Dongseo University
Faculty and Staff Chapel Address
April 28, 2005
Dr. John Derry, President
Hope International University

Good morning. I bring you warm greetings and blessings from your brothers and sisters in the United States of America and from HopeInternational University. It is an honor for me to be with you and I express my appreciation to Dr. Dong Soon Park for this kind invitation. We are delighted to learn of the success of Dongseo University and to see the progress you are making. You have a beautiful campus and the quality of education your students receive is a reflection on your dedication and commitment to excellence. It is a privilege for Hope International University to be associated with such a fine school. I recently invited several of your students who are studying on our campus to have lunch with me. They are very nice young men and women and are good ambassadors for your school and your country.

I feel a special bond with your university, because we share a common purpose. The mission of our school is to empower students through Christian higher education to serve the church and impact the world for Christ. We believe all Christians have a responsibility to help share the gospel message in whatever profession or career they serve. We commend you for making this part of your goals as well, and know God will continue to bless your efforts.

I would like to speak with you this morning on the subject of the church. Sometimes we think of the church as a building where people gather on Sunday morning. On the wall of my office are pictures of churches where I have served as the minister. The first was when I was eighteen years old and a sophomore in college. It was a simple small country church that had only one room. It was surrounded by trees and corn fields and was built on the top of a hill away from the city. The members of the congregation were wonderful, caring, and patient people who were farmers from the surrounding community. The next church I served was in the town where I had lived as a child. Some of the members of the congregation had been my teachers when I was in school. Often I felt like they were going to give me a grade on my sermon. This building was much larger and it had stained glass windows, it was made of brick, and had a steeple on top with a bell inside. On Sunday morning, the bell would ring reminding everyone that it was time to go to church. Church buildings come in many shapes and sizes and kinds. There are Presbyterian, and Christian, and Methodist, and Baptist, and Catholic, and many more.

But what did Jesus have in mind when he spoke of the church? What was his vision for the future of an institution that would transcend geographic, social, cultural, and economic barriers?
We read of his first reference to the church in Matthew chapter 16, verses13 to 18. "When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?" They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets." "But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed toyou by man, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it."

Notice that Jesus said, "I will build my church." He had a plan in mind and he was not referring to a building made of brick and mortar and wood and stained glass. He did not mean construction that would take place with hammers and nails. He spoke of a church that would be built not on a foundation of concrete or stone, but upon the solid rock confession that Peter had just spoken - the fact that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the Living God. He spoke of people who were called together with a common bond and purpose. Over twenty illustrations in the New Testament help us understand the nature of the church Jesus planned to build through the power of the Holy Spirit. I want to briefly look at two of those pictures.

The apostle Paul used one particular picture several times in his letters, to help us understand the relationship we have with Christ and with one another. He calls the church "the Body of Christ." When the Church is compared to a physical body we learn some important lessons about how the church is to function. Colossians chapter 1, verse18 reads, "He is the head of the body, the church."Everything we do in the church should in submission to Christ. Just as your brain controls every activity in your body, from your heart beat to every single action, we should be in such close communication with Christ that even subconsciously, we are acting in a manner that in consistent with his will. This connection is vital to our survival as members of the body of Christ.

The human body can survive without some organs. I’ve known people whose kidneys no longer work properly and they must regularly be attached to a dialysis machine to filter their blood. There have even been people who have been kept alive by an artificial heart. But without the head, you cannot live and grow and be productive. You cannot survive as a Christian without being joined together with the Body of Christ, the church.

In the church, no matter where we live, no matter what country we are in, we all have the same Lord. We are members of the same body. There is only one head and all of us from all over the world must submit to Jesus. The same person is in charge of the church in South Korea as in Kenya as in America as in Brazil or any other country in the world. There is only one head of the church and that is Jesus.

This picture also illustrates to us important lessons about our relationship with other one another. In Romans chapter 12, verse 4 we read, "Just as each of us has one body, with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others."Our bodies are very complex organisms and have some hard working parts. Your heart beats 100,000 times per day. Your lungs breathe in and out 20,000 times per day. If either of these organs decided to rest for a few minutes, you would die. They work day and night, every day, all year long. Just as these organs are essential to our bodies working properly, we must remember how much we depend on people who work beside us in the church. It’s not just the minister who is vital to the functioning of the church. It is not just the administrators of the university who keep it operating. There are hundreds of people doing jobs that we may never notice until they stop working. We all know how important it is to have aprofessor teaching the class. Without these dedicated men and women, our students could not learn. However, what if no one ever cleaned the classroom or took care of the landscaping? What happens if the heat or the air conditioning breaks? Professors are not very good at fixing those things. We need every single member using the gifts and talents God has given them as we work together to build up the body of Christ.

