Subject 22 : The Gospel According to LUKE
[Chapter 12-5] Put Your Heart in the Spiritual Things and Work with Faith (Luke 12:13-34)
(Luke 12:13-34)
“Then one from the crowd said to Him, ‘Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.’ But He said to him, ‘Man, who made Me a judge or an arbitrator over you?’ And He said to them, ‘Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.’ Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: ‘The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’ So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. And I will say to my soul, ‘Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.’’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’ ‘So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.’ Then He said to His disciples, ‘Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; nor about the body, what you will put on. Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing. Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither storehouse nor barn; and God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds? And which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? If you then are not able to do the least, why are you anxious for the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. If then God so clothes the grass, which today is in the field and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will He clothe you, O you of little faith? And do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind. For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things. But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you. Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell what you have and give alms; provide yourselves money bags which do not grow old, a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches nor moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.’”
Do Not Worry Saying, “What Shall We Eat or Drink?”
We cannot be separated from material things while we live in this world. Therefore, we cannot but think a lot about material things. However, our hearts and thoughts drift toward the spiritual things as we reconfirm God’s Words because God’s Word is really the spiritual food. As such, the more we read God’s Word, the more we want to follow it and depend on it.
I went to Inje Discipleship Training Center just a short while ago and did some work there. Most people find it hard to think of spiritual things when they are doing physical labor. I was also unable to pray continuously while I was working there because I was tied down to it. However, before each meal and during the times when I decided to pray, I prayed for specific things that I hoped for as I have always prayed and committed our plans to God, and also tried not to cease God’s work. I believe you also have such heart.
We have read the following Word today. In the Word, Jesus said, “Man, who made Me a judge or an arbitrator over you?” And He said to them, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.” This was the response of Jesus when a certain person came to Him and asked, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” And Jesus was saying, “Who has made Me your judge or a person who divides your material possessions? Who has established Me as such a person? Do I have to do such work like bringing down the judgment for your brother to share the wealth with you and dividing the material things?” To the person who was concerned only about material things, the Lord said, “One’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.”
We think too much from the material perspective in all matters. If someone told us to give our opinion about material things, you and I can mention many things we desire right now even though the Lord said that we must not be tempted by material things. For example, it doesn’t take much time to figure out how much profit it would bring from a building about the size of 800 sq. yd. by renting out the building for a certain amount and building a home with that money. However, we cannot calculate and respond as fast when it comes to things of God that concern with the work of saving souls or spreading the Truth. That’s why we need to read and hear the God’ Word more often.
The sermon I would like to preach through today’s Scripture passage is even more special and precious to people who are especially weak against material matters and think a lot about carnal things. Jesus enlightened the person who asked Him to divide the wealth with a parable: A wealthy person had much to harvest from his farmland and he thought, “What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops? Okay, I will build a new big barn.” His thoughts speed up to there. Therefore, he built even greater barn, stored his crops, and said to his soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.” But God scolded him as it is written, “‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided’ So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God” (Luke 12:20-21).
At that time, the amount of harvest was the barometer of wealth for the people. Therefore, people believed that storing up much crop in the barn was the best thing. People in the old days, in farming societies, lived like that.
A certain person had too much to harvest from farming and he thought of it materialistically. He had no place to store all the crops because he had harvested too much crop. He thought, “What should I do?” The answer is simple. He just needed to build a bigger barn. He would be very satisfied with himself if he built a greater barn and stored much crop there. After that, he would say to his own soul, “Well done, now Take it easy and eat, drink, rest, and be merry.” However, the Lord said to that soul who only thought about material things and only considered material things as precious, “Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?” And He added the Word, “A person who is not wealthy in regards to God and just wealthy in material realm of the world is like this.”
And the Lord said to the disciples in continuation, “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; nor about the body, what you will put on. Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing. Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither storehouse nor barn; and God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds? And which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? If you then are not able to do the least, why are you anxious for the rest?” (Luke 12:22-26) When we reconsider what this Word is saying, it means, “What is more important? The body is more important than the clothes and the life is more important than food. Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither storehouse nor barn; but God feeds them. How much more valuable are you than the birds? And which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?”
