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Blessings follow love (Gen 9:18-27)
18 And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark, were Shem, and
Ham, and Japheth: and Ham is the father of Canaan.
19 These are the three sons of Noah: and of them was the whole
earth overspread.
20 And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard:
21 And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered
within his tent.
22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father,
and told his two brethren without.
23 And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their
shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father;
and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness.
24 And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had
done unto him.
25 And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be
unto his brethren.
26 And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.
27 God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of
Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.
▶Long ago, there was a king: King Sukjong. one day, the king
dressed up as a peasant to observe the conditions of his kingdom. When he
reached one house, he came across an odd situation. He saw a young man
singing, a monk dancing, and a elderly woman crying.
Confused by the sight,
the king asked what was happening. The story went like this: It was the
elderly woman’s birthday, but being so poor her son and
daughter-in-law had no money to spend. As it turned out, the monk was not
actually a monk, but the daughter-in-law who had cut off all her hair and
sold it for her mother-in-law’s birthday. The son was
singing and the daughter-in-law was dancing in celebration of the elderly
woman’s birthday, and seeing this, the woman had been
crying tears of joy and appreciation.
Upon
the seeing such a faithful son and daughter-in-law, King Sukjong was
overjoyed and touched. He sent them 15 pounds of meat and a sack of rice,
then told the son to come to the palace in 3 months to take an exam that
decides who will become a government official.
Three
months later, the son went to take the test and on the test there was this
question: State the reason why a young man is singing, a monk is dancing,
and an elderly woman is crying. With this, the young man scored the highest
and became a great government official.
People commonly believe
that ideology of respect and filial duty originates from Confucianism and that
Christianity lacks in emphasizing these points. However, this is a great
misconception. We must remember that Christianity is a religion of respect
and filial duty. Where can we find evidence of this? Out of the 10
Commandments, we can see the proof right in the 5th commandment:
" Honour thy father and thy
mother” (Exodus 20:12).
Christianity heavily
places importance on the value of respecting elders and filial duty. Thus,
to live a true life of faith, we must see evidence of having respect for
elders. In today’s scripture, we can see how Shem and Japheth
honored their father and received many blessings, while Ham failed to do so
and cursed his entire family.
▶How does the Bible tell us to honor our parents?
1. We must
respect and admire them. Proverbs 23:22 says “22 Hearken unto thy father
that begat thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old.” This verse is
telling us to hold or parents in important respects. As our parents grow
older, they become weaker. However, despite such changing shortcomings, we
must not feel embarrassed or undermine them.
2. We
must support them. Our parents give, and give, and
constantly give to us. They sacrificed and gave us so much to raise us, and
now as grown men and women, we must take our successes and support the
parents who once gave everything to us.
3. We
must be obedient. Our parents are God’s worldly
representatives. As God’s representatives, we must obey them and listen
to them. There is no man who went wrong from listening to his parents.
In Leviticus 19:32 it says, “32 Thou
shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honour the face of the old man,
and fear thy God: I am the Lord.” When we show our respect to our parents and
the elderly, God is overjoyed and rewards us. Ephesians 6:2-3 says, “2 Honour
thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise; 3 That
it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.”
① Today’s scripture describes the
events that occurred after the Great Flood
After the great flood and the world was wiped
out, only Noah and family remained. In other words, today’s population all started
from Noah and his family. Noah obeyed God’s word and built an ark despite the ridicule of
others, and displayed great faith.
However, he made a foolish mistake. We can see
how humans are lowly sinners despite their seemed greatness. As soon as the
flood waters receded Noah started a vineyard. Noah made wine with the
grapes grown, and one day he drank too much. Drunk, he fell asleep naked in
broad daylight, barely able to remain conscious.
② We can see here how even a
man known be as righteous as Noah had made a foolish mistake
Noah had been known to be a man of God’s grace, a man of
righteousness, and a man of faith. He had been a man who walked with God
and remained righteous when the world had fallen to sin. He had been a man
who dedicated 120 years of his life to building an ark because it was the
Lord’s command, and in doing
so he survived the Great Flood, received salvation, and lived his life
worshipping and praising God.
However, in today’s scripture, we see the human side of him; a side
that causes him to fall into foolishness. In verse 21 of today’s scripture it says, “And
he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his
tent.” We see Noah, the Lord’s man of faith and righteousness, in a
disheveled and embarrassing state. We also see him fail in keeping his
responsibility to maintain his dignity in front of his children.
When
God gives us blessings, we must be especially more humble and be cautious.
Unfortunately, it is during these times of blessings when we try to raise
our heads above God’s. As people of faith, we must be
more careful and humble ourselves the more blessings we receive.
This is why Paul warns in
1 Corinthians, “12 Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he
fall.”
▶The Bible addresses drinking and alcohol a great
deal. Proverbs 20:1 says, “Wine is
a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not
wise.” Alcohol makes people arrogant.
Proverbs 23:20 says, “20 Be
not among winebibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh”. The Bible also tells
that drunks become poor and lose many things. These are all true.
Reverend Moody said that
if you want to see hell, all you had to do was look at the family of an
alcoholic. Alcoholics and drunkards attract despair, sadness, and draws disaster
towards them.
In Romans 13:13, Paul
said, “13 Let
us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in
chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.”. When someone
becomes drunk, he/she becomes foolish, rowdy, and out of control. This
means that they lose control of centering their lives and fall deeper into
sinful vices of the world. As a result, they fall into Satan’s traps and
slowly hand over their minds, hearts, bodies, and souls.
▶TheTalmuc, the central text of Rabbinic Judaism,
describes Noah’s drunkenness like this:
Noah was
trying to plant his vineyard when Satan came and asked what he was doing.
Noah replied, “I am planting grape trees”. To that, Satan asked, “What kind
of trees are grape trees?” Noah answered, “Grape
trees bear grapes, a fruit that is sweet with just enough tartness, and
when these grapes are treated properly, they become a drink that gives joy
to the drinker’s heart.”
Hearing that the drinker
gained enjoyment from the drink, Satan saw this as his opportunity and
offered to help Noah plant his trees. Noah was grateful for the help and
the two planted the trees together. Afterwards, Satan immediately killed a lamb,
lion, pig, and money and spread the blood of the animals all over the
vineyard.
As the trees grew and
bore fruit, Noah made wine and drank. It says that upon drinking, Noah
first became as weak as a lamb; then he became as strong as a lion. As he
continued to drink he became as dirty as a pig, and when he drank more, he
began to jump around like a monkey. Then, exhausted, he took off his
clothes and passed out.
Galatians 5: 21 says, “21 Envyings,
murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you
before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such
things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” Think about the severity of
this passage. There is no bigger tragedy then to have all the wealth and
honor in the world but be unable to inherit and enter the kingdom of God.
Alcohol calls on calamity
and misfortune. Drunks start fights with others for the smallest mishaps or
get involved in disputes that have nothing to do with them. They do things
they would never do, or know better not to do, when they are sober.
We must be able to create
a small heaven within our own hearts. As the Lord told us, the Lord’s kingdom is within ourselves.
Paul refers to our own bodies and says in 1
Corinthians 3:16, “16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit
of God dwelleth in you?” The Lord dwells within us, and we are His temple.
In Romans 12:1, it says, “I beseech
you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies
a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable
service.”
Our bodies must be used for God, to
glorify God, and to do his works. Our bodies must be kept clean and healthy
and is it our responsibility to maintain them so they are.
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