Category: Sermon

Genesis 15:1-6, Psalm 33:12-22, and Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16

 

A year ago, I had no idea I would be coming to Red Deer. Five years ago, I wasn’t sure I could minister in an English-speaking church. Ten years ago, I was doing pastoral work in Seoul. At that time, a senior recommended that I go to Canada for ministry. But I didn’t study English at all at that time. Twenty years ago, I graduated from seminary and had to join the military. I hadn’t made any concrete plans for my ministry. The reason I say this is that sometimes we can’t see what will happen one year, five years, or even decades from now. It’s difficult to even make plans two or three months ahead. However, even though we cannot see this future, God does. And even without these abilities, the Creator gives us amazing grace. So, Paul tells us that today.

He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” (5) God tells Abraham that his descendants will be as numerous as the stars in the sky, even though he is nearly 100 years old and has no sons. At this point, the average person would think this is a joke. But God makes all these things possible. We cannot see the future; we cannot know it. Even so, we can become the parents of faith like Abraham and Sarah. By believing in Jehovah God. What is faith? The Apostle Paul explained faith well in Hebrews verses 1 and 2. “¹ Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. ² This is what the ancients were commended for.” Faith is confidence and assurance. Faith is the confidence you have when you cannot see the future. It is a strong dependence and confidence that goes beyond simple psychological trust. We saw this through Abraham. Because he believed, he was able to become the ancestor of countless descendants. By his faith, God saw him as righteous.

He stepped forward in faith, and God made him the father of faith. He went forward in faith and experienced the miracle of having a son at an old age. He stepped forward in faith, and he gained a land he never imagined possible. Hebrews 8-10 shows us this today. A specific explanation of this statement is found in Genesis 12:5-7. “⁵ He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there. ⁶ Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time, the Canaanites were in the land. ⁷ The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So, he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.” Abraham believed God’s word. So, he went where God told him to go. He acquired land and wealth. On the one hand, it is a very reckless action and decision. Moving to a place you don’t know is risky, both then and now. He had to take not only his family, but also his relatives, and livestock. It is common for health to be damaged and life to be lost along the way. But Abraham had a firm belief in God, and his faith became the foundation. So even his son Isaac and grandson Jacob were able to enjoy God’s blessings. This family was granted an abundance of blessings that go beyond reckless challenges and reckless faith.

The miracle that happened to Sarah was even more dramatic. She was already past childbearing age. But in Paul’s estimation, she believed in God’s faithfulness. She thought that, although she could not do it, God could. By God’s power, she could have a child. God’s power is entirely accomplished through God’s choice in grace. But through Sarah, we can see that power and miracles sometimes work according to our faith. Therefore, those who live by faith can experience miracles, just as Abraham and Sarah did.

As we all know, she didn’t believe this from the beginning. When God promised to give her Isaac, she laughed. But later she had faith. She experienced the tremendous power of God. She grew to the point where she trusted in the power of Almighty God.

But like Abraham and Sarah, we can see that while it is essential to live by faith, it is also vital to die by faith. In verses 13-16, the author describes the exemplary faith of the patriarchs who lived as strangers on this land, longing for their heavenly homeland. So, it briefly but uniquely expresses how the heroes of faith lived and died. They all lived ‘by faith’ and died ‘according to faith.’ Not only their lives, but even their deaths are all connected to faith.

Their status was simply that of strangers, foreigners. The Greek word for this, ‘ksenoi’, means ‘stranger’ or ‘enemy’. In ancient societies, strangers were enemies to the established group because they were not close to the group. So, they did not receive the due protection of the law. In Sparta, Greece, they were treated like barbarians and were shown to different seats in restaurants. In this way, they were not fully guaranteed the freedoms and rights enjoyed by citizens. But as the Rocky Mountains and the Red Deer River around us know, we are only passing through this land for a moment. We will have a fruitful pilgrimage here and go to our eternal home. Let us move forward together toward the final destination of faith. And its beginning is faith, and its destination is God’s eternal embrace. I hope that this week, too, we will advance one step at a time toward the city of God in heaven. Amen.

Ecclesiastes 1:2, 12-14; 2:18-23 and Psalm 49:1-12, and Colossians 3:1-11

 

Last Thursday, I officiated at the funeral of Will Kruithof, a longtime member of our church. I remember officiating about 30 funerals a year in Korea. But this was my first time in Canada, so I visited Red Deer Cemetery the day before. Looking at the many tombstones on Michener Hill, I thought about life. A person’s life is like a library and a long journey. Today, the author of Ecclesiastes speaks of the meaninglessness of life. At the same time, he invites us to find a core message that transcends that emptiness.

