Author: Japanese Congregational Church

James 5:13-20

Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops. My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back, remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins.

Over the past 9 months I’ve spoken 6 different times on the topic of prayer. We’ve looked at some basics of prayer, learning to pray, praying for others, praying for our daily needs, and praying as a conversation with God.

Today, our text, this final portion of James, also talks about prayer. Specifically, James is talking about the power and strength of prayer that happens in the community, within the body of Christ. Individual prayer is of course possible, and assumed, and necessary – but here James is speaking about the special effectiveness of those prayers that happen within a group setting.

Verse 13-14

13 Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. 14 Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord.

In short, being in trouble, being happy, and being sick are simply shorthand for describing all of our possible situations. Do any of these three describe you? What’s your situation today? We are to pray with and for each other at all times, in all situations. “Calling for the elders” and “laying on of hands” as well as the “anointing with oil” – all emphasize the effectiveness and naturalness of praying together…as one body.

 Verse 15-16

15 And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. 16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

It appears that some conditions are listed here – perhaps we could state them in a type of formula:

Prayer offered in faith + Confession of your sins to each other = forgiveness and healing

Or perhaps we could word it a bit differently: Confession (one to another) coupled with corporate prayer (with and for each other) leads to healing. The healing James describes here may not always include complete physical healing – the result that we usually pray for – but it does always include that broader healing that involves spirit and soul (forgiveness).

Verses 17-18

17 Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. 18 Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.

Just as James points to a scriptural hero – Elijah – an historical case of God answering prayer, we, too, add our examples and voices to this narrative. As we pray in community, we point to those times and examples where God answered prayers and we experienced healing.

Verses 19-20

19 My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back, 20 remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins.

These final verses may seem a bit off topic, but here, too, James suggests a specific kind of corporate, community prayer. Every family includes members who are no longer with us. Particularly those that are no longer with us in faith or practice. The importance of praying for, and reaching out to those that are “wandering” is considered a vital and meaningful task of the community.

So what is James’ recipe for a healthy church and healthy faith?

Be in community 

Meet regularly, talk regularly, in person or zoom or on the phone. Find a prayer partner. Faith was never meant to be a solo endeavor, an individualistic act. We take this journey in community. Being in community is not easy in our present world and individualistic environment. This is particularly true in our prayer lives!

Trust each other – and be transparent with one another 

Confess our sins to each other, develop solid spiritual relationships, be open and honest with each other. This too, will not come easily. Making sure that our community – our church family – is a safe place to share and be transparent with one another will help us grow and mature in our corporate prayer life.

Pray for one another

In all times – times of sadness, gladness, and sickness, as well as continuing to prayer for each other’s families and those who are “wandering”.

What a beautiful encouragement to our JCC family – to go deeper in mutual confession and prayer…. and in so doing, find forgiveness and healing!

(the above is a summary of the message shared during our worship of September 29, 2024.)

Numbers 13:25-33

After the golden calf incident, the people start moving towards the promised land in Numbers chapter 10. After only three days, the people complain again. This time, it is not about the lack of food or water, but the fact that they are sick of eating manna, and they want meat. Moses turns to the LORD and He gets angry and declares that they will soon have so much meat that they will be eating it for a month – Until it starts coming out of their nostrils.

The LORD causes a strong wind which carries quails, and they fall around the camp. There is so much quail that they could walk a full day in all directions until they would end, and two cubits deep, which would be about three feet deep. Numbers 11:32 tells us that the least anyone gathered was ten homers, which would be about 1,900 birds.

The LORD also sent a plague and the people who had the craving for meat died.

Then in Numbers 12, we learn that Miriam and Aaron criticized Moses for the fact that he had married a Cushite woman and questioned why Moses was the only one that gets to speak directly with the LORD. This angered the LORD and He tells them that He would speak to other prophets in dreams and visions, but He chooses to speak to Moses directly. Miriam becomes leprous. Moses intercedes on their behalf and Miriam is healed but must stay out of the camp for seven days.

