A Good Presentation, I Think

That was a long week.

On Monday I biked to work as usual, with a change of clothes in my backpack so that I look somewhat more professional than I look while riding a bike. I got to the coffee shop near my university, and found I didn't have my wallet. So no coffee. Lousy way to start a week, but doable. Then I did the self-pat-down and found that I had also neglected to bring my office key. 

Now I had to contemplate a long day wearing my bicycle shoes, and not having my roll book, as well as changing clothes in a bathroom somewhere, rather than in my office. 

Unacceptable.

I rode home and back again in record time: 15 minutes. I bought the coffee I was thinking of fifteen minutes earlier, because at this point there was no way in hell I was going to start my day without m coffee. I then rode up the hill to the building with my office, and carried my bike up to the fifth floor to my office.

Tuesday was okay, I guess. I don't actually remember it. I spent whatever free time I had finishing preparations for the seminar that I gave to my coworkers on Thursday, which was Thanksgiving. I also gave the same presentation, only better, on Friday. 

It's not an official event without a banner.

It went well, but the leadup was nerve wracking: I was asked to teach my fellow teachers how to be better teachers. I had a powerpoint and a banner and everything. I talked a bit about my teaching philosophy (we are all shadows on a cave wall, so it's essentially meaningless) and demonstrated a technique or two on them (the Drunken Master technique and a random barrage of dad jokes). Kyungsung University was kind enough to provide lunch from Burger King for us. 

I basically tried to construct a training that I would not have minded attending. It only lasted 50 minutes, minus some settle-in and burger-munching time at the top. I had the professors talking to one another for 15 minutes of that time, which I think they really enjoyed. Most professionals enjoy shop talk, and teachers are no exception. Directed Shop Talk is even better, because I pushed them to talk about difficulties they have in the classroom.

On Thursday I had six participants. I was surprised to find that two were from my department, two from the business school, and two from engineering, so I had to rewrite my discussion questions on the fly. That session worked out very well, mostly because professors from different departments are sort of hidden away from each other. I split them up into two groups, so they could talk with each other about their jobs here, and hopefully get some synergistic ideas. It ended up being sort of a mix of idea sharing and commiserating.

Friday I had fifteen participants, and it was a lot more lively.  But that seminar fit nicely into my one hour lunch break, so that I was teaching from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. that day. My last class really got the worn down, empty husk of a man version of class. Not that 3 to 5 p.m. is usually a sparkling fountain of energy, but last week it was more of a puddle, trending towards mudhole.

I finished my presentation with a few thanks, appropriate for a Thanksgiving Day event. I thanked Kyungsung for doing this, Burger King for fixing the food, and sidewalks. Of course they asked me why, and I replied:

I'll bet they're regretting it now.

Because when I was growing up, sidewalks kept me off the streets.

I hope you got the same pleasure from that that I did. And I hope you all had a happy Thanksgiving.

There was more to the week, of course: Apple Tree's Bazaar, which kept me up until 2 a.m. cooking, and a church dinner the next day, which also kept me up until 2 a.m. cooking. Today I was up until 2 a.m. cleaning dishes, plus another hour writing this Roblog post. And now I have class in seven hours, so I will leave it at that.

Sermon "The LORD Shut Him In"

Welcome! If you are looking for the sermon itself, without the story surrounding it, it starts four paragraphs after the video below.

I am back into the occasionally writing and delivering sermons. I have given three sermons in the past five months, roughly one every two months. I would actually prefer to be giving a sermon every four to six weeks, to keep me in more of a rhythm, but I will take what I can get.

This time I was assigned Genesis chapter seven. Yes, the entire chapter. For those of you not inclined to look it up in your own Bible, or on your Bible app, or to even click the above link, there is no need to panic. I read it at the beginning of my sermon video, cutting out some of the more redundant parts on the fly.

In short, Genesis chapter seven covers the animals coming in two-by-two, as you may have learned in a song. They do this over the course of a week, which is not in any song I remember. It covers the rain starting to fall, and God closing the door of the Ark, shutting Noah in. And it ends with the world destroyed by the waters, everything and everyone not inside the Ark dead.

If you watch closely, you will notice that I start crying midway through this reading. (Actually you don't have to be super sleuth to pick up on this. I pull out my hanky and wipe my eyes, and even apologize at one point.)  I had only been planning to read the text itself since just before the service started, and planning to weep in a sermon sets off the "icky" alarm in my head.

But I was having a rough morning. As usual, I was up fairly late putting "finishing touches" on the sermon. I went to bed that night with a headache, and woke up to find that it had invited friends. I also felt nauseous, right up until I told Horyon that I felt like throwing up. She told me to go do so, and it was like my stomach had been given permission to start the evictions. I felt much better after that, but not better enough to eat breakfast. We were fortunate enough to get a taxi driver who was not practicing for the Indy 500 (which is not a given in these parts), so I didn't feel worse on the way to church.

