back to indexBerean Community Church - Sunday Service 6.07
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I'm gonna have you just remain seated for this first song, 00:10:24.100 |
and then Pastor Peter's gonna come up for announcements. 00:10:29.420 |
I wanted to pick a song that exalts our God and King. 00:10:33.620 |
We are all His creatures, and He deserves all the glory. 00:13:17.340 |
♪ This Lord has cast all your burdens now on Him ♪ 00:15:20.160 |
All right, we're gonna have to stop service for a minute. 00:15:48.860 |
And some of you guys who have been waiting eagerly 00:15:51.680 |
to hear your name, Pastor Peter has failed you today. 00:15:58.200 |
Still love God, but Pastor Peter has failed you this morning 00:16:04.120 |
But we wanna congratulate those who are graduating 00:16:11.760 |
And then I know that there are elementary students 00:16:14.480 |
and my son himself has had promotion this week online. 00:16:18.760 |
And we had Cal State Long Beach, Cal State Fullerton, 00:16:28.900 |
Okay, I'm just gonna have to wing it with the announcement. 00:16:32.360 |
So if I forget anything, just wave your hand, okay? 00:16:37.240 |
So first of all, we have, again, we have three services 00:16:44.400 |
and you're on the waiting list and you couldn't get in, 00:16:58.280 |
and then get you into one of the services, okay? 00:17:03.560 |
And what's the other one that I was supposed to say? 00:17:11.500 |
Membership, okay, so it's an M, not three legs, okay. 00:17:16.640 |
Okay, so starting from the first week of July, 00:17:21.960 |
Before we used to have membership and church introduction, 00:17:25.960 |
foundational Christian doctrine all in one class. 00:17:29.680 |
But starting from July, the first week of July, 00:17:34.420 |
July 5th, okay, so July 5th, the first Sunday of July, 00:17:40.600 |
It's gonna go for about an hour and a half for eight weeks 00:17:53.600 |
for people who wanna learn about Christianity 00:17:57.720 |
But now it's going to be specific for membership 00:18:01.860 |
into some of the things that we wanna talk about 00:18:04.180 |
and make sure that we properly prepare people 00:18:06.240 |
for membership and so just keep that in mind. 00:18:08.520 |
So July 5th is when the beginning of that will be. 00:18:12.520 |
So if you need to do that, please sign up with Pastor Mark 00:18:15.800 |
and it will be taking place during the second service, 00:18:20.840 |
And so we wanna do that because there's more space there 00:18:28.360 |
and then he'll give you more information, okay? 00:18:37.000 |
and you are waiting, sorry, parents, I failed today. 00:18:47.280 |
the physical offering, if you choose to do so, 00:18:54.080 |
So our offering, for the sake of not passing out 00:18:56.720 |
the offering baskets, we're not gonna be doing that 00:18:58.920 |
for a while and most of you who've gotten the habit 00:19:01.880 |
of giving online and you wanna continue to do that, 00:19:07.240 |
We'll give you about 15, 20 seconds to do that 00:19:11.280 |
a physical check, that can be done in the back, okay? 00:19:14.160 |
So let me pray for us and then pray for the offering 00:19:16.240 |
and then our worship team will begin to lead us. 00:19:36.800 |
but we thank you, Father God, that we're able to gather 00:19:39.640 |
and we pray that the coming weeks, coming months, 00:19:42.920 |
that we'd be able to come together, all of us, Lord God, 00:19:50.240 |
we may practice the things that you teach us. 00:19:53.720 |
And I pray, Father God, that through all of this, 00:20:01.240 |
We pray that you would bless this morning, Lord God, 00:20:07.880 |
that even in our giving, help us to be intentional, 00:20:13.040 |
help us to give joyfully, that it may be multiplied 00:22:46.220 |
♪ And dwell among the outcasts and the poor ♪ 00:24:02.780 |
♪ You shatter death and freedom from our fears ♪ 00:25:39.580 |
♪ You ignite the fire of a thousand burning suns ♪ 00:29:11.680 |
- You know, I did remember one person's birthday. 00:29:44.980 |
and I know some of you guys who are on the Facebook, 00:29:51.100 |
