Pastoral Letter 190
Dear Members of St. Andrew’s Uniting Church, Friends and Adherents,
Grace and Peace to you all.
As we come closer to the end of the year, we prepare for Advent and Christmas, starting next Sunday with celebrating our traditional St. Andrew’s Day with a special Service and Luncheon, as well as Christ the King Sunday. We come to the end of another year by God’s grace and look forward to the new year, 2024, with great anticipation to see what God has planned for us, keeping up what we do every year and continue to do what we usually do and more, as long as we can, relying on God’s help and strength.
We are delighted to welcome the AMAA Representative in Artsakh, Viktor Karapetyan, who arrived in Sydney on Friday evening to tell his eyewitness stories about the hardships the Artsakh people faced in September, when Azerbaijan launched an attack on the sovereign land of Artsakh, occupied the land and forced the people to leave their homeland with nothing in just few days. As I have mentioned in my last week’s Pastoral Letter, there will be two gatherings for the Armenian community: Tuesday 21 November at 7:00 pm in the Willoughby Armenian Evangelical Church and Sunday 26 at 6:00 pm here at St. Andrew’s Longueville. You are welcomed to attend. Also, Viktor and I will make a presentation at the next SCCP meeting this coming Wednesday. We have been given 15 minutes to do the presentation. The purpose of the presentation is to raise the awareness about the refugee crisis and make an appeal to the Uniting Church to raise funds and support the refugees.
On Friday morning we farewelled Soo-Tee Cheong, whit a beautiful Memorial Service at the Macquarie Park Cemetery followed by the Burial Service. Rev. Simon Manchester, Soo-Tee’s and Mary’s pastor for many years at St. Thomas Anglican Church in North Sydney, lead the Memorial Service and gave the message, Simon Cheong did the Eulogy and several family members including Marcus Cheong, grandkids, friends and colleagues took part in the service. I was asked by the family to conduct the Burial Service, which was followed by the wake. Those gathered and all those who joined the live streaming, heard and saw the story of a good man, husband, father, grandfather, friend and a servant. The highlight of the day was his Christian faith and his total commitment to his saviour Jesus Christ. Please continue to pray for the Cheong family and especially Mary. May he rest in peace and the comfort of the Spirit be with the family.
If you are not able to join us tomorrow, please light a candle and join us following the attached Order of Service.
Be safe and well, continue to pray, remembering those who need care, support and love.
Please let me know if you or anyone else has prayer points.
Here are some prayer points for this week:
- Here are some prayer points for this week:
- Pray for Mary, Simon, Marcus and the Cheong family as they mourn the loss of their beloved Soo-Tee.
- Pray for the Middle East and the suffering people of Palestine and Israel.
- Pray for the people Artsakh who have been refugees in Armenia facing many challenges.
- Pray for the Presbytery meeting this Wednesday and the presentation that Viktor and I will do.
- Pray for the poor, the sick, the struggling and the stressed.
- Pray for our church and our future plans as we seek God’s guidance.
Best Regards
Krikor
MESSAGE
Be Different and Encourage One Another!
1 Thess. 5:1-11
“Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.”
From this verse, we see two things:
1. Encouragement and building one another up is not something that just happens naturally.
2. Paul had to instruct them to do it.
Also, we see that encouragement is something necessary and important.
But why is that?
Why is encouragement important?
Why is it worth the investment of time and effort?
1. Encouragement is important because it helps us keep the faith.
It is clear that this world is opposed to the gospel. We need encouragement to continue standing firm for Christ in the midst of a world that rejects Him; to keep believing in something that many people consider a myth. This world regards Christians as fools, guiding their lives by a bunch of fairy tales, trying to keep an out-of-date moral code, believing things that the scientists, historians, and philosophers have told them can’t possibly be true.
“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. . . . The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him.” – 1 Corinthians 1:18, 2:14
“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.” – John 15:18-19
How many of us like to be hated? How many like to be regarded as fools? Is that encouraging or discouraging?
The media, the entertainment industry, and higher education are the groups most hostile to faith. They don’t just disagree but show open contempt for Christians.
Christians are routinely portrayed in the media as fools, as hypocrites, as dangerous intolerant chauvinists who threaten democratic way of life. There are exceptions, but generally, when Jesus Christ or the Christian faith is given any attention in the media, those who accept the Bible as true are seen as naïve or ignorant, while the critics of the Biblical accounts are treated respectfully.
