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 Sermon > Sunday Evening Service |
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Title |
Sincere Heart - Inauguration |
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Speaker |
Rev. Jaerock Lee |
Bible |
Hebrews 10:22 |
Date |
2009-09-20 |
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Passage
Hebrews 10:22
let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
Introduction
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
This year, a total of 89 people are being inaugurated. They include 13 assistant pastors, 17 elders, 2 honorary elders, 42 senior deaconesses, 3 honorary deaconesses, and 11 associative senior deaconesses.
I congratulate all of you who are being inaugurated as precious workers of God's kingdom.
I give thanks to all the guests who are here with us to celebrate this event.
Dear inaugurates and church members, the title of today's inauguration address is 'Sincere Heart'.
A sincere heart is the truthful heart that has no falsehood.
It doesn't change to seek after one's personal benefit or advantage in any situation, or under any circumstances.
It is the heart that is completely filled with faithful belief in God, which never changes. It is holy and noble.
This kind of heart is like a precious treasure.
The true value and dignity of men do not come from great honor, knowledge, fame, appearance, or anything external.
Even though a person may possess many things, if their heart is filled with cunningness, selfish desires, greed, arrogance, and other filthy things, then, this kind of heart is a heart without value before God.
We can recover the true dignity of men who are created in the image of God only when we cultivate sincere hearts that are clean and noble.
That is why in today's passage from Hebrews 10:22 it says, "...let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water."
As we accept the Lord, we will realize our evil by the works of the Holy Spirit.
Even those who thought they were relatively good can realize how evil their conscience was when they reflect upon themselves through the word of God.
Then, we begin to cleanse our heart with the water, which is the word of God. This is our life as Christians.
As we clean our hearts with the word, we can boldly go before God with true hearts and perfect faith.
We can receive an answer to anything we ask with faith.
We can set an example for all the believers. We can become spiritual warriors who guard the church and the flock of the Lord.
I hope you inaugurates will have this kind of true heart.
I pray in the name of the Lord that you would all become faithful workers who are praised by the Lord for having this kind of heart.
Main
Dear inaugurates, in order for you to cultivate a true heart, first of all, you have to cultivate perfect obedience.
2 Corinthians 1:19 says, "For the Son of God, Christ Jesus, who was preached among you by us by me and Silvanus and Timothy was not yes and no, but is yes in Him."
As written, Jesus only obeyed the will of God.
He put aside the glorious throne as the Creator and came down to this earth, and until He took the sufferings of the cross, He never disobeyed God.
I hope you will obey the will of God with only 'Yes' and 'Amen' like Jesus did.
Above all, we have to obey the word of God in the 66 books of the Bible.
We also have to obey the shepherd who is in charge of the church and the order of the church.
More specifically, for example, you obviously have to keep the 10 Commandments.
Not only the pastors, but the elders and senior deaconesses are also the leaders and teachers of the lay members.
And if you do not keep the 10 Commandments, which is the most basic, then how can you teach the members the word of God and tell them to obey the order of the church?
You obviously have to obey the word of God first.
You have to do the things that God tells us to do and not do the things that God tells us not to do.
You have to cast away the things that God tells us to cast away and keep the things that God tells us to keep.
If God tells us to cultivate goodness, then we have to try all our best to discover and get rid of the evil and cultivate goodness.
Also, if God moves your heart to do something for the church, you have to be able to obey it as well.
Sometimes, God may command us to do something, but by the wisdom and knowledge of this world it cannot be understood.
Even at this time, you should not complain or disobey insisting on your own thoughts, knowledge, and experience.
You should not think, "I will obey this because I can understand it, and I will ignore doing that because there is no benefit in it for me."
1 Samuel 15:22 says, "Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams." You have heard this countless times.
Even though something looks very good according to your opinion, if God says it's not good, you have to choose what God wants.
Of course, it may not be easy to obey 100% from the beginning.
At first, you may insist on considering your own opinions and ideas, and you may have conflicts if something is not beneficial for you.
But if you keep on diligently obeying with willingness to continue obeying, then finally you will be able to obey completely.
God will look at your heart and your deeds and He will change your heart by the truth. He will also give you spiritual faith and understanding.
He will also help you obey completely.
Only when you obey this way, can your faithfulness bear good fruits and you can receive heavenly rewards.
