Recent sermons
by Pastor Harris Hwang
January 17, 2019
Sermon Topic: Two Ways of Life
Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 17:5-10
NIV text | MSG text
Sermon Topic: Two Ways of Life
Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 17:5-10
NIV text | MSG text
[Good life?]
God is good! All the time! All the time! God is good!
How are you today? How was your week? When I was asked how I am doing, I usually say just good. Sometimes, I say just good even though I am having a really bad day. Because English is not my first language, I am much more tired describing how my day was in English than just saying good. In this church, a parishioner who has the same difficulty in saying English. Whenever I ask him how he is, he always says good. He might say “good” even if he is not feeling good. He says his life is always good. I sometimes wonder whether or not I should teach him how to say “bad.”
Because he usually comes to church early in the morning, He and I practice speaking a simple English sentence. Last week, we read what Jesus says to Simon Peter in the given text. I asked him to try speaking in English as if Simon Peter let down nets when Jesus asked. I said, “nobody will judge.” “The fear in your mind is an illusion.” Then he suddenly spoke, “I’m working [at] one two three Appleton street Copley.” I couldn’t understand what he meant, but then I realized it was the sentence that I taught a couple of months ago. I was startled that he remembered it and eventually spoke it. I was happy that he was finally trying to overcome the illusion of fear in his mind. I hope and pray that he can experience this feeling of overcoming fear over and over again. And I want every one of you to help him to speak more. I believe God gave this precious moment as grace.
We all wish such a happy moment lasts at all times, but often times in our lives we experience dull moments or challenges in life. When we encounter those times of hardships, we are led to ask ourselves whether or not we have been living in a good way. I believe here you all are likely to live good lives. We just want to know how to live better. This morning we met a prophet Jeremiah of the sixth century B.C.. I believe that we can learn from the wisdom that Jeremiah gives us on what it means to live a blessed and good life.
[Cursed life]
To begin with, Jeremiah warns a cursed life. “Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who draws strength from mere flesh and whose heart turns away from the Lord.” In Jeremiah’s era, political leaders and religious leaders turned away from God of truth and justice. They did not use their power to take care of other people but instead, to satisfy their own needs. People’s lives were getting worse and worse. What is worse is that the people were not so much different from the leaders. They also turned away from God and followed other means to obtain the illusion of content life. Israel had forsaken God. Jeremiah says in Chapter 2, “My people have committed a compound sin: they’ve walked out on me. They abandoned God— God the fountain of fresh flowing waters, and then dug cisterns—cisterns that leak, cisterns that cannot hold water.” (2:13)
Those who walk out on God feel void in their heart. They try to fill the void in their mind through buying luxury goods, through following fame, or through pursuing money and power. But, nothing can fill their void in their heart. These cannot be right answers to sustain a good life. Their hearts and minds are like cisterns that leak. Leaking Cisterns cannot hold water. They abandoned God the fountain of fresh waters.
[People]
Those who walk out on God are likely to depend not only on goods, fame, money, and power but also on influential people. The Bible also warns, “Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who draws strength from mere flesh. That person will be like a bush in the wastelands; they will not see prosperity when it comes. They will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives. (Jer 17:5-6)
Indeed, we see some influential political leaders who mislead the people in this society. However, what is even more frustrating is the people who are so helplessly deceived by those leaders. Often times, people even support the deceitful leaders with distorted illusions thinking that those leaders will bring prosperity to them. They all are trapped in this vicious circle. I hope and pray that both leaders and people fear God and cut the vicious circle.
[Deceiving Heart]
Not only money, fame, power, and people, but also our heart is not trustworthy. Jeremiah says, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” John Wesley who is the founder of Methodism also points it out in his note, “There is nothing so false and deceitful as the heart of man; deceitful in its apprehensions of things, in the hopes and promises which it nourishes, in the assurances that it gives us; unsearchable by others, deceitful with reference to ourselves, and abominably wicked, so that neither can a man know his own heart, nor can any other know that of his neighbour's."
This sounds like a too pessimistic view about human being. Some might argue that the heart is not that deceitful as humans are all born in the image of God. But the problem is that they don’t keep that heart as God created. They don’t let God stay at the center of their heart but themselves. The church’s tradition describes the corrupted life as the doctrine of the fall. Humans are separated from God. Or they are fallen in sin. It means that people position themselves at the center of the universe. They think and act egocentrically. They complain of their own small sufferings but overlook others’ pain. Even though they gain wealth by exploiting others or occupy a high post by unfair means (17:11), they are not able to realize how negative influence they have on other people. Such self-centered people are not able to expand their compassion toward others. It is because they fail to discern their hearts and minds.
