The title of today’s sermon is irreverent. It is so in two respects: the nuance that treats Christianity as just one of many religions, and the fact that it evaluates devout religious life in terms of cost-effectiveness (or “value for money,” Gaseongbi). Nevertheless, I wanted to use language from outside the church to demonstrate that our Christian faith makes sense. “Cost-effectiveness” is the ratio of performance to price. If the price is low but the performance is good, it is said to have good cost-effectiveness. If the performance is decent but the price is too high, the cost-effectiveness drops. The younger generation today is sensitive to cost-effectiveness. This means they place a high value on economic efficiency and effectiveness. The term “cost-effectiveness” is not limited only to the act of purchasing goods. When pursuing a task or a plan, if the anticipated outcome is negligible compared to the effort or cost invested, it is considered an endeavor with poor cost-effectiveness, and it is thought wise not to even attempt such a thing.
So, is the religious life an action with good cost-effectiveness? The cost of maintaining a religious life is considerable. Generally, if one attends Sunday worship every week and gives a tithe, the cost is one-seventh of one’s time and one-tenth of one’s finances. This is by no means an insignificant cost for the younger generation. So, what is the benefit one can gain in return for this level of cost input? There are no clear, specific, or tangible benefits. Could things like salvation, eternal life, peace of mind, and hope not be closer to wishful thinking (Jeongsin-seungri) rather than concrete benefits? The costs demanded by Christianity are becoming a high barrier to entry, especially for the younger generation, and can be evaluated as having poor cost-effectiveness. Without faith, Christianity would never be a cost-effective religion.
Deuteronomy is a book given as a guide for how to live after entering the land of Canaan. Israel had changed their status from slaves to free people, and in Canaan, they had to live as settlers, not wanderers, and as farmers, not nomads. Even after the conquest of Canaan, they had to live in tension, confronting the indigenous people still remaining in various places. There must have been many urgent tasks to handle. They had to firmly establish governing power and organization, strengthen their national defense, and lay the foundation for the nation. Amidst all this, the cost of observing the festivals was so great that one could not help but worry about the cost-effectiveness. Consider this: they had to visit Jerusalem three times every year. They had to stay there for a week each time. If you add the round-trip travel time to the one-week stay, the average time required per festival would be about half a month. This applies to all the men. The expenses for the gifts they had to bring were also considerable. The religious burden required of Israel seems too heavy. The burden on their time and finances is too great. Furthermore, there is the regulation of the tithe. To present the tithe, they also had to travel to Jerusalem with the corresponding offerings. If you count this, they would have to travel four times a year. Wouldn’t this make normal economic activity difficult? Moreover, if all adult men moved at once, there would naturally be a void in the labor force and national defense. Also, if everyone gathered at the same place at the same time, the problems of accommodation and travel expenses would be significant. Even today, we sometimes see accidents where countless people are crushed to death when Islamic pilgrims flock to Mecca in Saudi Arabia all at once. Of course, life then was not as complicated as it is now, and there weren’t as many people, but even so, it would have been a burden severe enough to make normal work or economic activity difficult. Must they go this far? The burden is too great, and one cannot help but worry about the cost-effectiveness.
However, cost-effectiveness is not determined by cost alone. Even with a heavy cost burden, if the expected result is great and certain, the cost-effectiveness can be good. If so, what is the result that the Bible promises when all those festivals are observed? Of course, the Bible promises blessings (Deuteronomy 15:6, 10, 18; 16:15). The problem is whether there is a guarantee that all those promised blessings will be fulfilled. If all the people in the world were gathered by their religious groups and statistics were taken on things like their wealth or happiness index, and the Christian group was overwhelmingly higher than other religious groups, everyone would want to embrace the Christian faith. Because the good cost-effectiveness would be clearly proven. People would sincerely pursue the religious life. They would willingly pay the cost. They would willingly dedicate themselves and willingly sacrifice. Since the result is certainly guaranteed, the invested cost would not be regrettable. But unfortunately, no such statistics exist. There is no such tangible evidence. If so, is the cost-effectiveness of the religious life actually acceptable? Put differently, do you believe there will be sure compensation for the time and money you are investing in your religious life now? Are you confident that your faith will not betray you? What can we expect as a result of our faith? I bless you to find a clear answer to these questions today.
