Pastoral Letter 63

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

Grace and peace to you all.

With great sorrow and sadness, we have received the news of Don Murden’s passing away, which happened on Thursday 29 April. Don’s funeral will be a private family service, but later there will be thanksgiving, we will let you know.  At the moment Margaret prefers not to take phone calls at least for a few days. I called her son, Mark, and expressed our condolences and sympathies and asked if we can do anything to help and promised that we will remember them in our prayers.

We feel deeply sorry for Margaret, Karen and Mark on their loss of husband and father and pray to God to comfort them in the pain and sorrow with the comfort of the Holy Spirit. We are sure that Don will be missed greatly.

On another note, we are having our Mother’s Day Munch tomorrow after the Church Service and Morning Tea to honour the mothers a week before the official Mother’s Day to let you have your family gatherings.

Also, if you are not able to come in person to this Sunday’s face-to-face worship, please join us following the Order of Service that you have received, light a candle, have a small roll of bread, a small cup of wine/juice and pray with us.

Be well and pray for Margaret, the Murden family and for all those who need our care, support and prayers.

Krikor

MESSAGE

The Perfect Love

1 John 4:7-21

There was a Scottish minister who used to repeat these words every Sunday at the start of the Sunday Service from the beginning of 1 John 4:7 – “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God.”

This is one of the tests of true Christianity. We cannot claim to have the love of God in our hearts, nor can we claim to love God, if we do not love our fellow-believers in Christ. If we love one another, then it is evident that we are true servants of the God of Love.

A few weeks ago, Dee and I were invited to a wedding and at the start of the reception, I was asked to say a few words and grace. I said that on similar occasions we talk a lot about love and feel that the atmosphere is full of love. The music usually includes the song “Love is in the Air”, and the speeches usually talk about the love between the couple that brought them together. But we should recall that from the beginning God created the universe, as well as man and woman, as an expression of His love. And since that moment God has always expressed His love towards humanity and the ultimate expression of His love was in the sending of His Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ to this world, for He so loved us.

Yes, love was and still is in the air and around us since the beginning, to have and to hold, as couples would vow during their wedding ceremony. It is all about love.

Jesus was once asked: ‘Which is the greatest commandment?’ To which He replied: ‘To love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And this is like it; ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’ (Matthew 22:35-40).

Love is not just a sentiment, but something which is active. ‘Let us do good to all people,’ said the Apostle Paul, ‘especially to those who belong to the family of believers’ (Galatians 6:10).

Jesus commanded His disciples to love one another. ‘By this all men will know that you are my disciples: if you love one for another’ (John 13:34-35).

It was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians. We could almost imagine the neighbours saying to one another ‘See how these Christians love one another.’ Love should always be what marks out Christians from others. Oh, how much we miss that today! How much the church misses that and the Christian world as well!

The person who is born of the God of love, the Christian, becomes like Christ in his love towards others. And Christ’s love is a sacrificial love.

There was no limit to the love which God showed us. He sent His only begotten Son into the World to live and to die, and to overcome death for us. The love of Jesus becomes the standard for our love. He who does not love does not know the God of love, for God is love.

Love has its origins not in the heart of man, but in the God of love. This love in God is so great, and perfect that He sent His Son into the world in order to be a sacrifice and pay all our debts for our sins. Jesus was the substitute on our behalf who paid the penalty for all our sins with His own life’s blood.

We receive the gift of God’s forgiveness through faith in the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Through the sacrifice of Jesus, the righteous God can pass over our sins without compromising His justice (Romans 3:25-26).

The beginning and source of our love for God, and for one another, is in the love which God first displayed to us in the beginning and later through His Son, Jesus Christ. We should know that God first loved us. We did not deserve His love. It was ‘while we were yet sinners’ that ‘Christ died for us’ (Romans 5:8). There is no greater manifestation of the love of God, the Perfect Love.

There was a man who wished to be accepted into the membership of a certain church in Scotland, and to partake of the communion from the Lord’s Table. The elders asked him to give an account of his faith, but being a simple man, he could not put it into words. However, the elders knew he was a man of God, and asked if he could say anything at all to convince them that he should be allowed to attend the Lord’s Table?

‘I love the brethren,’ replied the man.

We see God, not in images and pictures, but in such love abiding in Christian people. If we abide in love, we abide in God, for God is love. The faithful heart rests in God, and in the confession that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. God’s love is perfected in the hearts of His people, and He abides there.

The origin of love is found in God Himself. The demonstration of God’s love is seen in His sending of His Son to die for us. We love God because He first loved us.

God so loved the world that, when the fullness of time had come, He sent forth His Son to die on our behalf. By this act, fear was conquered from the hearts of believers. If we still live in fear of what the righteous God may do against us for our sins, we have not yet learned to dwell in His love. When we put our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, we find that God’s love is a present reality. And by faith we know that His love will see us safe through to the day of judgement.

It is an amazing experience to travel to different lands, and to meet with Christians from different backgrounds. Wherever the Christian goes, if there is a group of fellow believers in the Lord Jesus Christ in that place, the visitor is welcomed. People who never knew each other feel loved and welcomed because of the love of God which they hold in common.

The individual Christian has the love of God dwelling in his soul. In fact, this is the only way that the God of love may be seen: God dwells in His people by the Holy Spirit. Wherever we go, we meet God in our fellow Christians. We are brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus. It is a bond of love which has its fountain in God Himself.

The person who says, “I love God,” and yet hates his brother is described in the Bible as a liar. He who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.

He who loves God loves his brother also. This is a fact, but it is also a command. ‘This is My commandment,’ says Jesus, ‘that you love one another as I have loved you’ (John 15:12-13).

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God” (1 John 4:7).

This is the Perfect Love that we are talking about. And if you want to find that Perfect Love, look to Christ, our Lord, our Saviour and our redeemer.

Amen!