Vertical Life
Bible passage: Isaiah 40:27-31
“27. Why do you say, O Jacob, and complain, O Israel, "My way is hidden from the LORD; my cause is disregarded by my God"? 28. Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. 29. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. 30. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; 31. but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. ”
It is said that there are two relationships in human life; One is a vertical relationship, and the second is a horizontal relationship.
Vertical relationships include relationships between God and human beings, parents and children, teachers and students, superiors and subordinates; and horizontal relationships include relationships between friends, colleagues, and neighbors. The cross shows the intersection of the horizontal and the vertical, which means that we should not live clinging only to the flesh in this horizontal world, but should live a spiritual life that rises vertically toward the sky. The horizontal world is a world that moves by satisfying the desires of the flesh. Horizontal life in this physical world is pursuing the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.
However, the vertical world is a world led by Jesus Christ, who is the way, the truth, and the life. The vertical life is looking at things above, transcending the flesh, and lives in pursuit of spiritual things. A fleshly person who is level with this world, looks only at the things of the earth, and pursues the things of the flesh, living a horizontal life. On the contrary, a person who places his hope in the sky, which is perpendicular to this world, and lives in pursuit of spiritual things can be said to live a vertical life. In verse 27 of today’s scripture, it says, “My way is hidden from the LORD,” Here, ‘way’ is the Hebrew word ‘derek’, which means ‘way, road, path of life,’ etc. So, “My way is hidden from the LORD” means that the way to God is blocked and the road leading to God is cut off.
God said to Israel, “Jacob, Israel, why is the way to heaven blocked? Isn’t the path to heaven, the road of answers, and the path of life blocked because you pursue earthly and physical things instead of heavenly and spiritual things, and live a horizontal life rather than a vertical life?” However, looking at verse 31 of the scripture, it says, “Those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” This means that if you live a vertical life rather than a horizontal life, the path to heaven will open and the work of restoration of everything will appear. Then, let’s find out what you need to do to become a vertical person.
1. You must know that a vertical life is a life lived with the purpose of life at the highest level. Verse 31 of the scripture says, “but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength.” The word “hope in” means “to look up.” It means to ‘look up to’ God, who gives new strength to overcome everything to those who look to Him, as the purpose of their life. The horizontal life, which pursues the things of the earth, establishes the purpose of life in the physical world, but the vertical life, which pursues the things above, establishes the purpose of life within the spiritual world. The meaning of the word purpose refers to the outcome of our lives that we will create at the end of our lives. We, the believers of Manmin, should not live a horizontal life in the physical world, aiming for the things of this world, but should live a ‘vertical life’ with our purpose in life at the highest level.
So, what is the highest thing we should aim for? It's New Jerusalem. The believers of Manmin must lead vertical lives with the purpose of living in the highest and most holy place, New Jerusalem, where God the Father resides. It is very important that we clearly define the purpose of our lives. Because purpose acts like a crane that lifts us up there. In other words, when we set a purpose, we do not run towards the goal, but on the contrary, the purpose guides us and pulls us like a crane so that we can reach the goal. For example, let's say a person falls into a swamp-like muddy field. When he tries to walk, his feet get stuck in the mud, he slips, he falls, and he can't get out.
However, a person who happened to be walking along the road thankfully threw a long rope that was tied to a stake on the hill. This man was barely able to get out, struggling to take his steps step by step, pulling on the rope. Let us think about it here. Of course, in reality, this person was pulling the rope hard, but from the perspective of ‘force dynamics’, you can think of it as the stake pulling this person. No matter how hard you pulled the rope, if the stake had not been firmly planted in the ground and was pulled out, you would never have been able to get out of the muddy field. If we were to cite scientific knowledge, we could say it is the ‘law of action and reaction.’ The stake pulled the man with as much force as the man pulled on the rope tied to the stake.
In this sense, it is no exaggeration to say that our purpose guides us as much as we work and strive to achieve it. That is why people who have no purpose in life end up living a wavering, wandering life like duckweed. But there is one more important thing. Once you have decided on your purpose, you need to create a strategic plan to achieve them. This is called a goal. When setting a purpose in life, you need to set it on something high that seems a bit impossible, difficult to achieve with your current skills. However, the goal must be set as something specific and actionable that can be achieved if you put in the strength and effort. If you present it as a number or chart, the achievement effect is further increased, and each time you achieve your goal, the probability of reaching a purpose that seemed impossible increases.
The Republic of Korea has entered the ranks of developed countries, a development that seemed almost impossible, with unprecedented rapid growth in the world. It didn't just happen like this. There is a story I often heard when I was in middle and high school. It was the ‘5-year economic development plan’ promoted by former President Park Chung-hee of Korea. It was a plan designed to achieve the goal of economic development to escape from an underdeveloped country. But even then, I thought, “Can my country really become an economically advanced country?” And I thought, “Ah, this could work.” That is, there was a goal containing specific measures to achieve the purpose of economic development. And once an economic development plan was established and the goal was achieved, it did not end there.
