Sermon(Ps 37): Wish fulfillment

The original Korean text: https://blog.naver.com/stevision/50025286458

 

>> .... 3 Trust in the Lord, and do good; so you will dwell in the land, and enjoy security. 4 Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. 5 Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act. ... 7 Be still before the Lord, and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over him who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices! .... 11 But the meek shall possess the land, and delight themselves in abundant prosperity. .... 16 Better is a little that the righteous has than the abundance of many wicked. 17 For the arms of the wicked shall be broken; but the Lord upholds the righteous. 18 The Lord knows the days of the blameless, and their heritage will abide for ever; 19 they are not put to shame in evil times, in the days of famine they have abundance. ... 21 The wicked borrows, and cannot pay back, but the righteous is generous and gives; .... 24 though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong, for the Lord is the stay of his hand. 25 I have been young, and now am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging bread. .... (Ps 37) <<

 

The wicked are really miserable ones. The evil ones from whom the Holy Spirit keeps himself away have none to help them but themselves. The wicked are like weeds. "Fret not yourself because of the wicked, be not envious of wrongdoers! For they will soon fade like the grass, and wither like the green herb. (v. 1, 2)" My brethren, weeds are plants that grow fast in a good season, but are mowed or rooted up at once when they begin to hinder the growth of the other crops. The wicked are ones who are in high spirits for a while but then wither and die like grasses that were cut at the bottom. God hates the wicked. We should not be envious of the prosperity of the wicked. It is a love of the fruits of evil, so it should not be done by those who fear the righteous God. Actually, I never envy the heads of chaebol and their children who live like an emperor. I never envy some pastors, who live in wealth, power and honor like the medieval popes thanks to their greedy ministry, and their sons. Life is like grass. Moses, a man of God, lived healthy to 120 years, the maximum human age that God allowed. The only Psalm Moses wrote is Psalm 90. He said of the human life there. "Thou dost sweep men away; they are like a dream, like grass which is renewed in the morning. (Ps 90:5)" However rich and joyous life they may enjoy during their short life, the wicked people's pleasure is nothing but insignificance itself considering the eternal punishment. If a wicked man lives long enjoying worldly blessings, he is not to be envied but to be pitied. How much more should they be pitied if the wicked were cut off and died at so early an age because they had persecuted the righteous?

 

My brethren, think of eternity. Thinking of eternity, you'd better endure everything unconditionally and thank God unconditionally. My brethren, live a righteous life that God acknowledges. A righteous man is he who loves God. A righteous man is he who obeys God's will and loves his commandments and keeps them. A righteous man is he who grieves for his sins and begs God for forgiveness. A righteous man loves others, so does not hurt them. A righteous man is thankful to the one who has shown him grace. Above all, a righteous man does not think that the harm he suffered was due to God's unfaithfulness. According to a passage of the text today, a righteous man not only pays back but also gives generously (v. 21). The life of a righteous man is far from evil and full of good works (v. 27). My brethren, be such a righteous man. There are ‘ones blessed by God’ and ‘ones cursed by God’ in the world. "Those blessed by the Lord shall possess the land, but those cursed by him shall be cut off. (v. 22)" My brethren, do not take the wicked wide way in which many people go because the world is a hard place to live in. Those cursed by God are walking in that way. My brethren, walk in the righteous narrow road that people blessed by God take although you are living a hard life now.

 

God grants many precious blessings of God to the righteous who fear him. God grants the righteous the blessing to possess the land. The wicked are like grass that was immediately mowed, but the righteous live in peace in the land. "But the meek shall possess the land, and delight themselves in abundant prosperity. (v. 11)" God breaks the arms of the wicked, but he holds up the righteous with his strong hands so that they may not fall. "The arms of the wicked shall be broken; but the Lord upholds the righteous. (v. 17)" "Though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong, for the Lord is the stay of his hand. (v. 24)" God thwarts the wicked plans of the evildoers, but he leads the righteous in the best way in the world. "The wicked draw the sword and bend their bows, to bring down the poor and needy, to slay those who walk uprightly; their sword shall enter their own heart, and their bows shall be broken. (v. 14, 15)" "The steps of a man are from the Lord, and he establishes him in whose way he delights. (v. 23)" If you live in God, the path of your life is in the guidance of God. It's the best path in the world. Think of this by faith, and trust in God. God ordains that the descendants of the wicked should suffer miserably, that the descendants of the righteous should prosper more and more. "The children of the wicked shall be cut off. (v. 28)" "I have been young, and now am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging bread. He is ever giving liberally and lending, and his children become a blessing. (v. 25, 26)"

 

My brethren, such beautiful blessings of God are promised to the righteous. However the most vulnerable point of God's people is little faith and frequent complaint. When the Israelites came from Egypt to the wilderness, they complained to God from time to time. At last even God himself complained(?). "My servant Moses, why do they behave like that, for they have seen the miracles I've done? They are such stubborn people!" So today's biblical texts says, "The meek shall possess the (promised) land, and delight themselves in abundant prosperity. (v. 11)" In fact, of all the adults, only Joshua and Caleb who believed God's promise, saying "Amen!" could enter the land of Canaan and live in peace. The two men overcame all the sufferings of hard slavery in Egypt and the painful wandering in the wilderness, and came into the promised land to live in peace until death. Who is meek in the eyes of God? He who says, "I believe it. Amen!" and complains no more. A meek wife possesses the great love of her husband whose love is as broad as the sea, a meek son possesses his father's love and wealth. A meek employee shall possess the whole company. A meek politician who has a good plan to revive his country shall be exalted to a high position.

