Tyndale Chapel Podcast

My friends, this morning is such a treat for me to introduce you to a friend of mine who graduated from Tyndale a little while ago. We were chatting before as he entered the chapel earlier this morning and I started here in 1999 Dr Sam Chung began his studies at Tyndale University, then Tyndale College in 2000 and he is a graduate of the University and the seminary both, and also has a Doctor of Ministry from fuller Theological Seminary in California in the area of family, culture and youth. Sam has been married to Esther for 17 years, and together they have two children, Luke and Lois. Sam currently is the chaplain at the senior school at people's Christian Academy in Markham. He's only started there recently, because previous to that, for 24 years, he served different local congregations throughout the Toronto area, particularly in Markham, at the bridge for 17 years as a youth and young adult pastor. I remember Sam as being an extraordinary athlete when he was here, he played on our volleyball team. He was a very fine ball hockey player. He actually commented to me that he wants one day to graduate from the ball hockey School, which is who we are, and he continues to play hockey even now with Ken, with Dr Michell. So Sam, it is such a great honor to have you here with us today. Sam's message, provocatively entitled, I love the smell of locker rooms. I'm not sure if you've ever been in a locker room. I'm not sure that I would agree with him on that, but we will proceed and see what he has to say about that. But his message is based on Genesis 50 verses, 17 through 21 and I'm reading from the New International Version. This is what you are to say to Joseph. I ask you to forgive your brothers the sins and the wrongs they committed in treating you so badly. Now, please forgive the sins of the servants of the God of your father. When their message came to him, Joseph wept. His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him, we are your slaves, they said, but Jesus, sorry. But Joseph said to them, don't be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then don't be afraid. I will provide for you and your children. And he reassured them, and he spoke kindly to them. This is the word of the Lord. Let's pray. God this morning, we have already celebrated the beauty, wonder, majesty, forgiveness, grace, love that you have exhibited toward us, and that we are so deeply embedded in that story, and that is our song, as we have just sung, God, thank you for these moments that we can come together to sing together, to hear the word expressed, to hear a message of inspiration and challenge. And I pray for my brother Sam, as he comes to speak to us now. God, open our hearts, activate our ears and our lives to be responsive to the words that he has for us. This morning, we pray in Jesus name, amen.

Can I move this? Is that okay? Thank you. Hey, thank you so much for having me here Tyndale. It's kind of like a blast from the past being in this place. Actually, we the year after I graduated, was the year they moved into this building. So I feel a little bit like Moses not be able to come into this building. But anyway, hey, can we give a wonderful round of applause to this worship team. Wasn't that so sweet to the soul? Oh man, thank you. Dr Michell, I know him on the ice, and we're grinding out fighting for the puck and seeing him lead worship. It's weird for me. Anyway, thank you once again for having me here. It really is an honor to be here with you. I just want to share a couple things with you. During the Korean War, my great grandfather said it's time to leave North Korea, and so he picked up his his sons, my grandfather, his family, my dad, who was five at the time, and all the boys and they went in two groups. So the boys went first and then the girls. So he would take the boys to a boat, where the boat would take them down south to the South Korea, and then he went back to grab his daughters. And prior to getting to his daughters, the North Koreans had actually got them. And so, you know, my grandfather would always tell me, go get my sisters. And I would say, what did they look like, right? I have no idea. He said, Just just go find them anyway. From there, my great grandfather came back to the boat that from the boat they went to the south. And in the south, the church that was built there literally saved them, both physically and spiritually. And it was a church that would allow for my great grandfather, my grandfather, my dad, who was five at the time, to know who Jesus Christ is. Eventually, they would move to Argentina, where they had, you know, heard there was some potential there, and they would stay there for a couple years. My dad would write letters back and forth with my mom, who was in South Korea, who they had met in university, and they were writing letters back and forth because