Pastoral Letter 232
Dear Members of St. Andrew’s Uniting Church, Friends and Adherents,
Grace and peace to you all in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
I write this Pastoral Letter, when our thoughts and prayers are with those who are under the shadow of death, filled with terror and fear and desperately looking for a heavenly interference to stablish peace in the Middle East. Tensions have grown further and taken another dangerous twist, escalating the situation in Lebanon, Isarael and Palestine, with the involvement of Iran, causing more death, havoc and hundreds of thousand refugees, who are seeking for shelter. I had a lengthy phone conversation (fortunately the phones and the internet are still working) with one of our ministers, who lives in the manse, which is on the premises of the church in the city of Beirut, just five kilometers away from the area, which is being heavily bombarded. He told me that the whole city is shaking with the banging sounds of heavy explosions, while people are sleeping on the footpaths, not so much far from the areas which are targeted by Israeli shelling and many have been accommodated in the classrooms of schools, as schools have been suspended until further notice. Though Sunday services are still being held, the attendance is just few people who live within close proximity of the church. People are convinced that the situation will further intensify, causing more death, destruction and devastation. Hundreds and thousands of people are trying to leave the country and the flights out of Beirut is limited beside being dangerous for Palestinian refugee camps in close proximity. All we can do is hope for easing the tension, stop the war and pray for peace to prevail soon.
With the UCA Assembly President’s, Rev. Charissa Suli’s, announcement to have a week of prayer in all Uniting churches from Sunday 29 September to the 5th of October, many churches continue to pray for the situation in Lebanon, Israel and Palestine. Please continue to pray! Pray for peace to prevail in the region and people are safe.
I will be on leave 14-23 October to attend the AMAA Annual meeting in Montreal, Canada. On Sunday 20 October 2024 we will join the Crows Nest Uniting Church for Sunday morning worship at 10:00 am. As the minister Michael Thomas is on leave, Bob Minton is taking the Service. You can stay for a multicultural lunch planed after Morning Tea. If you wish, please let me know as soon as you can.
John Flynn Service will be a Combined Service with Lane Cove and held on Sundy 27 October at 9:30 am at St. Columba’s. We will have with us as guest speaker Mr. Rob Floyd the National Director of Frontier Services. Following the Service, we will have Morning Tea, as well as the Great Outback Fundraiser BBQ at 12 noon.
Please remember that tomorrow day light saving commences tomorrow and we have to put our clocks one hour forward. If you are not able to join us for worship tomorrow, please light a candle, have a small roll of bread and a small cup of wine and worship with us following the attached Order of Service.
Here are some prayer points for this week:
- Pray with all the congregations of the Uniting Church for Lebanon, Israel and Palestine.
- Pray for the de-escalation of tension and war in the Middle East.
- Pray for the sick, the poor, the homeless, refugees and those who feel lonely are under the pressure of financial burdens.
- Please continue to pray for Virginia as he struggles with her Leukemia.
- Pray for Penny as she recovers for a minor surgery.
- Pray for Mary, as she mourns the passing of her sister.
- Pray for our future plans as we continue our conversation with Lane Cove Uniting with the Presbytery.
In Christ
Krikor
MESSAGE
A Man of Integrity
Job 1:1-2:10
One of the most fascinating, puzzling, and unpopular passages in the Bible is, no doubt, the story of Job. Job was a moral, wealthy, and godly man. The story of Job unfolds as a movie script. He loses everything and his children die in the first scene, in the second scene we see him with painful sores. In the following chapters we see his dialogue with his friends. And in the final chapter we see that God makes him prosperous again and gives him twice as much as he had before, as well as sons, daughters and grandchildren to the fourth generation. So, in the book of Job, we see two chapters on tragedy and forty chapters of philosophy.
The book of Job is regarded as the oldest book in the Bible, written before Genesis was written by Moses. Scholars largely agree that Job was a contemporary of Abraham and lived before the Jewish nation was founded. Therefore, Job’s account is the only biblical account of an individual stripped of cultural and national or even Jewish ties. Job is a universal and personal story.
Job is a profile of courage in the face of adversity, because Job did not give up on his character, give in to his pain, and give way to Satan. The first thing Job did when life seemed unfair was to stay true to his character. He remained true to himself to the end. God defended Job’s innocence, praised his integrity, and boasted his determination.
God used unusual word “integrity” or the Hebrew word for “innocence”, to describe Job’s character (2:3). The root word for “integrity” is derived from the Hebrew word “blameless” in the same verse (2:3).
