Today Pastor Choi continues focusing on God’s resources that are available to God’s people.  This time it is God’s peace that transcends circumstances.  He also talks about how we can get God’s peace in our hearts and minds: by trusting in God, by trusting in God’s providence, and by fixing our eyes, hearts, and minds on nothing or nobody but on God.

    Rely on God’s Resources (4). His Peace

Following is a summary of the sermon:

Rely on God’s Resources (4): His Peace                 Isaiah 26:3, 1 Peter 5:7

• Isaiah 26:3
• New International Version (NIV)
• ³ You will keep in perfect peace
  those whose minds are steadfast,
  because they trust in you.
• 1 Peter 5:7
• New International Version (NIV)
• ⁷ Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

Introduction:

• Three Bible translations caught my attention (King James, New American Standard, New International).  They say that God will keep in perfect peace those who trust in Him.  I asked myself, “Why perfect peace? Why not just peace?  What’s that mean?”  In the original Hebrew text, it says, “You will keep in Shalom Shalom (repeats twice);שָׁלֹ֣ום ׀ שָׁלֹ֑ום .”  The literary technique used here is to ensure the readers, God’s people, to understand the meaning of the writer, God: never ever forget that those whose hearts are fixed on the LORD will have peace in their lives.
• Number of the occurrences of “Peace” in the Bible: Total 250 times.  OT: 155 NT: 95.  You may wonder what’s the importance of word frequency in the Bible?  The more frequent a word is, the more significant it is.  Besides some common words such as “the (almost 64,000), and, of, to, that,” and so forth, the most important nouns are LORD (6749), God (3995: by the Psalms it occurs about 2000 times, OT: 2678, NT: 1317—OT as twice many as NT)  (cf. Esther doesn’t mention God).  Money (113: 61 OT 52 NT), Pleasure(s) (38: OT 28, NT 10), Health (22), Heaven(s) (622).  Family (205). Worries (4) (OT:1, NT:3) Anxiety (7: OT 5 NT 2). Fear(-s, -ed, -ful) (336: OT 268 NT:68). Peace is very important for us to know.  So is it to our daily life.  Everyone longs for peace.
• For my curiosity, I checked out how often we have peace in human history.  I put the following question on Google search: How many wars have there been in the world? 
• “Answer:  (bolded certain parts for emphasis)
• There can be no definite answer to this question, given that when speaking of war we can speak of international wars, intra-national wars. Also there is often contention over what constitutes a war.However, estimates suggest that for 362 days of the year, there is a conflict going on somewhere in the world. This excludes internal (or civil) wars. Estimates also suggest that there have only been 250 years of peace in over 3400 years of documented history. (Some people suggest there have only been 26 days of peace). 

  There are currently over 40 wars ongoing, in which over 1000 people die per year (those which result in fewer deaths are excluded from UN statistics), occurring world wide. There have been hundreds since the end of the Second World War. ”

  (http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_wars_have_there_been_in_the_world)

• As Lloyd Cory said, “Peace is the brief glorious moment in history when everybody stands around reloading.” (Lloyd Cory, Quote Unquote)
• We desire not only peace in the world, peace in the nation, peace in society, but also peace at home, and especially peace in mind and heart.

Contents:

• If all of us want peace so badly in our hearts and minds, why does it seem like so little people have/enjoy it?   Perhaps, the reason why many people don’t have it is because they may look for peace in the wrong places.   When was the last time that you were disillusioned with broken promises of peace made by either politicians or bank accounts?  E.g. I know a retiree from Lucent Technology with millions of dollars of company stocks.  He lost everything when the company stock lost values.  Let’s not be fooled.  True and lasting peace is found only in God.  God alone gives such peace that is good both inside of our hearts and outside in the world.
• What is divine peace?  It’s the peace God gives to His children.  This is what God’s Word says about divine peace.
• God is the author of peace, establishes peace, gives peace (Isa. 26:12, Jer. 14:13, Jn. 14:27).  He is our peace (1 Co. 14:33).  Christ is our peace (Eph. 2:14).  Jesus is the Prince of peace.
• The God of peace wants us to have the peace of Christ in our hearts.
• The peace that God gives is a kind of peace that doesn’t rely on happy occasions or bad circumstances.  In fact, it never relies on outside circumstances.  It is transcendental.  It is that calm of mind and heart that isn’t shaken by adversity.  It is a rather strange calm that human words cannot explain, but the person knows it when s/he receives it from God.
• How do we get God’s peace?  There is only one way.  You cannot buy God’s peace.  You get it only by trusting in Him.  Trusting in God is same as putting your heart and mind in His care, in His hands, and in His purpose.  The image in Isaiah 26:3 is this: the heart of the one who trusts in the Lord is sustained by God like pottery is in the masterful hands of potter. Imagine that you want to keep a most delicate jewel in the most secure safe in the world.  Let me tell you: your heart is that jewel and the most secure safe in the world is God.
•  Reality Check: what do you trust in?  Really.   E.g. Dollar bill “In God We Trust.”  Really?   Do we not rather trust in our bank accounts, health, family, government?  You can easily find out by yourself what you really trust in by looking at what you constantly think of and where your mind and heart are set on.
• Here’s what I mean by trusting in the Lord.  Trusting in God means that we don’t rely on our own understanding of what’s going on in our lives.  Rather, we believe/profess that God knows what He is doing.  E.g.  A man holding onto a branch of tree on cliff for life, screaming for help.  He prays to God for help…God says, “Let go of the branch.”…Without letting go of the branch, he screams again, “Is anyone else out there?”
• Trusting in God also means that we set our minds and eyes on Him, not anything/anybody else.  E.g. Apostle Peter walked a few steps on water before he began to sink, because he was afraid of what was going around him when his eyes were off from Jesus.
• The same Peter speaks to us in 1 Peter 5:7 about the way we handle our daily anxiety: Cast away (and do not claim back) anxiety to God, because He cares for you (literal translation: Your business is His).  E.g.   When the disciples were about to drown in the middle of lake one night, they woke up Jesus saying, “Master, you sure care about us, don’t you?”

