Sermon(Deut 14:2-8): Holy life

The original Korean text: https://blog.naver.com/stevision/50025251702

 

 

>> 2 For your are a people holy to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, out of all the peoples that are on the face of the earth. 3 You shall not eat any abominable thing. 4 These are the animals you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat, 5 the hart, the gazelle, the roebuck, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope, and the mountain sheep. 6 Every animal that parts the hoof and has the hoof cloven in two, and chews the cud, among the animals, you may eat. 7 Yet of those that chew the cud or have the hoof cloven you shall not eat these: The camel, the hare, and the rock badger, because they chew the cud but do not part the hoof, are unclean for you. 8 And the swine, because it parts the hoof but does not chew the cud, is unclean for you. Their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall not touch. (Deut 14:2-8) <<

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Let's say you have a man of character as your neighbor, who is well-mannered, sometimes brings delicious food to you, and offers a lot of congratulatory money on your son's wedding day. Then all his family and even his lovely pets will look friendly and lovely to you. on the contrary, if he is a man of bad personality, who does gossip behind your back, offers no congratulatory money but consumes much food in your son's wedding, and borrows some money and forgets to pay back. Then you'll hate even his dog.

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In v. 2, Israel is called the holy people of the Lord. The people of those days thought that each country had its spiritual being, that is, a god or an angel, who ruled the country behind the scenes. Israelites thought the spiritual beings of other countries to be the demons or their subordinates. on the contrary, they thought that the God had chosen Israel as his possession and protected Israel. Of course, Israelites didn't think the gods of other countries were living gods. Israelites thought the gods of the Gentiles to be vain idols. Even so, since Israelites believed in the existence of God, angels and demons, they must have thought that there might be demons behind the peoples of other countries who were against God and Israel. Anyway, Israelites thought themselves to be the holy people of God, his own possession; and God himself had chosen Israel as his possession. This is an obvious fact.

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And God stipulated many religious taboos, saying, "You (Israelites) must be holy because I (the God) am holy, and you are my people." Israelites who should be holy before God must not contact things that are declared to be unclean by God. If you touch an unclean thing, the uncleanness is transmitted to you, and you can't worship God until you are cleansed from the uncleanness. But uncleanness defined by God had ulterior meanings. There are dirty things in the world such as feces and urine that are dirty in themselves. Bible says that some people are unclean themselves. There was a profound meaning here, too. For example, dirty diseases such as leprosy and skin diseases are spread by contact with other people, so God declares the patients of such diseases unclean and secludes them from other people lest the diseases spread. And there are other cases. If a woman is on her menstrual period or gives birth, God prescribes that she be unclean for a certain period of time. As a result she is exempted from all religious obligations. Because menstruation and childbirth are heavy burden for women. In addition, if a man approaches a woman during her menstruation or for a certain period of time after childbirth, it can be a serious threat to her health, therefore the Bible stipulated such a woman to be religiously unclean, thereby preventing her from contacting with a man.

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By the way, in the biblical text today, God declared some animals unclean, and forbade Israelites to eat them. Why did God declare unclean the animals that were healthy and without any diseases? Because God wanted to keep Israelites from contacting with the neighboring countries as much as possible and to keep their religious life as clean as possible. God declares that the oxen and sheep that the Israelites breed are clean. But he declares that animals such as pigs, camels, and rabbits are unclean. Then what would be the results? The Gentiles outside Israel will not regard such animals as unclean, so they will eat such animals pleasantly. Thereby God didn't allow Israelites to sit at the table of the Gentiles and to eat together. This is the result. If Israelites frequently take part in Gentiles' meal, they will become accustomed to the customs of the Gentiles, and such gentile customs will make Israelites religiously very unclean. Therefore the reason why God defined some animals as unclean was that he wanted to keep Israelites from the Gentiles who ate the meat of such animals. If Israelites do not eat the meat of unclean animals as the law of God commands, they will not be stained by the Gentiles' dirty practices, and will naturally remain a holy people of God.

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Therefore the lessons today's biblical text gives us are as follows. First, Christians should not take dirty things. My brethren, keep away from drugs. Do not drink hard liquor. Keep away from dirty money. Do not commit adultery. Do not read obscene writings. Keep away from pornography. Do not utter dirty words. Do not make dirty actions. Those are abominations to God. We are people of God if we do what God thinks to be good and what God likes and delights in. God will rejoice in you if you are true, sincere, clean, refined, virtuous, and exemplary. Avoid obscene clothing and obscene makeup, and be clothed as befits the people of God. There are psychopaths who commit unmentionable dirty sins. The very dirty and bad people are homosexuals who taste pleasure by inserting the holy penis that generates the life into other's body through anus. They are mentally deranged persons who insult and trample down the life. only those who are thoroughly cursed can enjoy homosex. They are wicked people who challenge God's authority by such dirty deeds. Christians should never associate with such dirty and evil people. (If you are with homosexuals, the Holy Spirit will leave you. And the moment homosexuals enter the church, the Holy Spirit leaves the church. Some evil homosexuals defile normal women and even beget children by the penises which they have inserted into the assholes of other gays. Some wicked homosexuals who defy God's stern command, defame their parents, defile their bodies and destroy the life of others are claiming their human rights. Their abominable tongues must be cut off with sharp knives and their presumptuous mouths must be crushed with baseball bats. They are human animals that refuse to be humans. The hottest place in the hell will be their abode forever! I as a servant of God curse all homosexuals, some of whom are the main vectors of AIDS, with all my heart, strength and soul.)

