7th October 2023
Pray (ACts) Read (Romans 13v5) Message (Scott Woodburn) Verse five begins with the word “therefore” and this should always stop our Bible reading in its tracks so that we can take stock of what we have just read. Let me summarise the opening verses of chapter thirteen. The Christian is to be subject to governing authorities because God has put those authorities in place (v1), judgement comes to anyone who resists the authorities (v2) and rulers are to uphold righteousness and punish sin (v3-4). Therefore, in light of all what has been said, we must be in subjection to those who rule over us (v5a). I don’t know how you use these devotions but today is one of those days that the message ties in well with the attached shorter catechism question and answer. The fifth commandment states “honour your father and your mother; that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.” What are we required to do with this commandment? The fifth commandment requires us to honour and do our duty towards those who are our superiors, inferiors or equals. You probably don’t think in these terms and yet your life is defined by such relationships. To some you will be superior, your children for example. To others you will be inferior, like your parents and the prime minister. To others still, you are an equal, perhaps your best friend with whom you enjoy a weekly coffee date. In all of these relationships you are to do your duty. You protect your children as their superior, you obey your boss as her inferior and you laugh with your pal as his equal. As citizens of the State we are in an inferior position to our rulers. It doesn’t mean that they are better people than us but they are in a superior position and so Paul is clear that we simply must be in willing submission to our leaders. What is the outcome of this willing submission? It’s twofold. Firstly, such willing submission avoids the wrath of God. The Lord is perfect and righteous in all His ways and He is perfectly angry with sin of all kinds. His wrath abides upon those who treat their superiors with contempt. Have you ever seen someone with a tattoo that says “only God will judge me”? There’s an element of truth in that statement but it doesn’t mean we can walk through life like an unaccountable King or Queen. Do you want to avoid the wrath of God? Then put your trust in Christ and be saved. This is your primary need and concern, but as you trust in Jesus and seek to honour Him in your life, willingly submit to your superiors. This is good and pleases the Lord. Secondly, willing submission is also for the sake of your conscience. Have you ever been condemned by your own conscience? What do I mean? As you are lying in bed at night you feel the weight of guilt over something you've done or said. We are moral creatures made in God's image and we have all been given a sense of what is right and wrong. This shows itself by an inner voice whereby we wrestle with our actions. It is a joy when we can say that our conscience is clear but at times we are tormented by our conscience when we know that we have done wrong. The conscience isn't the voice of God, the conscience isn't perfect and not everyone pays heed to their conscience but nevertheless, we willingly submit to the authorities for conscience sake. No Christian should be lying awake worrying about deliberately unpaid taxes! The Christian knows what God expects regarding the State and we should happily do it or as Paul says "Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience." Pray (acTS) Sing WSC Q64 What is required in the fifth commandment? The fifth commandment requireth the preserving the honor, and performing the duties, belonging to every one in their several places and relations, as superiors, inferiors, or equals.
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6th October 2023
Pray (ACts) Read - 1 Samuel 15:10-23 Message Alan Burke Men have this reputation that we are not very good at following instructions. In my case I’d like to say it is unjustified but I’m more than happy to have a crack at something and only if I’m stuck will I give in and look at the instructions or do an internet search for some help, even at times resorting to asking someone for help. While men have a bad reputation when it comes to following instructions there are lots of women I know who are as equally as bad. My intention today isn’t to start a debate on which gender follows instructions better than the other, rather it is to highlight how at times following instructions is necessary. Saul was given clear instructions, we dealt with that on Wednesday and while we may have found them difficult to read they came from the Lord and the expectation was that he would follow them. Saul’s army attacks and there is victory, it soon becomes clear that Saul they had not obeyed the word of the LORD, following his instructions. While everything was to be destroyed, devoted to destruction, the king of the Amalekits is spared, king Agag. This seems to be out of self interest, by sparing the king it would have made any future adversary look leniently upon Saul as the king of Israel. But along with the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves and lambs, everything that was good it makes it clear that Saul had failed to obey the word of the Lord. The Lord required obedience, instead Saul had shown by his actions in allowing Agag to be spared along with the plunder that he was not the leader he should