St Timothy Presbyterian Church in Toronto: Sermons

John 5:1-9a

You read this story today and I would like to reflect with you. What is the implication of that story? What is the message from that story? There was a man who had been sick for 38 years and a pool called Bethesda. Sometimes it’s called Bethesda. The pool was known for healing people. If the pool had a power to heal people, and from time to time, angels will come down and strike the water. And then the waters skirt up, the first person who entered into the pool will be healed. So that was a kind of legend from the pool. And the name Benzema that means the house of mercy. So it’s a house of mercy to heal, but if you really think about that pool or pond, I don’t think it’s really a house of mercy. 

Just assume that an angel came down and struck the water. Just can you imagine what would happen there? The whole bunch of people there and all of a sudden people start running, and then they’re pushing each other so that they could, get there first. How can it be House of mercy? Rather a house of fears, competition. He was not alone. There are a lot of other people there. And he was late. What chance did he have? Practically, he had no chance to be able to be the first person to enter the pool. That’s why when Jesus asked him, do you want to be made well, he said this, Yes. I wanna be made well. He rather said, sir, I don’t know how to put me into that pool when the water is screwed up. And while I’m walking my way, someone else steps down ahead of me. That was what is in his head. All the time, he was sitting there, the only thing that he was thinking about was cheating. I can never be the first person to enter into that pool. Whatever we think we speak, whatever we think of comes out of our mouth. So the first thing that came out of his mouth was not yes Lord I want to be healed that was not, what he said. He said I can never be the first one to enter into that pool. 

Don’t we often do that? If Jesus asked, do you want to be happy? Instead of saying, yes Lord I want to be happy, we give all kinds of reasons why I cannot be happy. I don’t have enough money. I don’t have good friends. I’m lonely and I don’t have health and all kinds of reasons instead of saying, yes I want to be happy. Instead of saying that, we give all the reasons why we cannot be happy. This man thought that he couldn’t be healed because he was not the first person to step into the water. He believed that he could not be healed because he cannot beat other people. He could not be better than other people. Because that was the rule of that Seda in that area. That was the rule and he knew that rule so well. Only the first person who enters the pool will be healed. He knew that rule.  

Isn’t it also the rule of our world called North America. You can be happy only when we beat others. They can be healed only when they are the first in line. This is not just a North American problem, this is a global problem; in Korea. This competition is so fierce. The suicide rates is high. They tried to get into university. They cannot get into university when they cannot get into university, they cannot get a job and when they can, basically determined by which university you go to. So if you cannot get into university, they feel that I can never be whole. So I’d rather die so they commit suicide. If you’re not the first person than you are worthless and you cannot be healed, I get that from the story. I get that. Let’s see that red is also hope, almost fantasy. You have to do that first. You have to be better than others, otherwise, you have no meaning in life. 

The fantasy that you have lived in, the false hope, you have to finish to survive and you have to be the fastest to be healed. The world we’re living in is not much different. We also live with this false hope that we can live a good life only when we are the best. With that mentality, What are the other people? If you live with that mentality, what are all the people, you always have to be better than others. Other people are not your friends. Other people are your enemies to conquer. They are a threat. Even in the family. No community is possible when people live with that kind of mentality, but this world continuously feeds, that kind of toxic mentality and we admit, I still dance. Well, supposed to be the world supposed to be what life is supposed to be. I don’t think that’s what life is supposed to be. It just kills us. It just kills the spirit of people, it kills the community, it kills everything. In that kind of attitude, there’s no place for love and bonding. We’re suspicious of each other. We create walls around us and we grieve this toxic mentality. Everyone wants to be the first. America first, Canada first, Britain first. 

Jesus said the first will be last, and the last will be first, Oh, you don’t want that? No Jesus, man, I don’t want that. Jesus said that the greater should serve everyone else. Well, Jesus, I don’t want that. Do you want to be the first? Is there, healing there? As long as I secure that place. I don’t care. I needed that tough first. The first group, as long as I secure that I don’t care about anything else. This is a fantasy that is false. There is no healing in being the first. When Jesus healed this man, he clearly showed that you don’t have to be the first to be healed. That’s the message Jesus declared. By healing this man, he was not the first. By healing this man, Jesus showed that you don’t have to be the greatest to be healed to be saved. 

The false hope only killed my spirit and drags us into total darkness. This hope will destroy humanity. It’s interesting that men cannot even say that he wanted to be healed. When Jesus first asked, do you want to be made well? I find it very strange. Why did Jesus ask that kind of question to a person who had been sick for 38 years? Do you want to be healed? Of course. So I found it very strange that Jesus asked that question. But come to think of its really, really profound question. Because, he didn’t say that I want to be healed. In other words, he did not live with the desire to be healed. He lived with bitterness, the first way you said was it. Somebody else, although I heavily, he lived with envy, he lived with bitterness, he lived with this kind of inferior complex. That’s what false hope does. False hope creates inferiority complex Just crease more darkness. 

That’s what false hope does. But the real hope creates the desire to be healed and whoever has that desire to be healed. Jesus will heal. Not the person who is first. Not the person who’s the most popular, not the person who was more powerful, but the person who has true desire to be healed. That person will be healed. That is how mercy works. Mercy never works like it works in Bethesda. The world we may be living in the world, the world we live in maybe Bethesda. But we are born again in the kingdom of God. Where everyone deserves to be healed. God’s mercy, doesn’t work in the way we think in the modern competitive world. Beating others they make you feel good temporarily? But it doesn’t really lead in healing. Let us ask ourselves. What is in my brain all the time? What is in my mind all the time? This man, all the time he’s in this great, that somebody else’s land. That was always what he was thinking. What is in your brain, all the time? What are you thinking? But when you come to Jesus and then come with true hope. Not false hope. My friends, let us not be deceived by the false hope that this world gives us. This is what I got from the story.

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Acts 11:1-18

Two weeks ago we reflected on the change of the same Paul, his change was not a nonreligious person becoming a religious person. He was very religious. Today we read about Peter’s Change. Paul and Peter, these two are the pillars of Christianity. So we reflected on Paul, and today we are reflecting on the change of Peter. Peter’s change was not a non-Christian becoming a Christian. Peter was already a hardcore Christian. Jesus said I’ll make a church, I’ll build a church on the Rock and you are the rock. He represented Christianity. But even Peter needed to change.

Paul was a great person. I mean these are great people, but Paul had to change and Peter also had to change. And I realize we all need to change. That’s what we need. Every single one of us, we need change. Whether you are a good believer, hardworking, good citizens or self-proclaimed spiritual person, doesn’t matter. We all need to change. I believe that, to believe means to change. That’s what belief is to believe means to change. In other words, if you don’t change, maybe there is no faith or king within you. So when we see ourselves not changing, that means the faith is not present in our lives because when there is faith, there is always change.

So it’s almost like life. If you’re living, you will change. If you don’t have a change, then your life is not really happening. So we all need change. Spirit. The spirit brings about change. That’s what spirit does. Whenever the spirit comes, the spirit brings about change. The spirit changed Paul. Spirit changed Peter. The change the spirit brings about is not a cosmetic change. The Spirit changes the core of who we are. What happened to Paul was not a cosmetic change. His whole outlook of life himself and about God changed. What happened to Peter was not a cosmetic change. His change was about his identity because Jewish people eating diet was to do with identity. The had three identity markers. One is food. What kind of food you eat or drink and also keep the Sabbath holy and gifts a tidying. Those three were kind of identity markers.

We are Jews. So they never, as you know, they never went into the gentiles house and then ate with them. But Peter did that, and they accused Peter of going into Gentile Peoples House and Peter was explaining what happened to him. What change happened to him. Yes, I’m a Jew and I know that is wrong for me to enter into the gentiles house and eat with them. I know that is against our belief, against our identity, but this is what happened to me. This change happened to me once I was in prayer, I was doing prayer and then I saw vision somehow from heaven or kind of large sheet or coming down inside. There were a lot of animals, but these animals for food, animals and these animals were prohibited for Jews to eat. But the voice said to him, eat it, kill it and eat it. And I said, no, I never eaten anything that is profane and unclean. And then there was another voice that says, What God has made clean. You must not call profane. He lived all his life thinking that this food is unclean and profaned so I cannot eat it. But the voice said what God has made clean, don’t call it profane or unclean.

Peter Changed. Peter’s idea changed. It is to do with the identity, his identity. And I realized that the change the spirit brings about is not the change that we desire, and we always want. Sometimes when we talk about change, we are talking about change that we want and we desire. But sometimes the spirit brings about the change that we don’t want. I don’t want to be changed in that way. But somehow spirit brings about that change. Paul never wanted to be a Christian. He rather wanted to persecute Christians and get rid of all the Christians on the face of the earth. Paul did not want to be a Christian, but the spirit brought about change. And Paul became a Christian. And Peter did not want to eat that food, but spirit came and told him to eat it. So sometimes, the change the spirit brings about is not the change that we want and we desire, sometimes against our desire. God brings about change as God wishes.

