Title: The Keeper of Faith
Contents
♡♥♡ One who keeps the faith / 2 Samuel 15:24-29
***Introduction
There was an elder with sincere faith. They have three brothers, and now they are all grown up and all of them are university professors. When this family gathers on a holiday or special day, there is always a story to tell.
When the children were young, it was the way the family came back from an outing. It was when the car my father was driving was passing through a quiet country road. As the rice fields continued to ripen, a wide field of perilla appeared on the other side. Suddenly, my mother told me to stop the car.
"Honey! Stop the car for a second. Let's go pick up some perilla leaves and put it in soybean paste.”
After stopping the car on the side of the road, five people went into the sesame field, picked one hand full of sesame leaves in an instant, and just as they were about to leave the field, my father called everyone to a stop.
“It is stealing to secretly pick sesame leaves that have been farmed by others. So you have to buy it.”
Saying that, he took out his wallet and rolled up a 1,000-won sheet and tied it to a sturdy sesame tree.
Do you know if the owner of the sesame field found the money, and if so, what was it? However, it is said that the 1,000 won bill hanging from the sesame tree never left in the minds of the three sons. It goes without saying that they grew up to be honest and faithful people.
A person who is honest and faithful even when no one is watching, a person who faithfully performs a task given to him with his/her best strength even when no one sees or recognizes him, a person who works faithfully even when there are disadvantages or dangers due to his work. You can become a saint. However, it is not easy to find such a person in this day and age. How are you?
There is a thing called 'coming out'. This word refers to ‘expressing one’s inner being openly and outwardly’. A person who has been hiding that he is gay and proudly reveals that he is gay is sometimes called ‘coming out’. But we Christians must ‘come out’ from the world. That is, by living an honest and faithful life, you must be able to confidently present yourself as a Christian wherever you go. Of course, I'm not talking about doing good deeds, alms, or prayers to be done secretly.
In the days of Jesus, the priests, Pharisees, and scribes were rebuked by Jesus for revealing what they were supposed to do in secret and doing their evil life in secret. When Jesus was arrested, the disciples of Jesus also forsook their faith and fled because they were afraid of death. On the other hand, ‘Joseph of Arimathea’ proudly revealed himself and demanded the body of Jesus when everyone ran away in fear after Jesus was crucified. This is in contrast to ‘Nicodemus’ who came to Jesus at night to avoid people’s eyes.
Let's look at Isaiah 26:2-3. “Open the gates, and let in the righteous kingdom that keeps the gods. You will keep the steadfast in peace in peace, for he trusts in you.” In this verse, the qualities of the people who can participate in God's salvation are mentioned in two ways. ‘righteousness’ and ‘faithfulness’. “Keeping God” means “to firmly maintain a covenant relationship with God.” In other words, since there is no goodness in oneself, they hold on to and depend only on God.
Let's look at the words of the text.
In today's text, a person who stands out for such faithfulness appears. This is a person called ‘Sadok’. Zadok was a priest in the time of King David along with Abiathar. He is the son of Ahitub as a descendant of Eleazar son of Aaron, the first high priest. That is, he was a descendant of the orthodox priestly family established by God. The name ‘Zadok’ means ‘righteous’. According to his name, he was a righteous and faithful man before God. Zadok's righteous and faithful disposition shone even more in David's crisis and trial. A righteous and faithful person shines more in the darkest of the world. He called us today and made us God's people so that we can keep our faith and shine toward God.
It was when Absalom revolted.
David's favorite son Absalom revolted after four years of conspiracy. He rebelled against his father. David was in such a hurry that he left the city of Jerusalem with a few servants, with nothing. Absalom quickly captured the city of Jerusalem. David was in danger of losing the throne to his son, and even his life was in jeopardy.
Many people who had received the favor of David betrayed David and came under Absalom's control, dreaming of becoming a member of the family. In particular, the betrayal of Ahithophel, David's close friend and counselor, made David even more endangered. At this time, Zadok gave up his position, honor, and even his life, and followed David with the ark of God.
When Jesus saw a large crowd following him, he said, “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Matthew 16:24) This is because the multitude of people who were near Jesus, even his disciples, followed Jesus dreaming of attaining their birth. . Jesus knew their thoughts and spoke. “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate the loaves and were satisfied” (John 6:26). Then all the people who were found out about his intentions left Jesus.
