ルカによる福音書9:21-2 Luke 9:21-27,
「わたしについて来たい者は、自分を捨て、日々、自分の十字架を背負って、わたしに従いなさい。」 （ルカ9:23）
この御言葉において、キリストの弟子の生き方の二つの重大な原則が明らかにされています。それは、第一に「自分を捨てる」こと、すなわち自己否定ということであります。自己否定とは、自分が自分のものではなく、神様のものであり、キリストのものであると認めることです。言い換えますと、自分の人生を自分自身の思いどおりにしようとせず、神様のご支配、キリストのご支配にゆだねることです。これは、自分の欲望を追求して生きることを断念することを意味します。自分の富や快楽を追求することを人生の目標とする人々は多いですが、あえてそれを断念するのです。（中略）
さらに、「自分を捨て」とは、人生を自分の立てた筋書きどおりに歩もうとするような計算高い態度を放棄することをも意味しています。すなわち、多くの人々は、自分は何歳になったらこういう生活をしてこういう暮らしをしようというような人生の計画を立てています。しかし、キリスト教的な考え方に従うならば、そのような人生の計画には常に「それが神様の御心であるならば」という条件をつけなければなりません。宗教改革者のカルヴァンは、クリスチャンが「ただつねに主に期待し、主がよしと見たもうままに備えたもうた定めに導き行かれるように」しなければならないと教えています。(『キリスト教綱要』3篇7章9)
そして、このことから、第二の原則である「自分の十字架を背負って」歩むことが導き出されます。すなわ、一言で言えば、苦難の道を歩むということです。カルヴァンは『キリスト教綱要』の3篇8章1において、クリスチャンは「辛苦に満ち、安らぎなく、多種多様のわざわいに満ちた生涯を覚悟しなければならない」とはっきり述べています。なぜならば、キリストの恵みとは、苦難の歩みの中でこそ受けることができる恵みだからであります。
使徒パウロのフィリピの信徒の手紙の1章29節には、次のように教えられています。「あなたがたには、キリストを信じることだけでなく、キリストのために苦しむことも、恵みとして与えられているのです。」「苦しむことも恵みとして与えられている」とはどういうことでしょうか？それは、「苦しみ」こそがキリストと魂が結ばれていること、言い換えれば本当のクリスチャンであることの動かしがたいしるしだということであります。 （8月6日の説教より）
In China, it has been said that the Christian church is growing. However, the overall picture of this growth is difficult to ascertain accurately due to strict information controls by the Chinese government. There are both government-authorised and unauthorised churches in China. Persecution and imprisonment by the government is still not uncommon for those belonging to the unauthorised churches, and martyrdom is reportedly a reality. Unauthorised churches are unable to run seminaries to train pastors publicly, so evangelist training schools are opened in rural areas around the country to train evangelists. A man who has spent 17 years in prison who teaches at one of these evangelist training schools has an interesting story to tell. He said that it is more difficult to offer sacrifices for the Lord in one’s ordinary life than to walk the path of martyrdom in the midst of persecution. The person states as follows.
It is actually much more difficult to reject enjoyment, honour, loved ones, humanity, pride, time, money, health, comfort, etc. for the sake of the Lord in ordinary life. Only a few people may triumph in this kind of attempt. If you can gain victory in each and every situation in which you are placed in ordinary life, this kind of victory is far more valuable than summoning up the courage of a moment and becoming a martyr.
Indeed, there may be surprisingly few people who, like this man, are seriously aware that daily life is a battleground for Christians. The battle of faith is the battle to die to our old self and to live anew by the life of Christ. In other words, it is a battle in which we renounce the pursuit of our own desires and the fulfilment of our own will, and seek God’s will to be done and Christ’s grace to be manifested through us. The devil tries to seduce us to cling to our own desires and will and to abandon our trust in God’s will and Christ’s grace. How should we prepare ourselves to fight against such Satanic seductions? This is what we want to learn from today’s Bible passages.