At the start of Numbers 13, they finally reach the southern edge of Canaan, the promised land. The Lord commands that twelve individuals be selected – one from each tribe – and that they should go into the land and bring back reports of how it is. They find it very fertile and brought back sample fruits – grapes, pomegranates and figs. The cluster of grapes was so large that they had to carry it on a pole between two men.

In this morning’s passage, we find out what the spies report back to the people.

The majority report is that the land is very rich as promised – “It flows with milk and honey.” However, the inhabitants are strong, they live in large, fortified towns, and some of the people are large.

The minority report was made by Caleb, who says, “Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.”

Then the other spies exaggerated their negative report.  The “land of milk and honey” becomes “the land that devours people.” The inhabitants are stronger than Israel – all the people are giants – Israelites are like grasshoppers compared to them.

All twelve spies saw the same thing, but the recommendation that Caleb made was far different from the recommendation that the rest made.

In Numbers 1, the LORD ordered Moses to take a census to determine the number of men twenty years and older who could go to war — they counted 603,500. This is a large number – for reference, there were 450,000 active-duty personnel in the U.S. Army in 2023. When they moved, they moved in formation. This certainly seemed to be in anticipation of a military campaign.

God made His power and presence obvious to the people. The ten plagues in Egypt, the Passover, the parting of the sea, the destruction of the Egyptian army, water and food in the desert, the physical manifestation as He came to meet them on the mountain, the pillar of fire and smoke, and the promise of the conquest of the promised land.

All of this was enough for Caleb to believe in God and His promises.

The promise of the land was first given to Abraham. Then it was passed down to Isaac, and then to Jacob. Even the four hundred years of captivity and liberation were foretold. They were finally at the southern boundary of that promised land, and that land is a rich and fertile one.

Whether they go in and take the land or not will depend on their faith in God and His promises. Caleb has faith sufficient to recommend that they take the land. The others, not so much.

Sometimes when we feel that God is leading us to a decision, it would be much easier if God would give us a miraculous sign. But if this were true, the Israelites should have no doubt going into the promised land, since God had repeatedly shown them miracles as well as His presence.

So, whether we can move out in faith comes down to how willing we are to trust God. We see examples of this in the Bible. We also see examples of men and women and faith outside of the Bible which become encouragement for us when we need to move out in faith, even against odds.

Through our faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we are promised forgiveness and eternal life. This should give us the boldness to do the Lord’s will, even if it involves some chance of danger. We are being examples – good or bad – when we either step out in faith or not.

When the time comes, let us pray that we can have faith like Caleb and be able to say to others, “Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.”

(the above is a summary of the message shared by Shun Takano during our worship on September 22, 2024.)

It’s hard to believe that almost a year has passed since Chris & Missy Takano, and their sons, Caleb and Eli visited us during Sunday worship and shared with us about their ministry and work at the Black Forest Academy in Kandern, Germany. Here is their most recent newsletter. Just click on the image below to read it.

Scott & Kely Furushima serve with an organization called “Activate International”. They feel called by God to serve full-time as missionaries in Japan, and are presently praying, planning, and raising support in order to make that a reality. We at JCC are playing a very small role in all of that by praying for …..and supporting them financially. To learn more about ACTIVATE INTERNATIONAL, just click on this hyperlink.

We’ll post their e-newsletters here on our website blog whenever we receive them. This most recent update arrived on Sept. 22, 2024. Just click on the photo below to see their news!

Exodus 23:20-33

God gave the people the ten commandments, and due to the way it was presented to them, they knew that these came straight from God, and were not something Moses came up with on his own. The LORD then gave further laws to Moses about the altar, slaves, violence, property, restitution, social and religious laws, justice, sabbath day and sabbatical year, and annual festivals.

Then in today’s passage, the LORD is promising the successful conquest of Canaan. God will guard Israel and bring them to the promised land and drive out its inhabitants. Not only that, God will also bless them with food, drink, healing, fertility and long life. The LORD also informs the people that He is not going to drive the people out all at once, but in an orderly fashion, as Israel is ready to take over. This way, they can avoid the land turning wild before they can settle in.

This almost sounds like how life was supposed to be in the garden of Eden – As if the curse of sin and the fall of man had been taken away.