It is generally agreed that King Solomon was the author of Ecclesiastes. He expresses that everything that can be done is meaningless. He had great wealth and power, but something was missing. The author lived his life striving to gain something more. He feels a kind of unquenchable thirst, and he invites us to look beyond the meaningless beneath the sun and revere the eternal God above the sun.

The Bible introduces us to the various types of this vain and meaningless life through three characters. The first is through Job, who suffered countless adversities for unknown reasons. He complains of the injustice he faces and expresses that his life is in vain. Secondly, when David was king, he committed a great sin. He lost his child as a punishment for his sins. He also lost his honor and fame. At that time, he confesses. “When you rebuke and discipline anyone for their sin, you consume their wealth like a moth; surely everyone is but a breath(Psalm 39:11). We can confirm the repeated confession of Solomon, David’s son. He said, “When I became a king, I enjoyed many things, but I was not satisfied. So, I studied various knowledge and wisdom, but still failed to find the right answer that cuts through the futility.”

In modern society, this is sometimes called Success Plateau syndrome. The Plateau Syndrome, which means ‘flat land on a plateau’, implies that while individuals or groups climb to that plateau, they have a goal and overcome any difficulties to achieve what they want. Still, after achieving what they wish to, they face a crisis. That is, when some people have a clear goal, they work hard toward it, whether it is something they truly want or not, but once they achieve that goal, they don’t know what to do next. Since they only knew how to climb, they were confused when they reached the high plains. This often happens when they don’t anticipate the goal and its consequences, or when it differs from their expectations.

How can we overcome this meaninglessness? Every dead person in that cemetery has their own story and history. There are probably some people who have had a lot of wealth during their lifetime. Some people are very wise. Some of them are courageous war veterans. But Solomon felt that the wisdom and knowledge he had studied faced a limit called death. Sometimes we have goals and strive to live a successful life. Even so, after that, we must meet the end of this time, which is death. At the same time, we can open the door to a new world called death. For those without faith, death will be the end. But for Christians, life is just a set amount of time on this earth. And we pass into a new and deeper world of fellowship with God. We call that place heaven.

But today, Solomon addresses how we should live before we die. Even if we try our best throughout our lives, it will be full of futility. But there is one thing that is not in vain: fellowship with God. It is walking with God and faithfully believing in the Creator. I can’t do it on my own. It is not possible with my wisdom and knowledge. Discovering this principle is the key to overcoming meaninglessness.

On this matter, the Apostle Paul presents the same opinion as Solomon. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things (Col 3:2). Who are we? We are Christians. Jesus bought us with his life and blood. He paid the price. We are given new life through Jesus. Because of Jesus, we are saved, and because of Him, we can hope for life after death. This allows us to meditate on actual values. He gave us this treasure of wisdom as a gift. Through this truth, we have become new people. We were baptized and became new beings. We have come to have a vision of a heavenly kingdom that transcends worldly values. He taught church members to look to Jesus Christ in the Colossae region two thousand years ago, an area rife with heresy. However, Paul’s teachings were not only valid for that time. Even in modern society, there are numerous heresies. How many things are there that take our lives away from God? What is it that blinds my eyes, covers my ears, and separates my thoughts from God?

So, Paul presents the basic principle of Christian life: to pursue the things above. He also provides specific directions and guidelines on how this principle should be reflected in real life. In 3:5-11, Paul mentions the old habits that Christians must put aside. The bottom line is this: Be renewed in the Lord and with the Lord. Become a new person. “Have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.” (10) When humans sin and fall, they lose the image of God.

Leonardo da Vinci’s famous painting, ‘The Last Supper’, tells the story of the models for Jesus and Judas Iscariot. According to legend, da Vinci spent a long time searching for a good and beautiful young man to be the model for Jesus. After that, he went out to find a model for Judas among prisoners, and it is said that he eventually found the image of Judas in a cruel prisoner awaiting execution. However, there is a rumor that these two models are the same person.

Paul gives us a goal to achieve through maturity, which is to restore the image of God, the Creator. It is to become like the image and mind of Jesus Christ. It is about trying to live like Christ. It is about living by restoring God’s holiness. I hope that we can live with the insight to realize all of this. Amen.

