A Life in Third Place that is Lowly,
Despised, and Having Nothing
Acts 1:6-11, 1 Corinthians 1:26-29
The church of Corinth was established around AD 50, during Apostle Paul’s second missionary journey. He said that where sin abounds, grace abounds more. The church of Corinth was a church that was full of sin and problems, a place that was established by the fruit of evangelism when Paul dove in with the explosion of the Word of God. In today’s scripture, the Holy Spirit uses the word “foolish” to describe the church of Corinth through the words of Apostle Paul: “God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise.”
In the original language, this word means foolish, unintelligent, and slow. It is like a fluorescent lamp that turns on after blinking multiple times. For the people of the world, Paul’s evangelism of the gospel was foolishness. Although the gospel is the most valuable and precious thing for us, it was foolishness for the Jews, Greeks and the gentiles. They scoffed, saying, “Those fellows, don’t they have anything better to do?” and “Look at the state you are in! You should be the ones to believe in Jesus and receive blessings.” The world cannot understand God with its own knowledge, for it is the wise administration of God. The Jews, Greeks and gentiles who considered themselves wise were unable to know God. God decided to give salvation to those who believe through the gospel that was supposedly “foolish.” “For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble” (1 Cor 1:26). God’s redemptive administration proclaims the gospel through the marginal life, through the foolish who are empty-handed and know nothing.
Just as there are three primary colors, life can be divided into three classes.
First, is the upper class—those who are stiff-necked because they have money. Second, is the middle class—those who have enough to live. Third, is the lower class—those who live doing the dirty work that others avoid. If you were to visit their home, they would not even have decent household goods. People in the upper and middle class sit at the seat of God and judge the lower class, saying they are ignorant and smelly. They look down on others and mistreat people. Have you seen people of the upper or middle class prepare and serve food for the lower class when they come to fix the broken pipes at their house? They would do no such thing.
But see how God works. He lifts up and uses those who are rotting away. People look down on the lowly and ignorant, but God’s administration does the exact opposite. Those who accepted the gospel of the cross were not the Jews, who considered themselves the number one nation and looked down on others as if they were the firewood of hell (1 Cor 1:23-24). They viewed the gospel of Jesus as something that was irritating, troublesome and sickening. They laughed at the people who believed that the son of a poor carpenter was the Messiah and considered them foolish. However, Apostle Paul states, “but we preach Christ crucified” (1 Cor 1:23), “For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified” (1 Cor 2:2).
The Jews did not want to remember or even think about the form of the cross where heinous criminals died.
But Paul did. Although he was born in the royal tribe of Benjamin, went to a prestigious school in Tarsus and was strictly educated under Gamaliel, he did not boast of his background but only boasted of the cross. He was of the cross from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet. Why then did he boast of the cross?
The cross is the holy body. Jesus Himself is the cross (Matt 20:28). The life of the Lord is the cross. The cross is the holy body of the Christian faith. Christianity is not Christianity without the cross. The cross is the power and wisdom of God (1 Cor 1:18-30). “But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption” (1 Cor 1:30). The upper and middle class rejected this blessed Word, and the ones who accepted it were those with the third-place lives, the feeble and uneducated.
The cross represents suffering and death. Jesus was trampled ruthlessly, struck and kicked without mercy and had to carry the heavy tree that weighed 112.5 kilograms up Golgotha. Both His hands and feet were nailed to the cross, and a crown of thorns was put on His head. When His side was pierced and blood slowly poured out, His entire body ached as if it were being twisted. He was thirsty and in extreme pain. The people did not even give water to Jesus, instead giving Him sour vinegar. It was a cross of suffering (1 Pet 2:21-24), a symbol of death (Phil 2:5-8).
The cross is a sacrifice of peace. The Jews, Greeks and philosophers considered it foolish, but Jesus became the sacrifice of peace and broke down the dividing wall that separated us from God because of our sins (Eph 2:14; 2 Cor 5:18-21; Col 1:19-23).
The cross connects mankind back with God. It is a combination of the plus and minus sign. The vertical relationship between man and God and the horizontal relationship between mankind is contained inside the cross. We are tied together with God by the rope of the cross (Eph 2:11-18).
The cross is Christ, who is our salvation (1 Cor 1:18). God gave us salvation only through the cross; there is no other way. God is the Creator, but the Word of the covenant that He established with man cannot be changed, and there is no other way for man to receive salvation but through the cross of Jesus Christ. The cross is the symbol of Christianity and its pride.
The cross is death’s final stop. Without the cross, we cannot die peacefully and will meet a tragic end. However, we Christians can die well and will not face a tragic death, for Jesus died in our place. He made the cross the final stop of our death.
The cross is the resurrection of life. The Spirit who resurrected in three days abolished the power of death and came upon us, leading us to resurrect into a new life (1 Cor 15:20; Gal 2:20).
This cross was a stumbling block for the Jews who asked for signs.
