“Watch” (Matt 24:36-44; Romans 13:11-14; Psalm 122; Isaiah 2:1-5)

Advent: Beginning with the End in Mind 
Today we celebrate the first day of Advent. The word “Advent” is from the Latin “Adventus,” which means “coming.” Advent is the beginning of a new liturgical year. It is the time of the year when we remember promises about the first coming of Jesus. We celebrate the birth of the baby Jesus in the manger at Christmas. But much more importantly, Advent is the season about how we get ready for the second coming of Jesus. It is the time for us to ask ourselves, “Am I ready?” “Am I on the right track?” This week’s lectionary passages tell us how we should be ready to meet Jesus individually and as a church.

Put on Christ
The Epistle reading from Romans 13 begins in this way: “… The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed… Therefore, put on the Lord Jesus Christ” (vv. 11-14). Then, what does it mean by putting on Christ? It means that Christ should be a suit of clothes that we wear all the time. It means that let Christ direct all our thinking and conduct all the time. Putting on Christ is not “once-for-all” action like baptism, but it is something we must choose to do each and every day.

The Gospel reading from Matthew 24 is part of Jesus’ teaching about the end of the age on the Mount of Olives. In the Olivet Discourse Jesus tells us how we may put on Him in our daily lives. In verse 44 Jesus says, “So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.” Then, he tells us a parable, the parable of the ten virgins – five of them were foolish and five were wise. The Bible says when the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and fell asleep. Then, what makes the five foolish and the other five wise? The foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, but the wise took along extra oil with them. Then, what does the “oil” stand for? It stands for a true relationship with Jesus. When the five foolish virgins cry out to the bridegroom, he calls out to them, “I tell you the truth, I don’t know you” (25:12). The oil must be prepared in our everyday life. It will be too late to get ready at the end of life or at the return of Jesus. We are ready when our relationship with Jesus is true and intimate. We are ready when we put on Jesus Christ every morning. We are ready when Christ rules in our hearts and minds.

The best way to put on Christ is to mediate on God’s word day and night, because Jesus is the Word (John 1:14). Recently, I faced Giant Despair. I almost lost my footing. It was close. But it was God’s word that sustained me and delivered me out of the dungeon of Giant Despair. Every morning I meditate on Psalms. Particularly, this week God gave me the same message every morning: “Take refuge in Him. Cry out to Him. And give thanks to Him.” Giant Despair was persistent. He didn’t just let me go. He kept coming back. But every time he came, I practiced these three things. I did run to God, cry out to him, and praise his holy name and give thanks for what he had done. “My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and make music! Awake, my soul! Awake, harp and lyre! I will awaken the dawn!” (Ps 57:7-8) That’s exactly what I did. And God sustained me and restored my soul. We put on Christ when we hear the word and do the word.

Put on Christ “Together”
This week’s Old Testament lectionary readings – Psalm 122 and Isaiah 2 – describe the glorious day of the Lord when God’s people are ready and go up to meet their bridegroom Jesus together! Psalm 122:1 says, “Let us go to the house of the Lord.” Isaiah 2:3 says, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob.” God gave us the church, so that we may be able to remain faithful, encourage one another, and be ready as pure bride of Christ together. In the early church when believers gathered or parted, they didn't say "Hello" or "Goodbye." Instead, they said "Maranatha” which means “Our Lord comes!” They encouraged one another and reminded one another of the imminent return of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible says, “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching” (Heb 10:25). We are the church. We are here to encourage one another. We are here to help one another to stay focused on Jesus Christ.

One of my favorite books is John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress. Recently, I had a chance to watch a movie version of it. This time I noticed that the main character Christian always had a traveling companion. In the first half of the journey God sent him “Faithful” as his companion. When they were tempted, they watched each other in love. When they were ridiculed and persecuted, they encouraged each other. But then, in the town of Vanity, Faithful so boldly proclaimed the gospel and eventually he died a martyr. After this, God sent Christian another traveling companion, “Hopeful.” One time Christian and Hopeful had to go through the land, called the Enchanted Ground, whose air naturally made one drowsy and die. And here Hopeful began to be very dull and heavy of sleep. So he said to Christian, “Let us lie down and take a nap for an hour.” But Christian said, “By no means! If we take a nap here, we will die.” To prevent drowsiness, they began to share their testimonies to each other: When they felt the love of Christ personally for the first time, how God saved them, how God transformed them, how they began to love a holy life, and so on. While they were telling their love stories with Jesus, before they knew they just passed the Enchanted Ground. Let us pray that we may also meet our traveling companions right here in this place to encourage one another, comfort one another, and correct one another to stay focused on Christ.

