STRUGGLING FAITH

1 Th. 6:6-16, The Fifth week of Creation, September 29, 2019

6 But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. 8 But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. 9 Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

Final Charge to Timothy

11 But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. 13 In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you 14 to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 which God will bring about in his own time—God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16 who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.

It would be nice if people don't fight and live together, but it doesn't work. The world seems to regard fighting as the essence of life. Not only the world, but also the church. Largely, there are mudslinging  phenomena in the whole church, such as Presbyterian, Methodist, etc. In the narrow sense, there are fights within individual churches. So did early Christianity. Paul made a clear reference to that when he wrote to Timothy. According to 1 Timothy 6:4-5 in the passage of the text of today's sermon, some of the church's believers were arrogant and liked arguments and dispute. They were captured by objection, conflict, slander, and evil thoughts. And there's a fight between them because they see godliness as a way of profit because their minds are corrupt and they lose the truth. Paul explains the true path of faith to break away from this struggle in verse 6:6.

Contentment

First of all, contentment is important in verse 6. "But godliness with contentment is great gain." Supplemental explanation is made using the general epigrams in verse 7 and 8. We come to the world empty-handed and we go back empty-handed. You need to be satisfied with all the food and clothing you need to wear during your lifetime. On the other hand, some people struggle to be rich. He said they fell into many temptations. In this sense, the author affirmed in verse 10, it was love for money. The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. A man who loves money is tempted to leave faith and cannot but walking in the ways of ruin.

You might think that's a good explanation for some, but it's unrealistic. How can you be satisfied with just a daily bread? Whenever I come up with a topic like this, as a preacher, I'm also confused. The same was said in last week's sermon. "No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” (Lk 16:13) Last week I told you this was not an unconditional glorification of poverty. The whole direction of life is important. There are people who are rich and don't love money, and there are people who are poor and love money. It is difficult for a third party to judge what he is. Self know own-self. Or maybe you don't know what it is to live in a world that works the way you love money. The Holy Spirit knows it. One criterion that we can determine is whether we are satisfied with our daily bread.

A life that is satisfied with only everyday food cannot be solved by eating like that. It's because people don't know how satisfied they are. I think a person who lives on a monthly rent can be satisfied even if he or she has a small flat surface. In fact, if you have a small house, you want to have a bigger flat. If you have a large house, you want to have one for your children. There is no end. The same goes for the church. The church, which has 20 members, aims to have 50 members and then 100 members. The believers of the financially troubled church are determined to be able to stand on their own feet. When it's solved, we aim for more. The biggest issue in the Korean church over the past week is the news that the General Assembly of Yejang, which includes Myungsung Church, has made a decision to tolerate the hereditary succession of Myungsung Church. The reason why I made that decision in violation of the church constitution that I cannot succeed to my own family, such as my child or son-in-law, is because I don't want to lose my rich church. Today's church gave up its daily spirituality a long time ago. It's not because they're particularly shameless, immoral, or unscrupulous, but because they're anxious that they can't be satisfied with their daily breads, they're trying to love the church and sincerely pastoralize. People are weak like this.

A good fight of faith

Paul says, "Fight the good fight of faith, not the arguments and arguments created by arrogance." It is to push away evil thoughts and order and to fight for good thoughts and good order to settle down. Look at the words of verse 12.

Fight the good fight of faith, take eternal life, for you have been called to this, and have given good testimony before many witnesses.

The reason why faith is called a good fight is that faith does not grow on its own or become healthy on its own. Even if you first experienced a hot and sincere faith, if you stay there, you will fall into distortion and error without even realizing it. As Dimjeon 6:4 says, the preceding points lean toward defense, arguments, speculation, disputes, slander, and evil minds. Don't trust yourself too much. I don't believe in myself either. You may think you're always right, but if you don't do it like you're fighting, you'll fall into a spiritual abyss.

Falling into a spiritual abyss does not mean that personality is destroyed. If you try just a little bit, your personality can be elevated. You can be a cultured person with some level. People around the world regard culture as the highest value, so they try to see it as a cultured person to others. That effort is also needed. But culture doesn't complete our lives. Even the ostensible refinement can quickly fall to self-pride. It was the Nazi group in Germany during World War II. He ran the Auschwitz camp, listening to classical music, citing philosophers, and listening to the gentlemen's voices from his neighbors. Japanese officials who colonized us also acted like civilized people, but barbarism was inside. That's what the fourth verse refers to as 'proud and ignorant'.