obviously they didn't have email back then, phone calls were so expensive. Eventually he would fly back to South Korea, get married, bring my mom back to Argentina, and right before having my sister, they hear of Canada bringing people in immigrants. And so they applied, and they would get into Canada in 1976 and from there, work every odd job, even though my dad had a mechanical engineering degree. My mom had an accounting degree. They worked in every shop, every store. They had a gift store. They and right before they were retired, they had a dry cleaners, just like every good Korean would have, right a variety store or dry cleaners. And they retired, and they're living well now, in their late 70s. I met with my dad, and you know, for most Koreans coming to Canada, they would think that, you know, this is the dream, the dream of their kids being able to succeed, to have a good life. And it's by God's grace that my brother, my older sister, my younger brother and I, we all own our own houses, surprisingly, in the GTA somehow, by God's grace, and this can be seen as successful and as great, and you have made it. And I spoke with my dad the other day and his wisdom, and he said, you know, Sam, I am so grateful, not because of all you know, the fact that you get to go to Disney World. I dreamt of going to Disney World. You know, all my friends when they were little, they would go to Disney World, and we would play in the backyard, right? And we would have this dream and and my dad said, you know, that was never my dream for you. My dream has already come true, and that is that you, your sister and your brother would know Jesus. That is the dream, and that dream has come to fruition. That's all I've ever wanted, ever since we left South Korea and all the unknowns and not knowing what was going to happen. And yes, we had hoped that we would, you know, get a good education. Whatever it may be that he would say, I'm so grateful that, you know, Jesus, that is the gift. And I can't imagine all that he went through. You know, he lost his hearing along the way. It's, I'm summarizing a really long story, but I can't imagine his story and all that he went through. Just to say, hey, we want you to know Jesus. You know, in the book of Genesis, I love the story of Joseph, not so much because of Joseph saving his family from starvation, not because, you know, his dream comes into fruition, rather because after time we get to see his brother, Judah, who sells Joseph into slavery, have a change of heart. I always wondered what Judah was thinking after he is the one that sells Joseph into slavery. He has that idea. I always wondered what he went through. I always wondered what baggage he must have carried, knowing his dad was suffering. I always wondered the guilt He must have gone through, and years of holding on to that years and when he looked back you know after all that has happened in Genesis 50, I don't think he would have imagined being where he was at the end of the story, just like my dad would never have imagined where we would be at the end of the story. Thought I want us to think through is this, we are a part of God's story right now. And the question I want to ask is, what are some tensions that God wants us to pay attention to? What are some tensions that God wants us to pay attention to? Now I don't want to go through the whole story of Joseph. I don't have a lot of time. So instead of going through the whole story of Joseph, I was trying to give you kind of the Cole's Notes version. I realize you guys don't know what Cole's notes versions are. So I'm going to give you the chat GPT version of the story of Joseph. And it goes like this, Joseph's story starts in the beginning of Genesis, 37 where he's introduced as Jacob's favorite son, shown by the special robe Jacob gives him Joseph's dream, which suggests he will rule over his brothers fuel their jealousy. They conspire to sell him into slavery. Joseph is taken to Egypt. His brothers deceive Jacob by presenting Joseph's robe dipped in goat's blood make him believe Joseph is dead. In Egypt, Joseph serves in Potiphar's house, where he gains favor due to his diligence and integrity. However, rejecting Potiphar's wife's advances, Joseph is falsely accused and imprisoned. Even in prison, God grants him success and Joseph's ability to interpret dreams years of abundance followed by seven years of famine, Pharaoh appoints Joseph second in command to manage food storage and distribution when famine strikes, Joseph's brothers come to Egypt seeking grain, unaware that Joseph is now in power. Okay. Now in power. After testing their character, Joseph reveals himself and forgives them, recognizing that God used their betrayal. Used their betrayal for good. Joseph's family moves to Egypt under his protection, settling the stage, setting of the stage for the Israelis eventual growth and