The first question we must ask is, why does God require these expensive and cumbersome festivals? What do you think is the purpose of the festivals? In most cults, the emphasis on rules is for the purpose of controlling and manipulating people. Even orthodox religions, when they become corrupt, experience this phenomenon. The Pharisees of Jesus’ time were criticized by Jesus for this very reason. If so, was it God’s purpose to give the commandment to observe these festivals for the same reason? Surely that was not the case. Then what was the purpose of these difficult and costly festivals? The purpose of the festivals is remembrance and confirmation. It is to remember the things that happened between God and them, the things God did for them, and the promises between God and them, and to confirm their relationship with God. It is to confirm that God is the God of Israel and Israel is His people. Ultimately, the purpose of the festivals is to firmly establish their identity as the people of God’s kingdom.
Then, the question naturally follows: why is establishing identity so important?
This question can be answered by considering what problems or dangers follow when one loses one’s identity. In the land of Canaan, losing one’s identity as God’s people means being assimilated into the Canaanite way of life. Why is that a problem? Let’s look at Genesis 15:12-16. This is the covenant between God and Abraham. The content shows that while Israel’s entry into Canaan is God’s promise, Canaan, on the other hand, is under God’s judgment because their wickedness is complete. That is, being assimilated into the Canaanite way of life means being judged along with Canaan. The reason people in the world do not believe in Jesus as their Savior is that they do not realize their need for salvation. Because they do not realize that the world will be judged, they do not understand the necessity of being saved while living in the world. When they are told, “You must believe in Jesus,” the response is, “I understand, but I have to go eat now.” Israel losing its identity and being assimilated into Canaan is like leaving the ark in Noah’s time and living in a world doomed for judgment by the flood, getting married, buying fields, buying rice paddies, and going out to eat. Therefore, they are told not to forget their identity as God’s people by observing the festivals, even if it costs a high price. Protecting one’s identity is not a matter of cost-effectiveness but a matter of survival. For us as Christians, attending Sunday worship and giving a tithe is not simply a matter of time and money that others do not have to pay; it is a matter of identity—whether we belong to God’s saved people or to the world to be judged. Therefore, these things should not be regarded as mere religious acts. Sometimes we see people who say, “I don’t go to church, but I believe in God.” That is like claiming to be an Israelite, not a Canaanite, even though one does not observe the festivals. Living like that, it is only a matter of time before one is assimilated into Canaan. It will happen without even realizing it. There is a need for a spiritual urgency that belonging to a faith community is a matter of my survival. Even if the ark is cramped, smelly, and uncomfortable, knowing that outside the ark is water (judgment) would make one not think of leaving.
Let’s consider the second problem. God promised blessings if they kept the commandments, that is, observed the festivals. Is that promise of blessing certain? If the promise of blessing is certain, the cost-effectiveness issue will be resolved. First, we must confirm what blessings we have received. Because confirming the received blessings makes the future blessings certain. To see if a promise far in the future is trustworthy, look at the fulfillment of a promise in the near future. The confirmation that a near-future promise will be fulfilled comes from looking at whether past promises were fulfilled. Ultimately, if the past blessings are certain, the promised future blessings are also certain. The festivals God commanded Israel were about remembering and reflecting on the grace God showed in the past, and a promise of blessing to be fulfilled in the near future. The Passover is a mechanism for remembering how God saved Israel when He judged the firstborns of Egypt. The Festival of Weeks (Pentecost) is a mechanism for hoping in the grace of the harvest that they would experience immediately upon entering Canaan—that is, grace to be fulfilled in the near future. The Festival of Tabernacles is a mechanism to remind them of how God protected and guided Israel during the wilderness years. Through these festivals, by reflecting on the blessings received in the past and making the near-future blessings certain, they would live all their future lives in Canaan fully relying on God’s grace and as befitting God’s people. Both the Exodus and the journey through the wilderness were entirely by God’s grace. Israel had no plan of their own. If so, even when they entered Canaan to live, they had to rely entirely on God’s grace. Farming in Canaan also depended entirely on God’s grace, who sends the early and latter rains. But now that their lives have changed from nomadic to farming, they must not believe in Baal, the agricultural god worshiped by the original farmers of Canaan, nor be assimilated into the people of that land who think the land itself is their resource. Israel is God’s people, and God’s people must live by God’s grace, whether in the wilderness or in Canaan, no matter the circumstances. Therefore, God reminds them of His past grace so they can be certain that God’s grace will not cease in Canaan.
