Title: God is Life
God is life
Deuteronomy 30:15-20, 6th Sunday after Epiphany, February 13, 2011
Today's sermon, Deuteronomy, is known as the sermon of Moses. It is a sermon that Moses preached in Moab, where Canaan was just before Moses, after living as a nomadic for 40 years in the wilderness with the Israelites after the Exodus. There are 34 chapters in total. This long speech cannot be called a sermon delivered by Moses in one place. In fact, Deuteronomy was not written by any one person, but from the history of Israel. It is difficult to understand these words without presupposing the history of Israel. Its history is specifically the Babylonian captivity. The Israelites were convinced that God would protect them. Surprisingly, however, the country was overthrown by Babylon in 587 B.C.E. The royal family and many leaders were taken captive to Babylon, and the area of Israel was reduced to a complete colony.
The prophets of Israel had two questions in the face of this historical fact. One is that Jehovah God, whom they believe in and follow, is doing. They questioned whether God had the power to save them. The conclusion they reached is the creation faith as stated in Genesis. God is the creator of the world. The power of the Creator is unquestioned. If so, it is ultimately concluded that the cause of Israel's downfall lies on the side of Israel. Pointing to that point of view, theology is called the Knights of Deuteronomy. Israel's unique understanding of history. To summarize it: If you obey the commands of Jehovah God, you will live, and if you disobey, you will die. Today's text Deuteronomy 30:16-18 explicitly states this. Do you think the logic is too simple? The conclusion is simple, but the process leading to it is not straightforward. Only when you can read the process will the world of the Bible come into your sight.
To answer this question correctly, you need to know the difference between believing in God and serving idols. These two things are not clearly visible. If that turns out, the problem is simple. Some of you may think that believing in God means going to church, reading the Bible, and living a good life. It can be a sign as long as you believe in God, but not true faith itself. Even Israel at the time when Jerusalem was captured by Babylon, taken captive, and colonized, was completely destroyed, and lived a life of faith in its own way. Sacrifice was regularly offered in the temple in Jerusalem. Cattle and sheep were offered as burnt offerings. In 1517, when the Reformation took place by Martin Luther, the Roman Catholic Church was also very passionate about religion. They spent a lot of money to build St. Peter's Basilica. Even in the era of the Russian Tsar Empire, which was destroyed by the Bolshevik Revolution in the early 20th century, the activity of the Russian Orthodox Church was dazzling. The fact that we love God and obey his commands is not guaranteed just by living the faith we know in general. Humans can serve God as much as they want to worship idols.
What is idolatry? People consider idols to be other religions. It is said that the Buddha image in the hall is an idol. Some Christians perform all kinds of performances to break idols. Some even say that the image of Mary in the Roman Catholic Church is an idol. At the time of the Reformation, radicals like Munzer destroyed all the works of art in the cathedral in the name of reforming the religion. This claim is ignorant of the facts. Buddhism puts a Buddha statue in the hall, but it does not serve itself. If idols appear in these shapes or pictures, filtering them out is simple. The idol does not refer to the image itself. Idols are rather invisible forces that captivate our souls. Sometimes it appears in visible form, but its essence is an invisible force. If you are obsessed with such an idol, you are a worshiper of idols, no matter how thorough your Christian life is.
What is the idol that invisibly dominates our souls and lives? You can find the answer by looking at what the idol offers. After Israel's exodus from Egypt and the wilderness, the Canaanites who lived there served Baal. Baal was characterized by abundance and fertility. It is a kind of fetishism. Canaan was a rare agricultural region in the Near East. The Canaanites believed that Baal was in control of their agriculture. Life was different when there was a good year and when there was a famine. After harvesting crops and feasting, they ate and drank and indulged in sexual pleasure. It was important to see many descendants. The Israelites were attracted to the life of the Canaanites. So, while serving God, I fell into the Canaanite culture. They did not think that abundance and fertility were in conflict with faith in God. While maintaining the faith centered on the Jerusalem Temple, we were able to accept the Canaanite fetish ideology of fertility and fertility.
The spiritual condition of the Korean church today is no different. I'm not going to explain them all. Let me just say one thing to help you understand. This is the Church Growth Firstism. As I said before, the P denomination, representing Korea, set the goal of achieving 3 million believers at the general meeting a few years ago. In some cases, even the church can set certain goals, but doing it like a company setting export goals is an attitude of giving up on the essence of the church. It is idolatry for the church to follow corporate logic. I have given an example, but there are countless instances of this in the church. It is not obeying the word of God, but serving the idol of growth logic.
What should we do in this spiritual situation? Living in the world is a pain in the ass, so you may think that it is better not to delve too deeply into these issues. However, do not forget the following facts. The people of the age when Deuteronomy was written lived just like us, thinking simply. The result was idolatry. If we leave our souls alone, we will go down the path of idolatry. They seem to believe in God on the outside, but in reality they serve idols. They even make themselves idols. That is what the Bible calls sin. This is not to say that you should purify your soul. It means that you need to make an effort to make your soul transparent. This is our spiritual dilemma. This is because we have to figure out the spiritual world that is not clearly visible to our eyes. Don't worry too much. The Bible does not intentionally make us tired. It doesn't push us into a dead end without any countermeasures. It gives a clear direction.
The last verse of today's text says that Jehovah is our life. It means that God is the one who saves us and is the owner of life. This may sound obvious, but it is not. We think of ourselves as the master of life. I live my life thinking that I treat life like a tool. The Bible consistently states that God is the Creator and Master of life. Conversely, you can say: Life is God. Therefore, to serve life is to serve God. That's right. A life-oriented life is a life of obedience to God. Serving something that is not life is idolatry. Of course, idols also speak of life. They say it makes us rich. But it is a pseudo life. The power that promises a pseudo life is an idol.
The last spiritual task we need to solve today is how to distinguish between the true life and the pseudo life. Once it has clearly entered our spiritual awareness, why not follow life? Ask yourself. What is life? Have I experienced life? If there is someone who does not understand this question, he has not yet entered the world of the Bible. I believe that there is no such person among the members of Samteo Church.