Pastoral Letter 154
Dear Members of St. Andrew’s Uniting Church, Friends and Adherents,
Grace and Peace to you all.
This is the second Sunday in Lent. Lent is a time to prepare for Easter and to renew our life in its mystery. In this holy season we acknowledging our need for repentance, and for the mercy and forgiveness proclaimed in the gospel of Jesus Christ. By self-examination and repentance, by prayer and fasting, by self-denial and acts of generosity and by reading and meditating on the word of God, let us keep a holy Lent.
Also, Lent is known as a time of fasting and prayer. Praying for our spiritual growth and self-examination. But also, it is a good time to pray for those who need our prayers. Lat us continue to pray for Ukraine, Armenia, Artsakh, the victims of the devastating earthquake of Türkiye and Syria, remembering the thousands of people who died, the injured, the homeless, those affected by the destructive earthquake and all those who respond to the need in the dire situation.
Last Friday 3 March 10:30 am the World Day of Prayer was held here, at St. Andrew’s. We had a good turn out from the neighbouring churches and a beautiful service. The program was prepared by the women of Taiwan. The message of the day was delivered by Rev. Myung Hwa Park, the minister of Leura Uniting Church, the President of the NSW Ecumenical Council and the past Moderator of UCE NSW and ACT Synod. She talked about her past experience about the faithful people of Taiwan and their expression of love through their hospitality. She mentioned three prayer points that the faithful in Taiwan need today and asked us to pray: Spiritual renewal of the church, the leadership of the church to be wiser and the many missionaries who serve in Taiwan, not to pursue their own agendas, but the agenda of God.
Sunday 19 March we will join the Willoughby Armenian Evangelical Uniting Church for the AMAA Sunday bilingual Worship Service with overseas guests. I am glad to let you know that the following Sunday 26 March the guests will worship here at Longueville, with some people from the Armenian community.
If you will not be able to join us for worship tomorrow, please light a candle, have a small roll of bread and a small cup of wine or juice and worship with us from home following the attached Order of Service.
Be safe and well, continue to pray, remembering those who need care, support and love and let me know if any member of the congregation that you know of needs our help and prayers.
Attached you will find three prayers for the earthquake that we are going to pray on Sunday.
Here are some prayer points for this week:
- Pray for the victims of the devastating earthquake of Türkiye and Syria.
- Pray for the people of Ukraine, Armenia and Artsakh.
- Pray for Taiwan as requested above.
- Pray for the poor, the sick, the vulnerable, the struggling and the stressed.
- Pray for those who are unwell and struggling with different kinds of medical issues.
- Pray for world peace and ask for God’s blessings.
- Pray for our church services and activities, as we are back to our normal programs.
Please let me know if you or anyone else has prayer points.
Best Regards,
Krikor
MESSAGE
True Righteousness
Romans 4:1-8, 13-17
In the reading we had this morning Paul is seeking to clarify the way of salvation as being by grace through faith rather than by obedience to the law. He has declared that the believer finds a condition of acceptance before God on the basis of faith rather than by the works of the law (3:24, 28). He spends a lot of time on justification because by our nature we try to clothe ourselves with righteousness in the form of “fig leaves”, but we are not truly clothed with righteousness until God does the clothing.
People in the Old Testament were saved by faith just as we are. They looked forward to the cross, and we look back to it. Hebrews 11 uses the term by faith 21 times in reference to how Old Testament saints were saved.
Abraham, the father of the faithful, illustrates this truth.
1. Abraham received justification on the basis of his faith before he received circumcision (the sign of the Covenant)
The word justification is a legal term and refers to the activity of God. It is that act of God in which He declares one acceptable in His sight. God justified Abraham on the basis of his faith. Also, Paul affirms that the covenant relationship was established prior to circumcision. Circumcision followed justification rather than justification following circumcision. It was just the sign, but not the evidence of being righteous.
