Subject 13 : The Gospel According to MATTHEW
[Chapter 10-2] Let Us Live as God’s Workers (Matthew 10:1-8)
(Matthew 10:1-8)
“And
when He had called His twelve disciples to Him, He gave them power over
unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness
and all kinds of disease. Now the names of the twelve apostles are
these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James
the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas
and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus,
whose surname was Thaddaeus; Simon the Cananite, and Judas Iscariot,
who also betrayed Him. These twelve Jesus sent out and commanded them,
saying: ‘Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter a city
of the Samaritans. But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of
Israel. And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at
hand.’ Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out
demons. Freely you have received, freely give.’”
Jesus
called His twelve disciples, and He decided to spread the gospel of the
water and the Spirit throughout the whole world through these
disciples. But one of these disciples, Judas, ended up betraying his own
Teacher, for he did not believe that Jesus was the Son of God and the
Messiah who came to this earth as the Savior of mankind. Judas sold out
Jesus for money. But later, he came to regret when he recognized that he
had actually betrayed the Son of God. We need to remember here that as
we follow Jesus, if we betray the gospel of the water and the Spirit
that the Lord has given us, we will also end up like this Judas.
Unfortunately, there are way too many Judas-like Christians on this
earth.
If
none of us wants to face spiritual death, we must all believe in and
spread the God-given gospel of the water and the Spirit wholeheartedly.
For us to walk such a righteous way, we must place our faith in the
divinity of Jesus and His ministries of the water and the blood, and of
the Spirit.
This
world is a spiritual battlefield for Christians. There are many evil
spirits in the world. These spirits are looking for every opportunity to
devour even those who believe in the gospel of the water and the
Spirit. So even if one believes in the gospel of the water and the
Spirit, if he falls into the lust of his flesh, he will end up facing
his spiritual death.
We
should not allow the deceivers to do everything to their hearts’
content. Rather, we, the true Christians must stand against them by
exposing the vanity of these liars’ faith. They will then leave us
alone. Otherwise, if we fail to make our stand, we will end up being
devoured by them. This is why we must live our lives as God’s soldiers
after believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Anyone who
has received the remission of sin by believing in the gospel of the
water and the Spirit must become a true Christian solider who preaches
the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
Am
I then saying here that every believer should become a minister? No,
that is not what I am saying. It would be even better if every believer
can indeed become a minister, but what I am saying here is that all of
us must do the work of the Kingdom of God according to the gifts that
God has given to each of us.
You
need to realize that if you do not become the army of God that serves
His gospel, you will end up being devoured by the army of Satan. There
are those among us who think, “Well, since I am not a minister, I think
my faith in the Lord is fine just as it is.” But my dear fellow
believers, you must not think like this. You must realize that Satan
does not discriminate in his attacks, and that he is intent to slay all
those who do not work for God’s Kingdom and are instead beholden to the
lust of their flesh, regardless of whether they are laymen or
ministers.
Therefore,
every Christian must cast aside the three lusts of the flesh (1 John
2:16). The first lust that we must cast aside is the lust of pleasure;
we must cast aside all our desires that go beyond the bounds of what God
has permitted us. Second, we must cast aside the lust of the eyes.
Third, we must cast aside the desire for the pride of life. You should
engrave it into your hearts that only then can you love the Lord and
follow Him.
If,
by any chance, you follow the lust of your flesh, thinking, “It’s okay,
since I’ve received the remission of all my sins,” then you will
ultimately die. Because you have received the remission of your sins, it
is only natural that Satan would not leave you alone, but would be even
more intent to knock you down, looking for every opportunity to achieve
this objective. Therefore, for us not to be slain by Satan, we must be
on constant guard, and we must wage our spiritual battle against him by
faith. Only those who win this battle can survive. And to do so, we must
believe in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit even more. To
grow our spiritual strength, we need to fight against the liars in these
spiritual battles. It is when Christians engage in spiritual battles
that they come to realize the extent of their faith, and it is when they
fight against their enemies by the power of the Word of the Lord that
they can win souls.
If
we do not continue to believe in the gospel Word of the water and the
Spirit in our hearts, we, too, will lose not only our spiritual strength
but also our material possessions and even our own life. How would we
lose all of God’s blessings? By failing to believe in the gospel of the
water and the Spirit, for this world is a spiritual battlefield, and
therefore Satan does not leave the faithless alone.
