The Work of the God of Peace (Hebrews 13:18-25)

Let us bless one another, Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God. Your greetings of blessing will save the other person. Words have power, especially the Word of God; they are life so they will save people, and I pray that today may be such a blessed worship.  

Today is the time we are going through the end of Hebrews, and the words spoken at the very end are important, because the point of everything is written in the conclusion.  Everything that was written by the author of Hebrews from Hebrews 1 was to conclude with the last chapter of Hebrews.  The title of today’s message is, “The Work of the God of Peace.”  

1. God of peace (Heb. 13:20)

Only God has peace; this world has no peace.  When God created human beings, we were created to have peace only when we are with God. People think that chasing after this peace is a pursuit of happiness, but our happiness is not gained by manmade things. When the God of peace is with me, then I’m happy.  

We live our life doing many different works, but what are we doing when we are happy and peaceful?  When I go into the work God is doing, then I become happy.  People use the word “happiness” to create something that they made for themselves. They say, “If you laugh a lot, you’ll be happy.” However, humans can only start being happy when they have something from heaven that is incomparable to anything on earth. In other words, the level of God has to come upon me in order for me to have happiness that is incomparable to the rest of the world.

What is this God of Peace doing? This is the final message we’ve been given, and if we go into the work the God of Peace is doing, then we’ll be happy, too.

  1) Jesus Christ (Heb. 13:20)

    (1) Great Shepherd of the sheep (Heb. 13:20)

    (2) Blood of the eternal covenant (Heb. 13:20)

In Heb. 13:20, it says, “Now, through the blood of the eternal covenant, brought back from the dead, our Lord Jesus Christ, that great Shepherd of the sheep,” In the Old Testament, they had to slaughter a lamb that was one year old every year to forgive the sins of the Israelites for the whole year, but that meant that sacrifice would have to be made again the next year.  However, through Jesus Christ’s blood, it is the eternal covenant that forgives our sins forever.  Jesus Christ dying on the cross solved the eternal curses.  

    (3) Brought back from the dead (Heb. 13:20)

Then it says, “The God of peace who brought Him back from the dead,” in other words, the God of Peace who did the resurrection. The work Jesus Christ did was to die on the cross to overcome the problems of sin and death, and the God of Peace has finished that through the resurrection. It is the incident that solved all problems of our past, present, and future, and this incident God did was perfect.  If humans do something, they face another problem later; however, God finished all problems of mankind with this one incident.  

  2) Everything good (Heb. 13:21)

This God of peace equips you with every good thing, Heb. 13:21.  We talk about the good things and good work, it’s not talking about anything humans do.  There’s only one thing that is a good work in God’s eyes. It doesn’t matter how many good things a sinner does; it’s not a good thing. It may seem like a good and nice thing from a human perspective, but not from God’s eyes. There’s nothing that is a good work in God’s eyes other than Christ.  Then, if you’re doing the work of Christ, then you’re doing a good work. 

    (1) Good work (Phil. 1:6)

Phil 1:6 says Jesus Christ has begun this good work in you.  Jesus fulfilled the role of the Christ by dying on the cross and resurrecting, and now he is within us; that is the beginning of the good work.  In other words, Jesus Christ reigning within us is the beginning of the “good work.”  “Oh, but I volunteered here and served there,” those are only good works from people’s perspective, but that cannot be a good work in God’s eyes.  

Anything that doesn’t have Christ is not good, because without Christ, we cannot overcome the work of Satan.  Why do we work so hard and serve but we still face curses and disasters?  Why do we work so hard in life but still have mental and spiritual problems?  There’s not a single person who is born, wanting to do evil. If possible, we try to be good, but it’s not possible. When Christ comes into us and reigns over us, that is the good work.

    (2) Good works (Eph. 2:10)

Eph. 2:10 says more about this good work. “We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”  God prepared in advance for us to do the good work in Jesus Christ; this is what we have been created for.  We were created so that Christ could be in us, doing the work of Christ in us.  When you let go of your own plans in life and race towards the plan of Christ in your life, that’s what a good work is.  

The image of a good life that you have in your heart and imagination is not the image of a good life that God intended.  That’s an idol, an image you created for yourself, outside of Christ.  In other words, it’s an image you created in your heart to follow after your greed and the cravings of your flesh.  However, we were created in the image of God so that Christ lives within us and fulfills His work through us.  

    (3) God’s work (Jn. 14:10)

In John 14:10, Jesus Christ says He is in the Father and the Father is in Him so that He may do the role of the Father. In the very same way, Jesus Christ is inside of us so that the work of Jesus Christ may be done in us. 

