St Timothy Presbyterian Church in Toronto: Sermons

Scripture Reading

Ezekiel 47: 6-12

The post One Water Drop appeared first on St Timothy Presbyterian Church.

Scripture Reading

2 Corinthians 5: 16-21

{Transcript}

Oh, if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation. Everything old has passed away. See everything new. Everything has become new. The old is gone. See, the new has come. I’m going to explore that a little bit today. I mean, it is exciting to have a new year it’s a brand new year. Send away the old and welcome the new of all the 365 days, what better day will there be? Will it be to think about sending away the old and welcoming the new the first day? So today that is the best time for you to think about sending away the old and welcoming the new. You know, human beings are so smart.

I think that they are really, really smart. I mean, they created the calendar. They made new year, you know, as far as time is concerned, there is no new year. Time is just continuous flow, December 31st January first or July fifth, it doesn’t matter, it’s just same time, time just flows continuously. But we human beings created organized time in such a way that this is January first and this is 2017 and we are starting a new day. So I think they’re very, very smart and I liked that in that way it is much easier to organize my life by having the new year we can start fresh and new. So every year you have new opportunity almost. So you, you use that, you use that opportunity every year. I think that this is a new year and then you are given a new opportunity. We can make a closure to our past 2016 and we can open the door for the new year. 2017. You know, when I was young my parents always bought clothes and shoes on December 31st and then they put on top of our bed, and the next day we could wear the new clothes and new shoes. I was so excited to, you know, wait for the next day to wear the new and new shoes and I asked my brothers and he didn’t remember just vague memories, so either I liked it so much that I fantasize that I had that history or they just gave me. Sorry brother.

That’s life. I mean it is a wise thing to do, to use the new year to reorganize our lives instead of treat instead of treating January first as just another ordinary day, treat it as a special day. This is a new beginning for my life. At least I want to begin the new life in 2017. What are some of things that you want to achieve? What are some of things that you want to change? What are some of things that you dream about? You have vision about? I hope that you can really expand your dreams and vision this year and you can start always, the new life. I mean resolutions. We always break within three days. We break them, but still, even though you break them, make some resolutions instead of just having another day, make some resolutions. What do you really want to do this year and then make concrete changes.

Don’t just think about being a new person. To be a new person, what do you need to change? Concrete change that you have to make. Albert Einstein had a very interesting definition about insanity. He said, “Insanity. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” That’s insanity. Doing the same thing and you expect something different. I mean, I hope that this year, instead of living out the insanity, I hope that all of you make some concrete changes to something differently this year, whatever it is, and then you will see something different new year, but new year does not give you change. Automatically, new year does not make you a new person automatically. Doing exactly the same thing and expecting different results is insanity. So do something differently. Since my birthday’s in January, whenever new year comes, I think about aging and these days, I realized that aging is not just getting old.

I don’t even know what my age is anymore. I don’t count that too many to count, but aging, I realized that it’s not just getting old. Aging is being renewed. Aging is being renewed. By aging, we don’t just become old, but we become renewed. I, I like to look at aging in that way. Every year I get renewed rather than getting old. And this is not what I said. This is what Saint Paul said, “Though our outer self is wasting away.” In other words though, you get old, you get aged, but our inner self is being renewed day by day. Your outer self may be wasting away, but your inner self should be renewed everyday, every month, every year, since it doesn’t matter the age, whether you have this renewal within you or not, that’s what’s important.

With the new year, you become one year older, but don’t just get old, be renewed every year. You should be renewed, but you know, I think change is rare, I was thinking, I was reflecting. Why doesn’t, why change doesn’t happen, why people are the same, exactly the same. Old self, I reflected on that and realize that it is a baggage. The baggage that we have, the past old baggage that we have, that baggage weighs us down. It blinds our eyes. It blocks our site. We all have baggage and we let the baggage pull you down instead of being renewed. So this baggage just keeps us not from being changed. Therefore, because of this baggage, we cannot see beyond what we have seen. No imagination, no vision. You know when I have a conversation with people, they’re smart. It’s not because they’re stupid, they’re smart, but they can’t think beyond, why? Because I realized that they have a lot of baggage within them, and so with that baggage, the vision and the way they see the world is limited in certain way. Instead of having a freedom to think about big thing, they are limited because of that bag. They cannot see beyond what they have seen. That’s what I realized. Our eyes are so fixed in a certain way that we cannot see things in the new way. Spouses are just nagging nuisance always. Parents are people whom you don’t, you want to leave a certain distance, not too far, not too close. Those we see each other the way we see ourselves have to change the way we see it has to change. Our understanding is very limited.

Change is not doing ‘A’ and then you do ‘B’. That’s not what change is. Change is not just doing different things. Change is, you open your eyes and now you can see something in a totally new way. That’s what change is. Change is, not just doing one thing and then the next one doing something else. change is your eyes are totally open. You can embrace and you can see things in a very radical new way. That’s what change is. So if that is a real change that the first thing that has to go for you is the baggage. There all kinds of baggage; Hurt, pain, insecurity, but that baggage has to go. How can we let go of our baggage though?

Is it more psychological or philosophical? It is spiritual. Baggage can be let go only through forgiveness. Forgiveness is not what you do. Forgiveness is what God does. You only receive forgiveness so he’s not any more psychological. You’re not psyching yourself to let go of your baggage. It’s not logical. It’s not philosophical. It’s spiritual. Only God can take away your baggage through forgiveness. That’s was what Saint Paul said in the scripture, “so if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation. The first part, the sustainment. If anyone is in Christ, you are a new creation and the next sentence is a process. What’s going on within it? How can you become a new creation?” He says, “everything old has passed away. See, everything has become new.” That’s a three process. Everything old has passed away, that means, your burdens are removed. Your baggage is removed. If you’re in Christ, through forgiveness, that baggage is removed from you. when the baggage is removed, what happens? Your eyes are open now. That’s why St Paul say, see, behold, because now now you’re able to see your eyes, open. Baggage is used to blind your site and then as the biggest baggage is gone, your eyes are open. Now, see, that’s what Saint Paul says,

and then third, everything new has become new. In other words, Now when you see everything, you can see it in a new way. All your past mistakes, failures, damages done to you. Your shortcomings will not be able to bind you anymore. When you are in Christ, God has forgiven you. The old is gone. Now Open your eyes. You can see it and see the world. See Yourself, see others in the new way. That is the power of forgiveness, my friends how forgiveness is possible? Only when you believe, I don’t know what else.

When you believe that forgiveness is possible, when you see yourself, when you see baggage within you, you know what that baggage does to you? And with a sincere desire to remove those baggage. You come to God? That is repentance, and then when you believe. then God lifts up your baggage through forgiveness, so repentance and belief that desire to want that baggage to be removed, that is repentance, and now you believe, then by forgiveness becomes complete and the damage that the baggage has done will be crucified with Jesus Christ on the cross. Only then new life is possible.

It is not psychological or logical philosophical. It is spiritual. I hope that this year, New Year, this forgiveness becomes real to all of you. I hope that you all become free from the baggage that enslaves you. Don’t bring the baggage of 2016 into 2017. That’s dumb. Don’t do that. Start the new year with forgiveness, be forgiven. We Christians have this amazing system, that system of forgiveness. We don’t just live our lives. We live our lives forgiven. If you come to God, God is willing to forgive you. When you have a sincere desire to be changed, God will forgive you and will change you. That’s the power of God. That’s the power of forgiveness. I don’t know how else I can explain to you about forgiveness, about being forgiven. Trust. Good God, when you come to him, he will forgive you and make you free. Make you a new person. You deserve to live a good new life. 2017, maybe the year you start something new for yourself.

The post See! New Creation! appeared first on St Timothy Presbyterian Church.

Scripture Reading

Isaiah 9: 6a, Matthew 2: 1-12

{Transcript}

Let us hear the word. Today’s word is taken from Isaiah 9:6 and Matthew 2:1-12. Isaiah 9:6, “For a child has been born for us, a son given to us,” and Matthew 2, “In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage. When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. They told him, In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet:

And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,

Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage. When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.”

This is the word of the Lord.

You know, when the Christmas season comes, you don’t want to go to a shopping center because it’s way too busy. But this year somehow Christmas came so suddenly, I didn’t even realize it was Christmas. So the other day I went to Indigo without realizing it was Christmas time and I went in there, oh my goodness, so many people. And there was a lineup that’s all around the big, huge store, there was a lineup all around the wall. I just went to get a small book without realizing it was Christmas time. I didn’t come for Christmas gifts, I just came for the book. There were so many people, but there were so many people also working there so it didn’t take too much time.

Gifts. That’s what we do during Christmas season. 20 percent of total sales are done during Christmas time. People are busy buying gifts even though it is true there that Christmas has been overly commercialized, but I still believe that a gift is what summarizes what Christmas is all about. Christmas is about gifts. Christmas is to celebrate God’s gift of Jesus to the world.

