"Don't be afraid!"

Matt. 10:24-39, third week after the Pentecost, June 21, 2020.

The content of Bible is not always comfortable and gracious. There are many uncomfortable contents to read. Such characteristics stand out in Jesus' sayings. Matt. 10:24-39, the content of today's sermon, is one of them. It consists of two paragraphs. The first paragraph is verses 24-33. In verses 32 and 33, Jesus said that only when his disciples acknowledge Jesus in this world, Jesus acknowledges them before the Father of God, and if they deny him, he denies them. That sounds like a threat. The second paragraph is verses 34-39. Jesus said that he came to give the sword, not peace, and that the enemy was a family member. It sounds intimidating for somehow. Even if it's a word with a deep spiritual meaning, it's not realistic. Today I'm going to hold on to this uncomfortable remark, as Jacob wrestled with the angel. Through this, I would like to meet the essence of Christian faith.

1) The overall emphasis in the first paragraph is 'fear'. There are many expressions that tell you not to be afraid or to be afraid. The reason Jesus told his disciples this is that in the future, there could be a situation in which his disciples would be afraid. Not only the disciples but also the early Christians who read the gospel of Matthew lived in the same situation. Jesus, his disciples, and those who belong to later Christianity, have fallen into the same fate. It's a common destiny. Verses 24 and 25 describe it as a proverb. It says that the student is not above the teacher, nor a servant above his master. The disciples cannot avoid the fate of Jesus, the teacher. When people accused him of being Beelzebul, the people accused them of being Beelzebul's pawns.  When people around you get this kind of criticism, you're afraid. It was similar to the fear that the Sincheonji(a cult originated from Korea) people felt when the number of Corona 19 confirmed by Sincheonji soared in Daegu in February and March.

The existence of early Christians was fear itself. It's start was Jesus' crucifixion in accordance with Roman criminal law. After Jesus' arrest, his disciples hid or denied that they were his disciples. Early Christians were persecuted both large and small for a long time by Jewish authorities and the Roman Empire. Because of this, many people gave up their faith. Do you think there is nothing to fear about the issue of faith because today is not the time of the Roman Empire, but a time when religious freedom is fully guaranteed? That's not true. The Roman Empire's worldview and the spirit of times of now are no different. I'm sure everyone knows why. Jesus spoke so firmly to his disciples in verse 28. "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell." 

Those who can handle their bodies as they please but cannot kill their souls are the powerful in the world. They killed Jesus, persecuted his disciples cleverly or mercilessly, and then arrested, locked up, tortured, and killed countless Christians. The history of suffering of Christians has been long and harsh. Jesus said that even such a powerful world power cannot touch the souls of his disciples. What the disciples will fear is not the evil power of the world, but God who can put the body and soul into hell.

The reason why people are insensitive in front of Jesus' words is that they are used to life subordinate to the body, not to the soul. In the 21st century, the Age of Materialism, this trend of life is much stronger than it used to be. Most of our lives revolve around the body and matter. In a word, money rules all our lives. You live like you don't have a soul. Some people with a sense of history think of justice and peace. They think about the progress of history with poor people and ecological environment in mind. Not only are these people a minority, but they're also inconsistent with their lives. Everyone thinks that money determines our lives, so on the one hand they fear falling into poverty, and on the other they hate the poor.

How can we live in times like this without fear? Will avoiding scary conditions solve this problem? Not only does that not happen, but it's also clear that even if it does, fear doesn't go away. There is no other way. Only when the soul is richer can it not be dominated by those who threaten the body. Just about marriage, for example. Young people these days decide on marriage based on very realistic calculations. They are sensitive to appearance, moneymaking, character, etc. They don't care if they have the power of love. They neglect the power of the soul.  So the fear of marriage never goes away. Other lives are similar. Because the soul is not rich, we have no choice but to fear the world dominated by money.

There are probably people who will ask, "What does it mean to be rich in spirit?" Even though we are used to the word "rich soul," the actual meaning is unfamiliar. Today's content accurately and kindly explains the problem. Look at verse 29. Here comes the story of sparrows. Even the humble sparrow said he wouldn't fall to the ground unless your father allowed him to. The disciples were nothing but sparrows in front of the Roman emperor at the time. They have neither power nor recognition. But what happens to them at the ultimate dimension is God's permission. It's about God. Consider whether it is important to be recognized by the emperor or by God. The Emperor's work and God's work do not divide like cutting tofu with a knife. Just as rain and wind are inconvenient for some, but life is full for others, the same thing can be the emperor for some, and God's work for others. A man with bright eyes of the soul can feel God's hand in what the world sees as insignificant as a sparrow.