of the sermon this morning, "No Justice, No Peace." 00:29:54.100 |
And I know some of you probably saw that change 00:30:03.020 |
Okay, and some of you guys may have said that, 00:30:05.180 |
maybe some of you look at this symbol of this fist, 00:30:08.580 |
and that symbol alone kind of triggers bad thoughts. 00:30:15.580 |
Well, all over the country, maybe even all over the world, 00:30:29.020 |
And I actually did a study to find out where it started, 00:30:35.940 |
during the Civil Rights Movement in the '60s. 00:30:42.860 |
during the protest at "No Justice, No Peace." 00:30:52.580 |
behind "No Justice, No Peace" is rooted in Scripture. 00:30:56.980 |
In fact, the very foundations upon the gospel 00:31:09.300 |
God is establishing the necessity of justice. 00:31:12.980 |
And as the Jews were looking for the shalom, for peace, 00:31:22.400 |
is if God brings back justice, righteousness. 00:31:26.520 |
So at the core of the gospel message is this message, 00:31:47.600 |
are not the only people who experience racism. 00:31:53.640 |
You can be a Caucasian in America and experience racism. 00:32:01.580 |
and I think it's important for us to acknowledge their pain. 00:32:09.660 |
yes, there are Chinese Americans, Japanese Americans, 00:32:20.480 |
But the African Americans, their history is slavery. 00:32:25.340 |
They were brought here by force hundreds of years ago 00:32:30.880 |
And so even though that was many, many generations ago, 00:32:42.420 |
where there is deep-rooted bitterness and even hatred 00:32:53.020 |
is not only too simplistic, but is highly insensitive. 00:32:58.020 |
They are more sensitive to what seems to be racism. 00:33:06.260 |
Even if objectively we may look at it and say, 00:33:10.380 |
They are more sensitive to racism, understandably. 00:33:25.100 |
they are going to, whenever that gets triggered, 00:33:29.620 |
all of their past experiences, all their grandparents, 00:33:32.800 |
and all their past history are all going to come into play 00:33:46.620 |
but I had a friend back in junior high school, 00:33:52.920 |
He was so sensitive to racism because he didn't, 00:33:58.860 |
I came to the United States when I was really young, 00:34:00.780 |
so my English was fine, but he came a little bit later. 00:34:04.280 |
He came almost at the end of elementary school, 00:34:13.860 |
but he was not a small guy like me, he was a big guy. 00:34:21.500 |
and we heard something at the end of the hall, 00:34:23.420 |
and he went running, and then he started railing on some kid 00:34:26.940 |
and I had to pull him off, and we're walking out of school, 00:34:30.660 |
He said, "He said something about Ching Chung something, 00:34:34.860 |
"and I don't even know if that's what actually happened. 00:34:38.300 |
"he may have made it sound like Ching Chung or something." 00:34:42.820 |
Anything that sounded like racism, he ran over there, 00:34:57.500 |
for us to not to acknowledge that, that there is that. 00:35:01.780 |
And the anger toward the politicians in particular, 00:35:12.500 |
even if it's not personal, at least historically. 00:35:22.580 |
should be sensitive about and pay attention to. 00:35:31.540 |
Our police officers, right now there's a movement 00:35:38.820 |
and you have taken an oath to serve and to protect. 00:35:47.620 |
and risking your health and your life to help other people. 00:35:51.380 |
And because of a few acts of certain police officers, 00:35:55.820 |
a small percentage of them, have abused their power, 00:36:27.280 |
police officers and firemen ran toward those buildings, 00:36:37.660 |
lost their lives when those buildings crumbled. 00:36:55.840 |
to celebrate the bravery of our police officers, 00:37:02.440 |
not that many years ago, because they literally, 00:37:09.040 |
give their lives for the safety of other people. 00:37:15.560 |
to be demonized, saying that they are all racist, 00:37:52.440 |
in particular from veterans who went out to war, 00:38:01.800 |
people that they loved, that they walked with, 00:38:10.440 |
