Subject 13 : The Gospel According to MATTHEW
[Chapter 21-3] You Shall Say, “The Lord Has Need of Them” (Matthew 21:1-14)
(Matthew 21:1-14)
“Now
when they drew near Jerusalem, and came to Bethphage, at the Mount of
Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, ‘Go into the
village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a
colt with her. Loose them and bring them to Me. And if anyone says
anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord has need of them,’ and
immediately he will send them.’ All this was done that it might be
fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying:
‘Tell the daughter of Zion,
‘Behold, your King is coming to you,
Lowly, and sitting on a donkey,
A colt, the foal of a donkey.’’
So
the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them. They brought the
donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them, and set Him on them.
And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road; others cut
down branches from the trees and spread them on the road. Then the
multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying:
‘Hosanna to the Son of David!
Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!
Hosanna in the highest!’
And
when He had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, ‘Who
is this?’ So the multitudes said, ‘This is Jesus, the prophet from
Nazareth of Galilee.’ Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove
out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the
tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. And
He said to them, ‘It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of
prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’’ Then the blind and
the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them.”
In
today’s Scripture passage, it is written, “Now when they drew near
Jerusalem, and came to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus
sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go into the village opposite you,
and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Loose
them and bring them to Me. And if anyone says anything to you, you shall
say, ‘The Lord has need of them,’ and immediately he will send them””
(Matthew 21:1-3). This Scripture passage describes the event that had
occurred when Jesus had arrived at a village called, Bethphage prior to
His entering of Jerusalem. Jesus said to the disciples, “Go into the
village opposite you. You will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her.
Loose them and bring them to Me.” Truly, our Lord is the Master. One day
when Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and his
brother Andrew casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. Then
Jesus said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of
men.” They immediately left their nets and followed Him (Mark 1:16-18).
With those simple words spoken by Jesus, Peter and Andrew started
following Him.
This
time, Jesus said to the disciples, “Go to a village called, Bethphage,
loose the tied-up donkey along with her colt, and bring them to Me.”
Jesus told them to go to the village opposite them and bring the donkey
and her colt to Him. Still, Jesus’ disciples were people with common
sense, so they must have come across the thought, “Oh my world, He is
telling us to loose someone else’s donkey and bring it to Him without
permission? What would that person say if we were to get caught?
Wouldn’t the person say that we are robbers? If so, what should we do?”
So, they asked Jesus, “What shall we do if someone says something?”
Then, the Lord said, “Say that the Lord has need of them.”
“What shall we do if someone still criticizes us?”
“Say that the Lord has need of them.”
Dear
fellow believers, is our Lord the King, or is He not? The Lord is the
Creator and the King. What can the created say when the Creator says He
has need of them? Wouldn’t it be that the created will have nothing to
say? Jesus’ answer is of clear-cut and tremendous Words.
Sometimes,
we get to thinking that the Lord says things that are just too
preposterous. The Lord selects brothers and sisters from His Church,
saying, “The Lord has need of you. Come.” What is that? Our Lord said
that He has need of a donkey, but does the Lord have need of a donkey?
Donkeys are unbelievably stubborn. A donkey is an animal that goes that
way when told to go this way and goes this way when told to go that way.
A donkey does not even listen to what the master says.
Yet,
the fact is that the Lord was in need of a donkey, and if the Lord says
He has need of something, then He will make use of it anyway. We must
understand that if the Lord tells us to bring the donkey, this means
that He has already made it possible to be used. Dear fellow believers,
how will the Lord use the donkey? Because donkeys inherit their parent’s
temper and habit, fundamentally from birth, they are obstinate, very
stubborn, stiff-necked, wild, and prone to kicking with their heels. So,
how could the Lord have need of something like this? In order to use
this donkey, He has to instill soft heart inside the donkey’s heart.
Only by instilling a soft heart, the donkey starts to obey well, with
its stubborn heart gone and the resistant habit thrown away. When the
Lord says He would like to use it, it means that He will use it by
taming it first. We are fundamentally stubborn and wicked. We have the
habit of doing things according to our own stubborn will. Even though
the Lord has saved us who are like that, we cannot be of use to the Lord
in our own fundamental nature as it is.