I did not think much of this Word at first. Actually, the first thing that came to my mind was that maybe there wouldn’t be anyone who was short if everyone ate well and slept enough since the Lord said tenderly that He could add one cubit to a person’s stature. Haven’t the height and physical stature become bigger these days regardless of their parents when they eat well from their childhood and maintain good nutrition? Therefore, I wondered why the Lord said such a thing.
Could Something Impossible Be Accomplished Just by Worrying?
Then, let’s look at the word “one cubit” stated in the Word. “Cubit” is the unit of measurement used for measuring length. Then, how many centimeters is one cubit? One cubit is about 50 centimeters. Accurately speaking, the length of “one cubit” is about 45 centimeters. Then, it means that the Lord can make a short person grow 45 centimeters with His power.
Can any adult person grow 45 centimeters additionally after he has reached the limit of growing normally? That would be possible if God performed wonders, but is that possible through human efforts or technology? I am asking whether that is possible by worrying about it. Do you think that would be possible if we tried? Or, do you think that would be totally impossible? They say they could make a person taller by straightening out the bones with a machine, but they can only stretch out a couple of centimeters at the most. Maybe technology will improve in the future and they might be able to find a way to stretch the bone and make a person taller, but you know that it is impossible to make a person increase his height by one cubit naturally.
“To worry about something” means this. Worrying is being anxious about things that have already happened, things that cannot be turned back, and saying, “My gosh. I should have tried harder from the beginning.” And the Lord was questioning whether we could do things against the principles of nature. The Lord tells us to look at the raven which does not sow, reap, or even have a barn to store food, and think of the principles of nature, and do not worry about food for our body or life.
Then, you might refute, saying, “What kind of person could live without worrying?” It’s because, when we look at the raven, that bird seems to fly around diligently without resting even for a moment, and it seems like they are able to get some food for themselves only through such effort. However, can it have food and maintain its life just by flying around diligently? Is that the way ravens live? No, it’s not. No matter how they flap their wings, they cannot eat and maintain their lives if God does not supply them with food. Ravens can finally eat and maintain their lives only when God shows them where they could find food to eat.
The Scriptures say, “If you then are not able to do the least, why are you anxious for the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.” How gorgeous is the flower, the lily? It says that even a person like Solomon who enjoyed the greatest wealth as a king was not as gorgeous as one of lilies. The Lord said this, but we could take it as meaning that people should live without working diligently if they hear the Word and do not consider it sincerely. However, the true meaning of this Word is that we cannot attain the things we want just by worrying. That means we do not live just by material things, and that a person who has fullness of faith is able to live with the things God gives. As it is written, “The just shall live by faith,” a person whose faith is weak is a foolish person. Therefore, the Lord said, “If then God so clothes the grass, which today is in the field and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will He clothe you, O you of little faith?” (Luke 12:28)
The Lord told the disciples not to worry because He gives daily food to the people who believe in Jesus as the Savior. He said this because the disciples were worried about material things. Actually, even among the born again, there are many people who continue to live worrying about these material things. Such people think first about taking care of their most basic needs of food and shelter. They do not first think of serving the gospel and helping others receive the remission of sins, and instead they first think how they could eat and make a living after receiving the remission of sins.
Therefore, the Lord was saying that if God clothes all things in the nature, clothes all the vegetation and animals, God would surely clothe them as well, that our Lord would give such things to His disciples and workers. And the Lord was saying when He conferred grace upon birds, lilies, all vegetations and animals, and all living things, how could He not bestow such grace on His people? Therefore, the Lord told them not to worry about anything, and just “seek the kingdom of God. And He promised that all these things would be added to His obedient people (Luke 12:31).
He was saying that we should not worry about the matter of food and shelter too much because we are essentially the Lord’s people and God’s children. The Lord was telling us to seek the Kingdom of God and the righteousness of His Kingdom first instead of worrying like that. We must know what God is pleased with and focus on the Word that tells us to live for the works God is pleased with. The Lord told us about our material life like this, and we can see that it is so very true the more we ponder on this Word.