So you can imagine why there is an extreme response 00:38:51.260 |
can easily be interpreted as injustice in another group. 00:38:59.260 |
So if the police and the government has power, 00:39:11.200 |
and get enough people to get behind these protests 00:39:28.080 |
that you and I profess and sing and believe in, 00:39:37.740 |
It just happened that the topic of the sermon, 00:39:42.720 |
tells us that Jesus Christ is the king of righteousness 00:39:51.120 |
in other parts of the Bible is translated justice. 00:39:57.560 |
this text tells us that Jesus is the king of justice 00:40:17.940 |
Melchi means the king, zedek, righteousness or justice. 00:40:26.400 |
Salem is the Hebrew version of that is Shalom. 00:40:38.920 |
So he's the king of righteousness and the king of peace. 00:40:50.980 |
By the translation of his name, king of righteousness, 00:40:58.680 |
In other words, that's no different than saying 00:41:12.480 |
Because peace without righteousness is anarchy. 00:41:19.540 |
Whoever has the power does whatever they want. 00:41:30.000 |
and was resurrected and established his new kingdom, 00:41:36.280 |
by establishing justice, that he was going to bring peace. 00:41:42.840 |
"Surely his salvation is near to those who fear him, 00:41:49.900 |
"righteousness and peace have kissed each other." 00:41:56.300 |
was going to bring, he says that righteousness 00:42:12.100 |
See, it is very, very difficult for us to practice justice. 00:42:27.280 |
And there's no human being that is not biased that way. 00:42:32.820 |
The longer that I live, the more I become biased. 00:42:42.540 |
certain things that I've read, it causes me to be biased. 00:42:56.260 |
And every single human being is biased to a certain degree. 00:42:59.400 |
You know, when you're a child, if you've raised children, 00:43:01.640 |
or every single one of us were children at one point, 00:43:05.060 |
and I think you all know what I'm talking about. 00:43:13.120 |
Usually what we consider fair really starts with us. 00:43:20.380 |
you know, in order to take them to Disneyland, 00:43:23.180 |
and again, you guys know how much I love being at Disneyland. 00:43:34.620 |
thinking, oh, let's get some Jamba Juice, you know? 00:43:39.900 |
But then they didn't get quite the flavor that they wanted, 00:43:44.360 |
and the other kid got a little bit more than the other. 00:43:47.380 |
And the rest of the ride from Jamba Juice home was, 00:43:57.860 |
I've literally, you know, spent all day in the hot sun, 00:44:12.160 |
And because you didn't get what you wanted, it's not fair. 00:44:41.260 |
But I've heard a lot of people say, "It's not fair." 00:44:44.580 |
You know, Jesus has a parable about that in the Bible, 00:44:54.020 |
but certain people went in at different parts of the day, 00:45:00.460 |
and the rest of the workers who worked all day say, 00:45:13.300 |
See, our idea of justice usually starts with us. 00:45:26.860 |
it's very difficult for us to really come down 00:45:43.180 |
during the period of Judges, if you've read that text, 00:45:46.560 |
he said that the reason why they kept on falling into sin 00:45:51.060 |
he says, "In those days, there were no king in Israel, 00:45:54.260 |
"and everyone did what was right in his own eyes." 00:45:58.940 |
"Everyone did what was wrong in their own eyes." 00:46:01.640 |
Everyone did what they thought was right in their own eyes. 00:46:08.540 |
And that's what kept on causing this problem, a cycle, 00:46:33.420 |
would be unright or unrighteous in someone else's eyes, 00:46:36.900 |
and eventually, you're gonna meet each other. 00:46:39.140 |
In your pursuit of justice from your perspective, 00:46:46.780 |
and you're gonna clash, and the result is going to be 00:46:57.000 |
Two countries seeking justice in their own eyes, 00:47:05.780 |
The second reason why it is difficult for us, 00:47:09.120 |
and only Christ can be the king of righteousness, 00:47:11.580 |
king of justice, our idea of justice keeps changing. 00:47:17.220 |
What was just 30 years ago is no longer just today. 00:47:21.180 |
