Call to Worship Psalm 116:8
Hymn JBC # Holy, holy, holy! Lord God almighty!
The Lord’s Prayer
The Lord’s Supper
Offering
Scripture 2 Corinthians 1:1~2
Prayer
Sermon “God’s church, my church”
https://youtu.be/apZM7bZB8DA
Prayer
Hymn JBC # 639 Is your life a channel of blessing?
Doxology JBC # 673
Benediction
From today onwards, about once a month, we will listen to God's message from the Book of ‘Second Corinthians’ on our Sunday Service.
This letter was written by Paul, an evangelist who spread the gospel of Jesus Christ (the good news of God) beyond Judea and throughout the Mediterranean world, to the believers in the Greek city of Corinth and it contains a message from God.
Following the customary practice of writing letters, Paul begins this letter with a greeting.
Let’s read verse 1 once again:
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
To the church of God in Corinth, together with all his holy people throughout Achaia:
“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God” - This is how Paul describes himself.
“An Apostle” – what kind of person is it? The Glossary provided at the end of the Japanese New Interconfessional Translation (Bible) explains it:
“The ‘Twelve’ who Jesus chose among his disciples. After Jesus' resurrection, they meant those who held missionary responsibilities as the highest office in the church."
Paul had never met Jesus directly when Jesus was alive on earth. The resurrected Jesus Christ appeared to Paul and dramatically changed his life.
Until then, Paul had violently persecuted Christians, but since his encounter with Christ, he became an ‘apostle’ who risked his life to preach Jesus Christ to people.
Paul says, “I have been made an apostle by the will of God.” The original Greek word for "the will of God" can also mean “God’s wish (what God desires)”.
If that is the case, then most likely Paul thought of himself, “God wanted me to be an apostle of Jesus Christ”.
Paul was supported by the thought (that fact) that “God chose me to be an apostle to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ”.
The thought of “God desires that” continued to give Paul strength and hope even in the midst of difficult and tough missionary work.
The conviction that “God chose me to be an apostle of Jesus Christ and to be one of the church leaders” does not mean “therefore, as someone chosen by God, people should listen to whatever I say as the words of God.”
When leaders of a faith group start thinking like this, it is the beginning of a cult. The thought of being “chosen by God” should actually make those who believe it even more humble.
The belief that “God has chosen me” should humble not only church leaders but all Christians who believe this, before God and toward others, too.
The more our faith deepens, matures and the more we come to know the love of Jesus, the more we realize how undeserved and immeasurable grace we have received.
Those who truly believe from their hearts that “I’m saved by God's will and mercy, and I became Christian who believes in Christ” are made aware of the depth of their sins.
I'll quote another relevant passage from the Bible.
It’s from 1 Timothy 1:12-15. These are also the words of Apostle Paul.
12 I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me trustworthy, appointing me to his service. 13 Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. 14 The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.
15 Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.
“Sinners – of whom I am the worst” – this confession was made by Paul, who can be said to be the greatest evangelist in Christian history. We must take it very seriously.
“God has forgiven me, the worst of sinners. God has chosen me, the worst of sinners, and is using me for His purposes.” – I’m sure this thought brought great joy to Paul.
God chose us Christians not because we are good or because we never make mistakes.
God loves us so much that He chose us, called us, and made us believe in Christ and follow Him.
Leaders of church congregations never think that as God's chosen people they do not make mistakes. Why? Because the elected leaders are also human beings.
Rather, those in leadership positions should be aware that they, too, make mistakes, and when they are made aware of their mistakes, they should humbly reflect on them and put efforts towards solving problems and improving them for the better.
I sincerely ask you to remember those like me who are pastors and those who are in leadership positions in church congregations, and to pray for all of us
Paul wrote this letter to “To the church of God in Corinth, together with all his holy people throughout Achaia”. Let’s focus on the word “the church of God in Corinth”.
This church was located in Corinth, the capital of the Greek state of Achaia, and was originally established by Paul and started through Paul’s missionary.
Chapter 18 of the book of Acts describes the time when Paul went to Corinth. It is written that Paul stayed in Corinth for one year and six months, and he taught the people there the word of God.
Even though it could be said that Paul founded this church, Paul never referred to it as “my church”. Well, it is not wrong for Christians to think of their church as “my church.”
Rather, we would like to call the church where we belong to as “my church” with gratitude and love, with the meaning of “God’s family for me”.
But we would be making a huge mistake if we call "my church" to imply "the church that should be according to my (our) way," or for church leaders we call it “my church” to imply “the church that I own”.
The church is God's church, established by God. The church is the body of Jesus Christ. We find great joy in being part of the church, the body of Christ.
By connecting with the church, we pray together, live by God's word, and walk our lives of faith in accordance with God's will (what God desires).
Our church is God's church. The authority of the church, the ownership of the church, lies with God. We serve God's authority. And we live connected to the congregation of faith in God.
Once, there was a person who transferred to my home church from another church. The person (woman) used this expression to say that she was joining a new church: “I'm really happy to be included in the group”.
Honestly, when I heard those words, I thought, “What a humble person” and at the same time I was reminded once again of the joy of “joining a group of believers”.
To be honest, until that moment, I had not really felt the joy of being part of (connecting with) a group of faith (church).
As the deacon of education, I guided her in her preparations for transferring to the church, but I actually learned more from her humble attitude.
It was then that I realized maybe I had been thinking arrogantly like “I was contributing to (serving) the church.”
But that wasn't the case. God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, into the world, and through His atonement on the cross, He forgave me, the greatest of sinners, saved me, and invited me into His path of life.
And now, even though Christ is invisible, God has established the church as the body of Christ in the world. Let us sincerely rejoice in the fact that we have been forgiven, saved, and able to join the church, the body of Christ Our Savior.
According to verse 1 of today's passage, Paul, who wrote this letter, addressed the letter “To the church of God in Corinth, together with all his holy people throughout Achaia”.
Paul probably knew the people of the Corinthian church very well. However, after Paul left Corinth, the number of believers in the Corinthian church seems to have increased, so I think there were many believers that Paul did not know directly when he wrote this letter.
As written in verse 2, Paul first sent “Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” to the members of the Corinthian church that he already knew.
At the same time, Paul extended the grace and peace of Christ to many people whom he did not know directly, and also to believers throughout the region of Achaia where Corinth was located (He envisioned the people in his heart and sent his wishes).
Christians value the unity of faith and the fellowship of faith in their church. We grow in faith by being in the community of faith.
However, the church is never a “closed” or exclusive place or space “only for believers” nor should it become that way.
We rejoice in the fact that we have been chosen by Christ to become believers who belong to the body of Christ, and we pray that the gospel of Jesus Christ will spread to the world through us and through our church.
This is because the grace of the gospel of Christ is meant for everyone and should be given to everyone.
Just as the evangelist Paul prays in today's passage (at the beginning of his letter), we also pray “Grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” to first be upon the people close to us, people around us.
In faith, let’s pray that the grace and peace of Jesus Christ may not only be with those who are close to us, but also with those who are far from us.
