Pastoral Letter 97
Dear Members of St. Andrew’s Uniting Church, Friends and Adherents,
Grace and peace to you all.
We celebrated Christmas, gave thanks to God on the last Sunday of the year and had a fellowship meal with those who did not have any other plans. In these last few days of the year, let us remember that our God is great and good and He loves us, He has been with us in the challenging times and took care of us.
With busy three days of Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and the Sunday 26, I didn’t send you the Order of Services and the Messages, attached to my regular Pastoral Letter. Please accept my apologies.
Below you will find the Christmas Day’s and Sunday’s Orders of Services as well as both messages.
In the meantime, please continue to pray, remembering those who need care, support and love.
Here are some prayer points for this week:
- Pray for the New Year to be peaceful and a fresh start with the hope that it will be a good year for all and manageable with Omicron, the new variant of COVID.
- Pray for the poor, the sick, the vulnerable, the struggling and the stressed.
- Pray for all those who are suffering under hardship and poverty.
- Pray for world peace and ask for God’s blessings.
- Pray and give thanks with all you have and remember that everything is given by God with His grace.
Please let me know if you or anyone else has prayer points.
Krikor
Christmas Day Message:
The Word Made Flesh
John 1:1-14
There is an amazing piece of art done by a Korean. It took him two years to complete the scroll. The artist meticulously drew the picture by hand with a very fine tipped pen. It is not a painting, but a picture created by writing thousands of words with shaded letters. It is actually the entire New Testament written out by hand. There are about 185,000 words on the scroll with an average of a thousand words per line. The letters are drawn; some thick and some thin so that they bring out a picture of Christ. There are twenty-seven angels surrounding Christ and looking to him, representing the twenty-seven books of the New Testament. The original work was six feet long by four feet wide. The figure of Christ is not imposed onto the words; the words reveal the picture of Christ as they are inked light and dark to bring out the portrait of Christ. The words have become flesh, a person. If you would magnify a portion of the work, such as Christ’s hand, you could actually read the words. The message of the artist is that the New Testament reveals one thing — the person of Jesus Christ. Out of the Word arises The Word — Jesus Christ — the Word which became flesh.
The most important words in the entire Bible are these: “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (14). This is the great truth that sets Christianity apart from all other world religions. Our God came to us in person. He did not just write us a letter. He did not just send us a representative. He did not just speak His laws from a mountain. He came to us as one of us. The Infinite became an infant.
The Bible describes the miracle of what Christ has done when it says: “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death — even death on a cross!” (Ph. 2:6-8).
A new translation of the Bible called The Message puts it this way: “He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that: a crucifixion.”
There is so much that could be said and so many points that could be made, but first of all let me say, God’s coming in human form is important because:
1. It reveals the heart of God
God’s appearance in human form on the earth speaks volumes about God’s love for us. You are familiar with the words, which are perhaps so familiar that we take them for granted: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him” (John 3:16-17).
Here is the best news in all the world — God deeply cares for us. He has made a plan to save us from our sin and ourselves. He wants to change our lives and give us a life worth living that will ultimately result in eternal life. This is the kind of God we serve. He loves us more than we will ever know. God came, even though He knew the consequences. He was willing to come even if it meant that the Almighty and Eternal One had to experience pain and death — so great was His love for us. He came so that He might share the human condition and take our burdens upon himself. He experienced what we experienced, walked where we have walked, and eased the pain of life. He is willing to place our suffering and pain on his own back.
2. It reveals the need of people
God dressed Himself as one of us and entered our world. He joined us because we were held hostage to sin and in danger of spiritual death. He rescued us from eternal danger. Imagine, God, who could have crushed the world because of its sin, came into the world to be crushed for our sin. The very One who said that everyone who sinned would die, came to the world to die in our place. He both pronounced the judgment and took the judgment upon Himself. People did not even understand the danger they were in. They were too ignorant and stubborn to ask for His help, but He came to save them and us from that danger anyway. The Bible says, “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:6-8).
This is an incredible mystery, and an incredible story of love.
3. It reveals the mystery of God’s plan
The Bible speaks of the mystery of God’s plan with these words: “Beyond all question, the mystery of godliness is great: He appeared in a body, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory” (1 Tim. 3:16).
Here is the mystery. We could not have imagined it or guessed it in a million years. He had to reveal his plan to us. The Creator of the universe comes to the rebellious world which He has created in love. He avoids nothing: hunger, sleeplessness, thirst, pain, suffering or death. He came to die in the place of those who deserve to die. He suffered for those who deserved to suffer. He came as a King, but was seen as human refuse. John says: “He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him” (John 1:10-11).
