Title Please Please
please the Lord.
Ephesians 5:8-14.
Some time ago, a newspaper published a survey of the happiness index of various countries around the world. In conclusion, Korea was ranked among the lowest in the world. There was a question asking who do you think the happiest person in the world is? In our country, Bill Gates was number one. What Koreans consider as the most important condition for happiness is money. Although you may not know it, I think that Korea is the only country that uses the words rich and well-to-do with the same meaning.
But here is our irony. Korea's economy has grown 250 times over the past 50 years, and Korea's economic development is one of the world's myths. If people in a country who thinks money is the number one condition for happiness have achieved the fastest and highest economic growth in the world, then the happiness index should be the highest in the world, but the happiness index is the lowest in the world.
What do you think these facts say? As soon as I read that article, I thought of the word ‘philosophical poverty’, and I was very ashamed and too embarrassed. It is very sad that we are the country that lacks the right understanding of happiness the most in the world. We need to pause for a moment and think seriously about happiness.
Where does happiness come from? What is taking away our happiness from us?
When I talk and think about happiness, I remember a story I heard in a Sunday School sermon when I was young. I think most of you are probably familiar with this. It is a story about a meal in heaven and hell.
Someone has visited Heaven and Hell. He went to hell first, and it was said that it was time for dinner. People from Hell are coming out to eat, and when I look at them, I see that their bones are dry enough to hurt them. Seeing this, the man thought that there was only mealtime in hell and no meal. But it wasn't. The food comes in, and it's very, very good, and it's a huge meal. No, I was skeptical as to how the bones could hurt like that even after eating that kind of food. But after a while, I found out why. When I looked at the spoons they were using, I saw that they were using spoons and chopsticks that were taller than their height. So it was impossible to put food in his mouth. Everyone worked hard, but none of the food got into their mouths.
I passed through hell and went to heaven, and it was also time for dinner. People from heaven came out to eat, and everyone seemed to be in good health and happy. Meals came in, and it was like hell. Seeing it, the person immediately recognized it. I thought that the spoon of heaven would be different from the spoon of hell. But it wasn't. The spoons in heaven were all taller than their height, just like the spoons in hell.
Heaven, like hell, has an inconvenient spoon that is taller than their height, so I wondered how the people in heaven look so nutritious and happy. But I soon found out why. When it was time to eat, the people of heaven scooped out the long spoon and started feeding the other person instead of trying to eat it. I was happy to feed the other person, and I was able to eat as much as I wanted to eat the food the other person gave me, but above all, I was happy and happy.
That was the difference between heaven and hell. It is a sermon I heard about 50 years ago, but I will never forget that story. And as I was preparing my sermon today, I remembered that story again. And I came to know that that is the answer to today's sermon.
The people of Hell did not know how to think of others. He was a man who only thought of himself. It was natural. They came to hell because of sin, and the cause of sin was greed. He came to Hell without solving the problems of sin and greed and was living with a selfish heart and greed, so he could not eat or be happy.
People who don't know how to be happy have something in common. This is a very important commonality. It is that the person who does not know how to be happy is the only one who knows himself. I can't think of others. You don't know how to take care of others. I am not interested in the happiness of others. It's not that I'm not interested, it's that when others are happy, I feel unhappiness through it. I am convinced that my own chance of happiness increases only when I take away and block the happiness of others, unaware that I am also happy when I make others happy.
So, they live smiling on the outside, but on the inside they sharpen their swords and stab others with their sharp swords. I cannot be happy living such a life in a world where I also stab others and others also stab me.
I went to Japan last week. It was a trip to study and study the welfare life cooperative movement in Japan, led by two professors from the seminary who are actively participating in the Bareun Church Academy. I left on Wednesday and actually arrived last night. It was a very good trip that made me think and realized a lot.
One of the things I was doing at the Welfare Life Cooperative was delivering dinner to the elderly. For the very poor old people, the state was providing them with one or the other welfare. However, there was a blind spot for welfare. It is a little more economical, but the elderly with no family and poor health were not given adequate care.
It wasn't a free service, but no matter how much money you calculate, the money you receive is worth the money.