However, this was conditional upon Israel being loyal to God and His commands, and according to v. 21, there will be no forgiveness if they sin.

The people see the great value of this covenant and agree to it, vowing to be obedient. Sadly, we know that the people will break this agreement even before they leave Mt. Sinai. When Moses is called up to the mountain for further instructions, he ends up being away for forty days. In Exodus 32, we see the people get impatient and demand that Aaron make them a golden calf, which they believe will lead them, in the absence of Moses.

The LORD is angered by this and decides to destroy the people and start over with Moses, but Moses pleads against this and goes down from the mountain to take care of this situation. Moses destroys the golden calf, grinds it up into powder, mixes it with water and makes the people drink it. He then asks who is on the LORD’s side, and all the sons of Levi gather around Moses. Moses commands each of them to take up their swords, and about three thousand people fell that day. It is ironic that the sons of Levi are ordained for the service of the LORD through this action – In a way, their priesthood starts with the cleansing of sinners.

Moses goes back to the LORD and pleads for forgiveness of the people. The LORD agrees to send an angel to still lead the people to the promised land, but for the people who sinned, he sends a plague, and they die.

Then the LORD tells Moses that His angel will now lead them to the promised land and will drive out the inhabitants, but the LORD Himself will not go with them. Moses pleads with the LORD to be with them, since it is necessary for the people that the LORD’s presence is amongst them. The LORD agrees, because Moses found favor in His eyes.

It seems rather harsh that in the original covenant, God declares that there will be no forgiveness for those who transgress. And with the golden calf incident, thousands of people die from the sword or by the plague. This shows how serious God considers the relationship with His people, and how serious it is to sin against Him.

After this, when a new covenant is made, God makes it known that forgiveness is possible – It is not automatic, but it is possible.

We see that Moses had a good relationship with God, and because of this, his intercessory prayers for the people were effective. We can take comfort in the fact that Jesus Christ is interceding for us with God – Romans 8:34 tells us that Jesus is at the right hand of God and is interceding for us.

Through accepting Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we can have a good relationship with God the Father. As we can see the importance of Moses interceding with God for others, we too should be interceding for others through prayers. For people who we love, as well as those who we consider enemies or sinners, our intercessory prayers can make a difference.

When the people agreed to the covenant with the LORD, they were certainly aware of the benefits that the LORD was offering, but probably not all that aware of the seriousness of the consequences that would come with breaking the covenant. After the golden calf incident, they surely understood the seriousness of sinning against the LORD and grateful for the grace that was shown to them by still being alive. But we also know that this awareness will fade with time, and they will sin again.

We can also be a little jaded about God’s grace towards us. Once we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior and ask for forgiveness; our sins will be forgiven. And because Jesus took the punishment for our sins, we often miss the seriousness of our sins. We get some idea from the fact that our sins were so grave, that the Son of God had to die on the cross because of them.

It is easy to not take our sins very seriously, since we know that God will forgive us. But just because forgiveness is available to us does not mean that we can continue to live a life full of sin, just so we can experience God’s grace over and over. Paul warns us against this attitude in Romans 6.

How we should live is well summarized in 1 John 2:1-6, so we will close with this:

¹My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; ²and he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. ³Now by this we may be sure that we know him, if we obey his commandments. ⁴Whoever says, “I have come to know him,” but does not obey his commandments, is a liar, and in such a person the truth does not exist; ⁵but whoever obeys his word, truly in this person the love of God has reached perfection. By this we may be sure that we are in him: ⁶whoever says, “I abide in him,” ought to walk just as he walked.

(the above is a summary of the message shared by Shun Takano during our worship on September 8, 2024.)

Mark 7:1-8

“You have let go of the commands of God…and instead are holding on to your own rules.” Or, to rephrase Jesus’ words, “You have made such a practice of following your own made-up-rules…..that you have forgotten and ignored – thrown away – the central commandments of God.”

Jewish leaders and teachers of the law had come from Jerusalem….and were asking Jesus, “Why don’t your disciples follow the accepted teachings of the elders about purification? Why do they eat without washing their hands properly?”