But then from the moment I walked in the door, I was in the care of my church family. I was encouraged, and prayed for, and greeted enthusiastically. I have a couple of friends who only come when I am preaching, which is both flattering and a bit scary. The Wednesday morning group I lead had listened to my ramblings and given me a clue as to which bits were fascinating and which were just not quite there yet, and it was good to see them. There are some friends who I have known for years, some for months, and some for just a few weeks. When I stood in front of them all, I didn't feel nervous at all. My head was light, but clear, as was my stomach. And that's where the video starts.



I do not go into the historical accuracy of the account of Noah in the sermon, and I will not go into it here. Whether you accept it as being factual or not, it was clearly central to the belief system of the early Jews and Christians. And I argue that it is a helpful story for modern Christians to better understand God. Even if you don't buy into the basic truth of the Bible, it can still help you understand how Christians think about God. Or at least how this particular Christian does.

Below you will find the manuscript of the sermon. I had a print-out of this with me, and stuck fairly close to it. This is a new habit for me at Redeemer, and I am finding it surprisingly helpful: when I commit to words, I am more likely to put more thought into them, making them more likely to more precisely represent my thoughts.

I am also leaving in my organizational headings. I acquired these from the book The Four Pages of the Sermon by Paul Scott Wilson. I bought this book in 2004, and highly recommend it to anyone who preaches regularly. I feel that I have only a rudimentary grasp of the process involved, but the organization behind it seems quite sound. I believe these headings speak for themselves, starting with the first one, "Introduction."

The LORD Shut Him In October 22nd, 2017

1. Introduction: 

I’m going to start this sermon with two spoilers: first, even though chapter 7 ends on a low note, the story of Noah has a happy ending, with a rainbow and everything. The second spoiler is that I will actually say the word “poop” two more times before the sermon ends.

There is nothing like the smell of freshly cut wood. I worked with my father building decks for many summers growing up, and quickly came to love the smells, especially redwood and cedar. Noah’s ark was made of gopher wood, and today no one is sure what kind of tree that was, but I’ve never smelled a fresh cut wood that I didn’t like.  I imagine the ark smelled of sawdust, sunshine and sweat for the first few weeks of construction. Accompanied by the sounds of sawing and hammering, it must have been almost festive. And there’s nothing like watching something come together as you make it with your own hands. The ark would have felt fresh, clean and new.

2. Trouble in the Bible: 

But the world around Noah and his sons was not so clean, not so fresh, no longer new. As Matthew reminded us last week,

Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. (Gen 6:11)

Noah walked with God, and sometimes when you walk with God everything seems fresh and new. Especially in the beginning. But it isn’t always roses and sunshine. For Noah that fresh sawdust smell faded quickly when the pitch was applied. The black, tar-like liquid smelled like a new road on a hot day, and it was applied to the inside and outside of the ark.

Then add the smells of animals. Lots of animals. In fact, what will be all the animals in the world by the end of the chapter. And let’s be clear, this is not a ferry or cruise ship, with open decks and windows. Or toilets. The Ark was a box with a door in the side. There was a half meter gap between the sides and the roof, and that was all the ventilation for the three-story structure. That was also how waste went out, over the top of the walls. You may think of Noah as a master builder, or a captain but for the five months that they were in the ark, Noah and his family spent most of their time feeding animals or getting rid of their poop. (That was the first one.) The bottom floor must have felt like living in a sewer, with no natural light, no ventilation, and the wastes of the top two floors dripping down.

I imagine Noah standing at the door to the ark in the days right before the flood. The animals have been arriving for almost a week now, boarding the ark on their own, not fighting with each other, and taking their places inside the ark as though they had spent their whole lives there.

Noah’s neighbors are enjoying this. Over the months they have at times watched intensely, mocked Noah, or completely ignored him. The days when pitch is applied are real crowd pleasers: the unpleasant smells, the cries of pain as bare skin is burned by drops of the hot, black liquid, then again cries of pain as the congealed pitch is pulled off, taking hairs and skin with it. The neighbors really enjoyed those days, but the animal parade took it to a whole new level.

Then the rain starts falling. Small drops at first, then getting bigger. The kind you feel splatting on the top of your head. Coming faster and faster. Noah’s family remembers the message from God that Noah has been sharing with them, and suddenly the noises and smells of the animals don’t seem so bad. The pitch covered walls are comforting. They come in through the enormous doors, which are still hanging open. Doors big enough for sheep, horses, elephants. Doors with no ropes or pulleys to close them.

Then The LORD shut him in. Soon the people outside realized that Noah had been right all along in listening to God. But it was too late.

The LORD shut Noah in, and there was no escaping the sounds, smells, complaints, and sticky black walls. But there was escape from death.

And then the floods came.

… all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened (Gen 7:11b).

In other words, the rains came crashing down. The streams, rivers, ponds, lakes and seas all swelled up. All life was washed away, along with any doubts that Noah or his family had.

