101: What He Wants for You

OT Lesson: Judges 10:3-5 (Wycliffe Bible)

His successor was Jair, a man of Gilead, that deemed Israel two and twenty years; and he had thirty sons, sitting upon thirty colts of she-asses, and they were princes of thirty cities, the which be called by their father’s name, Havothjair, that is, the cities of Jair, unto this present day, in the land of Gilead. And (then) Jair died, and was buried in a place that is called Camon.

NT Lesson: John 14:27 (NRSV)

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid. 

Sermon

Introduction

Good morning. Last Sunday, I went to Lafayette for the installation of a pastor at Purdue Korean Presbyterian Church. The pastor has been serving the church for a few months. Before the installation service, I met the wife of the new pastor. She knew that all the non-Asians, i.e., White and Black people, were the clergy members from the Presbytery. But I am an Asian and she did not know me. So she asked me where I am from. So I answered her that I was from Lebanon. And she said, and I translate since you do not speak Korean, “Oh wow! You are a missionary! Are you visiting America? What brought you to America?” By the way, I also need to be installed by the Presbytery and the date is Sunday, October 9th, 4PM here in this sanctuary.

Anyway today is the last of the 101 series. If anyone wants, I can compile all the sermons in the series to make a complete series booklet. Gretel will be on vacation this week. So email me, not her. As I said, today is the last chapter of the 101 series, and thus it is the conclusion of the series. Or if you want, you can call it season finale. In the sermon title, I used He, instead of God. That is because as a pronoun, ‘he’ can refer many different persons: definitely God, possibly Jesus Christ. And he can also be me. Not that I am same as God, but that I also want the same thing for you. So let us learn what God wants for you, and what I personally also want for you.

We Are God’s Children

Before I begin the end of the series, I have to make sure about two premises. One is that God is our Father and we are His children. In general, God is the Father of all creation. John Calvin called it common grace. God cares for the whole creation no matter what. Jesus says in Matthew 5:45 that God makes the sun rise on both evil and the good and sends rain on both the righteous and the unrighteous. But we are not just in common grace, but as the children of God and as the co-heirs with Jesus Christ, we are in special grace which is bestowed only on those whom God elects to eternal life through faith in our Saviour. In other words, we are given the irresistible grace because we are predestined to be saved. So in that way, we are the children of God, and God is our Father. Do you believe it? Are we on the same page?

The second premise is this: Many of you, I believe, are parents. So as a mother or a father, what do you wish for your children? I am a father as you all know. Even though my son makes lots of troubles, I mean lots, and made me somewhat ashamed that the pastor’s kid had to be kicked out of the very church preschool, but I still wish him all the good things. And I believe that most parents, if not all, wish good things, only good things for their children. If you wish bad things for your children, you are an exceptional parent. So again, are we on the same page? So these two are the premises we have to agree on before I begin today’s sermon, that God is our Father and that God wishes only good things for us.

Heroes’ Story

People love the heroes who overcame the obstacles and adversities. People always want to hear about their stories. That is true now and that have been true from of old. Most of the classic novels and stories are about the heroes who overcomes the difficulties to achieve something whether that is love or victory. These days the Hollywood is overflowing with all kinds of heroes, and the whole world is going crazy about it. There is good old Super Man, and there is weird Dead Pool. There are Spider Man, Iron Man, Bat Man, Aqua Man, and so on. One of the most famous hero films is, I heard, the Avengers. Do you know how long is the movie? The running time of the Avengers 3: Infinity War was two hours and forty minutes. And the running time of the mega hit, the Avengers 4: Endgame was more than three hours. Can you imagine three hours’ running time? Yet people loved it. According to the box-office reports, thirty-five million people watched the Endgame in the first week in North America. Thirty-five million people in US and Canada willingly sat down for over three hours. And I have not heard any one person left the theatre in the middle of the show. Over three hours. That is how much people love the heroes’ stories. Imagine that I preach for over three hours. What is going to happen? How many of you can stay through the worship service? How many of you will actually come back the next Sunday?

