It is so good for me to come back here and meet you again and have Sunday worship service together with you. I was here in August 2009 and delivered a message entitled ¡°What is the life all about.¡± I was here in April. 2011 and delivered a message entitled ¡°Happy dwellers in the house of the Lord.¡± I was here in January 2013 and delivered a message entitled ¡°Goodness of affliction and suffering.¡± I was here in March, 2014 and delivered a message entitled ¡°Loving the Lord, Loving the church.¡±


Today I am going to deliver a message entitled ¡°Happiness is worshipping God and Sunday observing.¡± The Rev. Whang Ho Sang asked me to deliver a message about ¡°Sunday observance.¡± In fact the subject of ¡°Sunday observance¡± is my favorite subject. It is because my whole life is very closely related to this subject of ¡°Sunday observance.¡± From my early boyhood I was taught that believers should observe Sunday holy and spend whole day worshipping God in the church. In fact from my early boyhood I observed Sunday holy and spent whole day worshipping God in the church. I did not study or work on Sundays. In fact ¡°Sunday observance¡± was the most important principle of Christian life for the Pilgrim Fathers. The main reason for the Pilgrim Fathers¡¯ leaving home countries in Europe and coming to America was to have freedom of Sunday observing and worshipping God on Sundays. The main reason of my leaving North Korea and my dear mother and father was also to gain freedom of Sunday observing and worshipping God on Sundays.


The apostle Paul stressed the importance of worshipping God. The apostle Paul emphasized the ultimate purpose of salvation was worshipping God. After the apostle Paul described how sinners were saved through faith as well as through the mercy and grace of God in Romans chapters 1 through 11 he pointed out that the ultimate purpose of salvation was worshipping God in Romans chapter 12. ¡°Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God this is your spiritual act of worship¡±(Rom12:1). God told Moses that the purpose of exodus was worshipping God. Restoring the kingdom to Israel was not the purpose of exodus. Worshipping God was the purpose of exodus. ¡°Then the LORD said to Moses, Go to Pharaoh and say to him, This is what the LORD says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me¡±(Exosus8:1). ¡°Then the LORD said to Moses, Go to Pharaoh and say to him, This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me.¡±(Exosus9:1). God repeated to say to Moses the same thing ten times in Exodus chapters 4 through chapter 12. Jesus also stressed the importance of worship. Jesus told the Samaritan woman the importance of worship as the following. ¡°Jesus declared, Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."(John 4:1-24). Jesus used the word ¡®worship¡¯ 8 times in 4 verses.


Worshipping God is the ultimate purpose of God¡¯s creation and salvation. Worshipping God will continue even in heaven. All other ministries will stop. Worshipping God only will continue. The apostle John described the picture of worshipping God in heaven as the following. ¡°After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb. All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying: Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!"(Rev. 7:9-12).


Worshipping God is the ultimate purpose of God¡¯s creation and salvation. When we worship God we receive the grace, love and blessing from God. We will then become grateful and happy. God told Solomon that when people of God come to the temple and worship God their sins would be forgiven and their land would be healed. God also said that his eyes, ears and heart would be always there. ¡°The LORD appeared to him at night and said: I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a temple for sacrifices. If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place. I have chosen and consecrated this temple so that my Name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there¡±(2 Chronicles 7:12-16). King David the father of Solomon loved the temple so much and confessed as the following. ¡°Blessed are those you choose and bring near to live in your courts! We are filled with the good things of your house, of your holy temple¡±(Ps. 65:4). ¡°I rejoiced with those who said to me, Let us go to the house of the LORD."(Ps. 122:1). Worshipping God in the house of the Lord is the most blessed and happy thing in the world. Happiness consists in worshipping God.





