We call the life of faith a spiritual life. We use the word, “spirit.” It means an “eternal being.” Everything around us on this earth eventually fades away, and yet, there are things that exist eternally. In many cases, because we can’t see them, we live as if they don’t exist. But the truth is, they are real. Just as air is invisible yet absolute for our life, these are beings even more eternal and absolute than that. These are what we call “spirit.”

There is another word similar to it: “god.” Among spirits, those that possess a personality are what we call “gods.” In Korea, those who perform ancestral rites write on a paper tablet (Jibang). On it, the phrase often includes “神位 (Shin-wi),” which refers to “the personhood of a spirit.” In this world, there are countless spiritual beings with personalities—in other words, many gods. Though invisible, they certainly exist and exert a close influence on our lives. Even if you say, “I want nothing to do with any god,” it is simply not possible.

Think about a shaman receiving a “spirit call.” It is not something they choose for themselves. They accepted it only because they suffer from a “spirit sickness” so severe that they had no choice. These gods approach them unilaterally and demand, “Let’s live together. I will use you.” It would be good if one could drive them out, but they can’t. And so, with nowhere else to turn, they surrender and live with that god.

But not all gods are the same. There are many different kinds of gods, and each has a different character. This is why you should stay close to a god who has a good character, who is rich in what he has, who is happy, and who is full of virtue. And that is exactly the kind of god we can meet here at church. Today is Christmas. There are so many gods in this world, but which one of them would sacrifice himself for the sake of us human beings? And yet, the god I am introducing to you today is precisely that kind of god. He gave himself up to save us from the depths of despair. Why would he do such a thing? Because that is who he is. Every god has a different character, and that is his.

There is a chairman I know. I met him and his wife while I was on a mission trip. Back in Korea, they had been running a small business. You know the plaster tape used to keep refrigerator doors shut during delivery? That tape used to be made only by 3M in the United States, but about 20 to 30 years ago, it started being manufactured in Korea as well. Their company was the one that developed and produced it. To create the product, the chairman and his wife went through a lot of hardships for about ten years. They faced so much trial and error. But finally, they succeeded, and the business became a huge hit. Work poured in faster than the two of them could handle, so they called in relatives to help, and as more hands joined, the company grew.

Most of those relatives had their own gods that they served. So they urged the chairman and his wife to hold ancestral rites together. Now, this couple had already been living a life of faith in the church. At first, they held their ground and said they couldn’t do it. But with every single relative pushing for it, the chairman eventually gave in. “Alright, let’s hold the rites,” he said, and so they did. From that point on, he began drifting from church, and his heart started to waver.

One day, the husband went to see a fortune teller. He wanted to get a reading on the future of the company. And the shaman who read his fortune said this: ”Hmm…there is someone in your family who will bring this company to ruin. If you don’t drive that person out, this business will fail.” Do you know who that person was? It was his wife. “If you don’t divorce her, this company will collapse before long.”

Now, who is really saying this? It is the god inside that shaman speaking. Or perhaps it is the god that had been living with the chairman himself, tormenting him all along. Either way, the message was clear: “Leave her.”

He couldn’t bring himself to do it right away. He had a conscience, after all. His wife had sacrificed so much. But the people around him wouldn’t let it go. His relatives kept at him: “Come on, do it quickly. Do you want to watch the company go under?” And so, in the end, he asked his wife for a divorce. How must she have felt? Now that she was in her middle age, her body worn out and her face lined with wrinkles, her husband was asking for a divorce just when life was finally becoming comfortable. It was heartbreaking. So she said, “I will never agree to this,” and she held on for a full year.

A year later, someone fell ill. Who do you think it was? The chairman? Or his wife? It would have been somewhat satisfying if it were the husband, but no. His wife had been trying to endure and hold on through that pain of a husband who wanted to leave her. The grief and anguish of it all ate away at her from the inside, until her whole body gave out. “If I hold on any longer, I will die first,” she thought. And so, she agreed to the divorce. After then, she took a generous settlement and enrolled in seminary. After graduating, she went to Russia and became a missionary. Even now, God is using her greatly to this day.

