Sunday Worship Service July 14, 2024

Call to Worship Matthew 6:33
Hymn JBC # 61 Morning has broken like the first morning
The Lord’s Prayer
Hymn JBC # 120 Praise to the Lord Almighty
Offering
Scripture Proverbs 30:7~9
Prayer
Sermon “Two things I ask”
Prayer
Hymn JBC # 103 When upon life’s billows
Doxology JBC # 674
Benediction
Postlude


　Today's scripture is from the book of Proverbs. Proverbs contains many words of wisdom and lessons that are very beneficial to everyone.
　Many of the words in Proverbs were left by Solomon. Proverbs 1:1 begins with the words, "Proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel.”
　Solomon, who became king of Israel after David, was blessed with wisdom and good judgment. It was given to him because Solomon had asked God for wisdom and judgment as a king.
　In his later years, Solomon's heart turned to other gods (pagan gods who were not the true God) and he disobeyed the Lord God.
But in the early days of his kingship, it is written that Solomon bowed low and petitioned God as follows.

1 Kings 3:9
So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?”

In his later years, Solomon's heart had turned away from God, but in the beginning of his kingship, he made this very humble request and prayer to God.
Solomon did not think, "Since I am the son of King David, I am fit and able to be king.”
　Solomon knew that despite being David's son, only God could give him a discerning heart to judge the people righteously and to judge right from wrong.
　Trusting God means believing and trusting that God will provide what we need, and praying to Him in regards to those needs.
The Bible encourages us to think about what we want, and to earnestly ask and pray to God for what we truly desire.

I believe that Solomon's prayer for a heart that judges right from wrong was a wish and prayer that came from his earnest consideration of "What do I need to serve faithfully as king?”
What do we desire? How do we want to live?
In the New Testament, Philippians 4:6 says

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
Thinking seriously about what we want and how we want to live means taking a serious look at ourselves.
We must search our hearts, think seriously about what we want and how we want to live, and remember to be thankful for the blessing of being able to ask God for what we need.
Let us seriously consider what we want and offer up those desires to God in our prayers.
I mentioned that much of Proverbs is attributed to Solomon. But today's passage, chapter 30, begins with the words of Agur.
We do not know who or what kind of person this Agur (Agur son of Jakeh, chapter 30, verse 1) was.
However, as a believers in God, let us partake in the words of Proverbs left by this man Agur, and from them, consider what petitions and prayers we want to make to God.

In verse 7 at the beginning of today's message, we read the following.

7“Two things I ask of you, Lord;
do not refuse me before I die:

This man of prayer (Agur) asks God for two things. He says, "Do not refuse me before I die.”
　So we see that the two things he wishes for are not just temporary needs or desires, but things that he wants to (must) receive from God over the course of his life.
The first thing Agur wished for was the following.

8 Keep falsehood and lies far from me;
Keep away from me falsehood and lies, Agur prays. Falsehood are things that are not real.
　We live with something as a support, something at the core of our hearts. If what sustains the core of our hearts is not real, if it is something fake, our hearts will collapse one day.
　This is because something that is not real cannot continue to sustain us or give us strength.
We can make something that is not God and worship it as God (as the most important thing), or our hearts can be attracted to false words that are not the Word of God (the Word of Truth).

For Adam and Eve, the first people God created, the serpent's tempting words, "If you eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you will not die. If you eat it, you will become like God" (a lie) must have sounded very attractive.
　Even today, we are often presented with such clever words and enticements, trying to draw us away from the true God (and from our faith).
　But nothing that is not the word of the true God has the power to truly sustain us and guide our lives. Also, invitations and words that appeal to our greed and evil thoughts will lead us down a path of deceit and perdition.

　This year our church has adopted the theme "Standing on the Word of the Lord".
Let us trust God's Word (the Bible) given to us as the foundation of our faith, and let us trust only in God's Word.
And if falsehoods or temptations try to separate us from the true God, no matter how attractive they may seem, we should pray and ask for God's help to protect us from such temptations.

In the latter half of verse 8-9 we read.

give me neither poverty nor riches,
but give me only my daily bread.
9 Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you
and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’
Or I may become poor and steal,
and so dishonor the name of my God.

Give me the daily bread set apart for me, in other words, a request that our daily food and life needs be met.
Jesus also taught his disciples in the Lord's Prayer to pray, "Give us today our daily bread (Matthew 6:11).”
It is not a matter of course that we are given the food and other necessities of life we need every day. They are all a blessing from God.
Jesus also taught us not to take daily food and other necessities for granted, but to keep praying to God, "Give me (us) this day what I need.”
This means that we should not make the mistake of thinking that what we receive and have every day is gotten through our own strength and ability (with no help from anyone else).
In preparing today's message, I was reminded of how we take for granted our daily food and other necessities of life, and that I myself had forgotten to pray with heartfelt gratitude “please provide for me today.”
It is truly a miracle and God's grace that we are alive every day and that we are given what we need every day. We should not take this grace for granted, but continue to offer prayers of thanksgiving and joy to God, the source of grace.

Prayer, of course, does not mean that we pray and God will automatically give us whatever we want and we can sit back and do nothing.
I have heard it said that "prayer, if done wrong, runs the risk of depriving us of the necessary effort to face reality.”
We must, of course, do what we need to do for ourselves in order to earn our daily bread (e.g. work).
We must face the harsh reality and not look away from it, and if there is a problem, we must do what we can to solve it.

But God gives us the ability to face reality and to do the things we need to do to earn our daily bread (work, for example).
As such, it is not a matter of course that we are given everything we need on a daily basis; everything is a gift from God, so we should always remember God and pray to Him in thanksgiving, thanking Him for His grace and for our daily needs to be met.
　And I think the point "neither poor nor rich" is very important. Let me read again the following verse 9.

9 Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you
and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’
Or I may become poor and steal,
and so dishonor the name of my God.

It seems that the author of this Proverb (Agur) was well aware of his own weakness. He did not say, "No matter how poor I am, I will be all right because I have faith.”
　If I am poor, I may steal and dishonor the name of God.
He feared that if he were given more than enough wealth, he might become proud (arrogant) and say, "I got these riches through my own strength, and I am living through my own strength.”
He really knew his own (humanity's) weakness and arrogance. Agur knew that being too poor or too rich was a weakness that would lead him away from God.
We may still be hesitant to admit our weaknesses. We may wish to be strong if we can, and we may not want to rely on others or even on God (let's be honest).
But we do not have to hide anything before God. If we face ourselves honestly, we will always inevitably be confronted with our weaknesses.
Let us admit our weakness before God and remember once again that God is the one who protects us in our weakness, and let us resolve to live our lives trusting and relying on God.
We may be weak, but God is strong. We can pray that God will protect us from any evil temptation that tries to separate us from His grace and from His Word.

Let us pray that we may not be poor, nor rich, nor arrogant (nor mean), but that we may continue to remain in God's grace with thanksgiving.
Let us rely on the Lord God and live each day by His power and His Word.