Closing:

• Horatio Stafford, a business man in Chicago, sent his wife and three daughters to Europe by ship while he remained back in the States, intending to join them later.  En route there was a terrible storm and a shipwreck during which their three daughters drowned.  Mrs. Stafford made it to safety and wired back saying, “All of our daughters have been lost.  Only I have been saved.”  He took the next vessel.  As they came near the place where his daughters drowned, the skipper of the ship pointed to the place where the other ship had gone down.  It was there on the deck of the ship he wrote these stirring words: When peace like a river attendeth my way, When sorrows like sea billows roll; Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, “It is well, it is well with my soul” (John Haggai, How to Win over Worry).
• Horatio’s eyes, his heart and mind were fixed on Jesus, not on the tragedy.  He still declares to us that the Lord knows what He is doing.  He shows us how we dwell in God’s perfect peace: by trusting in the Lord.
• Amen.

Today Manahawkin congregation celebrated Laity Sunday acknowledging and appreciating all the volunteers who served the Lord and God’s people.  Lay Speaker Louise Jones and John Parker (finance chair) shared the pulpit reflecting on the meaning of family and ministry.

 Laity Sunday 2013

Today Pastor Choi talks about the second divine resource that God has made available for us to tap into in times of need: God’s strength.  Expounding on Isaiah 41:10 and Philippians 4:13, he exhorts the congregation to rely not on their own wisdom and might but on God’s.

  Rely on God’s Resources (2)

Following is a summary of his sermon:

