Pastoral Letter 202
Dear Members of St. Andrew’s Uniting Church, Friends and Adherents,
Grace and peace to you all.
On Sunday 4 February 2024 we had a special Worship Service marking the important milestone of the 100th Anniversary of the official opening and dedication of the church building. We had special guests, including church and government representatives, local councillors and friends. Rev. James Knowles, Vicar of All Saints Church, Eastbourne UK, celebrated with us this important milestone, brough the message of the day and joined me for the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. We had a good turnout, with many representing the families of the members of the congregation over the years and praised thanking God for all the blessings He has provided to us and to our church over the years.
I was away for few days last weekend to attend and take part in the Ordination of our colleague and friend Pastor Levon Kardashian, who was Ordained as a Uniting Church Minister on Saturday 10 February in Queensland at the Beenleigh Region Uniting Church, Mount Warren Park. Pastor George Fattal of Bankstown Uniting Church covered for me last Sunday and as I have been reported that he was warmly welcomed and shared the gospel message which was well received. Thank you, George, for providing this service for God’s glory.
Last week, on Ash Wednesday, we embarked our journey through the Lents season to reflect on the life of Jesus during His final week when He suffered and died on the Cross to give us hope for eternity with His glorious resurrection from the dead. The forty days of Lent is a good time to stop, ponder and reflect on our own faith journey and to recommit ourselves to Christ with the hope of being part of His Kingdom for ever and ever. Let these few weeks help has to strengthen our faith in God and trust Him in all our challenges that we face in our daily lives.
If you are not able to join us tomorrow, please light a candle and join us following the attached Order of Service.
Please let me know if you or anyone else has prayer points.
Here are some prayer points for this week:
- Pray for this Lent season, as we ponder and reflect examining our faith in Christ.
- the Middle East, and the conflict between Israel and Palestine.
- Pray for the people Artsakh who are refugees in different parts of Armenia facing many challenges.
- Pray for the poor, the sick, the struggling and the stressed.
- Pray for Virginia as she goes through a difficult time with her health issues.
- Pray for all those who are affected by natural disasters.
- Pray for our church and our future plans as we seek God’s guidance.
Best Regards
In Christ
Krikor
MESSAGE
Lent – Repentance and Faith
Mark 1:9-15
Lent is upon us! The 40 days before Easter is a dedicated period of reflection on the life of Jesus – His sacrifice, suffering, death, burial and resurrection. It is an opportune time for contemplation on our own life and how we put our faith into action. Historically, this is a time to sacrifice something to learn what it means to rely on God and share what we have with those who are less fortunate.
In Jesus’ forty days in the wilderness, without earthly comfort, He found nutrition in His relationship with God.
Similarly, we are invited to participate in an expression of God’s mercy and grace by giving up something we would struggle to do without, and to give.
Lent is a period in the Christian calendar that’s associated with some important traditions, including: Journeying with Jesus toward Jerusalem and beyond.
The gospel writers Matthew, Mark and Luke present Jesus’ journey toward Jerusalem as an invitation for us to join Him on the way. According to Luke’s gospel, immediately after Jesus ‘set his face to go to Jerusalem’ (9:51) comes the narrative of ‘the would-be followers of Jesus’ (9:57-62). There we see that all three men for various reasons did not follow Jesus on the journey. Luke’s question for us, therefore, is will we follow Jesus on the way to Jerusalem, or do we have other more urgent tasks to attend to? Through this Lent we journey with Jesus to Jerusalem and beyond. We do this as disciples of Jesus today.
The essence of Easter is about reconciliation – the renewed relationship of humanity with God, of humanity with each other, and with God’s ‘very good’ creation. Lent provides an occasion for us to mend broken relationships and build new ones and the opportunity to right the wrongs of both past and present. Lent also provides an opportunity to repent from the ways in which we walk on upon the Earth.
Traditionally, the gospel reading at the start of the Lenten season focuses on the temptation of Jesus as told by Matthew. Traditional interpretations of the three temptations say that the devil tempted Jesus with food and pleasure, power, glory, wealth and popularity. However, the devil’s role in the temptations is far more subtle and points us to an understanding of our call to live today’s will of God.
