2014年10月19日 星期日

Persevere with Steadfast Faith (持守堅定的信仰)

#2014-1019

Persevere with Steadfast Faith
                 -- by The Rev. Jason Ke  (trans. J.L.)

(A Sermon for Sunday, October 19, 2014, at St.James' English Language Service)

Proper 24 (The Sunday closest to October 19)
Exodus 33:12-23
Psalm 99
1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
Matthew 22:15-22

INTRODUCTION

Good morning, my dear friends in Christ!

My sermon for today is entitled “Persevere with Steadfast Faith,” which is a phrase quoted from The Collect for Today.

Why did I decide to make it the title of my sermon for this morning?  Well, the phrase “persevere with steadfast faith” is closely related to today’s biblical lessons, and also it can be well applied to our everyday lives.

I.                   EXODUS 33:12-23 -- A lesson from The Old Testament

Now, let’s reflect on the story from the Book of Exodus.

After escaping from Egypt, the Israelites had lived (or stayed) in the wilderness of Sinai for a period of time.  One day, Jehovah the Lord wanted Moses to take all his people to Canaan, that is, today’s Palestine, which the Lord had promised to give to their ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Moses realized that Canaan was a much better place for his people to live in than the wildness of Sinai was.  However, those who were living in Canaan, whom we call Canaanites, were physically stronger than the Israelites.  The Canaanites had stronger weapons, and they had plenty of experience of fighting in war.  So it can be presumed that the Israelites were relatively weak on the battlefields!

But Moses was aware that, in spite of the terrible enemy over there, the Israelites would be able to win the Promised Land (land of milk and honey) if Jehovah the Lord went all the way with them.

For several times Moses asked The Lord God for specific signs. Moses wanted to see the Lord’s glory as clearly as possible, and The Lord God gave him some sign(s) in the end, but not in the way that Moses had expected.  God let Moses see his “back” – the back of God is shown to Moses!

From then on, Moses was no longer confused about God’s promise.  God was really going with Moses, and therefore all the obstacles on Moses’ journey could be overcome, and dangers could be removed.

Well, think about our everyday life.  Sometimes we might have a strong feeling of “stress” and/or “helplessness.”  There might be quite a number of “causes” that made us feel so bad.  But, in my opinion, the most basic, fundamental cause for those feelings of stress or helplessness is that we have forgotten God – or that we have never thought of him from the very beginning.  Take our jobs for example.  Our jobs (or occupations) should be what God wants us to do.  If God assigns a piece of work to us, he will certainly give us wisdom and ability enough to do it.  God will lead us himself, so we will not have a terrible sense of “helplessness.”  Instead, we can be quite confident in doing our “occupation,” which, in terms of faith, can be referred to as our “vocation”!

II.                PSALM 99

Psalm 99, which we have just read this morning, begins with the words “The Lord is King …”  In the Chinese translation we say “耶和華做王” (Jehovah as king!)  And in English, the present tense of verb to be – “is” – is very meaningful:  It means that Jehovah “was, is, and will be” the King.

This statement is universally true; it’s a fact.  And it is the final conclusion that the poet (the writer of this psalm) made, after he had lived so many years, looking, thinking, and gathering from his personal experience.

Notice that the psalms written by Israel's poets usually start with a conclusion . . . and the conclusion is then followed by some explanations.

Psalm 99 is a psalm of testimony.  It shows us the author’s admiration for God’s power and wisdom, and for all that God had done.  Just like the author of Psalm 99, we also should praise and worship God – sincerely.

It is not easy to write an excellent poem, and we may not be as able as the psalm writer.  But when we look back on those days which have gone past, we occasionally may find something very special, very interesting and marvelous, that we can’t help but cry out about with excitement, “Oh, Lord!  It’s so great!  You are so wonderful . . . .”  Something spoken or written like this is also a poetic line, with words of testimony!

III.             THESSOLONIANS 1:1-10 -- A lesson from The Epistles

Now, turn to the Epistle: Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians!

