2002.9.15. Why?(1) - Rev. Young Jin Cho

Why do we need Christ?

Acts 5:27-32

The Church of Resurrection in Kansas State is one of the fastest-growing UMC churches in the United States. Rev. Adam Hamilton, who started the church in 1990 at a funeral home, published a book, "Leading Beyond the Walls", early this year. It reveals the three questions that Rev. Hamilton asked himself when he started the church. They are: "Why do we need Christ?" "Why do we need church?" "Why do we need The Church of Resurrection?" He emphasized that if he started a church without clear answers to these three questions, the church couldn't change the world.

These questions challenged me. During sabbatical leave these questions remained in my mind. While I prepare new ministry, I want to think about these questions with you. But I would like to add one more question to Rev. Hamilton's list - "Why do we need faith?" I am asking you to pray for me for the series of sermons.

Why do people need Christ? The meaning of "Christ" is the anointed person, "Messiah" in Hebrew. Through Israeli history there are three types of anointed people: kings, priests, and prophets. Each group has a special mission. When they are anointed, they may be filled with the Holy Spirit, and have a special relationship with God.

But while Israelites wandered after losing their country, the meaning of Messiah ("Christ" in Hebrew) took on the meaning of "Savior," saving them from the oppression and persecution of other nations. The meaning of Savior has carried on, through the age of the New Testament, and now. But we still ask, "Why do we need a Savior?"

Brothers and sisters! Why do we need a savior? Where can we find a savior?

I

(1) The first problem we struggle to solve is how we look at human beings. If we believe that man is good and perfect, we don't need a Savior. But if we believe that man is not perfect and has problems, salvation is needed. What do you think about human beings? What do you think about yourselves? Throughout the history of man, there have been many understandings about human beings. I don't have enough time or knowledge to introduce those theories on man. But I realized that there are no questions more important than "Who am I?" "Who is man?" The directions of our lives depend on the answers to these questions. The kinds of answers we choose are our decisions. Therefore, this question is the core of faith.

However, many people live comfortably without struggling to answer these questions. They don't question these issues seriously. They think these questions are not theirs. They live without the agony of searching for the answers.

There are three aspects of human understanding in Christianity. The first is that man is created by God. Man didn't appear by accident. Man is God's creature. Man can have fellowship with God because he was made in God's image. God didn't make a man who lived without knowing the purpose of life. Man came from God, lives with God, and ultimately returns to God.

Some people believe that man exists as a combination of materials that come together by accident. Do you believe that? Even my glasses were not made by accident. How can the most profound human being exist by accident? Can your common sense accept this theory?

(2) The second aspect of a Christian's understanding of humanity is that man is a sinner. Originally, God created a wonderful man. However, man disobeyed God's will. He lost the original beauty. His relationship with God was broken. He didn't like to keep God in his heart. He turned himself into the degraded being. Chapter three of Genesis tells the story of Adam and Eve, but in fact the story is our story now. Away from God, man covers his shameful places with leaves of morals and ethics.

Today, do we not harvest the fruits of disobedience against God's will? Do we not take the fruits of good and evil?

(3) The third aspect is that Biblical understanding of the sinfulness of all human beings reminds us of the need for salvation. A sinful man needs salvation. All of us need to be born again. The Bible emphasizes that a man should be born again as a new creature in order to be a real creature of God.

Many people refute the sinfulness of man in Christianity. Why am I a sinner? People who live honestly and conscientiously especially disagree with this Biblical message. The sinfulness of the Bible is not based on worldly ethics or moral law. It says that man is a sinner before God.

The kind of standard one uses is important. In April, I read an article in the Choong Ang Daily News entitled, "A Shameful Dad Before A Daughter." It starts, "I feel shameful when I recollect...One week after the Twin Towers crumbled, my daughter started to pack her things to leave for the New York as a YMCA volunteer. I was angry with her. 'Why do you need to go all the way to New York? You think they don't have enough volunteers on the East Coast that you need to travel across the country? You must be out of your mind!' I assumed then that she would give up her plans to leave. But soon she left for New York City with a few other women. A few days after she left, my daughter called home to talk to her mother. 'The disaster area is indescribably horrible,' she said, 'It's so much worse than the scenes on TV. I can't breath very well because of all the smoke and dust.'

