바울의 마지막 문안 인사 (30) 바울 은 마지막 문안 인사에서 이렇게 말씀했습니다 : “아킵보에게 이르기를 주 안에서 받은 직분을 삼가 이루라고 하라” ( 골 4:17). 아킵보는 자신의 직분을 충분히 입증하라는 말씀 입니다 . 신약성경에 나타난 주요 직분으로는 목사 , 장로 , 집사 등이 있습니다 . 직분자들은 자신의 직분을 충분히 입증하기 위해선 (1) 그리스도 예수님께 감사해야 합니다 . 디모데전서 1 장 12 절입니다 : “나에게 힘을 주신 우리 주 그리스도 예수님께 내가 감사하는 것은 나를 충성스러운 사람으로 여겨 나에게 직분을 맡겨 주셨기 때문입니다 . ” 바울은 자신이 예수 그리스도를 믿지 않았을 때에 모르고 하나님을 모독하고 성도들을 핍박하던 난폭한 사람이었는데 하나님께서 자신을 불쌍히 여겨 주시사 회심케하셨을 뿐만 아니라 사명을 주시사 이방인의 사도로 세우셨기에 예수님께 감사했습니다 . (2) 은혜의식 속에서 더 많이 수고해야 합니다 . 고린도전서 15 장 8-10 절입니다 : “맨 나중에는 부족하기 짝이 없는 내게도 나타나셨습니다 . 나는 사도들 중에 가장 보잘것없는 사람이며 하나님의 교회를 박해했기 때문에 사도라고 불릴 자격마저 없습니다 . 그러나 오늘날 내가 이렇게 된 것은 하나님의 은혜로 된 것이며 내게 주신 그분의 은혜가 헛되지 않아 내가 다른 모든 사도들보다 더 많이 일했습니다 . 그렇지만 그것은 내가 한 것이 아니라 나와 함께 하신 하나님의 은혜였습니다 . ” 그래서 그는 은혜 의식 속에서 다른 모든 사도들보다 더 많이 일을 했습니다 . 우리도 그 리 해야 합니다 .
Daily pressure on me
"Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches" (2 Corinthians 11:28).
I became a pastor without knowing anything. My experience of associate pastor is only one year. It is also an experience that I have been serving as a pastor for only one year while my father is serving as pastor in Victory Presbyterian Church where I grew up all along. And after one year, I was burnout and disobeyed my father’s word and fled to Korea like Jonah. When I went to Korea, I served as an educational part-time pastor in Seohyun Church, responsible for English Ministry and newly wedded couple group. And I only served there about two years and nine months. Of course, I know that being a pastor is not just an experience. But that was how much I was lack in not only experience but a lot of thing. In year 2003, the Lord gave me the promise of Matthew 16:18 through the guest speaker at the church renewal pastor association retreat, so I came back to Victory Presbytery Church again. And my father retired and I became a new senior pastor. It is already more than 15 years ago. When I think about the past years, I still remember what my wife said to me: 'James, you have changed'. My wife told me that I changed after I became a senior pastor. Not only I didn’t deny what she said, but I couldn’t deny it. That's because I knew I was different. For some reason, the position of being a senior pastor seemed to have made me into someone else. When I saw myself, I couldn’t speak with my brothers and sisters in the Lord as before, and I couldn’t even have fellowship with them. Instead, I stayed in my shepherd room most time. So I wondered why I was like that. I couldn’t believe what the senior pastor position could do to me. I think one of the reasons was the pressure being a senior pastor. I think there were many mental pressures in particular of being senior pastor. As a senior pastor, I felt more responsibility than ever, and I felt that I had a lot of pressure on myself. Often I had more things to worry about and a lot of stress that made my heart very heavy. To put it another way, there were a lot of daily pressure before me and even now too. And yesterday night as I was preparing for the Morning Prayer meeting, I happened to read 2 Corinthians 11:28.
In 2 Corinthians 11:28 we can see that Apostle Paul facing daily pressure. It was a concern for all the churches. Paul had intense concern about the weak believers led into sin. Look at 2 Corinthians 11:29 – “Who is weak without my being weak? Who is led into sin without my intense concern?” In such Paul’s intense concern and worries, there was fear. Paul was afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, Satan might tempt the believers to be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ (v. 3). He was afraid that the believers might depart from the true gospel of Jesus Christ that he preached and might accept a different gospel (v. 4). The reason why he had to worry about this was because there were false apostles who disguised themselves as apostles of Christ and were deceiving the church members (v. 13). Since Satan disguised himself as an angel of light, it wasn’t surprising for Paul that if his servants also disguised themselves as servants of righteousness (vv. 14-15). And Paul was afraid that Satan and his servants would deceive the believers and would make them to depart from the truth and their faith. Because of this, there was the daily pressure on Paul of concern for all the churches (v. 28).
We the senior pastors must have this kind of pressure. We must have this daily pressure of concern for our church members. We must worry and be afraid that disguised Satan and his servants may deceive our church members, especially those who are weak in faith, and make them to depart from the truth and their faith. Of course, besides this concern, there are many other concerns when we are in ministry. But what we need to worry about most is their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Our greatest interest must be in their salvation. We should be very interested in whether our beloved brothers and sisters in Christ are standing firm in their faith. In doing so, I am sure there are many worries and fears because of the daily pressure of concern for them. But I believe that the Lord will restore our souls and will refresh us. The Lord will revival our hearts. May these blessings be with you all.
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