New Mind, New Person

Exodus 2 : 1 – 10

Romans 12 : 1 – 3

Matthew 16 : 13 – 19

I can hear the sound of falling something a lot. Autumn has not yet come, but it is not the sound of falling leaves. It is the sound of countless souls falling to the earth who can go to heaven. Looking at the behavior of some Christians these days, many say that the church in Korean society is now on the path of an irreversible fall. This sounds like a shocking point, but it's still polite. Thousands of people who went to church are leaving the church. The common people turn their backs from the church and respond to the message of the Gospel with ridicule, saying, "Mind your own business."

I'm especially sorry and afraid that I hear a loud noise on our campus. Yonsei University's main school has more than 30,000 students, including 19,000 undergraduate students and 12,000 master and doctorate students. Most of them are non-Christian. Most of them only come to Yonsei University to meet the Christian gospel seriously for the first time. Particularly, undergraduates are required to take Chapel and Christian Understanding courses, which is the first time in their lives that they encounter Christianity.

Last semester, when the chapel was suddenly conducted online, I had a lot of concern, but fortunately, the vast majority of students showed a positive attitude toward the chapel and opened their hearts to the spirit of Christianity and the founding spirit of the school. Just a week ago, I was making plans with high expectations while preparing for the next semester's chapel. In the last semester, the seeds of the Gospel sown in the hearts of more than 9,500 students have been prepared in anticipation of taking root, growing, and bearing a lot of fruit like seeds sown on the soil.

In particular, the school recently proclaimed <Vision-Yonsei 150> under the banner of “Yonsei's Challenge to Truth and Freedom”, so that the school can embody the Christian founding spirit in the fields of education, research, and social contribution. All faculty and staff are doing their best. Despite the urgent situation of COVID-19, we are considering and seeking ways to solve the problems facing the earth and humanity, pursue social engagement and sustainable coexistence based on Christian spirit, and achieve the goal of driving Korean society.

I prepared a lot and looked forward to convincing that Christianity, the foundation of the school's founding spirit, can change the lives of students and the fate of mankind through the Chapel next semester. I was willing to confidently proclaim to my students that the paths and truths that Jesus Christ showed would lead each student and all mankind to life. I was already inside the fence of Yonsei University, and I was expecting that many souls could be saved in a situation where the school emphasized the realization of the Christian founding spirit. Considering the words of Jesus that there are many grains to be harvested but not enough workers, I was expecting that countless souls could enter the path of salvation at Yonsei Campus, which is like a golden fishing ground.

However, things have changed now. For so many people, the word Christianity has become the object of contempt. Being a Christian became a shame. It is now more urgent to make excuses, apologize, and apologize to students by reading the suspicion and confusion they have in their hearts, rather than proclaiming the Gospel confidently to students. No matter how much the Gospel of truth is preached, there will not be many people who take the gospel seriously when the life shown by members of the Korean church is different from the gospel. This is the biggest missionary crisis. In particular, it is a crisis of school missions. The time has come to make more effort, pray, and seek God's wisdom to preach the gospel.

I think some people are uncomfortable because I said that the Gospel has become embarrassing. Shouldn't we preach the Gospel more confidently at times like this? Didn't Paul say that <I am not ashamed of the gospel>? However, the Gospel at that time was pure and complete Gospel. It was not a false gospel that was arrogant, violent, threatened the well-being and happiness of others, and filled with ego. The ugly face of the Korean church has been revealed. We have to admit it and start over. But it would be even uglier to point fingers at others and avoid responsibility.

All Korean churches are being blamed by society, and it is an illusion to think that only our university is doing well. It is a great arrogance to think that the vast majority of foolish Christians go the wrong way, but that I am doing well. If there is anyone who accuses some of the congregations with biases of ruining the Korean church, they should ask why they themselves failed to devote themselves to leading the Korean church in the right direction with the same zeal. Now is the time to make a radical transformation with the idea that the Korean church has been sentenced to death.

I am convinced that the words of Romans in today's Scripture are the words given to us in this crisis. In a word, it is about renewing your heart and becoming a new person.

Romans 12:1 says:

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.

Paul begs us. I am not threatening or ordering, but because of God's mercy, I beg you to <I urge you> with a sad heart. What does he ask for? He urges you to present our bodies as a living, holy sacrifice that will please God. In fact, <living> and <offering> are words that cannot be used together. Because sacrifices, or offering, are killing animals. To be a living sacrifice is to live with the feeling that we have not died, but that our life has been given to God, not living my life, but living a new life as God's children. And you should pay attention to the words to give your body. It is not only our spirit or faith that we give to God. It is our whole existence. It is not that there are separate areas of the holy and secular, but when we eat, when we go to the bathroom, when we make money, when we pray, we recognize ourselves as a tool of God.

Verse 2 says:

2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

What is the pattern of this era? It was Roman law at the time of Paul. A country formed by the Roman emperor becoming the supreme ruler. It was <Pax Romana>. It was the most advanced economic, administrative, political and civilized system at the time. All citizens and colonists of the Roman Empire lived according to the Roman order, and a smooth life was guaranteed. However, Paul tells us not to imitate the pattern of those times. After all, such a trend is the idea of serving the Roman emperor as a god. It is a system in which the emperor, a human being, becomes the absolute and exercises absolute power by providing stability and economic opportunities to the people. If you stay still, you will be incorporated into such a system and you will live your life like a slave. God created human beings noble, considers each person's soul to be noble, and has made each of us as his children, so we must live a life of serving the Lord of the universe that cannot be compared with the Roman emperor.

What is important to us today is to judge what the trend of the time of Paul was the system of the Roman Empire, but what is the trend of the dominant era today. It may be complicated, but I would like to easily say <Money and Power>. There are many people who value money and power as their best value. It is often said that the pursuit of profit is the supreme goal of business, and the supreme purpose of political parties is to gain power. So it justifies, even glorifies, whatever means to make a profit or to gain power. If a Christian lives only with that thought, it is the case that he is immersed in the pattern of this world. Some people try to embody the ideology of Christianity through money and power by linking money and power closely with Christianity. It's all grossly wrong. We must repent and free ourselves from such temptations.

The life of pursuing money and power in this world's system seems like a successful life, but we must renew our minds. We need to change. And we must discern what God's good, joyful, and perfect will is, not what this world promises and guarantees. I especially want to pay attention to the expression ‘discern.’ In Greek, it is <διακρίνω>, which originally means to prove or confirm. In order to know God's good, joyful, and perfect will, we must deeply ponder, debate, reflect, and do our best to think carefully. Above all, we must do a common interpretation of what God's will is through a device of open communication, not a top-down type of unilateral doctrine injection.

In 1 Samuel 7, Samuel declared <Gather at Mizpah, I will pray to Jehovah for you> to the Israelites in crisis. Thus, the Israelites gathered at Mizpah and decided to repent and obey God's will, and God saved the Israelites from the threat of the Philistines.

Please, recognize that now is the time for change, an opportunity for transformation. If we do not change now, Korean Christianity will decline. If we do not go back to the fundamentals, the Korean church will collapse. University councils disappear from history unless we abandon the old-fashioned way of thinking and have a new attitude of mind for the younger generation. If we cannot become new people by renewing our hearts, we will be the most miserable people. The most important thing now is change. Any change is better than just getting stuck in the spot. However, when we discern God's will and change the direction of our lives with the help of the Holy Spirit and the Bible, God will save countless poor souls in the earth through us, through university meetings, and through Yonsei University.