Now let’s apply this principle to ourselves. If we maintain our identity as God’s people by regularly attending worship, do we believe that God’s grace will continuously be with us until we go to heaven? And do we believe that we will finally enter heaven? Although we live on this earth intermingled with the people of this world, and thus our lives may look similar to theirs, do we still believe that our identity is God’s people, that we live by God’s grace, and that God alone is our resource? Do we believe that in any circumstance, God will show us favor, meet our needs, protect us, love us, and guide us until we finally reach heaven? To strengthen this faith, we need to remember and reflect on the past grace we have already received. If the past grace (blessing) that has come upon me is evidence of the blessing I will receive in the future, what evidence can we present? Testifying to the grace I have received is called “testimony” in Christian terminology. If the testimony is certain, the hope is also certain. But the reason many Christians lack confidence in their testimony is that they seek the blessings they have received in the wrong place, not where they should be sought. Billy Graham once visited San Francisco and held an evangelistic meeting at Cow Palace. He told this joke: Someone was searching for something under a streetlamp, and a passerby asked, “What are you looking for?” “I lost my wallet and am looking for it.” “Did you lose your wallet here?” “No, I lost it over there.” “Then why are you searching here?” “There’s no streetlamp over there.” We must search where we should search, not where it is convenient to search. Since we are God’s people, we must find our blessings within the Kingdom of God. But the Lord said that the Kingdom of God is within us. That means the Kingdom of God is within me or within us. If so, we should also look for what blessings we have received within ourselves and among us. If you look for blessings in terms of worldly success, how much wealth and fame you have accumulated, you will not find them. Theologically, this world is not the Kingdom of God that is being completed, but is like Canaan, which has already been judged and is heading towards destruction. Of course, God feeds and clothes us even in this world, but the true blessing is not in the world’s kingdom but in the Kingdom of God. So, turn your gaze inward and see how much you have been blessed since believing in Jesus. Also, look for what blessings you have received within the faith community. Then no one will fail to find them. Do you consider yourself a blessed person? If you consider worldly conditions, it might seem like you haven’t been blessed much. So, as I prepared this sermon, I also reflected on the blessings I have received. When did I feel most blessed, and when was I happiest? I was truly happy when I first met God personally and realized that He loved me. I was truly happy when five people accepted the Lord after a Bible study at City College, and I was driving across Golden Gate Park on the way back. I felt so happy that I thought I would die when we finished Sunday worship and were riding back in the church van, singing hymns after a homeless outreach ministry. I experienced the joy of the Lord feeding 5,000 people with five loaves and two fish, when we invited everyone in Chaung Tha, Myanmar, for a meal. The joy I felt while performing a baptismal ceremony on the beach of Chaung Tha. I have personally baptized 133 people through my ministry, excluding those baptized all at once in Myanmar or China. Each of them is my reward and blessing. Looking back, the greatest blessings in my life were all spiritual blessings, and those I shared with the faith community. I know that I am a blessed person. If so, will I be blessed in the future? Probably so. Going a step further, I will finally enjoy the eternal glory of heaven. This is already promised from the moment we accept Jesus Christ as Lord and join the holy march of the saints. If you firmly believe that the blessings you received are the evidence of the blessings you will receive, and if you look for blessings where they should be found, all of you will confess that you have already received abundant blessings and are still receiving them now. If so, shouldn’t you also believe that astonishing and glorious unknown blessings await us in the future? Amen.
If we compare the religious costs paid by the people of Israel with the religious costs we are paying now, the cost we pay is incomparably small. Conversely, the content of the promised blessing is incomparably greater for us. Festivals versus Sunday worship. Canaan versus Heaven. There is no comparison, is there? We no longer journey to Jerusalem to observe the festivals. This is because Jesus has paid all the religious costs we were supposed to pay. And by His crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension, He showed us the eternal glory in heaven, which cannot be compared to the blessings of Canaan. Hallelujah. Therefore, our cost-effectiveness is truly a great success (Daebak). Paul states it this way: “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” (Romans 8:18, NIV) The old translation expressed it as, “the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us,” which strongly emphasized how incomparable the comparison was, and I prefer that old translation. To easily explain Paul’s words, when comparing the cost and the recompense, faith is truly a great cost-effectiveness success.
