What does the Bible say about REIWA?

(The following is an outline of the message preached on May 26, 2019)

Text: Ephesians 4:3. “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.”

At the end of last month, if you were anywhere near the Imperial Palace grounds in Tokyo, you would have seen thousands of people gathered there. The most prestigious room in the Imperial Palace is called the Pine Chamber. Apparently, it’s the only room in the palace with a wooden floor. And on April 30, the Emperor Akihito entered that chamber with some distinguished guests and other royalty, and a jewel and a sword were placed on a table, some various rituals were performed … and the Emperor abdicated.

The very next day, May the 1st, a new age began with a new Emperor. The Age of Reiwa.

As I think most people know, the term “Reiwa” is made up of two kanji characters: rei and wa.

Rei is part of the word “meirei”, or command. But that is not it’s only meaning. It also carries the meaning of “beautiful”, or “good”. Wa means “harmony”, and also carries the meaning of “unity”.

And so together, here is the idea of beautiful or good harmony and unity. The name REIWA reflects a deeply held social belief in Japan that harmony is good and pleasant.

Now … Here’s my question: Does the bible agree with that?

I think you could make a strong argument that yes, indeed, the bible does agree with this view. 

“How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in harmony.” (Psalm 133:1)

So, “wa”, or harmony, is good.

Actually, it’s more than just “good”. In Japanese society, “wa” is perhaps the greatest of all virtues. Here is what one cultural scholar wrote:

“The concept of “wa,” or “harmony” is at the heart of Japanese culture. Shaped by a rich history and deep traditions, harmony informs all aspects of Japanese law and customs.”

You can see this in many aspects of Japanese culture. For example, architecture and interior design. Very clean and simple lines, well-balanced. Or in traditional Japanese dishes, the way that the food is arranged on a plate. The principle of harmony is very strong.

Some people say that this idea of WA is right at the heart of what it means to be Japanese. In fact, in some cases, WA means “Japanese”. WASHOKU is Japanese food, WASHITSU is a Japanese room, WAFUU means Japanese style.

And so now we have this new age, the age of REIWA. Beautiful and harmonious unity.

The question I want us to consider is, What is the biblical view of Reiwa?

Let’s look at Ephesians 4:3.

“Make every effort to keep the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace.”

This verse right here tells us some very important things about true REIWA. If you want to understand what beautiful unity is all about, the answer can be found here. I’d like to draw out four truths about unity that we can see here.

1. Unity is good

How do we know that? Well, here is a command to keep the unity of the Spirit. This is a goal which we are told to aim for. Therefore, God’s holy word tells us that unity is good and it is desirable.

In that way, we are in complete agreement with Japanese culture. The Japanese culture holds up WA as good and desirable, as something that we all should work towards. And that is what the Lord desires for us, too.

Unity is a major goal of the church. But it’s one that we often forget about.

2. We already have unity

That seems a bit strange, right? Didn’t we just say that unity is a goal for our church? Well, how can it be our goal if we already have it?

Well, here’s the thing: our goal is not to create unity. The goal of the church is not to make unity happen. The goal is to keep unity.

Which means that this unity already exists. It has already been achieved through Christ.

“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28).

3. Make every effort to keep this unity

How do we do that? Let’s read the verses before this one. Ephesians 4:1-2.

Be completely humble.

Be gentle.

Be patient.

Bear with each other in love.

4. This is done through the bond of peace

Maintaining unity is done through a bond of peace.

As you know, peace is not the absence of conflict. You cannot say, “Well, we’re not fighting, so we must have peace.” That is completely wrong.

Last week, there was a train accident when I was coming to work. And so the train I was on just stopped in the middle of the tracks, in between Nagoya station and Tsurumai station. So no one could get on or off. And it stayed there for one hour.

So the train was full of people … it was 9:00 in the morning. And all of us in the train were stuck together for an hour. And let me tell you, there was no fighting. No one hit anyone else. No one yelled at anyone else. Nobody even spoke. Some people stood, other people sat, and we were all together in this small space for an hour. There was no conflict.

But there was no peace, either. There was no peace in that train carriage.

True peace is when you have a bond of love and care to the people around you. The Hebrew word for peace is “shalom”, and it means for two or more people to have a right and good relationship.

When you have peace with God, it doesn’t just mean that God is not fighting against you. It means that you have a right relationship with God, and that God loves you and He is looking after you, guiding you, protecting you.

And so, when you have a bond of peace with the people in church, it doesn’t mean that you can come and spend an hour here without punching someone. Having a bond of peace is so much more than that.

The Lord is telling us to keep our unity in the Spirit, through a bond of peace. And that takes effort. It takes a lot of effort to build this bond of peace.

It means making an effort to talk to people. To greet people. To ask them how they’re going.

It means to pray for people. To ask about their needs and try to meet them.

And when someone offends you, or hurts you, or does something wrong to you … It means that you forgive them. You understand that none of us are perfect yet. But we all have the same heart. We’re all on the same path. It’s a narrow path … but we’re on it together.