3. Trouble in the World: 

When I found out that I would be preaching from Genesis 7, there were people in America going through floods that were devastating: people had to evacuate with very short notice, so much property was destroyed, and many people died. 77 from Hurricane Harvey, 132 from Hurricane Irma. Which is horrible. But in India, Nepal and Bangladesh, during this same past summer, more than 1,200 people died from flooding. Yet which one did you hear about the most? If you are like most Americans, or Koreans, or pretty much any other nationality, you have shut out that sort of news.

Why so many more deaths? The weather itself was not so much worse. You see, the most likely predictor of whether or not a storm will leave you dead is how much money you have. And we humans have decided that some people will keep most of the resources, and leave many others to live on little or nothing.

Does that sound like God’s plan for the world in action to you? Jesus himself said in Luke 17

“Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.” Luke 17:28-29

When Jesus says, “The days of the Son of Man,” it is commonly thought of as the second coming we read of in Revelation, the End Times. But I have also heard it said that the days of the Son of Man began at Pentecost, fifty days after Jesus rose from the dead. Pentecost, when the Spirit of God came to us, the Church. Pentecost, when we became a nation of priests. And so now the days of the Son of Man continue. We are living in days like the days of Noah. People do what is right in their own eyes. They take what they want: Things that belong to others. They casually use the bodies of others. They carelessly take the lives of others. And we see them not facing justice, but being rewarded: eating, drinking, becoming men of renown. When I look at our world today, these words of Jesus sound an ominous warning, as though we should prepare for the next great cataclysm.

4. Grace in the Bible: 

If you recall my spoiler alert from the beginning, at the end of Noah’s story, God promises that there will not be another flood to wipe all life from the earth. This is amazing when we consider how God felt as he sent the flood. Look back in Genesis 6:

And the LORD regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So the LORD said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.” Gen 6:6-7

Non-believers, and even Christians, so often talk about a vengeful, destructive Old Testament God, but this is a God who is feeling the pain of rejection, and is ready to give up in despair! First Adam and Eve turn away from God, shutting themselves out of Eden. Then Cain destroys God’s image in his brother, Abel, shutting himself out of society. As people spread across the world, it gets so bad that:

Then the LORD said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.” (Gen 6:3)

Humans have become so sinful that God can not bear to be in our bodies. We have shut God out.

Finally the pain of this rejection is so overwhelming that God is ready to walk away from it all, and indeed in the flood,

Everything on dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died.  (Gen 7:22)

Those same nostrils into which God breathed his own life during the Creation.

He blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens. They were blotted out from the earth. (Gen 7:23a)

The breath again, not just the Spirit of God, but the very spirit of of life. To the ancient Hebrews, water was dangerous. They had boats for fishing, but did not lose sight of shore. The seas and the flood, represent chaos, and disorder. The nothingness that existed before creation, when God hovered over the face of the waters.

This flood in Genesis is God starting all over from the beginning. Reformatting the drive. Except that:

Only Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ark. (Gen 7:23b)

When God shut Noah into the ark, it was because God could not bear to destroy the whole of creation. In spite of the pain God feels at our rejection, God could not destroy us completely. Because that’s what love is:  not giving up, not letting go, no matter how hurt you are. God is constantly, throughout history, pursuing us!

When Adam and Eve turn from God, God calls out to them!

When Cain murders his brother, God calls to him!

When the whole world is corrupt, God calls to Noah, and finally there is a positive response! Noah walks with God! Noah Obeys! God gives Noah the faith to hear and obey, and Noah is shut in the ark and saved, and through him every living thing that breathes!

One thing I love about the Bible is that while it seems like a collection of many stories, it is in fact one story told in many ways: the story of God’s glory, and how it can be reflected in the lives of people who follow God. So in the story of Noah we have a man who walks with God. He and his family alone are shut into a safe place, while the rest of the world perishes, because Noah has faith.

Floating on the sea of death, there is life.

Many years later the story of Noah is turned on its head when Jesus comes to the world. A man with perfect faith. The only man with perfect faith, because he is also God. But in this new story it is only the man of perfect faith who dies, so that all who believe in him can live. When Jesus’ body hangs dead on the cross, a soldier pierces his side, water and blood pour out! The world is not flooded, because the God-man contains God's flood of despair! Instead of life being shut inside of a wooden box covered with pitch, all of our sins are shut into this man, where they die on the cross. The blood of Jesus ends the corruption of the days of Noah! And from this perfect death, comes life!

5. Grace in the World: 

The Bible clearly shows that our God is constantly bringing life from death, and if you belong to God you know that! The day that you were baptized, you left your old, sinful life in the waters to die, to disappear into the chaos. God reached out to you, you stepped inside, and God shut you into the ark!
God’s ark today is God’s Church. Not just Redeemer ICC, but the Universal Church. God is building it out of us rather than gopher wood. It is held together by God’s love expressed in the relationships we build. When someone chooses to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior because of your witness, God is building the ark through you. When you stop just coming to church and start doing church, you are helping God to build the ark!