In the Isaiah passage we read today, he said, “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given.” A son is given as a gift. The wise man story also picked up the theme of a gift. They saw the birth of Jesus as the gift to the world. So they came with their gifts in response to the gift of God for the world. God gave us the most gracious and precious gift. You can say that God gave God’s self for the world. There is nothing more precious than giving yourself. That is probably the most precious gift that you can give, or you can receive. Yourself. And God gave God’s self to us and for the world. God was the one who initiated the gift giving.

In Jacob Story’s, Jacob had a problem with his brother Esau because he stole something from him and he had to run away from home. He was a mama’s boy, he stayed home all other times. But this time he had to be all by himself when running away. So he was very lonely. He was never alone. He was lonely at night all by himself, he was kind of sad and lonely and all that. And that’s when God appeared to him, and this is what God says to Jacob, “I am with you. I am with you and will keep you wherever you go. I will not leave you. I am with you.” God gave Jacob the gift of God’s presence.

“I am with you and I will be with you.” God presence, we call it what? Emmanuel, we call it Emmanuel. When Jesus Christ came, Matthew described it in this way; “Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and they shall name him Emmanuel,” because that means God is with us. And also when Jesus left us when he left of world, the last word that he said in Matthew, the last word Jesus said to us was this, “And remember I am with you always to the end of the age.” He came as God being with us and he left us with God being with us. He came as Emmanuel and he left as Emmanuel. God gave himself to us as a gift. The gift of Emmanuel is the most precious gift.

By giving us his self, God’s self, God taught us how we are to live our life. As God was a gift to us, God wants us to be a gift to each other. Being a gift to each other is the most precious gift that you can give to each other. Let us recognize that people around you are gifts from God for you. They’re not there to pull you down. They’re not there to attack you and destroy you. The people around you are there as gifts from God, but sometimes we forget. The people around me are gifts. Sometimes we think that they are enemies, they are threats. We don’t look at them as God’s gift to us. Today is a wonderful Christmas, so we say ‘Merry Christmas’, and maybe we can say “Thank you for being gift.” Why don’t you go around and look around, say thank you for being a gift.

All of you are gifts, that’s our Merry Christmas. You are my gift, you are not my threat. You are my gift! But Herod didn’t think that way. Herod didn’t see the birth of Jesus as a gift to the world. Herod saw the gift, the birth of Jesus as a threat. Even though Jesus’ kingship was very, very different from what Herod thought, Herod did not understand Jesus’ kingship. So he thought that this king may take away my kingship, so he looked at Jesus, the birth of Jesus as the threat, not as a gift. When you see another person as a threat, then what comes next? Fear. Fear comes. “Oh, that person might harm me, destroy me.” The fear comes. When fear came to Herod, he killed innocent children. So many people, so many innocent children, he killed. Violence comes as a result of fear.

That’s what we do. When we start looking at each other as a threat, then fear comes. When fear comes, we become violent. That’s what we see in the world. Violence all around us because we don’t look at each other as a gift, we look at each other as a threat. We have to ask ourselves, how do we see each other? How do we see other people, as a gift or as a threat? Do you see people who are different from you, just because because of the fact that they are different from you, are they enemies? Sometimes we look at different people as enemies. People who are so different from us, racially or whatever reason, when they’re different, we see them as a threat or enemy, not as a gift. Just because they are different, they’re enemies.

This world makes it so hard and even seemingly impossible to each see each other gifts. I’m so sad that this world has become that way. It is so hard to see each other as gifts, but it is very understandable. It is very understandable. I understand that very well. It is very understandable why people are so scared of each other. I mean, when a stranger just drives a trailer truck into the market killing 12 people like in Germany just the other day, how can you see the stranger as a gift?! The moment we experience that, the moment we hear that, we see a stranger as a threat, not as a gift. It is very understandable, so we have no choice but to build higher walls against each other because we are scared. We build strong walls against each other because we are scared. It is understandable, but is it the best way to live? It may protect us, but does that give us a fulfilling life? Is that the kind of humanity we want to nurture, establish and build? What kind of humanity do we want to build, do we want to uphold? That’s not the way we human beings are supposed to live. Seeing each other as a threat, seeing each other as danger, seeing each other as enemies. That’s not the way you’re born to live. That’s not God’s will. God gave us Jesus as the gift so that we may also be the gift to each other, by having the real broken relationships healed and restored. Jesus came to open our eyes so that through our eyes we may see other people in a new way. At least that was how Paul saw the birth of Jesus. This is what Paul said, “For He is our peace, Jesus Christ. For he is our peace, in his flesh, he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall.” That is the hostility between us. Jesus came to break down the wall, and now we are building the wall against each other.

This Christmas will be meaningful if we experience our broken relationships being healed. Maybe there are some people that you need to forgive, or maybe you need to let go of bad feelings towards somebody, and he or she may not even recognize that you have a bad feeling. If you have a grudge against somebody, maybe during this Christmas season you can let go and be free from that grudge, bad feeling and animosity. That was what Jesus came to do. Jesus even said, “Love your enemy.”

We have to learn to see each other as a gift from God. It is hard, but it’s the most beautiful thing we can do. And if you can do it, they will have the most beautiful life we were meant to live. I want to tell you lastly, the very, very important message to you. Maybe somebody who gives you a difficult time, who gives you a hard time – maybe that person is God’s gift to you. Not only the people who do well, who do good things, people who give you hard times. Maybe they are God’s gift for you. Maybe your spouse is God’s gift to you, giving you a hard time. That’s a message.

What makes us happy at Christmas? It’s a gift, but the most beautiful gift, I believe, is people. People around you, that’s the most beautiful gift. Cherish them. When you start seeing other people as your gift, you will become very, very happy. I guarantee. When your eyes change and you start seeing other people, “You are my gift!” Then you’ll be very happy.

After KSM service, some people were going out, and said “you are my gifts,” they told me. Your family, your friends, your coworkers, even of noxious people around you. They’re all gifts from God.

Merry Christmas. Let us sing together.

*music*

This time I’d like to invite all of us to have a time of reflection. Over the years, we have been disappointed and hurt without realizing our spirit was broken and poisoned. We have forgotten to see each other as a gift. Rather, we see each other as a threat, without realizing if we have built animosity deep within our heart. We need to be healed from that. We need to embrace each other as friends, as life partners, who walk together on this tough road. Let us pray that God heals us, heal our broken spirit so that our eyes may change and we may see each other as friends and as gifts.

The post Being A Gift To Each Other appeared first on St Timothy Presbyterian Church.

Scripture Reading

Matthew 1: 18-25

Today’s text is about Joseph, the husband of Mary. Two weeks ago, the Sunday sermon was about Mary and we heard from Reverend Ingee Kim that if we can see life as new possibility, that is the spirit of Christmas. Through God we can see new possibilities and new things in life and experience them. The gospel of Luke has the story of Mary. Not every gospel has this kind of story. It is unique to the gospel of Luke that has the story of Mary and today’s scripture. The gospel of Matthew has the story of Joseph. So it is meaningful to reflect on Joseph’s story today, as Christmas is just around the corner.

What is true righteousness?

Back then, being righteous was the main goal for every Jewish person. Unlike nowadays, there was no separation between religion and life. People wanted to appear righteous before God and before others as well. However, too much is as bad as too little. The law, God had given lost its’ purpose and it became mere a tool for people to justify their righteousness. Within this historical context, the author of Matthew wrote to his community where most of the members were Jews and under the heritage, talking mainly about the fulfillment of the Old Testament and righteousness with the kingdom of heaven. That same Matthew described Joseph as righteous in today’s text. Then what was Matthew’s reasoning to call Joseph righteous? If we follow the context and spirit of the time, a righteous person should be faithful to the law and in keeping the law. We would think this is why Matthew describes Joseph as righteous, but that’s not the case here. If Joseph was one of the Jews whose desire was to be righteous by obeying the law blindly, to show the world how faithful he was to the law and all that, Joseph would have exposed Mary’s pregnancy and break the marriage or engagement. He would have even allowed people to stone her to death because that was the requirement of the law at the time (remember the story of a woman who was caught in the adultery, in the gospel of John).

So did Joseph follow the customs of the day? Verse 19 is so strange. It says her husband, Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. Because of his righteousness he did not make a scene, but tried to dismiss her quietly. We can see that Joseph’s righteousness was totally different than that of the majority. We can even say Joseph’s righteousness was refreshing. It was not bound by the law and it was not bound by himself either. Joseph did not think about his own interest nor his reputation, but he showed mercy and concern for Mary and decided to do everything unnoticed. We can see that Joseph was not bound by the letters of the law, but tried to discern the will of God and live out the will of God. To me, it is radical but lifesaving decision.

Because of this, I have to ask myself, what does the righteousness we pursue have anything to do with the will of God? We all know how it was with the Pharisees of Jesus’ time. They took the love for their own interest in righteousness, but they had nothing to do with God’s will. In the same way, there are things that bind us like the law and paralyze us in our thinking and in our attitude towards God, the laws should not be only the Bible. Anything that replaces God makes us fall into legalism or into the establishment. It could be our own view of life or our own wisdom acquired from life that can make us fall into a type of legalism – meaning not being able to think out of boxes and that framework – we see through such small lens and make decisions by them. But as we continue to live like that, we will live more and more in the past. We will shut down the possibilities of God in the future. The more we rely on the past experiences and the past wisdom, the more we become enslaved by the past. That’s kind of legalism that will ruin us. Furthermore, such a tendency will make us more self centered. We will move within the boundary of only what we know. We will ruminate what we have achieved already and, as a result, become more self centered.

