「今を耐え忍ぶことができる明確な理由」 八月第三主日礼拝 宣教 2025年8月17日
ヘブライ人への手紙 Hebrews 6章13〜19節 牧師 河野信一郎
Good morning. We thank the Lord for the blessing of being able to offer praise and worship this morning with all of you in the chapel and those of you attending online. This week in Kanto, there are a few days of rain here and there, but more than that, many days of dangerously hot temperatures exceeding 35 degrees are forecast. Please take precautions against heat stroke. Also, whooping cough and new corona infections are on the rise, so please take care. I will be praying for you all.
Well, last week on the morning of Memorial Day, the 15th, there was a peace prayer meeting at Chidorigafuchi Cemetery, which I attended for the first time in a long time. What surprised me the most was that there was a baggage check at the entrance of the cemetery. It was the first time I had been checked with a metal detector outside of an airport. A few years ago, we were able to walk freely in the cemetery, but this time, the area was surrounded by many fences and the area of activity was defined, as well as the number of police officers. It was obvious that the number of people attending the prayer meeting was also decreasing due to the aging of the population.
However, there was a fortunate turn of events. I was able to meet Mr. Hajime Chino of Keisen Church, who is the son-in-law of Mr. and Mrs. Koyanagi, and I was able to ask him about Mr. and Mrs. Koyanagi, although it was only a short conversation. They have been attending the Okubo Church service on Sunday afternoons via YouTube. This Tuesday is the day we send out our monthly and weekly bulletins. If you would like to write a note after the service, we can enclose it, so please do so if you feel so inclined.
I am preparing for a series on the book of Jeremiah that will begin in September, but there are so many verses to be presented that I am struggling in a good way. Please pray for me. The Wednesday prayer meeting will also begin reading the Gospel of John from chapter 1 in September. Please consider taking this opportunity to attend the prayer meeting. The study on the Gospel of John will be posted on the church website, just as we did with the Gospel of Luke, so please read it if you like. Also, September is “Church School Month”. This is a church school adult class on Sunday mornings from 10:10 to 30 minutes. This month we are reading Deuteronomy together, and in September we will be reading the book of Joshua. leaving home an hour early may be a challenge, but I believe you will receive more grace than the difficulty, so please join us for church school.
Well, this month, we are listening with you to God’s story from the Bible with the word “patience” as the key word. Today and next week on the 24th, we hope to hear more about patience from Hebrews. Patience is necessary as we go through this extremely hot summer, and patience is also necessary with the unstoppable high prices of commodities. I am sure that there are many things that we are forced to endure on a daily basis, but what are you enduring now? Are there illnesses, injuries, aging, caregiving, work, poverty, social issues and problems for yourself and your family? Your patience may be tested daily by a wide variety of other things. There are also hunger, persecution, and immigration issues on a global level.
However, perhaps the hardest and most frequent part is persevering in relationships. Isn’t that so? In the course of our lives, we have relationships with spouses, parents and children, friends, superiors and subordinates at work, neighbors, in-laws, strangers, and many other relationships in society. It is necessary to be attentive and patient. This means that human beings need to be patient with each other. But what is the source of that patience? What does patience require?
There are many types of harassment, large and small, in today’s society. It is not only in workplaces and schoolhouses, but also in families, and maybe even in churches. We are troubled and distressed by it, and our dissatisfaction gradually increases, which leads to anger, hatred, and hostility. When I enter a restaurant or a café to eat or drink, what I often hear from the seat next to me is not smiling and cheerful topics, but complaints, bad words, and gossip about relationships at work or at home. Have you ever had such an experience? Such complaining and bad-mouthing are evidence of a sick relationship. Resentment builds up day by day, and one day it explodes, destroying the relationship beyond repair. There is no peace that we truly desire. There are only people who are hurt and distressed.
