Casting the lots and judgment
[Proverbs 18:5, 17-19]
Do you know what is the largest denomination in Korean Christianity? This is the Korean Presbyterian Church of Korea. But now, the 97th General Assembly of the Korean Presbyterian Church has overturned the stigma of ‘Service General Assembly’, ‘Reporter No Access General Assembly’, ‘Tear Gas Gun General Assembly’, ‘Singing Bar General Assembly’ and ‘Snapping General Assembly’ (Internet). ‘Service General Assembly’ refers to a General Assembly sectary who hired 150 service workers during the General Assembly, saying that the mobilization of the service men was inevitable because of threats such as hiring a murder contractor and breaking the Achilles tendon.’ In addition, those service men closed all the other entrances to the meeting place of the General Assembly and opened only one front door. And then they checked all pastors and elders who entered the door, but didn’t allow the representatives to enter without a pass with a photo, name, and the name of the presbytery. At the same time, the men from the service company banned reporters who came to cover the General Assembly meeting. That’s why the General Assembly was called ‘Reporter No Access General Assembly.’ Furthermore, the General Assembly secretary who called the service men stood in front of the microphone during the General Assembly meeting and took out the gas gun he was holding for his own personal safety. That’s why the Assembly was called ‘Tear Gas Gun General Assembly’. In addition, the reason why the General Assembly was called ‘Singing Bar General Assembly’ is because the newly elected Gerneral Assembly president went to a singing bar with other two pastors and enjoyed the entertainment with a female assistant. And to cover up this fact, another pastor, called a denomination officer, even threatened the female assistant. Nevertheless, the newly elected General Assembly president, who was leading the General Assembly, suddenly declared a breakdown on the last day of the meeting and left the meeting place, and then all the microphones and lights were turned off. That's why they used the stigma of ‘Snapping General Assembly’. So now, an emergency countermeasure committee has been formed for the normalization of the General Assembly, and it is said that 140 presbyteries gathered and resolved five agendas: (1) Convocation of an emergency general meeting, (2) Non-confidence of the General Assembly president, (3) Dismissal of the General Assembly secretary, (4) Suspension of the activities of the committees until the General Assembly meeting is normalized, and (5) Postpone of the presbytery's membership fee and the payment of each church baptized member donation. After receiving a prayer request for the Korean church, I especially prayed for this General Assembly meeting and received news about that meeting held for five days through a Christian Internet website with interest. However, while receiving such bad news, I was a little shocked and heartbroken. But I saw little hope that even after the sudden breakdown of the General Assembly, 842 representatives remained until the end, gathering their hearts together, and finally, seeing that a large number of the presidents of the presbyteries, about 140, formed the emergency response committee. I hope that this crisis will be a precious opportunity that God gives to the the Korean Presbyterian Church of Korea, and will be an opportunity for true repentance, restoration, and reform. I don't know how everything will go on in the future. But when I look at the news through internet, I want to think about two things as I related the news with Proverbs 18:5, 17-19. Those two things, first of all, is about the electoral system that elects general assembly officers, which is casting the lots method. And the other thing is “trial”. Now, at the General Assembly, one of the pastors has proposed to revise the casting the lots election system. And the proposal is to propose an amendment that compromises the casting the lots system and the direct election system. The reason the pastor made a compromised proposal was that the casting the lots election system was more focused on preventing voting for money rather than the system needed to select the best people (Internet). And the other thing, “Trial”, in my personal opinion, I think there will be a lot of probability of going to lawsuits and trials between the President of the General Assembly, the general secretary and the Emergency Response Committee in the future. The reason I think this is because I have already seen an article that the court decision will take care the case of the president General Assembly’s singing bar (Internet).
If we look at Proverbs 18:5, 17, the Bible talks about judgment. And in verse 18, the Bible talks about casting the lots. That is why, under the title of “Casting the lots and and judgment”, I want to receive lessons from God as we meditate on Proverbs 18:5, 17-19 and pray to God, and obey Him.