God’s Righteousness 

It’s not something you can grasp or build, but it is our attitude towards God. That is righteousness. Even though Joseph decided to dismiss Mary quietly, didn’t he struggle with his decision? I think so. Verse 20 shows Joseph’s state of mind. “But just when he had resolve to do this” – other version of the English Bible use words like consider or ponder or think in place of resolve. So, I look at the original word for resolve and I found that it has a deeper meaning. Literally it is the combination of in and passion, meaning struggling with passion like Jacob at the river Jabbok to discern God’s will. Joseph did not simply give up and shut the door on his unbearable reality, but rather struggled with God asking earnestly God, where are you? What shall I do? Is this the right decision?

Joseph must have felt so lonely, but that’s the very moment he was able to find God and meet God. Right at that moment, tossing and turning at night, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. I believe my friends, God comes to those who earnestly seek God’s will and pray to God. And isn’t this what Emmanuel is all about? God is with us. God is with us – present tense, not in the past, not in the future, but our current reality. When we struggle, and pray to God, God is with us at that moment. And then the angel of the Lord gave God’s message to Joseph. And the salvation history of God had begun quietly and unnoticeable except in Mary and Joseph. My friends let us all pursue the righteousness of Joseph described in today’s passage. Not the religious righteousness, nor the achievement to show the world, but our life attitude towards God all the time.

Pursue God and his righteousness

You know what this means? God has given us this righteousness and we need to live a life according to such a gift. It’s in us already, it is our responsibility to live out that righteousness that is always open towards God. Pursue God. Joseph had this gift of righteousness by God already. Such righteousness, empowered him to overcome his limitations and to obey God’s mysterious guidance – and that’s what Joseph did, that’s what we all should do in life. God has called his people and God has given us the gift of righteousness and has asked us to live out that gift. Live a life, not bound by the law but following the living God. God has sent angels to us and helps us overcome fears by giving us his messages. My friends, pause for a moment and think about this: who gave you God’s message so that you may be able to overcome the fears in life and to give your life to God’s hands once again? Who gave God’s message to you? Aren’t they angels from God? When we look around the world nowadays, people are confused, fearful, and depressed. I hope we all can hear the voice of God, calling righteous women and men to fulfill God’s work for this broken world. Let us not live this life without thinking, let us not live this life just following the patterns of this world. Religious righteousness will not make any difference in the world. Didn’t you have that kind of disappointment when you’ve tried to be righteous before? Let us try the real thing. Let us pursue God and God’s gift of righteousness. Don’t you want to see in this world, that the signs of God’s hope is prevalent? Don’t you want to see in your life that God’s love is overflowing? Let us ask God for the gift of righteousness. The God of Emmanuel will give us his righteousness, change us and use us for God’s purpose. May God bless you with renewed commitment to pursue God’s righteousness in this season of Christmas.

The post Joseph: A Righteous Man appeared first on St Timothy Presbyterian Church.

Jeremiah 29: 11-14

Jeremiah Chapter 29 verse 11-14 “For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. Then when you call upon me and come and pray to me, I will hear you. When you search for me, you’ll find me. If you seek me with all your heart, I will let you find me, says the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I’ll bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile . Dream never dies, just the dreamer. Hope never dies because hope belongs to God. Hope is not something that I can come up with. hope is not something that I can create. Hope is not my will, hope is not what I do. Hope is God’s gift, because hope belongs to God. You see, we have to understand who we are. We are temporal beings. Temporal beings meaning we are kind of guarded by our time. We have no choice but to live in this time. Sometimes we are in prison. I feel like we are in prison in our time. We are limited by our time boundary and God gave us hope so that we may overcome that boundary so that we may not have to live as prisoners of our time.

I was thinking about what is most important past, present, or future. What is most important to you? Some people may say, present. Only thing that exists is present, and then they say present is the most important. But for human beings, future is the most important. the present and past are our only means by which you get to the future. Ultimately, future is the most important. The future is the end. Woody Allen said “I have seen the future and it is very much like the present, only longer acute”, but I have two problems with this statement. First, our future is not just repetition of our present, or just continuation of our present. Then maybe the dream of those who have everything in the present, they want to just maintain the status quo. Their life is good as it is, so they don't want any change. So their future is exactly what they want, exactly the same as the present. That’s what they want for their future before those who have not, who don’t have, who suffer, they want their future to be different from the present. It can’t be the same. So I do believe that future is different from the present, the heaven that I envisioned is very different from the life that I live here. Heaven is not just continuation of the life that I’m living right now. Heaven is radically different. Secondly, you cannot see the future. He said, I have seen the future and he’s the same as the present, just longer. You cannot see the future. Future is invisible. It is made that way. The future is invisible to us, no one sees the future. God created in such a way that future is blocked. We cannot see it, and that’s why God gave us hope, so that we may go to worse. The invisible future, with hope as the light and the guide to that invisible future. Listen to what Saint Paul says, “for in hope we were saved. Now, hope that is seen is not hope for a who hopes for what is seen, but if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for with patients”. That’s why Paul is so amazing. He just saw exactly what’s going on in our spiritual. In a world he knew exactly what hope does. What you see is not hope, but what when you cannot see through the hope, you can enter into that unknown, the uncertain. That’s what hope does. God gave us hope so that we don’t become prisoners of the future. We do not see. You know what I mean? In this day and age, our life, our future is very uncertain. Many people say that, you know, I’m scared for my future because it's very uncertain and unpredictable. That’s what future is like and if people are scared and that fear makes them prisoners of their future, they just simply don’t know what to do with their future. Lots of worries, anxieties and powerlessness. Whenever they think about future, they feel powerless. I can not do anything about it. I just receive and accept whatever comes to me. That’s what future is. They just hope that something good comes, but I cannot do anything about it. They feel powerless. The future's not ours to see, whatever will be will be. That’s why people say whatever will be will be. I can’t do anything about it. That’s how people feel these days. It is their response to the life that is very unpredictable, uncertain and uncontrollable. But life has been that way from the beginning. Always. Not just now. It has been always like that from the beginning of time. You know, I saw a very interesting phenomena when Paris was attacked, these terrorists in the middle of the city started killing people. Interestingly, a day later or so, around the same time, same thing happened in Beirut, Lebanon and whatever happened in Paris, all media was focusing on that and had big media coverage. Everybody talked about it, everyone knew about it, but what happened in Lebanon? Nobody really knew. Media didn’t deal with it, and then I was wondering why, why does Paris gets so much attention while Lebanon doesn’t get any attention? And I realized, Oh, you know, unpredictability, uncertainty of future deals with it. They built a fortress very well. Oh, defended city. We built this in this city. This can never happen. Maybe in Lebanon, but not in the city. You can never have this. This kind of thing would not happen in this city that we built, whether it’s Toronto, New York, Paris, and when that happens, they feel so vulnerable. Even with their mighty fortress they cannot deal with it. They cannot protect themselves from the unknown and unpredictable future. So they feel vulnerable, nothing can save us from the tyranny of the unknown and the uncertain future. Nothing. You can never build a fortress that can protect you from that. When you face the future, all alone without hope, what does future look like? Future looks like enemy that threatens to destroy. That’s how future looks like, but when you see the future with eyes of hope, what does future look like? Future becomes a friend that guides you, that opens up the new possibility which we talked about last week. So when you see your future with the eyes of hope, you see friends who guide you and lead you into the unknown, the uncertainty. That’s why God gave us hope so that we may become friends with our future. Our future is not there to devour you nor destroy you, our future is there waiting to guide us and lead us into the better possibility

Jeremiah proclaimed to the Israel people who are in exile who lived with bleak hope for their future because they lost their country. They were all in exile in Babylon, and then Jeremiah proclaimed this message “for surely I know the plans I have for you says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope to give you a future with hope”. He spoke this message to the people who are in exile who lived with no hope. He proclaimed to them, God will give you a future with hope. Jurgen Moltmann, famous German theologian in his book, theology of hope. He said, “it is through faith that we find the path of true life, but it is only hope that keeps him on that path. Through the eyes of faith, you’ll find your path, but what makes you keep on that path is hope. Without hope, you will go off that path as we see the future with the eyes of hope . Not only does your future looks different, but your present comes alive. Your present becomes empowered, so empowered to be able to stay on that path that your eyes of faith sees your eyes of faith will see something, but what makes you strong enough to stay on that what you see is hope. Without hope, you can not stay on that path. We’ll have strength to persevere, we’ll have strength to be patient, and we talked about it two weeks ago patience. Patience gets possibility and hope. So during advent time we are reflecting on these themes. What do you think is the punishment for the sin of unbelief, what will be the result of the sin of unbelief? I think it is despair and hopelessness. The result of the sin of unbelief is hopelessness. Today is the third advent. Hope is very much a theme of advent. Someone said this, when I read books, I always have pen and a notebook usually fountain pen, so I always write, I like writing itself. Doesn’t matter what I write. I write it. I forgot who said it and which book he was from, but it’s pretty good. He says, “Hope moves between the illusions of our own presence, stability and the reality of things that are not yet to come” what does that mean? It means wanting to stay where we are is temptation and our illusion. You can never stay the same, that’s illusion. We can only move forward and what moves us forward is hope. Only when we have hope. We can move forward.