God made us in such a way that we must depend on one another. There are ten trillioncells in the human body and they are divided into about 200 different types of cells. My son graduated from medical school and then he completed a second doctorate degree from law school. He specializes in the area of genetic research and patents new discoveries in the field of medicine. His work involves the unique characteristics the genes and DNA that determine how human cells function. DNA are tiny strands of chemicals in each cell that work like an instruction manual to determine how each cell works.

It is so small, that if you untwisted the DNA in all of your cells and put it end to end, it would reach the moon 6000 times. It is fascinating how intricate God made our bodies. Every cell has a different and important job to do. And every member of the Body of Christ has a unique place of service that is determined by spiritual gifts and talents. We are all different, but we work together in harmony.

We also find the church described as a family. Some of your students do not have the opportunityto go home very often. They enroll at the University and get involved in taking classes, studying and other activities, but because of the expense and distance, are unable to travel to see their family. I have worked with college students for over 30 years and have known many young people who get what we call in America "home sick." That doesn’t mean their homes make them ill, it means they miss their families. They want to be with the people they love and no matter how many new friends they make or what we do at the University to help them adjust, nothing can take the place of their parents, grandparents, brothers, and sisters. There is no substitute for a family. In every culture the family is the foundation of society.

There are two ways you can become a member of a family - by birth or by adoption. If you were born into your family, you genetically acquired some characteristics of your parents. Have you ever noticed how when a new baby is born, one of the first things people do is try to figure out if it looks more like the mother or the father? I don’t know how anyone can tell. All new babies look alike to me. Jesus explained to Nicodemus "You must be born again - born of the water and the spirit." As that takes place, we receive the indwelling presence of God’s Spirit.

We begin to change and our very nature reflects the likeness of our heavenly Father. I John Chapter 1, verse 9 reads, "No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot go one sinning, because he has been born of God."When people look at us, they should see the characteristics of our heavenly father in us. We have God’s seed implanted within us. We have his likeness through the presence of the Holy Spirit. We should bring honor to Him by what we say, by the way we treat others, and by the things we do.

It may be that you were adopted into your family, and your parents have let you know you were chosen. They may have said, most parents are stuck with what they get, but you are special because we chose you as our child. Our neighbors adopted two children from Russia who had no parents. These children had no hope for the future until this mother and father made them part of their family. They love them and provide for them and the children have taken their family name. We would have no hope for eternity, if God had not adopted us into his family. Romans chapter 8, verse 23 reads, "we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies." We are God’s children. We have been born and adopted into his family and we all have the same father.

This means that as a family, we should demonstrate love and concern for one another. The apostle John reminded us that you cannot love the Father and hate his children. We may have our disagreements with one another, but at the end of the day, we are still part of the same family. We must never allow differences to destroy our family relationship. When we have problems, we work through them but we don’t break the family apart. When someone receives praise for an accomplishment, we share in the joy and celebration. There is no jealousy or sibling rivalry. We are happy when a brother or sister is blessed in some way.
Being part of a family means when one member of the family hurts, we all share in the suffering. Last year, one of our finest students at the University was killed in an automobile accident. He was studying to become a minister and worked with children at a church camp. His death brought great sorrow to our campus and we all suffered together. We felt this tragedy so deeply because we have a family bond in Christ. We support one another even if it requires sacrifices on our part.

Family members care about one another and do what it takes to help new members of the family grow up. When a child comes home from the hospital it needs a lot of tender care. There is the feeding, the changing of the diapers, the bathing, the rocking, getting it dressed, and every other little need that comes along. We wouldn’t expect the new baby to take care of itself. We understand just how much time and care a new baby requires. And soon the child takes its first step. Everyone is gathered around with their video camera just watching for the special event. The baby takes a step then falls down and what do we do? We don’t go over and say, "What’s the matter with you? How long is it going to take you to learn to walk?" No, we rush over and pick the little one up and hold onto her hands until she learns to take another step. And soon, they are running and climbing everywhere.

When someone comes into the church as a new child of God, do we provide the same kind of support and encouragement to that person? Do we carefully give them the right kind of spiritual food and patiently allow them to grow toward greater understanding of God’s word? When they make a mistake, are we patient and understanding or do we chastise them for falling down? A good family is one that provides a nurturing environment that lets people know when they make a mistake we’re here to help them get back on their feet and take another step. Being a part of a Christian university is a unique environment. It is one in which people have a special concern and love for one another.

We have the blessing of working together in one of the most important missions in the world. And we have the blessing of being a part of God’s wonderful creation, the Church. The bond that we have as Christians is the greatest kind of globalization the world has ever known. We are all part of the same body and we need each other. We are all members of the same family and I am honored to have you as my brothers and sisters in Christ.