“Jesus the Messiah” (Matt 2:1-12)

Advent during a Pandemic
In Psalm 13 the psalmist David cries out to God, “How long, O Lord? How long must I bear pain in my soul, and have sorrow in my heart all day long?” I believe a lot of us can resonate with this question, “How long?” How long must we endure this pandemic and wear face masks? When can we be freed from the impersonal social distancing norms and greet our family and friends again with a hug, a handshake or a kiss?

As we begin our Advent journey together today, we ask God our persistent question, “How long, O Lord?” And we expectantly wait and long for Christ to come and help us. As we wait as a church, we will explore four gospels through Advent this year to see the magnificence of Jesus, the coming King. We have four gospels, because I believe, as John Scott said, Jesus Christ is too great and glorious a person to be captured by one author or described from one perspective. So we have Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Matthew by the Holy Spirit presents Christ as King, Mark as Servant, Luke as the Son of Man, and John as the Son of God. Today we will see the beauty and glory of Christ through the eyes of Matthew. Who then is Jesus according to Matthew? Jesus is King of the Jews, long-expected Messiah, promised Savior of Israel and all nations. So Matthew starts with the genealogy of Jesus, then announces King’s arrival first through the Magi. From this story, we can learn who Jesus is and how we should respond to King Jesus.

Look!
As we listen to the story of the Magi today, I would like to draw your attention to three particular verbs in verse 2. The Magi said to King Herod, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.” – “look (see),” “come,” and “worship.” First, look. The star was not hidden. It was right there, shining and guiding. Anybody could see the star if they lifted up their eyes and looked. Charles Spurgeon was converted when he heard a preacher saying, “Look! Now looking don’t take a deal of pain. It’s not lifting your foot or your finger; it is just ‘Look.’ Well, a man needn’t go to college to learn to look. You may be the biggest fool, and yet you can look. A man needn’t be worth a thousand pounds a year to look. Anyone can look; even a child can look…. Look to Jesus, and be saved!” In other words, God is always at work around us. God’s signs are all around us. That’s the first reality. That’s the first step to know who Jesus is. When the apostle Paul preaches in Athens, he said, “Indeed, he [God] is never far from any one of us.” (Acts 17:27 ISV). The Message version translates it this way: “He doesn’t hide-and-seek with us. He’s not remote; he’s near!” Yes, the Lord is near.

God’s sign is not hidden. But in the busyness of our life it is possible to so easily lose sight of God’s work in us and God’s sign around us. When Ahaz, king of Judah, heard news that Aram and Northern Israel went up to attack his kingdom, he and his people shook like trees in the wind. Then, the Lord said to Ahaz, “Ask a sign of the Lord your God.” But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test.” Ahaz was a hypocrite. He was saying pious words, but deep in his heart he didn’t trust God. God said to Ahaz through Isaiah, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the virgin will conceive and bear a son, and will call him Immanuel” (Isa 7:14). So what God’s signs do you see? Surely this year will be one of the most memorable years for many of us. We have been through a lot together this year: Covid-19 pandemic and civil unrest, George Floyd death and second civil rights movement, presidential election and political unrest, and the list goes on. In all this what are signs that it is present? Where and how is God at work? How do you sense God nudging you in this situation? These are guiding questions to discern and see God’s signs.

Come!
Not only did the Magi see the star, but also they have come to Jerusalem. Many scholars assume that the Magi came from the environs of Babylon. If so, they would have traveled about nine hundred miles. It would have taken several months. When they saw the star, God’s sign, they spared no efforts to leave their country and come to Jerusalem. In today’s passage we see a clear contrast between the Magi and the Jewish religious leaders, who simply do nothing about Jesus. When asked where would Messiah be born, the priests and scribes had accurate scriptural knowledge, quoting from Micah 5:2, “And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel.” But that was it. They went back to business as usual. Their biblical knowledge did not lead them to come with the Magi. In fact, they were not interested in the arrival of the Savior because they were already content with their present life. They did not need a Savior.

Like these religious leaders, there are many in the church who have scriptural knowledge and affirm its teaching. They regularly attend church and say the right prayer. But in reality, deep down in their hearts they feel indifferent towards Jesus. Pastor and theologian Michael Horton, in his book Christless Christianity, said, “In short, the spirituality of American is Christian in name only…We embrace preferences rather than truth. We seek comfort rather than growth…We have enthroned ourselves as the final arbiters of righteousness, the ultimate rulers of our own experience and destiny.” John Wesley called this kind of people “Almost Christians.” We see God’s sign, but we don’t want to go there. We hear God’s message, but we don’t want to change patterns of our lives because, then we need to give up our preferences and comfort. We find ourselves in religious leaders. The Magi stirs our hearts today. “Lift up and look up and see the sign! And come with us!”

