Sunday, December 25, 2011

Christmas Morning: Just what I always wanted クリスマスの朝:いつもわたしが願うこと



Luke 2:1-20  ルカ21-20
    When you woke up this AM, what did you feel? Tired, even after a good night of sleep?  Maybe, you did not sleep so very well and you haven’t been sleeping that well for a few months now.  Maybe you did not sleep at all and you are here ready to fall asleep any minute now. Don’t be afraid恐れるな。。。  Good newsよきお告げ。。。  Great joy 大いなる喜び。。。
  
    Could it be that Christmas has become just one of those times you just try and get through?  It is hard to get into the Spirit of Christmas this year.  There are less and less Christmas lights in the shopping areas.  Almost no Christmas music—as in the past. There had been WONDERFUL Carols and even Worship Song being played over the sounds systems.  Handle’s Messiah, Glory to God, in the Highest!  Not your Bing Crosby type of dribble but real worship songs.  All that has not been in place this time…maybe because of the March 11th event… Maybe because people are just not interested.
    Are you interested? Somewhat, or you would not be here this morning.  Unless you don’t have other things to do or places to go, you made a good choice.  Thank you for being here.
     One reason some are not interested in Christmas very much is because they don’t really understand what this all means.  There might be a dark cloud around the holiday because there is a misunderstanding of God’s willingness to forgive. 
    In fact, that is JUST what I want to talk to you about this morning: forgiveness.  And I want to speak about Truths and Myths.  And Christmas is full of them both.  Some are there because of error and others are there because of truth.
    I have heard from more than one person that forgiveness is not only hard to give, it is not natural. Impossible with man but POSSIBLE with God  人には不可能だが神には可能。
     A young lady tells that her own father abused her when she was a child.  How could a father do that?  How could God allow that to happen?  When the subject of forgiveness comes up, she says that that sort of a person does not deserve forgiveness.  On one hand, she is right.  He doesn’t deserve it but it is offered. Forgiveness for that lady, as well as so many others, is a real struggle.  It is not only just difficult to forgive—it is impossible. In Luke 6:37, Jesus teaches, “Forgive, and you will be forgiven.”  He adds to that teaching in Matthew 6:14-15: “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.  But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will to forgive you sins.”  Paul adds to the fire with Colossians 3:13 “Forgive as the Lord forgave you”.  
     There needs to be a better way to understand forgiveness and for us to receive true healing from wrongs done to us and to our families.  It is a healing and freedom God desires for you and for me, and especially during this Christmas Season.  Why? Because He forgave us.  He was born to do that very thing.

     Today, we will quickly look at a few Myths of Forgiveness 赦しの6つの神話。 And then, How That Fits With Christmas.  Let’s get started.

     MYTH #1 about forgiveness is:Forgiving means the offender didn’t really hurt you. 赦しは攻撃するものがあなたを傷つけないということを意味する。
      The young lady felt that if she forgave her father, it would lessen the severity of the parental abuse. The forgiveness does not deny the hurt; does not deny the wrong.  What he did was evil.  He did the abuse and he wronged her. The offense was not to be belittled at all.  Forgiveness would only end the fear.
     It has been said, “Forgiveness is a redemptive response to having been wronged and wounded.  Only those who have wronged and wounded us are candidates for forgiveness.”  ~ Lewis B. Smedes.  If she CHOSE to forgive her father, that would begin her healing of the deep pain she may still experience.

Forgiveness was seen at Christmas! 赦しはクリスマスに表れる!

Myth #2: Forgiveness means that you excuse the offender’s cruel act. 赦しは冷酷な行いに言い訳を与えることを意味するWhen I chose to forgive the one who wronged me, I do not condone the behavior, it is a response that seeks to redeem the pain—not cover it up.  Betrayal by a friend needs forgiveness.  It would unlock my prison of bitterness.  Bitterness really ends up hurting us more than the issue at hand.

Forgiveness was seen at Christmas! 赦しはクリスマスに表れる!

