Are You Strict about Believing in God? Be Strict!

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Matthew 12:9-14

“He replied, ‘I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but as for the one who has nothing, even what they have will be taken away.’"

 

 

1

To begin with, as always, I would like to recap what we learned last Sunday. Last Sunday we learned about money, correctly minas – the currency Jesus used in his time.  One mina is a daily laborer’s one-month wages. Three minas are equal to a daily laborer’s three-moth wages. To help you understand the story well, I changed the currency into the US dollar. There was a king. When he was about to go on a trip for three months, he called his 10 servants. He gave them $10 dollars each equally. Three months later he came back and called for his servants back. The king asked, “Alright, now you can give me my money back.” The first servant gave back to the king $20 dollars because he was able to make some interests, using the 10 dollars the king had given him. The king was pleased and says, “Thank you, man! Because you are good at making interests, now I will give you $10,000.” The second servant gave back to the king $15 dollars. The King was pleased again, saying, “Thank you for your hard work! Now I can trust you more. Here is $5,000. Take and use it as you wish.” The third servant seemed hesitant because he hid $10 in some place and did not make any interests. He knew how hard his master was when it comes to money. So, he kept $10 safely, of course, doing nothing with it. When he gave back to the king the money, the king became furious, saying, “How lazy you are! I don’t want to talk with you anymore because you did nothing with the money I gave you. Guys, take the money from that guy and give it to the first one who made $10 interests!”

 

2

With the story, Jesus points out that God gave all of us life equally. As long as we are alive, we are equal. Some of you are richer than others. Some of you are poorer than others. And that comparison is endless. However, on the condition that we are all alive, we are equal. What God really wants from us is simple. God wants us to make something beneficial to this world. Our lifetime mission is to make this world a little bit better place for ourselves, our friends, our family, and people in need out there. That is why you have to begin thinking what you want to do with your life.

 

3

That being said, today I also have something to tell you. But, I am really hesitant to tell because I am pretty sure no one here can understand what Jesus wants me to teach you. Today’s Bible story is only for those who are strict about believing God. If you are serious about worshipping God, it is natural to try to control yourself during worship. But, here I can only see a few of you who chose that difficult way. Most of you still think of worshipping God as a boring game you don’t want to play. If you are serious about Sunday, that is, if you think Sunday is the day you should come to church for worshipping God at the risk of losing other good opportunities to have fun in other palces, I can say that you are strict about believing God. If you are strict about believing God, the most easily noticeable marker for that is when you worship God, you try to focus on what you are doing. When you sing, you really sing. When you pray, you really pray. When you read the Bible, you really read and think over it. Today’s Bible story is unfortunately only for those who are strict about believing God. That is why I am so hesitant. If you are not strict about believing God, this might be useless. Anyhow, let us begin with reading the Bible. It is Matthew 12:9-14.

 

4

The story tells us a religious fight between Jesus and the Pharisees. I already explained what the Pharisees are. They were a group of people in Jesus’ time who were extremely religious so that they tried to keep all God’s commands and rules in the Bible to the letter. One Sunday Jesus went to a temple where he saw a man with a shriveled hand. Attempting to trap Jesus, the Pharisees asked Jesus, “Is it lawful to heal on Sunday?” because at that time people thought that Sunday no one could work only worship and rest. But, Jesus said that if there were people in need, it is better to help them even on Sunday. My point is that God’s focus is not on the Bible but on us. We, humans, are more important than the Bible. But, Jesus told this not to you who think worshipping God as a boring game. Rather, Jesus told this only to you who are so strict about worshipping God that you may forget humans are more important than religious regulations. So, let me ask you? Are you strict about believing God? If not, try to be so. If you are, then don’t forget that we are more important than religious regulations.

 

 

Prayer

God, thank you for helping us realize that we are more important than the Bible and thank you for making us realize that that statement is not for us because we are not strict enough to worship you. God, we will keep in mind that worship is not a game so it is not easy to worship you well. We will try hard to be strict about how to worship you and how to believe you. We pray in your name Jesus Christ. Amen.