Sunday Worship Service Jan.28, 2024

Prelude
Call to Worship Isaiah 25:1
Hymn JBC # 80 Father, we love You
The Lord’s Prayer
The Lord’s Supper
Offering
Scripture 2 Corinthians 1:12～22
Prayer
Sermon “God is faithful”
Prayer
Hymn JBC # 495 Thy way, not mine, O Lord
Doxology JBC # 672
Benediction
Postlude

Today's Bible passage is from the New Testament, in Chapter 1 of “The Second Epistle to the Corinthians”. It is a letter written by the Christian evangelist named Paul to the congregation of the church in the Greek city of Corinth.
The Corinthian church was established by Paul's mission. Paul's first trip to Corinth is described in the book of ‘Acts’ (Acts 18).
Chapter 17 of the Acts describes Paul's trip to Athens, Greece, before he went to Corinth. There, Paul tried to earnestly preach to the Athenian philosophers that Jesus Christ is the Lord.

The Athenian philosophers, who at first listened to Paul with great interest, sneered at him and left when his talk turned to the resurrection of Jesus Christ, saying, "We want to hear you again on this subject.” (Acts 17:32).
The Athenian philosophers did not take seriously the important part of what Paul said (the resurrection of Christ).
However, it is written that even in Athens, some people believed what Paul said. There are those who hear the same gospel but believe it and those who do not. It is strange that even after hearing the same story, some people believe and others don’t.
In some cases, people do not believe at the time they hear the gospel, but they believe after a long time, much later. I guess it means that there is a time prepared by God for people to believe in and accept the Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, even if the results of evangelism do not appear immediately, even if we preach the gospel to our family, friends, and acquaintances and they do not believe us, even if we invite them to church and they do not come, we should believe that there is a time God has prepared and leave the results of our evangelism to God.

　If we believe the gospel and preach it with the love of Jesus Christ, our work will never be in vain before God.
We wish to thank God for the blessing of being able to live the gospel and serve in the ministry of preaching the gospel.
After Athens, Paul went to Corinth. In Corinth, Paul faced great difficulties, such as being severly opposed by the Jews there.
However, as is written in Acts 18, many people in Corinth believed in Christ and were baptized after hearing Paul's words.
Even though many believed and became believers, at this time there was not yet a single large meeting place (church building) in Corinth (and probably in the other cities Paul visited, too).
People found places where they could gather, such as their own homes or auditoriums, and worshiped together.

　　The gospel of Jesus Christ brought people together, and gatherings to worship God together sprang up all over the place in that way.
I imagine that without church buildings as we have today, there would have been many hardships when people gathered to worship, which we do not understand today.
Now we have been given a nice church building. We are thankful that God has given us this wonderful church as a gift for worship and meetings.
We hope to be aware of our responsibility to continue to carefully maintain and care for this church building (and for the work of evangelism).
The first thing written in today's passage is that Paul's actions as an evangelist were "with integrity and godly sincerity…We have done so, relying not on worldly wisdom but on God’s grace.”
Paul's conscience testifies and it is also his pride that he had conducted himself “with integrity and godly sincerity…relying not on worldly wisdom but on God’s grace”.

These words show us that through faith in Christ, we can have "pride”.
That pride is not a pride based on oneself. The pride that a Christian can take is a pride based on God's truth and God's grace, which transcends human thoughts and wisdom, human efforts and actions.
It may sound here as if Paul is boasting about their own actions (Paul and his companions who assisted him in the work of evangelism), but this is not the case.
The source of his pride is only the Lord God who saved him through Christ and reborn him into new life.

If we, too, believe in Christ, and if we have been born again and received new life through Him, we will always boast in the Lord God and not in ourselves.
And we will always be able to act on the grace He gives us. By His grace we are kept alive, and by His grace we have the strength not to be afraid of anything.
The church in Corinth had many problems. There were disputes among the members of the congregation, and there were also many disagreements about how to live as Christians in practice.
As Paul dealt with each of these issues, he continued to talk about the importance of believers being united in Christ.
Whenever people gather, problems are bound to occur. It is the same in the church. However, problems are not the problem. The problem is how we deal with problems when they occur.
If a problem arises in the church, the important thing is whether we can work toward solving the problem, not with human thoughts or human wisdom, but with integrity and godly sincerity shown through the Bible, and with gratitude for God's grace.

　Even if a certain problem cannot be solved immediately, even if it takes time, the grace and gospel of Jesus Christ will always be with us as always, so let us live our life of faith together, always receiving Christ's grace, even when things are difficult.
In today's passage, Paul seems to have been rebuked by the Corinthian church for one thing.
From what is written in verses 15-17, we can infer that Paul had left the Corinthian church once and was planning to come back to them again soon but was unable to make that second visit (postponed).
What does Paul say about it? Let’s read verses 18-20:

18 But as surely as God is faithful, our message to you is not “Yes” and “No.” 19 For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us—by me and Silas and Timothy—was not “Yes” and “No,” but in him it has always been “Yes.” 20 For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God.

I know some of the wording is a bit hard to understand, but Paul says that the words they spoke, the Jesus Christ they proclaimed, were always "Yes" (It is true).
Paul had to change his plans to visit Corinth the second time due to certain circumstances. The Corinthian church criticized him for that.
Paul responded to these accusations by continuing to point proudly to the unchanging Jesus Christ.
Paul responded by pointing to Jesus Christ, not with detailed reasons or excuses, but by entrusting everything to the Lord.
Human beings, including Paul, are weak and sinful, and we are bound to make mistakes.
But we are given Jesus Christ, who will never change (in whom all of God's promises have been fulfilled).

　Again, we can always make mistakes. When we make mistakes, it is important to acknowledge them and reflect on them (which is difficult to do though).
　But in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, all is already "Yes”. We can always be confident that the promises of God in Christ are eternally true and unchanging.
Verse 20 says, through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God.
The word "Amen" means "It is true”. Through Jesus and in Jesus name, we can say (pray) "May all God's will be done, and it will be so.”

In this way, we can always glorify the true Lord God.
In the last 21-22 verses of today's passage, we read:

21 Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, 22 set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
We are always firmly bound to Jesus. God has bound us firmly to Jesus. Nothing can separate us from Him.
God has given us a "spirit" in our hearts as well, which guarantees that we belong to Christ and are partakers of His gospel.
Our God is true and He never changes. The salvation event accomplished in Jesus Christ is eternally valid and true.
Let us walk the path of faith this week and every day in the sure hope of Jesus Christ given to us by God.