2008. 7. 6 Rev. Kim, Young Bong

Don't Be Deceived
James 1:12-18

1.

Starting my 4th year at KUMC, I would like to give glory to God and deep thanks to all of you. I would also like to express my appreciation and thanks to District Superintendent Cho Young-Jin who not only established, left a good church, and a beautiful tradition, but also supported me as my superintendent, as well as to my fellow pastors who serve the church with me. Although I cannot meet you directly, I also offer thanks to those who listen through Washington AM 1310 radio broadcast.

In reflecting on the past three years, it seems that I have been truly blessed. Because of you, I have been happy. If I had made you happy, then I couldn’t be more joyful. I don’t know how long God will allow me to serve here, but I pray that I continue to walk in the right path. I expect to continue to serve with your love and prayers.

2.

Today, while taking a break from our series on the book of John, I would like to talk about the subject of “rest” which is the theme of our summer retreat. This is a theme that I myself struggle with everyday. It is also a serious problem that I observe for the lives of our fellow Christians and Korean immigrants.

Chronic fatigue is one of the biggest diseases among immigrants. Maybe there are some of you who feel that “this doesn’t apply to me.” These people should give thanks for this rare blessing and should feel some responsibility to those who cannot say that and suffer from this disease of “chronic fatigue.” Some of you may think that “Your suffering is your own, and my blessings are my own, so I would rather live my life in my own way.” If you think that way, we may have a problem here since there are many people who live in despair with chronic fatigue and the lack of motivation.

In fact, chronic fatigue is not a problem just for immigrants. It is quite prevalent in Korea as well as in the United States. Chronic fatigue is even a common problem among people living in OECD countries. A poet once wrote a poem about feeling tired and helpless in present day.

When driving…
Walking…
Shopping…
Talking…
Eating…

It seems that my mind is half empty
Feeling like I am climbing up a long ladder
Between the cloudy sky
I feel tired without reason

Day after day
In the chain of everyday life

I feel like writing the same old story
Over and over again.

--Sung Chul Paek in 2006

3.

Congregation, how about your life? Although there may be some differences, don’t we often feel this way? Don’t you feel like running away from the pressure of so much work? You want to escape but you realize that you cannot. When you are dragging all that load, don’t you feel that frustration is coming down on you like a lump of heavy lead? Why do we have to feel so oppressed and being overwhelmed? When can we regain control over our lives, and live by our own plan and schedule, and enjoy rest?

There must be various causes for such a busy life but I would like to focus on two main reasons. One is our human sinful desire; the other is the influence of the society in which we live. These two factors combined together make our lives so much busy and tired.

All of us live under the attack of a worldly culture that tries to brainwash our minds. The newspaper, magazine, TV, radio, internet, i-pods, cell phones, etc. all seize our ears and eyes for the entire day and eventually control our hearts and minds. These media fiercely compete to sell more sensual, more exciting, more degrading programs to capture our listening and seeing attention. This media uses all sorts of tactics to deceive people. Let us think about some of these tactics.

First, the culture of our society tries to deceive us by saying that material things will make us happy. They try and make you believe that the more money you have, the happier you will be; the more things that you own and the more expensive it is, the happier you will be. If you ask people “Do you believe that?” in nine out of ten cases, they will say no, but if you see the way they live, it is clear that they believe so.

Second, this society’s culture makes you believe that you achieve success in life only when you achieve something. It makes us believe that only certain achievements that you can touch or legacies that you leave behind as a record have value. When a tiger dies, only its skin is left behind but when a person dies, he or she leaves behind his or her name. Therefore those who became famous by achievements mistakenly believe in their own self-importance, but those who have not done so, tend to feel like their life was a failure. And for those people who still think they have a chance for realizing such achievements, struggle hard for such achievements. If this is not possible in their generation, they try and accomplish it through their children.

Third, our society makes us believe that winning a competition is a success. Life is like climbing an endless ladder and racing with no finish line. You have to climb up the ladder to the top and rise above everyone else. Finishing in second place is a failure and a sin. They believe that it is better to be the head of the chicken than the tail of an ox. So many of us begin the race to be number one from the time when we are children and from home, and continue the race until our last breath, not knowing its direction or purpose.

Fourth, if we live our lives led by these beliefs of our society, it would seem normal to live a busy life and that it is the way to success and happiness. We strive to own more possessions, to buy the newest things, to leave achievements, to become more famous, and not to be second to others. As a result, we acquire sizable wealth, and manage to achieve few tangible things, and can look down on others. However, we find that we are not satisfied with such results.

The culture of this world tenaciously brainwashes and deceives us. However, no matter how much society tries to deceive us, if we are on alert, we would overcome such deception. But, the problem is our sinful desires. Our hearts can not discern clearly that our sinful desire is the problem. At times our heart prefers such sinful desires, and seeks out more to satisfy our desires.

4.

Because of our sinful desires, we are suffering from a serious disease. This disease is not from bacteria, nor from malnutrition. Rather it is a disease caused by our uncontrolled desire and a worldly culture that tries to satisfy that sinful desire. It is a disease in heart originating from endless competition, endless running, and endless consumption. The number of people suffering from insomnia, indigestion, migraines is rapidly increasing. Depression and manic depression are spreading like an epidemic in our society. In the United States and Korea, the consumption of anti-depressants has increased at an alarming rate. It is a shock to know that the pre-school children are the fastest growing group in this area.

