부활절 예배 Resurrection Day Worship
Fasting that Pleases God (Isaiah 58:6-12)
Rev. Myung-Sin Choi
“6 Is this not the fast that I have chosen: To loose the bonds of wickedness, To undo the heavy burdens, To let the oppressed go free, And that you break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, And that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; When you see the naked, that you cover him, And not hide yourself from your own flesh? 8 Then your light shall break forth like the morning, Your healing shall spring forth speedily, And your righteousness shall go before you; The glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. 9 Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; You shall cry, and He will say, 'Here I am.' If you take away the yoke from your midst, The pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, 10 If you extend your soul to the hungry And satisfy the afflicted soul, Then your light shall dawn in the darkness, And your darkness shall be as the noonday. 11 The Lord will guide you continually, And satisfy your soul in drought, And strengthen your bones; You shall be like a watered garden, And like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail. 12 Those from among you Shall build the old waste places; You shall raise up the foundations of many generations; And you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach, The Restorer of Streets to Dwell In.”
Introduction
There was a YouTube clip that I saw last week and it was about a missionary in Bulgaria. This missionary went to Bulgaria with his wife, and set up a church there. But in Bulgaria, all of the churches have closed their doors. More mosques and bars are increasing in Bulgaria, and churches are being transformed into bars. This missionary who set up his church in Bulgaria, his church needed to close its doors and was transformed into a bar. But all of the church members and this missionary who was the pastor of that church gathered enough money to buy back their church from the bar. Now, the church is operating again. I believe this is the first church that has been bought back from a bar and has opened its door as a church again. I realized from this that this is what we need to do. I was able to get a prayer topic from this. I realized once again that we need to raise up the bartizan. Not only within the church do we need to raise up the bartizan but we need to have the prayer topic to raise up the bartizan and the 3 courtyards within the world. I truly believe that God will be pleased that they were able to restore that church in Bulgaria. God has given us an important sermon and Biblical Scripture today.
1. The Meaning of True Fasting
1) Fasting that pleases God
Verse 6 - Through prophet Isaiah, God spoke His word in this Scripture. God was speaking to the leaders, wealthy people, and the elitists. God’s definition of fasting was to let go of all bonds of wickedness and heavy burdens. This is strange because this sounds like this applies to all people and not just wealthy individuals. All mankind possesses wicked and evil nature. This nature was bought from Satan not from God. What pleases God the most is when we come out from the bondage of wickedness and evil. To come out of this and be freed from this is what fasting is all about. Why did Jesus come to Earth?
Mark 10:42, 45 “But Jesus called them to Himself and said to them, 'You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.' 45 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.” - All of the rulers of the world think that commanding and ruling over people is their position and job.
Mark 10:45 - This means that God who is the ruler of the whole world and earth, this is His image. Jesus showed this by dying on the cross for us. Jesus died on the cross so that He could solve our fundamental and spiritual problems.
Colossians 1:13 “He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.” - The reason why Jesus came was to free us from the bondage of Satan and to help enter into the heavenly kingdom of God. This is God’s will and plan. That is why God commanded Paul to testify of this.
This was what God wanted Apostle Paul to testify in Acts 17:3 “Explaining and proving that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead. 'This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah,' he said.” - To come out from the bondage of Satan and hell, Paul was saying that we need to testify that Jesus has freed us and died for us. Then, what is the fasting that pleases God? It pleases God when we come out of darkness but it also pleases God when we help others to come out of darkness. When we testify of Jesus Christ, then we will be freed from the bondage of sin and darkness.
2) When God's heart is pleased
Verses 7-9 - When you hear this, doesn’t it sound strange? It may sound like we shouldn’t share our food with others or with those in need. What is important here? When we speak about fasting, just like I mentioned last week, fasting is when we discard ourselves completely before God. We are continuing on what we spoke about last week. We are devoting our entire life to God and this is the fasting that pleases God.
The fasting that pleases God is written in Matthew 22:39 “And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ” - Just like how you gave your entire life to God and if you are willing to give your entire life to God, then this is the heart that we must possess. The heart to love our neighbors. This is the fasting that pleases God.
Isaiah 42:3 “A bruised reed He will not break, And smoking flax He will not quench; He will bring forth justice for truth.” - This is where God’s greatest concern is. Those who possess great scars and have no purpose in life, when we save them; this is God’s greatest will and desire. When I heard about a pastor who brought a drug addict into his home and helped him throughout his difficulties, I was truly moved. Also all of the pastors who sacrifice a lot when they serve as missionaries in different countries. God is truly pleased with this. What is important is here, we need to save others with the name of Jesus Christ. When we testify of the name of Jesus Christ, their bartizans of Satan are being broken down. We need to pray with this heart. We won’t be able to go into the evangelism field today but God remembers everything that you do.
