Title: Life of Faith and Environment
Contents
Faith life and environment
(2007.03.18. Week) (Nehemiah 13:23~25)
Dear Kyungil Church members who became children of God by receiving God's love - Since you have already become children of God, you are now living your life of faith - I pray that you will become good believers, zealous believers, and exemplary believers.
Our Kyungil Church members, when we sit around the table at lunchtime on a Sunday, I haven't seen a single child eating before they even prayed.
But not when you go with me - do you honestly pray and eat when you go to a restaurant with your family? Do you not pray and just eat?
It's strange - do you have good faith at church, but suddenly you lose faith when you go to a restaurant? - No? - It's the environment. Environment also plays a significant role in our religious life.
1. It is not easy to overcome the environment.
* Among Korean broadcasters, <Ayumi> - Is there? - It reminds me of what happened when I first saw it on TV - When I said hello, they said, “Everyone is a trick.”
Born in Japan and raised in Japan - no matter how good you are in Korean - it seems that you have not been able to correct your Japanese pronunciation.
*Not everyone who lives in Seoul speaks a standard dialect - some speak the Gangwon-do dialect, some speak the Chungcheong-do dialect, some speak the Jeolla dialect, and some speak the Gyeongsang-do dialect - It's not easy to change the dialect of your hometown you've been using since childhood.
*Look at today’s text verses 23-24 - “At that time, I saw a Jew who married Ashdod and Ammon and Moabite women, and their children spoke half the Ashdod dialect, but they did not speak the Jewish language. Because the language is the dialect of each tribe.” - Even Jews, who are known for being proud and exclusive, lived with Gentiles, so their descendants were influenced by Gentiles and lost the legitimacy of Jews and became Gentiles.
*Of course, there is also a saying that dragons thrive in streams - A person who overcomes the environment and succeeds - Of course, it is possible. But it's not easy.
*When we dine with the pastor, we pray and eat. - When we dine with unbelievers, don't you feel embarrassed to pray?
*While selling alcohol - How many people have you seen who don't drink?
Would you have said - "Don't go to the place where the crows play" -?
Why did Mencius' mother move often? - Because I live next to the cemetery, I heard only the sound of my son crying and bonuses - I moved to the market and said harsh words used in the market place - When I moved next to the cemetery, I heard the sound of reading text, didn't you?
It is not easy for a person to overcome the environment.
*It would be really nice to live close to unbelievers and evangelize them. - Far from evangelism, it is easier to learn the habits of unbelievers.
* They say they will marry unbelievers and evangelize, but - How many people get married and lose their faith because they are swept away?
* Of course, it would be nice if you could live a good life of faith, no matter how bad the environment, but it is very difficult to do that. - I hope you do not get immersed in an environment that interferes with your religious life.
2. We need to create a good environment.
It is not easy to overcome difficult circumstances - I hope that a good environment will be with you.
But you can't just wait for good things to come to you.
If so, I hope that you yourself create a good environment for your life of faith.
*There is a person who has a family environment that is not good for his religious life, gets out of that environment and creates a good environment for his son to become a great believer. - Just like Mencius's mother who made Mencius into Mencius, we must imitate Samuel's mother who made Samuel into a great believer (1 Samuel 1).
Samuel's father lives with two women as wives in the same house.
The two women clashed every now and then, and the house is not sunny. - Raising a son properly in such a family environment was not easy. He had to get out of the environment, but Samuel's mother, Hannah, could not get out of it. So what did Hannah choose?
For his son, he created an environment conducive to living a religious life, not the same environment as himself.
He raised his son Samuel at home only while he was nursing, and as soon as he was weaned - he left the house and took him to the temple, where he was entrusted to the priest.
From the time I was weaned, I only watched and learned to serve God and to serve God in the temple, from the priests, and I became a good believer and a good prophet.
Dear saints - It is not easy to overcome the environment in a difficult environment. If it is difficult to fight against the environment, you must find a good environment and create a good environment.
3. Lesson of the day.
Today we saw two incidents. - I saw a failed Jew who lost faith and turned into a foreigner in a family established by marrying a stranger, and Samuel's mother, who made a great victor by creating a good environment for her children while crying in the midst of family strife. - What did you learn here?
① I pray that you will grow with the faith that will overcome the environment.
The best thing, of course, would be to have faith that can only give off the fragrance of Christ in any environment, anytime, anywhere, without being affected by the environment.
I pray that your faith will grow day by day - so that you will have a golden faith that will not rust even if buried in the soil or mixed in the trash
② We have to admit that it is not easy to overcome the environment.
Although it is best to always maintain a beautiful faith with a golden faith - if you look at the Jews introduced in today's text - we must admit that it is not easy to protect ourselves and keep our faith beyond circumstances.
We must not forget the warning that if a Jew married a Gentile, his children would resemble the Gentile first.
③ You must not fall into a bad environment.
If it is not easy to maintain your faith in an environment that interferes with your faith life - there is no other way than to stay away from the environment that interferes with your faith.
*If you do not have faith to overcome persecution, it is best not to meet persecutors.
*If you do not have the faith to refuse alcohol at a drinking party, it is best not to go to a drinking party.
* It is more beneficial to marry a person of good faith than to marry an unbeliever and overcome persecution and suffer.
④ Please be faithful to your church life.
The important thing is that if you are faithful to your church life and faithful to your life of faith, you will not encounter an environment that will interfere with your faith.
Please remember that Samuel, who was delivered to the temple shortly after weaning and was educated only by priests, naturally became a good believer.
Always be closer to the church. I hope you will always find the right path through the Bible. Always think of God first and live your life. Then your faith will naturally become a beautiful faith.
It is true that the cultural environment of Korea is still more widespread than Christian culture.
It is not easy to keep faith in a culture of distrust. If possible, I pray that you will move away from the environment that interferes with your faith and become victors of beautiful faith centered on the church and God.