「平和：信仰、忍耐、祈り、そして神の愛」八月第一主日礼拝 宣教 2025年8月3日
ヤコブの手紙 James 1章2〜6a節 牧師 河野信一郎
Good morning. In these hot days, I am thankful to be able to worship with you like this again this morning. We were thankful to be able to offer the service on the 27th as a commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the church’s founding. We invited those who have walked with us over the past 10 years, and although we did not make it a big event by inviting people from the convention and the association, we are glad that we were able to have a very peaceful, joyful, thankful, and smile-filled worship and fellowship.
For Okubo Church, the major remaining event this year is Christmas, but it is important to cherish the worship service every Sunday, and the mission of the church is to share the gospel of Jesus from this church. Let us cherish the fact that God and Jesus gave this church to us and entrusted it with a mission, and let us work together to build it up. That is the Lord’s will.
Now, before I begin my message, I would like to give you one piece of information. From September through November, we will begin a series of listening to God’s speaking to us from the book of Jeremiah. We took a break last year, but in the past we have listened to the words of Nehemiah, Jonah, and Kohelet in a series of 12 sessions. Jeremiah has 52 chapters, so it may be difficult to summarize in 12 sessions; it may be 13 or 14. However, we would like to listen to the book of Jeremiah together because it contains important information for those of us who live in the present age, or rather, are given the opportunity to live in the present age. This August will be a period of preparation, and I hope you will remember it in your prayers.
Last month, we focused on the word “Abide,” which means “to connect, dwell, and abide,” and we discussed the importance of staying connected to Jesus, what kind of people are those who continue to abide by God, and what we should value in order to continue to abide in God’s love, together with the Bible. This August, we would like to focus on the word “perseverance” and search for God’s will in the Bible passages where the word is mentioned.
Indeed, in Japan, August is the month to remember peace. It is also the summer that marks the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. I was given the opportunity to visit the A-bomb Dome and Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima this past January, and as I stood there, I was reminded that war must never be repeated, but the mass media and SNS constantly broadcast the horrors of war and the creeping footsteps of war. The mass media and social networking sites are constantly broadcasting the tragic situation of the war and the creeping footsteps of war. We are bombarded with content that incites division. We are in a society that is overreacting to such content, and we are not at peace with it. We are in the midst of such a society where we are not at peace even though we wish for peace from the bottom of our hearts. The same is true in our daily lives. Human relationships have become so complicated that we have to live with a great deal of stress in our interpersonal relationships.
The other day I was walking down the street and saw a young man and a man in his fifties arguing over a really trivial matter, and the young man instigating the fight. I am not sure if it was because of the alcohol, the intense heat, or frustration, but people are unable to have patience and lose their temper easily, I am not sure if it is because of the sake, the heat wave, or frustration, but there are so many people in this world who are losing patience, losing their temper easily, and becoming very aggressive. People who do not think about others at all are on the rise, and interpersonal friction is frequent. In many cases, they can become victims. How should we live in such a difficult world? How should we live in such a difficult world? How should we live in the midst of hardships and trials?
In such a situation, if we are to think about peace, we must first look at ourselves with the faith that God has given us through Jesus, and then look at the world. There is certainly a great discrepancy, gap, contradiction, and disagreement between our ideal of peace and reality, but we need to first make sure that our relationship with God is peaceful. Only when we have that relationship can we ask God for peace. It is impossible to seek peace when the relationship is broken.
To seek peace from God requires trust, obedience, prayer, and above all, patience. It is not our human thoughts and efforts that will bring peace, but God’s love that must cover the whole earth. But how can mankind wait patiently for that to happen? I believe that this is the great challenge and the most immediate problem for us human beings.
This month is Peace Month, and we will be listening to the Word of God with the word “patience” as our keyword. There are many ways to paraphrase the word “patience,” including endurance, perseverance, perseverance, perseverance, and perseverance, but I would like to divide this month’s lesson into several parts to explain what God’s will is for “patience. In English, endurance, patience, perseverance, and steadfastness are also listed, but steadfastness is often used in the English Bible. It means “steadfastness,” or not moving in the slightest. I believe that we need not be afraid because we are trusting in the Lord God, and that we need not be anxious, but only wait patiently for the time of God and salvation. You also do not want to go through trials and tribulations.