The Japanese Bible translates this as “displeases the heart.” “Stumbling block” (1 Cor 1:23) means that they tripped and fell over it. God sent the spirit of ignorance and blinded their physical and spiritual eyes. The Greeks considered the message of the cross as silly, foolish, ignorant and uneducated, but it became the power and wisdom of God for His children. We are strengthened when we look to the cross during times of discouragement and distress in our worldly lives. We slap our knees in understanding, realizing that we made a mistake. We become wise when we look to the cross. We are given the ability to prosper at work. As we work in our jobs, we must come to understand, “Ah, I have lived without holding onto the cross. The cross is the power of God but I was losing myself by concentrating on the world and thoughts of acquiring money. I was the fool of all fools.” Then we must think of how to fight against Satan as we pray, “Lord, please forgive me. I look to the cross to receive new strength and power.”
In the American historical dramas of the west in the 1800’s, you can see a stagecoach pulled by twelve horses. The first-class seats are covered with cloth but the third-class seats only have planks. When the wheels of the carriage come off and the coach comes to a stop, the passengers in the 1st-class seats with hats and beards do not even look out. They take out their pocket watches and look at it. Passengers in the second-class seats peep out and come out to see, only to watch with their arms crossed. The third-class passengers are different. They get off immediately and help the horseman change the wheels and help out to the end. Those who buy tickets in the third-class seats are people who move. They are people who are humble. Who would fix the carriage if it weren’t for these people? Dear Saints, if we were to buy our tickets, let us buy the third-class seats. Let us not buy the first-class tickets only to look down on the other passengers.
Human thoughts lead us to believe that it would be good for God to work through those who had authority and honor. Instead He does what we cannot comprehend, searching for the lost through people who do not have a penny to their name, so in need and so poor that they have to worry about firewood. “When we are slandered, we try to conciliate; we have become as the scum of the world, the dregs of all things, even until now” (1 Cor 4:13). Do not forget 1 Corinthians 4:9-13 for all eternity. God condemned the third-place lives to death for the sake of the Gospel. The administration of God cannot be understood easily.
The NIV Bible translates 1 Corinthians 4:9-13 as: “For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like those condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to human beings. We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are honored, we are dishonored! To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless. We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; when we are slandered, we answer kindly. We have become the scum of the earth, the garbage of the world—right up to this moment.”
This is the path that must be walked by the messengers of the gospel, the believers of Jesus. I shed so many tears this morning when I read this. Have we even attempted to try living like this when we say we believe in Jesus? Do not offer half-hearted worship. Even if you keep all the Sundays in a year, it is only 52 times. When you go home after dozing off during worship and not understanding the Word, can you say you gave true, rightful worship before God? How will you stand before God in the end when you grumble about why the sermons can’t finish more quickly?
There are countless distinguished people of this world, but God lifts up with His right hand the third-place lives who are not wise and have nothing, and He uses them. Hurry and buy the third-class tickets because God is telling us He will lift up and use the third-place lives that buy the third-class seats. Do not fake your knowledge or status, or pretend to have everything when really you have nothing. When we confess that we are foolish, that we have nothing and can barely manage to buy even third-class seats, God will see the humble heart and use us.
The saints are those who look beyond
As Jesus ascended to heaven, He commanded to the people, “you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth”(Acts 1:8). His command was to not stare up into the sky when there is so much to do, but to look at the ground and look ahead (Acts 1:11). The saints who are disciples of the Lord must be people who go out of their homes, not those who close their doors and only look outside through the window, saying that it is cold.
When I first built the 200-pyeong (661 m2) church in Sillim-dong in 1970, I danced and cried for I was so overjoyed. At that time, there were twenty children in Sunday school but no one to teach them. I asked a deaconess named Kim Ok-Ja (who came to the church not long ago) to teach the children, but she adamantly refused, saying, “I do not have the talent to teach children, so do not talk to me about this.” That response really hurt me. But when I saw her the next week, she had brought along two children from her neighborhood. After service, she took the children back home. She brought thirty children like that over six months. The number of students increased to fifty, and the church was full of life. It became warm, just like a room would when you turn on a heater. Then, pleasantly, she and her husband volunteered to oversee the Sunday school. That is when I realized that deaconess Kim Ok-Ja might not have had the gift of teaching, but she had the gift of seeing ahead. Saints must not remain indoors, for it will only lead to complaining, grumbling and useless talk. There are many leaves but no fruit. During a time when people only looked at each other, and when the members stayed the same, deaconess Kim Ok-Ja brought new life from the outside, even if they were only children. She evangelized to Jerusalem, Samaria and to the ends of the earth. I still cannot forget this. How long will you look outside from the corner of your room? You can only be a fisherman and catch fish when you go outside.
In 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt invited missionaries to Washington D.C. and praised them as the hidden heroes of the land, as people who looked far beyond, who all surpassed personal profit and climbed over the walls in their families, nations and race. Moody, a famous missionary in America, said imminent to his death, “The monument I want after I am dead is a monument with two legs going around the world—a saved sinner telling about the salvation of Jesus Christ.” How lovely are the feet of him who brings good news? (Isa 52:7). We are people who always run outside (Nah 1:15; Rom 10:15; Matt 4:23-25; Luke 4:43; 1 Cor 9:16; Rom 1:14-16; Jer 1:9; Eph 6:15; Job 3:18-19; Ps 39:3).
