2014.11.16_Choose Blessings and Life

Four Elements in Life

The greatest interest of people is in obtaining blessings and long life. “Long life” in today’s term can be described as “good health.” Everyone alike seeks blessings and long life, and yet it is beyond man’s control and they keep slipping out of his hands.

On the contrary, nobody is fond of death and curses. However, it is not easy to guard against them as they come without warning. What if we tried to avoid them instead of guarding against them? For instance, would it be possible to escape curses and death by changing occupations away from dangerous working environments like the window cleaners who work suspended off the walls of high-rise buildings, or fishermen who work in the unpredictably violent seas? Not really. If we suppose that they are going to be confronted with some misfortune, the place it happens may even be totally unrelated to their work.

As we live in this world we often see that things do not go according to our will. For example, a diligent, hard-working person may end up unsuccessful because of unforeseen reasons. There is also another instance. Some people anguish over their children. Their children are not interested in studying nor do they have any particular talents, and yet they are idle, always asking for money, and the worst troublemakers. Parents hope for them to get better overtime but such waiting lasts for their entire lifetime. The reason they do not have any improvement in life like this is because an invisible wall is standing in the way of their life.

On the other hand, some people remarkably survive in the midst of disasters such as wars when so many others perish. And a person who was dying of a disease recovers his health all of a sudden. Or another person who started a business without much expectation becomes rich unexpectedly. And then there are people who do nothing but evil night and day, and yet enjoy great fortune and long life.

Just like a hallway floor that is laid with black and white tiles, there are four elements – life, blessings, death and curses – laid in the way of life in an unpredictable fashion. Along this way, some encounter adversities without having done anything particularly evil. In contrast, some seem to live an ordinary life like everyone else but somehow acquire a huge fortune, or they are in good physical health without making much effort. Such people can be seen as having unwittingly stepped on the white tiles laid beneath.

Then there are cases which can neither be defined as a great blessing or a terrible curse. Some people say, “I don’t expect a huge blessing or a long life. I just wish I don’t have any disasters.” Others say, “I don’t mind living an ordinary, average life as long as I don’t starve or get sick.” Although these sound like modest wishes, it is an enormous blessing for a person to live without ever starving or getting sick.

Choose Life and Blessings

Deuteronomy 30:15-20 says, “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess. But if your heart turns away so that you do not hear, and are drawn away, and worship other gods and serve them, I announce to you today that you shall surely perish; you shall not prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to go in and possess. I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”

Here, the word ‘today’ appears four times. ‘Today’ refers to every generation in which man exists to receive God’s word, whether past or present. This word has currency (“nowness”). This means that whoever receives it in any generation must receive it as ‘the word given to me now’.

The above verses can be summarized as the following: ‘I have laid life, blessing, death and curses in your life. You should love God and follow the way He desires. And keep His commandments, statutes and decrees. That is, obey God’s word, follow the way His people ought to live and abide by the rules that govern the lives of His people. Then you will live, multiply and be blessed. Otherwise you will certainly perish. You will not live your full lifespan. Choose! I exhort you, choose life! Then you and your descendants will be well. You will be blessed and have life.’

It says in the first half of verse 18, “I announce to you today.” It means that to those who desire to live, this word will give life, grant blessings, and deliver them from their troubles. Conversely for those who do not choose life, this word is a sound of a curse, a warning that they will not be delivered from their troubles, a kind of a death sentence. This word of God has been announced already and thus there is no turning back; it will surely be fulfilled as spoken.

The latter part of verse 18 writes, “you shall surely perish; you shall not prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to go in and possess.” When man disobeys God’s word, the due punishment does not come about immediately. So people lightly think, ‘it’s ok to disobey. Nothing happens! God doesn’t even know!’ However that is a hasty conclusion. Whoever does not choose life will certainly perish in the end. The same logic is found in the words, ‘visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me’ (Exo 20:5).

What did Israel experience as the ones who received this word? When they came out of Egypt and were passing through the wilderness, some of them encountered death and curses and perished, just as God warned them. On the other hand, those who obeyed God’s commandments and law as well as the rules that apply to the life of God’s people, were kept safe even through the wilderness where death and curses were lurking. It is really impossible for that many people to be able to survive in the wilderness for many decades. Moreover, the land of Canaan they were trying to enter was already inhabited by other people. Even so, Israel drove away the people who had occupied the land for many generations and took possession of it. God’s word was fulfilled with them.

