Rome 1:16-17
I finally made my business card during my visit to Korea. I thought that it would be useful to have one when contacting with local people in Europe. I also passed my business card to those who I met for the first time in Korea. At first, some of them were interested in my background being based in Germany, but I noticed a subtle difference from their face once they read my card. In other words, they looked at me with different eyes, possibly saying inwardly, ‘Was he a pastor?’. Strangely enough, I also felt sorry to them.
- The reality of our faith
Whoever I meet, I try to introduce myself as a pastor before the other person asks. Fortunately, no one has grabbed me by the collar after noticing that I am a pastor. However, many people are unwilling to tell others that they are Christians. Probably it is because they know that the world is not very favorable to the Christianity. We cannot blame others for this situation. We all know the word, “as you sow, so shall you reap.” However, we also should not consider that it is none of our business before ourselves or our church is criticized.
We often see Christian’s wrong deeds. For example, a person who was involved in a striking corruption scandal was turn to be an elder at his church. A pastor even excommunicated his church members who had attempted to correct what was wrong. There is also a very suspicious Christian charity organization according to a Korean documentary program called “I want to know what I need to know.” which I often watch. More obvious example is found from our previous president who severed in his church as an elderly, but governed the country only for his own interest. Now he enjoys a comfortable life somewhere after making an unprecedented fraud in the last presidential election.
To my eyes, it is not so odd for the society to criticize churches in Korea. It does not make sense anymore to lament about losing young Christians either. As a minister, I always pray to find what to do to rescue Korean churches that are sinking. Actually, I almost reached my own conclusion so far. Looking back a history of Christianity since 2000 years ago, we get only one answer. That is to recur to the essence. The church should return to its purity of gospel. We should get rid of what is not based in the bible, and recover the root of Christianity in the most conservative way.
People often misunderstand that Martin Luther reformed the Christianity by shaking up all existing practices; yet what he proclaimed till his death was “Sola Scriptura” and “Sola Fide” what summarizes his theology. God’s words and the faith based on the cross are the root of Christianity. Hence, Luther’s movement did not aim at reforming but returning: a return to the bible and the genuine faith on God.
As one of Korean ministers, I believe that all churches and religious leaders (in Korea) are responsible for a painful reality of Korean society.
Last Monday, I met a Germany couple while climbing on a mountain with my wife. When I introduced myself as a Korean, they wanted to talk about the ferry disaster whilst I was reluctant to discuss about it. I tried to escape from that topic by any means. Soon, however, the guy asked me, “Wasn’t it that the kids lost their life in return for their trust?” His question broke my heart. He meant that the kids who trusted and obeyed the instruction saying, “ Stay where you are.” had to sacrifice themselves. I was ashamed of the fact that the whole world discovered our weakness.
I think that he knows exactly what brought us chaos and shock into our society today. Our children did not learn how to judge on their own, because the education in Korea put too much stress on academic score. Victims kept waiting for a help inside the ship while it was being sunk, because they relied on the announcement saying ‘Stay calm’. From the ferry disaster, we witness a collapse of a trust which is supposed to be a foundation of a society. It is a heartbreaking reality that we are living in such a society which takes away our life as a return to our trust.
What should we do today? Should we abandon our country and church? Definitely it is not the best solution that we can think of. We should try to fix what is wrong. To rebuild a society based on a trust, churches should find their right position, and Christians should flop on their knees in front of God. We should clear our mind. We never get rid of stink if we leave what makes it. We should clean where it comes from. People’s resentment today is righteous. Not only the government, but also the entire society and citizens should be reformed.
Even if we did not do anything wrong, our churches deserve to be criticized as far as our neighbors suffering from poverty and illness have no choice but death. Churches should be blamed if hundreds of people died because of their trust on a corrupted society. This tragedy happened because churches failed to become salt and light of the world. There is no way to be excused.
Therefore, it is not a time to consider giving up our faith. We should have a passion for rebuilding our church and the world as more healthy, beautiful and livable place. Especially the youth should be prepared with such a passion. We should comfort those who are being persecuted for the justice, and support them with our prayers. We should not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good by being equipped with the sword of the spirit and the shield of faith. There should be more companions who want to renew themselves and churches around us. Without a self-reflection, our resentment is purposeless and it will be used as a weapon to kill ourselves.
Are you ashamed of the gospel? We should be ashamed if our life does not follow the gospel. Are you ashamed of the truth? We should be ashamed of ourselves who ran away from the truth and surrender to the world.
From today’s scripture, Paul, the Apostle tells us that ‘do not ashamed of the gospel’. Why are people ashamed of the gospel?
People from the early church were ashamed of the gospel because they considered the cross as a barrier. They did not understand it leads them to the salvation. For Greeks who were looking for wisdom, the cross was foolishness. Its rough figure was a symbol of a failed life of Jesus whose dream came to nothing but bloody sacrifice. Jews who demanded miraculous sign belittled the cross as well. It was because, instead of beating his enemies by calling heavenly hosts and angels, Jesus died on the cross only saying, “my god, my god, why have you forsaken me?”
What would be reason for contemporary Christians to be ashamed of the gospel? Most of all, it might be a discord between the proclaimed gospel and our reality. People living in a modern society face harsh competitions everywhere. Christians are not exceptional, especially at their work place. Our identity as believers and that as breadwinners sometimes collide with each other. We often devote ourselves more to our profession. For this reason, it is difficult to guide people to live a conscientious life while being outside the church.
