Those who love God vs. those who hate the righteous ㅡ Ps 63 ㅡ

The original Korean text: https://blog.naver.com/stevision/50103495952

 

>> 1 O God, thou art my God, I seek thee, my soul thirsts for thee; my flesh faints for thee, as in a dry and weary land where no water is. ... 3 Because thy steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise thee. 4 So I will bless thee as long as I live; I will lift up my hands and call on thy name. 5 My soul is feasted as with marrow and fat, and my mouth prises thee with joyful lips. .... 9 But those who seek to destroy my life shall go down into the depths of the earth. ... 11 ... the mouths of liars will be stopped. (Ps 63) <<

 

David wrote this poem in the wilderness of Judah. David, chased by his enemy, wrote a poem when he thought of God in the parched land where there is no water. He confesses that he seeks God as a thirsty man seeks for water. How wonderful it would be if Israelites didn't complain to God when they suffered thirst and hunger in the wilderness where there was nothing to drink and eat after the Exodus, and were not severely punished by God, and if they thirsted for God and his abundant grace like David! My brethren, are you in a dry wilderness now? Then thirst for God like David. Long for him. God reveals himself to those who thirsts for him, and stills their thirst.

 

And David who longed for God so much at last met him. "So I have looked upon thee in the sanctuary, beholding thy power and glory. (v. 2)" David tells of his experience that he met God in the temple of God. This temple seems to be a place permitted to David by God. We must not build or establish a temple of God as we like, or according to our decision. We must establish a temple of God when God allows it and where he wants it to be. Some believers who have majored in theology establish churches at their own will without God's permission, which will lead to 100% failure! On the contrary, the establishment of a church will be 100% successful, if God first says to a man, "Establish a new church. Build a church," or if a man establishes a church after he heard God's allowance to build a church when he was praying to God concerning the establishment of a church. In particular, you will surely succeed in church-establishment if you begin to build a church when you have heard the words from God, "Establish a church. You'll succeed!" Then how can you know that God has commanded you to establish a church? As for Paul, Paul saw, in a vision, a man of Macedonia standing beseeching him and saying, "Come over to Mecedonia and help us. (Acts 16:9)" This vision means that a layman says, "Be our shepherd." Paul made this vision the ground for where he must minister and set up church. In many ways God makes his permission, command and call known to us; and it seems to be common that there is a kind of inner corroborative process of discerning God's will. This is very important, because God meets his people only in the holy place he permitted. David met God in the sanctuary. This is the point. The temple (the church) is where the believers can meet God. Temple is a place for prayer. Therefore nothing unholy can come into church. When something secular, mean, and idolatrous comes into a church, the Holy Spirit departs the church. (God does not dwell in some American churches where homosex is acknowledged as tolerable. Saints must get out of such heretic churches as soon as possible.)

 

Problems may arise when you can afford to buy a building that can be used as a church. Some of rich Christians set up church without God's permission. At first glance, their thought looks good and faithful, but on the second thought, it turns out to be awful presumption. Jeroboam, king of North Israel, and his house were doomed to perdition thanks to the sin of appointing any one as priest for money. If you set up a church just because you have some money, you have committed the sin of making yourself a priest, and you are no better than Jeroboam. How dare you think of gathering God's sheep and raising them without his permission? What else is this but theft? And if you should, fortunately, build a church by God's permission, the building of the church must not be yours but the church's; or if the building is taken by lease on a deposit basis, the deposit must be the church's. Then God will regard the building as his temple and dwell there. If you would make the building or the deposit not church's (God's) but your's, you'd better not establish the church! Is the church a thing to be bought or sold? Do you bring up your daughter a beautiful woman and sell her to your son-in-law for some money? Is your daughter a thing? Is she a female slave? Are your daughters livestock such as cows and pigs? If you make the building of the church your possession and sell it later, then what would it be? Is it not a sort of supermarket?

