TLT Worship Help for March 16

김삼의 연구묵상/English Articles

TLT Worship Help for March 16

김삼 2008. 3. 16. 19:06

We praise You, Lord of Resurrection,
The blessed Lamb of God
who shed His Blood and bought and redeemed us.
You are worthy of all glory and honor.

Let us bow down before You, Yaweh, our Lord!
We bless Your name that's above every other name.
We lift Your name up, magnifying the glory in it.
Let us always declare and testify Your majesty.

Also we adore You, because You are ever merciful and caring for all your children.
You wouldn't let even a sparrow fall down without your will.
Even swallows had their roosts under the eaves of Your Temple.
Thank You, Lord for Your love,
Thank You for Your tender mercies,
Thank You for Your infinitely broad heart where we find our only resting place.

Father, give us Your resurrection joy!
Bestow on us "Zoe"-Your resurrection life.
Grant us the resurrection power.
Put upon us the resurrection strength and health.
And plant within us your resurrection song that we can sing ever in your presence!

Let us enjoy this victory and hope that Your Son has taken and given us. Glory, glory, glory, hallelujah! Praised be of your name forevermore.

No matter what day the 'church' says we are supposed to celebrate, we will always celebrate Your resurrection.
No matter how they observe the "Easter", we enjoy Your glorious Resurrection anytime, and we thank You for it!
We appreciate Your precious blood, Lord Jesus, pondering this morning on the meanings, power and benefit of it.
Thank You for its cleansing power, for its infinite covering span and protecting Your children.

Praise the name of Lord Jesus Christ
who gave us victory over all our enemies,
breaking the satanic yoke of bondage, setting the captives free,
making death powerless.

In triumphant shouts we glorify You with our singing in accordance:
(I Serve a Risen Saviour by A.H. Ackley)

[Chorus]
He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today!
He walks with me and talks with me along life's narrow way.
He lives, He lives, salvation to impart
You ask me how I know He lives? He lives? within my heart.

[Verse 1, etc.]
I serve a risen Saviour, He's in the world today;
I know that He is living, whatever men may say;
I see His hand of mercy, I hear His voice of cheer,
And just the time I need Him He's always near.

He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today!
He walks with me and talks with me along life's narrow way.
He lives, He lives, salvation to impart;
You ask me how I know He lives? He lives? within my heart.

In all the world around me I see His loving care,
And tho' my heart grows weary I never will despair;
I know that He is leading, thro' all the stormy blast,
The day of His appearing will come at last.

Hallelujah, amen!

MESSAGE FOR TODAY

I think some of you are wondering why you are bothered to sing one of those numbers "reserved" for the Easter, rather than singing on the very "observed" day. Today actually is the day so-called Palm Sunday. Feel intricated?

Well, what day is the real Resurrection Day? A day on the church calendar? The day which the Roman Catholic church decided to observe as one of those authentic celebration days like Christmas?
Actually, nobody can tell when the actual resurrection took place.

Just like Christmas is not the real day when Jesus was born, none of us knows the day when Jesus rose from the dead. The only thing we know obviously is that He was killed, buried and then risen from the dead on the third day.

So, some institutional church people who believed they were the only and real "Church", made up to decide one day among those 365 or so days of the year when they speculate as the resurrection day and they took up this strange term 'Easter'. They even don't know what Easter means. The Korean word for Easter is Bu-hwal-juhl that exactly means the Resurrection Day, not Easter. After all, it came from the Roman Catholic church, not the early church.

Is this biblical? The truth which sets you free is supposed to be known by you like every word in the Bible. Unless you know or grasp the nitty-gritty meaning of it, you can hardly say it's truth. This vague word "Easter" often puzzles me that naturally incline my head to one side. It's a word I feel like someones conspired somehow to make up, somewhere along the way in history.
Various tries have been done to figure out what in the world it means.

Hmmm...Easter? First of all, it reminds me the east: one direction. And that is the direction the sun arises every morning. Does this mean the Easter is related to the sun? I don't know. But one thing I know is that there are lots of good-willed people who gather in the early morning on Easter to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus as well as to welcome the sunrise (?) or whatever, just like some kids welcome their Christmas gifts under the evergreen tree in the early morning on Christmas day. But, why East-er?