2. Abraham received the divine promise before the giving of the Law
Abraham preceded Moses by four hundred years. There was no way by which he could have kept the Law of Moses and as a result received divine promise. Israel had made a fatal mistake of substituting the Law of Moses for the faith of Abraham as a way of finding favour in the presence of God. They substituted law for faith.
Abraham was before the law, and David was under the law, and we are after the law, but in all three periods, God’s requirement is faith and ONLY Faith.
Paul wanted to make it very clear that this is not some strange new doctrine that will leave his Jewish friends drifting on the sea of life holding onto an anchor instead of a life vest.
To talk to Jews, you have to mention Abraham, their father of virtue, who was justified by grace through faith.
What did Abraham find?
Every Jew knew the answer: Righteousness, an inheritance and children.
If it was by his own self effort, he has boasting rights before man, but not before God.
Notice where Paul gets the answer: Genesis 15:6 “And he believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness”. God said look at the stars, you’re not just going to have the one son you’ve been praying for, but a multitude of them, more than the stars in number. In simple childlike trust and faith, he believed God, and that’s when he was saved.
This is the one-time event where God declared Abraham to be righteous.
But did he always live righteously in a practical sense?
No, nor always, he got impatient and took Hagar and fathered Ishmael, father of Islam. Then he treated Hagar shamefully. And he lied about his wife Sarah twice…all of this was after God declared him righteous.
When we become a Christian, we don’t become perfect, just forgiven.
Does that mean we can live any way we want? No.
Paul also gave the example of David. To have a second witness and that he lived later, under the law. He sinned wilfully, adultery, murder, deceit and yet he found forgiveness. And it was by grace, through faith, not by works or penance.
So, why is it that salvation has to come by faith?
1. We cannot save ourselves by doing certain things.
If there was anything we could do to save ourselves then God would be obligated to give it to us. He would be in debt to save us. But God will not be in debt to any man.
2. Man is incapable of reaching God’s standard of righteousness which is complete perfection.
3. No matter how good our works might be, they don’t pay the sin debt, which the Bible says is death. The wages of sin is not baptism, offerings, church membership or good deeds, but it is death!
4. Christ’s sacrifice on the cross would be in vain. If there is any other way to be saved, then God should have used that plan, and His Son died in vain. It would have been foolish to come and die. But He did because there was no other way.
The primary purpose of the gospel is not for man’s benefit, and to keep us out of hell. That’s a great purpose, but the primary purpose was to glorify God.
Probably you have heard the following sayings:
“Come to Jesus with your problems and let Him solve them.”
“Feel empty, let Him fill you up.”
“Let Jesus save you from hell.”
All of these are true and good, but we should be able to say to people – “You were created by God for His glory, you’ve turned from Him and need to be saved, and if you do, it will bring glory to Him as your creator and redeemer, and you should do it because it’s the right thing to do, not just for you, but for Him who offers it to you!“
God gives us a new heart.
“White Paint” – Imagine you have a can of pure white paint. Then you put just a small amount of black paint in it. It is then forever grey. Not matter how much you add more and more white, it will still have a grey tint.
The only way to remove the grey is to start again with a new can of white paint.
That is the understanding of the doctrine of righteousness and justification. God doesn’t clean our old sinful heart; He gives us a new heart that is spotless.
Paul gave us a clear picture of how God’s righteousness is given to us through Jesus Christ. The sad thing is that many people don’t realize it and they are still trying to merit heaven by their good deeds.
Our rescue was accomplished on a cross two thousand years ago, we must simply realize it and accept it.
Max Lucado has said: “The only contribution you make to your righteousness is your own confession and admission of sin.¨
The true righteousness should be a credit for us; something we should have before entering into and receiving eternal life.
We should work hard and do our best to be worthy of God’s grace, love and forgiveness.
In this season of Lent, we are invited to examine our hearts to see where we have failed and drifted away from God.
This is the best time to accept our weaknesses, confess our sins and try to be righteous before our loving, caring and forgiving Father.
Amen!