God’s Great Mercy

12 And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: 13 I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. 16 Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.” 17 So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth.”

Genesis 9:12-17

0. What determines our happiness?

Today, we will share Genesis 9 with the title of God’s Mercy.

Everyone wants to live happily.

And people usually think that happy life is a successful life.

So we study hard and work hard in order to succeed.

But will success really bring us happiness?

There is an interesting story about this.

Daniel Gilbert, a psychology professor at Harvard University, was curious about this question.

He studied and surveyed many people using a measurement referred to as a happiness score in order to solve this problem.

And What was the conclusion to his question: “Will people truly be happy if they succeed?”

Gilbert says that even if something very good happened to a person, their happiness score eventually returned to its original state over time.

For example, in one particular case,  a man’s original happiness score was 5 points and he won the lottery one day. Immediately, his happiness score increased to 10 points.

But six months later, when Gilbert again measured the person’s happiness score, it had returned to the original score of five. When questioned about this result, the man confessed that he felt like he had wasted the money or even thought he suffered misery through it.

At the same time, On the other hand,

Gilbert also discovered that even if something very bad happened a person, their happiness score also returned to its original state over time.

In another example, a person’s original happiness score was 6 points.

One day, he was involved in a major traffic accident and suffered a serious injury that led to a lasting disability. His happiness score quickly fell to one point.

But a few years later, when Gilbert measured this person’s happiness score again, he was surprisinged to find that it had been restored to six.

Gilbert argued in this study that good or bad things have nothing to do with our happiness, except in cases of extreme poverty. His argument is ‘It is simply important to raise our original happiness score.’

You see, If your original happiness score is high, you can live happily and be satisfied even in an otherwise bland and ordinary life. But if your original happiness score is low, you will not be happy nor satisfied even in an extraordinary life.

There are many ways to increase the original happiness score of each individual.

But two of the most effective ways are through two different activities. Let me share them with you now.

One of the activities that has been scientifically proven to increase your happiness score is exercise.

Regular and moderate intensity exercise enhances self-regulation and positivity,  which leads to higher happiness scores.

Even if you feel “too busy” these days, everyone has the time to take a daily 15-minute walk, even if it means parking your car a little farther away or walking to get a coffee after lunch!

This activity will make you feel better and help increase your original happiness score!

But do you know what the best way to increase your happiness score is?

It is keeping a gratitude journal!

By Writing down the things you currently have and enjoy, the kindnesses you have received from others, the little challenges you have overcome and accomplishments you have achieved, you will be reflecting on all the good things in your life.

That way, you will begin to realize that you are happier than you think.

If you keep a gratitude journal every day, your basic happiness score may grow very high!

In fact, it is very difficult for a person who does not know God to find or express gratitude.

A person like that thinks that all the things he appreciates are only the result of their own efforts, and for that kind of person, everything in the world seems like a coincidence.

But do you know what? God gives “true happiness” to those who know him and thank him.

A person who praises what God has done for him or her and appreciates God does not easily lose the happiness to that God has given, even if suffering comes.

1. The Story of the First Son (the Prodigal from a different Perspective)

This is the story of a family.

The Members of this family include a  father, a mother, a first son, and a second son.

These family members all lived sincere lives, except for their first son.

One day, the first son told his father.

“Father, I want to study hard, give me money to go to the university!”

His father gave him money to study.

But quickly spent all of that money to play with his friends.

Another day, the first son told his mother.

“Mother, I want to get a driver’s license like my friends, give me some money!”

His mother gave him money to get a driver’s license.

But he again just wasted it all to play with his friends.

The second son, who saw all this, went to his parents and said, 

“Listen, mom and dad, I don’t want you to give my brother money from now on, because he just wastes it all to play with his friends.”

His mother answered.

“I understand, but one day your brother will come back the right way.”

The second son was angry and told his mother.

“Our family’s economic situation is not good, and how long are you going to believe him?”

This time his father answered.

“Son, I am sad for your brother, but I cannot give up on him because he is my precious child like you.”

Now, if you were the second son, could you forgive your older brother?

Could you understand your parents’ feelings?

Perhaps we will mostly say “No”.

If my parents give my foolish brother a second chance every time, it will be difficult for me to forgive him because he always lets them down.

But in order to understand this story better, we need to first think about the parents’ feelings and the first son’s self-interest.

You see, The parents would have hoped that both of their sons would grow up to be productive and well-adjusted members of society, making themselves and the people around them happy.

But can you recognize the self-interest of the first son?

In fact, He had no interest in his parents’ expectations for him, and he would rather spend all his time and money playing around foolishly each day.

2. The people in the age of Noah

Genesis 6:5

The LORD saw how great man`s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.

Before God sent the floods to the earth, the people were like the first son.

God wanted the people to obey his Word, in order to be blessed and to live happily.

But they were not interested in God’s will at all.

They only lived for their desires.

Now consider this. If your teenage child committed a small crime, what would you do about it?

At first, you might try to correct their behavior through dialogue.

But, what if your child’s behavior did not change?

