2001.12.23. Washingtonians(29) - Rev. Young Jin Cho

Time to Wake Up

Romans 13:8-14

Today's scripture of Rome Chapter 13 always reminds me of a person. He is St. Augustine. Augustine once lived as a prodigal son. Despite the mother Monica's earnest prayers, he lived a life on a fast lane. His mother's prayers, however, didn't get wasted. He started attending church and reading the Bible to live a straight life. But the temptation of his past life and old existence kept haunting him. He cried out to the Lord in despair. "Lord, until when, will I say tomorrow and tomorrow? Why not now? Why can't I clean up my act right at this moment?" Then there was a voice from a neighbor's house. Couldn't tell if it was a boy or a girl but the voice said "Open and Read! Open and Read!" Augustine hurried back to his friend's seat, opened Apostle Paul's letter, and read the first verse that caught his sight. The words was from Rome 13:13 and 14: "Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature."

These words gave Augustine the light of bright confirmation. The darkness of all doubts disappeared. In these words the prodigal son, Augustine, was reborn as Saint Augustine. Today's scripture verses challenge all of us living in Washington in the 21st century. It comes to us as a wake up call. To know the hour and that it is time to wake up now. Yes indeed. Now is the time to wake up. Time to straighten out our lives. Then, what does it mean to wake up? What life should the person responding to this wake up call live?

I

First, our understanding of today's generation should be awakened. Today's Bible verse 13:11 starts out like this: "And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, ….." What is this saying? We need to understand this age. We need to realize what kind of period we are living in.

Understanding the present time, however, is not that simple. In order to understand the current time, it is important for us to have value and criteria to apply. What I consider as fine may not be fine with others. We, Christians, do not apply our own thoughts and our own criteria to evaluate this generation. Christians perceive this world differently than other earthly people. What is that criteria, that barometer? It is God's will. It's God's words and plans. Because we look at this world and generation through God's will, we have critical eyes. We cannot help realizing that this generation is short before God. The prophets in the Bible are good examples. When many said all is well and fine, the prophets worried about the generation and taught people to realize. Why? Because they viewed the generation and history from God's will above.

Today's world and generation is the same. We are living in days of endless development of new science technology, the internet age, the globalized small world, space travel age, and unprecedented convenient living. But is today's generation more upright in God's sight? This country and the people, are they living shameless lives before God's will? Has human morality advanced as much as science and technologies? Do we have the inner strength to correctly handle and manage the technology?

Rather, isn't this a generation of deep night? Aren't we living in a world where the absolute values that supported the Post-Modern society are tumbling down? Nothing is absolutely right. Aren't we living in this age when only relative value system is emphasized? Aren't we living in this age where the very foundation of judging what is right and what is good is shaky?

Our eyes to read this generation correctly should be awaken. We should wake up from a vague expectation or illusion that things are going well. Our eyes to see this generation under the light of God's words should be enlightened. Awakened person, person with awareness should be able to discern this age. They should be able to read and see the reality of history in God's will.

II

There is a second thing to be awakened. That is the self-realization of our limit. This can be said as eschatological awareness. Apostle Paul, saying that now is the time to wake up from your slumber, records in Rome 13:11: "Because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed." The salvation here is not the salvation of one person through the belief in Jesus Christ. The salvation here is the salvation of history. It means the completion of history that will come at the end of this world. It refers to the days of new heaven and earth that will arrive with the second coming of Jesus Christ.

(1) The churches of Christ have confessed. That Jesus Christ was born in a manger at Bethlehem and came into the history, that He who resurrected and is alive today is coming to us through the Holy Spirit now, and that He will come again at the end of the history. The day when the Lord comes again, the history will close. That day, all of us will do accounting before God. The history will be completed. Some of you may prefer not listening to this story that sounds more like a fairy tale. But the Bible testifies the second coming of Christ repeatedly. These testimonies are directly related to the views and understanding of history in Christian faith. How do you understand and interpret history? Is it an endless repetition of time? Where does the history start from and flow to?

Christian faith views the history as a straight line that connects the beginning point, the creation, and the ending point. Just as there was a beginning of history, we believe that there is an end. We believe that God of Alpha who started the history is the God of Omega who will tie up the history. We believe the birth of Jesus Christ is at the center of history and the history will come to the closure and completion when He comes again.

Nobody knows when that end will come. Only God, the master of history knows. But we know one thing for sure. Apostle Paul said this in Rome. Our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. Since this letter was written, more than 1900 years have passed. It's obvious that the day of the Lord's coming has become much closer than the days of Paul. Therefore, we should stay awake. Our understanding of the finite history and the final days needs to be awakened.

(2) We should be awakened towards an ending that is more narrowly defined. If the historical end is too broad, we should wake up for our lives' ending. We all live a finite number of days on this earth. No matter what other say, we are walking toward the death. No one on this earth including you and me is exempt from death. We don't live on this earth for 1,000 or 10,000 years. We live only from one moment to another. And none of us knows when the death will come to us. Death comes without any warnings like a rude guest to visit others out of nowhere. I've seen a church member whom I shook hands with after the Sunday worship service getting called by God that evening. We cannot foresee even an inch ahead and live only days with no guarantee.

Moreover, is death the end? Does death diminish all to nothing? The Bible doesn't say that. Over the death, we should stand before the Lord. We have to account our lives we walked on. True success and failure of my life is determined on that day. I have to report how I used the time, the health, the ability, and the wealth entrusted to me. I have to do the final accounting on how faithful I was to my life mission God expected of me.

