March 26, 2023 Sunday Worship Service

Call to Worship 1 Samuel 2:7
Hymn JBC # 230 On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross
The Lord’s Prayer
The Lord’s Supper
Offering
Scripture 1 Corinthians 15:50～58
Prayer
Sermon “Give yourself fully to the work of the Lord”
https://youtu.be/4kge9T-qR2k
Prayer
Hymn JBC # 656 Give of your best to the Master
Doxology JBC # 673
Benediction


Christians value the Bible as "the sole (only) foundation of faith." The sole foundation of faith means that it is only through the Bible that we are able to come to know the gospel of Jesus Christ and the truth of Jesus Christ.
The "sole foundation of faith" also means that the final judgment as to whether our faith or our understanding of faith is correct depends on whether the Bible says so.
Since we, who read and interpret the Bible, are human beings, there is always the possibility (danger) that we may read the Bible incorrectly or interpret it in a way that suits our own convenience.
Therefore, I hope that we will always be humble and continue to pray and strive to compare our own faith and the faith of our church with the Word of the Bible, so that we may have the correct faith in accordance with the will of the Lord.

By reading the Bible alone, and also through sharing the Word together with other fellow believers, family members and brothers and sisters in Christ, we hope that we will hear the Word of God more abundantly and as correct as possible.
The Bible is quite different from any ordinary books written by human beings. This is because the real author of the Bible is not a human being but the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God.

The following is written in 2 Timothy 3:16
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,

The Bible is the record of God's inspired believers, written under the guidance of the Spirit of God. Through the words of the Bible, we are taught and admonished to do God's will, are enabled to correct our own errors, and are led to be justified (led to God's righteousness).

We should be grateful that the Bible is left to us as such the Word of God.
　One of the things the Bible teaches us is about ourselves.
Through the words of the Bible, we can know ourselves better.
We do not know ourselves very well. Even if we think we know ourselves, I think in reality it is difficult to actually understand ourselves.

　The Bible also tells us the thoughts of our human hearts (our true nature). And one of the human figures Bible tells us about is that "we fear death."

In Psalm 55:3-4 NIV, the following is written in the Psalm of David:

because of what my enemy is saying,
because of the threats of the wicked;
for they bring down suffering on me
and assail me in their anger.
4 My heart is in anguish within me;
the terrors of death have fallen on me.

　This is believed to be a psalm written by David. David was terrified by the threat of an enemy who wanted to take his life and the fear of death was terrorizing him. Death brings upon a great threat and fear to a person.
Why does death bring so much threat and fear to us? I think it is because death usually means "the end of all things"
Through death, everything ends and everything becomes meaningless. Nothing lasts forever - death gives us such a fleeting and empty feeling.
And most importantly, according to the Bible, death is the result of human’s sin. We (especially believers) must know and acknowledge this fact.

In Romans 5:12, the following is written:
just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned—

Human's sin has caused the total disconnect and rift between God and man. Human, who was originally created to live eternally with God, has lost that grace because of our own sin.
Death brings us so much fear because it is a clear sign of that to us (the sin we ourselves have made and the disconnection from God.)
In today's passage 1 Corinthians 15:50, the following is written:

50 I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.

“The flesh and blood” in the sentence "Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable" refers to human beings with finite mortal bodies.
The "perishable" likewise refers to mortal man. There is indeed hope of the Kingdom of God, the heavenly kingdom, to which we can go, but we humans have been cut off from it because of our sins. This is what this passage is saying.
The path to true hope was cut off because of human's own sin - that is the truth the Bible tells us and that we must acknowledge.
But the Bible also conveys the hope that death, the result of our sin, has been overcome, vanquished, and destroyed by one man.

　The following is written in verse 54-55 of today's passage.
“Death has been swallowed up in victory.” 55 “Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?”

Just as that words, the One who has conquered and defeated death is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. And Jesus has given us His complete victory over death, which He obtained by offering His own life on the cross.
Why was Jesus able to overcome death? It is because Jesus was completely sinless, but at the same time, He lived on earth as a human being with "flesh and blood" just like us.

The following is written in Hebrews 2:14-15:
14 Since the children have flesh and blood, he (*Jesus) too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— 15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.

Death, the fear of death, and the "slavery" brought about by human sin have all been completely conquered by Jesus, and that victory has been given to us.
And those who are informed of and believe in the victory of Jesus Christ (over sin and over death) will be able to live with gratitude to God and joy for their life here on earth.
Do we ever think to ourselves, "What is the meaning of life? What is the point of being alive? What value is there in being alive when eventually we will die anyway? Isn't life all a waste, all meaningless?"
If we try to find any meaning or significance of our lives by ourselves, we may end up thinking that it has no meaning at all and we may think, "It's all for nothing."
But the Bible tells us that our lives have great meaning and that they are not in vain. Because Chirst lives, in Christ, our lives have precious meaning.
This is clear from the fact that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, forsook His position being equal as God, lived with men and bore their sins, and died on the cross for us.
And God the Father in heaven, by resurrecting the life of Christ, has proved that the power of sin and death that held us human beings in slavery has been completely destroyed.

Let us lastly read verse 58 of today's passage.
58 Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
We are now in the period of Lent. No matter how painful, sad, and difficult times are, Jesus Christ is walking alongside us.
There is a "work of the Lord" that we must do. That is to believe in the Lord God, Jesus Christ, and to live according to His Word.
It means to seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and to live as believers, loving God and loving others (even if only striving to do so). We are to live as Jesus lived - we are to strive to live that way, even if only a little.
”you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain”～ We can fully trust and believe this based on what the Bible tells us about the life of Jesus Christ, His words, His death on the cross and His resurrection.
The days of our lives that we live in (connected with) the Lord Jesus Christ have great significance, and our belief in Christ and our effort to do His work will never be in vain before God.
Let us give thanks to God who overcomes sin and brings us victory over death and generously gives us these things through Jesus Christ, and let us live daily striving to do the "works of the Lord" that we, as believers, are to do.