REVEREND SUN MYUNG MOON
SPEAKS ON
LET US BECOME A TRUE MEMBER
OF JESUS' FAMILY
October 18, 1957
Chung Pa Dong Church
Seoul, Korea
Matthew 10:16-42
Prayer
Father, You toiled to awaken us even when You were subject to the
power of Satan spread throughout this troubled earth. First, I would
first like to offer my gratitude that You allowed us to seek You, and
then bow down before You.
Please guide us to realize once more that we exist today, thanks to
Your toil. The fact that we can claim ourselves to be Your children is
due to Your infinite love.
Father, this evening as we are gathered to listen to Your words, I
sincerely wish and desire for You to speak to Your beloved sons and
daughters.
Today, this land is in a similar position to the 600,000 Israelites,
who even after they had passed through the struggles against darkness
in the forty-year wilderness course and the land of Canaan was before
their very eyes, they could not follow Joshua and Caleb who came forth
with strong determination to enter the land. Father, please speak to
the people of this land, and let them realize this. As Heaven
emphasized to Joshua and Caleb at that time to "be bold and strong,"
please allow us to keep the same message in our hearts. Beloved
Father, I sincerely wish and desire for this to be done.
Billions of satans are blocking our way with cruel tribulations,
persecutions and paths of the cross to sweep us away and violate us.
Please allow us to become sons and daughters with hearts of unchanging
will, loyal subjects toward You of whom You can be proud. One step
further, please guide us to become children who can pray, "The only
living sacrifices we can offer You are our bodies and minds. Please
accept these." Beloved Father, I earnestly wish and desire for this to
be done.
Father, we know You are concerned about us even now. Father, do not
let even one life be dragged into darkness. We understand that the
time when a song of glory sung for Your joy has drawn near. Please
guide us so that none of us will be derailed from the right track due
to a personal situation. Let us not be too inadequate to experience
Your heart and the hearts of the many prophets and sages who have
already passed away. Beloved Father, I sincerely wish and desire for
this to be done.
Father, although we are not good enough before You, as we have
gathered at this hour to repent of our past life and we aspire to come
forth with a new determination and a new commitment, please allow us
to become the children who can grope for the bosom of Your infinite
love. Beloved Father, I sincerely wish and desire for this to be done.
You alone have dominion over the remaining hours of the service. Do
not allow Satan to invade these hours. I also wish for You to protect
us with Your glorious grace, and embrace us with Your hands of love. I
pray all of this in the name of the Lord. Amen.
The words in Matthew 10 were given to the beloved disciples, who were
about to leave and bear witness to Jesus for the first time. They were
guided by Jesus, who had the final determination, with an important
mission to lead battles against Satan on earth.
Through these words, we can understand that Jesus had infinite love
and attachment toward his disciples, despite extremely sorrowful
circumstances in his heart. On the other hand, when Jesus sent out his
chosen disciples to spread the new words of blessing to the
Israelites, we should understand that the situations and hearts of the
disciples were pitiful. Yet, so were the anointed Jesus' heart and
situation.
You should understand also that these words were spoken by Jesus out
of concern for his disciples. Although he wished for their victories
in the battles against the billions of satans so that they could sing
a song of glory to God, they could make a mistake during the process
and thus cause Heaven to worry.
The Heart of Jesus,
Who Sent out His Disciples to Witness
These words were given to encourage his beloved disciples who were
determined to win the final battle. Because Jesus knew that enemies
would certainly appear to block their paths, he hoped they would win
the battles, sing a song of victory and participate in a joyful moment
when they could testify that they were sons and daughters of God.
However, you who are living today should understand these words did
not apply only to the disciples at that time. These words also imply a
life course for Christians, who should fight, walking the same path of
the disciples. These words are for all humankind, which has been
striving to establish a victorious foundation on this earth throughout
history based upon the will of Christ.
If we can glean such a heart in Jesus, we can understand that he said
the words with concern for the faith of the disciples, who were to
leave soon, knowing the possibility that they would soon be facing an
unbelievably difficult environment. Therefore, Jesus wanted his
beloved disciples to return glory to God through victories in the
battles against Satan. Thus, he spoke to them with a special
determination and heart. We should understand this.
In the verses we read that no one will welcome the disciples. This
means that in walking a path to become a heavenly son or daughter,
Satan will always try to invade. We should understand this.
Furthermore, we should remember what Jesus said: The ones who will
block your way will not be pagans who do not have faith, the chosen
Israel nor faithful Jews, but will be your own family members.