Thessalonica was the capital city of the Roman province of Macedonia.  It was a city with convenient transportation and a very good harbor.  The Apostle Paul preached the Gospel over there for some time, and he established a church in that city.  Soon afterward, the Christians in that area were badly persecuted, but most of them did not give up their faith.  Some even had the experience of joy that surpassed their difficult situation:  the great joy that prevailed over the hardship and suffering!

St. Paul says in this letter, Chapter 1, Verse 6, “In spite of persecution you received the word with joy inspired by the Holy Spirit.”

Affliction (受苦) and joy (喜樂) are completely different things. However, the joy generated from afflictions is the core of the Christian faith.  It is also the truth that you can find in this earthly world.  For example, it’s very painful for a woman to give birth to a baby, and it’s a very long and difficult process for parents to raise their children; however, these difficulties (or hardships) will turn out to be the most joyful experiences in one’s life.

Dear friends!  Are you coming to church just for seeking “peace” and “joy”? . . . And, I have one more question to ask you: Have you ever had a hard time (or have you ever tried very hard to do something difficult) for the sake of our Lord Jesus? . . .

IV.            GOSPEL OF MATTHEW 22:15-22

Well, now let’s spend a few minutes going through the Holy Gospel for this morning.

We are told that the Pharisees had “picked on” Jesus (and tried to trap him) time after time.  But we shouldn’t mistakenly think that the Pharisees were a group of “bad guys.”  In fact, the Pharisees were very knowledgeable; they were very good at keeping the Law of Moses; they very religious and serious.  And, from the point of view of Judaism, they were also a people who “persevered with steadfast faith.”

But from Jesus’ point of view, the Pharisees were hypocritical and arrogant people who “placed the letter of the law above its spirit” (Mark 2:3–28, 3:1–6).  They showed no sympathy to others; they would make harsh and caustic remarks, comments that were a burning kind of sarcasm, about other people.

Although they usually stood in awe of God, they would rather keep a distance from him.  hey didn’t dare to get close to God because they regarded God as so very holy that men should keep him at a “respectful distance.”  This was, however, a misconception!  And this misunderstanding about God is what made the Pharisees “sinners” –  sinners who had no idea at all in what way, how, or why they had sinned!

My dear friends!  We call Jesus “Messiah” (or “Christ”).  What does that really mean to us?  Jesus, who himself is a perfect example for us to learn from, has come to this world to teach us this: The relationship between God and man is like “father and son” – a very good (and close) parent-child relationship that you can see in a happy family, a sweet home!  When Jesus taught his disciples to pray, he used “Our Father in heaven” as the title of God.  See the Lord’s Prayer for how Jesus used this title.  But unfortunately, this had been regarded as blasphemy by the Jews!

In today’s Gospel reading, the Pharisees made a plan to trap Jesus with questions.  Yet Jesus cleverly took the chance to teach them, saying, “Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (Matthew 22:21b).  When the Pharisees who tried to trap Jesus heard this, they were amazed; and they left him and went away.  What a pity that they were not seeking the Truth!  The second part of Jesus’ answer, “Give to God the things that are God’s,” is very important, but too often ignored by human beings.  As a matter of fact, all wonderful things are from God.  Do you have anything that is not from God? . . . Our abilities (能力), wisdom (智慧), opportunities (機會), achievements (成就), and our very lives (生命)! – Which of them has been created and obtained by us alone?

CONCLUSION

I really hope that all of us will spend more time pondering on such questions: How many things do we have that are, in reality, from Lord God?  Notice that when I ask “how many things,” I mean “all the good things – including visible and invisible ones.” . . . Moreover, what do we have that is given by the Lord and that has come free of charge?  The answer is the grace of the Lord! . . . Well, the more we think about these kinds of things, the better!  In so doing, we'll surely increase our thanks to God, and decrease our complaints about other people, or about anything!

Finally, let me remind you about the word “perseverance.”  As you know, perseverance is the key to success, but “to persevere” is quite difficult, unlike “to give up” – which is much easier!  Anyway, let us encourage each other in Christ, and remember to “persevere with steadfast faith.”  Amen.



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