Pastoral Letter 133
Dear Members of St. Andrew’s Uniting Church, Friends and Adherents,
Grace and peace to you all.
With great sorrow and sadness, we heard Her Majesty’s, the Queen Elizabeth II’s, death at the age of 96, that happened on Thursday 8 September 2022 afternoon, London time, after being the Monarch for over 70 years. She was much loved Queen and a humble person. We thank God for her long life, dedication and unwavering service. We will miss her always dignified presence. Condolences to the Royal family on this sad occasion, as they all mourn and grieve the loss of a mother (Mommy), grandmother and great grandmother. I urge you all to pay our respects and pray to the Lord seeking God’s peace and comfort for the nation, the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth Countries and the world. May she rest in peace.
Make note that tomorrow, 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 to church Service, please drive through William Edward Street from River Road 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.
Please make note that our next Combined Service with Lane Cove Uniting will be here at St. Andrew’s Longueville next 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.
Please remember in your prayers Dr. Max Thorpe, as he recovers at Greenwich Hospital undergoing rehab, after he tripped and fell on their driveway and broke his femur bone couple of weeks ago.
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 and follow the attached Order of Service.
Here are some prayer points for this week:
- Pray for the Royal Family, the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth Countries and the world as all mourn and grieve the loss of Her Majesty the Queen Elizabeth II.
- 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 Max Thorpe, as he undergoes rehab after his fall and breaking his femur bone.
- 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.
Please let me know if you or anyone else has prayer points.
Best Regards,
Krikor
MESSAGE
Seeking the Lost
Luke 15: 1-10
A six-year-old boy restlessly struggled to listen to a rather lengthy sermon. After the service, the little boy asked the question that sooner or later most “church kids” ask. He said: “Dad, what does the preacher do the rest of the week?“. Dad replied: “Son, he’s a very busy man. He takes care of church business, visits the sick, studies the Bible. . . and he has to take time to rest. You see, preaching in public is not an easy job.” The little boy thought about that and said: “Well, listening ain’t so easy either!“
The truth is that listening really is not always easy, especially when the messages are challenging. Last week’s message from the end of Chapter 14 was challenging as I shared with you that total commitment is necessary to follow Jesus; the Cost of Discipleship. This week’s message may be just as challenging because I will be sharing with you on the subject of the Christians responsibility in searching the soul.
The three parables Jesus told have the common theme of finding something valuable, like finding something on the street or in junk yard or even at Market Morning.
Ministers and Sunday School teachers have applied these parables over the years to the salvation message. Over and over again the story is told about how heaven rejoices when an unbeliever believes and accept Jesus Christ as his or her personal Saviour and Lord. This certainly is a legitimate use of these parables. Jesus is definitely involved in the saving business. But Jesus is also involved in the finding business, and I think we miss a great opportunity for instruction when we do not apply these parables to this very important aspect of Jesus’ ministry.
Close examination shows a legal relationship already exists between the seeker and the sought after in each of these parables. The sheep already belongs to the shepherd, the coin already belongs to the woman. The son already belongs to the father.
We already belong to Jesus. Paul declares in Eph 1:4: “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.” Before the worlds were made God had us picked out. He stamped His name on us.
Being a child of God and belonging to Jesus, does not guarantee that we will not be lost. At some stage in our lives, when facing challenges and attacks from the evil, we lose our way and sooner or later we become lost and go astray and get off track.
Let’s look at some important points, as we reflect on the passage we read today.
1. Even Christians get lost!
In Luke chapter 15 we find three interrelated parables or stories that Jesus told. The parable of the Lost Coin, the parable of the Lost Sheep and the Parable of the Lost Son, known as the Parable of the Prodigal Son. Perhaps we can now see the relevance of these parables for us. Jesus told these parables one after the other intentionally, giving the climax in the third parable of the Lost Son, when the Father runs out to meet his lost son, who returns home heartbroken, sinner and knowing that he does not deserve to be called a son, but rather servant. The father, who represents our Heavenly Father, shows compassion, and demonstrates an unexpected costly love towards the lost son.
