Pastoral Letter 119

Dear Members of St. Andrew’s Uniting Church, Friends and Adherents,

Grace and peace to you all.

It has been a week since Australians headed to the polls to cast their votes for the Federal elections, to choose who will govern our country. I hope all Australians have casted their votes after discerning well. After nine years of Liberal (Coalition) Government, Australia has now a majority Labor Government, with a handful of Independents elected, majority being females, assuming the responsibility of governing our country and to steer the ship and help Australia to move forward. As churches, we need to pray seeking God’s blessing and wisdom for the governing people and fulfill our responsibilities as good citizens. We hope and pray that we appreciate and be thankful for the good we receive living a decent life in our beautiful and wonderful country.

Also, this week we join the world praying for the 19 young innocent children, who were the victims of the recent mass shooting in Texas. It breaks our hearts and the hearts of those who, as a consequence, lost their innocent child/children. We mourn with the families and share their grief and sorrow and uphold them with our heartfelt prayers.  

Let us pray for the families, who have lost loved ones, asking God to comfort them with His Holy Spirit. We condemn such evil, which causes pain and suffering. May God have mercy.

If you will not be able to join us at our face-to-face service, you can worship with us at home. Please light a candle and follow the attached Order of Service.

Be safe and well, continue to pray, remembering those who need care, support and love and let us know if any member of the congregation that you know of needs our help and prayers.

Here are some more prayer points for this week:

1. Pray for the government elected asking God to bless them and give them wisdom.
2. Pray for victims of the mass shooting in Texas.
3. Pray for the poor, the sick, the vulnerable, the struggling and the stressed.
4. Pray for world peace and ask for God’s blessings.
5. Pray for the hope that God gives.

Please let me know if you or anyone else has prayer points.

Best Regards,

Krikor

MESSAGE

Ascended to Come Back

Luke 24:44-53 and Acts 1:1-11

We don’t know much about the event of the Ascension and very little is recorded in the scripture.

For some the Ascension is an insignificant event and usually forgotten without being mentioned in the Church Calendar.

For others the Ascension is a secondary and it is not considered to be important compared with the Christmas, Easter and other Celebrations.

But the Ascension is a historic reality which completes the Messianic Mission. It is part and parcel of God’s salvation plan. Without this ring, the chain of the Jesus events will be incomplete. Therefore, it is an essential part of the historic truth of Jesus’ incarnation. We can neither ignore nor overlook the important event of the Ascension of the Lord.

According to Matthew, Jesus appears to His disciples for the last time on the mountain of Galilee. John has no mention about this event. Luke says: “When he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven”. And Mark makes a brief statement about His departing saying: “After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God”. He came from heaven, from God with a mission of salvation and again He left the world and went back to the Father.

He came from heaven and went back to heaven; He came from the Father and went back to the Father. For sure He could not stay here in this world. And He did not need to stay; He had to go there, from where He came. And He did. And it was good that He did.

And why did He ascend to heaven? It is simple. And where He could have stayed here in the world; with whom, whose house and who was going to welcome Him? Isn’t it better that everyone go to his or her home/house and stay there?

The Lord Jesus went to His Father’s house, He went to heaven. He did well; otherwise most probably, O my God, He could have been left in the streets. No! He did well by going to His Father’s house “and he sat at the right hand of God” (Mark 16:19).

In the first chapter of Acts, we read Jesus farewells His disciples after spending three years with them, after He totally changed and revolutionised their lives. They were never the same, they were totally changed and became His courageous witnesses, and they did their best to spread the Good News of the Gospel. Their daily occupation was not anymore fishing; nor the very much hated by people tax collecting like Matthew. And not also pursuing political agenda, like Judas the zealot. And finally like the other Judas, to betray Him. The direction of their lives was changed, and they commenced their mission being His faithful servants.

After Jesus’ resurrection the disciples had their last 40 days with Him and now it was time to say their farewells. He encouraged and charged them by giving His Great Commissioning to continue the work that He had begun, by going to ends of the world. Jesus organised His work, left them and went to the place from where He had come. So, by His ascension to heaven, He leaves behind Him few important things and challenges. When He was on the cross, He said: “It is finished” (John 19:30), which means that the forgiveness of sins has been done and the salvation completed.

We read in the passage that two men in white robes said: “This Jesus has been taken up from you into heaven”.  These two men had probably heralded the birth and the resurrection of Jesus. The Apostles and the church have accepted all these and have proclaimed as true historical facts. The same Jesus who was born, crucified and raised from the dead has ascended into Heaven.

But before going any further we should acknowledge that He came from God – Heaven. He was God revealed, God sent, and God incarnated. John writes in his gospel the following words of Jesus 16:28 “I came from the Father and have come into the world”. To believe in the Ascending Jesus, first we should believe that He came from God. In other words, He is the revelation of the eternal God. And more than that, He is the God who came from Heaven to save the world from all its sins. He accomplished this salvation mission being crucified and rising from the dead. But this is not the full story. It is only the first part and the essential act of the three acts of the drama of Jesus’ life.

“Again, I am leaving the world and am going to the Father” (John 16.28). Here we see that Jesus himself confirms the truth of His Ascension. After He resurrected, He stayed another 40 days in the world, He arranged His work and ascended. Luke says: “A cloud took him out of their sight” (Acts 1:9). He came from Heaven, and He went back to Heaven. He came from the Father and went back to the Father.

