「神の御心に従って生きる唯一の道」 新年礼拝 宣教 2026年1月4日
コロサイの信徒への手紙 Colossians 1章9〜14節 牧師 河野信一郎
Happy New Year. We give thanks to our gracious Lord for the blessing of spending this first Sunday of 2026 together as the Lord’s Day, offering praise and worship. The cold has grown quite severe lately. Please take good care of yourselves to avoid catching colds. We pray that God will protect your daily lives and enrich them with His grace.
I prayed to discern what God’s will was for me to speak at the New Year’s service. Within the theme shared during the New Year’s Day service, “Walking in Trust with the Lord God,” I sought the Lord’s guidance in Scripture using the keywords “His will” and “His purpose.” The first passage revealed was Psalm 40:9: “I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your law is within my heart.” However, since I had preached from this passage two autumns ago, I decided not to use it again.
Next, I was led to read Psalm 143:8 and 10 as the invitation to worship this morning: “In the morning, let me hear of Your steadfast love, for in You I trust. Make me know the way I should go.” “Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God.” However, upon checking past records, I discovered I had preached on this very passage four years ago. So, I shared it as the children’s message this morning.
Unless we open our hearts, we cannot receive God’s blessings within us. If we prioritize our own desires, we cannot fully receive God’s blessings. We end up living without knowing the path we should follow. Yet God, who loves us even in this state, prepares the way for us. It is Jesus Christ who clearly shows us the path we should take.
After much deliberation, the passage revealed to me was Colossians 1:9-10. But then I thought, “Huh, this feels familiar,” and upon checking, I discovered it was also the annual scripture for 2019, seven years ago. Having served as pastor of Okubo Church for 27 years, I’ve spoken at about 3,000 worship services and prayer meetings combined, so this sort of thing happens quite often lately. Yet, when we place our whole being before God, we can hear His voice with a renewed heart. As we step into the new year, choosing by faith to listen to God’s Word with a fresh heart leads us to walk in His will and become those who do His purpose. And day by day, growth as those pleasing to Him is granted to us.
Now, the letter to the Colossians begins with the apostle Paul’s greeting. I would like to read verses 1 and 2: “From Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Timothy, to the holy ones in Colossae, the faithful brothers and sisters in Christ. Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.“ Notice here, ”appointed by God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus.“ ”By God’s will”—these are very important words. That we have been made those who believe in and follow Jesus is God’s will; it is because God desired it.
However, at first, we were people who turned our backs on God, lived far from Him in sin. We were those who walked in darkness, trusting only in our own strength, unaware of God’s very existence. Yet, by God’s love and His will, through the blood shed on Jesus’ cross, we were forgiven of our sins, made holy, united with Christ, and made to live in the light. This is solely by God’s love and mercy. How then should we live in response to this grace to fulfill God’s will? There is only one way: to live faithfully toward God. So how can we live faithfully toward God? What method is there?
The only way is to sincerely believe in Jesus Christ as Savior and live connected to Him. Living connected to Jesus means receiving God’s love unceasingly, receiving peace in our hearts, being renewed daily, and having that joy and wonder become the strength to live faithfully for the Lord. This strength also enables us to live sincerely in our relationships with others, bringing peace into our human connections. What each one of us needs is to rejoice and give thanks for the grace of being saved by God’s love and will, and to let our hearts be filled with excitement each day as we consider how we will respond to that grace.
After expressing gratitude in verses 3 through 8 for the grace received from God through the Savior Jesus Christ, the Apostle Paul begins verse 9 with “Therefore,” teaching us with love and prayer how we should live concretely. First, he encourages us: “I pray that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding.”
To fully know God’s will, Paul says we need God’s “Spirit,” the Holy Spirit. He says that through the Holy Spirit, wisdom and understanding are given, enabling us to know God’s will. This is impossible by human wisdom or understanding alone; it requires the Holy Spirit, and being filled with the Holy Spirit. So, how can we receive the Holy Spirit? The only way is to believe in Jesus Christ as Savior. By believing in Jesus, the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in our hearts, always remains with us, and gives us the power to discern God’s will.
Next, in verse 10, it says, “Walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, pleasing Him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.” The only way to do God’s will and live in a way that pleases Him is to walk in obedience to Jesus. While this means listening to and obeying Jesus’ words, don’t think it’s absolutely impossible to live as Jesus lived. Instead, pray and seek to trust only in Jesus, offering every single deed to Him. As you do this, the Holy Spirit will work within you, guiding you to perform good deeds and bear fruit that pleases God. The way to know God more deeply is to believe that the path Jesus walked is the best path and to follow the Lord Jesus. That is the only way.
Verse 11 says, “And according to the power of God’s glory, be strengthened with all might, so that you may endure all things with patience.” What kind of year will 2026 be? It won’t be all good times; we may face trials, times of confusion and distress, times of pain, and times of tears and hardship. Yet, as we trust in and follow God’s love and glorious power, we will be protected and strengthened by His might. We will be given the power to endure all things with patience, and we will receive abundant spiritual growth and the strength to trust God, knowing that “all things work together for good.” Remembering that Jesus was crucified as our substitute, endured suffering to the utmost, and gave His life for us, we are granted the endurance to bear anything.
When we look up at Jesus on the cross, verse 12, we can give thanks to the Father who has enabled us to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light with joy. The power to maintain that joy, thanksgiving, and peace is given to us by God through Jesus.
What did God accomplish through Jesus? It is that He made us “holy ones,” made us “those united with Christ,” and made us “children of God”—those who live in God’s love and promise. Let us read verses 13 and 14. “The Father has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” “The dominion of darkness” refers to Satan, the power of sin.
What is “sin”? Desire, envy, anger, hostility, strife, resentment, hatred—and countless others besides. Yet underlying them all, the common thread is this: ignorance of God’s existence, lack of reverence for God, and conveniently idolizing and worshiping things other than God. Ignoring that we were created by God, sustained by God’s love, and given our very reason for existence and purpose by God—prioritizing our own desires instead—this is what is called “sin,” the thing God detests most. The force that leads us to sin is called Satan, the “dark power,” the force that separates us from God.
To rescue us from that dark power, Jesus was crucified and died a sacrificial death. God raised Jesus from the dead, enabling Him to triumph over the power of sin and death, and transferred us into Jesus’ dominion. If we believe in Jesus as our Savior, we are those placed under God’s love and Jesus’ leadership. We are kept alive to do God’s will and to give glory to God. We are kept alive to share the love, the gospel, the salvation, and the hope given to us by God through Jesus.
The only way to live according to God’s will is through Jesus Christ and by following Him. In this new year, let us greatly anticipate the Lord’s grace, trust in Him during times of trial, listen to and obey Jesus’ words together, and walk with faith and prayer, gratitude and joy, patience and hope. At the end of that journey, the eternal blessings of the Kingdom await us as the destination of our faith. Let us walk with the Lord Jesus. Let us keep walking. I pray for blessings in the new year.