We are in these stories. In each case, we are the Lord’s treasure, we Christians; but even Christians can lose their way!
And this losing our way is usually not a one-time deal. If we are willing to tell the truth about our journey, we must admit that we have been lost more than once. And our compassionate heavenly Father again and again has forgiven us and welcomed us with open arms, as the father did in this incredible parable, which is known as “The Gospel within the Gospel”.
2. Christians get lost when they become disconnected!
Getting lost. How does that happen? In 1 Kings 6:1-6 we see that an axe head gets lost because it flies off the handle. This event took place when Elisha’s students were building a new dormitory, illustrating the danger of detachment. When the axe head becomes detached from the handle, it quickly gets lost; it sinks to the bottom of muddy Jordan and there it is good for nothing.
The parables in Luke 15, illustrate the same thing. When the prodigal son detaches himself from his family, he gets lost. The sheep is detached from the shepherd, and it gets lost. The coin is detached from the woman, and it gets lost.
We Christians, get lost in our spiritual journey. We become detached from Jesus. We love to call Jesus our Saviour, but Jesus is more than our Saviour. One of the earliest Christian confessions is this: “Jesus is Lord”. As long as Jesus remains Lord, He is in control of us. He has a handle on us. We are tools in His hand; effective tools which can work the fields of our great God and King. When we fly off the handle for whatever reason, we break our connection with Jesus. He remains Saviour but ceases to be Lord of our lives. When that happens, we lose our usefulness, and we are good for nothing.
3. How do Christians become disconnected?
Sometimes we fly off the handle because we are hot headed. In other words, we don’t do what Psalm 27: 14 says we should do: “Wait for the Lord, be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord”. What does that mean? Well, it simply means to think before we act, to seek the advice of our Lord before we proceed.
When we get hot headed, we don’t do that. We hold on to Jesus, the Saviour, but we let go of Jesus the Lord. We fly off the handle and get lost. There are other ways that we become detached from Jesus. We become so attached to issues we get detached from Jesus and lost.
4. Good News: Jesus seeks us and finds us
The good news is that Jesus remains our Saviour. And there is more good news. When we detach ourselves from Jesus the Lord, He takes on two new roles. He becomes Jesus, our Seeker and Jesus our Finder. He is the shepherd who leaves His 99. He is the woman who lights the candle and takes up the broom. He is the Loving Father, who sees us from a distance and runs to meet us.
I cannot tell you that He will always find us the minute we get lost. But He will find us sooner or later. I hope it doesn’t take that long before the Saviour finds the places where we lose our way. However long it takes, Jesus will find us. Jesus will find us because He is in the finding business.
5. More Good News: Jesus finds us and restores us!
There are different degrees of being lost and there are different levels of being found.
When we find something precious, we think they are too fragile and put it aside or display on a shelf. But when we find out that it has stamp with the name of the maker and we are confident that they can be used, we clean it up and make it as new. Now not only it is found, but it is also fully functional.
Do we see that there are different degrees of the lost condition?
It is one thing to lose one’s way. That is frightful enough.
It is another thing to lose one’s identity that is devastating.
In the parable of the prodigal son, the prodigal loses his way and his identity.
It is very instructive to note that the turning point in this whole story is when the prodigal finds his identity. That happens in verse 17. Most Bibles translate this verse with these words; “When he came to himself”. That is just another way of saying “when he rediscovered who he was”. And what happened when he rediscovered who he was? It was then that he headed home and became a functional son.
What about us? Have we lost our way? Have we lost our identity? If that is the case, perhaps the first thing we will need to find is our identity.
Somewhere in our inner most being He has stamped His name on us. We may not be able to recollect the factory in which we were made. But God has not forgotten.
Let God put a handle on us. Let God get His hands on us and then watch as He ploughs the baren ground of our life, to His glory and to the benevolence of our eternal soul.
Jesus, our Lord and Saviour said that He came to this world to seek the lost. Luke 19:10 says: “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost”. If we feel lost, let us get courage, for He seeks and finds.
Amen!