Modern intelligent Christians tend to turn a blind eye to combative faith life. They ignore that militant belief is an enthusiastic belief. I think it is wise to live a religious life at a reasonable distance. To live a struggle of faith does not mean to stay away from everything in the world and to cling only to the church. It means to fight fiercely for the completion of life. Because if you don't live like you're fighting, you'll become more and more distant from life completion.

Now look back at the stage where your life has reached. Let's take an example of what Paul suggested in Section 11 as an item to follow. See if righteousness, piety, faith, love, patience, and milk become richer in your life. To give you a more clear standard of knowing this, it's an interest in "honey. Decreasing self-interest and self-pity as you get older is the way to life completion. Jesus also told his disciples to deny "honey" and follow you. Some people live their lives upside down. The older you get, the stronger you become. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying it's wrong to make your voice heard for truth and justice. It means the desire to express oneself. It's not easy to tell whether it's an idea for truth or a desire to express oneself. Here's one thing that I can tell you about: If you fail the test when your ideas are not accepted, you are bound by your desires, and if you don't get tested, it's really for justice and truth. We can mistake ourselves, so we need training to put ourselves down until we die for life.

I'll be 70 in a few years. I've lived for a long time. Although he lived as a pastor who declared the word of God fiercely as if he were fighting, he is far from life-complete in real life. Perhaps a complete solution will not be possible until the moment of death. So I think I need to work harder now. It's not just words, but it's a step to deny 'self' in real life. My argument should be greatly reduced at home. I'll tell you what I think, but I don't want to put "honey." You shouldn't even think about getting accepted by your wife. But it's necessary to accept the opponent sincerely. The same goes for relationships with friends. This doesn't work out just by making up your mind. It's only possible in spirituality where you fall into nothing. Ultimately, I want to be smaller to the point where I can leave the world at any time. That's life completion.

Eternal life

Self-denial, self-reduction, and self-depreciation run counter to the instinct of survival to protect themselves and people don't want to accept it. They think that if they are denied, their life will collapse. So modern psychology emphasizes self. It comfort people that you are the center of the universe. It is a positive psychology. Such positive psychology is necessary to some extent for people with unstable psychology and emotions. But that argument is a temporary measure. No matter how positive you are, you can't get beyond the limits of the creatures. Everything surrounding you is getting old and fade and gone. It's self-destruct. When that moment comes, positive psychology is meaningless. Christian faith does not view humans at the psychological level, but at a more fundamental level. Man is the creature of God. Because God has built it, only in agreement with God can it lead to the salvation of the soul, that is, the fullness of life. That's the eternity of in verse 12.

Paul expresses in a very unique language about God who should be near in the text. This expression was sung by early Christians at the time as a hymn. I'll read it slowly and listen to what God is like in your mind. It's verse 15 and 16.

 which God will bring about in his own time—God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16 who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. 

The God described here will not be drawn well on your mind. When I think about these things, I'm rather troubled. The Bible doesn't say this to make us tired and complicated. I'm saying this because you can experience and enjoy life fully only when you turn your eyes to the deepest dimension of life, the world, and history. For example, look at germs. Until the microscope was invented, people didn't know there were germs. After the microscope was created, we learned that infectious diseases are transmitted by bacteria. That's why you know how to deal with it. The world we experience isn't exactly what it looks like. There are forces in it that we can't identify. That's what physics says about fields. Or the activity of elementary particles, such as elements. Paul tells God, who is invisible to us but is the master of all things, to put the center of life. God is the source of light and the source of blessing that no one can see.

Those who know this fact are not succumbed to the power of the world. I don't love money. Because I know that money is not the basis of life-complete. So I am not caught up in public arguments and dispute.  Because we know that we don't get life through those things. I know how to be satisfied with the daily bread in the world. Because I know that God is the source of blessings. He has a completely different direction of life from the rest of the world. As the 16th (b) says, it is life that gives honor and power to God.

Honor and power

It is usually described as honor and glory, but the text is called honor and power. It means the same thing. It means giving the most valuable life to God. It is a life in which God believes and acknowledges the fact that God is the most honorable and that only God has true power. Those who live like this do not give honor and power to objects other than God. Because everything in the world, however valuable and brilliant it may seem, is not relative and absolute. Those who turn honor and power to relative objects fall into vain with them. There's no one who's going to misunderstand saying, do you mean it's futile to love my family, or do you mean it's pointless to devote my passion to art and literature, or do you think it's not important to live as a sacrifice for the poor and the disabled in my life? All the lives listed now are beautiful. We should put all our energy into living that way as much as possible. But it does not attribute honor and power to the object.

