A Message from Oita, Japan

Elsewhere, I have stated that as a bible teacher, I have had the privilege of seeing God impart His holy words into our hearts, as I work with Him in teaching people God's will through the scriptures given to me to teach.

This teaching is all the more mysterious, as it is a spontaneous event -- not one that I deliberately plan on giving, but one that takes on its own life as I attempt to be faithful in what God has given me. This mysterious activity I can only attribute to the Holy Spirit. For as Jesus said to Nicodemus, "The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." John 3:8.

My faithfulness in doing what God has given me to do is rewarded when I see God moving in my work. Today's message is an example of this:

I was teaching a pre-planned bible lesson in English that was given to me by Esme James' study entitled 'Because of Love'; in the author's words, an enjoyable form of the Gospel of John. (Esme apparently wrote this work, according to its introduction, because of a need to share God's beloved word with two foster children. However, Because of Love, has turned out to be valuable to both illiterates, and ESL students, and I have been using it regularly with Japanese people in their country, who are interested in improving their English and biblical understanding. It has been a blessing, Esme).

This lesson, Reading 21, BREAD OF LIFE, John 6:28-40, pages 62 and 63, confronts a people who ask "What work can we do to please God?" An innocent enough, and commendable, question. The interesting thing about this confrontation is that Jesus accuses these people of not believing. What He says in verses 36-37, are truly words to be mindful of. "You have seen me! But, just as I said, you do not believe in me. But some will come to me. My Father has given them to me: and I will never turn away anyone who comes to me."

The question was asked by the study, what does believing in Jesus mean? And to further hone that question, these: Is it more than believing that He lived? Is it more than thinking or saying that He is the Son of God? I carefully reminded my students that the answers to the last two questions were immaterial. The great truth is that everyone in the World can confess that Jesus lived, or that he is the son of God. Notice the change in lettering.

There are different facts at play here. The issue is, as always, whether one has faith. Believing in facts means absolutely nothing. But are you willing to put what you say into action? Do you believe? I taught my students that even the devils believe in God, but they do so with fear, because they will not be saved. This, based on James 2:19, tells us the limited value of knowing facts. No, so I pressed my students, and the answer came that belief is trusting. And that was the answer this study demanded.

If we cannot trust in Jesus being Who He claims He is, we neither have faith, nor do we have eternal life. It is this belief, and this belief only, that makes us Christians. With it, we can say clearly -- Yes, Jesus Christ is alive. Yes, He cares for me. And, yes, I have eternal life. All of this comes from having faith in the One Who can save us. It is no coincidence that the very name of Jesus:Josuah: means 'God saves'!

In today's sermon, we have a message given by a complete stranger to me. A man with whom I had no chance to talk; with whom I had no opportunity to plan a co-ordinated message. How I thrilled to hear words so similar to those I had fed my students on! How encouraged I was to see them hearing yet another message outlining God's main point for today. This was clearly my privilege and joy to know! It was no coincidence at all because God is in control, and this is especially obvious to those who are actively following His will for them.

If I could have entitled this sermon differently, I would have given the following: "Where we fail." As Christians, we live in hope. We hope in the salvation given to us by Jesus Christ. We hope in God's promise to redeem our characters, freeing us from the influences of Sin. We hate our sinful lives, and struggle against them when we are alone. Failure is a word we are not confused about. It almost seems to be part of the definition of being human. Like Billy Joel said, "We're only human. We're supposed to make mistakes." Of course, it is not a part of the definition - in Genesis, we see a very different picture of Man, as he was in the Garden: obedient and at peace. So it is important to Christians to be able to identify their own errors, as they make them. It is important to all of us to know where we fail.

Today's sermon was given in Japanese, as it is always given here at Chapel Noah, and I still can not speak Japanese, I am sorry to say. I am completely dependant on Junko to translate the message for us. So while I wait, I mull over the scripture references. He.3:14-19 is particularly insightful: perhaps the entire first generation of Israelites, the ones who God led out of Egypt by Moses, died in the desert -- never tasting life in the Promised Land, except of course for Joshua and Caleb. Their failure was significant, and it was simply this: they did not trust God. Today, Pastor Miyawaki gave us the answer. He admonished us to "keep having a life of faith, with lots of prayer, firm belief and the works of the Holy Spirit." These things follow as we learn to trust in our God and Saviour.

Sermon translated by Junko Okamoto - Edited for the Net by Shido
For another sermon see: Oita Evangelical Christ Church
For all sermon indicies see: cHaPeL nOaH sErMoN iNdEx