Simeon in Exodus, etc, etc. Okay, so this is where I want to kind of take up now. So we know the story of Joseph, but what happens with the story of Judah? Okay, at the very beginning in chapter 37 verse 26 we see kind of the brains behind Judah. Okay, he's he is the one that says, hey, why don't we sell Joseph into slavery? Okay, let's sell him into slavery. As hatred towards Joseph was so great. Rather, because of his hatred, he would say, Let's sell him his malice so great, he would be willing to put Joseph's life on the line. Judah, he's young, he's naive, he's ambitious, and his actions would snowball Joseph's slavery into second in command. Now he could have gone back said, Joseph, you're there because of me. He could have but he didn't. What ends up happening is Joseph put some so as we know the story, there's a great famine, and now everybody's going hungry. And so they say, Hey, we got to go to Egypt. We hear there's food there. So as they're lining up, Joseph recognizes his brothers. His brothers don't recognize Joseph because he's all decked out in his Egyptian gear. And as a result, you know, Joseph says, okay, I'm going to put them to the test, see that if they have changed. Particularly, he's going to see if Judah has changed. And so what he does is he gives them grain, he throws Simeon into jail and says, and through the course of time, he finds out he has a brother from the same mother, Benjamin, and says, go back and come back with Benjamin. I will let Simeon go. And so they go back. They tell their father that you know this. They took Simeon. We don't know what's going on. This guy was a little weird to us. I don't understand we were very nice, and he was mean to us and and Jacob. Now their father is in sorrow because now he's missing two sons, Joseph and Simeon. He doesn't want to lose his most precious, Benjamin. The famine gets worse, and they run out of food and they need to go back to Egypt, but Jacob does not want Benjamin to go. This is where the story gets interesting. If you don't know the story and you're reading this story, it gets interesting because who steps up Judah and he says to his father in Genesis, 43 I don't fit. Yeah. 43 he would say. Then Judas said to his father, Israel, send the boy along with me, and we will go at once so that we and you and our children may live and not die. I myself will guarantee his safety. I myself will guarantee his safety. And every reader is thinking, don't do it. He's the guy that sold out, Joseph, right? And you can hold me personally responsible for him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him here before you, I will bear the blame before you all my life as it is. If we had not been delayed, we could have gone and returned twice. As readers we're thinking, not Judah, why not Reuben or someone else? Why does it have to be Judah? Now, as the story goes on, they go back, Joseph sees his brothers, and he tests them. He sends them off with grain. He puts the silver cup into Benjamin's bag, and they're off. Joseph sends a steward. Says, what have you done? Why would you steal from me? And they find the silver cup in Benjamin's bag. They come on back, and they're now before Joseph and trying to figure out what to do. And you're hoping, as a reader, if you've never read this before, as a reader, you're thinking, Judah, are you going to step in? Are you do your thing? Are you going to be the person that you said that you're going to be? As it says in Genesis chapter 44 sorry that the font so small it says so now, if the boy is not with us, when I go back to your servant my father, he's speaking to Joseph and my father, whose life is closely bound up with the boy's life, see that the boy isn't there. He will die. Your servant will bring the gray hair of your father, of our father, down into grave and soil. Your servant guaranteed the boy's safety to my father. I said, if I do not bring him back to you, I will bear the blame before you, my father all my life, now, then, and every reader who's never read this is like what's going to happen. Please let your servant remain here as my Lord's slave in place of the boy. Let the boy return with his brothers. How could I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? No, do not let me see the misery that would come to my father. And Judah steps up, and you would think, oh, man, is he going to replace his life for for Benjamin? Is he going to do? And he does it and like the whole crowd as a reading he's like, oh my goodness this is amazing. This is amazing. There's two things I want to share coming out of this story of Joseph. Number one, oftentimes we can look at people in a still picture when actually life is a motion picture. And could God be calling us to give some attention to someone who is difficult? Some of the hardest people, some of the people that have hurt us, people who have have caused