What exactly is the fact that we attribute honor and power to God? Worship? Worship is a religious ceremony about life that gives honor and power to God. Through worship, we can see that God is the object of our honor and power. More important than worship is our real life. Our lives must reveal God's honor and power. What is it? It is to rejoice and praise God's glory full of the world. I'll just point out two Bible verses. First is the Psalm. "Let the glorious name be praised forever, and all the earth will be filled with his glory, Amen Amen." (Psalm 72:19). Next is Isaiah. "We call each other, holy, holy, holy.  The Lord of all armies says that his glory is full of all the earth." If you change this expression of the Old Testament to the word of Jesus, "Repent, the kingdom of God is near." Is there anyone who thinks that life is tiring, that they are sick, or that they cannot see God's glory because they are betrayed by people? That's not true. Under any circumstances, God's glory is here, the kingdom of God. If you can walk even if you're poor, you'll feel how mysterious this world is. If he could live alone and hear the sound, he would surely see the glory of God. Ultimately, we see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 4:6).

Remember Paul's words, dear saints, to fight the good fight of faith. Our faith is a fierce battle for life, to the point of devoting honor and power to God, to the point where we can enjoy infinite joy from the mystery of life. This is a good fight, and you will find that the more you fight, the more your soul becomes holy. I say it again with Paul's heart. Fight the good fight of faith.

SELECTION BETWEEN ONE OR THE OTHER

Luke 16:1-13, The fourth week of Creation, September 22, 2019

Jesus told his disciples: “There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. 2 So he called him in and asked him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you cannot be manager any longer.’3 “The manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do now? My master is taking away my job. I’m not strong enough to dig, and I’m ashamed to beg— 4 I know what I’ll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.’ 5 “So he called in each one of his master’s debtors. He asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6 “‘Nine hundred gallons[a] of olive oil,’ he replied. “The manager told him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred and fifty.’

7 “Then he asked the second, ‘And how much do you owe?’ “‘A thousand bushels[b] of wheat,’ he replied. “He told him, ‘Take your bill and make it eight hundred.’ 8 “The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. 9 I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings. 10 “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. 11 So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? 12 And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own? 13 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

The analogy of Jesus in the content of today's sermon, "Luke 16:1-13," is a little tricky to understand. Because the story doesn't go well with our common sense. Here comes the rich landowner and the manager who manages his property. The rich man decided to fire the manager after hearing that he was wasting his property. The landlord asked the manager to settle his duties until a certain point in time. When the settlement is finished, the manager has to leave the workplace. The action of the manager was strange. The manager summoned each of the people who owed the owner and rewritten the contract. For nine hundred gallons of olive oil, the manager made it four hundred and fifty. For a thousand bushels of wheat, he lowered it to eight hundred.  This behavior of the manager was to make the owner's anger. He can put them in jail, not just firing them. But the owner complimented him on his wisdom. That's the metaphor, followed by the interpretation of Jesus.

The unjust manager was complimented

First of all, why do you think the owner complimented the manager? If you look at the story that's been going on, it's not something to be praised, but something to be kicked out right away without a severance pay. This manager was originally a waste of owner's property. In this sense, it's a really bad person. But if you look at this from a different angle, it's a different story. The fact that the manager wasted his owner's possession also means that he was conscientious in his work. Rent was expensive at the time. Even with farming, the share of landlords and peasants has gone disproportionately. In the bad harvest, the peasants had to borrow money or grain from the landlords for high prices. The manager is usually not stingy with the peasants. He would have lowered the interest rate or calculated the date on which it should be paid. If the manager takes care of things like this, his or her share will naturally be reduced.

Getting laid-off notice and signing new contracts with debtors can be viewed in a slightly different angle. A debtor who owes Nine hundred gallons of oil may have been in increasing debt because he has not been able to repay it for a long time, and a significant portion of it has been earmarked for the manager. That's why he lowered it to Four hundred fifty gallons of oil. This will not actually hurt the owner. It's just a small profit. What I mean is, you can't necessarily see him as an immoral human being. He helped the needy in a wise way, and he found a way to live in the difficult situation of unemployment. The rich owner also wisely praised the manager at the last minute because he knew what was going on.

