I Am Worry-Free In Jesus

SF.2.1.13 Just like the hymn we sing, we have no worries when we are in Jesus. There is no reason to be worried or anxious. Though we sing the hymns and say that we have no worries, in our hearts we are filled with worry, anxiety, and sadness. Rather than sing the hymn with joy, we sing only to sing. In the past, we used to sing this hymn quite a bit, but today many do not because they think they have no worry or anxiety. But if you look at today's youth they have many worries, filled with anxiety and high rates of suicide, and many reasons for complaining and arguing. Then why do they not sing this hymn? Why? When we are in The Lord we truly have nothing to worry about. But rather than dwell with The Lord, they seek to only satisfy themselves, and have no need to sing this hymn. If I believe that God is with us, then truly we are to be without stress, worry and anxiety. But rather than be free of it, we hold onto it and also try to be with God, while we live our lives the way we want. Truly when we are in The Lord, we are to be of one mind on the inside with joy and celebration. My life needs to be one in thought. Last week our pastor spoke about being one. Being one with The Lord. Wen we live our lives as one in Jesus, we can truly live in joy, thanks, and in peace. Then as we live our lives are we truly without anything to worry about? No. God knows that we have things that we worry about. That is our limitation. The lyrics to the hymn, when I come before the cross, and lay down all my burdens. This is how we can walk with The Lord. Rather than walk this path, and rather than give him praise and worship, I am burdened by the worries and anxieties of my life today. Or I am purposed in my decision of how I will live for God rather than start the day asking Him to show me the life He wants me to live and listening for his voice, I plan what I will do, and ask Him to answer my prayers and allow my plans to succeed. We are not living a life that in to do His will, but we are living our lives according to our plans and this is why we have no real joy in The Lord. We say that we are joyful. What kind of joy? When our demands have been answered. Is this a lasting joy? It is not. If our children did what we wanted, got into a good university, attained a good job, and married a good girl, we say that we are filled with joy. It is only for a moment. It does not a last a few days. But when we remain in our Lord Jesus Christ, though we may have pain and suffering, and face difficult circumstances, when we live a life that is in union with The Lord, we receive the strength to live our lives in joy. The Lord is with us. God is with us. We receive the strength to live our lives with joy. We do not posses this joy. Are we free from any troubles when we are with The Lord? No. There are difficulties, there is the path of the cross, there is suffering, there is pain. It is a mistake to think that because you believe in Jesus that the will never be any trouble and you will only have good things happen in your life. In life, both believer and nonbelievers alike face the same circumstances. But it is how we face these situations as believers in The Lord. We are not free from pain and suffering. We are not free from trouble. Believers of Jesus also die in auto accidents. Believers of Jesus also get sick. Believers of Jesus also do not have all their plans succeed. Believers of Jesus also fall into debt and bankruptcy. Why? God is not a genie. We think that when we put or faith in Jesus, when we come to church, that gold will fall from the heavens. There are times when we pray and are healed and also times when we pray and are not healed. There are times when believers need to go to the hospital, get surgery and take medicine. There are also times to be healed by the power of God through prayer. There is a false belief that in The Lord you will have everything according to how you desire. We think that God must answer our prayers and we have made Him our slave. This is why are unable to taste the joy of being in The Lord. I can still hear my mother sing this hymn. In a time when the elderly sang off rhythm and also did not know the words. In those times we really had nothing to eat, and experienced extreme difficulties and when we sang that "When we are in The Lord, we have no worry" with joy and overcame those circumstances. Today Korea is a wealthy nation. In Korea today, there is not much joy. They are number one in suicide deaths. Back in the 50's when things were really bad, rather than kill themselves, people really wanted to live and survived to sustain life. But today, when there is an abundance, where there is no lack, where many people are not starving to death, people are saying that they cannot live. They do not sing these hymns today. Many people say that the hymns need to change because the times are changing. They say the lyrics need to change. They may be right, but inside of our hearts, though we may be singing and worshipping in church, we do so for our pleasure. Rather than sing for God to hear, we sing for our own pleasure. We feel good because we sang our hearts out and danced. It is not worship offered up to God, rather it is just a way to release our emotions and we feel good. Too often we are like this. Praise is prayer offered up to God from our hearts. Do you sing your praises as if they are prayers? Offering to God with all your heart, mind and strength that He may receive it. "I offer up myself to You Lord." "I give You my heart, please accept it." "Though my life is burdened and difficult, because Your Son Jesus is with me, I believe and in thanks sing this praise to You." Is this the attitude of your heart as you sing your praises to Him? At times when your voice is better you sing louder. At times because you know the song you sing louder. Of course, if you do not know the song or the words you naturally sing quieter. At times it is so that others may hear your voice Has there been a time that you sang that others may hear your voice? Though you may be off key, off tempo and may get the words wrong, are you singing to God with all your heart that He may accept your praise? What kind of praise are you giving to God? We sang that the words "walking with The Lord." We sang about walking with God. Are you truly walking with God? Holding on to the hand of Jesus the groom, and walking the path with Him. Are we truly walking hand in hand with The Lord in joy as new lovers who are in love? Or like those who are married and have lost their romance, feelings for each other, who refuse to look at each other and though they may be together for obligation, their faces are filled with anger. With this attitude, because of our poor behavior, are we not also the same way with Jesus who is to be our groom? When you repair the relationship with your spouse you can also repair your relationship with God. This is why I always emphasize the importance of the relationship with your spouse. If you have a difficult relationship with