John 17 Commentary (4)

[瑤翰 김요한]

John 17 Commentary (4)

I would like to raise the tension a little for those who do not have the earnestness for the Lord’s Prayer that the Lord taught them or who think that the prayer is about saving the things of the flesh.

People who are dominating broadcasting in Korea now and have pastored large churches died sometimes  from various diseases and are sometimes boasting that they are alive and well from various diseases.

There are quite a few fans of these people.

But why do they get such illnesses?

Is it the grace of God that makes us strong when we are weak? In my opinion, it is absolutely not.

They are pastors who truly believe in God and try to live according to the Word as if they were keeping the law, and who preach the Word in an interesting way to the extent that their viewership ratings rise in their own way.

If their faith is imitating the various ancestors of the Old Testament, they will first become those who do not have the Spirit of truth.

Under the Law, there is God and the Holy Spirit, but the life, glory, and image of Christ are revealed in us, so there is no procedure or method for us to reach the character of God.

They say they believe in God and Jesus, and they believe in the Bible as the word of God, but they are not sinners because they have sinned. They do not come into Christ, but they are outside and say they believe in Jesus, so they remain in the position of sin and death.

A pastor who has suffered from cancer several times talks about overcoming cancer as if it is a great honor, but that is a big mistake.

Can cancer come to someone who is under the life of Christ? Can geriatric diseases come?

If they had properly received the gospel and known the power of the gospel, that would be absurd.

However, the disease caused by the wounds suffered before learning the Gospel must be healed.

However, to a pastor who believes in the gospel of Christ, who always gives life and abundantly to all believers throughout his life, and faithfully preaches the gospel, is cancer given as a gift of grace?

If the gospel were just a feast of words that could not overcome death, I would have already stopped preaching the gospel. 

I feel sorry for them who are suffering from cancer, and the countless people who follow them do not know the truth and do not know how to become one with Christ and overcome death and be preserved in this world. What should we do about this?

The Bible, the living words of Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit, and the person who spreads them become one set, so the word of God (Leema) flows out of the mouth.

To receive someone who has this word is to receive Christ.

Since you are a pastor, do not carelessly say that those who receive me are receiving the Lord.

When you receive the Word of God, the flesh human being becomes spiritualized, and the Word of God begins to permeate (embody) into the flesh (John 1:14).

From that time on, we become one with God in Christ, and we gain the image of Christ and see the glory of God, so we become the glory of God, and God becomes our glory.

The Bible records about the living Word (Ho Logos) and those who spread the Word.

Those who testify of the Word testify of Christ, who is the Word (John 1:1), through the Bible.

Also, Christ, who is the Word, guarantees the Bible and guarantees the one who testifies to Him through the Holy Spirit.

At this time, faith is born by accepting and embracing the words that testify.

The testimony of the Bible is that God sent his Son (Ho Logos) and God gives the Holy Spirit endlessly to those who testify of him.

Through the work of this Holy Spirit, we come to believe in and accept Christ as our Lord.

This is the starting point for humans born in the flesh to become spiritual and become one with God.

Receiving words like these was truly such an incredible event as it would make me jump out of my sleep.

The problem is that the Bible is taken out and quoted to make a bouquet and spread it, and because it reveals oneself and testifies with the words of the one spreading it, the Holy Spirit does not guarantee it.

You see it a lot, right?

So, if you do something wrong, you may not be accepting Christ, but rather a person who spreads the word.

Therefore, people are ruled by people, and this is a big problem in the current church.

However, if you do not know the Bible, you do not know the God who sent you.

The reason the world hates the servants sent by God is because they do not know God the Father and Jesus Christ.

Therefore, the one who spreads it must only preach Christ and God the Father who sent him through the Bible. 

If you spread yourself, the Bible will be hidden.

The third Lord's Prayer is about preservation (John 17:13-16).

This is similar to the Lord's Prayer, "Do not lead us into temptation."

