THE BLESSED LIFE

The First week of Creation Liturgy, September 1, 2019

Luke 14:7-14 New International Version (NIV)

7 When he noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table, he told them this parable: 8 “When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. 9 If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, ‘Give this person your seat.’ Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. 10 But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up to a better place.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all the other guests. 11 For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

12 Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. 13 But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

Jesus spoke to many kinds of people during public life more often than we thought. There are words that we can readily accept, but there are words that sound unacceptable or unrealistic. Christians dealing with the latter have two reactions. One is the attitude of not taking it seriously. It's usually a good thing, but it goes by. The other is an awkward but trying to keep it by force. This attitude is what happens when you misunderstand Jesus' word. Jesus is not an'old fossil' as young people put it today. He doesn't bother us on purpose. He gives us freedom and peace. He is giving us the exact word "Blessed Life." Let's see the today's content, Luke 14:7-14. 

The place of honor, the lowest place

Here are two similar stories. This is what Jesus said when he was invited by someone. One is metaphor, the other is teaching. The first story is about Luke 14:7-11. Many people were invited to the wedding party. There are separate tables for these parties. The invited person wants to sit at the place of honor. Jesus advises them not to sit at the place of honor. Because it's clear that when a higher social figure comes, the owner will come and ask this person to vacate his seat. He said it's wise to sit at the end. Because I'm sure the owner will tell me to move to a higher position later on. In verse 11, Jesus said this in conclusion.

For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Although Jesus' words to lower ourselves are not wrong, the world we live in has difficulty in not following these teachings. The world doesn't raise people who lower themselves, but it weighs them down. They completely ignore people with low social status. To avoid being ignored, everyone is looking for opportunities to go up one step further. Jesus' words, "In this world, those who lower themselves are elevated," sound hollow. Or it sounds like an emphasis on the virtue of sheer humility.

Very few people are so humble that they lower themselves. People instinctively try to elevate themselves. Only the pride is rooted in our nature. In short, we're being condescending. We put forward the fact that we know a lot whenever we have the opportunity. We're talking about how morally superior we are and how sacrificial we are. 

C.S. Lewis describes pride as the greatest evil in the "Mere Christianity" category. Let's read a passage on page 193. "According to Christian teachers, the essential vice, the utmost evil, is Pride. Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness, and all that, are mere flea bites in comparison: it was through Pride that the devil became the devil: Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind." 

Pride does not only manifest itself to those with high social status, but also to those with low social status. Not only in the world, but also in the church. Not only in the immoral, but also in the very moral. It's hard to follow Jesus' words because we can't lower ourselves socially or personally, but we just try to pass by or force ourselves to appear humble.

If you really want to lower yourself, you need to be able to see how high you're sitting right now. A really good person doesn't have to be condescending. People who know so much don't have to pretend to know so much. The physics professor, invited as a special lecturer for middle and high school students who are interested in physics, doesn't act up. The professor doesn't get angry because the students don't approve of him. The professor only gives his students the world of physics. 

We Christians are the disciples of Jesus Christ and the children of God. There is no seat higher than this. I don't think anyone who actually knows this needs to be recognized by others. Some of you might think differently. The fact that we're children is part of a world of faith, and it's not realistic in the world. I'm sure you're saying that because you haven't actually experienced Christianity.

In this parable, the person who went up to the top is not interested in the seat, but is interested in the wedding feast. There's a wedding party now. It's a festival. Everyone is enjoying eating, drinking, and singing. You don't have to think about who's sitting high. Our life is like a wedding feast. We have to eat, drink, dance and sing together. People who know it don't have time to pay attention to high and low. Some people think they can't afford it because they're having a hard. I understand what that is, but I don't agree with it. 

Let me give you an example of a church. There's a church with 500 people, and there's a church with 50 people. There are differences in numbers, but both churches are the bodies of Christ. It's an apocalyptic community of worship that distinguishes it from the world's. If you focus on that fact, a believer or pastor in a church with 50 members can take church life as a festival. Don't you think your life is the same? A person who accepts life with this kind of thinking does not fret over it or anxious because he or she cannot move up to the top. This problem can be seen more clearly in the second story.

A person who has nothing to repay

   Jesus continued to say something embarrassing to the man who invited him. Jesus told him not to invite close relatives or rich people to dinner. That's because they might invite you back later as a token of gratitude. He said it was very scary to be invited again, to be rewarded. To celebrate, invite the poor and the disabled. They don't have the ability to pay back, so 'This invitation is a blessing to you.' This is a story out of our common sense. We live in the world, picking and treating people who are capable of paying back. A person who is good at such a thing can rise in the world. No one is literal about this word of Jesus. People can't actually live that way in the world. This is not to say that you should not invite close friends or churchgoers. Why did Jesus say something that was hard to understand in common sense and difficult for us to practice?

   Look at Jesus' saying that you are blessed that the invitees are not able to pay back. People generally think that it's natural for anyone to get it. Nobody says it's bad. People feel bad when they give it to them and they don't respond. It's a cognitive disorientation, so nobody's going to say anything about it. If a person feel comfortable when he/she doesn't pay back, you already have too much.