And then, I realized that the agent of change is not me. What brings about change is not me. What brings about change me is God. God changes me as God wants, not as I want. I realized that that is what real change is all about. Often we are only hindered to God’s change as long as I am the master of my own life, the change God wants cannot happen. This week, this word came to me continuously. That is, so I didn’t write it in English but because it didn’t really make sense, but the literal word that came to me was this. As long as you are a conqueror of yourself, then change cannot happen. Conquering. If I conquer, I’m the conquer of my own self. If I’m the master of my own self, then change cannot happen.

Many people, too many people, ask what is prayer? Sometimes I get really disturbed because prayer becomes your tool to make their personal opinions absolute will of God. Before prayer, they had their own personal opinions, imperfect personal opinions. As they enter into the prayer, they receive God’s stamp on your personal opinions and becomes God’s will. Peter’s prayer was different. He had a personal opinion, but through prayer instead of receiving a divine stamp, his personal opinion change radically through prayer. That’s what prayer is. In that sense, prayers dangerous. Once you enter into it, you’ll come out of it totally unexpected, totally different. Lord, I want to go this way, but somehow after prayer, God tells you to go the other way. That’s what prayer is. That’s why prayer can be dangerous. And real prayer is very hard.

Prayer is not what you say. Prayer is what’s happening within you. Sometimes it changes you around completely. That’s what God does. Jesus wanted his cup to pass away, but he didn’t get what he wanted through his prayer. Rather he got the opposite. Take the cup. Jesus prayed for not his will, but God’s will. We human beings live with prejudice, in that prejudice we create our own rules to determine what is right and what is wrong, what is good and what is bad. And I realize reasoning can never help us overcome our prejudice. The reasoning is powerless whenever it comes with prejudice. We use reasoning only to justify our own prejudices.

Only through the spirit, we can overcome our own prejudice. Only through the spirit, we can accept what it is, what is uncomfortable to us. Only through the spirit, we will have the courage that pushes us to go beyond our comfort zone. That’s what the spirit does. We should be humble enough to let God be God. That was Peter’s confession, who was I, that I could hinder God? Who was I, that I could hinder God? He let go of his prejudice at that moment and he embraced God. Who am I to hinder God? That should be the attitude of all of us. We don’t make God’s movement as we wish. We don’t control God’s movement. God will make a way according to his will. I wish that we all become God’s tool for God’s way. Let us not follow our limited knowledge and shortsighted view. Let us become spiritual people who reflect deeply on God’s will, and you will live. If you follow your own prejudice and if you’re a master of own life at the end, you end up with yourself, that will be decade death. This morning I was thinking about those people who don’t believe, Those who are masters of their own lives. When their life is over, is it forever finished? Forever and ever and ever. No more you finished?

Only God can lead you to eternal life. Only God can give you eternal life, not us. And God wants to make that kind of change in you, to lead you into the eternal life.

If there was no change of Peter, no change of Paul, we would not even have heard of the good news. We are thankful to them. We are thankful for their changes. These were very stubborn people. These were very strong people, but they changed, the spirit changed them so that the salvation goes to the gentiles too, salvation can come to us. Don’t be stubborn in your own way. There is no salvation there.

Embrace God and embrace the change God wants to bring about within you. Even today, this morning, right at this moment, God is knocking at your door to bring about change. Only through that change, salvation is possible. Let us restore our humility. Stop being a master of our own lives, but let us give ourselves as a living sacrifice. God will definitely show us a new vision. God will lead us. God will open a new way for us, and God will show us great and hidden things and our eyes will see God’s glory. Our eyes will see God’s glory. Yes. What God wants.

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1 John 4: 7-12

Happy Mother’s Day to everyone. Happy Mother’s Day. Thank you, Edward. I’m going to talk about the love and sacrifice of our parents since today’s Mother’s Day. As some of you may know, Peter Lee, who is KSM praise team leader had a baby boy Eugene recently. Peter attended KSM service today for the first time as a parent, so I congratulated him on the child and so on. And I bet that his world now is totally different than before. I still remember when I held our first son in my arms, for the first time as I looked at him, so many mixed feelings coming off from me and then I realized how big life is. I only knew this much before, but having my own child, it opens up my eyes and see the things I never imagined before and how marvellous and amazing God’s grace is. Conceptually, we used to think, yeah, God’s Love, God’s grace so and so, but when you have your child in your arms, you realize that God’s grace in a different way. Those who are parents will understand what I’m saying here. Only when we become parents ourselves, we will have a deeper understanding of our parents. That’s what kind of life they had to go through and we will have a deeper appreciation of their love and sacrifice.

In this sense. I see one characteristic of love here and it is about the movement. Love flows from above, going downward. This is how love works. Love naturally coming from above and going downward. 

Today’s text shows that downward movement of love as well. It says God’s Love was revealed among us in this way. God sent his only son into the world so that we might live through him in this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. Through Jesus, God’s love comes to us, and such love makes us alive, abundant and whole. Our parents love has the same downward movement. Their love for us will flow upon us, limitlessly and fill us up. As Jesus emptied himself and lowered himself, our parents too. They emptied themselves and lowered themselves for us. 

But because of their love for us the sacrifice they made, is not any more sacrifice, and the hardships they went through is never a hardship for them because of their love for us. They wouldn’t mind being emptied and humbled, pouring out everything for us, just like those who have experienced God’s love, will love others. Those who have experienced and encountered parents love, love their children with the same love. Love is like the rain coming down from heaven touching the ground, and watering the earth. Life will spring up from the earth by this life-giving water; love. Prophet Isaiah also described this downward movement of anything from God. It says, “for as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there until they have watered the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving sea to the sower, and bread to the eater”. And I witnessed this downward movement of love in this community. 

God has given us the vision of the church, where our first generation and the second generation co-exist and live in harmony. Last night we just had 19th mission dinner, and that was the vivid evidence of our core existence, and we pray for the young people who will be on the mission work in July. We are raising leaders for this church. As described in Psalm 1:31, I think this church is like the mother’s heart. Psalm 1:31 goes, “but I have calmed and quieted my soul like a weaned child with his mother. My soul is like the weaned child that is with me”.

Babies are born here at the heart of God, and they grow and they mature. All we had to do was to plant the seeds of love and water the seeds with care, and we believe that we will bear much fruit, and we will have a wonderful harvest in God’s appointed time. A couple of weeks ago, there was a public forum hosted by the Asian Center at Knox College, and the results from the research were that there was no other church like ours, St.Timothy’s. There was no other church like ours where first-generation and second-generation co-exists and live in harmony. Research finds that our church is the model church for Asian Canadian churches in Canada, and our church will become the subject of further studies. It is because the first generations love and sacrifice flow into the second generation because there has been genuine loving care. The second and third generation were able to grow and mature in a safe and healthy environment. 

As you may know, as you already know, when I wrote this, I wrote, as you may know, but already announced last Wednesday, Simon graduated from Knox College. As soon as the Care Simmons a service was over, I went down, went to the complication. By the time when I got there, the ceremony was almost over. I tried to look at where Simon was and now when I opened this gray colour door, I was able to see Steimer with dad and his parents posing for the Foro. So I just handed over this bouquet of flowers to Simon and said congratulations. Suddenly there was a scream or a loud voice coming from my back. So as I turn back and see what’s going on, there were a few ESM members trying to take a photo of Simon with his family. What timing. That picture was taken right after that. My interruption. What a timing, what timing of interruption. I was able to join Simon’s family with others and took a picture with him. 

Anyways, when I prepared today’s sermon on this Mother’s Day, I think about Simon. He was a member of this church and then, he went to a seminary. He now graduated from Knox College. He was a single guy. Single. He was a single, yeah, he was single and they got married, and now he has two children with Deb, I don’t know whether he will have third or fourth like me, I don’t know about that. But he said this, he wanted to devote himself for ESM to pay back the love and grace he has received from first-generation from this church. That was when we had ESM retreat in 2016 at NBC. Isn’t this the true image of God’s love bearing fruit? Isn’t this the true image of someone growing up well in the church which resembles the heart of mother or regard? Isn’t it true that he will also minister to the second generation and third generation like a parent? Having that heart of parents. The least to the second characters of love, which is that love reveals God, love makes us see God, and experience God. That’s what verse 12 is talking about today, no one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God lives in us and his love is perfected in us. 

