「神の愛に永遠にとどまる人とは」 七月第二主日礼拝 宣教 2025年7月13日
詩編 Psalms 15編1〜5節 牧師 河野信一郎
Good morning. I am grateful for God’s invitation to worship with you this morning. The heat has eased up since Friday, and I thought it had become more comfortable, but now I hear that the typhoon season has arrived, and I am not sure how I should respond to it. I pray for God’s accompaniment, protection, and guidance for all of you.
Now, July is the month of the birth of Okubo Church, and this year marks the 60th anniversary of the church’s founding, so we hope that this will be a month to reflect on the past history of the church and at the same time, to think and pray about the future of the church. In God’s plan, the seed of the gospel of Christ was sown here in Okubo since 1953 through the faith, love, and prayerful work of Missionary Hollaway and his wife, who were sent from the U.S. with the earnest prayers and offerings of American Christians, and the seed sprouted in 1965, giving birth to Okubo Church. Since then, God’s mercy has been extended to the people of Okubo. Since then, through God’s mercy and the prayers, work, and donations of many senior members of faith, the church has borne fruit and grown. No, we have been allowed to grow. I believe that everything is God’s work, and that Okubo Baptist Church today is the fruit of the faith of our senior members of faith, in other words, their love, prayers, and perseverance toward God.
We have inherited the baton of faith until today. And we are responsible for passing this baton to the next generation of believers. This is a work that comes with great responsibility. This is a project that we must all take on together, a project that we must all undertake together. We hope that you will continue to be a part of this work. There is something you can do. If we do not carry this project together, this church will eventually cease to exist. Is it God’s will that it should cease to exist? No, it is not. God’s will is for Okubo Church to continue to shine the light of Christ like a lighthouse in this land. Therefore, we need to support each other so that we do not become “dark under the lampstand.”
Two weeks ago, during the Seminary Week Appeal, the current state of the seminaries was shared, and the seriousness of the aging of the pastors, the decrease in the number of pastors, and the drastic decline in the number of students studying at the seminaries to become pastors were conveyed. But that is not the only seriousness. Seminary professors, who are responsible for preparing seminary students to become pastors and evangelists, are also aging, and the next generation of educators is not being trained at all. Therefore, there are seminaries that have gathered together theologians from various denominations.
Therefore, we must not think only of ourselves. Nor should we think only of our own church. We must act with the mission of the church toward God and our neighbors as our first priority. We must not think only of our own church, because it is through the faithful work of God, Jesus, and His disciples, who loved us and put our salvation first, that we were able to encounter our Savior Jesus Christ and receive His love, forgiveness, and salvation. It is God’s will that we do not keep this love to ourselves, but share it with our neighbors.
The key word for July, which I was led to as I kept pondering such things and praying for God’s guidance, was the word “Abide”. This word means “to connect,” “to abide,” or “to dwell”. The Word that forms the basis of this concept is John 3:16. “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life”. This is the foundation of the gospel. This is the foundation of the Gospel.
God sent His only begotten Son, Jesus, to earth as Savior to love each one of us, to connect us to God, to make us God’s children, and to make us eternal with God. He laid down His precious life on the cross on Calvary Hill for our salvation in order to reestablish the relationship with God that had been severed due to sin.
The apostle Paul wrote in Colossians 1:21-22, “Formerly you were separated from God, and in your hearts were enmity against Him by your wicked deeds. But now God has reconciled you to Himself in the body of His Son, in the flesh, by His death, so that you may be holy, without blemish and blameless before Him.” As it is written. The mission of the church is to share this love of God and the gospel of reconciliation with God brought by Jesus with people. What is needed to keep this mission alive is faith in Jesus Christ. In Colossians 1:23, Paul wrote, “Only stand firm in the faith and do not depart from the hope of the gospel which you have heard. We need to keep these words in mind when we write.
Last week we heard from John 15 about the importance of staying connected to our Savior Jesus Christ. We heard that to stay connected to Jesus is to stay connected to God and is the way to inherit eternal life. This morning we heard from Psalm 15 of the Old Testament about dwelling in the house of God, and next week, on the 20th, we will hear from the first letter of John that abiding in God’s love is the way to receive eternal blessings. Therefore, if you have not yet believed in Jesus as your Savior, please pray and ask to encounter Him. The more you encounter Jesus and get to know Him, the more you will realize how much you are loved. Your life will be changed.
Those who have received the grace of faith from God through Jesus, please pray and ask God to keep you connected to Him, to keep you dwelling where He is, and to keep you abiding in His love. By continuing to pray in this way, each person’s faith will be protected, and at the same time, the church will continue to be protected. God’s love will always protect you because it is His will.
Psalm 15 was chosen as the text for this morning because of the words in verse 1, “What kind of man, O Lord, can dwell in your tabernacle and live on your holy mountain?” The “tabernacle” and “holy mountain” here refer to communion with God. Let me conclude at the outset that those who believe in the Lord God and continue in fellowship with this God of mercy will be blessed forever in God’s presence. They will remain forever in God’s love. However, some of you may wish that I could be more specific and tell you “what kind of person can continue to receive God’s love forever”.
The psalmist who wrote Psalm 15 says in verse 2, “It is he who walks in perfect paths and does what is right. He who has the word of truth in his heart,” he says. These words list three necessary conditions for a person to be blessed by God. Verses 3 through 5 are specific examples of these three requirements, and at the end of verse 5 it says, “He who keeps these things will never waver. If you take care of the three things mentioned in verse 2, everything you do will lead you to success.
First, it says, “Walk in the way of perfection. This means to “live faithfully” to God. The “perfect path” means knowing God and obeying His Word. Fear of God, who created us, gives us life, and loves us, is the beginning of wisdom and eternal blessings. To be moved by God’s love, to rejoice in it, and to live in response to it daily is to live faithfully to God and to abide in His love forever.
Next, it says, “Do what is right. Other Bible translations translate this as “continue to do righteousness,” which means to live righteously or “live faithfully” toward one’s neighbor. Acts 10:35 says, “For whoever fears God and does what is right, no matter what nation he belongs to, will be accepted by God. The person who treats his or her neighbor equally and without distinction, and lives a life of integrity, will remain in God’s love forever. God will keep them.
Finally, it says, “It is important to be a person who has the word of truth in his heart. This means a person who always speaks the truth from the heart, that is, a person who is always straightforward, honest, and sincere toward himself or herself. God will bless such a faithful person forever.
As a self-discipline, I always keep this in mind and make an effort to do so, but a person who is not honest with himself/herself, a person who lies, deceives, has a double-mindedness, or is not faithful, cannot be faithful to those around him. If you cannot live faithfully to your neighbor, you cannot live faithfully to God. If you say you love God but do not love your neighbor, it is the same as not loving God. Therefore, in order to live faithfully to God and to live faithfully to one’s neighbor, one must first be faithful to oneself. However, we sometimes find it difficult to live honestly with ourselves.
Because we have sin, we lie to ourselves and cover up our weaknesses. Therefore, we deceive our neighbors and even God. It is Jesus Christ who transforms me with such weakness into a person of faithfulness. Therefore, we need to believe in Jesus as our Savior and stay connected to Him.
The person who is connected to Jesus, who is faithful to himself, faithful to his neighbor, and faithful to God, is “one who has no slander on his tongue. He who does not bring mischief to his friends and does not ridicule those who are close to him. One who rejects what is not in the sight of the Lord, who honors those who fear the Lord, and who keeps his oath to do no evil. He lives as “a person who lends money but does not charge interest and does not take bribes to defraud the innocent,” and the person who keeps these things will never waver in God’s love. Let us continue to remain in God’s love.