A sermon preached at Kowloon Union Church on Sunday 12 July 2020, Sixth Sunday after Pentecost, by Cecilia Yeung. The
scripture readings that day were Genesis 25:19-34; Psalm
119:105-112; Romans: 8:1-11.
I would like to take
this opportunity to thank Kowloon Union Church, especially Pastor Phyllis,
Pastor Maggie and Pastor Timothy who have shown me great guidance during my
time at KUC as an intern. I would also like to express my gratitude to KUC’s
Trustees and Council, and everyone of you here. KUC has shown me the beauty of
being as One --- a community of diversity, of love and of respect.
My topic today is: LIVE
OUT YOUR FAITH. When our world is upside down, how do we understand Faith as we
walk individually and also as a community of faith?
Let us pray and invite God’s presence into our hearts. Disruptive God,
your ways are not the ways of the world. Challenge us today to live in this
world according to your Word. Open our hearts and minds to the richness of the
scriptures, help us to receive the gifts you prepared in us.In Jesus’ name we
pray, Amen.
Our passage from Genesis
today begins with a very specific narrative about Isaac’s family. The names
include Abraham, who is Isaac’s father; Rebekah, Isaac’s wife, and also Laban,
who will be Jacob’s father-in-law in the later chapters. All these names point
us to remember the promises and the covenants God first initiated with Abraham.
These names also call us to pay attention to how the blessings will be carried
on to the next generation.
But there is an
underlying threat in these storylines. This threat is related to infertility.
What is infertility? Not being able to bear a child is a threat that brings
biological extinction. And it is also a threat to God! Because if there are no
descendants in this family of Isaac, how can the promises of God be carried on?
If we can recall from
the sermon two weeks ago, Isaac’s mother Sarah faced the threat of not being
able to bear a child. And so she gave her servant girl Hagar to Abraham. Now
this time, Rebecca cannot bear a child. But what’s interesting is that Isaac
himself alone brings this problem to God in prayer. So he waits for many years;
Rebekah finally gets pregnant.
But here comes another
struggle of bearing children. Rebekah experiences some physical discomfort, and
this discomfort troubles her mind so much, she says to herself, “If it is to be
this way, why do I live?”In some bible translations, it means “Why is this
happening to me?” It is strange why a pregnant woman who says “Why is this
happening to me?” Perhaps this pregnancy isn’t what she expects, it was only
Isaac who prayed about it to God in the first place. And so she asks God about
it, and she receives 3 surprises from God. First, the children will not unite.
Second, in fact they will divide into two nations - one is stronger, one is
weaker; Third, the elder one will serve the younger one.
What does it mean that
the elder one will serve the younger one? This relates to the birthright, which
Esau does not care about when he grows up. Back in the biblical times, the
first-born son is entitled to have a double portion of the family inheritance
and blessings, whereas the other siblings will share the rest of it. So “the
elder one will serve the younger one” would mean that the younger one takes
over this birthright, while the elder one takes a smaller portion. This is a
real challenge to the traditions.
In some villages in the
New Territories of Hong Kong, the sons who are born in the family are entitled
to a piece of land and the right to build a house on it, whereas those born as
daughters receive no land and no house. So, the biblical challenge in today’s
term would mean something like: having the daughters to get the land and the
house and leaving nothing for the sons. If this happens, we can be assured that
there will be huge disagreement among the villagers in the New Territories.
Therefore, we now
understand that on top of all her pregnancy discomforts, the Word she receives
from God in fact troubles her mind even more! The changes and challenges will
be made through the fights between her sons! So now what? What lies ahead is an
even more disruptive world for Rebecca.
It is interesting to
note that human participation takes a great part in this story. God is hidden
in the next chapters in Genesis. He does not appear until Jacob successfully
cheats for the birthright and blessing from Esau and Isaac. If we look through
to the next chapters, we will see that Rebekah in fact teams up with Jacob in
bringing her promises from God to become true. Her world may look disrupted as
it may be, but God has prepared Jacob in making the challenge ahead
possible.
How can we relate to
this story today? Especially when we think
God is hidden from all the chaos.