Deuteronomy 30:19 says, “I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you.” What this means is, ‘heaven and earth has heard what I have declared. I will have heaven and earth remember the words I announced to you and make them witnesses of it. As long as heaven and earth exist as witnesses, I will surely fulfill what I have said to you according to what you choose between life and death.’ God said this in order that no one would take these words of His lightly and be faced with devastation in the end.

Israel Who Experienced the Fulfillment of the Word

Israel did not forsake but eagerly followed this word. The Jews we know well today are the only nation that honored this word. Their traditional way of educating children is a direct show of their efforts in trying to observe God’s word. Jewish parents, especially mothers take on the role of a tutor from when their children are infants. The mother tells her child, “You must do well to obey God’s commandments, statutes and decrees all your life,” even though the baby cannot understand a word. By so doing, children are made aware of God while learning the language. As they grow, the school tries to implant in them a national view of history. They teach about how their ancestors in the past suffered at the hands of other nations, and how God protected them in those times.

There is a fortress in Israel called ‘Masada’. During the Jewish-Roman war in the first century, the Jewish defense forces who were fighting against the Romans in this place, chose to commit mass suicide in order not to be captured, as the Romans were about to breach the fortress. When the Romans entered the fortress, they discovered the bodies of about a thousand Jewish troops. These days, the recruit training of the Israeli defense forces finish at Masada. There they engrave the tragedy of the past in their hearts and with tears determine themselves to protect the land God gave them with all their life.

The Israelites were not people led by the Holy Spirit. They came to know God through the fleshly ordinance and thus obtained life and blessing of the flesh by their actions. Despite the ordeals that surged against them, they faithfully obeyed God’s commands and consequently, God’s blessings did not depart from them. If we were to look only at their fervor to obtain God’s blessing and guard it to the end, Christians being led by the Holy Spirit cannot help but feel ashamed.

After losing their country, the Jews who were scattered all over the world for a long time build the nation of Israel in the Palestinian region in 1948. Considering that a nation was established in a land already occupied, it is not difficult to imagine just how many wars they would have undergone ever since. As a day did not go by without conflict, they have been spending enormous amounts of money over time. The remarkable thing is that they are not running out of money.

T          he world’s total Jewish population is similar to the population of Seoul only. Yet approximately 30% of the Nobel Prize recipients are Jews, and about 40% of the top 100 companies in the United States are owned by Jews. That means almost half of the richest people in the U.S. are Jews. And that does not mean that the rest of the Jews are poor. Most Jewish people have outstanding abilities in their specialized fields. This is God’s promise being fulfilled in them.

The Way of the Spiritually Led Saint

If we pour water on the ground, it does not flow in a single direction but winds around. It is not that water has some kind of a will to do so but it naturally flows in a winding pattern as it runs to lower grounds, trying to avoid any obstacles. Similarly the Amazon River also does not flow in a straight line but winds down and changes directions. Since it could flow much faster in a straight line, it might seem frustrating to see it winding around. But nobody can say that it is wrong, for that is the law of nature.

Such laws are not only present in the flow of a river. For the Israelites to come out of Egypt, go through the wilderness and into the land of Canaan, their journey was certainly not a smooth one. They had to overcome thirty or so cities before them. There is a point to note in the process of how Israel overcame those cities. Even though there was a city close by, they left it and first defeated a city further away, and then came back to destroy it. As they repeated this method of attack, their conquest left a trail much like that of water winding down. If they had only taken physical distance into consideration and attacked the nearest cities first, they would have had a hard time under the preemptive attack of the enemies already aware of their approach. However, their unpredictable movements were enough to disrupt the enemies and they became the ultimate victors.

In the same manner, the saints have an invisible spiritual way, a way that God leads. Our lives led not by the flesh but by the spirit are probably does not suit the unbelievers’ taste. They probably think we are foolish and suffering loss because our lives appear to be winding around and not going straight. But it must be noted that the more level the ground is, the more unpredictably the water will flow.

The people of this world only want short-cuts. And consequently they crash into curses laid around here and there. This is like running through a minefield. In a way, the saints appear to be taking an unnecessarily longer route when a shorter way is in front of them. However, when they see the way they have come after a while, many times they give a sigh of relief thinking, ‘what a relief that I chose this path back then.’ Unbelievers hear this and yet would not acknowledge it. The one who knows it was God who guided them is only the person himself. And after hearing such a testimony, those who acknowledge and say, ‘I see. That’s wonderful,’ are fellow saints only. That is because Christians share common and typical experiences.