As I mentioned earlier, the people’s love for the heroes’ tales is not a recent phenomenon. People have always loved it throughout the history since the time began. Iliad, the famous ancient Greek classic, is also like that. How about Cinderella, Snow White or Little Mermaid? They all have overcome the adversities. People also love the stories of the real life heroes. How Steve Jobs was kicked out of his own preschool, I mean, his own company which he founded, and then later came back victoriously with iPod, and then revolutionised the world gloriously with unheard iPhone. People love to hear how Thomas Edison failed thousand times before the invented the lightbulb. How a homeless guy from Toronto became the Hollywood star—Jim Carrey. How a thirty-nine year old paralysed guy later became the thirty-second President of the United States, whose name is Franklin Roosevelt. People love to hear the story of the famous author of horror, Stephen King, who won countless awards was rejected tens of times from various publishers for his first novel. Stephen Hawking, whose name sounds like the brother of Stephen King, was paralysed and became the wheel chair-bound for life, but overcame all those obstacles and became the world’s leading and most brilliant scientist. People also love to hear the story of Beethoven who became deaf and yet still made himself one of the greatest composer of all times. TV shows and films often feature the sports heroes who overcame their handicaps, especially before the Olympic games. Every year, we have the flood of so many heroes’ stories from either real life or fiction. 

My question is this: Do you want your child to be like one of those heroes? Does God want us to be like one of those heroes? I am not sure. But for your child to be like Stephen Hawking or Franklin Roosevelt, they got to be first paralysed. Again, I am not sure if I want that for my son. And in turn, I am not sure if God wants that for us.

Heroes in the Bible

The Bible is also full of stories of heroes who overcame the troubles and obstacles. Noah survived through the flood which killed all humanity except his core family. Abraham who was living comfortable in the richest place in the world back then, that is, Mesopotamia had to move to one of the poorest country in Palestine. Joseph was sold as a slave by his own brothers, and was imprisoned wrongfully for many years before he became the prime minister of Egypt. Moses was a fugitive for forty years before he began his ministry. David was also a fugitive for many years. How can we forget Job, the most famous person when it comes to trials. Of course he was later blessed even more. The book of judges can be renamed as the book of heroes. There are Gideon, Samson, Jephtha, Deborah and so on. We also have countless heroes in the NT like Paul and Peter as well as Thomas who went all the way to India. They are all great men and women of faith.

Again, my question is this: Do you want your child to be like one of those great heroes in the Bible? Does God want all of us to be like one of those great heroes in the Bible? I am not sure. To be like one of the great heroes of faith, we got to be first move to the poorest country in the world like Abraham did. We got to be first wrongfully imprisoned for decades like Joseph was. The wife of the new pastor at the Korean church mistook me to be a missionary to Lebanon. To be like the great apostles of Thomas, we need to first live in the country of Lebanon in the Middle East, not in the city of Lebanon in America, and get martyred there just like Thomas did. Those heroes I admire. I praise all the heroic saints in the Bible, but honestly I am not sure if I want that for my son. And I highly doubt that God wants that for us. I really don’t think so. Of course God wants some people to be missionaries, some to be modern day martyrs, and some to be the spiritual heroes. But those are one in million. Moses was the only one in couple million who escape Egypt. Then what does God actually want for us?

Second OT Lesson

Well, before I jump into the conclusion, I have a confession to make. I actually have a second OT lesson, which is from Judges 12:8-15. Let me read from NIV:

After Jephtah, Ibzan of Bethlehem led Israel. He had thirty sons and thirty daughters. He gave his daughters away in marriage to those outside his clan, and for his sons he brought in thirty young women as wives from outside his clan. Ibzan led Israel seven years. Then Ibzan died and was buried in Bethlehem. After him, Elon the Zebulunite led Israel ten years. Then Elon died and was buried in Aijalon in the land of Zebulun. After him, Abdon son of Hillel, from Pirathon, led Israel. He had forty sons and thirty grandsons, who rode on seventy donkeys. He led Israel eight years. Then Abdon son of Hillel died and was buried at Pirathon in Ephraim, in the hill country of the Amalekites.

Both today’s OT lesson and the second OT lesson are not the stories of heroes. Not at all. Nothing, I mean literally nothing, happens here in their lives. The Bible spends just one line for each of them while the Bible spends chapters and chapters for the storytelling of the heroes. So they are definitely not heroes. And nobody pay attention to them. And that is exactly why these Scriptures fascinate me so much. These are one of my favourite Scriptures. I so love this part of the book of Judges very much. Every time I read here, I am so thrilled and fascinated because nothing happens here. Boring, boring, boring.