Worship!
The Magi had a clear purpose to come: worship. They saw the star, and they have come to worship Jesus (v. 2). They didn’t come to Jesus empty-handed. Instead, they brought their precious and valuable gifts – gold, frankincense, and myrrh. They worshiped Jesus with sacrificial gifts. Each gift has a significant meaning. Gold is a symbol of royalty and divinity. Frankincense was consecrated as pure and holy and was the only incense permitted at the altar. Myrrh was used to prepare bodies for burial. By bringing these gifts, the Magi were prophesying and saying, “Jesus, you are King. Your life will be a pure and holy offering to God. And your death will bring salvation to all people.”

Have you given a sacrificial gift to someone? When we give such a gift to somebody, it’s a way of saying, “I love you.” When the Magi worshipped Jesus with their sacrificial gifts, it’s a way of saying, “Jesus, I have not come to you for your things, but for yourself. Lord, you are my treasure, not these things. I honor you. And I love you.”

The Gift of the Magi
Probably, many of you have read “The Gift of the Magi” a short story written by O. Henry. Jim and his wife, Della, are a couple living in a modest apartment. They have only two possessions between them in which they take pride: Della's beautiful long, flowing hair and Jim's shiny gold watch, which had belonged to his father and grandfather. On Christmas Eve Della was desperate to find a gift for Jim, but she had only $1.87 in hand. She decides to sell her hair for $20 to a wigmaker, and eventually she finds a gold watch chain for $21. She buys that chain with joy. Without knowing what she has done, Jim sells his cherished watch to buy expensive hair accessories for his wife. At 7 o’clock, Jim walks in and gives Della her present. Della then shows Jim the chain she bought for him. Both Jim and Della are now left with the gifts that neither one can use, but they realize what love is. The very act of sacrificial giving defines what it means to love each other.

God showed his sacrificial love by sending his own Son to die for us. The Bible says, “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). God has entered our lives in Jesus, and we have never been the same. That is what Christmas is all about – first “Christ’s mass (service)” then “Christian’s mass (service).” “Christ’s love” and “our love.” By God’s sacrificial giving, we are transformed from the inside out, and now we give ourselves to King Jesus. The Magi saw the star, and they have come and worshipped Jesus. And now it’s our turn. What signs do you see? How do you respond to King Jesus? What gifts would you bring to him? May the Lord Jesus give us grace to see his signs. And may the Lord give us desire and courage to come and worship him with sacrificial gifts. Amen.

“Why Gratitude Matters” (Luke 17:11-19)

Giving Thanks Always?
There are few verses in the Bible that clearly say something like, “This is the will of God for you.” One of them is 1 Thessalonians 5:18: “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” I believe most of us want to be thankful always, but in reality, it’s just hard. In particular, this year the Covid-19 pandemic has been stressful and isolating for many people. This week we celebrate Thanksgiving, but many of us had to cancel family gatherings. We find it more difficult to be thankful than in other years. But in today’s scripture – the story of ten lepers, we meet one man who did not forget to say “Thank you, Lord!” What made him so different from the other nine and so thankful? From this simple story, we can learn what gratitude is and why it is so important.

Gratitude Starts with Remembering
First, gratitude starts with remembering the past, remembering who we are. In today’s passage, all ten lepers are healed, but only one comes back and gives thanks to Jesus. Luke 17:16 says that man was a Samaritan. Who were the Samaritans? Samaritans were normally considered “half-breeds” or “the pagan half-Jews” because they had intermarried with the foreigners during the Assyria occupation period. In Jesus’ time, Jews did not associate with Samaritans. So, in verse 18 Jesus said to him, “Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” Yes, this man was a despised foreigner. He was the lowest of the low even among the lepers. But, because of that, because he knew who he was, when he was healed he was more thankful than anyone else. “Thank you, Jesus! You even came to me, you even loved me, you even healed me.” That is the reason why this man was different from the rest of them.

