Title: Saints Who Forgot God: A Sermon of Thanksgiving
Contents
1. Words that begin
When people make a mistake once in a while, they quickly complain and resent. I don't even think about it at all, let alone thank you for the many things you've done well. But even more unfortunate is the fact that this phenomenon is especially pronounced in the case of giving and receiving the most important love.
Parents suffer from morning sickness for ten months, giving birth after life-threatening labor, and pouring all their love into them for decades to feed, dress, put them to sleep, and send them to school. If it doesn't work out, you don't think about all that love, and you can often see them complaining and resenting their parents.
What we really do not know is that while people were born with life and possess and enjoy everything in the universe for free, they do not even think about it, let alone give thanks to the loving God who is the Creator of human life and everything in the universe. .
2. Think of God
The ingratitude of not even thinking of the Creator and loving God is manifested not only in unbelievers and heathens, but also in the Jews, God's chosen people.
The Jews enjoyed the glory of the chosen people from their ancestors, experienced the grace of exodus from Egypt ten times by God's miraculous power, and, thanks to that God, crossed the Red Sea like land, and saw the enemy's army being pursued. , On the road to Canaan, they ate miraculous food, manna and quail, received the law containing the will of God, and with the power of God conquered the land of Canaan flowing with milk and honey and built a nation. In addition to these miraculous graces and blessings of God, I received all the grace and blessings necessary to live.
Even when I became unhappy or ruined because of idolatry and all kinds of evil, I received God's forgiveness and favor by simply repenting and seeking God.
Nevertheless, the Jews often forgot God. The law that God gave only to them was “Law! Law!” But as I fell into legalism, I stopped forgetting God. It is like a child who is given a toy as a gift and gets drunk on playing with it and forgets the parents who gave it to him as a gift. In the same way, the Jews were intoxicated with the grace and blessings of God, or the love of forgiveness, and forgot God, the source of all things and the essence of love.
That is why the psalmist who received the revelation from God strongly warned, “Now, you who have forgotten God, think about this, or I will tear you to pieces, and there will be no one to rescue” (50:22). For the chosen people who lived thinking of God and forgot, even now, they should think again about God, who is the essence of love and the source of all things. Otherwise, it will tear it apart and no one will be able to rescue it. No, who dares to deliver from the hand of God's chastisement?
I often see people who know me well, but don't remember them when they really need them, so they are embarrassed, embarassed, or unhappy.
Late on a Friday night, I saw a story about confessing a bizarre experience aired.
A young man slept drunk and went to the bathroom at dawn. After putting all of my naked clothes in the closet, I grabbed a towel and opened the bathroom door. Oh, but what is this? A woman with her hair hanging down is turning around and washing her hair. The terrified man hurriedly grabbed his clothes and moved to the bath on the other floor. Fortunately, there was no one there, so the man sighed, took off his underwear and put it in the closet, then grabbed a towel and opened the bathroom door. Just as they were about to step in, the screams and swearing of women were heard, and wet towels flew, plastic chairs and basins. The man, who was confused and confused, covered only the front and back centers with two basins and ran around.
I went into the house with the door open to get clothes to cover myself, but apparently there was a dog. I borrowed a blanket from the kennel to calm the growling dog from barking. Then the dog, who had lost his property, started barking and waiting. To make matters worse, “Why are you barking so loudly?” The sound of footsteps was heard along with the voice of the old woman. The startled man was in a hurry and went into the conventional toilet next to the gate and locked the door. The old woman who was screaming and fighting to open the door hung up the outer ring and called the police. In the end, he had no choice but to come out as a comical figure with a blanket around his waist as the two policemen and the locals looked around.
When I first opened the bathroom door, I thought about the fact that these days, there are male celebrities who appear with their hair dangling, and there are men who wear short hair, or think that the word 'women's bath' is written in large letters on the door. If I had, I wouldn't have been in such trouble.
It is important to know what you know, but even more important is to think about it when you need it. From time to time, Christian public officials are arrested for bribery and corruption, and are often dishonored and obscured by God's glory. If you thought of God at that moment of temptation...
Everyone, I hope that you will always think of God and live a life that gives glory to God, whether you are happy or sad.
3. Benefit of those who worship with thanksgiving
Worship is the essence of our religious life. In that sense, it is said, “He who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving glorifies me, and to him who does his deeds right, I will show the salvation of God.”
The most basic way to glorify God, the Creator and provider who gave our life and provided everything in the universe as a foundation and means of living, and the Savior, who did not spare even his only begotten Son, Christ, to us who have fallen into slavery to sin is the worship of thanks is. This worship of thanksgiving can be said to be the root of all right actions. And the result is to see God's salvation in all its forms.
Gratitude in the Christian sense is not a matter of conditions, but a matter of attitude toward God, the Creator who gave life, and attitude toward life that God allows.
The Gospel newspaper contains the following article:
A father and son went on a trip together. However, the rich man met a robber in the middle and robbed all of his travel expenses. The rich man had to sleep on the street, and he had to beg for food in a restaurant.
The rich man had to cross the desert to return home. For several days they couldn't drink a sip of water, and they struggled with the winds of sand to walk. "father." "OK." “I would rather die.” “Nevertheless, it is better to live than to die.”
Shortly thereafter, a tombstone was found in a sand dune. As the son wept, he said, “No one has crossed this road. They all die,” he said. But the father shook his head and said, “No. The fact that there is a cemetery here is proof that there is a village nearby. Now we live,” he said.
Some people said, "The most precious fruit of life is gratitude that comes from suffering."
There is the famous prayer of Saint Francis, ‘Song of the Sun’.
“If we thank God for the grace he has given us, he will give us the moon, if we are grateful for the grace of the moon, he will give us the sun, and if we give thanks for the grace of the sun, he will give us eternal heaven that does not need the sun and the moon.”
As theologian Niebuhr said, “One more thing must be added to faith, hope, and love, and that is gratitude.”
4. Conclusion
People have a habit of forgetting things that should not be forgotten, and things that should not be forgotten. So it often causes trouble and attracts misfortune.
I pray that all of us will glorify God by thinking and giving thanks to God, who is the creator, the source of all blessings, and the savior, at any time, in any situation, and to see all kinds of God's salvation.
(Poongseong Methodist Church. Book: Complete Commentary on 27 New Testament Books/ Interpretation of Difficult Scriptures I, II/ Salvation Before Jesus Came/Paul’s Understanding of Man/ Prosperous Prayer/ Seasonal Sermonbooks/ Sermonbook 18. T. 426 -3051)