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VOCATION

Called to serve: Paul Helm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

We are all priests: Peter Hastie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10

A force for good: Peter Barnes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12

BIBLE STUDY

Good work

20 studies in Thessalonians: Bruce Christian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13

NEWS

Across Australia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17

Around the World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18

On the Agenda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20

PASTORS IN COURT

The Gospel chained: David Palmer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21

THE TSUNAMI

God only knows: Barney Zwartz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23

CULTURE WATCH

Fool’s paradise: Phil Campbell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24

LETTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25

PRAYER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26

BOOKS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27

The Callings: Paul Helm

God at Work: Gene Edward Veith Jr

The God I Love: Joni Eareckson Tada

REFLECTION

How to become rich: Allan Harman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28

A U S T R A L I A N P R E S B Y T E R I A N February 2005 • 3

February 2005No. 567

One of my favourite hymns is This Is My Father’sWorld. It wonderfully affirms the goodness of cre-ation. Every time I sing it I remember how thereformers liberated the church from the crippling

notion that God is only interested in certain aspects of life –the religious ones – and is unconcerned about anything thatcan’t be used in the business of Christian mission.

When evangelicals espouse the view that only spiritualissues are of ultimate concern, not only are they forgettingtheir theological heritage, but more specifically they are deny-ing the goodness of God’s creation and the doctrine of divinecalling. It was Calvin and Luther who reminded the churchthat the Christian vision must affirm the created order of lifeby virtue of the Bible’s teaching about Creation and theIncarnation.

The problem in evangelical circles today is that there aretwo popular but misguided views that trouble youngerChristians as they wrestle to discover God’s will for theirlives. Both these views arise from misunderstandings of theCreation, Incarnation and divine calling. One view impliesthat if you can’t be a full-time minister or missionary, thenyou’ve settled for second-best. The second view says that ifyou can’t be involved in “full-time” ministry, then your basiccall in life is to provide the financial support for those in thefront-line of ministry. More often than not these views arenot directly taught; instead, they are indirectly implied.

In the last couple of years I have had to counsel youngpeople who have been brought to a point of crisis by theseideas. They have come to me to seek counsel: “Should I quitmy profession, which I find enormously fulfilling and helpfulto others, since to continue in it is to settle for second-best?”This view seems to assume that not every lawful activity in theworld is good and, further, that lay people are not really calledto anything other than to engage in Christian ministry. Theother view, that lay people do have a calling, and that callingconsists of cash-generation to pay for the bills that the clergyrun up, is equally problematic.

It is because many people are troubled by these ideas todaythat we have devoted this issue of Australian Presbyterian tothe question of divine calling.

Peter Hastie ap

THE AUSTRALIAN PRESBYTERIAN (ABN 81 498 399 755): The national magazine of the Presbyterian Church of Australia. Editorial committee: Peter Hastie (NSW) Themes Editor;Barney Zwartz (Victoria) Production; Stuart Bonnington (Victoria) News Editor; Tracy Gordon (NSW), World News Editor. Graphic Design: Sandra Joynt for A&J Moody Design:www.ajmd.com.au. Advertising and subscription inquiries: Walter Bruining, PO Box 375, Kilsyth 3137; Phone: (03) 9723 9684. Subscription: $35.20 a year inc. GST; bulk (etc)$31.90 each inc. GST. Office: PO Box 375, Kilsyth 3137. Phone: (03) 9723 9684. Fax: (03) 9723 9685. Email: [email protected] Printed: PostScript Printing, Eltham Vic.(03) 9431 3414. Published: Monthly except January by the National Journal Committee of the Presbyterian Church of Australia; Convener Peter Hastie. Opinions expressed are thoseof the contributor and not necessarily those of the PCA, the editor or the committee. Acceptance of advertising does not imply endorsement. Contributions: Submitted articles are welcome. The deadline is the first of the previous month. Donations are always welcome. Print Post approved 34918100384. www.ap.presbyterian.org.au

editorial

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Professor Paul Helm has held theJ.I. Packer Chair in Theology andPhilosophy at Regent, Vancouver,Canada since 2001. Previously he

was Professor of the History andPhilosophy of Religion at King’s Collegein the University of London. He hasserved as President of the British Societyfor the Philosophy of Religion. Beforejoining King’s College in 1993, he wasReader in Philosophy at the University ofLiverpool. Educated in WorcesterCollege, Oxford, Professor Helm haswritten many articles and books, mainlyfocusing on the philosophy of religionand Christian doctrine in the Reformedtradition. He is married and has five chil-dren. Among his many books are: TheProvidence of God; Eternal God; Faithwith Reason; Faith and Understanding;Calvin and the Calvinists; The Beginnings;The Callings; The Last Things and his mostrecent major work, John Calvin’s Ideas(Oxford University Press 2004), to whichAustralian Presbyterian will devote a forth-coming issue. Peter Hastie spoke toProfessor Helm in Vancouver recently.

You’ve said that sometimes it’s for-gotten that most Christians are notintended to be in “full-timeChristian service”. What do youmean by this?