Job demonstrated remarkable and exemplary courage under the circumstances; cried out in his pain, but he did not give in to the pain. He stuck on to life and hope even though he longed for death.
Job did not serve God because God had put a hedge around him at all times, sheltered him from harm, or kept watch over him, his household, business and property. Job had feared and served and loved God unselfishly, not for fame or reward, but for better and for worse.
Satan was wrong. Job did not just fear God, he avoided evil. At the point God withheld his blessings, he said good things. He blessed the Lord, praised His name, and declared God’s goodness. Job was steadfast, stable, and single-minded.
Job had a positive attitude. He was grateful for what he had, rather than what he had lost. Job saw the Lord’s hand upon his life: “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.” (Job 1:21). He wrestled and argued with God, but he never blamed or challenged God. He did not blame God for taking away what he had. In fact, he thanked God for giving him the opportunity to have had something before; Job’s emphasis was on God’s gifts before God’s repossession. Job asked, “Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?”
Job is a man of integrity. Chapter one, verse one says: “In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God, and shunned evil.” “Upright“, meaning to be straight or not deviating from any of God’s standards a perfect and blameless man.
What does integrity mean? How will you and I know if we have integrity?
If you promised the Lord that you would give Him the glory, integrity means you keep on doing whatever you need to do so that you give Him the glory.
What can we learn about integrity from Job’s life?
Integrity can be demonstrated. You can see it. You know that it’s there.
Integrity can be destroyed. It’s possible to lose our integrity.
Integrity can be determined; that is, you must have will, to have integrity before you can walk in integrity. It’s largely a matter of the will.
Job 1:8: “The Lord God said unto Satan, ‘Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil“.
God asked Satan if he had considered the integrity of Job. But how could Satan know of Job’s integrity unless it was demonstrated in Job’s life? God could know because He was omniscient. But Satan could only know because of observation. Job’s integrity was a demonstrated integrity.
How demonstrable is our integrity today? Do those who work with us on a daily basis see our integrity? Does our family see our integrity? Do they see the sound moral principles—the things that happen in our life that prove that we are a person of integrity? Do people in our church see it? Job teaches us about the demonstration of integrity. He was a man who was blameless and upright in all his ways.
But integrity is a very fragile thing. In Job 2:9 Job’s wife makes a comment saying: “Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God and die”. He was determined to be a man of integrity. Integrity is largely a matter of our will. Wave after wave of violent destruction hit this man and ruined his life and still the determination of integrity shines through in the words that conclude that chapter one verse twenty-two. “In all this, Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.” And when tragedy struck him, he said: “Shall we accept good from God and not trouble” (Job 2:10). Then there’s this comment to conclude that verse. It’s almost an editorial comment. “In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.”
Have you wondered why that happened to Job?
Why is it possible that this man kept his integrity all the way to the end?
It’s possible because he decided he was going to do it. He decided there wasn’t anything that could happen to him, nothing in his life would cause him to curse God and therefore die.
Sometimes things happen in our lives, and we simply cry out to God. We say: “Why? Why me? Why now? Why this?” Sometimes we curse God by condemning Him for all the disasters that come into our lives. We say bitter comment toward God or toward others about our trials.
David demonstrated the determination to maintain his integrity when he said: “I will sing of your love and justice; to you, O Lord I will sing praise. I will be careful to lead a blameless life – when will you come to me? I will walk in my house with blameless heart. I will set before my eyes no vile thing.” (Psalm 101:1-3)
That’s the determination to maintain our integrity. We need to say along with Job and along with the psalmist: “But I lead a blameless life; redeem me and be merciful to me.” (Ps. 26:11)
It’s a matter of will. It’s a matter of the walk. We have to determine that no matter what Satan throws in our pathway, we’re not going to lose our integrity. We will love the Lord God. We will praise Him in the midst of the storm.
The character of Job reveals to us the importance of integrity. In a world full of cheaters and liars, financial and spiritual con men, we as good and faithful Christians should walk in integrity.
It is clear that God let Satan to do whatever he can do, to show Job’s integrity. Satan’s intention was to destroy Job and his integrity, but no luck. Job did not sin and did not let God down. Job’s wife was not happy with what happened to Job and said: “Curse God and die“. She was foolish because to renounce God is to renounce all hope.
Job kept trusting God until the end and God blessed Job for his faithfulness and God will bless you and me for our faithfulness.
Look at the end of Job’s life after all the trials and testings seen here are over.
Job was a man of Integrity.
Are we?