Now I am going to mention about worshipping God on Saturdays in the Old Testament and worshipping God on Sundays in the New Testament. God arranged that the people of God in the Old Testament to observe Sabbath (Saturday) holy and worship God on Saturdays. God arranged that the people of God in the New Testament to observe Sundays holy and worship God on Sundays. God first arranged that the people of God in the Old Testament to observe Sabbath. ¡°Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy¡±(Exodus 20:8-11). God even commanded to kill those who desecrate Sabbath. "Observe the Sabbath, because it is holy to you. Anyone who desecrates it must be put to death; whoever does any work on that day must be cut off from his people.¡±(Exodus 31:14). The purpose of God¡¯s commandment to keep the Sabbath holy was to bless people. ¡°Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy¡±(Exodus 20:11). ¡°I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments¡±(Deut 5:10). The commandment of Sabbath observing did not cease in the Old Testament but continued to develop in the New Testament. ¡°You must observe my Sabbaths. This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come. The Israelites are to observe the Sabbath, celebrating it for the generations to come as a lasting covenant. It will be a sign between me and the Israelites forever, for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he abstained from work and rested."(Exodus 31:13,16,17).


Jesus said that He was Lord of the Sabbath. ¡°For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath." Jesus fulfilled and accomplished what the Old Testament Sabbath intended. Jesus was resurrected on Sunday morning and accomplished all what the Old Testament intended. On Sunday morning Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene and conveyed comfort and joy. In the evening of Sunday Jesus appeared to his 10 disciples and conveyed comfort and peace. In the evening of the following Sunday He appeared again to his 11 disciples including Thomas. He conveyed comfort and peace as well as mission. The Holy Spirit descended on Sunday. The Jerusalem church was born on Sunday. The apostle Paul observed Sunday worship services. ¡°On the first day of the week we came together to break bread. Paul spoke to the people and, because he intended to leave the next day, kept on talking until midnight.¡±(Acts 20:7). The resurrected and ascended Jesus appeared on Sunday to John the disciple who was imprisoned at Patmos and conveyed mission to write letters to the seven Asian churches. ¡°On the Lord's Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, which said: Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea."(Rev. 1:10,11). Why did Jesus appear only on Sundays? He wanted to teach the New Testament believers that He was Lord of the Sabbath and Sunday was a special day of accomplishment of God¡¯s salvation. Sunday was the accomplished day of the Old Testament Sabbath. The New Testament believers began to worship God on Sundays instead of Saturdays.


The New Testament pointed out that the New Testament Sunday was the accomplishment of the Old Testament Sabbath and the New Testament Sunday was preparation for heavenly rest of Sabbath. ¡°Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. Now we who have believed enter that rest Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience.¡±(Heb 4:1,3,11). We can therefore say that the Old Testament Sabbath and the New Testament Sunday are important frameworks of God¡¯s plan of salvation. In the Old Testament times God saved and blessed people through Sabbath observing, and in the New Testament times and thereafter God saves and blesses people through Sunday observing. In heaven God will bless believers forever. In heaven such important ministries of almsgiving, services, evangelism and mission would cease. Only the ministry of worshipping God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit will continue forever. The apostle John described the heavenly worship as the following. ¡°Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing: To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, forever and ever!"(Rev. 5:13). ¡°All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying: Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God forever and ever. Amen!"(Rev. 7:11,12).  


The faith of Sunday observing is the central faith of the Bible and the core or kernel of Christian faith. Now I am going to mention briefly what the church history teaches about Sunday observing. Church history teaches clearly and strongly that we have to observe Sunday holy instead of Saturday. Didache and Justin in the second century taught that the believers should observe Sunday holy and worship God. The Roman emperor Constantine issued an imperial decree in 321 that all the people should rest on Sundays. The Westminster Confession decreed that believers should observe Sunday holy and should rest whole day from secular jobs or recreations. Charles Hodge, an outstanding American theologian in 19th century, warned that when Sunday observances were disregarded families and societies would be corrupted. The Rev. Kim Ik Doo, an outstanding Korean church leader and revivalist, stressed Sunday observance so much saying that those who break the law of Sunday observance were to be stoned.