First, In facing the disruptive world we have today, we may not
have a “Jacob” by our side, but our passage from Psalm reminds us that we have
God’s Word. “Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path.” This is a
verse which we are very familiar with. It is a part of our liturgies. As a
community, we read it as “our path”, but in the scriptures, it uses “my path”.
So the lamp is not described as being held by my hands, instead it is mentioned
as close to my feet. While the light is not mentioned as a guide to “our path”
but specifically to “my path”, this is something for us to think about.
Let us be reminded that
everyone has a different story. Each one of us has a specific path that
God wants us to walk on. Just look around us, we all have different roles in
society. Some are teachers, some are moms and dads, some are doctors, some are
migrants, etc. Some may ask, how exact do we walk on this path? While others
may ask, Why can’t God just give us the perfect life? If we look closer to
today’s passage from Psalm, the Psalmist says “give me life, according to your
Word.” It’s not give me life, according to the blessing you can give me.
And as the psalmist asks for life, he also gives his promises to God. A promise
that he will follow closely to God’s law and teaching.
This brings us to the Second
point. At this disruptive Word, what does God’s Word mean to our lives?
Very often when we want to satisfy our needs, our intentions actually come from
greed, jealousy, selfishness etc. The lives that God has promised us are not
for satisfying our own needs. Our passage from Romans reminds us,
“For those who live
according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but
those who live according to the Spirit set the mind on the Spirit. To set the
mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and
peace. For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it
does not submit to God’s law, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
(Romans 8:5-8)
When we set our minds to
satisfy our own needs, it cannot please God. Look at Esau, he sets his mind to
his own needs when he is tired from hunting, he trades his identity with his
birthright for a meal all because he is hungry after hunting. Surely this
cannot please God. Imagine someone among us trades his, for example, church
membership for a McDonalds meal. Surely it is not pleasing.
So how can we not be
shaken when the world is upside down? We are here on earth, taking up different
roles. Why not start with our everyday lives? Give a helping hand to the needy,
share a portion of what you have with one another. Speak with wisdom. And there
are lots of ways for us to show kindness to one another. Rather than waiting to
be disrupted by the world, why don’t we first disrupt others with God’s love?
Third, today, my Sermon’s Title is LIVE OUT YOUR FAITH. How
do we do that? We know that Rebekah lives by the Word she receives from God
during her pregnancy. But perhaps we can learn from Rebekah, by asking the
question “why?”Our God is love, when we are willing to draw closer to him, he
will surely guide us with his light. Perhaps he is already inviting us to face
certain kinds of challenges, although we may not be sure what exactly or how
exactly things are going to happen. We have learned that for changes to take
place, it requires human participation. And what matters the most is how we
live right at this moment. How we live according to his Word. As a community of
Christ, we recognise that his Word is our light. This light guides the path of
each one of us. All it takes may be as little as being faithful to the people
or things we encounter in our everyday lives.
LIVE OUT YOUR FAITH
EVERYDAY
So if you are a baker,
bake the best bread that you can because it fills the hunger. If you are a
teacher, teach your students with all your heart, regardless of their
abilities. If you are employers, be fair to your employees, pay them on time.
If you are employees, gossip less and do the work as if you do it for God. If
you are parents, love your children, show them patience and kindness, raise
them with Christian values. If you don’t fall into any of the categories I just
mentioned, follow Jesus’ command: love your neighbours as
yourself. Perhaps, instead of thinking to achieve something so big that
brings disruption to the world.
Why don’t we learn to
disrupt this world with the love we received from God? Let the holy Spirit fill
us in all the things we do, so when we perform our everyday roles, we bring
love to people around us. In such a way, we live out our FAITH. And with all
these little steps we make together in our lives, when disruption comes, each
one of us would not be shaken, but together we share a beautiful journey of
faith as One Body of Christ.
Let us pray. Disruptive God, the world has changed us in many ways. And
we know that your way is “ to love”. Help us to recognise our roles in our
family, in our community and in this society. Instead of resting in the comfort
of our culture or tradition, help us to live by your grace so that we can live
out our faith. Disrupt us with your love, so that we may also disrupt the world
with your love wherever and whenever we are. A step at a time we follow closely
in the guidance of your light. May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love
of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with us all. Amen.
# posted by Kowloon Union Church : Sunday, July 12, 2020