No one likes to be viewed in that way. Nobody enjoys having their beliefs ridiculed. It’s discouraging. We start to wonder if they’re right and the Bible is wrong. Maybe this is all just a myth, a delusion, a pleasant falsehood. That’s when we need to come alongside one another and say, “Keep the faith. Don’t give in to doubt. Don’t let the ridicule and contempt of the world turn you away from the Truth.” We need to encourage one another to believe God and believe the gospel of Jesus Christ, in a world that is hostile to both.
We need encouragement because the Christian life is a struggle. Jesus said that His yoke is easy, and His burden is light. But He also said that in order to follow Him, we have to deny ourselves and take up our cross every day. In other words, we have to be willing to give up everything, including, if necessary, our own lives, in order to follow Christ. We have to be willing to suffer and sacrifice. Jesus said that following Him is not something to be entered into lightly; He warned that we must first consider the cost of doing so. And that cost is our life – everything we have, everything we are.
And one of our most difficult struggles is the battle against sin in our own hearts. God’s power is sufficient, but it’s still a struggle. We need renewed strength every day, to follow Christ and not yield to temptation. We need encouragement from one another to keep running, to finish the race and not give up.
“Therefore, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross. . . . Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” (Hebrews12:1-3)
“Encourage one another daily, as long as it is called today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.” (Hebrews 3:13)
The necessity of encouragement is seen in how many times it is mentioned in the New Testament. Over and over, we are told that Paul or Barnabas (whose name meant “encourager”) or another of the apostles is travelling to a church in order to encourage them.
“[Paul and Barnabas] preached the good news in that city and won a large number of disciples. Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith.” (Acts 14:21-22)
“I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong — that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith.” (Romans 1:11-12)
“We sent Timothy, who is our brother and God’s fellow worker in spreading the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you in your faith, so that no one would be unsettled by these trials.” (1 Thessalonians 3:2-3)
Was Paul wasting his time on a nonessential activity? After all, he had a tremendous responsibility. He was the apostle to the gentiles. If Paul’s ministry was unfruitful, the future of the Christian church would be in doubt. Paul couldn’t afford to waste time on unimportant matters. Yet time and time again, we see him, not teaching or writing chapters of the Bible, but simply encouraging people, because encouragement is essential to the spiritual health. We need it. We need to receive it from one another.
2. Encouragement is important because it is so powerful.
“I can live for two months on a good compliment.” Mark Twain
How do we respond when we receive a compliment? We savour it, we turn it over and over in our minds, we repeat it to our spouse. We play it over and over again in our minds, until it’s burned into our long-term memory. Why is that? Because encouragement has such power.
“Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.” (Proverbs 12:18)
We have this power! If we have a tongue, we hold the power of spiritual life and health. Our speech has the power to revive us, our brothers and sisters in Christ: to renew our strength, to refresh our spirit, to lift us out of depression. That’s what encouragement can do.
As we encourage others, we become encouraged ourselves. As we express appreciation, we become thankful. As we encourage someone to trust God, our own faith is strengthened. As we comfort others who are suffering, we ourselves find comfort and joy.
“A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.” (Proverbs 11:25)
3. How can we encourage one another?
Realise that encouragement can come in many forms.
First encouraging words, or maybe just an understanding ear and a willingness to just listen. An arm around the shoulder. A gift. A note. An act of service. A word of appreciation. The numbers of ways in which we can encourage one another are as many and varied as we are as individuals. The main thing is to communicate that we love them and care about them.
Second, be with them. Instead of ministering to them from a position of superiority, encourage them as a fellow disciple, a fellow recipient of God’s love and grace. Encourage them as someone who in due time may need encouragement from them. Be willing not only to “rejoice with those who rejoice” but also to “mourn with those who mourn,” as Paul writes in Romans chapter twelve.
And third, remind them of the truth. Don’t pretend that their circumstances are any different or better than they really are. But remind them of the truth about God, and the truth about themselves. Help them gain an eternal perspective on their troubles. Point them to Christ. Remind them that God loves them, that He’s in control, and that He hasn’t abandoned them. Remind them that God never fails, that He’s always faithful. Remind them that He’s always good, even when it seems otherwise.
The problem with the church is we are not different. Something has happened to our spiritual vision, our love and our application of truth.
When we step up and stand up and stand out and live out our vision, practice holy love in the church and act our faith in the marketplace we will astonish a directionless world and once again take our rightful place as the church that Jesus gave his all to establish and ordain.
Are we different?
Do we encourage one another?
Are we the people God wants us to be?
Amen!