Title What is Success?
Contents
2 Samuel 18:19-30 What is success?
King David's son Absalom rebelled against his father. And finally, he raised a large army to kill his father, King David. Then King David's servants Joab, Abishai, and Ittai divided into three groups and destroyed Absalom's rebels. At this time, Absalom was killed by the army commanded by General Joab. General Joab sent a messenger to deliver the news of Absalom's murder to King David along with the victory report.
General Joab entrusted this mission to an unknown soldier who only identified himself as a Cushite. When the Cushite left, a man named Ahimaaz begged General Joab to let him follow the Cushite as a messenger as well. General Joab tells Ahimaaz. "It is sad news that the king's son has died, so why are you going to be a messenger? This is sad news and you will not be rewarded."
Nevertheless, Ahimaaz continued to beg, so General Joab allowed him to go as a messenger too. Ahimaaz took the shortcut and arrived in Jerusalem ahead of the Cushites who had departed earlier. Ahimaaz's running was reported to the king by a watchman at the royal palace. The king hastily greeted him and was informed of his victory. Next, King David asked about his son Absalom, the news he was most curious about. "Is Absalom safe?"
When King David asks, Ahimaaz answers. "I saw a great commotion when Joab sent me, the king's servant, but I don't know what's going on." In other words, Ahimaas failed to deliver a truly important message. King David was angry and ordered the messenger to stop. As a messenger, Ahimaas could not fulfill his role faithfully because he could not convey his superior's will. Then the Cushites arrived at the palace. He delivered sad news about Absalom with his triumph.
When King David heard this news, he did not rejoice over the victory in the battle, but rather wept over the death of his beloved son Absalom, "My son Absalom, my son Absalom, if I had died in your place..." Looking at today's text, two men ran as messengers, but compared to the Cushite, Ahimaaz ran a shameful race. The Cushite was faithful to his mission as a messenger, and Ahimaaz only preached the good and delayed the bad things to others.
One of Arthur Miller's works is 'Death of a Salesman'. In this work, the artist asks the question, 'Will humans pursue success?' ‘Willie Norman’, the main character in the work, was a successful salesman. But, he said, it ended in a shocking suicide. That is, worldly success did not bring him happiness.
Ahimaaz in today's text ran faster than the Cushite as a messenger by a shortcut. However, the king's most important news was not delivered properly. In other words, he ran faster than the Cushite, so he was like a successful messenger, but rather became a failed messenger. Today we want to learn a lesson about success and failure from Ahimaas, the messenger of failure. And you want to look at what real success is and be a real successor.
1. Ahimaas knew that running fast was the key to success.
Even ourselves, living in the so-called speed era, often unknowingly focus only on speed. In other words, there are many tendencies to think that success is to go faster than others and achieve success before others. However, in God's eyes, the content of a person is more important than the length or speed of time.
The famous writer ‘Wes’, who told many adventurous stories to boys and girls, wrote a work called ‘The Grave’ using Indian folk tales, and the contents are as follows. There was a very young and beautiful queen in a certain kingdom of India. However, one year after marrying the king, the queen died of an illness. The king was so sad that he did not know what to do. After contemplating, the king made a tomb for the queen with great sincerity.
A year later, the king visited the tomb. In the eyes of the king at that time, the tomb looked so lonely. So he had his servants carve a sculpture of a man with a good appearance to represent the king himself and put it on the east side of the tomb. Even if she is not near the tomb, she seems to have wanted to comfort the queen's soul by placing a statue that resembles her. Another year later, I went to the tomb, and it still looked lonely. So the king made a tiger symbolizing the royal family and placed it on the west side.
And after a year, he had them build a luxurious house in front of the tomb to symbolize wealth. That was not enough, and a year later, a great fortress was built behind the tomb to symbolize power. A few years later, when I climbed the tomb garden and looked down, it was nothing short of stunning. A handsome sculpture on the east side, a statue of a brave tiger on the other side, plus a luxurious palace and a splendid castle, it was so beautiful. Satisfied, the king went closer to the sheep to take a closer look, and found the tomb in the center of the shabby tomb annoyed. So the king said: "Take away the tomb in the middle."