Do you worry for the things to eat and drink for your flesh? Of course, we cannot be free from worrying completely. However, the Lord is admonishing us to reduce such worries as much as possible and think more about the Kingdom of God. The Lord was telling us to think more about how the Kingdom of God can expand bigger, how the Kingdom of God could be fulfilled in this world in order that more people could enter the second world after the first world disappears. We are too obsessed with material things now even though the Lord told us such righteous Words. A person who has received the remission of sins must believe and follow the Word of the Lord. However, we cannot because of this reason. What is worse, there are some among the born-again who associate with the rich in order to enjoy material wealth. They say that they should just eat, drink, and enjoy life since a soul can rest in peace if he has much material wealth.
However, We Must Escape from Materialistic Thinking
We must first change our thinking if we want to follow the Lord’s Word. Although we live in the material world, our thinking must focus on God and think how we can seek God’s Kingdom and His righteousness in our life. We must think what the righteousness of God is and what the justice of God is. We must remember that God has saved us humankind and given us the remission of sins. He also came to this world to witness the gospel of the water and the Spirit in order that they could all enter the Kingdom of God. Because the Lord created and saved us humankind with such purpose, we must always confirm this in our hearts as we live in this world.
Therefore, we must change the materialistic thinking that we have now. This is never a difficult thing. We just need to simply change our mindset itself. The Lord was not telling us to completely throw away the heart for material things or do not earn money. He was just saying that we must not be so absorbed by it lest we forget the Lord’s will. We just need to believe and follow this fact naturally since the Lord’s Word is correct.
However, the problem is that we often forget about practicing the Lord’s Word. Such forgetfulness occurs because we just think of the flesh. These days, even people who have received the remission of sins fall into the trap of being absorbed only with making a living, and the Lord said these Words because He was concerned about that. If the born-again who have received the remission of sins fall into such materialistic things repeatedly, they eventually stay away from the Church. It is difficult to get out of such state of mind once they fall into it. We suffer hardships when we fall into fleshly thoughts. You and I fall into temptation often because we also fall into such thinking. Once we fall into fleshly thoughts we cannot think what is pleasing to God and do the work of serving His will faithfully even though we claim to be His people. As Abraham had done, we could certainly join our strength together with other churches in our efforts to make the world that the Lord desires. We do not fulfill our duties even though the Lord fills all the things that we need. It is not an overstatement for us to say that such behavior is like hanging ourselves.
You will see when you go to Inje Discipleship Training Center that there are many dogs in that center. There are some dogs among them that are very stubborn. We plant a pole on the ground to tie up a dog on a string when we raise a dog. Then, the dog runs around the pole in one direction playfully. Then, when all the string is wrapped around the pole, most dogs would naturally run around the pole in opposite direction to undo the string. However, stubborn dogs bark continuously with the string wrapped around their neck against the pole for someone to undo the string. They are choking themselves, but they bark and agonize as if someone is choking them. As I looked at that scene, I thought it was such a foolish animal.
Humans are the same. Jesus looked with such thinking at the people who boasted their wealth, entrusted their soul and life to their material wealth and believed that they could receive salvation from it. Like the dog that behaves stubbornly without knowing that there is another way to run around when he had finished running in one direction, there are many people who behave like that, even though they should not stubbornly insist on narrow-minded thinking like that.
God fills up the basic necessities for the people who believe in Him when they understand the things God is pleased with and go forth in that direction with their faith. Is this correct? Yes, it is. Now, I would like to tell you something I have experienced. I am a little apologetic that I might have bored you since I have been talking only about myself continuously. However, I cannot help it because there isn’t anyone who would speak about me on my behalf and I think that I could explain the Lord’s will most sincerely through the things I have experienced and learned personally while following the Lord in my life than by the things I have learned through the books.
Even after meeting the Lord for the first time by encountering the gospel of the water and the Spirit, I was naturally worried about what to eat and what to drink and wear, also unconsciously. After that, I also thought about what business I should do to make money and what kind of job I should have to work for little amount of hours a day and serve the gospel with the remaining time. Because I would not be able to enjoy the enough freedom if worked too many hours a day, I thought of nonsensical things like what kind of job I needed to get in order to work little and make a lot of money. And the thoughts of what to eat and what to wear did not cease. My heart was confused because of the material things like this. It means that the worries about the material things that the Lord spoke of did not cease. However, I continued to preach the gospel in spite of the fact that I had such worries.