For example, if the first five-year economic development plan is established and the goal is achieved, the second five-year plan is established, and if the goal is achieved, the third five-year plan is established, and so on until the purpose is achieved. The 5th, 6th, and 7th plans were made and the goals were achieved, and the goal of economic development was achieved. These plans and implementations were successful, laying the foundation for today's Republic of Korea to become an advanced country and an economic powerhouse, which seemed almost impossible. To achieve your purpose, you must set specific goals to achieve that purpose and put them into action. Dear believers, if we have set the New Jerusalem as the purpose of our lives, we must set concrete, if possible, quantifiable goals to achieve that purpose, and put them into practice in order to reach the destination of the New Jerusalem. The purpose of my life is not to just go to New Jerusalem just because it is called New Jerusalem. For example, you should set a goal of reading several chapters of the Bible a day.
You should pray for several hours a day and set a goal of participating in the Daniel Prayer Meeting. <Especially from tomorrow we will begin special Daniel prayers, please join the prayer times.> You must set a goal to eradicate the evil in your heart by a certain time. You must set a goal of being on time for worship service, not being late, not falling asleep, and offering a worship service that pleases God. You can reach the destination called New Jerusalem by setting a goal of not using negative words, always being happy, never being frustrated or disappointed, and being thankful in everything, and then faithfully putting that goal into practice and living a life worthy of the goal. It exists.
If you set your goal with the resolve to say, “I must only look at the spirit, listen only to the spirit, and think only about the spirit,” then, watch the word of God instead of watching television, and listen to sermons again instead of taking in worldly entertainment. Rather than chasing comfort and pleasure, we should make an effort to come to church and pray. Since the first man, Adam, sinned, the evil enemy, the devil and Satan, has been constantly making people intoxicate the world. Therefore, even though we set a goal and say we are working toward it, we must always check to see if we are living a life that has nothing to do with spirituality in search of worldly entertainment, friends, or worldly fun. We must check regularly to see if we are being seduced by Satan and losing our focus to money, opposite gender, fame, power, and worldly pleasures; we must check if we feel that worldly gatherings are better and more enjoyable than church gatherings; or if we are relying on the world rather than God. In this way, I hope that we will not live a horizontal life with a purpose in the world, but a vertical life that sets the purpose of life at the highest level, sets actionable goals with specific content that can be achieved, and acts sincerely and truthfully to achieve them.
2. Vertical life refers to a life that solves life's problems in the best way possible. When we set purpose and goals and live sincerely to achieve them, there is not always a flowery path ahead of us. Often, we also encounter stony and thorny paths. In this case, the horizontal life tries to solve and overcome problems and difficulties using worldly methods, but the vertical life lives a life of solving problems in the best way by relying on God who is on the highest level. When people encounter difficulties or misfortunes in life, they work hard from dawn to late at night without days off in order to solve and overcome them, and they say that they live as best as they can. But is that really the best thing to do? No, it isn’t. There is a story like this.
A father took his elementary school-age son up a mountain. He climbed halfway up the hill, wiped off his sweat, took a break, and looked ahead. There was a round rock of the right size. The father asked his son, “Son, can you try moving that rock?” The son answered bravely, “Yes, I can.” The son tried pushing the rock, shaking it, running from a distance and kicking it with his foot. But the rock did not budge, so the son groaned and said, “Dad! No matter what I do, it won't work. Even though I tried my best, it didn't work. I tried everything, but it didn’t work.” Hearing this, the father grins and says, “Son, you didn’t do your best. You haven’t tried every method. There is one method you haven’t tried yet.” The son said, “Yes? Is there a method I haven't tried? What is it?” “Yes, that’s what I’m asking my dad to do. Dad, I can’t do it on my own, so please help me.” The story goes that the son was eventually able to move the rock by joining forces with his father. We often say that we are doing our best.
What does it mean to do your best? The highest good is God. Strictly speaking, the best effort and strength on the part of humans is not the best, but the second best. You did your best when you relied on God, who is the greatest good and goodness itself, and solved the problem in God's way. Later, when you go to heaven and God gives you a reward, you might say, “During my life on earth, I worked for my family from morning to late at night and did my best without ever taking a day off, so why is my reward so small?” Then God says, “No, child, you did not do your best. You lived with your own zeal, relying only on yourself and not on Me, so you lived the second best life, not best life. ” Psalm 147:10,11 says that God is not pleased with a man because his legs are strong, but is pleased with him who trusts in God.
