Sermon(Mt 22:15-22): What is sin?

The original Korean text: https://blog.naver.com/stevision/50025252324

 

>> 15 Then the Pharisees went and took counsel how to entangle him in his talk. 16 And they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are true, and teach the way of God truthfully, and care for no man; for you do not regard the position of men. 17 Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” 18 But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? 19 Show me the money for the tax.” And they brought him a coin. 20 And Jesus said to them “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” 21 They said, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” ... (Mt 22:15-22) <<

) --> 

On last Sunday evening, I was so sad and disappointed to hear a sermon by a pastor on FEBC, an evangelical radio station. He said in the sermon that real estate speculation and real estate investment are different, and that the government's attempt to prevent real estate speculation even prevents real estate investment so that the people are suffering. Of course, he added other criticism against the government. A pastor should be humble. In particular, he should not, on the authority of pastor, publicly announce his private thoughts in the sermon as if they were the words of God. The pastor has criticized the government many times in his sermons, so I've been afraid that his sermons should hurt the faith of the saints. And he made such a political sermon again last Sunday, so I got so angry about him. I was angry for no other reason than that I, frankly speaking, couldn't but doubt his (the pastor's) personality, thoughts and intelligence as a pastor, for he said, citing an example of the USA in his sermon, that the government's real estate policy was wrong, when the people supported the policy, and above all, many people had much suffered because of the vicious real estate speculators.

) --> 

A pastor is a man who should rebuke sins. If he is a pastor, he should have known that both real estate investment and real estate speculation are a serious sin and theft. The pastor should have known that such speculation is unearned income, which is nothing but robbery. Even lay believers including jibsas (deacons), gwonsas (exhorters) and janglos (elders) have such judgment. 'What blind spiritual eyes he has that he preaches such a sermon!' I was very sad. I didn't want to hear the pastor's sermon anymore, so I turned off the radio.

) --> 

Of course, there is a kind of real estate investment. But there is an evil mind in it that I will take another's money for nothing. If you buy a piece of land without a plan to cultivate crops, and sell it to get profit higher than inflation, you can't say you are innocent. (Real estate investment and real estate speculation raise the prices of land or buildings higher and higher, so they depress the desire of the poor to work, kill their hope, and erect tall barriers against them so that they can't enter a rich life. What else is this than a serious sin?) Stock investment, on the other hand, provides companies with funds for the production of goods, so it can be encouraged unless it seeks after profit by stock manipulation. Such investment is different from real estate investment. The pastor who criticized the government that had strived to put out the conflagration of real estate speculation must deeply reflect on himself and develop normal spiritual insight. Above all, he should point out and criticize only the sins of the government from the biblical perspective, for the congregation consists of pros and cons of the government. Otherwise, if he slanders the government on the basis of his own thoughts and ideas, he will provoke pro-government believers, so that they will distrust him. That should not happen.

) --> 

What is sin? Are you a sinner if you live in a communist country? Many of the Roman emperors were heinous sinners. Then were you a sinner if you lived in the Roman Empire at that time? Is it a sin to pay taxes to such an empire? Are you a sinner if you join the army or donate blood or make oath, as some heretical sect says? Is it an unconditional sin to kill any lives as Buddhists believe? Is it a sin to drink alcohol? It may be childish words, but are all of those who support the government sinners because the government is a close friend of the North Korea, the enemy of God? It may sound a little extreme, but is it a sin to serve as a civil servant in a communist regime that denies God? Can such a civil servant go to heaven if he, thinking the rations given by the regime are dirty, throw them away and graze grass like cows? Today as well as in the past, there are Christians in the two camps of two countries at war. So, must Christians of both camps go to hell because they are murderers of Christians?

) --> 

Sin is to hate God and man. Sin is to destroy one's holiness. Sin is to transgress the commandments of God in the Bible. However, sin is judged based on willfulness and responsibility. Of course, lack of intention does not exempt you from all responsibility for your sins. Therefore, if you become a communist thinker and establish a communist state, you are a sinner. But if you were born in a communist state irrespective of your will, you are not a sinner. God made you born there, so he is thought to be responsible for that; but it's nonsense. And as Paul said (Rom 13), every state power is an institution established by God for social stability, so all Christians must respect political power over them. What we should know is that it is a sin of the obstruction of governance to criticize the government unjustly. We may criticize the government when it does wrong, but we are committing a manifest sin if we criticize the government when it does good.

) --> 

What sin? The sin of disobedience to Jesus. Jesus clearly said, "Give Caesar's to Caesar, God's to God." What should we offer to God? We must offer God thanks, praises, service, and offertories including tithe, because God loves us and is our Lord. Jesus says that we must pay the government what we must pay to it, just as we must offer God what we ought to offer God. We should thank government officials and give them honor due to their position. We have to pay respect to them. If the nation wants, we must offer the nation physical and mental services, including military service. We have to pay taxes to the nation. To refuse this is to refuse Jesus' command, which is a sin. It is a grave sin to slander God. We must not give God complaints and slanders. The same holds true concerning the nation. You must not give the nation reckless complaints, slanders, and criticism. It is a sin not to give what you must give. Also it is a sin to give what you must not give. Am I wrong? We should note that Jesus and Paul do not tell us to obey only certain forms of government. Seen from the perspective of religion, the Roman Empire was the kingdom of Devil and Caesar was the agent of Devil in the days of Jesus and Paul. Nevertheless, those days, Christians didn't rashly criticize authorities over them but prayed for them. My brethren, please remember that Christians are guilty of ignoring Jesus' commands if they unfairly slander the government and its officials not based on the Bible but by their own subjective judgments. Please, you believers, especially ministers, do not act rashly!

