1. Today’s sufferings
We are reading Epistle to the Romans and today is the eighth session. The concerning passage represents the essence of the whole letter. As we learned last week, Paul was fearful of the wrath of God before encountering resurrected Jesus Christ. He strived to reach at the salvation by perfectly observing the law, or commandments of God. However he felt himself unable to be perfect. Therefore he was groaning under the fear of God’s anger. ; - What a miserable man I am! Who will save me from this body that brings me death?(Romans 7:24)
But he was saved, not by the power of the law, but by Jesus Christ through the miraculous encounter. He wrote about what he had understood since then. ; - The law was without power, because the law was made weak by our sinful selves. But God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son to earth with the same human life that others use for sin. By sending his Son to be an offering for sin, God used a human life to destroy sin.(Romans 8:3)
Paul was grateful to Jesus Christ for putting him in peace with God through the Cross. Thus he could become one of children of God. “Being children of God” means that the eternal life was promised. Nonetheless our soul remains inside the physical body. That way, we live still in the secular world. Though the Cross of Jesus was erected on the earth, the world is always ruled by sins. Therefore Jesus said to his disciples before leaving the earthy life. ; - “If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as it loves its own. But I have chosen you out of the world, so you don’t belong to it. That is why the world hates you.(John 15:18-19)”
Paul also said, ; - “If we are God’s children, we will receive blessings from God together with Christ. But we must suffer as Christ suffered so that we will have glory as Christ has glory.(Romans 8:17)”
In the time of Paul, the belief in Christ was considered to be a dangerous heresy by the Jewish religious authority. Furthermore Roman rulers accused Christians because they refused to worship Emperors as gods. As a result, believers were at the risk of persecutions from both sides. Paul was facing the fact. But he showed the enormous courage. ; - The sufferings we have now are nothing compared to the great glory that will be shown to us.(Romans 8:18)
His strong language intimidates us. Nobody want to suffer. What we want is to be happy in this physical life. Therefore the majority of Japanese religious groups promise their adherents secular advantages. But, even though those religions pretend to cure severe illnesses for example, they cannot emancipate humans from the death of soul. And those religious sects which avoid to reflect on death should disappear in certain future.
On contrast, the Bible faces sincerely the death. Paul told about the issue in Romans. ; - For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it. (Romans 8:20 in NIV)
We, as creatures of God, must die in body. If we think that the death of body will take away everything from us, our life seems worthless. That nihilistic thinking frustrates us. And Paul taught that the physical was generated death by human sin.
The Mother Nature consists of all creatures of God and Paul thought the Nature itself was suffering under the weight of frustration due to human sin.
Humans are a part of the Nature. And the Nature is spoiled by sinful human activities, for example wars or excessive exploitations of the planet earth. Immoderate extractions of ores and petroleum damage the earth. Then uncontrolled utilizations of those materials spread pollutions. Prophet Jeremiah already point to human sin behind devastation of the Nature. ; - How much longer will the land stay dried up and the grass in every field be dead? The animals and birds in the land have died, because the people are evil. Yes, they are even saying, “God does not see what happens to us.”(Jeremiah 12:4)
At the present time for instance, the Amazon Rainforest is facing the risk of deforestation because of its unreasonable exploitation*1 . Originally, it was called, “Lungs of our Planet,” because it provided more than 30 percent of the world oxygen. But the quantity of the production is shrinking and the result puts all livings at the risk of death. Paul’s remark that human sin destroys the nature must be more convincing in the modern era.
*1 Deforestation of Amazon Rainforest http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_Rainforest#Deforestation
2. Beyond the pain
Despite all, Paul still kept the hope that the Nature should be restored through the salvation of humans. But to reach at that goal, they must undergo pains like a moment of childbirth. ; - everything God made would be set free from ruin to have the freedom and glory that belong to God’s children. We know that everything God made has been waiting until now in pain,(Romans 8:21-22)
Dr. Tetsu Nakamura is the founder of Peshawar-kai*1. At first he was sent to the village Peshawar to cure leprous patients. Peshawar is located near the boundary between Pakistan and Afghanistan, in which infrastructures were hardly developed. Peoples of the region were suffering from lack of drinkable water and very poor alimentation. Though Dr. Nakamura made great efforts to treat patients, they could not recover due to such harsh living conditions. Thus he decided to give priority to the provision of pure water and food over medical treatments. He started to construct wells, canals for drinking water and irrigation of dry grounds. Since then, he is working for them for 25 years so far. It took 10 years to pass the first canal from a tributary of the Indus River into Peshawar, which changed the desert “Valley of death” into green fields. What was his source of courage? It was the faith that ; - God gave you the honor not only of believing in Christ but also of suffering for him, both of which bring glory to Christ.(Philippians 1:29)
He, as one of children of God, works to restore the Mother Nature to bring glory to Christ. The power of Gospels can change the world. So Paul assured the future. ; - Not only the world, but we also have been waiting with pain inside us. We have the Spirit as the first part of God’s promise. So we are waiting for God to finish making us his own children, which means our bodies will be made free(Romans 8:23)
Only at the moment when we are changed into children of God, our body will be set free from sin. Eve though our soul is already saved thanks to the redemption by Jesus Christ, we live still in our human body which confines sin. Therefore our body must die. But the process of the total salvation is on the way to realize thoroughly as Paul remarked, “We are waiting for God to finish making us his own children.”