Our Lord Commanded Us to Look for the Lost Sheep of God and Preach Them the Gospel of the Water and the Spirit
God’s
workers must always do His work. God’s laborers must go out in search
of His lost sheep. Our Lord took twelve men as His disciples while
working on this earth. And through these disciples of Jesus, many people
came to receive the remission of their sins, and they also were able to
live as the blessed army of God and come before His presence.
It
is written here in today’s Scripture passage, “Do not go into the way
of the Gentiles, and do not enter a city of the Samaritans. But go
rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as you go, preach,
saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’” We must look for innocent
souls, not the spiritual Samaritans.
The
Samaritans were partly related to the Israelites, but they were not of
pure blood. They were the descendents of mixed blood, originating from
some Israelites’ intermarriage with the Assyrians during their
Babylonian captivity. Therefore, the Israelites did not accept them as
their people from then on.
Spiritually
speaking, it is to the lost sheep of Israel whom we must go. We should
examine every soul, asking ourselves, “Is that person really a lost
sheep to God?” There are some on this earth who are desperately
thirsting for the Word of God.
It
is when we actually do God’s work that we are molded into Jesus’ good
disciples who are fit for God’s use. God is turning us into the
well-trained soldiers of Jesus and using us as His instruments. As we do
the work of God as His laborers, there are times when we have to break
up our self-respect of the flesh. By doing so, our thoughts are
transformed before God, and we are molded and made into good vessels
that God can use as His instruments. If we want to live the life of the
discipleship of Jesus, as God’s workers, then our Lord will turn us into
His good vessels. Those who are too meek and timid are turned more
rugged and stronger, and those who lack faith in the Word of God become
the people of faith who have strong faith in God’s Word. Strong faith is
absolutely essential to God’s workers, because we can only carry on His
work by our faith in His power. It is not by our own strength that
God’s work is done, but it is only by the power of God that it is done.
Sinners
are prone to persecute the disciples of Jesus who are living on this
earth doing God’s work. Jesus said, “A disciple is not above his
teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for a disciple
that he be like his teacher, and a servant like his master” (Matthew
10:24-25). He said that it is enough for a disciple to be like his
teacher.
Jesus
is the very teacher of all of us who believe in Him. When our Lord came
to this earth, he was despised and scorned by many people. Since our
Lord Himself was persecuted, we should accept it as only natural that
we, who have become His disciples, would also be persecuted. For those
who have become Jesus’ disciples, it is enough that they are able to
endure persecution, just as our Lord had done so. And since our Lord
followed the will of God the Father while suffering severe persecution,
we should, as His disciples, also follow the will of our Lord, and
endure persecution as nothing. The disciples of Jesus must indeed know
how to take it as their joy to be persecuted by the liars. And even in
the midst of their persecution, they must know how to follow the Lord
wholly. In addition, the soldiers of the Lord must also know how to wage
spiritual war.
Everything
will be revealed according to the Truth of God. So we need to realize
here that every iniquity that people commit hidden from the others will
ultimately be all revealed, for our Lord said, “There is nothing covered
that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known” (Matthew
10:26).
God Has Made Us Fearless
I
believe that God is alive. Our Lord said to the workers of God, “Do not
fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear
Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28).
What we need to realize here is that the One who has authority to throw
sinners into hell is God, the One who has saved us from our sins is also
the same God, and the One who has given us eternal life is this very
same God. Death does not mean the complete end of our existence.
Everyone is born once, and once dead, everyone will be brought to
eternal life again. This is what we must know and believe. Those who,
through the gospel of the water and the Spirit, believe that Jesus has
become their Savior have indeed been saved from all their sins, but
those who do not believe in this true gospel will be cast into hell by
God.
There
are huge differences between reincarnation and resurrection.
Reincarnation is the notion that when a life ends, it is reincarnated
into a different life form, and that this cycle continues on. Simply
put, a soul that is born as a grasshopper will be born as a rabbit
tomorrow, and then as a chicken the following day. But this is
absolutely nonsense.
My
fellow believers, we the true Christians must not fear the
anti-Christians. If those who have not been born again do not want to
share fellowship with us the born-again, then all that we have to do is
not share fellowship with them. You may then wonder if we are not too
lonely. But what is there to feel lonely, when there are so many
righteous people of God? The righteous abhor to be with sinners. There
are, after all, many people of God with whom we the righteous can work
together. It is with the people of God with whom I want to live, and it
is God’s Church with which I want to work.
