Pastoral Letter 49

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

Love, grace and peace to you all.

Almost all the states have opened their borders and many are looking forward to visiting their loved ones. This means that sooner rather than later, we will reopen our doors for our Sunday Services and hopefully for our regular weekly activities.

Let’s pray and hope for better days to come and keep our faith and trust in our God, who is in control.

I am looking forward to a break during my leave in February. The majority of the time I will be home, but Dee and I will have a short trip for five days to Jindabyne. Many thanks to our dear friend, Bob Minton, who will cover for me during my leave and take three Sunday Worships 7, 14 and 21 February. The Sunday 7 February Service will be the way that we are doing, and you will have worship at home, with Communion. For the other two Sundays, we will let you know after the Elders’ and Church Council meeting to be held on Wednesday February 3.

In the meantime, please join the others on Sunday morning for worship as we have done for many months now. Thanks to Mark for faithfully suggesting and sending hymns to include in the Order of the Service.

Pray for Esther for her medical issues and quick recovery. She is having some complications, making her condition serious and in need of intensive care.

Pray for Philip, Alison and the family for their loss, their Mum, Bette Graham, whose funeral took place on Friday morning at Macquarie Cemetery Crematorium. She will be missed.

Please continue to pray and put your trust in God, the Father who loves us and is with us always.

We still have some Christmas candles and candle holders, as well as 2021 Calendars. They are on the table in the foyer. When you are around, please come in and take yours, and one or more calendars to give away.

Krikor

NOTE: I am sending one more hymn, “Let the Lower Lights burning”, four voices sung by the same person. I am sure you will enjoy it.

Message

God Has Spoken

The Power of His Word

Mark 1:21-28

We use words to communicate with others. We say them or write them down. Nowadays we use words more in a letter, message or text form to express what we have in our minds or tell people and talk with them about important issues, which include, world and local politics, discuss the economy, express our feelings or ideas, love or hate, etc.

We live in a world of words. Words are all about us, words on TV, words on the radio, spoken words by family and friends, words printed in newspapers, books, on computers, and words on the Internet, email, text messages, WhatsApp, etc. The world of words has turned us into a people who have been overwhelmed, suffocated, gagged and buried in the mounting pile of words. With so many words around us, unfortunately words tend to lose their meaning, they become unimportant, and they no longer have any real value or influence in life.

And there are some words which have more power than others.

A Pastor has said the following about words: “It was in the early years of my ministry that one Sunday preaching my sermon and I had just gotten well into the sermon, when a baby started to cry down in one of the front pews. The mother, very much embarrassed, snatched up the baby and started out the aisle. I stopped right in my sermon, and I said, ’Madam you don’t have to take that baby out. He isn’t bothering me.’ She said, ’No?’ Well, you’re certainly bothering him.’”

I hope my words are not bothering you every Sunday. After all they are not my words; they are God’s. Sometimes we can get bothered when God speaks. Words do have power, especially God’s words.

We are caught up in a sea, a world of words. Some words do have special power and authority; others have no meaning at all. Sometimes our words only have meaning, power and authority, because of the listener, or because of the speaker.

In today’s gospel lesson, we learn how Jesus spoke God’s word and how that word had authority, power and hope for living. I would like to look at Jesus’ words this morning and see because they are God’s words incarnate in this world, these words take on a special distinction for our lives.

How do Jesus’ words have authority, power, and hope for the future?

If we look closely to this passage and similar passages, it becomes clear to us the following three points:

1- Authority

Our text says: “ And they were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law.” There was something very special about Jesus’ words. They were different from the scribes who usually taught in the synagogue. They would quote sayings from the past learned men, they would not offer any new truth, or new ideas, but the scribes would always reinforce what had been said before.

But Jesus came and spoke with authority. He didn’t quote any past learned men; He was the sole authority for His words. He had authority, the authority of God himself. For in John’s gospel in the prologue, it says: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth”.

God’s word, the word that God used to create at the beginning of time. The authoritative word of God that brought things into existence, that word was incarnate in Jesus. Jesus spoke with the authority, which was present from the beginning of time since the creation. John clearly puts this in the first lines of his gospel, when he states that the Word (Jesus) is God and He with the Triune God created the universe with the powerful words of “Let there be …”.

He spoke with authority, because that authority was given to Him as it was promised by God many years ago. As in our first reading from Deuteronomy we read: “I will raise for them a prophet like you from among their brothers; I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him”.

That authoritative word of Jesus was a word which knew what was needed and what was best for God’s children. It was a word of liberation, a word of comfort, a word of release, a word of pardon which Jesus spoke at the very beginning of his public ministry as in Mark 1:15: ““The time has come“, he said. “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news.”’’

