「神が良しとされる年を歩むために」 一月第一主日礼拝 宣教 2025年1月5日
申命記 Deuteronomy 6章16〜25節 牧師 河野信一郎
Good morning, and welcome to a new year. As we welcome the new year, I am grateful to be able to gather here with you on the morning of the first Sunday of the year, the Lord’s Day, to offer praise and worship to God together. What will the year 2025 be like for you? What kind of days is God preparing for us? The year 2025 will be the 60th anniversary of Okubo Church. Please remember that and pray for God’s further blessings.
I don’t know if it was for me, Okubo Church, or both, but I would like to share something that happened on the morning of New Year’s Day that was like a preview of what this year will be like. One of our daughters, who had been running a fever since New Year’s Eve, became even more feverish the next morning and was unable to attend the New Year’s Day service. As if to make up for it, we were supposed to hold the New Year’s Day service at 11:00 a.m., but at 10:55 a.m., there was no one here to worship. The other daughter, who was praying piano, asked me with a serious look, “Are you really going to worship? I replied, “It is quite an obvious to offer worship to God. Even if no one is present, we will offer worship services.”
But in my heart, I was praying. 11:00 a.m. came, and the chapel was still empty except for my family. Still, as usual, I gave the first greeting of the service and read the call to worship. Two ladies entered the chapel around the time of praise, but neither of them was a member of the church. However, after that, church members and their families entered the chapel. For those of you from overseas, the word “Imozurushiki” may be unfamiliar. It means that they entered the chapel one after another.
I did not ask my daughter how she felt when she witnessed such a scene, but I felt God’s mercy in my heart and thanked the Lord from the bottom of my heart. 12 people came to worship and you may think it is a very small number. No. In the distant past, we once held a New Year’s Day service with 10 people. On that morning, there was no pianist, so we asked a guest to play the piano. Such things have happened in the past. For Okubo Church, I feel that the year 2025 will be a year in which we will feel God’s mercy and be thankful for His mercy. What will your year be like?
Whether or not there are many worshippers gathered in the chapel, we will continue to give importance to offering our worship to God. There will surely come a time when we will leave this church. There will be a time when we can no longer gather, a time of the end. I don’t know how many more times I will be able to stand in this pulpit and deliver a message. Therefore, I want to cherish the morning service and the evening service this year, and rejoice and be thankful for the opportunity to share the Word. I hope that you will also cherish the worship services, but I believe that God desires and expects this more than we do.
It is embarrassing to say but at the end of last year, more than any other time, people said to me, “Have a good New Year!” I was not happy to hear people say to me, “Have a good New Year!” So, I did not say “Have a good New Year”. Perhaps it was because I was mentally tired from Christmas events, or perhaps it was because my mind was exhausted and sluggish, but every time I was wished a “Have a good New Year,” I did not understand the meaning of the word “good” in “good year. I guess those who say such things to me are wishing me a happy new year. However, I wondered, “What is a good year? What is the standard to judge a “good” year?” Pastor is human being. I think my heart was more tired than usual. I think it was because I was dissatisfied and anxious about things. Even though I hope that the new year will be good, I think there are many things in my heart that are burdensome.
What kind of year is a “good year” and a “bad year” for you? Is it a bad year if there is a lot of worry, anger, pain, and sadness, or is it a good year if every day is a series of joyful moments? Is it a good year if our days are filled with things that we wish for or think are ideal, or is it a bad year if a large percentage of our days are far from what we have planned or wished for? As I think about it, I have come to believe that it is not we humans who judge “good” and “bad,” but rather God.
In a wonderful design, when God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit formed heaven, earth, and all things according to their design, the Triune God looked upon them and declared with great power seven times, “Good”. To whom did God declare it? First of all, to Himself. God Himself was satisfied. He also declared to us human beings that everything is good. We are daily living in the midst of God’s good work of creation and nature.