Many
people get called before the Lord. Certain people claim they have been
called by the Lord and are being used by the Him after having heard the
voice of the Lord saying, “You, so and so. I have need of you. You are
my servant,” as they prayed to the Lord. However, even though the
donkey, when it gets used, makes up its heart to follow the Lord, but
what happens when it is about to be used? When it actually gets used,
its true nature comes out and hardly does it get broken. It goes forth
as the donkey that it is, stiff, disobedient, and stubborn. Many people
claim to be in service of the Lord all the while being like that. They
are self-styled servants.
Having
need of us, the Lord calls upon us, we who are like donkeys. But, what I
am saying to you is that how can the Lord use us, we who are like
donkeys. As we have read in today’s Scripture, when Jesus was entering
the city of Jerusalem, He was riding a donkey. When Jesus was entering
the city of Jerusalem riding the donkey, there was a big commotion of
people on both sides crying out “Hosanna.” At that moment, do you think
the donkey got startled or not? With the loud sound of praise, the
donkey could have jumped up and down kicking with its heels for having
been startled. Do you think Jesus could have ridden a donkey that was
jumping up and down like that? Even if He were to have ridden it by
force, He would have fallen down and had to go to a hospital. Jesus
cannot ride a donkey that jumps rampantly like a wild horse. However,
our Lord rode into the city of Jerusalem on the back of a donkey. Our
Lord had removed all the wicked and resistant habit of the donkey.
How
can a donkey just carry the Lord obediently? Donkey’s wicked nature,
hind kicks and all things like that are wrong-doings before the Lord.
But, the Lord took on even those sins. It is written, “But every
firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb; and if you will not
redeem it, then you shall break its neck. And all the firstborn of man
among your sons you shall redeem” (Exodus 13:13). Even those sins of the
donkey being defiant, stiff-necked, and having the attitude of ‘I will
not do it,’ were also redeemed by our Lord as Him becoming the Lamb of
sacrifice.
Because
of such sins, the donkey had to be cursed and put to death, but by
killing a gentle, obedient, and innocent lamb in place of the donkey,
the fact of the matter is that the donkey was saved through the
redemption of its sins. As this donkey carried the Lord, it could have
wanted to make kicks with its heels at times. And at times, it might not
have wanted to listen to the Lord. However, because the Lord had taken
on all such sins, it was thankful for that, and because a gentle heart,
unlike the previous, was in its heart, the donkey was able to suppress
its sinful heart.
A
donkey may go so far as carrying a load, but it really hates carrying a
person. But, because it had received the remission of sins by Jesus
Christ, it was so happy to be carrying Jesus Christ. So much so that as
it was entering the city of Jerusalem carrying Jesus on its back, it was
so happy to see people crying out Hosanna, and thus, the donkey enter
the city of Jerusalem with a big smile on its face. Our Lord has changed
us like so. We cannot imagine how much our Lord has changed us. By
redeeming all our wicked nature, all the evils of habitual disobedience
to the Lord, and the disposition to commit sins like the donkey, as the
sacrificial Lamb, the Lord has changed everything about us. Dear fellow
believers, do you believe in this truth? I am sure you do. Because our
Lord has changed all those who had met Him, unlike before, we have
inside us the heart of such great thankfulness.
In
the past, it was difficult for us to follow the Lord, and it even
brings about rejection symptoms. But, because the Lord has redeemed all
such sins, evil, and wickedness, it has become joyful to carry the Lord
on the back and to serve Him. Now, it has completely changed. Now, the
happiness of serving the Lord and living according to His will has
become greater and more beautiful than the joy that comes from the
world, and thus, we are now willing to serve the Lord voluntarily.
We
are now no longer us of the past. Our life’s purpose has also changed.
After having received the remission of sins, we still have wicked heart,
thoughts of our own, and self-convictions, but there has been a great
change in the way we had lived in the past prior to having met the Lord.
Our value system, way of thinking and habits are different from those
of the past. For all the aspects of things have changed, we must throw
away our own ways of the past.
After
being born again, at first, we get to think, “This is a bit strange. I
don’t think I can follow the Lord to the end,” as we follow the Lord.
However, that is not the case. As Satan the devil cannot deceive us
again, we our selves have in fact already become a new creation and a
child of God. It is just because we haven’t been able to realize
everyday the fact that there is the Holy Spirit in our hearts, the fact
that our hearts have turned gentle and that our purpose and nature have
changed. In actuality, everything has changed completely for us. It is
just because we do not know that fact very well. What we had liked in
the world has already become loathsome to us.