I know it’s not always easy. Sometimes when you look into the ark you see black walls, and not enough windows. You hear the animals crying out, and wonder how long you will be shut in this zoo. You smell the pitch and think about how much poop you will have to shovel. (I told you it would come up twice.) You are sure that the world can offer you a better room. A room with gold plated fixtures and marble floors. A home theater system, and a sofa that hugs you and keeps you warm, holds your drink and charges your phone. But ask anyone who lives in Houston what a fancy home is worth after being submerged in a flood. Sometimes the entire house is gone. And what good is a fine home if it becomes your coffin?

Let God shut you in the ark!

And there is more good news! God is calling all of humanity to come aboard! The price is paid! There is room for all who believe and call on the name of the LORD! Amen!

6. Application: 

There are three things I want you to focus on in the coming week: God, the Church, and those outside the church.

1. God: without faith in God, the ark would not have been built, and all would have been lost. Call on God for the faith to act, and for clarity. God gave Noah exact measurements, and God can give you more details than you expect. Make time to listen!

2. The Church: to not just get into the ark, but to help build it by strengthening your relationships and working in the church. This ark is not a dead, wooden box. It is a living ark, the body of Christ!

3. Those Outside the Church: Pray for them. Not as a group, though. I want you to choose one person to pray for. Don’t ask God for a yes or no whether this person belongs on the ark, just pray for their faith and yours to increase, and listen for the answer.

If you are not already on board, please talk to somebody today. Talk to me, talk to one of our elders, or better yet, talk to one of the friendly people who made you feel welcome today.

Let us pray: Lord, you alone can save us from the flood, from our own sinful nature. Give us the faith to come on board your ark, the Church. Give us the will to work and witness, and give the compassion to reach out to others. We pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Sermon, Ephesians 4:6-10

This is not my usual kind of post. It is a reworking of a sermon I prepared for services at Redeemer ICC, Busan, on June 25th, 2017. I had six weeks to prepare, and I used them well. I consulted a lot with my friend Rick VanManen, prayed lots, studied lots, and thought lots. It was the most thoroughly prepared sermon I have ever delivered. In an attempt to make up for the nuances and gestures that come with a sermon delivered to a congregation. I am using one trick that I would not normally use in writing: during the sermon I used three different accents to portray different roles. I have represented those accents here by using different fonts. In addition, I have used bold-faced type whenever I am quoting scripture, and italics when I am using words in Hebrew.

I feel the need to emphasize that this is not my usual writing style, because it was not written to be read, but heard. I have tried to figure out how to make it work on the page/screen, but I'm still not really satisfied with it.  So here is a link to the video of me giving the sermon. It opens in a separate window, in case you want to listen as you read. The sound quality is good, and I managed to stay within the visual field the whole time, for your viewing pleasure.

Gifts Throughout All Generations

June 25^th, 2017

Hi! My name is Rob Sack. I come from Kansas, in the United States. as in "Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas any more." I've lived in Busan for about 15 of the last 20 years. Whoever is reading this, I pray that God's Word would shine out through this message as you read, and that the Word would move with power, changing changing you, drawing you closer to Jesus. Even my atheist friends out there. I know you all don't mind.

7 But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. 8 Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.” 9 (in saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? 10 He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.) Ephesians 4:7-10

A few weeks ago I had a bicycle accident. It was not very serious, a few scrapes that have for the most part healed. Then just over a week ago, Maxine fell down while running around outside at school. Twice, I believe. She got a little scraping of her own, and I had the opportunity to return the favor of applying iodine to her injury. If you have not had iodine solution applied to a scrape, you are missing out on a uniquely painful experience. I suggest that you try to avoid it. At bedtime that night, Maxine asked me if I had cried after my accident. I replied honestly that I had not, as the pain was not very intense, but that I had indeed cried four or five times during the past month. She asked me when, and I told her that one was after I said goodbye to my friend Rick. One time was while we were singing "What a Friend We Have in Jesus" at church. And one time that I cried might have been watching Wonder Woman. I mean, finally DC manages to produce a good superhero movie! With a female lead! Who wouldn’t be moved to tears? 

Two times were with two different friends. They were in very different situations, but both had felt a combination of betrayal, loss, and being let down by people they had trusted. I felt their pain, and wept with them. Since my conversation with Maxine, we have had American Father’s Day. There were many joyful posts on Facebook, but also many friends who mourn a father-shaped hole in their hearts on this day.

Sometimes life just seems to pile on us, burying us so that we can’t breathe or see the light. All we can smell is the smoke of a fire that has destroyed the homes of friends and family. All we can see are chalk outlines on the ground. All we can feel is the emptiness left when a loved one has died. We can so easily think that everything is being taken away. When we are suffering it can be hard to even look at scripture like the one in front of us today. So we come together, and together we call on God, and together we read God’s Word. And together we try to understand.