Gratitude starts with remembering. David always remembered the past. When he became prosperous, he knew that it was the Lord who had established him as king and made him successful (1Ch 14:2). In 2 Samuel 7 he prayed to the Lord, “Who am I, O Sovereign Lord, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far?” David had never forgotten the time when he was a shepherd boy. So he could give thanks to God always. God said to Israel again and again, “Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm” (ex. Dt 5:15). The apostle Paul says, “Remember that you were at that time without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ” (Eph 2:12-13). All Christians, you and I, have a past. But now, by grace through faith we are saved and have new, eternal life. God even came to us and turned our scars into stars. If we remember this, how can we be silent? How can we stop giving thanks to God?

Gratitude Is a Choice
Gratitude starts with remembering our past. The second is, gratitude is a choice. In today’s text ten lepers met Jesus, and they asked him for healing. On the way to the temple all ten were made clean. I believe that all of them must have been grateful to Jesus for their healing. But for some reason the nine put off expressing their gratitude to Jesus till tomorrow. But we know that tomorrow never comes. Verse 15 says, “Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice.” All ten were healed and were grateful, but the nine put off and only one of them chose to express his gratitude. It was 9 to 1.

In the ongoing struggle of daily life, it’s much easier to choose ingratitude over gratitude. But as Christians, now we have the power to choose gratitude. Matthew Henry, the 18th-century Puritan preacher whose Bible commentary remains among the most popular of all time, was once accosted by robbers, but still he chose to be thankful this way:[1]

Let me be thankful, first, because I was never robbed before; second, because although they took my purse, they did not take my life; third, because although they took my all, it was not much; and fourth, because it was I who was robbed, not I who robbed.

What a perspective! Gratitude is a choice. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 says “Give thanks in all circumstances,” and then Paul says, “Do not quench the Spirit.” In other words, in order to give thanks always, we must not quench the Spirit. We need to be sensitive to the Spirit and obey him without delay. When I look back over this year, every time I obeyed the Spirit, there was joy. But, every time I quenched the Spirit and put off obeying him, there was regret. Do you listen to the Spirit today? He still speaks to us today. We can listen to him through the Bible, our prayer, our circumstances, our conversation, our church and even this message. Do you want to be thankful always? Be sensitive to the Spirit and choose to obey him today. Express your gratitude to God today. Sing praises to him today. Give him a thank-offering today. Contact the person God puts on your mind today. Forgive today. Help those in need today. Then, your heart will be filled with joy and thanksgiving.

Gratitude Draws Us Close to God
Now we move on to the most important question, “Why is gratitude so important?” “Why are we commanded to give thanks in everything?” The answer is, it’s because gratitude draws us close to God. It’s because gratitude is good for our relationship with God as well as our well-being. In today’s scripture when the man came back and thanked Jesus, Jesus said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well” (NIV). This verse can also be translated as, “Your faith has saved you.” In other words, when the man chose to give thanks to Jesus, he was healed spiritually as well as physically. All ten cried out (prayed) to Jesus. All ten were healed. The nine were healed and moved on. But this man was healed and saved. Gratitude draws us close to God.

Charles Spurgeon said, “Be thankful for moonlight, and you shall get sunlight: be thankful for sunlight, and you shall get that light of heaven which is as the light of seven days.” The more we choose gratitude, the more we are ushered into the very presence of God. The Bible says, “Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus (Phil 4:6-7, NRSV). In other words, in every situation prayer plus thanksgiving equals God’s peace, God’s presence. Gratitude keeps our hearts in right relationship with God.

9 Things to Thank God
As I close, I would like to share a story about Pastor Sohn Yang Won, whose nickname was "Atomic Bomb of Love." In 1948 the communist rebels captured the city where he had ministered in South Korea. The rebels captured his two young adult sons, Dong-In and Dong-Shin. The two sons refused to renounce their faith; instead, they boldly preached the gospel to the rebels. They were beaten, tortured, and murdered. A few weeks later the South Korean troops recaptured the city. At the trial Pastor Sohn forgave the sons’ killers and even adopted the rebel leader as his own son. The adopted son later became a pastor. On the day of his two sons’ funeral Pastor Sohn read a thanksgiving address, titled, “9 things to thank for”:

1. My God, I thank You, for having allowed martyrs to be born in the family of sinners such as mine.
2. My Lord, I thank You for having entrusted me, out of countless believers, with such precious treasures.
3. Among my three sons and three daughters, I thank You for my blessings through which I could offer You my two most beautiful children, my oldest and second oldest sons.
4. I thank You for the martyrdom for two of my children, when the martyrdom of one child in itself is much more precious than I could bear.
5. I thank You for the martyrdom of my sons who were shot to death while they were preaching the gospel, when dying peacefully on his deathbed in itself is a tremendous blessing for a believer.
6. I thank You for my heart is at peace as my sons, who had been preparing to go and study in America, are now in a place that is much better than America.
7. God, I thank You for giving me a heart of love for repentance of the enemy who murdered my sons and compelling me to adopt him as my own son.
8. My Father God, I thank you for there will now be countless more sons of heaven through the fruit of the martyrdom of my sons.
9. I thank and thank Our Lord Jesus Christ, who has given me these eight truths in times of such adversity, the joyful heart seeking faith and love, and the faith that provides me with composure.