I really could not help but preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit. I witnessed the gospel of the water and the Spirit repeatedly. I witnessed the gospel to a few people a day. And I was exhausted after preaching the gospel for hours even though I was young at the time. However, I continued to preach the gospel for six, seven hours with anyone who was willing to listen. Because the person could receive the remission of sin if I witnessed the gospel of the water and the Spirit to the end, there were times when I sometimes missed meals. I wanted to witness the gospel until the person received the remission of sins and the person could not eat also because his mind was confused. He could not eat because I ignited his soul on fire as I witnessed the gospel that his flesh could not even think of eating. I am here in this place now because I have been preaching the gospel and watching whether or not such person’s soul has received salvation.
Before, even though I was an enthusiastic gospel preacher, I also was a person who continuously worried about how I could pay the monthly rent and taxes. Worries accumulated like a mountain before me. However, I had no choice but to preach the gospel since God told me so. Then, after I preached the gospel continuously and with all my heart, God gave me all the things I needed. God also gave you enough to share with others and still have food and drink for yourself if you just work a little bit. Isn’t that right? Yes, it is.
However, the problem is that we often fall into this kind of pitfall. Such matters are so frequently recorded in the Four Gospels. In the Gospel of Luke, a certain person asked the Lord to divide his brother’s wealth with him as he requested, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” And the Lord therefore responded with the illustration of a certain wealthy man who did not know what to do with so much material possession and thought it would be best to build a barn and store his wealth there, and, after building the barn and storing his wealth there, the wealthy man thought, “Blessed soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.” And the Lord illustrated this to them and said, “Such people are those who run after their flesh only, and you must not be like them because they are foolish.” This point is outlined very precisely in the Four Gospels.
Such Words are the things that the Lord consequently wanted to say to those who have become His disciples, that is, to you and me. The thing you must understand here is that you are people who often commit your souls to material things. Even so, we say that God feeds even ravens that fly in the sky and that even lilies of the field are dressed even more splendidly than such a glorious life as that of Solomon. We say with our lips that the Lord makes even the wild flowers that are here only for a moment like seasonal flowers live splendidly like that. The Lord tells us who are like that, “You are not less than such things. I will also give you basic things. But, isn’t it right for you to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness from your standpoint?
Therefore, what is important for us now is what goal we must set in order to follow the Lord’s Word instead of just stopping at pondering what we must learn from this Word of the Lord. The Lord is telling us to pay attention to spiritual works in order to save our souls. We must not hear the Lord’s Word halfheartedly, but instead reconsider the meaning of the Word the Lord has spoken and earnestly try to follow it. It is clear that a person who tries to follow the material things of the world is totally foolish and inadequate. However, a person who sets the goal of seeking the Kingdom of God and the righteousness of God and lives according to it is a wise person and receives blessings in his body and spirit.
If God feeds and clothes all things of the world, would He not do so for you who are His children? The Lord said, “Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell what you have and give alms; provide yourselves money bags which do not grow old, a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches nor moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Luke 12:32-34). “Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom” means that God is happy to give the Kingdom to you and me.
Even so, we constantly try to seek after the material world even though we hear and believe in such Word of the Lord. Further more, our efforts to hear, understand, believe, and follow God’s Word is too weak. Since the Lord said, “Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom,” certain cheer and joy of faith should overflow in us that says, “I thought this land was not ours, this Kingdom is really my Kingdom because it is the Kingdom of God. I have this Kingdom as my possession.” However, we do not think it important just because it cannot be seen with our eyes. That is because we think naturally that the Lord gives it to us anyway.
However, for those who think the things of the Lord precious and who desire to keep them until the end, the Lord allows them to attain all His blessings. On the other hand, even though God wants to give His Kingdom to everyone, God cannot give His Kingdom to a person who does not hope for the Lord sincerely and instead only have interests in his own things and the material world after having received salvation. You must not think that God would give His Kingdom automatically to you because you have received the remission of sins. If you do so, you will betray the Lord someday. Therefore, the Lord said to such a person, “But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.”
