Commentary on John 14 (1)

[瑤翰 김요한]

Commentary on John 14 (1)

Now we move on to John 14.

 Reception of the Lord Jesus Christ is to be chosen, and to be chosen is to be born again.

Because we have been chosen, we are changed into beings held by God's destiny and God's hands.

Through a life of faith, believers can be as comfortable as other people and have and enjoy things like other people. But why did God not give them such things and make them walk down a narrow path? That's what Jesus Christ did to make us into beings like his destiny.

Do you understand this? Are you still feeling very unfair?

Are you upset that you have the same destiny as God, that you have become an eternal being like God?

In fact, there are many people among us who are upset and resented by reality.

This is because we all have  the life we ​​were born with in Adam as a sinner.

In other words, the nature of being deceived by the devil is still coiled within us.

So Romans 8:7 says, “The carnal mind is enmity against God.”

What the carnal mind is all about is the thought, ‘I can do it.’

I assure you that anyone who says he can do it does not live by Jesus Christ.

They say, I can do it because I have health, I can do it because I am still young, or I can do it because I still have capital left, or I can do it because I still have the skills.

You must be able to distinguish between this flesh and this spirit so that your flesh, or outer self, will continue to decline and die.

This can be done by learning the message of the cross of Christ.

So, we must check every day whether our new spirit is alive within our outer self.

Our flesh does not die overnight.

A stonemason takes a single stone and makes a sculpture, but he does not make it in one day.

Every day, he carves it out little by little and shape it.

Even the stone we know well does not become a beautiful stone overnight.

It is made through the process of a large stone floating down and being hit and hit by the harsh current.

It also goes through the process of being cut and worn, floats downstream, and is then discovered as a beautiful rock.

Likewise, we must always check whether our outer self is decaying and our inner self is being renewed, and whether the desires of the Holy Spirit are increasing in our lives, or whether the desires of the flesh are increasing.

Within us, the desires of the Holy Spirit and the desires of the flesh compete with each other.

Because of these two's quarrel, internal strife arises and nothing is accomplished (Galatians 5:17).

True prayer is a mental labor of deciding to follow the desires of the Holy Spirit and asking God to shape oneself.

Nevertheless, our fleshly desires continue to arise within us.

However, Christians who are in the truth must die every day of their fleshly desires and grow within themselves of the desires of the Holy Spirit.

So, to live means to become, which means that the life of God, that is, the desire of the Holy Spirit, becomes dominant within me.

However, even among Christians, the reason people are on the verge of death and in despair is because they insist that they can do something, like Peter before he received the Holy Spirit.

Because they still insist that they can do it.

This is because they have not learned the truth about living by the life of God and have been deceived by learning from those who lie and practice lawlessness that they must live according to the Word.

In the past, I sometimes asked a deacon I knew well.

“Mr. kim, are you okay? Is it going to be okay?”

Then he answers like this:

“Pastor, don’t worry. Things will go well in the future. I will be able to fulfill my mission properly.”

If you listen to that answer, it sounds like someone who just graduated from seminary.

People who have just graduated from seminary act confidently like this.

In the words, ‘Pastor, don’t worry,’ it means, “I will do it with money.” I will do it from experience. It contains the meaning of “I will do it stubbornly.”

The answer is that I can do anything because I have it.

You will have to pay hardship tuition fees and study further for a long time.

For example, a person who had graduated from seminary a long time ago and had just been ordained came to visit.

While I was talking to him, I asked him: “What kind of ministry will you do in the future?”

So he said, “I will become a famous theologian.”

I asked again, “Where did you go to school?”

He answered, “I graduated from Chongshin and Shindaewon.”

So I said this. “Pastor, becoming a great professor is a very good vision. This is because the constitution of the Korean church can only be changed if the constitution of the seminary professors changes. However, pastor, try to build yourself through the Bible for just 10 years. Then you will become a really great professor.”

That's because I went to the United States to study after completing seminary and seminary here and there, but the part I was most unsure about was the Bible.

A student must be familiar with the textbook and cannot take the entrance exam by learning just a few questions.

The pastor needs to make the bible easier, but he doesn't know the bible and comes forward with a few questions to follow someone...

This person says he learned everything in seminary.

Since he graduated from theological school, he is confident that he doesn't lack anything anymore and all he has to do is teach.

It means that he can teach others with the knowledge he have so far.

To this person, his knowledge is a treasure.

Teaching others is the goal of the ministry.

He's trying to become a teacher. He is like Peter and Apollos before receiving the Holy Spirit.

However, if Peter had said “I do it” as he confessed, it would not have been possible.

After Jesus died on the cross, he lost all of his will and motivation to do anything.

Because darkness came upon him, he became a person who could not do anything.

The story is told in the Bible that Peter returned to his original form as a fisherman, was visited by Jesus again, and the resurrected Lord gave him the Holy Spirit, so he became a born again Peter and was used as a servant of Christ.

Peter, who experienced a terrible failure, said, “I will do it. “I will take responsibility and give my life,” he did not say. Just confess, “Lord, you know that I love you (phileo).” He confesses that even if he did love, it was only human love.

In that sense, this gospel song, “Like Peter confessing that he loves the Lord,” is a song that does not know much about Peter’s condition.

Peter did not confess that he loved the Lord in that way.

“It is true that I love the Lord, but it is true that my love is not the same as the Lord’s love.”

This is how he confess.

Previously, if the Lord had asked Peter if he loved me, he would have said, “Yes, Lord, you know my personality well. If I do it, I will do it. “I will lay down my life for you, Lord.” he would have done it like this.

But Peter became humble. He understood himself.

There are many people in the bible who became humble, but two in particular are Jonah and Peter.

It was only after being in the belly of the fish that Jonah repented and confessed, “Though I have been cast out from your sight, I will look again toward thy holy temple.” (Jonah 2:4)

Only after Peter denied Jesus three times did he say, “Lord, you know that I love you.” This is how he came to confess. (John 21:15-17)

Jonah is given a mission again, and Peter is given a mission again.

To get there, you have to go into the belly of a fish like Jonah and go home like Peter.

Only then can we rely on the Lord and rise again.

Just as Jesus Christ died and came back to life on the third day and gave himself to us after the 'Sign of Jonah', his disciples also died on the cross with this naturally born nature, and only then did the Holy Spirit come into them and ended up doing the work of God.

Written by Ptr. Yohan Kim.

Translated by  Nancy Chung

COME AND SEE WORLD MISSION

To God be the glory.