Many of today's saints are also following Jesus thinking about their own interests. They are people who can leave without any regrets if it is not beneficial to them and if difficulties come on the contrary. Like ‘Judas Iscariot’. So, the way to the kingdom of God is the ‘narrow road’. Let's look at Matthew 7:13-14. “Enter through the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the road is broad that leads to destruction, and many go in by it; narrow is the gate and stray is the way that leads to life, and few find it.”
Zadok carried the ark of the covenant and followed David because he was convinced that the way was right before God. But David told Zadok, “Take up the ark and return to the city of Jerusalem.” David's intention was that the ark of God should not leave Jerusalem. Zadok's faith and faithfulness are great, but David's love and faith toward God must be unparalleled.
How easy would it be to come up with such a belief in a situation where you lose your power, your honor, and all your wealth in an instant, and even your life is at risk? Even if even one person is in a pitiful situation, moreover, he is a faithful priest with the ark of the covenant, a symbol of God's presence. The ark of the covenant and the priest were the greatest comfort and strength for David above all else.
Look at verses 25-26 of the text. It reminds me of the faith of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who said, ‘Even if you lose your life, you cannot bow down to an idol.’ or Esther, who said, ‘If you die, you will die.’ It is ‘Zadok’ who abandons everything for the right path of faith and follows, or ‘David’ who returns the ark to Jerusalem with complete trust in God, or the king’s servant.
Zadok returned to Jerusalem Although he returned to Jerusalem at the invitation of David, he did not pursue only his own safety and comfort. He sent his son Ahimaaz and Abiathar’s son Jonathan to explain the situation and help David in his troubles. In this way, Zadok thoroughly distinguished between the right path to follow and the path to reject and faithfully followed it. God loves people like this. In Isaiah 26:3, which we saw earlier, it says, “In peace you will keep him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you.” “A person with a strong heart” refers to a person who completely trusts only in God in any circumstance or situation.
Another time was at the time of Solomon's accession.
Years passed after David restored the throne and passed it on to Solomon. In David's last years, there were many conspiracies for the throne. Meanwhile, David entrusted the throne of his son Solomon to Zadok.
In the process, Zadok's old friend and colleague Abiathar betrayed David and joined the plot to usurp the throne of Adonijah. Abiathar acted faithfully on David's side with Zadok as a priest during Absalom's rebellion. However, in the last years of David's life, he had been involved in the rebellion of Adonijah. But Zadok followed the right path, even abandoning his long-standing friendship with Abiathar.
A man was traveling with his brother in a boat toward the dangerous rapids flowing beneath Niagara Falls. The spray flew like a thick mist, and the waves shook the boat as if it was overturned by the power of the waterfall. The younger brother was very frightened and restless. The older brother looked at it and asked the sailor who was rowing.
“How often have you crossed this place so far?”
“I have been doing this all the time for 12 years,” replied the sailor.
“Then, have you ever had an accident?”
“There has never been.”
“Then you mean there was no overturning or no casualties?”
“Sir, that has never happened,” he emphasized. Then the older brother told his younger brother,
“Did you listen to the sailor? If you can't row better than the sailor, sit quietly like me, trust the sailor and enjoy this journey.”
Do you believe that God lives? And do we believe that the living God guides our lives? Then, you must completely depend on God and keep your faith. Because we can't live any better than God leads us.
If you keep and practice faith and righteousness in God in the world, you will experience difficulties such as losing friends from the world and sometimes abandoning old friendships. So Jesus said. “He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me, and he who does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me” (Matthew 10:37). -38)
However, he made another promise to those who kept their faith toward God in all circumstances and circumstances. Mark 10:29-30. “I tell you the truth, I say to you, Jesus said, He who has left houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, children, or lands, for me and for the gospel, for the sake of me and the gospel, that he who has left houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children, There is no one who will not receive a hundred times as much money and lands, but with persecution, and in the age to come eternal life.”
Through Zadok, who was faithful to God in this way, his descendants were blessed. God said that He gives grace to thousands of generations to those who love Him and keep His Word. David testifies in Psalm 37:25-26. “From my youth until I am old, I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their descendants begging for food. All day long he shows mercy and lends, and his descendants are blessed.”
I pray that your life will be filled with God's grace for your family to be blessed by living a faithful life that keeps the faith before God.