Good news of Christmas – Logos

Scripture: John 1:1-18

Title: Good news of Christmas – Logos

Date: Dec 8, 2013

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.² He was with God in the beginning. ³ Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. ⁴ In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

⁶ There was a man sent from God whose name was John. ⁷ He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. ⁸ He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.

⁹ The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. ¹⁰ He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.¹¹ He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. ¹² Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— ¹³ children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

¹⁴ The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory,the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

¹⁵ (John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’”)¹⁶ Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. ¹⁷ For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. ¹⁸ No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.

1. Did you ever notice how politicians never really answer any questions?  I don’t know about most of you but I was following 2008 US Presidential Election with a great interest and I was watching one of the presidential debates between Obama and McCain in a public place.  There was this man who had been watching the debate before I got there said to me “Why can’t they just answer the darn questions?”  That’s when I realized that I was feeling little constipated for the same reason – there was no clean and clear from either candidates.  Both candidates knew that they will not lose votes over unanswered questions but will, for sure, lose them if they misspoke so when the candidates were asked a tough question they had this way of redirecting the question so that they can avoid being on the spot – both of them would speak after a question was raised but there were many occasions where many words were spoken but nobody really answered the question.  And we see something like this around us all the time.  I have seen many teachers who fill the classroom time with fillers – empty words.  AND, guilty enough, preachers are very much guilty of saying many words without saying much as well.  Furthermore, all of us are in a special situation where either we, ourselves, OR our parents are very new to English language.  With this kind of examples of “wasted words” around us, what else do we expect but never thinking twice about someone’s rambling?  We might be annoyed by it but never would think “what a waste of energy” OR “What a waste of power.”

2. Well, the focus word for today is “Logos.”  Greek word Logos is translated “Word” in English.  Logos included in the opening act of John’s Gospel and even though Logos does not appear again after the first Chapter, proper understanding of Logos will set the correct tone for the rest of the Gospel.  So please allow me to explain what the word “Logos” means in Hebrew mind set followed by Greek mind set before getting into its significance.

As mentioned, even if we might live as a generation that does not have high appreciation for carefully chosen words and speeches, the Hebrew understanding of and mind set for “word” or spoken words are different.  For Jewish faith a word is also an event.  The Hebrew word for “Logos” is DABAR and DABAR is not just an abstract notion or psychological idea but it is also an event.  Let’s take Psalm 33:6 as an example.  It says, “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth.” (Psalm 33:6)  This is Jewish people’s actual belief – God spoke everything into being.  Our generation in this room might be conditioned or trained or educated to take this verse as a figure of speech but Jewish people actually believe this verse literally – God’s spoken word has that kind of creative power.  God caused entire Creation through spoken words – spoken Logos.

On the other hand, the Greeks understood “Logos” as “word” but in addition they also understood it as reason or rationality.  Logos meant the inner principle of a thing, how a thing works.  Explaining the Greek mind set, a professor of mind gave this example: “The logos of an automobile engine is how a cupful of liquid gasoline can be exploded to propel a two-ton car, how the engine works.  The logos of a refrigerator is how electricity can keep food cold; how it works, its inner principle, the rationality of it all.”  So that is the Greek mind set.  While the Jewish mind set expects actuality caused by spoken word, the Greek mind set focuses on the words inner rationality.

Now, why are these important?  It is important because Apostle John joins the Hebrew notion of Logos along with the Greek notion of Logos to reveal to us the nature of God and the good news of Christmas.  Last week (Dec 1, 2013) was the beginning of Christian season called Advent.  Advent starts four Sundays before Christmas and ends on the Christmas Eve and it is supposed to be a season of preparation for Christmas.  So in a way of preparation, I would like for us to understand what John is trying to say through Logos and what the good news really is about Christmas.

3. So what is the nature of God that Logos reveal to us?  First of all, Logos is NOT a creature or a result of creation.  It says in the beginning was the “Word” the Logos.  If it is NOT a creature then Logos must be God.  Secondly, it says the Logos was with God.  Now, to the post-moderns would notice the distinction between Logos and God in this sentence and would conclude that Logos is not God but to clear up (or perhaps to confuse you even further) John says, thirdly, that the Word was God.  To some of you, it looks as if Apostle John is trying to confuse you or he, himself, is confused, isn’t it?  First he says, Logos is before creation (OK so he is not created so he must God), then he says Logos was with God (wait, so logos is NOT God?), then finally he says Logos is God (wait what?)

So what do we have here?  How should we understand this?  What we have here is the description of Father-Son-Holy Spirit relationship of ONE God. The technical term for this belief is “Trinitarian monotheism” and this is what we, as Presbyterians, believe.   In fact, this is what main stream Christians believe.  Trinitarian an adjective form for Trinity (everyone here should know that Trinity refers to Father, Son and the Holy Spirit) and Monotheism’s mono means one or single.  So overall the belief is in three distinct persons in one God head – Father is God, Son is God and the Spirit is God. They all share the same essence.)  Judaism insisted on monotheism despite the fact that it was surrounded by polytheistic nations.  Some nations around Israel literally have thousands of gods and when other nations thought oddly of Israel for its monotheistic belief, Israel survived with Monotheism which we, Christians, inherited.  But let’s not get too caught up with the theology and move on with the authorial intent.  Through Logos John shows that Jesus Christ is the word of God, the power of God, the event of God which, just like any other words, cannot be unsaid or undone and at the same time, John shows that Jesus Christ, the logos, embodies the rationality of God – in fact Jesus IS how God works.  What Jesus did in his human form, indeed, is the action of God.  This is hugely significant in the light of the fact that Jesus saw his entire life as a journey to the Cross.  THIS is what that simple word Logos reveal to us – that Jesus who is distinct and yet the same as the Father is indeed God.

4.  And here is the good news of Christmas.  That Word of God has become flesh – our flesh – and dwells among us.  In the verse 4, it says “In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.”  Light, amongst many things, reveals.  The word (logos) reveals to mankind the nature of God, the identity of God, the character of God AND the actions of God.  Jesus as the Logos is not just a representation of what God would do but Jesus IS what God would do. For those who struggled to know how to obtain eternal life OR those of you who yearned a meaningful relationship with God OR those of you who still has no idea who God is, the good news for you is that you do not need to look any further than Jesus Christ.  I know that human faith is awfully feeble and that it constantly seeks something visible to wrap its faith around.  Look what happened to Israelites while Moses went up the mountain for short while.  They created a golden calf thinking that IT saved them from Pharaoh.  One of the good news of Christmas is that we have this visible, verifiable and verified human form of God in Jesus of Nazareth.  How many of you have met your great grandfather?  I know I am from my father and my father is from his father.  Even though I have met my grandparents, I have never met my great grandparents.   Most of you have not either but yet you have no trace of doubt that they existed.  Jesus’ existence is witnessed everywhere in history.  His influence is globally felt.  So if you are ever in doubt whether there is God in the first place, don’t look anywhere else, look to Jesus and what he did.  He said he is the way and the truth and the life.  You want to know who God is how he functions?  Turn to Jesus, He has the right answers for you because he IS the answer.

5. Another Good news of Christmas is that God exists in relationship.  Trinitarian monotheism insists that even though it is ONE God, there are three distinct persons in it.  The logos, the son, existed before the creation.  This means being in relationship is the essence of God and God, by his nature, wants you in a relationship with Him.  We know this because Jesus invited all of his hearers to a relationship with Him (follow me.)   Jesus in his personhood will NEVER betray the very nature of God because he IS God.  Don’t let this good news of Christmas go by you this Christmas but dwell on it and make it yours – the Word is inviting.

Needle and thread; Jesus and his followers;

Title: Needle and thread; Jesus and his followers;

Scripture: John 21:1-14

Date: April 21, 2013

 21 Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Galilee. It happened this way: ² Simon Peter, Thomas (also known as Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. ³ “I’m going out to fish,” Simon Peter told them, and they said, “We’ll go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

⁴ Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.

⁵ He called out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?”

“No,” they answered.

⁶ He said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.

⁷ Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, “It is the Lord,” he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water. ⁸ The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards. ⁹ When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread.

¹⁰ Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you have just caught.” ¹¹ So Simon Peter climbed back into the boat and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn. ¹² Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” None of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord.¹³ Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. ¹⁴ This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.

Just the other day, I went out for a cup of coffee after spending long time at home working.  I was stuck indoors for a long time and I was stuck at my desk for a long time.  It was not like I was able to move around my loft condo, I was genuinely stuck in front of my desk, specifically in front of my computer because of the nature of my work.  So when I went out for a coffee, I realized had two choices.  There is a coffee shop called Dark Horse that is just about 3 minute walk from my place and there is another coffee shop called Mercury which takes about 15 minutes of walk to get to.  For convenience sake, I could have simply gone to Dark Horse and just get there in three minutes of time, but I chose to go to Mercury – I just needed to walk off my stress.  In fact, the whole coffee break was just an excuse.  I just needed a destination to walk to.  Realizing the importance of the destination, I also realized I never was able to just wander around on the streets like many people could at shopping malls.  Which direction will I go to? At which street would I make a turn?  Which building or household would I look at during that walk?  And most importantly “WHY” would I walk, make turns and look at those things?  I have brought so much baggage thoughts to a simple stress relieving walk but my conclusion was that wandering aimlessly does not really work for me.  I needed a destination and that delicious cup of latte that’s 15 minutes away was just perfect for me.

Imagine, however, I went out for a walk at late evening and the latte store was closed.  Where would I go?  When all directions are available to me, which direction and which turn would I choose? And for what purpose?  When too many choices are given to us, we might welcome it since we don’t really like someone else choosing on our behalf but I also realized with too many choices come confusion.  That sense of confusion, that sense of being lost and that sense of all of sudden losing the lead, was what the disciples felt after Jesus’ crucifixion.