As I mentioned before, from my early boyhood I was taught that believers should observe Sunday holy and spend whole day worshipping God in the church. From my early boyhood I observed Sunday holy and spent whole day worshipping God in the church. I did not study or work on Sundays. When I was a small boy I lived in Sinei-joo in North Korea. When I was 10 and 11 years old I lived in Pyung-Yang. The primary school ordered all the students to come to school even on Sundays. I did not go to school on Sundays. Every Monday I was punished at school. Sometimes I was suspended from school for a week. I did not care. I was not afraid. I did my best observing Sunday and worshipping whole day in the church. I began to attend early-morning prayer meetings. I began to respect the faithful spirit of martyrdom. Finally I came to decide to leave North Korea and come to south to gain the freedom of worshipping God on Sundays. I went to see my father who was in prison. I told my father that I wanted to go to the South Korea in order to gain freedom of worshipping God on Sundays. My father looked at for a while and told me I could go. When my mother heard my wish to leave home she was crying because she loved me so much. While she was crying she told me that I could go. In August 1948 I left my home. It was when I was 11 years old. I took a train and arrived to a place near to the 38 border. At a dark night I tried to cross the border line together with half dozen of adults. We were detected by the North Korean soldiers. We were ordered to stop and hold hands up. The adults all stopped and held hands up. I was the only small boy. I did not stop. I began to run towards the south about 40 minutes. I crossed fields, hills and a river. I was not afraid. I even felt a kind of thrill. I made it crossing the border line and arrived in South Korea. I met a young man and he took me to the train and took me to Seoul. I was able to find out the place where my relatives were living. I was well taken care of by my relatives. But I missed my mother so much. I was crying almost every night for about two years. But I was very happy and grateful because I gained freedom of Sunday observing. Every Sunday I stayed whole day in the church worshipping God. I did not miss early-morning prayer meetings.


Even though I began to live a lonely life of an orphan and a hard life of a stranger I began to receive abundant blessings from the merciful and gracious God throughout my whole life. I was able to go to the best schools in Korea. When I was a middle school boy I met the Rev. Lee Sung Bong who was called the Korean Moody. I attended revival meetings led by Rev. Lee Sung Bong almost every three months for three years and I received abundant spiritual blessings. When I was a high school boy I met the Rev. Kim Chie Sun who was called the Korean Jeremiah. I attended his church. I did not miss any worship services and prayer meetings led by the Rev. Kim Chie Sun and I received abundant spiritual blessings. After I graduated from the Seoul National University I was able to go to the USA and study there for 12 years. I was able to go to the best schools there and gained various degrees. After I returned to Korea I was able to serve the churches as a pastor for 34 years. I was able to serve the seminaries as a professor for about 30 years. I was able to involve in the ministries of mission and charity. While I served the churches and seminaries for about 30 years I received precious teachings and abundant spiritual blessing from the Rev. Han Kyung Chick, the Rev. Park Yune Sun, the Rev. Chung Jin Kyung and others. God blessed my life so much. I confess that by the mercy and grace of God I am what I am. I also confess that by the teaching and guidance of forefathers of faith I am what I am. I also confess that when we offer our bodies our times and our lives as living sacrifices, our fortune and our lives come to change. Our lives would be filled with graces and blessings of God.


I am going to conclude my message. The most important and precious faith is the faith of worshipping God in Spirit and truth and Sunday observing holy. All other ministries will stop. The ministry of worshipping God on heavenly Sabbath will continues forever. When we do our best worshipping God in Spirit and truth and Sunday observing holy, our lives will be blessed abundantly and we will join in the heavenly worship. You are now living lives of aliens and strangers in Korea and are experiencing loneliness and difficulties. When Abraham lived a life of alien and stranger he always built an altar and worshipped God. He was blessed so much. I hope you do your best worshipping God in Spirit and truth and Sunday observing holy. I pray that you will be also blessed abundantly. May God be with you comfort you and bless you.