First, I want to think about ‘Judgment’.
In Proverbs 18:5, the word “judgment” comes out, and in verse 17, the word “case” comes out, and the “case” in the Bible means “judgment” (Internet). There are verses in the Bible where these two words come together, for example the first half of Ezekiel 44:24 – “"In a dispute they shall take their stand to judge …”. Here the word “dispute” refers to the “case”. The “case” refers to a lawsuit in these days. It is also a matter of having a plaintiff and a defendant quarreling that they are right. But when they can't reach a conclusion, they go to trial and get a judgment (Internet). Then, how is it to judge according to God's ordinances? There are many ways to think about it, but I would like to consider some of the rules the Bible says (Internet): (1) 1 Corinthians 6:1-8 says not to lawsuits among the saints. (2) Matthew 5:25-26, 40 says to reconcile before a litigation. (3) But when reconciliation is not made, there is judgement in Exodus 18:13 (for example, the Israelites came out to be judged by Moses). Of course, the Bible isn’t talking about world trials here. (4) In Deuteronomy 1:16 and 25:1, the judge says that when the dispute arises between people and asks for a trial, the judge must hear a case (19:15-19) and make a fair decision between the two sides. In other words, the judge must justify the righteous and condemn the wicked. Here, in order for the judge to judge fairly, we must apply the words of Proverbs 18:17 – “The first to present his case seems right, till another comes forward and questions him.” What does it mean? It means that the judge must listen to both sides in a case. In these days, we could say it is cross-examination. At this time, the judge says in Exodus 23:3 not to show favoritism to a poor man in his lawsuit. In other words, the judge should not show favoritism and side with the poor because he is a poor man. In addition, if we look at Proverbs 18:5, the Bible says, “It is not good to be partial to the wicked or to deprive the innocent of justice.” What does it mean? It means that the judge shouldn't deprive the righteous unfairly by showing partiality to the wicked. The reason is because it isn’t good in the sight of God. Proverbs 17:15, which we have already meditated on, says, “He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous, Both of them alike are an abomination to the LORD.” The judge, who is obliged to do justice, must not do anything that God is hated by God.
Did you know that a pastor could be tried and faced with dismissal (removal)? Now, in Korea, there is a continuous voice that a famous pastor of a large church should be dismissed because of the pastor's sexual harassment. So who can judge the pastor? The presbytery can do it. Article 19 of Chapter 4 of the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church in Korea says: ‘A case involving a pastor falls under the direct control of the presbytery, and cases involving general church members are under the direct control of the session. If they don’t obey, or if they don’t treat them carelessly, the superiors have the right to take them directly’ (Internet). According to this regulation, the presbytery governs the case of pastoral relations, and the session governs all other cases of baptized member relations such as elders, deacons, and other church members. Here are some words to keep in mind before the session of the local church judges the members of the local church. That word is Matthew 18:15-17: “If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that 'every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.' If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.” In other words, before the trial, the session must lovingly exhort the members of the local church to repent. In the course of the recommendation, (1) the plaintiff makes a one-on-one deal with the defendant and makes a recommendation. (2) If the accused doesn’t listen, take one or two people and have them confirm each word with the mouth of two or three witnesses. (3) If he doesn't listen to them, they speak to the church. And if he doesn't listen to the church, (4) the church should treat him like an unbeliever. The purpose of doing this is not to retaliate for hating the accused, but to somehow make the accused convict of sin, repent, and return to God.
Second and last, I want to think about ‘Casting the lots’.