Jesus spent three years in ministry and the disciples were called to Him in the beginning of his ministry.  The disciples went wherever their master went.  For three years, they were like needle and thread – inseparable, attached and intimate.  And one day, their master was gone just like that.  After three years of not having to think about what to do the day after, they are all of a sudden faced with a big dilemma.  “What do we do now?”  A sense of fear but also senses of being helpless and lost are dominating the minds of disciples.  That’s where today’s scripture begins its story.  Lost disciples, lost in the sea! Where are you going and why would you go there?  Let’s look at what they had decided to do and what Jesus did about that.

1) First off, we have to see that Peter, the dominant and vocal one of the twelve, leads 6 others to go fishing.  Peter, along with John and James were fairly well established fisher men.  They were doing financially quite well for themselves before being called to minister to people.  That is where Peter had gone back to and led 6 other disciples with him.  One problem – this is exactly opposite of Jesus’ calling.  When Jesus first called the disciples, the calling was “drop what you are doing and follow me.  I have much greater things for you to do.”  Peter at this point still does not understand what had taken place over the Easter Weekend or at least his denial of Jesus was so stunning and shocking to him that he had become like a little baby chick rather than a ferocious lion whose confidence out wits the wisdom of the world.  Even after seeing the empty tomb and even after Jesus had declared that on this rock called Peter, I will establish my church; Peter had decided to go back to fishing and led 6 others with him.  How is that for a wrong turn?

Peter had heard Jesus preach and Jesus even provided personal interpretations and explanations for the disciples for three years.  Also during those three years, the disciples witnessed countless miracles, healings, exorcism and with commission from Jesus the disciples themselves were able to perform the miracles themselves. For those three years, Peter, John and James among all the disciples spent the most intimate times with Jesus but as if those times meant nothing to Peter, he turned back to fishing.  Instead of repeating his master’s message to the world; instead of believing that that man from Nazareth had the message to preach to the world, Peter escapes to a private life devoid of mercy work, living only for himself and unto himself.  Again, how is THAT for a wrong turn?

2) Let’s see what happens when Peter and the others turned away from their calling and had gone back to their old ways.  The verse 3 says “So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.”  It wasn’t due to lack of skills that the disciples did not catch anything that evening.  As I mentioned Peter, Andrew, James and John were commercial Fishermen who probably grew up fishing in the Sea of Galilee.  They know the sea floor like palm of their hands!  So why did they not catch anything?

It is plain that God prevented them from catching anything that night.  Just like that time when Jesus wanted to get Peter’s attention that He was serious about calling Peter to ministry, God had to disrupt Peter’s “old” vocation of fishery in order to make a point.  Peter only understands things about fishing and not much else, so God uses fishing to speak to him.  Peter needed to understand that apart from God he would not produce any fruit in life – never mind the ministry where he actually lacked the confidence and the skill, even in commercial fishing, apart from God’s blessing, there is no fruit to bear.

3) Thirdly, this man appears and points to a location.  He says fishes are there for a collection and the futile efforts of the 7 disciples came to fruition. They caught so many large fishes that the net was about to tear and it was far more than what the disciple turned fishermen can bear.

Jesus is making a point here: Once we are called, we are called for life.  The disciples should have never returned to old way of living.  Do you know which book is after the Gospel of John?  Book of Acts.  Do you know what happens in book of Acts?  Peter, the scared one who fled to fishing, speaks and addresses thousands of Jews that he feared and after he had spoken three thousand people came to believe and received new life.  After that Peter performs a miracle where he cures a lame person.  This is the prototype of the faithful life he was supposed to live!  Peter was to preach, perform miracles and cause people to repent.  There were too many to reach that there was no time to play with his net trying to catch fishes.  Peter was to be a fisher of men not of fishes.  He was on the verge of break out in his ministry but it was about to slip because of his guilt, had it not for Jesus who came to restore Peter to his ministry.

But we also have something else here….  Everyone is familiar with the next scene to today’s scripture.  It’s the famous dialogue between Jesus and Peter where Jesus asks “Do you Love me?” and Peter replies “Yes Lord you know that I love you” and so on.  Everyone also knows that that scene is where Peter is restored back into ministry – a fisher of men.  But look what made that scene possible.  Jesus came to Peter.

Not only Jesus had enough love to forgive Peter, Jesus’ love was so overwhelming that he approached Peter first.  He came to Peter offering forgiveness –Peter’s loving Jesus back was the only requirement.  That’s grace.  There was more grace in God than there was betrayal in Peter.

So what does this have to do with us today?

 

4) I know that Easter weekend has been long past but post Easter is when we need to think about God’s calling for us in life.  Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:14 says, if Jesus did not resurrect, our faith is in vain but post Easter epilogue insists that Jesus resurrected.  That should make us pause in life and reflect a little bit.  Jesus resurrected and all of his claims about himself being God have been proved to be true.  Then all of a sudden, his calling of you must be taken seriously as well.  For sure, he has been speaking to you!  The most visible feature of Christian God from 3^rd point perspective is that He speaks!  If we have not been hearing him, then perhaps we should suspect we haven’t been listening. 

What does your faith tell you to do?  What does your faith tell you about the transformation that’s needed in your life?  For sure, we are to love our God and our neighbour but when was the last time you caused a smile on someone’s face?  When was last time, you actually lived to make someone’s day?  When was the last time people praised God because of your actions?  I’m not merely talking about one time, random, undecided moments of actions but I’m talking about lifestyle of honouring God and living unto others.

I cannot tell you what God’s been speaking to you about since it is between you and God but if he has been speaking to you (and no doubt he has been) then I have to encourage you that you respond as soon as possible.  A delayed answer is always a no.  Let’s suppose for a moment that I asked a girl out and she said “hang on, let me think about it” and she delays her answer for one month.. what do you think her answer is for me?  Sure, we can give it a benefit of the doubt and say she is still “thinking” about it but let’s face it, she is saying no.  It’s the same thing.  A delayed answer to God’s invitation always says “I don’t want to therefore no.”  But you know where that road gets you.  It doesn’t get you anywhere!  Effort will be in vain and your labour will be fruitless.

Follow Jesus and never return to your old ways.   Now that you know Jesus and now that you confess that we belong to Jesus, the only way to live is for Him.  Don’t be scared and don’t be afraid.  All of us are at a verge of gathering much fruit, we just need to recognize that God’s calling for us is for life and just move on forward boldly with it.  Just like the needle and the thread, wherever Jesus goes we go also. God will take care of the rest.

And I have a special address for the leaders among us.  Today’s praise leader for example, have you ever seen her go up to the stage without a smile?  Personally, I have never seen her not smile during the praise.  I haven’t had a chance to train our praise leader but one thing I always encourage praise teams to do anywhere is to offer genuine smile.  One’s poor evening night before Sunday should not ruin or provide the overtone for the praise for the worship service.  But despite of the importance, life is simply hard at times.  Life is stressful and one can commit sin and before she thinks she’s ready, she may have to face the congregation upon that stage leading the people of God to the worship of God.  What to do then?

I’m not taking sin lightly at all.  All sins need to be dealt with appropriately with God and when necessary with other parties involved in sin.  But having dealt with sin and confessed before God, we must insist our ways in serving God.  Going back to our old way of life away from serving God and his people must remind us Peter’s going back for fishing.  The old way of life simply sin multiplying.  We are committing sin upon sin when we let our sin guide us away from God’s calling and back into old way of life.  God the King deserves our commitment and we must insist on it despite of our failures.

(Sermon) Dead voice and voice from the dead

Date: Jan 27, 2013

Title: Dead voice and voice from the dead

Scripture: 1 Peter 5:1-7

To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder and a witness of Christ’s sufferings who also will share in the glory to be revealed: ² Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve; ³ not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. ⁴ And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.

⁵ In the same way, you who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because,

“God opposes the proud
    but shows favor to the humble.”

 

⁶ Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. ⁷ Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

 

Introduction:

Not too long ago before joining the baseball team with Byundos, I was in a team called “rookies”.  I was the starting catcher who also coached the team as well.  As part of my coaching duty, I had to teach the players in my team and one day we got a new player whose physical talent was immediately visible.  He had all the tools of a baseball player.  Tall, strong arm, not so fast but he had a good swing that comes from good hip rotations.  So other coaches and I were thinking of developing him to be our next starting pitcher for our team but as soon as we start working with that kid we soon began discovering a problem – he would not accept our corrections despite playing baseball for the first time.

His delivery when runners were on base was wrong, we’d correct him but he refuses to do so.  He was forbidden to try curve balls to really work on locating his fastball but he refused to listen.  He was told to be patient with a backup catcher as he is not as experienced as I am so there might be some past balls and dropped balls but out of his temper he took out his frustration to the backup catcher who in the secret cried.  We told him that he needed to be a team player but he didn’t know what it meant and worse yet, he didn’t care.

He clearly had good talents – enough to become symbol of our team but in the end he didn’t develop to become one.  If all the physical talents were there then what was missing from him?  It was the attitude that prevented him from becoming the team’s ace.  He got talent but refusal to be humble enough to listen stifled his growth.

In today’s passage Apostle Peter provides one tip to the youngsters after giving instructions to the older ones to be examples.  Surprisingly, Apostle Peter doesn’t say “see the examples and learn” but instead do you notice how much emphasis there is on being “humble”?  In three short verses, Apostle Peter hints at humility four times!  What is up with the human beings, especially the “Young” people, that he emphasizes humility so much?  Why wouldn’t he have just said “Listen” or “hear” or “go to the class rooms” (something little more direct) but instead said “be humble” (which is indirect)?

It is because humility acts like pain-killers when we have a headache.  While it does not treat the root cause of the pain, at least it relieves the symptom.  As in, humility alone will not save us from our dead-in-sin (we need gospel for that!) but at least it grants us the opportunity to hear Godly voice and temporarily restores correct life order that was marred after Adam and Eve’s sin.

1. To understand what else “humility” does for us let’s take a look at what Bonhoeffer (a 20^th century German theologian) said in his book Ethics

“For Christian ethics, the mere possibility of knowing about good and evil is already a falling away from the origin. Living in the origin, human beings know nothing but God alone. They know other human beings, things, and themselves only in the unity of their knowledge of God; they know everything only in God, and God in all things.  Knowledge about good and evil points to the prior disunion and estrangement from this origin … By understanding themselves according to their possibilities, namely, to be either good or evil, human beings come to see themselves as the origin of good and evil.”