Sisters and brothers in Christ, what are you thankful for today? How shall you express your gratitude to God?

---------------
[1] Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, “Gratitude Is a Choice,” https://www.familylife.com/articles/topics/faith/essentials-faith/growing-in-your-faith/gratitude-is-a-choice/

Add caption

“The Life God Blesses” (Psalm 134:1-3)

The Day I Hit the Wall
In his book Ordering Your Private World Gordon MacDonald, who is now an 81-years-old pastor and spiritual father to many, shares his story about the day he hit the wall. At that time he was a young pastor in a sizeable church. His father had been a pastor, and his grandfather had been one. Pastor Gordon enjoyed the advantages that had come to him: natural giftedness, good connections, and fast start. But ironically, the more the church was thriving, the more he felt empty and impoverished. One Saturday morning, he finally collapsed. He cried for hours without knowing why. But thankfully, he didn’t let the day just pass by. He stopped, stepped back, pondered what was going on, what was wrong, what was missing. Later he called that day something of a conversion experience. That was the day he saw all too clearly where he was headed if something did not change in his private world. It was the day he started the search for inner orderliness. Pastor Gordon says that this process continues until this day.

The Final Words of Blessing
Today’s scripture, psalm 134 is the last of the fifteen Songs of the Ascents. It is a psalm of blessing. It is a psalm sung by the pilgrims who finally finished their pilgrim journey and safely arrived in Jerusalem. So psalm 134 is like the blessing and advice our grandparents give to us on how to live a blessed life. The structure of the psalm is simple and clear: “call to worship” (vv. 1-2) and “benediction” (v. 3). “Bless God and be blessed by God” is the main theme.

Then, what is a blessing according to the Bible? In the Old Testament the Hebrew word most often translated “bless” is barak, which can mean to praise, congratulate, or salute. In the New Testament, according to the Key-Word Study Bible, “The Greek word translated blessed is makarioi which means to be fully satisfied.” So if we put those meanings together, to bless God means to praise God, worship God, exalt God, be satisfied in God. And to be blessed by God means to live a life that God blesses and praises.

God’s Greatest Blessing
To many, God’s blessing means to have a nice house, a nice car, a nice job, a nice family, a nice retirement, and quick and easy death and no suffering. But that’s not necessarily God’s blessing. It’s called the American Dream.

The Bible says that God’s blessing is anything that makes us fully satisfied in him. Anything that makes us seek the things above. Anything that draws us closer to God. And often it is the struggles and trials and crises in life. Nice families, financial wealth, and good health are all wonderful gifts from God. But they are not his greatest blessing.

God’s greatest blessing is God himself, God’s presence. In Exodus 32 the Israelites made the golden calf while Moses was away. They said to Aaron, “Come, make gods for us, who shall go before us.” We can paraphrase what they said in today’s language this way: “We don’t care about what kinds of gods you make. If we could just have a good job, a good family, good friends, a fun retirement, and if we could get to heaven safely – if we could have that, we’d be satisfied even without God.” The Israelites didn’t care about God’s presence if they could have those gifts on the way and enter the Promised Land. But Moses was different. When Moses interceded for his people, God said, “Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you” (33:3). Moses replied, “If your presence will not go, do not carry us up from here.” God said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” Then, Moses said, “Show me your glory, I pray.” Moses was neither satisfied with security on the way nor the Promised Land at the end. All he wanted was to taste and see God’s presence and to be fully satisfied in him.

