<p>Column - Are you practicing the preaching of the cross?</p><p> </p><p>“For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:18).</p><p> </p><p>1. Socrates's words, "Know thyself," mean that you are blind, that your soul and body are master and servant, and that you are not God.</p><p>If you ask Christians if they know themselves, most will confess that they are sinners.</p><p>Of course, we begin as sinners who do not believe in Jesus, that is, who do not accept Jesus as Lord and Christ.</p><p>The Holy Spirit also rebuke us of the sin of not believing in Jesus Christ as Lord (John 16:9).</p><p>Therefore, we hear that Jesus redeemed us from sin by his death on the cross and being raised , transferring us to the righteousness and life in Christ, and we believe and are saved.</p><p>Moreover, we have been seated with Christ in heavenly places by grace (Ephesians 2:6). This is a gift of God.</p><p> </p><p>2. So, if someone asks you to know yourself, who should you say you are?</p><p>Should you say you are justified, yet still a sinner?</p><p>Or should you say you are justified, even though you may still sin?</p><p>If you have Christ in you, you should naturally answer, "I am dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus" (Romans 6:11).</p><p>If the devil asks you what your body is, you should answer, "If Christ is in me, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is alive because of righteousness" (Romans 8:10).</p><p>It is not humility to hesitate and pretend to be neither a sinner nor a righteous person.</p><p>That is not a proper response to the grace of the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross.</p><p> </p><p>3. Therefore, those who have been liberated from sin and death by the law of the Spirit of life in Christ have the function and role of living according to the Spirit, not according to the flesh.</p><p>Christians, who were buried with Christ, who gave his body on the cross for our sins, and who were resurrected with Christ, and who have become one with Christ through the baptism of the Holy Spirit, begin a battle between the spirit and the flesh from that moment on.</p><p>It is a battle between walking according to the spirit or living a reckless, human life with fleshly thoughts.</p><p>The flesh is at enmity with God.</p><p>Its thoughts do not submit to God's law and cannot please God (Romans 8:7-8).</p><p>When they do well, they become arrogant and self-righteous, and when they fail, they cry out, "Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner," thus burning God's heart.</p><p>These are people who do not know the identity of Christians.</p><p> </p><p>4. If you live as a Christian without knowing yourself and relying on your five senses, you will go straight to destruction.</p><p>However, if you know that Christ has saved you from sin through his atoning grace on the cross, transferred you to the kingdom of love in Christ, and given you eternal life, then it is natural to wrestle with both sides of the cross.</p><p>Therefore, a normal Christian can say, "I died with Christ and I live by Christ" (Galatians 2:20).</p><p>To do this, you must not simply look at the cross, but through the preaching of the cross, believe that you have been crossed the cross through the Lord's death and resurrection, and follow him in obedience.</p><p>You must share in Paul's boast of dying daily (1 Corinthians 15:31).</p><p>You must not look at the cross as a sinner, but follow the path of dying and living with Christ.</p><p>This is what it means to practice the preaching of the cross.</p><p>From that moment on, the tables are turned, and the Lord's power and wisdom are revealed. (1 Corinthians 1:24)</p><p>Thus, despite their physical condition, foolish men shame the world's wise, and the weak shame the world's strong. (1 Corinthians 1:27)</p><p>This is because, through the message of the cross, Christ has become wisdom, righteousness, holiness, and redemption to those who are in him. (1 Corinthians 1:30)</p><p>Therefore, Christians neither affirm nor deny themselves, but rather, knowing themselves as found in Christ, they boast in the Lord. (1 Corinthians 1:30)</p><p> </p><p>Written by Pastor. Yohan Kim</p><p>Translated by Missionary Nancy Kim</p><p>COME AND SEE WORLD MISSION</p><p>TO GOD BE THE GLORY</p>
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