After the original sin of Adam and Eve, a deadly force has entered into our lives.  This force is so stealthy that most of our lives, we do not even see that it is there influencing us in every second of living moments.  This force is so influential and stealthy that even just a little poke at it, we have the tendency to break out in anger or it absolutely crushes us that we crumble to the corner of our room sobbing.  The deadly force’s name is pride.

Psalm 14:1 puts the finger on what’s on people’s mind upon committing sin from their prideful heart.

“The fool says in his heart,

“There is no God.”

It is not that we do not acknowledge the existence and involvement of God in our lives but when it is convenient for us, we tend to turn blind eye to what God likes for us to do.  It’s not that we do not know but it’s that we ignore – precisely because we see ourselves as the origin of good and evil and that we CAN determine ultimately what is good and evil apart from God.  “That deliciousness of sin cannot be THAT bad for us, can it?”

Case in point, years ago I knew a church member who was on the fence about the whole faith thing.  I kept conversing with that member to ensure that she stayed in faith.  Then one day she suddenly decided she will denounce the faith.  It came as a shock since during the conversation I had discovered that she knew more about the scripture than most other members in the church AND she was faithfully attending the church.

What had happened was this.  She had begun dating a guy and he wasn’t a Christian.  She was well aware of what church claims about non-Christian dating and lust issues.  She didn’t like it and she had been flirting with the idea of leaving the church anyways so she thought she might as well leave the church.  But then, it will still be on her conscience to merely just leave the church so she decided that she will leave the faith altogether so as to clear up her conscience of having sinned against God.  She was in full awareness of God’s voice but in order to fit her convenience she decided that she will become the origin of good and evil.  And according to her view, everything was O~~~k.  It’s ok to have fun with non-Christians and accept their world and life views AND their term of physical intimacy.

Let’s face it, by nature we do not like to listen, precisely because we are prideful people and THAT is why humility is important.  Humility, at least temporarily, allows us to open our ears and open our hearts to other people’s (including God’s) voices.  It is precisely in suspending of our own pride that we are finally able to listen to the voice of God.  That suspending action called “Humility” is the temporary human act to restore the origin of good and evil back to God and this is why Apostle Peter does not tell the young “listen” but “be humble” since listening will naturally follow “humility”.

2. Secondly, what is the benefit of humility?  I mean surely being humble or being made humble do not feel all that great so what’s so great about it?  There are at least two benefits.

First, by humbling ourselves, we are able to benefit from differing opinions.  It makes us knowledgeable and flexible.  When you are so hardened in your own world, you are not likely to listen to others and cannot possibly see things from other people’s point of view.  And by listening perhaps you don’t have to repeat the mistakes that our older brothers and sisters have made in their life.

Second and perhaps bigger of the two for me is that it liberates us and allows us to experience freedom – freedom from the bondage and fear of how “others think of me”.  This is another bondage that is so strong and stealthy that really controls our lives.  How does humility work in a way that frees us from this?  I have learned over the years that people will develop an opinion of me, no matter what.

Some people think I’m wonderful and fun while others think I’m scary and an idiot.  Humility allows me to say “so what?” to both of them – only God knows who I really am.  Humility allows me to accept people’s opinion as opinion.  To the proud, other people’s opinions are often bad news that need to be changed.  But by being able to accept their opinions as possible life lessons, I am able to accept and even enjoy what they have to say and still enjoy their company.  I am also able to enjoy people’s opinion of me only because ultimately it is not what matters the most and it is not the factor that will declare my success or failure in my life.

Relating to this, there is a verse that does not seem to fit in this passage (not at a first glance anyways).  Verse 7 says “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”  Peter was talking about humility all this time and all of a sudden he squeezes in “anxiety” quite randomly.  It is there to comfort you in case you are nervous about “letting go” of the control by humbling yourself.  You don’t have to hold onto that image that you are holding up for others to see.

Peter is saying God’s opinion is the only thing that matters and therefore let go of the fear of being seen genuinely and honestly.  One of the greatest fears of being humble is that humble person is seen as “weak” – so weak that everyone can step over him.  Well, Peter says “don’t worry about it.”  Whatever the consequence of being humble is, God will take care of you.  Whatever fear may result as your dedication to be humble whether it is with your parents (and actually listen to them) or with your teachers and professors (regarding your grade and attitude in school) or with your pastors and friends with regards to your life, whatever it is, once you decide to be humble and attentive to other people’s voices, God will give life giving voice through them that you will thrive in God’s care.

3. So folks, I hope you will re-think about how you are going to live your life.  If you decide to be teachable and attentive then voices from the dead (as in the voice from the past) will work to benefit your future but if you decide to become your own master then all the voices of the past (including Jesus’) simply become dead voice.  I hope you will not waste the rich experiences of our elder brothers/sisters but make them your own by being humble enough to start listening.

(sermon) Glory that the world will never understand

Title: Glory that you and I will never understand

Scripture: John 12:12-29      

Date: March 24, 2013

¹² The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. ¹³ They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting,

“Hosanna!”

“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”

“Blessed is the king of Israel!”

¹⁴ Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written:

¹⁵ “Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion;
    see, your king is coming,
    seated on a donkey’s colt.”

¹⁶ At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that these things had been done to him.

¹⁷ Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. ¹⁸ Many people, because they had heard that he had performed this sign, went out to meet him. ¹⁹ So the Pharisees said to one another, “See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!”

²⁰ Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the festival. ²¹ They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.” ²² Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus.

²³ Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. ²⁴ Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. ²⁵ Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. ²⁶ Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.

²⁷ “Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. ²⁸ Father, glorify your name!”

Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.” ²⁹ The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him.

 

Introduction

It is Palm Sunday.  Today we celebrate what we so-call “triumphant” entry of Jesus into Jerusalem and of course this is the week before the Easter Sunday where Jesus who died resurrects from the dead.  Question for you: Why do Christians call Jesus’ entry, only few days before his Crucifixion, triumphant entry?  What is so glorious about it?  If you are only considering the fact that people have gathered to lay down the palm tree leafs and shouting Hosanna and “blessed is the King of Israel”, I’m afraid that you haven’t understood the nature of the Gospel and therefore the nature of Jesus our Lord.

We will all see “glory” in NFL champions Baltimore Ravens. We will all see “glory” in LeBron James and his 2012 NBA championship and Miami Heat’s 25 consecutive wins (as of today).  We see glory on red carpets and movie stars.  These “glories”, no doubt a form of glory, is not the glory our Lord Jesus Christ will experience in today’s scripture!

To be sure, we may easily misread and misunderstand Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on a donkey and confuse world’s glory with Christ’s glory.  Why wouldn’t we?  Jesus seems to be appreciated, adored and worshiped.  Furthermore, Jesus seems to be recognized as God and he seems to be held up in a high place.  In modern day terms, Jesus is on a red carpet, Jesus is in the cover of GQ magazine, news about Jesus has been thoroughly shared on facebook, re-tweeted by the millions and there is a twitter trend and re-blogging happening about his entry.  So why wouldn’t we think that this IS the glorious moment for Jesus?

Gospel of John insists that the red carpets, magazine covers and millions of followers on twitter aren’t glory for Jesus.

1. So then what IS the glory according to John and according to our Lord Jesus Christ?  Let’s first take closer look at today’s passage and understand what his mission was because glory and purpose for an action has close relationship that they cannot be so easily separated.  Think about it this way: not too long ago, there was a Youtube sensation with an infant named Titus between the ages of 18-24 months old.  That infant couldn’t even speak but he started making all these trick basketball shots.  The baby was talked about on ESPN, Good Morning America, Today Show, Anderson Cooper and other talk shows.  And people are talking as if he WILL be going to NBA in the future but given that kind of talent do you see NHL being excited? MLB being excited?  Of course not.  The infant’s skill has nothing to do with the purpose of “other” games such as baseball and hockey.  Purpose and Glory are closely associated.  So then we HAVE to understand Jesus’ mission before we can understand his glory.

To know Jesus’ mission, we have to see that Jesus has chosen a donkey rather than a horse.  A horse is an animal of war whereas the donkey is an animal of peace.  But peace with what? Or with whom?

Is it peace between Israel and Rome?  No, if that was Jesus’ mission, he probably accepted Jewish people’s desire to become political king over them and started a diplomatic foreign policy.

Is it peace among Jews? No, if that was Jesus’ mission, he would NOT have picked fights with the Pharisees and other religious leaders.  (You ever noticed how Jesus always seems to brew trouble wherever he went?)

Is it a world peace?  Well, we are little closer but if, by “world peace”, you mean the type of peace where people are focused on getting along with each other while abandoning faith that binds us to Christ and therefore God the Father, we are wrong on that.  If such was case, Jesus would have used his charm and intelligence to focus on his humour skills to keep people laughing instead of teaching but of course that wasn’t the case.

So peace with what or whom?  It’s the heavenly peace where the Kingdom order is restored.  It is the peace that restores mankind to what it was meant to be – in a loving relationship with God the creator, fellow neighbors and rest of God’s creations.  So the peace that the Gospel is talking about is peace between God and man.  Romans 5:1-2 says: “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand”

Without our Lord Jesus Christ, we do not have access to grace and without grace, there is no peace with God.  That is to say, without Christ, we remain under God’s judgement of death and without Christ all we can see is the anger of God.  Making peace between two parties is called “reconciliation” and Jesus’ mission was precisely the reconciliation between God and man.