The Lord gave us a precious thing. It is betraying the Lord when we just receive the gospel the Lord has given us and to forget about it when the Lord told us to share the gospel with our neighbors. Moreover, such a person is prone to fight against the Lord. Such people already do not have the qualification to receive the Kingdom even if God wanted to give it to them. It is because Satan the Devil has gone into the heart and has command of the heart. There are many people who have received one talent only and drifted away by the evil powers. Because God gives the Kingdom to us, He rather told us, “Sell what you have and give alms; provide yourselves money bags which do not grow old, a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches nor moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Where lies in our heart now? Is our heart set in the matter of saving souls or in the matter of what we should eat and drink? The answer the Lord wants is simple. Our hearts should now be set in the salvation of souls, and if the glorious Kingdom of God is to be given to us, then our hearts must be in living there. What is the treasure for you and me and where really is that treasure? It is in the Lord and it is in the Kingdom where the Lord is. In other words, I mean it is in the righteous work that the Lord has given to us.
We think that we follow the Lord’s will faithfully now in our own thinking. However, we actually forget about this matter often consciously or unconsciously. It’s because we are consumed with a certain work until it is accomplished properly once we start to do this. However, the true treasure of hearts is not in material things. It’s because the treasure that should be in our hearts is not in material things. If we always keep the Lord as the treasure in our hearts, then, that is the most precious and splendid treasure for us. However, a person who has received the remission of sins cannot be truly righteous person if the treasure of his heart is any material thing instead of the Lord or the gospel of the Lord. We must only have the Lord’s salvation of the souls and the heart of seeking the righteousness of the Kingdom of God. A person who does not do this is a foolish person.
Even apart from the matter whether we could go to Heaven after this world, we who have received the remission of sins must know the duty that has been given to us and seek the treasure of our hearts according to that. And we must definitely attain the treasure with faith. We are God’s people and His children. As we live in this world, everyone often experience times when he feels inadequate and his own righteousness is breaking down. However, when we think about it, we are just mere human beings who do not have anything to boast about. We are beings who are so weak and shameful when we stand before the presence of the Lord.
However, when we think about it, the Lord saved such lowly people like us from all our sins. He has glorified us by giving the Holy Spirit in our hearts. And God has filled our insufficiencies with His grace. He made us become victorious like this. We can understand that the Lord is our true treasure because the Lord encouraged us again at a time when we felt our righteousness was infinitely inadequate like that.
The Lord Has Become the True Treasure for You and Me
The Lord saved you and me and made us victorious also. Even though we are very lacking, we are the children of God. We are God’s precious people and the disciples of Jesus Christ. We are people who are doing the righteous work. There are not many people who do the righteous work as we do. Now, our ministry bears a lot of fruit all over the world. There are many people who have received the remission of sins, but the number of people who send us the testimony of salvation is not great yet. If we received the testimony of salvation from about 20 people per week it would be considered a lot. That’s because those who do not send the testimony of salvation number a hundred fold and thousand fold even though they have received the remission of sins through our books. Therefore, even all the people who do not send us the testimony of salvation are all doing such precious work. They also are precious people because they have the Lord as treasure in their hearts and they do the righteous work that is like the treasure the Lord has entrusted to them.
You and I also must become an altruistic person, if we know that we are precious people and have dream and goal in our hearts. It means that we must be people who seek the profit of other people. We must not be like this wealthy man who simply worried about what he should do because the barn was full and there was no place to store the crops and thereby built even bigger barn and tried to entrust his soul to the accumulated crop. We are God’s children and disciples of Jesus Christ even though we are prone to think only of ourselves materialistically. As the Lord Himself did the work of expanding His Kingdom and saving souls, He has entrusted the same work of saving other people’s souls in this world to His disciples. We are the people that must do this work. We are people who have received the infinite blessings from the Lord and the people who have an important mission. Therefore, we cannot say that we are not precious.
The more I read the Lord’s Word, the more I see that His Word is truly righteous. That is why I believe it firmly. It does not mean that we have not lived by the Word of the Lord until now just because we have given our hearts to material things frequently until now. However, even though we have lived like that until now, we must now discern what is right from what is wrong and choose the right way as we live in this life. If we must give up our all and sacrifice for someone now, then, that is what we must do. That is the will of the Lord, and the Lord said that He would add everything to us as we live for the Lord like that.