There is an expression in Latin will be Kalitas'. It is the beginning part of the Western church. Him, where love is God is. We are able to see God and experience God through our parents’ love. We are able to conjecture who god is through our parents’ sacrifice. I mentioned my mother in my sermon on last year’s Mother’s Day. I mentioned that my mother’s faith got deeper and her love became genuine and so on. I mentioned that last year around this time. But when I read last year’s sermon, I’ve realized how arrogant I was to say that. It was me who did not recognize my mother’s love, nothing else. My mother’s love for us has been there all the time. It wasn’t that she became more loving these days, but her love has been displayed differently at a different circumstance of life. How arrogant I was. She became a widow when she was 34, she raised four of us by herself. I was in grade two when my father passed away. My mother had to take the role of the father at one point and the role of the mother. At the other point, she couldn’t have handled this if she did not have a love for us. When I was attending Knox College, we had our second child, and at the time my mother lived with us and helped to raise our two boys for 10 years. She walked the boys to the school nearby and picked them up from school. She made snacks or sometimes meals for the boys and fed them. At least during the weekdays. I didn’t recognize. I didn’t realize that. How hard that must’ve been. 

To take it for granted. I didn’t realize that even though they are in university, my mother would make frozen side dish all the time like this and that, with pork and chicken and bulgogi, bringing them to us, taking the TTC before they go back to school, to make sure that they have enough. We’re still receiving mother’s love and care. Even now, I realize humbly that the width and the depth of a mother’s heart is so vast and so big. In my mother’s heart, I see God’s love, feel God’s love. My friends, we come to know God through our parents’ love. When we know more about God, we will have a clear purpose for life, since we have received parents love, amazing love. Let us love not only our children but also all the children of this church. And there’s one more. Those who are in need of God’s love. If you encounter God’s love through your parents, that love will make it make you do that. You will not stay just inside of you. Close family. No, it will overflow. Such love will overflow from us reaching out to the lower lands, filling up the empty spaces and wetting the dry land, and this is what our parents want us to be and to do. 

Let us thank God for our parent’s love and sacrifice for us by God’s grace, we are who we are by parent’s love. We are who we are. Let us thank God and thank our parents who have loved us and made us whole happy Mother’s Day. Everyone, let’s say, happy mothers day to each other. 

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Acts 9:1-9

Today’s story is about the incident that changed Paul completely and radically. As you know, Paul was the most important person, who took Jesus’ message and ministry and all the way to create Christianity, as we know. Paul’s thoughts are the basis of what we believe without Paul, I’m not sure whether we would have Christianity. Jesus gave the message in the ministry and Paul really described who Jesus was, what salvation is, and everything. So he was the most important person in Christian history, but he was not a follower of Jesus from the beginning. Rather, he was against Jesus message and wanted to destroy the movement. He was smart, well versed in the scripture and very, very strong. He was on the way to Damascus to arrest Christians. This is what he says, “Meanwhile Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus so that if he found any who belonged to the way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.” Saul was a Hebrew name. A lot of people mistakenly think the name Saul was before he was converted. No Saul was a just Hebrew name and Paul was a Greek name. So Saul did not become Paul, just a different name, like John and Johan so it’s just a different name. Any who belonged the way were Christians. At that time, Christians did not have a name for themselves, so people call them the ‘those who follow the way'.

Reading today’s story, I realized that people can change. For 30 years of ministry, I’ve seen people but people don’t change. They are so stubbornly the same. I mean 30 years, from the outside, they look like they’ve changed, but the inside is still the same. So I don’t see change much. But reading today’s scripture passage, I realized that change is possible. People can change. Paul was strong and full of conviction. He was full of passion and zeal. He was so sure of himself. He was confident that he was right. He was religious and he was a man. Can you tell, this guy will not change? Hearing all the discretion that I just made. You will suspect that this guy will never change, but this impossible person changed.

You know, religious people can be very stubborn. Religious people believe that what they think and what they do is what God wants from them. They are very stubborn. They can be very stubborn. It is beautiful to be religious, but when that beautiful religion can also blind us and we can become very stubborn, that was what Paul was like before he met Christ. He was so sure of himself, but the irony was, he didn’t truly know who he was. He didn’t even know that he didn’t know about himself. He was so blinded about himself. St Paul was passionate maybe even before he met Christ. There’s nothing wrong with being passionate. Being passionate, it is good. Being devoted to what you do is good, but when your passion is so strong that when you’re that you’re consumed by it and make you blind about yourself, then that passion can be dangerous. People who are so sure of themselves when they don’t really know about themselves. Those people are dangerous people. That was what Paul did. His passion consumed him and he hurt others and even killed them. That was why Jesus asked, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” He used the word persecute. In other words, why do you hurt people? Why do you abuse people? He was so blindly strong that to him, his thoughts were gospels. His will was God’s will and his purpose was God’s purpose. Arresting Christians, killing them and destroying the movement was not his agenda, but he believed that it was God’s agenda. That’s why change is so hard. Once you get to the point of where Paul was, nothing really can change you. Everything he did was what God wanted to do, he believed. He firmly believed that whatever he did was what God wanted to do, but he was wrong. In the end, he confessed that he was wrong. He became totally blind to himself. Parker Palmer, an educator said, “Before I can tell my life what I want to do with it, I must listen to my life telling me who I am.” Look at the screen, meditate on that. Before I can tell my life what I want to do with it, I must listen to my life telling me who I am.

Just because you do gospel work, that doesn’t mean that you really know God and God really knows you. What is important is now whether you’re doing God’s work or not, but whether it is anything to do with God but everything to do with yourself, you have to ask yourself. There’s a very insightful passage about this. Matthew records it this way, “Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord will enter the Kingdom of heaven, but only one who does the will of my Father in heaven. On that day, many will say to me, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesies in your name and cast out demons in your name and too many?” There is power in your name. Then I’ll declare to them, “I don’t know you. I don’t know you. Who are you? Go Away from me, you evil doers.”

The change that happened on the road to Damascus was not a bad person becoming a good person, an immoral person, becoming a moral person, an unbelieving person becoming a religious faithful person. The change that happened on the route to Damascus was basically about a person who was so blinded about himself, came to find himself. This change wasn’t a miracle. To me, this change was a miracle. Voice, light, those are not what’s amazing, what was really amazing was that this person really changed until he died. That change was a miracle to me because I don’t see that kind of change in people often. Paul, a true miracle happened on the road to Damascus. Finally, he realized that his will, was not God’s will. His purpose is not God’s purpose. His work is not God’s work. He realized that like what Isaiah discovered, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” He realized that he was not as righteous of a person as he thought and he realized that God’s grace was given not to those who think they were righteous, but to those who realize that they were sinners. He realized that salvation did not belong to him or depend on him, but only on God. His religious convictions, traditions and behaviours would not save him, he realized. All these theologies do not go beyond this boundary of his experience on the road to Damascus. Everything came to him on that day. The whole world of Paul changed on the road to Damascus. My friends, when you discover yourself, the universe opens up. He saw God in a real way and he could experience God’s grace. His zeal and passion blinded him, but God’s grace opened his eyes. What happened on the road to Damascus? God’s grace came down upon Paul. That is the power of God’s grace. That was what made the change possible. God’s grace. Who are you? How do you define yourself? Your abilities, your job, your religious deal, your righteousness? No. You are who you are by God’s grace. You are who you are by God’s grace.

Ultimately, that was Paul’s conclusion. This is what is said, “For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called even an apostle because I persecuted the Church of God, but by the grace of God, I am what I am and his grace towards me has not been on the contrary. I work harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.” There is nothing more important than to realize that we are who we are by God’s grace. That was what all these people who met God experienced. We are who we are by God’s grace. It was not my ability, not my religious zeal, nor my righteousness, only God’s grace. You know, Paul try to do everything on his own, to please God, to do God’s work. He did everything. He worked really hard to do that, but he became angrier. He became more violent. Without the grace of God, when he tried to do everything on his own, he only became an angry person. But God’s grace brought him back to where he was supposed to be. By God’s grace, he found himself. When he found God’s grace, he worked harder than before. But there’s one thing that is changed that is, hatred disappears. When God’s grace works in you, hatred disappears. Anger goes away. Guilt, well not torment you anymore. Worries and anxieties will not bind us. Hostility does not control us. Love will bud forth. Hope rises from within. And finally, you have the power to forgive. The power to forgive. You will be filled with confidence that you can overcome any challenges. Always remember that you are who you are. By God’s grace, your zeal will not blind you. Your zeal will accomplish wonderful works of God and you won’t hurt other people. You will build other people up. I hoped that we all become who we are by God’s grace.