Things
of the world we had liked may seem good for a moment, but we quickly
discover that they are not beneficial for our spirits. It is because the
Holy Spirit now resides in us and because we have the gentle and proper
heart that loves the Lord inside of us. We must become self-conscious
of the fact that gentle heart, not the wicked one that opposes the will
of the Lord, is inside of us. Clearly, we do possess such heart now. It
is only because we are not yet mature in our faith, but the fact of the
matter is that there clearly are such aspects in the heart of the
born-again.
When
the Lord had said He was going to use us, the donkey-like beings, He
was speaking with the premise of Him personally changing our hearts
completely. Prior to being born again, things of the world that we could
see were everything to us. But now, we have come to realize that we
cannot attain satisfaction from things of the world. It is because we
have now become a donkey that enjoys accompanying the Lord more that
carrying around any sort of load of the world. Even after having
received the remission of sins, when we are still too young, we say in
words that the world doesn’t give us the satisfaction, but the fact is
that we have too much desire to get carried away by the world. That is
our situation.
However,
the heart deep within us is something all so different. Our hearts and
thoughts desire to live according to the will of the Lord. Clearly, so
long as there is just someone to lead us, we have the desire to live
according to the righteous way led by that someone. This is the new
heart of someone who has been born again of water and the Spirit. God
has poured us with the Spirit that allows us to become children of God.
For God has poured on us the Spirit that enables us to be the adopted
children of God, the Holy Spirit came to be residing in our hearts.
In
the hearts of those who believe in the gospel of the water and the
Spirit by which Jesus has blotted out all the sins, there is no sin, and
because there resides the Holy Spirit, they now have the desire to
obey, to submit, and to follow the will of the Father. Inside the hearts
of the saints, there are the desire to assist the will of God to be
realized and the desire to offer, though not much, one’s own small
strength if it should help in realizing that will.
How
much did our nature, in itself, change after having received the
salvation? At times, some people give up serving the Lord after having
looked at themselves, but the Lord, instead of discarding the donkey
midway, continued to ride it. Even though we may continue to be lacking,
I hope for you and me to realize in our hearts the fact that our Lord
went on riding the donkey by making it change. There are times when we
despair and want to distance ourselves from the Lord. So much so that we
just want to run away and veer toward sideways when a certain thing
should go wrong.
But,
no single person in God’s Church will cast you away by pointing out
your lacking as a problem. God’s Church points out all your wickedness
when it is revealed, but instead of condemning you, God’s Church teaches
you to praise the Lord who has taken on even the wrongdoing by the
water, the blood, and the Spirit. Please do not think that God’s Church
won’t be able to take in your mistakes, insufficiencies, and weakness.
When you lower your hearts, acknowledge your mistakes willingly, and
come before the Lord asking for His help, the Lord will still use you as
a precious vessel for His work.
Therefore,
for someone to say, “I cannot go to God’s Church because I am lacking,”
is not because God’s Church has scruples about the person. Rather, the
person cannot come to the Church only due to the fact that the person is
tied up in one’s own thoughts. Who inside this Church can condemn you?
Jesus Christ has blotted out all the sin of the world by the water and
the blood, yet how can there be someone who can condemn? Jesus Himself
didn’t condemn even the woman who was caught in adultery, saying,
“Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?
Neither do I condemn you” (John 8:10-11). Why did He say so? He did
because He had taken all the sins of the world including the very sin of
her by being baptized in the Jordan River. Please confirm the fact that
Jesus has taken away all sins. Just as Jesus has washed Peter’s feet,
when you confirm once more the fact that Jesus has also taken on the
sins that you will be committing, your spirits get recovered and with
the new heart, you get to serve and to accompany the Lord. This is to
ruminate the gospel on a daily basis, and through this rumination, your
souls get revived again.
Will
God forsake a person because of his or her, habits of the flesh,
weakness, wickedness, and filth? That is not so. Our Lord has said that
He has need of the donkey. The Lord uses us, we who are like a donkey.
Getting used before the Lord, you have turned into donkeys that are easy
for the Lord to use. We must be thankful of the fact that the Lord has
changed everything about us. Dear fellow believers, you have truly
changed much, right? Have you or have you not? Yes, we have. Even though
there are things that we like in the world, surely, you realize that
those things cannot be everything to you, right? This is what that has
changed. Isn’t this something so wonderful? Our value system which has
ruled over us for a long time has changed.
