Sermon(Ps 35): a life of good grain

The original Korean text: https://blog.naver.com/stevision/50025256625

 

 

 

Scripture reading: Ps 35

 

>> 1 Contend, O Lord, with those who contend with me; fight against those who fight against me! ... 5 Let them be like chaff before the wind, with the angel of the Lord driving them on! ... 7 For without cause they hid their net for me; without cause they dug a pit for my life. 8 Let ruin come upon them unawares! And let the net which they hid ensnare them; let them fall therein to ruin! ... 12 They requite me evil for good; my soul is forlorn. 13 But I, when they were sick, I wore sackcloth, I afflicted myself with fasting. I prayed with head bowed on my bosom, 14 as though I grieved for my friend or my brother; I went about as one who laments his nother, bowed down and in mourning. .... 24 Vindicate me, O Lord, my God, according to thy righteousness; and let them not rejoice over me! ... 26 Let them be put to shame and confusion altogether who rejoice at my calamity! Let them be clothed with shame and dishonor who magnify themselves against me! ... <<

 

A few years ago, a daughter of the chairman of a large company committed suicide in the U.S.A. She was good-looking, graduated from a good university, and had about 100 billion won (about $100 million) that she had received from her father. This woman, who seemed to have all, ended her life. According to rumors, it was because of her father's opposition to her relationship with boyfriend. Though she was pretty and well educated, she probably committed suicide because she didn't fill herself with beautiful things, but let her heart be empty, I think. Recently, a Christian actress killed herself. She was beautiful and loved by many fans, but this woman also committed suicide because she didn't fill herself with beautiful things, but maybe felt the vanity of her life.

 

Christians never feel the emptiness of heart when God dwells in them, even though they have nothing good in the world. Those who are poor or crippled can live in joy and satisfaction if they live in God. My brethren, no matter how poor you are, no matter how unhealthy you are, never complain about your life and condition. Happiness and pleasure are not automatically given you just because you are rich, healthy and pretty. Of course, today it is true that the beautiful face and the good shape of a woman have a big influence on her life, but it is not a crucial factor of her happiness. A woman who has a pretty face but likes to fight like a hungry lioness can never be loved and live a happy life. I'm happy when God living in me is my all, when he is my precious jewel, and when he comes to me and says, "I love you." “Your are a people holy to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, out of all the peoples that are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love upon you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples. (Deut 7:6-7)” The less you have money, worldly strong points and worldly means of help, the more God has delight in you and loves you. As long as you are the object of God's love, you are the one who wants for nothing (Ps 23: 1). “Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? (Mt 6:26)”

 

There are people like chaff in the world. “Let them be like chaff before the wind. (v. 5)” Chaff is the husks of grains. The chaff is the empty heads of grains that failed to ripen. Who is like the chaff? Those who have lost all of God's image, such as righteousness and holiness in himself, are like chaff. Chafflike people are those who have lost all precious things that were in themselves, who fill themselves not with beautiful things but with all kinds of mean things to capacity. Chafflike men like to contend with, fight against the righteous (v. 1), to pursue the righteous to do them harm (v. 3), even to kill the righteous (v. 4), to dig pits and set traps for the righteous (v. 7), to despoil the weak and the needy (v. 10), to slander others, telling of false facts (v. 11), to requite good with evil (v. 12), to betray, abhor and hate even close friends (v.13 - v.16), to be pleased to see friends' misfortune (v. 15), to love lying (v. 20). Those people had God depart from their mind long ago, sold good conscience for money, pleasure and honor, welcomed the Devil with open heart, and filled up their soul with dirty thoughts. These people dislike the good, the light, and the God and the righteous. These people like the evil things and the wicked men as their brothers. And the reason why they repay good with evil is that it is a little difficult for them to do evil if they repay good with good and become friends with the righteous. Doing good is not to their taste. And if they should do good, they must sacrifice themselves. But how can the heads of the wicked men order them to sacrifice themselves? And those men were cursed and have lost the ability to do good already. How can a man, who has to steal and cheat in order not to skip today's meal, help others with his money or repay others' favor with good or do good? This man has to sell (betray) even him, who has done good to him, in order that he may get some bread of several days. You are seeing the depth of his curse! This is the life of someone like chaff. Even before men of such kind are thrown into the fire, they suffer in the flame. Their hearts suffer in the flames of anger, jealousy, hatred, envy and malice. For the righteous to succeed and to be head in the world is like the oil poured into their burning soul. Such men disappear from the earth when the wind blows once.