In other words, it is a story that points out what is wrong because the really important content is lost and only the exterior is decorated. We too often make these mistakes in our lives. At first, he moved God to the center, but gradually his self was revealed, his family was revealed, his wealth, honor, and power were revealed. that will come to pass.
Although the Cushite walked slowly, he had something to convey as a messenger. On the other hand, Ahimaas was a shameful messenger who had the clever means and methods to run a shortcut, but did not have the content to convey as a messenger. He had the appearance of running and running as a herald, but he lost value as a herald. It shows the wrong side of people who live to pursue only success while losing the true meaning and worth of life as humans.
2. Ahimaas ran only for his own honor and advancement rather than for the given mission.
General Joab told him to tell the news that Absalom had died, but Ahimaaz did his own thing. In other words, I thought that I would get praise and a reward from the king by telling the king the news of the victory. But the Cushite faithfully carried out the command of General Joab. He knew exactly what the king wanted to hear and ran.
In Matthew 22, Jesus spoke about the parable of the wedding feast. The prince's wedding feast was held in the royal family. Many people came. However, one of them was ashamed of being kicked out of the banquet because he came without a robe. In other words, no matter how happy or urgent it was to be invited to the prince's wedding feast, he was ashamed because he did not wear a robe that would please the king.
Ahimaas is such a person. No matter how quickly you want to go to the king and tell him, even if you want to receive praise and a reward, if you do not prepare what the king wants, you will inevitably be rebuked, saying, “Go away.” We, who are here now, must also think deeply about whether we are wearing the robes that God wants or whether we are not naked. And don't try to run fast just hoping for fame, advancement, and success, but run with the right content and the right mission that God wants. No matter how fast they run in front of people and no matter how gorgeous they appear, those who run away from the mission God has given them go to the final destination and are ultimately ashamed and expelled from the presence of God the King.
Jesus said about this. “Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only those who do the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, “Lord, Lord, we prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name. Have I not driven you out and done many mighty works in your name?” Then I will say to them plainly, “I never knew you; depart from me, you who practice lawlessness” (Matthew 7:21-23).
Gentlemen, there are people who fall into successism and think only of the big things and ignore the small missions God has entrusted to me. To live like that is to live life wrong. However, no matter how small the mission is, and no matter how small the mission is, even if people do not receive praise from people while carrying out the mission, if you recognize and live the mission God has given to you, God will recognize and praise that person as having lived a truly successful life.
3. Ahimaas ran, thinking he wouldn't do a bad role.
Although Absalom rebelled against his father, King David, King David still loved his son Absalom. It was certainly sad news to tell King David the news of the death of his son Absalom as a herald. The Cushites had a mission to deliver the good news that they had won the war to King David, but also the sad news that Prince Absalom had died. In other words, he tried to bear the painful mission, that is, the mission to bear the cross.
However, Ahimahas only wanted to receive praise and reward from King David because he only delivered good news and good news, but he had no intention of delivering the sad news of the prince's death. In other words, he threw away his cross and ran quickly for his own success and advancement. There are many people today who live life like Ahimahas. I try to do only the good for myself. I get compliments from others and try to do only what looks good. I try not to play painful roles that others do not recognize.
But our Jesus is not a selfish person who only looked at worldly success and lived his life that way. In Hebrews 12:1,2, the Bible describes the life of Jesus like this. “For the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Gentlemen, true success for Christians is a life of sharing suffering with Jesus and with our neighbors. It is a life that bears the cross. We must look to success in the cross. And you must be able to sing the cross. God makes those who carry their crosses and run with Jesus even in foreign lands here as people of true success.
Let me conclude. We are all in the running race of life. I want you to think about what kind of racer I will become. Like Ahimaas, you should not run a shameful race in which you only run fast for your own honor, success, and advancement. Like the Cushians, even if we carry the cross and run hard, we must run right according to the will of God.
It's good even if you're not first. Even the lowest is good. A glorious race is a life with content rather than running fast. It is not a life centered on oneself, but a life for the Lord. It is a race that looks forward to the true joy through Jesus rather than living to achieve selfish joy. Please, even in this foreign land, for the Lord
I wish you the best of luck in your life's race and become a truly successful person.