Sermon(Judg 17: 1-6): money and idol
The original Korean text: https://blog.naver.com/stevision/50025251795
>> 1 There was a man of the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Micah. 2 And he said to his mother, “The eleven hundred pieces of silver which were taken from you, about which you uttered a curse, and also spoke it in my ears, behold, the silver is with me; I took it.” And his mother said, “Blessed be my son by the Lord.” 3 And he restored the eleven hundred pieces of silver to his mother; and his mother said, “I consecrate the silver to the Lord from my hand for my son, to make a graven image and a molten image; now therefore I will restore it to you.” 4 So when he restored the money to his mother, his mother took two hundred pieces of silver, and gave it to the silversmith, who made it into a graven image and a molten image; and it was in the house of Micah. 5 And the man Micah had a shrine, and he made an ephod and teraphim, and installed one of his sons, who became his priest. 6 In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes. (Judg 17:1-6)<<
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A rich old woman was living in the land of Ephraim in Israel. This old woman had a lot of her silver pieces (coins) stolen. This woman cursed the unknown thief. Usually in Israel blessing has the form of "God bless you ... ," while cursing, the form of "God punish you ..." Perhaps this woman went around, uttering curse loud, "May God curse the thief! May the thief who stole my money and his descendants go to ruin from generation to generation. God will punish him. His descendants shall be beggars. May they be stricken with terrible disease!" Maybe she did so for she expected the thief hiding himself to hear the curse and get scared and put secretly the money back in its original place. But the thief was her son. He gave it back to his mother because he was scared at the curse and was afraid to be punished as cursed. The old woman's strategy worked wonderfully, but the thief was her son. "I heard your curse, mother. I am the thief. Here you are. This is your money." Now the old woman cries out, "Oh, my son, what shall we do? I fear that the curse I've uttered will befall you. We should take some from this money and use it to make an idol and dedicate it to Jehovah." This woman made an idol and served it as the God like Buddhists, who spend a lot of money on purchasing the statue of Buddha and serve and honor Buddha in order that they may prevent misfortune and be blessed.
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Money benefits humans a lot, but sometimes it destroys human relationships. Seeing his mother's silver (money), the son had a feeling of disapproval of her. 'Why does she just keep that much money, refusing to give a little of it to me?' Her money caused conflict and grudge between her and her son. After all, the money hardened the son's heart and he decided to steal her money. The mother, not knowing that the thief was his son, cursed him who stole the money. Like this, money makes a man become a thief and makes people curse each other. Is that all? Money can be a god. The old woman melted the silver coins (silver pieces) and made the God from it. People bow to the money that was changed into the God.
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Such side effect occurs when the money stays at one place. If you are rich and give much to others, you'll be respected by other people. Seeing the money of him who likes rendering aid to others, people do not hate him. Because the money will be used for others before long. But people may be displeased with the much money that a stingy wealthy man has accumulated, and with even the stingy man himself. Your wealth must be under the grace of God. A wealthy man whom people do not love and respect has the wealth that is not under the grace of God. Maybe that wealth has been accumulated by unjust means or been defiled by the dirty heart of the owner.
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Why did the son of the old woman steal her money? Of course, it is possible that she was a good woman in all respect while her son was a really bad son. But it is clear that the son didn't respect his mother. My brethren, it's a shame for her to have her money stolen by her son. First, it's her fault that she hasn't taught her son rightly so that he does not become a thief. And she has been living with her son, but has not established a good relationship of mother and son with him. She ought have reflected deeply on her life when the thief turned out to be her son. 'My money has been destroying even my son! Is my wealth so rotten?' If someone has stolen your money, you must think seriously if there was the reason why the wealth should stay with you, before you curse the thief. If you obstinately live as a miser all your life and will die with billions of won in your hand, you can't curse the thief when he stole some of your money. Am I wrong? If you have lost some money as punishment of God, your curse against the thief will not befall him as you wish. And why do you rudely use the holy name of God to curse the thief? If a man who stole God's possession curses the thief who stole his money in the name of God, it would be a black comedy. He who does not appreciate God's grace is a kind of thief, and he who does not readily use his wealth for the kingdom of God according to God's will is actually a thief, too. It is a sin of misusing God's name to curse others in the holy name of God because of one's personal loss. It is a theft of God's holy name indeed, to use God's name to curse others for personal interests because God's name is absolutely God's name. You can pronounce a curse (or a punishment) in the name of God only when it comes to God's rights and interests. For example, you can declare the punishment of death to idolaters and dirty homosexuals for they are defiling the glory of God. And you can curse in the name of God those who are maliciously and persistently hindering evangelization. However, you should not pronounce even such curse rashly, because there can be some people who will accept the gospel and become God's children, among those who are opposing to the gospel now.
