ケッシカラン！

国会議事堂での暴動をこないだのニュースで見て、恥ずかしかったです。アメリカ人としてもそうですが、クリスチャンとしてもそうです。なぜなら、いわゆる「クリスチャン」がいたようです。国会議事堂まで入って、前の講談で「イエスの御名によって」祈った人もいたようです。トランプ元大統領が近くでの演説で「国会議事堂に迎え」と群衆を促したようです。「ケッシカラン」と私は思いました。今もそう思います。

聖書にこうあります。ローマ12:18、21「あなたがたは、できる限りすべての人と平和に過ごしなさい。。。 悪に負けてはいけない。かえって、善をもって悪に勝ちなさい。」

生ける神の栄光を知っている者として、暴動は、ありえないはずの行動です。ケッシカラン行動です。私達は、自分自らの罪と課題を知って、謙るはずです。暴動のように、主張する必要はないのです。主イエスが十字架上で身代わりとなって私達の罪を赦した者、神に愛されたクリスチャンは、暴動に参加しないで、逆に「平和をつくる人」なはずです。「善をもって悪に勝つ」人であるのです。私達クリスチャンは、新たに福音を信じ、変えられる必要があります。

“If the world....”

 “If the world despises a notorious sinner, the church will love her. If the world cuts off aid to the poor and suffering, the church will offer food and healing. If the world oppresses, the church will raise up the oppressed. If the world shames the outcast, the church will proclaim God’s reconciling love. If the world seeks profit and self-fulfillment, the church seeks sacrifice and service. If the world demands retribution, the church dispenses grace. If the world splinters into factions, the church joins together in unity. If the world destroys its enemies, the church loves them.” Philip Yancey

“Humility“

“Humility and self-diffidence and an dependence on our Lord Jesus Christ will be our best defense. Let us therefore maintain the strictest watch against spiritual pride, or being lifted up with extraordinary experiences and comforts, and the high favours of heaven that any of us may have received. We had need, after such favors, in a special manner to keep a strict and jealous eye upon our own hearts, lest there should arise self-exalting reflections upon what we have received, and high thoughts of ourselves as being now some of the most eminent of saints and peculiar favourites of heaven, and that the secret of the Lord is especially upon us. Let us not presume that we above all are fit to be advanced as the great instructors and censors of this evil generation; and, in a high conceit of our own wisdom and discerning, assume to ourselves the airs of prophets or extraordinary ambassadors of heaven. When we have great discoveries of God made to our souls, we should not shine bright in our own eyes. Moses, when he had been conversing with God in the mount, though his face shone so as to dazzle the eyes of Aaron and the people, yet he did not shine in his own eyes; “he wist not that his face shone.” Let none think themselves out of danger of this spiritual pride, even in their best frames. God saw that the apostle Paul (though probably the most eminent saint that even lived) was not out of danger of it, no not when he had just been conversing with God in the third heaven: see Cor. xxii.7. Pride is the worst viper in the heart; it is the first sin that ever entered into the universe, lies lowest of all in the foundation of the whole building of sin, and is the most secret, deceitful and unsearchable in its ways of working, of any lusts whatever. It is ready to mix with every thing; and nothing is so hateful to God, contrary to the spirit of the gospel, or of so dangerous consequence; and there is no one sin that does so much let the devil into the hearts of the saints, and expose them to his delusions. I have seen it in many instances, and that in eminent saints. The devil has come in at this door presently after some eminent experience and extraordinary communion with God and has woefully deluded and led them astray, till God has mercifully opened their eyes and delivered them; and they themselves had afterwards been made sensible that it was pride that betrayed them.” 

Jonathan Edwards

"As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble...." Ephesians 2:1-2

十字架の意味をはじめて知った

１８８０年（明治１３年）４月１３日、新島襄は、同志社の全校生徒、教職員、校内にいるすべての者を集めた。朝礼拝のばであった。。。。

新島の口がひらいた。

「このたび、この神さまが建てあげよとされるこの同志社で起こった事件は、本当に残念なことです。。。私は、校長としてどうするべきか神に祈り考えました。そして、ひとつのことがわかったのです。それは、罪は罰せられなければならない、ということです。。。」

「だれかが罰せられるのだろう」と口々に言っているのが、新島の耳にもきこえてきた。

「この学校の責任者は、私、新島襄です。だから、この学校でおこるすべてのできごとの責任が私にあるのは当然です。。。罪はかならず罰されなければなりません。責任者は処罰されなければ、問題の解決はないのです。」