    (4) God’s work – To believe (Jn. 6:29)

And the work of God is this, to believe in the one he sent, Jesus Christ. Believing in the work of Christ that He has done since the beginning, that’s believing, John 6:29. We’re not the main figures, doing anything; He has already begun the good work in us and will bring it to completion on the day of Christ Jesus.  The author of Hebrews wrote everything to say these words: you are not doing this, Jesus Christ Who is the King of Kings has already begun the good work in you, all you have to do is believe that that is the work of God.  

If you don’t understand these words, you work so hard but it’s irrelevant to God’s work, and the Bible says God will say, “I do not know you.” People say, “God, I’ve done this and that,” but God says, “I don’t know you. That was you, running so diligently on your own, I don’t know you; You do not follow the work I was doing in faith.” 

  3) Equip you (Heb. 13:21)

It also says, “to make us complete in His good work.”  In the King James Version, it says to make you “perfect.”  The interpretation here is a little more modernized, so it’s not in there. Can people be perfect? From that point on, there are problems; only God is perfect.  Human beings trying to become perfect is what happened in Genesis 3, they were cursed because of the temptation of Satan.  In Genesis 6, it was the age of the Nephilim, and people married whomever they wanted to to make their perfect family for themselves, and that was the beginning of disasters.  In Genesis 11, the people tried to create the Tower of Babel so they could have a perfect power, like God’s, and that brought about the disaster of the Tower of Babel.

Are there any of us who are perfectionists? That is you, trying to be God. Humans cannot be perfect.  If you go to a mental hospital, there are many perfectionists.  They have to keep washing their hands because of viruses, even though they keep washing it, they keep needing more.  People have perfectionist thoughts, but they are the ones who are afflicted by their own perfectionism. Human beings have to be with the God who is perfect, and God must do His work through us.  

    (1) Faith and knowledge of the Son of God (Eph. 4:13)

How can we become perfect? Eph. 4:13 says that we will reach unity in faith in the knowledge of Jesus Christ, then we will be mature and whole.  The whole measure of the fullness of Christ is the body of Christ, the church.

    (2) Reach unity (Eph. 4:13)

Each individual person cannot be perfect; however, we can become perfect if we all unite as one in our faith and knowledge of Jesus Christ.  

    (3) The pastors, teachers, evangelists (Eph. 4:11, Heb. 13:18)

That is why in Eph. 4:11, some people have been raised as apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers.  Through this, we are raising up the perfect body of Christ, then you have to understand that all people are not perfect.  Then, you just have to speak to their strengths.  Everybody has flaws, and the church is a place where this person’s weaknesses are covered up by someone else’s strengths; that is the church.

If you understand this, then you can be a great leader in the world as well.  Even an unbeliever who knows this can lead a very great organization, and if you have this while raising your family, your family will be perfect as well.  What is the family that is always having problems, that is imperfect? They always criticize their flaws.  Then, do you know what happens?  

2. Christ and the body

  1) Christ – The head of the church (Eph. 1:22) 

We’re going to talk about this a little bit later, too, but the head of the church is Christ, Eph. 1:22, then what are the people of the church? They are the body of Christ.  Whatever the brain commands is sent as a signal to the body so the body moves as one.  I’m sure you all know that Christ is the head, in other words, we follow according to the commands of Jesus’ words.  So, we do not come to church to listen to the words of people.  We are coming to church to receive the words of Jesus Christ Who is living now and follow after those words.

    (1) All rule and authority, power and dominion (Eph. 1:21) 

Eph. 1:21 says Jesus Christ is far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title can be given to Him.  

    (2) Placed all things under His feet (Eph. 1:22) 

In Eph. 1:22, God placed all things under His feet and all things serve him.

    (3) The body of Christ – Church (Eph. 4:12) 

Eph. 4:12 says the body of Christ is the Church, and the way to build up the body of the Church is to prepare the people for works of service. We cannot be perfect, only the Triune God is perfect, but He has given each of us a heavenly talent.  God has given each of us a strength or heavenly talent to use it for God’s Kingdom, so we can raise up the body of Christ, the church.

Those who understand the church well will raise up their family.  Those who understand the church understand Christ, so they will raise up the nation properly, because the Commander of the nation is God. God has placed the authority upon those in leadership and is hiding things forward.  Then, each of us has our talents or our strengths. There’s no need to talk about weaknesses because we’re covering our weaknesses with other people’s strengths, so that we may become perfect together. But if you point out someone’s flaws and tell them to become perfect, that is not aligned with the Bible. Instead of the church being raised up, the church will fall down.  

