Scripture Passage
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Sermon Script
I hope you have all had a great summer. I hope you enjoyed good rest and enjoyed time with friends and family.
For our church, summer is a time that is full of life and activity.
We had an amazing summer camp. Our Sioux Valley mission was a great time of blessing (celebration last night). We resumed our long dormant ministry of serving at Evangel Hall.
And finally, this past week we had our annual Hi-C retreat, and for the first time ever, our Kids Overnight Camp.
It was an amazing way to cap off our summer.
Labour Day weekend always marks a transition in seasons. The weather is still nice but we can feel the cooler air coming in.
Families are getting ready for school. We look ahead to a new season ahead.
As we prepare for this change, it is good to reflect on God’s Word.
In today’s parable, Jesus talks about two groups: those who take the place of honour, and those who sit down at the lowest place.
Two groups, two different characteristics.
The ones who take the best places are there to be honoured. They don’t care about the wedding as much as they do about receiving honour.
The wedding is merely an opportunity to be honoured. They are opportunistic.
The ones in the lowest place are happy just to be there. They have come for the wedding. It doesn’t matter where they sit.
They care about the wedding. They are engaged.
Two approaches to life: opportunistic vs engaged. How do you live your life?
What’s the problem with the people who chose places of honour?
It is all about yourself! The only thing that matters is yourself.
They do not care about the wedding. This is just another opportunity to be recognized.
People who live opportunistically have no root.
They are like the chaff that the psalmist describes.
The wicked are not so but are like chaff that the wind drives away. (Psalm 1:4)
They are not committed to anyone or anything. They blow to wherever the next opportunity to be recognized is.
The problem with this life is that it has no root.
A life with no root bears no fruit. No fruit that others can enjoy and taste. No lasting joy or satisfaction.
That is not a good life.
But an engaged life is different.
When you are engaged, you are happy to be there. You take whatever seat is available. Being at the table matters more than where you sit.
When you are engaged, you are committed. You stick with it.
As you know, when you stick with something, things get difficult. You go through a lot of downs.
Sometimes it feels easier to escape and disengage when things get tough.
It’s nothing against all of you here, but during my vacation, I wanted nothing to do with the church. I mentally checked out.
But while I mentally checked out of church, I became obsessed with a phenomenon that’s taken over the world.
KPop Demon Hunters.
It really has taken over the world. I don’t know about you, but the songs are stuck in my head. “We’re going up, up, up it’s our moment…”
Our whole kids overnight camp revolved around the movie. The theme was “Who I’m Born To Be”.
It was easy to connect the messages with themes in the movie because everyone had seen the movie multiple times.
The movie itself was good, and the music is even better, but for me, it’s the backstories of the people involved that made everything so powerful for me.
The whole thing was brought together by people who had toiled quietly in the background.
They were people who had been overlooked, not recognized and not given opportunity. They were a bunch of Korean-Americans and Korean-Canadians whom no one had heard about before.
Maggie Kang, the director, grew up in Toronto.
She had a pretty good career, but this was her passion project, a love letter to kpop and Korean culture. She toiled away on this movie for seven years, not knowing whether it would have any commercial success.
Two of the singers, Rei Ami and Audrey Nuna, the singers for Zoey and Mira, are Korean-Americans who took the risk to build music careers.
It was tough to gain traction as Asian artists. They grinded away quietly with videos on YouTube and small deals, never knowing if their work would ever be recognized.
One of the biggest stories is Ejae, the singing voice of Rumi and the writer of its best known songs.
She became a kpop trainee when she was 11. The life of a trainee is gruelling. It’s a survival of the fittest.
They spend 14 hour days training: in voice, dance, and fitness. Their life is highly regimented and it’s like boot camp.
Only a few ever make it on to become kpop idols, but so many people work so hard to become one.
Every year, she got passed over. Every year, they told her, maybe next year.
Most people would quit if they don’t make it – it’s so hard. But she stuck with it for TEN years!
Her entire childhood. Her teenage years.
After ten years of getting passed over, they told her she was too old and it’s too late. I can only imagine how devastating that is!
She went to the US to study. She fell into deep depression. But she couldn’t leave music behind. It was too much a part of who she was.
Through someone she met at church, she was invited to a songwriter’s camp at the same agency that kept her on and ditched her after ten years.
She was invited to write songs for some up and coming kpop groups. Some of her songs ended up being hits, and she shifted to songwriting.
She said that songwriting was her therapy to overcome all the scars she carried.
She kept at it.
KPop Demon Hunters began looking for songwriters. Someone who had heard of Ejae asked her to write some songs.
She wrote some of the tracks and recorded her voice on the demos. When the directors heard her singing, they knew they found the voice of Rumi, the main character.
Her hit song “Golden” is so powerful because it’s basically her story. The line “we’re going up, up, up” resonates so strongly because she experienced the depths of going down, down, down. It’s something so many people relate to.
Life is meant to be lived fully engaged. That’s the only way you’ll bear fruit in life.
But commitment is hard. There is a cost to it.
Jesus Christ was fully engaged and committed. To loving God; loving people. He was fully committed to you and I. So much that he even gave his life for you and me.
He lowered himself even to the point of death on a cross.
This is how St. Paul describes him:
Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, assuming human likeness. And being found in appearance as a human, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross.
(Philippians 2:5-8)
The fruit of going all the way is life for us. Jesus went down, down, down for us. But that is not where he remained.
Therefore God exalted him even more highly and gave him the name that is above every other name, so that at the name given to Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11)
God exalted him.
When you are fully engaged with life, you WILL experience many lows. Engaging and committing yourself is hard.
Every parent knows that. Every teacher knows that. Every leader responsible for others knows that.
But we follow Jesus Christ. We follow him down into his death. But we do so with faith that God who exalted him will exalt us too.
For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted. (Luke 7:14)
Be fully engaged, even if that means taking the lowest place. God will lift you up. Your life will bear fruit.
A new season and new school year is upon us. Will you be fully engaged or a passive bystander?
Be fully engaged with whatever situation God has put you in. Don’t be half-hearted.
In our own church, we are commissioning our teachers and Hi-C counsellors today. They play an important role in cultivating faith and being God’s presence.
To each of you: commit yourself fully – God will bear fruits in you.
There will be eight Hi-C executives. You had an amazing retreat. Don’t let that fervour wane.
Bring yourselves to God every day and every week, and commit yourself. God will be faithful through you.
The final point I want to mention is our attitude toward engagement. What will keep you going when things get tough?
Gratitude. Gratitude is the greatest ingredient to lasting engagement.
Everyday, make it a practice to give thanks to God. Give thanks that you’re alive. Give thanks that you’re able to participate and be at the table.
Especially when things get difficult; When you’re stuck in that lowest place; Give thanks to God.
This trial is just one chapter. There will be a deeper joy that will not be possible without this challenging time.
Gratitude is the fuel that keeps you going.
Ministry is tough. Many times I feel powerless. Many times I feel like I’m making no difference.
But I’m so thankful to be where I am. Everyday I give thanks for this amazing opportunity to do God’s work.
When I’m filled with gratitude, I feel God lifting me up. I feel God’s joy – that keeps me going.
Give all of yourself with gratitude. Don’t worry about where you’re at right now.
God will raise you up from the lowest place and exalt your life.
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