Pastoral Letter 132
Dear Members of St. Andrew’s Uniting Church, Friends and Adherents,
Grace and peace to you all.
We thank God for being able to have our face-to-face worship services on Sundays in the church the last seven months and in due course we commenced our weekly Time4U programs, monthly Movie/Pizza Nights, much awaited Market Morning on the first Saturday of August, as well as had Elders’ and Church Council monthly meetings. In the earlier months we followed all COVID protocols and restrictions. But we are glad that in the later months the restrictions were eased significantly. Though wearing masks are not mandatory, but feel free to use them if you wish to do so.
Please make a note for next Sunday, 11 September 2022. From 7:00 am – 10:00 am Lane Cove Fun Run will be held, which will cause for road closures. If you are planning to come for Sunday Service, please drive through William Edward Street and when you arrive to the barricades, tell the staff that you are coming for worship in St. Andrew’s Church on Christina St., and they should let you drive.
Our next Combined Service with Lane Cove Uniting will be here at St. Andrew’s Longueville on Sunday 18 September 9:30 am, followed by Morning Tea, during which we will celebrate Father’s Day and have the Great Outback Fundraiser BBQ. The raised funds plus the plates of the day will be donated to the Frontier Services.
Tomorrow, Sunday 4 September being Father’s Day, I congratulate all the fathers, as they celebrate with their families and loved ones, and pray seeking God’s blessings for them.
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.
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 or a piece of bread and a small cup of wine or juice for Communion 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 world peace and ask for God’s blessings.
- Pray for and with the Sydney Central Coast Presbytery as it charters through challenging times.
- Pray for our Combined Service with Lane Cove Uniting planned for 18 September 2022.
- Pray for the fathers as we celebrate Father’s Day with our families.
Please let me know if you or anyone else has prayer points.
Best Regards,
Krikor
MESSAGE
The True Cost of Discipleship
Luke 14: 25-33
Jesus never promised that following Him is easy. Again and again, He told all who would listen that discipleship might cost them everything, even their lives, because for some that were following Him seemed an easy thing to do.
So, what does it really mean to be a follower of Jesus?
Jesus often directed His teaching on discipleship to the twelve disciples. In the text we just read today, a large crowd was following Jesus from Galilee to Jerusalem, and He addressed to those who came to hear Him. The crowd thought Jesus was going to Jerusalem to be crowned as King. Jesus knew He was going to Jerusalem to be crucified. That’s why Jesus wasn’t impressed with the big numbers. These would-be disciples did not know what they had signed up for. They thought they were on a picnic where they would get free fish and bread. When Jesus warned them to count the cost of Discipleship, He was not just talking to them. He was talking to every person who claims to be a Christian.
“Disciple” is just another word for a Christian. The term “disciple” occurs 269 times in the New Testament, while the term “Christian” only occurs 3 times. In Acts 11:26 we are told that the disciples were first called Christians at Antioch. The two terms are interchangeable as the term “spouse” which means “wife” or “husband”, or “sibling” means “brother” or “sister”. So, if you are a Christian, you are a disciple.
In Luke 14:33 Jesus said: “Any of you who does not give up everything he has, cannot be my disciple.” You could also read it this way: “Any of you who does not give up everything he has, cannot be a Christian.”
So, again, what does it cost to be a Christian?
It costs everything; and He really means everything. Look at this shocking statement in Luke 14:26: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters – yes, even his own life – he cannot be my disciple.”
I’m sure that got their attention! What did Jesus mean when He said a disciple must hate his family?
“Miseo” is the word translated “hate”. This had a different emphasis than we would give it. “Miseo” meant to put something below other things. In other words, a Disciple must place everything below Jesus … even family members.
Putting family below Jesus doesn’t mean that we neglect our family. But it does affect family life in very real ways.
Have we counted the cost? Are we willing give up anything and everything to follow Christ? This doesn’t just mean we turn away from sin. That’s just part of it. Some of the things we give up may even be good things. We give up the good for the best. For a Disciple, nothing can ever be more important than Jesus Christ.