How did the early Christians survive through prosecutions, tortures, killings, and murdering the hardships and of the unknown future? How could early Christians survive? because they saw something different for the future with the eyes of hope. That’s how they survived. What did they see? They saw the sanctified future, they didn't see the future as we see it, they had their eyes open and they saw the sanctified future. That’s why they could persevere. That’s severe persecution. Do you see the sanctified future? When hope works in you, you see something different, Paul said “Suffering of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us”. He saw the glory that was about to be revealed. In other words, he saw the sanctified future. The present suffering is not comparable. it’s nothing. You can handle it.  When you see the sanctified future, you can handle the present and you can overcome your challenges, hardships and difficulties and move on and move forward to what your eyes of faith sees. That is a message of the advent that is the message of hope and that’s how hope works in us.

The post Hope Never Dies appeared first on St Timothy Presbyterian Church.

Scripture Reading

Luke 1: 26-38

{Transcript}

Today the word of God is taken from Luke Chapter One, verse 26 to 38. In the sixth month, the Angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth. So a Virgin engaged to a man whose name was joseph, out of the House of David. The Virgin’s name was Mary, and he came to her and said, “greetings, favored one. The Lord is with you.” But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The Angel said to her, “do not be afraid. Mary, for you have found favor with God and now you will conceive in your womb and bear a son and you will name, him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the son of the most high. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever and of his kingdom. There will be no end.” Mary said to the angel, “how can this be since I’m a virgin?” The Angel said, “the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the most high will overshadow you. Therefore, the child to be born will be holy. He will be called son of God, and now your relative, Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be infertile, for nothing will be impossible with God.” Then Mary said, “here am I the servant of the Lord. Let it be with me according to your word. Then the angel departed from her.” This is the word of the Lord.

Whenever I read this passage, I feel bad about Mary because how difficult it must have been for the young girl. You know, I looked into the, kind of study of how old Mary might have been when she heard this news. I found out that at most she was either 14 or 15 because they got married very early during that time, around 12 to 14 months, girls get married off. And so she must have been around 14 or 15. Teenagers. How could a teenager handle such a big, huge problem? I feel so bad about Mary even even in our time. Teenage pregnancy is a social problem and the society will not accept that or take that favorably. But in Mary’s time, it was not just a social problem. It was life or death problem. She could have been stoned to death for getting pregnant. That was the kind of culture that she was in.

So you can imagine the kind of burden and fear Mary must have felt, but surprisingly only 14 or 15 year old girl. She handled the situation very maturely and wisely. She didn’t say much. When you look at the passage, it was mostly Gabriel. The Angel who spoke most of the time, and, Mary just said two sentences. The first sentence was, “how can this be since I’m a virgin?” The second sentence was, “here am I, servant of the Lord. Let it be with me according to your word.” Those were two words, two sentences, Mary spoke. The first sentence when you look at it clearly pointed out that this is impossible. Gabriel, she was telling Gabriel, what you’re telling me is impossible. I’m a virgin. I never had a man. I never knew a man. How can I get pregnant? This is impossible. That’s what Mary was saying to Gabriel. Gabriel knew, he clearly heard what Mary was saying and Gabriel knew clearly what Mary was thinking, because Mary was saying that it is impossible. Gabriel said to her, this is what he said, “for nothing will be impossible with God. Nothing will be impossible with God. “

When Gabriel said to Mary, Mary pondered thought about it took it in, and she accepted the reality, then she said the second sentence, “here am I the servant of the Lord. Let it be with me according to your word.” I was pondering upon this passage. I think this, this was the message Luke wanted to get across, through the story of Mary, Luke has something that he wanted to say to us, and that is nothing will be impossible with God. That is a message Luke wants to get across to us. Nothing will be impossible with God. Luke was saying that Mary was the first one who accepted the truth. Nothing will be impossible with God. Luke in his life, he experienced that. He saw that nothing was impossible with God. That’s why he wanted to write the gospel Luke, because he experienced that nothing was impossible with God. He wanted to write that and then give it to us so that we can believe also nothing will be impossible with God. Luke was trying to say that Jesus, God became a human. That’s what Luke was writing about when he was writing about Jesus. He was saying God became a human being. That’s impossible.

So I mean, a teenager, who doesn’t even know a man, getting pregnant. That’s difficult reality, difficult fact. But God becoming a human being, that’s more difficult to write about. And that’s what Luke wanted to write. Mary getting pregnant and Luke writing about Jesus. These all, these are not the things that we human beings could do, these other things impossible with human beings, but Luke was saying that what he was writing about and what Mary was experiencing were mystery, were mystery. What I’m going to write about you is a mystery. I like that. I like that about life. Life is mystery, especially with God. Life is full of mystery.

I like that aspect of life. The mysterious aspect of life. Life is not fixed. There’s something that you don’t know yet. There are many things that you don’t know yet. You don’t know what’s going to happen to you in the future. Life is mystery in that sense. I accept that through Jesus, Luke’s eyes were opened and he was able to see new possibility in life, new possibility it was Luke alone who experienced the new possibility, though all the disciples experienced new possibility in life through Jesus, when they met Jesus, what they encountered was new possibility. That’s what they encountered. When they encountered Jesus,

when we encountered Jesus, when we encounter God, what we encounter is new possibility. You also encounter new disciples. Also Saint Paul experienced the new possibility, that’s why he said” The Christ, the old has gone away. Behold, the new has come with God who strengthens me. I can do all things.” That’s a new possibility. Paul saw new possibility when you read Paul’s letter, all these letters, he constantly talks about  revelation. The mystery that is refilled to me. He writes the mystery. He writes about a revolution.

They’re all experienced new possibility in life, not necessarily explainable or comprehensible, but new possibility. Seeing life with a new possibility that is Christmas spirit, merry Christmas. When you say merry Christmas, what you are saying is new possibility merry Christmas. New possibility for you. Jesus came to us and opened the new possibility. They saw the new possibility. That’s why they traveled  great distances, for you traveling a great distance, Oh, that will be boring. Oh, they’re taking plane, or they will take 10 hours or more. For those people, great distance, meaning they were risking their lives on the way they could have been killed, robbed, they could get sick, so they are risking their lives, risking danger. They traveled long distance because they saw the new possibility. Herot also saw the new possibility and Herot did not like that. New possibility, that means there is a possibility that I may lose my power. I don’t like this new possibility. He saw the new possibility, but he didn’t like it, so he wanted to get rid of a real new possibility and killed all the children. The people who have power don’t like new possibility, they want to maintain the status quo, but people who have no power, they want new possibility in life.

We are faced also seemingly impossible situations in life. Sometimes we get so totally absorbed into impossible situations that our eyes become blind. We cannot see any possibility. All we see is impossibility. What Mary taught us, the little girl 14 or 15. What Mary taught us today is to let your life be in God’s hands. Then you will see something different. The song that you sang,

“Mary, Did you know that you will bear a son who walk on the water?” Probably Mary didn’t know what was going on, but when she let her life be in God’s hands, she saw new possibility and that new possibility became reality in Jesus. Amazing. She taught us. Little girl taught us. Let your life be, let it be in God’s hands. As we wait for the Christmas, let us embrace the new possibility in our life and also let us embrace new possibility in the world we live in. We pray for Korea. Any possibility there, but even in the midst of impossibilities let us embrace the new possibility, and I know this new possibility is not something that I can create. This new possibility is what God can give. It’s not something that I can make up for all of you. The new possibilities is now what you can make new possibility is given to you by God. Embrace it. Have faith in this total nonsense of Gabriel’s message. Mary saw the new possibility in this ridiculous situation. Mary held onto the new possibility, so Mary said, “here am I the servant of the Lord. Let it be with me according to your word.” Last week we reflected on patience. Patience is not something you try, patience is possible because you see the new possibility in the seemingly impossible situation. Only when you can do that, patience comes

your patient because you see new possibility. My friends, what is impossible is in our eyes, in God’s eyes, nothing is impossible. Only in your eyes you see impossibility, but in God’s eyes, there is always possibility. Are there people in this room who are experiencing the impossibility of life right now? Are there people in this room who are surrounded by the dark cloud of doubt about life right now? Are there people in this room who are completely knocked down, because of whatever situation you may be in, do not be afraid. Maybe it is a way of God opening up the new possibility for you. Maybe it is God’s message for you that it is time for you to open up to the new possibility. Mary said, here, am I the servant of the Lord? Let it be with be with me according to your word. That is so refreshing. Life is not all about grasping with our hands. Immigrant life was difficult. It was difficult for me too, university time and everything. Just so difficult. Work harder and harder, but sometimes because you work so hard, you forget the new possibilities is what God gives you, not what you make. Life is not just about grasping with your hands. Life is sometimes letting it be. Let go. Letting it be and see how it unravels before your eyes. There is a song sung by The Beatles called “Let it be”, famous song. Do you know?