What main challenge does the story of Jesus’ Temptation has for us?
The story of the temptation of Jesus occurs immediately after His baptism by John in the Jordan, during which the Spirit of God came down on Him and a voice from heaven affirmed Him as ‘my Son, the beloved, with whom I am well pleased.’ What exactly is the role of the devil in the temptation of Jesus?
A brief look into each temptation will help us to address this question.
The first temptation was for Jesus to turn stones into bread to fill his stomach. What is so wrong with such a request? Moses cried out to God in the wilderness and God sent down food for the hungry Israelites. Would God not do the same on behalf of the beloved Son? By performing such a miracle people would have recognised Him as the New Moses, the prophet of the end time, the deliverer of Israel, and they would raise His banner. This was what the people had hoped and longed for.
Was Jesus not aware of this?
Was it the doubt that He was indeed the Son of God that held Him back from performing the miracle?
Whatever the reason, Jesus turned the temptation aside by responding that He would not live by bread alone but by ‘every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’
The second temptation was for Jesus to worship the devil in exchange for glory and authority. Exactly what did the devil show Jesus?
Expectations were amongst the Jewish people for the restoration of David’s kingdom from the oppression of the Roman rulers. Restoration of Israel would be a vindication of the honour of God. So, this temptation again reflected the hope of Israel, and the apparent will of God for God’s chosen people.
Did Jesus not share this hope? Did He not discern that restoration of David’s kingdom was the will of God?
Jesus again brushed aside the temptation with the words, ‘It is written, worship the Lord your God, and serve only Him.’
The third temptation was for Jesus to prove Himself a superhuman being who was immune to death by throwing Himself from the temple pinnacle. Surely, the courtyard would be filled with people. They would immediately recognise Him as the Chosen One of God to rescue Israel. Once again, the devil played into the expectations of the people. Jesus refused for the third time with the words ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’
The devil tempted Jesus with what everyone knew to be the will of God: The Mosaic Prophet (Prophet like Moses); Davidic King (King in the line of David); and Priestly Messiah (Messiah who would restore the royal priesthood and true worship). There was nothing wrong with any of these. These were the very images of redemption which every Israelite believed God had given them though the Scriptures. However, when tested against His own sense of calling, Jesus saw these as second-best to that which God intended for them.
What the devil offered to Jesus were not outright evils, but the highest goods known to Israel. This is when evil is most difficult to discern – when it offers the good instead of the best. The devil offered yesterday’s will of God, but Jesus was living out today’s will of God through His declaration and practice of the reign of God.
As we move through Lent, may we journey with Jesus Christ, living out God’s will in every aspect of life, knowing well that today’s will of God may even go against public opinion and collective consciousness, and hence be quite counter-cultural. Let us affirm that with the Spirit’s help we will!
The world today is in a mess. Just look at the headlines of the News:
Raging wars around the world. Economic crisis. Refugee crisis. Mass killing. Terror attacks. Sexual abuse and rapes. Natural disasters and many more.
What in the world is going on? It seems that we are being torn apart. Does any of this make any sense? Why such utter destruction and chaos?
It is obvious that we are completely lost and are wandering around this world with no idea of what in the world we are supposed to be accomplishing.
There also seems to be many differing “answers” that are given by different so-called religious leaders.
With all of the infinite possibilities I believe that there is only one true Way that we can detach ourselves from the mess that we are in. There is only one True God and He has a plan for our life.
Our text says, now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” Mark 1:14-15
The author of the Gospel of Mark is John Mark, and the gospel was written in the late to mid-50s AD. Although Mark did not actually witness the events that are in his gospel, most scholars believe that he gathered his writings from sermons of the Apostle Peter.
Mark starts his writing out in the form of a statement, “The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ.” He then goes on to speak about Jesus’ adult life after quoting from the Old Testament. He presents Jesus as the authoritative Son of God in Mark 1:1: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” and this theme runs throughout the book. Mark focuses more on the deeds of Jesus than on His teachings and tells his readers about the humanity of Jesus more than any other Gospel. Mark presents Jesus as the suffering Servant which is portrayed in Mark 10:45.