She was assigned to a dining hall to serve police officers and fire fighters. She worked four hours a day and shared a room with four other volunteers. She worked part-time to support herself, as the YMCA paid $28 a day. Some time later, I received a card and a letter from a pastor in Georgia. The photo depicted an elderly lady standing in front of a bakery and the letter expressed gratitude for my daughter's volunteerism. I felt shameful that I had been concerned only about my family, without caring for others and their families. I felt that I had been a very selfish dad.

I received a birthday package from my daughter. Along with some cologne and a couple of candy bars, she had included a card. On the cover, a child pretended to fly while balanced atop her father's feet in the air. My daughter wrote, "Exercise a lot, take care of yourself. I remember you feeding me 'kim chei' when I was little, and so many other fun memories. I love you, Dad!' I was sorry for the way I had treated my daughter, for the selfish thoughts I had had. My eyes were filled with tears. Depending on your perspective, or the standard that you use, you will have different understandings of human behavior.

At one time, I thought I was a fairly righteous and ethical person. I thought that I was better than other people. But when I attended revival retreat in the mountains, I found my true self. When I heard a preacher exclaim, "Repent your sin!" I realized, with the help of the Holy Spirit, that I was a real sinner. When I realized that I was a sinner, I knew that I needed salvation, and that the grace of Christ was precious. Even though I feel that I am a righteous person, and that I try to lead an honest life, it doesn't mean that I am righteous before God. In Christianity, we judge a man in God's perspective, and we understand that man is a sinner before God. Therefore, all men need Christ and Savior. Without understanding the sinfulness of man, Jesus Christ can't be our Christ and Savior. He will remain as a great teacher and a great saint.

II

The second issue we must resolve is why we need Christ in our lives. Where can we find the answers we seek about human reality? If man needs the Savior, Christ, where can we find this Christ? Where can we find salvation?

When the apostles raised a man crippled from birth in the name of Jesus and proclaimed the Gospel of Salvation, many people came to the Gospel. Jewish leaders were threatened by this movement and imprisoned the apostles. They warned the apostles not to preach the name of Jesus. But the apostles did not yield to these threats. Peter and the other apostles replied, "We must obey God rather than men! The God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead. God exalted him as Prince and Savior that he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins."

We learn a very important lesson from today's Scripture about our question, "Why do we need Christ?"

(1) First, Christ opened the way of salvation in God. We can not save ourselves because we are sinners. The salvation must come from without. Therefore, God sent Jesus as a Savior and Christ.

(2) But man rejected Jesus and nailed him to the cross. We can discover the depth of our sin. But God never gave up on man, in spite of the sinfulness that enabled him to nail Jesus to the cross. It proved that Jesus is the Savior and Christ. That is the event of Resurrection. The Resurrection is the event in which God raised Jesus from the dead. The Apostle Paul recounts the events of the resurrection in Acts 17. The Resurrection is the reliable proof that Jesus is our Savior and Christ.

(3) Today's scripture describes the apostles bearing witness to the resurrection and shows that all believers can experience the grace of salvation in the Holy Spirit. The Apostles witnessed this fact at the cost of their lives. It must be the tremendous change of the apostle who fled when Jesus was nailed to the cross. The essence of the Apostles message is that Jesus is the answer from God to man, in need of Christ, and that man can be a new entity in Jesus Christ.

Rev. Nicky Gumble, who leads the reformation movement with the Anglican Church's "Alfa" program, exclaimed that the grace of salvation in Jesus is the answer to the three fundamental questions facing man. First, Jesus is the answer to the ultimate meaning and purpose of life. Second, he is the answer to the sinfulness of man. Third, he is the answer to the question of death and everlasting life. All of us face these three basic questions. We have tried to find the way of salvation. We need Christ the Savior. Here is the answer from God. His way of salvation is Jesus.

III

We have examined the answers to our basic question, "Who is Christ, and why do we need him?" There is a premise before the answer, the realization of the necessity of salvation.

That is the question of the existence of God. We have talked about sinfulness and the salvation of man under the premise of God's existence. If we didn't accept the fact that God is alive, all of this discussion becomes useless and groundless. Understanding of humanity answers to his problems should be different. Therefore, even though there may be some common denominators in the handling of man's problems in other religions, such as Buddhism, because there is a difference in the understanding of man, the diagnosis and the solutions are different.

Eventually, we face the challenge of belief in God in the Bible. If there is a person who is not sure about the question of faith, I challenge you, "Why don't you believe in God? On what grounds do you disbelieve? How long do you want to struggle? When do you decide to believe?" Please try to look into believable grounds.

