Sermon(Num 16:1-3): Do not misuse holy things

The original Korean text: https://blog.naver.com/stevision/50025786209

 

>> 1 Now Korah the son of Izhar, son of Kohath, son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, and On the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, 2 took men; and they rose up before Moses, with a number of the people of Israel, two hundred and fifty leaders of the congregation, chosen from the assembly, well-known men; 3 and they assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said to them. “You have gone too far! For all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them; why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?” (Num 16:1-3) <<

 

Yesterday, March 17, a Christian netizen tried to destroy my spiritual teachership by writing several times the comment, "Pray to God diligently," to my writings on the Internet, on Dong-A netizen forum. So I'm going to write an article of rebuttal based on the Bible that his deeds are wrong. You who read this article should know the right teachings of the Bible and should not imitate the netizen.

 

We know well about the biblical text today. God made Moses the leader of Israel, freed Israel from Egypt, led them into the wilderness, and trained them religiously. God ruled Israel through Moses, nevertheless Kohath, Dathan, and Abiram together with some leaders of Israel challenged Moses' authority. This means that they do not want to obey and serve such a man as Moses any more. But the ulterior truth is that they did so because they didn't want to take the wilderness training planned by God.

 

By the way, what was the means by which they refused to acknowledge Moses as their leader? They say that they need not be under the rule of one man Moses based on this good will of God, that God is in the whole congregation of Israel, so that all Israelites are holy as Moses. In other words, they abused the holy thing (the holy ideology) to reject God's rule through Moses. But God saw the center of the heart of men, and punished them thoroughly for their wickedness. All those who rebelled against Moses' leadership were buried alive or burned to death.

 

Like this, the Devil uses God's holy attributes or holy things in order to thwart God's plans. Some of the attributes of Jesus who is God are omnipotence and omniscience. The Devil told Jesus to change a stone into a loaf of bread, and to fall down from the top of the temple. The Devil tried to fulfill his plan by Jesus' omnipotence. But Jesus was not deceived by Devil who tried to make bad use of the holy thing.

 

 

My brethren, what did the netizen intend to achieve by using the holy thing 'pray'? Didn't he try to make the act of my rebuking his wrongdoing look like a fight with him? He told me to pray to God a little more, so that others might think that a servant of God quarreled because he had been lazy in prayer. But wasn't his heart saying, 'I don't want to hear you. So mind your own business'? He used prayer, a holy virtue, to justify his disobedience, so he is not different from Korah, Dathan, and Abiram in the Bible whom I mentioned above. You must not do such thing.

 

The netizen regarded me as a false servant of God because I declared punishment (curse) on some people. He may have told me to pray to God diligently so that I might become a true servant of God for I was a false servant of God. But it is the very thought of the Devil. That is, the Devil uses 'God of love', a holy thought, to nullify the right of God to judge humans. The netizen must have felt great sorry about me, thinking that I, a servant of God, should have dealt with people only with love rather than with curse. No! Only a servant of Devil can say that a man, if frequently declaring curses, is not a servant of God, and that his words are not the words of God. Don't fool yourself. A normal servant of God declares blessings of God on those who obey the word of God, and curses on those who disobey the word of God, destroy the church, and disturb the order of the church, in order that those who must repent sins may repent quickly and preserve their lives. Is there any difference in him who thinks that a man that declares punishments on people is not a servant of God for there is no love in him, from the Devil who does not regards Jesus as the Son of God for he refused to make a stone into bread? Just as Jesus is still omnipotent as the Son of God even though he didn't make a stone into bread, so I am still a loving servant of God even though I declared punishment upon some people. You know what true love is.

 

Only a servant of Devil rationalizes his sins, disobedience, and stubbornness by using the attributes of the holy God or the virtues of the holy faith. If you should be enjoying this strategy of cunning Devil, this indicates that you've already become a prey to Devil, and that you're in a very serious spiritual situation.

 

My brethren, none of your cheap tricks! A servant of God delivers what God gives. If you have any sin, the Bible reveals the ugliness of that sin, no matter how hard you may try to hide it. Yesterday, I was very sad to see a Christian's stubborn attitude. Did I scold the sin to kill the sinner? He will receive some benefits from the rebuke if he thinks that I rebuked him in order that I might, if possible, make him repent his sin and make him forgiven, so that he could live a normal Christian life.

 

May God forgive and bless all repentant sinners!

 

Chong Tack Kim

                                           - Dongtoma Sunshine Church -