Let it be this song sung by The Beatles and written by Paul Mccartney. In 1970 he wrote this song and just  before The Beatles were broken up. Paul Mccartney went through a lot of trouble in a difficult time and when he had a difficult time, one day he had a dream and his mother who died of cancer, came up in a dream and then the mother told Paul, “it will be alright, let it be” that’s where he got inspiration and he wrote it. But what he wrote is exactly from the Annunciation of Mary. The passage that we read today. He said, I’m not going to sing, but I’ll read it “when I find myself in times of trouble. Mother Mary comes to me speaking words of wisdom. Let it be.” That’s what Mary said. “Let it be with me according to your word.” Yes, sometimes maybe we find ourselves in times of trouble. There’s a few verses later, he said, “and when the night is cloudy, there is still a light that shines on me. Shine until tomorrow. Let it be”. Beautiful, isn’t it?

If Mary did not have the wisdom of letting it be, she might’ve gone crazy, she would’ve never been able to embrace the reality that was imposed upon her. Maybe the best gift for this Christmas may not be iPad or Roomba. Whatever. Maybe the best gift, Christmas gift for you this year, maybe to have the eyes to see the new possibility, having the eyes to see the new possibility, that may be the greatest gift that we can have. No matter what situation you may be in, you should always live with new possibility. My friends don’t ever forget.  Doesn’t matter what situation you may be always live with new possibility. That is what Christmas is all about, it’s what Christmas teaches us. Open your eyes to the new possibility.

The post Christmas – New Possibility appeared first on St Timothy Presbyterian Church.

Scripture Passage

James 5: 7-11

{Transcript}

Let us hear the word of the Lord.

Be patient, therefore, beloved, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains. You also must be patient. Strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near. Beloved, do not grumble against one another, so that you may not be judged. See, the Judge is standing at the doors! As an example of suffering and patience, beloved,take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. Indeed we call blessed those who showed endurance. You have heard of the endurance of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.

This is the word of the Lord.

Patience is a wonderful word, very hard and difficult to practice. Think about it. Patience, do I have patience? That’s something that we really need to meditate on. Today I’m going to reflect on patience.

St. Theresa of Avila is a great saint of Spain. She said a wonderful thing. I want you to reflect on it. It’s a short poem, but very nice.

Let nothing upset you. Let nothing frighten you. Everything is changing. God alone is changeless. Patience attains the goal. Who has God lacks nothing. God alone fills every need.

How beautiful and how true that is. Just enjoy reflecting on her words.

I do believe that patience attains the goal. That phrase really catches my eye. Patience attains the goal. I realized that without patience, we cannot attain any goal. Here, we’re talking about spiritual goals in our spiritual journey. If you don’t have patience, you cannot finish your spiritual journey. A spiritual journey is not just a few years, you work really hard, the next few years, you forget about it. A spiritual journey is not like that. A spiritual journey is, until you die, you keep pushing it. A spiritual journey without patience is impossible. We’ll just give up in the middle of it and how many people just give up in the middle of it? So if you live like this, that will only be a mediocre life. When we start something and then give up in the middle because it’s hard. Whether it’s a spiritual life or not, that life will become only mediocre. It’s not just your spiritual life, but this patience applies to everything in your life. Well to me, spiritual life is everything in life. I don’t distinguish between spiritual life and just life.

Last Friday I had a premarital counseling with Sarah and Mike, and then we concluded our counseling, and then at the end, I asked him about his spiritual journey, and then Mike said this, “you know, to me being spiritual is living, and living is being spiritual.” And I said, wow. Profound statement. You learn very well in this church. Yes, being spiritual is everything about life. So patience also applies to your daily living.

Without patience you can never be a good athlete. To be a good athlete, you have to have patience. You may have great abilities and skill, but only through patience the jewel of your great ability will be manifested. Without patience. You can never achieve the goal. How many times do athletes experience their limits? No matter how hard they try, they just cannot go beyond the limit that they are hitting all the time. How many times must they have been frustrated and wanted to give up in the middle of it. There are some athletes who go through slumps, but somehow another time, they just come out stronger than ever before. Why? Because they have the patience to go through that dark tunnel, that difficult time. But through patience they have overcome their limits and the jewel of their ability within them comes out.

It applies to artists, too. Inspiration comes all of a sudden, you walk around, then all of a sudden you get an idea and you start drawing and painting or all of a sudden you get some inspiration and you write poems and beautiful ones come out. Yes, it is spontaneous. Yes. Often inspiration comes suddenly when you’re not prepared, but before it comes, you have to remember that there was painful waiting and struggle and many failures. Because you went through this dormant period, you can experience sudden inspiration. Inspiration doesn’t just come suddenly, but there is something you have prepared before that happens.

In our relationships too, without patience, you can never build meaningful relationships. See in relationships, as you get to know each other, after a while you get tired and you see some limits. Of course, if the relationship is not worth it, ending it is an option, but to have any meaningful relationship, you have to go beyond the limits. So without patience, the relationship is not possible. Meaningful relationships are not possible. Next year we have seven weddings, and just this morning I got another wedding, so we have eight weddings from our congregation, just this congregation, so 2017 will be a year of parties, celebrations, and blessings. It’s great, but soon they will all learn how important it is to be patient to build a meaningful relationship. Mike and Sarah said, “wow, this is good. I didn’t know that all these things were involved in marriage counselling. I’m going to tell all those kids to take all of those premarital counseling courses and all that.” But there’s so much in marriage in addition to other relationships. Without patience, any meaningful relationship is not possible.

And that is what the Bible teaches us today. He used the example of farmers and they know very well about the secret of patience, and this is what James said. The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains. They work hard, but at the end they have to wait patiently for the rain to come. It’s beyond their control. Life is like that, sometimes it’s beyond our control. Then we have to learn to wait with patience. Everything’s like that. To have precious crops, you need to be patient. To have precious things in your life. You have to be patient, you have your own timing, you cannot rush it, but you have to be patient. Then you’ll see the jewel of life in the end.

Being a patient person is what we all should strive for. It is one of the greatest qualities that we have to build within us. I think you can learn other skills, but if you don’t learn how to be patient, I don’t think you can succeed in anything that you do. Patience is the greatest quality that we all must master. It is a skill, an art. The art of being patient, we have to learn how to master it, but being patient is not just keeping everything inside.

Some people mistakenly think that being quiet and not saying anything is being patient. Wrong. Just because you’re quiet and just because you don’t say anything, that doesn’t mean that you’re patient. It may be a sign of being patient, but not always. I mean, you’re boiling inside, but just not expressing it outside? That’s not patience. Patience is an inner quality. Boiling inside already tells you that the equilibrium of inner peace is shaken and disturbed, so patience is not just keeping it inside and not expressing it. Patience is an inner quality. Well, what is that inner quality? The inner quality is peace and calmness. If you don’t have peace and calmness within you, you cannot be patient. To be patient you have to have this peace and calmness, so in that sense, I realized that patience is tremendous strength. It’s tremendous spirituality. Being always peaceful and calm. Only when you have that, then you can have patience.

The real strength is not to fight back and attack. I don’t think that’s real strength. The real strength of a person is to have internal peace and calm. You can call it internal toughness to take whatever that comes to you. Someone said strength is the internal toughness to take whatever life deals out without losing your humanity. And he said, those who are ready to strike back at the slightest provocation are not strong but fragile. I think he said it well.

There are always difficult people around you who test your patience. There are always difficult people around you who make you feel miserable, who make you feel small, who make you feel nothing but dirt. You know, there are always people who provoke you and there are always situations and circumstances that are ready to attack and throw you off balance. You will experience that all the time. We are living with provocation every day, every single day. We get provocation from the early morning. As soon as you get up and until you go sleep, you get provocation. As you drive in the morning, you’re already provoked by the way people drive these days. So whether you’re driving, or at work, or at home even, when you look at your children, you get provoked. You encounter situations where you feel so vulnerable, you lose patience. They test your patience very harshly.

Patience is building the inner strength to deal with all these situations with peace and calm. Not indifference, but with peace and calm you can engage in it, so you have to continuously practice. It is a spiritual discipline. Every day you experience a situation where you’re provoked, that’s a situation where you need to build up your muscle of patience. Instead of just being provoked and letting it out, you have to learn how to be patient in that situation. As you keep doing that, you learn how to be patient. It is a discipline. It is something that you need to practice every single day. But let me tell you, patience does not make you incapable of being angry with injustice. Let me say it again. Patience does not make you incapable of being angry with injustice. Patience does not make the anger consume you. You may be angry with injustice, but you don’t let the anger consume you. Patience gives you the strength to fight injustice around you.

Gandhi was campaigning for the rights of Indians in South Africa when he was young. He came one day before the Governor General Jan Smuts, and then he told him very quietly. He said, I want you to know that I intend to fight against your government, and Smuts laughed. You have come here to tell me that? And is there anything more you want to say? Yes, said, Gandhi, I’m going to win. Smuts sarcastically asked him, how are you going to do that? And Gandhi smiled, with your help. Years later, Smuts said, that was exactly what Gandhi did, and I did exactly what Gandhi said. You know those sandals, Gandhi made that those sandals and gave them to Smuts in 1914. In 1939 at the 70th birthday of Gandhi, Smuts brought these sandals and said this, I have worn these sandals for many summers since then, even though I may feel that I am not worthy to sit in the shoes of so great a man. Gandhi won the respect and the friendship of the General.