In response to Jesus Christ’s question in verse 20 before today’s passages, “Who do you say that I am?” the disciple Peter answered, “The Christ of God.” This answer was correct, but Christ commanded his disciples to be cautious. He commanded them not to tell anyone about this, lest they advertise that their teacher is the Messiah. The Jews expected the Messiah to play a political role in their deliverance from the Roman Empire. Therefore, if rumours spread that Jesus was the Messiah, it was expected that the Jews would use him as an earthly ruler who would fulfil their wishes. To prevent such a misunderstanding, Jesus admonished his disciples not to advertise himself as the Messiah. Jesus’ messianic work had to be found precisely in walking the way of the cross. Therefore, Jesus made a clear statement about the path he was going to take.
This is because, as verse 22 says, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.” This verse clearly shows what Jesus Christ understood his messianic ministry to be. First, Jesus Christ refers to himself as “the Son of Man,” which also appears later in verse 26. This appellation “the Son of Man” is based on Daniel 7:13-14 in the Old Testament. There it is stated as follows.
“I saw in the night visions,
and behold, with the clouds of heaven
there came one like a son of man,
and he came to the Ancient of Days
and was presented before him.
And to him was given dominion
and glory and a kingdom,
that all peoples, nations, and languages
should serve him;
his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
which shall not pass away,
and his kingdom one
that shall not be destroyed.
Daniel had a vision of four beasts in a dream. The vision of the four beasts symbolised ancient states with immense power. And the meaning of the vision is that such states would be judged and ruled by “one like a son of man” and “the Ancient of Days.” Here, “one like a son of man” is the Messiah, and “the Ancient of Days” is God the Heavenly Father. When Jesus Christ refers to himself as “the Son of Man,” He does not mean merely a human being. He is referring to the Messiah as the authoritative Judge described in the book of Daniel.
However, according to verse 22 of today’s passages, the Messiah as Judge, “the Son of Man,” will not reign and rule as Judge from the beginning, but “must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed.” This was incomprehensible to those who believed in Jesus as the Messiah. Although omitted from today’s passages of Luke’s Gospel, Mark 8:32 and 33 tells of the disciple Peter’s attempts to dissuade Jesus from a path of suffering and death, only to be rebuked by Jesus with the stern words, “Get behind me, Satan!” Also, if we look at Luke 9:44 and 45, a little later in today’s passages, when Jesus told his disciples that the Son of Man was about to be delivered into the hands of men, we read that the disciples “did not understand this saying,” and “they were afraid to ask him about this saying.” To the disciples, the Messiah was a victorious and glorious being, and it was incomprehensible to them that the Messiah would suffer, be rejected and killed.
Perhaps knowing that the disciples could not understand, Christ told them that his path was the way of the cross. In verse 23, Christ makes it clear what the path of his discipleship is. “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” Two important principles of the life of a disciple of Christ are revealed here.
The first is “let him deny himself,” i.e. self-denial. Self-denial means acknowledging that one does not belong to oneself but to God and to Christ. In other words, it is not trying to make your life your own, but yielding it to God’s rule, to Christ’s rule. This means renouncing the pursuit of one’s own desires. Many people make it their goal in life to pursue their own wealth and pleasures, but a disciple of Christ dare to renounce this.
However, this does not mean so-called asceticism. Asceticism is an attitude that stubbornly rejects even the good things God gives us. For example, asceticism is an attitude that forbids us to look at beautiful things and think they are beautiful, or to eat good food and feel it tastes good. But that is not what the Bible teaches. In the Old Testament, Psalm 104:15 says: God gives man “wine to gladden the heart of man, oil to make his face shine and bread to strengthen man’s heart.” Also, the Songs of Songs in the Old Testament, the beauty of young men and women is sung passionately with romantic sentiment. The Apostle Paul affirms in 1 Corinthians 7:36 that it is not a sin to fall in love and marry. These biblical passages show that the Christian attitude is that if God gives us something good, we should gratefully receive it. But at the same time, if God does not give, it is also a Christian attitude to accept and persevere in his non-giving. People whose goal in life is the pursuit of wealth and pleasure will complain if they are not given what they want. Not only that, but even when they are given what they want, they will not be satisfied with it and will try to satisfy their endless desires without gratitude. To renounce oneself means to renounce such a way of life that aims to fulfil one’s own desires.