The first thing I noticed was that verse seven starts with the word “but.” Why the “but?” What’s so different between the previous verses and this one? Let’s take a look at verses 4 through 6:

There is one body and one Spirit-just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call-one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. (Ephesians 4:4-6)

These verses focus on grace given to the one body, the Church. The collective us. The next set of verses get into the nature of those individual gifts, with the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers. Now we are making a minor transition back to us as individuals, as in the first three verses of Ephesians 4. Now verse 7 tells us this:

But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. (v7)

In other words, we each, as individuals, receive the full measure of God’s grace. Not just as a group. Christ’s gift in verse 7 is the gift of His own life to save us. Grace comes to us because of that gift, and to each of us, regardless of how low we have been, the grace we receive is measured by that sacrifice. And that is amazing. That God’s full measure of forgiveness is given to me! That’s God’s full measure of grace is given to you! 

A couple of weeks ago Matthew told us that physics doesn’t work so well on faith and God, and this is an example of how math doesn’t work: the grace that I have received from God is not the answer to “God’s total grace divided by the number of people to whom it has been given.” It’s not a division problem. The answer is, God gives me all of it! And God gives YOU all of it! And God gives the full measure of peace to YOU! And God gives the full measure of Joy in all things to YOU! All of God’s love is poured into EACH. ONE. OF. YOU.

Of course, this also means that you have no excuses. If you think that you can just BE in church, as a spectator, watching from the sidelines, Paul is delivering you a kick in the pants. You have received an amazing gift. Use it. Moving on to verse 8:

Verse 8: Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.”

What does “he ascended” mean? It is pretty clearly The Ascension. After the resurrection, Jesus spent 40 days on Earth before being “taken up into heaven.” (Luke 24:51) We’ll talk more about this in relation to verse 10. Let’s move on to “A host of captives?” Who are these captives? The bad guys? Herod? Pilate? No, of course not. This is no superhero movie. The captives are sin and death. The gifts that God gave to men will be covered in next week’s sermon, but if you don’t mind spoilers, you can just read on through verse 16. I am sure that if you do so, you will still be able to enjoy next week’s sermon.

But the key word in verse 8 is “it”, as in “Therefore it says.” Paul is clearly quoting something. He’s stepping outside of himself, calling on a higher authority. He’s doing something he hasn’t done yet in Ephesians, though he will do it again one more time. 

Once again let me say, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore. Of course, this is a quote from a movie called “The Wizard of Oz.” Dorothy has just arrived in a magical land. She walks out of her home, which is in black and white, and into a world of color. You should keep in mind that many people watching this in movie theaters back in 1939 were seeing color on the screen for the very first time! Before this, movies were all in black and white!

Why am I bringing this up? Because I am doing something similar to what Paul did in verse 8. It is similar in four ways I can see:

1. Paul I are quoting something familiar to some, if not most of our audience.
2. You can look it up easily, and become more familiar with if you wish to.
3. The quote we are using is not exactly right.
4. We are both doing it to help you understand a deeper point, as well as to shake you up a bit.

We will discover Paul’s deeper point as we work through the passage. But my deeper point is one which I often refer to in my preaching: casting ourselves into the Bible, not just looking into the Bible, but looking out at the world through the Bible. And so today I intend to help you hear these words as Paul’s original congregation at Ephesus may have heard them. In other words, we’re not in Kansas anymore. Or even Korea. We’re in Ephesus.

It has been a generation since Jesus rose from the dead and went to Heaven. There are still people alive who met him, but none in this congregation. Paul came and started this church not too many years ago. Now we continue to meet. We pray. We read the scriptures aloud and discuss them. We break bread together in remembrance of Jesus’ last night with His disciples.

And when we receive a letter from Paul, one of us reads it out loud to the whole group. Maybe straight through without stopping the first time, because it’s so exciting to hear from him. And those of you who met him can testify, reading his words is like hearing his voice, am I right? But later, we stop and talk as we read, maybe taking a few meetings to get all the way through it. This time we stop when the reader says: Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.” (Ephesians 4:8) And someone asks, “Where do I know that from? Paul is definitely quoting something. It’s so familiar!”

Now I need to drag you back to the real world, here in Busan. In 2017. What is the “it” that Paul is quoting here? It is, in fact, Psalm 68. Before we go on, this could get very confusing as we jump back and forth between now and back then, so I am going to refer to the separate times as "layers." Here and now is Layer 1, reality. The church in Ephesus, around A.D. 62, is Layer 2. So now back into Layer 2:

Someone says, “It’s from the Jewish Bible, right?” And someone else chimes in “You know, I think it’s a verse from Psalm 68.” Right! Psalm 68 is song called “God Shall Scatter His Enemies,” one of David’s rousing, foot pounding numbers. Like a first century version of “Onward Christian Soldiers”. Here’s a sampling:

God shall arise, his enemies be scattered;

Those who hate him shall flee!

