Sermon(Prov 22:1): Honor and favor

The original Korean text: https://blog.naver.com/stevision/50025286474

 

>> A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver or gold. (Prov 22:1) <<

 

Some people in the world say, "I can't but live like this because there are not other ways to live to me." Some people want to keep their honor while living, but they commit sins in order to survive in the world, saying, "I can't but live so!" Can such a view of life be right to Christians? You have to earn money to live, but can you betray your faith in God to earn money? As I've said before, we must not commit sins to live, when we think of Lazarus who went to heaven. The beggar Lazarus is a prophet who declared the words of God to the people of this age when they can live anyway if they commit sins stealthily. Lazarus could have survived if he had made up his mind to do anything, even forbidden things, in order to make money. Today, a lot of young men and young women sell their bodies to make money and to live, don't they? They can make more money if they commit crimes worse than that. Lazarus would rather beg for food at the gate of other's house than commit sins. So he went to heaven. He didn't take enough food, so that he became weaker and sick, and died. The rich man who didn't treat Lazarus as a human perhaps ate so much that he died suddenly from adult diseases, I think. He went to hell while Lazarus to heaven.

 

When Augustine couldn't completely remove the lingering attachment to the obscene life of the past from his thought, he heard a child's voice, "Pick it up, and read," and picked up the Bible and opened it. He saw verses of Romans, which read as follows: "Let us conduct ourselves becomingly as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires. (Rom 13:13-14)" He did as the voice of a child coming from somewhere told him, and broke away from his filthy past life completely, and became a new human and a pillar-like saint in Christianity. The voice that greatly influenced also my religious life was that of a child. One day in the summer vacation of the 3rd year of high school, I was in the chapel of a church around noon. Some children were talking outside. And a voice of a child fell on my ear. "Christians do not wok on Sunday." This saying came into my heart like a nail into a wall. I have not studied on the Sabbath day since that day. If there was nothing to do on the Sabbath day, I just rested. I joined a Christian circle when I was in college, so I didn't have enough time to study weekdays because the circle took a lot of my time. My church also took a lot of time from me because I attended regular worships ㅡ worship service for young people (Saturday evening), Wednesday evening worship, Sunday morning worship, Sunday evening worship. (And I was a teacher of Sunday school and a tenor of the choir.) I had not enough time to study, yet I never studied on Sunday. Humanly speaking, I suffered great losses during the midterm and final exams because I didn't study on Sundays. However such determined attitude of my faith brought me a lot of blessings. When I made up my mind not to do my work on Sunday, I naturally committed all my future to God. 'I have no choice now. I must depend on only God!' My brethren, you can't be free from anxiety if you live a lukewarm Christian life and trust in God halfheartedly. Commit all of yourself to God, and live a life of obedience to God. And you'll get the peace like a river. (But what I was really thankful for was this. One of my friends complained to me that he usually prepared for the exam for a month very hard, but couldn't remember well what he had studied when he received the exam paper. But I hurriedly prepared the summary of the lecture the day before the test, and took the same test to get an A+. Of course, this is a special case, and I've got a wide range of credits from D to A+. Maybe it reflects the breadth of my character. However, I've never received an F. You know we must save time.)

 