However, what we should not forget is that people deceive others and themselves, but they can’t deceive God. Our God looks at the heart. (1 Samuel 16:7) God knows our hearts and minds better than we do. The Lord says, “I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind” (Jeremiah 17:10). God sees not only what we want to show to God but also what we want to hide.
In a society we are living, it is getting harder to look at our own heart. We are forced to pretend to be just okay. Even though people seem to live well without any problem, they have wounds or bad memories that they want to hide from others and even from themselves. The wounds in their heart will reveal when their lives are challenged. Who likes to be stigmatized as weak, dark, and distorted in this competitive society?
Indeed, it is challenging to face the dark side of our hearts. We are reluctant to see the grim reality in our hearts. Last week, while my friend was proofreading English in my sermon, he asked me to change the word “unworthy.” This word was used when Simon Peter encountered the Holy One and then looked at his dark side in the divine light. “I am unworthy.” To my friend, this word “unworthy” sounded too strong. Indeed, this word looks like humiliating or depreciating human dignity. Many Bible translations use such word to describe the emotion of figures who encountered the Holy God. I think the writers of the bible stories knew how miserable to see the dark side in the human heart. It’s horrible to see how selfish, obstinate, and stubborn humans are. However, we should face how deceiving our hearts are. I believe we can’t experience God’s grace not because God is not good enough but because we are reluctant to look at the darkness in our hearts. When we start discerning our hearts, God will help us. And then God calls us to live in a good, blessed, and holy life.
[Two ways of life]
Jeremiah pictures a good, blessed, and holy life in the verse 8. “They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”(17:8)
There are two ways of life. One way is to live by trusting things like fame, money, power, other influential people and even themselves. The other way is to live truly believing in God. The vision of a good life that Jeremiah showed us is to trust God and to position God at the center of our hearts.
However, don’t get me wrong. This doesn’t mean that there will be no hardships in life. There will be heat waves and years of drought. However, God promises that the illusion of fear and worries cannot destroy those who are strongly rooted in God. Their leaves will be green even in the midst of heat waves, and their fruits will never cease even during years of drought. Those who believe in God cannot fail.
When our heart looks hopelessly dark and deceitful, our God is saying. “I, the Lord, search the heart and examine the mind. I get to the heart of the human. I get to the root of things. I treat them as they really are, not as they pretend to be.”(MSG) Our God will reward each one of you according to your conduct, according to what your deeds deserve. I hope and pray that we CUMC doesn’t plant its root in illusions of fear or worries, but in our God of life, hope, and of the fountain of fresh flowing waters. Amen.
God is good! All the time! All the time! God is good!
How are you today? How was your week? When I was asked how I am doing, I usually say just good. Sometimes, I say just good even though I am having a really bad day. Because English is not my first language, I am much more tired describing how my day was in English than just saying good. In this church, a parishioner who has the same difficulty in saying English. Whenever I ask him how he is, he always says good. He might say “good” even if he is not feeling good. He says his life is always good. I sometimes wonder whether or not I should teach him how to say “bad.”
Because he usually comes to church early in the morning, He and I practice speaking a simple English sentence. Last week, we read what Jesus says to Simon Peter in the given text. I asked him to try speaking in English as if Simon Peter let down nets when Jesus asked. I said, “nobody will judge.” “The fear in your mind is an illusion.” Then he suddenly spoke, “I’m working [at] one two three Appleton street Copley.” I couldn’t understand what he meant, but then I realized it was the sentence that I taught a couple of months ago. I was startled that he remembered it and eventually spoke it. I was happy that he was finally trying to overcome the illusion of fear in his mind. I hope and pray that he can experience this feeling of overcoming fear over and over again. And I want every one of you to help him to speak more. I believe God gave this precious moment as grace.
We all wish such a happy moment lasts at all times, but often times in our lives we experience dull moments or challenges in life. When we encounter those times of hardships, we are led to ask ourselves whether or not we have been living in a good way. I believe here you all are likely to live good lives. We just want to know how to live better. This morning we met a prophet Jeremiah of the sixth century B.C.. I believe that we can learn from the wisdom that Jeremiah gives us on what it means to live a blessed and good life.
[Cursed life]
To begin with, Jeremiah warns a cursed life. “Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who draws strength from mere flesh and whose heart turns away from the Lord.” In Jeremiah’s era, political leaders and religious leaders turned away from God of truth and justice. They did not use their power to take care of other people but instead, to satisfy their own needs. People’s lives were getting worse and worse. What is worse is that the people were not so much different from the leaders. They also turned away from God and followed other means to obtain the illusion of content life. Israel had forsaken God. Jeremiah says in Chapter 2, “My people have committed a compound sin: they’ve walked out on me. They abandoned God— God the fountain of fresh flowing waters, and then dug cisterns—cisterns that leak, cisterns that cannot hold water.” (2:13)
Those who walk out on God feel void in their heart. They try to fill the void in their mind through buying luxury goods, through following fame, or through pursuing money and power. But, nothing can fill their void in their heart. These cannot be right answers to sustain a good life. Their hearts and minds are like cisterns that leak. Leaking Cisterns cannot hold water. They abandoned God the fountain of fresh waters.