What kind of blessings do you receive from this? It is written in verse 8 - God’s glory will shine and healing will take place. And, God will protect you. The glory of God will save us and people around us.
Verse 9 - You will absolutely receive answers. May we enter into this blessing.
2. True Fasting
1) The method of true fasting
Verses 9-10 - There are people who are being deceived by Satan and think that they are better than everyone. You sit around acting arrogant and criticizing others. When you criticize others and point fingers at people, you end up giving scars to people. When you scar someone and make someone feel low, then you start feeling better about yourself. The Bible says we need to take away pointing fingers at people because that is the work of Satan. People end up falling into scars and stop coming to church. Then, what should we do?
Verse 10 - Those who are having a hard time, when we try to help and look at them with spiritual eyes then that is what pleases God. What does it mean to satisfy their souls? It is giving an answer to their spiritual and fundamental problems. This is the fasting that pleases God. No matter how much you fast and don’t eat, and can’t do this then it is all worthless. Then, it is a fast that has nothing to do with God. We possess the gospel so we must plant life and fundamental answers into people. When we just share the gospel a little bit, then God promised that His light will shine. This is the great mystery of blessing. When we look at people who are having difficulties, God will use our light within us to break down within us. We helped others but God said that He will bless us. This is the work of God.
2) The answer of true fasting
Verses 11-12 - We go into the field and share the gospel then God will strengthen our bones and we will be like a watered garden. When Joseph was living as a slave but since God was with him, everything that he did prospered.
Strengthening our bones means 3 John 1:2 “Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.” - We must save others. We must help people. With what method? Through Jesus Christ. We are not able to do this and end up getting deceived. This is so unfortunate. The great power of the Holy Spirit will be upon us. This is the spring of water.
Verse 12 - God will allow us to rebuild what has fallen. We will be able to establish the 3 courtyards. Today’s Biblical scripture is so important. What kind of fasting we do is important. We need to do the fasting that pleases God.
3. The Mystery Given to Us
1) The mystery of Christ
He is the True King that defeated Satan. He is the True Priest who solved all problems. He is the True Prophet who overcame the power of hell. This has to be ours. God finished everything. We need to imprint this within us. We need to personalize this and make this as our bartizan. We need to experience this when we have this bartizan. We need the power of the heavenly throne. We have spiritual power. We may seem weak but we are not. We possess the intellectual power, the wisdom of God. God will grant us health and physical health to do world evangelism. God will allow us to receive the economy of light. God will grant us disciples who can do the work of God together with, which is manpower. We may say that we can’t enjoy this but this is all because of our spiritual problems. What are your greatest spiritual problems? You may think that it is impossible and give up. Without you knowing, you are falling into unbelief and end up giving up. What is the reason why it is not working out? It is because of your unresolved spiritual problems. Once we realize this, then we will be freed. When I meditated on this message, I repented a lot. A lot of my spiritual problems came from the incident within a church. I had unbelief and thought that evangelism was hard. But after this message, I repented a lot. I realized that this was my spiritual problem. Do you have any problems like this? Have you given up due to your unresolved problems and conflicts? The fact that you are bound by your problems means that you are still rooted within your spiritual problem. We must possess assurance.
2) The assurance and confirmation of the Word
Genesis 39:3 “When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did.” - This message can happen to us. Do you believe in this? If you believe then confirm this. You say that God is with you and you finish with this resolution, then that is it.
Psalm 23:1-3 “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2 He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. 3 He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake.” - Do you believe that God is with you and is protecting you? Because God will continue to do this. Hold onto this. Our God is an eternal God.
Daniel 6:20-21 “And when he came to the den, he cried out with a lamenting voice to Daniel. The king spoke, saying to Daniel, 'Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?' 21 Then Daniel said to the king, 'O king, live forever!' ” - This was what the king said to Daniel who was within the lions’ den. No matter what, God will protect you. Be victorious. Just like how God protected you until now, God will continue to do that.
Conclusion
Acts 13:2-3 “As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, 'Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.' 3 Then, having fasted and prayed, and laid hands on them, they sent them away.” - Apostle Paul fasted. This means that he discarded all things to God. When he entrusted all things to God, God showed him the work that God has called him to do. When we entrust all things to God, then God will call us and give us His mission to us.
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