Look at Proverbs 18:18 – “Casting the lot settles disputes and keeps strong opponents apart.” According to the procedure of the Bible's trial, when quarrels arose and there are disputes, lots were sometimes drawn to solve the problem. What we have to think about here is why the lot was implemented. There are two main reasons for this: ‘One was to ask God's will in doing something, and the other was to decide things that were ambiguous to decide’ (Internet). Therefore, the form of casting the lots has the meaning of entrusting everything to the will of God (Internet). In other words, the act that only those who try to do something according to God's will is to draw lots (Park). These words show that the quarrels are both strong men, not trying to solve their quarrels by their own strength or by taking them to the courts of the world, but still trying to solve their problems by casting lots to solve them according to God's will. In other words, since both sides of the quarrel are trying to end the quarrel from the center by the result of throwing lots, their spiritual attitude is proper before God (Park). However, the problem is when the dispute is so intense that they cannot find a solution to the problem. In other words, when both sides of the quarrel don’t try to end the quarrel (at least on one side), they not only try not to draw a lot, but go further and don't try to solve the problem according to God's will. So there are lots of cases where people go to the courts of the world. That is why Proverbs 18:19 says, “A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city, And contentions are like the bars of a citadel.” What does it mean? How difficult was it to win a strong castle during war at that time? I saw in a Korean drama that capturing a strong castle was very difficult. This means that it is difficult to reconcile with family members or close friends who have been hurt by us. King Solomon said, “And contentions are like the bars of a citadel,” which means that such quarrels are very difficult to get rid of (Walvoord).
As I meditated on these words, I remembered the Korean news about the quarrels between the chairman of the Samsung Company and his brothers. Although they are close brothers, there is no sign of reconciliation in the conflict. When I saw that on the news, I can't help but agree with the words that it is more difficult to be reconciled with a brother who is angry than to win the strong city. I think we should seriously consider how to avoid quarrels and bring peace when we see that the couples, family members, and siblings become enemies. The reason is because it is God’s will for us to reconcile to each other, and Jesus came to this earth to reconcile us to God and to each other. Therefore, we, as disciples of Jesus, must be faithful in the ministry of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:18). How can we be faithful to the ministry of reconciliation? Pastor Eric Foley of the Peacemaker Ministry said that in the midst of conflict, strife and division within the church, there are the Peacemaker, the Peace-breaker, and the Peacemaker. And he pointed out that there are exceptionally many people who disguised peace especially among Koreans. He said, ‘In Korean culture, the sentiment that revealing the conflict will damage face and authority has been there for a long time, and the problem begins here. He warned that this is only a reduction in conversations with each other and an increased gap, but not a solution. He said that we must respect the person's personality and culture, admit our faults, repent, and achieve true peacemaking through forgiveness and reconciliation. He emphasized the importance of peacemaking based on the principles of the Bible. Pastor Polly suggested that biblical peacemaking is ‘a ministry that prays, loves, fulfills, and reconciles us in front of the cross, as Jesus Christ forgiven us sinners with His blood on the cross before covering up any controversy in the conflict’ (Internet ). We must be faithful in the ministry of reconciliation. Whether in the church, at home, or at work, we must resolve the conflicts that come from relationships in the Lord. It can be said that the worthy life of the gospel that we must live is a life of reconciliation. Not only must we promote reconciliation between God and people by preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, but also we must do the work of reconciling and resolving conflicts and disputes between neighbors. Casting the lots was a way of reconciling ministry at that time. And there are still some people who still use it. But we must faithfully carry out the ministry of reconciliation with the gospel of the cross of Jesus Christ.
These days, the joint denomination of the Presbyterian Church of Jesus in Korea draws lots when selecting the general assembly officers. However, the denomination is in conflict now due to scandalous things. So, from my perspective, I think there is a possibility of going to court in the world. If we fail to resolve the conflict by finding a solution to each other in the Lord, we may end up relying on the judgment of the world, which is a more disgraceful thing. Then it will be more and more embarrassing. This is by no means God's will. Not only the Korean Joint Denomination, but also the immigrant church in the United States, where we live, going to the courts of the world due to conflict doesn’t serve as light and salt in the world. Even if we have a trial, we must settle it in the church, the presbytery, or within us. But we must solve it in Jesus Christ with His gospel. We must be faithful to the ministry of reconciliation. Therefore, we must be an example to this world by keeping the unity of the church in the Lord.