This story tells us something important. What kind of god was it that the chairman, or that shaman, was in fellowship with? “I’ll bless you. I’ll make your business prosper. But you have to leave that woman.” Isn’t that thought completely devoid of virtue? Isn’t it incredibly mean and petty? It has absolutely no compassion. That is the nature of that god. I don’t know which god it was, but its personality is truly wicked. And what happened to the husband who stayed close to that god? He became just as wicked. What he did was something truly deserving of a curse. You see, we become like the god we draw close to. We take on that god’s character, and then we take on that god’s fate. If that god ends up cursed and cast into a terrible place, the person who was close to that god may end up there too. This is why it matters so much which god we draw close to.

Furthermore, staying close to certain gods can even bring sickness. In the world, people often use the expression “a demon of alcohol.” Why would they use such a term? It’s because, somehow, they sensed that something was there. And they weren’t entirely wrong. Excessive drinking can indeed involve the work of such a spirit. A god enters a person who is already like it, and then drives that tendency even further. A drinking spirit enters someone who already loves drink, and pushes them to drink more. A spirit of immorality enters someone already drawn to immorality and makes them all the more so.

Then, what about our god—the god we meet here at church? There are many ways to introduce him. But the scripture before us today puts it this way: “He has called us by glory and virtue.”

He is a god full of glory. Now, glory refers to everything wonderfully good that this god possesses. It’s impossible to describe it in just one word; glory is the sum total of every good thing he has. But the Scripture also says he called us by virtue. Virtue! Virtue is the heart that constantly seeks to share good things with others. That is exactly the kind of god ours is. He desires to share all the wonderful things He possesses with us—eternal life, joy, blessings, and every kind of abundance.

He is a god of virtue. That is why he is always willing to give. To whom? Not just to those He knows, but to more people, to strangers, and even to those who seek to harm him. That is his nature. When I have something good, my family is the first to come to mind. What about you? Do you think of your parents first, or your children? I feel like I should think of my parents first—but now that I am a parent myself, I find that is my children who come to mind first. And only if I think a little harder do I get to my parents. Then the people around me. That’s where it ends. To be honest, I have no desire to give something good to someone who dislikes me. But our god is different. He wants to share what he has even with those who hate him. He wants them to enjoy this happiness together with him.

It is precisely because of his nature that people like us came to church, met him, received good things from him, and came to love him. We do not serve him out of fear. We serve him because we have received so much from him and because we love him so deeply. To those who do not yet know him, coming to church every Lord’s Day for worship might seem like a heavy burden. However, once we enter into a fellowship with Him, we will find that there is so much to be gained from him. We will experience for ourselves that following and serving him is not a difficult work at all, but rather a great joy that this world simply cannot give.

So I urge you—do not have fellowship with just any god in this world. Instead, seek fellowship with the god who gave up even his own son to save sinners. Many people have died and no one knows where their spirits have gone. But just as Jesus rose from the dead and went to heaven, we too will be raised and it will be the same for us.

This god I have been telling you about—our god—can be described in many ways, but today I can say to you in this way: “He is the god who raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Two thousand years ago, a man named Jesus died. And someone raised Him back to life. An invisible being raised him up, and that being is the very god we believe in today. When the time comes, he will raise you and me—those of us who hold this faith—from among the dead, and bring us to where he is.

This god is not only full of virtue—he is also a god of power. Thousands of years have passed since he made his promises, and yet he is still at work, still keeping his word. The gods of this world cannot keep their promises. They simply do not have the power to. But our god is altogether different. He is a god rich in compassion. I bless you in the name of Jesus that you will truly meet this god. May you make him your companion who is always with you, your fellow worker who walks alongside you, and your protector who watches over you always.

God our Father, please help everyone gathered here today to know You—the very One who raised Jesus Christ from the dead—as their own God. May they come to love You and serve You with all their hearts. In the name of Jesus we pray, amen.