What was just 100 years ago is no longer just today. 00:47:26.660 |
the whole country was outraged, Republicans and Democrats. 00:47:32.100 |
And for the first time, I saw the Republicans, Democrats, 00:47:35.860 |
standing side by side with their arms linked, 00:47:41.040 |
"We cannot let them attack our family and children 00:47:46.780 |
And so they all universally, not just President Bush, 00:47:52.140 |
the Democrats, Republicans said, "We are united. 00:48:04.700 |
and now these same politicians who at that time, 00:48:15.620 |
because what was right then is no longer right today. 00:48:22.620 |
if our righteousness is not grounded in Christ and his word, 00:48:47.820 |
It can't be just to you and then unjust to that person, 00:48:51.420 |
because in the context of practicing justice, 00:48:54.100 |
you're going to practice injustice with somebody else. 00:49:04.780 |
You cannot know anything unless you have truth. 00:49:36.760 |
that we know to be true, that it doesn't change. 00:49:44.780 |
In the average, it's about 12 inches, about a foot. 00:49:51.900 |
When the Bible says it's a cubit of something, 00:49:55.620 |
20 cubits would be 20 foot, something, right? 00:50:06.420 |
and it's something to you and it's different to him 00:50:08.220 |
and it's different today and different tomorrow, 00:50:14.860 |
if what justice looks like is different today 00:50:25.420 |
See, you and I are not able to practice perfect justice 00:50:41.100 |
There's only one thing that stands consistent, 00:50:47.500 |
Whether you are white, black, Asian, Hispanic, 00:50:52.220 |
And so he says, "The king of righteousness is Christ." 00:50:58.380 |
And if Christ is not king, there is no justice 00:51:06.180 |
Thirdly, it's hard for us to practice justice 00:51:17.300 |
And it is not only true today, it is true all the time. 00:51:20.200 |
I remember one of the best things that I learned 00:51:23.000 |
while I was in seminary or while I was taking Bible class, 00:51:30.500 |
It said, "All your resources has to be firsthand resources." 00:51:34.820 |
For those of you who don't know what firsthand resources, 00:51:36.420 |
you have to go to the original person who wrote it. 00:51:38.980 |
And so I said, "Well, how do I even do that?" 00:51:42.780 |
So he said, he told us where these resources are, 00:51:47.720 |
and we have to go to Cal State, we have to go to UC, 00:51:55.140 |
or if it is translated, it's very difficult to read, 00:52:00.380 |
It's just original writing of whoever wrote it. 00:52:02.460 |
So we were learning about Western civilization, 00:52:04.380 |
and so I had to go dig up books in the dungeon 00:52:06.900 |
that they probably haven't been touched for decades, 00:52:09.420 |
and only people like us who are learning how to do research 00:52:28.220 |
So you can have one person write about George Washington 00:52:39.540 |
So he was teaching us how to go to the original source. 00:52:52.580 |
'cause they are looking at things from their purpose, 00:52:56.540 |
whether they're doing it because they are blind, 00:53:09.100 |
we've all seen videos of cops pushing people. 00:53:19.820 |
or a malative cocktail, and that part is not shown. 00:53:24.620 |
They only show you that part where he pushed, 00:53:30.220 |
where you can see a police officer arresting that person, 00:53:33.400 |
and they say, hey, this guy was resisting arrest, 00:53:36.200 |
When you see the larger context, that wasn't the case. 00:53:39.160 |
He wasn't resisting the arrest, and there was abuse. 00:53:43.000 |
So we have to be very careful how we consume information, 00:53:49.340 |
But the problem is, even if we knew all the context, 00:53:56.960 |
Job, if you remember, what, humanly speaking, 00:54:03.460 |
'cause because he was righteous, he was targeted. 00:54:06.780 |
He loses his health, his children, his wealth, 00:54:12.340 |
All this happened because you did something wrong. 00:54:14.620 |
There's three cycles of this in the book of Job, 00:54:18.720 |
He was standing strong until the end, and he cracks, 00:54:24.420 |
