The Ultimate Concern 1 Corinthians 2:1-2, NIV “When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” This morning I would like to share the grace of God under the title, “The Ultimate Concern”. What is the ultimate concern in our lives? We always have this concern in mind. Jesus told us to seek first God’s kingdom and His righteousness. This means that our ultimate concern should be for the kingdom and righteousness of God. God’s kingdom and righteousness is to seek the Cross. Through the Cross we dwell in His kingdom and His righteousness. So our ultimate concern should be of Jesus who was crucified. Whether we look up to heaven or down on earth, our hearts should be centered on Jesus Christ. 1. Jesus died on the Cross What does the cross mean to us? Do we look up to heaven to see Jesus on the cross? Do we look down on earth searching for him who was crucified? Or do we look for the cross in our own hearts? As we look to the cross, we think about his sacrifice for our sins. The cross reminds us that we all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Galatians 1:4 says, “(Jesus Christ) who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,” Therefore Jesus died on the cross for my sins. He suffered for my redemption. The Lord and I are inseparable. This fact should create in our hearts an overwhelming and thankful fellowship. By the grace of the cross all our impurities and secular sins are cleansed. He became a sacrifice for our sicknesses and diseases. Jesus redeemed us from our curses. He carried away our death and destruction. Jesus offered himself as the perfect sacrifice for us and we became a new creation in him. The bible says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17). You will never be the same. When we look to Christ we become new every day. Isaiah 53:5-6 says, “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” Through the cross Jesus brought us great peace and healing. He took away our transgressions and iniquities. Then in looking to Jesus why don’t we expect change? Our thoughts must be changed when we see Jesus Christ on the cross. We should be moved from negative to positive, from despair to hope, from disbelief to belief, from this world to the heavenly kingdom. We can communicate with God because our hearts are changed. The bible tells us, “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.” (Proverbs 4:23) Therefore whenever we look up to the cross, we should be reminded of our redemption. Deep inside of our hearts we should know that we are a new creation. Hebrews 12:2 says, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Let’s think about Jesus who endured the cross and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Colossians 2:14-15 says, “having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” Through the cross Jesus fulfilled all the regulations of the Old Testament which condemned us. He disarmed the powers and authorities of Satan and his devils who come to steal and kill and destroy. God made a public spectacle of Satan and his devils, triumphing over them with the cross of Jesus. Therefore we are set free from the oppression of Old Testament laws and from the powers and authorities of Satan. Laws require us to observe them. For our justification we should keep the law. If we are under the law, we must accomplish the smallest letter, the least stroke of a pen of the law. But grace empowers us with faith and faith asks us to do according to love. Love is the evidence of faith. How different law and faith are! The New Testament tells us that we are saved by the love of God. We are justified by practicing love. But the Old Testament tells us that we will receive justification by keeping the law, and that the righteous by law can stand before God. However according to the Old Testament when we break even the least dot of the law we cannot stand before God. But since the crucifixion of Jesus, we receive our salvation by faith; and we are to practice love until God receives us. The New Testament is our defense that we have sufficient evidence of justification by faith. Therefore whenever we look up to the cross our thoughts should be of the precious redemption of Jesus for us. In the famous Roman Ninety-Three by Victor-Marie Hugo we read a touching story. Right after the French Revolution soldiers passed through a forest and they met a woman with three little children. They looked extremely hungry. One of the soldiers gave the mother a piece of bread. Upon receipt, without hesitation this mother broke the bread into three pieces and distributed a piece to each of her three sons. A companion of the soldier asked him, “Why doesn’t she take bread for herself instead of giving all the bread to the little ones? She must not be so hungry.” Their sergeant slapped his shoulder and said “Hey, you guessed wrong. She is also hungry. The mother sacrifices herself for her children. She willingly stopped eating in order to nourish her little ones. Her love is stronger than her hunger.” That’s right. The mother was also hungry. But she didn’t care about herself. Despite her hunger she gave the bread to her children because she loved them. Jesus is the Son of God but he came to save us. Jesus was crucified on the cross. He was torn, shed his blood and finally died for the atonement of our sins, for the healing of our diseases, and for the victory over death and destruction. Who would want to suffer on a cross? Wouldn’t it stand to reason that Jesus would want to live also? He prayed “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” Even Jesus wanted to avoid the suffering of the cross. However Jesus completed God’s further measure of sufferings the cross as required of him because his love for us was greater than the pain of the cross. Jesus admonished his soul, “If I take this cup many souls can be saved. I’ll end their sins, diseases, curses, despair, and death. Instead of them I will die.” How wonderful is Jesus’ love for us? His story is a heartbreaking love story. Jesus was just one of us: he was human. He felt