Pastoral Letter 128
Dear Members of St. Andrew’s Uniting Church, Friends and Adherents,
Grace and peace to you all.
We had a busy week preparing for our much-awaited Market Morning. After a two-year hiatus, we were back and had a successful program on Saturday morning 6 August and a good result as usual. I am glad to let you know that we have raised $10,5000. Well done! A big thank you to Virginia and the team, who worked tirelessly for the last few weeks and mainly in the last few days. Now we can relax and take time to recover.
On Tuesday morning I delivered a full carload of UHT long-life milk to Exodus Foundation, which was accepted with much thanks. I am happy to let you know that during the last few weeks we were able to donate around 100 litres of milk and the Armenian Missionary Association of Australia matched with another 100 litres of milk. So, we donated well over 200 litres of much needed milk. Michael Kasavetis, the Fundraising Manager of the Exodus Foundation, personally expressed thanks on behalf of the Foundation and Rev. Bill Cruise. Michael said that Rev. Bill will give me a call and thank us for our effort.
I’ve informed the Church Council and the Elders that I will be covering for Rev. Hagop Sarkissian, the minister of the Willoughby Armenian Evangelical Church, when he will be on annual leave. I’ll be preaching the Word on five Sundays, starting from next Sunday 14 August till 11 September. The Church Council have decided to delay their service start time from 10:00 am to 11:00 am, which means I will not be able to stay too long for our morning teas for the next five Sundays.
We will have a small change in our diary and instead of celebrating Father’s Day and having our Fellowship Lunch on Sunday 11 September, we will combine this with our next Combined Service with Lane Cove Uniting here at St. Andrew’s Longueville and the Great Outback Fundraiser BBQ on the following Sunday 18 September. Please make note of this change.
On a sad note, this evening Wendy informed me that Nan passed away peacefully this afternoon, three months after suffering a stroke in April. She was a fighter till the end but is now at peace. She has now joined her soulmate, which is a blessing.
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.
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, have a small roll of bread, small cup of wine or juice and follow the attached Order of Service.
Here are some more prayer points for this week:
- 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 the Matheson and Phelps families as the mourn the loss of their mother, grandmother, and great grandmother Nan Matheson.
- Pray for world peace and ask for God’s blessings.
- Pray for the hope that God gives.
Please let me know if you or anyone else has prayer points.
Best Regards,
Krikor
MESSAGE
Do Not Worry and Be Ready!
Luke 12:22-48
We tend to worry a lot in our society, because there are plenty of fear traders out there, especially when it comes to politics and economy.
So, how do we stop worrying?
Or how not to worry about being aware of what happens around us?
There are two things that Jesus talks that we worry too much about. Food and clothing. They are the basic things of life, protection in clothing and sustenance in food. Paul asked for a coat to keep him warm while in prison. We have plenty of both, but with the rise in gas prices and food prices, more people might be tending to worry a little bit more about making ends meet.
Even when we have plenty, it is easy to want more. Our life might revolve around getting more food and clothing, a different kind of worry, but it is worry, nonetheless.
Why should we not worry about them?
Firstly, it doesn’t do any good and it takes away our health.
Secondly, Jesus reminds us of a simple fact that life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing.
Let’s think about Abraham. God had given him a wife and riches. He had over two hundred servants. He had everything we could think of and more. Yet when he prayed to God, he said that he had nothing. Why not? Because he didn’t have a son. And if he didn’t have a son, how was the promise of God to make him the father of a nation to be fulfilled? What good would all of those riches do? So, all the rest of the stuff he had, he regarded it as nothing. There was more to life than food and clothing.
Jesus reinforces this from a positive perspective: “Do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not be worried about it. For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them”.
There’s the positive thing. Our Father knows what we need. He knows us better than we know ourselves.
If anyone knows food and clothing, it’s God. Look, how He generously feeds the raven day after day, without need of a storeroom or barn. Ravens live usually around 10-15 years in the wild, and we doubt that any of them die of starvation. Then look at how He clothes a flower that He knows is only going to maybe last a week. He designed the flowers to work this way.
