[The Wishes of the Holy Spirit ]
We should have the wishes of the Holy Spirit not the ambition or greed. So today, lets think about the wishes of the Holy Spirit'.
First, the Wishes of the Holy Spirit arethose of the dead.
Paul, who stands in front of the council of Jerusalem, seems to be standing in front of the council as a sinner from a human perspective, but God has established the council and this time set it up in front of Paul because of the spread of the gospel. Paul clearly states that 'resurrection' is the 'wish of the dead.' We can only hope for a resurrection if only we know that we are to be dead. but there is no reason to hope for resurrection because the Sadducees are eating well and living well. Sadducees were so proud of their roots because their name had been originated from Davids priest, Zadok, and then dominated politics, society and religion while serving as high priests and priests for generations. So they are the ones who are afraid of resurrection in this heaven-like land. But resurrection is not something to be proven , but something to be premised on. On the other hand, the Pharisees, who rose up against the Sadducees who insisted on no resurrection, were also idealists and reformers. So they taught that even ordinary people, not aristocrats, can become perfect people if they obey the law. They believe in resurrection, but it was for their own good. Shouting holiness on the surface. they tried to look upon themselves as a special being. They were respected by the people wearing masks like these. The wall covered with whitewash is a story about a Pharisee. So they didnt really acknowledge the existence of the real resurrection of Jesus. What these two have in common is that they are full of pride and so do not know that they are sinners. Since the ego is not dead, resurrection has nothing to do with them. But those who admit that they are sinners, those who realize that they are dead by sin, naturally got to desire to be resurrected. All the theories of the world are the fight between the Pharisees piety and the pleasures of the Sadducees. Therefore, without Jesus, none of them are equally good. Because there is no good in self-conscience, and man is a perfect sinner. Without the Lord, there is no hope for people of pleasure or piety.
Professor Lee Eoryeong, who passed away a few days ago, said in his last class, 'I lived a failed life. I have no friends. Life is enriched if you have a friend who can meet regularly, eat, drink coffee, and chat with you. Regardless of the age difference, gender, or occupation, you wont be lonely if theres someone you can meet and have a chat.' However, our Mokjang (the church small group) is a place where we can honestly talk about each sin more than chatter, so we all become friends without discrimination in status gaps. I think the meeting of people who sees each others sins is the highest level of meeting. Therefore, those who see their sins can be friends to chat with anyone.
Second, we have a wish in the midst of quarrels and disputes.
After listening to Paul, the council is divided into two. However, Paul now united the Pharisees and the resurrection, saying that he was being interrogated for that reason, and the Pharisees thought as if they were being interrogated. On the contrary, the Sadducees were angry at Paul and against the Pharisees because they were on the same side. So the council, which was investigating Paul, quarreled with each other. Now, among the Pharisees, some of the scribes, who are experts in the law, have not found anything evil in Paul. They insist that Paul is innocent, saying, 'What if the Spirit or the angel really told Paul? let him be.' No one repents, so the fight leads to a major conflict. The Pharisees and the Sadducees fought so hard that the Roman captain, who was watching, was afraid that Paul would be torn in two by them. Since Paul is a Roman citizen, the Roman captain orders his men to take Paul from the crowd and let him enter the compound. When we see a couple in the quarrels and disputes, we also have to make them quickly go into the compound of Mokjang, considering 'taking them away for fear that they will be torn apart.' When we go to the Mokjang, even if our hearts are 'hurt' due to Mokjang where the words are thrown into me, Gods words are alive and athletic, so we believe that all our disputes will be the wishes of the Holy Spirit. Pauls wish for the world would have been more lost and the desire for heaven would have become more desperate as he passed this battle. Wishes in this world decrease as we suffer. Therefore, even the most unpleasant quarrels have a role to play in my salvation. Conflict is the driving force for development, but when it is divided, it loses its vitality and destroys itself. Furthermore, God gave us conflict in order to defeat the worlds wishes and make us to have the wishes of the Holy Spirit.
Third, the wishes of the Holy Spirit is our mission.
In the eleventh verse, standing by Paul that night, the Lord said to him 'You should be bold and you will have to testify in Rome as you testified in Jerusalem.' The Lord comes to the cold prison room and stands by and comforts him on this tired and needful night. If you have the Words in your heart and pray, you are sure to hear a voice that comforts you with Words. For Paul, his companionship with the Lord was a great practical force. Thats why we live and die on our mission. Dont think about why were being subjected to it, but it should be 'Prove it in Rome as it is now.' We just have to only testify what weve been done on the Mokjang. Where there is trouble and bondage, if we testify this, our Rome is waiting for us. The comfort of a person and the comfort of a Word are on another level. I believe that the Holy Spirits wishes come in this way of Gods Words and lead us to the wishes of the mission. The desire for conflict is transformed into the wish of mission.
This is the story of a second leader of Mokjang who collapsed in a comfortable situation. She said that she would put down a role of second leader because she seemed to only chat about golf on the Mokjang because she didnt do QT and worship often, but her leader of Mokjang also put her up as a second leader on the list this year. However, she said she did not attend Mokjang because she could not help the leader and didnt go to worship, and so she couldnt share that she was just hanging out without doing QT. But the other day, her son, who didnt even go to worship, said, 'Mom, you dont seem to go to church these days. 'I think youve gotten a little better,' he said, but this sounded like thunderfor her, and confessed that because she felt like dying from the sons long-time hard work and began to attend our church, but these days, her son calmed down, so she is doing this because she was a little better off, and It is said that God made her see her current state through her son, and the leader Mokja encouraged her to attend a face to face service from this week. As our lives are being better off. we are apt to feel our missions meaningless. Humans have to fight, and socouplessee a huge wish while fighting fiercely. In the name of the Lord, I hope that you will become a man who will go forward with the wishes of missions in the midst of thefight which our bodies would collapse but instead spirit would be built up.