tired, hungry and experienced the fullness of human emotions. Jesus did not want to carry the cross. He abhorred the cross; but he took it because he loved us so much. Mark 10:45 says, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” 2. Returning to the foundation of God’s creation What is going to happen when we believe in Jesus? When we look to the cross, there is going to be a recovery from death of the human spirit since its banishment due to sin. Physical death is a tragedy but spiritual death is more serious. Ephesians 2:4 says, “(God) made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions” Let us say “Amen” to whoever believes in Jesus. Our transgressions and iniquities are forgiven and we are saved. “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions - it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.” Do you know where you are sitting now? You are with God in the heavenly realms. Your spiritual residence is in heaven. The instance your physical body dies, your soul will be found near Father God. Through the cross of Christ Jesus, all your transgressions and iniquities have been forgiven, and you will be sitting next to the Throne of God. Amen! The Korean War completely destroyed the entire country. It’s difficult for anyone who had not gone through the war to imagine how dreadful the ruins of war-torn Korea were. I was a middle school student at that time. I remember standing at the quayside of Pusan looking at the ruins around me. I thought, “There’s no hope. Our country is lost in despair. The war has turned our lives into desolation. Everywhere I looked was a testimony that my Korean folk were reduced to rags and starvation. How could Korea learn to create a new future? Overwhelming destruction consumed our educational and administrative infrastructure.” There seemed to be no future for my country. As I moved to Seoul to study theology all through Jon-Ro Street where I lived I witnessed destruction. In fact wherever I went in Seoul it was difficult to find a place that could be properly occupied. Seoul was like a dead city. Restoration seemed to be out of the question. How were we supposed to restore the ruins around us to what they had been before the war? Where would we find hope to live? My heart was torn with sorrow. I cried out to God, “Oh, God! There’s no future in this country. I can’t find any hope here.” I wanted to leave Korea to live in another country. Everything was so miserable. Who would have known what Korea would develop into fifty or sixty years later? Today Korea has achieved phenomenal economic development. She has become one of the world’s top competitors in automobile manufacturing, shipbuilding, steel, and IT. Korea has just recently won an unprecedented bid over the French to export commercial nuclear reactors to the United Arab Emirates. I believe even more good things are waiting for the country of Korea. We also have one of the biggest churches in the world. Next to the Americans, we are sending the most missionaries into the spiritual harvest fields of the world. God has blessed Korea so much. “Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well.” “Who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases; who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion; who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.” Today we are experiencing the wonderful grace of God. Galatians 3:13 says, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.’” God settled all our curses on the cross and his grace is pouring on us now. We are free from curses! We should know this. We should not say, “I am inadequate! I cannot do it! I am cursed! I am a looser!” We must shake off that kind of negative thinking pattern. We should clean up our hearts. Our curses are all paid for because the bible says, “Nothing outside a man can make him 'unclean' by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him 'unclean.'” What does this scripture mean? The food we take in is what goes into our stomach. Food goes into a man’s stomach, and than out of his body. But what comes out of a man means what comes out of his heart. All kinds of evils come from inside which are called, “evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy slander, arrogance and folly.” God’s work cannot be shown until the inside of our heart is cleaned up. How can a man cleanse his heart? It is the cross which does a thorough cleansing of man’s heart. By the precious blood of Jesus on the cross an ‘internal being’ is purified. Therefore invisible sins, unrighteousness, and curses of our inside must be put out from within us. A child psychiatrist and professor at Harvard University, Robert Coles researched 3000 successful people like politicians, businessmen, and scholars in America. He analyzed the chief factors behind their success. First, they read the bible many times. Second they were attending a worship service. Successful people in America are reading the bible and attending a worship service. Brothers and sisters you are now participating in a worship service and you are already successful. We often buy a bible only to lay it on a desk at home and leave it there. We need to open it and read it. The Bible is manna for our day, our daily bread. We need to make a resolution to read it. I myself need to resolve to read it regularly. Often during the daytime I find myself without any open opportunity to read the bible and therefore postpone reading it ‘til nightfall. At last just before going to bed I would force myself to stay awake so that I would read my bible. If we stay away from God, we will lead a cursed life instead of a successful life. We can live a life of blessing when we look to Jesus who paid all the penalty of our curses and died on the cross. He is the only one who brings us the blessings of Abraham. Everyone who wants to have eternal life must come to the Lord. Man’s final destination is not illness, death and turning back to dust. We can find a restored, healed, fulfilled and blessed life in Jesus. 