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John 20:19-23

You know, post-Easter is a time of different seasons, right? We have changes, things that depart and also arrivals, so it’s great to see, for example, the college and university students, welcome back from a year of hard study and looking forward to a great summer with all of you! What a wonderful time it is. Human relationships and friendships, they’re central to our lives as human beings and they make our life richer, fuller and more joyful. And in a way, they are what make life rich full and joyful. Friendships are often formed through shared experiences and frequent interaction. In school, you go through common experiences together. I think back on my law school experience way back in the day and it was a very intense experience. There was incredible pressure because we know that our marks are going to determine our future options. And this pressure and workload was something that only fellow law students could understand. We had our wonderful families and friends outside of school whom we really appreciated, but no one else could really understand the intensity of it. And because we spent so much time studying together, playing around together, fretting and complaining and releasing our stress. We formed very close bonds. I know that’s the way for many different contexts, a lot of workplaces are like that. You spend every day together with your colleagues, you face common struggles and challenges.

You share the same complaints about a bad boss or manager, and there are people who annoy you to no end. It’s always entertaining at dinner listening, asking Deb, “you know how so was your day at work?” It’s like, “oh yeah, well this person and that did this and they’re so annoying.” Right? But these are the kinds of things that bring you closer together and there are shared experiences in communities too. You know, I’ve seen how our Hi-C and some of who are now college students have become close to the sharing of your lives. Week after week, you come and share life. Retreats we pour out our hearts and burdens to one another. We pray for one another, right? So these shared intimate moments that we repeat regularly forge strong bonds of friendship. Jesus and his disciples shared a deep and intimate bond of friendship. They went through so much together. He spent every day, there was great excitement.

Initially, Jesus called the disciples and they witnessed the first sign when Jesus turned water into wine at the wedding. They saw Jesus heal a blind man restore a paralyzed man’s walk. They were there when he preached to multitudes of people. They even saw Jesus raised the dead Lazarus back to life. But more than these great events, they also shared deep intimate moments. Jesus washed their feet, he taught them about life. He spoke at great lengths, about many things, and toward the end, he shared his troubled heart. So they were great friends. The closest of friends, Peter at one point even said that he would follow Jesus wherever he went and would lay down his life for him that’s the ultimate declaration of friendship.

But in the end, all of Jesus’s close friends abandoned him. When push came to shove, their fear for their own safety trumped all loyalty to him. So Jesus died all alone on the cross. His closest friends. They didn’t even get a chance to really say goodbye to him, they didn’t get a chance to hear any last words before he died and they didn’t get a chance to say how they felt about abandoning him in his greatest hour of need. So all that closeness they had built in the end didn’t amount to anything on the cross.

This has made me reflect on human relationships. It doesn’t matter how close you’ve become, human relationships can really be destroyed at any time. Human relationships are fragile. It’s like the warning on the box, you know, fragile treat with care because even one word or action can cause hurt and rupture in the relationship. Even a relationship that’s been built up for a long time. And then when nasty or unkind words or actions pile up over time, they become part of the memory and history of the relationship. This memory of past words and actions become seared in the mind and they shape the present state of the relationship and this relationship deteriorates when the hurts, pain and anger from past actions and words remain vivid in the present and outweigh any joy or happiness that come from it. And relationships ultimately end when there’s no hope for a change in the present state of the relationship. Sometimes that’s necessary, right? If the relationship is harmful or abusive or completely lacking in love, then sometimes ending that relationship might be the greater path to peace. But I suspect that many times ending a relationship does not bring peace. It does not bring joy. Sometimes ending a relationship takes something away from life.

And so there can be a real struggle. Right? On the one hand, past experiences have shown me that this relationship just brings about more pain and difficulty than any joy or happiness. But on the other hand, I feel that severing this relationship will only make life more empty. The past tells me that the future will be no different from the present. There’s no basis to believe that anything will be different. Is there any reason to believe otherwise? After Jesus died, the disciples believed that this was the end, the end of their relationship and the end of everything that Jesus had started in, that they had been doing together. They felt incredible sorrow that their dearest friend was gone. They felt lost without the leadership of their teacher. They felt incredible guilt for abandoning him and leaving him to die all alone. There was no basis to believe that anything would be different.

But what happened in today’s passage is that the present and future would not be chained to the past. The past actions of the disciples led to their present sorrow and guilt, but the resurrected Jesus took away their sorrow and guilt when he said, “peace be with you.” In other words, Jesus was forgetting the past and breaking the chains that the past had on the present. Because after expressing peace, this is what happened. He breathed on them and said to them, receive the Holy Spirit. The Greek word for breathed in this passage is the same one that was used in Genesis when God created human beings by breathing the breath of life into the nostrils of Adam. Breathing on the disciples was a moment of a new creation. He was creating them anew as new persons and He empowered them with the Holy Spirit. The first thing Jesus said part of this new life and the Holy Spirit was about forgiveness and I believe that forgiveness stands at the center of this new life. It stands at the center because our human relationships are what make life rich and abundant. God has given us the gift of relationships to make our lives worth living. Forgiveness means that the wrongs of the past do not determine the state of the future, the wrongs that I’ve done, the sins I’ve committed, the harm that I’ve inflicted, they do not determine my future, the wrongs inflicted on me, the hurts that I’ve received from others and the pain that I feel, they do not dictate my present and future.

My friends. I do not want to underestimate the power of the past. There’s a reason why we often say I can forgive, but I can’t forget. Memories of the past become seared in our minds and the closer we get to people, the greater is the possibility for hurt and pain. I mean, as we get closer to people, you become more exposed. Our weaknesses and flaws become more visible and apparent. Those flaws can cause hurt to those around us. Those flaws shape how others see us and flaws in others colour how we see them and that’s why intense relationships like family relations are often the most difficult. Cause our flaws are so visible and exposed and we know how to use that against each other. Intimate relationships are hard. And that’s why so many times we avoid it, like the disciples we stay behind the locked doors of our hearts because we don’t want to experience such pain and hardship. Jesus gave his disciples a new commandment during his long farewell speech to them. He said this, “I give you a new commandment that you love one another just as I have loved you. You also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another” What does it mean to love one another? Is it just about getting along on the surface, smiling to each other in the fellowship hall being nice and not having any conflict? Loving one another means becoming more intimate with the other person, but then as we said, that exposes our flaws and faults and things that begin to hurt one another. So I realize, to truly love one another then is to forgive one another.

When we are hurt or mistreated by others, we do not simply hold those wrongs in our hearts. We confront our feelings and we release them. We do not judge someone based on what we’ve seen of them in the past. I think perhaps the greatest harm we can do to someone is to make firm conclusions about that person based on what we’ve seen from them in the past. We think we know who they are and we keep them fixed to that. That is so debilitating and dis-empowering. There’s no room for change or growth that is a great sin that we commit. This is a sin against the Holy Spirit. We are in effect saying that God cannot breathe new life into that person and create something new and different. Forgiveness is about seeing that person through God’s eyes to see the possibility for change and new life in that person. Let us not be so quick to make conclusions about people. Let us always see a new possibility for that person just as there is a new possibility for me.

The resurrection is about the power of life. Not even death can conquer this power. God has given us the gift of human community and relationships to give us life. When our relationships are good, we experience the power in life that helps overcome whatever challenges may come our way, and that is why we pray for one another and support one another when we’re struggling. When our relationships are bad, we feel the dreaming of life. The resurrection is the power that creates a new life in our distorted and fragile relationships. And forgiveness is at the heart of this new relational life.

To be forgiven gives us power. To forgive gives life to others. It takes great power to forgive. The power to forgive comes through the resurrection, the belief that God can create something new. I believe that this world needs this meaning of the resurrection. I feel so much anger, resentment, and hatred in the world today. From these emotions, we inflict great hurt on one another. Just yesterday there was another shooting, yet again in a synagogue in San Diego. I pray for the families of the victims and the community going through this shock. Why do we commit such acts of violence? Why do we hurt each other so much? We need to break this cycle of hatred and resentment, revenge, retaliation, and vengeance will only further fuel hatred and resentment. That is what Jesus came to do to break this cycle with the spirit of forgiveness and reconciliation. We need the spirit of forgiveness and reconciliation to heal the wounds, this world, and only the power of the resurrection can bring about God’s will for this world that He loves. Let us be honest with ourselves and ask forgiveness for any wrongs we may have done to one another. Let us ask God for the power to forgive those who have hurt us and let us be people who love one another through forgiveness and reconciliation.

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Isaiah 65:17-25

This moment now is not the past, but even though this moment now is not the past, it is very much connected with the past. Who I am did not come into existence all of a sudden, or out of nowhere. Our present life is shaped by what we did in the past and the decisions we made in the past. Because of those decisions we made, we are here right now. We decided what to study, where to study, what career to choose and what to do with our lives. We made a whole bunch of decisions and all of these decisions have shaped who we are right now. As you look back though, our past was not all pretty and perfect. There are a lot of regrets, pain and guilt. As we remember our past, sometimes we feel pain because there are a lot of regrets that we have, a lot of mistakes that we made along the way. Both positive and negative things from our past have shaped who we are now, so we have both positives and negatives within us. Then the question comes to me, “is our life completely governed and determined by our past? Are we no more than the product of our past?” I don’t believe so. It is true that our past has had a profound effect on our present life, but there is something else that also has a profound effect on our present life. That is our hope for the future, our dream for the future. Our vision for the future has a profound effect on our present life, so it’s not just our past decisions that have a profound effect on our present life. Our vision for the future has a profound effect on who we are right now, at this moment.