For example, let's say you work at a school or company restaurant. It's not recognized in the world. From the depth of the soul, it is God's work. It means that God is with us in the work. For those who do not know that God is with them, such restaurant work will not be as much as a sparrow. Imagine you are prisoners of war. Most of them suffer from forced labor, and you work at a restaurant in a concentration camp. You'll think you're happy. That's how I clean and wash the dishes at home.

Let me give you a more realistic example. I had a stroke or a car accident. Fortunately, I regained consciousness a few months later and woke up a year later and started practicing walking. Under such circumstances, cleaning and washing dishes can only be fascinating. If you're ecstatic, it's God's permission. Those who live in this manner are not afraid of those who kill their bodies but cannot kill their souls. Is this kind of life really possible for us, Christians? Why can't we go deep into that kind of life? Answering these questions is a sermon. As a preacher, I always return to my original intention and stand before this question in the sense that the preacher must first know this life and live it. I'm giving you the answers I get there.

Being a Christian means discovering joy and reason for existence in life, unlike the standards of the world. Christians are those who have found the joy and reason for its existence in Jesus. Look at the disciples who follow Jesus. They threw away everything about themselves They abandoned their job as a fisherman and their family. They didn't show off their previous jobs to people, nor were they ashamed of it. Because they found a whole new standard of living in Jesus. Verses 32 , 33 point to that fact. “Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven.  But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven."

2) The second paragraph begins with a very unconventional sentence. Verse 34 says Jesus came to give the sword, not peace. This is not what we generally know of Jesus. He is the king of peace. Verses 35 and 36 sound even more irrational. "For I have come to turn “a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—  a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household."

Verse 37 is a content that can be misunderstood. He said that a man who loves his father, his mother, and his son and daughter more than Jesus is not fit for him. This expression is only likely to come from the cult leaders. In the 1990s, there was a heresy that encouraged believers to leave their homes. Why did Jesus say such misleading things in the text?

Those listed in the word of Jesus are the most powerful subjects in our lives. The fence of family will not disappear as long as mankind survives. Paradoxically, there are traps here. A family that protects and enriches our lives can actually destroy important lives. There are things that stop children who sacrifice themselves for social justice by saying, "A cornered stone meets a mason's chisel." Some people wanted to live a normal life, but they chose a job they didn't want because of their parents' excessive desire. Of course, there are parents who give them strength when they need it and give them the right direction. Perhaps the latter case is common. Families that care about each other personally are the happiest conditions of life. The following facts do not change, even if you assume one or another. It is the fact that if you have someone or object to rely on, your relationship with God does not deepen. 

Figuratively, children who are fascinated by playing with their friends are like not thinking about going back home. Here's why monks to leave their home. Not because they didn't know the happiness between family and friends, but because they wanted to find a more absolute life.

In Jesus' remarks that he came to give a sword, not peace, a sword points to the fierce perception, enlightenment and practice of not staying in an appropriately friendly relationship. If the word that the kingdom of God is near filled his soul, he cannot remain the standard and way of life in the world. I can't explain all the specific standards and methods of life here. It doesn't just appear to be broken, because each life is different. One obvious fact is not to be hung up on being recognized by the world. No matter how good a thing is like a Nobel Prize, getting recognized by the world alone will never get life. It doesn't mean that the world is meaningless, so it doesn't mean that you can make money and fight the world, become a loner and cause inconvenience. 

It is right to say that those who don't want to work should not eat (1 Thessal. 3:10). What's important about our lives as a whole is to break away from the preconception that the greater the discretion we have to deal with, the more competitive we are, the happier our lives will be. So Jesus said in verse 39, the last clause of the text today. "Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it." 

The 28th verse, "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. ," and the 39th verse, "whoever loses their life for my sake will find it," sound equally uncomfortable. Because it's a word that goes against the life we live in now. As we often say, the capitalist system works as hard as the Big Brother, so we have to struggle not to stay behind other people. We're worried that our life will go wrong. It makes our nerve sharp. The soul becomes more and more destitute. We own more stuff, dress ourselves up, and spend more to avoid it. It is no exaggeration to say that you spend your life making money for the fun of spending it. I believe that Jesus' diagnosis of 2,000 years ago that this is not about getting life, but losing it, is right in today's reality.

