Sunday Worship Service (Respect for the Aged Service) September 17, 2023

Call to Worship James 1:5
Hymn JBC # 538 “A mighty fortress is our God”
The Lord’s Prayer
Offering
Scripture Job 12:7~13
Prayer
Sermon “To God belong wisdom and power”
https://youtu.be/1PhVVUG46w0
Prayer
Hymn JBC # 86 O Lord my God! When I in awesome wonder
Doxology JBC # 673
Benediction


Today’s worship is "Respect for the Aged Service" in which we honor our elders and together wish and give thanks for God's blessings and for the abundant health and peace that He gives to them.
The reason we make today’s worship service "Respect for the Aged Service" is related to the fact that tomorrow, September 18th (the third Monday of September), is a national holiday in Japan as "Respect for the Aged Day.
It is said that "Respect for the Aged Day" as a national holiday in Japan has its origin in a village-sponsored "Respect for the Aged Party" held on September 15, 1947 in Nomadani Village, Taka-gun, Hyogo Prefecture (the name of the village at that time).

The Nomadani Village’s Respect for the Aged Party gradually spread throughout Hyogo Prefecture. Eventually, in 1966, it became a national holiday throughout Japan (its origins are quite new than ws may have thought).
The purpose of the first Respect for the Aged Party held in Nomadani Village was to "cherish the elderly and build a village with the wisdom of the elderly. (by the way, the target of the respect-for-the-aged at that time was people over 55 years old!)

Our elders have acquired a wealth of wisdom from their long life experience. The elders may gradually decline in physical strength. But "the young must learn from the wisdom of their elders" - I believe this is still true.
However, elders may think that they have a lot of experience, and therefore they may think that the young people do not understand anything, or that they have to teach the young people so that they do not make mistakes.

If so, I would suggest that such an attitude should be taken carefully.
I say this because I feel that I myself have already begun to have such thoughts. I am tempted to tell my children what to do (or what to choose), especially because of the mistakes and experiences I myself have made in the past.
I sometimes think and tell children that "I (father) made this kind of mistake in the past (including the experience that I should have chosen a different path, if not a failure), so you should not do the same thing.”
For my part, I am giving such advice with the best intentions for my children.
However, if I am not careful, I forget that my children are different people (different and independent personalities) from me, and it makes me think that I am forcing my opinions and intentions on them.
I sometimes reflect on the fact that I am not doing things for the sake of the children, but rather for my own sake.

A long time ago, a family from England came to a worship service at my home church. The wife was from Japan, the husband from England, and I think they had two elementary school-aged children.
They said they were members of a Baptist Church in England.

I had the opportunity to speak with the couple a little after the service. They told me that their church has about 50-60 people.
They said that one of the problems that occurs in the church is that when the younger generation (the couple was in their 30s or early 40s, I think) suggests that the church should try something like this, they are often opposed by the older members.
When we propose something new, the older members often say, "We've tried something similar in the past, but it didn't work, so we shouldn't do it.”
They said, "Even if it is the same thing, the situation is different now than it was in the past, and if we try it now, we might get different results.”
Listening to them, I was reminded that the differences in opinions between generations and the problems between elders and youth are the same in every country.

The "wisdom" that we gain through age and experience is precious. However, it is by no means absolute. And there is a limit to the wisdom and experience of a single person.
We must respect each other, elders and young alike, as equals before God, regardless of age.
The experience and wisdom we gain as we age are also precious. But we always want to remember that they are all given to us by the Lord God.

　I chose today's Bible verse from the Book of Job, chapter 12. The verses 12-13 reads as follows.

12 Is not wisdom found among the aged?
Does not long life bring understanding?
13 “To God belong wisdom and power;
counsel and understanding are his.

In verse 13, “To God belong wisdom and power” which I have chosen as the title of today's sermon.
And this is the conclusion of today's message.
As verse 12 says, human society in general believes that "wisdom is with the aged and understanding is with those who have lived long." That is not a wrong.
But the believer in the Lord God believes this words of the Bible, "With the Lord God are true wisdom for us to live and true power for us to live.”
So even if you are young, true wisdom and power depend on whether or not you are always listening to the Word of the Lord God.

Since today's worship service is a "Respect for the Aged Service," I think you are expecting a message theme that we respect our elders, but I apologize that the message is somehow in the direction of admonishing (teaching) our elders.
But since the preaching of worship is for us to hear God's teaching and Word together, today in the Respect for the Aged Service too, we, young and old, desire to be taught by God's Word together and to be celebrated together by God's Word.

Today's passage, Job 12:7-10, says
7 “But ask the animals, and they will teach you,
or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you;
8 or speak to the earth, and it will teach you,
or let the fish in the sea inform you.
9 Which of all these does not know
that the hand of the Lord has done this?
10 In his hand is the life of every creature
and the breath of all mankind.

We are taught from the animals of the field, from the birds in the sky, from the earth, and even from the fish in the sea.
No matter how old we get, we must have the attitude of humility to learn from everything (both from people and from nature).
The Book of Genesis, the first book of the Old Testament, tells us that God created man and then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”(Genesis 1:28)
But that word of God in Genesis does not mean that because man is superior in every way to other creatures and possesses the highest wisdom, man may rule (use) other creatures and this world just as he pleases.

　This is evident in passages like today's “Job”, where we are told to "learn from the animals, from the birds in the air, and from the fish in the sea." We must always learn humbly.
What do the animas, the birds in the air, the fish in the sea, and the earth have to teach us? That is what is written in verses 9-10.

9 Which of all these does not know
that the hand of the Lord has done this?
10 In his hand is the life of every creature
and the breath of all mankind.

Animas, birds, fish, they all know (and tell us that) that "the hand of the Lord God made all things in this world," and that "all living things are in the hand of God (protected), even the human spirit (breath).
However, we humans tend to forget these things (that God created everything and that everything that lives is in God's hands) and become arrogant.
We often mistakenly believe that "I know everything" or "I am living on my own. We fail to follow the biblical instruction to learn from others, nature, and other living things.
Jesus taught the following. It is one of the most famous sayings of Jesus.

Matthew 6:26
Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?

Jesus then says, "Pay attention also to how the flowers of the field grow.”
Jesus said “See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you”

　The birds in the sky and the flowers in the field teach us that we were created by God, given life by God, and are always protected by God.
The wisdom that the Bible conveys is to "know God”. To know God is to know the true God, Jesus Christ, and to know His love, which is the source of life.
The wisdom that the Bible conveys is to know through the love of Jesus Christ that we (all living things) are created by God, protected by God, and made alive in the hands of God.
Informed of such divine wisdom, we are to respect one another and live humbly teaching and serving one another.
We hope to continue to receive such wisdom from God more and more abundantly from the Word of the Bible, from worshipping God together in this way, and from praying together.
Today is the "Respect for the Aged Service”. Let us give thanks for the longevity that God gives us, and for the days of life that God has given to each of us, young and old.
When we are always protected by God's hand, when we receive God's word, God's wisdom, and walk according to it, we are promised all hope and joy through faith. We give thanks to the God of grace.