God’s word, my light (9th December 2012)

The second Sunday of December every year is “Sunday of the Bible” celebrated by every church in the world. As you all know, the Bible is the book that’s been translated into the largest number of languages, and published the most in the entire world. We call the book “God’s word”.

However, it is also said that the Bible is the least read book among the bestsellers at the same time. Given that our purpose is not to preserve the Bible cleanly, but to meet the word of God, it is necessary to read it at all efforts. When I ask people why they do not read the Bible, many of them reply that they can’t read it because they can’t understand it. Let me introduce a remark of a well-known scholar, Yak-yong Chung from Chosun dynasty.

Diligence rather than talent

In 1802, when he was exiled to a southern part of Korea (then Chosun) due to his belief in the Catholic principle, he taught his pupils about the right attitude of a scholar/student. He said: “It is hard to make a hole with a blunt drill. But once a hole is made with even the blunt drill, the hole will never be blocked. Likewise, even a student who is not smart enough but rather dull can make a great achievement if he/she keeps working with devotion. Therefore, how to make a hole? With diligence. How to sharpen? With diligence. What kind of attitude should you have? You should make an unyielding determination.”

The story of Chung also applies to the reading of the Bible. Even though you don’t understand it fully, you will witness a wide-open road when you keep reading and meditating upon it.

Then, why do you read the Bible? Its purpose is not to gain wisdom for your life; there are plenty of other books that can teach it. We read the Bible because it contains God’s expectation about what kind of existence we should become. We read the Bible so that we understand deeply what we should become and how we can follow the way to become such existence. 2 Timothy tells us like the following:

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

The Bible makes us blameless, and equips us for every good work. Therefore, self-sufficient people keep distance from the Bible, so do those who hate interference by others. To read the Bible is to ask how to sanctify our life. The bible contains the cries of the oppressed, and people who suffer sing a song of hope. It also includes the reality of the evil made out of human’s dirty plots, and the power of God who turns the evil into the good. The Bible provides us with courage and power. The bible helps us not to follow the path of desire blindly.

God, a moving mirror

Who is God testified by the Bible? He is the one who shows himself faithful to the faithful, and shows himself blameless to the blameless. To the pure he shows himself pure, but to the crooked he shows himself shrewd (25-26). He is like a mirror. The image on the mirror exactly reflects who we are. We stand before God in order to reflect ourselves just as we stand before a mirror. When we confront with who we are, we cannot help seeking God’s mercy.

However, God does not reflect our current states only like a mirror. He is the one who interferes with our life. In that sense, we can say that He is a moving mirror. He rebukes what we do wrong, and is pleased with what is good. Today’s scripture reading talks about this as follows:

You save the humble but bring low those whose eyes are haughty. (27)

Everywhere in the Bible, we witness God correcting all the inconsistencies and crises human created. He lowers down those who got haughty with their money and power. He encourages those who lost energy to live. He gives a new power to the weary. He hates haughtiness the most, because He loves us. Only without haughtiness, human can worship God. Then how can we get out of the marsh of haughtiness?

Until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts

It becomes possible only when God resides in our heart. More accurately, when we open our eyes to God who has already lived inside us, we can be freed from haughtiness. Brothers and sisters, we live and see the world, but it’s not that we see the world with our own eyes. We can see nothing if it were not for the light. Likewise, unless God reflects our mind, we cannot see anything spiritual, as written in today’s reading:

You, O LORD, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light.

God has many ways to turn our lamp on. But the most universal way is to give light through the Bible. No one can understand God’s will without reading and listening to the Bible. When athletes fall into a slump, their coaches guide them to repeat the most basic movements over and over. They gradually get recovered by repeating the basics. Likewise, when we get lost, we should go back to the basic of the Bible. Reading and pondering upon God’s word will guide us to a new way.

And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. (2
Peter 1:19)

My beloved brothers and sisters of Eurolux church, God’s word brings light to the darkness. As long as we stick to God’s word, we never get lost. Jesus is God’s word that became flesh and made his dwelling among us. In that sense, he said “I am the way”. Those who love God’s word are those who walk on the way that Jesus became.

I hope our brothers and sisters enjoy blessings through listening to God’s word every Sunday. But I also truly hope that they grow as mature Christians by voluntarily reading the Bible and meditating on God’s word. I really expect that they will finally confess like the author of Psalms, “As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is flawless.”

Once again, may God bless that you never get lost in the darkness of the world by leaning on God’s word, which is your lamp that turns your darkness into light.

Amen