Jesus explains in many ways the reason for judging this man to be a wise man. The explanation is a little complicated. Jesus first gives a brief account of the analogy of the manager and then explains the meaning of the metaphor from verse 9. First, I'll read verse 9. Think about whether this makes sense or not. "I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings." In this sentence, the meaning of the word "worldly wealth" is more secular than evil. Here's how to change verse 9 to make it easier to understand. "Make a good friend with the things you use in the world. And they will help you in an emergency when your wealth is gone." And again, from a Christian point of view, here's what it looks like. "Use the money you need while you live in the world. Then you will be saved at the end of the world when money becomes meaningless." In the following verse 10,  Jesus spoke more accurately the meaning of verse 9.

Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. 

Here, the 'very little' refers to the wealth of the world. There are two reasons why it's very little. One is that we are only ruled by money when we are alive. The other thing is that even when you're alive, you don't get life-filled just by money, or by health or by having happy conditions.

very little

The term "very little" does not mean that wealth is meaningless. People need wealth to live with their bodies. But only passively, or in part, it means something to us. We need wealth to get our daily bread. If you take these passive values as absolute values, life will be destroyed. As the Lord's prayer teaches, you need to get some daily bread. If the daily bread is available, the rest of the property should be used in good or wise ways. This is the image of a man who is loyal to the small things. Those who do not know how to use their wealth wisely will be stingy about getting absolute life. It's the exact words of our lives. If we are serious about what Jesus says, we should think about how we are loyal to using our wealth while we are alive. It's not just for Christian individuals, it's for the whole church. How is the use of church finances a good and loyal church figure?

It is not easy for Christians to answer these questions honestly. Because they've grown accustomed to the ways of the world. The way of the world works is that money is power. They think money will save them and their family. They're not going to be so outspoken, but their thoughts are already so fixed. We have no other choice, especially in the 21st-century capitalist system. Another reason why we don't really think about using wealth is that, as the content says, we're not loyal to the smallest is that we have different standards of how much wealth we need to ensure our survival. Some people think it's enough to live three meals a day without being indebted to others, but others only care about making money until they die. It's complicated, and the more I think about it, the more I hate it, the less people want to think about it. After all, you live as an injustice to something very little. I am not confident in answering 'yes' to the question of whether you are really loyal or not. But I can tell you that I'm trying to live as a loyalist.

I'm not suggesting that you give up everything except your daily bread, or that you should choose voluntary poverty. It's important to know where to put the direction throughout Christian life. This is exactly what verse 13 says.

“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

The manager analogy shown earlier is a little complicated to understand, but the conclusion of verse 13 can be immediately understood by elementary school students. There is also a saying that God and riches cannot be served at the same in Matt. 6:24 too. If you're a Christian, you're going to argue that no one else serves property. Of course it has to be. But the New Testament is repeating this because it's very hard not to serve wealth. In a materialistic age, no amount of emphasis on not serving money doesn't work. If you say this, it's not enough to make the faithful feel uncomfortable, but it's just that. The Korean Church teaches us that we can even receive material blessings through our religious life. There's an underlying belief for blessing. It's hard to tell Christians who live in good faith based on the belief that they shouldn't live like that. Because the whole world we live in now serves money. How can we solve this problem?

The moment of seriously life-threatening situations

Review the situation in the today's content in which the manager faces. He received a notice of dismissal. His life is about to fall into the abyss. His lament comes out like this on verse 3. "The manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do now? My master is taking away my job. I’m not strong enough to dig, and I’m ashamed to beg." Once we read this sentence only it makes him a little strange. If he is fired, he'll get unemployment benefits for a while, and he'll find a job slowly. He seems  he is making way too much. The key to this metaphor is the fact that he gets into a desperately dangerous situation. At that moment, he used the wealth of the world to do the debtors good.

For us, the moment of a desperately dangerous situation is death. If you die in a month, no one will live the way you do to serve things. Even if you're going to die in a year it would be the same. Ten years from now, you're going to change your mind a little bit. If you die in 30 years, the pattern of life that puts wealth at the center will not change. The difference in time is not absolute, either after a year or after 30 years. If you repeat it thirty times a year, it's thirty years. If a year goes by like a shot, 30 years goes by like a shot. This explanation may not be realistic because it is theoretical. It can sound too far, especially for young people. For most people, young or old, death is still a long story. I admit that the moment is near, but I live by ignoring it as much as possible. We believe that tomorrow is guaranteed. Every moment is driven by the power of a certain world, with the idea that the life you've designed so far will continue. It's not because you don't believe it or because you're frivolous or selfish, but because you haven't experienced the existence of an amputation, it's a general phenomenon because you've experienced it.

