Genichi Jinnai
Principal
ERM Bible School
First of all, we must yearn to know the truth.
No matter how much one is believing in Christ,
unless he is on the track of God, blessings cannot be received.
In coming to church, we ought to be seeking to know God before praying for financial blessings or healings.
As Israel aimed to reach Canaan, we are journeying in pursuit of heaven.
We long for heaven because God is there.
To become closer to God, we must first yearn to want to know God. “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness,
and all these things will be given to you as well” (Mathew 6:33). What is meant by this? What is knowing God about? Let us look into this.
“(God) wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 1:4).
God is wanting for us not just to believe in Jesus and be saved, but that we come to know the truth from there.
As the people of Israel left Egypt and walked toward Canaan, we, too, shall be saved and journey toward the kingdom of heaven.
“Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).
All is in the hands of God.
No one is without trials.
God trains us in our trials in order to grant us his goodness within the trials.
And within this training, we come to know the truth.
The more we believe, the easier life will become.
The more we understand, the easier life will become.
Israel walked the desert and entered the land of Canaan.
Trials exist, but God is siding.
King Jehoshaphat (1 Kings 22~, 1 Chronicles 17~) feared when the enemy approached.
But when he realized that God was on his side, fear disappeared. Worries of most people arise from looking at the present situation. If one comes to know the truth, however, that the outcome will be victory for him, then there is ease.
When David fought Goliath, he knew he would win because God was on his side.
The issue is not about what is visible, nor is it about how long or little lasting the problems are.
Problems are solved when we look into the realm of the invisible.
Satan will try to make you focus on your mistakes.
However, we must not fall into Satan’s trap.
“Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord” (2 Peter 1:2).
The more we know, the more we will understand grace.
The more you know, the more you will understand that you are the victor.
Not being peddled, the bicycle will fall, but as long as it is being peddled, it will continue to speed forward.
In a similar way, the more truth we know, the more grace and peace will abound.
Ultimately, for Christians, personal wishes unto the Lord will diminish.
For we are told, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Mather 6:33). Everything will be provided and given.
The more we understand this, the more we will yearn to know God further.
From Colossians 2:2, let us learn about the four steps to truly know God.
“My purpose is that
① they may be encouraged in heart and
② united in love,
③ so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding,
④ in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ.” We must truly know Christ which is the mystery of God.
In a Christian life, there are miraculous experiences, also.
However, Christian life of living in the belief of God’s protection is even more wonderful.
In order to truly know Christ, it is also necessary to have the visible problems solved and receive encouragement.
And by having the awareness of being loved, we will truly come to know Christ.
Now let us study the four steps of being increased in the knowledge of Christ from Colossians 1:10.
“And we pray this in order that
① you may live a life worthy of the Lord and
② may please him in every way:
③ bearing fruit in every good work,
④growing in the knowledge of God.”
You must examine your thoughts and hopes and see if your walk is really aligned with the Lord.
Whether your wishes are answered ornot, all is within the Lord’s blessings.
God’s purpose of being in not in answering our wishes.
Often, I think, “What would Jesus say to this person?”
Though engaging in the “A, B, C, D, Thanksgiving”,
the method for the use of faith, (A=Ask, B=Believe, C=Confess, D-Do, Thanksgiving),
there are those who say their prayers are not answered.
First of all, we must place ourselves on the “track” of the Lord. Which is to walk the way of the Lord, to live according to the Lord’s will.
The walk which is in line with the will of the Lord.
In other words, where is your standing position?
“It is in the Lord.” What does this mean?
“In the Lord”=being in Christ.
We must know that it is about our self being in Christ.
Concerning our own strength, ability, spiritual power, and knowledge, we must look at them from the standpoint of what they are “in Christ”.
“In the Lord, however, woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman” (1 Corinthians 11:11).
This is about the husband and wife relationship.
One may want to marry a certain person, but that person would think of how that would be to the Lord.
One’s opinion is not asserted to the other person, but one thinks about what it would be to the Lord.
Whether in service or in doing works of the Lord,
one does not decide things on his own, but thinks first of how it would be to the Lord.
When a Christian leading a Christian life becomes dissatisfied or angered, he is losing sight of what he is not supposed to.
We shall carry on in our living by looking to what is invisible.
“I have set the LORD always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken” (Psalm 16:8).
David was never shaken. That is because he has always set the Lord before himself.
By the cross of Jesus, all hostility has been withdrawn.
God is able to decree judgment, but judgment was withdrawn by the cross.
By the cross God’s anger was withdrawn.
By the cross we were made to go unto the forgiveness of God.
When I could not forgive my father, Jesus said to me:
“Was I hanged on the cross for you?”
”Yes.”
”Was I also hanged on the cross for your father?”
”Yes.”
Jesus told me He was hanged on the cross for me, as well as, for my father.
And He further told me, “I was also hanged on the cross for what your father had done to you.”
Jesus was hanged on the cross for the trespasses I do to others, as well.
And He told me, “Therefore, because I was hanged on the cross for what your father had done to you, forgive your father.”
To set the Lord before oneself means to see from the perspective of the Lord.
Jesus was hanged on the cross not only for Christians, but for all people.
Not only the issue of sin, but He had resolved all problems.
“Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord” (Colossians 3:18).
“As is fitting in the Lord”, we are told. We must not forget this. It is In Christ.
Husbands, too, shall be toward their wives, in Christ.
“For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.
Live as children of light” (Ephesians 5:8).
We are light in the Lord. We are in the light and we become as children of light.
Let us proclaim, “I have become light in the Lord.”
“So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him” (Colossians 2:6).
We shall continue to live in the Lord.
“Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it,
not only when their eye is on you and to win their favor,
but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord.
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men” (Colossians 3:22-23).
Those who live this way will likely succeed rapidly.
Though you may belong to a company, your way of life shall be so to live in the Lord.
When you obey as you obey the Lord, you will continue to be blessed.
We set the Lord always before us.
Let us not err on our standing position.
It is wrong to think that you are not being healed for you have sinned, or that you are not being blessed.
Let us receive without reservation what we are meant to receive
in the Lord.
“Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every authority instituted among men whether to the king,
as the supreme authority” (1 Peter 2:13).
In all this, we shall carry on in setting the Lord before us.
Now let us proclaim:
“I am blessed in the utmost”,
“I am loved by God in the utmost”,
“I have decided to forgive people”,
“I have decided to love people”, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
I would like to end today with Psalm 16:8.
“I have set the LORD always before me.
Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.”
Amen