Dear inaugurates, and other church members, for you to cultivate true hearts, secondly, you must not have any resentment.
Most people have resentment when they think they are not treated in a way they're supposed to be treated, and when they're not loved or acknowledged.
They also have resentment if it seems that they are suffering a loss, or they are treated unfairly in comparison with other people.
For example, suppose there is a member who is under your charge in your parish or in your mission group who seems to be following and serving other pastors, but is not serving you in a way you feel you ought to be served.
Or, perhaps you see that the members of the other parishes serve their pastors very well, but it seems that your own members lack the service to their pastor.
As you think this way, you may have resentment and hard feelings against your own members.
Or sometimes, you may have resentment thinking, "I am an [elder/ senior deaconess] but my opinions are not accepted while opinions of other people, even deacons, are well received."
Some of them just turn their backs on the church if the policy of the church is not beneficial for them.
Some of them have resentment toward the shepherd, too.
They think, "I put so much effort into doing the work, but senior pastor doesn't recognize me. He treats other people so nicely, but he doesn't acknowledge me."
There are some who even develop resentment towards God.
They say they prayed hard and worked hard for the kingdom of God but did not receive answers to their prayers.
You can become true workers of God having true hearts only when you cast away such resentment.
To be free of any resentment you have to get rid of selfish motives.
You must not have any of your 'self', your desire for benefit, your pride, your family, your work, or anything of that kind.
You must not think that it was you who did something. You must have only the Lord, and it is only God and the Lord who do everything.
Even after doing some good work or hard work, you must not calculate what you should receive in return, thinking you really did something.
Of course it is right to have hope for the rewards that you will receive for what you did with faith and love.
But having hope for rewards with faith and desiring for something in return with selfish motives are two different things.
If you are hoping for God's rewards with faith, you wouldn't care even if you don't receive it on this earth.
Even if you don't get the reward when you want it, your faithfulness and love to not change. You just keep on giving again and again with joy.
If you cast away just one fleshly attribute called resentment it'd be such a great strength for you to cultivate true heart.
Many other evil natures that are related with resentment such as hatred, quarrels, envy, jealousy, passing judgment and condemnation, and misunderstanding will be cast away.
And you will receive spiritual love to humble yourself and seek the benefit of others.
If you have this love, you will feel the love of the Father God more deeply in your heart.
To that extent, you will come to love God more deeply.
And to love God the Father deeply is the third condition for you to cultivate true heart.
Those who deeply love God will love their brothers as well.
1 John 4:20 says, "If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.
To the extent that they love God, they love other souls as well as their shepherd who is leading them into spirit.
As they keep the church and take care of the souls with this love, they will grow up to become more powerful workers.
They will bear true spiritual fruit in whatever they do.
But spiritual love is different from fleshly love.
When you have to teach somebody with the truth, if you just give consolation or just give something that looks good in your eyes, it is fleshly love.
If you try to read how the wind blows among the people and try to gain their heart rather than preaching the will of God, it is also fleshly love.
Spiritual love is the love to make other souls prosper and to enlarge the kingdom of God.
You can cultivate true heart and fulfill your precious duties only when you love God and the souls with this spiritual love.
Conclusion
Dear inaugurates, up until this time of inauguration today, all of you must have been trying hard for a long time to become sanctified and to work for God's kingdom.
And as you are now inaugurated as pastors, elders, and senior deaconesses after all those times, how emotional it must be for you!
You must have determined again and again that you will be faithful until death for God has given you such a precious position.
But even though you have such great plans and diligence, it will not count at all if it is not in accordance with God's will.
Therefore, I urge you once again.
You have to cultivate true heart to become God's workers with whom God is pleased.
Acts 13:22 latter part says, "I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My heart, who will do all My will."
You can fulfill the will of God completely only when you have a heart that is after God's own heart.
Only when you are fully devoted to being obedient can your faith be as perfect fruit, and it'll be stored up in heaven as your rewards.
It will be of great strength to me if all of you who are inaugurated today cultivate this kind of sincere heart.
I urge you to become workers who are after God's heart and to become workers who are like pillars to fulfill the will of God.
In doing so, I pray in the name of the Lord that you will all shine like the sun in eternal Heaven, New Jerusalem.
Amen |
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