Title I'm looking for you
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4. At dawn, Jesus was standing by the seashore, but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus.
5. Jesus said to them, “Children, do you have meat?” He answered, “No.
6. He said to them, "Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will catch it." Then they threw it, but there were many fish, and the net could not be lifted.
7. The disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord." Simon Peter was naked, and when he heard the word "Lord," he put on his cloak and jumped into the sea.
8. The other disciples got into a small boat and brought their nets with fish, because they were only fifty steps away from the land.
9. When I got to the land, I saw a charcoal fire, and fish were placed on it, and there was bread.
10. Jesus said to him, “Bring me some of the fish you have caught.”
11. And Simon Peter went up and drew the net on land, and it was full of great fish, one hundred and fifty-three. Even though there were so many, the net was not torn.
12. Jesus said to him, “Come and have breakfast.” The disciples knew that he was the Lord, so no one dared to ask who you are.
13. Jesus went and took bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish.
Content
Subject: I'm looking for him
Text: John 21:4-13
A few years ago, while teaching an introduction to Christianity to Yonsei University students, I was asked what college students think most negatively about Christianity. How do you think college students would have responded? Most of the students pointed out two main points. One was exclusivism, the other was lack of life. Christians tend to think that everything that is different from what they think is wrong, and while they have a strong conviction of salvation through faith in Jesus, their life is often unrelated to their faith. I thought these two opinions were quite reasonable.
However, I have come to think that there is another, more fundamental problem behind these two problems. That is, in many cases, both for the individual Christian and for the community of the church, Jesus is missing from the center. Ultimately, if you look for the roots of Christian exclusivism or lack of life, you will wonder if it is a phenomenon that occurs because the Christian life is not based on Jesus. It is with this awareness of the problem that I used a somewhat unfamiliar expression as the title of today's sermon. It means that Christians and churches must find the lost Jesus, the very man.
Statistics on the religion and religious consciousness of Koreans published by the Gallup Korea Research Institute in 1998 tell us a very surprising fact. Religious people in Korea make up 46.9% of the total population, of which 20.3% are Protestants. However, 4.4% of those who were Protestants in the past converted to other religions, and 17.5% of those who were Protestants in the past became non-religious. In other words, a total of 21.9% of those who were Protestants in the past and now have left Protestantism. This figure indicates that the number of former Protestants who left Protestantism is 1.6% more than the current Protestant population. If those who left Protestantism remained without leaving Protestantism, arithmetically, 42.2% would have been Protestants. Of course, these calculations have the problem of oversimplifying the problem, but I think the implications of these figures for us are great nonetheless.
The Gallup Korea Research Institute continued to ask non-religious people. If you were to choose a religion, which one would you choose? Unfortunately, the first preference was Buddhism, the second was Catholic, and the third was Protestant. When these three are the three major religions in Korea, it means that Koreans have the lowest preference for Protestantism. Combining the previous statistic with this statistic, we arrive at a very sad conclusion. Protestantism in Korea is disliked by many Protestants and non-religious people as well. Our question is this. Why did Protestantism become like this?
I think this has something to do with the religious identity of Protestants. Let's cite statistics from the Gallup Korea Research Institute once more. I asked Protestants why they believe in Christianity. Of all Protestants, 66.8% said they wanted to find peace of mind, 12% said they wanted to be blessed, another 12% said they wanted to go to heaven after death, and 6.9% said they wanted to find meaning in life. I did. Of course, there is nothing wrong with the expectation of gaining peace of mind, receiving blessings, and going to heaven by becoming a Christian. However, compared to such expectations, the fact that only 6.9% of all Christians are Christians who seek the meaning of life and thus want to lead a righteous life, makes me wonder if there is something seriously wrong with the identity of today's Christians. I came to think that these statistics from Gallup Korea Research Institute are also a problem because the ultimate basis that determines the lives of Christians is not in Jesus.