Pastoral Letter 216
Dear Members of St. Andrew’s Uniting Church, Friends and Adherents,
Grace and peace to you all in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Some of us had a fabulous week at Shoalhaven Heads on the south coast, as we travelled around the area enjoying the landscape, forest and ocean scenery, with a beautiful weather. Last Sunday morning, we joined the congregation at Berry Uniting Church, where we were made to feel most welcomed during the service and the fellowship time at Morning Tea. Those who were not with us on the trip, joined Crows Nest for worship. We are glad to have a safe trip as we drove around and returned with no unpleasant incidents.
We are glad that our organist, Mark, is back with us after touring for two months with Barbara in Canada. From the photos that Mark sent to us regularly, we are sure that they had a good time and are happy for their safe return.
Next Sunday 16 June 2024, the new Sydney Central Coast Presbytery Minister Rev. Punam Bent we will be joining us for Sunday Service. She will preach during the worship and stay for Morning Tea. She will be happy to take questions about any concerns we have in regard the future of our church ministry.
Also, note that on Sunday 23 June at 9:30 am, we will have Combined Service with Lane Cove Uniting Church here at St. Andrew’s, celebrating the 47th Anniversary of the Uniting Church. Our guest preacher will be Mr. Jim Mien, who was baptised here in our church many years ago. Please make an extra effort to be here with us for both worship services the next two Sundays.
Our traditional Annual Market Morning is fast approaching, which is on Saturday 3 August from 8:00 am to 1:00 pm and we are in the process of preparations. We are glad that Dee has taken the responsibility to co-ordinate, as Virginia struggles with her health. Now it’s time to bring in our donations and let people around us know that we are happy to receive goods for the upcoming Market Morning. I am sure that we will be able to get good results as usual and allocate some money for charitable purposes. Please be available the week commencing on Monday 29 July for set up. Our aim this year is “everything should go!”.
Please continue to pray for those who are going through difficult and tough times, seeking God’s presence, help and healing.
Please let me know if you or anyone else has prayer points.
If you are not able to join us tomorrow for worship, please light a candle, have a small roll of bread and a small cup of wine for communion and worship with us following to the attached Order of Service.
Here are some prayer points for this week:
- Pray for those who were affected by the recent torrential rains and the floods.
- Pray for the Middle East, and the conflict between Israel and Palestine.
- Pray for the people Artsakh who are refugees in different parts of Armenia facing many challenges.
- Pray for the poor, the sick, the struggling and the stressed.
- Pray for Virginia, as she is undergoing further chemo therapy.
Best Regards
In Christ
Krikor
MESSAGE
People Choose! – Rejecting God
1 Samuel 8:1-12 and 2 Corinthians 413-5:1
The Book of First Samuel is really an exciting book. It’s a book that’s packed with action. There’s not a whole lot of “Law” and rules and regulations but a bunch of stories of how God’s people over and over again, ruined God’s plan to prosper, to bless them, to protect them and to lead them to peace and to victory. And here, in chapter 8, they do it again.
For over 300 years, God had been Israel’s king. It was God who had led them out of Egypt and through the wilderness. It was God who had brought them through the Red Sea, the Jordan River into the Promised Land, and given them victory over all the other nations who lived there.
Yes, God had been a faithful and mighty king for the people of Israel.
Yet, the people of Israel weren’t satisfied. Why?
Because they wanted a king they could look at. Till then they took their orders from the Ark of the Covenant, a box made out of acacia wood and covered with gold. Once a year, the High Priest went inside this room that was covered with a curtain and he sprinkled blood all over this box and asked this box to forgive them. This was a strange practice, and they just wanted to be normal, like everybody else.
But it was never God’s intention for His people to be normal. Because God knew that normal wasn’t all that good. So, right from the very beginning, God told His people that He didn’t want them to be “normal.” He told them that He wanted them to be “different”. The Aldi supermarket would say: “Good Different”. Look at Leviticus 18:3. God tells them:” Do not follow the practices of the land of Egypt, where you used to live, or follow the practices of the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you. You must not follow their customs.”
Here we see the Israelites again, rejecting God’s desire for them to be different, and in so doing, rejecting God Himself. And in verse 7, God says to Samuel, it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king.
The scary thing is that the Israelites didn’t realize that they were rejecting God. Even though Samuel told them they were, they didn’t see it because they had been blinded by their own selfish desires. They wanted what they wanted, when they wanted it, and they weren’t going to take “No” for an answer.
