1. Dead to Sin
We celebrate the foundation day of Shinozaki church in this Sunday service . It opened at first as a preaching place annexed to the Shinkoiwa church. Since then, the congregation continued to observe the rite of worship every Sunday for 41 years. We carried out it to express our gratefulness to God for the salvation and share the same joy with neighbors around here. Sunday service has two facets, the response to God¡Çs grace and the evangelism for neighbors. Today we will reflect on the former aspect, the response to the mercy of God, by reading Romans 6.

We read in the previous chapter Paul¡Çs teaching concerning sin, forgiveness, righteousness and peace with God. ; - Since we have been made right with God by our faith, we have peace with God. This happened through our Lord Jesus Christ, who through our faith has brought us into that blessing of God’s grace that we now enjoy. And we are happy because of the hope we have of sharing God’s glory.(Romans 5:1-2)

Humans mostly want to be appreciated by others through efforts. They try to feel confident about their life in that way. Consequently, if it fails, they should be strongly frustrated. They cannot have stable peace in mind because it depends on estimations by other humans. In contrast, the peace given through the faith in God is firm, said Paul. Such a peace will be accorded to us when we admit our sinful existence and repent before God. It comes from merciful God. Paul also said ; - But God shows his great love for us ¡Ä While we were God’s enemies, he made us his friends through the death of his Son. Surely, now that we are his friends, he will save us through his Son’s life. (Romans 5:8-11)

That peace creates harmonious relationship with neighbors, too. Nevertheless, the original sin remains inside humans, which block the path between God and us, then between each human. ¡ÈSin¡É is a crevice in relationship. Often, Japanese people mix up ¡Èsin¡É with ¡Ècrime.¡É But those two notions are definitely different from each other. We must understand ¡Èsin¡É as the transgression against God¡Çs will. And ¡Ècrime¡É is an act of breaking human law, which deserves secular judgements. However criminal behaviors also appear as a result of estrangement from God. In other words, when we fall from the relationship with God, we commit crimes. Therefore, as long as we surrender to the power of sin to commit crimes, we cannot be in the peace with God. And, only by meeting Jesus Christ, we will be set free from sin. And the rite of baptism symbolizes the emancipation from sin.

Paul says ; - When we were baptized, we were buried with Christ and shared his death. So, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the wonderful power of the Father, we also can live a new life. Christ died, and we have been joined with him by dying too. So we will also be joined with him by rising from the dead as he did.(Romans6:4-5)

Baptism in the Greek is ¡Èbaptismos - ceremonial washing,¡É derived from ¡Èbaptizein - immerse, baptize.¡É Through baptism, we died our old life and were reborn in Christ. And Paul explained how that new life must be. ; - I hope I will never brag about things like that. The cross of our Lord Jesus Christ is my only reason for bragging. Through the cross of Jesus my world was crucified, and I died to the world.(Galatians 6:14)

He developed the issue in Romans 6:6-7 ; We know that our old life died with Christ on the cross so that our sinful selves would have no power over us and we would not be slaves to sin. Anyone who has died is made free from sin’s control.

Nonetheless we can¡Çt change our daily lifestyle so easily after baptism. Some say that nothing special happened after receiving the rite. In short, they didn¡Çt grasp nor feel the salvation inside them. However it might be rather natural. Because, though our sin was forgiven, the criminal nature is still embedded in our body. The seed of ¡Ècrimes¡É is always planted inside us and ready to dominate our conducts. Therefore we must be sanctified in order that the salvation achieve completely. So, what should we do to be set free from sin and crimes? One thing is clear. We must start a totally different life from the old one. Ultimate achievement of salvation must be preceded by sanctification, or purification of our sinful selves.

2. What sanctification is

As an example of sanctification, I¡Çll talk about the woman caught in adultery. The episode is written in John 8. When Jesus taught the people in the Temple, the teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought a woman. They said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery. And they asked Jesus, ; - The law of Moses commands that we stone to death every woman who does this. What do you say we should do?¡É(John 8:5)

The stoning was the punishment for adultery in accordance with the rabbinical teachings. However Jesus answered this way, ; - ¡È¡ÄAnyone here who has never sinned can throw the first stone at her.¡É(John 8:7 .) Then, this happened. ; - Those who heard Jesus began to leave one by one, first the older men and then the others. Jesus was left there alone with the woman standing before him.(John 8:9)

Thus Jesus pushed the crowd to repent by admitting their own nature as sinful as the woman. They were moved by Jesus¡Ç words and their conscience awoke. So ; - Jesus raised up again and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one judged you guilty?¡É She answered, “No one, sir. “Then Jesus said, “I also don’t judge you guilty. You may go now, but don’t sin anymore.¡É(John 8:10-11 )

We see clearly in that episode the link between forgiveness for sin and sanctification. Jesus said, ¡ÈI also don’t judge you guilty¡É then he added, ¡Èdon¡Çt sin anymore.¡É Each phrase reflects respectively ¡Èforgiveness¡É and ¡Èsanctification¡É and forms together the core of the episode.