[People]
Those who walk out on God are likely to depend not only on goods, fame, money, and power but also on influential people. The Bible also warns, “Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who draws strength from mere flesh. That person will be like a bush in the wastelands; they will not see prosperity when it comes. They will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives. (Jer 17:5-6)
Indeed, we see some influential political leaders who mislead the people in this society. However, what is even more frustrating is the people who are so helplessly deceived by those leaders. Often times, people even support the deceitful leaders with distorted illusions thinking that those leaders will bring prosperity to them. They all are trapped in this vicious circle. I hope and pray that both leaders and people fear God and cut the vicious circle.
[Deceiving Heart]
Not only money, fame, power, and people, but also our heart is not trustworthy. Jeremiah says, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” John Wesley who is the founder of Methodism also points it out in his note, “There is nothing so false and deceitful as the heart of man; deceitful in its apprehensions of things, in the hopes and promises which it nourishes, in the assurances that it gives us; unsearchable by others, deceitful with reference to ourselves, and abominably wicked, so that neither can a man know his own heart, nor can any other know that of his neighbour's."
This sounds like a too pessimistic view about human being. Some might argue that the heart is not that deceitful as humans are all born in the image of God. But the problem is that they don’t keep that heart as God created. They don’t let God stay at the center of their heart but themselves. The church’s tradition describes the corrupted life as the doctrine of the fall. Humans are separated from God. Or they are fallen in sin. It means that people position themselves at the center of the universe. They think and act egocentrically. They complain of their own small sufferings but overlook others’ pain. Even though they gain wealth by exploiting others or occupy a high post by unfair means (17:11), they are not able to realize how negative influence they have on other people. Such self-centered people are not able to expand their compassion toward others. It is because they fail to discern their hearts and minds.
However, what we should not forget is that people deceive others and themselves, but they can’t deceive God. Our God looks at the heart. (1 Samuel 16:7) God knows our hearts and minds better than we do. The Lord says, “I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind” (Jeremiah 17:10). God sees not only what we want to show to God but also what we want to hide.
In a society we are living, it is getting harder to look at our own heart. We are forced to pretend to be just okay. Even though people seem to live well without any problem, they have wounds or bad memories that they want to hide from others and even from themselves. The wounds in their heart will reveal when their lives are challenged. Who likes to be stigmatized as weak, dark, and distorted in this competitive society?
Indeed, it is challenging to face the dark side of our hearts. We are reluctant to see the grim reality in our hearts. Last week, while my friend was proofreading English in my sermon, he asked me to change the word “unworthy.” This word was used when Simon Peter encountered the Holy One and then looked at his dark side in the divine light. “I am unworthy.” To my friend, this word “unworthy” sounded too strong. Indeed, this word looks like humiliating or depreciating human dignity. Many Bible translations use such word to describe the emotion of figures who encountered the Holy God. I think the writers of the bible stories knew how miserable to see the dark side in the human heart. It’s horrible to see how selfish, obstinate, and stubborn humans are. However, we should face how deceiving our hearts are. I believe we can’t experience God’s grace not because God is not good enough but because we are reluctant to look at the darkness in our hearts. When we start discerning our hearts, God will help us. And then God calls us to live in a good, blessed, and holy life.
[Two ways of life]
Jeremiah pictures a good, blessed, and holy life in the verse 8. “They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”(17:8)
There are two ways of life. One way is to live by trusting things like fame, money, power, other influential people and even themselves. The other way is to live truly believing in God. The vision of a good life that Jeremiah showed us is to trust God and to position God at the center of our hearts.
However, don’t get me wrong. This doesn’t mean that there will be no hardships in life. There will be heat waves and years of drought. However, God promises that the illusion of fear and worries cannot destroy those who are strongly rooted in God. Their leaves will be green even in the midst of heat waves, and their fruits will never cease even during years of drought. Those who believe in God cannot fail.
When our heart looks hopelessly dark and deceitful, our God is saying. “I, the Lord, search the heart and examine the mind. I get to the heart of the human. I get to the root of things. I treat them as they really are, not as they pretend to be.”(MSG) Our God will reward each one of you according to your conduct, according to what your deeds deserve. I hope and pray that we CUMC doesn’t plant its root in illusions of fear or worries, but in our God of life, hope, and of the fountain of fresh flowing waters. Amen.