The
fact that the heart has changed is the very proof that our sense of
value has changed. When we look at a person who gets respect from the
world as a great person, if it is the case that the person is someone
who have not received the remission of sins, we see that person as
someone one step below us. It isn’t because we have disregard for that
person or any thing, but rather, it is because that person has not yet
received God’s grace that enables the person to be perfect. In contrast
to that person, you and I have become children of the Lord who are
perfect because of Him. I give thanks to the Lord who uses us by having
changed us according to His will.
I
will read the Gospel of Matthew chapter 21 verse 5. “Tell the daughter
of Zion, “Behold, your King is coming to you, Lowly, and sitting on a
donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.”” Dear fellow believers, how could
our Lord possibly ride on a donkey? The fact is that a white horse
would not be fitting for Him to ride on. Riding on an angel would not be
fitting for Him, and He has the power to ride the cloud like the Monkey
King of Chinese legend. And even though riding about on a carriage
pulled by one thousand white stallions would not be enough to display
His majesty, the Lord willingly rode on the back of a donkey, much less a
horse drawn carriage, not minding the back of a disobedient and
stubborn donkey.
The
Lord is so humble as to work together with us who are like donkeys. The
Lord is so very humble and gentle. Otherwise, how could the Lord
possibly be working with human beings like us? Isn’t that so? Pondering
only about the fact that the Lord has need of us, we are able to realize
that the Lord is someone who is very humble, full of benevolence.
Before the Lord who is so benevolent, I would like for you to lay down
your heavy burdens of the heart and ask Him for help.
Weight
on the heart is heavier than weight on the flesh. A heart coming down
with sickness is less healable than a flesh coming down with a sickness.
The Bible says, “The spirit of man will sustain him in sickness, but
who can bear a broken spirit?” (Proverbs 18:14) This is why I hope for
all your sicknesses of the heart to be healed before all else. I hope
for you to then feel light at heart. Then, you will give thanks to the
Lord that He has carried away all your burdens and that He has need of
you.
From
today’s Scripture passages, let’s read verses 12-14. “Then Jesus went
into the Temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in
the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the
seats of those who sold doves. And He said to them, ‘It is written, ‘My
house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of
thieves.’ Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He
healed them.”
This
happened after the Lord had entered the city of Jerusalem, and it shows
what the people who have been saved will be doing in God’s Church.
After having entered the city of Jerusalem, the Lord drove out all those
who bought and sold in the Temple. As the Bible says He did so, we
cannot but carefully examine this part. For a born-again to be reading
the Bible with eyes that doubt the truthfulness of the Word is wrong,
but it is right to make use of truth-seeking eyes to understand the
spiritual messages of certain parts of the Word. The Lord overturned the
tables of those were changing money in the Temple, and drove out all
those who were buying and selling sacrificial animals there. Instead of
just driving them out, the Lord overturned the tables spread out by the
money changers and the seats of those who sold doves.
Don’t
you think that our Lord has some great temper? Did you think that the
Lord is someone who is only gentle and humble? The Lord doesn’t just let
wrongful things go by, but instead, He overthrows them. Instead of just
saying, “Go out. Do not do it,” He flares out temper saying, “You
trash-like people! What is that?” Seeing someone who was selling doves
in a cage, the Lord lifted the cage whole, which must have been pretty
large and heavy, and tossed it away. It broke with clatter and thump. Do
you think the doves flew away or not? All flew away. Not caring whether
or not the doves would flap away with the breaking of dove cages, the
Lord overturned them all. In the Gospel of John, it is said that the
Lord, by having made a whip of cords, drove out oxen and sheep brought
to the Temple to be sold.
Our
Lord had carried out this work. The born-again can never do the work of
pursuing personal benefit inside God’s Church. If one does the work of
praising someone, the work in benefit of oneself, or the work buying and
selling goods inside the Church, the person gets overturned by the
Lord. Some preachers say, “Receive the fire, and receive the Holy
Spirit,” in every revival meeting all the while receiving a lot of money
as an honorarium after each of such meeting. Those kinds of behavior
are so vulgar that I do not even want to speak of them. What do you
think the Lord will do to such people? The Lord doesn’t leave people
like that alone. He overturns them all.
In
order for such things to never happen, a true church of God must never
tolerate them. We cannot let a person who hasn’t been born again stand
behind the pulpit and preach the Word just because the person is of good
academic clique in a worldly sense, eloquent, diligent, and a graduate
of a good divinity school. All these things just cannot be tolerated.