So, Jesus says, let’s put the two on a scale of importance. The flower and the human. Which do you think is more valuable to God, who took on flesh to live and die for us as a human?
This is God in the flesh talking here. “If this is how God clothes the grass in the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith?”
The point Jesus is making here is not only the bare necessities, but that God does a good and generous job at feeding and clothing us. He’s good at it.
But that’s not all Jesus has to say to ease our worries. Jesus tells us to think about something else besides food and drink. Instead, He says continue to seek the Kingdom of God, and all these things will be added to you. “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom”.
But how do we seek this Kingdom?
What is this Kingdom?
Sometimes it is described as a place that we enter into. For example, He said that it is hard for the rich to enter into the Kingdom of God. But then He said that little children could receive the Kingdom of God and in another place, He said the Kingdom of God is within us.
In today’s text, Jesus told His disciples to keep seeking it. Jesus also said that the Father “is pleased to give you the kingdom.” So, Jesus speaks, in this context, of the Kingdom as something that God gives us, and that He enjoys giving it to us. Instead of being a place, it’s packaged as a gift and given to us. We don’t have to earn it or work for it, it can be given to us.
We could think of the Kingdom of God in terms of citizenship. We are Australian citizens, no matter where we go; it is given to us. In a sense, the same is true of the Kingdom of God. This spiritual citizenship is kept and cherished through faith in Christ which comes from hearing the message and receiving the Lord’s Supper.
God wants us to venture around in His Kingdom of grace, get to know Him throughout the history of the world as He speaks of Himself in the Bible. So, we don’t need to worry about it.
There’s one final thing Jesus says. “Sell your possessions and give to the needy. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in the heavens that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also”. Jesus is not against owning things. Abraham and plenty of the saints had possessions. The point is, we shouldn’t let our possessions possess us.
Jesus doesn’t say our heart is where our treasure is. Our hearts can be deceiving. He says that our heart will follow our treasure. So, what does Jesus do? He gives Himself as the treasure that never rots and can’t be stolen. He lives His life giving away His time and His effort, giving His all to give us forgiveness from the cross. He possesses our heart with His love, and He redirects what we love and focus on in this life, contemplating what really matters in this world.
We have a God who knows what we need. We have a God who has already given us the Kingdom in Jesus. He gives us everything we need, both physically and spiritually in Jesus. Jesus gives what He commands in Himself. Remember who is taking care of us. Remember who we have. Don’t worry is not just said by Jesus. It is said and done by Jesus, for us and in us.
So, what next?
We should do all this and be ready for Christ’s return. But to be in that position we need to do a few things. We should:
1. Be reconciled to/with God if we want to be ready for Christ’s return. Because of sin, we have been alienated from God. But He has paid the price taking our place and carried the full judgment of God for our forgiveness, so, “By grace we have been saved through faith, and that not of ourselves, it is the gift of God” (Eph. 2:8). Christ died for our justification. He died to give us eternal life and reconcile us with God. He saves us to have a relationship with God so that we can know Him.
2. Be attentive to Christ and study His word, listen to Him and follow His directions. We cannot claim to know God when we do not know His word and have no time to listen to Him. Also, we should know and be ready to accept His will. We need to pay attention to the things of God and believe in His promises. Christ has fulfilled many of the promises He has made and those.
3. Be prepared for Christ’s return and we should live a righteous life. Focusing on our righteousness by faith we will depart from sinful acts and lead righteous lives and live an obedient life. We are children of God and are expected to live obedient lives. If we believe that Christ has delivered us from slavery of sin, we must live a life of faith completely submitting to God as we prepare for Christ’s return.
The Lord has promised to return but are we ready for His return?
Will we be doing what is expected of us when He returns?
We are ready for His return, when we submit to His Lordship and accept His love and grace to transform our lives.
We are ready, when we take His Word seriously and live godly lives that honour and glorify His name.
We are ready, when we make His priorities our priority, when we first seek His Kingdom and His righteousness and not worldly treasures.
We are ready, when Christ finds us doing His will when He returns.
The expectation from us is very clear. Not to worry about so many things, without forgetting to be liable to live a responsible life and do what is expected from us and be ready to be part of His Kingdom for ever.
Amen!