2. Only under this purpose, we can understand the glory of God.  Take a look at verse 23 – 24 “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.”  Isn’t it interesting that Jesus would say this not during his entry but after the fact?  Only after the adoring public has gone away, Jesus talks as if the “hour of glory” is still coming rather than has just passed.  Yuna Kim of Korea won Gold medal in World Championship just the other day.  Do you remember where she stood during the medal ceremony?  She stood on the highest place on the podium.  In today’s scripture, to many people, his way into Jerusalem appears to be THE moment for Jesus.  Jesus appears to be having highest point of podium moment BUT instead of savouring it and say “that WAS my glory”, Jesus says the hour is “coming” and “has come” only after the public recognition.  Why is that?

It is because public support had no value to him whatsoever – Jesus’ agenda was much greater than THAT.  For reconciliation, the Cross was the ONLY way to achieve purpose, so for Jesus glorification had all to do with the Cross rather than people’s approval and praise of Him.

You see, we may not understand what it means to be “absolute”.  Absolutely pure means, there is no blemish.  Even a slightest spot takes away the status of “absolute” pure.  That’s just the definition of “absolute”, there cannot be any other element.  So for God to be absolutely “Holy” means there cannot be any “unholiness” in Him.  Which in turn means there cannot be any wink at sin or any hint of sin in Him.  There is no such thing as “Ah, we’ll just let them get away with one”.  So God must pronounce the judgement of death on every single sinner who commits sin!

You and I are no different.  There WAS pronounced judgement of death upon us!  That is until Jesus took away that judgement from us and placed onto himself to pay for our sins instead.  THAT is the reconciling work of our Lord Jesus Christ and because the Cross completed reconciliation (as in achieving the purpose of Jesus’ mission), Gospel of John insists that Cross is the glory of God.  Cross is the place where the purpose of God is achieved and both his Loving character AND justice character in whom no sin is found are (displayed ultimately) and (reigns supremely).

3. We live in a world where high places are envied.  High grades, high income, high square footage of your house, high number of followers on your twitter, facebook, Tumblr and/or any other types of blogs you might maintain.  What Jesus has done on Palm Sunday 2000 years ago was exactly the opposite.  What Jesus had done on Good Friday 2000 years ago was also exactly the opposite of what this world understands as glory.

Instead, Gospel of John insists that Cross, the lowliest of lows, IS God’s glory. That’s because it is the place where you and I have found life in God and God’s purpose is achieved – this is how much God loves you and me.  The only thing we could do is to stop doubting, start believing and forever remain thankful about it.  So while I usually give out one or two applications, there is no application for this message other than as we start our Passion Week 2013 I just invite you to rethink Jesus and his reconciling work and remain thankful in everything you do.

We live because Jesus died and resurrected.

Thanks be to God.

(Sermon) Though he sees, he does not see but as she sees she worships

Title: Though he sees, he does not see but as she sees she worships

Scripture: John 12:1-11

Date: March 17, 2013

12 Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead.² Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. ³ Then Mary took about a pint^[a] of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

⁴ But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, ⁵ “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.^[b]” ⁶ He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.

⁷ “Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. “It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. ⁸ You will always have the poor among you,^[c] but you will not always have me.”

⁹ Meanwhile a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was there and came, not only because of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. ¹⁰ So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well, ¹¹ for on account of him many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and believing in him.

Introduction

When I was a kid, I remember that one day when I was in a taxi with my mom and my sister.  When that taxi came to a stop, we noticed a woman standing by the road.  We all looked at her for a while until the taxi drove on.  After a while, my sister opened with her comment first.  She said “that woman had a nice looking bag”, my mom replied “oh really?  I didn’t see that but she was standing so close to the curb that I was little worried.”  But I remember thinking to myself “she was eating a hot dog…”

Yes, seeing same object does not necessarily guarantee “perceiving” the same object.  In my story’s case, we all looked at what we predominantly drove us: my sister had a taste for nice looking bag, my mom (being a mom) was concerned for anyone standing near a curb and I was simply hungry (I probably always was).  This is why sometimes we see an event occurring in front of our eyes and yet completely misunderstand what had taken place in front of us.  It is because how we perceive things, is not necessarily how the presenter wishes it to be perceived.  Take the matter of this sermon as an example.  In each sermon, I have a specific theme and few points to make but what I want to get across is not necessarily what you take away each week.  Some of you will take away my humour, some of you my dress code, some of you may learn from my illustrations or some of you might completely understand what it is that I am trying to get across.  All of you will take away something but there is no guarantee that you will take away what I want for you to take away each time.

In today’s passage, we see similar thing going on.  Judas and Mary see the same person – Jesus but their reactions in today’s story tell radically different perception of the same person.  What’s the scoop and what is the significance?

The story

In order to understand what is happening in John 12, we really need to go back to the story in chapter 11 so let me just provide the background details and we can understand what is happening in this scene then we can draw out some principles from it.

In the previous chapter, a man named Lazarus is introduced without any relational description to Jesus.  But it is obvious that he was such a close friend to Jesus since Jesus was actually expected to return to Bethany (Lazarus’ home town) as soon as he heard that Lazarus was deathly ill.  Jesus delays his return on purpose so as to reveal the glory of God.  While Jesus was taking his time, Lazarus dies and by the time Jesus returned to Bethany, Lazarus was already dead for four days and the body had been put into a grave.

To a modern Canadian hearer, this may seem odd because in Canadian society we are more familiar with having the viewing of the deceased first and then funeral on the 3^rd day of the deceased’s passing.  However, it is in Jewish law to conduct the funeral and burial within the 24 hours of the deceased’s passing and that is why Lazarus’ body was already in the grave.

When Jesus went to the grave, Martha, Lazarus’ sister, tells Jesus that the odour would be unbearable since the body would be decomposing.  Jesus tells them to remove the grave stone and prays (John11:41 – 44) “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. ⁴² I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”  ⁴³ When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” ⁴⁴ The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.

It is recorded that along with the disciples, Martha and Mary (sisters of Lazarus) were also there to witness the event (of course it is also recorded that many Jews were there to witness the resurrection miracle) It is important to notice that Mary was there to witness the resurrection of the body since her action in chapter 12 is in clear contrast to her mood in chapter 11 – Mary was VERY upset with Jesus.  She was so upset that she did not even go out to greet Jesus and the first thing she said when she finally ran out to him was not “Hello” or “How are you?”  She said (not in such a rude way as she fell on his feet to say this) “If you arrived before my brother died, he’d been alive still”.

So in chapter 11 we have

• Dead Lazarus resurrected via Jesus
• Astonished Martha
• Mary who is upset
• The 12 disciples who witnessed the whole thing

And John chapter 12 unfolds from here: One main event in today’s passage is anointing of Jesus by Mary.  To be sure, it was weird that Mary did this.  In fact, Mary had no right to do this – anointing of kings or anyone belongs to prophet and priestly office but what is more is that Mary broke many Jewish customs in the process of inadequately anointing Jesus as King.  It was considered highly inappropriate for Jewish women to let down their hair in the public.  Furthermore, it was rather erotic act to wipe Jesus’ feet with her hair (perhaps an act appropriate for married couple) and it definitely looked too luxurious and extravagant that she spent so much money to be “wasted” in many people’s eyes.

In fact, Judas Iscariot simply spoke up what all other disciples were thinking.  The sharp tongued Judas rebukes this woman’s sincere act.  He points out that 1. It was an expensive perfume 2. The perfume is worth one’s annual salary 3. The money could have been spent for the poor instead.

In many people’s ears, Judas had a point.  If we were present at the scene, we probably would have agreed with Judas – the man actually sounded pretty good.  But Jesus sees something different and I want to highlight two points for you:

1. We have to understand that Mary is “anointing” Jesus in her thankfulness to have her brother back from the dead and we also have to understand the fact that she knew Jesus can perform miracles but she did NOT believe that Jesus can resurrect a man from the dead. John 11:32 shows it clearly

“When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

It is more than plausible then that she did not believe that Jesus was the Messiah.  At least it did not dawn on her before Lazarus was raised from the dead!

Upon witnessing her brother’s rising from the dead by Jesus.  She sees and believes!  How much does she believe?  Well… just notice the fact that the perfume (which Jesus says she saved for his burial) was NOT used during her brother’s funeral.  Lazarus actually died for four days and he was already wrapped in grave clothes and he was buried.  Assuming that Mary had the perfume in her possession, she had plenty of opportunity to use the perfume on her brother’s dead body but the perfume that is worth a year’s wage (probably her entire life savings) was not used on Lazarus.  Instead she anoints Jesus with it.  This can only mean that Mary now sees Jesus as King in personal sense and that he is worth far more than her entire life savings and worth humbling herself for.  This is the moment where Mary declares that Jesus is everything to her.  This is an astonishing turn of events since for a moment she blamed Jesus for her brothers passing.  “My brother would have died!” she cried but with the rise of her brother Lazarus from the dead all of her blaming turned into joy, which turned into worship in humility.  Think of her emotional rollercoaster! That is why just as inappropriate as her actions were as a Jewish woman in a Jewish society during Jesus’ days; Jesus accepted it as an act of worship and was pleased.

2. Secondly, although Judas Iscariot knew exactly the right thing to say, he lacked something that mattered the most. He neither “actually” believed what he commanded nor did he believe the one who taught him.  That is to say, Judas never really had faith.  Mary broke many Jewish social customs while Judas Iscariot said many things that no one disciple can argue against but Mary is declared righteous while Judas is put back to his place – all because of “Faith”.  Judas, as part of the twelve disciples, was in close proximity to Jesus for many days (so close that he will get to observe him well.  He could even touch/smell/feel Jesus.)  After spending so much time, of course he will share the similar vibe as Jesus and effectively caricature Jesus’ teachings.  He might be able to pick up on Jesus’ speech patterns, key words and perhaps even argument strategies.  In a sense, while he misunderstood Jesus’ message by a mile, he still was able to superficially mimic Jesus’ messages without the core understanding.  That is to say, Judas’ words were derived from culture rather than from faith.  And that’s the danger for us as well.  Having spent so many days in church environment (some of you have been attending this church from your mother’s womb!), we might know how to sound and appear like Christians but do we do that out of culture or out of faith?