 

Genesis 18:20-32, Psalm 138, and Luke 11:1-13

 

Today’s reading from Genesis is an episode that is very familiar to us. This is a scene of conversation between God and Abraham regarding the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. At that time, many people suffered injustice because of the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah. We need to remember that God hears the voices of the victims. The perpetrators were sexually depraved and spiritually corrupt, which led many to think of Sodom and Gomorrah as representative of cities of sin. So God says in verse 21 that he will visit this place. God wants to determine the cause of the outcry of the people that He has heard. I want to meditate on three points together through the conversation between Abraham and God.

First, there are people who advocate on behalf of others. Ordinary people rarely encounter judges, lawyers, or prosecutors in their lives. They play a vital role in forming and maintaining society. Moreover, it was a new learning experience for me that in Canada, we have to meet with a lawyer when doing real estate transactions. In fact, in Korea, real estate agents handle most of the work from start to finish. However, since the realtor and the lawyer divided the work among themselves, I felt a sense of security because they handled the work responsibly. A lawyer represents the accused or the victim in the prosecution’s argument, and thus tries to get a good verdict from the judge.

Here Abraham plays this role. God is going to judge the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. At that time, Abraham raised the issue that it was unfair for a just God to punish the righteous and the wicked equally. “If there are fifty righteous people in that city, will you destroy it?” he asks. God answers that he will not destroy it. If there are 45 righteous people again, will you forgive them? God says. “I will not destroy it.” Abraham dares to ask God again. God says that if there are 40 righteous people, 30 righteous people, 20 righteous people, or 10 righteous people, God will leave the city alone.

But the important thing is that Abraham minimized the number of people needed for forgiveness from 50 to 10. It is challenging to haggle down the price of goods at a farmer’s market, but he reduced it by a whopping 80%. The subject of negotiation is not the people of the world, but God. Abraham had nothing to lose. Of course, Abraham would have been worried about his nephew Lot. And he might have expected Lot’s family to live righteously. However, it would have been possible to send a messenger to inform Lot of the news. But instead of taking this easy way, he decided to convince God. He may have risked his life here. Even if they are sinners, please preserve their lives. Have mercy on the righteous. Perhaps he represented the people of Sodom and Gomorrah with this mindset. This leads us to contemplate whether maybe we, too, can play this role. In this age, many people live forgetting God. They go out and find what they think is right and good. A generation accustomed to life without God may become mainstream in Canada. But we can pray to God for them, saying, “God, please give them one more chance.”

Second, there is a God who waits for the righteous. Conversely, from God’s perspective, God is still looking for righteous people today. He found 50 righteous people in Sodom and Gomorrah. And he is looking for 45, 40, 30, 20, or 10 people. Can you sense the heart of God revealed through these numbers? I even feel like there was an intention not to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. “If possible, I do not want the way of judgment and wrath. And I am looking for righteous people who believe in God and fear Me, even if they are few.” Of course, it wasn’t a large city with hundreds of thousands of people living there, but it was a situation where the two castles around the Dead Sea could disappear. Not only people, but also livestock, may disappear due to judgment and disaster. I believe that in the conversation between Abraham and God, God is seeking a reason not to judge the city. That is how much God waits for the righteous. Why is that? Because through them, others can come to God. Because that righteous person becomes the channel of life and blessing. We are familiar with this principle through Jesus. Even if thousands or millions of people sin, they can still be saved through Jesus Christ. Today, hundreds of millions of people have found salvation through Jesus Christ. You can enjoy a life of blessings. Through Jesus Christ, we can enjoy the peace of God. And today too, God calls the righteous. We hope to be those who respond and say Amen to that call.

Finally, there are those who pray. Just as our faith is our life, Abraham’s conversation is deeply rooted in religion. He prayed earnestly to God in his heart. And Jesus tells us very clearly about this prayer. That’s what we confess every Sunday morning. Jesus asked his disciples to pray to God first. He prayed that God’s name would be hallowed and that God’s kingdom would come to this earth. He taught us about sin, faith, and forgiveness for the daily lives of His people. He instructed us to pray for our daily bread, our most urgent need. Like Jesus, like Abraham, some people pray for us. And when we pray, the things God wants will come true. Even in suffering and disaster, we can still pray. Even in the face of judgment, we can pray. Let us live like this as people of prayer. Let us pray for Vacation Bible School this week, for our patient members, for those in need in Red Deer, and for our neighbors in need across Alberta, Canada, and around the world. We believe that God, our parents, will fill our needs with good things and bless us. Amen.