Two Stories
In his sermon, “Don’t Waste Your Life,” Pastor John Piper shares two different stories with us. The first story goes like this. In his church two of the faithful church members, Ruby Eliason and Laura Edwards, who went to Cameroon as missionaries, had both been killed because of a car accident. Ruby was over eighty. Single all her life, she poured it out for one great thing: to make Jesus Christ known among the unreached, the poor, and the sick. Laura was a widow, a medical doctor, pushing eighty years old, and serving at Ruby’s side in Cameroon. As people read this story in the paper, they said, “What a tragedy!” But Pastor John said, “No. That is not a tragedy. That is a glory.” Then, he tells us the second story, what a tragedy is. He reads to us from Reader’s Digest: “Bob and Penny… took early retirement from their jobs in the Northeast five years ago when he was 59 and she was 51. Now they live in Punta Gorda, Florida, where they cruise on their thirty foot trawler, playing softball and collecting shells.”[1] Pastor John concludes in this way[2]:

When you don’t believe in heaven to come and you are not content in the glory of Christ now, you will seek the kind of retirement that the world seeks. But what a strange reward for a Christian to set his sights on! Twenty years of leisure (!) while living in the midst of the Last Days of infinite consequence for millions of people who need Christ. What a tragic way to finish the last mile before entering the presence of the King who finished his last mile so differently!

The Life God Blesses
God’s blessing is more than the golden calf. God’s blessing is more than the American Dream: a nice house, a nice car, a nice job, a nice family, a nice retirement, collecting shells. And God’s blessing is more than just getting to heaven, or safely arriving in the Promised Land. God’s greatest blessing is to be fully satisfied in him and his presence now. Catherine of Siena said, “All the way to heaven is heaven.” The first question in the Westminster Shorter Catechism is “What is the chief end of man?” What is the final purpose? What is the main thing about us? Where are we going, and what will we do when we get there? The answer is “To glorify God and enjoy him forever.” Bless God. Glorify God. Enjoy God. Be satisfied in God.

At one Christian Conference a Chinese pastor who had spent 18 years in prison for his faith gave his testimony. The authorities in the camp put him to the hardest and dirtiest work – emptying the human waste cesspool, because they knew he was a pastor and a Christian. But they didn’t know in those years how he actually enjoyed working there. In the labor camp all the prisoners were under strict surveillance 24/7 and no one could be alone. But when the pastor worked in the cesspool, he could enjoy the solitude. He could be alone and could pray and sing to the Lord as loudly as he needed. The guards kept a long way off because of the strong stench. One of his most favorite was “In the Garden.” He always liked this hymn, but he didn’t realize the real meaning of this hymn until he worked in the cesspool. There, he knew and discovered a wonderful fellowship with Jesus. Again and again he sang this hymn and felt Christ’s real presence with him:

I come to the garden alone
While the dew is still on the roses;
And the voice I hear falling on my ear;
The Son of God discloses.
And he walks with me, and he talks with me,
And he tells me I am his own,
And the joy we share as we tarry there
None other has ever known.

The pastor said, “Again and again as I sang this hymn in the cesspool, I experienced the Lord’s presence. He never left me or forsook me. And so I survived and the cesspool became my private garden.”[3] These are the words of a person whose life God has chosen to bless. Many of us remember the final words of John Wesley: “The best of all, indeed, is that God is with us.” We don’t have to wait until we get to the end of our pilgrim journey. So, come now, bless God, and God bless you! Amen. 

----------
[1] John Piper, “Don’t Waste Your Life,” https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/boasting-only-in-the-cross/excerpts/dont-waste-your-life
[2] John Piper, Rethinking Retirement (Crossway Books, 2008), 27.
[3] Gordon MacDonald, The Life God Blesses (Thomas Nelson, 1997), 225-26.

“Life Together” (Psalm 133:1-3)

Where Should We Begin?
We are in such a divided world. We fear each other. We fear people who don’t look like us, don’t think like us, don’t talk like us. Republicans think Democrats are dangerous, and Democrats see the same threat in Republicans. We shoot each other in malls and schools. We threat each other in our places of worship. The list goes on and on.

Psalm 133 is about unity. “How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity!” Here the word translated good is tov. The same word is used in Genesis 1. When God created the heavens and the earth, he saw that it was good. Unity was a part of God’s design. We were meant to enjoy unity. But, since sin entered the world, all of our relationships have been broken and divided: between God and humanity, between husband and wife, between siblings, between tribes, between races. So today, as we look around the world, our divisiveness, our woundedness, and our brokenness seem too deep to overcome. We are tempted to just throw in the towel and give up. But psalm 133 tells us that there is hope. In fact, the whole of Scripture proclaims that it is possible to live together in unity because of what Jesus has done for us. The Bible says, “He is our peace. He has broken down the diving wall between God and humanity, and between us. He created one new humanity and reconciled both groups through the cross!” (Eph 2:14-16) Jesus already created unity for us, but the question is, “How can we have that unity in this divided world today?” “Where should we begin?” Actually, John Wesley asked the same question and provided the blueprint for a path to unity. It’s called “three simples rules.”