I'm a righteous man, why did you do this to me? 00:54:27.220 |
And he begins to complain, and then God shows up 00:54:29.540 |
to speak to him in Job chapter 38, two to five. 00:54:32.700 |
Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? 00:54:36.360 |
In other words, Job, you have no idea what's going on. 00:54:39.940 |
Now, gird up your loins like a man, and I will ask you, 00:54:44.520 |
and you instruct me, since you are trying to say 00:54:51.700 |
Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? 00:55:07.020 |
after three chapters of God putting him in his place, 00:55:11.500 |
that you don't have the knowledge to be able to know 00:55:15.580 |
And then he says, chapter 40, verse one and two, 00:55:18.900 |
then the Lord said to Job, will the fault finder 00:55:36.460 |
in Psalm 139, two to four, you know when I sit down 00:55:39.380 |
and when I rise up, you understand my thought from afar, 00:55:45.220 |
and are intimately acquainted with all my ways. 00:55:54.200 |
because he's the creator, he says he already knows 00:55:58.120 |
what's in our heart, if there really is racism or not. 00:56:16.320 |
I don't know, I think I might have missed it. 00:56:41.060 |
because it's actually, I guess for most people, 00:56:44.120 |
they see it blue and gold, and a lot of people saw it 00:56:46.180 |
as white, no, blue and black, a lot of people saw it 00:56:49.540 |
as white and gold, and they were fighting each other. 00:57:44.360 |
"As it is written, there is none righteous, not even one. 00:58:17.680 |
Either he is just overblowing the state of mankind, 00:58:26.680 |
there's not a single person who's exempt from this. 00:58:30.460 |
And because Satan and sin has tainted not only our heart, 00:58:40.800 |
our ability to even reason has been tainted by sin. 00:58:56.320 |
So repentance isn't just, "I repent because I did this act. 00:59:01.120 |
Repentance is recognizing that I don't have the ability 00:59:08.960 |
I don't just repent about an act, I repent of who I am. 00:59:19.260 |
And until we humble ourselves before the throne, 00:59:25.580 |
if we're not careful, you can do more damage than good. 00:59:28.340 |
Hurt people have a tendency to hurt other people. 00:59:36.500 |
Hurt people have a tendency to hurt other people. 00:59:47.060 |
I can tell you, in 30 plus years that I've been 01:00:00.100 |
Whether it was somebody did something to them, 01:00:08.460 |
there's not a single person that I've ever met 01:00:14.220 |
And so our natural tendency for those who are hurt 01:00:21.100 |
You know, the most dangerous people are not the people 01:00:25.900 |
who are doing wrong and they know it's wrong. 01:00:49.180 |
even if it's wrong, because we're on the right, 01:00:52.620 |
Our sinfulness causes us to make it difficult 01:01:09.740 |
Jesus Christ comes in the office of Melchizedek. 01:01:16.140 |
And only when justice is carried out by the king, 01:01:22.780 |
Remember, if you look at the Jewish community, 01:01:31.720 |
If you look at their history, they started out in slavery. 01:01:37.820 |
And the reason why they started was because God 01:01:42.220 |
and he answered their prayer, and he delivered them. 01:01:57.320 |
take all the precious things and all the precious people, 01:02:05.820 |
After that, the Persians come, and they're a little bit 01:02:19.860 |
And I don't have to tell you about the modern history. 01:02:24.460 |
But there's almost 2,000 years in between of suffering. 01:02:30.120 |
if you go to the university, of just the suffering 01:02:34.620 |
But at the time of Christ, when Jesus was telling 01:02:37.100 |
his people, when you get slapped on one cheek, 01:02:48.220 |
if they tell you to walk a mile, walk a second mile. 01:02:56.020 |
even if you're a pregnant woman, if you were a Jew, 01:02:59.420 |
a Roman soldier carrying all of his equipment got tired, 01:03:09.020 |
So you can imagine the animosity and the hatred 01:03:20.620 |
So you can understand why they wanted a militant Messiah. 01:03:41.760 |
But remember when Jesus was going into Jerusalem, he wept. 01:03:48.160 |