Although you do not have much in your possession and have nothing to
offer Heaven, since you came to understand the meaning of the words of
Jesus, you should become the kind of person who can figure out the
heart, determination and pledge of Jesus when he spoke thus.
Reflecting upon the words from Jesus' viewpoint, we can understand
that Jesus did not have even one friend with whom he could share his
heart. If there was a nation, it did not belong to him; if there was a
people, they were not his people; and if there was a church, it did
not belong to him. He had a family in which he was raised, but it was
not his own. He had brothers and sisters, but they were not his own.
Thus, when he spoke about this, he was actually bequeathing his own
life course, walked on behalf of Heaven, to his disciples on earth.
You should understand this. Another thing you should understand is
that Jesus is asking you who are living today, Who can become my true
family member?
There are many nations on earth, many peoples, many families and many
human beings. However, no true family members of Jesus exist among
them. Therefore, you should understand that God has been looking for
such people until now.
What then was the purpose of Jesus sending out his own beloved
disciples to the bosom of his enemies? It was not to create a
religious body or organization nor to build a new nation through the
Israelites. It was to find family members with whom God could rejoice,
God's true family members who could live in accordance with the will
of God. Therefore, the most important thing is how we can become
Christ's true family members.
What then should you do? You do not have many possessions, you know
little. You may not have much to be proud of, but God should be able
to say that you are a true family member of Jesus. That is, you should
be able to become a person with whom God can live forever, and whom
God, Jesus and even you can approve of, a heavenly family member who
can manifest the glory of God. Such is the person for whom God has
been looking, for whom Christ has been looking, and whom you hope to
become. You should understand this.
The Inner Attitude of a Person
Who Can Stand Before Christ with Pride
What then should we do to become a true family member of Christ? By
attending Jesus in our daily life, we should become his family member,
who came as a true person and the begotten son of God; that is, the
first family member of Heaven.
By doing so, we should be able to prove our life to be like that of
Jesus before God. Jesus was established as number one in the heavenly
family realm. That is, he showed his life to be the standard through
which he could live in the Father's home as the son of Father.
Jesus testified that he was the son of God who came to fulfill a
mission to bring the Israelites, living in the land of faithlessness,
back to the bosom of Heaven. He claimed that he was a family member of
Heaven.
Whatever the opposition, Jesus was not afraid of it and spread the
will of Father. He fought alone at the risk of his life. You should
understand this.
Therefore, just as Jesus who came to the earth as the son of God
testified to God's will during his entire life, you also should become
a person who can testify to the heart of Jesus, who can fight Satan
and die for the fulfillment of God's will on earth.
What then is the purpose of testifying to Jesus' heart, fighting Satan
and risking our lives? It is because the power of darkness on earth
attempts to block you from becoming a true family member of Jesus.
Enemies persecuted Jesus who proclaimed God's heart before all
humankind. They blocked Jesus' path. That is, satans worked together
to kill one person, Jesus. Thus, to evict and obliterate them from the
earth, Jesus walked a course to make Satan surrender. He did not sleep
or eat well. That is, to raise a shield against all the attacks of
Satan, Jesus lifted a torchlight, sacrificing everything he had.
Therefore, we should understand and reflect that Jesus, the son of
God, went to a battleground at the risk of his life and eventually
walked a path of death on the cross, to testify to the will of God.
Why then is it that we have faith and hope in Jesus? It is to become a
true son or daughter of God, and thus become a true family member of
Jesus, who can live attending him. Therefore, you should first become
a person who can stand in pride before Jesus, who represented Heaven's
heart. That is, each of you should become a true family member of
Jesus. You do this by first establishing one realm of heart with God
through bowing down before Him and by building a place in which Jesus
can rest in peace.
The reason is that, although Jesus came to the earth, he had no one
who could be his true family member, with whom he could rest in peace.
This became his historical painful grievance. Thus, you today should
become his true family member, comforting his heart and liberating him
from such pain. In your family, living in the attendance of Jesus as
your own elder brother, you should possess a heart that can take his
sorrow as yours, his pain as yours, his concern as yours. Thus, you
can comfort him. Unless you have such a heart, you can never become a
true family member of Jesus. You should clearly understand this.
The Person Who Can Take after the Heart
and Character of Jesus
Jesus lived with his beloved brothers for thirty years in the family
of Joseph, but those family members did not become Jesus' true family
members. Although Jesus had a family, he did not have a true family
nor did they become the kind of family member whom Jesus needed.
Therefore, Jesus was evicted from village after village. Further, he
was persecuted by the Jews, the Israelites, until recent human
history.