The lives of Non-Heroes

There are no major battles, no big conflicts, but series of boring and peaceful days in their entire lives. But they all lived quite good lives. For example, the Judge Jair had thirty sons who were riding the donkeys. Well, the Bible says ass, but I am not comfortable saying that in the sanctuary, so I switched and will stick to donkeys. The judge Ibzan had sixty children. And he was able to feed and clothe them all. How many of us can actually afford to feed and raise sixty children? Not many of us, I guess, not to mention having a big enough house for the whole family. And also the judge Abdon had forty sons and thirty grandsons. They were all riding donkeys, seventy of them. Isn’t that amazing?

What is the major transportation here in America? I believe that most of us drive a car. Until last year, I used to drive a Dodge Neon 2000 year model with the odometer reading over 300,000 miles. I did cross country several times in Canada and in America. It was very noisy and rusty. One summer day down in Southern Indiana, I bought a homeless guy a lunch. He wanted a specific restaurant. So we drove there in my car. And before he hopped in, he told me, ‘Oh, this is a very crappy car.’ I just thought to myself, ‘Hey, thanks for noticing. What a nice compliment to say to the one buying you lunch.’ Well, now Hannah and I both have decent cars except that we have lots of payments left. I guess you all probably drive decent cars. But I don’t think any of you drive super luxury cars such as Rolls Royce, Ferrari, or Bugatti. If you have those cars, please give me a ride just once. To me, even a Dodge Viper is a great awesome car. When I saw lots of Vipers, do you know what I screamed out of excitement? ‘You brood of Vipers.’ But I did not have a judgemental tone like Jesus. I was just happy to see so many of them. If you want to see a lot of real nice cars, I know where to go: Chinese grocery stores. Their parking lots are filled with Ferrari, Lamborghini, Audi. Mercedes, BMW, etc. I don’t know why they come to the grocery store in Lamborghini, but that is what the Chinese do, especially the college students.

Anyway, what do you think the major transportation was in the hill country of Israel four thousand years ago? Cadillac? Nope. Ford? Nope. They couldn’t afford a Ford. On foot, it was. They all walked on foot. There was no horse back then in Israel. The horses were brought to Israel much later by king Solomon from Egypt. But they did have donkeys but the donkeys were very expensive. If you had a donkey in Israel four thousand years ago, you were super rich. Just like not everybody drives Rolls Royce here, with the same reason, not everybody was riding donkeys back then. Now the Bible says that all the seventy sons and grandsons of Abdon were riding donkeys. Let me paraphrase it. They were all driving Rolls Royce, Lamborghini or Mercedes. Back then, the lifespan was kind of short, and I guess the grandsons were probably at the age of high school. So how could those young men afford Rolls Royce? Their grandfather bought them. Some of you may have children who are already grown up, or right now at college or high school age. For their first car, how many of you bought them a brand new Rolls Royce or Mercedes? Let us imagine that you bought brand new Mercedes for each of your children, and that did not really hurt the balance of your bank account. Don’t you think that would be awesome? That is the case of the judges in today’s OT lessons. 

What He Wants

In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus taught us to say or to sing ‘Lead us not into temptation.’ Jesus knows that the adversities, the troubles, the obstacles, and the trials in our life is for our own good in the end because all things work together for good. God knows it, but that is not what He wants for us. In today’s NT lesson, Jesus says to us, “My peace I give to you.” Jesus and God want us to have a peaceful life without any difficulties, troubles, and trials as much as possible. We may not have a fantastic story to tell others and to boast about. But God wants and I also want you to live like judges of Jair, Ibzan, or Abdon whose lives were filled with peace and blessings, that is, spiritually, physically, and financially as well.

As I said earlier, we all love the stories of heroes. We all so love drama. But I want, and God wants, your life rather to be boring. If you must have some drama, there is Netflix, there is HBO. Just watch Squid Game. That just won the Emmy award because it has so much drama in it. I really pray that your life is free from drama but full of peace. I will talk about what peace actually is in the Bible on one of the Advent Sundays.

Conclusion

But how can we have a boring, peaceful and blessed life? Is there a secret? Yes, there actually is. Jesus tells us in Matthew 26:41, “Stay alert and pray so that you will not be given into trials.” Friends, God truly wants us to live well in every aspect without troubles in our lives as much as possible.  So, let us stay alert and pray diligently. Then God will grant us the life of Jair, the life of Ibzan, and the life of Abdon, the very life filled with peace and well-being in Christ Jesus our Lord and Saviour. Amen.