When our hope for the future is stronger than our regrets from our past, then new life is possible. When our vision for the future is stronger than our pain from the past, then a new life can begin. The ghost of our past cannot completely take hold of us. Our present life becomes not simply a result of our past. Our present life becomes not just the repetition of what we have done in the past. Our present life becomes not just licking the wounds of our past. With a vision for the future, we can start a new life. Isaiah said, “for I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind. Your past will not haunt you anymore, it will not be remembered. When the new heavens and new earth come, the former things will be gone. The ghost of our past will evaporate. Our past mistakes, our wrongdoings, our guilt, and our regrets will be gone. God wants to give us a new life. Not the repetition, meaningless repetition of our past, but totally a new life. I believe that that is possible. Do not judge each other by the person you have seen in the past. See in each person the potential of how this person can change. When you say “Oh, I know that person”, don’t just look at their past, but look at the potential of their future. Don’t focus on people’s past. Focus on people’s future. For yourself, don’t focus on your past, focus on your future. Saint Paul said, “so if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation.” Everything old has passed away, see everything has become new.

When the former things do not go away, the new cannot come. When we are in Christ, we become new. God will create new things within us. God will renew us. Living a new life, that is the hope of resurrection. That’s what we celebrate today. Living a new life, that is the hope of resurrection. The old dies and the new comes alive. You become renewed, not just only once, you become renewed daily. Every morning you wake up, you start new. A new day, new life. There are handsome, beautiful students who are going to be confirmed today. Now in you, God will not stop creating new things. The moment you are in Christ, God will start creating new things in your life that is exciting. New things that you have never experienced, new things that you never knew, God will start creating those things within you. That’s why we have joy, we discover new things that are happening within you.

Isaiah said, “be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating within you. God always creates new things within us, that’s amazing. God always creates new things within us that give us tremendous joy and excitement and we can look forward to the next day and what God will create for us. New things are not what we already know. New things are not something that we already experienced. Whenever you discover these new things that you never knew or experienced, you will be filled with joy. That’s what real life is like, that joy gives us life. That is what living is all about. If you’re not happy or not joyful, why live? But when you find new things in your life, you’re filled with joy. You look forward to living.

You have to forget what is behind you. You have to look at what is ahead of you. Our life should not be governed by what is behind. Our life should be governed by what is ahead. Saint Paul said this, “beloved, I do not consider that I have made in my own, but this one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead. I press on towards the goal, for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.” That was Paul’s life. He did not focus on what lay behind, he always focused on what was ahead. He filled his prison life with this passion and desire to press onward, to pursue what was ahead. These two lifestyles are so radically different. Ask yourself, “what governs your life? What controls your life? What determines your prison life? Is that the past or the future?”

Let us throw away our stubborn habits in the past, they don’t help us. Your stubborn habits, throw them away. Let us leave our sorrows in the past, in God’s hands. Our sin that we’re still struggling with, let us come before God. God will forgive your sins. Your resentment and anger, come before God, God will soothe your heart. Let us pray to God to create new things in us. Let us not just merely continue as we have lived. You are not the slave of your past. Let us not just merely continue what we have been doing all this time, let us have courage. Though fear will hold you back, have the courage to see forward. We can be changed and we can be agents of change. Powerlessness is more dangerous than power. Mary Jo Leddy said “powerlessness is more dangerous than the power”, don’t just sit on it powerlessly. Through the spirit of resurrection, let us be filled with power to bring about change. Let us stand up and walk. Let us stand up and run. Let us stand up and move forward. That is the spirit of resurrection. Be people of resurrection.

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Small Group Ministry!

Please see below for the sermon audio, text, and discussion questions. Discussion Questions are at the bottom, so please scroll down to see them!

Isaiah 50:4-9

We Should Treat Each Other with Dignity

I’m going to talk about humiliation and dignity, a very important message actually. How do we keep that dignity, uh, personally and as a people? Dignity is very important to us and every person has a right to live with dignity and everyone should be able to live with dignity. Doesn’t matter who you are. It doesn’t really matter who you are. Every single person has a right to live with dignity, but we often see that human dignity is taken away and basic human rights are violated. We need to respect each other’s dignity. That’s what good human life is all about. We should treat each other with dignity.

But We Cannot Control How Others Treat Us

Sometimes we ourselves feel violated. We feel that our basic rights are violated. People make us feel not only unappreciated, belittled, ridiculous and mocked at. You know, we, human beings are not as strong as it shows on the surface. Sometimes it just needs one harsh word that can destroy our confidence and our self esteem. So we have to be very careful with how we treat each other. We should always, in any circumstances, we should always treat each other with respect and honor. And we should train ourselves to do that. We cannot just naturally, uh, treat other people as we feel like. We should train ourselves so that we can treat every single person – doesn’t matter who that person is – with honor and respect, not only through our words, but through our actions. We should relate to each other with dignity. But one thing I realized is, we cannot control other people’s behaviors. We cannot control what they say and what they do to us. Not everyone loves us. Not everyone understands us. We cannot expect everyone to have enough integrity to treat us with respect. There are some rude people around us and we cannot control them.

We all, not only them, but we all make mistakes because we have shortcomings. So sometimes we hurt others intentionally or unintentionally. Our words and actions sometimes put others to shame. Maybe we might not have meant it. But sometimes we put others to shame.

Enmity Toward Jesus

Jesus lived with people who always attacked him. He was surrounded by the people who hated him. I mean, his life must have been very difficult. For all of us, you know, we may not like each other, but they don’t really hate you to the gut. You know, you just, I don’t like you. That’s all. But Jesus lived with people who hit him. They hated Jesus’ teaching because Jesus’ teaching kind of threatened to destroy the well established system that they created, and they didn’t like the fact that people followed Jesus teaching and followed Jesus. So they tried as much as possible to humiliate him, to put a bad light on him and to prove him wrong. So even in the end, they tried to kill him, but they could not just kill him. They had to kill him as criminal. So killing itself was not enough. They had to kill him as a criminal. The worst criminal. So only the worst criminals were crucified at that time, not everyone. And Jesus was crucified because they wanted to prove to the whole world that Jesus was wrong and Jesus was bad.

The Source of Jesus’ Dignity in the Midst of Humiliation and Persecution

That is kind of life Jesus lived. That is kind of experience Jesus had. He was surrounded by the people who try to humiliate him, but when I read Jesus’ life through the gospels, I don’t see Jesus trying to prove himself right. He did not fight for his own righteousness. He did not try to tell the whole world that I am right, they are wrong. Jesus never tried to do that. Jesus never tried to say that “I am innocent!” When he received all kinds of persecutions and humiliation, somehow Jesus looked to God. Even at the cross, he looked to God. When nobody understood him, Jesus knew that God understood him. When nobody loved him. Jesus knew that God loved him. When nobody said that he was right, Jesus knew that God recognized that he was right. That was what Isaiah said in today’s scripture: “He who vindicates me is near – God. Who will contend with me? Let us stand up together. Who are my adversaries? Let them confront me.” Jesus had a radical faith in God and knew that God recognized his righteousness. Jesus was able to keep his dignity in the midst of the extreme humiliation because of God’s recognition. But you may have this question when I say this: “Oh, Jesus was sinless. He was innocent. So he is dignity came from his own righteousness, but us, we are sinners. We cannot have that kind of dignity because we are sinners, but Jesus had his own righteousness. And from that, of course you can have that dignity.” You may have those kinds of questions.

Can We Too Have That Kind of Dignity?

How about us? Who are sinners? Can we live with dignity? St Paul, later in the New Testament time, talked about us who are sinners, not Jesus, who is sinless, but he talked about us who are sinners, and this is what he said: “Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies, who is to condemn?” He’s talking about us, not Jesus. The us who’s filled with sinfulness. He said it is God who justifies. That is the secret for your dignity. The reason we can keep our dignity in the midst of our humiliating situation is because there is God who justifies us. And this justification is not something that we achieved with our own righteousness, but it is God’s righteousness. It’s not something that we can buy with money. We cannot have this kind of righteousness through our righteous life. It is a gift of God. To those who believe in him, God gave that righteousness as a gift to those who believe in him.