People who live by culture and not by faith will always judge the likes of Mary and rebuke them – they have missed the point.  These people are caught up by their own righteousness that they will not see the saviour even while talking to him face to face.  After all, did the Pharisees see saviour in Jesus?  Let there be no mistake about it.  Pharisees saw plenty of Jesus.  Do we not see Pharisees constantly engaged in arguing with Jesus?  Do we not see them conspiring against Jesus?  And during their conspiracy, did they not think of Jesus’ teachings and arguments thereby spending “time” with his messages? (In a bizarre and ironic twist, Pharisees showed how NOT to do Quiet Time devotionals for modern Christians)  This is what Jesus saw in Judas’ barking – self-righteousness spoken and covered with Jesus’ vocabulary.

3. So here is my question to you:  Do you live by culture or by faith?  What drives your actions?  What defines your actions?  What defines you?

Often faith in Christ leads people to radical actions or at least it brings you out of yourself to do things that you would normally not do due to lack of courage.  Mary broke through that cultural barrier and what people might call “Awkward Moments” in order to show her worship to God and new King – and Jesus redeemed her embarrassment by restoring honour in her worship.  That is, humiliation in act of self-forgetfulness in worship always finds its relief in Jesus.

Have your faith taken you to actions that you would normally not do?  Faith binds us to Jesus Christ as saviour and Lord so if your faith is telling you to take an action and you have been hesitating because it might seem awkward or you might get humiliated, I have to encourage you to break through the barrier you and your friends have set for you.  Jesus was radical, Mary was radical and Faith is radical in its very nature.  Faith is bound to take you beyond what you are comfortable with so you might as well learn to be happy with what the world sees as awkward.

People tell me that I am “unique” but I know what they really mean is I’m “weird”.  Over the years, I have grown fond of that expression.  Even if some people mean harm with it, it does not matter.  In fact, I am proud of my weirdness since it is the fruit of my journey with God.  Of course I had to break through many embarrassing moments but none of those moment matters.  The ultimate question putting to you and me is “have we sufficiently loved God and the neighbour with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength?”  I sincerely hope you can re-think your life in the light of Mary’s worshipful act and have courage to act out of yourself as the Spirit leads so.

(Sermon) Tree Percher’s nemesis – Grace

Date: Feb 2, 2013

Title: Tree Percher’s nemesis – Grace

Scripture: Luke 19:1-10; John 8:1-11;

19 Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. ² A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. ³ He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. ⁴ So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.

⁵ When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” ⁶ So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.

⁷ All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”

⁸ But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”

⁹ Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. ¹⁰ For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

1: I am a human being full of errors and mistakes – it comes as a package, I think.  You look at me and what do you see?  Most of the pastors carry the weighty, gentle and gracious look about them.  Always dressed in full suit and tie, very well groomed and spotless mannerism where they are good candidates for being good examples and being well respected as per what we have learned through the scriptures.  Pastors are meant to exemplify Christ in our actions, speeches and in our manners.

But you look at me and what do you see?  Half the times, I act like a goof and I am loving it!  I have waaaay too much energy that I do not know what to do with (btw, that’s why I work out so severely, so as not to have so much energy that I cannot control) and when it is available, I love spending my energy wrestling one of the brothers at church.  I am also clumsy in that when I get nervous, my muscles stiffen up very badly and I sweat profusely.

There was an incident where I was at a fancy event where I needed to be in semi-formal clothing.  Everyone gathered there either had experience of modeling or is currently one or is working with them as photographers.  It was a very fancy event where elegant and eloquent mannerism was the very basic requirement.  I showed up dressed adequately but then there came this girl I had the crush on and I was holding a Champaign glass – bad combination.  Clumsy dude whose muscle is stiffening up because he’s nervous and he’s holding a VERY delicate Champaign glass… it was just a matter of time before I spilt it on someone or something.  I ended up spilling it all over the cash register.  Think about the embarrassment I felt.

I am naturally goofy and clumsy and I love me for them regardless.  However, think about how much I must have been criticized for being a goof and clumsy growing up.  I grew up always listening to the idea that “good kids” behave well and that only meant being quiet and not act so playful.  That idea resounded in the church life as well.  While I was a teenager and early twenties, I attended a church and there I had very difficult time simply being accepted – partly because fobs had no place to fit into that crowd and partly because my playfulness seemed to have bothered some people.

One of the leaders of the church always criticized me for my actions – goofy or not (mind you, it was well intended).  It might have been my goofy and laughter loving nature that caught that leader’s attention and eventually arrived at the conclusion that this “kid” must be corrected, instructed and guided.  So every week or every encounter with that leader involved hearing an “earful” of “corrections”.  At one point, I remember thinking that apart from breathing, there isn’t a thing I can do without offending someone.

Some years later, I started attending another church for I really needed to serve to grow.  I wasn’t a pastor yet but began serving faithfully on Sundays as part of praise team or as a clean-up crew.  That church’s pastor’s name was Sam Kim and there is a reason why he was a successful pastor at that time.  One of the first encounters with him involved his account of his observation of me.  When he opened his mouth and said “One thing I noticed about you….”, I immediately thought “oh here we go again… how am I going to get passed this criticism!”  At that time, that was the only reaction I knew.  But as Pastor Sam continued he said “you are like Johnny on the spot for me.  For whatever reason or another, when I need you, you seem to be there.”

With those words, I began breathing better.  Thinking back, Pastor Sam gave me great advices and that leader before Pastor Sam also gave me great advices as well!  But the one who shaped me most influentially was, no doubt, Pastor Sam.  He knew the consequence of continued criticisms and he approached “me” in a way that I can first come down from my tree-perch before I can open up to his advices.

We see the same thing in today’s passage.  Jesus approaches the most notoriously hated Jew in that region named Zacchaeus.  Zacchaeus was a tax collector who raised taxes for the Roman governments.  Now typically tax collectors at that time were fairly rich and the reason is this:  Collecting taxes was like an auction.  They bid against other collectors and the collecting duty went to the one who said will collect the most for the Roman government.  Then the tax collectors will start collecting taxes from their fellow Jews.  As if that is not bad enough, they will also OVER-charge taxes.  That’s how they become rich.  Roman government is only interested in collecting whatever these people say they will raise and whatever surplus the tax collectors collected was pure gravy for them.  That’s why Zacchaeus was hated.  He became rich on the blood of his own people.

To that hated man, Jesus approached and if you read the Gospels with one eye open, you will be able to see that Jesus is VERY confrontational everywhere he goes.  In fact, He goes to temples just to pick fights against the Pharisees.  He wasn’t afraid to criticize the religious leaders of Jews at that time but what does he do to Zacchaeus?  Well, we will get to that but first let’s focus on what would NOT have brought him down from the tree perch.

2: In the first place, one thing we have to note is what’s missing from the Zacchaeus’ encounter with Jesus.  Noticing what’s missing in the picture is hard because it presupposes you knowing the entire picture thoroughly so I do not blame anyone if this has skipped everyone’s attention but take a good look at Jesus’ conversation with Zacchaeus; there is not a mention of criticism of Zacchaeus.

For years, Zacchaeus collected taxes and for years he had cheated his fellow Jews to become rich but knowing plainly well what had been happening, Jesus does not say a single word about it.

One of my professors put it well for us: Magnifying someone’s short comings won’t do it, it only humiliates them.  Sending them on a guilt trip won’t do it either; it will only make them self-righteous or neurotic.

Shortly put, making someone feel bad about himself is not an effective way and in fact, most often, the worst way to correct anyone.  Judgement will only push them away.  It is in our nature to love ourselves above anything else.  No matter how we think about it, this is true.  We love ourselves that we cannot bear to watch our own pride gets trampled upon.  To that self-glorifying nature, judgement of any kind only fortifies the stronghold guarding the mind of the judged.

Everyone here knows the movie called “Forrest Gump” starring Tom Hanks, right?  Well, it portrayed mankind quite accurately at least in one aspect: Forrest does not like to be told “you are stupid”.  Wherever there is weakness or vulnerability, people do not like to be reminded of them so plainly.  It often is something that they like to hid or have it escaped from people’s attention.  That’s why judgment from fellow mankind does not bring others down from the tree-perch.

But then what works?  Let’s return to Jesus’ example.

3:  In John 8:1-11, there is yet another beautiful encounter.

² At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. ³ The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group ⁴ and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. ⁵ In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” ⁶ They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. ⁷ When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” ⁸ Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

⁹ At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. ¹⁰ Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

¹¹ “No one, sir,” she said.

“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

One thing we have to note is that Jesus did NOT accept this woman’s sin.  Jesus clearly said “leave your life of sin” but he saw a woman who needed acceptance and embrace of a community.  That is why he started his sentence with “neither do I condemn you”.  Of all the people who showed up to stone her, it was only Jesus who had the authority and ability to throw the stone at her and in fact kill her on the spot but instead he chose to forgiven this already judged, humiliated and harassed woman but forgiveness alone will not do it.  She needed deliverance.  If forgiveness has the power to wash away, deliverance has the power to restore.  She was already humiliated but by finding her acceptance in Christ, her dignity was restored.

The tree-perchers like Zacchaeus come down from the tree only as they find their forgiveness, acceptance and joy restored in their life.  And these cannot be done apart from true grace and true love found in Jesus Christ alone.

4: I mentioned my experience of trying to be “fixed” by two different approaches.  One criticized on every encounter and the other went out of his way to praise what I did right.  It wasn’t the praise that transformed my life.  It was the acceptance and embrace that my beloved Pastor exhibited (which he learned from his Lord) that changed my life.

As I look at this community called East Faith Church, few thoughts cross my mind.  On the one hand, I do not worry since you guys not only grew up together but you guys are fairly comfortable with each other that there is natural acceptance.

On the other, I am grieved significantly since there always is silent sufferers who in her quietness cry because of the hurts from sharp tongued people.  I know you guys are not judgmental but I invite you to develop the sensitivity and discipline to reflect in your daily lives whether you have done or said something to hurt anyone and made them insecure about themselves.