Maranatha! 
As I close, I want to share the story of Ernest Shackleton. While on a South Pole expedition, Shackleton left a few men on Elephant Island, and he promised that he would return. Later, when he tried to go back, huge icebergs blocked the way. But suddenly, as if by a miracle, an avenue opened in the ice and Shackleton was able to get through. His men on Elephant Island were ready and waiting, and they quickly scrambled aboard. As soon as the ship had cleared the island, the ice crashed together behind them. As Shackleton contemplated their narrow escape, he said to his men, "It was fortunate you were all packed and ready to go!" They replied, "We never gave up hope. Whenever the sea was clear of ice, we rolled up our sleeping bags and reminded each other, the boss may come today." The promise of the second coming of Jesus occurs 1,845 times in the Old Testament, and 318 times in the New Testament. In other words, about every 30 verses of the Bible tells us about the second coming of Jesus. The Bible keeps telling us, “The day of the Lord will come like a thief” (2 Pt 3:10). As we begin Advent, let us be ready. Let us be “packed and ready to go” at every moment! As we leave this room today, let us not say “Goodbye,” but say "Maranatha!" Yes, Come, Lord Jesus, Come! Amen.

“A Life of Generosity” (Matt 6:19-21; 13:44) - Holistic Stewardship III -

The Redemption of Scrooge

Probably many of you have heard this famous story especially in this time of the year as we move towards Thanksgiving and Christmas: Charles Dickens’ classic story A Christmas Carol. It tells the story of a bitter old miser named Ebenezer Scrooge and his transformation. At first, he was described as a wealthy and miserable man. He was caustic, complaining, and horrendously greedy. But then through supernatural intervention, Scrooge was allowed to see his past, present, and still-changeable future by the visitations of the ghost of his former friend Jacob Marley and the other ghosts. After encounters with those three spirits on Christmas Day, he was given a second chance at life. Dickens describes the transformation of Scrooge in this way: “Some people laughed to see the alteration in him, but he let them laugh, and little heeded them.… His own heart laughed, and that was quite enough for him. And it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge.”[1] So what was the source of Scrooge’s transformation? The answer is “gaining an eternal perspective.” By God’s grace Scrooge was allowed to see his past, present, and future through the eyes of eternity.

Eyes on Eternity

In today’s passage Jesus invites us to clearly see treasures in heaven. There are two kinds of treasures – treasures on earth and treasures in heaven. What is the difference between the two? One is temporary, and the other is eternal. Jesus says, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth” (Matt 6:19) not because they are bad, but because they won’t last. Sooner of later they will disappear. We know King Solomon’s famous statement in Ecclesiastes 1:2: “Meaningless! Meaningless! Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless!” On the surface what Solomon says sounds quite pessimistic. But the word lb,h (hebel) can be translated as finitude as well as vanity. Here Solomon is saying, “Temporary! Temporary! Utterly temporary! Everything on earth is temporary!” The beginning of wisdom is to know that everything under the sun is temporary. Moses, man of God, prayed this prayer in Psalm 90:11, “Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” We all need this prayer, “Lord, open our eyes to see what we have today will quickly disappear.” We need God’s grace to truly know this.

But at the same time, the Bible also says that we need to do our part in order to gain an eternal perspective. Jesus says, “Treasure things above, and your heart will follow” (cf. Matt 6:21). When I was taking a business law class in college, many of the students including myself found it very difficult. One day a professor suggested that we might save some money and buy stocks. Some of us bought shares of electric company such as Samsung. It worked. Samsung became our treasure. We suddenly developed interest in Samsung. We checked the financial pages. We saw a magazine article about Samsung and read every word. Treasure leads; hearts follow. Few years ago God gave Joyce and me a burden for North Korea. So we have been helping two mission organizations for North Korea. When we see an article on North Korea, we’re hooked. When we hear the news of famine and starvation in North Korea, we pray. Treasure leads; hearts follow. Many Christians say, “I want more of a heart for missions.” Jesus tells us exactly how to get it. He says, “Put your money in missions and your heart will follow” (cf. 6:20-21). What is your treasure? Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