In the world we live in now, deception is a more serious and scary problem than we think.

As mentioned above, people think that if they just believe in Jesus and pay off the remaining installment, they will go to heaven.

He stands in the place of death, cannot see eternal life, and is under the wrath of God (John 3:36).

Since Christians seem boring and uninteresting, they become the target of heretics and private religions.

Even if you are a priest in the Old Testament, when you enter the sanctuary, there is no chair to sit on.

They have to worry about whether the flame of the golden lampstand is too high or too low.

Also, they have to eat the bread of the Showbread carefully, with reverence, and go to the altar of incense with trembling and burn incense.

What is the expression‎ of a person who has nothing to do and does not want to live while being in Christ?

I have to watch the Holy Spirit's eyes to see if the flame of my spirit is high or low, and if I don't eat the spirit and life of Christ, I know that I become listless and I cannot loosen the reins of my yearning heart.

Without the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, we have no desire to praise and our mouths are tight.

Therefore, I cannot ascend to the throne of God and pray and praise in the golden bowls of angels that are pleasing to God.

The kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:17).

However, since I do not know the actual phenomenon when righteousness is revealed in me, I do not know what peace is in becoming one with God in Christ, and I do not have the secret of the joy of the Lord becoming my joy.

That is why there are so many Christians who enjoy eating at buffets or restaurants...

The Lord wants to give us his joy.

“Now I am coming to you, Father, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy in themselves” (John 17:13).

Joy comes when there is a sense of satisfaction that is not lacking.

That is why it is said that if there is no joy, one is not a Christian. 

When you receive the Word of God and become one with God, the fullness of that glory becomes a joy that cannot be expressed in words.

Still, is it boring?

Like Schopenhauer, is it boring because all we do in heaven is praise?

Glory, thanks, praise, and worship are things we do every day, so we need to hear something shocking and interesting?

This person has already been deceived.

I will say again that if you do not know how great it is to gain God’s glory and advance to glory with that glory, and what kind of joy it is that touches our spirit when we give thanks and praise to God with the Spirit of the Lord, then you are already addicted to the words of men.

The Lord is for this joy saying, “Take and eat”, and he pours out the oil of the Holy Spirit without limit on those who are in him.

Therefore, the wages of the servants of the Lord are not received after they have done their work, but first. They have already received their wages and are doing the work of the Lord.

Next, Christians, that is, the Lord's disciples, are hated because they do not belong to the world.

"I have given them your word, and the world has hated them, for  they are not of the world any more than I am of the world." (John 17:14).

Just as Jesus Christ was hated because he did not belong to the world, it is natural that Christians who are not secularized are hated by the world.

Of course, heretics will say this.

However, we must know that it is extremely dangerous to adapt and patch up the Bible in a 1-step and 2-step manner in the church.

Many people are deceived because they put up a protective wall saying that lies, deception, and lawlessness exist only outside the church.

“My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.” (John 17:15).

There was a time when the rapture theory was rampant, and there was a time when the clear words that refuted such rapture theory was "not to take them".

The Lord’s Prayer is not a prayer to take Christians away immediately to preserve them.

It is a prayer to be preserved from the evil one. 

That is why the Lord taught us to pray to be saved from the evil one, the devil.

This is what we must pray for.

The words that we are not of the world means that the evil one cannot touch us.

“They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world” (John 17:16).

This means that if we stand firm in Christ, we can be free from the influence of evil spirits.

In ChristI have thrown my old self, which was under sin and death, to the other side of the cross. Although my body is under attack by the devil, the old serpent who eats the dust, our spirit is alive in Christ, and God, who is raised the dead, is giving life to our mortal bodies with the power of life through the Spirit of Christ . 

This is truly something to be thankful for and praise to God.

Written by Ptr. Yohan Kim.

Translated by  Nancy Chung

COME AND SEE WORLD MISSION

To God be the glory.