Sunday (Peace) Worship Service August 6, 2023

Call to Worship Mark 9:50
Hymn JBC # 330 Far away in the depths of my spirit tonight
The Lord’s Prayer
Prayer Time
Offering
Scripture Jeremiah 29:10-14
Prayer
Sermon “Plan of Peace”
https://youtu.be/bHH_BkNquAI
Prayer
Hymn JBC # 327 Lead on, O King eternal
Doxology JBC # 672
Benediction

Today is a Peace Remembrance service. Of course, not just today, but we must always pursue peace and strive to achieve it.
Jesus said, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God" in what is known as the "Sermon on the Mount."
According to this Jesus’ teaching, peace is something that we believers will realize through faith.
How can we achieve peace? Today, let’s learn about the realization of peace through faith from the Old Testament book of ‘Jeremiah’.

　The background of today's passage (Jeremiah 29:10-14) is the historical event known as the Babylonian captivity. In the 6th century BC, Israel was destroyed by the Babylonian Empire under King Nebuchadnezzar.
And for several times many Israelites were taken away from Israel and exiled to Babylon. This is called “Babylonian captivity”.
When we read the beginning of Jeremiah 29, which is today's passage, we can understand that it’s a letter written by Jeremiah, the prophet (people who receive God’s words and convey them to His people).
Jeremiah himself remained in Israel. And he wrote God’s words to his fellow Israelites who were taken captive to Babylon.

In today's verse 10 it says:
10 This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place.

Jeremiah wrote to the people who had been taken away from their hometowns to foreign countries, saying, "After 70 years, God will fulfill His promise of grace and bring you back to your hometowns."
Now, what would the Israelites, the Israelites who were in captivity in Babylon, think when they heard this? Were they happy to hear these words from Jeremiah?
They must have been sad rather than happy. For most people who were in captivity, seventy years means they would never be able to return home while they were still alive.

Then, why is it a promise of grace?
If people only want to be "released from captivity and return to their home country", then the promises of God that Jeremiah tells us here cannot be thought of as "promises of hope."
However, if we put God's will first and turn our thoughts to God's will instead of our own thoughts, then these words of God become a promise of grace.
　 “I may not be able to return to my hometown while I am still alive” - That was the reality and God also clearly said it to the Israelites (through the words of prophet Jeremiah).
The captivity lasted 70 years – this was a harsh reality. God of the Bible urges and encourages believers to face reality without turning away from it and to live by faith in the midst of the real world, wherever God has placed us.
The captivity lasted for 70 years, but there was God's plan beyond people's imagination.

I’ll read verse 11.
11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
For those who wished only to return to their hometowns, living in captivity for 70 years might have seemed like nothing more than a "disaster" or "misfortune."
But even within that reality, it says, there is a plan of peace (in English, “a plan that will make you prosperous”) that God has made. It says there is future and hope for you in God's plan of peace.

Where is hope? That is written at the beginning of the next verse 12 to 14.
12 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,” declares the Lord,

It means that the Israelites can pray to God together even in the midst of the harsh reality. "If you (plural) call on me and come and pray to me, I will listen to you."
This is God's promise that says if you pray together, I, God, will listen to your prayer. It is an immeasurable grace that the Lord God hears our prayers and requests.
And it is a great strength and encouragement for us that people of the same faith can pray together, especially praying for each other's prayer requests.
The grace that I have gradually come to understand and have been made aware of in my life of faith is to ask other believers and members of the church, who are members of God's family, to pray for my prayer request.
When I first started to have faith, I think I was not able to share my prayer requests to others. Probably that’s because I thought prayer requests to God is a personal thing.
However, as I continued in my journey of faith, I gradually came to know the blessing of having other believers pray for my desires and struggles.

I have learned that the prayers of friends (family members) who believe in the same God are a great source of strength for me.
I am truly grateful to my believer friends who pray for me. I gradually feel this genuine joy when someone says, “I am praying for you”.
And, in order to be able to confide in someone’s personal matters and ask them to pray for us, we must have trust relationship (bonding) with them.
Even if you go to the same church, it takes a certain amount of time (years and months) to form such relationship.
The other day, there was a one-night summer school (camp) for elementary school students of the Kitakyushu District Union. I also participated as a staff member. The theme of this camp was "What is Peace?"
At this camp, children who are affiliated with different churches met. They got to know each other and eventually became friends. I was reminded once again that this “become friends” is one form of peace.
Isn't peace, at least a form of peace, is to get to know each other better and be friends with each other?
The more you know about the other person, the more you can see not only the good side of the other person, but also the unpleasing side of that person to you.

Even so, we are to make an effort to accept and understand ideas and values ​​that are different from our own as much as possible.
I f you can meet people who have different ideas and positions from your own, accepting each other's differences and overcome them, I think the bonding that comes out of this process will become stronger.
When we are connected through this bonding, through the bonding of faith, and pray in the name of the same God, the name of Jesus Christ, we will not only feel great joy in "praying together" itself, but also will feel more strengthened knowing that our prayers will be answered.
I hope we can build this bonding of faith where we can pray for each other and ask each other to pray for us at our church.

In verses before today's passage, verse 4-7, it is written as follows. It's a little long, but I'll read it.

4 This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce.6 Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease.7 Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.”

　God said to the Israelites who were taken in captivity to Babylon, to build houses in Babylon, to live there, and to plant fruit trees in their gardens and eat their fruit. God also tells them to get married and build a family there.
e the captivity lasted for 70 years, God said to them, "You should plant your roots firmly in the land (not temporarily), live earnestly and work together as families".

And then, verse 7 says something important:
“seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.”

We are called to pray for people in our surroundings: where we live, where we work, and where ever God has placed us.
"Pray for that city" ~ This means all of us believers are to pray for the peace of the society, region, place where we live. This is because such prayers also lead to the realization of peace.
Laws, regulations, and treaties, etc. (systems) are also important for the realization of peace in our society and the world.
But for us believers, the most important and powerful tool for achieving peace is prayer. From today's passage, I am more convinced that it is the only way.

Prayer is the key to peace. We can believe that prayer is the greatest weapon of peace that God has given us as believers.
At the same time, as a pastor, when I say “Prayer is the key to peace”, I was now challenged how much I, myself, believe in the power of prayers and whether I pray earnestly every day.
As I said earlier, I am blessed to be able to pray together with other believers.
But I am also challenged about how much I believe the word of God that promises “through prayer, you will achieve peace” and how earnestly I pray.

How about you?

We want to be convinced of this. We pray for ourselves, for others, for society, for the world, and for the church ～ We pray in the name of God, and such our prayers have real power.
This is because the Lord God who hears that prayer is the one who is stronger than anything else and He is so truthful and faithful one.
Together, let us offer our prayers from the bottom of our hearts, trusting God and believing that prayer is the way to achieve peace.