When Others Go Low, We Go High

You Can Forgive

[Scripture Reading]

For today’s message, let us turn to the book of 1) 1 Thessalonians 5:15. Let us all rise and recite the scripture together. On the count of 3. 1, 2, 3.

데살로니가전서 5:15 NIV

2)15 Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else.

Amen.

[Welcome]

Good morning PW, and welcome to today’s worship service. Let us take this time to greet one another. Let’s turn to our neighbors and say, 3)“We are forgiven.” That is right PW. We are all sinner, but through the grace of God, we are forgiven. 4)This month we are going to learn on the theme of Give and Take. Even though we do not deserve it, we are forgiven and are saved. Like God and Jesus, I hope that we too could have this grace in our lives and be forgiving. Amen? Amen.

[Sermon]

Thanks for all your prayers, my trip to Korea and Japan was also filled with grace. I was so close to killing myself in Japan. Like how I electrocuted myself when I was in 3rd grade, I almost did it again in Japan. 5)This photo is a reenactment of what I was trying to do. Thinking Japan is a high tech country, I thought that they had usb-c power outlet. I tried plugging in the cable and was forcing it into the plug. But then I realized it was the 110 v power outlet. Through the grace of God, I was saved once again hallelujah, and I am back. I came back Friday night, extremely jet lagged. I might say weird things but do bare with me today.

Let’s read the title of today’s sermon together. On the count of 3. 1, 2, 3.

6)When They go low, we go high.

Does anyone know who said this Phrase? That is right, it is 7)Michelle Obama. This was part of a speech that Michelle Obama delivered during the Democratic National Convention. Don’t get me wrong here, I am not here to talk about Politics. I know too little and as I Korean I have no say in politics in this country, but the reason I bring this phrase up in today’s sermon, is because, it brings enlightenment to us and helps us to understand what this scripture means to us. But before we go on to talk about the scripture I want to share y story on this topic of forgiveness.

When I was in college I loved playing soccer. I would at least play 2 days of the week. I would play with my classmates, I would play with different people from my college or even with random people. One thing I really enjoyed about soccer was the soccer leagues that we had at our college. We would make our own teams and sign up for the league and will play soccer during the semester. I always went out on this league with my classmates. Now, I am a very competitive person. I hate losing, and whenever I would play soccer especially during this league games was that I would always fight. Being a defensive midfielder, it was my job. I would not exchange fists but, I would trash talk, I would make dirty fouls. I would do my best to get into peoples head to shake up their mentality. I would trip the striker over and help him up with a smile on my face. I would push the forward whenever they jump to head the ball. I would put my legs in between the strikers legs so that he can’t turn. You name any dirty play, I’ve done it. I am still small but I was smaller. But like a 8)chihuahua, I would be following and fighting with everyone.

My team we had a rivalry with one particular team. It was a graduate school team. But every time we would play together, it all ended with a fight. In my Junior year of college for our spring league, my team played this graduate team in the semi-finals. I was hyped up. I really wanted to win.All my classmates were ready for this battle. We said to each other, 9)“Let’s kill em.” Have you guys seen the movie 300? We played that match like we either Kill em or we die trying. But the opponents striker… He was at another level that day. I was feeling okay marking him, but felt like kindergartener. He was outrunning me, he did me good. I couldn’t stop him. I played all my cards. I trash talked, I fouled him, but his condition was crazy, so I had no other choice but to literally kill him. I saw the ball leave his foot but I knew shouldn’t have done it but seeing that the ref was far away, I kicked him in the ankle. There was a large BBAMM noise and he fell down grab holding on to his ankle. He was in pain. The opponent team exploded. Everyone came up to me and starting cussing me. Think about it. These grad school team, they were all pastors. I just made a bout 10 pastors to get angry and made them cuss at me. I knew I did wrong, so I didn’t react. But one person he came firing at me. He was trying to get me. But because of the people there, it did not escalate physically but we started to fight verbally. I said to him, How could you be a pastor with such temper? He said the same thing back, but because I was not a pastor yet, I said, “I ain’t a pastor!” It was a immature fight.

After the game, I apologized to the opposing team and wrapped everything up. This all happened in 2011. But in 2020 this incident caught up to me. In January of 2020, I started dating my wife. She was a pastor, I was a pastor, we were serving different churches. One day, my wife and I were talking about our churches. I asked who is your supervising pastor. My wife said, “Oh a pastor named Yuho.” The named seemed very familiar. Yuho, Yuho…. Wait…. It was him. The person I fought was my wife’s supervisor. I was shocked. My wife asked, “You know him right?” I said, “Yes.” She asked, “Did you fight him?” “Yeah.” “Yeh he told me to break up with you.” That was his way of paying revenge. I know. Thank goodness my wife loved me more than she respected her supervisor. He might have got his revenge on me.

I’m just joking. It wasn’t his revenge. He thought of my wife more. Knowing how hot tempered I was, he was worried that she was meeting someone bad. I was a bad person. But any ways, through the grace of God, I ended up marrying my wife.

Revenge, it leads to revenge. It just gets bigger and bigger. If someone doesn’t stop that chain, fights turns into bigger fights. There is no end to the cycle unless someone dies. I wasn’t joking about killing the opponent. In order to truly win we need to kill em. But what does today’s scripture tells us to do? Let’s read it one more time.

데살로니가전서 5:15 NIV

10)15 Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else.

Don’t pay back wrong for wrong. Do what is good. This is what I am trying to bring in from the speech from Michelle Obama. When they go low, we go high. Don’t fight back, don’t pay back evil for evil. But do good! Why was I playing soccer like that? I wanted to win. Even though the opposing team did not try to bring harm, I took it as harm and thought of vengeance by winning. By playing dirty. Then the opposing team, they took it personally and that led to a fight. But instead of that, what we should do is just do good.

You might say, Pastor John! The world doesn’t work like that. You give and take. Thats life. I am not going to forgive unless I get vengeance. I am not going to forgive unless he or she shows that they are sorry. It isn’t fair. If you think this way, your not wrong. But for you to forgive, it is not just for the other person but it is for yourself. Even in today’s scripture, it does not tell us that it is just for the opposing person but we need to seek goodness for ourselves too. When we forgive others and get rid of the negativity. When we get rid of the conflict. When we get rid of the destructive influence in our lives, that brings God’s goodness into your own life. For that reason only, forgiving is not just for the other person but it sets you free from the bad things in your life.

Follow up from my soccer story, the striker of the team is now a 목사님 and he got married to a close friend of mine. And he is now serving at a church in San Diego where Joelle’s dad serves. With the pastor that I fought with, we now talk about that past as a fun incident. I get along well with these people now. How? For they forgave me. Guys, God is telling us something here. We might be uncomfortable with one another from a past experience. But if you hold on to it in your heart, that is going drag you down to the depth of hades. But if you forgive those who sinned against you, you too would be set free! How could we know that? Think about what Jesus did. Jesus he saved us and set us free from sin. To forgive is to be like God, and that is the way to bring God’s goodness into this world. And I truly hope that you all experience this enlightenment. Let us pray.

[Prayer]

Heart to forgive

To be free

[Response]

No longer Slaves

[Benediction]

[Announcement]

Lent

Elevation Worship