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Let's take a look at Ex 20: 4-5. "You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me." And look at the text of today, Judg 17:3. > His mother said, "I consecrate the silver to the Lord from my hand for my son, to make a graven image and a molten image." If you used God's name to curse others who had done damage to you, you have committed a grave sin of using God's name unjustly (for God's name is not yours). on the other hand, some people make the God(!) at their will to force him to bless them. This is >to make the God for themselves<, which God names idolatry. The old woman came to know that her son was the thief, so she made an idol representing the God in order to unilaterally draw God's help into her house lest the curse befall her son. This is absolutely presumptuous! Doesn't this mean that she made an image of God with silver coins of her house and her family served the God through the image by bowing to the image, therefore God must protect her family from the misfortune caused by the curse? Her thought was that she could give some money to God and make him her servant who would protect her family from misfortune or bless her family. (Of course, Christianity does not believe in the fateful misfortune. However, the old woman had such a superstition.) It is a theft of God's will to use God's name to curse others for one's own profit, or to use his name to bless others who must not be blessed in order to win their favor. Likewise, it is a theft of God's will to make an image of God, to bow to it and to expect God's blessing.
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Micah who had stolen his mother's money freely installed one of his sons a priest of God. My brethren, what kind of theft is this? God himself appoints a man from the tribe of Levi as his priest. The appointment of the priest of God absolutely belongs to God's authority. Therefore her house stole God's authority. Her house stole the authority of God and appointed a priest of God to prevent the misfortune and to bring in God's blessing.
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If you take the name of the Lord in vain (Ex 20:7), make for yourself a graven image representing a god (or the God) (Ex 20:4), become a priest of God or appoint a priest of God at your own will, you are not considering God's glory but only your interests; so God forbids it strictly. If a man who knows and serves God is showing that kind of religious life, many people who are seeing his life will not know correctly about the God and seriously misunderstand the God; so he forbids it strictly. My brethren, even some Christians who think themselves to be good Christians can unwittingly take God's name in vain and commit idolatry. We should be careful.
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But God is never the one whom you can deal with indiscreetly. If just anyone curses others in the name of God, will he (the God) let the curse come true? If just anybody blesses others in the name of God, will he let the blessing really come true? If you make the image of God with gold and diamonds and bow down to it, will he bless you? If just anyone builds a church without God's permission, will he dwell there? If just anybody becomes a pastor at will, will God acknowledge him as his servant? Of course, no! My brethren, if you want to be blessed, please obey God's words. Brethren, if you should want to be cursed, disobey God. God blesses him who deserves the blessing, and curses him who deserves the curse. (And this does not contradict the doctrine of >sola gratia< because >sola gratia< is related to God's forgiveness and salvation. There can be Christians who have received only the salvation after death.) God appointed his servants to bless those who must be blessed and to warn those who are to be punished, through them. My brethren, do servants have their own authority? No, servants of God don't have their authority. (They can’t bless or curse as they like.)
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All theft is for the damage of others and the satisfaction of the greed of oneself. only he, who tries to make God bless him even if as a result God can suffer severe damage, practices idolatry gladly. Idolatry - greed - money: these are interrelated. Idolatry is an intention to cause God to bless the idolater. So the God (who is in the absolute freedom) extremely hates idolatry (even when the idol represents him). Idolatry is an intention to receive blessings through falsity. An idol that man made is a false god. The God who is the truth really abhors idolatry. "I am the Lord, that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to graven images. (Is 42:8)" “Little children, keep yourselves from idols. (1 Jn 5:21)” “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you; fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. (Col 3:5)” “But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the polluted, as for murderers, fornicators, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their lot shall be in the lake that burns with fire and sulphur, which is the second death. (Rev 21:8)”
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My brethren, if you have accumulated much wealth in faith and under God's guidance, the wealth will not become your idol, and will be used for the important matters of the kingdom of God and bring honor and glory to you, for it is sacred wealth. (God won't use dirty wealth to establish his kingdom because he is rich, wise and holy.) But the money that you've earned dishonestly and that you've earned while inflicting loss on others is wicked money, so it won't do good to you. And there is no reason for God to use that money. Is God a beggar? No! Your money in which God does not show interest will belong to Devil, separate you from others, make you hated by others, and bring robbers and thieves into your house and endanger your life. If you are keeping such dirty money in your house, you'd better return it to him who is its original owner, or give it to the poor. A Christian couple with 10 billion won were murdered and burned by their son before. The son killed his parents to inherit their wealth early. The couple believed in God but gathered in the house much money that God ignored, so the dirty spirits stuck to the money and worked through the money, incurring the tragedy. They might have earned the 10 billion won honestly, but God must have ignored the wealth if the wealth was for other purposes than for the kingdom of God. Riches that are just kept in a place can become so dangerous a thing like that. When the flame approaches the oil, a big accident occurs. Much money that is only accumulated is like a pile of the oiled firewood. The oil and firewood attracts those whose heart is hot with greed. My brethren, love rather small amount of clean money than much amount of dirty money. Above all, do not use God as a means to satisfy your greed. The moment the God becomes your instrument, he is changed into an idol. Furthermore, Christians need to serve God according to the teachings of the Bible. Worship, service and devotion that are done in my own way are wrong if they are in conflict with the way God wants them, even if I do them in good will.
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May your house overflow with clean riches and your wealth bring you honor and respect. And your wealth be the means of your love and devotion.
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Chong Tack Kim
- Dongtoma Sunshine Church -
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