But the righteous shall be glad;

And jubilant before God!

(Psalm 68:1,3 modified)

God shall arise, his enemies shall be scattered;

And those who hate him shall flee before him

But the righteous shall be glad;

They shall exult before God;

They shall be jubilant with joy!

(original Psalm 68:1,3)

The entire song is about God’s power, and how the enemies of God will submit or meet a gruesome end. It’s a lot more intense than the kind of praise song you hear back in Layer 1. Take time to read it this week, let me know what you think on the Face-to-Face-Conversation (because here in Layer 2 the Internet hasn’t been invented yet, much less Facebook).

You’ve been studying us Ephesians for a while now. What do you know about us, based on Paul’s letter so far? Of course! Most of us are Gentiles! So how would a bunch of first century Gentiles be familiar with the Jewish Bible? We learned it from the earliest Christians, who were all originally Jewish of course! Think of what Paul wrote to Timothy:

16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 (ESV)

What does he mean by scripture? We in Layer 2 are reading this before the New Testament will be compiled in the form you know in Layer 1. Paul is referring to the Jewish Bible, what you call the Old Testament. And at our church in Ephesus would are somewhat familiar with the Jewish Bible, so we noticed the connection. We do not have individual Bibles as you do in Layer 1, much less electronic, cross-referenced, pocket-sized versions. For that matter, none of us have a single book called a “Bible” at all. Collectively we have copies of the gospels (including Acts), and some of the early letters, of Paul and John, maybe James. We have copies of some of the Old Testament books, but almost certainly not all of them. Paper is expensive, as is the expertise to copy a scroll with no errors. I believe that compared to you, in Layer 1, we are much more likely to have large portions of scripture memorized, as books are so expensive here. So we depend on each other to make, and share, connections between what was written in the letters and gospels to the Hebrew Bible. Much like what you do in your Life Groups, I’m sure. We notice this connection, but no one in our congregation is really an expert on Psalm 68. We kick it around for a while, try to remember all the words, and do some research, but Wikipedia is taking an extremely long time to load. So we go to the local synagogue and ask the Rabbi to help us understand Psalm 68.

“Welcome!” says the Rabbi. “So you don’t know from Psalm 68? I think that I can help you. Let’s take a look.” He finds the right scroll and reads from it:

You ascended on high, leading a host of captives in your train and receiving gifts among men, even among the rebellious, that the LORD God may dwell there. Psalm 68:18

Wait a minute! Paul got something wrong! His letter says:

Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.” Ephesians 10:8

We ask the Rabbi a key question: who is the he in this verse?

“King David, of course!” says the Rabbi. “He was a conquering hero! Of course his people gave him the best of the spoils of the battle!”

We are all struck by the differences: the earthly king David taking tribute, the heavenly king Jesus giving gifts. The earthly king David taking human captives, the heavenly king Jesus making captives of sin and death! Yet both are God’s emissaries. What else can we learn from this tradition? We ask the priest, what spoils? What battle?

The priest sets aside the Psalm and says, “The answer is here in The Chronicles of Israel, though you can also find the same story in the Book of the Kings of Israel.” He opens the scroll of 1 Chronicles and reads:

So David and the elders of Israel and the commanders of thousands went to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD from the house of Obed-edom with rejoicing. And because God helped the Levites who were carrying the ark of the covenant of the LORD, they sacrificed seven bulls and seven rams. David was clothed with a robe of fine linen, as also were all the Levites who were carrying the ark, and the singers and Chenaniah the leader of the music of the singers. And David wore a linen ephod. So all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the LORD with shouting, to the sound of the horn, trumpets, and cymbals, and made loud music on harps and lyres. 1 Chronicles 15:25-28

The Rabbi tells us to imagine Jerusalem, the City of David, almost a thousand years ago. And with that, he takes us into Layer 3, almost 3,000 years before your Layer 1.

We are standing on top of the gate to the city that we instantly recognize as Jerusalem. Though it is only half the size it will be in Layer two, it seems to have twice as many people! They line the road leading into town, and fill the streets inside the walls. We are standing with an old man wearing the robes of a priest. “You picked the best possible day to be here,” he says. 

We see a procession coming down the road. Men carrying a large box that brilliantly reflects the golden rays of the sun as they slowly make their way to the city. It is a parade like no other.

The old priest continues: “The men carrying the Ark are Levites who have been consecrated, ceremonially purified, so that they may approach the seat of Adonai, and touch it without dying. Adonai is the giver of gifts, but He demands respect. Israel will surely be blessed by the return of the Most High. Baruch Hashem.” (Blessed be God)

The procession draws closer. We see people dancing, playing instruments and singing. Leading the procession is a dancer who seems to be challenging all of the others to keep up with his energy and feeling. He is breathing heavily, and the sweat pours off of him, but he continues, his every move sending a message of joy that we clearly receive, even from up on the wall. His clothes are disheveled, and he appears half mad with adoration. We ask the old priest, “Who is that dancer in front of the others?”