What
we need to realize is that no one will die unless God first permits
him. Jesus said, “Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin?” When a
sparrow is sold for a dime, it may seem as if it is being sold and
bought by people, but even this is possible only when God permits it.
When this is the case, just how much care would God have for the
righteous? Our own death, too, will never come unless God permits it.
When God does not permit this, we will not die just because someone is
trying to kill us. We will die only when God permits, and nothing can
come about without God’s permission. Our life, in other words, is in the
hands of God. We are far more precious than the sparrows in the air.
Our
Lord said, “Whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess
before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him
I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 10:32-33).
My
fellow believers, if we believe in the baptism that Jesus received and
in His bloodshed on the Cross as our salvation, He will surely accept
us. In contrast, if we fail to believe so, Jesus will also deny us.
Because of our sins, He was baptized by John the Baptist and condemned,
and has thereby saved us from all our sins. If we deny this Truth, then
we are denying Jesus.
Our
Lord said, “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter
the kingdom of God” (John 3:5). ‘To be born again of water and the
Spirit’ is to receive the remission of sin by believing in the Truth,
that Jesus has saved us from all the sins of the world by coming to this
earth, taking upon our sins once for all with His baptism, and dying on
the Cross. My fellow believers, among Christians, those who have truly
been born again are the ones who have received the remission of all
their sins by being born again of the water, the blood, and the Spirit.
No one can be born again unless he has faith in the gospel of the water
and the Spirit.
Do
you still think that Jesus failed to take away all your sins? When the
grandmother of a sister in my church was hospitalized, the pastor of
this grandmother’s church came to see her and said, “Try to keep saying
the prayers of repentance. Jesus took away your original sin, but He did
not take away your personal sins.” Do you believe that He took away
only our original sin, and that our personal sins were not taken away?
If one believes that Jesus took away only his original sin but not his
personal sins, then he is denying Jesus the Savior. What we must know is
that Jesus has perfectly saved all of us from all our sins by receiving
His baptism and shedding His blood.
But
if one denies this Truth of the water and the Spirit, Jesus will also
deny him. Jesus will say, “You said that you did not know Me. You said
that I did not take away all your sins. I don’t know you, either then.
Go away. I will send you to the hottest place!” If we do not believe in
the baptism and bloodshed of Jesus, then so will Jesus deny us, and if
we believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, then we will be
permitted to enter Heaven according to our faith.
Our
God is the God of justice and equity. Jesus is the God of Truth. God’s
gospel of the water and the Spirit is His righteousness, not a lie. If
our Lord were to just approve anyone who tries hard to believe in Him
somehow, why would He have given us the gospel of the water and the
Spirit by sacrificing Himself so much? It was precisely to save us from
all our sins that He sacrificed Himself and gave us the gospel of the
water and the Spirit, but only if we believe in this gospel. He does not
say, “Well, since they profess to believe in Me and are trying so hard
to live as Christians, how could I say that I don’t know them? They
don’t have the right answer, but I should still approve them on a
compassionate ground.” Therefore, if one does not know the gospel of the
water and the Spirit, then he has not been saved from all his sins.
Our
Lord said, “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not
come to bring peace but a sword” (Matthew 10:34). Our workers must
never misunderstand this. It is not proper for the righteous to be
amicable with sinners and to live in peace no matter what this entails,
but they must preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit that
reconciles these sinners with God. Our Lord is saying to us, “So will
you believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit or not? I have
blotted out all your sins. Will you believe this or not?” If we believe,
then He will save us, but if we do not believe, then He will destroy
us.
The
Lord said that He did not come to bring peace, but to sow conflict. He
came to this earth to set daughters-in-law against their mothers-in-law,
fathers against their sons, and grandparents against their
grandchildren. Jesus is at once both a spiritual Warrior and the King of
peace.
Although
Jesus has blotted out all the sins of the world, He cannot save those
who still do not believe in the Truth despite this. My fellow believers,
if you believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, then you will
be reconciled with God, but if you do not believe in this gospel, you
will remain as God’s enemies. The born-again may very well find their
enemies in their own household—that is, your own family members who have
not been born again may become your enemies.
From
time to time, we visit hospitals to preach the gospel, and some of the
stories that we have heard from the patients there are rather
hair-raising.
“Hello, how have you been? By the way, where is the other patient? Did he go somewhere?”
“Actually, he died yesterday.”
People
speak of human death so easily. Of course, it’s not they who died but
someone else, but still, sometimes they speak of it too lightly, as if
it’s only a trivial affair. Feeling no sadness, they simply say, “He has
passed away.”