It's clear that we're going to die, but we can't always think about it. Christian faith believes that death has already been overcome, so we should not let our thoughts rest on it. Death is a lot more powerful. The great power is the God of Life. The experience of the God of Life is an absolute event. Death is the end of our lives, but God's experience goes beyond it to absolute life. Jesus' first message is, "Repent, the kingdom of God is near." It means change direction towards God. Yes, the experience of the kingdom of God is absolute. Why? Why is the experience of God's kingdom, the experience of God, absolute?

I'll explain it a little bit. The experience of God is like a situation in which we are naked. I mean I can't hide anything. We usually wear neat clothes, have our hair trimmed, and women wear makeup. Go a little further and name yourself a teacher, doctor, pastor, prosecutor, lawyer, self-employed, etc. For the rest of our lives, we live on something. It's kind of a mask. You think that mask is yourself. The higher the social status, the harder the mask becomes. He's not the one with the clothes and the status and the money. So is the relationship between a husband or wife, or a child and a parent, which is the most intimate relationship. At the ultimate level, family relationships are a mask. Of course, it's a mask in a good sense. So is your relationship with your friend. Human nature or identity is not in a relationship with a husband, wife, or friend. The fact that you experience God is to take off all these masks that surround you. This is the moment when I first came out of my mother's womb. And if you put it in words that we're used to, you're going back to 'God's creation'.

We are all God's creatures. If you admit it, it doesn't mean anything if you're successful or not. There is no difference between a person who gets 100 million won a year and a person who gets 20 million won a year In this world, you would say the difference is absolute. It's because we don't really know that we're all God's creatures. The difference is that it's "very little" as it has been repeated in today's content. Only when you accept this ultimate fact can you see what it means to be a man who cannot serve both wealth and God.

Not just the term "God's creation" but many similar expressions are in Christian faith. One of them is the expression, "Man is a sinner" and "the saved one." Those who can concentrate on the fact that they are saved are separated from the various relationships and conditions of the world. For example, let's say the ferry sank. Some of them were rescued. There's no point in what he's wearing at the moment he's rescued, or what his job is. It's just a very little thing. The fact that you've been saved fills your soul. The reason why we're upset about our performance in the church is that we don't take it very seriously that we're God's creatures and that we're saved. It's proof that you don't have any experience with God I'm not much different, either. But I know clearly that I have to focus my mind completely on the identity before God, not on the slightest thing, and I try to live like that.

Today's sermon is titled "Selection between one or the other." We think we can take this and that not choose between one or the other. You may say you can be a good believer, and you can be a successful person in the world. On the surface, there are Christians who live like that. There are also rich Christians. As a homeroom minister, I want you to live as much as possible. On the surface, that's possible, but not at the depth of the soul. Figuratively, I can't concentrate on classical music and at the same time on reading philosophy books. Because our souls can only focus on one thing. You have to judge for yourself what serves God and what serves wealth in your specific life. It won't be easy. Pray to our Lord that you will allow such judgment.

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.

God's fundamental attribute

1 Timothy 1:12-17, The Third week of Creation Liturgy, September 15, 2019

12 I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me trustworthy, appointing me to his service. 13 Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. 14 The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

15 Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. 16 But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life. 17 Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

The worst sinner

Besides the Bible and theology, the most exciting story I can tell is tennis. It's been 40 years since it started in 1980. Tennis club members can be divided into two types. While there are members who are steadily improving, there are members whose skills rarely increase. Music, painting, literature, life, all the same, can be developed to the point of death. Because the world is close to infinity. There is pleasure in the process. As the saying goes, "The joy of learning or the joy of reading," there is the joy of tennis, and of course there is the joy of life and of faith. The key to that pleasure is maturity, leap, and development. The maturity, the leap, the development of faith takes place when the world of the Bible is experiencing shockingly. Do you often have that experience in the Bible?

Today's content is part of Paul's letter to Timothy, a fellow and disciple of the faith. As I am reading the content, I've experienced a world where I can't help but call it a surprise, a shock. Paul called himself as  “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.”(1 Timothy 1:15b). No one think Paul as the worst sinner. Rather Paul once bragged about himself. In Philippians  3:4-5, Paul says, “ though I myself have reasons for such confidence. If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more:  circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee;.” In 1 Corinthian 11:16,  He described how he lived as a worker of Christ for a long time.