   In the previous story, I told him that he who sits at the end of the feast knows the joy of the wedding feast. Now he's also the one who participated in such joy. That means he has so much to satisfy himself that he doesn't get any more. Some of our church members are gardening. Tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers are held every day. He can give it to someone else who needs it. He doesn't feel bad even if he doesn't pay back. That's because you're full of vegetables. Yes. Anyone who feels full of the fact that we have received life as a gift from God lives in full satisfaction without receiving what is expected from others. More fundamentally, I don't expect it at all. I forget that I gave it to anybody.

The monthly budget of our church is approximately 7 million won. 1.54 million won is spent on a fixed basis every month. There's money that's not fixed. This is the money for the Sharing Mission. Sometimes some people worry that our monthly rent is too tight at our church, but the finances going out are too big. This is a reasonable concern. You might think it's an expense that doesn't directly help the church. That makes sense, too. 

The operation committee members, including the members of The sharing Mission, will take care of the well-run costs of sharing. But it's something to be happy about that we don't get as much as we do. Because we have already received so much that we do not have to be paid back. We have received enough from each of us personally and at the church level. You already know what it is. The depth of knowing it reveals the level of faith.

   I'm going to tell you one of the key things about what we've already received. That's the fact that life is God's gift. People in the world who can think know this. They don't have to be greedy in their natural ways. I value those who live like that. But I can't get rid of the feeling that I'm missing something. They don't know that God gave us Jesus Christ. They live according to the laws of nature, but we go further and believe in Jesus Christ, and we live close to him. For those who live in the natural world, life feels dim, but for those who believe in Jesus Christ, we actually experience life. That's the experience of liberation from sin and death. 

If you live according to nature, you still cannot escape the power of sin. With the fact that nature is transience, your life goes transience. They are not greedy, but there is no hope for a new life. Through the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we have learned that our lives are both God's gift and the process of preparing for a new life. We are like a bride waiting for the bridegroom to come. We're about to celebrate the soul. So we don't get upset when we're in a low position or if we don't get paid for what we've done.

   I'm sure many of you think this explanation is understandable, but it doesn't really come true in real life. It's still unstable, it's upsetting, it's unfair, and it's going to make me feel like, why is the world like this, why is it so bad? This issue is not resolved by force. The best course of action is to step one step further into the center of the Bible and Christian faith. In that manner, today we are talking about the text of the Bible.

The time of resurrection

The content says the guests at the feast have nothing to pay for, and the reason they're blessed is because they're paid on a completely different level.  Look at verse 14. It's really wonderful word. 

 and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

The resurrection that we're talking about here is the end of life. We believe that at the last time Jesus will come again. There are people who argue that such stories only work in the mythological era, and that there is no point in this age of cutting-edge science. You make that argument in a very monotonous light of the world. When Jesus comes again, it means that all the secrets of the world, the secrets of life, are revealed. We don't know much about life and the world right now. No matter how advanced physics and biology are, they can't reveal their secrets. This may sound like a pun, but it's what physicists say.

   In the book 'God, Human, Science' Hans Peter Duhr, a physicist and philosopher, describes the ultimate physics world by analogy with ant hill. In some parts of Africa, there are large column size ant colony. If you look from a distance, it looks like its standing still. As you get closer, thousands and tens of thousands of ants are intertwined.

    Now we look at the world from too far away and everything seems to be in a stable. And if you go very close, if you look at it with an electron microscope, you can see that almost infinite number of particles continue to appear, disappear, disappear, and then reappear. When the secret of the world comes to light, we will receive a reward that we never expected. What do you mean? It means entering the absolute world of life.

If you think today's words mean living by helping the poor and the disabled who cannot afford to pay back while waiting for the end of the day, you know it partially. If you know it in partial, God is worthy of us, but if you know all about it, you are a very happy person, a blessed person. And that's the fact that the end of the resurrection is not only a distant future, but it's now. If he can pull the end-of-life out of here now, he's already paid off. It's the preoccupation of the end. Some of you might think it's ambiguous to live with apocalypse. I think it's clear and unambiguous. For example, if you're actually aware that you're going to die tomorrow, you can live a whole different life today.

   It's not easy to actually live that way, even if you know it clearly. A life full of resurrection, end-of-life, joy and freedom is not just words. I still have a small argument with my wife about nothing, and I feel uncomfortable when I'm with someone who's stubborn. There are many more people who live a lot more life-sufficiently in real life than I do in every week's plausible preaching. These are people who don't feel uncomfortable at the end of their lives and don't want to be rewarded, just like the people in the content today. They've been paid back by the power of life that's already been completed at the end. Some people feel that they've already received it, others don't.

   You've probably got a hold of what's at the heart of today's talk. That's not what the world recognizes or treats you, but the fact that your relationship with God depends. Human relationships in the world are not that difficult. You can have a good relationship with at least personality and common sense. You can do it yourself. The most important thing is the relationship with God. That's because you're only given a blessed life there.