「試練も御心と信じて委ねる」 七月第三主日礼拝 宣教 2024年7月21日
ペトロの手紙一 1Peter 4章12〜19節 牧師 河野信一郎
Good morning. I thank the Lord for the blessing of being able to worship with you this morning in His mercy. As has been reported daily in the news, the number of infections caused by a new coronary mutation strain is on the increase nationwide as the 11th wave. In addition, the number of people suffering from heat stroke is increasing as the days continue to be extremely hot. The first half of this week is forecast to continue to be very hot. Please be sure to take all possible measures to protect yourself from the heat. If you are traveling this summer, please avoid direct sunlight and drink plenty of water when going outside. I remember you and pray for your daily protection.
Now, this morning, under the title of “Trusting and Surrendering to God’s Will Even in Trials,” I wish to listen to what God has to say to us using 1 Peter 4:12-19 as our text, but first a question. I believe that all of you want to avoid trials as much as possible. I don’t think anyone wishes to go through trials and calamities. However, as the apostle Peter wrote in this letter, “The end of all things is at hand,” it is certain that the end of days is approaching. Because that day is steadily approaching and we do not know how much is left, I believe that we will try to cherish the days that are left to us.
For example, if we were told by a doctor that we were very ill and had very little time left on earth, we would spend our remaining days systematically, not wasting a single day, and cherishing them as very precious time. Perhaps some of us would fall into desperation, but it would be a waste to spend our remaining time in such a sorrowful way. We want to spend our remaining time slowly and carefully with our loved ones and family members, and we do so, don’t we?
As the Bible says, those who leave this world and those who are left behind, we are to be modest and thoughtful in our behavior and to love one another with all our hearts. We have no time to complain. We should spend our remaining time treating each other with hospitality, talking about the blessings of our life together and the good fortune we have shared, rejoicing and thanking each other. Most of us, however, do not know how much time we have left on earth.
Now, this morning I would like to share with you two photographs of two people. For privacy reasons, I will only show them to those present in the chapel. The first one is the man on the left who was featured in Christian Today, Christian media in the United States. The woman on the right is his daughter. This person has nothing to do with any of us. So why am I showing you his picture? This man was a firefighter with two daughters and a Christian who attended church with his family every Sunday.
On the 13th of this month, there was an assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump at a rally in a town in Pennsylvania, USA, and this man was the only victim involved in the incident. He took a bullet as he covered his family by taking a stand to protect them. This is the saddest thing I have ever heard. It is a repeated tragedy in the American gun society. He was 50 years old, so I believe he had plans to continue to be healthy and spend time with his family, and had a strong will to work for his church and community. But all of that disappeared in an instant. I don’t think anyone could have imagined such an unreasonable and absurd thing.
The other one is Trevor Tamura, who attended the Okubo Church service just last month on the 23rd and shared God’s love with us from this pulpit. Some of you may still remember his testimony, but last Wednesday afternoon, his mother, Lisa, e-mailed me and asked me to pray for Trevor because he was going to have an operation on the 19th due to a mass found in his brain.
Trevor is a very bright young man who graduated with first class honors from a university in Boston and was planning to enter medical school at a university in Colorado from this August to earn two M.D. degrees in eight years, but this sudden illness has forced him to abandon his plans for this year and put them on hold until next year. The surgery to remove the mass was successful, but there were a few hiccups afterward, and he is under 24-hour observation following a C T test. We would like to ask everyone to pray for Trevor’s recovery and for his family.
Now, this morning’s message is connected to last week’s message. Last week, through 1 Peter 4:1-6, we heard about the life that God has given each of us and how it is His will and desire that we live the rest of our lives. Many of us have plans for our future, for our families, and for our retirement. We work hard, live frugally, and try to stay healthy, but life also brings unexpected events, events that involve suffering, pain, and sorrow.
We cry out to God at such times, but we have heard that times of trial are the best opportunities to know God’s will, and that we must not squander these opportunities. Knowing God’s will for us, we experience the great joy of using our remaining days not for ourselves, but for God and our neighbors.