All-in

By God’s grace now we know what treasure is temporary and what treasure is eternal. And the Bible clearly says that our eternal and ultimate treasure is Jesus Christ himself (ex. Phil 3:8). When we find the ultimate treasure, Jesus Christ, what is the next step? The next step is to sell all we have and have Jesus instead. It is about all or nothing. There is no in-between. When we encounter Jesus, we cannot be the same. Either we need to be all-in for Jesus or walk away sad. There is no way around it. The word “all-in” is the terminology used during a poker game when a player is so convinced and has moved all of their chips into the pot. Then, what does it look like to be all-in for Jesus? How do we know we are truly “all-in”? One of the most accurate ways to know is to see how we handle money. Why does money matter? Martin Luther said, “There are three conversions a person needs to experience: The conversion of the head, the conversion of the heart, and the conversion of the pocketbook.” It is worth noting that money is the main subject of nearly half of the parables Jesus told in the Bible. 15 percent of everything Jesus ever taught was on the topic of money and possessions — more than His teachings on heaven and hell combined.[2] The Bible offers 500 verses on prayer, fewer than 500 verses on faith, and more than 2,000 verses on money.

Why does money matter? It is because there is a fundamental connection between our spiritual lives and our finances. They are inseparable. In Luke 3 different groups ask John the Baptist what they should do to bear the fruit of repentance. “What should we do?” they ask. John gives three answers. All of them relate to money and possessions. In Luke 19 Zacchaeus met Jesus and was transformed. The first thing he said after his heart had been transformed is this: “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount” (v. 8). Jesus said, “Today salvation has come to this house!” (v. 9). Our approach to money and possessions is so central to our spiritual lives.

“In His Joy”

In particular, giving is an indispensable part of Christian discipleship. We define our priorities, values, and what we love through our giving. We say, “I love you Lord” through our giving. We say, “Thank you Lord” through our giving. For me personally, there are many things I am thankful for to my parents. The one thing I’m most thankful for is that they taught me the joy of giving. When I was five, my parents planted a new church. At that time there was no parsonage. My family and I had to live in the church building for the time being. We lived below the subsistence level. But my parents always set aside the firstfruits of all they receive, starting with at least 10 percent. They made generous mission offerings and special offerings even beyond their ability on New Year, Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas, family birthdays, anniversaries, and so on. They didn’t do it out of guilt or a sense of duty, but out of joy. Not just that, they trained my sister and me to be regular, joyful, and generous givers. Because of that, I was and am now able to experience the joy of giving. I am thankful for that to my parents. In today’s passage when Jesus tells us about how to get hidden treasure, he doesn’t push us to give up what we have out of guilt. The Bible says, “When a man found hidden treasure, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.” Please don’t miss these three words: IN HIS JOY. Our giving is not about paying membership dues. The purpose of our giving is not to keep the church going. God does not need our help (Ps 50:10-12). The purpose of our giving is for us to share the joy of our master (cf. Matt 25:21).

How can we share the joy of the Lord? Where do we start? A good place to start is “tithing.” Both the Old and New Testaments, early church fathers, and church history tell us that tithing is the minimum giving requirement for Christians. It’s not the finish line of giving; it’s just the training wheels to launch us into habits of more generous grace giving. We may start tithing with a sense of duty, but more and more we get to know the joy of giving as we taste and see God’s goodness in our lives. When it comes to our giving, the real issue is not whether we will give 10%, but what we will do with the entire 100%. So the question we need to ask ourselves is not, “How much should I give?” but rather, “How much dare I keep?” We own nothing; Jesus owns everything.