The main question for those who believe in Jesus Christ as Savior and follow this Lord is whether it is God’s will for them to be in such a state. The answer is clearly stated in the Bible and we know it well. There are trials and tribulations in life. There are trials. What we suffer the most from is why we have to endure trials and tribulations. If you are in the midst of suffering and distress, do you know exactly why you are suffering? If you know the reason, you will be able to calm down a little, pray to God, read the Bible, and think about how to cope with the problem, and you will be able to move forward, even if only a little, to solve the problem.
The letter to the Hebrews that you will hear with us this morning and next Sunday in worship is a letter written to Jewish Christians. It is a letter of encouragement to those who combine their identity as Jews, a people living by the law, with their identity as Christians, a people living in God’s love, mercy, and grace. Why was encouragement necessary? Because many were being severely persecuted for being Christians. Some were imprisoned, some lost all their possessions, and many left their familiar cities and moved to different parts of the world, as we see in verses 33 and 34 of chapter 10.
If you were ordered (forced) to choose between your national identity (e.g., as a Japanese) and your Christian identity, which would you choose? If someone were to ask you why, would you be able to answer clearly with confidence and pride? I believe that in the future, the question of identity, who we are, will always haunt us like a shadow. If we live in darkness, if we try to live in falsehood, there will be no shadow. But if you want to live in the light, in the truth, there will always be a shadow under your feet.
If we know who we are, then even if we are placed in the midst of trials and tribulations, we will be able to endure the present. If you know clearly who you are and continue to believe in it, even when life is stormy, you will be able to stay in faith and hold on to hope and not be swept away because you have anchored your faith and the hope that comes from that faith in the midst of those stormy waters. They will not be swept away. The faith given to us by God through Jesus Christ will never disappear, and we will never lose it.
Now, the word “patience” is used many times in Hebrews. In our text this morning, chapter 6, verse 19, we read, “This hope that we have is like a dependable and steady anchor for the soul, and goes within the drapery of the Most Holy Place.” The word “stable” here is the same word as “patience”. Other words connected to patience are “patiently” in “Abraham waited patiently” in verse 15 and “holding on” in “trying to hold on to the hope he was aiming for” in verse 18.
But the words I want to focus on with you this morning are not those words, but the second half of verse 18, “For we who have escaped the world are strengthened and encouraged by two constant/immutable things”. This means that they have escaped persecution and imprisonment, but in the context of today, we can say that we are escaping daily hardships and temptations to sin. There are “two immutable things” that encourage us. What are these two unchangeable things? They are the “promise” of blessing made to Abraham, the father of the Jewish people, and the “oath” by which Abraham declared that he would keep that promise.
In verses 13 and 14, we read, “When God made a promise to Abraham, He could not swear by anyone greater than Himself, so He swore by Himself, saying, ‘I will surely bless you and multiply your descendants greatly”. Verse 17 says, “God wanted to make it even clearer to those who would inherit what he had promised that his plan would not change, and he assured them of this by his oath.” Jewish and Hebrew Christians believed in these promises and vows, and were encouraged to continue to walk in faith and hope in God.
The purpose for which the letter to the Hebrews was written was to encourage them to look to Jesus’ atoning death and resurrection on the cross, because no matter how times change or what hardships we face, God’s promises and vows of blessings never change, and these promises and vows have already been fulfilled through Jesus Christ, The purpose was to encourage us to continue to trust and remain connected to the Lord Jesus even in the midst of suffering, to continue to abide in faith, and to reaffirm that there is hope. So, even if you are in the midst of great suffering right now, even if you are in a critical situation in your life, look up to Jesus alone now, keep believing, keep following, keep living faithfully, and God and Jesus will never let you go.
The last part of verse 18 and verse 19 I read and ends today’s message. ‘In this matter God cannot be false. This hope we have is like a dependable and stable anchor for our souls and goes inside the drapery of the Most Holy Place.” God and Jesus are the Truth. Those who put their trust in this God can walk in the light of Jesus Christ, and will be given peace in their souls and strength to persevere and move forward day by day. And beyond that, there is eternal blessing. Believe in God’s word of promise, Jesus Christ, and be thankful.