In that case, you would strongly reprimand them.

You, as a parent, would be able to see things clearly, and realize that it is necessary for your child’s future to reflect on and represent of their crimes.

Now consider the relationship between God and The people in the age of Noah in the same way as the relationship between parents and children.

God always provided the best to his children.

But the people did not appreciate God’s grace, but went along on the path of sin.

God tried to talk with them, but Noah was the only one who listened to God.

God, as a parent, could no longer look upon the sins of his children.

The people’s sins were worse than we can imagine, and their sins filled the earth.

They no longer even tried to pretend to listen to God.

In the end, God strongly reprimanded people with the “judgment of the flood”.

3. The Rainbow

Whenever I read Genesis 9, I remember my elementary school days.

My parents were busy at the time, so my grandmother took care of me.

My grandmother gave me an allowance to buy snacks before I went to school every day.

But one day, I went to the arcade after school and spent all that money.

Later, my grandmother found out about it. She told me not to go to the arcade again, but I did not listen to her because it was so fun.

Eventually, my grandmother came to the arcade and caught me red handed, playing games, and enjoying myself. She reprimanded me strongly and brought me home.

My grandmother thought I could not fix things myself and said,

“I’ll hit you with a wooden rod now, roll up your pants, and you’ll never go back to the arcade again!”

My grandmother’s wooden rod hit me hard on the leg, again and again, and my legs became red and swollen.

I closed my eyes and felt pain.

But Suddenly, her wooden rod stopped hitting me, and the surroundings became quiet.

I looked around because I was curious about what happened.

My grandmother was crying and sobbing.

She had thrown the wooden rod away.

Then she hugged me tightly and wept.

I haven’t been to an arcade since.

Not because I was afraid of being reprimanded by my grandmother again, but because I did not want her to ever again be sad and ashamed because of me.

When good Parents reprimand their children, in the end, their heart is the same as the heart of God who knows there is so much better available to them if only they obey.

Genesis 8:21

The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.

Here is a commentary of the German Biblical Council on this passage:

According to Verse 21, because people are sinners by nature, there appears to be no other solution, so God seems resigned to his decision.

The fact that sin was the basis for judgment in Genesis 6:5 is now the basis for giving up further judgment.

But the promise not to judge mankind in the future is only made possible through the actions of Noah, a person who God saw as ‘just’.

God knew that only through judgment, people could not be changed.

So God acknowledged the evil of the people, and pitied them, yet also gave them mercy.

Genesis 8:16~17

16 “Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives. 17 Bring out every kind of living creature that is with you — the birds, the animals, and all the creatures that move along the ground — so they can multiply on the earth and be fruitful and increase in number upon it.”

The covenant of God with Noah, which appeared in the shape of the rainbow, is different from the covenant he later makes with Abraham (in Genesis 17).

The Rainbow Covenant does not grant any obligation to the person who is it’s recipient.

God is also constrained by his promises through the rainbow, which is evidence of the covenant.

The Rainbow was not given that man would remember God’s covenant with them, but that God himself would remember the covenant he made with then!

4. Our Stories

We heard “The Story of the First Son” in the first half of the sermon.

This son behaved as a liar who always let his parents down.

If you were the second son, could you forgive him?

Our first answer was “no”.

The amazing thing is that the first son we denounced and the people in the age of Noah are just like us.

Because we often have no interest in God’s will for us, and we live for our greed.

These stories show us that we can’t see ourselves properly.

Nevertheless, there may be someone who says, ‘I am different from the first son’.

Is the second son who criticized the first son righteous?

No, he’s not!

He is just like his brother.

If the second son really understood his parents’ hearts, he would never have told his parents his complaints about his brother.

Rather, he would have found a way to comfort his parents or help his brother in silence.

What should we do if we have a complaint about someone else?

Don’t say anything directly to him, pray for him first, and try to understand God’s heart for him!

This is the attitude of respect Noah had toward our father, God.

5. Jesus Christ (God’s great mercy)

Genesis 8:20

20 Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it.

At that moment, God promised to remain forever and continuously responsible for the world he created in response to Noah’s offering of gratitude.

This foreshadows God’s plan for salvation for all people in advance.

It is a plan for salvation through Israel, the people who have been specifically chosen as instruments of God’s blessing to all nations.

And in fact, God’s salvation has come through Israel in one man, Jesus Christ, though whom God overcomes the consequences of sin and death.

Romans 5:18~19

18 Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. 19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.

Amen.

God had long ago planned to save mankind, including us, through Jesus.

God knew that mankind could not be righteous in and of itself because all men are born as sinners.

We were born as sinners, and would live our lives as sinners and die as sinners if not for his great mercy.

So, just as our God made a covenant by the rainbow to preserve the created world through, he also made a covenant by Jesus Christ as the hope of salvation and eternal life for us, sinners.

All we have to do is believe in and obey the Word of God, and put our faith in Jesus Christ as personal Lord and Savior.

Jesus is an amazing example of God’s heart for us!

Jesus is the great mercy of God towards us!

Jesus is the eternal life for us!