have been. What we are told here is that the Lord was grieved that he had made Saul king (v10). The Lord God knew in advance of all that would take place, he knew when he chose Saul to be his King, yet the Lord was grieved by Saul's failure to listen to his word and He regretted making him king. The tragedy is not lost on Samuel, Samuel was troubled literally Samuel was angry he was filled with righteous anger because of sin and as a result he cried out to the Lord. The reaction of Samuel shows us that he deeply cared, he cared for Saul and he cared that as a result of his sin the Lord would reject him. In what follows Saul defends himself even though there was the incriminating sound of the bleeding of the sheep and the oxen, Saul was given a chance here to confess his sin to Samual but instead he goes on the defensive. Even if he did not think so what he had done was intentionally disobedient it was going against the very word of the Lord. Saul even tries to sugar coat his sin, I was only doing it for God, to sacrifice them to the Lord, nonetheless this was not what the Lord commanded. And by doing what he did he was saying Lord I knew better than you. After some back and forward between Saul and Samuel, Samuel makes the point that ritual performance is worthless when not accompanied by a sincere and submissive spirit, this is not what the Lord requires, but faithful obedience, Saul may have been sincere in his actions but he had failed to obey, he had been disobedient to the Lord and his word. Saul had heard the word of the Lord but he knew better, he was called to obedience but disobedience was what resulted, we are likewise as the people of God through Christ Jesus called to be obedient, disobedience grieves our God, Jesus said that “If you love me, keep my commands.”, if you love me. What matters is not the sincerity of our actions but obedience that comes out of our love for Christ Jesus our Saviour and his ways. Pray (acTS) Sing WSC Q63 Which is the fifth commandment? The fifth commandment is, Honour thy father and thy mother; that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. (Exod. 20:12) 5th October 2023
Pray (ACts) Read (Romans 13v3-4) Message (Scott Woodburn) We all have our opinions on what the government should do and how the country should be run but what does the Lord expect from the residents of Westminster and the White House? Paul has taught us in Romans 13 that we should willingly submit to the ruling authorities and certainly not resist them. They have been appointed by God and He requires us to pray for and honour those in positions of power. Even so, the authorities have no remit to use and abuse their substantial power. The Lord requires earthly rulers to promote good conduct and to be a terror to bad (v3a). At this stage it is good to remember a famous verse which somebody should write over the door of number ten, it says “righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.” (Proverbs 14v34). The wise ruler understands that he/she is in power by the grace of God and He expects them to rule righteously and to punish evil. In any nation, those who do good should have nothing to fear from those in power (v3b) but not so the evil doer. The Lord has given the ruling authorities “the sword” to punish the wicked (v4). What does this mean? The Lord has given our government the right to use force when necessary. In this manner Paul calls our rulers God’s servants and His “avenger” who can pour out God’s wrath upon the wrongdoer (v4b). Talk of God’s wrath doesn’t marry well with our modern sensibilities. Nevertheless, God’s wrath (His righteousness anger) burns against sin and He has put civil authorities in place to punish the wicked. In practice this means that our government have the God given power to defend this nation from attack. They shouldn’t ride to war with glee or go looking for a fight. I humbly suggest that the decision to attack Iraq in 2003 was built on falsehood but the decision in 1939 to stand against the Nazis was the correct one. At a local level, our government have the right to punish the terrorist, the murderer and the abuser. It is the government’s responsibility to ensure that our streets are safe and that evil men cannot act with impunity. Indeed, although capital punishment has long been abolished in our land, I believe that a government has every right to take a life for severe crime. We could talk politics all day long and probably never agree. Some of us are left, some right and some just don’t care either way. Even so, the Christian understands that the government isn’t an independent entity. Rishi Sunak is accountable to Almighty God and the Lord expects much from those to whom He has delegated power and authority. Let us pray for our land and her rulers for truly “righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.” Pray (acTS) Sing WSC Q62 What are the reasons annexed to the fourth commandment? The reasons annexed to the fourth commandment are, God’s allowing us six days of the week for our own employments, his challenging a special propriety in the seventh, his own example, and his blessing the Sabbath day. 4th October 2023