your earthly father, then you also have a difficult time calling God your Father. It is because we are using the same word. This is why we have a hard time understanding God the Father, and reconciling ourselves to Him. I have seen too much of this. How should you reconcile yourself to God? Do you truly want to be with The Lord, to be free from worry and anxiety and to sing hallelujah? What kind of life do you want to live? We sing that to walk with The Lord is a joyful path. Do you truly find joy in walking with The Lord. Do you? When we feel good we are filled with joy. When we feel like we have accomplished something. When we have prayed a bit today. When we have read the Bible and witnessed to one person, we say we feel good. But to walk with The Lord, in darkness or in joy, Jesus never leaves us. But after we have abandoned Jesus we say that He has abandoned us. We say that He is pushing us away. We are the ones to let go of the hand of God our Father. When children are walking holding the parent's hand but see something they want, what do they do? They let go of the hand and run after it. And when they look for their parent and do not see them, who begins to cry? The child does. They think that the parent has abandoned them. The child is the one who let go of the hand. They wanted to see something. This is how we behave towards God our Father. We are holding the hand of The Lord, but we let go of it, and tell Him to wait for us as we go and do what we want, see what we want to see, get what we desire, and run after what we want. Suddenly we notice that we do not see Jesus. Then we start to pray asking Him "where has He gone?" "Why have you abandoned me" we ask? "Why have you abandoned me Father?" Is this not how we are? We ask Him why did He not watch over us when things were difficult for us? Why did He not protect us when we were in trouble? Why did not embrace us when we were suffering? These are the things we say. But God has always been with us, at times carried us, and held our hand. He is with us. But we do not accept this in our hearts. In walking with The Lord, no matter what happens, I must never let go of His hand. The moment I let go of His hand I begin to do what I want. We are walking a very difficult path in our lives today. Everyday we are in a spiritual war. To believe in Jesus is not a life of peace. The devil prowls around like a lion seeking to devour us. How can we think that there will be peace in our lives. The devil does not leave believers alone. If you are truly a Christian the devil will not leave you alone. If you are truly living in The Lord then your daily life is in the midst of a war. You will think peace and come to ruin. The Bible says that we are soldiers of the cross. But we do not desire to live the life of a soldier of the cross. We think we have attained peace but peace will only be when we are in the arms of the Father. It will be in Heaven. There is no peace for those here on earth if you believe in Jesus. But we desire to live in peace. Then you cannot believe in Jesus Christ. If you do not believe in Jesus then the devil will bother you less. Why? Because you have become his food. You are his. If you believe in Jesus, he will not leave you be. Why? Because he must steal the sons of God. If we are living daily in a war then we must be awake. We must not fall asleep. There is no reason to say that we are doing well toady. We are surrounded on all sides. The devil is surrounding us to try and devour us. How then can we live in peace? Until the day of victory, we must fight until the end. There is no peace in places of war. We too are living in a war. But in the midst of a war, we are walking with The Lord, together, with Him in our hearts we can have no other worry. Though in war, because I believe that God is with me, I have joy. This is the life of a soldier who believes in Jesus Christ. We worry about death when we fight in the flesh, but the soldier of God, because we are in Him, we have no reason to fear death. But in the midst of war, we must take up our weapons and fight to live. Our weapons are prayer and the Word. How can we be victorious if we do not pray, read the Bible, apply it in our lives and live according to it? We cannot be victorious. It is a lost war. We think we will be victorious by praying 5 or 10 minutes and reading a few chapters of the Bible. Can you be victorious? The Bible teaches us to pray without ceasing. It says to give thanks in all circumstances. You must be a child of God who prays without ceasing. No matter what you circumstance is, knowing that Jesus the groom is with you, we must give thanks and continue forward. Without praying or reading the Bible when we face troubles we complain to God. We really need to live in God. Little children, when they are with their parents have no clue if the is a war going on or if they have nothing to eat. Why? As long we they are holding on to their parents hand, they know that they will be fed and put to bed. They trust that the parent will clothe them. But why do we not believe that God is with us? We have no worry or anxiety when we walk with The Lord but why do we not trust Him? Why do we not believe God? When we talk to each other you say you believe. But if you look at your life it is not as you say. You live without Jesus Christ. You live without God. You do not live according to the Holy Spirit. You do as you want. After having done as you pleased you call out to God and ask for forgiveness. Wen children are young you let things go. But as they get older do you let things slide? You rebuke them. Because they do not act as they should. Spiritually, we are to mature as well. In the flesh we naturally get older as time passes. We get older even though we do not want to. But spiritually, unless I grow in faith and in the Word I will not mature. You will remain as a child. That is why you cannot eat the spiritual food and you starve to death. Though we are to be like children in thought and behavior, but we must mature in the spirit. But we misunderstand this teaching and think that our faith does not need to grow. This is not so. All our thoughts must be entrusted to God, be innocent like children, and as children when told to do, then we are to do, and when are told not to do, then as obedient children we are to not do. But in faith, as we age in the flesh, our spirit must also mature and grow. There are many people who foolishly claim to have been born into the faith since being i their mother's womb, but have yet to grow in spirit since being that of a child. It is of no value how many generations of believers are in your family. Salvation is yours alone. Faith is yours alone. You must put forth your will to get to know God through the Word and prayer and by living in obedience. We live in a time when we do not know what will happen. Things are getting more severe. But may you live your life singing hallelujah in joy and celebration because of God who lives in you. Sermon by Pastor Joy Youngsook Lee Translation by Miguel Park