However, it is a world/world filled with sin. In a world where many people do not recognize that they are created, made alive, and loved by God, unreasonable and absurd things are repeated in the clash of desires, and trials and tribulations come upon us. What can we do about it? This morning we will be listening to the letter of James, which was written to Christians in distress, those who had fled their homes in Jerusalem and fled to the Mediterranean region because of severe persecution. I am sure that they had to go through a series of hardships and trials that cannot be described in words in a foreign land.
But James writes, “My brothers and sisters, when you meet with trials, consider them as your greatest joy.” James writes to his followers. He encourages them to “trust in the Lord God, persevere, and hope in Him that you can experience the work of salvation, even though you are in a difficult situation right now. In verse 3, he writes, “You know that the testing of faith produces perseverance”.
This “you know” means that he had to go through many painful trials as he fled persecution. Through these trials, God’s mercy protected them, they were able to move forward, and they grew in perseverance. But why do we need such growth? The answer is found in verse 4. The answer is found in verse 4: “Be patient, and you will be made perfect and complete. Then you will be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. And so it is. Those who trust in God and persevere will be perfect in God’s eyes and will be invited into the Kingdom of God.
Therefore, if you need faith, perseverance, or wisdom, “Ask God, who gives generously and without reproach to all, and He will give it to you. Pray to Him, and He will give it to you. Pray, and He will give it to you. Ask in faith, and do not doubt at all. James encourages us to “ask in faith, not doubting at all, and it will be given to you. In verse 5, he says that what we should pray for is “wisdom. I would like to share with you the wisdom that is shown to us as we read through the letter of James.
First of all, I think it refers to 1) the ability to understand God’s will correctly, 2) the ability to discern what is right before the Lord and what is not, 3) the insight to see the true nature of what is happening before our eyes, 4) the ability to speak words with responsibility that come from love, prayer and patience, and 5) the ability to actually do God’s will. To receive this “wisdom” from God, “faith,” “humility,” and “love” are necessary, and James encourages us to always pray to the Lord God who gives them to us.
If you have your Bible handy, please see verses 7 and 8 that follow. The reason peace is not easily realized in the world is because there are many arrogant people who do not believe in God and try to live as they wish. It should not be difficult for a person who is alive in God’s love and in God’s peace to live among unstable people. It takes God’s love, Jesus’ words, and patience.
James was greatly influenced by the Lord Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) and Proverbs (chapters 1-9), and the importance of Jesus’ teaching to “love God and neighbor” is strongly evident in the following chapters 2-5. He greatly encourages them to not only listen carefully to Jesus’ words, but also to put his teachings into practice. I would like to conclude with 12 recommendations that we should always keep in mind in order to believe in and follow Jesus as our Savior.
1) 2: 1-13, Love from the heart, not dividing people (Matthew 5:46-48); 2) 2: 14-26, Genuine faith is to listen to, obey and do the words of the Lord Jesus (Matthew 7:21-27); 3) 3:1-12, The importance of controlling the tongue and speaking love (Luke 6:43-45); 4) 3:13-18, discerning between real wisdom and false wisdom (Matthew 5:3-11), 5) 4:1-10, the importance of turning away from the double-minded and drawing near to God (Matthew 6:24), 6) 4:11-12, not speaking evil of others (Matthew 12:36-37), 7) 4:13-17, not becoming arrogant (Matthew 6:28-34), 8) chapter 5:1-6, the danger of having riches (Matthew 6:19-21), 9) 5:7-11, have patience and hope (Matthew 24:13), 10) 5:12, always speak the truth (Matthew 5:37), 11) 5:13-18, pray to God anyway (Matthew 21 21-22), 12) 5:19-20, bring back with love and patience those who have strayed from the faith (Matthew 18:15).
The question is, how long should we endure? Be patient until the Lord comes. The farmer waits for the precious harvest of the earth, patiently waiting for the autumn rains and the spring rains. Be patient, too. Keep your hearts steadfast. For the time of the Lord’s coming is at hand. The Lord’s coming is imminent. Rejoicing that we are kept alive by God’s love until the time of the Lord Jesus’ return, persevering through difficulties, always praying, and walking with Jesus will lead to peace with God, peace with our neighbors, peace in society, and peace in the world.