5 Minutes After…

Missionary Jim Elliot said, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” Jim and four other missionaries attempted to evangelize Waodani people in Ecuador in 1956. But all five of them were speared by a group of the Waodani tribe. At that time, they had guns but they didn’t use them. After this, even more amazing thing happened. The wives and children of the missionaries decided to go and live with the Waodani people. And the tribe people asked them, “Why didn’t your husbands use guns?” The wives answered, “Because they wanted to tell you the story of Jesus. He was abused, but he did not retaliate. He suffered, but he did not threaten, because he wanted to show you that there is a new way of life.” Jesus gave his life to give us life. Jesus gave it all. How does our giving reflect His grace? Missionary C.T. Studd said, “Only one life, ‘twill soon be past; only what’s done for Christ will last.” Five minutes after we die, we’ll know exactly how we should have lived. So let us ask ourselves, “Five minutes after I die, what will I wish I would have given away while I still had the chance?” Like Scrooge, today we are given a second chance at life by God’s grace. Let us not store up for ourselves temporary treasures. Instead, let us store up for ourselves eternal, heavenly treasures. Let us give humbly, generously, and joyfully to God’s work. When you give, you will experience the joy of giving. Amen.

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[1] Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol (Philadelphia, Penn.: The John C. Winston Company, 1939), 131.

[2] Randy Alcorn, Treasure Principle: Discovering the Secret of Joyful Giving (New York, The Crown Publishing Group, 2001), Kindle Location 95 of 1363. 

“A Life of Fellowship” (1 Corinthians 12:12-18) - Holistic Stewardship II –

Leaving Church

Episcopal priest Barbara Brown Taylor was one of America’s most effective and beloved preachers. But after much reflection, she decided to end her 20-year career and leave the church. While she was in ministry, she always felt she hadn’t done enough. If she spent enough time at the nursing home then she neglected to return telephone calls, and if she put enough thought into the church meetings then she was less likely to catch mistakes in the Sunday bulletin. Taylor said, “My tiredness was so deep that it had seeped into my bones.”[1] To make things worse, she was conflicted, internally and with the church, because of church dividing issues, including human sexuality. She lamented over the church. She said, “I had been wearing my collar for about six months by then, and I wore it like a string of thousand-dollar pearls. Fifteen years later, I was ready to hang it up.”[2] Now Taylor teaches at a college in Georgia. And she says that teaching school is saving her life now.[3] Taylor is just one of many who want Jesus but not His body, the Church. Researcher George Barna describes this trend in our society as follows: “We found that while some people leave the local church and fall away from God altogether, there is a much larger segment of Americans who are currently leaving churches precisely because they want more of God in their life but cannot get what they need from a local church.”[4] Even today many people are leaving the church out of frustration rather than rebellion.

The Birth of the Church

Then, who started the Church? It was God who gave birth to His Church through Jesus Christ – his suffering, his death, and his resurrection. In Matthew 16:18 Jesus said to Peter and his disciples, “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (ESV) The Church is God’s idea for us to experience the fullness of God’s kingdom here on earth. From the perspective of stewardship, we were created for relationship with our neighbor, especially Christian sisters and brothers, as well as with God. Both vertical and horizontal relationships are essential to our faith journey. St. Cyprian rightly said, “One cannot have God as his Father who does not have the church his mother.” The local church is not optional to our faith experience.

My Story

I am a third generation Methodist pastor. So when I was young, I went to either my grandfather’s church or my father’s one. Those two were my home churches for 27 years. When I came to the US, for the first time I had a chance to choose my home church. After much thoughts and prayer, I began to serve one particular local church as youth pastor. Guess what? After my first year of ministry I was burnt out. I was ready to leave the church. I got tired of the chronically difficult people and the problems in the church. I wanted to stay away from the “institutionalized religion.” So I did. For a while, I felt freedom, particularly Sunday mornings. Some Sundays I attended different churches that I wanted to explore. Other Sundays I just stayed in my seminary dorm, listened to music that I liked, and downloaded sermons from the Internet by my favorite preachers. I did my charitable giving to causes that I believed in. And I also had an informal community of like-minded believers in seminary. But about half a year later, I began to sense that for some reason my heart became dry and barren. One Sunday afternoon I was talking a walk on the campus. I asked God why there was a feeling of restlessness deep in my soul. Then I heard the inner voice of the Holy Spirit. The answer was because I did not stay connected with God’s household. In other words, my vertical relationship with God was ok, but my horizontal relationship with other believers who were assigned to me by God was missing. After this, I came back to church.

Back to the Early Church?