Do No Harm
The first simple rule is “Do no harm.” On the surface, this first rule looks easy and simple. And we think that we are already practicing it and doing a good job. But when this first rule is really practiced, it can change our world. For instance, if I am to do no harm, I can no longer gossip. Some people would say that gossip is when you spread rumors that aren’t true. But actually, gossip is more than that: If I talk bad about somebody who’s not present – that’s gossip. If I talk about somebody who’s not present and I share things without that person’s permission – that’s gossip. If I talk about somebody who’s not present and I say anything with a motive of tearing that person down – that’s gossip. What I’m saying might be true, but that doesn’t mean I ought to be saying it.

Therefore, one of the practical ways to live out the first simple rule, “Do no harm,” in our daily living is to examine ourselves and confront the sin of gossip in our own lives, and stop gossiping in any circumstances. This is the act of disarming, laying aside our weapons and desires to do harm. We all have desires to win other people to our side, especially when we think it is not fair. In this process we often gossip, manipulate facts, speak only half-truths. But when we resolve to do no harm, we can no longer gossip about the conflict. We can no longer manipulate the facts of the conflict. We can no longer speak badly about those involved in the conflict. It does demand self-denial and a radical trust in God’s character, intervention, and guidance. The Lord says, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay” (Rom 12:19). Only when we trust this promise of God, we are then able to disarm ourselves and leave it to God without bitterness. Let us trust God, examine ourselves, confront and repent our own sin of gossip, and stop gossiping. That’s the first step to unity.

Do Good
The second simple rule is, “Do good.” Again it sounds simple. But do good to whom? Where are the boundaries? Where do we start? Rueben P. Job expounds this way: “Doing good is not limited to those like me or those who like me. Doing good is directed at everyone, even those who do not fit my category of “worthy” to receive any good that I or others can direct their way.”[1] The parable of the Good Samaritan can be a good example. In Jesus’ time Jews and Samaritans didn’t associate with each other. They were each other’s enemies. But when the Samaritan saw the man attacked by robbers and lying there, he was moved with compassion. And he reached out to him, bound up his wounds, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. At the end of this story, Jesus said to the lawyer, “Go and do the same (love and do good to your enemies), and you will live” (cf. Luke 10:28, 37). From this, we can learn at least two significant spiritual principles. First, the boundaries. We must do good and love our enemies as well as our friends. Second, by loving our enemies we will live. By loving our enemies, we overcome evil.

Then, what does loving our enemies look like in our divided, hostile, and wounded world? Our Lord Jesus tells us the first step to loving our enemies. It is to pray for them. Jesus says, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you!” (Matt 5:44) Not just once, twice, or occasionally, but day by day and on a regular basis. Not just pray in general, but pray specifically for their salvation, for their families, for their physical strength, for their spiritual health and growth, for their God-given vision and purpose of life. Also, another way of doing good and loving our enemies is to forgive them. Forgiveness is not easy. It’s a process. Bitterness keeps coming back. Forgiveness takes work. But as we come to the cross of Christ, we begin to see the depth of our own sins and the wonder of God’ grace. We begin to realize Christ loved me so much that He died on a cross to forgive me. If the Lord has forgiven me – even me, who am I to refuse to forgive others? I must forgive. You must forgive. We must forgive. Do you have any grudges you’ve been harboring? Identify them, and forgive the persons involved today. Doing good is a proactive way of living. We don’t need to wait to be asked to help, pray and forgive. Do good. That’s the second step to unity.

Stay in Love with God
These first two simple rules – “Do no harm” and “Do good” – are important. But without the third rule, they become the righteousness of a Pharisee. In other words, the external righteousness of the first two rules must be accompanied by an inward transformation of heart, which only comes from a vital relationship with God. That leads to the third rule, that is, “Stay in love with God.” It is a foundation to all of life. When we keep falling in love with God, we are enlivened, sustained, strengthened, and transformed.

