Pastoral Letter 170

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

Grace and Peace to you all

This weekend is special for me, as Monday 19 June marks the 40th anniversary of my graduation from the Near School of Theology in Beirut. Then, 19 June 1983 was a Sunday, a day I never forget when six students, three Armenian Evangelical, one Armenian Orthodox celibate priest, one Sudanese pastor and one from Nigeria, graduated from the seminary. Three received their Batchelor of Theology degrees while three of us received Masters in Divinity. Still Beirut was under the shadow of the civil war, which caused many difficult and unsafe days as we were doing our training, often under candle lights and in the shelters. On that day my seven years of training ended, as I was preparing to commence my first ministry on 1 July in Northern Syria, serving four congregations in the Kessab region. I was just 25 years old, an inexperienced Minister of the Word. But by God’s grace I served two years in Syria then headed back to Beirut to another placement for four years, followed by four years and few months served as the General Secretary of the Union of the Armenian Evangelical Churches in the Near East till September 1993, when we moved to Sydney to serve in the Willoughby Armenian Evangelical Uniting Church, which went on for seventeen years and since June 2011 when I commenced here at St. Andrew’s.

As I look back to the past forty years, I see God’s grace, blessing, the prayers of many faithful people and the unreserved support of my family. Today I give thanks to God and bless His name. Thank you too, St. Andrew’s people, for welcoming me with open arms and accepting me to be your pastor for the last 11 years and two more to go. I feel privileged to serve you and work with you, as we do our best to keep the flame burning and do this as long as we can for His glory. Thanks to all of you, for your confidence in me, prayers and unconditional support. We have come a long way and I hope and pray that the coming two years will be as fruitful as it was the last 11 years.

Next Sunday, Lane Cove Uniting folks will join us to have our Combined Service on the occasion of the UCA Anniversary. Please plan to be here, as we welcome our guests and celebrate with them and give thanks for the 46 years of Uniting Church service for the glory of God. I have already prepared the Service, LCU new Chaplain Liam McKenna will preach, Rick and I will lead. Following the service, we will have a Morning Tea and a time of fellowship with our sisters and brothers from Lane Cove Uniting.

If you will not be able to be with us tomorrow morning Worship Service, please light a candle, and join us following the attached Order of Service.

Be safe and well, continue to pray, remembering those who need care, support and love. Please let me know if you or anyone else has prayer points.

Here are some prayer points for this week:

  1. Pray for world peace and ask for God’s blessings.
  2. Pray for persecuted people who are abused, terrorised and facing hardship.
  3. Pray for the poor, the sick, the vulnerable, the struggling and the stressed.
  4. Pray for those who are facing natural disasters causing death, loss and pain.
  5. Pray for Ned and Adrienne, the Cholakyan and the Artinian families, as they mourn the loss of their sister Berjouhie Artinain.
  6. Pray for Soo-Tee as he is hospitalised in ICU with hearth condition and ask God for his quick recovery. Pray for Mary and the family.
  7. Pray to God with praise and thanksgiving for Soo-Tee’s and Mary’s daughter in law, Simon’s wife, Brigitte’s miraculous healing from cancer. Praise the Lord.
  8. Pray for our coming Combined Service with LCU.

Best Regards,

Krikor

MESSAGE

God’s Promise Kept

Genesis 18:1-15 &21:1-7 Romans 5:1-8

If you were asked, why you love the Lord, what will be your answer?

Will it be, He heard and answered my prayer as the Psalmist says? (Psalm 116:1).

What would I have to say for myself if my prayers had not been answered in the way that I had hoped for?

Will it be, He doesn’t hear and answer my prayers and He doesn’t care, as many people say?

Experience teaches us that there will be such times when we will feel abandoned, but our love must rise above that: we should be like Job, who said: “Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him” (Job 13:15).

The response of the Psalmist to this question does not stop at what he has experienced: but moves through to promise (Psalm 116:2) and celebration (Psalm 116:16-17).

As Christians our response should be: “I love the Lord because he turned his ear to me, and I will call on him as long as I live” (Psalm 116:2).

Surely there were times when we turned to God with our requests and petitions, He answered our prayers and gave what we needed, even if those things were not in the way that we asked for. We must be sure that God is good; He loves and cares for us. He is always there to listen to us and our prayers and give all we need, but always according to His will and for our own benefit.  All we need to do is to trust Him, be loyal to Him and be ready to surrender everything to Him. 

But it is not just what we ask in our prayers and expect Him to hear us the way we want, but we should be aware that when God makes a promise, He usually keeps it and always gives what we need and what is good for us in His time, not ours.

In our first reading today, we read about a big promise that God did to Abraham and Sarah, though it seemed impossible, ridiculous and funny and gave a reason to Sarah to laugh. But it was a big promise that God made as a follow up to His earlier Covenant that He had done with Abram/Abraham.

1. The promise

This passage describes an encounter in which the Lord (Yahweh) appeared unto Abraham when he was having his siesta “in the heat of the day.” When he lifted up his head, suddenly, there were three men standing by him. He “hurried” to meet them from the tent door and bowed low to the ground.

