Same Same

Don’t measure your God-given space by the space occupied by someone else.

[Scripture Reading]

1)For today’s message, let us turn to the book of 1 Peter 5:5. Let us all rise and recite the scripture together. On the count of 3. 1, 2, 3.

2)“5 In the same way, you who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.””

Amen.

[Sermon]

Good morning PW. Welcome to our November 17 Sunday worship service. Let us take this time to greet one another. Let’s turn to our neighbors and say, 3)“Thank you for being here with me.” I thank you all for coming, and it is my pleasure to share the word of the Lord with you all. We go to school, we go to hagwon, and we go to sporting events. There we have friends. However, we can’t avoid the competition there. Even though they are your friends, they are also your competition. You have to compete with them to score grades. You have to compete to make it to the team. But here at church, we’re all friends with whom we don’t need to compete. Actually, we are brothers and sisters in Christ! I hope that you all find it home here and find true rest.

I want to start today’s sermon by teaching you all some modern Korean. I think a lot of you guys already know it. The word is called 4)꼰대. It is a pretty new word but it is already listed in the Standard Korean Dictionary. 5)It is classified as students’ slang, meaning “old man.” But when you are called a 꼰대, you are depicted as someone with a very authoritative way of thinking. So, it would be a person who would compare their past experiences with those of the following generations and judge them. The American version would be the meme, 6)“Ok, boomer.” 7)Q. Is Pastor John a 꼰대? I say the answer yet, but I want to show you all this meme.

8)It’s a Shiba Inu comparison meme. Kids in the 2000, “Mom, can you give me 20 dollars? I am going to the fair after I ride my bike with my 15 other friends. I might come back tomorrow. I am sleeping at Peters. Ok Bye.” Whereas the kids now. “Mom, the internet is dying. I’m getting cyberbullied. Where is my coke.” I’m not trying to belittle cyberbullying. It is a serious problem. What I am trying to point out is the kid in the 2000s. Thats me. I am that guy. I am that millennial. That description literally shows what kind of Childhood I went through. 9)I would ride around the Parramatta River with my friends and get into brawls on the banks of the river. In 2000, when the Olympics were held in Sydney, I would take my scooter out and travel around the city with all my mates. We would crash another friend’s house. That’s how we played. Just looking back to these experiences and seeing what the kids go through now? I am very grateful that I had a childhood like mine. Kid’s these days, it seems as though they are getting sucked into the IPAD. Youtube, shorts, tictok. They would just gather at their friends house and play on their tablets. No outside activities what so ever. They would always have their parents arrange play dates. I think it is so dehumanizing. But guys can I blame them for that? Can I say, “Man, kids these days, they’re so weak. All they can do is tap the screens of their iPads. Back in the days, when I was in Elementary school, I would climb 65 feet cliff with no safety rope. When I was in Elementary school, I would scavenge materials and make a net to catch jellyfish in the rivers.” I actually did those things. But really I can’t say that. The time we are living now is so different from the time I was a kid. It was safe to do so. I think that they should play outside more but, the times that we are living now adults are busier than ever, the world is not a safe place, the crimes are a different level. There is less and less things that kids could do alone. So it is not right to compare.

I put in a nice way of saying I ain’t a 꼰대 but really I am. I am a 꼰대 in some parts of my life, I am not a 꼰대 in other parts. I am a 꼰대 in believing in Jesus. I am a 꼰대 in living the life of Jesus for that is never going to change in life. I think you all are a 꼰대 as well. PW Sr. when you look at the Jr’s that are sitting in front of you all. Don’t you feel as though they are lame? So noisy, can’t concentrate. But guys in my sight you are too. PW Jr’s, don’t you feel the same way when you see your younger siblings or the notorious Dream Land 5th graders? 10)It is because we choose to compare others to ourselves. We don’t think about our own past wrongdoings and see the pathetic mistakes that others make. And just because you stopped doing it, what do you do? You judge them. That is who we are. We are all 꼰대. This is the mechanism that Satan has planted in us. It makes us see others flaws and by seeing that flaw, it blinds our own sins. Comparing oneself to another person and through that judgement we tend to comfort ourselves by saying, “At least I am not sinning like that.” But here’s the catch, you’re still a sinner.