Do you know the reason why there are endless problems in the family? Because you keep criticizing their weaknesses.  God created the woman in order to complement and protect the male, however, if you expect them to be perfect, you are challenging God. Then, the family will be destroyed. If the family is destroyed, it means the church is destroyed, too.  Then, how can we raise up the family, the church, as well as my business and enterprise?  You have to give credit where it’s due, and if they’re not doing something well, don’t mention it. 

Then what do we do about that? Do we have to fix and correct them? God did not make us like that.  God made us so that whatever this person cannot do, someone else can do as their strength to protect this person’s weakness. But if there’s still nobody who is able to encourage other people’s strengths, then you wait for them. That’s called the time schedule.  If you understand this very well, then your family will be perfected and your job will also be raised up perfectly. When this kind of leader rises up, then the nation will become perfect.  

If I were to bless a person, that blessing is upon me because we are the same body. There is the head and there is the body and if one part of our body hurts, then the whole body hurts.  So if you keep on blaming and judging other people, it doesn’t end there, but that will come back to me, because we are one body. If you keep judging or criticizing your spouse, that will come back to you.  Especially for the young adults who are about to get married, you have to get married, knowing what the church and family are.  When you judge people, you judge people with correct things, so you’re correct but that’s not correct in God’s eyes. You have to teach them what they did well, and they have to teach me what I did well. If I cannot do something, someone else will fill that lacking. I believe that is the church. Human beings cannot become perfect; we can become one within Jesus Christ Who is perfect so we may be perfect.

  2) Doing God’s will (Heb 13:21) 

The reason God gives us this perfection is so that He may work in us what is pleasing to Him.  Jesus Christ began a good work in us, and then He has given each of us a talent and raises up the church perfectly, so that you may do God’s good work.  What is the point of the church becoming one and perfect?  What is the point of our family becoming happy and united? What is the purpose of our business being raised up properly? It is to do God’s will.

    (1) God’s will – Have eternal life (John 6:40) 

Then, what is God’s will? John 6:40 says that the Father’s will is that everyone believes in and accepts Jesus Christ so that they may have eternal life. The work of the church to raise itself up perfectly is so that we can proclaim the gospel and give people eternal life.  God’s will is to save lives. There are two phrases Christians use a lot, “Let’s pray about it,” and “God’s will.”  Even my daughter uses those catchphrases; I don’t know where she learned them. She covers up her own desires by saying it’s God’s will.  If I do something bad, my daughter will say, “Look at that, God is punishing you for doing something bad.” I never taught her that.  She can’t talk back to me, but if I trip and hurt myself, she’ll say, “Look, God is punishing you for being mean to me,” this is how she changes the Word of God for her own benefit.  “Deaconess, try doing this, it’s God’s will.”

What is God’s will? It is giving eternal life.  The name of Jesus Christ being relayed so that lives will be saved.  “Do I have to live here or there?” Live wherever you want.  “Shall I live in Korea or America?” You can be wherever you want; but what is God’s will? It is gaining eternal life, it is transmitting the gospel so that people may be saved.  

    (2) Church proclaims the Gospel 

Some people ask me, “Should I choose this or that?” It doesn’t matter. “Should I move here or move there?” It doesn’t matter, but make the decision on the side that will spread eternal life. “Should I go to this job or that job?” You’ll have to go to either job eventually, so go to the one that will give you the gospel.

    (3) Fullness of Christ (Eph 1:23) 

Eph. 1:23 tells us what the Church is, it is His body, the fullness of Christ who fills everything in every way. We are all lacking, but we fill each other up through Christ, and that’s how we are filled with Christ. Only at that point are the darkness, curses, and disasters broken down. Try this in your family, too.  Look at their strengths, first, and I hope you will tell them about it, then those words will come back to me, and they will compliment me as well. This is what God will do because Christ is in us. 

But what is legalism? You are seeking perfection, so in order to attain perfection, you are criticizing their weaknesses.  That’s the method of the world. The world doesn’t have God, they have to become their own God, so they seek to attain perfection. There is no need for us to do that because the perfect Lord is with us.  God gave us the heavenly talent to fulfill His heavenly mission. If you keep telling people that, they will come to life.  If you come to life, then your one talent will change into five talents.  Or, God will send you people to fulfill it.  What is revival? It is the Body of Christ being raised perfectly and then God continuing to move us to save the world.

Being filled with Christ is the same as being filled with the Holy Spirit, which is the Spirit of Christ.  We are lacking and that’s why we pray for the Holy Spirit to fill us.  I hope you will pray right now, “May the Holy Spirit of Christ fill my thoughts, heart, spirit, and body, and may the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ bless all the fields of my work and my family.”  The Spirit of Christ has to work because we are lacking, and because this person is lacking, they have to be filled with the Spirit of Christ. That is our prayer of blessing.  