The gospel teaches us to let others be blessed. On the other hand, the world teaches us to seek for the way to make our life more prosperous. The Lord tells us to stand aside the weak, but the world tells to do the opposite for a success.
Conflicts between lessons tempt people to stick to the worldly value instead of their faith. As a result, people often choose a reality instead of a belief when being at a crossroad in their life. From time to time, they suspect if they really believe in God or not. They have their own agony. They also feel the thirst in their spirit. Yet they have no courage to appease it. This conflict deprives us of power of the gospel.
There are 10 million Christians in Korea. It is means that one fifth of the population is Christian. However, we are unsure how many of them endeavor to follow Jesus in daily life. People say that if we believe in Jesus, God will save us. Unfortunately, it seems that not many people actually deliberate what it means to believe in Jesus, and what kind of life they should live to practice their belief.
Rome 10:10 says “it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.” At first glance, it seems to tell that our confession grants us salvation. Nonetheless, if we read through the entire verse of Rome 10:10, it says, “For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.” In other words, people can attain salvation by confessing their belief which is already embodied in their righteous behaviors. Some people are confused between believing in Jesus and being acclimated to the fellowship at churches. Does getting accustomed to the fellowship mean living a successful life in faith? Unconsciously, we fall into a fallacy that confessing with mouth qualifies us to become believers.
I am not sure if it is a suitable parable, here is a similar example that can be found within a married couple. One day a man heard that wives always crave for their husbands’ explicit expression of love. Assuring that he can make his wife happy, he went to his wife and said, “I love you.” In few seconds, his wife said, “only in words?”. The husband got so confused by her unexpected response. He started asking himself, “What does she want more from me?” or “Was I supposed to pass her my credit card instead?” I can tell every wife in this room that your husband will also be stressed by such reaction from your side. What actually the wife meant by her simple response was “prove your love in your everyday life instead of giving one-time lip service”. To deliver this message, she used her own language which is never understood by her husband. Just like this poor guy, many husbands would interpret the same answer as a sign that their wives want (to shop) something else.
Being saved only by believing in Jesus does not simply mean that we attain salvation once confessing our faith with a mouth. Believing in Jesus means resembling him and following his way of living. Just like the fact that we can appreciate the beauty of mountain only by stepping on there, we will learn the truth of Jesus’ journey only by tracing it.
Paul, the apostle, said, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes” Gospel has power. However, its power never aims to destroy and overturn the creation of God by seizing all the authority in the world.
Gospel has power that let us live in freedom and love. What is freedom? Freedom means “a state of being unbound.”. The bible tells us to find freedom in the gospel. However, we never enjoy such freedom because our life is bound by many things such as reputation, money, hate, love, worry, anxiety, etc. This is why there is no peace in our soul. Being bound by such worldly goals brings us neither peace nor freedom. However, once we experience power of the gospel, our life changes completely. In 2 Corinthians 6:8, Paul says,
When we are blamed; slandered, and honored, true to our word, though distrusted; ignored by the world, but recognized by God; terrifically alive though rumored to be dead; beaten within an inch of our lives, but refusing to die; immersed in tears, yet always filled with deep joy; living on handouts, yet enriching many; having nothing, having it all. (The Message p.646)
Those who experience power of the gospel are able to forgive and embrace people who they are supposed to hate and suspect. Although we exist on earth, our hope of life is placed on heaven. Christians’ life is bound only by God. The power of truth is courage and ability to choose love above all and to live in freedom.
God presents power of love to those who receive the gospel. These people are no longer ashamed of the gospel. They become a light of the world living in the truth of the gospel. This is what Paul means by saying “the righteous will live by faith.” in Rome 1:17.
God recognizes the righteousness. God shows his sympathy to those who repent for their sinfulness and return to him and accept them. This is why the salvation is ‘an experience of being accepted.’ In theology, an acceptance by God starts with justification. Those who are accepted renew their life by God’s dwelling in their heart, which is called ‘sanctification’. The righteousness goes through this process of sanctification.
If we wish your faithful life become more beautiful, we should be able to return to God consistently. The world travelers also have their home to return. If they do not have home, they are merely wanderers. Similarly, we also need to remember where is our home to be able to live our life as a believer. We should put Jesus in the center of our life, and put efforts to continue with sanctifying ourselves.
Brothers and sisters, people lament for the darkness of the world. However, we should be able to light a lamp rather than groan together with others. Rather than criticizing about the dirty society, we should attempt to purify our neighborhood at least. Rather than blaming for the unjust and untruthful world, we should put efforts to reserve a place for justice and trust. This is what Christians are obliged to do.
We should be ashamed of our life being deviated from the gospel instead of the gospel itself. It is not too late to correct what has been wrong. We can return to Jesus at anytime by repenting our foolishness and renewing our life. It is time to turn back from a wrong direction to light up the world with power of the gospel. Christians should pray harder to rebuild healthier and truthful fellowship in their churches. We also should do our best to broaden a territory of heavenly kingdom on earth. We should recover churches to function as a place to embrace the pain of the world.
As if only those who travel can wake up themselves again after falling down on the road, only those who experience power of the gospel can renew the church. Likewise, those who are bound by the Gospel can correct the unrighteousness in society. Lord is still waiting for us to return and he trusts us. He calls us, “You are the salt of the earth.” and “You are the light of the world.”
I would like to finish today’s sermon with a scripture from Mathew 5:16.
In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven(Mathew 5:16). Amen.
Written by Pastor In-Won Seo
Translated by Bora Kim