新島は、とつぜん、上着をぬいだ。そしてそれをつくえの上においた。ワイシャツの左のそでをまくりあげた。

「ピシ！ピシ！ピシ！ピシ！」とムチををうちつづけた。

左手は、皮が破れて血が吹き出した。真っ白な新島のワイシャツは血で赤肉が飛び散った。

血があたりをそめ、肉が飛び散る、すざましいばかりのありさまに、皆は、ただ、ぼうぜんと見ているばかりであったが、ついに前のほうにいた生徒たちが、「先生、やめてください。やめてください。先生が悪いのじゃないのです。私たちが悪かったのです。先生、おねがいです。やめてください。」

この事件で、ある学生は、十字架の意味をはじめて知った。身代わりを意味する。イエス･キリストの十字架は、神の子イエス・キリストが人の罪のために死んだという証である。

「神は、罪を知らない方（イエス・キリスト）を、私たちの代わりに罪とされました。それは、私たちが、この方にあって、神の義となるためです。」聖書・２コリント５：２１

—— Our Lost Confidence in the Cross ——

Erwin Lutzer

"I believe we must not only pray for revival but also for reformation that will restore our lost confidence in the Cross…. Have we- I speak to those of us who are committed Christians- have we forgotten that God’s power is more clearly seen in the message of the Cross than any political or social plan we might devise?... The Cross is nothing less than the self-substitution of God for us…. He chose ‘to direct against his own very self in the person of his Son the full weight of the righteous wrath which they deserved.’…. We have become so overburdened with social/political agendas that our message is lost amid these cultural skirmishes. The church has always faced the temptation to modify the gospel or make it secondary to a given political, philosophical, or cultural agenda. When this happens, Christians have exposure to the culture, but the Cross does not. Again, it is hidden…. Salvation, it appears, is electing conservatives to national and local office. Important though this might be, we must always remember that God is neither Republican nor Democrat. When the Cross is wrapped in the flag of a political party, it is always distorted or diminished. Even for some who have experienced its power, the Cross has become an addendum to what is thought to be more pressing agendas…. We must be involved in the political process but also keep our distance, fighting evil and encouraging good wherever it is found. Ultimately the ballet box cannot save us; only God can. And the Cross is the centerpiece of His agenda…. Only the Cross stands alone, unencumbered with other religions, philosophies, or political ideologies, does it retain its power…. Let us not be so naïve as to think that this (organizing a moral crusade etc) is America’s hope. Darkness can only be dispelled by light, and light come through the gospel of God’s grace…. What have we won if people are not introduced to a Savior who can reconcile them to God?....We (must) conduct ourselves in such a way that we have credibility in sharing the Good News…. And if the choice would be between winning our ‘cultural war’ and maintaining our committment to a pure gospel, we must let the cultural battles take second place so that the Cross gets a hearing in the hearts of men and women.”

from Hitler's Cross: The Revealing Story of How the Cross of Christ Was Used As a Symbol of the Nazi Agenda

アンパンマン

 

イエス様は、スーパーヒーローのようです。ウルトラマン、スパイダーマン、アイアンマン！？

アンパンマンは、スーパーヒーロと言えるでしょうか？でも、アンパンマンは、自分を犠牲にして人を救うのです。アンパンマンは、弱っている人に顔の一部を取って、食べさせると、その人は元気になるのです。犠牲を払っても、力が減っても、助けるのです。

アンパンマンを書いた方柳瀬たかしは、それを聖書からとったそうです。イザヤ５３：５後半「彼（イエス・キリスト）の（十字架の）打ち傷によって、私たちは癒された。」

アンパンマンは、自分の身体の一部をあげるだけですが、主イエスは、ご自身の命を捧げ、実際に死なれたのです。

私たちには、主イエスとその十字架によって、罪から救われる確かな希望があるのです。

“Do not put your trust in princes.....” Psalm 146:3

Psalm 146 1  Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul! 2  While I live I will praise the Lord; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being. 3  Do not put your trust in princes, Nor in a son of man, in whom there is no help. 4  His spirit departs, he returns to his earth; In that very day his plans perish.

5  Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, Whose hope is in the Lord his God, 6  Who made heaven and earth, The sea, and all that is in them; Who keeps truth forever, 7  Who executes justice for the oppressed, Who gives food to the hungry. The Lord gives freedom to the prisoners. 8  The Lord opens the eyes of the blind; The Lord raises those who are bowed down; The Lord loves the righteous. 9  The Lord watches over the strangers; He relieves the fatherless and widow; But the way of the wicked He turns upside down. 10  The Lord shall reign forever-- Your God, O Zion, to all generations. Praise the Lord!