John 3:16

The cost to be a citizen of heaven. John 3:16 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.” 16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life We have been looking at how we must come to worship God. It is my hope that the message I share is the same message that you have in your hearts as we look at John 3:16. This is a verse that we use to share the Gospel and also for our own walk in faith. Jesus came to fulfill the will of God. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. In verse 14 it is written “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.” We all know that Moses lifted up the bronze snake in the desert as it is written in the Bible. There is no explanation, no reason or science that can explain how looking up to a bronze snake could heal those that had been bitten by venomous snakes. Does this make sense? Science, medicine nor reason can explain the method God used to heal those who looked at the snake. Jesus says that just as the snake was lifted up, that He too must be lifted up. Just as those who had been bitten by a venomous snake and were healed by the bronze snake, we who have been bitten by the venomous snake of sin and dying have been given an opportunity to live eternally by looking to Jesus and believing in Him. But what does it mean to believe? We use this word “believe” many times when we talk to each other. It is used between husband and wives and parents and their children. Spouses tell each other that they believe in the other person. A parent tells their child that they believe everything will be alright. A child believes that their parent is the best that they will be taken care of. We use this word many times. But what does it mean to believe? What shows belief? We believe that 1+1=2 and that can be explained and we understand it, but to use the word strictly between the conversation of two people, to believe someone is to abandon oneself and to put yourself in complete trust of the other. Does you understand? I must abandon myself so that the words that were given to me by the other person can be made my own and then we can be of one mind. To become one is to believe. Just as those who were bitten were healed by looking at the bronze snake, when I abandon myself and accept and believe that Jesus is my Savior, then the path to eternal life can be opened up before me. Although science or medicine cannot explain how someone can be healed by looking up to a bronze snake, but if I have been bitten and they say this is the way to be healed, then I must bear the pain and agony and get myself to place where I can look at the snake and I must come to a point where I decide to put my belief in it and then go and act. Unless I abandon my thoughts, could I really get myself to go out and look at the snake when my life hangs in the balance? Naaman went to see Elisha and he thought that Elisha would come out to meet him and wave his hand over him and then he would be healed of his leprosy. But not only did Elisha not greet him, he also was told to go wash in the Jordan river 7 times where the water was not as good as the ones in his home country. Naaman had already decided in his mind how he thought he was going to be healed and he was angry. His servant reasoned to Naaman that even if Elisha would have told him to do something more difficult that it would be worth doing to get healed so the servant persuaded Naaman to go wash in the Jordan. Naaman washed and he was cleansed of his leprosy. I may have my own thoughts and make my own decisions but if it is not according to God’s Word then we must change our thoughts. We say we believe God and that He has provided us a way to eternal life. Is this eternal life attained by my thoughts or my experience? The Bible teaches us that we cannot attain eternal life through our thoughts, reason and experiences. To believe is to abandon all of oneself and to be one with Jesus and His Word so that what we believe can be evident in our lives. God gives us countless warnings in our lives. When we look at the lives through the Word of God, we see that God has saved us so that we may give Him glory, and for us to give Him glory, we are to come before God as His children and worship Him and revere Him. God did not give us life on this earth so that we can eat well, live well and attain all the things that we want. The Lord of all living things has given us life so that we may glorify Him through His will. If I confess that God is my Father and that Jesus is my Savior and that I am led by the Holy Spirit then everyday my attitude must be that of an active worshipper. My life must be worship. If we think that coming once a week on Sunday and going through the schedule of service meets the demands of what is required then we are missing the most fundamental principle of our lives that is shown to us in the Bible. A car that has no key is useless. When we rent a house or buy a house what is the last thing that is given to the owner? It is the key that gives the person access to the place. You can sign all the forms but without the key you are not getting inside. The Bible gives us the key to the place where our Lord is, which is through our Savior Jesus and living the life that is shown to us in the Bible. If we fail to see this, and say that we are living the life of faith, then it is like signing the contract but not receiving the key. It is no use to have a key and not enter into heaven. I say that we are to live a life of worship. What is worship? Naver (Korean search engine) defines it as “a reverent acts of devotion towards a deity”. It is an act. It is a reverent act with a heart of devotion and that is worship. In the church it is defined as the reading the Bible, and with prayer and praise, to show respect and reverence to God. It is the lifting and honoring of God. The world worships their gods by bowing down to them. It is a difficult task. In the buddhist religion they sometimes bow 108 times or 3000 times depending on the circumstance. They do this because it fits the definition of