So problem solved? No! After coming back to church, the problems were still there. The difficult people in the church were still there. But this time I seriously asked myself the following question: “What is the church?” And I began to study the church history, particularly the early church. In the book of Acts the early church was described as ideal for us to follow. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They shared their possessions and goods with those in need. Every day they got together both at the church and at home. And they enjoyed the favor of all the people (Acts 2:44-47). But then, as I continued to study it, I found something very interesting. The truth was the early church was messy as much as the church of today. This morning we read the part of Paul’s first letter to the church in Corinth. In fact, at that time the Corinthian church was filled with problems. There were major strife and divisions among the church members (1 Cor 1:11; 3:3). There was sexual immorality among themselves (5:1). They sued each other (ch 6). They divorced without biblical grounds (ch 7). They abused their Christian liberty and caused new believers to fall (ch 8). They accused the Apostle Paul of being a false apostle and gave him a hard time (ch 9). And the list goes on. The Corinthian church was not loving or attractive. But Paul didn’t throw in the towel on the Corinthian church and all other churches in the New Testament. Why? Because he knew that church is family.

Church Is Family

Yes, the church is God’s household. God is our Father, and Jesus is our Husband. And we are brothers and sisters. Let us think about the nature of family. We don’t get to choose our family. We don’t choose who will be our parents or siblings or uncles. Our family is chosen for us by God. In the same way, we don’t choose our church family. We don’t choose one another. Instead, we are given to one another by our heavenly Father. Justin McRoberts says, “Being a Christian can sometimes feel like being in a family with a thousand drunk uncles.”[5] But we need to remember this: Like it or not, uncles are still our family. We don’t throw in the towel on the family. As members of God’s family, we are called to stick together through thick and thin. There is a significant difference between the church and a club. The club consists of the “like-minded” people who have something in common – school, hometown, interest, age, politics, or jobs. The club members are kind of “natural friends.” So those who have different perspectives, cultures, and experiences find it difficult to be part of it. But the church is different. By design, God created the church to be made up of “natural enemies” those we don’t naturally enjoy. D.A. Carson says, “Ideally… the church itself is not made up of natural friends. It is made up of natural enemies… Christians come together… because… they have all been loved by Jesus himself… They are a band of natural enemies who love one another for Jesus’ sake.”[6] If we are united because we are natural friends, we are not necessarily called “church.” But if we are united because we are family washed by the blood of Jesus Christ no matter what the differences, we are the church.

Living in God’s Household

As Pastor Rick Warren said, the local church is the classroom for learning how to get along in God’s family. It is a lab for practicing unselfish, sacrificial love.[7] Then, how can we learn Christ-centered real fellowship and practice Christ-like love in the church? This morning I have three practical suggestions for all of us. First, I exhort you to start attending one of our small group settings where you could actually learn how to watch over one another in love with natural enemies as well as natural friends (1 Cor 12:25). Only in regular contact with other imperfect Christian brothers and sisters, can we learn real fellowship. Probably today you have got a bulletin insert regarding the small group ministry. During the Minute for Mission time, we will take a moment to go over this survey together. Secondly, I exhort us as a church to practice accountable mentoring relationships. Particularly, I exhort us to practice a three-year term leadership in our committees. Here is how it works: If you become a chairperson of the committee, you would find another younger or newer guy and have him or her under you. For three years you teach that person, work with that person and prepare that person to be equipped as a next leader. This is exactly what Jesus did. Jesus did many different things for his three years of public ministry. But above all else, Jesus spent much time on his twelve disciples. For three years he did teach them, train them, empower them, and prepare them. And after three years, he said to them, “Go out and make disciples! And now you teach them to do the same thing” (Matt 28:19-20). As we practice mentoring relationships in our church, we will move from mere tolerance to love and unity. Thirdly, I exhort us to express our genuine gratitude toward one another. 1 Corinthians 12:26 says, “If one part of the body suffers, all the other parts suffer with it. Or if one part of our body is honored, all the other parts share its honor” (NCV). We are all connected as the body of Christ. We suffer together. We rejoice together. So this week write a thank-you note to at least one person whom you are grateful for but didn’t have a chance to express your gratitude. Let that person know that you truly appreciate it. This is an act of affirmation that we are connected one another.

The church is a community of shared destiny through and in Jesus Christ. When we look on the person next to us, let us remember this: We will be eternally united with that person in Jesus Christ.[8] The church can be sometimes messy, but we always have hope because Jesus Christ is the beginning and the end of the church. So let us be encouraged by Paul’s words: “And so I am sure that God, who began this good work in you (the church!), will carry it on until it is finished on the Day of Christ Jesus” (Php 1:6). Amen.