How many of you are aware of this fact that the unavoidable death and the days of final accounting is waiting for us? How much influence does this eschatological conscience your life? Are you thinking that I am still young and healthy and living an extravagant life today? Here are lyric of a German folk song I frequently cite during the funeral service:

"I am going. But don't know where I am going. I am living. But don't know the length of my life. I'm dying. But don't know when the death will come. I get surprised at myself for living so routinely in spite of that."

It's something to be surprised at. No, something we should be surprised at. We should be awakened. My consciousness of the end of history and my life should be awakened. The Bible sternly warns us. That the wise man's heart is in the funeral house but the fool's heart is in the party house.

III

What does it mean then that our life should be awakened? First, our eyes to understand the present time should be awakened. Second, our understanding of the end of history and our lives should be awakened. When these two are done, the third wake up call comes as a result of the first two. That is our lives. Our lives are awakened to become new ones, different from the lives of yesterday. If we are awakened, our lives have to change. Our lives HAVE to change for our lives to be truly awakened. Two things I'd like to discuss.

(1) First, we should turn back from the lives to fulfill the desires of the sinful nature. Today's scripture verse 13:12 and below says: "The night is nearly over, the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, nor in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature."

It tells us to give up many things that belong to darkness. All of them, however, can be summarized into one thing. That is, the life tied down by sinful desires, the life that pursues the gratification of the sinful desires as a goal. The children of light and the children of darkness are differentiated here. The children of darkness live their lives with their own will and desires as their shepherd. On the other hand, the children of light live a life to control and submit their desires to the Lord's will in His light.

What do drunkenness, debauchery, orgies, dissension, and jealousy indicate? The life with no harness! The life that lost the control and a brake that works. If we are awakened to understand the present time and to be conscious of the finite history and life, we can't waste our precious lives enslaved by the sinful desires. We can't spend our precious time, finite time, and time with no certainty in darkness letting the sinful desires dictate our lives. We have to take off the lives subject to the sinful desires. We have to live the life of truly awakened people.

(2) Secondly, I'd like to introduce a more positive look of life. Awakened life. That is the life of loving. Let's look at 13:8 and below: Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. The commandments, "Do not commit adultery," "Do not murder," "Do not steal," "Do not covet," and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: "Love your neighbor as yourself." Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

It is not sufficient to turn back from the life of darkness, life tied down to the sinful desires. We Christians have life to live more actively. That is to love my neighbors like myself. Christians' life, the awakened life before God is life of loving in one word. If I speak the tongues of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. Even if there are numerous Christians, if there is no love and sharing in their lives, the sheet number of Christians means nothing.

Are you awakened? Please live a life of loving and a life of sharing. Love is the fulfillment of the Law. If you have true love, how can you commit adultery? How can you steal and give false testimonies? How can you covet your neighbor's belongings? Because there is no love, you get to live an immoral and unhealthy life. Love builds up lives. Encourages lives. And changes this bleak world into a world worth living. Especially this season of Christmas is when we have to recover the life of love.

There was an article on Joong Ang daily newspapers (Dec. 15) under the heading, "The gift that moved me". It was written by Park Sung Sahm, an artist, and the title was "Three $5,000 credit cards".

The end of each year always reminds me of a person. Eight years ago, when I arrived here with my wife and a 6-year old son, I had friends but none of them was wealthy enough to look after others. So it was hard in many ways. After wandering around for a place to settle, I rented a cart to make a meager living as a street artist in Newport Beach Fashion Island. One day, a manager asked me if I would be interested in opening up a gallery. After rushing into saying yes, I started worrying. The gallery had to be filled with paintings but a bigger worry was money for frames, interior decoration, paint, the gallery sign, and so on that I failed to count. Then I befriended with the owner of a watch store next to us and I told him about my anguish. A few days later, he gave me a box for Christmas present. Thinking it was just a toy, I said thank you and came home to open the box and got totally surprised. In the box, there were three $5,000 credit cards. Including a short memo indicating to use it as needed without feeling any burden. He moved me so deeply. After that, we became so close like real brothers that he attended my daughter's wedding in Korea and we got to discuss all family matters. I thank Mr. Adel for trusting and helping me when he barely knew me, something not everyone can do. So at this time of every year, I feel the gift of his love and warm heart that is secretly hidden deep in my heart. Because there are yet people like Adel, this world is not such a cruel place and it's a place to feel compassion.

This year, we witnessed an unprecedented chain terrorist attack and saw the falling of the World Trade Centers and the Pentagon in fire. It was truly a painful experience that brought deep wound and hurt to many people's heart. However, this experience gave us an opportunity to look back at our lives again. It gave all of us the necessity to wake up. It made us realize what kind of period we live in today and how uncertain our lives are. It made us experience ourselves how we can't foresee even one moment ahead and the reality of death that can hit us any moment. Also it taught us what is left at the end and important until the end is love. No one worried about the Savings Account, dying. No one worried about the house title papers when they called for the last time. The last words they left behind were just 'I Love You'.

We should all wake up. Now is the time to wake up. Our eyes to look at this generation should be awakened. Our understanding of history and the ending of our lives should be awakened. And truly our lives and how to live our lives should be awakened. Taking off darkness, we should wake up as the life of love. Apostle Paul recorded like this: "The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. Above all, love each other deeply. Because love covers over a multitude of sins (First Peter 4:7-8).

Now is the time to wake up. If not today, when would you wake up? If you don't wake up NOW, when will you?