In Luke 14:27 Jesus said: “Anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” When Jesus said that I picture the crowd just staring at Him with their mouths hanging open in shock.
The word “cross”, doesn’t affect us like it affected them. We tend to think of a cross as decoration, on a jewellery or on a church steeple. But in Jesus’ day the cross was nothing but an ugly, gruesome instrument of execution.
Imagine Jesus saying, we can’t be a Christian unless we go to death row. If we want to be a Disciple, then we should be ready to do the ultimate sacrifice, as He did for our sake. This is hard to accept. So, Jesus took time to tell two stories to help us understand.
First, He told a story about a Tower.
1. The Tower – Total Commitment – Everything we have
Jesus told them that they needed to count the cost of discipleship before following Him. He used two parables to explain this. The first was about a man who wished to build a tower. A tower served as a protection to which the family could flee to in times of invasion. Arrows could be shot from slits – narrow windows – in the tower at the enemy, and the strong walls protected them from the enemy outside. But a half-built tower is useless and is a testimony to the family poverty and weakness. Towers were expensive to build. Like any building, a wise person first needs to assess the need. Is it necessary? Then he needs to take an inventory of the things he needs to build it and what labour might need to be hired. He then sets a budget for the project. He then looks at whether he has sufficient resources to construct it. If not, could he borrow the money. The fool would just start building. and when the resources ran out, the building project would be abandoned and neglected. Those who would look at the ruin would mock the person who had built the project.
Starting and not finishing any project is worse than not starting at all. The man in the Parable sunk all his money into that Tower in order to increase the value of his estate. But a half-finished Tower is worthless. In fact, the unfinished tower is worse than worthless: it is a tragic waste of time and talent.
If we want to be a Disciple of Jesus, we must start, continue, and finish life as a believer. Being a Disciple requires Total Commitment. It will take everything we have. And it will take everything we are.
In terms of Christian discipleship, this parable warns us that if one were to become a follower of Jesus and turn back because the cost of following Jesus was too high to complete the race. It will show a lack of faith in Jesus. Jesus has already paid the cost. He has established the Kingdom. He will certainly finish the building of it. He asks us to follow Him in the execution of this plan.
Listen to the next story Jesus told:
2. The War – Total Surrender — Everything we are:
The second parable is like the first in that it deals with the idea of security. This time, a king learns that an army is coming against Him. To lose a war meant the threat of losing one’s life, humiliation, and ruin of the kingdom. So, the prudent king takes inventory of his army as well as checks out the size of the invading army. If conditions are favourable, he engages in war. If not, he will sue for peace.
God requires Total Surrender. Those who are proud and arrogant don’t stand a chance against a God who wages war against unrighteousness. That’s why Jesus went to the cross. His death cleared the way for us to make terms of peace with Almighty God. While there is still time, we need to count the cost.
Look again at the verse “Anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” Everything might mean our job, our time, our money, our possessions, our goals, our dreams, our friends, our family, and even our earthly life.
What will it cost us to follow Jesus?
It will cost us everything we have and everything we are. Nothing less will do.
Jesus ends this passage as brutally as He starts. The person who is unwilling to forsake everything is not worthy to be a disciple of Jesus. This should be a cause for intense self-examination. It is far easier to call oneself a disciple of Jesus than to actually be a disciple of Jesus.
Let us remember when Jesus called the fishermen after the miraculous catch of fish. James and John left their father Zebedee in what was a very good catch. They left all, including their family and followed Jesus. God provided Zebedee and the rest of his family with the means of support which would have been lost in their absence by selling all those fish.
Peter was probably the patriarch of the family. He could make his own decision. He left all with Andrew to follow Jesus. I am sure God provided for the family in their absences. But to many others, the cost was high indeed. It represented by carrying the cross. But we also have to count the benefits as well as the cost. We become members of God’s family.
We can sum up and conclude this by reading Mark 10:28-30: “Peter said to him, “We have left everything to follow you.” So, Jesus answered and said: “I tell you the truth, no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for me and the gospel we fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields – and with them persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life.”
Amen!