It also means renouncing the calculating attitude of trying to live life according to one’s own plan. In other words, many people plan their lives in such a way that at what age they will live this way and do this way. However, if one follows the Christian way of thinking, such life plans must always be conditional on “if it is God’s will.” The Reformer Calvin taught that Christians “should always have respect to the Lord, that under his auspices we may be conducted to whatever lot he has provided for us.” (Institutes of Christian Religion, Book 3 Chapter 7 Section 9)
And from this follows the second principle of “taking up one’s cross,” i.e., cross bearing. In a word, to walk the path of suffering. Calvin clearly states in his Institutes of Christian Religion, Book 3 Chapter 8 Section 1 that the Christian “must prepare for a hard, laborious, troubled life, a life full of many and various kinds of evils.” This is because the grace of Christ is the grace that can only be received in the walk of suffering.
In Philippians, 1:29, the Apostle Paul says, “It has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake.” What does it mean “It has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should suffer”? It means that suffering is the sign of one’s union with Christ, in other words, the unmovable sign of being a true Christian. Christ lived a life of suffering, bearing his cross and going to the death on the cross to save sinners. Through the cross of Christ, we have received the grace of forgiveness of sins. And through Christ’s resurrection, we have been given the assurance of eternal life. If our souls are truly united to Christ, this irreplaceable grace of forgiveness of sins and eternal life is ours. But where is the certainty that our souls are truly united to Christ? Where is the certainty that we are led by Christ, with Christ, towards Christ, in this earthly life? It is in the fact that we suffer for Christ that we have that certainty.
According to Acts 5:41, after Christ’s resurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit, the persecuted and flogged disciples in Jerusalem rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name of Jesus. Paul also confesses in Philippians 3:10-11, “I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.” Calvin, whom I have just quoted, also confesses “Hence it affords us great consolation in hard and difficult circumstances, which men deem evil and adverse, to think that we are holding fellowship with the sufferings of Christ; that as he passed to celestial glory through a labyrinth of many woes, so we too are conducted thither through various tribulations. (Institutes, 3, 8, 1)” In short, there is no resurrection without the cross and no grace without suffering.
Returning to today’s passages, the verse 24 gives the reason why Christians must walk the way of the cross. “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.” This verse clearly states that those who avoid the way of the cross lose the grace of Christ and eternal life, but on the contrary, those who walk in the way of the cross will receive eternal life. When we avoid the way of the cross, in other words, when we try to live our lives as we wish, our lives will surely lead to destruction. Even if we achieve success in this world, even if we achieve fame among people, even if we enjoy various pleasures, our lives will ultimately lead to loneliness, emptiness and eternal destruction. On the contrary, when we walk the way of the cross, i.e., the way of suffering according to God’s will, our lives will surely lead to salvation. Even if we are regarded as failures in this world, unrecognised by others, and suffer a lot, those who walk with Christ will ultimately come to joyful eternal life without suffering or sorrow. However, we may have in our hearts the desire to live lives with as little suffering and as much enjoyment as possible. Some of you may say that there are people who are Christians and spend so-called successful lives, and that you would like to do the same.
Over the past few sermons, I have talked about the life of Mr. NISHIMURA Kyuzo, an elder of Sapporo Kita-ichijo Church. So far, I have mainly talked about the successful side of his life as a pastry shop owner. Today, therefore, I must also tell you about the suffering side of his life. After the Second World War, he tried to establish a Christian dairy-farming village called “Christ Village” in the peat bog north of Sapporo, called Ebetsubuto. However, after three difficult years in the wilderness, his heart condition worsened and he was forced to return to Sapporo. In the midst of his own failing health, Mr. NISHIMURA visited and evangelised tuberculosis patients in the suburbs of Sapporo. One of the people he led to baptism through this evangelism was Ms. MIURA Ayako, who later became a famous Christian writer. Mr. NISHIMURA also worked hard to prepare for the Believers’ Grand Reunion of our denomination and to invite a new pastor to Sapporo Kita-ichijo Church. He held a meeting at his home to invite a pastor, and immediately after the meeting he collapsed and died the next day, aged 55 years and 2 months. The end of his life was not as a man full of success in business, but as a man who shared the suffering of the cross of Christ. Thus, the way of Christ’s disciples is the way of the cross. We hope that through your suffering you will become more and more abundant recipients of Christ’s grace.