Patience is not just being patient with injustice. It does not make you incapable of being angry with injustice, but instead of being consumed by the anger, you turn it into a real fight and you will win it. That’s patience. Somebody tries to make you hate them, instead of responding to them with hate, you can continuously love them. That’s patience. That is the kind of patience I’m talking about and that is the kind of patience Jesus showed us. To the cross he was patient, but it was clear where he was going.

You have dreams, visions, I hope that you have strong patience. Ultimately you will win when you have that patience.

Today’s the first Sunday of advent. Advent is a time waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, as we wait for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, let us wait with patience. This is what James teaches us in today’s scripture. Be patient, therefore beloved, until the coming of the Lord, you have done well so far, keep persevering, be patient and do what you dream about in life. Only patience can give you that.

The post Patience Attains the Goal appeared first on St Timothy Presbyterian Church.

Ezekiel 34: 11-16

The scripture is from Ezekiel 34:11-16: “I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out, as shepherds seek out their flocks when they are, when they’re among their scattered sheep. So I will seek out my sheep, I will rescue them from all the places to which they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries and we’ll bring them into their own land and I’ll feed them on the mountains of Israel by the watercourses and in all the inhabited parts of the land. I will feed them with good pasture and the mountain heights of Israel shall be their pasture. There they shall lie down in good grazing land and they shall feed on rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep and I’ll make them lie down, says the Lord God. I will seek the lost and I’ll bring back the strayed and I will bind up, the injured and I will strengthen the weak. But the fat and the strong, I will destroy I will feed them with justice.” This is the word of the Lord.

Today is Christ the king Sunday. From next week we enter into the advent. Advent is a celebration of the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ into this world. So it’s like a celebration of Christmas season from next Sunday. But advent is the according to church calendar, the Christian calendar, advent is the beginning of the new year. So the first week begins from next week. And so today is the last week, according to Church calendar. And today is Christ the king Sunday. So you can see early Christians, they celebrate, they had this schedule for the whole year. They begin with waiting for the coming of the Lord, and they end with Christ proclaiming that Christ is the king. And that tells us about our lives too. We also begin our lives with waiting for the Lord, but we end at the end of it. Ultimately, we proclaim that Christ is the king of our lives. When we say that Christ is the king, that also means I am not the king. Christ is the king. I am not the king. That’s what we proclaim.

We are not the king. We are not in control of our lives. It is Christ. It is God who is in control of our lives. That’s what we confess. And that’s what we boldly proclaim in our lives. And Saint Paul expressed the same thing in a little bit different way. This is what he said. It is no longer I, who live, but Christ who lives in me. This is how Paul saw his life. It is no longer him who lives in his life, but it is Christ who lived in Paul’s life. It is a wonderful statement. It is a mystical union between Christ and me. And that is a unique message of Christians. We Christians believe that we are connected and deeply connected with Christ, it’s almost like Christ is living in me and I live in Christ, that mystical union. I was possible through the spirit.

And I do believe that that is the wisdom of living a good life instead of trying to control my love with my own strength. We let God come into our lives every day and let God reign and rule our life. And that is a wisdom. And when we start doing that, we experience freedom and salvation. And that is the way for us to come alive. How we come alive, when that mystical union is possible, when Christ fills my life, and when I know that I’m in Christ’s hands that’s when we experience true aliveness. Life comes alive as we enter into God’s world. And therefore, when God flows into our life, what do you experience? You experience that you’re so small compared to the greatness of God’s world. When I enter into God’s word, all of a sudden we become very small, almost invisible when I enter into God’s world. But when I’m that small, actually that’s when I’m the biggest, that’s when I am the largest, when we enter into God’s world, that’s what we experience. The power we experience is not comparable to the power you can extract from your own strength and there in that world, in God’s world you experience freedom. This is what freedom looks like, the freedom, not doing whatever you want, but freedom of not having to do anything. The freedom that gives me just a wonderful peace that words cannot express beyond our understanding, that surpasses all understanding, that freedom that gives me that peace, the freedom that gives me confidence in life. This is not something we can ever experience. When you try to be in control of your own life, you can never experience that. It is a spiritual experience it’s a spiritual freedom. This is a treasure you get when you let yourself totally in God’s hands and this treasure is hidden to the people.

Only when you enter into God’s world, you experience this, you discover this treasure. When we surrender ourselves, we will experience freedom, peace and confidence, but when you grab on to yourselves, worries and anxieties and fear will consume you. So you will either live with peace, freedom and confidence, or will you live with worries, anxiety and fear. As you enter into God’s realm, something wonderful happens. In today’s scripture Ezekiel used the image of a shepherd to describe the relationship between God and God’s people and King David also saw the relationship in that way. In Psalm 23, he said, “the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want,” and Jesus also saw himself as a shepherd. He said, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” So you’re not alone. You are a sheep, but you have a good shepherd who leads your life. You’re not making your life on your own. Good shepherds makes your life, Good shepherds leads your life. We have the best king and our king is our shepherd and our shepherd leads our life. When we don’t know where to go, our shepherd will show us the way. Not only God will show us the way, but God will strengthen us and God will tell us what to do.

As we look back on our lives. I can see God’s mysterious hands that have upheld me, led me, guided me all this time. Sometimes those hands were invisible, while I was going through that it was invisible. But when I look back, there were the mysterious, invisible hands of God that have led me. So yesterday we had a session retreat. And then one word that remains with me is mystery. How God has led this congregation in a mysterious way. And that’s what I came out with from the retreat, mystery. God has been good to you all this time and you have nothing to worry about because God who has been good to you all this time. Will be good to you for the rest of your life.

You have nothing to worry about because you have a good shepherd with you. As we let God be our shepherd who leads me. Wonderful things will happen in our lives, of all things what I can say is you will have confidence in life. Confidence that the world gifts, confidence from God. The confidence will give you the courage. Yes, worries and anxieties will be always with you, for as long as you breathe, while you live on this earth, worries and anxieties will never depart from you. They will always be with you, but when you let Christ rule in your life, these worries and anxieties will not turn into fear that paralyzes you. That’s what is amazing about letting Christ rule in your life, these worries and anxieties become just petty, worries and anxiety. We will always be worrying and anxious, but these worries and anxieties will not turn into fear that paralyzes you when you let Christ rule in your life. It is fear that kills you. That is what makes us so passive and defensive. Well, I saw one movie and it said, “fear makes me live.” Yeah, fear makes you maybe survive, but fear will not help you live. You will only survive through the fear, but fear will never make you live. As you let Christ be your shepherd, one thing great about that is fear will never thrive in you. When you let Christ rule in your life, fear will never thrive in you. Your heart will not brew fear. Your heart will not cultivate fear. That’s what happens when you let Christ rule in your life. Fear will not grow within you it can not survive. Fear cannot survive within you.

You know, when you experience challenges in your life, what is the first thing that you see? When the challenges come to you? What is the first thing you see? The first thing you see is how small you are, how weak you are, how helpless and hopeless you are. That’s what challenges make you see. So when the challenges come, the first thing that you see is how small you are. And then as soon as you see that, fear starts thriving in you, and fear always makes you small, and controls you in that way. Fear first makes you very small, and then fear controls you. People who use fear, like bullies, that’s what they do. They know your vulnerable spots. They know how weak you are, and they make you focus on your weakness and they make you feel so small and in that way, they control you. There are some bad people around us in the world who use fear to control the people. They always threaten you, scare you, and make you small and try to control you. But as we let Christ be our shepherd, you know what happens? Yes. You see your own weaknesses first. But you see beyond. That’s what happens when you let Christ rule in your life. You see your weakness like everybody else, but somehow you see beyond and you see God’s strength beyond your weakness, so fear cannot use that weakness to control you anymore. Every time we see weakness, our eyes go beyond somehow and see God’s strength. Our eyes go to the one ahead of us, leading us.

There’s a wonderful, spiritual insight St. Paul saw. He realized, after he met Christ, he still saw his weakness, but somehow he was able to see beyond his weakness. He was able to see God’s strength, and that is what St. Paul confessed to God, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness. So our boats are all the more gladly of my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore, I’m content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions and calamities for the sake of Christ, for whenever I am weak, then I’m strong. Whenever I see my own weakness, I see beyond, I see strength.” That’s the kind of insight Paul got after meeting Christ, he never experienced that before, but after meeting Christ, after inviting Christ in his life, he not only sees his own weakness but he saw beyond, so he was not scared of his own weaknesses because he was able to see the strength beyond his own weaknesses. In that process, your presence becomes free from the oppression of worries and anxieties, and you can see much more clearly what to do. You can see much more clearly where you’re going. This is how our shepherd leads us, open our eyes to be able to see that.

