Servant Church: Refreshing the Heart of God

By Young Sun Song

Servant Church is about the Values of the Church of Philippi, which is located in one of the cities of greater Baltimore and Washington metropolitan area. This book is primarily about the church’s Ten Values, which are not to be compromised, along with its mission, vision, strategies, structures, and programs related to the values.

The Ten Values are only (through redemption of) Jesus, servanthood, precious one, shepherding first, process centered, lay ministry oriented, harmonizing of message and system, small-group accented, walking the talks, and all encompassing grace.

Started as a Korean diaspora faith community, Church of Philippi held its inaugural service in a leased warehouse building on October 31, 1993, in Columbia, Maryland, USA. Back then, not many of the Korean immigrant population took residences there. Yet the Lord made the church grow both in lives transformed and in size enlarged for last twenty-two years.

Reflection on church expansion histories (early Jerusalem church, Antioch’s Jewish diaspora churches, Moravians church in the eighteenth century, American and English churches during the great awakening movements in nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and churches of Latin America, Africa, and Asia in recent decades) teaches reflectioners valuable lessons in that they see the wisdom and power of well-thought-out values of the message, the church, and the culture that they were in.

Of course what has been done was by the wisdom and power of the Holy Spirit. Yet the Bible teaches us that the wisdom that the Holy Spirit demonstrated is written in it so that we, who came later, may be able to learn from the teachings and then follow after the Holy Spirit. If they were not followed, the church was not able to accomplish the great commission of the Lord as was desired. If followed, the church always prevailed against the power of the gate of Hades.

For thirty some years, the author has been a reflectioner and an agonizer over the present plight of the powerless church in the postmodern world and its values. With the invaluable learnings from the Bible and histories of the churches, along with their surrounding cultures, he was able to establish the Ten Values that can unleash the power of a prevailing church.

May all the readers of the book find a road map that leads an unprepared church planter, like the author once was, to build a church that prevails against the power of the gate of the Hades (Matt. 16:18).


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“And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matt. 16:18, Holy Bible, English Standard Version (2001), Wheaton: Standard Bible Society).

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Feb 27, 2016
• ISBN: 9781514453537

Young Sun Song

Rev. Young S. Song, a.k.a. Jonathan Song, was born in February 1951, at the height of Korean War in the city of Busan, a southern major city of the Republic of Korea. He lost his father at the age of six and became a Christian when he was a senior in a high school in Seoul, Korea. After earning a BA degree majoring in business administration, he joined the Korean Air Force as an officer. It was during this military service that he came to understand the predicament of human conditions and that the meaningful way to serve God and people is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, which he believes gives this world hope and love. With this conviction, he applied for the admission to Talbot School of Theology of Biola University in La Mirada, California, and moved to United States of America. He graduated from the school with the master of divinity and master of theology degrees. During the years of his theological trainings, he served as college director of YoungNak Presbyterian church in Los Angeles, California, one of the mega churches in Southern California. He confesses that this experience with college people transformed his whole outlook of the world stricken with poverty, disease, wars, and disunity and full of despair. With the able group of his college people, he initiated early Korean American students’ missionary movement to help ease the pains of this world and sent them around the world as short- or long-term career missionaries. He then moved to the east coast in 1988 to serve as director of discipleship training at a church in the state of Maryland. In the spring of 1993, after serving the church for five years, he planted the Church of Philippi in Columbia, Maryland, with the vision of “bridging heaven to earth.” Since the start of the church, he followed his conviction of reaching out the world with the Christ’s gospel, bridging the gap between people and God as well as people and peoples. He was one of the Korean American pastors who initiated the reconciliation between African American and Korean American communities, of which peoples suffered greatly because of their lack of understanding of one another’s cultures and histories. Along with other African and Korean American pastors, he mobilized peoples who shared his ideas with him and exchanged visits on African American cultural heritage sites and museums, as well as took the community leaders and pastors of African American communities to the Republic of Korea (South Korea) to further the mutual understandings of one another’s culture. This initiation greatly helped ease the rifts and tensions that both communities suffered. He also helped organize Korean American Students here in the Unites States (KOSTA) to produce leaders as well as to promote the gospel of Jesus Christ among the students so that they might be properly equipped to be the leaders for both in the United States and around the world. This movement has been tremendously successful in producing well-qualified leaders around the world. This movement helped to produce pastors, missionaries, community leaders, and even political leaders in Korea. Some of them became government ministers after they returned back to Korea. It holds annual conferences both in America, attracting almost 2,500 students annually from the entire United States. Rev. Song served as the chairman of the board of the movement for several years. He also served as the chairman the board of Global Missionary Fellowship North America (GMFNA), of which mission is to recruit, train, and send missionaries around the world. By the grace of God, the Church of Philippi has grown significantly, still being steady and faithful in its mission of “bridging heaven to earth,” with the resources of a thousand strong congregations. He authored several books, including Servant Church, The Secret of Living and Loving, and The Authenticity and Unity of the Book of Daniel.