We, who are marching toward heaven, are on a march of incomparably great cost-effectiveness compared to the Israelites who marched toward Canaan. The Sunday worship we are having now is not a mere participation in a religious act; it is a confirmation and confession that we are joining the holy procession marching toward heaven. Why would we not join this glorious march? But the problem is those who are still outside of Christ. They are people who have never tasted spiritual blessings and, therefore, do not know what they are. How can we persuade these people that Christianity is a religion of great cost-effectiveness? Do you like Kimchi Jjigae (Kimchi Stew)? How delicious is it when you stir-fry a little pork, add well-fermented aged Kimchi, and include tofu? But unfortunately, how many people in this world must have died without ever tasting that delicious Kimchi Jjigae? Especially most Americans probably do not know the taste of Kimchi Jjigae. Isn’t that truly pitiful? But isn’t it awkward to try to explain the taste of Kimchi Jjigae to someone who has never tasted it? It’s salty, it’s spicy, but it has a deep savory flavor (Gamchil-mat). It’s hot, but it’s refreshing. No matter what you say, it cannot be explained. At this time, the reaction when eating Kimchi Jjigae is important. Wow, this taste, what is it? Oh, it’s refreshing. It’s killer. It’s really delicious, but I can’t explain it, just try some first. That’s all one can say. If one reacts like this every time one eats Kimchi Jjigae, passersby will be curious enough to try it. But if the reaction is not good, there is no impact. Two or three weeks ago, I was driving to church when I received a call from an unfamiliar number. Since the number was verified, I answered, and it was an older woman’s voice asking, “Are you Korean?” I said yes, and she said she was calling to talk a little about the happiness of life. How grateful and thankful it is that someone wants to tell you how to be happy in life. But I didn’t feel a speck of gratitude. So, when I tried to hang up saying, “No, thank you,” she urgently told me to go to the Jehovah’s Witnesses website. As I hung up, I realized that the voice of the person who wanted to tell me about the true happiness of life did not sound happy at all. It is certain that this person does not know the taste of Kimchi Jjigae. The reaction of someone who truly knows the taste of Kimchi Jjigae could not be like this. To truly taste God’s blessing, one must enter the Kingdom of God, and since one can only realize that Christianity is a religion of great cost-effectiveness after entering, the reaction of those who have tasted it, which acts as the path, is truly important. And when those reactions gather and flow like a mighty river, forming a massive trend, the holy shock will turn the world upside down. Faith is the confirmation that I am currently participating in a march of great cost-effectiveness. Amen.
There is a cheer song that is always played at the home stadium of Son Heung-min’s team, Tottenham Hotspur.
It’s the song “When the Saints Go Marching In.” No one knows when, where, or by whom it was composed and written. It is a song passed down through tradition, and the most famous version currently passed down is Louis Armstrong’s album released in 1938. The lyrics of the song are as follows:
Oh when the saints go marching in,
Oh when the saints go marching in,
I want to be in that number,
Oh when the saints go marching in
In the Bible, “Saints” is translated as Seongdo (holy people). Each believer is a Saint (Seongja, holy one), and when Saints gather, the plural form Seongdo is used, which includes the character “do” meaning “group” or “multitude.” When cheering for soccer, they change “saints” to “Spurs.” But originally, it was a Black spiritual and a song of faith. It is a song containing the ardent desire of faith to be included in that glorious procession when the saints march toward heaven, just as Israel marched toward Canaan. Imagine the sight of Israel marching toward Canaan. The Tabernacle, symbolizing God’s presence, is centrally placed, the Levites guard the Tabernacle all around, and the twelve tribes of Israel form a procession in all four directions—East, West, South, and North—while above them, a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night protect and guide them. What a glorious procession. Now, let’s imagine again the sight of all the believing saints in this world gathering together, singing, “Oh when the saints go marching in,” and marching toward heaven. If our spiritual eyes were opened, we would see heavenly hosts surrounding us, and some angels would be playing trumpets with even more exciting music than Louis Armstrong. Our Lord Jesus Christ will lead this procession like a shepherd guiding his flock, and we will see the Holy Spirit Himself accompanying us with a holy presence, not a cloud and fire. The glory of this procession will be incomparably more glorious than the procession of Israel, and the cost-effectiveness of this procession will be truly a great cost-effectiveness success compared to Israel. Therefore, I bless you that not a single person among us will fall out but will go all the way together in this profitable and glorious march. And I bless you that our children, families, and friends who have not yet joined this procession will finally sing, “I want to be in that number,” and join this march. Amen.