John Wesley names some spiritual practices that help us to stay in love with God: private and family prayer, studying the Scriptures, fasting, public worship, the Lord’s Supper. Wesley always emphasized a balanced spiritual life – between personal and communal spiritual disciplines. For Wesley there is no religion but social religion, no holiness but social holiness. In this respect, staying in love with God means staying in love with God’s people, the church. The church is family. Being a Christian can sometimes feel like being in a family with a thousand drunk uncles to borrow the words of Justin McRoberts.[2] But these uncles are not our enemies. Like it or not, they are still family. We don’t get to choose our family. Our family is chosen for us. As a family, we are to stick together through thick and thin, for better or worse, in sickness and health. The local church is the classroom for us to learn how to get along in God’s family and how to grow from mere tolerance to love and unity. As we stay in love with the church, we also learn to stay in love with God. The Bible says, “No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us” (1 John 4:12).

Let Unity Begin with Me
Do no harm. Do good. Stay in love with God. The rules are simple, but the way is not easy. But as we choose to walk this costly way and keep choosing it, unity will come in the steps. So, let us walk in the path of unity.

As I close, I would like to read part of Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, which rings as true today as it did in 1963:

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together."

This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.

With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day…

And when this happens, and when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:

Free at last! Free at last!

Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!

------------
[1] Rueben P. Job, Three Simple Rules: A Wesleyan Way of Living (Abingdon Press, 2007), 37.
[2] Scott Sauls, Jesus Outside the Lines (Tyndale, 2015), 49.

“Our Plan, God’s Plan” (Psalm 132:11-18)

Daughter’s Plan, Father’s Plan
I carry my travel mug everywhere and all the time. There is a story behind this. It was October 5th if I remember correctly. I was about to go to Walmart to grab some household items. All of sudden, Lydia insisted that she must go with me. She was determined. So, Lydia and I went to Walmart together. As we entered the building, I asked, “Lydia, now can you tell me why you have to come?” She said, "Because I want to buy you a gift." "Why?" I asked. "Because it's pastor appreciation month! I wanted to buy a gift for my best pastor in the world." I loved Lydia’s lovely thoughts and plans. Then later, I said to myself, “Lydia, I also have plans for you though I can’t tell you, or show you right now. I have been saving money in the bank just for you ever since the day you were born. When the time comes, it will be yours. It will probably be worth a thousand times more than the mug you bought for me today.” Our heavenly Father also says to us, “I know the plans I have for you – plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jer 29:11). God has a plan for you.

David’s Plan
So, what is God’s plan exactly? Psalm 132 answers this question. This psalm consists of two parts: the first part is David’s prayer, “David’s plan” (vv. 1-10), and the second is God’s response to the prayer, that is, “God’s plan” (vv. 11-18). Psalm 132 shows a clear contrast between our plan and God’s plan. In a word, our plan is to invite God to my kingdom and assign him to be my advisor, so that I may become a better person, live a good life, and at the end get to heaven safely. It’s not a bad plan. But God has a much better, much glorious plan for us. God’s plan is to rescue us from our kingdom and take us to his kingdom, so that we may get to know him, love him, treasure him, and live a life with him now and forever.

David’s plan was to bring the ark of God to Jerusalem and to build a place for God’s dwelling. David said, “I will not enter my house or get into my bed; I will not give sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids, until I find a place for the LORD, a dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob” (Ps 132:3-5). David was determined. It was a good plan, lovely thoughts. The prophet Nathen liked the plan, but God had a different plan, better plan for David and his people.

God’s Plan
God responds to David’s prayer in this way: “One of the sons of your body I will set on your throne… There I will cause a horn to sprout up for David; I have prepared a lamp for my anointed one” (Ps 132:11, 17). Here God is not merely talking about one of David’s sons. God is not talking about Solomon. Here what God is saying is about the Messiah, who will come from David’s body, build a house for God’s name, and establish God’s kingdom forever. As God promised, when the time had fully come, Jesus the Messiah did come from David’s body. Jesus destroyed a man-made, temporary temple, and in three days he built a new, permanent temple for God. He did this on the cross. He has removed the barrier of sin and death that separates us from God. He has opened the life-gate of his kingdom that we all may go in.

Skye Jethani, in his book With, tells us about five different ways of life to relate to God: life under God, life over God, life from God, life for God, and life with God. And he expounds further on each life posture in this way[1]:

LIFE UNDER, OVER, FROM, and FOR GOD each seeks to use God to achieve some other goal. God is seen as a means to an end. For example, LIFE FROM GOD uses him to supply our material desires. LIFE OVER GOD uses him as the source of principles or laws. LIFE UNDER GOD tries to manipulate God through obedience to secure blessings and avoid calamity. And LIFE FOR GOD uses him and his mission to gain a sense of direction and purpose. But LIFE WITH GOD is different because its goal is not to use God, its goal is God.