worship which is an act. How have you labored in your worship of God? Is worship simply the reading of the Bible and singing and praying? Is that what worship is and nothing else? My life is to be a living worship laboring in holiness, praising, reading the Word and praying. This is the life of one who worships. Anyone can go through the formalities of worship by reading the Bible, singing praises and praying. Even those who don’t believe in God can participate in worship. There are many buddhists who know the Bible. There are many Muslims who read the Bible. Many anti-christians know the bible well. What about singing praises? There are many contemporary Christian songs that the world enjoys and sings for themselves. What about prayer? Just as we read our verses they can use it and meditate on it as well, but does this mean that they are worshipping God? No, it does not. True worship is that which God chooses to accept as we offer Him our hearts in the singing of His praises, praying and reading His Word. Our hearts, mind and body must be one in this purpose so that we can offer true worship. When we say that we are worshipping or that we offer worship we are also saying that there is someone who is receiving that worship. Is this not true? Did you come today to listen to a sermon? Please, do not make this mistake. If you are here to listen to a pastor’s sermon then you have come here by mistake. You have misunderstood the purpose for being here. You are here to meet God through the time of worship. The sermon is only a time that which God has given insight into His Word which is being shared to you. We should be here to hear the voice of God speak to each of us. If this is not understood correctly and the pastor is seen as someone greater than a servant and is lifted up, there will be punishment from God for over stepping His authority. If we are here to worship the one who is going to receive our worship, then how are we to worship Him? Once again we come back to this point. As we come before God to worship let us see if we what we do as worship is proper. I have emphasized many times before that we are to be careful when we speak. Pastors as well as everyone else say “let us go to observe worship.” (Please note the translation for the term used in Korean is to “observe” or to “watch” and does not translate in the way that is used normally in English but the meaning is understood. The pastor is referring to two types of worship one that is as an observer as a fan at a game or the athlete who is actively engaged in the event. Both participate but only one worship is accepted). Many have said let us go observe worship. What is the difference between the one who observes worship and the one who offers worship? The one who observes worship while they may sweat singing praises, cry while they pray, and do everything but because their heart was not in the right place before God they will not be able to receive any of the blessings for the worship. They only came to watch. I recently went to a baseball game. When the athletes were performing well, the people who paid to see them get excited and have a great time watching the event. This is the reason we go to watch these events. The one who came to observe worship may get emotional and do the acts of worship but what they really came to do was to be emotionally satisfied and did not really come to worship God. If this is the attitude we have when we come to worship God, we can spend our entire lives in worship and it will have been in vain. Will you receive salvation? We must start with changing the way we speak and the way we live our lives. If what I say has the possibility of dishonoring God and hurting someone then I must be careful of the words which I speak. I must be careful of my actions because my life is to be that of one who is a worshipper. I am to give glory to God through my life as a worshipper. If what I say will hurt someone, if what I say will dishonor God, if my actions will dishonor God then I must restrain myself and not do it. The true worshipper will restrain themselves but the one who is only an observer will not. We say we come to worship God but because we do not see Him, at times we focus our attention on the people around us. We are concerned with the pastor, the people we like and the ones we do not like. If our focus is on the people then can our attitude of worship be proper? It is not. Why is it that we look to the people, go through the formalities, sing the hymns, pray, and give offering and then leave without putting our focus on God? Why are we fooled into thinking that we can say a few simple prayers and then all our sins will be forgiven? Why has it become like this? In Exodus God gave to Moses the directions of worship. God gave them specific instructions on what they were to do and the sacrifices that were to be made. God gave them every detail. Depending on the sin the offering to be made was specified. So whenever they sinned an animal was sacrificed and all was forgiven. Isn’t that great? We could take out a big loan, not pay it off and then go get an animal and sacrifice it and our sin would be forgiven. Would that be nice? By following these rules, we could see that all sins were forgiven, so there would be no reason to suffer any consequence, and the rich could sin more while the one who had less could not. You could think that if you brought a bigger animal the more cleaner you could be from your sin. Everything became formalities. All of worship became formalities. There seemed to be no consequence for the sin one committed and worship was a routine. In order to change the way we worshipped, God sent Jesus to us. God sent His Son to give us a new way of worship. Is the way we worship any different from the way of worship in the Old Testament? There is no difference. We say we look to Jesus who was on the cross 2000 years ago, but the difference is that today rather than bringing an animal sacrifice like the Israelites did at that time, we come with less of a burden and with more ease as we