But here is the mystery which God kept hidden until the world was ready: The world deserved to be destroyed because of its sin, but God would come disguised as an ordinary man and die in the place of the world’s people in order to take away their sin. God had allowed animals to die as substitutes and sacrifices under the Old Covenant. It was a temporary solution. But animals could not atone for the sins of a human being. It would have to be a man who would die in our place, as our representative. But not just any man. Not even a priest. It had to be a perfect man. There was only one such man — the man Jesus Christ. A real man, for the Bible says, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched — this we proclaim concerning the Word of life” (1 John 1:1).
Here is the Word made flesh — God becoming a real man so that he would experience what it was to be human. He was God, for the Bible says, “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form” (Col. 2:9).
But He was also fully human, for the Bible says, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are — yet was without sin” (Heb. 4:15).
When John said in his Gospel that “the Word became flesh,” he used a Greek word with which those in that culture were familiar. It was the word logos. In Greek philosophy logos was the rational principle that gave order to the universe. This abstract principle became equated with God. But the abstract word becoming a word would do the world little good. The world was full of words already. John used the word logos to say that this divine power became real flesh and blood. If the Word became word, then we would have the Scripture, but not a real person who could make the Scripture come alive. But this Word became flesh. He came out of the words of Scripture so that we would have more than a prophecy or a moral code, we would have God himself standing among us — Emmanuel.
What other religion do you know whose God comes in person to die for His people?
Buddha did not claim to be God, nor did he claim to have come from God. He was in search of the divine principle — the word become word.
And neither did Mohammed claim to be God, only a prophet of God and author of the Koran.
In all other world religions, we have the word become word — a verbal revelation: writings, injunctions and moral codes.
Only in Christianity does the Word become flesh. Even the Jews have only the word becoming word — the prophets and the law of Moses. In Jesus Christ, God did not just reveal His will or His laws, He revealed Himself. Nothing less would do. If the Word only became word, then our contact with God would only be intellectual. But the Word has become flesh, and now He is personal. The Word is standing in front of us, and He is calling our name.
As we read the Bible, we are not just acquiring knowledge, Jesus begins to emerge from the Scripture, much like He does in the picture by the Korean artist. Suddenly, we are reading more than words, we are experiencing a person. Something real is happening. More than our thinking is being affected; we are being touched and changed at the deepest place of our beings. It is not an idea (the Word) coming into our heads, it is one person communicating with another person (flesh). The Scriptures come alive, because the Word has become flesh. Jesus steps out of the pages and into our lives.
This is what Jesus has done for us. The Word became flesh. The King of heaven put aside His heavenly robes and divine privileges and rights. He came to us as one of us. He lived among us; ate with us; drank with us; felt with us — all to win our love. He could have forced us. He could have overwhelmed us, but He chose to romance us. He stands here today with the smile of love and arms extended. He is the God who became real so that we could experience His transforming love.
Jesus is not just a truth to believe in, He is a person to be experienced.
Sunday 26 December Message:
New Year’s Rules and Restrictions
Colossians 3:12-17, 4:2-6
Christmas is gone and, in few days, we will welcome the New Year and people will make resolutions. They will decide to make changes in their lifestyle, behaviour and plans. They will hope that their decisions will help them to become the person they want to be.
When we think or talk about the old and the new we recall one of the well-known verses of the Bible: “He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write down, for these words are trustworthy and true”.
As we are at the verge of the Old Year and looking forward to the New with much anticipation and hope, let us look what the Bible tells us to do. We can learn from what we have done in the year and try to do things differently in the New Year. And to do thing differently we usually make resolutions, which we think could help us to have a better life, use our resource well enough to gain what we want, change things to feel satisfied and be happy.
According to Paul, we can have a list of seven New Year’s resolutions – seven things we can attempt to be in the New Year, as people of God.
These resolutions are described by Paul as clothing. Verse 12 reads: “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.” These are seven attitudes we should have in our daily lives.
1. Compassion
The opposite of this would be someone who is cold and heartless, someone who is concerned only with himself. Think of the character in Charles Dickens “A Christmas Carol” Ebenezer Scrooge, a man who, for a while, was too busy balancing his own check book to notice the needs of other people. While a compassionate person is someone who not only balances his check book but wants to help the people around him.
What’s going on with the people at church? What’s going on with our family? What’s going on with the people at work? Our neighbours? Our friends? What can we do to help them?
We need to “Clothe ourselves with compassion…”
Here at St. Andrew’s, we have done and still do. Every time we have a program, such as Market Morning, Fashion Parade, or any other program, we always think of those who are less fortunate, allocating some financial assistance to an organisation or a charity. How can we forget our giving to Exodus Foundation and sponsoring a family through the AMAA? We have clothed ourselves with compassion.
2. Kindness
Kindness includes not only saying nice things but doing nice things. Kindness is a duty to help someone out. What happens when a child in the store throws all the packages from the shelf unto the floor and even a package or two bursts out and the contents are dispersed in the shop? In similar situations one of the store clerks comes storming down the aisle and says to the mother: “Don’t worry about this, ma’am. I’ll clean it up. You just do your shopping.”