Paul is not immoral, shameless, unscrupulous, or atheistic. But the reason he described himself as the head of a sinner is because he experienced redemption. Salvation is an absolute life experience. Nothing is intact in the face of absolute life. In front of the sun's light, the brightness of the flashlight doesn't mean. I'll take tennis as an example again. Last time, Nadal of Spain won the U.S. Open tennis tournament. I also like to play tennis in amateur clubs, but in front of Nadal, I am a chief among sinners. If you say you can't play tennis at all, it'll be worth it, but since you think you know how to play it, it's a sin in front of someone who has entered the absolute world of tennis.

Paul says in 1 Timothy 1:15, "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." Here, sin is not what people think of ethical morality. All our pride and achievements are sinful. People fall into despair as they try to complete their lives with such pride and accomplishment. So it's a sin. People usually hang on to pride and achievement, although there are differences between individuals. People do their best to be recognized by the people around them. You may have experienced it at the Chuseok meeting. The more people cling to pride, achievement, recognition, and praise, the more life shrinks or swells. I was not completely free from pride, achievement and recognition. But I know for certain that it is useless. Those who actually know and believe in Jesus Christ, of course, are free from self-boasting. And that's one of the signs of what happens to the saved. The attitude we need to get out of our pride is to recognize and admit that we are the chief of a sinner.

Eternal King

Paul is not a self-torture or inferior. As I said earlier, he has experienced some absolute world of life. There are two spiritual phenomena in that person. One is to realize how humble he is, as I said before, and the other is God's praise. Paul says he is the chief of a sinner. and then in verse 17, he praises God. These two spiritual phenomena are actually one. Because you can only experience the highest presence at the lowest level. There's no spirituality in the middle. Listen to Paul's hymn. This hymn was called a roll in the church where Paul belonged. The hymn number 11, that we're going to sing a little later today is basically similar to this. If this hymn comes from the center of the soul, this is the man who has experienced the salvation of God.

I read verse 17 again. " Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen."

Here the fundamental attributes of God are described in several words. Anyone who knows this attribute is someone who has experienced God. If you really want to experience God, you have to understand these attributes deeply.

First of all, Paul described God as an eternal king. The term "king" is, of course, a metaphor. At that time, the king was an absolute power to exercise life-or-death authority. But the king of the world dies. It's not forever. When you say that God is the eternal king, it means that only God gives us life. Many Christians hear these words so often that they don't feel shocked. They just accept it and they still try to find the king of the world. They try to find political messiah. They put their neck on a star in the entertainment industry. We expect the kings of the world to guarantee our lives. Paul and other early Christians believed that God alone would guarantee their lives forever.

Think back to the term "eternal" king. Eternal is a concept opposed to finite. The capital, the technology and the politics that govern modern people's lives, no matter how powerful they are, rule us only while we live. Only God, the eternal king, is responsible for our lives beyond our death. Maybe you don't really understand this expression. This is what most people think. "After death, I don't know, and while I'm alive, it's enough to live happily and happily without hard work." That's what I respect. I hope that education, politics and the economy in this country will play this role faithfully. So we fight for political democracy, for economic democracy. Even if it's all right, I'm not satisfied with it. If death completely ends my fate, I might as well die now. Because everything we experience in our lives is vain. There's nothing in vain. All things that have been good for us and all men are not eternal. As having a cup of coffee at a cafe after lunch, our lives end in a moment's. It's also possible to say that it's more precious because it is vain. But I believe that my fate is in God's hands until after death. That is why I praise him as an eternal king. And I do my best to enjoy the life of the God while I live.

How can we know that God is an eternal king who presides over us until after death? Is there any evidence of that? There is no evidence that everyone can agree on. We are the ones who take the Bible as evidence. The Bible testifies everywhere that our fate is not the last thing we think of as death. The culmination of such testimony is the resurrection of Jesus. The Bible and Christian creed say that God raised Jesus from 'the dead'. The dead are the destiny that we are all given. Even though you have a lot of money, you are healthy, you are all "the dead." Jesus disciples and early Christians sang like this, " But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep."(1 Cor. 15:20) Those who believed in him were given a promise of resurrection. It's a belief that you live in seeds, but one day you turn into flowers. Seeds die, but they don't die out completely, they turn into flowers. Some people say that such Bible claims do not have universal support in the world and therefore cannot claim God as an eternal king. If you say that, just let him say so. The truth is not visible to everyone right now. Physical and biological truths aren't the only truth. They're part of the truth. Someday, when the time comes, the truth that the Bible tells will match the truth that physics and biology tell. Until then, we must hold fast to what the Bible says the eternal king means.

