Title: Gratitude from Emptying
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<Thanksgiving Day, October 1, 2000>
upbringing sermon
gratitude from emptiness
Ecclesiastes 2:9-11
Matthew 5:1-12
Today is Thanksgiving Day celebrated by our church. Even if we do not do farming, keeping it as Thanksgiving Day is because our life itself is like farming. At one time, because there was no farming, the word harvest was omitted and kept as Thanksgiving Day. But whether we are farming or not, the harvest is deeply related to our lives. Harvest is the gathering of crops, but the word is also used figuratively to indicate the meaning of Jesus' second coming and judgment. In other words, the harvest reminds us of our end and judgment. So, on this Thanksgiving Day, we look back on our lives and reflect on ourselves, and especially thank you for the grace of salvation that atoned for our sins and saved us from judgment.
Gratitude for material grace
The origin of Thanksgiving Sunday can be found near the Thanksgiving in the United States, and as far away as the Feast of Tabernacles in the Old Testament. After all, Thanksgiving Day is a time to give thanks for God for giving us sunshine and rain throughout the year so that we can reap abundant crops. This is the primary meaning of Thanksgiving. However, it does not only have that meaning, but also gives thanks while experiencing the grace of God's salvation. The Feast of Tabernacles is a festival to commemorate the lives of the children of Israel when they left and passed through the wilderness. It was a time to remember and give thanks for how God saved and protected them in the wild wilderness. Thanksgiving Day in the United States also expresses gratitude for the fact that the Puritans who came out in search of freedom of faith came to a land of freedom where God could freely enjoy their faith through the first harvest. Even now, people in the United States are thankful to God by enjoying the Thanksgiving holiday together even in cities that do not farm. It is a sign of gratitude for their achievement of a nation based on a life of faith in the free land that God has granted. contains .
Today, when we give thanks to God through Thanksgiving, we firstly give thanks for the grace that God has kept in our lives over the past year. Even though it was not a leisurely life, I cannot help but be grateful for the grace that filled me without lack. Even though our livelihood is threatened by our economic situation, we are grateful that you have kept us alive. A generous and leisurely life can easily make us proud and dull our faith in the kingdom of God. In that sense, a tight life is a grace that strengthens our faith.
In addition, we should be thankful for the grace that has given us the ability to work, study, and enjoy life with good health. In addition, it is something to be grateful for for helping the inter-Korean relations work well after the June 15 Joint Declaration. Of course, there seems to be no special conditions for gratitude for those who are driven by adversity, such as those who suffered from typhoons, those who were not properly treated for their diseases due to the division of labor, and those who were driven out due to restructuring at work. However, I am grateful for the fact that I have survived all these adversities. In a way, people who have encountered adversity know that the opportunity is when they meet God, so it may have been an opportunity to realize the grace of God that they did not know before.
Gratitude for Inner Grace
However, there is a problem if our gratitude is limited to the external conditions necessary for life on earth, such as material abundance or health. Such gratitude makes the mistake of limiting our lives to less than 100 years of living on this earth. Our life is not limited to a short life on this earth, but it leads to eternal life. Eternal life means a perfect life that is connected to the life of God and never gets sick again, never fades, and never decays. That eternal life is the life that begins when your life on earth ends. Life on this earth is only a part of eternal life. Therefore, an eternal life that cannot be compared with the brief life on this earth is in front of us. We should pay more attention to preparing for this eternal life.
According to the verse of Ecclesiastes that we read today, the wise man said that he got everything he wanted to gain in this world and the power he wanted to enjoy.
I got everything I wanted. I did not refrain from any pleasures I wanted to enjoy. I was proud of everything I did. This was my share of what I had toiled for.
But he sang that he had gained all of them, but all of them were in vain.
However, looking back on all the work I had accomplished with my own hands and the hard work I had worked to accomplish, I found that everything in the world was truly vain, like a chasing wind, and nothing worthwhile. (Verse 11)
When I think of all the hard work in the world, only disappointment is in my heart. (verse 20)
Why did the wise man say that the wealth, power, honor, and wisdom he sought to obtain on this earth were all in vain? Could it not have been that the wise man looked at life on this earth and eternity that could not be compared? When you look at the eternal life that is connected with God, wouldn't it feel like everything you tried to make your life on this earth fatter was in vain? If we focus only on life on this earth, wealth, fame, and power are important for that life, but when we look at eternal life, we discover that those things are really insignificant. The wise man looks like a nihilist because he sings that everything on this earth is vain as if chasing the wind, but in reality he is a true wise man who has found eternal life.
If today we are only grateful for material abundance, health, honor, or position on this earth, we need to meditate more deeply on the book of Ecclesiastes. We need to think carefully about why the evangelist said that everything on this earth was vain. In the Old and New Testaments, the reason the rich people with material wealth have difficulty entering the kingdom of heaven is because they are obsessed with life on earth and do not look to eternal life because of their material possessions.
gratitude from emptiness
So, what do we really give thanks to God on this Thanksgiving Day? It goes without saying that we are grateful for the grace that God has redeemed for our sins and called us into the life of God through Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son. As we realize this grace of redemption, we should give thanks for the grace of the Holy Spirit who gives us faith so that we can look forward to eternal life rather than dwell only on earthly life. Therefore, this kind of gratitude is not for the outward things, but for the inside, and it is for the invisible spiritual things. Such gratitude naturally arises within us when we empty ourselves and open our spiritual eyes.
Please pay attention to the words of the Beatitudes in the Gospel of Matthew that we read today. "Blessed are the poor in spirit, theirs is the kingdom of heaven." This means that only when we pour out and empty out all our desires in our hearts can we see heaven and enter it.
An article appeared in the Hankyoreh newspaper where the Baumans from the Darbel Bruderhof community in England visited Korea and interviewed them. The Bruderhof is known as one of the most prominent communities in Protestant history. The Baumanns said this about community
"Giving up does not end once when you join a community. It is a series of giving up. When many people live together, even what they call a 'very good idea' has to be put down unless most agree."
?쏣ven if you are given spiritual power and grace, you cannot achieve freedom if you do not let go of your worldly desires.???쏣ven within the community, there is always a tendency towards materialism, which requires daily giving up.??
These are people who give up their greed and live as a community through 'serving and devotion'. These are the people who are truly close to the poor in spirit. When you empty your heart like this, you are free and there is joy, so true gratitude can come out of this heart, and then you will have the eternal life of the kingdom of God in it.
Dear brothers and sisters, with what kind of heart did you attend this thanksgiving service? Is it simply to thank you for giving peace and love to your life on earth over the past year? Or do you go one step further and look to life in the eternal heavenly kingdom and give thanks for the real freedom and peace of mind that comes from it? From now on, I hope that you will be able to give thanks to God and glorify God through a life that prepares for the kingdom and aims for the kingdom while looking at the kingdom of God with the eyes of the spirit that have become more open from now on.
Today is Thanksgiving Day, and the service of the Lord's Supper is also held together. As you sit around the communion table, give thanks to God for allowing you to taste the feast of the kingdom of heaven at this table in advance. Please empty your life today and commit to spiritual growth in order to enrich your life in the kingdom of heaven.
Now, when you empty your heart, I hope that the wonderful grace of God that comes more abundantly in your life will always fill your life.