What we must do is to point out correctly to the person by saying, “You
are not a people of God.” But instead, if we were to listen to that
person’s sermons, liking his or her outer appearance, it would be
something so very stupid. Our Lord doesn’t just leave alone things like
buying and selling goods, praising a human being, and pursuing money in
His Church, but instead, He overturns them in a single stroke. We must
realize clearly that our Lord does not tolerate such things.
When
I see churches today, I feel pity. I wish there were some more churches
of God in every city. I wish there were about five proper churches of
God at least in Chun-cheon City where I live in. If that happens, this
city of Chun-cheon will become a city that believes in the true gospel
and thus, become truly blessed. The more the true churches of God arise,
the better the world will change.
Becoming
an elder by making lots of monetary donations is a phenomenon which has
become all too common in today’s Christian communities. Regardless of
who, if a person were to come to a church, offer the tithe well, attend
worship services well, go to morning prayer services for a year perfect
in attendance, and make lots of church donations, then that person would
become an elder in no time. Even though those who haven’t been born
again may do so, God’s Church, whose head is Jesus Christ, can never do
so.
Recently,
while our Church was holding a revival meeting, a certain man came by
and acted so conceitedly with strength in his shoulders and saying, “I
am an elder at the so and so church,” that it really was a spectacle. We
send away such people quietly. We tell them, “If you really want to
receive the remission of sins by listening to the Word carefully, then
have a seat, but if you do not want to receive the remission of sins
then, please leave quietly. If you want to have a long conversation over
which denomination is right or wrong, let us meet and talk at a proper
time when there is no gathering. I will treat you at that time. I will
buy you dinner and all. But, please remember this one thing. If you wish
to receive the remission of sins, wouldn’t you have to entirely lay
down your position at your church, and listen to the Word with a humble
heart? Do you have sins in your heart? Having sins, how can you be an
elder? Having sins, how can one be a pastor? You are only a hireling.
Such a sinner has to receive the salvation by listening to the gospel
Word of the water and the Spirit and then believing in it.”
The
Church must do those works that our Lord has done. In doing the work of
the Lord, one must do it wisely, but when someone is truly wicked and
do not listen to God’s servants, at times, we must overthrow that
person. Despite having been wicked, if that someone were to recognize
oneself as being so wicked, we must tolerate that person’s trespasses
and teach that person the Word of God that would revive him or her.
In
the Bible, it is said that the House of the Lord is a House of prayer.
If so, who are those that can offer prayers in God’s Church? They are
none other than those people who have received the remission of sins. It
is never the case that the church of God exists for the benefit of a
single human being. Therefore, in God’s Church, no single human being
should ever be a king. We must listen to what the Lord is saying, and we
must have only Him as the King inside our hearts. Only the righteous
can offer prayers to God in His Church.
Once
we come to realize the will of God through the Bible, all that we have
to do is to boldly push ahead, there being no need to think any further.
Even if the work seems impossible for us human beings, God’s Church
pushes ahead with the task by faith. Here in the back center of the
pulpit of our Church is an empty chair, but who must take this seat? The
Lord has to take the seat. Because it is the throne of the King, a
human being mustn’t sit here. A true Church is a place where people
receive the remission of sin from the Lord, seek and practice the will
of the Lord before Him, and work for the expansion of the Kingdom of
God. God’s Church is none other than a place where people of God gather
together and lead their lives. Spiritually speaking, it is Jerusalem,
the “city of peace.” The Lord had carried out such work in Jerusalem.
Wouldn’t
some people, upon coming to the Church of the Lord and seeing that the
Church is not treating them highly, say, “How is it that they treat me
so ill in manner?” There are times when the Lord treats people roughly.
Toward those who are arrogant in spirit, the Lord does so. Those who
conjure up a holy voice and say, “Oh God, He who is holy and merciful, I
pray to Thee,” despite their hearts being full of sins, such people are
hypocrites who are like whitewashed tombs. The Lord doesn’t just leave
such people alone, but instead, He cut them down in His time. Even
though they are not people of God, they are so proficient in imitating
the servants of God. The Lord will not leave such people alone, but
rather, rebuke them harshly. The disciples of the Lord can also do the
same thing to such people. Instead of managing the Church with human
ethics, God’s Church must see what the Lord has done and then move forth
by uniting hearts in that.
