- - 【説教】天を仰ぐ
- - 【説教】愛を身に着けなさい
- - 【講演概要】主イエス・キリストよ、おいでください ─ 聖餐式の祈りを味わう ─
- - 【尹東柱 立教時代の詩】
- - 【説教】誘惑に遭わせないでください
- - 【説教】マルタの三つの幸い
- - 【聖餐式の祈りを味わう】
- - 【説教】愛する御子の支配下に
- - 【イエスさまの生涯をたどる】
- - 【説教】ここに平和があるように
- - 【説教】憐れみと祈りの霊を
- - 【説教】聖霊は一人ひとりに賜物を与えてくださる
- - 【聖餐式の言葉から】
- - 【説教】祈ってくださるイエス
- - 【燃える愛の火──聖書に神の火を探る】
- - 【説教】聖霊が教えてくださる
- - 尹東柱「こおろぎと僕と」
- - 【説教】わたしは彼らを知っている
- - 【説教】サウロの回心とアナニア
- - 【説教】わたしの主、わたしの神よ
【Message】 Be imitators of God
Ephesians 5:1-2
August 8, 2021 Proper 14
International Congregation of St. Agnes Church
Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us.
Thus says Paul in the Letter to the Ephesians (5:1-2). This is the last sentence of today’s second reading.
Be imitators of God, as beloved children.
As Paul says, we want to be imitators of God in thought, word, and deed. We want to live in love and peace.
In order to be so, and to do so, we must keep in mind the latter half of the sentence.
Be imitators of God, as beloved children.
We are beloved children of God. God loves us as his children. This is the foundation of our faith and life.
Through Jeremiah, the prophet, God says to us,
“I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.” 31:3
Jesus loved his own. It’s written like this in the Gospel of John.
“Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.” 13:1
We are his own. Jesus loves us to the end.
We are beloved children of God, and beloved disciples of Jesus.
This is the foundation of our faith and life.
Now let us listen to the first half of the sentence.
Be imitators of God, as beloved children.
We want to be imitators of God. We want to live in love and peace, because our God is the God of love and peace.
Jesus said in Beatitudes,
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” Mt.5:9
In August we think about peace more than in other months.
We pray for all those who died in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We pray for children, women, and men whose lives are disfigured by war or terror.
As beloved children, let us be imitators of God.
As beloved children, let us be peacemakers.
Let us live in love and peace, because our God is the God of love and peace.