Abraham addressed his speech to the “Adonai” my Lord (singular). He begged: “If I have found favour in thy eyes, do not pass your servant by.” He offered “a little water” to wash their feet, “rest” under the tree, and something to eat.

One of the marks of true Christianity is hospitality. Jesus singled out our attitudes to the hungry, the thirsty, and the stranger, when He was separating the ‘sheep’ from the ‘goats’ as we read in Matthew 25:34-35. Paul suggested that “given to hospitality” is a qualification for an overseer (1 Timothy 3:2; Titus 1:8).

His offer of hospitality being accepted, Abraham “hurried” into the tent to Sarah, telling her to bake some bread. Then he ran unto the herd to choose out a suitable calf and gave it to one of his young men to prepare. Then Abraham personally served his guests and stood by them under the tree while they ate (Gen. 18:5-8).

We may wonder here whether Abraham was “unaware” that he was “entertaining angels” (Hebrews 13:2). We are not sure. And the narrative itself quickly moves on to the subject of Sarah’s long promised but yet to be conceived son.

They asked him: “Where is Sarah thy wife?” Abraham seemed unsurprised that they knew his wife’s name and said: “There, in the tent”.

Then the Lord said: “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son”. When Sarah overheard what the Lord had said as she stood behind Him in the tent door she laughed, because it had been a very long time already and it seemed impossible thinking that they were very old to have a child. But the promise of the Lord was there.

2. The promise fulfilled or kept

In the previous chapter we read that when Abraham had first heard that Sarah was to have a son, he “fell upon his face and laughed”. When the promise was repeated, Sarah “laughed within herself”. However, nothing is too hard for the Lord. In Luke we read when Gabriel foretold Mary that she will have a child and she was puzzled, the angel said: “Nothing is impossible with God”. What God has promised, He will fulfil.

The Lord visited Sarah as He had said and did what He had spoken (Genesis 21:1). It all happened at the set time, exactly how the Lord had promised (Genesis 21:2). The sense of amazement continued as Abraham named his son “Isaac” and circumcised him after eight days, as God had commanded him.

The name “Isaac” means, “he shall laugh.” Now the laughter turned from scepticism to celebration as Sarah shared the story with her neighbours, that they may also laugh with her.

When God makes a promise, He fulfills. The fulfillment brings joy and laughter to us, assuring that God is good and He is in control. As long as we do the right things, say the right things and outlive our faith in practical ways, God keeps His promises, and all our acts are considered to be acts of righteousness. All who believe in God like Abraham are accounted as righteous (Romans 4:5). So, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God” (Romans 5:1a).

Isaiah spoke of this long beforehand: “The fruit of righteousness will be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and confidence forever” (Isaiah 32:17). Now, what peace is this but “peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1b)? Peace with the Father, through the care of the Son at great cost to Himself.

How was this peace accomplished? Well to answer this question, again we do not have to look far beyond the preceding context. Righteousness “will be credited to us who believe in Him who raised Jesus from the dead, who was delivered over to death for our sins, and was raised to life for our justification” (Romans 4:24-25).

So, peace with God is the retrospective fruit of our having been justified by faith in God’s Son. Our being able to make our stand in grace is the present fruit of our justification by faith in God’s Son. And our boast in hope of the glory of God points to the prospective fruit of our justification by faith in God’s Son.

God has a plan to bless, prosper, save, heal, and restore us in His time. In Genesis 12:2-3 God told Abraham: “I will bless you“. That was His promise to Abraham. It is always God’s plan to bless His people, and this is true of us as well. Last Sunday we saw God commanded Abraham to leave his country and his people. Abraham was seventy-five years old, when he left Ur. When Abraham obeyed and left, had no land or children. God appeared to Abraham and promised to give him both land and children. Years passed, Abraham did not receive either land or children. He made a servant his heir. God appeared again to Abraham and promised that not only would he have many children, but that a son would come from his own body to be his heir. Abraham was ninety-nine years of age when his son Isaac was born.

God’s blessing comes at a set time and in His way. He knows our names. He knows our problems. He knows our thoughts. God knows everything, including our sin of unbelief, our weaknesses and all our faults. But He comes to us with His Power to keep and fulfill His promises.

Now again this question: “Is anything too hard for God?” We see this question, repeated throughout the Scriptures, particularly in Jeremiah 32:17, 27; Zechariah 8:6; and Luke 1:37.

And what is the answer? No. Nothing is hard for God,

Because of all His Grace, He wants to bless us.

God wants to bless us, and He is willing and able to help us in all our problems. He is the Lord almighty, and nothing is too hard for Him. Today He is saying to us: “The time has come–the time for blessing, the time for joy, the time for laughter.” Genesis 12:3 “All the peoples of the earth will be blessed through you.” God wants to bless us today.

Friends hold on to the hope God gives us. Keep your eyes on Him. In the end You will never be disappointed.

Amen!