The Gospel of Mark starts out with the ministry of John the Baptist who came to prepare the way for the Messiah. John preached for the repentance of sins so that their sins could be forgiven. Our text is wedged between Jesus being tempted and the calling of the first disciples.
In verse 14 we see that John had been put into prison. This is significant because it signified the end of one public ministry and the beginning of another public ministry. John had served his prophetic calling well which was that he was to herald the coming of the Messiah.
As Jesus came to Galilee it was obvious from His message that something exciting was about to happen. John had preached repentance and baptism for the remission of sin, but Jesus was saying that “the time had been fulfilled” and the “the kingdom of God is at hand.”
Jesus took the same line as John and proclaimed both repentance and the arrival of the kingdom of God. It is a significant fact that John looks backward to the promise of the coming of the Messiah and signals the fulfilment as near at hand.
The question is: “What is the kingdom of God?” The phrase “the kingdom of God” was used 14 times in Mark’s Gospel and in the Synoptic Gospels it is a major theme of Jesus’ message. The “kingdom of God is near”, presents a key feature of Jesus’ message. “Kingdom” means “kingship” or “royal rule”.
The Messiah was here! What was His message to the Jewish nation? What is His message to us today?
1. Required Repentance
The definitions of both the Hebrew and Greek terms are required to grasp the full meaning of repentance. The Hebrew demands “a change of action,” while the Greek demands “a change of mind.” The saved person receives a new mind and heart. He thinks differently and lives differently. Instead of “What’s in it for me?” the question is now “What is God’s will?” Repentance is not a total sinlessness or an emotion that fades, but a new relationship with the God that transforms the believer progressively into a holy one.
A false repentance leads men to hardness of heart and despair. There are some people that are truly sorry for their actions because of their consciousness. They say, “I am sorry for my actions.” or “I ask you to forgive me for this wrong or that wrong.” But the problem is that they are asking the wrong person for forgiveness. Forgiveness can only be given by God. When we sin, we sin against someone else, but the primary sin is against God. Each time we sin, no matter what the sin, it is in rebellion to God.
Repentance and faith are the required covenant acts.
Peter said to the people: “Repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit”. Acts 2:38
It is necessary to repent as our human covenantal response to God’s offer of a free salvation.
We have a Required Repentance and we have a…
2. Necessary Belief
Believe – To believe to the extent of complete trust and reliance, ‘to believe in, to have confidence in, to have faith in, to trust, faith, trust.’
What we believe requires us to have somewhat of an understanding of what we can have faith in. Too often we want to have a full understanding of something before we believe it. Remember the saying, “I’ll believe it when I see it.”? Jesus was saying here, see it…”the kingdom of God is here.” Believe it because He is standing here before you!
We have trouble sometimes placing our faith in things especially when we do not see them or understand them.
Here are some things that we believe or have faith in:
• Our next heartbeat. • Our next breath.
• That the car that is coming to the ‘stop’ will actually stop.
• When we get on planes that they will actually land safely.
• That our families will always loves us.
As you can see, we place our faith/belief in a lot of things but when it comes to placing our faith in something that is life-changing we tend to waiver.
We have many false beliefs. Some of these false beliefs are spread through deception. Satan is the one who spreads these false beliefs around, and it started in the Garden of Eden: Satan brought evil into the world.
There are different religions that are offered up by humans. But there is only One God and He sent His only Son, Jesus to be the payment for our sins. Through repentance and belief in Jesus we can be saved.
Jesus came preaching the gospel of God and saying: “The time is fulfilled, …. repent and believe in the gospel.”
The first step is that we should repent. We need to agree with God that we have sinned against Him and that we have bought into Satan’s lies. We need to turn away from our sins. We need to ask Jesus to help us with our unbelief.
Then we need to believe. We need to have faith in Jesus that He is the Messiah, the Incarnate, God in flesh.
What are we placing our faith in today?
Will we repent of the sins that we have committed against God? Will we believe in Jesus Christ as the Messiah, the Son of God that was sent for the purpose of seeking and saving the lost?
During this Lent let us examine ourselves and see if we truly believe in and trust God, who is our only hope for salvation.