God sees and knows everything about how we are living in His blessings, what we are accomplishing and what we are not accomplishing. By “everything,” we mean both our good life and our bad life. A good life is one that pleases and satisfies God. A bad way of life is a way of life that is not pleasing to God and contrary to His will. In other words, I believe that only God can look at our way of life and judge it as “good” or “bad”. It is only when we stand before God that He judges us. However, in many cases, the way we live our lives is often self-righteous.
So how does God expect us to live and walk in the new year? I titled this morning’s message “To Walk in the Year God is Good,” and the word “good” and related words are used 608 times in the Bible. This word “good” is used in a variety of ways, and I have been examining each of them since New Year’s Day. And the first one that caught my attention this morning was Deuteronomy 6.
Deuteronomy, together with Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers, is known as the Pentateuch. Deuteronomy records three sermons that Moses preached to the Israelites as he led them out of slavery in Egypt, led them on a 40-year journey through the wilderness, and finally led them into the Promised Land. However, Moses does not enter the Promised Land. Therefore, Deuteronomy is Moses’ farewell sermon to Israel.
Moses’ first sermon is a retrospective/reflection of his 40-year wilderness journey. The third sermon is about respecting God’s covenants and promises even after entering the Promised Land. And the second sermon, which contains chapter 6 this time, is an exhortation not to be conceited, but to faithfully listen to and follow God’s teachings. As for Okubo Church, I feel that God expects us to look back on our 60 years of history, and at the same time, to make a new decision to follow Jesus’ words and teachings, to reaffirm our promises to Jesus, and to be encouraged by the Lord’s words, and to be further improved.
In this entire chapter 6, which I hope you will read, Moses tells the Israelites as they about to enter the promised land of Canaan, “If you fear the Lord your God, and be faithful to his teachings and commands, and obey his word, you will be blessed by God and greatly blessed in the promised land”.
The typical words are verses 4-7. “Hear, O Israel. The LORD our God is the only Lord. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. Take to heart these words that I command you today, and repeat them to your children, and speak them to them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you sleep and when you wake up.” In verses 10-12, Moses says, “Beware that it is the Lord God who blesses you and never forget that!”
What do we need to do to walk according to God’s will? In verse 16 we read, “Do not test the Lord your God as you did when you were in Massah. The word “Massah” means to “test”. It refers to the time when the Israelites ran out of drinking water, which they needed to survive in the wilderness, and the people of Israel said, “Is the Lord really among us?” They doubted the Lord’s accompaniment and discretion, and said that it would be impossible, even for God, to provide water in the wilderness. But the Lord God gave them drinking water from a rock.
There is only one way in which our daily walk can be good to God: in verses 17 and 18 we are told, “Keep the commandments, statutes, and ordinances which the Lord your God has commanded you, and do what is right in his sight.” The word “right” in “What is right in the eyes of the Lord” is the Hebrew word for “good”. The second half of verse 18 says, “Then you will be blessed, and you will enter the “good land” that the Lord swore to your ancestors. If we listen carefully to the Word of God and put His will first, we will be led into “a good land” filled with blessings.
It is a merciful God and our Savior Jesus Christ who gives us faith. The annual scripture for this year also says, “Without faith, it is impossible to please God.” What do you need to do to walk in a year that is good to God? Hebrews 11:6 says that those who draw near to God and seek Him will be richly rewarded. Worship, prayer, and Bible reading are essential daily activities for those of us who draw near to God and seek Him.
Another important thing, which is found in verses 20-25. In the future, when our children or people we meet ask us, “For what purpose do you walk by faith in Jesus Christ as your Savior?”, we believe that to testify that we have met God’s love and Jesus and have been saved, and to live in such a way is to live a life that is good to God.
Chapter 6, verses 24 and 25, “He has commanded us to do all these statutes, that we may fear the Lord our God, and that we may live blessedly always, as we are today. If we are careful to do all these commandments faithfully before the Lord our God, as we have been commanded, we shall be rewarded.” Let us believe and faithfully obey these words of the Lord. The Lord will surely be with us, always helping us and leading us to blessings. Believe and give thanks ahead of time.