Doing kindly deeds is the second item of cloth that Paul mentions We need to Clothe ourselves with kindness and I am glad that we have.
3. Humility
Humility means that we recognize our own weaknesses. we don’t think about how great we are. One of the most humble man on the face of the earth was Moses (Numbers 12:3). I’m sure he recognized his weaknesses very quickly, as he tried to lead 2 million people through the desert. We can remember so many examples of humble people, like the missionaries or those who do the best they can and even don’t ask recognition. We need to be humble as our Lord Himself was meek and humble. People and especially Christians need to clothe themselves with humility.
4. Gentleness
Gentleness is the opposite of someone who is furious and raving at the customer service counter in the store. Or like holding carefully a precious item in the museum or gallery. That’s how God wants us to treat the people around us with gentleness and Paul says clothe ourselves with gentleness. Gentleness is one of the best qualities that a Christian should have.
5. Patience
The Greek word here implies patience in unpleasant circumstances. When we are served at the bank or the supermarket by the person who is in their first day on the job, we should be patient and understanding. When the mechanic tells you that you need a new air filter, but you just put a new one in your car last week, we should patiently tell him what we have done. We should be patient with the people around us, even in trying circumstances, such as the turmoil we are in going through the trauma of COVID and the restrictions imposed on us by our government.
If we want to move forward, we need to be patient.
6. Forgiveness
Verse 13 says: “Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you have with each other.” A grievance is a legitimate reason to be upset with someone. If someone promises to pick you up at 2:00 and forgets and leave you standing out in the cold, you have a grievance. If someone promises to help you clean up the kitchen, but instead falls asleep on the couch, you have a grievance. I’m sure we all could come up with a list of legitimate reasons why we are upset with certain people. But in 2022, we should be forgivers. We should forgive whatever grievances we have with other people.
What does it mean to forgive? The last part of verse 13 says, “Forgive, as the Lord forgave you.” Jesus, our Lord, could have many complaints against us. All the things that Jesus wants us to do, and we don’t do them. And all the things that Jesus doesn’t want us to do, we do them. But Jesus forgives us.
There are many instances of forgiveness in the Bible. A very good example is the image of a loan officer who forgives all the debts of the debtor, making him debt-free.
That’s how Jesus forgives us. He wipes all that sin out of our account. And Jesus holds no grudges. Jesus doesn’t say to us, “I forgive you for what you said to your wife/husband the other day, but I’ll remember what you did.” No, Jesus forgives us, and forgets. No grudges.
And that’s how Jesus wants us to forgive the people around us. We may have valid reasons to be upset with people sometimes. But Jesus says to forgive the way I have forgiven you.
7. Love
And finally, verse 14: “And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.” That’s the seventh, and the biggest item of clothing. After you have put on compassion, kindness, humility gentleness, patience and forgiveness – then, over all these virtues, put on love.
What kind of “love” are we talking about here?
There are different words in the Bible for different kinds of love. When we think of “love”, we should think of “agape”, one-way love. In other words, you love me, even if I don’t love you back. You love me, even though there is nothing good about me. It’s a strange kind of love, the kind of love that God has shown to the world. Even though the world didn’t love God, God loved the world, and sent His son on Christmas. Even though we didn’t ask for it, Jesus loved us and died for our sins on the cross. God loves us, even though there isn’t anything good about us to love.
That’s the kind of love that God is talking about here – a one-way kind of love. Love someone, even though he is unlovable. Even though he/she might not say thank you. Even though they don’t appreciate what we do. Love them. Even though there are a million reasons to not love someone, we should love anyway. “And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.”
It’s easy to hold grudges, but it’s hard to forgive. And to love someone that’s unlovable, that’s near impossible. How are we going to fulfil these seven New Year’s resolutions?
Christ will change us. Let’s spend more time with Christ in 2022, and He will change us. Spend time learning about His humility. Spend time learning about His compassion at the cross. Spend time learning about how He has taken all our sin away, how far He was willing to go, to save us. Spend time with Christ in 2022. His forgiveness will turn us into a forgiver. His one-way love for us will turn us into someone who shows one-way love to others.
We should resolve from this day forward to spend more time with Christ in His Word and we should not make excuses anymore. We should sacrifice things in order to spend more time with Christ. We should hear His Word, and we should let nothing get in the way. We should figure out how to study His Word on our own during the week. We should pray to Him on our own, during the week. We should spend more time with Christ, and He will change us.
Also, Paul suggests that whatever we decide or do, we should do in the name of the Lord Jesus giving thanks to God.
Let us Pray:
O Lord Jesus, by this time next year, help us to be more compassionate, more kind, more humble, more gentle, more patient. By this time next year, help us to be forgivers. Help us, more and more, to show that special one-way kind of love that you have shown to us. Amen.