The Inseparability of God’s Righteousness with Us – the Core of the Gospel

And that righteousness is with us. Who will condemn us, who will vindicate us when that righteousness that God gave me as a gift, is with me! That’s what policy we live by. We live with this kind of righteousness. No one can take away this righteousness from us. When God is for us who will be against us? God says, we are all right, who will condemn us? Because of this righteousness, this kind of righteousness, we can keep our dignity, not because we are innocent, even when we are humiliated. That is the core of the Gospel. After Saint Paul talked about this righteousness, he talked about where that righteousness came from. This is what he said. I mean at first he said, “who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.” And then he said this: “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, Our Lord.” From that love the righteousness comes. The righteousness that comes from God’s love is the righteousness that we need to hold onto.

In that righteousness, we can find our dignity.

Our Source of Dignity

Don’t try to establish your dignity from other people.

Other people will treat you with dignity when they feel good, but when they feel lousy will treat you like garbage. That kind of dignity we cannot depend on, but dignity that comes from the righteousness of God is the dignity that we need to hold on to. Do not live in guilt, feeling condemned. When you live in guilt, you have a tendency to condemn.

Not only yourself, but also others. You know the people who tend to condemn others all the time – do you think that they do that because they are innocent or they are any better? No. When you really look at them, they live in guilt, so they not only condemn other people, but also themselves. Do not live in guilt, feeling condemned. Find your dignity in the righteousness God gave you as a gift and relate to each other with this dignity. When you find that kind of dignity within you, you can relate to others with that dignity. That’s when human dignity will be restored. When this dignity is restored, we can overcome all kinds of humiliation. You will not be afraid of humiliation. No humiliation can destroy you. That was exactly what Isaiah said: “I give my back to those who struck me and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard. I did not hide my face from insult and spitting.” That is the kind of confidence Jesus had. Jesus never let his dignity be destroyed even in humiliating situations. This is a confidence you get through this kind of fractiousness. That was Jesus’ confidence.

God’s Righteousness Given to Jesus

Jesus’ dignity did not come from his own righteousness. He looked to God. From God’s righteousness, he found his own dignity. It’s the same, whether Jesus or me, because it’s God’s righteousness. When Jesus said he was king, they kind of mocked him. “You are the king, okay, let me see.” And they put the thorn crown on his head. They put it so hard that a thorn entered into his skull and then it bled. And they put not a robe, but some kind of kind of purple clothes around here. “Okay, here it is your robe.” And “Hey, look at the king. This is your king!” And they were laughing together, seeing Jesus and spit at him, and then they slapped him. But Jesus was not shaken. Jesus did not lose his dignity because of how they treated him. Jesus believed in God. My friends, there are times you feel totally humiliated. Life circumstances may put you to shame, sometimes. Don’t lose your confidence in yourself. Don’t let other people take away that confidence that you have within you. Believe in God. You’ll find your dignity in God and God’s love for you. When you believe, God will give you that righteousness as a gift to you.

I believe that that is the gospel. There are people around you who are humiliated because of who they are. Don’t join people in humiliating them together, but treat every single person with respect and honor and with dignity.

The post Dignity in the Midst of Humiliation appeared first on St Timothy Presbyterian Church.

Exodus 16:2-8, 13-16

Guest Speaker: Rev. John Bannerman (Presbyterian World Service & Development)

Rev. Chung: 

Today, we have a guest speaker from PWS&D (Presbyterian World Service & Development). It is an arm of our denomination for helping people who are in need. So today we are collecting a special offering for Malawi, and the effects of Cyclone Idai. So now, Reverend John Bannerman, a senior pastor at Chalmers Presbyterian Church in London, will come up so let us welcome him and listen to his message.

Rev. Bannerman: 

It is just wonderful to be here to worship God together with all of you. What a rich and beautiful morning I’ve already enjoyed. And the music, your singing, the instrumentalists, the choir, as you lift your voices in song and praise to God, it is just so wonderful. So I want to thank you for your welcome and your invitation. Also for the hospitality, I was enjoying some delicious, a little bit hot, but delicious food between the two worship services. And a real delight to be here, to worship and to share with you. I want to give a message and preach a sermon, but also include some stories or some information about Presbyterian World Service and Development. So I hope with the help of a few slides and a bit more information in a few minutes you’ll also have a slightly better sense of what PWS&D is all about, but essentially also want to proclaim the Word and I’ll be working from Exodus 16, but I’ll also be drawing from the gospel of John 6, the story of Jesus feeding the 5,000 and multiplying the loaves and the fishes.

I’ll begin though with the book of Exodus and with the reading you just heard moments ago. The people of God, the Israelites were out in the wilderness. They were wandering through the wilderness, and and at this particular point on their journey, they began to complain and their complaints sounded something like this: “At least in Egypt, we had our fill of bread. Out here in the wilderness, we are starving to death.”. As someone said, “A food crisis then became a crisis of faith”, and yet somehow God’s Word and God’s actions combined to proclaim “I will provide” says the Lord. God nevertheless provided for God’s people. The quail and the manna will be a sign of the Lord’s care for his people. Then you shall know that I am the Lord your God, the Bible says. As one writer put it, they will know provision instead of poverty and food instead of famine. And so will we. We will know God’s providence. We will know God’s care. We know that God provides. God bestows blessing upon blessing. Do we have eyes to see, ears to hear, spirits to discern, the presence and the provision of the Living God?

I firmly believe that this account of the Manna being given to God’s people is not to be relegated to the past. The God of the Exodus, the God of Moses and Miriam, the God of the burning Bush, the God who rained manna from heaven is the living God, the God of yesterday, the God of today and the God of tomorrow. The God who provides for us on the journey of faith. To share a brief story, it’s a very mundane story in a way, and yet not. A distraught single parent came to the church office seeking help, seeking financial assistance for a down payment, a deposit for her apartment. She had a child, she had a new job, but she still needed some assistance. The congregation that she approached could help but only help a little bit and so other congregations in the community were urged to participate to support her and the local church asked her to call back the very next week just to give them an update on how things were going. Well, the good news is, a number of churches came through. They did support and help her, and in response, this young mother, this young woman said, “God provided.” God, provided. The book of Exodus, knows God in plague and pestilence, burning bush and mountain, water from the rock and manna from heaven. Praise God. In events and experiences, in words and wonders, in deeds and in daily duties, God provided, and friends, I believe God still provides out of God’s abundant love.

There’s a biblical commentator on the book of Exodus, his name is Terrence Fretheim, and he wrote: “The people of God do not live by bread alone, but they cannot live without bread either. The increasing gap between rich and poor in modern societies is certainly in part due to the hoarding of Manna.”. And he continues, “The world of God’s creation, including the distribution of food resources, is to be so structured that those who gather little have no lack.”. I heard Doug Meeks, a theologian in the States speak several years ago and he asked this question. He asked, “Who is God?”. That’s a big question. Who is God? And this is what he said in response: “God is the giver of Bread.”. Who is God, we ask? God is the giver of bread. This loaf of bread that I brought with me today from London, Ontario is a gift from God. It smells pretty good too. I guess it’s still pretty fresh. It’s a gift from God. The Bible says that God is the giver of every good and perfect gift. If we think about it, all that we have and all that we are, our gifts from our creator, redeemer, sustainer, God. We remember God’s provision of manna from heaven for God’s people as they, in a way, as we wandered in the wilderness and I say today, praise God, who still provides for us on the way, on the way of Jesus Christ. With the gift of bread in hand, both figuratively and literally, we praise God from whom all blessings flow. Today in this worship time we celebrate the faithfulness of the God who provides.

If the first two slides can be brought up for the PWS&D selection, I’m only showing a few slides just to illustrate and to underline what I’m saying. Trusting in God’s providence and in God’s promise of abundant life in Christ. We can be bold in our witness and generous in our living and in our giving. Now, I haven’t read from the gospel of John 6 but I’m going to refer to when Jesus fed the 5,000. Sometimes we’re like the disciple Andrew. He sees five barley loaves and two fish and he looks out over a crowd of 5,000 hungry people and he asks a question that I might ask, maybe you would ask: “What are these meager gifts among so many?”. Five loaves and two fish. What is that amongst 5,000 hungry people? It makes me think of other questions we could ask. What are the resources of the people of the Presbyterian Church in Canada in the face of extreme and unacceptable levels of global hunger and poverty? What about your resources? What are the resources of God’s people here at St. Timothy Church in the face of all the needs and challenges in Toronto and beyond? What are five loaves and two fish in the hands of Jesus, the Christ? Well, according to the Gospel writer, according to John 6, Jesus takes the bread and what does he do? He gives thanks to God, and he breaks the bread and distributes the bread and the fish to the hungry crowd of people. To me, that sounds a lot like holy communion. What happens next in John 6, God mysteriously, miraculously multiplies the gift and the people are fed. God multiplies the gift and there is enough for all with bread left over. 12 baskets full! God’s love, God’s provision is from God’s abundance, and we say thanks be to God. With our abiding trust in God, the giver of Bread, the One who provides in abundance and with God’s call on our hearts to share our bread, our gifts, our resources. We too can participate in the mystery of God’s divine multiplication. Consider that this day. The work of Presbyterian World Service and Development is rooted and grounded in the God who reigns manna from heaven, the God who provides in abundance, and the God who multiplies our gifts.