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Copyright © 2016 by Young Sun Song.

Library of Congress Control Number:   2016901342

ISBN:              Hardcover                           978-1-5144-5355-1

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Rev. date: 11/28/2018

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Contents

1     Only Jesus

2     Servanthood

3     Precious One

4     Shepherding First

5     Process-Centered

6     Lay Ministry Oriented

7     Small Group Accented

8     Harmony of Message and System

9     Walking the Talks

10   All Encompassing Grace

About the Author

I

ONLY JESUS

Only Jesus Means Only through the Redemption of Jesus

There was an interesting parable in Palestine at the time of Jesus. A widow had two daughters and a field. In spring when she came to plow it, priests told her not to since according to the Law of Moses, You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together (Deuteronomy 22:10).¹ When she came to sow it, the priest came and told her not to sow the field with two kinds of seeds (Leviticus 19:19). He warned her and left. At the time of harvest, the priest came and said, When you reap your harvest in your field and have forgotten a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be for the alien, for the orphan, and for the widow, in order that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands (Deuteronomy 24:19). Now when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very corners of your field, neither shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest (Leviticus 19:9), he added.

When the threshing season came, the priest came and said, Honor the LORD from your wealth, and from the first of all your produce. He took the tenth of the harvested grain due to the priests and the Levites and left. At last, the woman sold the field and, with the proceeds, bought two sheep. But when these two sheep produced a lamb, the priest came and said, You shall consecrate to the LORD your God all the first-born males that are born of your herd and of your flock (Deuteronomy 15:9).

Then when she shore the sheep, he said, The wool is mine since the law says, ‘You shall give Him the first fruits of your grain, your new wine, and your oil, and the first shearing of your sheep.’ He took the wool of the sheep and left. The widow said, I cannot bear this priest’s demands any longer. It will be better for me to slaughter the sheep and eat them. But the priest heard this and said, In such case ‘this shall be the priests’ due from the people, from those who offer a sacrifice, either an ox or a sheep, of which they shall give to the priest the shoulder and the two cheeks and the stomach.’ He demanded her to do likewise. The widow cried out, If I cannot avoid your demand even by slaughtering the sheep, I give the whole of the sheep as a burnt offering to the LORD.

What is the message of this parable? It is the misunderstanding of the righteousness of God and the suffering image of man caused by that misunderstanding.

There are two kinds of righteousness: namely that of man and of God (Romans 1:16–17, 3:23–26). First, the righteousness of man is the quality of being honest, faithful, loyal, sacrificial, conscientious, and seeking interest of others before mine. We call such a person righteous. From a religious point of view, it means observing the rules and regulations of a particular religion. Second, the righteousness of God is revealed in the Gospel (Romans 1:17). It means that God reckons sinful human beings as those without sins (Romans 3:25–26). Romans 3:23–24 suggests the true way to salvation through Jesus and not by keeping of the law. The text says, For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.

Here, being justified is the translation of Greek participle dikaioumenoi. We usually think that we are justified by providing a reasonable or an adequate ground by taking some kind of action. The context of Romans 1 to 3 and the use of dikaioo word group (dikaiosunei in noun form) in the book of Romans, however, indicate that justification is not earned by keeping religious rules and regulations or by any other human merits. God’s righteousness is simply imputed to us based on our faith that God reckons us righteous in Jesus Christ. Hence, the Gospel is the Good News. Paul continues to testify: "Whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed" (Romans 3:25–26).

Many churches seem to have a wrong understanding of the righteousness of God. Righteousness earned by keeping religious codes rather than what is solely through Jesus dominates their culture. Many have lost the grace of Jesus Christ. Not the faith of only Jesus but the work of only zeal and the salvation through the works of the law have become the foundation of faith.

While there is plenty of information about the way of salvation by grace rather than religious work in churches today, the experience of it is utterly lacking. Only the demand to keep the law is repeated from the pulpit over and over again. As a result, churches have failed to show that Jesus is the only way of salvation, at least to the general public. Modern Protestantism has become perceived as the religion in which one has to do something and a lot, whatever that is. Therefore, embracing the Catholic Church with its very pious appeal has become a more attractive alternative.

To put it simply, the churches have deserted the way of the cross and become secularized. The following attitudes have resulted:

• We must have power.

• Our stature must be high.

