Title Do you want a special life?
Contents
♡♥♡ Do you want a special life? / Luke 2:1-7
*** Introduction
Among the wishes of people, there is a desire to ‘become a little more special’. So, I want to be treated more special than others. For example, when an administrative office issues a document, it starts with the trivial things, such as hoping for a faster processing than others. These distorted emotions are more evident in Koreans. So, since ancient times, ‘origin’, ‘status’, ‘delay’, ‘scholarship’, ‘blood relationship’, etc. have been considered important. It seems that the spirit of ‘differentiation’ is still there.
Not so long ago, one of the things that often adorned the social pages of newspapers was the news that a person (student) who was being “bullyed” committed suicide. This kind of differentiation is absurd when faced with it, but we also discriminate implicitly. Parents teach their children not to play with them simply because they have different living standards. This is the beginning of discrimination. If the Lord had come to this earth now, he would have become a ‘bullying’. The Lord had nothing to offer his origin, living environment, or status. Moreover, what he is doing is because he mercilessly criticized people belonging to the upper classes at the time and carried out a major life reform.
‘Ordinary beings, extraordinary things.’ This is the expression that represents Jesus Christ. But people want to live a normal life and be special. So I try to pull everything together if I can. I want to show off. How are you?
There is a region in China called 'The Huang Mountain'. Originally there were high mountains, but now it is flat. content, that is,
A farmer lived south of the Waste Mountains. He had to go around 700 li to get to the northern part. He decided to clear the mountain, and every day he carried dirt and stones in a cart to a deep valley a few mile away and dumped it. People said it was a 'crazy man' because it was ridiculous, but the farmer said,
“Honey, do you not know that this mountain has no descendants, but I do have descendants?”
retorted. The conclusion of the story is that he and his descendants moved the mountain to a flat land now. People called the place that became the flatland ‘Mountain of Wasteland’.
What Jesus did and what we Christians do will probably look like this to the world. To the world, the 'Christian way of faith' will seem like 'no way' or 'crazy'. Like a farmer who moves a mountain, a Christian does a very special job, but life is an ordinary thing, living each day with hope and faithfulness. Our Jesus is the example.
1. The coming of the Lord was ordinary.
The age of the new covenant did not begin with loud fanfare. It was a very secretive and very ordinary beginning that did not even attract people's attention. People in those days who were expecting the Messiah wanted greatness and superhuman powers. But God did not live up to people's expectations.
The text shows the birth of Jesus in the daily life of ordinary people. Let's trace the path of Jesus' birth.
The birth of Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, began with a prospective couple living in Nazareth, a small village in the Galilee region, where they did not attract people's attention. Joseph and Mary were a prospective couple who promised to marry. Then one day, it was revealed that his fianc e, Maria, was pregnant. Because Joseph was a righteous man, he wanted to end the relationship quietly and without a word. Then the Holy Spirit appeared and told Mary that the child conceived was the Son of God by the Holy Spirit.
At that time, Israel was a Roman colony, ruled by a governor dispatched from Rome. The Holy Roman Empire was just beginning the imperial era, expanding its power. ‘Caesar Augustus’ appearing in the text was the first emperor of Rome. His real name was Caius Octavius (30B.C-14A.D), the nephew of Julius Caesar.
Caesar followed the path of a dictator who forced the worship of the emperor, and needed military power to expand his power, and tax revenue was important. So, I ordered a family register inspection to secure taxes throughout the colony. This created an opportunity for Joseph and Mary to go to Bethlehem, the hometown of David. This is the fulfillment of what God had said in advance, saying, 'The Messiah is a descendant of David and is born in David's hometown.'
Let's look at Micah 5:2. “Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel. His origins are from ancient times, from ancient times.” And the Jews at the time of Jesus believed that ‘the Messiah will be born in Bethlehem,’ according to this prophecy. This is John 7:42. “Didn’t the Bible say, ‘The Christ will come of the seed of David, and out of Bethlehem, the village where David lived?’”
History is a tool for accomplishing God's will. He prepared the Holy Roman Empire for the birth of the Messiah and spread the gospel, and he used the tool of oppression called emperor worship. God has put the most special work that will save mankind into a vessel of ordinary history.
Not only that, but it was also the moment of the birth of Jesus into the world. When Joseph and his party arrived in Bethlehem, there were already no seats in the inn due to the crowds gathered for the family registration. When childbirth was imminent, the Messiah was born in a stable that could be a shelter from the wind, and the first cradle on this earth was a manger. Without the power of God, would you have had to lie down in a stable, even in a manger, without even being able to hold an inn? This too was God's plan for even the lowly ones.