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Christians should not make friends with those who live a dirty life. Do not become friends with adulterers or adulteresses. Do not become friends with homosexuals. Do not become friends with gangsters. Do not become friends with impostors. As long as you keep close contact with such filthy people, the Holy Spirit will depart from you, and the filthy spirits that dwell in such filthy humans will make your mind a mess. Please be acquainted with those who fear God and are loved by God. You have gained a thousand strong warriors and ten thousand strong weapons if you have two friends who can pray for you every day. You, too, must be holy and become a good coworker of other believers. If you live a righteous and just life and pray earnestly for other Christians, your prayer for them will easily be answered. And the prayer will work for yourself, too. It will hasten the answer of God to your own problems.

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Not all that are allowed to us are good for us. In the biblical text today, God declares some animals neutral in value to be unclean, so that he may, thanks to them, prevent Israel from being defiled. We have a lesson from this. We Christians must avoid even things that are neutral to Christianity if they consequently give negative influence to the holy life of Christians. Drinking alcohol is dangerous because it could lead us to adultery, cause us to squander money and give us many problems. Of course the Korean Protestantism strictly prohibits drinking. We Christians must live prudently and be thoughtful in everything. 'If I do this, will it keep my holiness and God's glory?' It is allowed by the law of ROK and, in principle, by the Bible for a clergyman to engage in political activities. But can it keep his holiness and help the church and glorify the Lord? He has to think deeply. Would the saints be moved by the sermons of those who, tainted with the dirt in politics, are preaching in the worship of God? It's really a value-neutral act for anyone to have his hair cut. However, for example, if several pastors shave their heads like Buddhist monks in protest against government policy, can it keep their holiness as Christian clergymen?

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Cleanness is holiness, and holiness requires responsibility. The unclean animals in the biblical text live in complete freedom. Such unclean animals don't have to fear that they are hunted and eaten by Israelites. In fact, such animals do not care whether humans regard them as unclean animals. Rather it is a better situation for them that Israelites do not kill and eat them (because they are unclean). But the animals declared clean by God should be eaten by humans. They could be sacrifice to God, too. The clean and holy could lose the freedom of conduct and be sacrifice in the kingdom of God. But the unclean can live as they want and do not have to sacrifice themselves to God and for others. My brethren, your cleanness and holiness is a great honor for you, but such honor places heavy obligations on you. When I am clean and holy, I am a son or a daughter of God. At the same time I am obliged to live in obedience to the commands of God. As far as I am a holy child of God, I must live only for the glory of God. When God declares that we are holy, we must be sacrifice to him. If a husband says to his wife, "You are a clean and virtuous woman to me," she must respect him and sometimes should sacrifice herself for him. Jesus, the holiest man in the world, became the most precious redemptive sacrifice for the sin. My brethren, are you known as a clean man to the people? Then you should be beneficial to others. Do you hear from God that you are clean and holy? Be a clean sacrifice to God. only the clean does God value high, and only them does he use. Cleanness and holiness lay somewhat heavy burden on us and restrict our freedom, but the most valuable creature in the world is he who is clean and holy before God. The holy one has true freedom in God. The unholy one has freedom in Devil. The holy one gives himself to God and makes him his Father. So he becomes the heir of the kingdom of God. The unclean one is rejected by God and is cast into the throat of Devil. Get the trash to the wastebasket, and the unclean one, to the stomach of Devil!

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If you see how pigs live, you can conclude: Even if they had chewed the cud they would never have been regarded as clean animals by God. My brethren, you can never become a holy one if you live like a pig, however noble your thoughts may be. Even if those who enjoy drugs, homosex and spouse-swapping advocate >human rights and freedom<, they are but human pigs covered with shit and making animal noise.

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My brethren, the standard of holiness is God. only those whom God acknowledges to be clean and holy are clean and holy. only the holy ones can go to heaven. If we endure a little bit of hardship to keep our holiness on earth, we become God's children and will live in glory in heaven forever. The ticket to heaven is 'Holiness'.

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May the Holy Spirit make you holy. And God bless you so much.

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Chong Tack Kim

                                   - Dongtoma Sunshine Church -

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