Arise and Shine!

Is 60:1-4

 

1. We are beginning a new year 2007. New beginning and new opportunity is a wonderful grace of God! Our proper attitude for a new year should be a fresh start, or it will not be a new beginning. Old year is no longer ours now. It is passed and we cannot correct it. God does not want for us to start this gracious new year with a continued disappointment, anxiety, hate, distrust, or dissatisfaction that you carried from the old year. If we fail a fresh start, we may not be surely successful in this year. As Paul declared in the Lord, “one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”(Phil 3:14-15)

2. What is your goal this year? All of you may have different goals. Though it varies, I hope that we all share the same ultimate goal in the Lord. This year 2007 is a very special year for our church, for we celebrate 25^th anniversary this year with a sincere gratitude for many grace and blessings that God has bestowed to this small immigrant congregation in the last quarter century. In my prayer, God gave a passage to my mind as the Word of God for our congregation this year: “Now, arise and shine, Kalamazoo Korean Church!” In Isaiah 60:1ff: “Arise and shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the LORD rises upon you and his glory appears over you… Lift up your eyes and look about you: All assemble and come to you.” This is a prophecy of Isaiah about the coming of the Messiah, shining over the world, and coming of people from all nations. If we are willing to become His instrument, the prophecy will be ours. Being a small church does not matter. Even one person can change the world. Here is the Word of God: Kalamazoo Korean Church, arise and shine Kalamazoo and western Michigan!

3. In order that our church do arise and shine, every one of you should arise and shine. How can we arise and shine? First, we have to arise first. When Peter saw a crippled man begging everyday in the same place at the Temple gate, he said: “Look at us! Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.”(Ac 3:4, 6) This crippled man from birth “jumped to his feet and began to walk.”(7) Spiritually speaking, we are a crippled man, just sitting always in the same place and never thinking to arise and walk. If you achieved something, it is because you arose courageously. You might be hesitated or discouraged for a while, but when you arise courageously you made it. Some arise courageously, but when somebody cruelly discourages him or he faces some failure he sits down powerlessly. Fear is your enemy, for Satan always discourages you. Faith is courage to do the right thing. We need faith and courage to do the right thing for God and our neighbors. If you did not achieve much, it is because you have fear and resist to arise. Whether you are old or young, you have to arise because God gave you another new year and another fresh opportunity.

4. Second, you have to recognize that you have the powerful light to shine. Jesus said that you are the light of the world. You are called the children of light in contrast to the children of darkness. Why? Jesus is the Light of the world, and he said to us: “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”(John 8:12); “Put your trust in the light while you have it, so that you may become sons of light.”(12:46) You have the Light inside of you: “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.”(2 Cor 4:6-7) All surpassing power is inside of you. If you see only external jars of clay, not the precious treasure in it, you gravely misunderstand and underestimate you. Paul awakened us: “Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?”(1Cor 3:16) In fact, “we are God's fellow workers.”(1Cor 3:9)

5. Third, you have to shine the world around you. Even though it is true that arising is shining for the light, we have to do our best not to hinder our light by our sins. Sins like pride, distrust, hate, desires, or cynicism cloud and hinder our light, even forgetting our reason to arise and pushing us sit down. If we do not repent, cleanse and restore our soul continuously, we will be dirty and weaken power to shine. We have to express and expose our inner self. And we have to move widely to shine, widely as possible. There is no easy way to shine, but it demands our best and hard effort.

6. Our church motto for this year is as follows: “Kalamazoo Korean Church brightly shining western Michigan.” How? By (1) shining the light of the Gospel for saving souls in evangelism and mission, (2) shining the light of love for helping the needy, and (3) shining the light of truth for faith, love, and hope. May God richly and powerfully bless our quarter-century old congregation to finally arise and brightly shine western Michigan! And all of you courageously arise and brightly shine the world around you in this new year! Amen.