See 1 Peter 4:12. “Beloved, do not be surprised and suspicious of the fiery trial that is about to try you, as if something unexpected had happened.” The “fiery trial” does not refer to the accidents, illnesses, and relationship entanglements we encounter in life, but to the “persecution” we face because of our faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior.
However, not only persecution, but accidents, illnesses, injuries, and problems in relationships are all challenges that we face in the course of our lives, and I think it is important to search for God’s will, where is God’s will, and where is God leading me? I think it is important to search for God’s will, where is God’s will, and where is God trying to lead us. And as we go through various places, our faith will be refined and prepared, and we will finally arrive at the place where we know that no matter what happens in our life, we must trust God, surrender everything to Him, continue to trust, and continue to surrender to Him, and know that it is His will.
In chapter 1, verses 6 and 7, the apostle Peter says, “You may have to suffer various trials for a while now, but your faith will be proved genuine by those trials and will be far more precious than gold, which is refined by fire but must decay, and when Jesus Christ appears, He will bring praise, honor, and When Jesus Christ appears, he will bring praise, honor, and glory to you.
The “end of all things” is not a negative thing called “the end of the world,” but the time of Jesus’ second coming, the time of judgment when the righteous and the wicked will be made clear, and a positive time of joyful celebration of praise, honor, and glory for those who walk according to God’s will. Even though such a time has not yet come, and the days of suffering and hardship continue, we must look to Jesus alone, trust in Him alone, and walk with hope in Him alone, which is what it means to live according to God’s will.
In verse 13, Peter says, “Rather, the more you suffer in Christ, the more you rejoice. For you will also be full of joy when the glory of Christ appears.” Paradoxical, though, this means that even though we suffer, when Jesus comes again, our tears of sorrow will be transformed into tears of joy and our groans into praise through Him.
To “suffer the sufferings of Christ” means to embody the suffering of the cross of Jesus in the midst of suffering, but it is also an invitation to rejoice in that salvation, to taste the grace of the Lord, because even though we suffer such suffering, our sins have been paid for and we are saved by the death of Jesus on the cross, and I am kept alive in the love of the Lord. This is an invitation to rejoice in that salvation and to savor the Lord’s grace.
Verse 14 says, “Blessed are you if you are reproached for the name of Christ. For the Spirit of glory, the Spirit of God, abides upon you. “Glory” is a word that describes God’s presence, but it also means that the Holy Spirit is always with us, holding fast to our respective faiths, even when we suffer persecution for the name of Christ.
Verse 15 tells us what we must never do, even in the midst of suffering. It says, “Murderers, thieves, and meddlers with others.” “Meddling with others” does not mean meddling in the good sense, but in the bad sense of breaking up a relationship or violating another person’s rights. Those of us who have received God’s love are made alive to serve our neighbors, to enrich and bless our neighbors’ lives.
But those who do not know God’s love say that it is foolish to live that way, and they struggle to live in God’s love. We can be misunderstood and condemned because of our faith in Jesus. But we should “never be ashamed” of that, Peter says in verse 16. Why should we not be ashamed?
In verse 19, the apostle Peter encourages us by saying, “Whoever suffers according to the will of God, let him continue to do good and surrender his soul to the Creator, who is the truth. Why should we continue to do good deeds in the midst of suffering? What is the reason?
The reason for this is that even in the midst of such hardships, to live trusting only in God and entrusting everything to Him is to “worship God,” to confess and testify of Jesus as Savior at the same time, and because it is what pleases God, it is His will.
However, when we are in trouble and suffering, we find ourselves thinking only of ourselves and failing to value His will. However, the Word of the Lord, Jesus is given to us to be with us in such weakness and to encourage us, and the Holy Spirit is with us to help us understand His words. It is all God’s help and mercy for us to seek His will and live according to His will in our daily lives and in our tribulations. Let us give thanks to the Lord.