Title Look above/Colossians 3:1-4
Today is the morning of the first day of the new year. It is a beautiful, new and bright morning as the world is fresh. Everyone, did you have a good dream last night? The new year seems to be going well. I wish you a good start to the new year. It is important to start every business.
People, no matter who they are, want to live a life that is worthwhile and has a high purpose. Because you only have one life, it is so precious. Moreover, we Christians are even clearer in this regard. Because it is God's will to live that way. So, how can you live a more precious life? Today's text is talking about that.
The Bible says, "Look up." "Seek the things above, think of the things above, not the things of the earth." Everyone, I hope you look up and buy as you go through the year. There is a reason for this.
1. Because everything that is precious comes from above.
Gentlemen, everything that is true, spiritual, and valuable in the world does not come from a rebellious world, but comes from a high place and comes down from above. Manna came down from there. All our life came from there. All the dew of Mount Hermon comes down from there. Then the Lord will come down from there. So Johnson Oatman, sang, "Toward that high place I go day by day."
In Psalm 121, the psalmist said, “(Psalm 121:1) I lift up my eyes to the mountains; where will my help come from?” (Psalm 121:2) My help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. It is a confession that that place comes from directly above.
So, in the text we read today, it says, "Think of the things above, and not the things of the earth." This is not a story about putting aside all the worldly things and sitting down, looking at the sky and praying. This means to live with the focus of your life on the higher ground. For "all precious and spiritual things are given from on high."
The difference between humans and animals is that humans walk on two legs and animals usually walk on four legs. Because the beast walks on four legs, its eyes are always on the ground. However, since humans walk on two legs, they are made to always look up with their heads up.
So the poet Yun Dong-ju sang: "To the day I die, I will look up to the sky, and I will not be ashamed, even the wind on the leaves has made me tormented." This is the human value. Human life can be divided into two main types. One is an idealist and the other is a realist. These two forms of life are very contrasting. Idealists value the future more than the present. For the sake of hope for the future, I endure the pain of today. And we place more weight on spiritual values than on material income. Also, rather than focusing on this land, we live with our will in a higher place.
But realists value the present rather than the distant future. And don't sacrifice today for the future. The idea is not to go hungry seven days to eat on my birthday. And it is said that the material basis should take precedence over the spiritual basis. It is said that even if you have a beard, you must eat to survive. And they are more preoccupied with the gratification of pleasure rather than restraining their desires.
It is absolutely impossible to say which one is better over these two life forms. However, one thing is clear, that the way to advance and improve our lives is to live an idealistic life, looking up at a high place, looking into the distant future at all costs, rather than living obsessively with reality and thinking only about the earth. I can do it.
2. Because the road is there.
We must always look up and live. Because the way is there. The Bible says, "Seek the things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God." This means that there is a way. Because the Lord is the life, the truth, and the way.
Guys, people don't bother looking up when they're comfortable. Because you can live on your own. However, the only time you will be able to look up is when you are struggling by yourself. Then even the atheist is supposed to look up. According to the Jewish people, Satan also looks up when he is sick. Because there is a way.
People usually do not know that there is a way there. However, only when it reaches a point beyond which a person can handle it, one acquires the wisdom that the fundamental paths of life are all on a high place.
When I saw a young man leading a life of faith so thoroughly that his mother was too knowledgeable, I always thought it was because my mother was ignorant. This young man, however, was enlisted in the military after a war broke out. A mother gives her one last word to her son, who is about to board the train to the battlefield. “Son, if you are faced with a difficult situation, look up.” My son involuntarily listened to the words, I threw away.
This young man went to war and was surrounded by enemy camps. Now there is no chance of surviving or escaping. There is no way. There is no way. At that time, a thought suddenly popped into the mind of this young man. “When difficult situations come, look up” is the mother’s words. I looked up at how intensely those words came to mind in an instant in this young man's heart. And involuntarily, "God, help me." A prayer came.
