only the facts.
You should not exaggerate the situation with your heated emotion or talk about their past faults that are not related to the current matter.
Next, you have to calmly explain the consequences of their behavior.
You should help them realize their fault and the undesirable consequences of their actions.
Finally, if you genuinely assure them that what you say and do is because it is best for them, the children will feel your love.
You should not treat your children thoughtlessly just because they are your children; you should have respect for them, too.
But to the extent that you have evil in your heart, you have frustration and disappointment. You cannot treat your children with perfect goodness and love.
Therefore, as parents you have to fear God and cast away all forms of evil first.
Then, your children will naturally change and grow up to properly fear God.
We all have received the request from the Lord to spread the gospel.
We have the duty to guide our family members, relatives, neighbors and friends to the way of salvation. But to do this, we first have to fear God like Cornelius.
Namely, we have to hate evil and cast it away, become good, and cast away darkness to shine the true light.
Cornelius's family members acknowledged him and feared God primarily because of the example Cornelius set for them to follow as the head of the family.
This is the primary reason that Cornelius came to receive such a wonderful blessing.
The second reason Cornelius received blessing is because he did many good works by helping the people in need.
Those who fear God will speak words and have acts of goodness for they cast away evil from heart and fill it with goodness instead.
They don't speak out any words that hurt the feelings of others or break their hearts. They speak out words that give comfort, courage, and warmth, and the words that guide others to life.
It's the same with deeds. They will show acts of goodness. Their acts will edify others and give love to them.
Cornelius was such a person. The goodness and the spiritual uplifting found in his deeds were shown especially in his 'charitable works'.
The Bible tells us that Cornelius helped many people. We cannot help others just because we are rich.
We first have to love the souls and have compassion for them. Acts 10:22 says, "Cornelius, a centurion, a righteous and God-fearing man well spoken of by the entire nation of the Jews..."
Cornelius was a centurion in the army of the empire occupying Israel, but he helped many people of the occupied country. And he was well spoken of by the entire nation of the Jews.
Charitable works without love cannot be true charitable works. Even if we donate large amounts of money, God will not be delighted with this if we want to reveal our names through it.
Matthew 6:3-4 says, "But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you."
Cornelius did not help others to flaunt himself but he did it with love for the souls.
And his true heart was passed on to the Jews. Also, Acts 10:4 says his alms have ascended as a memorial before God.
That is why Cornelius could receive such a great blessing. It is important for us to store up good deeds in all things.
We should not just have good hearts, but we have to actively store up goodness with words and deeds. This is the secret to bring down blessings quickly.
When we see somebody who is in need, just having pity in mind is one thing, and actually giving a helping hand, even though it is something minor, is something else altogether.
Also, when another person did something well, just to rejoice in heart, and to actually say a word of praise and congratulations are two different things.
When we present a small gift and say a word of encouragement, these things make a difference.
Now, I hope you will show the goodness and love in your heart more actively with your words and deeds. If you want to evangelize your family members or friends, you have to act even more so.
I hope you will diligently store up goodness so that God can be pleased with you and give you blessings and answers to your prayers.
The third reason that Cornelius received blessings is because he always prayed to God.
Even though one has such a good heart and does many good things, he cannot be saved by those things.
Jonah 2:9 latter part says, "Salvation is from the LORD." Proverbs 16:1 says, "The plans of the heart belong to man, But the answer of the tongue is from the LORD."
Cornelius sought God and always prayed to God in good conscience even though he was not a Jew.
And as promised in Proverbs 8:17, God met Cornelius, who was seeking God, and as evidence God gave him blessings.
We should keep this well in mind.
Even though we fear God and do good to meet the conditions according to the law of justice, the one who gives the answer is God.
Therefore, we have to leave everything to God in prayer with humble mind.
Also, to receive an answer to something from God, we must fill the amount of prayer.
We have to constantly cry out in prayer with faith and love.
God the Father loves His children, and He wants to give the best things to them. He also knows the best time to give blessings.
I hope you will believe and trust this God the Father and pray without ceasing like Cornelius so you will receive answer to your heart's desires such as your family's evangelization.
Conclusion
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, Acts 16:31 says, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household."
This does not mean if one person in a family believes in the Lord, the rest of the family will automatically be saved.
To receive the answer to our prayer for family evangelization, we have to meet the conditions according to justice.
First, we have to fear God in our lives. Namely, we have to cast away evil and become good in the site of God so we can be recognized by family members.
Second, we have to edify others by showing the goodness in our heart as outward words and deeds. This way, we have to give glory to God and receive praise from others.
Last and third, we have to realize that the answers are from God alone and we have to pray without ceasing.
The main figure of today's sermon, Cornelius, lived an exemplary life in all these three things.
If we follow after the example of Cornelius, we can surely receive answers to prayer and blessings.
That is the justice of the faithful God.
I pray in the name of the Lord that all your families will be evangelized and you will have families that are like heaven on earth, and all your family members will dwell together in heavenly kingdom, too.
Have a peaceful and happy time in the Lord during the remaining days of this holiday. |
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