The only God!

Verse 17 we read earlier express God as the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. God is immortal. Everything in the world is getting worn and old and dying. Babies are old and decrepit, too. So is the rock, and so is the Earth itself. Early Christians believed that the empire was not destroyed, so if they belonged to the Roman Empire, they were comforted in the face of death. Some people thought so of the family. But all of it is rotten. For God is the source of all that, and he is not corrupt and does not die. God is not going to be in your hands for some. Because they think only what they see is real. We can't see cells and atoms in our eyes right now. But no one can say that there are no cells or atoms. The wind is invisible. But no one says there's no wind. You won't even feel the wind when you indulge in self-pity. We cannot deny that what is invisible is more precious in our lives than what we see. Nevertheless, they reject God unconditionally because he is invisible. That happens when you close your eyes towards the truth.

Here the expression, ‘the only God' is important. This expression is often heard, so you can think of it as a cliche. This expression is shocking enough to shake our entire lives. There is no single organism or thing in the world. Even the rarest creatures and things are the same. Because you can't exist alone. The typical target that exists alone is the sun. So ancient people used to worship the sun as a god. In fact, the sun is just one of many stars. The phrase 'the only' applies only to God. What do you mean? No one in the world can infer God. So Carl Bart said it was impossible to retain the existence of God. It's like a fish in the ocean can't imagine the world outside the water, especially humans. When we meet God, we will not recognize him. Because he's the only one.

The word "the only God" means that everything in the world, including man, is an object, an individual and a part, but God is a total. figuratively, each piece of puzzle that is close to infinity is human and all, and the whole is God. Each piece of the puzzle has a slightly different shape, but is almost identical, and the whole piece is completely distinct from the piece of the puzzle. The whole can be in the shape of Deoksugung Palace or Mount Geumgang. There are several pieces of the puzzle, but the entire Deoksugung Palace and Mount Geumgang shapes are one alone. The puzzle pieces don't know the whole picture. They only recognize that they belong to the whole picture.

It's possible to ask, what is the use of God's fundamental attributes so far in this complex world for us? I'm busy living, I'm tired of taking care of my sick body, and I care about my uncomfortable relationship with my parents-in-law. It's not easy to tolerate loneliness. What does the fact that God is the eternal king have to do with our daily lives? Does God, who is not rotten, invisible, and the only one, give us money or health? Deep knowledge of God does not immediately solve our daily problems. But knowing and experiencing God's fundamental attributes will greatly reduce the problems you think are troublesome in your daily life. To experience God means to accept life on the deepest level. It's like you don't take your child's work seriously when you grow up. So Paul says that in 1 Corinthian 13:11, "When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me." Now, when you grow up, you feel completely new and new about life.

Honor and glory!

The new life comes in the last sentence of today's content. “Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen!” Our service today is like this one. Be honor and glory to God! If you change the expression that we are used to, it's called worship and praise. What does this actually mean? It means that we use God's fundamental attributes as the content of our lives. This life does not serve the king of the world that is not eternal, nor does it serve what is to be killed, nor does it absoluteize what is seen, nor does it hang on to something that is partial. On the one hand, no matter how difficult the world is, no matter how well it works, it is not arrogant or overly pleasant. It is not that I am indifferent to the affairs of the world, but that I will enjoy and enjoy the fullness of life in God no matter how things unfold. That is the attitude of life to be honor and glory to God under any circumstances. Would you like a more specific answer? The more specific answer is that anyone who goes into God's fundamental attributes will know it by themselves. Please accept me when I finish my sermon by telling you my daily life.

Someone asked me, "You want to have grandchildren, too, don't you?" And I said, "Well, It's not. I don't want anything else for I am living at the height of my life. And if I have grandchildren later on, that's going to be the another moment of culmination." And so is the political issue. I long for the division of North and South Korea to change into a peace regime as soon as possible and for labor, education, and economic systems to be changed justly. But if our history does not pass, I will not despair; if it does, I will not be overjoyed. Because I am already satisfied with God's grace in all the conditions of life that are given to me today. That's actually true.

 “The only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen!”