Reading the works of the great men of the Reformation can be a very refreshing thing.They are very honest, and direct in their language, as I said, refreshingly so.John Calvin in his great work “The Institutes of Christian Religion” has a section entitled, “All the Principles of Piety Subverted by Fanatics, who Substitute Revelations for Scripture.” (Bk 1 Ch 9). He aims his fire here on those who claim to have some independent line of communication from God, instead of relying on the Scriptures as God’s Word.It is often claimed by those who do this, that they are relying on the...

Good manners, politeness and respect are qualities which are seriouslylackingin our world. Check-out workers in supermarkets are not always thefriendliest.Road manners are often displaced by road rage. Holding the door open forthosefollowing, simple thank-you's and expressions of appreciation are oftensimplyforgotten. Customers berating shop assistants in loud and aggressive ways infullview of the public is a common occurrence. No doubt you can go on and addmanymore examples.Sociologists, I feel sure, will be able to offer in depth reasons why goodmannersand respect are good for a society and prime among them will be that a kindthoughtful society will operate far more smoothly than...

It has come to my attention that a number of the congregation have received a printed form letter from an anonymous source which can only be described as a chain letter’. Every so often these things make their ugly appearance, and most of us will probably be inclined to simply trash them, treating them as they deserve. However, just in case there is anyone who may be tempted to think there might be something in them, let me make several points.The letter’ currently doing the rounds is of the old fashioned variety. It is a paper version, and is distributed by...

Jealousy is often portrayed as a bad thing, but I am not so confident about that. Our Lord God Almighty, tells us He is a “jealous God”.When the Lord sets down the basic parameters by which life is to be lived and the way in which we are to honour Him, He said: “You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol…you shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God.” (Ex 20:3-6)Following this, and in connection with this the Lord speaks about “punishing...

From time to time you may hear someone calling on Christians to pray for revival to sweep across the land, and I too believe all God’s people should earnestly seek God’s sovereign grace to be enacted so that a wide spread revival of Christian faith bloom and explode over Australia. There is so much pain, corruption and brokenness all around, and no matter how hard the authorities work, and people of good intention exert themselves, nothing is helping in any significant or lasting way. What is needed is something that reaches deeper than addressing the symptoms of problems, and anyone who...

God has given some people a gift when it comes to business and the making ofmoney. It is not a gift I have, although I'm not too bad at saving andgenerally careful about spending. There is however, a business venture whichhas crossed my mind at various times which I am sure will bring in largeprofits due to low overheads and minimal set up costs. It is completelylegal, but utterly unethical - that is, it does not have the approval ofGod, and promises big things which it cannot deliver. However, it is abusiness many peddlers of "spirituality" are doing quite well in,...

Over the years of ministry I have observed an endless succession ofevangelistic programs and techniques, and church growth programs. There havebeen endless discussions about focussed and relevant preaching so that theWord of God is brought to bear in an applicable way for the time in which welive. There is no end to the inventiveness of the human heart. God it seems,created in us a desire for bigger and better, and so we embark on all kindsof things in order to secure greatness. What doesn't seem to get muchattention however is how these schemes come and go only to be followed byanother...

In my work routine I read various articles and books. When something strikesme, I will mark the page with a small sticky tab. If I have the time I willcopy the page and place it on a pile of other "thought provoking" items Ithink I might like to refer to again. After a while the pile of papers needsto be sorted, and sometimes I wonder what it was that struck me about acertain item, and not being able to remember, the item is "recycled".I did such a sort this week, and came across something that I had copiedlong hand a long...

From time to time I have written or spoken about how we listen or ought tolisten to the preaching of God's Word. A trend which has already beenpresent amongst churches and Christians for some time was highlighted to merecently and motivated these remarks.The trend which concerns me is this - the belief that only preaching whichreceives a positive personal response, and agrees with the personal views ofthe individual hearer is that which is approved and endorsed. Preachinghowever, which causes people to question themselves, perhaps challengescertain previously held beliefs, is rejected.Perhaps this is not so much a trend but a dangerous attitude...

This morning we consider the 6th Petition of the Lord’s Prayer that Jesus teaches in Matthew 6:13. We look at it through James 1:12-18 as James teaches us about trials and temptations.Temptation means, “being put to the test”. All temptations begin as honourable God-given desires (to be loved; to belong; to achieve; to feel good) that have been corrupted by sin. When these God-given desires seek to be satisfied outside the will of God, they become lust — a sin. And so, Satan plays on these God-given desires to corrupt to sin.It is important to understand the typical pattern of temptation:1.Natural...

In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus is teaching us HOW to pray in contrast to the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and the meaningless repetition of the Gentiles. Both types of prayers have SELF as the focus of the prayer.In the Lord’s Prayer, however, Jesus teaches us that GOD is to the focus of our prayers — it is all about Him! His Name, His Kingdom, His Will, His Provision for us, His Pardon to us, His Protection over us. It all about God and what God is doing. Have you ever noticed that?And here is the strength and beauty and depth of...

Over the previous four weeks we have been considering what the Bible has tosay about how nations are to be governed and the relationship of theChristian to the state. So far we have observed that Christians may notsimply choose to opt out of the political process. We have an obligation toreclaim every part of this world for service and the honour of the Lord God Almighty, and that includes the government of the nation.We have also reviewed various passages in Scripture which refer to thestate, and we saw that all of creation belongs to God; that ALL authorityonly exists because God...

Continuing this series of articles on the consideration of the relationshipof the Christian to the state, perhaps we should ask what the state shouldbe doing. What is its purpose?We have already seen how all people are to subject themselves to thegoverning authorities, but just in case you are uncertain about this theapostle Paul is completely unambiguous: "Everyone must submithimself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except thatwhich God established. The authorities that exist have been established byGod." (Rom 13:1). He then proceeds to bluntly drive his point home sayingthat anyone who rebels against the authority is actually also...

Having previously noted the key passages in Scripture which provide us withimportant Biblical references with regard to the Christian attitude towardsthe State, we now need to draw some conclusions.The first and most essential thing we must keep in mind is that God is theCreator. Perhaps we forget this, or at least don't consider it withsufficient importance. We tend to focus more on God being our Saviour. Afterall, He sent His only dearly loved Son into the world in order to die, andin so doing, make right with God all who turn to Jesus in trust. There issalvation in no one else...

Having declared our starting point here last week in the consideration and effort of all that we set our energy to in life, and in the present discussion, the way nations are to be governed and our relationship to the State, let's see if we can now review the key Scripture references to the state.Perhaps the most important place to start is the time when our Lord gave a response to the Pharisees and Herodians concerning the payment of taxes to the state (Matt 22:15-21).These people, approached Jesus in a particularly hypocritical way, with a number of items of praise calling...