We cannot grasp the salvation tangibly. Moreover our life is filled with painful events which exhaust us sometimes too much to pray God. But God listens to our groans. When we are too weak to pray the Spirit helps us, as Paul said. ; - Also, the Spirit helps us with our weakness. We do not know how to pray as we should. But the Spirit himself speaks to God for us, even begs God for us with deep feelings that words cannot explain. God can see what is in people’s hearts. And he knows what is in the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit speaks to God for his people in the way God wants.(Romans 8:26-27)
We can continue the journey of life thanks to the Spirit who supports unfaithful us. Then our harsh experiences make us awake to this encouraging fact. ; - We know that in everything God works for the good of those who love him.(Romans 8:28)
Indeed, the life of sufferings and temptations is not desirable. But when we understand that such a life is accorded by God who is willing to lead us to our best, hard trials turn into our source of rejoice. I present here a case of Ayako Miura, a Japanese christian novelist*2. She was diagnosed with a cancer but arrived to consider it to be a blessing of God thanks to a quote of Paul Tillich*2. Reportedly Tillich said that even cancer was created by God and all of God’s creatures must be good for humans. The words gave Mrs. Miura a light from heaven. She understood then that God is the love itself for those who believe in Him.
She repeated “All of God’s creatures must be good for humans” to herself on the bed, Then she could find cancer as a gift from God. When we can have such a strong faith, nothing would frighten us. At that very moment, we can disregard meaning of any earthy possessions.
*1 Peshawar-kai http://www1a.biglobe.ne.jp/peshawar/eg/index2.html
*2 Ayako Miura http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayako_Miura
Izumi eno showtai (Invitation to the spring) In Japanese alone ed. Kobunsha
ISBN-10: 4334706320 / ISBN-13: 978-4334706326
*3 Paul Tillich http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Tillich
3. Future glory
Today’s invocation verses are Psalm 73:17-18 ; - until I went to the Temple of God. Then I understood what will happen to them. You have put them(wicked people) in danger; you cause them to be destroyed.
The theme of Psalm 73 is how the faithful should live in the world in which the evil prosper. The poem begins with complaint of the poet. ; - I had almost stopped believing; I had almost lost my faith because I was jealous of proud people. I saw wicked people doing well. (Psalm 73:2-3)
He thought it was not fair that faithful persons had troubles and problems though the wicked were doing well. Therefore he went to the Temple of God to see the reason why. And today’s invocation verses tell us what he understood there.
We all live in a world of relative values. If our living conditions seem harder than those of others, we lose peace in mind. And as far as we are focusing on the earthy matters, our faith remains unsteady. In contrast, if we look up heaven and recognize that all are in God’s hands, our soul has peace with God. That stance allows us to bear courageously hostile and absurd situations. It is true that our way of thinking cannot change the surrounding environments substantially. Wicked people might continue prosper and the good cannot feel in glory of God. But the poet could have a peaceful and calm mind because he knew that God loved and would love him beyond the death. The verse that he sang shows his confidence; - My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.(Psalm 73:26NIV)
The words above show the similar faith to Paul’s who said, “Everything God made is waiting with excitement for God to show his children’s glory completely.” Paul’s saying is pointing to the hope that we will be saved.
Our faith is that God will bring righteousness to this present world to save peoples who are oppressed and suffering from absurd unfairness. Even if they might be killed in wars or die from hanger, God will receive their should mercifully in heaven with blessings. As Paul said, we are hoping for something which we do not have and cannot see yet. ; - So we do not give up. Our physical body is becoming older and weaker, but our spirit inside us is made new every day. We have small troubles for a while now, but they are helping us gain an eternal glory that is much greater than the troubles. We set our eyes not on what we see but on what we cannot see. What we see will last only a short time, but what we cannot see will last forever.(2 Corinthians 4:16-18)
He called present difficulties “small troubles for a while now.” In comparison with magnificence of glory of eternal salvation, illness and unemployment, or even persecution and bodily death are “small troubles” which we must be able to endure.
After this lecture, we will sing Baptist hymn 53, “In his time.” The lyric sings, “In His time, in His time, He makes all thing beautiful in His time. Lord, my life to You I bring.” The song represents the core of Romans 8 ; - We were saved, and we have this hope. If we see what we are waiting for, that is not really hope. People do not hope for something they already have. But we are hoping for something we do not have yet, and we are waiting for it patiently.(Romans 8:24-25)
We are now invited to bring our life to Lord by waiting the time of salvation, as Paul did.
TrackBacks
TrackBack URL : http://shinozaki-bap.jpn.org/modules/wordpress2/wp-trackback.php/170
この投稿には、まだコメントが付いていません