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[1] Barbara Brown Taylor, Leaving Church (HarperCollins, 2012), 108.

[2] Ibid., 114.

[3] Ibid., 227.

[4] Scott Sauls, Jesus Outside the Lines: A Way Forward for Those Who Are Tired of Taking Sides (Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 2015), 42.

[5] Ibid., 50.

[6] Ibid. 54.

[7] Rick Warren, “Can You Learn to Love like Jesus?” (July 4, 2015), Pastor Rick’s Daily Hope, http://pastorrick.com/devotional/english/can-you-learn-to-love-like-jesus

[8] Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2015), Kindle Location 309 of 1827.

“A Life of Worship” (John 4:19-26) - Holistic Stewardship I -

In the Beginning

What image comes to mind when you think of “stewardship”? My guess is “money.” When it comes to stewardship, many of us tend to think it is all about money. However, stewardship is much more than just to raise money for the church budget. For a better understanding of stewardship, we need to go back to the story of creation. The Bible clearly tells us the reason why God created us. In Genesis 1:26 God says, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground” (NLT). Human beings were created to live and rule with God on the earth. You and I were created for relationship. We were created for intimate relationship with God. We were created for relationship with our neighbor. We were created for relationship with creation. Stewardship is about our relationship with God, with our neighbor, and with creation. Worshipping is stewardship. Spending time with our neighbor is stewardship. Giving our money to God’s purposes is stewardship. In other words, stewardship is a lifestyle. From today we will explore this holistic view of stewardship for four weeks. My prayer is that this journey together will help us to define how we should live as God’s children and disciples of Jesus Christ in everyday life. 

“Adam, Where Are You?”

Among many other aspects of stewardship, we are called to be stewards of our relationship with God. Worship is our first and highest calling and joy: “intimate loving relationship between the Creator and a creation.” When we are in tune with God, we glorify God because that is precisely why we were created. In the Garden Adam and Eve were created to live and rule with God. But they were not satisfied. They didn’t want to merely live with God. They wanted to “be like God.” They wanted to be gods. They wanted to be the master of their life. From the moment the man and woman chose to disobey God, that intimate relationship has been broken. They began to separate themselves from fellowship with God. So they hid from God. But God came to them and called them, “Where are you?” Our God always takes the initiative in relating to humanity. We do not have to beg and plead for God’s love and grace. God always actively seeks us![1]

In today’s passage we meet a Samaritan woman whose relationship was broken with God. She always felt something missing and thirsty in her life. But she didn’t know what it was. She tried to quench her thirst through the relationship with men. So she ended up having five husbands, and now she is living with another man. Her life was just like drinking seawater. The harder she tried to quench her thirst, the thirstier she became. And now Jesus actively seeks this woman. The Bible says, “He had to go through Samaria” (John 4:4). Why? It is because Jesus had to meet this Samaritan woman. Jesus is now waiting. He is sitting down by the well where this woman comes to quench her thirst temporarily. Regardless of our actions or response, God’s grace is actively present in our lives. God always takes the initiative and seeks us.

Henry Nouwen, a well-known spiritual director and Catholic priest, had taught at some of America’s premier universities. But despite his academic success, he left those institutions and became a priest in residence for mentally and physically handicapped people at Daybreak community. In particular, Nouwen became a close friend of Adam, who was profoundly retarded and unable to speak, walk, or dress himself.  Each day Nouwen took almost two hours to finish this task – bathing, shaving, brushing his teeth, combing his hair, helping him eat breakfast, and so on. Nouwen said it had been difficult for him to live with Adam at first. But he had learned to love Adam, truly to love him. In the process he had learned what it must be like for God to love us—spiritually uncoordinated, retarded, able to respond with what must seem to God like inarticulate grunts and groans.[2] In the process Nouwen found his true identity in Christ. He said, “We, like him (Adam), are also precious, graced, and beloved children of God, whether we see ourselves as rich or poor, intelligent or disabled, good-looking or unattractive.”[3] No matter what we are, no matter where we are, God pursues us, loves us and calls us, “Where are you?”