confess our sins before God as we go through the formalities of worship. We argue that we need not pay a price because we have been given freely. Do you know why that God does not require you to pay a price? For those of you who have studied the Bible, why does God not require payment? It is not because there is no value, but it is because the value is priceless and no one can pay it. There is nothing that you can offer that can be exchanged for the blood that Jesus shed. Even your life does not come close to the value of the blood. That is why God offers it freely. So do you think that it is free? Jesus teaches us that there is a cost to receive His sacrifice. Although my life is not required we are required to come to worship God and bring a gift of reverence for the blood of Jesus. This is what we can see in the Bible. We forget this principle as we come before God and try to worship Him. Matthew 4:17 17 From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” There is a popular saying in Korea right now that says “Jesus is the way to heaven, every other way leads to hell.” What is the requirement for getting into heaven? It is repentance. When Jesus tells us to repent He is telling us that without it we will have nothing to do with Him. To repent means to give myself to God. It is not to give the life that is in me, but it is to give Him all the hidden dirty things in my life. He is not asking us to give Him the good things but He is telling us to give up all the bad things by repenting. Have you repented? Then He says in Matthew 4:19 “Come and follow me.” He tells us to follow Him, but many of us reply that we like where we are at and do not follow Him. He further teaches us to “Be perfect...as your heavenly Father is perfect.” He is teaching us to live lives as perfect as God. Do we think about these things when we say that we believe in Jesus? Matthew 6:14 14 For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. If there is someone in your life that you cannot forgive then you yourself will not be forgiven by God. It does not matter how much good you do, if when you see someone you hate you have feelings of anger and resentment inside you. Jesus teaches us that you will not be forgiven. Do you forgive everyone? We laugh about having arguments with our spouses that go for months or bring up things that happened years ago because we have not resolved those issues. These things happen because as time has passed and we have been together for so long that we just overlook those things. But if we take a serious look at our lives we will see that there are many sins that we have committed from the time we were married until today, but have we forgiven each other? If we have not, then Jesus teaches that will too will not be forgiven. If I am not forgiven how can I expect to enter into heaven? We are being told to pay the cost of forgiveness. God is not telling us to give up our lives but He is telling us to make the payment of forgiveness and to forgive others before we come to worship Him. He teaches us to seek His kingdom and His righteousness. Do we? He is telling us to make this payment. He is not telling us to live for our pleasure for our comfort but He is telling us to pay the cost of seeking His Kingdom and His righteousness first before we come to worship Him. He teaches us to seek, ask and knock. When? We are to seek, knock and ask for that which God desires to do in our lives. If we are seeking, asking and knocking in prayer for our selfishness, then our worship gives no glory to God. Matthew7:13 13 "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 21 "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. He says that only those who do the will of the Father will enter into heaven. These are the payments that are required to be paid. These are the costs. We can put a monetary value on life, but what is really required is your very life. When you offer your life you are making payments. These payments are to be made in the life of worship in which you were called and saved. Wherever you go, whatever you do you are to live as a believer in Jesus, as a child of God, being led by the Holy Spirit as an example to others and for this you were called. This is the payment that the Lord says must be paid as it is written in the Bible. Are we living this life? This is what Jesus teaches. Is this the life that the disciples lived? We think that it was easy for them. Let us look at some of the writings of Paul, Peter and John. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies. The body that you think is yours is not yours rather it is the temple of God. It belongs to God. Do you think about this in your life? We do not. It says that since we were bought at a price to therefore honor God. This is a direct command. 1 Corinthians 7:23 23 You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of human beings. You have been bought by God with the blood of Jesus so now you are a servant to God. You have a new master. Do not be a slave to man, but be a servant of God to His Word. You are to live by paying the cost of obedience. Are you living this life of worship? No, we do not. We are our own master, we do want we want, and if we are not satisfied we refuse to obey and turn away and act in rebellion. It states clearly not to be a slave to man, but we enslave ourselves to the ways of man and to their praises as we become weaker everyday. 1 Corinthians 10:24 24 No one should seek their own good, but the good of others. You are not to live for yourself, for your gain, for your benefit. You are told to live for the benefit of others, to be humble and serve in love. We are told to pay this cost, but we live for our own satisfaction, for our own benefit and pride. We live for ourselves, but it is states clearly to not seek our own good but the good of others. 1 Corinthians 10:31 31 So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. Pay this cost and live the life of a worshipper. 