Myth #3: Before you can forgive the offended person, you must feel forgiven. 赦すことができる前に、赦されたことを感じ取らねばならない。 In truth, forgiveness has nothing what so ever to do with feelings.  You may still feel hurt, angry and betrayed and still completely forgive the one who hurt you. When we look at forgiveness, it must be with the eyesight of Biblical forgiveness.  It is an act of the will.  You make the choice to forgive.  I want to forgive that person.  I want to end the cycle of hurt.
     Remember that God’s love has shown us that kind of love.  We were enemies of God, not wanting to allow Him to control our lives.  We also chose to  NOT worship Him.  Not to love Him. Not to follow His teachings.  We made the choice to bend the rules. We allowed our life to move off center—even a little—from what He wanted for us.  He wants to forgive us. He offers that forgiveness in our accepting His Free gift of eternal life in His Only Son, Jesus, the Christ. 

Forgiveness was seen at Christmas! 赦しはクリスマスに表れる!

Myth #4: It is important to understand why the person hurt you before you can forgive them. 赦される前に人はあなたをなぜ傷つけるのか理解することが重要である。 Not true.  In fact, back in 1997, a second year student in Kentucky demonstrates just the opposite.  She was leading a prayer meeting before school started when an other students burst into the meeting and started shooting 11 shots into the praying group. One of the bullets severely damaged the spinal cord of a girl named Missy.  She became paralyzed from the waist down.  She will be in a wheelchair for the rest of her life.
     Missy still does not know why the shooter did that but that did not stop this young crippled girl from making the choice to forgive him.  She was reported to say: “It won’t make me walk again. Besides, I know it isn’t what Jesus would do.”
     Philip Yancey wrote in his book What’s So Amazing About Grace, “Not to forgive imprisons me in the past and locks out all potential for change. I thus yield control to another, my enemy, and doom myself to suffer the consequences of the wrong.”

Forgiveness was seen at Christmas! 赦しはクリスマスに表れる!

Myth #5: Some would say—forgiving means the offended will face no consequences, no penalty. 赦しは攻撃したものが何の罰に直面しないことを意味する。 When you make the choice to forgive someone of their wronging you, your forgiveness does not ‘make it all better.’ It does not let them off the hook. Forgiving someone does not mean justice shouldn’t be served. 
     Remember when Pope John Paul II was shot in 1981? A few years later, when John Paul had recovered from the gunshot to the chest, he visited the prison where his would-be assassin was imprisoned.  Looking him in the eye, John Paul said to Aqca while offering him his hand, “I forgive you.”  Even after that, Aqca continued serving his sentence and was released in 2006.

Back where I come from, we have a saying: You do the crime, you spend the time. 犯罪を犯し、時間を浪費する。

Forgiveness was seen at Christmas! 赦しはクリスマスに表れる!

Lastly, Myth #6: When your offender is finally punished, you will find sweet closure. あなたの攻撃者が最終的に罰せられるとき、すばらしい終わりを見るであろう。Not even close. You are still hurt.  You still have the memory of the event.
     In 1990, two daughters of a woman named Linda were killed by a very evil man.  Ten years later, as the man was being strapped to his death gurney, the murder apologized for the savage killings.  All that did not bring closer for Linda.  She was disappointed after the execution, not comforted. 
     We would think that punishment for the crime or offence would bring healing.  One would think that a deep apology or justice or imprisonment or even an execution would produce the much expected closure, but it would not.  Only forgiveness would do that. ただ赦しのみがそれを為す。

Forgiveness is a process.  It does not come all at once.  It is a journey—and sometimes a very long one.