Even in the midst of such persecution, what was the hope of Jesus with
such a sorrowful heart? On earth Jesus wanted to live with the heart
of Heavenly Father, for the sake of His sons and daughters, attending
Heavenly Father as His family member. Not only did he want to live in
love for his beloved family members and comfort his Father, he also
wanted his family members to be able to comfort the Father. Yet he did
not have such family members, and thus all of the Jewish religious
body and the Israelites came to fall in the position of faithlessness.
Therefore, Jesus expressed his sorrowful heart, stating, ". . . Foxes
have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the son of man has
nowhere to lay his head." (Matthew 8:20) Therefore, you should be able
to empathize with such a heart of Jesus and prepare a place where he
can lay his head. If you do not have a family where you can attend
Jesus, you can attend him, at least in your heart. If you do not have
a place where Jesus can lay his head down, you should be willing to
lay his head down on your lap. When you have such a heart, you can
become a true family member of Jesus.
You might have wanted to become Jesus' true family member who could
fulfill his will of salvation on this earth. Thus, you should remove
all of the elements that can cause you to have an opposing desire.
Jesus said, "Your family members are enemies," in walking a path to
Heaven. Jesus wanted to treat everyone as his family members and raise
them up as his family members, but no one knew such a desire of Jesus.
Instead, even people who were close to him, believed in and depended
upon him left. Through that condition, Satan came to invade Jesus by
driving him to the cross. From this you should realize how heartbroken
Jesus was, who came as the tree of life for all humankind was, and how
he yearned to have a true family member who could represent his
situation.
What then should you who are gathered here together do to understand
the situations and heart of Jesus and stand in the position of a true
family member who can live with him forever? To do this, you should
keep a heart that can represent the heart of Jesus. You should take
after the heart and character of Jesus, whose loyalty toward Heaven
never changed in any environment, anywhere. As people who have been
called for a mission to pioneer a new path, what should you do? You
should stand in the position of a true family member of Jesus,
creating an environment where he can rest in peace and feel joy.
When Jesus stated, "Your family members are enemies," who were they?
They were those who could not grieve when Jesus grieved, those who
were not heartbroken. They were those who were ignorant when he
"heartbrokenly" testified to Heaven's heart. You should also clearly
understand that Jesus' mother and brothers could not be his true
family members. Instead, they became his enemies in the path he was
walking. Furthermore, you should understand that even Jesus' three
disciples, who were educated with all of his heart and life, the ones
who walked the three years of his public ministry with him, could not
become his true family members.
When Jesus was about to climb a hill of death, a hill of the cross,
you should understand that those beloved disciples did not become his
true family members. They became his enemies instead. Thus, you today
should understand the historical fact that your ancestors did not
understand the heart of God and did not become His true family members
who could follow His dispensation.
To Become a True Family Member of Jesus
Therefore, although you are using an expression, "a family member," it
is a phrase with which you should be fearful. If you commit a
wrongdoing in the course of faith, you will become an enemy who will
block the standpoint of Jesus, who testified to the will of God. You
will also become an enemy who will block the standpoint of Jesus who
fought Satan, and blocked his will to redeem the sins of all humankind
through the cross. You should keep this in mind.
What kind of person then is a true family member of Jesus? He or she
will be a person who resembles Jesus, who wanted to spread the word to
everyone, and who can experience all of his heart that worried,
concerned and lamented while Jesus was fighting Satan. Thus, the one
who only followed Jesus, when he was walking the way of the cross,
cannot be a true family member of Jesus, but the one who understands
the heart of Jesus until the time when he had to walk a path toward
the cross. You should comprehend this clearly.
When Jesus came to the earth, with a mission as a true witness in his
life course of thirty years, the fact that he could not find a true
family member was his greatest sorrow and pain. A true family member
who could testify on his behalf, fight alongside him when he was
fighting Satan, carries the cross on his behalf when he walks toward
Golgotha, one who he could be proud of before Heaven and earth. You
should understand this.
What then should you do today? As Jesus was desperate to testify to
the will of God 2,000 years ago, you who are living today should also
do your best to testify to His will, with all of your heart and mind.
You should become the kind of person who can fulfill the wishes of
Jesus, with the same situation of Jesus, who fought Satan, and with
the heart of Jesus who was concerned about the fulfillment of the will
at the risk of the opposition of Judaism and the Israelites.
