「神の豊かな憐れみにより、わたしたちは救われます」 五月第四主日礼拝 宣教
エフェソの信徒への手紙 Ephesians 2章1〜10節 牧師 河野信一郎 2025年5月25日
Good morning, and welcome to the last Lord’s Day of May. This morning we had many calls of absence, but I am so thankful to the Lord for the opportunity to praise and worship with all of you gathered in this chapel and with those of you who worship online.
Since the beginning of this year, travelers from overseas have been attending our services on a weekly basis. Sometimes 3 or 4 people come at a time, so the English translation of the message that we had prepared became insufficient more and more often, and the ushers had to make additional copies on short notice. It is a once-in-a-lifetime service, but I am not the only one who still wants to offer the best hospitality as a Christian church in Japan. We are very grateful that travelers attend our worship services, but we have taken measures to ensure that the churches that welcome them do not feel overwhelmed.
That is the lovely postcard-sized card you all have in your hands this morning. Missionary Peter made it for us. Just by reading the QR code on the card, you can view the church website and read the day’s message in both English and Japanese. It has become very convenient. We hope that this will ease our burden a lot, and we thank God for guiding us through it all.
Now, I must make a very sad and regrettable announcement to the people of Okubo Church and ask for your prayers. Brother TK, now 87 years old, and his wife Sister A, who will turn 82 in July, will be moving to Yokohama to be closer to their eldest daughter’s home. They have served God and the church faithfully at Okubo Church for 56 years since January 1969.
Last Sunday, the 18th, Brother K attended from church school, but during the service, his back pain became so severe that he had to leave in the middle of the service. He said he was very sorry that he could not say goodbye to everyone who had walked with him all these years. I am also very sad because I have been a member of the church for 26 years, and my family is all grieving. However, it is certain that the support of the daughter’s family has become necessary, so we must leave her in the hands of the Lord of mercy, even though we are truly sad.
Let us give thanks to God who has powerfully guided them in our 56 years of church life and faith at Okubo Church, and let us thank Mr. and Mrs. K for their love for God and Okubo Church, and for serving the church with all their heart, mind, and strength, and let us also pray with all our hearts for their daily protection in their new place of residence. Let us also pray with all our hearts for God’s blessings and grace to them.
Even so, some of you may feel as if there is a gaping hole in your hearts when you hear that Mr. and Mrs. K will be moving away. Others may be exhausted from the busyness of their daily lives, or their hearts may be crushed by the many worries they have to deal with. You may have made a mistake and suffer from shame and a sense of being out of place. You may be suffering from depression or distress due to overcomplicated relationships at work, school, or in the community. (Tourists may feel that Japan is so good that they don’t want to return to their own country.)
In such circumstances, some of us may feel a strong need for God’s mercy. To those of us who bear such burdens in our hearts, we first heard from Matthew 11:28 at the beginning of this month that the Lord Jesus invites us to “Come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest”.
Now, this morning we hear from Ephesians 2:1-10, which describes our condition before and after we believed in Jesus Christ. The point here is not how dramatically we have changed, but who in the world changed us, for what reason, and for what purpose.
I would first like to read verses 1 through 2, where the Apostle Paul clearly describes our condition before we were given salvation through Jesus. He says, “Now you were previously dead in your trespasses and sins. You were walking in error and sin, following the spirit that still works in those who rule this world and have power in the air, the disobedient ones.” The “spirit that still works” refers to Satan, who was in control.
By “you are” mean each of us. There is no need to look for someone else. Paul says that we “were dead in our trespasses and sins”. This is not physical or physical death, but spiritual death. In other words, we were in a state where our mistakes and sins had destroyed and severed our relationship with God. Those who had lost their connection to God, the source of life, were physically alive, but their hearts and souls were dead.
We are enthralled by the wealth and pleasures of this world, absorbed in our desires, judging all things only by those desires and worldly values, and our minds are dominated by the things of this world. We live only for ourselves and our precious things, not knowing who we really are, what life is given to us for, and what we are living for. When things go wrong, we put the blame on someone else, say, “That’s just the way life is,” or simply give up, saying, “It can’t be helped”. The “disobedient” are those who do not acknowledge God’s existence, who do not fear or respect God at all, and who live relying only on wealth, power, and their own strength.
Paul says in verse 3, “For we are all among these, who formerly lived according to the lusts of our flesh and acted according to the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature deserving of the wrath of God, just as everyone else.” We are all without exception. We think, act, and live according to our own desires.
And when their desires are not fulfilled and their wishes are not fulfilled, they feel stress and turn their anger and frustration toward someone other than themselves, and they have that kind of weakness. This weakness is “fault” and “sin”. We are “deserving of God’s wrath,” Paul says. We were “deserving of God’s judgment,” “deserving of his wrath,” that is, “deserving of destruction”. We were wretches, discouraged, despairing, crying out in the darkness.
Verses 4-6 are important: “But God, who is rich in mercy, loved us exceedingly, and by his love made us alive together with Christ, though we were dead in our trespasses, yet by grace you have been saved through faith; through Christ Jesus we have been raised together, and together we have ascended to the throne of heaven”. He declares emphatically.
There are five important things here. First, God gives us love with abundant mercy. Second, that love is given to us through our Savior, Jesus Christ. Third, those who believe in Jesus Christ as Savior will be saved. Fourth, that this salvation is not based on our deeds, but on God’s unilateral love, mercy, and grace. Fifth, God promises to “admit us to the throne of heaven with Christ,” that is, to live in the Kingdom of God in eternal life. It is an invitation to believe in the future as if it were already given, and it is God’s grace.
Verse 5 says, “It is by grace you have been saved,” and “saved” is in the perfect tense. In other words, the fact that we are saved by God’s mercy is already complete. In other words, we are not on the way to salvation, nor are we striving for our own salvation, but have been saved and kept alive by God’s mercy. This grace Paul expresses in verse 7: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that he might present him to the world to come in infinite riches, according to the riches of his mercy which he showed us in Christ Jesus.”
Paul says in verses 8 and 9, “In fact, you have been saved by grace through faith. This is not of yourselves, but it is the gift of God. It is not by works. For no one can boast.” I don’t think the Japanese translation is accurate. The correct translation is “by grace and through faith”. “By faith” makes it sound like faith is an act of our human nature, and that makes us boast in ourselves. Rather, we are saved by God’s unilateral grace and by the mercy of faith given to us through Christ. If we have anything to boast about, it is only that “God loves even people like me”.
What we need to know, and for which we must be thankful, is that true peace will never come to this world, because, as verse 10 says, “we are created by God”. If we can know, rejoice, and be thankful through Jesus that each of us is created by a merciful God, then we can love and care for one another through the power of God’s love and mercy. We have been born again in Christ Jesus to do good works and works of love, and we have been saved and kept alive on this earth to share God’s love. Remembering God’s love and mercy, let us always rejoice, pray constantly, and give thanks for everything.