“That is his royal majesty, King David, appointed by the prophet Sh’mu’el (Samuel), slayer of tens of thousands, ruler of all Israel in the name of Adonai.”

When we express our surprise, he laughs. “I know. One expects dignity from a King, but David has always been willing to humble himself before The Lord. And the return of the Ark of the Covenant is a gift like none other. Not since we were delivered from Egypt …”

The old priest attempts to take us down into Layer 4, to show us the Exodus. God rescuing, redeeming his people Israel from Egypt, when they had done nothing to deserve such a gift. From there we could easily slip into Layer 5, to witness God granting to Jacob the gift of sons who would found the 12 tribes of Israel, including his son Joseph who would save them all from starvation in Canaan. From Layer 5 to Layer 6, where God gives Abram and Sarai new names, and children that outnumber the stars. To Layer 7, in which God gives Noah and his family the gift of life when the world deserves nothing but death. Until we finally reach the lowest Layer, the Foundation in which God gives The Word.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. John 1:1

Then God said, “Let there be light”’ and there was light. Genesis 1:3

We have returned to Ephesus, recovering in awe from the journey we’ve been on. It all comes back to Jesus. All the gifts of God throughout the ages, the greatest gift being Jesus himself. Suddenly we understand why Paul has used this line from Psalm 68. We remember the words of Luke, the healer, in his book about the life and death of Jesus. In it, Jesus said to them,

“These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” (Luke 24:44)

Paul is helping us to see that all of history has led inevitably to this ultimate gift. He has gotten his deeper point across.

And we, back here in Layer 1, the 21st century, realize that we are not really so far removed from the church at Ephesus in the first century. So that was verse 8. Let’s move on to verse 9.

Verse 9: (in saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth?

Well, what does it mean that Jesus descended to Earth? It means the incarnation of God. God taking human form, walking with us physically. Feeling what we feel. Making friends. Being hungry. Laughing. Being tempted. God giving God’s self to us. The gift that literally never stops giving.

Verse 10: He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.)

Jesus was incarnated, died, was resurrected, then returned to Heaven: The Ascension. Some people brush past the Ascension, which is an understandable mistake: the Gospels of Matthew and John don’t mention it directly at all. But the Ascension of Jesus is very important. Jesus says so himself in the gospel of John:

“Let not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.” John 14:1-4

So Jesus ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things. To clarify this one, all we need to do is back up to Ephesians chapter 3 verse 19:

and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. (Eph 3:19)

We are being filled with the fullness of God: God’s love, God’s mercy, God’s wisdom, God’s gifts. Jesus is filling all things because He returned to God. As beautiful as it must have been to be with Jesus on Earth, as much good as he did, and could have continued to do, Jesus could only complete His work after His return to heaven: As our scripture today reads, he ascended so that he would be able to fill each of us with the fullness of God.

I have two applications for you in this coming week. One is a daily, and the other is a one shot. I don’t want you to be distracted by having too many things to do. The one time application is to read Psalm 68 all the way through. Try to imagine how it reads from Layers 2 and 3 rather than just how we see it from here in Layer 1. It's a big one, and it might take you awhile to get through it, but don't give up!

The other application is a daily one: I want you to search for the gifts of God in every situation that you find yourself in. Write down what you see, or tell someone about them. Or both. The Church at Ephesus no doubt came to better recognize the gift of Jesus through Paul’s letter.

When Dorothy returns to Kansas at the end of The Wizard of Oz, she finds that the dear friends she made in the magical land are her friends from the farm where she lived all along. Though she does end up back in Kansas, Oz is still with her. Though she no longer has the Ruby Slippers, she still has the gift of the friendships she built. She found the gift.

In the past month I received a rare gift: the return of a friend from far away. Many of you met Rick, and saw the two of us laughing at each other’s dumb jokes, watching superhero movies together, and eating way more than we should have. When he emailed me to say that he was visiting Korea earlier this year,, I was like a kid waiting for Christmas morning. As a grown up, I rarely get excited over receiving things, and when I do that excitement does not last. But I recognized that this would be a gift to remember, a true blessing from God. Goodbyes have been a part of my life for so very long, but they only become easy when I don’t let people into my heart. It’s not worth avoiding the heartbreak, so I still let people in, though I know there are always more goodbyes coming.

God’s gifts are not just coming at some future time. They have been arriving throughout all generations, and will continue, forever and ever. Look for the joy hidden in your heartache. Remember that heartache comes from trust, and trust comes through love, and all love comes from God. When you feel betrayed remember that Jesus faced betrayal on his path to the cross, but that path led to the heavens. If you’ve lost something, remember that you can’t grab something new while holding on to something old. Remember that when you bought a ticket for Suicide Squad you were actually paying for Wonder Woman.