He wept because he said, only if you knew today 01:03:56.580 |
But because you did not recognize the King of justice, 01:04:05.380 |
And it was finally time for him to go to the cross 01:04:15.820 |
And it was not by accident that Barabbas was a zealot 01:04:18.980 |
who was a militant Jew who wanted to overthrow 01:04:27.460 |
And so they wanted Jesus to join the revolution. 01:04:30.700 |
And when he would not and he gave up his life 01:04:39.960 |
We want somebody who's going to bring justice 01:04:58.140 |
did not look anything like they were expecting. 01:05:00.720 |
In Isaiah chapter 42, verse one and four says, 01:05:16.220 |
that they were right to wait for the Messiah, 01:05:38.240 |
But this messianic promise doesn't end in verse one, 01:05:47.860 |
He's talking about how he's going to bring his justice. 01:06:01.500 |
and a dimly burning wick he will not extinguish. 01:06:24.940 |
the only righteous being that has ever lived on this earth, 01:06:29.700 |
the only one who had the right to say no justice, no peace. 01:07:17.980 |
You know, people are saying, why don't we march? 01:07:27.960 |
If something is wrong, we should not stay silent. 01:07:43.720 |
even from pastors, I hear people saying that. 01:07:47.320 |
Do you not realize that that's why we preach the gospel 01:07:52.500 |
Social justice and the gospel are not two separate things. 01:08:10.980 |
And the reason why they want signs and they want wisdom 01:09:01.920 |
This morning, we're going to participate in this communion. 01:09:08.920 |
And again, it's going to be a little bit different. 01:09:11.160 |
And I apologize for those of you who are home. 01:09:13.920 |
The reason why we don't do this for when we're separated 01:09:26.360 |
And so we want to make sure that the meaning behind this 01:09:36.580 |
And so we hope that this is the first and last time 01:09:46.600 |
And I was told that some people in first service 01:09:50.400 |
didn't know that there is a little wafer inside. 01:09:56.080 |
if you look at the top, there's a little bread. 01:09:59.460 |
And there's a reason why we don't do this normally 01:10:12.120 |
So if you take this, representing the body of Christ 01:10:17.280 |
and the blood of Christ, as we participate in this, 01:10:33.680 |
That we establish him as the King of righteousness, 01:10:54.920 |
We should feel compassionate for those who are oppressed. 01:11:02.000 |
even if we have different opinions, it's okay to do that. 01:11:14.320 |
that you think you're gonna revolutionize the world. 01:11:19.540 |
So as we participate in this communion and this bread, 01:11:24.920 |
expressing what he has done and being thankful. 01:11:31.200 |
for I received from the Lord that which I also delivered 01:11:38.600 |
When he had given thanks, he broke it and said, 01:11:44.340 |
In the same way, he took the cup also after supper, 01:11:46.660 |
saying, this cup is a new covenant in my blood. 01:11:49.640 |
Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. 01:11:56.960 |
Heavenly Father, we thank you for allowing us 01:12:03.800 |
Remembering again that our hope is founded on Christ 01:12:08.560 |
because of what he has done for us on the cross 01:12:11.440 |
and because of his new resurrected life, Lord God, 01:12:15.740 |
I pray especially now, there's so much anger and division 01:12:39.340 |
I pray that this celebration of this sacred time 01:12:52.280 |
and to be of the almighty love of Christ wherever we go. 01:13:30.160 |
why don't we all stand for our closing praise? 01:16:38.840 |
- Our benediction comes from Isaiah 11, verse three to four. 01:16:58.780 |
But with righteousness he will judge the poor 01:17:01.300 |
and decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth. 01:17:04.640 |
And he will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth 01:17:07.440 |
and with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked. 01:17:21.100 |
our black brothers and sisters, police officers, 01:17:35.320 |
You are sovereign and you are our only answer.