Further, to eliminate all the obstructions to fulfilling the will of
Heaven, you should become the kind of person who can feel the grim
resolution of Jesus, who was determined to offer even his life. You
should also be willing to have the spirit to become a sacrificial
offering, to carry a cross on behalf of your people.
With the character of Jesus, you can communicate with the heart of
Jesus, who became a sacrificial offering 2,000 years ago, on behalf of
the Israelites. You should not become a dead offering, who surrenders
to Satan. Penetrated with the heart of Jesus, you should not be
discouraged to testify to the will of Jesus, nor should you be
defeated through fighting against Satan. Therefore, you who are in the
Last Days, should have a heroic resolution and the heart to climb over
the hill of death, and guide even your enemy to God's bosom of love.
You can then finally become a true family member of Jesus.
Who then saddened the heart of Jesus, when he was carrying out the
great will of God? They are the ones who were the closest to Jesus.
They were not the prepared Israelites nor were they the believers of
Judaism. The greatest grief to Jesus derived from the facts that the
disciples who followed him for three years, did not have faith when he
needed, nor could they testify to him when needed, nor could they
fight when needed, nor could they die when they had to. You should
clearly understand this.
What then are the things you should do to be called a true family
member of Jesus? First, you should be united in heart and act upon it.
By doing so, you should learn how to fight to achieve one goal, the
will of God, and become a person who can be determined to die for its
fulfillment. You should also become a person who can relieve the
grievance of Jesus, caused by the failure to fulfill the will of God
when he came to the earth 2,000 years ago, and comfort him. When you
do all of this, you will be called a true family member of Jesus. You
should remember this.
What a True Family Member Should Do
What then should you possess in your course of faith? You should
become a person who can have true family members. When you return to
your family, you should be able to have true family members. When you
go to your church, you should have true family members. When you go to
the society, you should also have true family members.
As Jesus testified to God on His behalf, fought against Satan on His
behalf, and died on His behalf, you should be able to do the same.
Further, after having stood in such a position, you should become a
person who can have a family member who can testify to you. As Jesus
had his disciples who could testify to him, you then will become a
person testified to by that person. That is, to stand in a position
where you can be called a son or daughter of God, you should have a
family member who can testify to you as an unchanging child of God,
and can die for you.
To become such a person, what should you do? You should become a
leader, who is willing to sacrifice more than anyone else. In other
words, unless you become a true sung do (Christian), who is willing to
carry a cross of sacrifice for many people, you shall not have anyone
who will fight and die on your behalf.
For the sake of God, Jesus went a path of sacrifice, abandoning
everything he had. What he testified was not for his own sake, but for
God's sake, nor did he fight for his own sake, but for God's sake.
Similarly, he did not carry the cross for himself, but to fulfill the
whole purpose of God's providence.
Therefore, until now, many sung do testified to Jesus, fought for him
and died for him. So while fulfilling God's will of restoration, you
should have someone who can testify to you, fight for you and die for
you. If not, you should understand that you will be in the position of
an enemy before Heaven and earth, or Jesus.
What was the reason Jesus died when he had come to the earth? It is
because he had no one who was willing to die for him. Why did he fight
on this earth? It is because no one was willing to fight for him. Why
did he testify to himself? It is because no one was willing to testify
to him.
Therefore, you should become a family member of Jesus, who can
represent his heart, and should have a family member who can testify
to you, fight for you and die for you. Otherwise, you will carry a
grievance that you could not become a living sacrificial offering
before the Father, by not being able to indemnify a thirty-year life
course of Christ. You should keep this in mind.
What then should you do today? As you seek a way to become a true
family member, you should have a heart of the same concerns that Jesus
had and God had, and should be able to pray for family members.
Although Jesus prayed for his beloved disciples and people, due to
their faithlessness, they caused him a grievance. You thus should be
able to relieve him of this.
Consequently, to establish a church and a people centered on Jesus,
you should work hard when others enjoy themselves. To fight Satan,
while others do not know, you should find a person who is willing to
die for you.
The Importance of Forming a Family
Which Can Be One with Jesus' Path
For whom then did Jesus die on the cross? Of course, it was for his
beloved family members. Further, it was for many people and all
humankind. Jesus did not pray for himself, but for all humans. He also
testified, fought and lived for them. Therefore, you should do your
best to become a family member of Jesus. That is, you should make your
utmost effort with all of your heart and mind to become his family
member, through a path of testifying, fighting and dying.
Ladies and gentlemen! Do you have a person who can testify to you
before the judgment of God or Satan? Do you have a friend who can
fight Satan for you? Do you also have a family member who is willing
to die for you? All of this will determine your value. Thus, you
should understand your current position, in pursuing this path.