2 Corinthians 5:15 15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. Jesus died for you so that you no longer live for yourself. Abandon that old life. Now having been bought with the price of His blood, we should now live for Him. The Bible tells us this but we refuse to see it. We see in James that it says that faith without works is dead. Can you confess that God is your Father, that Jesus is your Savior, that all who believe in Him will not perish and have eternal life, when your faith has no action and it is dead? Will you be able to enter into heaven with dead faith? You cannot. 2 Peter 2:1 1 Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. What does it mean to rid yourself of these things? It means to pay the cost of restraint. It means to change your life. 2 Peter 2:9 9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. We have been chosen so that we may declare the praises of Him who has saved us out of the darkness into His light. We are told to live as priests declaring His praises. Live as a worshipper. 1 John 3:18 18 Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. We are to love in action and in truth. This is how we are to live as a worshipper and pay the cost that gives glory to God. Paul, Peter, James and John have spoken to us in just a few verses about the cost that is required so that we can enter into heaven and also live the life that reflects true worship. If we do not live this life then what kind of relationship would I have with God? If I am only an observer worship and not offering my life in worship, then what kind of relationship will I have with God? The weeds in the garden flourish without any need of care. All through spring and summer we worked hard to turn over the dirt and uproot the weeds. Will the weeds never grow back? They continue to grow. However, the vegetables that we plant to eat from even though we pay much attention to eat and give it plenty of water, much of it will be destroyed by insects that eat it. We are to live our lives and harvest the fruits of the spirit that are planted within us. The Word of God must be planted in our hearts and produce a change in our lives and a harvest of the fruits of the spirit in faith, but am I allowing these seeds the to produce fruit within myself and tending and caring for them? Am I daily working at removing the weeds of sin from my life and removing all the evil things that are trying to destroy the fruits that are planted within? Without doing so, they cannot grow. When I am anxious and I worry, and all the emotions that I have harbored within me come up in anger and frustration all these emotions of dissatisfaction will come in and overturn the seeds that are planted that are to produce life. These things will ruin your life so that you will be unable to live your life as a true Christian. They must be uprooted. All the insects of destruction must be caught. Who will do these things? I must do it. Every morning, every moment I have, I must go out to the field and find and kill all the bugs so that I can have an abundant harvest. In the field of my heart and in my thoughts and in all my being, of all the things that have become habits and those things that come in to me through my emotions and thoughts, I must decide according to the Word that which I must uproot and throw away. I must decide to pay this cost so that I can live my life in worship. Is this it? Some of the weeds seem small but when you let it be for a while and try to uproot it the root is big and runs deep. Other weeds look large, and it seems as though you would need a shovel to dig it up, but when you pull on it they come up very easily. This means that in your hearts, all those things that come up inside you, other than the things of Jesus, but those things that are evil and are trying to tempt you, you may think that it is large and have a difficult time getting rid of it but it may be uprooted much easier than you think. On the other hand, the little ones that you think you will let be for a little while and overlook it, will be deeply rooted in you so that later you will have a much harder time uprooting that from your life. You are able to catch and remove these things but you must do it constantly. Even though it is difficult the moment you see it you must remove it, and no matter how hard it will be you must be determined to remove it so that you can reap a true harvest as a true believer in Jesus. Let us not be foolish and neglect to do this because we think that this is easy. I received and email. It stated that even though we are not taught we learn to cuss we do so very well. Have any of the parents ever taught their child profanity? No one does but the children do it well. We are not taught to be jealous or envious but we do it well. No one needs to be taught to be lazy or discouraged but we all know how to live this way. Then it stated that in contrast, all good things cannot be attained without effort. You cannot have anything without discipline. I cannot live the proper life of someone who has been saved by Jesus without putting in any effort and having discipline. With our mouths we speak evil without having to train it, we don't have to try to be jealous or envious and there is no effort required in being lazy or discouraged. This is not how we are to be. When we become sensitive to the warnings that God gives us then we can be changed to be used by God for His will. But many of us get lost in the flesh and are unable to hold onto the hand of God. What warning is God giving you in your own life? When He does, listen to Him, and accept what He tells you. Should your life not be that of one who gives true worship to God? When it says that all who believe will be given eternal life, to believe means to have faith and to live in accordance to that faith so that you can enter into eternal life. This is the message that I share with you today. This is the requirement to receive eternal life. Live the life of a true worshipper. Wherever you go and whatever you do may you live a life that gives glory to God so that you can be one with Him. Sermon by Pastor Howard Park translation by Miguel Park