We are living in a very precarious, uncertain period of our world. Every morning, I read newspaper and it’s scary. Sometimes I get scared. Where is this world going? Bullies rule the world. Continuously, fear traps people. We’re living in a very, very uncertain period of our world. More than ever before, we need to understand very clearly that Christ is the king, not anyone, not me. Nothing is our king. Only Christ is our king. The fear will not consume you. Don’t let powerful people control you with fear. Stand strong. Stand tall.

Christ is our king. When you let Christ rule in you as your king, you will be able to break through the walls that imprison you. You’ll be able to walk through the fog that hinders your way. That’s what King David confessed. “The Lord is my shepherd,” and later he said, “even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil, for you are with me, and your rod and your staff, they comfort me. The Lord is my shepherd and the Lord will lead my life.” Last week, I was sitting in my room. I felt so helpless seeing the world, but that’s a message God gave me. ” Don’t worry. I am the king. I am the shepherd. I’ll lead this world. I’ll lead you. There’s nothing for you to worry about.” My Christian fellows, let us stand tall and stand strong. Just follow the truth that Jesus taught us, and Christ will rule. That is the power that I believe in. Jesus, he did not achieve salvation with his power, he actually let go of all his power. Whenever he used divine power, he said, “Be quiet, don’t tell anyone,” and he helplessly died on the cross having all his power shift off from him. He had no power whatsoever on the cross and he died, but he released the power of God’s resurrection through his obedience to the truth. He let God’s power be released. He let the resurrection, be released. We’re living in a world where contradiction rules. Using the power of this world, you’re just intensifying the contradiction. This is a time that we turn to God’s power and God’s strength, and that power, will lead us to the green pasture. Let us sing together.

The post Our King Is The Shepherd appeared first on St Timothy Presbyterian Church.

Scripture Reading

John 17: 22-23

{Transcript}

This Sunday, I’d like to reflect on oneness. I’m going to reflect on three scripture passages from three different places, and I’d like to understand, uh, what it means to be a one in Christ and how that can be different from the oneness in the world. The first passage that I’m going to reflect on is from John, Mina read it beautifully and we are going to reflect on that. If you see the background of that passage, that was like Jesus’ deathbed, a prayer just before he died. That was Jesus’ last prayer for the world. You can see a Jesus’ desire. After 33 years of ministry, after life on earth, and that was the prayer that he was wanting to leave behind for the people to hear and listen and take. Take it seriously.

That is the context of that prayer. And when you look at it, verse 20, it says, “I ask not only on behalf of this,” I asked – that means Jesus prayed. Then from verse 21 to 23, when you read it carefully every verse, he says this phrase, “They may all be one.” Every verse, 21, 22, to 23, “As we are one, I pray that they also may be one.” And in the last verse, Jesus added ‘completely’ to emphasize the oneness, “So that they may completely be one.” That was what Jesus wanted for the world. He wanted to see the unity. How appropriate that prayer is for all of us. We Christians should take that prayer very seriously, and we should also do that prayer. As you look at the world, it is fragmented, divided, you name it. For all reasons, we are living in a world that is very fragmented.

After Jesus prayed that, a few years later, there was a person who took on the torch of Jesus Christ and carried on that vision of Jesus Christ in his life. And his name is Saint Paul. Saint Paul also prayed and worked for the unity, the oneness of humanity. And he talked about oneness a little bit more in detail than what Jesus prayed for. This is what he said, “There is no longer Jew or a Greek. There is no longer slave or free. There is no longer male and the female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” That is the crux of Paul’s theology. That is the core of Paul that tried to established in this world. Jews and Greeks? They did not even eat together. Slaves could never be one with the free. Women were not considered as an equal partner. During Paul’s time, women will like properties. As a matter of fact, Jewish people prayed this prayer every morning at that time, and that prayer goes like this: “Thank you God for not making me a gentile, not making me a slave and not making me a woman.” That was what Jewish people prayed every morning. So some scholars said that Paul was seeing there was neither male nor female in the context of that prayer. That prayer was taken for granted at that time. Paul saw the vision that in Christ, they may all become one. He saw the vision of equal partnership, men and women who are equal partners.

In the last scripture passage I’d like to look at is from the Old Testament, Genesis. That was also the vision of writer of Genesis. The Genesis writer thought that this vision was in God’s heart when he created this world. When Eve was created, Adam finally cried out, “This at last is born of my bones and flesh of my flesh.” Complete oneness Adam experienced. There is no division. There is no hierarchy. “Your bone of my bones, flesh of my flesh.” Right from the beginning of creation, God had this vision. That was the order of creation. That’s what God wanted right from the first place, that all become one. So, being one is mandated by the Bible. Being one is a beautiful vision.

But it is a radical vision. It is a dangerous vision. Many people got killed because of that vision. Jesus was killed, St Paul was killed, and in modern days, so many people got killed because they preached the message of oneness. Martin Luther King, Jr. was killed. It’s a dangerous vision. Especially in the world, there are people who are mostly interested in dominating, conquering, and controlling. That vision is a very dangerous vision. To them, being one is making others under their power, whether it’s a religious power, political power, financial power or gender power, whatever that is, to them, being one is making others under their power and their control. The only way they know about achieving oneness is by conquering the weaker ones.

Jesus’ idea of oneness was very, very different. Jesus emptied himself to be one with us. Jesus was completely stripped of his power on the cross to make all of us one with God and one with each other. Paul’s idea of oneness was a challenge to the Roman and Jewish system where the free control, the slave Jews and gentiles did not associate with each other, and men dominated women. So Paul’s message of oneness was a challenge to that establishment of that system. American people said loud and clear through this election, we don’t want establishment anymore. We are sick and tired of establishment having all the power. I think Bernie Sanders saw it right when he said after the election result that Donald Trump tapped into the anger of a declining middle class that is sick and tired of establishment, economics, establishment politics, and establishment media. When the top 10th of one percent owns almost as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent, and when 99 percent of all new income goes to the top one percent, it is impossible to be one. Establishment rules dictates and dominates, and so American people did not like that. But there is an evil that we need to name though. Donald Trump. Any speech he used had anti-establishment sentiments, but his speeches also echoed the racist and sexist sentiment in America. If a woman has to submit to a man to be one, then that is not true oneness. To be one, we need to understand the power we have, and we should share that power with others.

St. Paul said “The gentiles do not have to follow the way of the Jewish life to be one with them.” So St. Paul said, “Don’t be circumcised. You don’t need to keep the dietary rule. You can never be one by keeping the law. Only in Christ you can be one.” Radical message. We are all equal partners in Christ. Today is Women’s Sunday. The reason we have Women’s Sunday is because women’s leadership has not been very well recognized. Even though we are equal partners, often women’s ministry was limited to a certain area. We have to recognize the gifts of the people regardless of the gender in order to serve. We have to recognize the faith of a person rather than the gender of a person in order to recognize them as leaders of the church. There is no hierarchy between men and women. When Adam said, “Alas you are born on my bones and flesh of my flesh,” there no hierarchy, only complete oneness. We believe that we are one in Christ.

Paul received tremendous persecution, as we studied in Galatians. He received tremendous persecution from the establishment, from the Roman system and from the Jewish system. From both sides, he received tremendous persecution and ultimately killed because he saw a wonderful vision in Christ. In Christ, everyone is equal. Everyone is worthy and precious. How could you dare or ever say 2000 years ago, that in Christ, there is no room for the power to control, conquer, and dominate. In Christ, we submit to each other in love and respect. That is the gospel. That is the gospel. Jesus prayed for that. If we believe that, then we have to work on that instead of following the pattern of the world, where the powerful subjugates the weak. That is not the message that we believe in. Paul’s message was very much an anti-establishment message, but his message was also a radical message overcoming the racial, sexual, and class boundaries. When only recently the slavery was abolished, but Paul said there is no longer slaves or the free. When only 50 years ago – this year is the 50th anniversary of women’s ordination – when only 50 years ago, the Presbyterian church in Canada passed the woman ordination, but Paul said there is no longer male and female. Where did he get that idea? Where did he get that idea of equality? Two thousand years ago? I believe there’s a spirit. I believe this God who gave that idea.

On Thursday, I met two relatively young people and we stayed until 10:30/11, I’m not sure, talking about this world and about life, about faith, about being a Christian. They needed to let out and sought and understand this world after the shocking result of the US election. One person is in finance. So I asked him, “How are you doing? How’s your field in finance doing?” And he said, “Reverend, I’m scared. I’m scared not for my job. I’m not scared for the finances. I’m scared for humanity.” And we were talking about being a Christian. Being a Christian is not about having power, but about sharing the power. You can say that Jesus had the most powerful power. He had the divine power, and yet he gave all that up and died on the cross. Powerlessly. What is the message? Power can never make us one. Power can never make the humanity one. Only when we start sharing the power we have with the powerless in love, we can be one. Yes, there is a life of power, but there is also a life of love. And the life of love is a life Jesus preached, Paul preached. I hope that we hear the message loud and clear – what we need to do with our lives.

The post We Are All One appeared first on St Timothy Presbyterian Church.

