Title: Our Kairos/Ecclesiastes 3:1-13
Content: Our Kairos/Ecclesiastes 3:1-13
1. Kairos
In English, which has been developed based on the needs of real life, time is expressed only as Time.
However, in Greek, where ideas and concepts are important, time is divided into two categories.
Kronos: quantitative time
Kairos: Time in meaning and quality.
A person who lives life (time) in a chronosic way places importance on possessions, education, appearance, and success.
How and for what did the kairosian live? It seeks its meaning and value.
2. Wisdom - Ecclesiastes belongs to the wisdom literature of the Old Testament.
Now the meaning of the word wisdom has been downgraded.
It is used to mean that you have an idea in life, that you are quick to overcome crises, or that you have wit in language, but in the Bible, wisdom is not this simple wisdom, but the way to salvation. It was always the wisdom of salvation.
The wisdom spoken in Ecclesiastes, the treasure trove of today's wisdom literature, is, in a word, 'distinguishing time'.
The 'time' here does not mean man-made, but God's time schedule.
1) The flow of nature is the great time schedule of God the Creator.
In the old days, the standard of life was to match the rhythm of nature (the sun).
Nature determines when humans act - wake up when the sun rises and sleep with one hand when the sun goes down.
Humans also live as part of the great nature - both humans and nature are harmonious.
2) As human knowledge accumulates, science and technology advance and civilization arises.
All civilizations in history are inherently violent.
If you look at the pyramids of Egypt, you can see the destruction of nature, the people who were invisibly sacrificed in it, even though you were surprised by its hugeness. Civilization is violent.
By inventing the clock and light bulb in the modern scientific era, humans have been able to manipulate 'time'.
It now rules time, turning night into day.
The number of owls is increasing.
In the poultry farm, the lights are turned on at night to keep the chickens laying eggs.
In the 21st century, humans have finally created clones.
The beginning of the clone named Eve was to eat the fruit again like the first humans, Adam and Eve.
This foreshadows the miserable fate of man who has invaded the realm of God.
3) Although it was uncomfortable when man lived as a part of nature created by God, there was no burden on both humans and nature.
However, as humans dominate time and light, and go against the flow of nature, it becomes difficult for both humans and nature.
Human violence thrown at nature will surely return as a boomerang.
4) The wisdom that leads to salvation must return to the time of God.
It is important to be sincere and work hard in the world.
However, if there is no God's time schedule at the center, it is in vain. It's futile.
The whole nihilism of Ecclesiastes is the emptiness of life without God.
5) Jesus - The Lord who discerned the times
In Mark 10:32, we see the Lord and His disciples going toward Jerusalem.
The Lord had already foretold that he would be killed in Jerusalem.
The disciples are amazed and afraid, but Jesus takes the lead.
Why? Because the Lord knew when you had to die.
The Lord is when you have to work, when you have to live avoiding confrontation head-on,
And he knew when to charge towards the cross.
He knew that now was the time for God's sacrifice.
Sacrifice is essentially a sacrifice made by humans for the sake of God.
However, the Lord knew that now was the time for God to be sacrificed for man's salvation.
This is the difference between Jesus and his disciples.
3. In God's timetable, what will Milal Church do in 2003?
This year God is telling us to make the church the church.
The church is the spiritual body of the resurrected Christ.
If the Lord's spiritual body is sick, divided, weak, corrupted, or just living without a sense of mission, it is not the Lord's resurrected body.
The church must be erected.
The church must be the church.
The spiritual body of Christ has two components.
Just as a person is composed of the inner nature of the mind (mind, soul) and the outer nature of the body.
1) We pray that the inner nature of our church this year will be a church full of the Lord's grace.
The foundation of the church is the grace of the cross that Christ shed for us.
Without this grace, the church built on the fellowship of the church members is a fellowship organization.
A church built on community service is a community service organization.
The church built on the social reform movement is a civic movement.
Fellowship, service, and civic movements are all important, and our church has been involved in these areas.
However, this is the work that the church should carry out, and the foundation of the church is definitely the grace of salvation that the Lord accomplished on the cross.
Luther emphasized this earlier - by grace alone! (Sola Gratia)
Let's yearn for the Lord's saving grace this year.
I want my heart to become numb just thinking about the cross of the Lord.
I want to be a heart that hurts my eyes just looking at the cross of the Lord.
In 2003, our Milal Church is the time to long for and receive this grace.
2) The time of Milal Church in 2003 is to strengthen the outward appearance of the church.
It is to acquire the realistic strength necessary to fully fulfill the historical and historical missions of the church, such as the number of members, finances, and buildings.
You attract a gift without a heart, but you cannot be happy with a heart alone.
Let's evangelize diligently, turn God's things into God's, and pray for the growth of the church.
In 2003, Milal Church, let's put the Church of God first in my life.
Let us seek first the kingdom and its righteousness.
We have been criticizing the dangers of the church supremacy, limitless growthism, and quantityism of the Korean church.
It is justified, and will remain valid and persistent, but it should not remain as a critique without alternatives.
We must shape the body of Christ in a just and healthy way.
In the absence of the Church of God, the resurrected body of Christ, in its full form,
Those who belong to that church cannot receive God's love.
Let's really experiment before God this year.
Let's live our life centered on the church.
Even if the Word of God does not fit my common sense, let's obey it absolutely.
Even if the path of faith is difficult, let's rejoice and do our best.
One year after I truly longed for the Lord's grace and did my best for the body of Christ, the church
God is preparing a wonderful confession for us.
The Kairos of Milal Church in 2003 is to make the church a church.