After the War in the Pacific, a former member of the bombing squad over Japan, the Doolittle Raiders, was handing out tracts at the Shibuya station. His name was Jacob DeShazer.  In his book, Forgive Your Enemies, DeShazer, who had spent almost the entire war as a POW and suffered terrible torture (including water-boarding) found the only way he could survive was to open his heart to God.  Becoming a born-again Christian, he found his life's purpose in missionary work.  He eventually returned to Japan where he began a mission and converted one of the guards who had routinely beat him during his activity.
     DeShazer, part of the Doolittle Raiders who bombed Nagoya, met Captain Mitsuo Fuchida, 淵田美津雄隊長 who led the attack on Pearl Harbor. They becoming close friends. Fuchida became a Christian in 1950 after reading a tract written about DeShazer titled, I Was a Prisoner of Japan, and spent the rest of his life as a missionary in Asia and the United States. On occasion, DeShazer and Fuchida preached together as Christian missionaries in Japan.
     In the US, Fuchida sought reconciliation and began a career of preaching to the Japanese American community.  In one of those historical ironies, a quarter century after he led the first attack, he was naturalized as an American citizen. His story can be found in the book, God’s Samurai: Lead Pilot at Pearl Harbor by Dillion, Godlstein and Prange.
     After the war, Jacob DeShazer returned to Japan and served his former enemy for thirty years as a missionary. His testimony of forgiveness and reconciliation - of love over hate - inspires a powerful Gospel message for our lives today. As for Fuchida-he wrote, "That morning [December 7] … I lifted the curtain of warfare by dispatching that cursed order, and I put my whole effort into the war that followed. … [But] after buying and reading the Bible, my mind was strongly impressed and captivated. I think I can say today without hesitation that God's grace has been set upon me."

Forgiveness was seen at Christmas! 赦しはクリスマスに表れる!

Forgiveness ABC’s 赦しのABC
Acknowledge the hurt: Speak it out to the Lord. See Ps 34:18 and Ps 147:3 打ち砕かれた者を知る。 詩編34181473
Blame the offender: Correctly placing the blame prepares you to begin the forgiveness process. 攻撃者を叱咤する 癒しの道のり You are on the road to healing.
Cancel the debt: 借りを帳消しにする。 マタイ69-13 You now need the Lord’s help even more.  Matt 6:9-13 (esp verse 12)  “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” Speak it aloud and say: “__NAME__, I have chosen to forgive you for hurting me. I have decided to cancel the debt you owe me.”  On the road in the process of forgiving the person who hurt you. God has a plan that really works! 神は本当に有効な計画を持っていた

     Now, how does this fit in at Christmas time? Forgiveness was really seen at Christmas! God made man. He is the creator of all life. Man HAD a growing, personal relationship with Him in the Garden. Man made a very stupid mistake. He did not correct his wife and let them both be tempted to go against God’s Word. They took something that He told them not to take. This disobedience was a break in that relationship. Man broke God’s heart. He separated himself from his Creator.  In his broken condition, he kept making the wrong choice…yet the Creator made a way for His creation to be brought back to His Love.  Man broke it and God was going to make it right.  Forgiveness needed to be expressed. Man could not provide such an expression as the penalty was so huge. God alone could. He sent His Only Son. That was the WHY of the Baby in Bethlehem.  That is the WHY of Christmas.  

John 3:16. For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.ヨハネ316   神は、実に、そのひとり子をお与えになったほど、世を愛された。それは御子を信じる者が、ひとりとして滅びることがなく、永遠のいのちを持つためである。

Isn't forgiveness something you always wanted?  It is yours in Christ Jesus!
Forgiveness was seen at Christmas!


Myths taken from an article, What Forgiveness Isn’t by Denise George.  6 myths that may be keeping you from letting go.  July/August 200 issue of Today’s Christian Woman.

Faith, the kids and I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and to have a Christmas that will express His dear love to you and to your loved ones around the world.

"Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace to men on whom His favor rest,"

わが家族より皆様へメリークリスマスFaithと子供たちそして私からクリスマスのよき訪れ、世界中の主の愛があなたとあなたの愛する者たちの上に示されますようにと願います。来年2012年に会いましょう。

「いと高き所に、栄光が、神にあるように。地の上に、平和が、御心にかなう人々にあるように。」