1. Whom do we serve ?

We are reading the book of Psalm in accordance with the bible study program. Todays¡Ç reading part is Psalm 100, which sings about the joy of worshipping God. To worship God is to come before him. At that moment, we sing aloud for joy to the Lord for ; — It is he who made us, and we are his ; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.(Psalm 100:3)

Today, by reading the passage, we will reflect on what the act of worship signifies, whey we come to get together in the church, and whom we must serve. To begin with, the poet sings ; - Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.(Psalm100:1-2)

The lyric says that God rules over the whole world not only the Israelites. ¡ÈAll the earth¡É means all humans, regardless of whether they are faithful or unfaithful. Even sinners are dominated by God¡Çs ruling power. In modern terms, economic, political and sociological issues are all in God¡Çs hands. And when we believe so, our faith becomes public-spirited, not remaining of personal matter. For the Bible teaches us to seek the salvation with neighbors together.

Then poet says, ; - Come before him with joyful songs. (Psalm 100:2) ¡ÈCome before him ¡É implies ¡È to serve him.¡É And ¡Èwhom we serve¡É is a very important question of our life. In ancient Jerusalem, two big buildings stood rather closely. One was the Temple and another was the king¡Çs palace. The people should choose toward which they would direct their heart, whether focussing on God or the secular king. If they faced on the king, they must be fearful because the king could accuse and condemn his subjects at will. In contrast, they must be filled with joy by facing God. For God is the creator who loves all of his creatures. The people should have no need to be afraid of God. So much so, ¡Èto come before God¡É means ¡Èto be set free from earthy concerns¡É.

And we cannot serve God and the kin equally and simultaneously. Because spiritual and secular powers cannot be compatible. Christians of early generations were oppressed by the earthy authority because they chose God instead of the king. Concerning the issue, Luke reported the heavenly words given to shepherds at the birth of Jesus. ; - But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” (Luke 2:10-12)

The angel said that a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger would be the Savior, or Kurios in Greek, Christ in Latin. In the era of Luke, the world was dominated by Roman Empire. And the emperor required all subjects to worship him as Kurios. But, under such circumstances, christians dared to witnessed to Jesus as Christ, or the Savior. Their determination put the life at the risk of martyrdom. Indeed, the early church was persecuted by Roman authority. However, they preserved the faith despite the menace. Today¡Çs church was established by those christians.

The issue is not a historical matter which happened once in ancient times. During the World War II, Japanese christians suffered from the similar persecutions. For example, Pastor Masahisa Suzuki had the sad experience of seeing believers leave the church due to harsh oppressions of Japanese police officials. As the war-situations for Japanese army deteriorated, the authority squeezed further inquisitions against christians. So much so, an elder of the church of Pastor Suzuki said that it should be inadequate to worship God of enemies¡Ç culture. The man thought that they must support exclusively the national policy. Some of us also abandon the faith by facing harsh reality of life. But the courageous remain faithful regardless of any circumstances. And the poet of Psalm 100 praises highly those who can always feel real joy in worshipping God, without surrendering to the earthy power.

2. Importance of knowing God

The poet urges us to know God. For He is our creator and pastor before whom we must come, despite the danger of life ; - Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his ; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.(Psalm 100:3)

It was inimaginabe for the Jewish people of the time to ask, ¡È Does God exist ?¡É The unique issue for them was ¡È Who is our God?¡É Sometimes they wondered if Marduk*1, Babylonians¡Ç deity, was more powerful than Yahweh. Because Babylon defeated Israel. Or Baal*2 , the deity of fertility, seemed to them more helpful than Yahweh to get harvest better. Many of Japanese also come to church by expecting healing acts, for example. But I think that such an attitude might be a sort of idolatry which requires compensation in exchange of believing in God.

In contrast, the poet rejects the idolatry and witnesses only to Yahweh, the Lord. We who live in the modern world ask often ¡È Does God exist?¡É instead of ¡È Who is our God?¡É And if someone says to us, ¡È If God exists, show me the evidence,¡É how should we respond to it ? Our unique response should be ¡ÈPlease come to church, you will feel Him.¡É However, in order to say so confidently, our worshipping act must be filled with authentic joy. The poet said, ¡ÈIt is he who made us.¡É As a result, all humans are his. For that reason, nobody has the right to kill whomever. It doesn¡Çt concerns only murders. Suicide and abortion are against God¡Çs will too.

Nevertheless, it is not sufficient to rebuke those conducts. We must work actively to prevent persons from performing murders, suicide or abortion. For example, we can work voluntarily for a call-center which aims at persuading people not to kill themselves. Or we can give donations to a certain organization which supports single mothers. To serve God means to serve our neighbors. We must take actions for neighbors¡Ç sake in order to respond to God¡Çs grace.

Another poem, Psalm 23 sang ; - He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters,he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.(Psalm 23:2-4)

When we might bear harsh burdens, we won¡Çt have no fear, for we know that God is with us. In contrast, those who don¡Çt know the Lord yet should suffer from fear of painful life. Therefore we must spread the good news. Our preaching desire is to set those persons free from anxiety of the secular world, not to increase members of the congregation.