At the present time, as we face many challenges, we need such words of great power, spoken in authority. Words that can help us to be encouraged, comforted and energised to move on in our lives in so many uncertainties. We need something to lean on as we undergo pressures of life and face misfortunes, disasters and pandemic.

Jesus announced through His presence, God’s kingdom is now present in this world. Those words stood tall among the people, because Jesus had the kind of authority, the kind of presence which allowed people to believe that His kingdom was indeed God’s kingdom.

Next, we see:

2 – The Power of Jesus as He spoke God’s word

The text says, “Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit cried out; “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God”. “Be quiet!” Said Jesus sternly, “Come out of him!” The evil spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek.”

There was a power in Jesus’ words, a power to bring healing strength and forgiveness into the life of that man. Also, with His words, Jesus brought that man into a relationship with Him. The power of Jesus’ words affects lives; for sure it affects our lives as well.

I have thought that these words of Jesus are similar to the forgiveness which is spoken at the beginning of each worship service where through the words, Jesus’ action of forgiveness reaches into our lives.

One author says: “Each week we assemble as the ones who carry the disease of sin. We cry out ’Son of God, have mercy on us.’ And Christ’s own powerful Word says, ’Arise, go forth and live. The demons obey Him, they are out and away. The grip of sin and death is broken. We are free to live as a new people of God.”

The cosmic battle of sin has been fought and Jesus has won. This victory over Satan was done on the cross of Calvary. But this battle continues day in and day out for each of us and we can escape from that reality. We live in a world where sin is ruling on the human beings and battling hard to stay in power. As we look around, we see the evil is in action, he is very busy, trying to lie to us, give false messages, urging us to do bad things instead of the good. Presses us to hate, instead of loving and taking care of our friends, neighbours and fellow men.

We can overcome all these struggles and trials through Christ and only through His powerful word and hope that we can win the battle we fight against the evil. It is only through His word and His word alone that victory for a brief moment is ours on this earth, until we be with Christ, our Lord and Saviour on that day.

3 – Word of Hope

Because Jesus has authority, because He has power, because His words do affect our lives, then we are people who can and do live with hope. Hope that things can be changed, things can be different, things, lives, people can be made whole through the authority and power of Jesus Christ. We can live life as victor instead of victims because of the hope we have in Jesus Christ to redeem our lives, to bring forth His authority and power in our everyday life.

Maxie Dunnam says in her book, Dancing at My Funeral: “I am dancing in the face of tragedy over which I have no control except to trust God and life and circumstance. I am able to live in the presence of death because I trust myself as a victor rather than a victim.“

There is hopefulness in life as we hear and become empowered by Jesus’ words.

A Sunday School teacher illustrated this concept of hopefulness in life by drawing on the blackboard two pathways.

In the middle of one she placed a large rock, covering the entire path.

At the end of the other path, she places a stairway, going upwards, and seeming over some obstacle and she continued the pathway on from the top of the stairs.

She pointed to the large rock: “All right” she asked “what’s the problem.”

Hands went up over the entire class: “Something is in the way,” one answered, another, “If people run into it, they’ll get hurt,” another, “It will turn people back.”

“Good,” said the teacher, “and what about this“, pointing to the stairs. The children thought a moment, then one said: “The stairway will let you keep on moving the way you want to go.”

Another said: “The stairway will take you little higher than you were before.”

And another said: “The stairs will let you move along one solid step at a time.”

Jesus is our stairway across the brokenness of life. He is solid because of His authority and power. He moves us a little higher, closer to Him, as we allow Him to bring hope, peace, power, authority, release, forgiveness, relief, renewal, and cleansing into our lives.

Because He is the son of God our stairway over and around the brokenness of the world, He also moves us closer to heaven and the promise of salvation which is ours through His life, death and resurrection.

In this world of words, there is one clear, loud, gracious word which stands out against all others and that is Jesus word of grace in our lives: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

Our need today is the authoritative, powerful and hopeful words of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ the Son of God. God has spoken. He has spoken through His men and women. He has spoken through His prophets and all those faithful servants, who have committed their lives to serve Him. Also, God has spoken with the power of His words. Every word and sentence that we read in the Scriptures, be it in the Old or the New Testament, proclaims God and His love and plan of salvation. His words come to us with authority and great power to give us hope, during difficult times and in the midst of life’s challenges.

Even though we cannot survive without the words of the TV, radio, newspapers, books, journals, computers, internet, email, texts, WhatsApp, tweets, Facebook, Instagram, family, friends, leaders and people on power, we definitely need the words of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, in whose name we have come together today and bring our prayers to the gracious Father.

In this world of words, God still speaks to us. We need to have hearing ears, to hear His voice and be ready to surrender not only our lives, but all our being, our thoughts, actions, relationships and life.

God has spoken, He is speaking, and He will continue to speak.

Will we respond to His call?

Amen!