As you worship, I hope you will pray, “May the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ fill me from head to toe, with my spirit, mind, and body.”  RIght now, may you bless all the fields of, “My business, my studies, the people I will meet, and the things I will do with the filling of the Holy Spirit.”  That’s how you enjoy worship. Once you go there, you’ll see that it was done.  That’s how, through this time of worship, you can save your business, your family, and everyone you’ll meet this week because the Holy Spirit is working even now.  Even right now, God is mobilizing His heavenly angels and hosts to break down the forces of darkness in all fields.

There’s a door to El Salvador opening through the church.  God says to make disciples of all nations, and they are already prepared.  The characteristic is that they want to relay the gospel, the characteristic is that they want to receive God’s Word every day.  So, our Senior Deaconess Tai Song has the unique ability to speak in Spanish, and she has been doing this meeting every day.  

This disciple in El Salvador said, “A few weeks ago, I started seeing a shadow or figure that looked like a human but wasn’t a human,” so they were afraid.  It turns out that there was a relative of this disciple who was a witch doctor, and because this disciple was receiving the Word of God more, they got so upset so they sent an evil spirit to haunt this individual. These are the things that are happening, why do you think I’m telling you this?  

  3) Filling of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8) 

    (1) Faith – Prayer 

Today, at this moment, if you pray for the people you will meet this week, God will use the authority of the throne of heaven and send His angels there.  You have to know this to know the work of God that transcends time and space. If you don’t know this, you will have to do everything, but Satan is doing this work transcending time and space through evil, demon-possessed witch doctors.  Think about if someone like this lives in your apartment complex, and they are sending this to your house every day.  Imagine if there was a leader of a religion in your neighborhood who was sending these spirits to your household every day. That’s why strange things happen. These are the physical things happening as a result of the spiritual things.  

    (2) Authority 

However, what if you pray for those people in the name of Jesus Christ with the blessings of the throne of heaven?  The work God does is shining the light to bring people out of darkness.  That’s the authority you’ve been given.  Is there a problem you can’t shake in your family?  Try praying in the name of Jesus Christ. In the name of Jesus, may all the problems in my family be cast out.  Do you have a spiritual problem that is repeatedly flowing down the generations?  You can’t solve it with science; you can’t solve it with religious diligence; only in the name of Jesus Christ will the Holy Spirit work.  

There’s no reason for you to receive prayer from the pastor because you can personally pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Even fortune tellers or shamans receive the strength of evil spirits and give your fortune immediately. When Jesus Christ died on the cross, He tore the curtain so that as a nation of priests, we can all do this in our fields. God works because of the name of Jesus.  “Oh, I don’t really believe, I can’t do this,” He works because of the name of Jesus.  “Oh, but I don’t have any spiritual strength.”  But the Holy Spirit works because of the name of Jesus.  Without a doubt, God works, then the evidence will come later.  That’s the kind of creation we are.

    (3) Witness 

If you look at yourself the way you see yourself, that’s a headache.  However, the Christ Who is ruling the entire universe rules me from within.  Now, we go into Him, then what do you think happens? We come to life.  The way to save myself is not me; it is Christ.

3. What pleases God (Heb. 13:21)

The work that pleases God is proclaiming the gospel.  Heb. 13:15 says that God is pleased with the sacrifice.  Right now, we are worshiping God. 

  1) Through Jesus Christ (Heb. 13:21)

    (1) Work in us (Heb. 13:21)

    (2) Proclamation of the Gospel (1 Thess. 2:4)

    (3) Praise, Gospel, share – Worship (Heb. 13:15-16)

Let us give a sacrifice of praise.  If somebody is happy, they will start singing and humming. I saw my daughter twice, singing a hymn or humming a praise song under her breath. I don’t know if she does this on her own, but I’ve only seen her singing or humming a hymn twice in her life. I think maybe she’s done it twice her whole life. Maybe she sings praises when she’s alone, but that’s what happens when you receive God’s grace; you start singing praises without realizing it. If you don’t receive God’s grace, then you keep complaining. 

Even in this world, if you’re really happy, you start singing pop songs, right? But let us give a sacrifice of praise to God, that is the fruit of our lips.  What comes out of our mouths has already been inside of us.  If I’m able to bless someone else, it’s because I already know they are a person of blessing, then the other person will bless me as well, so the church is a cluster of blessings.  However, the work the devil does is to change the cluster of blessings into a cluster of curses.  When we do intercessory prayer for each other, we are blessing one another. May you all become one in raising the church by looking at each other’s strengths and positives.