• A church must have many members

What is driving many established churches’ pastors and new church planters into the path of this corruption? It is a desire to become strong, to move up high, and to have much. This is the perspective of the world. While neglecting the strengthening of inner temple, which builds the body of Christ, churches place their focus on building a visible temple in grandeur, namely the church building. As a result, powerful leadership with charisma is revered. A distorted idea has been formed that salvation is assured when members listen and obey such leaders’ words as those of God. Such culture has corrupted churches.

How to Believe Jesus Rightly

Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My load is light (Matthew 11:28–30).

This word of Jesus reminds all who seek the truth that there is no salvation through the heavy-laden yoke of the law, namely all religious acts by which we believe that we are justified. It teaches us that a truly rich and authentic religious life is possible by only Jesus. Christianity means Christ-religion. Jesus Christ started it; thus, He is the master and the head of it. The reason Christ came to this world was to give true rest to all who are weary and heavy laden.

What is this rest needed from? Of course, it is the rest from the hardships in life. When we think about this a bit deeper, however, it is the rest from every human effort to be justified by the works of the law. Jesus Christ has died for our sins and paid for the penalties of sins. This fundamental message that one can only be justified by believing in this truth must be revived. As we proclaim and live the message that there is salvation and justification in only Jesus, the churches should be established upon the right foundation.

Once again, not only the laity but also the leaders must understand the true intention of Jesus who called out to the weary and heavy laden. They must encounter Him in these very words of Jesus. It is essential to understand the purpose of the Jesus’ coming correctly and to put it into practice. The most important factor required from church planters today is building of a church that passionately tries to realize the will of the Lord for His churches.

And coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected by men, but choice and precious in the sight of God, you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For this is contained in Scripture: "Behold I lay in Zion a choice stone, a precious corner stone. And he who believes in Him shall not be disappointed" (1 Peter 2:4–6).

Let us once again receive Jesus as a living stone and a cornerstone. Despite receiving Jesus as the cornerstone, churches made Him a deserted stone through the factors of corruption mentioned earlier; this is their fundamental problem. Individuals, families, churches, and nations that adhered to the faith of only Jesus as their cornerstone experienced fullness and carried out the mission of God for a long period. The churches, nations, and people that did not, quickly declined, however. Because churches have failed to put their foundation upon Jesus, they weren’t able to live as living stones but are now facing a shameful decline.

Therefore, we must go back to only Jesus. We must go back to the foundation. Many Christians in modern churches think that they know Jesus, but in fact, they do not. Do we really know Jesus? Had we known Him once, does it mean that we know Him fully? Are we experiencing the fullness of only Jesus in our lives? Like Paul, am I living a life that truly confesses only Jesus?

Only Jesus of Martin Luther

Faith does not begin because I want to believe. It begins from God.

Luther’s Confession of Faith

Postmodern churches need to reflect on the reformation era of Martin Luther. To restore the faith of only Jesus, which is the essence of the Gospel, we need to understand his Preface to Romans, which helped Luther to go back to that essence.

On October 31, 1517, the Reformation began with Luther posting the Ninety-Five Theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg. However, not many people know that the conversion of Luther happened two years after the posting of the thesis. It is surprising that Luther did not consider himself fully converted even after writing the Ninety-Five Theses. While raising the banner of reform, he did not have a personal conversion experience. Yet based on proper reasons, he stood at the front line for the reformation of the church. After two years, however, the Holy Spirit, who is not bound by the timetable of man, led Luther to experience true conversion during his reading of Romans 1:17.

Key Words in the Book of Romans

I am convinced that churches must go back to fundamentals to rediscover only Jesus, which they are missing. The definitions of the keywords in Romans that Luther discovered are as follows:²

The Law

The law in Romans should not be understood as requirements that people have to do or not to do. The laws made by human hands need to be obeyed regardless of the intention of their hearts. Since the omniscient God sees not only the outside but also the inside of human hearts, no one can truly satisfy the demand of God. The law in Romans is to practice what God desires from our hearts. This law is spiritual, and forced obedience is inadequate before God. Therefore, no one can be justified by the works of the law (Romans 3:20). Thus, Paul says, There is no one righteous, not even one (Romans 3:10).

Sin

Sin is not just our visibly wrong doings. God is God because He makes us see the motivation of our hearts, wrong thoughts that arise from the deepest parts of us, even little anger caused by our greed as sins. The sinful acts are caused by sinful hearts as a thorny plant cannot bear apples. The root of a sinful heart is unbelief toward God. Apostle John said, And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin, and righteousness, and judgment; concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me (John 16:8–9). Not believing in Jesus, that is a sin.

Grace

In order to understand the meaning of grace more accurately, it must be distinguished from gift. Grace is God’s favor and good intention upon us who have believed in Jesus. To simply put, He loves us without any particular reason. God likes to demonstrate His favor upon us. He shows this favor irrespective of our human standards. Based on this divine favor, Jesus and the Holy Spirit came to us and bestowed upon us all kinds