But today, despite these believers in Jesus, we expect special treatment for a peaceful life, a prosperous life, and the glory of wealth. Of course, it is not all wrong to wish for such a thing. However, the first thing to do is to examine whether this is a life that obeys God's will and seeks God's glory. The Lord, who knows people's feelings, said in Matthew 6:31-33, "Therefore, he was anxious and said, 'What shall we eat? what to drink What shall I wear?’ Don’t. This is what the Gentiles seek. Your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness. And all these things will be added to you.”
2. God's work begins and completes with ordinary things.
The faith of Korean believers is unusual. When there is something that 'sparkles' in the eyes, they rush to say, 'Hey, that's magical', 'It's magical.' Of course, it's not just Korea, but it means it's a little more unusual. This is the reason why we insist on the gift of “tongues”, “prophecy”, and “healing”. I haven't seen many people who seek the most precious and greatest gift, love. Nor do they recognize the gift of ‘love’ as the best gift. This stems from a false belief in expecting something special.
The end of the individual due to the death of the individual and the end of history through the second coming of Jesus are all contained in the vessel of ordinary history. It was so at the time of Noah's flood and the destruction of mankind, and it was so at the time of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Luke 17:26-30. “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be in the days of the Son of Man. People ate and drank, married, and were given in marriage until the day Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all, and it will be just as it was in the days of Lot, when people ate and drank, bought and sold, planted and built houses. fire and brimstone rained down from heaven and destroyed them. So it will be on the day of the appearing of the Son of Man.”
Therefore, like Abraham, we should live our ordinary daily lives with preciousness and sincerity. In Hebrews 13:2 we read about Abraham's work, "Don't forget to be hospitable. By this, some have unwittingly entertained angels.” And the Lord also said, ‘Whatever you did for the least of these, you did for me.’ These are things that are easy to miss if you don't pay close attention.
A few years ago, Dr. Henry Nuen, a professor at Harvard University, suddenly resigned. Then, as an employee of the ‘Break’ Welfare Center, a facility that accommodates the mentally handicapped, he volunteered to do various chores, which became a topic of discussion in the theological world. Dr. Henry is one of the world's most popular theologians. He was a scholar who was respected by his students.
All of his 20 books are bestsellers. Then he abandoned the Harvard professorship, which guarantees high pay and honor. Volunteered to care for anchored children in a mentally handicapped facility. His job is to clean the toilet of the anchored son. take a bath Help with eating. It was a tedious task, such as providing behavior correction guidance. It was hard work, of course, but the pay was low enough to make it difficult to make a living, but he was satisfied.
Everyone asked, “Why?” but he remained silent for months. Then, I recently wrote a book called ‘In the Name of Jesus’ to answer the question. Dr. Nuen said in the book,
“All the while, I was only looking for the way up. He studied well from a young age and was revered as a “prodigy genius” and even became a professor at Harvard University. My 20 or so books have won the popularity of many people. So far I have only pursued the uphill road to success, the top. But one day, when I met Adam, a mentally weak child, I realized that I could know Jesus right away through the downhill road that shares in human suffering. I couldn't see Jesus on the uphill road, but I was able to meet the true Jesus who appeared in the Gospels on the downhill road.”
confessed.
Truly a man worthy of praise as a great professor. He is a true Christian who discovers the path of true service, the path of being a true disciple who resembles Jesus, and knows how to throw away worldly wealth and glory. This is the purpose of our Lord coming to this earth in the flesh. And it is also the path we must follow as a follower of the Lord. This is Mark 10:45. “For the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.” In John 12:26, “If anyone wants to serve me, follow me. Where I am, there will be those who serve me, and if anyone serves me, my Father will honor him.”
This way of life is the most ordinary, yet the greatest and most special thing that no one can do. If you want a special life, you should follow this path. Even though no one in the world recognizes us, sometimes it seems like a failed life, and tears of pain, sorrow, and loneliness flow, the Lord remembers even a drop of our tears.
Everyone, let's follow the Lord who goes ahead with us. The end of this follow is where there is eternal joy, peace, and happiness. In the name of the Lord, I pray that the life of waiting for the Lord to come again while celebrating and giving thanks for the Lord's coming will be filled with the happiness that the Lord accomplishes.