Sunday Worship Service April 6, 2025

Prelude
Call to Worship Luke 2:14
Hymn JBC #227 Up Calv’ry’s mountain
The Lord’s Prayer
The Prayer Time
Hymn JBC # 230 On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross
Offering
Scripture Psalms 21:13 (NIV)
Prayer
Sermon “The Glory be to the Lord God”
Prayer
Hymn JBC # 213 Tell me the story of Jesus
Doxology JBC # 674
Benediction
Postlude
Welcome & Announcements

We thank God for the blessing of being able to offer this first Sunday service of the new fiscal year (2025) that begins in April.
　Today's scripture is from Psalm 21:14 (verse 13 in the English NIV).

Be exalted in your strength, Lord;
we will sing and praise your might.

This verse has been chosen by our church as our annual scripture for the current year (2025). And the annual theme chosen with this verse is "All for the glory of the Lord God.”
We hope to experience the significance of this scripture and theme given to us through our prayers and discussions.
　To glorify God, to praise and glorify the name of the One who is our Lord, is the very purpose of the believer's life.
We are the ones who live our lives worshipping something. Something in ourselves becomes the most important thing, the purpose of our life, and we live seeking (praising) it.
Various things become the object of our worship/praise. Many things can be the purpose of our daily lives.

It can be the possession of more things, or social status, or money, success, or how much ability or talent we have.
But the Bible says, “Let the Lord be praised,” and “Let us live praising the Lord our God.”
Jesus Christ taught His disciples the words of the prayer.

When Jesus' disciples asked Him to “teach us to pray” (Luke 11:1), He taught them the words of prayer.
The words of the prayer that Jesus taught His disciples at that time became the basis for the Lord's Prayer, which we pray in worship services today.
The first words of the Lord's Prayer are

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed (*to be made holy) be thy name.

The first words of the Lord's Prayer affirm that the One who is in heaven, the One who made everything in the world, is our Father (God).
”Father" does not mean that God is male. God is the One who transcends human gender.
The words of the Lord's Prayer follow, "hallowed (made holy) be the name of God the Father.”
Jesus first taught his disciples that the first words of the prayer should be, "hallowed be the name of God and sanctified be the name of the Father.”
This is an urge to "recognize how special it is that God's name is given to us, and let us praise him [God].”

Words must be accompanied by substance (facts). It is possible for a believer in Jesus Christ to say the Lord's Prayer without praising God (without sanctifying Him) and with himself sitting in the center of his being.
Nevertheless, the words of prayer that Jesus taught us, the words of our prayer based on the Scriptures, are very important in shaping our faith.

　We may say, “Hallowed be the name of the Lord,” or “Let us praise Him,” but deep down inside, we may still be our own king and master.
　However, with such sins (sins that do not make God our Lord, but make ourselves or something else God), we should live our lives of faith always hoping that the words “Praise be to the Lord” will become our true words of prayer.
In Psalm 21:14 (NIV 21:13), we are told that the Lord God is powerful, "Be exalted in your strength, Lord.”

　How does our Lord God express His power?

We are now in the time of the Passion (Lent) when we especially remember that Jesus Christ walked the road to the cross Himself, to die on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins.
Jesus did many mighty works while living and evangelizing in the land of the Jews. He healed the sick and cast out demons from those who were possessed by them.
Jesus even calmed storms. These are also powerful works that Jesus demonstrated.
But the ultimate powerful work that Jesus Christ showed us was His sacrificial work in which He bore the sins of all men and offered Himself, who was completely sinless, on the cross.

At the end of His life, Jesus said no more, but simply bore the cross in silence and was led to the place where He was to be executed.
The Lord Jesus Christ on the cross is a figure that is totally in conflict with the image of “strength” that we usually think of.
But when we lower ourselves and look up to the Lord Jesus Christ of the Cross with the eyes of faith, we see the true power of God in Him.
　It is on the cross that the work of the ultimate power of Jesus Christ, who overcame all the powers of evil and death, was conducted.

On the cross, Jesus Christ bears our sins, our weaknesses, our shortcomings, and everything else.
Therefore, as forgiven sinners, we are led to a life of worship of the Lord God with great joy. We are invited to rejoice in God and praise Him.
The Bible tells us that "no man is righteous or justified before God on his own.” It tells us that we are all sinners, lacking and weak.

Still such us, we are given the grace to gather in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to praise and worship Him.
In this respect, we can say that the Christian church has truly received a special treasure.
Let us rejoice together that we have such a treasure, the grace to be able to praise the Lord.
　Psalm 21 is considered to be a continuation of the previous Psalm 20. In Psalm 20, it is prayed that the king should achieve the victory in battle.
　In Psalm 21, people praise God in thanksgiving for the fulfillment of their prayers and wishes for the king’s victory.
　Psalm 20:7 (verse 6 NIV) reads, “The LORD gives victory to his anointed,” and Psalm 20:10 (verse 9 NIV) reads, "LORD, give victory to the king! Answer us when we call.”

Thus, while the psalmist wishes for the king's victory, it is the Lord God who gives that victory to the king.

In verse 8 of Book 20 (20:7 NIV) we read

　Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.

　It is not by the king's own strength or the strength of his chariots and horses that he can win. It is the Lord our God who gives the victory," he confesses here.
And in verse 2 of Book 21 (v. 1 NIV), we read.
The king rejoices in your strength, Lord.
How great is his joy in the victories you give!
In verse 8 of Book 21 (21:7 NIV) we read. The king depends on the Lord.

For the king trusts in the Lord;
through the unfailing love of the Most High
he will not be shaken.

Our Lord God is the One on whom we can always count on. Our Lord God is the one who gives us love and mercy.
And when our king is granted victory, the source of that victory (success) is the Lord God, and the words of the psalmist express his desire that "the king will not be puffed up with victory, but will always praise the Lord God.”
　It also expresses the desire that all men, kings and people alike, may humble themselves before the Lord God and worship Him alone, not themselves or their kings.
　It is the desire of their faith that they may not take the glory of their victory (success) for themselves, but may return the glory of their victory to the Lord God.
We, too, wish to cherish the faith of those who have been protected and given victory by the Lord's mighty works, so that they may return all glory to the Lord God, without boasting of ourselves and attributing glory to ourselves.

　And today's scripture, and our yearly scripture for this year, continues by saying, "In praise of mighty works, we will sing and praise your might.
　It is shown from here that being encouraged by the work of God's love, we will be given songs of praise to the Lord.
Usually, the hymn after the worship message is called the "hymn of response”. It directly means a response to God's message (grace) that was spoken that day.
However, today's scripture teaches us that all our praises are “response” in the sense that they are a response to God's great work that has already been accomplished for us.
　Songs of praise to God do not come from within ourselves.
God's works of power and love come first, and only as a response of thanksgiving can we offer songs of praise.
　Let us rejoice that the name of the true God has been given to us, the name of the One whom we praise and honor with all our hearts.
And let us always humble ourselves before the Lord, asking that the mighty works of God, the works of love and mercy, the pure joy that our sins have been forgiven by the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross, may motivate us to praise.
Let us live our life of faith together in the new year, hoping that everything we say and do will be a thanksgiving to the Lord God and a return of glory to Him.