*1 Marduk http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marduk
*2 Baal http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baal

3. Joy of worship

The praise continues ; - Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.(Psalm 100:4-5)

As the poet did, we come to church every Sunday to give thanks to God and to praise his name. Some might think that observing the worship personally can be similar to participating in the service in the church. But the act of coming church is important because it makes our faith in God explicit and clear. And we offer the very day to God as the day of spiritual rest. Our master is God, not any human being. Even if we are under obligation to work on Sunday we might be able to arrange flexibly the schedule of the day. For example, we come to church before going to a working place. And the attendance at the church must be a joy, not a burden. ¡ÈPraising God in strong voice of joy¡É is the principle of the worship.

We rejoice because ¡Èthe Lord is good and his love endures forever.¡É ¡ÈGood¡É is -טוֹב- {tov} in Hebrew, the word which appears again and again in Genesis chapter 1. For instance, ; - God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. (Genesis 1:31) Works of God must be always good. Therefore we, his creatures, must be good, regardless of our physical or mental state. Sick persons are good too. So much so, we must ¡ÈPraise God in strong voice of joy.¡É

And ¡Èlove¡É in ¡Èhis love endures forever¡É is חַסְדּוֹ { hesdow}, which means the free and unmerited favor of God. According to my Hebrew-Japanese dictionary, it represents also compassion on neighbors and willingness to share pains with them. We find now that Jesus lived by practicing the very ¡Èחַסְדּוֹ { hesdow}.¡É

Todays¡Ç invocation verses are Matthew 9:12-13 ; - On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.¡É

¡ÈMercy¡É above should be ¡Èחַסְדּוֹ { hesdow}¡É too. Jesus healed numerous persons. And the majority of them were those who lived on the margins of the society. They were segregated from the society because of their sickness or profession.

Luke reported here a case of Jesus acts based on ¡Èחַסְדּוֹ { hesdow}¡É : On a Sabbath day, Jesus saw a dead person being carried out at the gate of Nain. Then he heard his mother crying, which made his heart go out to her. So he went up and touched the coffin to resurrect the man. (see Luke7:11-17)

And Mark did likewise : When a man with leprosy came to Jesus, Jesus was filled with compassion. So he reached out his hand and touched the man despite the prohibition of touching the leprous. (see Mark1:40-45) Another time Jesus went into the synagogue. A man with a shriveled hand was there. Jesus healed him even though it was on the Sabbath, during which any working acts were prohibited. (see Mark3:1-6)

Those cases show that Jesus was so moved with compassion that he conducted healing act, regardless of laws and social consensus. In other words, he practiced ¡Èחַסְדּוֹ { hesdow}¡É at the risk of being severely accused by the authority. He shared their pains that way.

Many christians are practicing ¡Èחַסְדּוֹ { hesdow}¡É in today¡Çs world too. I present now activities of Dr. Tetsu Nakamura, the founder of Peshawar-kai *1, as an example. Dr. Tetsu is a christian belonging to the Baptist denomination, like us.

He had been sent to Peshawar, a city near the border of Pakistan and Afghanistan, to treat leprous persons of the region. During his mission, Afghan war broke out and many refugees came to Peshawar. Then many of them gat sick due to very bad living conditions there. So Dr. Tetsu began to treat those persons too. As a matter of fact, no drinking water was available and food supply was far from sufficient. Dr. recognized that they needed pure water and food before medical treatments. Thus he launched the projects of water supply and canal construction ( for details, see *3 ) After 10 years of hard and exhausting works, they arrived to changed the landscape of Gamberi desert . The region which was also called ¡È Valley of death,¡É is now covered with green fields of rice. Jesus said, ¡ÈIt is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.¡É And Dr. understood that the prior needs of the sick in Peshawar were water and food, not medical cares. Therefore he decided to work that way.

Dr. said ;
¡½ After 9-11th, US began raids over Afghanistan to destroy terrorists bases, which deteriorated the security of the country and increased dangers to civilians. Nonetheless I continue my activities regardless of all, which I think must be my duty. It is arrogant that US rejects cultures, religions and ethnicities different from theirs. And I am sure that such arrogance will result in what it deserves. —

He predicted thus retreat of US army from Afghanistan. Naturally we get angry against and criticize severely merciless and indiscriminate raids by US army. But, more than that, Dr.¡Çs attitude moves us profoundly. He is so willing to do what he think should do as a christian. We must act before blaming conducts of others¡Ç. Dr. lives by practicing ¡Èחַסְדּוֹ { hesdow}¡É of Jesus. In a video, I saw people in Peshawar planting vegetables and harvesting crops in green fields, which was a desert. Dr. was among them, smiling. The scene seems to me like an act of worship of God.

Dr. also said:
— If US soldiers had constructed canals there instead of taking weapons, Afghan people should have considered US to be a friendly country.

Mission of the church is similar to Dr.¡Çs life-style. We spread the Good News by feeling the joy of life given by God and doing what we must do. That is the best way to preach. The real worship is witnessing every day ¡ÈThe Lord is good and his love endures forever¡É through our own acts.

*1 Peshawar-kai http://www1a.biglobe.ne.jp/peshawar/eg/index2.html
*2 Peshawar http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peshawar
*3 Water Supply and Canal Construction Projects http://www1a.biglobe.ne.jp/peshawar/eg/annai.html#water