Pray (ACts) Read - 1 Samuel 15:1-9 Message Alan Burke I suspect that as I write this devotion that it will be the least liked devotion I have ever written, I may of course be proved wrong but I know that we don’t like to talk about the reality of God’s judgment, we much prefer a god who is like that senile old grandfather figure who is more like the fella in the red suit that comes in December than the Lord God of the scriptures. As we come to this passage I think it’s fair to say that it isn’t easy reading for many of us, we read how Samuel comes to Saul and gives him the word of the LORD (1). The opening verses are really Samuel saying to Saul remember who I am, remember who you are, remember who the Lord is and as you do act accordingly for these are not your people but God’s people. It is what comes next that is striking as Saul is told what is required of him as the Lord has deemed it right to punish the Amelekites. We will get to what the Lord commands in a moment or two but it is also important that we know who the Amelekites were. They were the descendants of Esau who had sold his birthright to his bother Jacob and, Amelek was a grandson Esau (Gen 36:12). After the account of the Exodus from Egypt, after the plagues, the plundering and then the crossing of the Red Sea the people of God reach Sinai, they were faint, weary, spread out, vulnerable and rather than running to their aid, the people of Amalek attacked Israel, attacking them in their time off need. Because of what they had done, the Lord had promised that Amalekites were to be wiped out, blotted out and the reason was for their attack was against God himself (Ex. 18:14). What we have recored in Samuel is now around three hundred years since those events but throughout the years since the Amelekites continued to attack the people of God (Judges 3:12-14; 6:3-5, 33; 7:12). What the Lord requires of Saul is that he v3 is to “go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy everything that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.’ ” These words are striking, this seems like an unnecessarily sever command, that in God’s divine judgement that there would be no one who was to be spared and nothing left living, there was to be no escape, from the oldest man and woman to the youngest infant. It seems barbarous, severe, unloving, it seems to have come out of the blue. How can these be the words of the God whose compassion is over all that he as made as the Psalmist says 145:9, how “the Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made”? I will respond by saying that this is horrifying, awful, I am distressed when I read this, but the Lord contends that his vengeance on Amalekites is just, this is the righteous judgement of God. Today we come before the Judge of all the earth, the one who rules and reigns, he is gracious and compassionate, long-suffering and yet there comes a time that those who have rebelled against him will give account, each and every person who has ever lived will stand before his appointed judge. While we may recoil at what took place here, yet all of us will stand before the judgement seat of Christ (2 Cor 5:10) and give an account. Perhaps we do not understand this as we should but it is a reality that all people, from all nations will one day face. It should spur us as his people to tell of the free offer of salvation, to tell of the means of escape of the judgement that awaits and that is to trust in Jesus Christ. Our God, the God of Creation, is a Holy God, a consuming fire and any sin, any transgression of his law deserves not his grace but his wrath. The Amalekites experienced God’s wrath for their sin at the hands of Saul and his army but they will also experience the wrath of the Almighty through Christ at the final judgement (Rev 19:15). Many want to deny the divine judgement that will come and Jesus has been appointed to bring but we do no one any favours for in Jesus Christ there is salvation from the wrath to come. In what lies ahead we should be those who have zeal to see people saved from their sin, who have a concern for the lost, a burden for them, that they might be placing their trust in Jesus Christ so that they may escape the judgement that we all deserve. Pray (acTS) Sing WSC Q61 What is forbidden in the fourth commandment? The fourth commandment forbiddeth the omission or careless performance of the duties required, (Amos 8:5, Mal. 1:13) and the profaning the day by idleness, (Acts 20:7,9) or doing that which is in itself sinful, (Ezek. 23:38) or by unnecessary thoughts, words, or works, about our worldly employments or recreations. (Jer. 17:24–26, Isa. 58:13) 3rd October 2023
Pray (ACts) Read (Romans 13v2) Message (Scott Woodburn) Paul knew all too well that earthly rulers could be vindictive and overbearing but he still recognised that all authority found its source in Almighty God. When Paul stood before the Roman governor Felix, the Apostle spoke boldly but respectfully. He understood that it is the Lord who gives power to kings and it is the same Lord who takes it away. Therefore Christians are to submit themselves to earthly authorities without resistance (v2). Why? Because to resist the earthly authorities is to resist what God has appointed (v2). This resistance can take various forms in our modern age. None of us like paying taxes but we have no Biblical mandate to keep a few quid hidden from His Majesty’s government. Driving at thirty miles per hour is a pain but we have no right under God to travel at whatever speed suits us. Covid restrictions were repressive but even when it broke our heart not being able to see our granny, we still were bound to submit to the authorities. There are many in today’s age that might call me a government pawn for this stance. Indeed there are a