When hardship comes, some people try to push through it recklessly. However, doing so will not always open the way up like a highway. Even for a believer, he may have to give up the plans he made initially, or be faced with a situation where he cannot proceed any further because of an obstacle. Even so, they are not reasons to despair because the saints’ lives are about being led by the spirit whilst going through them.

Romans 8:13-14 says, “For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.” John 3:8 says, “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” One may think that the wind is non-existent since it cannot be seen. However, that non-existent wind blows and pushes us to the east or to the west. A person who is led by the Holy Spirit is likewise naturally moved by the force that drives him.

The Condition to Be Led By the Spirit

There is a condition to be met in order to be led by the spirit. That is to love God and to choose life by keeping God’s commandments, statutes and decrees. And God says, ‘Then I will deliver you from death and curses, and even though you go through a winding road, I will give you life and lead you to the path of blessing.’

God is the source of blessing. He called heaven and earth and promised to lead man through the path of life and blessing, which is not only for the past but also for Christians to experience today. From this perspective of living by God’s word, the Jews of the past and the Christians of today have the same experience.

Indeed there are differences too. The Jews in the past endeavored to receive life and blessings on the earth by forceful self-restraint with the word they received through an angel. Moreover, the whole nation had to move as one body according the system since it was not something achievable on an individual scale. In contrast, we Christians have been saved through Jesus Christ, and we eat the flesh and drink the blood of the word which became flesh. In other words, we first obtained eternal life and then obey God’s laws willingly in order to receive blessings and life in the spirit and flesh.

Jesus tore His own flesh and fulfilled the law of the Old Testament. It was after that that He sent the Holy Spirit and built the New Testament church. He has fulfilled the law of the past and now given the law of the Holy Spirit. In doing so, God’s law which used to be obeyed by force, now became a law of the free, a voluntary rule which is obeyed out of joy and sincere love for God.

The Israelites enjoyed life and blessings in the flesh; however as those in Christ, we have come to have eternal life and blessing. What is more, we have come to enjoy blessings and the power of life even on the earth. The way that Jesus leads us is in essence spiritual, but those who follow that way can automatically receive blessings in their flesh also. Thus 1 Timothy 4:8 says, “For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.”

We have been completely set free from all the laws of the Old Testament. Now, we need to take the guidance of the Holy Spirit as a law and be the complete New Testament church Jesus has shown through the early churches. We must keep the words Jesus gave, walk with Him and diligently observe the regulations of the church and the traditions of faith. This is the duty of our faith, and the way to enjoy the blessings and life God gives on the earth. We are not the people who observe word for word the law given through Moses. Jesus added a spiritual attribute to the greatest commandment of the Law and the Prophets that said to love God and our brothers, and spoke to us of it again. We are the people who obey that word. The fervor of faith shown by the Old Testament church has been passed down as a voluntary obligation and way of life in the New Testament church. We need to follow this way of life and spiritual practice that has continued onto the New Testament church through Jesus.

The offerings that we give throughout our church life – offering of Feasts, tithe, monthly set offering, thanks offering and the Lord’s Day gift given every time we come before God – may not affect our salvation, but the love of God and the guidance of the Holy Spirit follow those who give them with all of their heart. We should not only say we love God with words but actually prove the sincerity of our love through these things. They will become the foundations based on which God will allow us to receive blessings on the earth as well as a reward in the eternal kingdom of heaven.

There are things apart from these that we must keep. We need to abstain from idols and observe the Lord’s Day holy. We have to treat the saints with love, compassion and patience, being considerate, making sacrifices and giving consolation without holding back, and never cause harm to others. We should serve the church zealously even in unseen places, and support the overseer by actively taking part in the spiritual works the Holy Spirit is doing through the church. These are the spiritual laws that bring us blessing and a way of life that Christians must rightfully have.

The words, “that you may live and multiply; and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess” (Deut 30:16) are the promise of God given to those who fulfill their duties as the members of the church while they are in the world. Jesus Christ affirms the currency of this promise all the more, and at the same time keeps hold of our faith today by saying, ‘I will bless you in your spirit and flesh.’

The success of the church is a guide for God’s blessing to indwell the saint’s household. One cannot be selfishly stubborn in the church where every single member should be united as one. There must not be any interference between God and ourselves. If we truly love God, we should be able to sacrifice ourselves for the sake of God’s work. We ought to join forces together with the other members and bring God’s will to success. We must be those who live by the spirit, not the flesh.