hurt, can change. And the wise words of Ted lasso. He says, I love the smell of locker rooms. It smells like potential. Locker rooms, I've been in a lot of locker rooms, and they do stink playing hockey, man. I don't know what it is. People have never heard of Febreze, right? Like anyway, I've been in some locker rooms where we have shared some of the deepest things in the locker room. I don't know what it is about the locker room and foul smell that brings out, you know, some of the things in people, but I love this quote. I love the smell of locker rooms because there's potential, and there's potential in people. Early in my early years of ministry, I had a drug dealer attend my youth ministry, and the only reason he attended was he wanted to sell drugs, and so he and he was more faithful than many of my youth, he would come to every Bible study, every youth ministry, every youth night, every Sunday. He showed up. Sometimes he would bring his friends, and they would steal from my leaders, steal from our offering plate and and it was, it was an interesting ride. He would offer drugs to my youth, but he came every single week. I remember one day he comes to church with some of his buddies, and he has a black eye. I said, oh my goodness what happened? Right? He said, I fell down the stairs. You fell down the stairs on your face? What? And his boy said, you heard the man, he fell down the stairs, and later he would tell me he got jumped trying to sell drugs in the alleyway. But this student and a bunch of them came to a retreat, and all of our leaders, like, oh no, I don't know what's gonna happen. And we pray, man, did we pray. And I remember, you know, just I felt God saying we ought to give that gospel message, and we ought to share what the Lord has to say to these students. And so this one student said, I want to know who Jesus is. I was like. No, really, what are we planning? And he said, No, no, I really do. And he starts crying. And he had this moment. He's like, Sam, I'm gonna I'm changing my life, getting rid of all the drugs tomorrow, all the drugs I have the he had a lot of drugs, about half a million dollars in drugs. He gave it back to his provider, and he called me the very next day. He said, Pastor Sam, you'll never know what happened. The cops came to my house and there was no drugs in my house, because Jesus saved me. Jesus saved me. And he say, see and like they've been in and out of jail. But he said, this would have put me away for a while. You know, I look at his story now he serves me communion. It's weird, but I look at his story, he's gotten baptized, and God changed his life. And I think about someone like Judah, God changed his life. He has that power. And here's the crazy thing about Judah, Judah, he would step in to be this substitutionary replacement, and he would foreshadow what his descendant Jesus would do, which would be our substitutional atonement for us, this ring leader, the betrayer, the cold hearted, would step up and save my life for his. Judas said, I'll take the blame. Let me be the substitute. And this is what Jesus would do. Judas steps up and offers his life. Jesus lost his life, and because of that, our life is reconciled to the Father. The second thing I want to share is Jesus was the ultimate substitute. I want to just remind us of the gift that that is a God calling us to give some attention to this reminder each day, the power of what Jesus can do is incredible, isn't it? I pray with you. Let's pray, hey God, thank you so much that you are an awesome God doing awesome things, and you remind us that each day through the cross and thank you that you continually show us that you are doing great things, that you're not done and that you will continue to do great things. Lord, I pray for every student and professor here that they would be continually reminded of the gift that they have to hear about Jesus and to give the gift of Jesus every single day, what a gift that is. We're grateful in Jesus. Name, Amen.

Friends, through Sam's words, through the songs, through the psalm that we have read responsibly this morning, we've been reminded of the power and the beauty of the cross of Jesus Christ. So this morning, I thought it would be appropriate for us to respond to that invitation of that cross and the beauty of Christ in our lives by reciting the Apostles Creed. This is an affirmation of our collective belief and response in God's saving grace and the work of the Son and Spirit. So you'll see it on the screen in a moment, if it's not already there, and I would like you to respond in kind during this Lenten season with the creed. Now, please read aloud the non bold parts, so I'll read the bold parts and then you respond. Do you believe and trust in God, the Father? Do you believe and trust in God the Son? And friends, do you believe and trust in the Holy Spirit? Amen. Let's worship.