Genesis 18:1-10a, Psalm 15, and Colossians 1:15-28

 

#1. Fear and tension in dealing with strangers

The book of Genesis tells the story of Abraham serving three visitors. Some call them God and two angels, while the Bible calls them God and men. This happened about 4,000 years ago. If three strange adult males showed up in front of our house, we might feel afraid. We will be even more wary of them if their skin colors do not look like that of our local residents. But today, Abraham treats them with great hospitality.

Four thousand years ago, when people set out on a long journey, they needed someone to help them. The traders visited base camps along the way. They had to secure a safe route to get what they needed, including water and food. These traders and foreigners, on the other hand, caused anxiety among the long-time residents of the area. Nevertheless, the harsher the climate, the more cordially these guests were treated. The Mongols, Eskimos, and many other indigenous peoples of this land showed kindness to the traders and settlers who came from other nations. The same is true of the story of Abraham and the Middle East in today’s Bible. Although each region and culture is different, the basic feeling of wariness and fear of strangers is inevitable.

#2. God appeared to Abraham.

The important thing today is that God has come. God came to meet Abraham. Let’s look at the episodes up to Genesis 18. There are creation, the genealogy of human history, human sin and forgiveness, judgment through the flood, the story of the Tower of Babel, and the story of Abraham and his nephew Lot. There is a cycle of repeated human mistakes, judgments, forgiveness, and so on. And again, humankind sins and turns away from God. It is for this humanity that God himself came to us. And the Creator planned to begin with Abraham. He is a very suitable person for this job. We can know him today through his actions in entertaining God and the two angels.

#3. Jesus appeared to us.

God is invisible to our eyes. When I was in elementary school, when I told my friends that I went to church, they asked me, “Is there a God? If God is, show him before my eyes.” We know this is a very childish thing to say. That is impossible. Yet the apparent fact is that God often comes to us. He comes in human form, as in Genesis. God also usually accompanies Jesus when he sends him into this world. So, God revealed himself to be visible to human eyes. That is why Jesus said in John 14:9: “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.” These words of Jesus explain that he himself is the form of the invisible God. We see Jesus by faith. We meet Jesus in prayer. We have an intimate relationship with Jesus through faith. Of course, to see God, God must reveal Himself to us.

#4. Challenging service

When we meditate on Jesus, He is the firstborn from among the dead (18), He makes peace through His blood, shed on the cross (20), and He has reconciled you through Christ’s physical body by His death. (22) When we think of Jesus’ ministry, the path was hard. He was so desperate that, right up until the moment of his death, he wanted to avoid the cross if possible.  It’s a very shameful death. How could the Son of God endure such a shameful death? But in the end, he obeyed God’s will and plan. How could his disciples betray the Son of the omnipotent God? The Son of God suffers under the Roman soldiers, including Pontius Pilate. It was initially impossible. But God and Jesus made this possible. Although it was a shameful path, at the end of this path, he looked forward to the glory of God and the salvation of humankind. Jesus’ ministry on the cross. Through this, he became the firstborn among the dead. Through his blood, peace became possible for humankind. Through His perfect death on the cross, we can be fully reconciled to God.

#5. But the blessings that follow

Abraham served three foreigners. He treated them very kindly. Jesus served humanity by giving everything he could, even losing his precious life. This whole serving process was challenging. But we know the outcome. God promised Abraham a son when he was about 100 years old. Starting with this, he was made the ancestor of countless descendants. And God blessed him to live another 75 years. God also resurrected Jesus Christ with a perfect body. It was different from Lazarus, who was resurrected before Christ. He was not much different from the dead. However, Jesus’s body was now different from before, so the disciples did not recognize him right away. Through this service, Jesus finally attained supremacy over all beings in the world.

#6. Easy Discernment

What is the secret to making difficult service and permitted blessings possible? I think it lies in discernment. Throughout Genesis chapters 14 and 21, we learn that Abraham was a man of considerable influence in the area where he lived. He had the wealth and military power to defeat the tribal kings. Naturally, many people wanted to meet him. He must have had quite a few guests. But he was a man accustomed to serving, as he had given a tenth of his possessions to Melchizedek. Because he was sincere to everyone he met, he was finally able to serve God well when he met Him again. Easy discernment is not to discern at the same time. We believe that by serving others to the best of our ability without discrimination, God will grant us the blessings and grace that He promised to Abraham and Jesus. Amen.

