2016.06.19_The Day the Christian Church was Born
in 2016 Lord's Day, Sung Hyun Kim
Overseer Sung-Hyun Kim
[Acts 2:1-13]
God
so loved the world
that for the world, He made atonement for sin,
and had His Son shed His blood (Jn 3:14-16).
He gathered everyone who believe in that blood in the Upper room
and moved them by the Holy Spirit
and had them speak in tongues (Ac 2:2-4).
This is the beginning of the Christian Church.
The Holy Spirit
enables everyone in the Church to speak in tongues
so that the old man becomes a new person,
that is, one who belongs to Him.
He who speaks in tongues speaks the mysteries of the spirit
to God in the spirit (1 Co 14:2).
Speaking in tongues is a testimony
that he has become a child of God
and a way to show God
that he exists for Christ.
Though man’s tongue is hard to tame (Jas 3:8),
from the time one begins to speak in tongues,
his words, mind and actions begin to change
and finally, he receives
the guidance of the Holy Spirit within the Lord’s church.
○Let us be filled by the Holy Spirit
and commit our tongues
to God (Jas 3:6).
○Let us be filled by the Holy Spirit
and transform our
whole personality.
○Love and care toward saints are fundamental obligations
of all saints who speak in tongues.
※Let us be filled by the Holy Spirit
and be faithful to the Lord
who raises the Church.
Let Us Reflect the Meaning of Speaking in tongues The fact that a person speaks in tongues indicates that the person is in a close relationship with God. That means that the person has received a great privilege. It is more precious for those who have this privilege to gather and speak in tongues at church. The essence of the church lies in being one body. The church where people speak in tongues together must not cast blame on each other and not be divided. Anyone who speaks in tongues must clearly know the meaning that God has given it. Speaking in Tongues, the chance for us to confirm that we have become the children of God Speaking in tongues has two meanings. First, those who speak in tongues can confirm that they are children of God. The Lord came to the world and died, thereby saving us. If the Lord had died but not been raised from the dead, we could have been saved, but would not have met the one who would guide us until we enter heaven. The Lord, by dying for us, not only saved us, but also gave us the right to becomechildren of God after being raised from the dead. John 1:12 says, “Yet to all who received Him, to those who believe in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.” To become the children of God, you must believe Jesus’ name. Believing Jesus’ name means receiving Jesus, and receiving Jesus means accepting the Lord as our Christ. This means that we know and believe that Jesus shed His blood and redeemed our sins. The Holy Spirit comes upon the people who approve Jesus as their Lord and make up their mind to obey Him, and testifies that they have become the children of God. In other words, speaking in tongues means receiving the testimony of the Holy Spirit and the fact that we have become the children of God. Speaking in Tongues, expressing to God that “I am for Christ” The second meaning of speaking in tongues is to represent before God that a person who speaks in tongues is a person for Christ, a servant of Christ. The fact that a person speaks in tongues indicates that God controls his or her tongue. Controlling one’s tongue eventually means controlling the whole being. The tongue is the beginning of cravings, a catalyst of cravings, the gate of cravings, and the tool and the weapon of fulfilling the cravings’ dreams. It is the tongue that is the hardest to tame in the world. All kinds of things in the world can be tamed by man, but not the tongue. The tongue’s power is tremendous. Just as a ship floating on the sea can be steered by a small rudder, the tongue, even though small, has power to control the whole body. Just as a fire that can burn the whole mountain starts from a small flame, the tongue is a spark that sets the whole course of one’s life on fire (James 3:6). The tongue is full of deadly poison (James 3:8-11). The tongue is the evil flame that can never be controlled, even though man may struggle to control it. However, God, through speaking in tongues, controls the tongue of a person in a flash. The Son of God came to the world to shed His blood for man who has such dangerous elements. God let the people who believed in the Lord’s blood to speak in tongues, not being scattered, but gathering in one place. When the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples who had been praying in Mark’s room, all the people there, without any exception, started speaking in tongues simultaneously. That is how the church of Christ was born. The church of Christ started by all people speaking in tongues. In this sense, the existence of the church is based upon unity, from the beginning. The Holy Spirit works not for an individual’s success, but for a group, to fulfill God’s work. Jesus’ coming again is not for helping a business in a person’s life, but for saving those who are getting their own way. The reason why God allowed us to speak in tongues is to control our tongues so that He can limit our language and let us speak in God’s language. Controlling our tongues is not just for our tongues’ sake, but our thoughts, claims, and our whole bodies. This means that God officially reveals us as His holy servants. Whenever we speak in tongues, we confirm our identity, saying, “I am a servant of Christ”. Speaking in tongues is the intrinsic characteristic of a church. Those who speak in tongues must control their words, deeds, and thoughts. Speaking in