Certainly, absolutely, surly and utterly He could have not stayed here. He did not have to stay. He had to go there from where He came. And He did. He sat at His right side. Sitting on the right side of God does not mean to be saved from the unsafe world and be in the security of Heaven. Jesus did not ascend to Heaven to rest, and He did not retire, but He went to labour. He did not sit on the right hand of God comfortably, but again He continued to be unwell for us. Paul writes “Who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us” (Rom. 8:34). He ascended to Heaven to prepare place for us. “I go to prepare a place for you . . . I will come again and will take you to myself” (John 14:2-3).

Jesus gave command, spoke and then He ascended to Heaven. Until He is finally separated from them, He still speaks, counsels, teaches and also commands.

So, what was going to happen to the disciples after His ascension? Well three things would happen:

a. After His ascension the Holy Spirit will dwell among them. He ascended to send the Holy Spirit to us. “It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you” (John 16:7). The Holy Spirit will strengthen them, because Jesus will not be with them anymore to support them.

b. After the ascension they should be His witnesses. “And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). Until then they were not His witnesses, since they did not have the urge of excellence. Their faith was weak. Now they had a greater responsibility.

c. After the ascension they will encompass God’s blessing in order to be able to truly labour until Jesus comes back. So, Jesus having completed the first part of His labour He ascended to Heaven and entrusted His work to the disciples, to us. And the disciples returning to Jerusalem with great joy, blessed God continually in the Temple, because He was alive, and His promises were not fake.

Therefore, with this important event the responsibility of the church increase. A new era starts for the Christians. Jesus ascends to Heaven to sit on the right hand of God to intercede, on the condition that His disciples become living witnesses in the world. In this new era the work to be done is not to go to the past, on the contrary everything should be new.

The task of the disciples is to witness. This is Christ’s godly command.

The church has to preach and witness for the risen and ascended Christ who will come back to judge the living and the dead.

What about the church today? Do we enjoy that same power that the early church had? Are we using the same resource that they used? Are we making an impact like they did back then? You see on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples the Bibles says that 3000 souls were saved. Lives were changed, the Word of God was preached with boldness, and Jesus Christ was uplifted.

Therefore, the doctrine of Christ’s return is fundamental, scriptural, and controversial.

It is fundamental in that all true Christians believe that one day Jesus Himself will return to the earth.

It is scriptural in that our faith rests not in our dreams but in the clear revelation of God’s Word.

It is controversial in that Christians have often differed among themselves regarding the details of Christ’s return.

What will the Second Coming of Christ be like?

Let’s consider three answers to that question. His coming will be:

1. Personal

Verse 11 makes it clear that Jesus Himself will one day return to the earth. It will be “this same Jesus” who is coming again. Twice in one verse Luke uses the word “same” to make it clear of His Second Coming. The same Jesus who left will one day return. And He will return the same way that He left.

In plain English, those words teach us that Jesus is coming back personally, literally, visibly and bodily. We can assume that his return to the earth will be no less amazing and no less surprising.

2. Glorious

Acts 1 tells us that Jesus was caught up in a cloud and taken to heaven. The cloud that carried Jesus into heaven was no ordinary cloud but was in fact the same cloud that led Israel in the wilderness. It is the cloud that represents the glory of God. Luke 21:27 tells us that Jesus will return “in a cloud with power and great glory.”

There are differences surrounding Jesus first coming to His second coming.

The first time Jesus came unnoticed into the world, the second time “every eye will see him” (Rev. 1:7).

In his first coming Jesus humbled himself, being born in a stable in Bethlehem. When He returns, He will come back as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

The first time He came He was judged and sentenced by the people according to their wrong standards, but when He comes, He will judge every person according to God’s standards.

3. Pending

The Bible also tells us that the coming of Christ is pending, which means that it could happen at any moment. Again and again, the New Testament urges us to “watch” and be ready for His return (Matthew 24:42)

Paul teaches that Christians must expect at any moment that Jesus will soon return to the earth.

The story is told of a businessman who, having a duty to run at his office, took his young son along with him. He asked the boy to wait on the steps while he went inside to do his work. Soon he became so occupied with his business that he forgot about his son waiting outside. Leaving the building by a different door, he went home alone. Several hours later the family sat down to dinner, but the son was not present. His mother became anxious and wondered where he might be. Then the father remembered where he left his son. Hurrying back to his place of work, he found his son, tired and hungry, waiting as he had been instructed to do. “I knew that you would come, father,” he said, “you said you would.”

It’s been 2000 years and some of God’s children feel tired and hungry. We wonder why Jesus hasn’t come back yet. Perhaps He has forgotten us. Perhaps He made other plans. If you feel like that little boy, take heart. He said He would come back—and He will. All true Christians believe that Jesus will come back someday. He said He would—and He never forgets His promises.

The word pending or imminent does not mean immediate. Paul was not mistaken for that. He expected to see Christ return in his lifetime and said so. When we use the word imminent for the Second Coming, it means two things: Being ready and prayerfully working.

“Therefore, keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will comeback” (Mark 13:35).

Paul was ready and prayerfully working hard for God’s glory.

While we work and while we pray, let us always remember our “Blessed Hope”, the return of Jesus to the earth.

Let’s be ready for His coming!

Amen!