When We Believe and Serve Jesus, the King of Kings

Pastor Ock Soo Park's Sermon

And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him, And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him. The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. . . (Matthew 8:5–13)

“I’M ACHAN!”
After Christianity came into Korea, an event that left its mark in history occurred at a church in Pyeongyang in 1907. The pastor of the church preached about “Achan.” It was about how Achan stole what was to be given as an offering to God when the Israelites were capturing Jericho. As a result of that, God could not work in Israel, and many people were killed. That Word had a strong impact on the hearts of those who attended the service on that day.
In particular, there was an elder at the church. At one time, the elder’s friend was ill, nearing death, and the friend called him to give his final will. “This is as long as I’ve got, but I have a favor to ask of you. If my fortune is managed well, my wife will be able to live without much difficulty until she dies, but because my wife is a little dim-witted, I don’t think she’ll be able to avoid getting conned. You’re a church elder! I’d like for you to help my wife and manage my fortune.” The elder promised to do so.
After the friend passed away, the elder began to manage the fortune. Then he began to use some of his friend’s money thinking, “I’ll pay it back next time,” and the wife did not know about this at all. As more time passed, he could not pay the money back, but he thought, “I’ll just pretend like it never happened,” and just let it pass. As he continued in that way, little by little, he used up his friend’s wealth unbeknownst to the wife.
As he heard the pastor’s sermon on that day, the Holy Spirit strongly pointed out the elder’s sin, and he began to feel very guilty of his sin, realizing that God was unable to work in his church because of the sin he had committed. In the middle of the sermon, the elder stood straight up and shouted in a loud voice, “I am Achan!” The members of the church were completely surprised, and the atmosphere of the service turned strange. The elder came forward and started to confess his evil. As the Holy Spirit worked in the hearts of all the people who attended the service that day, they all came forward one by one, confessing their sins and praying before God. While doing that, they gained assurance in their hearts that their sins were forgiven through the blood of Jesus, and the Holy Spirit worked powerfully.
This work of the Holy Spirit spread to a neighboring church, and this work of the gospel spread throughout the entire nation. In particular, they say that the work of the gospel that took place in Suncheon was truly amazing. After a short while however, the work of the Holy Spirit all faded away, and what remains now in Korean churches is asking for forgiveness of sin in tears and in supplication. It has become a religion that has nothing to do with the Holy Spirit.

JESUS, KING OF THE JEWS
This morning, I read about the centurion in the Gospel of Matthew. A centurion is a military officer with enough power to rule all of Capernaum, and yet, we can see this centurion’s heart being concerned with his servant. And when he told Jesus about the problem, Jesus said, “I will come and heal him,” but he said, “Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.”
At those words, Jesus said, “I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.” Such faith is not found even among the Israelites, but how could this centurion, a Roman soldier, come to have such faith?
When you read the four Gospels in the New Testament, the four people Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John express Jesus through the revelation of God.
Since Matthew represented Jesus as the King of the Jews, the genealogy of the kings of Judah comes out in Matthew chapter 1. And there are many sermons Jesus delivers, such as the Sermon on the Mount, sermon on the boat, and several parables. It’s because a king does all things through his word. That is why when you read Matthew chapter 8, the power contained within the Word is revealed, and the leper is healed by the Word of Jesus.
In the Gospel of John, it describes Jesus thus: the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us. If that Word of Jesus comes into my heart and my heart becomes one with it, the Word begins to work in my life from then on. Therefore, the source of all power is within the Word.
In living life, everyone faces hardship and tragedies. There are times when business gets risky, times when a healthy body gets sick, and times when children go on the wrong path. Due to various problems, we pray to God asking for help, but there are times when we don’t really feel that God has heard our prayer.