How earnest must you have been with that brief prayer? The young man scoffed at his mother for being ignorant when he saw his mother's high-minded faith, but when he saw that environment, he finally realized that the truly fundamental path was not here, but in a high place. So it is said that this young man at that time was rescued after waiting for several days because of his power to look up.
Everyone, if you are having a hard time living through the year, I hope you keep looking for a way and look up rather than trying to come up with a scheming. Then you will see the Lord sitting at the right hand of God. That's why the Apostle Paul said, "Look up" in today's text because he had many such experiences.
3. Without this life, a person becomes vulgar.
As humans are tamed, they can be either humans or animals. Depending on where a person lives, it can be decided whether a person is a physical person or a spiritual person.
We have to live looking at that high place, but that high place is not always far away from us. A part of that place is now in my mind, in my interest, in my life right now. Although we live in a harsh world today, we must be able to experience, recognize, and live the country in this real life. Otherwise, if we live under the influence of earthly things while we live on this earth, the fruits of life that appear there will only be vulgar and vulgar. They are only sexual immorality, uncleanness, lust, covetousness, anger, malice, and shame, as Colossians 3:5-8 says.
Ladies and gentlemen, the difference between a monastery and a prison lies in the minds of the people in it. Outwardly, it looks just like a prison or a monastery. Isolation from the world, high walls, strict discipline, restrictions on freedom, the same dress, common life is no different. However, while a prisoner who has committed a crime and is imprisoned in prison has no choice but to pass the time with sighs and resentment, those who enter the walls of the monastery on their own will spend each day with a bright and grateful heart.
A young Jewish lawyer passed away and left a will. "When I die, please donate my body to the laboratory of Harvard University Hospital so that it can be used for research." When I asked him why he was at Harvard University, he said, "I've wanted to go to Harvard since I was little, and for me, this is the only way I can get there." How much did you want to go to Harvard, even if you were to die and go to the corpse?
Ladies and gentlemen, how much do you long for the kingdom of God in that high place? Some even donated their bodies to a university in order to enter Harvard, even though it was their lifelong wish to go to Harvard. How much more can we say that our aspirations for the country are not enough? That's why the Bible tells us to think about the things above.
4. If you try to live that way, there is one condition. It's the effort involved.
Finding the things above and thinking about the things above always requires hard work. Because that's the way up. That's why Ottoman said, "Toward that high place, we go daily." And he said, "We fight and advance on this rough and high road." The reason people keep dropping out along the way while leading a religious life is because of the hard work that comes with it.
Everyone, coming down from the world is easy, but going up is difficult for everyone. Going down a mountain is easy, but going up is difficult. It's hard to make money, but it's very easy to write. It is very difficult for people to clean, but it is very easy to get dirty. Gentlemen, it is difficult for a person to worship, but he can become corrupted, defiled, and ugly in an instant. So, looking up at that high place always involves hard work.
So the poet Et sang: "Mountain Tai is said to be high, but it is Mei-ro under the sky. If you go up and down again, there is no way you can't climb it, but people say that it is not up to me and only Mei is high." People only longed for that high place and looked at it, but they didn't roll up their arms and legs and try to step towards that high place. An idea without action is dead.
Once upon a time, in Shandong, China, there was an old man Hwan who had a strong belief. There is a big mountain in front of the house, and it is blocking the front, so it is very frustrating. So the old man thought that the mountain should be removed. One day he called several of his sons, gathered them up, took a pickaxe and a shovel, and started digging a mountain together. That's pretty reckless. “Why are you digging?” the neighbors asked. “We sell to move mountains,” answers the old man. How pathetic must those neighbors have been? That's why I quietly say, "Don't be in vain." This old man answers that question. “If I dig until the day I die and cannot sell, my sons will sell; if my sons dig and cannot sell, their sons will sell; will this garden be moved."
That's right. A person must have a trick, but more important than that is faith. Longing for that high place is something anyone can do. But it requires action to move toward that goal. If it doesn't work today, you have to do it tomorrow, and if it doesn't work tomorrow, you have to do it the day after.