I challenge you to notice and give thanks for one gift every day. Just sit down at the end of the day and remember, pray, read your Bible, and give thanks for that gift. It doesn’t have to be a genuine, certified miracle. It can be something small. Being thankful is a good habit.

And if all the gifts you can think of have turned out to be empty boxes, amusing for a short time then thrown out with the trash, maybe it’s time to accept the one gift that is forever: the gift of God’s grace. Pray about it. Send me a message on Facebook (or the old school Face to Face conversation), or drop in on my Life Group. Or talk to someone here that you feel comfortable with. Whatever you do, don’t let one more day go by without opening yourself up to God’s amazing gifts, prepared for you from the beginning of time! Today I’ve tried to give you a glimpse through Paul’s words of how God has given so much to his people throughout history. And like any gift, it can be refused. But why would you refuse it? Why not accept life?

Let us pray.

Dear Jesus, thank you for the gifts that you continue to give to us. Thank you for your grace that sets us free from sin and death. Thank you for your rich and beautiful Word, the Bible, that helps us to better understand you and your will for our lives. Awaken in each of us a hunger to have more of it. Help us all to get into our Bibles so that we can look out at the world more like you do. We pray in your name, the one who fills us with the fullness of God, Amen.

The Best Birthday Present

My second best birthday present this year was a pocket watch. It's a bit sad that it came in second, especially since I picked it out myself. And paid for it myself. And opened it all by myself. It is mechanical, with crystal front and back so you can see the works, and a wood ring in the cover. I made the mistake of searching for an online photo instead of just taking a picture myself, and found that I could have purchased it for much less than I did. Thanks, China.

It's a wind-up, so no battery to replace. It looks nice, but the face is too busy, and the hands too scrolly, making it a bit hard to read, especially in dim light. It's really more of a show piece than a time piece, so I'm not sure how long I will use it. But it's nice, nonetheless.

The best birthday present this year will stick with me quite a while. Though it is impossible to say whether it will outlive the watch, I suspect that it will still have life long after the watch and I have parted company. My birthday was on Tuesday, and I was teaching a class at Kyungsung right after lunch*. This semester Tuesday is my first day with classes at the university, so it has a Mondayish vibe to it. Not as bad as a real Monday, but I still had that just-woke-up feeling, compounded by making a cross-town trip to drop off library books during my two-hour lunch break. One of my best students in that class, I'll call her Jackie** was sitting in the front row drinking a soda in class. Something about that soda was nagging at my Mondayeque mind as we worked through the vocabulary for the lesson. At one point in my powerpoint, there was an example sentence: "The students cut class to drink beer. Bad students!"

That's when the lightening struck me, right in the figuratively: that soda was not a soda. It was a can, like soda, but much taller. I stopped teaching, and pointed at it, and asked the traditional question for seeking clarification: "Whaaaaaat....?" Quickly followed by, "Is that......?" I picked up the can, observed that it was about 2/3 full, and smelled it, on the off chance that she had rinsed it out and filled it with cold, pure, innocent water. It smelled more like debauchery.† In my classroom. On a desk. In the front row. I then moved in for the verbal kill. "Why do you have beer in my class?"

Jackie informed me that she was thirsty.

This reminded me of a lesson which I constantly drill into my students: you should construct your question based on the answer that you are hoping to hear. Of course, I had had no such answer in mind, and cannot even now imagine an answer that would be satisfactory.††

One key to being a good teacher is having an automatic set of responses to given circumstances. When a student is playing with their phone, I first make eye contact or tap their desk, going for subtle, then mention it in front of the class for the second offense, then take it away if they do so again, forcing them to come talk to me after class.‡

Somehow, in my fifteen years of teaching in Korea, I had never thought of how I would respond to that particular circumstance, so I'm afraid that I may have been a bit incoherent in dealing with it. Eventually it occurred to me to move the offensive can out of sight, so I did. Then I continued teaching, with no more than a dozen call-backs to the beer in class during the final twenty minutes of class. When class was finished we had a little talk, which included promises and apologies: she apologized for ruining my birthday, and I promised to show up drunk at her next family reunion by way of returning the favor.‡‡

The gift that keeps on giving is a good story. I love this story because I spent the afternoon of my birthday laughing about it, as well as a hefty portion of that class time. And if you, dear reader, have laughed at any point in reading this story, then it was definitely the best birthday present ever.



* For some reason, the university still refuses to make my birthday an official holiday.
** A bright, bouncy name, which matches her personality, but has no phonetic similarity to her actual name, for reasons which will become clear in the next paragraph.
† Which smells remarkably like beer and lip gloss.
†† "That's not mine!" would likely come the closest, followed closely by, "I thought you were thirsty."
‡ Because who would leave behind that significant portion of their soul?
‡‡ No, I didn't.