Pastoral Letter 140
Dear Members of St. Andrew’s Uniting Church, Friends and Adherents,
Grace and peace to you all.
As I write this letter, we are in preparation to celebrate St. Andrews’ Day on Sunday, which coincides with the First Sunday of Advent, with a special Service, followed by lunch. I am sure we will have a good time together as we celebrate and look at the first Sunday of Advent, reminding ourselves that Jesus is our HOPE.
As I have written in my last week’s letter, our heart goes out to those many who are still suffering because of the devastating floods in Western and Southern NSW. We are all urged to pray for those affected and support them in any way we can. Appeals have been made, and one of the appeals is the NSW and ACT Moderator’s, Rev, Simon Hansford’s, Disaster Fund Appeal. Our prayers and financial support are much needed.
Our Advent Services will continue, which will include Carols Service on Sunday 11 December, Christmas Eve Service Saturday 24 December on the Lawn, if weather permits and Sunday 25 December our Christmas Service, followed by New Years’ Service on Sunday 1 January 2023.
During this Sunday’s Service, we will accept and welcome Soo-Tee and Mary Cheong to be new members of our congregation, who have requested to join us, with the UCA’s order of reception of new members. We give thanks to God and pray for Soo-Tee and Mary, as they take this step to join our church.
As we have done in the previous years, once again we will collect food and Christmas gifts for Exodus Foundation. Remembering and giving to the needy is a God pleasing action. So, let us be generous and give the best we can for the glory of God. Please accept our thanks in advance.
If you will not be able to join us at our face-to-face service tomorrow, you can worship with us at home. Please light a candle and follow the attached Order of Service and sing along.
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.
Here are some prayer points for this week:
- Pray for our ministry here at St. Andrew’s, especially as we come closer to the end of the year with special services of Advent and Christmas.
- Pray for Soo-Tee and Mary who will become members of our congregation. Blessings.
- Pray for the devastating floods in Western and Southern NSW, as people struggle with the great loss.
- 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.
Please let me know if you or anyone else has prayer points.
Best Regards,
Krikor
MESSAGE
Jesus Is Our Hope
Romans 15:7-15:13
We live in difficult and challenging times, with wars going on, as well as natural disasters, such as floods, earthquakes and bushfires.
Do we wake up each day thinking that this might be the day when God’s great clean-up of the world begins? Sometimes called the eschaton or the parousia, the apocalypse or the end-times – Christianity proclaims that there is new world coming. Instead of the pain and injustice of this life, Jesus will return and there will be a new creation. But for most Christians, there is little sense of urgency about the end of the world as we know it. We feel fine. But the early believers, including those who first received this letter to the Romans, anticipated the return of Christ very soon. They imagined a world set to rights, with God’s justice for everyone. They weren’t doing any long-range planning – they were just holding firm until their beloved Christ returned to establish a new kingdom. They might be surprised that we are still waiting. In a relatively free and prosperous nation, while the COVID is still hanging on and staying, most of us don’t live with a sense of urgency. But for people living under life threatening situations, the need for divine justice is real and pressing. Food, medicine, warmth and security are so difficult to obtain, yet in God’s future they will be freely available to all. We can’t hasten the day of Jesus’ return. But, if we believe in the world to come, we can start acting like it is here now.
It is Christmas time, a season of great hope. Jesus our Saviour came to a lost world and brought us the Hope of being found again in the grace of God. He came to a blind and a deaf world and brought us the Hope of restored spiritual sight and sound, so we should see again and hear his voice again. It’s a season of HOPE.
The passage that we read this morning from Romans 15, looking particularly at verses 12 and 13, is full of information about the Christian hope. As we examine the statements that are made, we will see what it has to say, to greatly encourage us today.
Firstly, at the end of verse 12, Paul quotes from the prophet Isaiah and says:
1. “The Gentiles will hope in Him.”
Isaiah was writing here of Jesus (“the root of Jesse“). And the first thing we must note about all Christian hope is that it always looks to Jesus as its focus. He is the centre.
Our hope looks to Jesus:
a. For eternity
Proverbs 23:17-18 says: “Do not let your heart envy sinners, but always be zealous for the fear of the Lord. There is surely a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off.”