Scripture Reading

John 3: 8

{Transcript}

Let us hear the word, the word is taken from John 3:8. “The wind blows where he chooses and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes to. So it is with everyone who’s born of the spirit.” Just meditate on this. It’s a beautiful passage. I love this verse in the Bible. It is poetic and very powerful. It has a very powerful message about life. And I like to see my life in this way too, you know, we’re not just flesh and bone. We have the spirit. We are born of the spirit. That’s what Jesus is saying. You’re not born of just flesh and bones. You are born of the spirit. And Christians are those who recognize that we are born of the spirit and they call it born again, but that simply means born of the spirit, recognize that you are born of the spirit. You’re not just a body. You have the spirit. And Jesus describes what it looks like to live as a person who is born of the spirit. And he visually uses wind as an example to describe what that life is like. It is very interesting that he used the wind, the word wind, because the word in Hebrew is ruah, ruah can also mean the spirit. So the same word ruah can be both the wind or spirit. So Jesus is talking about the person’s life of the spirit, like the wind. And he describes that. So you hear the sound of it, but you don’t know where he comes from. And where it goes to, and the wind chooses as it wills. So the wind blows. I mean, here the word that comes to my mind is you do not know that particular passage. You do not know, so as a person who’s born of the spirit, you don’t know everything. You recognize that you do not know.

I mean, it’s a very counter cultural message. We’re living in a culture where knowledge is very highly valued. Modern people love knowledge. They love to know. Look at the Google. I mean, the reason they’re so successful is because they can quench the thirst of people’s desire to know. So Google is growing. I mean you punch in a few words or a few phrases. A whole knowledge thing comes down, most likely in one page, the first page you can find what you want. If you put the right words into it. There’s a Korean drama called K2 and in K2 there’s a cloud nine. In the cloud nine, there is a special room when you go in there. Not everybody can go in, only a person who has a special privilege can go in and then there’s a special room inside which is covered by windows. And then within it, people are talking outside. You cannot hear them. And then there in the room, you just ask any question and the answers come with all the description and pictures and everything. But that place is a controlling center. From there, all kinds of conspiracy, all kinds of things are happening. You know modern people are obsessed with knowledge, not to use knowledge for the benefit of humanity necessarily. More often, this knowledge is used to dominate control, to subdue others. That’s why they want knowledge so much. Having knowledge is having control. You have to know exactly what’s going on in your life. Otherwise you will lose control of your life, so you want to know, so that you can control your life, and I realized that is an attribute of human beings right, from the beginning. When you look at Genesis, the first sin the human beings made, committed was the desire to know, and satan used that desire to know, in other words, for them, the desire to know is the desire to control. This is what satan said to the first human being, you will not die, for God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God knowing good and evil, so then knowledge and knowing is to take control over their lives on their own. I think modern world has maximized the desire of the first human being to the extreme, the modern world, nurtures the mind, but not the spirit. The mind without the spirit. I think it’s very dangerous. It’s like knowledge without love. When you have lot’s of knowledge without love, you know what that will do? It’s very scary. You give so much knowledge to the person who has no love? You don’t know what that person may do with that knowledge, and when I look at modern world it’s like this, we keep nurturing mind, the knowledge, knowledge, knowledge, but we don’t nurture, love, compassion, mercy, these things we don’t nurture. Then what will humanity become?

You know, if they’re ignorant, that’s okay, but if they are so smart, so knowledgeable, and yet they don’t have love, that kind of world is a very scary world to me. You know, I thank God that God is hidden to those who have a desire to rule, control and dominate. If you have that desire to rule, control and dominate, you can never know God. God is hidden to you. Conceptually you know God, but deep inside you can never know God. If you have so much desire to control over your life, you can never know God. You cannot experience God in that way because God hides himself to those who have this desire to control, dominate and rule. Thomas Aquinas, saw it right when he said, “the extreme of human knowledge of God is to know that we do not know God.” That’s the extreme human knowledge of God. The only way for you to truly know God and experienced God is to give up your desire to rule, control and dominate, but come to the light with desire to love and serve. Then you will know God.

Otherwise, you can never know God. That’s why I feel that in the modern world, the problem is people don’t know God. We don’t know God. We know God only by name. We don’t truly experience God. We don’t know God because we have so much desire to control over our lives. In that way, we can never know God. You know, as I look back, I had a few turning points in my life that has shaped my life and made a big change in direction. Those turning points were like moments that I saw light in a way, and that changed the course of my life and I don’t think I made those turning points. I don’t think it was just purely my intellectual decision to live my life in a certain way. I think there was something in my heart at that time that led me to make that decision and that something in the heart, I call it a revelation, it is only to me, not to anybody else. It spoke to me personally. It was revealed to me. So it’s not something I decided, but there’s something else outside that planted that thought. And in my heart, I do believe that you will have that too in your life. At that time, I didn’t know where my decision would lead me at that time, but when I look back, God used that, miraculously to shape my life and to lead my life. It is wonderful when you look back at your life in that way, oh, those turning points really shaped my life. And you realize there’s something more than your intellectual understanding. There is something more powerful that unravels your life. There’s something more powerful that unfolds your life. So I do believe that life gets unfolded. Life is not something that you make decisions. Life gets unfolded as you live your lives. As you listen to your heart very carefully, God has put something in that heart and when you are able to read that, then life gets unfolded and then you realize the mystery of life. Wow, that’s wonderful. Even now I don’t know what’s waiting for me, ahead of me, tomorrow or next year or I don’t know how many years, but I don’t know what’s ahead of me, but I have confidence that it’s going to be all right because I have experienced the last almost 60 years and then I think I’ll be all right. God will guide me. So I don’t have much fear in that way. I have confidence in that because I know I have confidence because I believe.

So even now, you have to learn to hear what’s in your heart. If you don’t, if you’re not able to hear us in your heart, you can never be led by God. God wants to lead you. God wants to guide you, don’t ignore what God put in your heart, and sometimes we don’t know life and that’s all right even though we don’t know life, but we need to hear what’s in our heart and then that mystery will be unfolded as you live your lives. And then that’s freedom that you experience. Another phrase that comes to my mind is the wind blows where it chooses, the wind blows where it chooses. I don’t know exactly where the wind will blow. I don’t know where it comes from or where it goes to, but I do know that the wind chooses its own course. And I realized that God chooses his own way. And I have trust in God’s choice. I’m thankful that it’s not my choice. It is God’s choice and God will decide where to blow. Just because I don’t know what the wind does, that does not mean that the wind will stop blowing, on the surface. It may look like nothing is going on, but underneath, the wind continuously blows wherever it chooses. That is how God works. God moves where God chooses. You know often we get discouraged because of the outcome of our life, and often we get bothered by the uncertainties of the future. Often we get tired and drained because of the endless challenges, and often we are let down by our own shortcomings and failures. In spite of all that God moves where God chooses. That’s wonderful news. That’s the good news, in spite of my shortcomings. In spite of the outcome so far, God chooses where He will move. When I look at the world around me these days, I get quite discouraged. All the things that are going on. How many children must die for people to truly recognize the cruelty of war and the cruelty of human greed? How long? How many people have to die for humanity to recognize that we need to reconcile, we need to live in harmony. We need to love each other. How many people have to die for us to recognize that? Ezekiel, old prophet, long time ago he cried out like this, “mortal, you’re living in the midst of a rebellious house who have eyes to see but do not see with ears to hear, but do not hear.”

I believe that Bob Dylan was inspired by this passage, Bob Dylan is a singer. One of my favorite singers who just got Nobel prize when he got the nobel prize, all day I listened to Bob Dylan. From the morning until the evening, you know he was a Jew, who was born Jew, but later he became a Christian. And he has a lot of biblical image and his songs reflect a lot of his biblical image. And then I wish that we had people like Bob Dylan in our congregation. Why don’t you guys write some songs, beautiful songs. You can do that. And that’s what I like to do in our church, I like to sing songs that we ourselves have made because that reflects our culture, our religion, our spirituality. You have a spiritual sensitivity. I hope that you have some confidence and start writing songs. And so every Sunday we can sing that song. And when Bob Dylan when he was 21 years old, only 21 years, you know, he’s saying this song. “Yes. And how many times must the cannon balls fly before they are forever banned? Yes. And how many times can a men turn his head and pretend that he just does not see? Yes. And how many years must one man have before he can hear people cry. The answer, my friend is blowing in the wind. The answer is blowing in the wind.” You know, when that song first came out, people asked him about the meaning of the song. And this was what Bob Dylan said. There ain’t too much I can say about this song except that the answer is blowing in the wind it ain’t in no book or movie or TV show or discussion group, man it’s in the wind and it’s blowing in the wind.

We have many questions. We don’t have answers, but the wind blows where it chooses. And the answer is blowing in the wind, and that wind is God, ruah. God chooses where it blows. What you need to do is to surrender your life to God and let God lead you that is life, born of the spirit, a revolutionary message. Life born of the spirit is like life in the wind, not a structured life like a modern corporate life. Life in the wind and the wind will blow where it chooses, and you follow and fly with the wind. I hope that you become free to be able to fly with the wind. Have courage, you’ll be all right.

The post Wind, Spirit and New Life appeared first on St Timothy Presbyterian Church.