 

You do not have large land of the kingdom of God just because your church has a great number of members, for example tens of thousands of or hundreds of thousands of saints. The question is through whom God is speaking. He is the one who has truly occupied large land of the church of God. Luther has ruled Christianity all over the world for hundreds of years. Paul has ruled the church for 2,000 years. Because God has ruled humans through the words that these men have left. God is ruling the churches of this era through meek pastors who are far from greed. The church where they are ministering may be small. There is a woman who has been proclaiming true words of God to us today. One of her messages: “I have no wealth, no knowledge others have, no health others have, but I have something others do not have. I've seen what others didn't see, have heard what others didn't hear, have received the love others didn't receive, and have realized what others didn't know. The impartial God gave me what others do not have when I do not have something others have.” This short sermon that Myung Hee Song, a disabled lay woman, gave us has given much more influence and teachings to the Korean saints than all the sermons of the greedy Protestant popes in Korea. Although Myung Hee song has not been called a pastor by God, and has not been ordained a pastor by people, God gave us the prophetic words essential to Korean Christians today, through her life and faith. Myung Hee Song, who gave thanks to God meekly in the pain of disability, has larger land of Christianity than all the land of these four church specialists: 조용기(Yong Gi Cho), 김선도(Sun Do Kim), 김홍도(Hong Do Kim), 김국도(Guk Do Kim), who are occupying some land, that is, churches, in Korea. You four Christian religioners, be humble before you die! (이 게시물에 대한 게시금지요청을 하는 자들과 그 자손들에게 하늘의 저주가 임할지어다!) Do you know that the members of your churches can evade the hell because they recovered their senses thanks to that sermon, the woman's poem? In heaven, Myung Hee Song (송명희) is a great one, but the four men are extremely small ones. Imitate Myung Hee Song, you shallow hired shepherds who preach the gospel only by lips! The worst judgment about a pastor is that he was a hired shepherd, while the greatest glory of a pastor is that he received from God the words that were most necessary to the saints in his era, and preached them to the people of God. A pastor's greatest success in his life should be in preaching and life. (We do not think that God neglected the problem of the succession of the church committed by some greedy pastors including Sun Do Kim. God has already given the saints the wisdom and conscience to solve the problem. People of the church do not think of God's glory and are blinded by greed, so they behave like that. Why should God take part in the dirty gambling? Must he send his man into the dirty battlefield? What if his man is eliminated from the competition? Then God will lose face. From the atmosphere of the churches, it is clear that those whom God supports will 100% be eliminated. (The heads of the churches love their sons more than other competitors.) But the church has a revival energy, so it never goes to ruin because of some hired pastors. The church increases in its immunity and becomes stronger thanks to those viruses. The greedy life of a pastor itself is a punishment of God to him. He will die, leaving a shameful name forever in Christian history.)

 

"Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. (v. 4)" If we say, "Take delight in the Lord, and you will be his delight," our wish will be fulfilled automatically. What are your wishes? Do you want to live, showing off your health and wealth? Make it your lifelong wish that you're God's joy. "A day in thy courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness. (Ps 84:10)" If you set your hope not to an ordinary level such as money or health but to a higher level such as the devout wish that you be God's delight, God will plant you by the river of life. Then you'll never wither in all four seasons, but bear good fruits timely.

 

Refusing Jesus' teachings, people complain to God when they fail to solve problems, seeking for solution elsewhere. Jesus says, "Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well. (Mt 6:33)" He who practices this is one who really takes delight in God. Is it 'take delight in God', to sit, close eyes and be glad, imaging the God who would bring you a bag of blessings like Santa Claus? Taking delight in God is not different from loving God, and loving God is not different from living according to his will. Therefore those who always like to live in obedience to the will of God will fulfill their beautiful wishes in the Lord.

 

It seems that God changes people's tastes. When I was in college, I liked physics, yet I was so interested in English then and spent a lot of time studying English, though I didn't have enough time to study because I was busy doing God's work then. After graduating from college, I lost the interest in physics quickly when I began to study theology. But recalling the past, I realize that physics, math, and English were the things I needed. This means that our wishes and tastes are not always fixed but can change, that, to those who live in God, they change to the direction necessary to do God's work, sometimes hither, sometimes thither. The meek obey God even when God shows him a new way against their tastes and wishes. At this time the Holy Spirit comes upon them and directs their tastes and wishes to a new direction. So they have the delight of the discovery of a new land.

 

Today's Bible text is a poem by David. It seems that David wrote the poem after achieving his wishes. Wouldn't his wish be that the wicked who had been persecuting him should disappear and that he should be a king? May you love God like David, and may your precious wishes be fulfilled in God.

 

Chong Tack Kim

                                   - Dongtoma Sunshine Church -