The saints are those who look above
We do not believe well or live healthily because we are good. We must lift up our eyes to see Jesus, standing at the right side of God, praying for us with worry (Rom 8:34; Col 3:1; Heb 3:1). This does not mean we should only look towards the sky. It means we must lift up prayer and praise. We must pray so we can receive the wisdom and power to evangelize, and to receive knowledge and strength. This kind of heart looks towards the power of God and longs for His grace. The posture of a saint must be one of faith that looks above, a posture of accuracy and honesty. On July 24th, 1987 at 3:45 AM, Hulda Crooks, an American mountaineer (nicknamed “Grandma Whitney”), reached the peak of Mt. Fuji in Japan with an altitude of 3,776 meters. As many reporters stood watching, she recited Isaiah 2:2-3 at the peak of the mountain: “Now it will come about that In the last days The mountain of the house of the LORD Will be established as the chief of the mountains, And will be raised above the hills; And all the nations will stream to it. And many peoples will come and say, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, To the house of the God of Jacob; That He may teach us concerning His ways And that we may walk in His paths.’ For the law will go forth from Zion And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.” We are people who will go up. In hymn 394, see the eagle in the midst of a fierce storm, using the wind to leisurely soar higher with its wings spread wide. Those who hope in the Lord will rise up with wings like eagles (Isa 40:29-31).
The saints are those who only look forward
Apostle Paul said he forgets what lies behind and reaches forward to what lies ahead, pressing on toward the goal (Phil 3:14). God went before the Israelites to seek out a place for them to encamp (Exod 13:21-22; 14:19-24; 40:38; Num 10:34; 14:14; Deut 1:33). We must be people who lead the way, not people who stand at the back. God wants us to bear what is left in the path of afflictions with responsibility and press onward (Col 1:24). There was a well-known pastor whom I respected and who gave me love. I went to visit him a few years ago, after hearing that his ill condition worsened and was near death.
—”Aren’t you Evangelist Park Yoon-Sik who was at Masan?”
—”Yes, pastor. You raised me and you prayed for me.”
—”Of course, of course. I thought I wouldn’t get to see you before I leave, but I did.”
He continued on and said, “You know that you draw nearer to Jesus as you age, right? Pastor Park, only think of the things to come. You are still a youth even if you are 72 years old; plan new mission work.” I received so much grace from his words. I was truly thankful and felt ashamed before God.
The disciples were always at Jesus’ side. Why not stand in front of Jesus? They only followed after Him and hoped that they would receive something to eat. If we believe in Jesus who always leads the way, we must also lead like Him (Mark 10:32). Jesus is always in an advancing position for the salvation of mankind. He was a pioneer who looked to the future and lived with a future-oriented attitude. The gospel must press onward. The church and the Word must press forward. Paul tells us to lay aside the old self and put on the new self. There is no time to reminisce of the past. Look to the new day and advance forward with new faith. Those who are in Christ is a new creation (2 Cor 5:17; Eph 4:22-25; Rom 6:3).
People can be divided into three stages of maturity. The infantile state consists of those who always reproach others. Even at church they talk about others, pretending that they haven’t when someone enters the room. These people do not know how to look ahead and cannot advance with the gospel.
The adolescent period consists of those who reproach themselves. When they realize who they are and what they must not do, they can be taught.
Those in their adulthood stage do not easily grow weary and live looking forward. If you only remain inside the house, you do not know when the sun sets. People who go outside and move forward can anticipate what is to come and hasten. These types of people are needed in the church. Kim Kyo-Shin was a man who lead the religious movement with Ham Seok-Heon. After Kim received his education from the famous evangelist of Japan, Uchimura Kanzo, he declared, “My ideology is a sense of responsibility towards God. When this conviction stands firm, you can live a successful life. People must look ahead into the future. We must not dwell in the present but see beyond to the future of this race and dream of tomorrow.”
Dear saints, the Christians who can look beyond are those who live lowly, marginal lives with nothing in their possession. They are those who can barely manage to buy the third-class seat. They are the people who move, and the people who look above. Why lose heart and worry when our Lord is praying for us? We only need to give thanks and go out and work. These are the people who look to the future (Heb 3:1; 1 Thess 5:10; Rom 8:18; Phil 1:19-21). Do not be envious of the riches in the world. They are all stored up for the righteous. Does God not work through us who are despised, humiliated and treated as the dreg of all things by this world? We must become a used bowl that is always used at the right hand of our master. Gold plates and silver plates are only used a few times a year. I pray in the name of the Lord that we will all become spiritual bowls that the master can use as He pleases, that we will feel rewarded by serving the church with a spirit of sacrifice even if our bodies break and are sore and weary.
Sermon by Huisun Rev. Abraham Park, on January 23, 2005 (Evergreen Church, New York)
*This post can also be read in 'Champyungan'. (http://champyungan.com/en/)