Deuteronomy 30:9-14, Psalm 25:1-10, and Colossians 1:1-14

 

Last week, while visiting with our church member, I talked with her about life and faith. And speaking of the church, she said that our Knox meant a lot to her. I was so touched by that story that I couldn’t help but think about her for the past few days.

What is the Christian life? Is there a difference between life in church and life outside church? Many people find it difficult to talk about faith. As Canadian society becomes more secular, conversations about God outside of church become increasingly restricted. Even with very close friends, we often do not know their religion or church. Of course, traditional values and different views on the gospel can sometimes make conversation challenging even among people of the same religion. However, as I begin my sermon, what I would like to share is that for us Christians, there is no separation between religion and life. Faith is life, and life is faith.

As I have often shared with you, there are not many Koreans in Red Deer. Half of them can be met by going to church on Sunday, going to a sushi restaurant, or going to a Korean restaurant. Sometimes, without me knowing it, some recognize that I am a pastor at Knox Church. So, I became cautious wherever I went. Also, if someone drives threateningly on the road, I no longer protest. Especially when I wear a clergy shirt on Sunday mornings.

So then, what kind of life does the Lord consider worthy? First, it is an attitude in which faith and life are not separated. Most of us feel that faith and life are not different. The reason is as follows. Because we know that God sent us here. We are disciples sent to Red Deer. So, we must make this place beautiful by meditating on God’s will and thoughts. God has given us this responsibility and mission. Of course, fundamentalist Christians may think that the world is too secular and evil. They even think that Satan and capital rule the world. Some people believe that only the church is good and safe. But we know that God created this world, and as stewards, we must preserve it well for future generations. So, as Christians, we must fulfill our roles at home and live exemplary lives at work every day. It is not easy, but it’s our responsibility.

The Colossae church was started by Epaphras, a disciple of Paul. The more I hear that story, the happier I become. So the Apostle Paul confesses: “³ We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, ⁴ because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people—” I also look at your photos and pray every time I start work. Then I feel happy. You mean so much to me and are a joy to me. So I’m grateful for my life here, and I feel happy whenever I think of the members. Although we sometimes encounter differences of opinion, I am thankful. Because it’s proof that we are open and diverse in our opinions, it is also evidence of that much trust and stability. The members of the Colossae church lived with the hope of heaven. They had a strong faith based on the gospel. However, their knowledge was weak, and some members were influenced by heresy at the time. So the apostle Paul was concerned about this and wanted to convey to them the principles of faith. So he wrote a letter to help the members gain the correct knowledge of faith.

In specific terms, some members of the Colossae church at that time were influenced by Gnostics, so they claimed that the teachings of Epaphras, who taught the gospel, were incomplete. They denied that Jesus Christ came in human form. So, because He came as a spirit, they insisted that our bodies are not valuable, but only our souls are. So they tried to teach by adding some other things. The reason Paul explains the origin of his apostolic ministry from the beginning is that he had this situation in the Colossae church in mind. He supported Epaphras, emphasizing that the gospel they received was the only authentic gospel preached by Paul and Epaphras, the apostles, by the will of God.

Likewise, various heresies are  infiltrating North America today. Sometimes heretics from Asia came. Sometimes they come from South America. The important thing is to live a right life through a proper understanding of God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit in whom we believe.

Jesus Christ is the Redeemer in whom we have redemption. Furthermore, Christ, as the Head of the Church, has an organic and vital relationship with the body of the Church, and the Church can never maintain life apart from Him. And Christ, as the Reconciler, is the only mediator who reconciles God and humans. Christ is also the Secret of God and is a man of all treasures of wisdom and knowledge. That is, Christ is a perfect and excellent being who cannot be compared to anything else in His existence and work. Therefore, God will highly value the life of a disciple who completely believes in and follows Jesus Christ.

Next, we have to obey the Lord our God and keep his commands and decrees. The author of Deuteronomy says in verses 9 and 10: “The Lord will again delight in you and make you prosperous, just as he delighted in your ancestors, ¹⁰ if you obey the Lord your God and keep his commands and decrees that are written in this Book of the Law and turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.” Of course, it is difficult for us, like the Jews, to remember and keep the provisions of the various laws established in the Old Testament. So God gave us a very simple law of faith through Jesus Christ. It is to love God and love your neighbor. When we do our best in this work, God promises to bless our workplace and peace for our children and descendants. Therefore, I boldly ask you to approach the Word, serve God well, and live the gospel itself to your neighbors. Then, I believe that the blessings promised by the author of Deuteronomy will be yours. Amen.