In today’s scripture, it talks about this comparison. Not only that but it goes on to tell us how to deal with this comparison. Let’s read today’s scripture one more time. On the count of 3. 1, 2, 3.

11)“5 In the same way, you who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.””

Don’t be proud from comparing yourself. Don’t think that you are any better but instead just be humble. God is telling us to just be humble no matter what. If you see someone sin, don’t judge them. Instead like how as a younger person you would need to listen to the elder, see others sin as a what God is telling you to be aware of that sin. Reflect your life, check whether if you are sinning the same sin or not. And when you could do so, God is going to show his favor on our lives. Don’t be a 꼰대, but instead be humble. Reflect. Look at yourselves. And stay away from that sin. That is what today’s scripture is telling us to do.

I shared it last week, I encountered Jesus in 10th grade. It was not my first time but it was a life changing encounter. Not only me, but a lot of my friends that year met Christ. And through our encounter the whole Youth Group began to change. As students we made our own prayer meetings. We tried to be accountable for each other to stay in faith. Also, we did our best to make this good movement flow through to everyone in the Youth Group. I think God really appreciated our pure hearts and the next retreat, another group of my friends encountered Jesus. This group were the gangsta group. They smoked, and lived a somewhat bad life. But our great God touched them, and at that retreat they repented and came back to God. Also, as the work of the spirit they quit smoking and turned from their bad lives to the Good life that God has set for them.

After the retreat, one of the gangsta friend gave a testimony. He testified that God had completely changed him. He needed to smoke to do anything in life but now through the spirit he said he quit smoking. I was touched and I praised God for what he has done in my friends life. He was close friend before this change but after his encounter with Jesus we became closer. I shared my QT with him, we would pray for each other. We made a Christian Club at school together as well. However after about a month, he would start to avoid me. He came to Church but tried to stay away from him. Every time I tried to approach him, he would go somewhere. That’s when I knew, he was smoking again. He gave in to his cravings. Because he was not proud of himself. Because of what he was doing now was going to test a lot of people, he did his best to hide it. But you can’t hide smoking.

I was hurt. Not only the fact that he starting smoking again but the fact that he was a living proof that God is great and that God can change everyone. I thought to myself, “I am better than him! I have a better faith.” So what I did from my friends failure, I compared my faith with his and had that prudent moment. Do you know what else I did, I started to ignore him. Why? Because he was a failure. He was a disgrace in my opinion. If I think of it now, what I did was a much bigger sin than what he did. Smoking is not a sin, but as Christians we choose not do so to show that we do not give into our own desires. But judging and treating others with indifference? That is sin. I was a sinner from the proud comparison. I thought I was better than my friend. Because of that proud moment, I fell into sin.

Today I encourage you all. Don’t be like Pastor John. Don’t Judge, do not be proud of your faith. For it will lead to sin. Instead be humble. Don’t compare yourselves with others sins. Just live according to humility that Jesus shown on the cross. That’s what we need to do. Out of all the people who lived on this world, Jesus would be the only one who could fit to be 꼰대. But what did he do? He forgot all about it and instead showed us what it means to be humble.

I want to close this sermon by introducing a broken English. Same, Same. In Korean we say 12)쌤쌤. It means call it even. When you see others sin think of it as the same to yourselves. When others sin, we too are the same. Instead of judgement and comparison, let us also pray for our friends reconciliation with God. We cannot repent for them but we can pray for them. Let this humble heart be our way to live in this sinful world.

Let us pray.

Dear God, we thank you. We thank you for calling us as your disciples and for telling us through today’s scripture to live a humble life. Lord, like Christ Jesus we want to live in humility. We do not want to see others to judge and have a prudent moment in our live but let us be humble and live to show favor to you. Lord we thank you and in Jesus’ name we pray amen.

[Response]

Let us all rise and sing the response.

[Benediction]

As we go out into the world to live as your disciples, let us not compare but instead live with a humble heart.

For all who are here today, may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the holy spirit be with us always and forevermore. Amen.

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