 

 

Brethren, please do not empty your mind nor fill it with bad things, but fill it with only precious, beautiful and holy treasures. God is the treasure! David is one whose mind is full of God. “O Lord, my God! (v. 24)” David loved God. “Cast me not away from thy presence, and take not thy holy Sprit from me. (Ps 51:11)” David's greatest fear in the world was the severance from God. David risked his life to keep God's glory and offered many treasures to build the temple of God. David was the one who loved God more than the world and his wealth. We can live a life of solid grain if we call God to our hearts. He will be my righteousness and holiness. God's love will bear fruits in me, because I am the object of God's love. The fruits of God's love and mercy are born in me for I am the object of God's love and mercy. When I see the fruits of God's love and mercy that are produced in me, the true joy makes me ecstatic. “My soul shall rejoice in the Lord, exulting in his deliverance. (v. 9)” The fruits of God's power and justice are born in me, because God loves me, so he protects me from the attacks of the wicked and unrighteous, and gives me victory. “Draw the spear and javelin against my pursuers! Say to my soul, "I am your deliverance!" Let them be put to shame and dishonor who seek after my life! Let them be turned back and confounded who devise evil against me! (v. 3-4)” As parents wash their children's dirty bodies and clothe them with fine, clean clothes, God forgives us his children our sins and fills us with all valuable things. If we love God like David, we become attached to God and bear automatically sweet and fragrant fruits like a vine. Just as the crops are exposed to the sunlight and the grains become solider and solider day by day, so if we are looking to God every day, our life becomes better and better.

 

If we live with God as our God, the emptiness disappears. God becomes my truth, good and beauty, in me. The fruit that I must bear myself is the life that fears God. He who fears God is the good grain (fruit). The life fearing God is the good and beautiful fruit in the eyes of yourself, of others and of God. David feared God all his life. He who lives a life of good grain lives in keeping the commandments of God. He obeys God's word that he should love his neighbor as himself. “... as though I grieved for my friend or my brother; I went about as one who laments his mother, bowed down and in mourning. (v. 14)” David deeply mourned his friend's misfortune. So David was the one who sincerely wanted his friend to be happy. A true good grain is he who is sad at neighbor's misfortune and really glad at neighbor's happiness. However, strangely, when someone suffers from misfortune, another is comforted by that. Everyone is living so hard a life that he seems to be strangely comforted by the misfortunes of others. But David said that when misfortune befell another man, he mourned as one who laments his mother. God cautions us not to be pleased to see a man being punished by God. So what will happen to you if you are delighted when misfortune befalls a righteous man? Therefore I must not be inwardly pleased with other people's misfortune even for my own sake. It is also a terrible disease to feel bad about a man who has been blessed by God and succeeded greatly. You must rejoice with those who have been blessed by God and succeeded greatly without sins. The good grain is the man who keeps away the sins of the chaff. The sins of the chaff mentioned above decompose the grain. What will you do with the half-rotten grain? You must remove the rotten part without hesitancy so that you can get some useful part. David was eager to remain innocent before God. In order to blow the chaff from him, David sometimes repented his sins, his tears making his bed wet. I will be a righteous fruit without blemish when I blow away all my sins, a heap of the chaff in me. In verse 27, David says of 'my righteousness (in Korean version of the text)'. A man who is like a good grain not only keeps his own righteousness, but also guides others to a righteous life and rejoices in their righteous life. A thief looks up to the stealing experts and has delight in them while a man like a good grain has delight in the righteous. The good grain is he who uses his tongue righteously (v. 28). The fruit of the tongue is to exalt God and to praise him.

 

God says to us, his children. “I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse those who curse you. Your friends will be blessed through you.” Today, Psalm 35, verse 1 says, "Contend, O Lord, with those who contend with me; fight against those who fight against me!" When someone curses us, we worry and are depressed, thinking that God may have passed judgement on us through his mouth. Therefore, he who speaks the curse indiscreetly is guilty of great sin against God. So God strictly forbids careless curses, and lets the curses come upon those who have spoken those curses. on the contrary, if you give a word of blessing to those who fear God, they are greatly strengthened and encouraged. Sometimes beautiful words of blessing give the assurance of victory to the righteous who are being attacked by the Devil. Sometimes a verse of Bible that comes out of the radio gives me great strength and I hear God's voice in the hymns sung by others. Like this, the words of blessing upon the children of God are of great benefit to them, so God blesses those who bless others gladly. only he who takes delight in others' happiness as his own happiness can bless others, so God blesses him because of his beautiful heart. God is the Lord of those who live as the good grains. Therefore if you hate and attack a person who is living a good grain-life, you will be hated and attacked by God. The result is your terrible defeat.

 

Fill your mind with the God. May you become a righteous grain in the sight of God to be protected and loved by God, and live a victorious life.

 

Chong Tack Kim

 

                           - Dongtoma Sunshine Church -