Cheon Seong Gyeong: Episode 281
Cheon Seong Gyeong Book 9: Home Church and the Tribal Messiah
Chapter 3: The Mission of a Church Leader
Section 2: The Public Life of a Church Leader, 04-13
(4) Which should be higher, our direct relationships of love in the fallen world, or our indirect relationship of love with God? We should place our indirect relationship with God higher than our direct love relationships in this world. If that is not the case, we need to elevate our level of love. When we form that bond with God, we create a place where everyone longs to be. It is a bond and a relationship that people respect, whether they want to or not. Then, what can we learn from it and what should we do? We should learn how to love humanity. In today’s world, many view our Unification Church members as having no bond with Heaven and no relationship with God. We may appear so to them, but in fact we have that bond and we have a profound relationship with God. Since we have attained such a position, we need to manifest the love that God desires to give humanity.
(5) You who call each other church members should love each other more than you love other people, more than you love the things of this world. By truly loving one another you create the environment of love that can expand to the world. In this regard, the important thing is how much you appreciate the life of each member. Ask yourself how much you value each of your fellow church members. Even in the fallen world, when a person is going through difficulties other people help by giving whatever they can. If we cannot surpass that level of bonds and relationships, in the future we will be absorbed back into the fallen world. In that case, we cannot become the foothold for God to establish the bond that He so greatly hopes to make with all people.
(6) You leaders need to be clear in your standpoint. Otherwise, you will have a negative impact on your members. Whether you are in charge of a business or a church, you should be able to always love all the people with a public mind, that is, a caring heart, as though God had sent them to you. Care for your members as you would care for yourself, according to the law of public-mindedness. If you have the position of a leader, you should love all the people under your charge more than you assert yourself. Your standard in this matter should be higher than any existing relationship in Satan's world today. Otherwise, we cannot realize the kingdom of heaven that we desire.
(7) If you do not attend church three weeks in a row, you might even encounter an accident. If you do not attend church for one week, a second week and a third week, you will not feel at ease. You will not be able to say what is really on your mind, so instead you will lie. If this happens repeatedly, you will grow estranged from the church and eventually you will cut yourself off completely. As can be seen, although we witnessed to numerous people, many of them were lost because we lacked a good follow-up system to take care of them. Therefore, rather than focusing on giving Divine Principle lectures and making new relationships, you should take responsibility for those who connected with us in the past and raise them to bear fruit.
(8) As a public leader, your attitude is an important issue. Heaven is in the highest position. That is why Jesus said, "Whoever loves father and mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me" (Matt. 10:37). Jesus said this to indicate he held the highest position. Heaven strives to love us and establish a bond with us from this highest position. Thus, when you go out and introduce God to other people, how should you approach them? First, do not treat them with disdain. Someone may look plain and simple, but, although you cannot pinpoint it, you may get the feeling, "He is like my elder brother," or, "She is like my elder sister." Or perhaps when the person turns around, you may feel, "I have seen this person before." Surely such a person is meant to have a connection with you.
(9) When you witness to someone, how much importance do you place on that person's life? You need to reflect on this issue. A doctor is responsible to examine and strive to cure any patient who comes to see him. It does not matter if the doctor himself is ill. If that doctor is the only person who can cure the patient's ailment, and if the only way to cure the ailment is by performing surgery, then it is the doctor's duty to forget about his own pain, take up a scalpel and work for hours using all his medical expertise to save that person's life. Such a doctor can be called a true doctor of doctors. If that doctor died immediately after completing the operation, he would be regarded as having ended his life as a true doctor. And if that last patient were cured, that person would never forget what the doctor had done. The patient would even speak of it as the Last words to his or her descendants.
(10) Leaders of this age should not consider themselves great. They should know that they have attained their positions thanks to the merit and sacrifices of their many ancestors. They should not think of themselves as great and claim they have the right to take what belongs to others because they deserve it. Rather, leaders should have the attitude that they must live a public life. A political party should not put itself ahead of the nation; rather, the party should put the nation first. Likewise, the Unification Church should not put itself first, for it exists to save the nation. The Unification Church should not exist to own the world; rather, it should be a church that exists to save the world. When that happens, Heaven will always be with the Unification Church. Church leaders need to understand this tradition as they carry out their work. I am telling the leaders not to think they have risen to their present positions because they are great.
(11 The world in which we live needs to be governed by law. Based on the law, matters are distinguished as right or wrong. Then what about the universe with God at its center? What will be the law by which we distinguish right from wrong? It will be the law of public righteousness, of living for the greater good. This will determine what is good or evil. Even in the family there are laws. Whether something is right or wrong is determined based on the family law of the greater good. The parents are in charge of upholding their family law. Hence, they cannot violate that law, and they are responsible for dealing with any such violation. If the parents do something wrong, the entire family will be affected. This also holds true for any society, company, or organization. Each has its laws, and it depends on the leader whether the entity is for the public or private purpose, for good or for evil.
(12) The leader of an organization bears public responsibility. As the person in charge, he or she has to take full responsibility. He or she should uphold and follow its rules and regulations. The leader guides the organization as its subject, which determines whether it will go the way of goodness or the way of evil. The same is true for the ruler of a nation. A nation’s ruler is its subject figure who shoulders full responsibility to ensure that his nation upholds the law, which should be based upon the law of public righteousness. That ruler needs to be fully prepared for this role in all its aspects, both internal and external. Thus, leaders should be able to govern by the law of public righteousness, to uphold that law and influence all citizens of the nation to fulfill their responsibilities under it. Otherwise, from the perspective of the law of public righteousness, the ruler cannot represent the entire nation.
(13) The world is surely heading toward unity with the central figure and the public will, centered on the law of the greater good. People in both the physical world and the spirit world are following this same path. Even God cannot just do as He pleases. Having set up the law of the greater good, God can firmly secure His position only by maintaining the centrality of that law and fulfilling His public duties and responsibilities in accordance with that law. He cannot assert His authority by ignoring His own law. The same is true for us, regarding the laws of the family, society, and nation.