Pastoral Letter 60

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

Grace and peace to you all.

After celebrating the glorious resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ last Sunday, we go into the next season towards Pentecost Sunday. From Scripture we learn that the next 40 days leads us to the Ascension and the following ten days takes us to the Pentecost Sunday, the day when we celebrate the birth of the Church with a clear mandate to be His witnesses in the world.

We are grateful to God and pleased that things are moving to more normal circumstances, as we have already commenced our weekly programs and look forward to more to come.

Regardless, I will continue to send around a brief letter, Order of Service and the summary of Sunday’s message, for those who will not be able to come in person for face-to-face church service. If that’s the case, please join us following the Order of Service that you have received, light a candle and pray with us.

Be well and pray for others.

Krikor

MESSAGE

Don’t Doubt. But Believe!

John 20:19-31 1 Peter 1:1-9

After His resurrection, Jesus appeared to all of the disciples in the upper room, but Thomas had the misfortune to be away. When he returned to the group they were all so excited about their encounter with the risen Christ. But Thomas looked at his colleagues and made the claim: “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe”.

This is typical for human beings. We want to be sure first before committing ourselves to anything; be it making a deal, signing a document, buying food or clothing, we want to be certain before taking any risks. Sometimes even close friends or family members will tell us, but we want to be the ones who have the proof to accept something and believe in it.

In our gospel reading today, we see that a week later Jesus appeared again and He directly confronted Thomas’ doubt by telling him to touch the mark of the nails, to make sure that it is Him, who stands before him, resurrected from the dead, as He had promised earlier that He would do. Thomas believed and said: “My Lord and my God”. Jesus criticised Thomas for believing only after seeing with his own eyes, stating that we are truly blessed when we believe without seeing.

Faith is powerful and it is what we are required to have in our Christian walk with Christ with the guidance of the Holy Ghost. We have faith in the fact that Christ was and is God Himself.

As we look to our first reading from 1 Peter, we see that it shows us the three things that we must have for our Christianity to be real and lasting.

1.  Faith in God’s Power and Providence

Providence – the protective care of God or of nature as a spiritual power. (v.1-4)

a. God knew us and chose us long ago to make us His own people, who believe and trust Him alone.

b. He makes us holy. We obey Him and are cleansed by the blood of Jesus. Peter says for being obedient, may God give us more and more grace and peace. It is through our obedience that we prove to be followers of Christ and gain more grace and peace. Belief and obedience are faith.

c. God has given us a priceless inheritance. God is to receive all of our praise because of His great mercy that we have been born again. God raised Jesus from the dead. Peter says, now we live with a great expectation! I am expecting the coming of Christ and I am expecting to inherit the Kingdom of God!

2. Faith in God’s Protection (v.5-9)

a. Through our faith God is protecting us. God protects by His power until we receive salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see!

b. There is wonderful joy ahead. It is our promise!

c. Genuine faith is like fire. Trials show our faith is genuine. Our faith is being tested in our trials just like fire tests and purifies gold. Our faith is much more precious than gold. When our faith is tested and we remain strong in our faith, we will receive glory and honour on the day when Jesus is revealed to the whole world!

d. Trust in the unseen and the reward is great. We love Him even though we haven’t seen Him. Though we don’t see Him, we trust Him. We rejoice with joy and the reward for trusting Him will be salvation for our souls!

3. Faith in God’s Salvation (v.10-12)

a. Even the prophets wanted to know more about salvation. They realized that His salvation was so graciously prepared for us because we did nothing to deserve it. They couldn’t quite grasp it.

b. They wondered about the time and situation. They couldn’t understand how God told them in advance about Christ’s suffering and His great glory afterward. They couldn’t understand how His beginning and ending would be so different. Coming to suffer and die but reigning in Glory forever and taking us there with Him.

c. The prophet’s messages and the good news preaching are for us! The Good News has been announced to us by those who preached in the power of the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. As we saw last Sunday, Mary Magdalene, Peter, the other disciples and the rest of the disciples and the followers were those witnesses, who proclaim the Good News, that Jesus is risen, and He is well and alive. Even the angels are eagerly watching these things happen because these things are so wonderful.

So have…

Faith in God’s Power and Providence

Faith in God’s Protection

Faith in God’s Salvation

Because…

True Faith equals Salvation and should replace doubt.

This is the realm of faith. You can doubt, but at some point, you must make your stand. You have got to believe.

Jesus tells Thomas to reach out his hand. The Greek word for reach is fero. It means to be carried, to be borne with the suggestion of force or speed.

That is what we need to do. Reach out toward Jesus.

Reach for the risen Christ and know His power beyond all doubt.

On this Sunday, which is accepted generally as Thomas’ Sunday, we are challenged by the Lord not to doubt, but to believe.

Believe that He is the Lord, who died for our sake and was risen from the dead to give us eternal life and prepare a special place for us in His Kingdom.

With these thoughts let’s come before our Lord and say in full confidence and faith: “My Lord and my God”.

Amen.