Title: True Victory
Text: Luke 24:1-6
Sermon: Brother Jongsun Hwang (Sunday Sermon on July 7, 2006 at Saegil Church)
I remember reading something like this in a book a long time ago. “The history of mankind is the history of war.” If we look around our lives, there are really endless series of wars (fights) and various battles. There are also horrendous wars between countries that use state-of-the-art weapons to ravage a country using the latest weapons. After all, the outcome of the war is truly painful and sad. But for some reason we are so used to the word war. We hear so much about the war on drugs, the war on violence, the war on crime, the war on work and the war on entrance exams in the media that we are neither afraid nor concerned about the word war.
As for why I am talking about war in such a lengthy way in the beginning, I met 6.25 while I was in Australia, and thinking about the Korean War made me think of war. And can we not put an end to that devastating war on this planet? And I thought about it for a while.
When we talk about war, we cannot leave out the biblical war story. When I first started believing in Jesus, I read the Bible, and when I read the Old Testament, there were so many stories of war. War stories surrounding Israel, constant wars with foreign peoples around them. Ammon, Moab, Philistines, Canaan, etc... . However, the outcome of the war is one hundred and one hundred victories if God intervenes, and one hundred and one hundred defeats if God turns away.
There were times when I read the war stories and thought, 'God loves wars'. It was not until a long time later that I realized that the message of the Israeli war history to us is not just about winning or losing a war. But even now, in the Iraq war, I was very sad to know that there are many Korean Christians who believe that God has a plan to drive out Islam and establish Christianity there, and that plan will surely come true. I am afraid of those who preach with literalism and accept it as it is and believe that faith like it is the faith that can go to heaven.
Not all wars are bad wars. During my stay in Australia, I watched a few movies, one of which was <Public Enemy>. The film tells the story of a prosecutor who overthrows the powerful political power behind him and fights alone but with a sense of justice, arguing that a hypocrite who controls thugs and threatens murder and violence under the pretense of being an educator is a public enemy.
A fight against this public enemy. Such a battle is a beautiful battle that purifies society and realizes social justice. While watching this movie, I really felt that there are many public enemies everywhere in Korea. And they make us hard.
Another beautiful fight. It's a fight with myself. The fight against the various desires that constantly arise in my heart. Isn't this a beautiful battle that believers must fight to the end?
Every disease has a cause. However, when we get sick and go to the hospital, most of the symptoms are treated to alleviate or reduce symptoms. However, in such a way, the disease cannot be cured, nor can it be cured.
Every war has a cause. After the war is over, ending the war by exchanging some agreement or agreement does not mean the war will end. It would be nice if we could bring out the root cause of the war and make an agreement through healing, consultation, reconciliation, and consideration. The root cause of war begins with the greed of individuals, groups, or nations.
Now let's go back to the land of Judea 2,000 years ago. At that time, Judea was in a difficult social and political situation. Due to the invasion of the Roman Empire, Judea became a vassal state of Rome, and the religious leaders were busy using their faith to deceive the Jewish people and satisfy their own self-interest with the Roman political power on their backs. There were also those who took advantage of the Roman power and religious leaders to extort their people. Now, in their despair, they eagerly await someone who will set them free from difficulties and suffering.