Because relying on God is the best thing a human being can do, God is pleased with those who rely on Him. In verses 30-31 of today’s scripture, it is said that even in situations where life is tiring and stumbles, those who rely on God will soar with wings like eagles and gain new strength. Dark clouds suddenly gather in the clear sky. The whole field becomes dark and rain pours down. The birds in the field are desperate to avoid the rain. They sneak into the forest and hide themselves under tree branches. There may also be birds that go under the eaves and fold their wings. However, the eagle spreads its wings wide, beats its wings, and flies into the air.
It climbs through the rain clouds and soar above the clouds illuminated by the brilliant sun. Other birds fly horizontally, go into the forest, under leaves, or under eaves and fold their wings, but eagles spread their wings and fly vertically. Just like this eagle, when hard and difficult things like dark clouds arise, the vertical life that relies on God, with whom nothing is impossible, spreads the wings of faith and prayer wide open, soars to God with faith, and relies on the power of God, who is the best. Spreading your wings wide and flying means praying. When the Israelites left Egypt and passed through the wilderness, they faced many hardships. And in Chapter 17 of Exodus, they were attacked by Amalek. However, there is a story recorded about how they fought and won, built an altar of victory, and named it ‘Jehovah Nissi’, that is, Jehovah’s banner, Jehovah’s Victory.
Here, Moses chooses to do what is best. Joshua had the people fight at the foot of the mountain, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up the mountain to pray. Even Moses, Aaron, and Hur could have fought at the bottom of the mountain because even one person would be disappointed in the war, but instead of fighting, they went up the mountain to pray. A vertical life that looks to God means praying to rely on God, who is the best. However, if people neglect what they should do, the problem will not be solved. So Joshua leads the people and does their best to fight at the bottom of the mountain. But in reality, this is not the best, it is the best that humans can do, and in the eyes of God, it is the second best. Moses did his best and Joshua did his second best, and Jehovah Nissi, that is, God, gave them victory. In Matthew 14:30, when Jesus was walking on the water around 4 o'clock at night, Peter cried out, “Lord, let me also walk on the water,” and as he was walking on the water, he was scared when he saw the wind and fell into the water. Hearing the cry, “Lord, save me,” Jesus immediately stretched out His hand and grabbed Peter and rescued him as written in verse 31.
That's right. What can you do with these little hands? Everyone, look at my hands. What will you do with these hands? I could write a little, eat something, and do some work. We must rely on God's great hand. Like Peter, we too must cry out in prayer and rely on the Lord’s powerful hand to save us from tribulation and suffering. God's hand is the hand that created heaven and earth and all things. The hand of the Lord is the hand of power that performed the miracle of five loaves and two fish. It is the hand of power that calms the waves and raises the dead. It is the hand of healing that, when you lay your hands on a leper, the leprosy goes away. I hope that through fervent prayer, we will become believers who rely only on God, who is the greatest good, and live the best life possible.
3. Vertical life refers to a life that builds up goodness to the greatest extent. In Luke 6:45, Jesus said, “A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.” Spiritually, good and evil have the property of accumulating in the mind. Even if anger and disappointment doesn’t come out of your mouth, they are building up in your heart. On the contrary, goodness and love are also accumulating in our hearts every time we do something.
Therefore, we must immediately circumcise and cut down untruths so that they do not accumulate in our hearts, and we must pile up truths such as goodness and love in our hearts. Enoch, one of the people who ascended to heaven without seeing death, enjoyed piling up goodness. Through the piling up of goodness, Enoch entered into the whole spirit. He obeyed not only the Word of God but also his parents, and he was at peace with all his brothers. He never put himself out there in any situation, and he was always considerate of others and made concessions to build goodness. Enoch filled his heart with goodness and love, and because he fully established his heart of truth, he came to resemble God more and communicated with God so intimately.
As evidence of this, Enoch is said to have called God ‘Father.’ When did mankind become able to call God ‘Father’? When Jesus bore the cross, mankind received forgiveness of sins thanks to the merits of the Lord's precious blood, and God the Father sent the Holy Spirit to make believers 'children of God' rather than 'people of God'. However, even though Enoch was only the 7th generation descendant of Adam, a person from the Old Testament era, he had already built up goodness and love in his heart to the point where he called God ‘Father’, creating a heart that resembled God. Enoch could be said to have lived a vertical life. He continued to build up a lot of goodness, and later he was lifted upright without dying. In a horizontal life, you repent, and a little later, you sin again, and you repent again, and you sin again, and you repent again... It is good to repent well like this, but the problem is that you are repeating repentance in the same area. So, from the other side, it is evidence that you are not able to store the truth in your heart.
