Title Under the Rodem Tree (February 26)
Content span id="writeContents">◆ Main text: 1 Kings 19:4-8
Because of the Winter Olympics these days, many people wake up every morning and pay attention. A seventeen-year-old girl named Seonyu Jin won three gold medals this morning. The figure with the gold medal around her neck was beautiful, but in fact, the figure of a player named Choi Eun-kyung, who sacrificed for the sake of her junior, Jin Seon-yu, was even more beautiful. Although he was disqualified and lost, he did not win a medal, but he sacrificed for the sake of his juniors. According to the commentator, Western players never play as a team, but rather play individually. However, it is said that Asian players, especially Korean and Chinese players, value team play, so there is always a high probability that these Asian players will win when they go to a game. It is a proud story of the team play spirit that knows how to sacrifice for others. It is a beautiful figure that asks me to stand up. Today I want to make this confession to you each other. Let's confess to the person next to us. “Get up on me.” Amen.
In 1 Kings 18, we see a man with the greatest power in the history of Israel. Elijah is a symbolic figure of power to the extent that Jesus' disciples also went up to the mountain to pray, and they chose Moses and Elijah as the greatest. He is courageous enough to rebuke King Ahab, who worships the god Baal, in a loud voice. In a spiritual battle of 850 to 1 against 450 Baal prophets and 400 Asherah prophets, he wins. When it hadn't rained in the land of Israel for three years and six months, when he prayed to God alone, he heard the prayer of his power and God sent rain on the land of Israel. He's a great figure. It is easy to evaluate us as people who are truly respected and have completely different abilities from the rest of the world.
Elijah, so brave and powerful, appears before us today in a completely different form. “No, how is that person?” To the extent that I felt that way... Elijah, who we thought was a completely different person from us, died by leaning against useless trees such as thorns and rodem trees in the desert land to the extent that James described him as “a man like us.” I sit and wait. How can a person be so cowardly? Upon hearing the news that Queen Jezebel was trying to kill him, he cowardly ran away and squatted down with a shabby figure saying, “In this case, I want to die.”
When we judge someone, it's easy to judge that person as a brave person for the rest of our lives, a great person, or someone completely different from us, but everyone says that there are times when people are brave and there are times when they are cowardly. There are times when you are rich and there are times when you are poor. Sometimes it's healthy and sometimes it's unhealthy. Out of these circumstances, which one can we say are brave? It is the appearance of ordinary people to look at the given environment with their own eyes and be disappointed. However, the reason why we are called people of blessing is because we have a unique perspective that can see the environment from God's point of view, not just our own. A person who has faith who can look to God is referred to as “a brave person. He is the victor.” I can say that.
Elijah's weak confession, "I'm good enough... Now that I've done what I've done so far, I think it's okay to just die." In our past, when we lived great lives, sometimes we get frustrated with our lives because we are disappointed with small problems, and sometimes we feel like we want to give up everything altogether. The thing called hope is not that there is hope because there is originally something. Hope is starting from nothing. Among the same circumstances, if we look at the environment from our own point of view, we are disappointed, but if we look at it with an oligopoly of faith, we can live with hope. We need to be able to see everything from God's point of view.
One day Jesus was walking on the sea. Peter is so amazed that he says that to Jesus. “Jesus, can I even walk on water?” Then Jesus says: “Yeah, you can walk too. Come down on the water.” The Bible clearly records that at this moment, Peter looked to Jesus and walked on the water. When I looked to Jesus, I walked. But as I was walking, I suddenly saw the water under my feet and saw a storm. In the same environment, when looking at Jesus, he was able to walk on the water, but when he saw the storm, he fell into the water because he was afraid. Why do you say you are a person of blessing? We are all the same people in the world. The environment is not different. Just because you believe in Jesus, your circumstances do not change in a special way. But they say that we have the power to look to Jesus. looking at Jesus.
Thank you very much for worrying about my health, and I'm also sorry. I received a transplant 3 years ago and the final process of the transplanted organ becoming mine is the process I am going through now. If you pass this process, the organs that have been transplanted from someone else will be completely mine. Even if it hurts a little, I endured it knowing that it was actually such a process. But it's been really hard lately. I was suddenly taken to the emergency room. Unexpectedly, my lungs were infiltrated by the virus and more than half were lost. It was unexpected. However, one of the transplant patients, who had the same symptoms as me the day before, died the day before because the virus penetrated the lungs just like me. I started to panic because my doctor had the same symptoms. I took pictures of my lungs, and it got worse and worse within that day. It was too hard.
Known as a great pastor who has healed many people's diseases, there was nothing I could do about it in such a situation. Meanwhile, my junior pastor called me. A junior pastor who has been suffering from cancer for a long time called me saying he wanted to see me. In the process of struggling right now, I didn't have anything to say. The story I told was such a story. “I’m sick as well as you. I'm sick as well as you." We cried together. “What can we do? What can a pastor do? Haven't we been preaching throughout our lives that life is before God? Leave it before God. If you tell us we have more work to do, he will spare us.”
Everyone, do you know the cartoon story? Do you know the absurd story? Do you know a story that doesn't make sense? Suddenly, a cartoon began to be drawn in my life. Things that can't be explained medically have begun. The next day I took a picture of my lungs and it started to look fine. Isn't it so easy to fix something called a human organ? After 3 days, the lungs returned to normal. Isn't that a cartoonish story? When I had my first kidney failure three years ago, it was 3.5. At that time, I had a transplant and I came out of the hospital with my kidney reading of 1.9. After that, my height again deteriorated to 3.2. The comic story continues. Kidneys, once worse than other organs, never get better. This is medical common sense. But... These people... At this point, we should say Amen... Our church members are so strange... But... Amen.
I want to confess to you that I am not the protagonist of the worldly coincidences or cartoon-like stories told by the people of the world that I stand before you normally again, but that I am the protagonist of a miracle that God loves. Can only the body of a pastor be the hero of a miracle, everyone? You too can be the hero of a miracle. I'm saying that it doesn't end with the common sense of the world. The world of God that transcends common sense, it is said that this world always exists. Those who are struggling with the disease, look at me. Just as I became the hero of a miracle, you too should be the hero of a miracle. Don't fail, be disappointed and think this is the end. Hear the voice of God. God gives you strength and courage again. Some are born with courage, and some are not born successful. Bravery and cowardice coexist in everyone. Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad. Sometimes it's hopeful and sometimes it's disappointing.
“Thank you, Father God, who we are grateful for. Like Elijah, we were brave at times and at times we were proud. But sometimes, like Elijah, there were times when he wept in such a humble and disappointing way. But at this hour in the shade of the rodem tree, wipe away his tears, pat him on the back, take his hand and raise him up, help him to hear the voice saying that you still have work to do. God, we have so much work to do. God, give us health again, give us faith again, courage again, and give us the power to triumph. I earnestly pray in the name of Jesus. Amen."