God’s Way of Salvation

God seeks to restore a relationship with us through Jesus Christ. Jesus is God’s way of salvation. Romans 1:2-3a says “The Good News was promised long ago by God through his prophets, as written in the Holy Scriptures. It is about his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ” (GNT). We all, like sheep, have gone astray. We all have turned to our own way. The relationship has been broken. God gave us his law, but we did not obey. God sent his prophets, but we didn’t listen. Finally, when the time had fully come, God sent his only Son to reconcile us to himself. On the cross Jesus endured the separation from God that should have been ours. On the cross he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. On the cross the way has been opened for us to be reconciled to God, to be united with God once again! (cf. Isaiah 53:4-6) Jesus is God’s way of salvation. In today’s passage the Samaritan woman tried hard to quench her thirst through the relationship with men and through her religious traditions. But Jesus said to her, “You will be thirsty again! But when you drink the water I give, you will never be thirsty again! It will become in you a well of water, springing up to eternal life!” (John 4:14) Jesus is the way we are united with God. But Jesus is not a means or a ticket to heaven. Jesus himself is the end and the treasure. Having intimate loving relationship with Jesus is the most precious act of worship.

A.W. Tozer said, “Worship means to feel in the heart.” When we love someone, we can feel it. Worship is to feel in our hearts first and express that feeling in some appropriate manner. Probably many of you remember the story of Pascal. He was perhaps the most brilliant mind of his generation. At the age of 19 he invented the world’s first mechanical calculator. He achieved both wealth and honor at a young age, but for some reason he felt miserable and empty. He was thirsty. On November 23, 1654 he got a horse carriage accident, but miraculously he was saved. He saw this as a warning directly from God. That night he humbly came to Jesus and encountered him in his room. He kept a record of this experience on a piece of parchment: "From about half-past ten in the evening until about half-past twelve… FIRE… God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob, not of the philosophers and scholars...Joy, joy, joy, tears of joy...'This is life eternal that they might know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.' Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ...May I not fall from him forever...I will not forget your word."[4] For the rest of his life Pascal carried around this parchment sewn inside his coat. For Pascal, he encountered Jesus as fire. For the Samaritan woman, she experienced Jesus as water. That changed her permanently. How have you encountered Jesus? How do you feel Jesus in your heart today? 

“God, What Are You Up To?”

Worship is to feel in the heart. Worship is not limited to certain locations and times. Whatever we do “in spirit and in truth” is act of worship. In today’s scripture Jesus invites all of us to live in constant, ongoing communion with God, rather than to chat once in a while. Then, what does “constant, ongoing communion with God” look like? Pastor Billy Graham can be a good example. In 1982, the Today show in New York City scheduled an interview with Mr. Graham. When he arrived at the studio, one of the program’s producers informed Graham’s assistant that a private room had been set aside for Mr. Graham for prayer before the broadcast. The assistant thanked the producer for the thoughtful gesture, but told him that Mr. Graham would not need the room. The producer was kind of shocked that a world-famous Christian leader would not wish to pray before being interviewed on live national television. Graham’s assistant responded, “Mr. Graham started praying when he got up this morning, he prayed while eating breakfast, he prayed on the way over in the car, and he’ll probably be praying all the way through the interview.”[5] I think Mr. Graham understood what it means to live life of worship.

God himself came to us to live with us forever. Call to worship is the call to live in continual communion with God. Today, every time you face something new – whether you meet somebody or enter a new social setting, pray this prayer: “God, what are you up to?” Do this all week. Let us acknowledge that God is here with us and walk with us as he had done in Eden in the beginning. As we continue to do this, we will begin to hear God’s voice calling us tenderly, “Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, and come with me!” (Song of Songs 3:10) Amen.

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[1] “Our Wesleyan Heritage,” UMC Website, http://www.umc.org/what-we-believe/our-wesleyan-heritage#EN1

[2] Philip Yancey, “Yancey: The Holy Inefficiency of Henri Nouwen,” http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/1996/december9/6te080.html?start=1

[3] Henri Nouwen, Adam: God’s Beloved (New York: Orbis Book, 1997), 31.

[4] Blaise Pascal, Christianity Today, http://www.christianitytoday.com/history/people/evangelistsandapologists/blaise-pascal.html

[5] Skye Jethani, With: Reimagining the Way You Relate to God (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2011), 116.