3 John 1:2 says, “Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well.” A psychologist did research on people in a mental hospital and found that 75% of them suffered from feelings of guilt. They tortured themselves, focused on negative thinking and were filled with deep resentment which eventually led them to becoming mental patients. The New York Times, an American daily newspaper, announced the results of a research on longevity. It said, “Christians live longer than non-Christians who regularly go to drinking bars.” The Times, a daily national British newspaper, as well reported that on the average people who attended church every Sunday lived seven more years than people who did not attend church. So Christian you can add seven more years to your life! The American medical schools, who had undertaken research on the relationship between religions and diseases, have recommended to doctors to treat their patients with encouragement to exercise religious faith. An 18th century English dramatist and writer of various topics George Colman said, “If you are not healed by seeing doctors, come to the Christ. Come to Him with faith. You will be healed completely.” Brothers and sisters, when we believe the atoning redemption of the cross of Jesus, we can experience His grace lifting us up from sickness, death and hopeless dust. Jesus positions us into whole restoration, healing, blessings, and eternal life. We are progressively returning to what God has always wanted us to be when he created us. 3. Living with the Holy Spirit When we look up to the cross, God drives demons from us and sends the Holy Spirit to us. Whenever we see the cross, we are to give thanks that the Holy Spirit has come to us. The Greek word, “pneuma” means “a wind, breath, and spirit, etc.” The Holy Spirit is like a wind. Wind blows by us but we cannot see it. We breathe in and out but don’t feel the air. The Holy Spirit is like that. He is with you. He lives within you. The Holy Spirit has been sent by the grace of the Cross. God sent His Spirit to us and there is a reason why. Titus 3:5-7 says, “He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.” Brothers and sisters, according to the Old Testament we should do something for our justification. But in the New Testament it is written that Jesus gave us His righteousness. We are justified by God’s grace when we are led by the Holy Spirit to believe in Jesus. Jesus did not give us laws and decrees. In the days of the Old Testament people had to keep the Decalogue, or the Ten Commandments. If they did not keep these laws and decrees, there had to be punishments. But in the New Testament the Good News says, “Whoever believes in him (Jesus) shall not perish but have eternal life.” And God sent the Holy Spirit so that we are led not by the written laws but by the living law of the Spirit in us. Through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set us free from the law of sin and death. When you kneel down to pray, through your mind and conscience you will hear the Holy Spirit speaking to you. In our prayer time, not only do we need to pray for ourselves but we also need to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit. Since we gave the Spirit rule in our hearts, we should do what He says. Then we will become heirs of God. The Holy Spirit is also called the “Counselor.” He is sent by God to protect us. He is your helper, counselor and comforter. He is within you now. John 14:16-17 says, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever - the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.” He is with you forever. After Jesus died on the cross and returned to Father God, the Holy Spirit came to you for eternity. New years come and go but the Holy Spirit will not ever leave you: He will be with you forever. Jesus said in John 14:26, “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” While you are listening to my message, the Holy Spirit is helping you to understand God’s word. Through him you can receive God’s word. Whenever you ask the Holy Spirit, He will teach you all things and remind you of everything Jesus has said to you. We can stay awake during the sermon because it is the Word to which we should pay heed. The Holy Spirit makes you to comprehend the truth. Today we are living in the age of God’s grace by the power of His Holy Spirit. Conclusion: The world is busy and complicated. Many times when we set our goal in life we lose our focus and make mistakes. An American pastor A. W. Tozer said, “Let meeting God, and loving God be your ultimate concern and you will not go astray.” How are we supposed to live? If our lives are centered on the Cross, our every need in life will be satisfied. Everything is accomplished on the cross. You will enjoy good health and all may go well with you, even as your soul is well. You will have abundant life because you have got the life of Jesus. We can have a great life which is something we cannot completely figure out now. It is a glorious life beyond our knowledge. But if we allow our hearts to be changed, we can experience this great life. We must throw away all dirty and rotten things in our heart and cleanse it by the cross. Through the cross our hearts will be changed and filled with the fivefold Gospel and threefold blessing. God’s glory will be shown to us and His kingdom will come wherever we may go. I urge you to live such a life beginning with this great New Year in Jesus Christ. Let’s pray together. Dear heavenly Father! You gave this beautiful New Year. It is given to us and we are standing in the middle. Whether we go right or left, drawing a picture of success or failure, filling it with blessing or curse, we decide it in our hearts first. Father God! Change our hearts and help us to live a fulfilled life through God’s word. Let us be with God this New Year. We believe good things will happen to us. You are an awesome God. We are expecting you and you are doing great things for us and for our country. Let us gain our victory led by the Holy Spirit. We rely on You! In Jesus’ Name we pray. Amen! 1