) --> 

only pastors' belongs to the pastors." Jesus says this to the pastors in Korea today. Pastors should teach politicians, businessmen, legal professionals, and educators by God's word. It is a sin for a pastor to become a politician, to get involved in the government, to make money by chiefly doing work of the world - a sin of making what is not his his. A pastor is a man in the desert like John the Baptist. The high priests were the servants of God who engaged in the real politics. They were corrupt along with the world and were not able to be the preachers of the word of God. Those who preach God's word are true pastors. Those who raise sheep are true pastors. You don't need the title of pastor to do other works. A pastor teaches, raises and preaches the gospel to the sheep of God. It is not good to have private greed for the holy occupation. A pastor must refrain from making political remarks not only in public but also in private. It is a sin of making what is not his his for a pastor to criticize the government presumptuously with his private thoughts in order to show off the superiority of the authority of Christianity over the secular nation without praying for the government and its officials. God has never handed the secular power itself over to the church, because he wants to use the secular power to punish the church and the clergy when they commit sins, and to use the church to rebuke the secular powers when they commit sins. The clergy need to read the Bible and to know how humble the servants of God were before king David. Be humble! The king was not a servant of prophets, but the prophets were the servants of the king. Of course, there were exceptions, but almost always it was a rule. The nation has the National Assembly that keeps check on the Administration, therefore pastors should neither be in the political arena nor say political words in the sermon. Usually pastors whose bellies are thick tend to show even greed for the secular power. I'm saying this because political sermons are harmful to the saints.

) --> 

It is a sin to make another's possession my possession. Thanks and praises belong to God, so to make them mine is a sin. The tithe is God's, so to make it mine is a sin. The holy power does not belong to the secular power, so it is a sin for the secular power to try to occupy the holy power. Likewise it is a sin for the holy power to try to occupy the secular power. It is a sin to take another's wife. It is a sin to steal another's things. It is a sin to harbor a deep affection for another's wife. Taxes are wages paid to the government by God, so it is a sin for a man to regard the money of the tax as his money and not to pay taxes. In this respect, a clergyman who endeavors to occupy the secular power is committing as bad a sin as a married man who strives to take another's wife, because he wants to take another's possession. Ethics and morals require us to grant another's possession to another, and love asks us to use even our possessions such as our money and time for the good of others. If you are a normal moral man, you cannot but give tithe, thanks, praises to God. If you love God, you can sacrifice yourself for God without the worldly success and prosperity. And you should not make gossip and slander against others, so it is a sin for you to do so. Complaints and murmurs must not be uttered to God, so it is a sin for you to make them.

) --> 

In the biblical text today, Jesus rebuked the Pharisees as hypocrites. They first praised Jesus to trap him. "Teacher (Jesus), we know that you are true, and teach the way of God truthfully, and care for no man; for you do not regard the position of men. (v. 16)" My brethren, do not love others' praise too much. You may gratefully accept the praise of a mature person, but do not keep the praise of a crooked man in your heart. Some people make compliments with some purpose, then betray. How abominable! So let's praise and encourage others as much as possible, but do not praise others so as to get something profitable. That's the height of hypocrisy. The Pharisees highly valued Jesus' religious character and then tried to oppose him to the Roman Empire that was the ruler of Israel then, to accuse him as a rebel, to remove him forever from the religious stage. They could enjoy a wonderful rich life and high esteem as religious leaders without any hindrance if Jesus disappeared.

) --> 

But Jesus was not a Judaist but the God who created heaven and earth. The Roman Empire was God's instrument to punish the corrupt Judaism at that time. Isn't it natural for Jesus to tell them to pay the emperor taxes? Hypocrites, regarding the worldly power as wicked, try to overthrow it, but those who do good win the prize given through the worldly power by God. Hypocrites try to drive out the worldly power in the name of God, not knowing that God established the worldly power to punish them. You stupid and greedy human beings! You hypocrites, do not have an eye on the worldly power! It's not yours, so you have to show interest not in it but only in the commandments God has given to you. And the worldly power will keep you from the wicked men. It is an aspect of corrupt religion to judge good and evil by such thing as taxes that must be paid. What on earth does the religion have to do with the tax? Hypocrites seek their own interests in the name of God. They kill the righteous in the name of God and give only themselves ways to live. They neither have believed in nor have experienced the grace of God. They frequently enact religious laws favorable only to them. Because they want to make the religion the means to fulfill their will. But the worldly power doesn't become severe hindrance to the religious life of God's people. My brethren, did Roman Empire and Roman law become hindrance to Jesus' activity? Did they become hindrance to Paul's ministry? No! It was diametrically opposite to the fact! Roman Empire and Roman law were essential means to do the work of God, for Jesus and Paul. In everything God works for good with those who love him (Rom 8:28).

) --> 

May you be satisfied in everything, be not proud, not presumptuously act, but humbly love God and man. May all of you be not hypocrites but believers seeking true piety and righteousness.

) --> 

Chong Tack Kim

                                  - Dongtoma Sunshine Church -

) -->