We spend an average of five hours a day as servants to our smartphones these days. Today, Hosea, the last king of Israel, becomes a servant to the king of the world, which does not fit the meaning of his name, 'The Lord is salvation. Today, lets consider what its like to be a servant and to whom we should be servants.
First, the king of the world is afraid and gives tribute.
Todays story is about Hosea, the protagonist of Northern Israel. After being patient, God finally decides to judge Israel, but he still gives Hosea nine years to do so, and he sends the prophet Hosea, who has the same name, to keep saying, 'Return to the Lord! Even though Hoshea has done evil, unlike previous kings, he doesnt stop the people from participating in the feasts and worship in Jerusalem. But Hoshea doesnt turn to God and ends up becoming a servant of the king of Assyria. Evil is not a matter of quantity no one survives the mediocrity of evil for 19 kings to come down the line. Northern Israel is now officially a vassal state of Assyria and pays tribute.
God calls those whom he especially loves servants. To be a servant of Assyria, the king of the world, is shameful and frightening, but to be a servant of God is comforting and empowering, and we offer a sacrifice of gratitude and obedience as we move forward in our mission. We all have our own worldly kings we fear. We all have our own worldly kings we fear.We fear money, we fear health, we fear failure, and we try to alleviate our fears by giving everything we can: our time, our strength, our money, our passion, and our heart in every relationship.
Second, looking for a false savior leads to captivity.
Hosea was forced to pay tribute to the king of Assyria because he was a servant of the Assyrian king, and it was too hard and embarrassing, so he looked for another savior, and he thought of his former slave, Egypt.So they stopped paying tribute to Assyria because they thought Assyria would help them, and then Assyria came and they were too afraid of Assyria to help them, and then Assyria saw that Hosea had betrayed them, so they imprisoned him, and they took all the useful men, twenty-seven thousand or so, and they took them to Assyria.
The identity of the Israelites is that of servants of God, but instead of valuing that, they ignored God and chased money, success, health, and happiness over God. The fake saviors we seek whenever were struggling are delicious food, alcohol, tobacco, gambling, gaming, social media, pornography, exciting encounters, and first loves. We regret them all afterward, but we think we can control them, and they become addictions.
We regret them all afterward, but we think we can control them, and they become addictions.We should only hold on to the real savior. Contrast the prophet Hosea, who lived as a servant of God, with King Hosea, who lived as a servant of the king of the world.They are equally fucked up, but its salvation for the prophet Hosea and judgment for the king.
Third, wandering stops when you become a servant of God.
Worshiping the golden calf, worshiping Baal, Asherah, and all kinds of idols is the problem of every human being.Its human nature to be religious, to seek, expect, and work hard to find something that will save us.Nowadays, even politics, culture, art, academics, and technology have a religious component, but there is nothing on earth that can fully satisfy this natural thirst. No creature, no beautiful star, no matter how great, was created by God in his own image. But even the lowliest and weakest person is the image and copy of God.Thats why man is the only being who can have communion with God, and how foolish of us to quarrel among copies, to worship them like God and ignore them like bugs. In this way, full of religiosity, we can never stop wandering on our own. The wandering of life will stop only when we meet the real master.
The church is the body of Christ that shows God to the world, so when we find a good church, we become Gods servants in that community and our wandering stops.
A young man shares. When I was in sixth grade, I was secretly bullied by my friends for being short, dwarfed, and funny in my reactions. When I got to middle school, I became part of the bullying clique, so I did my best to keep up with them. Then one day, a friend of mine was being bullied, and instead of stopping and comforting him, I just watched impassively as he was hit without telling the adults. Then one day, those same friends suddenly started bullying me. Eventually, she became depressed, her grades dropped, her mother became severely depressed, and her father became violent. Eventually, she came to our church, and she was comforted by the sharing of friends who were more troubled than she was, and she was touched by the way her parents apologized for being problem parents, and she wondered what kind of church Wooridul Church was and whether people could change, so she stuck with the church. And while sharing this story and praying at the ranch, she made an application to go and apologize to the friend she had bullied in middle school.
When youre a servant, youre afraid of the kings of the world, you pay tribute to them, you look for fake saviors, and you get caught up. But when you become a servant of God, you stop wandering. Even if we are captured and become servants of the king of the world, if we turn around and become servants of God, we believe that God, our real Lord, will strengthen us, help us, hold us, and save us.
