For me and the gospel

 For me and the gospel

 

Mark 10:26-30『And they were astonished out of measure, saying among themselves, Who then can be saved? And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible. Then Peter began to say to him, Lo, we have left all, and have followed them. And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel's, But he shall receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.』

What surprised the disciples was that Jesus told the rich to sell everything and give it all to others. The disciples can be seen superficially accepting the meaning. However, spiritually, it means nailing all of your physical identity to the cross and speaking well to others about your spiritual identity. Even when the kingdom of God is established in the believers' hearts, the seven physical identities remain. It is like the people who came out of Egypt and entered Canaan and fought against seven tribes.

Physical identity appears in seven ways. The seven tribes of Canaan can symbolically express what lies within the physical interior of humans. Things that are firmly established in the hearts of believers include the nature of the body, blood relations, experience and knowledge, thoughts and ideologies, religious spirit, self-righteousness, and the desire to dominate.

First, the nature of the body has an emotional aspect, but the most important aspects are material possessions and sexual satisfaction. The Bible advises us to be extremely careful with these people. It also prescribes not to love the world (material things) and not to commit adultery.

Second, blood relations mean parents, siblings, and children. Your child may become your idol. When children are treated like idols, family relationships can break down. It's that serious. Children are a key element in maintaining a family, but if they are treated too much like idols, they can become an element of ruin.

Third, although experience and knowledge have positive aspects in a spiritual life of faith, there are also many negative aspects. Apostle Paul was a persecutor of Christians before he met Jesus. Such memories must have been the most difficult for him while working as an evangelist. Also, high knowledge about the world can be a factor that hinders the word of God. This is because there are parts of the Word of God that cannot be understood by human abilities.

Fourth, ideas and ideologies can be mobilized to deny and suppress religion. Ideology and communist dictatorship were and are still ongoing.

Fifth, religiosity is the desire to seek God. However, this religious belief can also lead to the mistaken idea that one can become a divine being.

Sixth, it is one's own righteousness. Do good deeds, make your own rules, try not to do illegal things, and try to have a good heart. They further recognize themselves as good beings. So they want to receive attention from everyone, and even when judging others, they judge themselves based on themselves.

Seventh, the desire to dominate others. They always want to be better than others. So, they get angry when they are inferior to others, and even bully others, fight against them, set traps to trip them up, steal from others, and even kill others. This includes people who are violent, including verbal abuse.

Can believers fight against this physical identity and win? He will not be completely victorious in his battle with himself. Peter asks Jesus who can be saved? But he said, “Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With men this is impossible, but not with God, but with God all things are possible.’

Para Andropoise (παρὰ ἀνθρώποις) means not with people, and Para To Deu (παρὰ τῷ θεῷ) means with Christ (God). This means that we can do it if we have Christ by our side. Deu without article means Christ. This means that those who have the Immanuel (parousia) faith can do it, but those who do not can't. Those who have faith in Immanuel will have God fighting ahead of them. So the spiritual identity that fights against the physical identity is fought with the power of the Holy Spirit.

Serving the gospel is reviving the spiritual identity of those who are spiritually dead. Therefore, believers kill the physical identity they received from their parents. We can see that the gospel is higher than blood relations. It is as if the things of God's kingdom are higher than the things of the world. The phrase 『for my name's sake』 means a life of walking with the Lord for the faith called Immanuel. When believers become Immanuel believers, worldly things become insignificant. Immanuel faith is a faith that obeys the words of Christ (Hologos) in the heart. This is moving from the physical to the spiritual. Those who do not believe that the present resurrection and the subsequent second coming of Christ have occurred cannot win the spiritual war.

In Mark 10:31, “But many that are first shall be last; and the last first.』 The faith that follows Jesus is the Immanuel faith. The disciples left everything and followed Jesus. Even today, saints follow the Horogos. Those who came first are those who believe in Jesus and think they have lived a religious life diligently, while those who came later refer to those who have weak faith. However, the latter refers to those who came to realize the faith of Immanuel and entered into the true faith. It is not about who comes first or last, but the one who moves forward with the faith of Immanuel becomes the first.

Immanuel faith currently means one who is united with the death of the cross and resurrection. That is why we believe that Christ enters the hearts of believers and is with them. A temple (Holy of Holies) is established in the hearts of believers, and God is present (Parusian) in the temple. That is why believers become priests and speak with God in the temple.