Jesus does not criticize the purification practices…nor any of the Mosaic laws, but he criticizes the leaders harshly with a quote from Isaiah:  “Isaiah was right when he called you hypocrites. These people honor me with their lips….but their hearts are far from me.”

What did Jesus mean? And what did he mean later in verse 8 when he accuses them of focusing on their own rules and customs?

In verses 9-13 Jesus gave them an example of how they made up rules for their own convenience while ignoring God’s commands. He described their practice of “corban” – where they took money that they could use to support their parents and gave it as a special offering to the temple….or simply called it “a special offering”. This somehow seemed to relieve them of any further need to support their parents. The temple actually encouraged them to do this. And so even though the Mosaic law commanded them to “honor your father and your mother” in this way, they felt free to create new rules that allowed them to ignore their parents.

Then in verse 14-15 Jesus turns and talks to the crowd that is following him. He says this: “Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. Nothing outside a person can make them `unclean’ by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that makes them `unclean.’ “

Now we know that there are many things that can enter our bodies and destroy us. Drugs, alcohol, pornography, and yes, even a bad diet….. but Jesus is not talking about these things. He is saying that “fundamentally, our biggest problem is not the many bad things on the outside, but the fact that our sinful thoughts and actions spring from within us….from a defiled heart, from a sinful heart.

Finally, when his own disciples don’t know what he means, he explains it further in verses 20-23: “What comes out of a man is what makes him `unclean.’ For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man `unclean.'”

What can we take away from this passage? Jesus seems to be addressing both the actual question of the Jewish leaders (one dealing with purification and defilement….”why don’t your disciples wash their hands?”) as well as the tendency of the religious leaders to be focused on their own made-up rules and rituals, while completely ignoring the central commands of God. A summary of Jesus’ teachings may be the following:

1. Don’t focus on your own traditions and rituals. Focus on the central commands of God.
2. Our sinfulness (in this passage referred to as “defilement”) doesn’t come from the outside. It comes from within our hearts.

In regard to the first issue, what commands have we thrown away…in favor of our own “Christianity”, our own faith, our own flavor of worship? If we were to define the “central commands of God” what would we say? Jesus has already clarified that when talking to the young ruler who asked him, “Teacher, what is the most important command?” In summary, Jesus answered, “Love God. Love your neighbor as yourself.”

In regard to the 2nd issue above, how do we perceive our fundamental problem of sin? Is it primarily on the outside…. all around us…attacking us from all sides? While there IS a great amount of evil in this world and surrounding us….Jesus reminds us that our central problem that needs a solution is the sinful condition of our heart.

This has always been the case. Even in the old testament account of King David, who had one of his loyal military leaders murdered so that he could cover up his adultery with that man’s wife, David pleads for a forgiven, pure heart. Psalm 51:10 “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” Only through true repentance, and a sacrifice offered at the altar could David have this problem of sin resolved. Those of us who live on this side of the cross, know that the answer to our defilement, our sinful hearts, is not more rules, certainly not made-up rules….but repentance and a plea of forgiveness to our Savior, Jesus Christ. Jesus has completed that sacrifice, that offering, once on the cross. We too, receive pure hearts, and a right relationship with God through the cross.

This week let’s take these two truths to heart:

Our Fundamental Task: Love God….Love Neighbor!

Our Fundamental Need: a clean, pure heart through repentance and forgiveness.

These are daily and ongoing realities in our lives. Amen!

(the above is a summary of the message shared during our worship on September 1, 2024.)

Exodus 20:1-17

The LORD comes down to Mt. Sinai to talk with Moses in front of the people. This was so that the people will see and hear for themselves that Moses does converse with God and when Moses brings a message from God, the people can have confidence that it really is from God and Moses is not making it up.

After this, God calls Moses up to the mountain and gives the Ten Commandments.

It is interesting that what the Jews consider as the Ten Commandments differ from Christians. The Jews consider “I am the LORD your God” as the first commandment, while Christians consider it as a statement. Christians split “coveting” into wife and goods, while the Jews do not include coveting, since they view it as already having been covered by the commands against adultery and stealing.