Now I’ve just taken part in my second meeting of the Presbyterian World Service and Development committee. It’s a committee that has representatives of our church from all across Canada. I attended my first meeting last year in October in Montreal and I was only able to go to day one, the meeting on Friday at our church office. But I’m learning so much about the relief and development work of our church, important work, vital work, exciting work that our, our church and our partners are doing in various parts of the world. It’s been just a wonderful experience so far and I just want to draw your attention. I’m delighted that you are already supporting the special offering for Malawi and you can read more on the bulletin insert that I believe is in front of you or is available at least, in response to the devastating impact of Cyclone Idai in Malawi and in Mozambique and also in Zimbabwe. Truly devastating. If you’ve been following the news, if you’ve been seeing any of the pictures, or hearing any of the stories and, and our church is stepping up, we’re going to offer ourselves, our gifts and then trust God to multiply our gifts. And the Government of Canada is participating by even matching the gifts that we give, at least up until a week from today, next Sunday, April 14th. So please consider this, take this information with you. I’m no expert on the work of PWS&D, but I would be more than delighted to speak with any or all of you after the service if you have ideas, questions, or suggestions for this important work that we do together. And I just want to make one other mention. Presbyterian World Service and Development is seeking in every congregation across our church, a PWS&D champion. Someone who has a passion for relief and development work done in the name of Christ, and who would be prepared to represent and advocate for the work of PWS&D right here at St. Timothy Church.

Perhaps you already have one or more people actively participating this, but if not, PWS&D is seeking a champion for change. Someone who can champion this work here at St Timothy’s and I’ll actually leave this with you as well as a source of information and more information is also available on the PWS&D website. I’m really enjoying my participation on the committee and, and these occasional opportunities to talk a little bit about the work of Presbyterian World Service and Development. I’m just going to share one anecdote, one story, in effect, from Malawi that really raises up for us the importance of what’s called “conservation agriculture”. And this is taken from the PWS&D website and it says: “Small changes are making big improvements in the lives of small scale farmers around the world. Support for PWS&D’s agriculture programs provides farmers with seeds, tools, fertilizer and training in innovative and sustainable farming practices.”. 

There’s a particular story I want to highlight and it’s from a farmer, a woman in Malawi. For her, getting the chance to practice conservation agriculture was a dream come true. Faced as she was with poor rainfall and subsequent food shortages, she was anxious to try the sustainable farming technique that would help her soil retain moisture. When a PWS&D supported conservation agriculture project started in her village, she was the very first one to sign up. With time, her small conservation agriculture plot boasted almost as much maze as an entire acre of her land harvested the more traditional way. An amazing result. To her, the transformation of her dry parcel of land in Malawi, Africa was in her words, just like magic. From that moment, she knew that her method of farming had changed forever and for the good.

In the name of Jesus Christ, we thank God who provides in abundance and who invites us to participate in the miracle and the mystery of divine multiplication as we do God’s work together. The last set of slides will just remind us a bit more of the work of PWS&D. We dedicate ourselves and perhaps we dedicate ourselves afresh, to share our bread as God multiplies our gifts through Presbyterian World Service and Development and through mission-minded congregations like St. Timothy Presbyterian Church right here in Toronto. And I say with you, thanks be to God. Thanks be to God, the giver of Bread. We prayed through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. And I want to thank you for this opportunity to be with you and again, to share with you and to participate in God’s mission together. May the Lord bless you, and may the Lord watch over you, and may the Lord give you grace and peace today and in all the days to come and God’s people said, Amen.

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Luke 15:1-3, 11-32

I was reflecting on the father’s heart. Deep in his heart, the father was calling out to his son to come home.  I thought about the younger son. He was pretty bad. Seeing him I was kind of even angry with his attitude. I mean, he said, Father give me the share of the property that will belong to me. I mean not the share that belongs to him right now, but the share that will belong to him when the father passes away, when the father dies. In front of his father, he is telling him give me this share that I’m supposed to have when you die. In other words, I will consider you dead, so why don’t you just give me the money, dad, that I need . And he took the money and he went away. I don’t know why the father gave him the money. If Joshua came to me and did that I would smack him and say go to your room! But the father gave him the money! The father looked pretty foolish.

He left home as though he would never come back, but when he lost everything, and when he was miserable, and when he was hungry, he came home. He had a thick skin, I thought. I mean, he took all the money and he just came back home because he was hungry. I was describing all this at the KSM service and one woman said, not fair! in the middle of the sermon. She always does that in English – not fair! – haha. She was angry. Yes it was not fair. His coming back home – was it true repentance? I wonder. I mean, he said it, but words don’t mean much. He said I have sinned against the father and I have sinned against God and in heaven or whatever but I don’t believe the words. Was he really really sorry in his heart as he said? Or was it because he knew that there was enough food at home? I mean, this was what he said: How many of my father’s hired hands have bread enough and to spare but here I am dying of hunger! I got to go home. So he came home, maybe it was because he was hungry. Was his motive really pure? Or were his actions still just for himself? Did he come back just for food?

But the thing is: the father didn’t ask him any questions. He was just happy that his son came back: for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found! He was so excited. He was running around everywhere ordering his servants: Quickly, bring out a robe, the best one, and put it on him; and put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet and get the fatted calf and kill it and let us eat it and celebrate! He was ecstatic! Seeing this kind of behavior of his father, I kind of felt that he looked foolish. He looked foolish. It wasn’t that his son won a gold medal and came back home in glory. He lived a filthy life spending all his money on prostitutes. And the father threw a party just because he came back home? The father looked foolish. That was what the elder son saw. He didn’t say it literally in this way, but he said: this is stupid! This is stupid. This is what he said: But when this son of yours (he’s not even his brother) when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!

In this parable we can see many different messages: God who forgives sinners; God who values each person preciously; God who searches for the lost; God who waits for the sinners to come home; there are many messages in this parable. But somehow this time my eyes went to this father and his foolishness. This father and his foolishness. And then I realized that love is foolish. Love is foolish. The foolishness of the father is what love looks like. Love is not always reasonable. When Mary poured the expensive perfume on Jesus’s feet that perfume was 300 denari. One denarian was one person’s wage a day. 300 denari was almost $20,000 perfume. She just poured it and wasted it on Jesus’s feet. It was foolish, wasn’t it? Yes. Mary’s action was not reasonable. The disciples rebuked Mary for her foolishness. You know with that money you can save so many hungry people? You just wasted it. That’s right. Love is foolish. Love doesn’t calculate. Love doesn’t ask what’s in it for me! Love doesn’t always ask what is the right thing to do. The father didn’t ask the son why he did it, whether he learned a lesson, or whether he realized how good your home was. He was simply happy and wanted to celebrate.

This foolishness is hidden in the cross. That’s where this foolishness is hidden – the cross. Jesus was hung on the cross. He was righteous but like a criminal – the worst criminal. That’s foolishness. That’s why Saint Paul said: But we proclaim Christ crucified – a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to gentiles. The foolishness was hidden in the cross. Then St. Paul also said: For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.

I think that is the core of the Gospel. That is the essence of the Gospel. God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength. God’s foolishness and God’s weakness are God’s love. The foolishness and weakness that come from love have the power to change. That is the only power that can change us. That’s why the cross has the power to save us. The worldly power corrupts, but the power of the Cross saves, because within the cross, God’s foolishness and weakness of love are hidden. Jesus embraced this kind of foolishness and weakness in his death. I don’t really know how much the prodigal son really repented or how sincere he was – I don’t really know. He might have been. I don’t know. But it doesn’t really matter. I believe that the foolishness and weakness of the father saved him.

People of our time value intelligence. Why? Because that is the power. Intelligence is money, and money is power. That’s why we value intelligence. People want to be smart. They want to have power, power to control. Power to dominate. And power to conquer. Whenever they are threatened they use this power. But as we exercise this kind of power, we lose the power of love. When we relate to each other with this kind of power, then love disappears.

Last week, I read a lecture by Mary Jo Leddy. She is working with refugees in the west end of Toronto. She has about four houses and they have refugees living in them, and she lives there too.  She teaches at the University of Toronto. I really like the way she interpreted power. She said people think that power is a thing, like money. If power is a thing, then some people have more power and others have less power. But she said thanks to the discovery of science, power is like when two or more molecules are together and vibrate. The energy is created and power is that energy. I explained that to the Women’s Bible study and that was a very interesting way of looking at power.