A person who does not have a dream has already been destroyed and he is like a beast that just enjoys temporary things. Everyone must have a vision. A person should not just try to earn money and only try to serve the Lord with that money. A person who considers a materially poor person as a spiritually poor person as well and thinks he should save that person with his wealth is a person who does not have a real vision. The really poor person is a person who does not have a true vision. However, I am sure that we are people with vision. We must realize our vision of sharing the gospel of the water and the Spirit throughout the whole world, and our God will fulfill that vision through our lives. It is time for us to challenge having vision and dream in our work as well in order to fulfill that work.
Could we achieve this if we wanted to do this? Yes, we could. Why did we start this if we could not achieve this? I am saying that we can do this if we live with spiritual thinking. I want you to know that there is only a very slight difference between having a spiritual thinking or fleshly thinking. We can become a spiritual person if we think of God’s Kingdom and His righteousness, and on the contrary, we become a fleshly person if we just think how we should live only concerning our own physical body. Because we can change our thinking so easily like this, we become confused in the split junction of two roads at least tens of times a day. In other words, we become a spiritual person and then a fleshly person alternatively like that many times a day.
What is the reason there are so many meetings in each department like this when there are many worship meetings in a week inside and outside the Church? Ordinarily we have such meetings so that we may get together and think of spiritual things constantly so that our mindset will not be changed so easily. That’s why we have many hours for worship services, times for preaching the gospel and times to pray. And we can maintain our faith only when we also have time to share fellowship together. Otherwise, we can be transformed as people who cannot but fail to keep faith continuously and who cannot but receive curse before the presence of God even though we have received the remission of sins. If we do not accept God’s Word with heart and we will eventually leave the Church. Therefore, we must get together and pray so that none of us may be tempted into the world and cursed.
Today is Wednesday, and Wednesday is a day when we have many meetings. And we have many meetings like women’s service on Tuesdays, the young adults’ meeting on Thursday night, prayer meetings and worship services that we hold on Friday and Saturday. And the Lord gives us opportunities for us to dwell together with the Lord in remaining times as well, and that is because the Lord loves us so much. Even though material concerns often come to our mind, we can avoid falling into such thinking as long as we dwell with God. I also thought of our Lord’s work unceasingly during the three days I was working in Inje this time because I was afraid that I would fall into such pitfall.
The thought of how we should finish the construction of a new building at Inje DTC did not leave me while I was working there. I calculated how high we should set the foundation. I was inundated with thoughts like how high and how big the new building should be, how many cement mixers must be used, where the H-beam should be set up, and so on. And there seemed to be no end to thinking as I thought how much money we needed for this construction, what appliances we needed to bring in to the new building after we finish the construction, and that I felt somewhat reassured that our family members in the Church now have a building to work in because I used to worry whenever it rained before because they used to work in green houses.
And as I did so, I was absorbed with materialistic thinking without even realizing this. Of course, the more we are absorbed in the works of supporting the evangelism, the lesser opportunities we have to really get close to the Lord’s Word spiritually, even though the work we do is also God’s work. However, we must try unceasingly. Therefore, we should not neglect to listen to the Word of God no matter how busy we are in doing everything. The work we must do is to believe and follow God’s Word. If following His teaching is not our original work, then, what else is our responsibility? Consequently, we live with such faith. The Scripture says, “The just shall live by faith.” And it is also written, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”
We must not worry about the problem of food and shelter that we face right now. Instead, we must witness the gospel of God diligently, join together in God’s Church, and be concerned when the Lord is coming. Isn’t that right? Yes, it is. Then, does the Lord actually bestow food and clothes to a person who worries about the advent of the Lord instead of worrying about material things? Yes, He does. Therefore, we must continuously pray to God for our needs and give thanks to Him.
In addition, we must believe that the Lord has purged away all our sins and leads us in order to give us new hearts continuously even though our own righteousness does not exist in us. I admonish you not to forget the fact that we just need to follow Him with that faith. Will you really follow this faith? Yes. Then, did the Lord win? Yes, He has won. We who believe and follow the Lord like this are also victors.
People who can always live with faith are people who can do the righteous work. Moreover, they are people who can receive the blessing continuously. I give infinite thanks to God at this moment. I desire sincerely for God to bestow even greater faith and blessing continuously in the future to people who think of spiritual thoughts toward the Lord even more.
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