I am the LORD your God (20:1-2). It is important to note that these laws come directly from God. It did not arise from needs, like human laws. It is also of note that God already identifies Israel as His, which means that this is not something that the people have to follow to have the LORD as God. Instead, it signifies how God expects His people to live their lives, because they are the people of God.

You shall have no other gods before me (20:3). There should not be anything that we put above God. It means to fear, love and trust in God above all things.

You shall not make for yourself an idol (20:4-6). We are not to make or possess any physical representation of God or have anything to worship instead of God.

You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the LORD (20:7). Treat God’s name with reverence and avoid using it casually or disrespectfully, or in a way that brings dishonor to His name. What we do in the name of God should bring honor to God.

Remember the sabbath day and keep it holy (20:8-11). People are not to live as if all time were their own to do with as they please. We should take time out from worldly pursuits to worship as a community of God.

Honor your father and mother (20:12). Respecting parents and family relationships.

You shall not kill (20:13). We are to value life and acknowledge that it is God who should decide life and death.

You shall not commit adultery (20:14). To take seriously the sanctity of a marriage relationship.

You shall not steal (20:15). Respecting others’ property, rights, time, etc.

You shall not bear false witness (20:16). This has roots in the justice system, since the testimony of a witness is an important part, and if lies and falsehoods are presented as truths, then it unravels the whole system.

You shall not covet (20:17). Coveting implies that one is not satisfied with what has been given to us. We are not to want others’ spouse or possessions. This is the one command that goes to the heart of a person. Not only that, but it is also a warning that our inner covetousness can lead to sinful action, as well as having negative impact on others.

We should be aware that these were the basis of how God expected His people to live. The application of it went much wider. For example, Exodus 23:4 – When you come upon your enemy’s ox or donkey going astray, you shall bring it back. This is an extrapolation of the command to not steal. One is to respect others’ property, so one should not only not steal it, but also respect the others’ ownership.

Are we still under the Ten Commandments? Not in the sense that we must keep them for us to secure salvation. However, since these are God’s expectations of how His people should live, we should follow them.

Jesus even internalized them for us. He taught that we are committing murder in our hearts by just wishing harm to others or calling them names. He taught that we are committing adultery just by looking at someone with lust. This makes it much harder to be in compliance than the original version of the Ten Commandments.

How then are we to live as people of God? Jesus has the answer. When asked which is the greatest commandment, He responded in Matthew 22:37-40:  ³⁷He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ ³⁸This is the greatest and first commandment. ³⁹And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ⁴⁰On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

Jesus is telling us that all God’s commandments can be summarized as love God and love others. This means showing love and acting out of love towards others – Even those who we do not like or those who we consider as enemies.

We know that this is not an easy thing to do, but God expects us to show love to all the people we encounter. We are not capable of doing this, but the Holy Spirit can provide us the love sufficient to do so. God is love and we, as His children, are to act out of love always.

(The above is a summary of the message shared by Shun Takano during our worship on August 18, 2024.)

Exodus 19:10-25

After the LORD gave them military victory over Amalek, Moses’ father-in-law, Jethro visits Moses. Seeing that Moses was overtasked with the people’s need for a judge, he suggests that they appoint wise men to act as judges so that they could take most of the burden away from Moses. They would handle the routine/simple cases, while Moses handled only the hard cases.

Three months after leaving Egypt, they arrive at Sinai. Moses goes up the mountain to meet with God. The LORD instructs Moses to remind the people of the powerful things He did to the Egyptians, and if the people are willing to obey His voice and keep His covenant, He will be their God. The people agree and Moses informs God of their decision.

God required the people to be consecrated before He would come to them. Consecration is the process of setting apart someone or something for sacred purposes. For two days they were to wash their clothes and stay away from sexual relations. On the third day, the LORD will come down to the people. They were not to touch the mountain itself and if anyone did, they would die. So, the people consecrated themselves in preparation for the LORD’s arrival on the third day.

On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, and the top of the mountain was covered in a thick cloud. There was a loud trumpet sound, and the people trembled. The people stood at the foot of the mountain. The Lord came down to the top of the mountain and the mountain was covered in smoke and the whole mountain shook violently. Then as people watched and listened, Moses would speak to God and God would answer.