THE POWER OF THE WORD
However, once you discover the heart of the Lord that flows in the Bible while you read it, and if your heart and the heart of the Lord in the Bible become connected as one, the Word will settle in your heart. Then it’s not you who overcomes fear, but the Word that lets you overcome it. It’s not that there are no worries, but that the Word defeats them.
That is why I really like preaching. Before I preach, I have to read the Bible and meditate on it, and during the time I preach, the Word captures my heart, my worries disappear, and I find myself gaining new strength. If I wasn’t a pastor and didn’t preach, I might have flowed towards my flesh.
People ask me this question every now and then: “How are you able to meet the presidents and government ministers?” To be honest, not once did I ever try hard to meet those kinds of people. A few months ago when I was invited by the Kenyan Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports and Prime Minister’s Office to deliver Mind Education for youth leaders, the President of Uganda sent the Minister of Youth to Kenya because he wanted to have Mind Education for the youth in Uganda just as in Kenya, so I said that we would make time.
We also hosted a World Camp in Nepal last November. The Nepalese minister who attended the Minister of Youth World Forum in July introduced the IYF to the President, and that was how the World Camp was begun. Pastor Hun-mok Lee went as the guest speaker, and I heard that the President wants to entrust all the youth of Nepal to IYF.
The year 2011 was the 10th anniversary of IYF. Seeing how God tries to give us land needed for IYF activities in several countries and how IYF is being entrusted with the education of youth, I can see that God is doing many new things through IYF as the years pass.

“SPEAK THE WORD ONLY.”
If you are in a position like the centurion in Matthew chapter 8, because you have actual power, you could despise those people under your command and care only for yourself, but this centurion was truly concerned that his servant had become ill and pleaded that Jesus solve the problem. More surprising is the fact that even though Jesus said that He would go and heal him, this centurion said, “Lord, there is no need for You to come all the way to my house. Please only speak the Word.” Why did the centurion say that? He is saying, “Are You not the King of Kings? Does a king go to see a vassal or servant at his house to ask a favor? Since he is a king, if he says come, he comes, and if he says go, he goes. Since You are the King of Kings, if You would only tell my servant’s illness to leave him, the illness will leave him.” Although this centurion is not an Israelite, the fact was that he had realized in his heart that Jesus is the King of Kings.
When I read the latest issue of the college student magazine Tomorrow, there was an interview of Brother Maxim, who is running a big business in St. Petersburg, Russia. The symbol of wealth in Russia is wearing a long coat made of leather and driving a Mercedez Benz, and one day before that brother believed in Jesus, he got to wear a long coat of leather and own a Mercedez Benz.
Being as happy as he was, seeing that he had become rich, he got off the car spinning the car keys around, but he ended up dropping the keys into the sewer. In trying to retrieve them, he fell into the sewers, and ended up being covered in sewage. He then realized how arrogant he was, and began to live a life completely different from that of the past. Although he is the president of a large company, in addition to being a vegetarian, he lives simply and is generous with donations. If people just live without thinking, they follow the first desires of the flesh that arise, and end up desiring a life of eating, drinking, and enjoying themselves. However, if one thinks a little more deeply, eating and drinking luxuriously is meaningless, and people who raise their voices saying that they have lots of money are also nothing but pitiful. That is why people who know how to think deeply do not live bound to their own flesh.

BY LEARNING OF JESUS
Although money, education, or rank may give us some degree of assistance, those things however can never make us happy. Money makes people dirty and evil, and even power is something you might have that can disappear in an instant. If we think more deeply about this, we eventually come to meet God.
The more I get to know Jesus, I come to feel that being recognized by others and having a lot of money is nothing. As I experience how precious Jesus is, I just cannot exchange Jesus with anything. Even though you may say that you are a saved brother or sister however, if you do not receive the guidance of the Holy Spirit and do not experience Jesus, you do not know Jesus well even though Jesus is alive.
There are a lot of functions on the latest smartphone I have, but because I do not know those functions well, I do not use them. It’s a too much of a bother for me if my phone is complicated. It’s because being able to make and receive calls is enough. When it’s necessary however, I do learn the functions and use them. Likewise, if we precisely learn of Jesus little by little, Jesus creates a new world in our hearts. That’s because Jesus has the power to overcome sin and temptation, sorrow and suffering, hardship and illness.

