Title Before my character is formed
Title: Before My Form Was Fulfilled
Text: 1 John 3:9
(Saegil Church 2007.10.21 Sunday Sermon)
I. Thinking of the metaphor between the persimmon seed and the ‘seed of God’
When I was growing up, there was a large persimmon tree on the backyard fence of the house. It was a persimmon tree. In late spring, around May, when off-white persimmon flowers fell on the yard by the river, they gave it to them and threaded them into necklaces and played with them. After Chuseok, when the persimmons turn yellow in the fall, they would peel the persimmons and eat them, then bite the persimmon seeds and take out the white spoon-shaped embryo from the middle and place it on the lips. Not because it was tasty, not because it was fun to chew. However, even at a young age, the possibility that the ‘little embryo’ could later break out of the earth and become a large persimmon tree seems to have been so mysterious.
After growing up, while reading the Bible, I saw the word “seed of God” appearing in the epistles of John, and my heart was pounding. “Everyone who is born of God does not sin, for the 'seed of God' dwells in him, and he cannot sin because he is born of God” (1 John, 3:9). The fact that the pure white 'embryo' that can be born is hidden in the hard persimmon seed and the Bible saying that there is a 'seed of God' in me comes to me like a clear bell of resonance.
If you look at the history of philosophy and religion, this ‘seed of God’ is expressed in many different words, and the nuances are slightly different, so the taste is also varied. In any case, it was common to know that something lurking in us as a possibility. The image of God, the Buddha-nature, the seed of the Logos, the divine flame, the name of virtue, etc. are various. However, it is still an 'embryo in a seed', not a tree. Just because we have the 'image of God', it does not mean that we all automatically become worthy children of God. Just because everyone has Buddha-nature, doesn't mean that everyone attains enlightenment and is liberated.
II. Mind is not a by-product of matter.
You may not even know that modern people have become materialistic reductionists almost unknowingly. There is a growing view that all mental activities, artistic creative activities, moral decisions, and religious holiness experiences are ultimately the result of physico-biochemical changes in brain cells and brain organs. But is that really the case? Just as matter is not the cooled product of the mind, so the mind does not come from matter. Of course, we know from experience that mental activity and its functions are closely related to brain cells and the human nervous system. When a part of the brain is paralyzed, conscious activity stops, and in the reality experience that a genius talent, who was intelligent until yesterday, suddenly becomes a dementia patient one day and cannot even recognize his family, he realizes that humans are a fleeting grass and a fragile creature.
It is a medical fact that a person's psycho-psychological conscious activity is closely related to the mechanism of the cranial nervous system. But jumping from that fact to assert that all minds are by-products of matter is another matter. It becomes a philosophical belief problem, a problem of reality, and a metaphysical problem. Many scientists say that although we experience 'mental phenomena', there is still much we do not know about 'mental reality itself'.
I am not trying to introduce some philosophical metaphysical theory in today's pulpit. One thing I would like to stress, however, is that the simple conclusion that our 'life phenomena' or 'mental phenomena' are mere mechanical products is too frivolous and one-dimensional. In space-time, infinite space-time, human beings are reeds and dust that live in a momentary and fragile light like the small light of a firefly on a summer night. The more honest and clear awareness of that fact, the more mysterious the phenomenon of ‘mind-soul’. Because when there is a flood or a tsunami, no matter how great a person is, they are swept away in a muddy flood like a bug that lives on a persimmon leaf, but we question eternity and plead with God. And call the Eternal. Because, as the Catholic poet Guo Guo put it, we have the feeling that “we are here now as a part of eternity and infinity, as an expression of eternity and infinity, as one love of eternity and infinity.” Humans are the only ones who can sell their teachers for a few gold coins, but even if their own lives and their families are fingerprinted, they are the only living beings who resolutely choose to die because they cannot abandon their ancestors in the face of fire.
III. The message of the religious psalms of Psalm 139 to us
The pious Israeli religious poet wants to say two things through 139 songs today.
First, God knows everything, so do not foolishly try to hide from Him or try to hide it. God knows our thoughts, He knows our actions, He knows our hearts.
The fact that anyone knows me well, even if it is the absolute, is not a pleasant thing to think about, and it is not a blessing. It is very burdensome. Such a heart asserts that it is privacy as my subject and claim of my existence. So we try to hide, we try to hide. But the poet says. Even if I hide in the depths of the sea, the one who found Jonah in the whale's boat knows me right away. Modern people who have grown up try to kill such a God. However, like Adam Eve, who tried to hide behind a tree nest in the Garden of Eden, covering her face with leaves, people struggle to hide and hide something for the rest of their lives.
Second, surprisingly, the pious poet goes a step further. It is that God already knew me before the basic shape of my five internal organs was formed in my mother's womb. He saw me before I was formed. Therefore, I don't know if it's naive to talk about my subjectivity. There was a university student who once quarreled with the parents who came to the university graduation ceremony when they asked me to give birth to a poor farmer's house because rural farming parents gave birth, raised them, and taught them to college. We have an unconscious intention to make a ‘religious deal’ with the One who opened our existence, the Creator Master who gave me life and all that I have as a gift.
As Jacob once said in the Wilderness of Beersheba when he was a young man, “If the Lord will keep me and bless me, give me food and clothing, and bring me back to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord will be my God, I will build the altar of God’s house, and I will pay tithes. I will give it to you.” (Genesis 28:20-22) Even in the early beliefs of Israel in the ancient society, this attitude is a 'conditional deal with God'. Is this attitude really belief? Could the symbol of making a ‘religious deal’ with the one who made my traits be pure faith? Business is done between people, not with God the Creator.
IV. The Reformers' Faith and Reflection on Today's Korean Church
The faith in Psalm 139 may be at the heart of the Hebrew piety. And in the Middle Ages, when this belief was fading in the 'embellishment of human religion', it was revived through Martin Luther and Jean Calvin. What does Luther mean to say that we are saved “by faith alone and by grace alone”? Since God knows us all through the eyes of Him, we cannot cover or hide the above secret sins, but only to hold on to His mercy, love, and forgiveness. The teaching that we are saved by 'merit of works' by accumulating many good deeds before God is called 'godly business dealing'.
Calvin also said, “I have faith in a mysterious and gracious God who knew me, called me, and saw me even before I was born.” That is, it is faith in “the predestination of God” (Romans 8:29-30). Predestination is not fatalism, nor is it meant to speak of God's dogmatism. Karl Barth once said, “The theory of predestination is a diamond in the middle of a ring called the Gospel.” When properly understood from deep faith, the theory of predestination is the gospel of the gospel, but if misunderstood or abused, it becomes poison. Like the poet's confession today, it refers to the 'courage of faith' that confesses the eternal God who knows and sees me as a God of reverence and mysticism, even before my five organs and my body have been formed. Only that person is freed from the ‘fear of being forgotten’ that we will all be forgotten one day.
Where does the powerlessness and loss of holiness of the Korean church come from today? The church has reached the point of being ridiculed and despised by the world. What is the root cause? It is because of the foolish belief that we can and can hide from God. It is because of activism, achievementism, and spiritual greed to achieve many religious achievements and achievements that will impress God, so that salvation is guaranteed and great rewards are obtained by pleasing and moving God.
We are all invited to the Garden of Life, to live while singing and enjoying the beauty of Mother Nature. A child who is preoccupied with the ‘treasure hunt’ until the sun goes down is a foolish child. As it is written in 1 Peter, we have been chosen “to proclaim the beautiful virtues of him who entered into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9). Only to enjoy thanksgiving, praise, and the joy of love to serve in freedom.