Rely on God’s Resources: His Strength                    

• Isaiah 41:10
• New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
• ¹⁰ do not fear, for I am with you,
  do not be afraid, for I am your God;
  I will strengthen you, I will help you,
  I will uphold you with my victorious right hand.
• Philippians 4:13
• New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
• ¹³ I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
• Recap: Last Sunday, I started a new sermon series, “Rely on God’s Resources,” and talked about the resources God has made available to us for our life journey.  The first resource available to us is the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, who dwells in our hearts.  He resides in every believer who confesses that Jesus Christ is the Lord and Savior.
• Today, I am going to talk about the second divine resource that we can tap into: God’s strength.
• Nowadays, we are living in a constant state of fear and anxiety.  Everything today seems fragile, volatile, uncertain, and unpredictable.  Think, for a moment, of our society, our government, our national security and economy, let alone our health and families.  I don’t have to go further.
• We are inundated with heart-wrenching, sad, and fear-raising news every single day.  People in the media, in competition with each other, seem determined to bring the shocking news to us by all means.   Do they even care about the impact of news on the audience?   We cannot completely shut down the news, either.   I wish all of us were free from fears and anxieties.  I wish we would be exempt from all life’s uncertainties.
• However, we are not.  In fact, I, your spiritual leader, am no different from you.  Almost every day, I too go through life’s uncertainties, challenges, struggles, worries, or fears.  I too know what it is like to have worries and fears.  Here’s an example.
• About twenty years ago, I was in Michigan serving a small congregation.  At that time, my daughter was about 3 or 4 years old.  Like today, back then, I would pray for her every night.  I still remember one particular night.  I was on my knees praying for God’s protection on my daughter from any harm and evil forces.  All of a sudden, in my heart, a fear arose about her future.  The fear was about what would happen to her when both of her parents were gone (she had no siblings and no relatives in the States.  All of them lived in South Korea).  The fear totally gripped me and began to take away the peace from my heart.  That feeling of panic bothered me greatly, so I continued on asking God the question: Lord, indeed, who’s going to be there for my daughter in times of need, when neither of us (parents) is around?  I remember how God answered my question that night.  I love the way He did.  He answered my question with a set of three questions.
• The first question He raised in my heart was this: Do you remember when you first came to America?  “Yes, Lord,” I answered.   In fact, I still do quite vividly that summer of 1985, August 2, to be exact.  Both my wife and I landed at the O’Hare International Airport in Chicago with several pieces of luggage and $5,000 in cash.
• The second question from the Lord was: Who took care of you since then?  “No brainer, Lord,” I answered, “It was You.”  Indeed, He provided everything my family needed more sufficiently than we ever imagined.
• The third question from the Lord was the clincher: “Don’t you believe that I will still be around long after you both are gone and be there for your daughter as I always have been for you?”  That did it!  It melted away my fear right away!  That night, the Lord assured me, once and for all, that He is with me and my family forever and takes care of us!  Amen.  The antidote to our fears is the presence of the Lord.
•  That leads us to our first verse: Isaiah 41:10.
• Here, the LORD spoke to His people, Israel, through the mouth of the Prophet Isaiah.  Obviously, Israel as a nation, even back then, was fragile, caught in between the mighty powerhouses such as Assyria and Egypt.  Fear and anxiety of an uncertain future filled up the hearts of the people.  So, God spoke to them,
• ¹⁰ do not fear, for I am with you,
  do not be afraid, for I am your God;
  I will strengthen you, I will help you,
  I will uphold you with my victorious right hand (Isaiah 41:10).
• Let me unpack the verse.  First, God says, “do not fear, for I am with you, do not be afraid, for I am your God;” The English translation doesn’t do us justice here: it barely shows the meaning of the original Hebrew.   The better translation would be: God says, “stop fearing.”  God saw His people already engaged in fear and worries about their future.  So, He says to them, “Stop fearing now!”  In the same way, God sees what we are going through.  He knows you and I are already engaged in constant worries and fears.  And, to us, He says this morning, “Stop fearing, my child!  Stop being afraid!”
• In the next sentence, God provides us with the reasons why we should stop fearing.  Because He is with us.  Because He is our God.  Do you see what I see here?  Throughout the Old and New Testament times, God consistently provides His assurance to His people reminding that He is with them.  However, we the people of God constantly forget that truth and keep worrying about our future.  This morning, He reminds us, once more, “Stop fearing, for I am with you.  Stop being afraid, for I am your God!”  He is not just anyone’s god, but your God.  My God.  E.g.  One pastor, in order not to forget God’s presence with him, would walk for the rest of his life with one hand closed as if he was holding someone’s hand in his.  In this case, he was holding the hand of Jesus.
• Three promises: After the assurance of His presence with His people, God provides three promises to them: I will strengthen you, I will surely help you, and I will surely uphold you with my right hand of righteousness.  I love the way King James Bible puts it:  “I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.”  Three times God repeats that He is our true source of strength and help.  Three times He reminds us that we ought to go to Him for help in times of need.
• One more thing: with my right hand.  In Hebrew language, the right side means strength and might.  Here, God says to us that He will hold us with His mighty hand and will never let go of us.  Let God’s hand have a grip on you, not fear.
• That leads us to Philippians 4:13.
• Philippians 4:13
• New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
• ¹³ I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
• Here, Paul the apostle talks about the true source of his strength: not himself, but Christ who strengthens him.
• Most of us are familiar with this verse and, in fact, this is a favorite verse to many.  How great it sounds!  How wonderful it is to know that we can do all things!  Often, though, focusing on this positive attitude that we can do all things, we easily forget who enables us to do all things.  It would be a great illusion/disaster to believe that we can do all things by our own might.  In fact, Paul is actually saying here that he cannot do anything without Christ who strengthens him.  He declares that Christ alone is the true source of all things possible, not himself.  If we believe otherwise, and if we believe in ourselves, it would be very risky.  E.g. G.K. Chesterton talks about people who are full of themselves in his book “Orthodoxy.” He writes: “Shall I tell you where the men are who believe most in themselves?  For I can tell you.  I know of men who believe in themselves more colossally than Napoleon or Caesar.  I know where flames the fixed star of certainty and success.  I can guide you to the thrones of the Supermen.  The men who really believe in themselves are all in lunatic asylums.” (p. 14).  He clearly points out the danger of being full of self: lunacy.
• Paul wasn’t full of himself, here.  In fact, he discovered a simple yet profound truth in accomplishing anything in life: Do not rely on your own wisdom and might.  Rather, rely on God’s wisdom and His might, and you will never go wrong.    He later went on to say that when he was weak, that was when he was strong (2 Corinthians 12:10).  When he was weak, he relied on God’s strength, which in turn made him strong.  The same line of thinking also helped King David when he was fighting with Goliath.  He said to Goliath, “You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have taunted (1 Samuel 17:45).”
• Do not rely on your strength.  Rely on God’s.
• Let’s pray.