THE FAITH OF THE CENTURION
Jesus had become the King of Kings in the heart of the Roman centurion, but today in the hearts of many brothers and sisters, Jesus is not the King of Kings. With their mouths they say that Jesus is the King of Kings and the Almighty Lord, but in their hearts, Jesus is someone who cannot solve even one small problem. That is why Jesus becomes a small part of their lives, and they do not think at all about receiving the grace bus, and I would take one of them at a time in my car and preach the gospel to them.
One minister told me that he lived being so good since he was young that he would not even kill a single bug; however, after becoming a minister, he was treated with respect. While he gladly served in his position for about a year, he kept ending up doing wrong things that made him feel guilty in his conscience. Then he asked me what to do about this problem, and he spoke with his heart completely open.
I was so thankful to see a minister talking like that. It was because I felt, “God is making him realize his sin this way to lead him to salvation.” As I preached the gospel to him while he was in a state of having realized his sin, he received salvation right away.

DO YOU BELIEVE THE LORD AS THE KING OF KINGS?
The Roman centurion thought, “It would be overwhelming enough for the Roman emperor to come to my house, but if He, who is the King of Kings, were to come to my house, how could I bear it?” Because he was completely humbled before Jesus, he said thus to Jesus: “Lord, speak the Word only, and my servant shall be healed. When I ask requests of those under my command, I don’t go to see them; I just tell them to come or go.”
Because the centurion was with Jesus, the King of Kings, he was neither afraid nor worried. With that said, we say that we believe Jesus, but there are few who believe the Lord as the King of Kings. It’s because Satan has covered the eyes of our heart to see Jesus as the King of Kings. Regardless of how educated you may be, you will feel that raising children is not easy. You would think that you just have to clothe and feed your children, send them to school, and buy them good things, but it’s not like that. At times when your child has a heart different from yours, your heart aches as well.

There was a time when my daughter fell onto some burning coals when she was young, and at that time I thought, “How surprised must she have been and how much would she have cried? How scared would she have been? As the father who cannot do anything for my daughter, would I be able to raise my daughter well?” After that day, I didn’t feel confident about raising my children, and I didn’t try to do things well for my children.
“God, my son has two fathers. One is God the Father, and the other is me, but I’m just his father by title. There is nothing that I can do for my son. God, may You become my son’s Father and lead my son. I’m only a father on the outside, but in my heart, I’d like to submit my resignation.” I love my son and daughter and help them out with things, but in my heart, I entrusted my children to God. Then I saw God raising my son and daughter.
My aunt is a deacon at a Presbyterian Church, and she often says to me, “You’re a pastor of a big church, right? Once you get your salary, bring it to me. I’ll save it up and buy you an apartment. It’s a lot different from when you’re a pastor and once you retire. I’ve seen pastors having a hard time after retirement.”
One day I thought about what my aunt said. “It’s true that I am aging. Should I buy myself an apartment?”
However, immediately I had the heart that the Lord would say to me, “Pastor Park, you’ve made all the preparations for yourself in your old age, then I won’t have to help you,” and had goose bumps. So I have not prepared one cent for myself. The hymn, I’ d Rather Have Jesus, was written because whether it’s family, business, raising children, preparation for old age, or anything else, it won’t work if it’s withoutJesus. I speak to all of you today with an earnest heart. Jesus is the King of Kings, but there are many who do not regard Jesus as the King of Kings. There are many people who do not serve Jesus and follow the pleasures and desires of the flesh. How could such people receive the grace of the Lord?

THE LIFE OF SERVING THE LORD AS KING
When the kings of Israel became corrupt, and erected statues of the sun and Asherah in the Tabernacle in Jerusalem where God was to dwell, the kings perished. When Jesus becomes the King of your heart and you believe and serve Jesus, the Lord defeats your fear and hardships, giving you peace. When He is not the King of Kings, Jesus cannot do any work in you. Jesus shed His blood, died for you, and became the King of Kings, but don’t the desires and pleasures of the world hold a place in your hearts?
This morning, I hope that Jesus will become the King of all of your hearts. If you served your flesh, sexual desires, pleasure, or money and not Jesus, I hope you would repent before the Lord today. If you give your lives to serving the Lord, the Lord will become your King and lead all of you.