목양연가(牧羊戀歌)

1 Corinthians 1:18-31  “If the Lord Is With Me”

Look at verse 26, “For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.”  These words were written by St. Paul in his perspective to the Corinthian church at that time.  What does verse 27 say?  Let’s read verse 27-29 together.  “But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; ²⁸and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, ²⁹that no flesh should glory in His presence.”  Based on this word, let’s receive grace by a sermon titled “If the Lord is With Me.”  May God’s grace overflow in your hearts.

First, let us think about the viewpoint.  jWe need to see ourselves from different viewpoints, which can be identified in three ways a) ourselves seen by others, b) ourselves seen by us, c) ourselves seen by Jesus.  Even though ourself is one it is seen differently.  If we only pay attention to how other people see us there are times of joy and times of sadness.  Because sometimes others like us and therefore praise us, sometimes they hate us and despise and slander us.  However we need to know that there are our perspectives about ourselves and God’s perspective about us.  How is it?  What does the Bible say?  It says that God chooses those who are despised in the world and lowly and brings to nothing to put to shame the wealthy and make the strong weak.  Yes!  If the Lord is with us, the foolish person becomes wise, the weak becomes strong, and the poor become rich.  We know this from written facts in history in the scripture.  Jesus chose the fishermen from Galilee, who seemed foolish at that time but brought shame to the Greek philosophers.  God chose the Jewish people, a small nation who was mistreated (they were a colony under Rome) and made the strong kings of the Roman Empire kneel before them at the end.  This kind of work can only be done by God.  It not only happened at that time, but God is still continually working.  If we have a mind of how God sees us and live in that, then God will lift weak people like us and let us sit with the princes.  If our life is with the Lord before God He will lift us to glorious places.  In olden times, Hanna, the mother of Samuel, experienced this.  She prayed before God and lived before God, as a result she had Samuel and gave praise to God which is found in 1 Samuel 2:8, “He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the beggar from the ash heap, to set them among princes and make them inherit the throne of glory.”  If we live before God as He watches us we will sit in such a glorious place.  It is important that we, ourselves see us and others see us, but more importantly I believe is that we live our lives keeping in mind how God sees us.  kWhen Jesus sees a person, how does He see?  He tends to see a person as to what kind of person he would be in the future.  What did Jesus say when He called Simon Peter, who was fishing on the Sea of Galilee?  He said, “Follow Me and I will make you fishers of men.”  (Matthew 4:18-28)  When Jesus sees a man, He doesn’t see a person’s past or present, but sees the man’s future, what kind of person he will be. 

When Jesus called Peter, who was a fisherman in Galilee, Jesus saw the future of how Peter would confess his love for Him and preach the gospel and be martyred for Jesus in Rome.  It was the same with St. Paul.  If God only focused on Paul’s (Saul’s) past and present He would not have a reason to call him.  Jesus foresaw what kind of person Saul would be in the future (Acts 9:15).  When Ananias said to Jesus that Saul was a man who was trying to arrest and kill the Christians in Damascus and he didn’t want to go to him, what did Jesus say?  Acts 9:15 says, “But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel.”  If Jesus only saw the present, He would not have called Saul (Paul).  However, He saw ahead that this person would be a great instrument, who would testify of the Lord later on.  So after he had changed he would preach the gospel, start churches, equip workers, and be used as a pen that would write the Bible.  Today, it is the same for us.  I believe Jesus calls us and He sees our future as He sees our present.

Secondly, let us think about the attitude of faith that Jesus is with us and the result from it.  jThe attitude of faith is one of completely coming back to Jesus and building our faith on Him.  If we don’t build our faith on Jesus we will always have fear and may feel all alone. 

*Examples that are given in the Bible; God called Moses in Exodus Chapter 3.  God says to Moses to go to Egypt and lead His people out of it.  At that time, Moses, rather than focusing on God’s call focused on himself and says to himself, “I ran away from Egypt so how can I go back to Egypt?”  This means he felt all alone (Exodus 3:11-12).  “But Moses said to God, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?"”  What did God say?  “I will certainly be with you.”  After Moses trusts God with his whole heart he sees that he is not alone but God is with him. 

*And look at Jeremiah Chapter one.  We see God calls Jeremiah.  God says to Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.” (Jeremiah 1:4-5) “Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a youth.”  (Verse 6)  What did God say?  ““Do not say, 'I am a youth,' for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and whatever I command you, you shall speak.

⁸Do not be afraid of their faces, for I am with you to deliver you,” says the LORD.” (Verses 7-8)  After he heard the word from God Jeremiah did not think he was alone, he knew God was certainly with him.  After this he believed God was with him and he became God’s servant who prophesied to all the nations. 

*True faith is to see ourselves with Jesus.  Then why does man sometimes despair and become discouraged?  It is because man forgets (not understanding) that God is with him and feels alone.  In spite of Jesus being with us always we think we are all alone.  Satan makes our heart confused and blurry so that we can not see Jesus and makes us feel alone.  The beautiful attitude of our faith is the attitude of assurance that Jesus (Holy Spirit) is with us.  kWhat is the result that follows?  That is we receive consolation from heaven and blessings.  Does Moses, who lived in faith, seem powerless?  Does Jeremiah, who prophesied in faith, seem weak?  What kind of blessing did Peter, Paul, and Hannah (who God knew beforehand) receive?  They all had their names remain as God’s great workers.  Let’s look at the world.  Abraham Lincoln, who lived in faith, and the martyr, pastor Polycarp of the Smyrna church, how beautiful is the name they both left.  The Lord says (1 Corinthians 1:27), “But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty.”  Beloved saints!  Do you have trouble living in the world?  We are as unknown, but yet well known.  We are as chastened and yet not killed, we are as poor, yet making many rich.  (2 Corinthians 6:9-10)  May God’s grace fill your hearts.

By: Rev. Samuel Choi