Title: 悔い改にふさわshii實 (fruits worthy of repentance)
Contents
2007.10.7 Sunday Worship Sermon Fruits worthy of repentance
Last week, I saw the website of the Tokyo Church and doubted my eyes. Because two years ago, while I was serving the Tokyo Church, I heard the news that a young deacon, who was studying the Bible with me and serving in the Sunday School nursery school, had passed away. He was a bright and hardworking person who loved children and served more than anyone else, but things got a little complicated in his head. Last week, I thought a lot about the death of this young butler. Because a similar incident had already happened once in Korea, the news of Deacon Lee's death this time made me think more deeply about death.
I heard that Yamaguchi-san's father, who visited our church last week, also died in a sudden accident when a crane fell. So I started to think deeply about life and death, and I've heard people say that my heart is gloomy. We have neighbors who are dying suddenly like this. My older brother also died suddenly two years ago.
Are there no such people around you? We may not have much question about the death of unbelievers, but at least in the face of the sudden death of those who believed well in God, there will be times when we feel as if we have been hit in the head. The sovereignty of all life belongs to God. I am not saying that we should ask God for the reason for the life of the dying through many accidents. The purpose of this series of events is to rectify myself in order to take the right way of our religious life, which is easy to cause confusion. In today's Bible text, the disciples ask Jesus about the death of the Jews.
At that time, Israel was under Roman colonial rule, so the Zealots with strong nationalistic tendencies wishing for independence often revolted for Jewish independence at times of large gatherings such as the Passover for Jewish independence. The same thing happened often. The historian Josephs records that on one Passover the corpses of 3,000 Jews filled the temple, and at another Passover, 20,000 Jews were similarly slaughtered.
Perhaps the disciples understood that those who were brutally slain were punished as retaliation for cause and effect. Perhaps the Jews seem to understand all calamities as punishments as a result of sin.
For example, in John 9:2, "The disciples asked him, saying, Rabbi, whose sin was it that this man was born blind, or he or his parents?"
This fact is also reflected in the words of advice from his friends about Job's suffering in the Book of Job. You can see that Job's friends confessed Job's considerable sins secretly to God and urged him to ask for forgiveness.
In Judges 8 and 9, 2 Kings 9:17, a tower can be viewed as a tower or tower built to keep a watchful eye on the fortress of a city.
The tower was basically a part of the fortress wall, and it was built in an advantageous position to defend the castle, and it was also built at a location away from the fortress to make it easier to observe whether the enemies invaded. It is recorded in Judges 9:49 that the Tower of Shechem was built large enough to hold 1,000 men and women.
Jesus cites the fact that a tower built for the purpose of safety and peace collapsed and killed 18 people, urging people to repent. No one is better than them unless they repent.
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! They are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but inside are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness (Matthew 23:27).
At that time, the scribes and Pharisees were regarded as those who knew the Bible better than anyone and lived according to the teachings of the Bible, and were self-recognized pious people. However, the Lord has determined that they are those who cannot avoid the judgment of hell, and that those around them are also dual personalities that degenerate into children of hell. The priests in the days of Jesus were no exception. The priests of this age are no exception.
Verse 4, like verse 2, points out the common belief that the cause of death is the result of an individual's sin. If the disaster in verse 2 is an artificial and inevitable event, this verse is a natural and accidental event.
The tower of Siloam stands outside the wall on the southeast side of the city of Jerusalem, and it is said that it was part of an aqueduct built by Governor Pilate with the use of temple funds. The tower built to ensure safety collapsed, killing 18 people. However, Jesus said that their death did not consist in the many or few sins, but it is no wonder that if anyone did not repent, they could suffer a sudden death like them. He is calling us to spiritual awakening.
The awakening is nothing special, the secret sin in me, my bad habits I haven't washed away, my foolish attempts to avoid the eyes of God, etc... .. We should always keep in mind the immediacy of repentance, so that we do not drown in this scream of not repenting.
In Japan, a considerable number of people die each year from natural disasters due to earthquakes and typhoons. But the number of deaths in road accidents is much higher than that.
Seeing people dying so miserable and helpless,
I heard that there were people who gave up their faith in God as they died, judging that there was no God in Auschwitz and that it was impossible for God to exist. However, there were, of course, people who trusted God to the end even at the moment of death in that poison gas chamber.
Some children die within a few days after the death of the fetus.
Do such children die as soon as they are born because of their sins? Obviously not that. That doesn't mean we're asking, "God, what is the cause of these deaths?" Are you going to ask like this?
So, are you saying that God is unjust and unrighteous?
What is the meaning of such an aggressive question as a premise for us?
The text only encourages us to focus on repentance and bear the fruits of repentance when we see such things.
There are three ways of thinking about how things happen.
Some people call it "a coincidence."
They say it happened “naturally.”
Some see it as “inevitably.”
Personally and from the point of view of Calvinism and Reformed beliefs, the term coincidence is a difficult concept to agree with, but many people say it is “accidentally” and try to deny the providence of God even if something unbelievable happens before their eyes. .
Is it not the Christian faith to confess that God has a clear perception and guides us in all circumstances, in all things, and in all things? … People of faith who acknowledge that fact naturally confess, “My Lord, do as you will” like the hymn in chapter 431. Principal, みてもてひカせtamaetoiu告白がでてkusu nodesu.
We Christians often tend to think that when someone suffers misfortune, becomes seriously ill, or dies, it is the result of sin. But it is wrong to be unconditional and to judge as such.
Because the natural order (law of nature) established by God works equally well for ordinary people and saints, the saints may experience unexpected and unexpected things.
In Matthew 4:1-6, the devil uses supernatural powers to tempt Jesus to focus their attention and attention, but Jesus refrains from performing supernatural miracles except in special cases.
Matthew 16:4 よコシマ is the person of the present time, the person of the time period, the person of the time, the person who is the person of the time, the person who is the person of the time, and the person of the time. It is Jesus who simply refused to show the Pharisees who asked for a sign because they had nothing to show except the sign of Jonah.
Of course, the angel of the Lord protects those who watch and pray and always walk with God even in times of natural disasters. Even so, I think that God's will is clearly there when God takes them early. The formula that premature death is “misfortune” is a formula that does not hold, at least from a Christian worldview. The reason is that heaven is much better than this earth.
Matthew 3:8 and Luke 3:8 emphasize the same need to bear fruit worthy of repentance. We just need a focus on repentance.
You must show that you have repented.
At that time, we will be able to face an acceptable life and death on this earth as we walk together holding the Lord's hand in God's protection and guidance.
To die at the age of the terms and live a long life and die does not mean a blessing or a curse.
If you had a sudden death while believing in God, how much love would God have taken you? I thought that it could be an expression of God's special love along with the thought. Rather than show a confused attitude of faith in the face of these deaths, we
Trusting God to guide you, you just need to look back on yourself and look back on the fruits worthy of your repentance to restore the image of God. You must always maintain the holiness that God is pleased with and expects.
Only the fruits worthy of repentance will guarantee peace and joy in our hearts. I will pray.