So one individual can never have power. Only when we are together and when we vibrate together with inspiration, then that energy is created. Not just inspiration, but even though we debate with each other we disagree with each other, when we relate to each other, then power is created. Then energy is created and that energy is the creative power to save. human life. When we are together and inspire each other, discuss and even debate – creative energy is produced and THAT power will save all of us. Not the power to conquer and dominate; that only kills, that only kills each other. But the energy – that power – that comes from all of us: that saves us, that enlivens us, that empowers us. When we let down our own wisdom and our own raw power and share our brokenness and vulnerability – then we will experience the power that comes from weakness. That power and only that power can forgive sinners, save them and make them new. By THAT power, the community becomes the community of forgiveness and community of love and that kind of community is a spiritual community.

Foolishness and weakness are the sacrifice of the cross. That is the face of the sacrifice. Sacrifice looks foolish but it is the wisest thing. Sacrifice looks weak but it is the strongest thing. The power that comes from the sacrifice is not the power to oppress, dominate and conquer, but to serve, build up, heal and empower others. What kind of power is operating within you? What kind of smartness or wisdom is operating within you? Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by God’s foolishness and God’s weakness. Then we will live.

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Small Group Ministry!

Please see below for the sermon audio, text, and discussion questions. Discussion Questions are at the bottom, so please scroll down to see them!

Luke 13:1-9

Tragedy in the World Then and Now

[00:00:12] In today’s scripture, Jesus was talking about what was going on in the world they lived in. He heard about Pilate mingling the blood of Galileans with their sacrifices. What that meant was, Pilate killed those Galilleans who were worshipping God. And after killing them, he mixed that blood with their sacrifice. That’s what he was talking about. Whatever is happening in Jesus’ time is happening right here in our time. Just two weeks ago there was a massacre in the city of Christchurch in New Zealand. People had a worship service at a mosque and 50 people were killed. And in Montreal a few days ago a man in the middle of a mass, he came to the front and started stabbing the priest who was leading the mass. What happened in Jesus’ time is happening right here in this world. Jesus also talked about 18 people who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them. Just two weeks ago a European airline crashed and everyone onboard died. Globally they banned the Boeing 737 MAX 8 from flying, including Canada. What happened in Jesus’ time still happens and this is what Jesus said: “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way, they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? Or those 18 who were killed when the tower of Silom fell on them: Do you think that they were worse offenders than all others living in Jerusalem?” Jesus said “No, I tell you. But unless you repent you will all perish as they did.”.

We are not better than others for avoiding suffering

[00:03:00] A lot of people are suffering in this world, because of accidents that happen to them or as a result of the violence inflicted upon them. They suffer not because they were worse people than others. People who died in the Twin Towers in New York on September 11th – they are not more sinners than the people who survived. Some people don’t think in that way. When they see people suffering they somehow connect their suffering with their faults. Jesus’ disciples did the same thing. They saw a blind man on the street and they asked who’s sin? His sin or his parents’? And they somehow connected the born blindness with a fault that that person had. What they implied was that “I’m not blind. I’m not born blind, so I’m probably better than that person who was born blind.” When things are going well let us not assume that it is because we are any better than others. It’s not because God loves us more. It’s not because we are smarter and better. Many people come to me and tell me, “Reverend, I just don’t understand. My life is so good that I don’t deserve this. I didn’t do anything good but I don’t deserve this. I don’t feel very good about it.” Jesus repeated repeated this passage twice: “No I tell you, but unless you repent you will all perish as they did.”

What did Jesus mean?

[00:05:40] Listening to this, a question arose in me and it bothered me and I got stuck. Did Jesus mean that those who those Galileans were killed and those who died as a result of the the tower collapsing on them – was it because they didn’t repent? Is that what Jesus really implied? And it bothered me. I don’t think so, because Jesus already said that it was not because they were worse sinners than others. The question: I got the answer in the parable of the fig tree. The one who planted the fig tree said this: “See here for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree. And still I find none. Cut it down. Then the gardener said ‘Sir, let it alone for one more year until I dig around it and put manure on it. If it bears fruit next year, well and good. But if not you can cut it down.'”.

Our tendency to avoid suffering

[00:07:10] You know I realized that people’s ultimate interest is in themselves and their family. They don’t want anything bad happen to them. That’s their ultimate interest. “I don’t want anything bad happen to me and to my children and to my family.” Even coming to church and believing in God have something to do with their well-being. “If I’m good then God will be good to me. If I do good stuff then ultimately I’ll be blessed. I’ll be good and then nothing bad, nothing tragic will happen to me or my children. If I do something bad then ultimately I’ll pay the consequence for it.” So we are very concerned about anything bad happening to us.

Job's real reason for being religious

[00:08:11] We are all interested in something good happening in our lives. Job, he made sure that after every party that his children had he gave a burnt offering fearing that if he didn’t do that something they might have sinned, and then something bad might happen to them. So he gave a burnt offering every time. In spite of all that are the tragedies.

[00:08:49] One after another came to Job. He couldn’t handle it. “I thought I was good. I gave burnt offering every time! I thought I was good living a good life. Why have these things happened to me?” He couldn’t understand what was happening to him, and this is what he said:

[00:09:15] “Truly the thing that I fear comes upon me and what I dread befalls me.” In other words, he always lived with that fear. That’s why he gave sin sacrifice. That’s why he believed in God in a way. That’s why he was faithful in worshipping God, so that nothing bad may happen to me. But all the bad things happened to him. And he said what “I fear the most actually happened”.

[00:09:47] To me his ultimate interest was in his safety, his well-being. We human beings live with this fear – the fear of suffering. We don’t want suffering. We don’t want any bad things happen to us. That’s why people live with fear. Jesus knew that fear very well.

The true meaning of repentance

[00:10:26] Jesus also knew that that is what people wanted the most. But today Jesus said Repent. Repent does that mean stop sinning. Repent means change your thinking. That’s what repentance is. Change your thought. Change your attitude. That’s what Jesus said. When you always think about yourself and live with fear that something bad may happen to me if I don’t do right – if you keep living like that, with fear of suffering, then ultimately you’ll die. You will. You will not have life anymore.

[00:11:22] Change your thought. That is what he is asking us to do. You know, don’t think about yourselves and always fear that something bad might happen to me. And he said change your thought. Into what? The fig tree parable tells us into what.

[00:11:43] Think about living a fruitful life rather than thinking always with the fear that something bad might happen to me. Instead of thinking about that all the time think about doing something good for others rather than thinking about just yourself. That’s what Jesus is saying. Repent!

Don't be complacent, be fruitful

[00:12:10] Think about a fruitful life because a fruitless life will ultimately perish in the end anyway. Just because there is no problem right now, that does not mean that we are doing very well. Don’t be complacent because everything is going all right. Some people unfortunately learn only when they suffer. Until they suffer they don’t think about anything else. Well when the suffering comes down they think about it. We human beings are that weak. That’s why sometimes people repent when the suffering comes at them.

[00:13:11] But let us not wait until suffering knocks at our door. Let us repent. Let us change our attitude. Instead of always thinking about our own safety and well-being, let us think about what it means to live a fruitful life, a life that is beneficial to others. Not just what’s good for me. That’s how our humanity can survive. If human beings are all selfish and think about only themselves and their family, ultimately we’ll all perish together. But when we think about others, I will live and they will live. When we think of a fruitful life we all be able to live together in abundance. That’s what Jesus is teaching us. Jesus said this and there is a lot of truth in it.

Overcoming suffering with a fruitful life

[00:14:24] I hope that you listen to it very carefully and I hope that this is your life principle and life philosophy. This is what is what Jesus said: “Very truly I tell you unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies it remains just as a single grain no fruit no fruit. But if it dies it bears much fruit. Those who love their life will lose it and those who hate their life in the in this world will keep it for eternal life.” Sure, hate doesn’t mean to emotionally hate. The Jewish people said this as their way of expression. “I like this better than that.” Then they say “I love this and I hate this.” That’s what they were saying.

[00:15:24] And then he goes on. “Those who love their life lose it and those who who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me and where I am there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me the father will honor.” If you keep thinking about yourself you’ll lose yourself. If you keep thinking about others you’ll find yourselves, and that’s what Jesus teaches us.

Suffering that may come to us – how do you overcome it? Not by fearing it, but when you keep living a life of fruitful life, then fear of suffering evaporates, disappears. You’re not scared of suffering anymore. When you continuously think about fruitful life you don’t have that fear of suffering anymore. If it comes, it comes. That’s how Jesus lived he became a grain of seed. The only way to overcome our fear of suffering is to live a fruitful life.

Then you’ll be abundant. Not only you will live, you’ll make other people abundant and you’ll make other people live. That’s how the community survives. That’s how humanity survives. I believe that that is a lesson Jesus teaching us today in today’s story.

Do you believe that? Do you believe that that is a good life philosophy? Whether you are a believer or not, do you believe that there is like good life philosophy?

If you believe that then say “Amen”. Yes, that’s what we believe!

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