Pastoral Letter 20

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

After another week, we are still unable to come together for Sunday Services and programs. Though the signs were good, positive and promising a few weeks ago, unfortunately, Victoria is facing a second wave and some areas are in lockdown. Some areas in NSW have also registered a number of cases. We do hope and pray that we don’t go through a second wave here in NSW, that will result again in lockdowns.

Let’s continue to pray and hope that things get better and that we come out safely on the other side.

We have decided not to reopen our doors for Sunday Services or other activities and continue what we have been doing in the same way we have done since mid-March. The Elders and the Church Council will meet again on the first Wednesday of August and revisit this matter to decide next steps.

Please join the other members tomorrow morning in worship, following the Order of Service. Thanks to Mark for his hymn suggestions this week. Do not forget to light a candle, if you wish, and enjoy singing the chosen hymns and praise God. Also, if you have any hymns to be included in our future Orders of Service, please let me know.

Praise God and trust in His precepts and instructions. Continue to pray and bring all you have in your heart to Him in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Please pray for Mark, as he has to go into St. George Private Hospital on Friday 24 July for a double hernia operation on both sides of his abdomen, after having sharp pain for some time. His GP has advised him to get this operation done. It will be only an overnight stay, so he will be able to go home on the Saturday.

Prayer points:

1. Pray for the congregations who have decided to reopen their doors. Pray for the safety of those who will attend and the leaders who have taken on board the responsibility of providing a safe space.
2. Pray for Mark, as he prepares for surgery next week.
3. Pray for Nan, as she is very frail and Wendy is looking for appropriate care, which Pathways does not offer.
4. Continue to pray for those countries who are still in the midst of the pandemic, where the number of cases of COVID-19 is still growing.
5. Pray for those who are struggling financially.
6. Pray for those who have lost loved ones and are still in pain.
7. Pray for those who are not well and lonely.
8. Pray for world peace.

If you have any prayer points, please let me know and I will include them in the next week’s letter.

Krikor

Your Minister

Message Summary

Jacob’s Ladder – Encounter with God

Genesis 28:10-22

Two young girls were talking, and one said she had ten dollars. The other girl looked at her hand and only saw five. She said: “You only have five dollars.” The first girl replied: “I have five and my father told me he would give me five more tonight. So, I have ten.”

She understood that her father’s promise was as good as done and he will surely give her the five dollars as he has promised.

Throughout the Scripture we see that God makes promises and He keeps them. There are many examples. God promised Abraham to make him father of nations and He did. God promised to deliver His people from bondage in Egypt and He did. God promised a land of milk and honey and prosperity and He did.

But most importantly God promised salvation to His people and He kept His promise. He made several attempts by sending leaders and prophets; some listened and obeyed, but as the Scripture says, the people ignored Him and His prophets and pursued their own desires, neglecting and rejecting Him.

God being faithful in His promises made the ultimate sacrifice by sending His Son, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to die and save the world. Fulfilling His great promise, He sealed a Covenant of Life once and for all. Therefore, Salvation is first and foremost about what God has done for His people and for us; and secondly about our response to what He has done. God’s promise fulfills only when our hope rests in His grace that our faith becomes unshakable and we have true assurance. The promises of God are unchanging, because He remembers the promises He makes, as He did with Abraham and Isaac. Now the turn has come to Jacob and He wants to reassure and reaffirm the faith to trust in God, as He has elected and selected a person to continue His plan according to His promise. His promises never change. That’s the lesson that Jacob had to learn, and that’s the lesson that the story of Jacob teaches us.

Today’s Bible passage makes this clear, that it has nothing to do with us and how good we are as people, or how well we serve, or anything at all like that. But it has everything to do with God, and His grace, His election, and His mercy. In Romans, Paul says: “God has mercy upon whom He wills…”. God does not think as we humans do. All He does is based on His great and everlasting love, grace and mercy, regardless of what we do or have done. God showed His mercy to Jacob, though Jacob was not the perfect guy. He tricked His father, asked for the birthright from his elder brother Esau and he was on his way to another place, escaping His brother. And that’s when God with His love, forgiveness and mercy, comes to meet Jacob at night in a dream.