 

What is the evidence that God is in the temple? What is the evidence that God dwells in your church? It is certain that God exists in a church if you can see the dazzling power and glory of God in the church (v. 2). On the contrary, a church is a vacant church without God if, the building of the church looking nice, there is not God's power and glory in the church. If, then, the pastor of a large church works miracles of healing patients, and all the saints enthusiastically sing praises to God, is there God's power and glory in the church? Not always so. "Not every one who says to me 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you evildoers.' (Mt 7:21-23)" If an individual is so, so is the church. A true church is a church where God's will is done, and God's power has dominion, and God's glory radiates. If a church is under condemnation of people now, God's power has vanished from there long before, and God's glory has departed the church long before. Would God dwell in the church that is under condemnation of people? The pastor of a church must be expelled by the church and replaced by someone else who is a true servant of God so that the church may be under condemnation no more, if the pastor has defiled God's glory by greed and disobedience, and if the pastor is too proud to repent and always rationalizes himself and seeks excuses. Because he is a hired shepherd. In particular, the pastor, who made himself a filthy man by sex scandal, must be expelled from the church and be deprived of his holy occupation. To repent and go to heaven is one thing, to keep the dignity of church is another. Therefore such a pastor must be expelled from priesthood even if he repents with tears. Even Jesus admitted divorce if the wife committed adultery. Maybe because her husband's honor will be hurt until death and she will be too heavy a burden for him, if he can't divorce the adulteress. Likewise, a pastor who committed adultery or sexual assault must be divorced (expelled) by the church. The Devil will laugh aloud clapping his hands joyfully if a pastor who committed adultery or sexual harassment lays his hands on the saints and prays for them, hands which have touched the adulteress. If an adulterous pastor continues to remain in the church, the church becomes a laughingstock, and the evangelization of the community is hindered. It is nasty corruption, greed, and abomination for the fornicator to think of remaining in the church despite such damage to the church. Such a mentality means that the fornicator has not repented yet. May holy blessings of heaven, rich blessings of earth, and blessings of prosperity of children be upon elders of churches who make sincere effort to invite faithful men as pastors of church! Amen!

 

However some of you may raise a counterargument to the claim, saying, "You're too naive! Reality is different from ideal. Who does not want to live pursuing an ideal? But reality is a different thing!" But it is the very devilish idea. Why did the phrase, "suffered under Pontius Pilate," come in the Apostles' Creed? Pilate knew that the high priests sued Jesus out of envy, that Jesus was innocent, so he tried to release Jesus on the occasion of the festive day of the Jews. But when the Jews called for Jesus' crucifixion violently, and when there were signs of a riot, Pilate succumbed to the reality (the real circumstances) and gave up Jesus to crucifixion. God clearly showed us through Pilate how those who give in to the realities of life and to evil are cursed. We must not imitate Pilate, who made Jesus crucified. We must live according to the word of God and for his glory, not yielding to the realities of life. We can easily fall into the sin to crucify Jesus like Pilate when we live not according to our faith but according to the reality. Three brothers, Kin Sun-do (김선도), Kim Hong-do (김홍도), and Kim Guk-do (김국도), got blind with greed, and went in the path of realities, or the way of world, so that they, three pastors of Korean Methodist church, messed up the whole Methodist church in Korea, and even coated the whole church in Korea with their dung. (이 글을 비롯하여 이 블로그에 있는 글들이 명예훼손이라며 게시금지 요청을 하여 하나님의 일을 방해하는 자들이 죽음 이후에도 저주를 받을지며, 그 자손들 또한 함의 아들 가나안이 받은 저주를 받을지어다.) What else is this but the crucifying of Jesus? Korean Methodist church is divided into three pastor groups, pastors of Methodist Theological University (감신대), those of Mokwon University (목원대), and those of Hyupsung University (협성대). The three parties of pastors went in the path of world, fighting with one another for the positions of the denomination, leaving great injuries in the Korean Methodist church and the whole church of Korea. They nailed Jesus' body, for the church is Jesus' body. May he who lives not according to the realities of life but in the word of God be blessed with all success. Amen!

 

The sanctuary where David was praying was filled with the power of God and his glory. Why? What's the secret? How can your church be filled with God's power and glory? The secret is the heart that values God's love more than your own life. First, this means that you value God more than your life. If you love God more than your life, God dwells in your heart. If all the saints love God more than their lives, the Holy Spirit is fully present in your church. And the phrase, 'to value God's love more than your life,' means that you're ready to give up your life, honor, health, wealth, and position, in order to be recognized by God and to enhance God's glory. The most precious and valuable life in the world is the life for God's glory and for his kingdom (the church). David lived with such a heart. This is confirmed not only by words but also by deeds. David risked his life to fight Goliath for the glory of God. It is 'a heart of a man who loves God more than his life' that God really values, rejoices at, and really want to brag of to all the people of the world and all angels.