I'd like to introduce to you a witness, Deacon Chang, Don Sik, who serves as a cell church leader and a mission work leader. He came to DC after graduating from Texas A&M Graduate School.

"Believe in Jesus, go to heaven, you can be saved through only Jesus!" What nonsense is this! I can't believe in a narrow-minded God. Is Jesus the only way to heaven? Are you kidding? If you say so, I must go to hell. It is much more human and faithful to go to hell with my unbelieving ancestors and friends and parents.

Until seven years ago, I was very critical of people who wanted to to witness Jesus. Sometimes I raised very difficult questions that they couldn't answer. I was pleased when I saw their embarrassed faces. Occasionally I realized that their explanations on the Bible were logical, but I resisted their suggestions. I turned a deaf ear to them, even though the Bible says, "If you have ears, listen."

What is life? Sometimes I felt the need for religion when I faced the issue of death. But I told myself that I would believe later in my life. Intentionally, I avoided the basic questions. I was determined to believe in other religions besides Christianity if I ever chose a religion. It seemed to me that to believe in Christianity was to sell my dignity as a Korean. Furthermore, it seemed ridiculous to me that Jesus is the only way to salvation.

At the same time, the more I denied, the more riddles capture my mind. Who is this Jesus who lived in the Middle East 2000 years ago, who became one of the four great saints in the world despite a short thirty years on earth? How could he insist that he solved the issue of salvation for man? Furthermore, it seemed unbelievable that people, even Koreans far from Israel, have believed in him for the last 200 years. I wanted to avoid him, believing he must be the most prominent imposter in the world. But it was hard for me to understand the difference between the character of an imposter, and the noble ideas of the Sermon on the Mount. Why did so many people sacrifice their lives for Him? In spite of the obvious evidence, I decided to close my heart to God's love.

Before I met Jesus, the state of my mind was like the darkness and confusion before God created the earth. As we do not recognize that we live in darkness before the light appears, I believed that I was living a fairly righteous life. I didn't realize that my spirit and body was dying. I was patching up the wounds. My closed-minded stubbornness hurt my family and my neighbors. But God did not give up on me, extending ceaseless love in spite of my rebellious attitude toward Jesus Christ. God embraced me to the end with love. He continued to love me through the prayers and attention of selfless and devoted Christians. My wife prayed for me at the cost of her life. I didn't think I could lose my wife because I was a faithless husband. Reluctantly I made the decision to believe for my suffering wife and the Christians striving to make me a Christian. Without knowing...I decide to go to church and believe in God and I gave something to a beggar.

In the meantime, I reluctantly knelt down and prayed before God. But my mind was filled with meaningless thoughts during these prayers. Finally God touched my hardened heart. I came to feel from deep in my heart that I was a sinner in spite of myself. How could a horrible a sinner like me dare to call on Holy God? I trembled with fear at the thought that God could never forgive a sinner like me. At that moment I called on God whom I had refused to call before. With all of my strength, I dared to call on God. "God the father, forgive this sinner!"

On that night, God visited me. Two thousand years ago, God in Jesus came down to be crucified for a sinner like me with abounding and changeless love. God embraced me as a father embraces his prodigal son. Early in the morning, I realized that the God that embraced me was the same God who created the earth and me. I experienced a great turning point. He made me and came down to my level to meet me. He had special plans for my life. I decided to focus my life on God. That day I found a goal for my life.

From then on, Jesus became my way of truth and life. I was transformed. I was changed greatly. Without Jesus, what theory could change my life? Of course, I still have imperfections even though I was transformed through belief in Jesus Christ. However, I no longer suffer from feelings of guilt, nor do I try to rationalize away my frustration, because I have Jesus, who embraces me in spite of these imperfections, and because the blood of Jesus, shed from the cross, has cleansed my sins. Despite my failings, as long as I do not give up the way toward the Lord, I am sure that ten or even twenty years from now, I will bear the fruits of love and joy and peace, of patience and mercy and fidelity, of wellness and of discipline, because Jesus has promised that he will be with me. I have a passion to guide young men wandering as I was with the real fruits of the Holy Spirit. I would like to help them by witnessing that Jesus is not a fictitious being and that Jesus is the ultimate goal of our lives.
Thank you.

Brothers and sisters! Why do we need Christ? Because all of us are sinners before God, and God sent Jesus for our salvation. Jesus, he is our Savior. He is the answer from God for the salvation of man. Sincere Lord, Jesus who is today's strength and tomorrow's hope, is our Christ.