Sunday Worship Service February 16, 2025

Prelude
Call to Worship Joshua 23:14
Hymn JBC # 124 This is my Father's world
The Lord’s Prayer
Hymn JBC # 384 I love to tell the story
Offering
Scripture Colossians 3:12～17
Prayer
Sermon “The Peace of Christ”
Prayer
Hymn JBC # 330 Far away in the depths of my spirit tonight
Doxology JBC # 672
Benediction
Postlude

Today’s Bible passage is from “the letter to Colossians Ch. 3” that we just read.
The key term of this passage, and of today’s message title too is “the peace of Christ.”
The Son of God, Jesus Christ, has given us immeasurable grace.
One form of Christ’s grace is “peace.” I think that we all understand that peace is precious (no one is against peace).
If everyone desires peace, then why are the world and the things around us constantly in situations that are not peaceful (wars and other major/minor conflicts)?

We are often pushed toward despair feeling from hearing about precious lives being lost through atrocious crimes and tragedies of war reported daily in the news.
We may want to give up and say that “peace is nothing but wishful thinking.”
　However, in the words of the bible, and in Jesus Christ told through the bible, we have a message of hope that “peace is here and it is never lost.”
How has Jesus given us peace? Colossians 1:19-20 (same letter to Colossians as today’s passage) says the following:

19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

It states clearly here that “God made peace through his son’s (Jesus Christ’s) blood, shed on the cross.”
Therefore, even when in our eyes it seems as if peace has not been achieved, if we look at what Jesus Christ has done on the cross, we know that God has already succeeded in making peace.
Christ’s blood on the cross (in other words, His death), was an event of grace that we human can reconcile with God.
We were made by God to have our joy in our bountiful relationship with Him in His glory.
However, we fell to sin and separated ourselves from God. Biblical sin began because we disobeyed God and separated ourselves from Him, desiring to live a self-centered life.
And we were made to be in relationship with God, but when we separated ourselves from God to live for ourselves, we also distanced ourselves from true peace.
We can be nourished by God’s words and God’s wisdom and live spiritually rich lives, but when we depend on things other than God, we cannot find true peace there.

Now we want us to have a conviction and trust in the bible’s message that through Jesus Christ’s deed on the cross, God has made peace for us.
Through Christ’s cross, God invites us to true peace. We believe that in Christ there is true peace.

In verse 15 of today’s passage, it says the following:
15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace.

　Today’s passage tells us to let the peace of Christ rule in our hearts. It also states that we are invited into one body to receive this peace (the peace of Christ).
The one body it is mentioning here is the church. It is the Christian church. Why are we to connect to the church? It is because by becoming a part of the body (a member of the church), we can receive the peace of Christ as our own.
Because we believe in Jesus Christ of the cross, and we believe the peace that has been made through the cross of Christ, then we connect to the church, become a part of it and live out our faith together to receive that peace.
God loves us so much that He gave His only Son for us. Through this love of Jesus, we can understand just how special we are.

When we understand how special and precious we are through Christ and His love, it changes us into people who love others and not just ourselves.
The bible teaches us that when we give thanks to God for the fact that Christ forgave our sin, reconciled us with God, and made it possible for us to live in peace with God again, it makes it possible for us to have hearts of love and forgiveness for others.
The church, which is the body of Christ, is where the love and peace of Christ is practiced.
When I look back to when I was accepted into the church and became a member, I must acknowledge that God’s love, forgiveness, generosity, and patience were shown to me through the people in the church.
When I first went to church, I was quite rude and curt to everyone, because I felt a lot of antagonism toward Christianity.

The woman I was dating with at the time (now my wife) strongly recommended I attend church, so I reluctantly started attending worship. Putting it nicely, I was very honest so that I was unable to hide my antagonism, and it probably showed in my behavior quite clearly.
The church I first attended together with my wife when she invited me was a church in America where we were studying. Years later (after I became a Christian), the pastor at that time told me, “When you first came to the church, you were so blunt that I actually gave up on you.”
However, it was the other brothers and sisters at that church who truly welcomed me. Both at the church in America, and at the church I attended when I returned to Japan, I was shown tolerance, patience, and forgiveness through the brothers and sisters who accepted me.
In America there were people of church who invited me into their home to patiently teach me about the bible.

In the church in Nagoya, there was a person who, right in front of me, prayed for me so earnestly that “God, may you please tell him Jesus in a way that he could understand”, even though I was such an impertinent young man.
In these churches that I was led to, I have seen brothers and sisters who were surely making the love and forgiveness of Christ their own, then practicing to share it with others.
Today I cannot go without giving thanks to God and those brothers and sisters for all those things.
Even if I reflect on those people’s faith now, I can see that they first truly understood that they were loved by Jesus.

Because they were convinced that they were loved by Jesus Christ and that they were given a rich life through Christ, it was natural for that love to overflow from them to other people.
It was also those brothers and sisters at my home church who, in love and conviction, prayerfully sent me out from their flock to devote myself (so that I could follow the path of becoming a pastor).
And now all of you brothers and sisters here at Beppu International Church allow me to continue to be here as the spiritual leader of this church, even though I have so many flaws and shortcomings.
The reason the church can let another person become the spiritual leader of the flock is because they trust in the Lord and have faith that His love and forgiveness is shared in the church. Otherwise, such a thing would not be possible.
When people who believe in the love of God that was shown through the cross of Jesus Christ and are bound together spiritually, that is what forms the church.
Let us continue to work together as the body of Christ, building each other up in Christ’s peace, being bound together by His words, and holding each other as precious in love and forgiveness.

Let’s read verse 17, the final verse in today’s passage.

And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.　

Those who receive God’s incredible, extravagant grace, love, and forgiveness are also given a befitting responsibility. That responsibility is also a privilege.
That is that whatever we do, whether in word or deed, we are to do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus.
In other words, we are ambassadors of Christ who He sent out to be representatives of His name.
This means that every word that we speak as Christians are words that we speak as Christ’s representatives. Every action that we take as Christians are actions we do as representatives of Christ.
This is a frightening reality because many of the words we say and actions we do are not what we would expect of a representative of Jesus Christ.

However, whatever we may think, our heavenly God through the faith in Christ is giving that great privilege (and simultaneously great responsibility) to us.
This is how great God’s expectations are for us.
When we, as those who are loved and forgiven by Christ, live out our lives here on earth, we are representing Christ every day.
“What would Jesus say in this type of situation?”, “What would Jesus do at times like this?” As we reflect on these types of questions, we can try to live with Jesus Christ as our guideline and leader.
May the peace of Christ our Savior rule our hearts and may Christ’s love and forgiveness spread to the world through us.
Through us may the name of the Lord Jesus Christ be praised more and more. Let us remember the great grace and what an honor it is to be able to live serving Christ, and offer our thanks.