True repentance is not just about admitting a mistake with your lips, it is about completely turning away from your sin. If God has commanded you to go east, you must turn your westward steps and go east, find something that is pleasing to God, and bear the fruit of repentance. To do this, if you have repented of your hatred, you must build up love. Shouldn't we repent of hatred, fill the hollow space in our hearts with love, and build mercy and goodness higher and higher on top of it? So, shouldn’t we make sure that hatred never comes out again? If you have repented of your pride, shouldn't you repent and fill the hollow space with meekness and continue to build humility on top of it so that you never commit the sin of pride again? If you have circumcised your heart by repenting of the sins of complaining, you must continue to build up in your heart gentleness, gratitude, and joy, which are the attributes on the other side of complaining, to prevent complaining from sprouting again.
There is a Korean proverb that says, ‘Pour water into a bottomless pot.’ The bottom of the dock is broken and has a large hole, so even if you pour water into it, it will drain out. This means that no matter how hard you pour water, it is of no use. It is said that in one village there was a competition of pouring water on a broken dock. They formed teams of several people and handed out the broken dock one by one. It was a competition to see who could fill a broken dock quickly by scooping up water from a nearby pond with a bucket. Everyone worked hard and quickly to scoop up water and pour it into the dock, but as soon as they poured the water into the broken dock, it quickly ran out. They tried plugging the broken part with their palm and pouring water, holding it with their body and pouring water, and tried to scoop up water from the pond, but they couldn't fill it.
How do you think you can fill the water? In the end, one of the people competing said, ‘I can’t do this. It is impossible to fill a broken dock with water. I will give up the competition,” he said, picking up the broken dock and throwing it into the pond. But then something amazing happened. As the dock thrown into the pond sank into the water, the dock filled with water. When he saw this, he exclaimed, ‘Wow, we won. There is a story that says, ‘The broken dock was filled with water.’ 2 Corinthians 4:7 compares humans to earthen vessels and jars by saying, “We have this treasure in earthen vessels.” Earthenware refers to vessels made of earth or clay. Isaiah 64:8 says, “We are the clay, You are the potter;” However, the problem is that since Adam committed the sin of eating the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, humans have become broken dock.
When we receive grace, we pour a bowl of grace into our hearts and say, “I will now let go of hatred and live in love,” but after a while, the bowl of love that we poured into us drains out, and hatred springs up again. Then, you repent again, say, “Please pour into me love, Father,” and after a while, all the love drains out and hatred comes out again. It shouldn’t be like this, right? Just like picking up a broken dock and dropping it into a pond, I must completely let go of myself and lift myself up and immerse myself in the pond of Father God’s love. I must immerse myself in the Father's love and grace like a waterfall or pond until my heart is completely filled with the Father's goodness and love. When we completely fill and saturate our hearts with the goodness and love of God the Father, a fragrance emerges from our hearts.
The scent of goodness, the scent of love, the scent of holiness, the scent of the Lord, and the scent of the Father comes out. If you are praying fervently toward the purpose of life and the goal of faith, you must examine how much good and love you are doing that matches those goals. While there is a lot of interest and effort in not doing evil and forsaking sin in order to achieve sanctification, how often is there little interest and effort in doing good and love? When we actively strive to achieve goodness and love, we can more easily enter holiness. I should not just lead a passive, stagnant religious life that satisfies myself by admitting my sins and repenting well, but truly filling my heart with goodness and love and completely imitating the Lord as said in Ephesians 4:13, leading a mature life of Christ.
We must live an active and progressive religious life that reaches its full potential. Let me conclude. Dear believers, today I told you three things about vertical life. First, vertical life refers to people who live with the purpose of life at the highest level. Second, vertical people are people who solve life's problems in the best way possible. Third, vertical life refers to people who build goodness to the highest point. For an airplane to take off to the air, it must first run on a horizontal runway. 14 However, if you run the runway at a slower speed than the first time or at the same speed, you will be able to move forward but will not be able to rise vertically.
For an airplane to rise into the air, the speed at which it travels along the horizontal runway must gradually increase. Then, the front part of the plane is lifted by the force of the wind, and although it is not exactly vertical, it rises almost vertically and rises into the air.
In order to move from a horizontal life in which we live parallel to the ground, looking only at the things of the earth, and pursuing things of the flesh, to a vertical life in which we live looking at God and pursuing things of the spirit, we must become faster than before. Prayer must become more passionate than before. We must have greater faith than before. We must be more zealous than before.
We must be more truthful than before. Therefore, dear Manmin believers, we too should not stop following the Senior Pastor, but in order to live an upright life, we should run forward more than before, pray more fervently than before, obey the Word more than before, and be more loyal than before. I pray in the name of the Lord that you will become more diligent in the work of the Lord. - END -