Just for a pun, (I am not joking on Jesus' holy Resurrection itself) it also reminds me the "yeast", to come to think of it. "Yeast-er"? Does it mean you celebrate the yeast again after you enjoyed matzos (the unleavened bread) on Passover that is exactly the day before when He was hung on the cross? I don't know.

Besides, there is no track whatsoever that you can say the early church observed a specific day called the "Easter", let alone usage of that term. Nope. You can't find that word anywhere at all in the Bible!
One thing you can tell safely and surely is that the early church somehow estimated one day of the week they called "the Lord's day" which is the first day after the Sabbath (Rev. 1:10). That is the day when they celebrated Jesus' resurrection. So, you can say comfortably and safely that they commemorate His resurrection every week or even every day! What's wrong with that?

Paul warned against the mindset in which we may set and keep some specific days to observe for some vague purposes (Gal. 4:10). "Purpose" is almost a cultural code in these days' society including the church but a purpose should serve in the boundary of the Bible, doesn't it? What's the purpose of E-a-s-t-e-r? Is it just to celebrate Jesus's resurrection or to celebrate the sunrise?

Jesus surely is the Son of God as well as the "Sun" of righteousness (Malachi 4:2) to shine under his wings to heal the sick and the weak but He does have nothing to do with the natural sun (except it's His creation) or the east!
So you'd better be careful not to celebrate the sunrise on a specific day rather than you celebrate the resurrection of the Lord itself everyday.
I'm telling you this because there are a whole bunch of strange round symbols in the Roman Catholic church that reminds us none other than the sun. You know, like ever-round thin wafers they worship as the "body" of Christ, the monstrance or ostensorium. They are all round. But why? What is that to Jesus? Nothing! The Bible doesn't say anything like this. It's pure specualtions out of their imaginations and the Bible warned against human religious imagination:

(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; (2 Corinthians 10:4,5. KJV)

[Nowadays, many different religious groups enjoy so-called "re-thinking" and "re-imagination". You'd better keep yourself from these strange groups. I tell you because they usually use their imagination to make some strange religious principles or doctrines they like to have you to obey and observe.

Let' say, contemplation (same as contemplative prayer or centering prayer or breathing prayer) is one thing, and there is also eastern religion-related "mantra prayer", lectio, labyrinth meditation and so on. These are enjoyed by so-called emerging churches which were emerged from American soil. All of these are phony "spiritual" junk that came out of erroneous human imagination. We have to pray according to the Bible.]

Sorry, folks, for the long prologue above, but I want you to celebrate indeed our Lord's resurrection, and enjoy your own resurrection that will take place on the day when Jesus comes back! (If you are still alive bodily then you will be directly changed into the new one that is the spiritual body.)
I also want you to enjoy ZOE ("life" in Greek), the resurrection life, the heavenly life in another words. ZOE is the life that the risen Jesus gives you.

Jesus had the spiritual body ever since the day He arose from the dead. (Before, he had had a body just like ours. Remember: He was tired and sleepy sometimes just like us.) This new kind body transcends time and space that you in this body are not going to get tied to or limited by any natural means, anyhow absolutely. (Refer to Luke 24:30, 36~43, John 20:19~29, 1Cor. 15:35~56). You are not going to be tired that you need a catnap at all!

Jesus gives his people ZOE: the everlasting resurrection life - ever strong and powerful, ever springing and refreshing, ever abundant, ever lively and energetic, ever full of vitality, ever glorious and radiant, and everlasting, hallelujah!

Even before you get this new body, you can get a portion of it by faith that you can be healed of sickness and made whole, even can arise from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit if you are supposed to do so according to the will of God, like Lazarus (Jn.11:43), the son of the widow of Nain (Lk.7:11~16), the daughter of Jairus, the synagogue ruler (Mk.5:22~43), and Dorcas (Act. 9:36~42).

Jesus was the "firstfruits" of resurrection. "But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep" (1 Cor. 15:20). Because He took up this new spiritual body! And we will have it too on the last day.
Soon and very soon, Jesus will come again in a glorious appearance and meet us in the air. On that day you will find yourself in this new body.

Let's celebrate our resurrection as well as His.

LET HIS UNCHANGING GRACE AND PEACE
BE UPON YOU ALWAYS.
In Jesus' name. Amen.