Our Lord Jesus Christ said that no disciple is greater than his master.  If our Lord Jesus Christ did not use criticism or coercion or dominance to make us behave godly, then we also shall follow his footsteps and learn to accept people as they are and LOVE them so that they can taste the small sample of grace that our Lord Jesus Christ is all about.

[설교] 하나님의 뜻 하나님의 방법

Title: 하나님의 뜻 하나님의 방법

Scripture: Philippians 1:15-18; Proverbs 19:21

Date: Feb 23, 2013

Philippians 1:15-18

15어떤 이들은 투기와 분쟁으로, 어떤 이들은 착한 뜻으로 그리스도를 전파하나니

16이들은 내가 복음을 변명하기 위하여 세우심을 받은 줄 알고 사랑으로 하나

17저들은 나의 매임에 괴로움을 더하게 할 줄로 생각하여 순전치 못하게 다툼으로 그리스도를 전파하느니라

18그러면 무엇이뇨 외모로 하나 참으로 하나 무슨 방도로 하든지 전파되는 것은 그리스도니 이로써 내가 기뻐하고 또한 기뻐하리라

 Proverbs 19:21

사람의 마음에는 많은 계획이 있어도 오직 여호와의 뜻이 완전히 서리라

제가 얼마전에 캐나다 사람들은 도대체 새해 각오는 어떻게 하고 사나 궁금해서 한번 구글로 검색해 봤습니다.  2013년도 것은 아직 안나왔나봐요, 그래서 2011년도 Yahoo Canada 에서 투표로 뽑아낸 새해 각오를 한번 봤습니다.

Most Popular New Year’s Resolutions of 2011

10. Run a marathon (마라톤 뛰기)

9. Take a photo every day for a year (매일 새로운 사진 찍기)

8. Quit Smoking (금연하기)

7. Eat, drink, try or learn something new (새로운거 체험하기)

6. Read more (더 읽기)

5. Get a job (직장 찾기)

4. Fall in love (사랑 찾기)

3. Save money (돈 모으기)

2. Be happy (행복하기)

1. Lose weight (살빼기)

몇가지는 의외였구 몇가지는 한국이나 서양이나 다 똑 같다는 생각을 들게 했는데, 이 Top 10을 보면서 사람들 마음엔 과연 하나님이 얼마나 들어 있기에 하나님에 대한 얘기는 하나도 없나 하는 생각을 했었습니다.

성도 여러분께서는 행여나 새해의 계획을 세우셨을때 어떤 마음 가짐으로 그런 계획을 세우셨습니까?  하나 더 질문 드릴다면, 하나님은 우리의 마음을 뻔히 보신다고 성경에 나와있데, 이것을 아는 저희는 우리에게 주어진 삶을 살아갈때 어떤 마음으로 어떤 계획을 세우는게 맞을까요?  과연 어떤게 진정으로 하나님께 영광이 되고 기쁨이 되겠습니까?  참 간단하지만 쉽지 않은 질문인것 같습니다.  오늘 빌립보서 말씀을 통해서 이에 대한 생각과 말씀 나누도록 하겠습니다.

일단 빌립보서는 바울의 “옥중서신” 중의 하나로써 바울이 감옥에 같혀있을때 쓰인것입니다.  바울은 수감되기 전 선교자로써 많은 활동을 했었는데요, 그 활약중 하나로 빌립보 지방에 교회를 세우고 교회 교인들을 스스로 가르치고 이끌었다는건 잘 알려져 있습니다.  그런 바울이 수감됩니다 그리고 바울이 수감 되자 빌립보 지방 교회에는 재밌는 일이 벌어집니다.  빌립보 지방 그리스도인들이 바울을 대신하여서 복음을 전파하기 시작한 것이지요.  하지만 그 사람들중 일부는 그다지 순수하지만은 않은 목적을 가지고 그 일을 시작합니다.  많은 이유가 있겠지만 아마도 바울을 대신한 교회의 인도자가 되고 싶은 마음이 있었을수도 있고 또는 개인 적인 이유로 바울이 지속적으로 감옥에 갇혀있기를 바래는 마음에서 그런 것일수도 있습니다.

그런 사람들과, 그런 사람들을 통해 복음이 전해지는 것을 바라 보는 바울의 마음에서 많은 것을 배울수 있습니다.  본문 18절에 보면 이렇게 나와있습니다.  “그러면 무엇이뇨 외모로 하나 참으로 하나 무슨 방도로 하든지 전파되는 것은 그리스도니 이로써 기뻐하고 또한 기뻐하리라”

여기서 꼭 한가지 집고 넘어가야하는 부분이 있습니다.  바울의 마음에는 “오직 하나님의 뜻이 이루어 지리라” 라는 생각과 확신만이 존재합니다.  바울 자신이 자기가 해 놓은 일에 대한 공로를 인정 받든 안받든, 또는 다른 사람들이 제대로된 마음 가짐으로 일을 하든 안하든 바울의 마음에는 하나님의 뜻에 대한 생각만으로 가득 차 있습니다.  인간이라면 자기가 이루어 놓은 일을 다른 사람이 훔쳐간다는 생각이 들거나 다른 사람이 대신 칭찬을 받는다는 생각이 들면 한번은 시기할수 있을것 같은 상황인데도 바울은 그러하지 않습니다.

바울의 이런 모습, 지금 이 세대와 너무나도 다른 모습 입니다.  지금 세상은 자기의 아이디어를 보호 할수 있습니다.  그래서 저작권 이라던지 특허에 관련된 일을 하는 변호사들이 돈을 참 많이 벌고 있습니다. 그리고 다른 사람들이 자신의 아이디어를 훔쳤다는 증거만 있으면 몇백만불 단위의 소송을 할수도 있는게 지금 세상입니다.  그리고 애석하게도 교회나 믿는 사람들도 선한 시스템을 개인적 습득을 위한 도구로 바꾸는 모습에서 완전히 자유롭다고 말할수는 없는 것 같습니다.  그래서 비슷한 프로그램이나 프로잭트가 있었어도 무시하고 자신의 이름으로 다시 시작하는 경우도 허다하게 있습니다.  아니면 적어도 왼손이 모를 정도로 몰래 오른손으로 선행을 하는 모습은 좀 드문 세상인것 같습니다.  이와 같은 현실 속에서 변하지 않는 성경은 무슨 얘기를 어떻게 하겠습니까?  잠언 19장 21절에 보면 이렇게 나와있습니다.

사람의 마음에는 많은 계획이 있어도 오직 여호와의 뜻이 완전히 서리라

잠언에 의하면, 믿는 사람이든 아니든, 믿는 사람들이 제대로된 마음을 지니고 있든 아니든, 하나님의 자녀들이 자신들의 이름을 떨치고 싶어서 안달이 났든 안났든,  결국에는, 마지막 순간에는 하나님의 목적만이 달성된다고 합니다.

여기서 관건은 우리들이 하나님의 목적을 우리 방법대로 좌지우지 하느냐 아니냐가 아니라 하나님의 목적이 달성될때 우리는 어떻게 반응 할 수 있느냐 입니다.

하나님의 목적이 달성될때 좋아하는 사람도 있지만 그렇지 않은 경우도 많습니다.  요나의 얘기를 보면 우리의 모습을 쉽게 알 수 있습니다. 비록 회계는 했다고 하지만 니느웨에 가서 내키지 않은 설교를 합니다.  그래서 그들에게 재앙을 내리지 않으신 여호와께 요나는 이렇게 말합니다.  (요나 4장 1-3)

그러나 하나님이 뜻을 돌이킨 데 대하여 요나는 기분이 언짢아 분개하며 여호와께 이렇게 기도하였다. ‘여호와여, 내가 고국에 있을 때에 주께서 이렇게 하실 것이라고 내가 말하지 않았습니까? 그래서 내가 급히 다시스로 도망하였습니다. 나는 주께서 은혜롭고 자비로우시며 쉽게 노하지 않으시고 언제나 사랑이 풍성하셔서 뜻을 돌이키시고 재앙을 내리지 않으시는 하나님인 것을 알았습니다. 여호와여, 이제 내 생명을 거두어 가소서. 사는 것보다 차라리 죽는 편이 낫겠습니다.’

이것이 죄인들이 가지고 있는 본 모습입니다.  하나님의 마음을 헤아리기 보다 먼저 내 마음이 헤아려 져야 한다는 본능이 항상 저희를 지배하기 위해 기다리고 있기 때문입니다.  하나님의 뜻이 달성될 때, 즐거워 하는 사람들은 그들의 마음을 바울 처럼 하나님의 것으로 만들어서 오로지 하나님의 뜻을 추구한 사람들이며, 하나님의 목적의 달성에 짜증내고 화내는 사람들은 그들만의 목적이 달성되지 않았기 때문에 그럴것이라는 겁니다.  아주 쉽게 다시 말씀 드리면 결국 우리의 행복은, 우리의 만족감은, 우리의 성취감은, 우리들이 하나님의 뜻에 대한 순수한 마음이 어느 정도냐에 달려 있다는 것입니다.

하나님의 저희를 통하여서 일 하시지만 저희를 통하지 않고 일하실 때도 있습니다.  바울이 그걸 본거에요.  자신은 감옥에 있지만 전파되고 있는 복음, 그것을 볼 때에 혹은 이젠 내가 필요 없나라고 느꼈을수도 있고 시기를 느꼈을 법도 하지만 바울은 하나님의 다른 방법을 존중 하고 순종 한겁니다.

하나님의 뜻이나 하나님의 방법에 동의 하지 않으시면 요나 처럼 하나님의 메세지를 훌륭히 전한다 하더라도 무슨 소용 입니까?  결국 모든게 짜증나고 답답한 일들의 연속이였는데 말입니다.