We are told that the purpose for God’s visit was not to meet and speak with the people. God does not speak to the people – He speaks only with Moses. So, what was this all about? In verse 9, God gives us the reason for this assembly – “in order that the people may hear when I speak with you and so trust you ever after.”

God reminds the people of His power through the earthquake, smoke and thunder. Then He has a conversation with Moses in front of the people so that they can see that there is a special relationship between Moses and God, and so when Moses tells them that “this is what God says,” the people will believe that that is the case.

For the rest of Exodus, all of Leviticus, and until the tenth chapter of Numbers, the people will stay at Sinai. They will learn what Got requires of them. One of them is the tabernacle, kind of a mobile temple which will remind the Israelites that God is with them. The ark of the covenant would be placed inside, covered with a shroud. Once they settle into the promised land then the temple will be built in Jerusalem and will replace the tabernacle. The most sacred place inside would be called the “holy of holies” and none would be allowed to enter except a high priest and only once per year.

In this narrative, all of Mt. Sinai is treated as if it were the holy of holies, with no one allowed to touch it without God’s invitation. The punishment for touching the mountain is death. However, it is not the case that anyone (or any animal) that touches the mountain will automatically die – They are to be executed from a distance – By either stoning or shot by arrows. So, we see the continuing mode that when God deals with people, instead of doing all by Himself, God relies on people to do their part.

Intimacy with God was not readily available to the Israelites. The gospel according to Matthew tells us that at the moment of Christ’s death, the curtain that separated the Holy of Holies was torn in two from top to bottom. Many interpret this as meaning that the barrier to intimacy with God has been taken away and now is available to anyone who accepts Jesus Christ as his/her Lord and Savior.

Consecration was part of the preparation needed to get ready to meet God, and it was taken seriously by the Israelites, since God took it seriously. We no longer have to consecrate ourselves for two days before meeting God, thanks to the work Christ did for us on the cross. We can be consecrated simply by accepting Christ as our savior. Baptism is an important ritual for believers because it signifies that we are willing to be consecrated – To be set apart to do the works for which God created us.

“Sunday best” means to dress up in the most formal clothing that we own – To look our best. Its origin comes from the practice of putting on our best clothes to go to church on Sundays. Some of us older folks probably remember our parents dressing up and telling us to put good clothes on to go to church. The understanding was to prepare ourselves to go worship God – Sort of like a consecration. This started to change in the 1970s and now, most churches prefer a more casual and relaxed approach. We emphasize more the accessibility of God and “you can come as you are” philosophy.

Is there anything we should do in preparation to come worship God? There probably is at least one thing. The Bible teaches us that when we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and ask Him to forgive our sins, He will.  Not only will He forgive all our sins, but He will also give us salvation, which means eternal life. But this does not mean that we stop sinning. In fact, John tells us in his first letter that we are lying if we say we have not sinned, and writes that if we confess our sins, the Lord will forgive us.

In some of the more formal churches, confession of sins was part of the order of service every Sunday. Even if it is not part of the church service, it probably is good practice for each of us to confess our sins and ask for forgiveness before we sit down to worship God. If we look back on the past week, we probably can think of times that we did something that was not pleasing to God or did not do something He would have wanted us to do. If nothing comes to mind, we might pray that the Holy Spirit will make apparent what we did or did not do, or simply pray that we would be forgiven for sins of which we may not be aware.

Thanks to what Jesus did on the cross, we do not have to go through elaborate rituals to meet with God. Nor do we have to approach Him with fear and trembling. However, it is good not to forget that the God we worship is the all-powerful, all-knowing creator of the universe. But it is also important for us to be reminded that this great God also loves us enough to send His son to die on the cross for us. And because of that, we now have ready access to the holy God of Israel.

(The above is a summary of the message shared by Shun Takano during worship on August 11, 2024.)

Exodus 17:1-16

When the Israelites moved into the wilderness of Sin and they needed food, the LORD provided quail in the evening and manna in the morning.

They are on the move again… and again, they need water, and the people complain. This time the LORD commands Moses to use the staff with which he struck the waters of the Nile and strike a rock with it.  Water comes out and the people drink.