Our passage talks about Jacob’s encounter with God. Jacob had just let his home. His father Isaac had sent him away, thanks to Rebekah’s plan. Because Rebekah knew that Esau was intending to kill him. But before Isaac sent Jacob away, he confirmed the blessing on him, and then sent him off to Haran, so that he could find a wife from Rebekah’s family. Jacob was on his own, but he didn’t like to be alone, he liked to have attention from others. But here we see him alone, isolated in the wilderness and it was dark. So, Jacob decided to camp and rest through the night, before continuing his journey to find a wife. And all of a sudden, he had a dream.

It is important to see how God came to Jacob in that instance. At that time, Jacob was not a spiritual person. He never really sought God, or even really shown a whole lot of interest in God. He was on his way to Haran, to find a wife, but more importantly; to escape his brother, and so it was not like he was taking leave or a spiritual pilgrimage or anything like that. He was on this trip for himself. And he was most likely not looking for God, or even expecting God to move in his life or to change his life. He was just doing what he had to do to get away from his brother Esau. Jacob had not seen the depths of his sin yet. He did not understand the totality of his wickedness, self-indulgence. In other words; Jacob did not realise his lostness yet. So, he was not looking for God in all of this. But God came looking for him. And the text tells us that God came to Jacob while he was asleep, and that was God’s way of stressing the passivity of Jacob in all of this. Jacob was asleep, but God was chasing him. God was pursuing him. God had other intentions. He was on His way to fulfill His promise He had given to Abraham, to make him the father of many nations. God’s plan was to make Jacob the nation of Israel, His people, with the twelve tribes.

Verse 12 tells us about the dream that Jacob had, and we see what we commonly call “Jacob’s Ladder.”

Two things to consider:

1. The Dream

It was a dream from the Lord that Jacob had, to show him something. Angels of God were ascending and descending the ladder, going up and down. And the LORD Himself was standing at the top of the ladder. That meant two things.

1. The ladder stood in direct contrast to the Tower of Babel. The Tower of Babel was man’s attempt to reach God. It represented all of man’s efforts, and man’s attempts to ascend to the heavens and be like gods. But here we see a ladder. The Hebrew word is “Sullam” or “Sullim”, which is more commonly translated as a stairway, or staircase. So, the Tower of Babel was and is man’s way, and this stairway was and is God’s way, a type of Christ. He’s the only way to God, as Jesus said: “I am the way”. And so, this vision was showing Jacob that there was and is a way to God, but it’s God’s way, not man’s or our way.
2. Then we see the angels going up and down. And what that’s showing us is the providential care of God. These angels were going back and forth, doing God’s will. God was at the top of the stairs, or the ladder, and that symbolised that He was and is the one sending these angels to do their part. God’s agents are fulfilling their task and playing the role of messenger or agents of God, representing Him in this world and embodying His presence.

God confirms His promise and assures Jacob that He will fulfill it. In verses 13-15 God told Jacob that He will give him and his descendants the land on which he was lying, and they will be like the dust of the earth. In other words, God Himself was confirming the blessing with no conditions on Jacob. This Covenant of Life was not conditional, it was purely grace, God’s grace. Therefore, the whole story of Jacob is a lesson to us on God’s grace. Grace is never about what we have done, or what we are doing, or even about what we will do. It is all about God showing us undeserved, unearned, unmerited favour and kindness. God initiated this whole encounter with Jacob, it was all His doing. We never saw Jacob in prayer, begging God to come and confirm the covenant. It was all God and He appeared to Jacob.

God confirmed the covenant with Jacob, and He gave him assurance by giving him His Word and His promises. That’s how we all come to trust God and grow in our relationship with Him. “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God” says Paul.

