Call to Worship Deuteronomy 10:15
Hymn JBC #227 Up Calv’ry’s mountain
Prayer Time
The Lord’s Prayer
Thanking our church anniversary (sides)
Offering
Scripture 1 Peter 2:9~10
Prayer
Sermon “Out of Darkness into
His Wonderful Light”
Prayer
Hymn JBC #255 Face to face with Christ, my Saviour
Doxology JBC # 679 Congregation
Today we are having a thanksgiving service to commemorate the day our church was established as an independent church.
Of course, being independent does not mean “living solely on our own and not relying on anyone else”.
Earlier, we looked at the slides that show the history of our church dating back to the early days of congregations and mission meetings before becoming an independent church.
The further back in time we go, the more fragmentary the documentations (records) are, making it difficult to know the exact situation of that time.
However, there is no doubt that many people have supported this church with their passion, thoughts, hopes and fervent prayers throughout the history of our church,
As mentioned in the slides, our church is a member of the Japan Baptist Convention, a cooperative missions organization. With great prayers and practical support from the churches connected to the Japan Baptist Convention, our church was led to become an independent organization as a church.
Also, as a member of the local association called the North Kyushu Regional Association, our church is sustained with the connections and mutual support from other churches.
Usually, we don’t have many opportunities to meet members of other churches, but I hope we can always remember that we stand together with other churches in the same region/nationwide especially that stand on the same faith of Baptist churches.
The head (lord) of the church is Jesus Christ. The head of the church is not the pastor. Pastors stand at the head of the congregation as spiritual leaders (and are entrusted with such work by you), but pastors are also members of the congregation who serve God just like everyone else (Baptist churches especially emphasize this point).
And through us who are chosen by God, the gospel of Jesus Christ will be conveyed to the world. I hope and pray that the Lord will keep using our church more and more as a precious vessel for evangelization.
In today's service as we give thanks for the establishment of this church, we listened to the Word of God from today’s passage, 1 Peter 2:9-10 in the New Testament.
This passage summarizes in a very short and concise way on how great the grace that we as believers and the church, have received from God.
The beginning of verse 9 of today's passage says, "You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, ”
The first thing this verse says is that we are "chosen people." Who chose us? It is the Lord God.
It means that the Lord God has chosen us by His own initiative. The "you" in "you are a chosen people" is the plural "you" in the original Greek text.
Therefore, it does not mean we were chosen as one person in particular, but that we were chosen to join together with others in faith and become "one people.".
The Bible tells us that God, the Creator of the world and our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, has chosen us with love and a truly special thought.
Today, I’d like to invite all of us to renew our feeling of gratitude for the history of establishment of our church that was enabled by God’s grace with the prayers and support from Baptist churches across the country, and also because we are still able to worship God here like today.
And today, we want to focus even more deeply on the truth and grace that “God has chosen us.''
When we hear the word “chosen”, we may feel that we belong to some privileged class, which may create a feeling of arrogance in our hearts.
It is true that we, chosen by God, have been given the truly wonderful privilege of living in God's grace and love. But God's grace and love, and this privilege are open for everyone.
Through Jesus Christ, God's love and grace are available to all. And it is up to humans to decide whether or not they believe this, humble themselves before God, and live their lives receiving God's love and grace.
The decision to believe in God is one that humans make on their own, but God's love and grace and God's choice are already extended to us, regardless of our achievements. This is an important point.
God's grace is truly a valuable and precious grace that we can never deserve. No matter how wonderful or excellent a person may be, no one is wonderful enough to be worthy of God's love.
I am not saying this with the intention of unnecessarily belittling people. Instead, when we think of the love of God shown through Jesus Christ, when we see ourselves through the light of Christ, we find that there is truly no value in it.
No one would be able to think or believe that way. Why does God love us so much and give us such grace? The only way to answer this is because "God Himself is just like that."
In the Old Testament, ‘Deuteronomy’, chapter 7, verses 6-8, it is written as follows:
6 For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.
7 The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples.
8 But it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
In the days of the Old Testament, the Lord God chose the people of Israel, and the reason God saved them from living a painful life of slavery in Egypt was not because they were more numerous and than other peoples nor because they were superior.
Rather, it was simply because "the Lord God loved them." Similarly, those of us who have been put on the path to salvation through Christ have been given the privilege of becoming children of God solely because of God's incredible and unconditional love.
There is nothing we can do but respond to such love from God with deep gratitude.
In today's passage it says we are a chosen people, and that we are a "royal priesthood."
Priests were people who served God in the temple and offered sacrifices to God on behalf of the people. However, the Bible says that all of us who have been chosen by God are now priests.
Because just as the Son, Christ, gave himself to God the Father, so we too are called to give ourselves completely to God.
When a church building is completed, most churches hold a service called a dedication ceremony. This means that we express our determination to dedicate the church building that has been given to us, to God.
By faith in Christ, we are encouraged to dedicate to God this wonderful church building that has been given to us and use it for the glory of God, and also we are to give all of ourselves (our lives).
Worshiping God means vowing to God that “I offer You all of me”. As a response and gratitude for the grace we receive from Jesus, I hope we have such faith that we want to offer wholeheartedly to God .
In the second half of verse 9 (as is also the title of today's message), we are told that we have been "called out of darkness into His wonderful light."
We are saved from a life of darkness: where we were separated from the true God, we were ignorant of God, and living a self-centered life, and invited to enter into the dazzling light of Jesus Christ where we live a new life.
We who have been brought into the wonderful light of Christ, who have been given the light of life, that is Christ, will no longer be at loss or confused as to where we should walk and what we should believe in our lives..
Jesus says:
“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
Believing that everyone can live in the wonderful light of God and no longer live in the lonely and dark place where one is separated from God, let’s keep sharing the Gospel to the world as a church, with joy and gratitude.
Let me end this message by reading verse 10 of today's passage.
10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