Today our culture teaches us to get what we want, the way we want it, and to get it immediately. We get what we want, and we get it now. We are called to be different. And yet, often Christians forget about being different, forget about God’s call on their lives, and just, live like a normal human being.
That’s dangerous when we start to reject God. We’re not rejecting a church or rejecting a preacher. We’re rejecting God. And the scary thing is that we don’t realize that’s what we’re doing. But we are making bad decisions.
And so, there are 4 ways that we can tell that they were making a bad decision or wrong choices.
1. Assuming that there’s a better way than God’s Way
Again, God had been Israel’s king. And as long as Israel followed God’s commands, they were blessed. In fact, they never lost one battle when they followed what God told them to do. Not one. God told them to walk around the walls of Jericho for seven days. They did and the walls fell on that seventh day. Military strength couldn’t accomplish that. But God did. And God did countless other miracles on behalf of the Israelites as well. And as long as they followed God’s orders, they won. They were undefeated. And yet, even though Israel knew that they wanted to be normal. And so, they asked for a “normal” king. And God gave it to them. Look at 1 Samuel 12:12-13.
1 Samuel 12:12-13 “…you said to me, ’No, we want a king to rule over us’– even though the Lord your God was your king. Now here is the king you have chosen, the one you asked for; see, the Lord has set a king over you.”
And they thought things would be better their way than God’s way.
2. Making excuses justifying their sin
Notice what the Israelites said in verse 5.
1 Samuel 8:5 “…You are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.”
But then, look what they say in 1 Samuel 8:19-20.
“…We want a king over us. Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.”
And so, another sign that you’re rejecting God is when you begin to make excuses to justify your own sinfulness.
There was a problem with Samuel’s sons. They were corrupt. And Samuel was getting old. God was not denying that. But that wasn’t the real reason they wanted a king. That was just their excuse to justify their own sinful actions.
3. Disregarding the consequences of their actions
Samuel spent 8 verses warning the Israelites of the consequences of their actions. He told them all the downsides of having a king. He told them the king would use them and be a burden to them. He also told them that they would end up being the king’s slaves. And he says, in 1 Samuel 8:18:
“When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, and the Lord will not answer you in that day.”
There are consequences to our actions.
And so, if you’re sowing sin into your life, don’t be surprised when you begin to endure the consequences for such actions.
4. They worry more about how they look than how they’re doing
The Israelites weren’t concerned about the spiritual state of their country. They were just concerned with how they looked to other people. They said: “Then we will be like all the other nations… “1 Sam 8:20
Again, they were tired of being looked at as fools. They were tired of having an invisible god who wouldn’t let them make images of Him in order to worship Him. And they were tired of not having somebody to point to as their leader.
They were tired of being different. And so, their concern was not, “How do we get better?” It was, “How can we make ourselves look better.”
This was really rejecting God.
People always have the inclination to reject God by making wrong choices or choosing the wrong things; things that could harm them and are good for nothing.
Mark 3:20-30 describes a challenge coming from some teachers of the law who we would expect to oppose Jesus’ authority at every opportunity. It is evident that they accept without question His ability to heal and to drive out Demons. They made no attempt to challenge His ability because they would be recognised as fools by the crowd if they did so. They were faced then with a dilemma because they must find a way to prevent the crowd from continuing to follow and be disciples of Jesus.
So, they accuse Him openly of being possessed by Satan.
As so often was the case when Jesus was challenged by lawyers; those lawyers imagined that they had either trapped Him or caught Him out in a way that will discredit Him when he replied. They were wrong! In a few words and a short parable Jesus let them know that any involvement He has with Satan is in the war against him. The absurdity and the nonsense of their accusation was quickly identified.
The truth of His words in verses 24 to 26 is overwhelming. The kingdom divided against itself cannot stand; a house divided against itself cannot stand and Satan, if he opposes himself is doomed. These are simple truths that would have been obviously correct then, exactly as they would be throughout history. So many empires and organisations have fallen as a result of disunity rather than defeat by an external power.
Jesus tells them the parable: “In fact, no one can enter a strong man’s house without first tying him up. Then he can plunder the strong man’s house”.
Satan’s strength is undeniable, but the authority of Jesus over everything that exists is absolute.
And that should be enough for them not to reject His authority and accept Him to be the One who was promised to be sent by God.
Let us not reject God and His Son, our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Amen!