So, God did this. He did this by appearing to Jacob. He was right there, at the top of the ladder, where He was supposed to be, but He revealed Himself and confirmed His promise.

2. The Response

After God appeared to him in this dream, Jacob woke up and he responded by worship. He built an altar and worshiped the Lord. He called the place “Bethel” which literally means “The House of God!” In response to God’s action, Jacob made a vow. But Jacob’s was a conditional vow.

He said: “If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear so that I return safely to my father’s house, then the LORD will be my God, and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth.” He was basically saying: “God if You do what You just told me You’ll do, then You’ll be my God.”

We have to note a couple of things.

1. God is just. And being that, He is just, He is going to judge based on truth and knowledge. In the New Testament, when Zacharias was told that he was going to have a son and that he was to name him John (Luke 1), Zacharias had doubts and was made unable to talk for the next nine months. Here, Jacob was expressing doubt, and putting conditions on God, and nothing happens to him. But we have to remember, Zacharias was a priest. He had been taught the Scriptures from the time he was a little boy. He knew about God, and He knew that God keeps His Word. Zacharias was a believer and a teacher. Jacob on the other hand, was a little different. We can tell from the Scriptures that his knowledge of God was limited at best. He was not a priest of any kind or a teacher of God’s Word. In-fact, they didn’t even have any Scriptures at this time. They wouldn’t, until Moses wrote them down by inspiration of the Holy Spirit. So, Jacob didn’t have the luxury of opening his Bible and double checking what he had experienced in this dream. And this is important to us, because we do have God’s Word. We have grown up in a place where the influence of God’s Word and the Church is obvious. We have been in church for a long time. And we live in a nation that was greatly influenced by the Bible, and Biblical principles. Jacob was given a pass, because of his ignorance, but later on, more was required of him.
2. Jacob’s mention of the tithe. According to verse 22 we notice that he said: “God, of all that You give me I will give you a tenth.” In other words, Jacob was saying: “God if it is You who are giving me these things, and if it’s You who are blessing me. Then it’s no big deal for me to give back to You a tenth.”

This willingness of Jacob shows his commitment. He promised to God that he would worship Him, he would give Him Tithe, he would be His son and God would be his Father and God. This was his vow to God. A Vow of gratitude. Hence, Bethel is not the place of idol worship, but a place of prayer and offerings submitted to God. Vows are made at one’s own interest, never obligated, made as tax, but as free will. Jacob committed himself to pay tithe to God. Then it became a law during the time of Moses and prophets (Leviticus 27:30 and Malachi 3:10). Then it was practiced during the time of Kings (2 Chronicles 31:5). And Vows should not be broken (Numbers 30:2) not slow to pay (Deuteronomy 23:21). Solomon says do not delay fulfilling it (Ecclesiastes 5:4).

Jacob might have been a lot of things, but he understood what worship is, and he understood what ownership is. He understood that if God gave it, then God could take it away, and he understood that if it was God who was giving it, then that was the only reason he would have it in the first place. So, what we have, and what we have been blessed with, is from the Lord. If we have any success in life; we should never, ever think that we are the ones who are responsible for it. God gave us our minds, our ability to work, our health, and everything we have. And we should be thankful and grateful.

So, let’s go to the Lord in prayer and thank Him for all He’s done. May God help us to see the promises of God and our vows to Him.

Whatever we face in life, pain, threat, danger, sickness, hardship, economic crisis or any other challenge, we must be rest assured that God has promised to be with us and provide all our needs. He has already done so much for us and blessed our and the lives of our dear ones with so many blessings and He promise to continue to do again and again. All we have to do is believe in Him and trust He will continue to bless us and help us on the way.

We should learn from Jacob’s encounter with God and may be learn more from the little girl in the opening story, that what we have in our hands and possession will be doubled and multiplied, because God Himself has promised to do so.

Let us have our own “ladder dreams”, ascertaining us that God is always with us to help and give all we need and vow to respond in gratitude for all He has done for us and provided to us.

Amen!