Our ultimate Hope is an eternity with the Lord – we believe in the resurrection of the dead, and that Jesus is coming again!
The Christian’s ultimate hope is not in this world. It’s a Hope of a better time and place.
But then, second, our Hope does look to Jesus:
b. For this life
Not only do we have One who will walk through the veil of death with us – but we have One who is beside us every step of the way in this life. Our Hope is not in men and what they can do for us – it is fixed on Christ. Our Hope looks to Jesus. “In Him the gentiles shall hope!“
Then, notice, the first phrase of verse 13 which says:
2. “May the God of hope . . .”
This implies several things about our God:
a. His nature is hopeful.
God is, by nature, full of hope. He is a hopeful God.
Romans 8:20 says these remarkable words: “For the creation was subjected for frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it in Hope“. In other words, because of sin this world has been subjected to a process of deterioration God could have destroyed this entire creation and started again, but He didn’t. He chose instead to subject it to uselessness in the hope of His salvation plan coming to fulfilment.
He is the God of HOPE. When all others would have seen no other option but to destroy the world because of sin, the God of all Hope saw another way! By nature, He is Hopeful.
b. He is the supplier of Hope to us.
As “the God of Hope” He is able to pour His hope into our lives – all the hope we’ll ever need. He is our resource in times should our Hope begin to fade and vanish.
If we’ve lost sight of our great hope in Christ, we must go to God. Ask Him to restore to us the Joy of His salvation – He’ll fill us with His great hope if we call on Him.
Not only is He the God of Hope by nature, and not only does He supply us with our Hope:
c. He has initiated the great hope.
Note that in the original Greek text, the word “Hope” here has the article. So, it literally reads: “Now may the God of the Hope …” He is the God who has sent Jesus to bring salvation’s plan. God drew up the blueprint of this wondrous plan of redemption through His Son on the drawing boards of Heaven before the foundation of the world! He has initiated this great Hope.
He is truly “The God of Hope“.
Then, note the next phrase:
3. “…fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him“.
Have you ever heard some people talking about their hopes for the future, and all it seems to be is a reason for misery and discontent now? “Oh, one day it will all come together for me. Then it will be wonderful. And I’m going to be miserable right up until that day!“
That is not the Christian position! We look forward to an eternal Hope that is far better than what we have here – but we’re not waiting for it miserably, full of discontent.
Because our hope is an absolute certainty, we have Joy and Peace Now! Eternal Life for us has already begun! Romans 12:12 says we live “rejoicing in hope”.
Jesus words are clear that “Because the Kingdom of God is within you . . .” (Luke 17:21). And in Romans 14:17 it says: “. . . for the Kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit“. These are the things that are to characterise our lives – Not misery and discontent!
Our living Hope should keep us constantly in Joy and Peace.
Then, moving on to the next phrase of our text (Romans 15:13) we read:
4. “… that you may overflow with hope“
This word “overflow” means pouring out of our lives to affect others. The hope that we have in Jesus should be contagious!
The Early Church demonstrated this abundance of Hope. Whenever they would greet another believer, they would say “Maranatha” – “the Lord is coming!” They expected Him daily; they lived in that hope.
“That you may overflow with Hope“.
Then, this brings us to the last phrase of our text – that you may abound in Hope:
5. “…by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
We receive this hope, and we live in this hope, we keep this hope alive, by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Our overflowing hope is created and released in our lives by the dynamic energies of the Holy Spirit at work within us. It is the Spirit who enables believers to experience in this life the blessings of the life to come. We need this overflowing and abundant hope to carry us so the Spirit of God energises us with it.
Spirit-filled Christians ought to be the most Hopeful people in the whole world! For we claim to have the Spirit in the greatest measure.
I pray that we will be a people who: “. . . overflow in Hope by the power of the Holy Spirit“.
We have seen five great points from this passage about this Hope we have as Christians.
The sight, the source, the serenity, the sufficiency and the supply of our Hope.
We receive this overflowing Hope by the Spirit’s power at work in our lives.
May our lives be characterised by Godly Hope. And may people be touched as they see in our lives “Christ in us . . . the Hope of glory“. Jesus is our Hope.
Amen!