People
who have not received the remission of sin are in fact heartlessly
unloving and unmerciful (Romans 1:31). They remain indifferent even as
one of their own sisters and brothers dies. They are saddened but only a
little. They look grieved while they attend the funeral ceremony, but
they forget all about it as soon as they head back to their homes in
their cars.
My
fellow believers, the born-again are not heartless. They really keep
the weak in their hearts. It is heartbreaking for them to be unable to
help because of their inability. We may have said some nasty things to
one another in our quarrels, but in the hearts of us the righteous,
compassion for the others always remains. We always have concern and
care for our fellow believers, wanting them to prosper in both body and
spirit.
It
hurts our hearts to see those who still have not received the remission
of their sins, because we all have compassionate hearts for them
fundamentally. We actually have compassionate and merciful hearts for
them, hoping that they would prosper. It is our wish that wherever they
go, they would go to God’s Church that preaches the gospel of the water
and the Spirit, receive the remission of their sins, faithfully attend
God’s Church, and be blessed. Yet it saddens me deeply to see that there
is no mercy of God in many people’s hearts.
If
someone goes out to the world and dose not live any longer as God’s
worker in His Church, it is very easy for him to lose his born-again
heart, no matter how firmly he is determined to live with the gospel.
He Who Loves God the Most
True
Christians love God and do His work. Our Lord said, “He who loves
father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son
or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me” (Matthew 10:37).
My
fellow believers, think about this once again. If you want to live your
lives as God’s workers, you should have the heart that loves God the
most. Only when you love God more than anyone or anything else in this
world can you become His good workers.
We
cannot actually love God more through our own efforts, just by trying
to love Him more. On the contrary, it is by abandoning our trust in our
flesh and by casting aside the lust of the flesh, by placing our faith
in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and thereby by letting the
love of God reign our hearts, that we can live as the true disciples of
Jesus Christ. Just as our hearts receive the remission of our sins, God
simultaneously becomes the loveliest One to us all.
Our
Lord said, “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of
Me.” This passage does not mean that we should not love our parents,
but that we should realize that God is more worthy of our love and
respect than our parents are. This is what our Lord is saying to us. In
other words, because God is far more honorable than our parents of the
flesh, and because He has given us far better things than our parents,
we should love this God the most, and in this love of God should we also
honor and love our parents of the flesh. Our Lord is far more lovable
than our own wives, children, land, wealth, money, reputation, pleasure,
ourselves, or anything else in this entire world. There is nothing in
this world that is more lovable than our Lord.
My
fellow believers, though we love ourselves, when we compare ourselves
to the Lord, we cannot help but confess that the Lord is far more
lovable and precious than us. Just as Peter confessed his faith by
saying, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You,” we, too, cannot avoid but
make the same confession of faith. Our Lord is truly majestic and truly
lovable to us. There is no one in this world, in the entire universe
and for eternity, who is better than our Lord. No material can ever be
better than our Lord. Nor can any pleasure ever be better than the Lord.
God’s
workers love the Lord the most and serve Him. In fact, it is only such
people who can become God’s laborers. And God also loves first the
workers who always think of Him. Let me make it clear here that you and I
must indeed live as such workers.
Sometimes,
being parents, we may show more care for our children than the Lord,
but we still believe in the center of our hearts that even our own
children can never be more precious than the Lord Himself. Can you
understand what I am trying to say here? If we were to compare our own
children to the Lord and estimate their worth, our Lord is far more
valuable than even our own children. It is not because we do not love
our children that we love the Lord more, but we do so because our Lord
is worthier than even our children. And to care for and cherish our
children in the love of our Lord is true love. When I say that we love
God more than our parents and children, some of you may mistakenly think
that I am telling you not to love your children and parents and to
abandon them, but this is not what I am saying here. I am not telling
you to abandon your own children and parent, but to love God first.
Remember
what the Lord said here, “He who does not take his cross and follow
after Me is not worthy of Me” (Matthew 10:38). A true worker of God is
someone who can follow the Lord even amid hardship. You and I must be
able to follow the Lord even as we face difficulties and hardship.
This
is something that is actually very hard to practice. Having said, “He
who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who
loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me,” our Lord then
added, “And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not
worthy of Me.” What He is telling us as a whole here is that we must
love the Lord more than ourselves.