Then Amalek attacks. Moses puts Joshua in charge of the fighting while Moses stands on top of a hill with his staff. It soon becomes obvious that when Moses is holding the staff up, Joshua and his men have the advantage but when Moses’ arms get tired and the staff comes down, then Joshua and his men start to lose. So, they set up a rock for Moses to sit on and Aaron and Hur stood on each side holding Moses’ arms in the up position. Joshua comes out victorious.

The LORD commands Moses to record all that happened in a book and then recite it in the hearing of Joshua. This was so Joshua would know that the reason he was victorious was because the LORD was fighting for him.

Since Israel was just recently freed from slavery, and since there was no way that Egypt would equip and teach their slaves to fight, we might question whether they were equipped to do battle. Apparently when they left Egypt, along with other goods, they were given battle gear since Exodus 13:18 tells us that, “The Israelites went up out of the land of Egypt prepared for battle.” But even if they had weapons, they were not trained to be warriors. So, the LORD fights the battle for them. But just like before, the LORD also is working through the people, rather than doing everything by Himself. Joshua and the men must be willing to go into battle, even though they do not know how to be an army yet. Moses, Aaron and Hur must make sure that the staff is held high. The people do what they are told to do, and God works through them.

It is the same with bringing water from the rock. God works His power through the obedience of Moses. Moses must have faith in what God promised – that water would come out if he did what was commanded and strike the rock. God works through Moses to bring forth water.

The LORD sent Moses to Egypt so that the Israelites could be freed from slavery and travel to the promised land which was flowing with milk and honey. This was part of the promise that God made to Abraham – That even though Abraham was old and without a child, if he would leave his home and go where God led him, he would become the father of a great nation that would become a blessing to the whole world.

Israel has not yet reached the promised land, so they are in the wilderness. God’s promise has been partially fulfilled with freedom from slavery, but they are still on their way to their destination so a big part of God’s promise is still unfulfilled. God has shown them grace and has provided for their need for food and water, as well as protection from an enemy army. At the same time, it has not been easy. They must march through inhospitable lands, taste hunger, thirst and fear. God is with them providing for their needs, but they too must do their part in following the lead of Moses, who in turn is being led by the LORD.

These wilderness stories are about a people stuck between promise and fulfillment. And when one realizes that fulfillment is not just days away but maybe months and years away, it is easy to lose one’s anchor in God’s promises. God leads but does not coerce. Where God leads may not be an oasis or free of danger, and there is always a choice to disobey. With all of the complaining that Israel does, they are still obedient to God’s leading through Moses – They are marching in the direction to which God is leading.

It would be easy to dismiss the “water from rock” episode simply as another example of the people complaining about thirst and God providing water. But it is interesting that both Deuteronomy 6:16 and Psalm 95:8-9 explicitly point out this episode as an example of what not to do – To test God.

So, what does it mean to test God? Is it simply complaining or questioning, “Is the LORD among us or not?” as the Israelites did in verse 7? Testing has to do with “putting God to the proof” – Seeking a way in which God can be coerced to act or show Himself.

One of the three temptations that Satan tried on Jesus was for Jesus to jump off the top of the temple for force God to miraculously intervene. Jesus’ response to that was, “It is said, ‘Do not put the LORD your God to the test.’”

In essence, testing God is any attempt to turn faith into sight.

It is important for us to keep in mind that salvation comes by faith, and we are to live our lives in faith. Like Israel in this morning’s passage, we too are in between promise and fulfillment. Some of God’s promises have come true in our lives, but much is still to come. If we have accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, our sins have been forgiven and eternal life with God and other believers is assured. However, we still must go through the wilderness and experience hunger, thirst, fear, sadness, sickness, old age and death. God is with us and will provide for us and lead us through the Holy Spirit, but that does not mean that we will go from oasis to oasis until we reach our eternal destiny. In those hard times that our faith is tested, let us not test God.

In Massah/Meribah, the Israelites tested God and became examples of what not to do. With the help of the Holy Spirit, let us pray that when our faith is tested, we can become good examples to others.

(The above is a summary of the message shared by Shun Takano during our worship on August 4, 2024.)