multitude who have made a living out of challenging the government at every turn and crying “conspiracy” over every decision. I have little confidence in the political class of our nation but nevertheless my Lord commands me to honour them and pray for them and so, when possible, I am to willingly submit to the God appointed authorities who currently rule our nation. To do otherwise will meet with the judgement of those authorities and one day the judgement of Almighty God. Did you notice that I said “when possible”? When is it appropriate for a Christian to resist the authorities? If the government ever requires you to disobey or curse the Lord, then you can and must resist. This resistance must not be violent but no earthly power has the right to cause you to sin. I’m reminded of a man called Polycarp who many years ago was required to burn incense as an act of worship to the Roman Emperor. No Christian could ever countenance such an action and so Polycarp resisted the authorities and lost his life as a result. He said of Christ "Eighty and six years I have served Him, and He has done me no wrong. How then can I blaspheme my King and Savior? You threaten me with a fire that burns for a season, and after a little while is quenched; but you are ignorant of the fire of everlasting punishment that is prepared for the wicked." May we honour Christ daily as we honour the authorities He has placed over us, but may we raise our voices against our nation’s sin and have the courage to resist wickedness when required. Pray (acTS) Sing WSC Q60 How is the Sabbath to be sanctified? The Sabbath is to be sanctified by a holy resting all that day, even from such worldly employments and recreations as are lawful on other days; and spending the whole time in the public and private exercises of God’s worship, except so much as is to be taken up in the works of necessity and mercy. 2nd October 2023
Pray (ACts) Read - 1 Samuel 14:47-52 Message Alan Burke Far too often I am with a family after the death of a loved one making arrangements for a funeral. In those times all you can do is try help the family to navigate through what is a difficult time for them as they say goodbye to one that they loved. There are practical arrangements made and then normally a time to speak of their loved one so that I can put words together to convey to the congregation who will gather at the funeral service. Those times can be difficult. What makes them all the more difficult is when there is no hope. Jesus in Mark’s gospel said; what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? (Mk 8:36-37) There are many people who have achieved much, have made a mark on this world, who have left an inheritance for their family, sometimes even have meetinghouses named after them but they have forfeited their soul. You may wonder why I start with this but as continue with the account of Saul we are given a summery of his military accomplishments along with details of his family. It seems very out of place, it doesn’t fit and if you want to know what I say that look at what came before and what comes after, why are we now being told this, it would better come at the end of his life as a tribute after his death. Saul though is not dead, his life is far from over and as the account continues we learn more of a number of his family members in the coming chapters. Well the summary of his military victories and his family that tell us that Saul had done well for himself and done well for the nation of Israel leading them in battle, being a military leader throughout his reign as verse 52 makes clear, and although these verses would be more suited to be given at the end of Saul’s life are placed here because ultimately it was for nought, for to use the words of Jesus, “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?” (Mk 8:36). Saul may have had it all, he may have achieved much in his reign, but when it came to living for the Lord he failed miserably. In the only area of his life that really mattered Saul had failed. These verses are put in-between two victories that end with his spiritual failure to highlight to us that even with the military success and his family he had failed. I suspect that if you are reading this you know and love the Lord, you have not forfeited your soul but what lessons if you are a parent of young children are you teaching them? That everything this world has to offer is of more worth, hobbies beat worship, achieving a good education matters more than knowing the Lord? You only have a few years with them and many who read this I’m sure can testify to how they wish they had taught their children more of the truths of the faith rather than pushing them to what the world offers but will fade and decay. And for all of us when this earthly life comes to an end, there may be much said of us, we may have achieve much but what truly matters is that we know and love the Lord our God, that we have trusted in Jesus Christ for our salvation, for all that we have now we will leave behind and we will be forgotten. Pray (acTS) Sing WSC Q59 Which day of the seven hath God appointed to be the weekly Sabbath? From the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ, God appointed the seventh day of the week to be the weekly Sabbath; and the first day of the week ever since, to continue to the end of the world, which is the Christian Sabbath. (Gen. 2:2–3, 1 Cor. 16:1–2, Acts 20:7) |
Alan
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