In other words, our plan is to use God in order to acquire our treasure. But God’s plan is to be with us and become our treasure. John Piper rightly said, “Christ did not die to forgive sinners who go on treasuring anything above seeing and savoring God. And people who would be happy in heaven if Christ were not there, will not be there. The gospel is not a way to get people to heaven; it is a way to get people to God.”[2] Through many trials we learn to treasure Christ more than anything in this world. Through this pandemic we learn to treasure Christ more than health and wealth. Through this civil and political unrest, we learn to treasure Christ and his kingdom more than our family, our tribe, our nation.

In the Wilderness
In the wilderness God disciplined his people all the way for 40 years. God had a purpose for this. He had a plan. Deuteronomy 8:3 says, “He humbled you by letting you hunger, then by feeding you with manna, with which neither you nor your ancestors were acquainted, in order to make you understand that one does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.” In other words, God’s plan is not simply to give bread, but to be bread. God’s plan is not just to meet our needs and help us to go on treasuring other things, but to be our treasure, our life.

Once again, in the wilderness Jesus fed the five thousand with five loaves and two fish (cf. John 6). After this, a large crowd was following him. In fact, they were ahead of him and waiting for him. When Jesus arrived, they asked him another miracle, saying, “Show us a miraculous sign if you want us to believe in you. What can you do?” Then, Jesus talked about the true bread from heaven. They said, “Sir, give us this bread always.” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life.” In other words, exactly the same message as Deuteronomy’s one: Jesus came not to give bread, but to be bread. Jesus came not to be useful, but to be precious.

Life with God
When we pause and ponder the way we relate to God, we find that too often we live a life under, over, from and for God. We use God to protect, secure, expand our kingdom. But God gently but forcefully keeps nudging us and inviting us to a life with him. Once the CBS anchor interviewed Mother Teresa, asking, “When you pray, what do you say to God?” “I don’t say anything,” she replied. “I listen.” “Okay,” The anchor said, taking another shot at it. “When God speaks to you, then, what does he say?” “He doesn’t say anything. He listens.” He didn’t know how to continue. He was baffled. “And if you don’t understand that,” Mother Teresa added, “I can’t explain it to you.”[3]

Yes, it’s true that prayer is communication with God, talking and listening to God. When we consider prayer as communication, we would be perplexed by Mother Teresa’s answer. But prayer is more than just communication. It’s communion. Life with God means to live in constant communion with God. All of my four daughters love me, but I think for some reason, particularly Esther is a daddy’s girl. Sometimes I have to go to the church office after my children go to bed. Every night she checks on me, “Daddy, are you going to church?” “Why?” I ask. She says, “Just because I like to be with you.” I believe that’s communion – being with God, treasuring God with joy. That’s life with God.

The Now
God’s plan is for us to taste and see this wonderful “life with God” in the now, not after death. The question is “How?” God’s plan for us – Life with God – is not about do’s and don’ts. Audrey West describes what “life with God” means in this way in a recent issue of Christian Century. She saw a video of an archery expert who used his own homemade bow to amaze his audience. He started by having an assistant throw a 6-inch wooden disk in the air and he hit it dead center. A high speed camera captured the shot. The assistant then threw a 2.5-inch plastic ball. Again he hit it dead center. He did it three more times, each time into an even smaller target: a golf ball, then a Life Saver candy, and finally an aspirin tablet. Each time the arrow hit dead center. The show’s host asked how he could hit something that small. The archer replied, “The center of an aspirin is the same size as the center of a beach ball. I just aim for the center!”[4]

A lawyer asked Jesus, “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. And love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt 22:37-39). In the Jewish tradition there are 613 commandments. But Jesus boils it down to one commandment: “Love God” and “Love your neighbor.” Jesus always aims for the center. Jesus is our perfect example. While he was with us in this world, Jesus was in constant communion with God by loving God and loving people. So, how can we live a life with God “for such a time as this”? Practice loving God. Practice loving your neighbor. Always aim for the center. May God be your treasure, your bread, your life. Amen.

-------------
[1] Skye Jethani, With: Reimagining the Way You Relate to God (p. 103). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.
[2] Ibid., 109.
[3] Ibid., 113-114.
[4] Audrey West, Christian Century, Vol 137.21. 10/7/2020, p. 21.