Today, a person who pursues the fulfillment of God's will shall be
confronted with enemies in the process. First, someone in the family
will try to block the path. That is, if a wife of a family goes to
church, her husband will become her enemy, and if a husband of a
family does, vice versa. If children go to church, their parents will
become their enemies, and if parents do, vice versa.
What position then are you in? You are in the position where you lost
your family, and lost your husband or wife. Further, you could lose
even your parents. That is why you should find a true family and true
parents, and you yourself should become a true husband or a true wife.
Further, you should become a true family member of Heaven.
What then should you do to become such a person? In your family, if
your parents are sad, so should you be as their children. If your
children are sad, so should you be as their parents. If your husband
is sad, so should her wife be, and vice versa. In your family, if
everyone is not united as one, and cannot create an environment in
which they can attend God's will, no one will be more miserable than
you. If so, you will be rejected from your family, society and nation.
You will then need a family member centered on God's will.
Instead of being rejected by your worldly parents, you should have
true parents, and instead of a conjugal relationship without trust in
each other, you should find a true family member, with whom you can
establish a true family. No matter what happens to the world, you
should form an inseparable relationship with a family member that
transcends even death.
Even in the secular world, a relationship between parents and children
is such that they are willing to die for each other. If so, you should
connect each other with the love of Heaven, and form a deeper
relationship with love. If you cannot create such an environment, you
will not be able to dwell in the same place where Jesus does, nor can
God dwell with you in peace.
What then should you do at the time when the final moments of the Last
Days are beginning? Even in the same church, you do not understand
each other's heart and situation, but this is not acceptable. That is
a relationship of enemies. Thus, you should be interested in your
neighbor brothers or sisters, and consider their situations to be
yours, and their sorrow to be yours. By doing so, we should build an
eternal and true family member's relationship.
That is, with God's sorrowful heart, considering each individual to be
your own family member, you should establish a true family
relationship through which you can love each other in the position of
parents and children, husband and wife, and brothers and sisters.
Jesus' True Family Member,
The Person Who Can Build a Relationship to Live for Each Other.
However, in such relationships, when you try to attend God and have
Him dwell in peace, enemies who want to block your way will appear,
without fail. Those who have been related to you until now will come
and appear as your enemies. They are in your own family, society and
nation, and even in the world in which we are now living.
Thus, you have an important mission to remove them from the levels of
the family, the society, the nation, the world and even in the spirit
world. That is, by attending one True Parent through the hearts of God
and Jesus, you are to carry out an important mission to establish a
family, a society, a nation and the world. Therefore, you should be
able to build relationships with people who can testify to you, fight
for you, and die for you. When you do it, you can become a true family
member of Jesus. Please keep this in mind.
Prayer
Beloved Father! Please establish your children gathered here today to
be your true children.
If there was anything that could not be united with your heart due to
their self-centeredness, through this hour, please let them realize
that it could have been a condition for them to stand in the position
of an enemy before You.
Father of love, today, through experiencing Heaven's heart, we should
fight to testify to Your heart to our beloved (church) family members,
and we should also fight Satan who is blocking us from doing this. If
it is not achieved, please let us also realize that even at the risk
of our life, we are to fulfill this responsibility. Beloved Father, I
earnestly wish and desire for this to be done.
Before Jesus started his universal mission, the question was with his
three disciples. Similarly, today also, for our church to prosper, the
question is whether each of us can be united with three members next
to each other. Thus, please allow them to be united as one. Please
guide them to also realize that it is a way to become a true family
member of Jesus. I sincerely wish and desire for this to be done.
Since we are to fulfill our mission, by being united in mind and body,
and with a heart of Jesus, by being able to testify against Satan, and
die while fighting him, please guide us to escape from the intrusions
of the enemy during the process.
Through the unity of our entire church membership, please help us to
defend ourselves against the group of enemies on the level of a
people, and further, through the unity of three people centered on
God's will, please help them be able to defend themselves against the
enemies on the worldwide level. Beloved Father, I sincerely wish and
desire for this to be done.
If each of us is ready to fight for his or her people, pray for
humanity and die for them, we can attend Jesus in peace as the center
of our family, society, nation and the world. We are also aware of the
fact that only when we become such a person can we become a true
family member of Jesus. Beloved Father, please guide us to stand in
such a position. As I earnestly wish and desire for this to be done, I
pray in the name of the Lord. Amen.
This was originally an untitled speech. The title was added in
Korea.
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