3) How do you accept the saying that "the one who loses his or her own life for me" gets his or her life? This sentence is the compression of all the New Testament. The New Testament focuses on this fact. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. God's glory was revealed to Jesus. By believing in Jesus, we are recognized as righteous. Jesus is the Son of God, and he will come again as a judge at the end of life. These teachings are located throughout the New Testament. Jesus is the only way we can get life. Do you actually live with this Christian belief? Have you ever considered this problem seriously?

The standard that we can test whether we live on the basis of these words is whether or not fear. If you're afraid, you can't live by Jesus. If you're not afraid, you live as Jesus says. You shouldn't misunderstand that you're not afraid of the world. It's not about being proud of yourself. I think the representative people who are afraid of the world are gangsters and soldiers. They seem fearless on the surface because of the force that most people don't have, but they are actually terrified. It's because it's a group that can't endure without gangsterism and weapons that kill humans. Individuals or groups who can only show their existence by force are cowards. Because they are people who cling to the artificial organization and force of the world.

Jesus was not afraid of other powers because he actually believed that the kingdom of God was near. He replied to the lawmaker, who asked what the greatest commandments were, that he loved God with all his heart, with his life and his will, and that he loved his neighbor (Matthew 22:34). John, who had heard this from Jesus, later said, "He who fears that there is no fear in love, but that there is punishment in fear, and that he who fears is not fully fulfilled in love." (John 4:18) That's right, my beloved saints, because those who are obsessed with Jesus Christ, the love of God, have taken life, they are not afraid of those who kill their bodies but cannot kill their souls.

The Way of the Holy Spirit Community

The Way of the Holy Spirit Community

1 Corinthians 12:4-13,  The Advent, May 31, 2020

 4 There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. 5 There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. 6 There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work. 7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 8 To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10 to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines. 12 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 

There's a repeated word in the content of today's sermon, verses 12:4-13. That's 'the Holy Spirit'. It comes nine times. Not only the 1 Corinthians chapter 12, , but also the  chapter 13 and 14th are about the Holy Spirit. This means that the Holy Spirit issue has become a controversial issue in the Corinthian Church. At the center of the controversy lies the question of the gifts. Many Corinthians argued that the evidence of the Holy Spirit was in dialect gifts. There are traces of it in the apostles. Dialect was accepted as a very important gift in early Christianity because it was close to the secret of God's experience through a special language phenomenon. Paul even said he prayed in dialect more than anyone else (1 Cor. 14:18). The problem is that they insisted exclusively and privilegedly on dialect gifts. They ignore other gifts because their dialect gifts are superior. Paul found the danger of the Corinthians breaking apart because of this problem and thought that he should teach them correctly. It appears in Chapter 12-14. A direct explanation of the dialect is given in Chapter 14, and today's text provides a theological explanation of the relationship between the gifts and the Holy Spirit. Paul thought that since dialects are inherently the gifts of the Holy Spirit, he should first know the relationship with the Holy Spirit.

 1) The word 'gifts' is a translation of the Greek word 'Charisma'. Charisma is the special gift God gave to the people through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is a translation of the Greek word 'Pneuma.' Pneuma is a word that means wind, breath, energy, and spirit. Since the Holy Spirit was the Spirit of Life, Christianity has called it the Spirit of Creation, the Spirit of Salvation, the Spirit of Resurrection, and the Spirit of End. One of the power of the Holy Spirit is the conferment of gift. The gift is given as a gift to people who come to church.

In the 1 Cor. 12:4, Paul said, "There are different kinds of gifts." The gift varies, but the Holy Spirit, the ability to give it, is the same spirit. In verse 5, Paul explains it in a slightly different way. He said Christians have many different positions, but the main is the same. The God who gives here is the Holy Spirit. Verse 6 explains it a little bit more. I'll read verse 6 and 7. I'll translate and read the Lutheran Bible.

 Each person has many gifts, but God is one. The God has a history in every man's affairs. By showing these things, you have made the gift of the Holy Spirit a common good.

There are two main points of the content from verse 4 to verse 7. One is that many gifts come from one source of the Holy Spirit, and the other is that the emergence of the Holy Spirit through it benefits the entire church community, not the individual. Diversity and  being public.