One
mustn’t evaluate the Church with the standard of human ethics. If one
were to evaluate God’s Church with human ethics and moral standards,
only feelings discontent will mount, and the Church will only seem as
though there is something wrong. If one were to see through glasses of
courtesy, one would start judging things of the Church, saying, “That
should not be like that, and this should not be like this.” Those who
have only recently been born again have difficulty in adapting
themselves to the new environment, that is, the Church-centered culture,
for they have lived their entire life up until then only wearing the
glasses of etiquette and what that is ethical. When they come inside the
Church, they are unable to adjust at first because they have been
living wearing glasses of do’s and don’ts, that is, the glasses of the
Law, only.
However,
we must think about “What did the Lord say? What kind of work did the
Lord do inside the Temple?” The Lord had removed the wickedness, that
is, people’s seeking of benefit for their own flesh. Then, God’s Church
must also remove the part about people seeking benefit for themselves.
It is because the Lord must first become the King for all of us who are
the righteous and because the Lord must be lifted high up before all
else. We must go on living having received King’s grace by offering
prayers seeking salvation before the Lord, the King of all kings.
We
must abide by the values and order set by God, and so before all else,
we must first love God. In the Gospel of Matthew chapter 23, it is said,
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of
mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of
the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done,
without leaving the others undone.” According to God’s Word, we must
love God first and then love people. We must love God first, then
respect the will of God, and then love people. That is the value system
and the order that the Lord has set. Furthermore, we mustn’t lose that
faith. In His Church, we must first follow and uphold the will of God,
then tell the people of God about how to be in the grace of God and how
to receive blessings, and then guide the people of God in a direction
where they can receive the blessings.
If
it is the case that we only care for the people and not God in His
Church, we must realize the fact that caring for the people will in turn
change into a curse. In truth, if we were to care only for the people,
that in itself would be a curse. If one truly wants to be happy, then
the person has to receive the blessing from God. To do so, one must
first realize the will of God and then follow it by faith. With regard
to that, we who have had faith in such a part ahead of others must guide
the people of God so that they can follow in our steps. So that other
saints can receive the blessing in their hearts, we must pray to God and
ask for blessings for them.
When
we do so, the fact of the matter is that our lives become lustrous.
When the people of faith offer prayers for other souls, all the
following generation will be blessed and God’s grace will be upon
everything. When they vent out all the wishes of their hearts before God
in times of hardship, the Lord hears their prayers and fills up all
their needs. Therefore, the blessing of God comes down in abundance upon
those who are together with God’s Church. We must never judge the work
that the Church does from an ethical viewpoint. We must view it with
faith. Also, we must bend our ears to what the Lord is saying.
Also,
our Lord entered the city of Jerusalem, and then removed the impurities
and healed the blind and the crippled coming forth to Jesus. Truly, the
Lord had healed those who truly have the heart wanting to receive
blessings from the Lord and to live according to the will of the Lord
but cannot do so well. There are people who truly want to live according
to the Lord’s will but cannot live accordingly because they do not know
the way. We the righteous have the responsibility to straighten out the
legs of those who limp spiritually. Because Jesus has healed us, we can
also heal them. Correcting the mistaken faith of people, helping them
to go before God properly, filling them when they lack, clothing them,
praying for them, protecting them, saving them from destruction by
counseling them when something goes wrong, and delivering them from the
heretics—these are the works that we the righteous have to do. Just as
Jesus had healed the blind and the lame, the Lord asks of us who are
like donkeys loosened from a stake to carry out such work.
It
is said, “The Lord has need of them,” but whom does the Lord have need
of? Surely, He said that He has need of us. Also, what work does the
Lord do? The Lord had completely purified the false faith and
materialism that were prevalent inside the Temple of Jerusalem, and on
the other hand, He had healed those inside the Temple who were lacking,
that is, the blind and the lame. By carrying out the same work in our
hearts also, the Lord has blotted out all the sins in our hearts and has
allowed us to be perfect. And then, the Lord used us.
I
hope for you to remember that the Lord used us for the work of
spreading this gospel of the water and the Spirit to those who still
haven’t received the remission of sins and are spiritually blind and
lame seeking God and the Truth. If we get to understand it anew, as we
go on serving the Lord, we will be able to serve the Lord properly and
march forward by faith. I am sure that God’s working and power as well
as God’s blessing will be upon all the work that God has entrusted us
with.
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