My brethren, faith is a momentary decision. Make a decision now! Today's Bible text teaches us: "A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver or gold. (Prov 22:1)" First, we must choose honor over money. However some people confuse honor with unhealthy prestige. In the past in Korea, some husbands neglected to support their family, thinking a nobleman should not work but only read books; even when their wives and children were on the verge of starvation. They suffered a lot for the sin of the thought that making money is a menial job. The most precious and important thing in the world is to work hard and feed your wife and children. It is your holy mission entrusted by God. The lesson of today's text is that you should not try to get unrighteous wealth, going against your own conscience. Honor refers to a beautiful name. How glorious is the title of a servant of God? However the name Balaam became disgraceful when he, pursuing much riches, heard that he was not better than a donkey. But look at Elisha. He could have received some gifts from Naaman when he healed his leprosy, for it couldn't be criticised. And he could have helped his disciples had he received the gifts. But Elisha refused the gifts to the end. Why? Because he wanted Naaman, a gentile, to know that God took more pleasure when he showed grace to man rather than when he received something from man. If Naaman had given Elisha a lot of gifts for the cure of his disease, he would have had reason to thank God no longer. The payment of the price is the end of the relationship. Who would thank the store owner after paying the price of goods? If you pay the price, you become free. But in that situation, Elisha thought of God's honor. He thought that it would enhance the prestige of the living God of Israel, for him not to receive the price but just to help Naaman who had come from afar. Other religioners in other countries who were serving idols might have received the good gifts gladly and immediately, but Elisha would not receive them. So Naaman was amazed at Elisha's attitude, and decided to believe in the God of Elisha as his God. In Naaman's sight, Elisha's God indeed was the One who preferred to show favor to him rather than to receive something from him. What a wonderful scene it is for Naaman to return to his hometown giving thanks to God! This is entirely the work of Elisha, a considerate servant of God, who was mindful of God's glory rather than money. My brethren, we Christians are ones who must think of God's glory first, rather than money. If you are a pastor who does someone favor only when he has received something from him, you should repent. A Christian association in a city in Korea held a joint revival rally and invited a famous revival preacher. But the preacher's church seemed to be in great debt after they had built a big church building. Funny enough, this revival preacher bargained with the executive pastors of the rally about the pay right before the rally began. He asked them for a large amount of money past the financial capacity of the rally. Perhaps he thought he must earn money even that way to pay off the church debt. Money became an enemy! Jesus told us to give for nothing because we received for nothing. A clergyman should not bless others or heal others for the purpose of earning money. Both clergyman and layman ought to be mindful of the honor of God. You must not accept money if it hurts the honor of God. We Christians should keep this honor: Being recognized as one who has loved God's honor rather than money all his life. It is a shame indeed, for a clergyman or a layman to sell God's name for some money. You, in the label of Christian, must not bilk others or cheat others. However you know that Saul, before he became king, visited Samuel the prophet with a gift in order to be helped by him. In this case, it would be dereliction of duty for the servant of God to reject it rashly, because, in that case, a layman gave the gift to the clergy, thinking he in reality offered up it to God in reverence to God. It is not a person-to-person gift but a sacred offering to God. Does a servant of God have the right to reject the offerings for God? Therefore if a poor layman gives a pastor a gift, the pastor must accept it gladly and bless him, whether the gift is very expensive or not. In the case of Elisha, he refused Naaman's gifts because it would make his faith stronger and the glory of God higher. The case of Samuel is different from this.

 

If we love honor rather than money, we use our hard-earned money for the good. Let your money make you a good man, so that your honor extends to the thousand generations. We must make the glory of God known to all by using our wealth to practice the love and mercy of God like a woman who poured precious fragrant ointment on Jesus. Your name will be held in high esteem both here on earth and in heaven if you spend a lot of money for the salvation of many souls. There were some good people in history who delivered many people by their wealth when a lot of people starved to death during famine. They loved honor more than money. I hope that many of you will support overseas missionaries. It's possible if you love honor rather than money. The honorable name is our eternal crown.

 

Today's text teaches us to love favor more than silver or gold. Of course, you know silver and gold. Here 'favor' refers to >others' favorable feelings toward me<. Think of Elisha. Naaman began to assume such a favorable attitude to Elisha when Elisha refused the gift he offered. This is it. People have a greater affinity for those who are generous than misers. People honor and love those who value honor more than money. People have a better impression of store owners if they give them more than the set amount. People loves those who lend money at lower interest rates. People indeed love those who exempt them from debt. People have a greater affinity for those who donate their money to society. People have a greater affinity for a boss who shares the profits with employees. Therefore the advice that you should love favor more than silver or gold means that you must not lose favor with others because of money and that you must spend your wealth so as to increase others' favor for you. If you live like that, you will win people's hearts and be unexpectedly helped when you are in trouble; and you will be known as a man of character so that someday you can win an election and rise to a high position. Isn't it wiser to win others' hearts thanks to money rather than to be hated by others thanks to money? If we love >others' love for me< more than silver and gold, we love ourselves indeed in God. Then we can't engage in illegal economic activities. Who can love those who do the lawlessness? God will be greatly pleased if others respect us in great love and good impression, because we are God's children.

 

We should consider not only others' good feelings for me but also God's good feelings for me. He who loves silver and gold more than God's favor for him will try to gain money even by sinning. He who loves silver and gold more than God's favor will complain to him when in poverty. But we must long for >God's love for us< more than silver and gold. We must try harder to be acknowledged by God. We must love spiritual blessings more than worldly material blessings. We ought to long more for the right knowledge of God than a 100 million won check. We must be more joyful as we see God answering our prayers. God's commandments must be more precious for you than a 100 million won check. My brethren, please use your wealth according to God's will, in order to receive his love.

 

In this way, when we love honor and grace (other's good feelings for me) more than money or gold, our wealth will be a blessing to us and we will be precious ones to God and man because of the wealth. This is the right attitude toward wealth for us today. May all of you have this right view of wealth, be recognized by God, and receive the greater blessings.

 

Chong Tack Kim

                                      - Dongtoma Sunshine Church -