Paul explains this fact a little bit more in verse 8. Verses 8–10 give you a list of different gift list. Some are connected to the present church and some are distant. It is as follows: Words of wisdom, words of knowledge, faith, healing the diseases healing, practice of ability, prophecy, spiritual sense, dialects, interpreters of dialect. Dialect and dialect translations are the last ones on this list. This means that the most important gift that some members of the Corinthians showed off with enthusiasm was not the one. This list did not list all the members of the church at that time. For example, relief and church administration belong to the gift. In today's church, choirs, Sunday school teachers, church library services, and meals are all gifts. After referring to the list of gifts, Paul summarized the relationship between the gifts and the Holy Spirit in verse 11. "All this is done by the same Holy Spirit, giving it to each person according to his will." In this verse, we can also confirm that the Holy Spirit has the initiative of the gifts.

2) The following paragraphs, verses 12 and 13, describe the relationship between the body and many parts. Our bodies are one, but we have several  parts of body, and they are different. The functions of arms and legs, head and chest and waist, eyes, nose, ears, and mouth are clearly different. There are more diverse organs in the body. The function of intestines and liver is completely different, but both are connected to the body. Here the body is Jesus Christ, and the other parts are the congregation. All the Christians who live as various gifts are united in Christ. The power that enables organisms as one body is the Holy Spirit. This is how Paul reveals the fact in verse 13.

 For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink

 Paul pointed out in front of the church that although there are various gifts, they are one in the Holy Spirit. We've talked about a problem that goes far beyond the diversity of the gifts here. Inside the church, there were Jews, Greeks , some were still servants, and others were free citizens. If you change it to the current way, there are company presidents and employees, university presidents, and cleaners. In 1960, when the black-and-white racial conflict still existed, the American church said that there were white and black people in a church. If we go back to the Joseon Dynasty, the aristocrats and the people are in same church. Paul's claim that although there are differences that are hard to overcome, they all became one body after being baptized by the Holy Spirit is a revolutionary idea. It's a whole new worldview. The foundation of this new world view lies in the fact that the church is a Holy Spirit community.

The expression of the Holy Spirit community doesn't sound real to all Christians. The Holy Spirit is invisible. We only experience the Holy Spirit with its ability. As you can experience invisible wind by force. The Holy Spirit is the spirit of life, so it appears to individuals and society as the power of life. Let's say we have a teacher here. His teaching activities can kill or save students. He lives by the power of the Holy Spirit. Let's say there's a congressman here. His activities save and kill lives. The same goes for pastors. At the time of Jesus, the activities of religious leaders, such as Pharisees and scribes, were close to killing. They are not people of the Holy Spirit.

 

3) Let's take a closer look at the problems of the Corinthians Church, which Paul is concerned about. I told you earlier that there was a controversy over the gift. Paul told them in verse 7 that the gift of the Holy Spirit was to benefit the community. They translated the revision as simply "beneficial," but translated it as a common benefit for both the Lutheran  and the NIV Bible. It's kind of a public thing, or a common good. If you do not benefit the community, you misunderstand the gift, and if so, you are not the one who received the gift of the Holy Spirit. Pay more attention to the fact that this is for common benefit. If you put your arms and legs forward, the whole body will be wrong. This is how it is explained in a fable style. You can insist on leaving your head and making all the rest of your legs, or on getting rid of your nose and ears and making ten eyes because your eyes are the most important. Then your body will be damaged. In the Corinthian Church, where Paul writes letters with a desperate heart, many people used to use privately, not public. It means that he used the gift as an opportunity to show off. This was destroying the community of the church.