Though our sin was forgiven, the human soul remains in our body. For that reason, our physical desires still have power on us. Nonetheless we know that Jesus overcame the temptations, the act which put us too in the glory of God. So much so, Paul compels us to fight against physical desires. ; - So, do not let sin control your life here on earth so that you do what your sinful self wants to do. Do not offer the parts of your body to serve sin, as things to be used in doing evil. Instead, offer yourselves to God as people who have died and now live. Offer the parts of your body to God to be used in doing good.(Romans 6:12-13)

Martin Luther*1 is reported to have said, ¡ÈEven the saint have impure desires inside their body. But they won¡Çt obey them. I think it is true that nobody can be free from earthy desires.¡É All of humans, including the saint, should have experiences of feeling envy or having greed as humans. And only a strong will to resist temptations makes humans sanctified. Though we were captured by sin, God gives us a new life through sanctification. So much so we must live that new life as it deserves God¡Çs mercy. That is the very lesson of Paul in the Romans 6.

*1 Martin Luther http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther

3. A new life appropriate to Christians
However Paul didn¡Çt teach us to choose an ascetic way of living. Sanctification doesn¡Çt mean a painful life. Pure life is not the same as the strict and categoric observance of the law. Because ; - Sin will not be your master, because you are not under law but under God’s grace.(Romans 6:14)

As we are now under God¡Çs grace, we are free from the yoke of the law. Sanctification is already on the way of realization. We must trust in God who purifies us. What is required from us is to continue to receive the love of merciful God and give him thanks.
I chose Romans 6:15 as today¡Çs invocation verses. ; - So what should we do? Should we sin because we are under grace and not under law? No!

The verse above has the similar essence to the words said by Jesus to the accused woman, ¡ÈYou may go now, but don’t sin anymore.¡É We must change ourselves into an existence who deserves accorded forgiveness. That is the act of ¡Èrebirth,¡É or ¡Èsanctification.¡É ¡ÈRebirth¡É is also to begin a new life in harmonious relationship with neighbors, of which core is God. But, for begin with, we must die to sin in order to enter into such a life.

On March 1970, Japan Airlines flight 351 was hijacked by nine members of the Japanese Communist League-Red Army Faction*1. The incident is usually referred as the Yodogo Hijacking. Hinohara Shigeaki, the director of St. Luke’s International Hospital *2 was among the hostages. During the confinement, hijackers decided to allow hostages to read and showed them a book-list. Dr. Shigeaki saw the title, ¡ÈThe Brothers Karamazov*3¡É among available books and asked it. The work was in 4 volumes and he found on the first page of the vol. 1 John 12:24 ; - I tell you the truth, a grain of wheat must fall to the ground and die to make many seeds. But if it never dies, it remains only a single seed.

Dr. Shigeaki wrote afterwards :
— I understood that the verse was the leading theme of the novel. I started reading the book. During the time I sometimes took glances at the blue sky beyond the window.—

And he addressed the public this speech after being released:
— I decided to live the rest of my life as the second one by spending time serving others. —

In other words, he decided to be ¡Èa grain of wheat¡É and began the first step to be ¡Èdead to sin but alive in Christ.¡É The willingness of becoming ¡Èa grain of wheat¡É is very important. ¡ÈA grain of wheat¡É can make many seeds by dying on the ground. In contrast, if it was kept in a storage for a long time, it should become worthless and leaves nothing after. The death of Jesus on the Cross made and makes numerous persons alive. We are ones of them. Therefore we must follow in the footsteps of Jesus. We serve others regardless of our personal ego, as Jesus did.

¡ÈMutual preaching¡É must be the spirit of relationship in the church. We added to the objects of the year a prayer that we arrive to live by caring about others. A Japanese famous poet Kenji Miyazawa *4 wrote a poem ¡È Amenimo-makezu¡É which represent the essence of the mutual spirit.

¡È Amenimo-makezu (Not losing to the rain) ¡É
¡Ä..
if there is a sick child to the east
going and nursing over them
if there is a tired mother to the west
going and shouldering her sheaf of rice
if there is someone near death to the south
going and saying there’s no need to be afraid
if there is a quarrel or a suit to the north
telling them to leave off with such waste ¡Ä.. (from Wikipedia)

If we aim to Kenji¡Çs idealism, each of our steps will be blessed and our life changes. That way we witness to Jesus Christ who died for humans¡Ç sake. As I said before, Sunday service has two facets, the response to God¡Çs grace and the evangelism for neighbors. However those two matters can be merged into one because the response to Gods¡Ç grace must be shown through the witness to Christ to neighbors. I wish to establish our church spirit on that believing basis.

*1 Yodogo Hijacking http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_Airlines_Flight_351
*2 St. Luke’s International Hospital http://www.luke.or.jp/eng/index.html
*3 The Brothers Karamazov http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Brothers_Karamazov
*4 Kenji Miyazawa http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenji_Miyazawa