In order to fight against depression, pharmaceutical companies research all night long, and government and social groups spend a lot of money and efforts trying to recruit more counseling therapists. But it is not enough. We have to fix the source that is causing these problems. Merely taking anti-depressant drugs or receiving professional counseling is not enough. While we try and relieve the symptoms, we have to solve the cause that is creating these problems. If we do not change our life style that is controlled by our sinful desires and worldly culture, no matter how much medicine we take or counseling we receive, we cannot cure this disease completely. We must have the determination to be less greedy, and give up things that are not worthy, and cut out unnecessary things in life.

Among the believers, many have hopes in prayer. If we don’t control our sinful desires and don’t change our life style, would merely praying make a difference? I saw on the internet a prayer written by a university student who was extremely tired from work, study, and church. He prayed like this:

“Dear God, it really gets to me. What should I do? I just want to rest one day. I’d like to rest somewhere where I don’t need to do anything. What do you want me to do? Can you make me a superman? The superman, who doesn’t feel tired, doesn’t need to sleep nor eat. It really gets to me, and I feel like breaking my phone and running away. I really mean it!”

When you read his prayer, you can easily see what he needs. He should not pray like that, but instead reflect on his life in front of God. He should look back on what makes him so tired. Is he is too ambitious, or wasting his time on useless things? Does he need to give up or lay down anything? Is he tormenting himself by seeking meaningless things under the influence of the world? Unless he looks back on his life under the light that God sheds, it would be useless to pray like that.

However, we should not just blame this young man. In his prayer, we are able to see our own mistaken desires and prayers. We live restless lives and without knowing how to solve the problems and hoping that God will somehow solve them for us. To my shame, I sometimes want to pray like this young man. “How great it would be if I were filled by the Holy Spirit and spend twenty-four hours a day visiting church members, praying and preparing my sermons without getting tired?” Or, “How great it would be if I were filled by the Holy Spirit and stay healthy without doing any exercise?” This young man’s prayer and my own are not much different.

5.

However, we know clearly that God would not answer to such prayers and that the Holy Spirit will not make us a superman. Then what should we do? Today, the Bible answers like this “Do not be deceived!” By what should we not be deceived? And how can the admonition of not being deceived solve our problems?

First, we should not be deceived by our sinful desires. It is written, “Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.” (James 1:15) If we follow our sinful desires, we will eventually commit sin. Society’s culture teaches us that the path to sin is the path to happiness, but in truth this is the way to self-destruction. Sinful desire tries to deceive us that happiness is satisfying our desires. If you fall into this deception, you became wrapped up in an endless race toward death.

Second, you should not be deceived by the propaganda of this world. James said, “Don't be deceived, my dear brothers. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” (James 1:16-17) This is the truth. Through the media, the worldly culture teaches us that the best things are found in this world. We better not be deceived and realize that what we need is already given by God and will be provided by God. Without trusting God, we cannot be satisfied. It is because we misunderstand what is more important and what gives us true happiness in our lives.

Because we are spiritual beings, we cannot be made happy by material things. Today, we need peace and joy from God. Also because we are created to live with others, we cannot be happy by being famous and by achievements alone. We can be happy by loving and being loved by God and by our neighbors. We cannot be happy by being greedy and boastful to others about what we have. We can be satisfied for a moment, but cannot be truly happy.

This is the “life of rest” that we should seek. We have to learn how to rest and to keep rested in this busy world. This is an essential factor in our life. But keeping it up is also very difficult. Therefore, I wanted to share this time of struggle and suffering on this topic together with our church members. I’m grateful that we can think about the opportunity through our scheduled church retreat. I hope that it will be an opportunity to wrestle with this anguish topic together.

6.

St. Augustine, the great theologian and Christian, spent his young adulthood following his sinful desires. In his twenties, he accomplished a lot academically and as a result was able to acquire many things and become wealthy and famous. He lived a life that everyone envied. And the world seemed to be in his hands. He also indulged in satisfying his physical pleasures to his heart’s content. But he felt a big sense of emptiness in his heart, which bothered him. The empty hole in his heart was getting bigger as he owned more and became more famous and indulged in more pleasures.

Towards the end of his young adulthood, because of his struggles with his inner emptiness and thanks to his mother’s tearful prayers, he was able to return to God. Only after he returned to God did he realize the meaning of what James had said “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights.” He found the long awaited rest and peace in God. So he said in his “Confession,” “The Lord has created us for Him so that we cannot have true rest until we return to the Lord.” After he found rest and peace in God, the quality and direction of his life became totally different.

Dear congregation, don’t you think that we need this kind of rest in our life? “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28) Have you ever seriously thought about Jesus’ invitation? Do not be deceived by our sinful desires, nor by the propaganda of this culture, but instead listen to Jesus and find real rest in Him and live your life empowered by this true rest. Let us live not a life that is pushed by the world, but instead one led by Jesus.

Last July in the local Arlington news, Superintendent Cho Young-Jin introduced a prayer by Orin Crain. Let me finish today with this prayer.

Slow me down, Lord!
Ease the pounding of my heart by the quieting of my mind.
Steady my hurried pace,
With a vision of the eternal reach of time.
Give me, amidst the confusion of my day,
The calmness of the everlasting hills.
Break the tension of my nerves
With the soothing music of the singing streams that live in my memory.
Help me to know the magical restoring power of sleep.
Teach me the art of taking minute vacations of slowing down.
To look at a flower;
To chat with an old friend or make a new one;
To pat a stray dog; to watch a spider build a web;
To smile at a child; or to read from a good book.
Remind me each day
That the race is not always to the swift;
That there is more to life than increasing its speed.
Let me look upward into the towering oak
And know that it grew great and strong
Because it grew slowly and well.