  2) Living sacrifice (Rom. 12:1)

    (1) Offer your bodies as a living sacrifice (Rom. 12:1)

We give that as a living sacrifice, Romans 12:1.  We offer our bodies as a living sacrifice. Does this mean to kill our bodies? Because a sacrifice means “to kill.”  If we’re still walking around, how can we die?  We must kill everything we hear, see, think, and feel, how can we do that?  We need to change it into Christ.

    (2) Thoughts, what you see, work – Prayer (24 hour prayer)

Then automatically, I will be put to death, and instead Christ will come into me, and the things Christ feels, sees, thinks, and wants.  But Buddhists try to kill themselves by locking themselves in a room for years, but they still cannot die. The thing called “me” continues to come to life; there’s no reason to kill ourselves. We just need to change it into the One Who is living, and that’s why it’s the death on the cross and the resurrection. When I die, it means I’m letting go of my thoughts; then my thoughts will change into the thoughts of Christ. That’s prayer, that’s a living sacrifice and the living worship.  Otherwise, when you go out into the world and listen to the words of people, you’ll die because those words don’t save lives.  These may be words that are necessary physically, but they do not save the spirit.

In whatever work you’re doing, may you change it into prayer because the God of Peace has to work upon the work you are doing. It’s not about receiving grace and peace from the church and trying your best in the world. Even outside in the world, we need to go into the work of the God of Peace so He can work on our work.  Most people say that working out in the world is harder than being in the church. People say studying is hard, why? All you have to do is go into the work God is doing.  

    (3) Spiritual worship (Rom. 12:1)

How? Christ has already begun this good work in you and He raises you up perfectly to relay this gospel.  This is the work the God of Peace does.  In order to do this, have victory in worship. Finish everything with worship.  In Acts 2, when the Holy Spirit comes upon their location of worship, the old men will dream dreams and the young men will see visions. You need to be able to see the future. 

When you pray, it’s not as if God will give you some kind of vision or hallucination, but the Holy Spirit will reveal to you what He will do in the future. That’s worship. I hope you will resolve everything in worship, that’s the standard of the believer and the disciple.  If you’re not satisfied here, you’ll have to resolve something elsewhere.  But God can move you completely sufficiently through only worship, and that’s what pleases God.

  3) Before God

In order to do that, we must stand before God. 

    (1) What saves me (My 24)

It’s possible that we may behave or act a certain way before people, but that cannot save you. Christ is already within me, doing this work, and I must stand before that, not before people, but before God. We call that “Coram Deo.” You need to always be thinking, “Am I standing before God?” These words might be correct for people, but they might not be correct for God.  

    (2) What saves the church (Church 24)

First and foremost, acknowledge that Christ is reigning within you and use your talent and mission to raise up those who are lacking or weak in the church. Then, do the work of spreading the light of Christ into the world through worship.  

    (3) What saves the field (Field 24)

The only way to save yourself is to go into the work of Christ because He has already saved you. The Word of Christ saves me.  A church is a place that saves this church to perfection through my talent and mission, and then through this, we save the fields of our studies and business.  

Conclusion

1. God of peace saves individuals with the Gospel

2. Save the church through union with others

3. Save the field through evangelism…

Even right now, the God of peace is doing that work. If you don’t know this, you have to do it. Because you’re trying to do things perfectly, you’ll face your limitations.  There are a lot of people who suffer from mental problems in the home even though they do not go to a hospital, it’s because they’re challenging a perfect God.  Going into the perfect work Christ does is the way for us to be perfect.  May you have the 24 hours of the work of the perfect God of Peace to save your field, your church, and your lives.  

Prayer

Let us pray holding onto the Word God gave us.  Whenever you pray holding onto God’s Word, you will receive answers, 100%.  Let us pray.

Offering Prayer and Newcomer Prayer

God, we thank You. We thank You for the God of Peace Who allows us to save ourselves, our church, and our field. Allow us to be united in this faith.  May we have a happy life with the peace of God.  May we be people of blessings who save people wherever we go.  

We return our material blessings as the economy of light through offering.  We pray that this offering will be used by You to save those who are in darkness with the Light.  We pray that You will bless this offering, may it be used to save the church and to save the world through missions and the future generations.  In the name of Jesus Christ we pray, amen. 

Benediction 

Now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the unending love of God, the indwelling, working, guidance, and communion of the Holy Spirit, be upon the heads of all of the people of God, all the multi-ethnic peoples, and the remnants who desire to go into work that the God of Peace is doing, be upon their businesses, studies, and ministries, be with us now and forevermore always, amen.