Every
worker who follows God is bound to have his own cross. In other words,
those who believe in Jesus and want to serve Him are bound to face
hardship and suffering. And it is those who, even as they find
themselves in the middle of this suffering, still trust in the Lord,
persevere and endure, and still follow our Lord, that are the true
workers of Jesus. In other words, those who follow the Lord not just
when they are comfortable, but even as they face hardship, are the real
workers of God.
It
is through such workers of God that Jesus is fulfilling His will. My
fellow believers, if this is indeed true, then you and I must all become
God’s workers as well. We should not be satisfied at just being His
saints. We must become His faithful workers. We must live our lives as
His workers. Only then is God’s will fulfilled. Only when we live as His
workers can we avoid our spiritual death and receive and enjoy all the
blessings that God bestows on us.
My
fellow believers, take a look at the brothers and sisters who have only
recently received the remission of their sins. We see that because they
have not been led to become God’s workers, too many of them are living
without any purpose, even as they have become new creatures. When so
many people are dying, and when so many souls are heading straight to
hell, anyone who believes just by himself and does not spread the good
news to others is a wicked one. Such people are like the servant who was
given a talent, who will be selected out in the end (Matthew 25:28-30).
The Vine
God
is telling those of us who have received the remission of our sins to
become His workers, regardless of whether we are insufficient or not. He
is telling us to live as such workers who spread the gospel and whose
lives are devoted to it. If we live our lives as these workers who serve
the gospel, God will help us in countless ways. Why would He help us?
Because it is only proper that the Father would give us more
nourishments, so that we, as the branches of the vine of Jesus, would
bear more fruits.
But
what will happen if branches grow from the vine and yet they just sit
there and do not bear any fruit? God will cut off from the main vine all
such branches that remain fruitless no matter how much nourishment they
receive. When the fruitless branches are cut off, new buds will sprout
in their place. The old branches will then supply these new sprouts with
nutrients and nourishment from the root, so that they may flower and
bear grapes. When the predecessors of faith supply the new buds with the
Word of God, the new branches will soon bear fruits.
Those
who first have received the remission of their sins must travel around
and spread the gospel, while the predecessor of faith continue to supply
these newly born again people with nourishment. In this way, more
people come to receive the remission of their sins. So it is through
these old branches, and through the brothers and sisters who have just
received the remission of their sins, that the gospel continues to be
spread. As you spread the gospel, you need to teach people how they
should live after receiving the remission of their sins.
If
you and I do not serve the gospel after receiving the remission of our
sins, we will fall apart from God’s Church. Anyone who has become a new
branch must bear fruits and multiply; if he is lazy at this, the Lord
will cut him loose. Therefore, if you have really received the remission
of your sins, you must pray to God to give you stronger faith. And you
need to listen to the Word of God diligently, and act according to the
Word even though you are not good at practicing the Word. As we preach
the gospel of the water and the Spirit according to the written Word of
God, if we ever find ourselves at a loss for words, all that we have to
do is pray and receive renewed strength.
My
fellow believers, it is when you become God’s workers that you receive
His blessings. If you have become righteous, then only when you live as
God’s workers will He continue to supply you with endless nourishment.
From this nourishment, you will then come to bear more fruits; and so
that you would continue to bear even more fruits, God will continue to
supply you with the sufficient nourishment that is needed for it. The
branches that are thus nourished by faith are bound to grow into thick
and large branches, and when these branches sprout even more buds and
new branches grow out of them, they will become even larger and
stronger. This is the desirable life of the righteous.
A
vine tree is empty inside. None other than we ourselves are the vine
branches. We who have decided to live as the workers of our God must
empty out our hearts. And we must fill these emptied rooms of our hearts
with the Word of God by believing in it. It would be nice if emptying
our hearts were as easy as emptying a garbage can, but it surely is not
the case: Emptying our hearts requires enormously difficult task of
self-denial. Nonetheless, God’s workers know very well that the greater
their suffering and hardship are, the more occasions there will be to
use their faith, and the thicker and stronger the branches will get.
I
would like to admonish all of you who have received the remission of
your sins to become God’s workers, for God Himself, for the souls of the
whole world, for your families and relatives, neighbors and friends,
and for the sake of yourselves alike. Become the workers who serve the
gospel, the workers who preach the gospel; become such workers of God.
God will then bless you all.
It
is my most ardent hope and prayer that you would all become God’s
workers above all else, lest you should be preyed upon by the Devil.
When you set your hearts upright before God and live as His workers, you
will see yourselves that God indeed gives you more faith and helps
you.
May God bless and guard you all!
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