Title [Chuseok Family Worship (Friday)] With love, not revenge
Contents
Hymn: 465 "I Died with the Saviour"
The Call to Worship: Psalm 68:1-6
Confession of Faith: Apostles' Creed
Prayer: in the family
Text: Exodus 21:23-25
Key Verse: “Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot… ” (Ex 21:24)
Word: There was a man named Lamech. He has two wives and several children, all of whom have made great strides in society. A son named Yabal became a leading dairy businessman and Yuval became a music master. The most successful son, Dubalgain, became the steel king who leads the world steel industry. This is the story of the Lamech family in Genesis 4:19 and below. How is it. Isn't this enough to shout out loud!
Lamech proudly shouts at his wives. This is the content of Genesis 4:23-24. “If anyone harms me, he will die at my hands. Even if someone inflicts even a small amount of damage on me, I will kill their child. God said that if you harm our ancestor Cain, the penalty will be sevenfold, but if anyone harms me, I will repay you seventy-sevenfold.
Comparing with the lawlessness of the Lamech era, the basic spirit of the Dongtai Revenge Act in today's text, that is, 'you must be dealt with in the form of damage done', is not in revenge, but in preventing merciless and unlimited private revenge. is to do. You shouldn't take more revenge than you have suffered. By shifting law enforcement from the private to the public domain, we are preventing individual revenge. The same content is found in the contemporary Babylonian Code of Hammurabi. King Hammurabi is also regarded as a ‘king who established order and justice’.
Jesus advances this law further. God's original teaching is not to "prevent" personal revenge, but to go further and actively forgive and love. In the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew, Jesus says: “And you have heard it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth’, but I say to you, do not resist the evil one. I love my enemies...”
It is human nature to want to repay others for what they have suffered injustice or worse. We must overcome these feelings with the love of God revealed on the cross.
Prayer: Help me to overcome the feeling of revenge. Make me yearn for love. I pray in Jesus name. Amen.
Lord's Prayer