 

On the other hand, God hates this heart: the heart that pretends to love God. God hates especially those who say they do something for the glory of God, but in reality are dong something for their own glory and profit. Saul disobeyed God, and brought fat livestock alive when he came back from the battle, saying, "These are for the sacrifices for the God." But prophet Samuel scolded him and God deserted him forever. You cheaters who use God for your own gains, whom dare you deceive? Religioner Kim Guk-do (김국도), the pastor of (Seoul) Immanuel Church, whom are you daring to deceive? You made havoc of the Methodist church while you tried to be the head of the bishops, saying, "I do it for the sake of the Methodist church and the kingdom of God." But people, seeing your bloody battle for the position, thought that it was the end of the world. How can you utter 'God's glory' from your mouth when people in the world, seeing your deeds, hate Christianity the more? Is God's glory exalted thanks to your greedy deeds? Why are you telling lies that are contrary to your mind? In today's text, Ps 63, David says, "The mouths of liars will be stopped. (v. 11)" Korean Christians, Methodists, and members of Immanuel Church in Seoul, must not be deceived by Kim Guk-do. Our Lord Jesus said, "A tree is judged by its fruits. (Mt 7:15-20)" Because God's glory was hurt and the honor of all the pastors of Methodist church was tainted thanks to all Kim Guk-do's deeds, that is, because the fruits of the deeds of that religioner are rotten and stinky like a corpse, all his assertions, that he struggled with faith for the kingdom of God, are blatant lies. Lord, please surely repay greedy and proud 'hired pastors' for each and every deed of them, so that they may become to all people a good example of how hired shepherds who betrayed Lord are punished! Amen!

 

To David, who valued steadfast love of God more than his own life (v. 3) and sang praises to God to the end of his life (v. 4), God showed his power and glory (v. 2), and he gave to his soul satisfaction (v. 5). When you meet God personally, you feel that he is One who has infinite authority and dignity. Especially, his words, the Scripture, comes to us with infinite authority, and we do not dare to disobey it. Those who have met God as a personal One feel the dignity of his temple, the church, and are automatically humbled and filled with the fear of God when they come into the temple. And if we meet God as a personal One, we see him as One with infinite dignity and glory. So we come to understand that it is our great honor and it is very precious for us, that we are the object of God's love and concern. If we meet him personally, we realize that we are in the shadow of his protective wings (v. 7), and that his hands are holding me (v. 8). And all the grace I have received from him becomes precious indeed. Those who live such a holy and dignified life have the satisfaction of the soul, which makes them very happy as when they eat a lot of delicious meals satisfactorily when hungry (v. 5). Just as you become merry and begin to sing when you are full after eating much, so David, who has tasted spiritual satisfaction when he looked to God in faith in the arid wilderness, says, "Because thy steadfast love is better than life, my lips will prise thee. So I will bless thee as long as I live; I will lift up my hands and call on thy name. (v. 3-4)." This is the very devout faithful life of a man who loves God and is loved by God.

 

David says about his enemy who drove him to wilderness. "But those who seek to destroy my life shall go down into the depths of the earth; they shall be given over to the power of the sword, they shall be prey for jackals. (v. 9-10)" It is the most glorious suffering in the world to become food for animals after being martyred to keep the faith. However, it is the most shameful punishment to become food for animals after being punished and killed by God on account of grave sins against God and man. Saul killed a lot of servants of God and persecuted a righteous man David, so that he was punished. He died and his head was cut off. An evil woman Jezebel killed plenty of servants of God, and she fell from a high place and died, and dogs ate her. She lived a life that is worse than dog's life, so she became food for dogs. The sin of unjustly persecuting others incur such a grave punishment. Some kids mocked Elisha servant of God saying, "bald head, bald head," and a bear came to them and tore them to death. Perhaps, might the bear think, 'Such bad kids deserve death'? But rather I think that their parents were punished like that because they had neglected to teach their children not to belittle servants of God. Like this, the wicked who persecute the righteous become enemies of God and become vessels that hold God's curse and wrath. How unfortunate!

 

May all of you be vessels that can contain God's unchanging love; and may your soul meet God and enjoy a satisfactory life.

 

Chong Tack Kim, a servant of God.

 

                             - Dongtoma Sunshine Church -