그래서… 제가 설교 시작하면서 질문을 한게 있습니다, 어떤 마음으로 어떤 계획을 세우는게 맞느냐고.  오늘 바울의 보기와 잠언을 통해서 성경이 보여주는 해답은 바로 어떤 결심이든지 하나님의 마음을 헤아려보는 것에서 시작되는 계획이 바른 것 이라는걸 알수 있습니다.  결국 하나님에 의해 하나님을 위한 결심이 바른 결정이며 오직 하나님을 의존해 나갈 때 이룰수 있다는 것입니다.  저희들 기도엔 항상 첫째로 하나님의 뜻이 무엇인지 간구 해야하며 그리고 그에 따른 하나님의 방법은 무엇인지 같이 기도해야 한다는 거지요.  방법 마저도 하나님의 그것을 믿었기에 바울이 감옥에 갇혔었어도 다른 사람들이 그가 이루어 놓은 업적을 빼앗아가는 느낌이 들었어도 행복 할 수 있었던 것입니다.  이것이 바로 순종 입니다.

아직 2013년도 초반 입니다.  이번해엔 여러분을 향한 하나님의 마음은 무엇일까 한번 생각해 보시고 순종을 통해서 기뻐하시는 하나님의 마음을 선물로 받으시기를 굳건희 추권합니다.

(Sermon) Only Hunger: avoid these during fasting

Matthew 6:16-18

¹⁶ “When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. ¹⁷ But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, ¹⁸ so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

I don’t know if you guys know Screwtape letters by C. S. Lewis.  The book is structured as correspondence between two demons.  Senior demon Screwtape is the uncle and his nephew Wormwood is the junior demon.  Wormwood is still a rookie demon so he asks for tips about tempting humans.  So Screwtape writes back to Wormwood and that’s basically the whole book.  In one of the letters Screwtape recounts a “close call” of possibly losing his patients to his Enemy (Please keep in mind that since it is a demon writing, Enemy refers to God and Father refers to Satan and patient refers to human beings):

Remember, he is not, like you, a pure spirit. Never having been a human (oh, that abominable advantage of the Enemy’s!) you don’t realise how enslaved they are to the pressure of the ordinary. I once had a patient, a sound atheist, who used to read in the British Museum. One day, as he sat reading, I saw a train of thought in his mind beginning to go the wrong way. The Enemy, of course, was at his elbow in a moment. Before I knew where I was I saw my twenty years’ work beginning to totter. If I had lost my head and begun to attempt a defence by argument, I should have been undone. But I was not such a fool. I struck instantly at the part of the man which I had best under my control, and suggested that it was just about time he had some lunch. The Enemy presumably made the counter-suggestion (you know how one can never quite overhear what He says to them?) that this was more important than lunch. At least I think that must have been His line, for when I said, “Quite. In fact much too important to tackle at the end of a morning,” the patient brightened up considerably; and by the time I had added “Much better come back after lunch and go into it with a fresh mind,” he was already halfway to the door.

Last week, I preached about the benefits of going on fasting and one of the benefits was precisely the breaking of the power of the ordinary.  The day to day mundane tasks that we carry out thoughtlessly can and DO, in fact, hold us slave to them – causing us to be dull, insensitive and even blinded to the fact that God the creator and redeemer sustains us moment by moment.  Having created us from “ex nihilo” (means out of nothing), God needs to continually sustain us otherwise we cease to exist.  Then just by the fact that we are able to breathe and live and eat for joy we ought to be thankful to God.

Then Fasting also serves as a means through which we are reminded and therefore become grateful to God’s day to day, ordinary provisions.

Fasting, as you have heard last week, has many benefits for Christians but it is not without its abuse and risk.  As I stated last week, fasting without God in mind, can anger God.  So then what do we need to watch out for, what do we need to do?  We get the hint from our Lord Jesus Christ.

1:  In the first place, we can figure out wrong pharisaic fasting practice during Jesus’ days from today’s passage.  Wrong fasting consisted of:

• Disfigurement of themselves during fasting
• Foregoing washing their faces and anointing their heads with oil

Jesus says that only hypocrites do these in order to show others that they are fasting.  Let me provide some details so you can understand what’s happening here.  Pharisees were the religious leaders of Israel at the time and many of them fasted twice a week (Mondays and Thursdays – because they teach that Moses went up to receive the laws on a Thursday and came down on Monday).

Under normal circumstances, Jewish people groomed themselves before appearing in the public as any normal cultured people would.  They will trim their beards, change their clothes and wash their faces.  Today’s equivalent of the act of pouring oil over their heads is washing their hair with shampoo.  Back in those days the oils were used to bath (it helps to get rid of dirt off the skin) as well as relieving dry scalp on your head.  So when one is not doing any of these, then they will appear very distressed as if they are under stress or they are mal-nutritioned for number of days as would be the case if they were fasting for many days.

Now Jesus’ problem with all of these is this: when they want to appear as if they are fasting and when they want to appear distressed then their primary concern is most likely their social statuses and not God.  Social status now as well as back then represents power.  It is no wonder that people crave after it.  So in short, many Pharisees were fasting all for wrong reasons.  Last week I said that fasting without God in mind only angers God and we saw that from the words of Prophet Zechariah.  When people are going on fasting because they want to show others that they are fasting and therefore seen as religiously advanced then they have very little room for God.  In fact, they have no room for God.  It is either you fill your heart with yourself or with God – one or the other.  Neither of them wants to share your heart therefore they don’t.  When the motivation for fasting is not for humbling or dedicating or disciplining yourself before God then you are in danger of just showing off.

Another danger of fasting for the sake of showing others is that it becomes an occasion on which you judge others and in turn you may risk losing your friends.  When someone wants to appear athletic, most likely they are not athletic.  If they were genuinely athletic then they wouldn’t have the need or the desire to “appear” athletic since they will naturally appear as such.  Athletic is what they are naturally!  So when someone wants to appear religious through the exercise of fasting, they are most likely NOT concerned about God all that much but with their empty hearts they judge others.  Interestingly Jesus tells a parable involving two individuals and one mentions fasting:

“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. ¹¹ The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. ¹² I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ ¹³ “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ ¹⁴ “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” (Luke 18:10-14)

Did you notice that the Pharisee said “God, I thank you that I am not like other people”?  When one’s heart is empty of God and goes onto fasting in order to appear religious, this is what end up happening.  You end up thanking a god called “yourself” for not being like others who don’t fast.  With that judgmental heart, how could one keep all his friends?  Not only you have angry God, you also have angry friends when fasting is practiced just to show off and you judge others because of that.

2: Secondly, if fasting becomes an end in itself, it is useless and counter-productive.  If you are fasting to lose weight then call it what it is and just get on a diet.  Don’t accompany fasting with any other purpose.  Worship is an end in itself in that we express our adoration for God for the sake of doing it.  Not in order to get something out of him or earn favours from him but just to love Him, period.

In contrast, fasting is NOT an end in itself in that fasting alone is useless.  It must be accompanied by prayer, which is to say there has to be specific purpose in your fasting.  Either God revealed your addiction or spiritual stronghold that you need to get rid of it in your life or at least be very disciplined about it then sure it is a good occasion to get on fasting and pray over it.  But never think that simply skipping meals for a day or two will get you what you want without prayer and without much heart for God.

3: The season of Lent is already under way and some of us have begun our limited fasting.  We still have entire March to go and I still like to invite you to at least limited form of fasting only if you are convinced that you are in a spiritual slumber and have identified areas where you are being stifled.  Some of you are losing so many hours on youtube/facebook/League of Legend or any other form of online gaming.  But at the same time, I want to warn you that do this only if you want to mature spiritually or if you have that desire to please God, so if your heart is itching away at you, by all means get on that fasting, free yourself so that you can pray before God.  This is the spiritual act that God is pleased with.

 

(Sermon) Beyond Hunger: Benefits of Fasting

Title: Beyond Hunger: Benefits of fasting

Scripture: Zechariah 7:1-6; Joel 2:12

Date: Feb 17, 2013

 (Zechariah 7:1-6)

 7 In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, the month of Kislev. ² The people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-Melek, together with their men, to entreat theLord ³ by asking the priests of the house of the Lord Almighty and the prophets, “Should I mourn and fast in the fifth month, as I have done for so many years?”

 ⁴ Then the word of the Lord Almighty came to me: ⁵ “Ask all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for the past seventy years, was it really for me that you fasted? ⁶ And when you were eating and drinking, were you not just feasting for yourselves?

 (Joel 2:12)

“Even now,” declares the Lord,
    “return to me with all your heart,
    with fasting and weeping and mourning.”

My earliest memory of Jesus from child hood came from a casual play time at the Roman Catholic church I was attending at the time.  I was grade 1 or 2 at the time.  It just happens that I was around the church’s bible study teachers and one of them randomly asked “Do you know how many Jesus fasted in the desert?”  There were many other kids who could’ve answered but me being an obnoxious kid had to rush my answer without thinking carefully.  “400 days!!”  she smiled at me cheerfully then she said “no, Jesus did not fast for 400 days but only 40 days.”  When I said 400 days, I wasn’t able to relate but when she said 40 days, somehow, I was able to related and I remember thinking “it must have been hard… Jesus, what a man!”  Believe or not, that is my earliest memory with the name Jesus.  It was about Jesus fasting for 40 days and I praised him for enduring such painful task.

Many of us are not all that familiar with fasting and it appears that not many Korean EM churches are encouraging fasting.  It appears as if they are afraid that too much emphasis on fasting might make them look like “too religious” or “too legalistic” that it will turn people off and they will never return but the truth is that fasting always had a great part of Christian tradition and in the scriptures we find many places where people either practice or teach a lesson on fasting – Jesus included.

But if you read the scripture with one eye open, you will notice that there is tremendous appreciation for food – many Israelite feasts and festivities were celebrated with food and the food laws were God given.  We also see Jesus and his disciples eating frequently at banquets, celebrations, feasts and of course with each other.  What was the last thing Jesus did with his disciples before starting his way to the Cross and what was the first thing that Jesus did in John’s Gospel when some of the disciples who went out fishing came back to the shore with net full of fish? He ate.