Let me tell you more about your church life. There are two things. First, you all received a gift. There's no one without a gift. If you think that a person baptized by the Holy Spirit has not received a gift, it is like not recognizing that you are a human being even though you were born as a human being. You may think that you don't get a gift because you don't do a lot of volunteer work for the church. That's a misunderstanding. Not all of them were preached, not all of them were given by the steering committee, not all of them were given cleaning services. You just don't know what you've received, but no one has not. A claws that seem like little things are a kind of part of body. Eyebrows are like that too. If you think about it, you'll see what kind of retard you're connected to the Church, the body of Christ. He was not baptized by the Holy Spirit if he had no idea. Even if you were baptized formally, you didn't receive it in content.4) Second, the more important thing in this passage is to examine whether or not one's gifts actually come from the Holy Spirit. One of the criteria is the public benefit right in front of it. Or a joint line. It's important whether you place your role in the church in the public interest or in the common good, or in your own private benefit. It's not always as clear as cutting a radish with a knife. Because the human mind is very subtle and complex. On the surface, it seems to seek public interest, but on the inside, it can lean toward its own benefit. Sometimes he's not aware of it. Don't get me wrong. No matter how wrong things happen in the church, I'm not saying that we should think about the whole church rather than the individual. You have to fight for church reform. The Protestant Church's name is "Protestant" for no reason. Fighting should be a fundamental achievement, not a private one. When that private mind builds up, it will one day destroy the community.

It is not easy to use one's own gifts for the public good. It's hard to tell what the public benefits are. Personality and culture can save the public's interests within a category, but they cannot go beyond what you know. Living as a roughly cultured Christian is not much of a blemish, so if you want to live like that, live like that. As a preacher, I have no intention of preaching you the Christian character and culture. Because it only changes the shape of life, it doesn't reach the belief that the nature of life changes. The key here is to go back to the roots of Christian faith. That's why Paul continues to talk about his relationship with the Holy Spirit today while talking about the gift. How can you live by using it as a gift without getting near the Holy Spirit, the source of the gift?

 

5) Paul said strange things in verse 13b. "...we were all given the one Spirit to drink. " Drinking the Holy Spirit is a literary metaphor. This expression relates to the baptism mentioned in the same verse 13. Baptism is a religious ceremony that means to die and live with Jesus. The start of this ritual is the union of the crucifixion that happened to Jesus. The crucifixion is blood, so baptism is union with this blood. The baptism is what Paul described as "Drinking the Holy Spirit" in that it is a Holy Spirit event. The word baptism is the Holy Spirit event means that you get life through baptism.

You can ask yourself, what does it really mean to get that life? People outside the church feel empty about our claim that Jesus lives. You think you don't get life in the name of Jesus, you get life with money. Who's right? We Christians believe that through Jesus we were freed from sin and death. Such a religious ceremony of faith is baptism. The baptism goes into and out of the water. Going into the water means you're dead before, and coming out of the water means you're reborn as a new person. Therefore, the man baptized in the name of Jesus is a newly born man. If you don't realize you're born again, you don't realize you're going to get life, or you don't realize you're drinking the Holy Spirit.

Even if you believe in Jesus and are baptized, there are probably people who think that there is no change in real life. I don't feel like I'm born again. It's an idea that happens when you misunderstand baptism. Baptism is that you are born as a new person, not that you are already mature as a new person. The newborn is human, but if you leave it alone, it dies. You have to take care of him for a long time. We need to train him. The baptized person must be spiritually cared for to actually become a new person. If you don't take care of him and complain that you don't know if you've become a new person, he's like a child who refuses to eat. Have you ever taken care of your own soul like a newborn? If not, take care of it as if you are raising a baby. Over time, you'll realize you're a new person.

 

6) Yes, if you fully know that you are baptized by the Holy Spirit, you are dead and reborn with Jesus, and you are growing up, you will see how you will use your own gifts and your life for the common good. As life becomes richer in that direction, you will be reduced to infinity, where you will enjoy God's ultimate freedom and rest. That's the truth of salvation.

It's a cliche, but I think it's appropriate in this part. Let's say you knew you were going to die in a week. Before and after you know it, you are completely different person, a new person, or someone else. The world looks different, and relationships with others are completely renewed. I will no longer have a war of nerves with others, and I will not spend time on a vain attempt. This is the way a person who is baptized by the Holy Spirit renewed. So Paul was able to boldly declare that Jews, Greeks, servants, and free men had all become one body. Is life really possible for us? Are you praying for your soul to deepen the inner workings of this faith? Have you given it up because it's too far away?

Dear saints, today is the Advent. The church in which we are baptized by the Holy Spirit and drank the cup of the Holy Spirit together is a community of the Holy Spirit. Let us not just say in words that we belong to the Holy Spirit community, but in the path of the Holy Spirit community. The path is not to use one's own gift (life) for private purposes, but for common good and public good. I believe that if we open our hearts to him without stubbornness, the Holy Spirit will lead us in that way.