tongues is like wearing uniforms. Just as a person wearing a police officer uniform must not thoughtlessly behave, such as spitting on the street, we are obliged to act and speak on the standard of the position of Christ’s servants. Speaking in tongues means that God controls the most important part of us, so that we would no longer act in our own thoughts and ways. Going in an unfamiliar way, which is different from where one has gone in the past, is not physically enjoyable. However, with the church, we are doing the work of God, who deserves eternal praise. We must not judge what the church is doing based on worldly standards. God’s kingdom is not a democracy where each person can lay a claim, but a monarchical kingdom where the Lord governs as the king. Jude 1:18-19 says, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires, and these are the men who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.” You must not avoid being separated from the church. You must not blaspheme against Holy Spirit. Rather, you must take part in God’s glorious work, helping the Holy Spirit’s work. By speaking in tongues while gathering, saints should confirm that they are the servants of God, whose tongues are held by the Lord. Those who speak in tongues should be changed in their personalities while being filled with Spirit. You must be the person who claims to have received grace, rather than one who spits out poison from the mouth, causes trouble in the church, and spoils God’s work. As one who is proud of speaking in tongues and who has put on ‘holy’ constraints on themselves, you must do your best to change your personality and deeds. Those who have consideration for others and faithfulness for the church are said to have a personality as a servant of the Lord who can do God’s work with the church. Consideration and faithfulness are the fundamental obligation that those who speak in tongues must have. As people who speak in tongues, who have received the sign of representative of church, Do This Speaking in tongues is the sign that God is paying attention to him or her, and that he or she is qualified to be the representative of the church. We must live successful lives as the children of God. Likewise, as servants of Christ, we should live successful lives. We must not have a critical attitude against other church members, which is the same attitude that you usually have while you compete against others outside the church. You must sacrifice yourself and be generous toward others with love. You must not be the person who puts the church in trouble by seeking your own benefit first, but be the person who seeks the benefits and growth of the church first. In order to share the glory as co-heirs with Christ, we must share in His sufferings. God will help those who lay down themselves and take care of the church first.
Poetry is the seed of literature, novels are the flowers of literature, and essays are the fruit of literature. Therefore only with good seeds can flowers blossom, thereby bearing good fruits. I have lived by this belief. My body, emotions, and experiences have led me into the realm of literature, but I have never written a novel, the flower of literature. Though I had adapted a novel into a film scenario, it finally went down the drain due to a military coup. After that I determined to become a poet. Poetry is the version of philosophically handling an essay. This is called literature. That is, literature is philosophy. Not Christian faith. But since many people are confused with this, poems are hardly composed as they are, but rather, it is the reality that confessions of faith or doctrines are not popular writings. Being a poet does not mean scribbling on paper, but sowing the true seeds of life. For one thing, seeds of flowers have their own loyalty. Although a red flower seed is with other colorful flowers, its color never changes. A red flower remains red, a yellow one stays yellow, their colors never change. Of course, people artificially graft a plant, refining the colors, and mutate genes, but this is a damaged version of nature. Literature is like a good seed, and it can be called truth under the sun. Thus, poetry is like the seed of flower that has a firm purpose and keeps its fidelity-as a red seed, a yellow, or a white. Therefore, even if replanted ten times, the color of its flower will never change. Flowers are like fiction. It neither lasts long nor withstands storms or cold weather. It is only a ‘day flower’. Novels, being the flowers of literature, are beautiful and glamorous. That is why writers long to see the flower. I feel sorry to be unable to show my flower, even though I know what that flower is, however, it is not true that I have no flower at all. Even though I cannot show my flower, there are flowers in the fruit. So, although I am not showing it on the surface, inside the ‘fruit flowers’ are fully bloomed. The Bible is like a fig tree, that even though it is neither seemingly glamorous nor flowery, there are flowers inside of it. Even though Biblical literature is so abundant with flowers, worldly people can hardly see them. Since a fig tree does not show its flower and only seemingly has its roots and fruit, it does not attract people’s attention. The Bible is not fiction. The Bible is an essay, the inspiration of one’s spirit and soul. That is why I write poems and essays. However, my flower blossoms inwardly like a fig tree; other than that I have no flower. I am writing essays, the fruits of them. [gmedia id = 75]
Outline translated by Sarah Lee Chief Editor: Helen Nam
Letter translated by Sung-In Hong
Interpretations by Sarah Lee
Korean Summary by Ki-Taek Lee