So if the scripture has tremendous appreciation for food AND sharing of it is a sign of intimacy, why the fast?  What does it do for us (not for God) that appreciation for food AND foregoing of it are equally celebrated as important human activity? For today’s sermon, let me highlight few benefits from physiological perspective as well as spiritual.

1: For the first point, we have to keep in mind that in the scriptures fasting is ALWAYS accompanied by prayer.  Let’s look at verses 5 and 6 of Zechariah:

‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for the past seventy years, was it really for me that you fasted? ⁶ And when you were eating and drinking, were you not just feasting for yourselves?

This means fasting is never an end in itself.  We fast prayerfully and all prayers have direction – to God.  Therefore, fasting must be also directed to God.

In fact, there is no such thing as fasting apart from prayer or to say it another way, fasting exists for the sake of prayers.  Having that understanding, we need to turn our thinking into how fasting helps our prayers rather than our bodies.

First and most obvious of all, fasting helps prayers in that empty stomach rather than full stomach helps us to stay focused on praying.  Have you heard of post-prandial somnolence? That’s the medical term for what we call “Itis”.  It happens when we have food (especially too starchy or sugary food) and the blood rushes down to digestive system in order to handle all the food that was ingested.  After having a nice, hearty meal on a warm afternoon and you had very active evening the night before that you are short on sleep.  When 1 o’clock or 1:30 o’clock hits after your hearty meal, you are going to feel the “need” for sleep due to post-prandial somnolence.  Fasting will help you to focus in that, despite having closed your eyes, you won’t be falling asleep.

Secondly, think for a moment how much our time is spent thinking/worrying about food or food related things.  It is no SNS if there is no picture of food on facebook, twitter and Instagram.  Two of the most common new year’s resolutions but also two of the quickest dropped or failed resolutions are exercising AND dieting.  Why?  It is because one of the most intrinsic, foundational and instinctive pleasures that people crave is pleasure AND gift of “eating”.  As such, our fasting means we are not wasting our time anticipating our lunch times at school any more.  Our fasting means our minds are freed of worrying about dinner and its caloric count and its tastiness.   For those of you whose dinner is provided for you (as I imagine most of you are), your mind is readily less occupied since you can skip your meal – you don’t have to anticipate the dinner time or what your mom or dad is making would be pleasing to your taste buds or whether they know the fact that you are on a strict diet.  For those of you who need to either provide for yourself OR your family, fasting can eliminate that “worry” – “Oh goodness, what’s for dinner… what am I going to make?”  Having to come up with a dinner idea is a huge stress in itself but once you have an idea (even if it’s as simple as rice and kimchi) you have to concern yourself about shopping for groceries, how to make, how much to make, “Will my family like it?”  “Will I like it?” etc etc.

All this means that one of the most intrinsic, and therefore most powerful, obsession and worries are removed from our lives by going on fasting.  Fasting is never an end in itself. It is dedicated and directed to God and is accompanied with prayer.  By having the most powerful obsessions and concerns removed from our minds, we are freer to focus on God in prayer.

2:  Secondly, let’s come back to verse 5 of today’s passage:

‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for the past seventy years, was it really for me that you fasted?

Fasting without God in mind only angers God.  What about mourning?  How is fasting related to mourning?  To be sure, mourning without fasting does not anger God but there is a sense of appropriateness in fasting when we are faced with threats, dangers, tragedies and/or serious situations.  There are two main occasions for fasting in the scriptures:

1. Repentance as people are made aware of their sin
   1. King of Assyria in Nineveh declared national fasting when Jonah preached to them about their sins and violent ways
   2. King Ahab upon Elijah’s confrontation fasted (1 Kings 21:27-29)
   3. Daniel confessing the sins of his nation (Israel) fasted (Da. 9:3-6, 19)
2. Pleading with God for help in the awake of calamities: “Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my attendants will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.” (Esther 4:16)

So where is all this going?  There is a disconnect between enjoyment of lavishing food and deep sorrow.   People may eat during those times for health reasons but there is something odd about eating so lavishly when calamity is upon them.

Fasting, then, is an activity suited for the occasion that emphasizes our earnestness before God.  That is to say fasting has an element of dependence and confession of helplessness before God.

I have to stress again that fasting is never an end in itself and it must be accompanied by prayer.  One time, my friend’s father was very ill and was on the verge of dying and he prayed that if his father is spared of death then he will give up eating beef.  Now think about this for a moment with me.  If anything, is it the act of not eating beef that saved his father? Or is it the power of God that saved his father?  If your answer is “because he gave up beef, his father is spared”, I have another question.  “What is my not eating beef or any other food item to God that God would spare another human being?”  As in, what is such a big deal about my not eating beef?  It’s not like God is so crazy about beef that God is competing for the supply of beef.  It isn’t a big deal that we give up food but the idea is that when the occasion is so desperate and so dire that we even skip meals to pray before God, it will show our earnestness and it indeed shows our honouring of occasion.  I bet no one here will act all playfully at someone’s funeral.  Just as there is appropriate behaviours when serious occasions arise, fasting just might be the “right” spiritual activity when calamity or serious situations strike our lives.

3:

The most number of days I have fasted was three days and it was for a friend whose life was about to put out because he caught SARS and I was joined by many other faithful Christians who genuinely petitioned before God for our friend’s life.  Not that number of days really matters or that number of people on fasting matters but if the situation is THAT serious then it is also natural that we just might have to approach God’s throne with appropriate level of fasting.  God commands us in Joel 2:12:

“Even now,” declares the Lord,
“return to me with all your heart,
with fasting and weeping and mourning.”

We cannot forget that what God wants to see is the returning of heart to Him during fasting but we cannot ignore the fact that fasting IS God given command.  After all, Jesus fasted for 40 days after he received confirmation from heaven that he IS indeed the messiah who will have to bear THE Cross.

Therefore, if there are serious events or if you feel that you have drifted away from God or any other occasions arise in your life that you need assurance from God, consider fasting.  When fasting is accompanied by prayer and if you are genuine in your seeking of God’s presence, God will be pleased with your dedication.

I am not guaranteeing that you will get what you wish for like from a genie as a result of your fasting but at least God will be honoured and pleased in his answer to your prayer and you are proven obedient to the command given through prophet Joel “return to me with all your heart”.

Korea, Gospel and March 1st Independence movement

On March 1^st, 1919 3PM at Pagoda Park in Seoul Korea, a student name Jae-yong Jung read aloud Korean Declaration of Independence, proclaiming that Korea has the right to exist as a free and independent nation from Japan’s colonization which lasted from 1910 to 1945.  That student was reading a document written and signed by 33 Korean National representatives.   The signers’ names are:

Son Pyung-hi, Kil Sun Chu, Yi Pil Chu, Paik Yong Sung, Kim Won Kyu, Kim Pyung Cho, Kim Chang Choon, Kwon Dong Chin, Kwon Byung Duk, Na Yong Whan, Na In Hup, Yang Chun Paik, Yang Han Mook, Lew Yer Dai, Yi Kop Sung, Yi Mung Yong, Yi Seung Hoon, Yi Chong Hoon, Yi Chong Il, Lim Yei Whan, Pak Choon Seung, Pak Hi Do, Pak Tong Wan, Sin Hong Sik, Sin Suk Ku, Oh Sei Chang, Oh Wha Young, Chung Choon Su, Choi Sung Mo, Choi In, Han Yong Woon, Hong Byung Ki, Hong Ki Cho.

Of the 33 signers, 16 were Christians.  According to “Christianity in Korea” by Robert E. Buswell, the number of Christians arrested during the march 1st, 1919 Korean Independence movement were:  Presbyterians 1461; Methodists 465; Roman Catholics 57; Others 207.  Less than four months later, the number of Presbyterians in jail had increased to 3,804, among them were 134 pastors and elders.

These are stunning figures as History of Christianity in Korea was not long at this point.  Korea boasts 5000 years of history and  became  self-evangelized only in 1784 AD when Seunghoon Lee, a Korean diplomat returned from China baptized and with various theological texts written by an Italian Jesuit missionary named Matteo Ricci.  Upon his arrival he established a small church in Myungdong, part of Seoul which now is the site of MyungDong Cathedral, and Christianity began spreading from that small seed without any western or external missionary’s aid (not until first Roman Catholic missionary arrived in 1836 and written/translated bible were handed out in 1863 by a protestant missionary).

The persecution of Christians by the Korean government began in 1785 officially outlawing Christianity.  It saw Christianity as a threat to the existing power structure since Christianity preached that all are equal before God.  The persecutions of 1801, 1839, 1846 and 1866 led to the death of 10,000 Christian martyrs, including the execution of Andrew Taegun Kim in 1846 who was the first native Korean Christian priest in Korea.

Despite all these, Christianity not only survived but thrived in Korea partly because of its involvement in Korea’s liberation from Japan’s colonization and the recovery effort from civil war (1950 – 1953) which saw the country divided north and south.  Christianity in Korea embraced many socially radical ideas at the time such as teaching and using Hangul as written communication method (to that point Chinese characters were used as official written communication system),  teaching Hangul to kids and women, starting women’s bible study groups, establishing Universities and hospitals around the country.

Church is no church if it abandons the gospel in order to conform itself to the government ideology (think of National church of Germany that embraced Nazism and in doing so ignored/suppressed large part of the Gospel) but it is also no church that turns blind eye to the national crisis that under minds human rights.  Christians and Missionaries in Korea were significant part of Korean Independence movement and their efforts to liberate Korea contributed to the exponential growth of Christian population in it.

Many Koreans and Korean-Canadians are here in Canada enjoying all of its blessings including great social security and health care systems but without the martyrs of the past, who saw the relevance of Christian Gospel to the Korean National crisis, none of us would be here.  (Most of the martyrs mentioned here are Koreans but I wish to also acknowledge the non-Korean martyrs – especially missionaries –  during the Japanese colonization and Civil war period of Korean history)    On March 1^st,, Korea remembers and honours patriotic Koreans and foreigners who gave their lives for the freedom of you and me.  Please take some time to give prayer of thanksgiving for them.