By “full-time service” I mean the ideathat the whole of one’s life is to bedevoted to witness and evangelism.Among evangelical Christians there hasgrown up the idea that to choose an “ordi-nary job” means that one cannot be aChristian in the fullest sense. This has ledmany Christians to believe that the firstquestion to be asked about their life andwork is not whether it is worthwhile, sat-isfying and useful, but whether it providesthem with the opportunity to witness. Asa result many Christian young people feelpressured, if not by others then by them-selves, into thinking that the only worth-while life in God’s sight is a career in some

church-related activity.It’s easy to see how such a view has

arisen. By the very nature of things,Christian activities are centred upon thelocal church where the minister plays theleading role. Because the minister tendsto be the dominant figure in congrega-tional life, this often gives the impressionthat his life and work is meant to be a pat-tern for the rest of the congregation.Some believers are therefore led toassume, wrongly in my view, that it’s anormal Christian aspiration to be a min-ister or to be as like a minister as is possi-ble. These Christians think that theyshould be engaged in essentially the sameministry as their pastor, or some otherChristian worker, who is employed inchurch activities on a full-time basis.Unfortunately, what they forget is thatalmost by definition only a small fractionof the Christian population can be minis-ters in that sense.

Is it possible to be a Christian in thefullest sense in a job that is not com-pletely directed to full-time ministry

V O C A T I O N

Called to serveOur “call” takes many forms, and God blesses them all.

Paul Helmtalks toPeter Hastie

4 • A U S T R A L I A N P R E S B Y T E R I A N February 2005


such as evangelism, witness orpreaching?

Yes, of course it is. You don’t have to beemployed full-time in evangelism and wit-ness to be living an authentic and fulfilledChristian life. There are a number of rea-sons why this is so.

The first reason is that the Scripturesteach that our motives and intentions arecentral to integrity in the Christian life.God is supremely interested in why we dothings: do we, for instance, perform a cer-tain work simply to please Him or do weundertake it to advance our own inter-ests? Our motives and desires are veryimportant to God. He is pleased whenwhatever we do, even such mundaneactivities as eating and drinking, is donefor His glory (1 Cor. 10:31). So havingright motives in one’s work is moreimportant than the work itself.

The second reason why we can beChristians in the fullest sense, eventhough we are not involved in specificallyreligious work, is that we live in a worldthat was made good by God. This meansthat all human endeavour, unless expresslyforbidden by God, is good. True, theworld is now fallen. But I think it’s impor-tant to point out that the world is fallen inall respects, not fallen in some respectsmore than others – and so a Christian can,with the right motives and intention, takeup a lawful job or a role in life with goodconscience. Why? Because he/she is livingin a world originally made good by God inevery respect and with the right motivescan please God in almost whatever isdone. This means that Christians canbring about good outcomes in the worldthrough fulfilling a calling of almost anykind.

What harm has been caused by theview that only “full-time” Christianservice is the proper occupation for afaithful Christian?

Well, I think this view has led to a nar-row vision of the Christian life. AlthoughChristians who have this view are well-intentioned, their attitude actually pro-duces a great deal of harm. Sometimes, asa result of being confronted with this atti-tude, young people tend to regard “full-time Christian service” as the only fittingoccupation for a faithful Christian.

A further problem this view producesis that Christians begin to think of them-selves as having a “spiritual life” which issharply distinct from their everyday life infamily, work and leisure. In their minds, a“spiritual life” is a life of prayer and watch-fulness, of Bible-reading and church-

going. As a result of this distortion,instead of the Christian life being thoughtof as an integrated whole, it is artificiallybroken up into compartments which havelittle or nothing to do with one another.When this happens the “vertical” dimen-sion of a person’s life with God seemsunrelated to the “horizontal” dimensionof his life on planet Earth.

Again, the view that faithful Christianswill seek “full-time” Christian work is theoutworking of an implicit clericalism,where the minister’s work – and Christianministry as a whole – is understood asbeing a sacred and holy calling in a waythat more mundane tasks and activities arenot. So we see, strangely enough, a kind ofreplication in Protestantism and inr e f o r m e dchurches of pat-terns of thoughtwhich werecharacteristic ofthe pre-refor-mation church.

But in sayingthat, I don’twant in any wayto disparage orbelittle the cen-trality of theChristian ministry and the importance oflearning and having an educated ministry.The problem is that there is often a desirefor the Christian ministry simply to repli-cate itself, rather than to see itself as onemeans of fostering Christian life in theworld.

Can you explain the notion of “call-ing” as we find it in the NewTestament?

The word “calling” refers, of course, inits narrow and theological sense to theeffectual call of the gospel – where a sin-ner called by grace experiences the regen-erating and efficacious work of the HolySpirit. Reformed scholars use technicalwords such as regeneration, illuminationand sanctification to refer to variousaspects of this classical idea of calling.

However, there is another sense inwhich the term “calling” is used in theNew Testament. We find it, for example,in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthianswhere he refers to the various callings ofpeople (1 Cor. 7:17, 18, 20-24). When heuses the term in this sense, he’s referringto their worldly callings or vocations. Inreferring to their life and work in this way,it seems to me that he legitimises those“callings” in a number of ways. The firstthing we should notice, I think, is that he

doesn’t use any language that disparagestheir callings. You never find him sayingor implying that these callings are to belooked down upon, or are anything otherthan legitimate.

But also, more strongly than that, wefind him recommending to a variety ofChristians in a variety of callings to staywhere they are. This makes him, almostby default, rather politically and sociallyconservative. Nonetheless, from Paul’spoint of view, the default position is forpeople to remain in the callings that theyhave been given according to God’sprovidential wisdom. Further, I thinkPaul would argue that only if there isclear evidence that a person has both thegifts and desire for Christian ministry, inthe narrower sense, is such a course to bepursued. So, the legitimate position, thedefault position as I said, is that accord-ing to Paul, Christians ought to staywhere they are, where the gospel findsthem.

Some people have suggested thatwhen God “calls” people it is alwaysto some form of full-time ministry. Isthere any truth in that?

Well, it’s true that some people arecalled to full-time ministry, but that’s notthe only calling that Christians receive.The situation becomes even more com-plicated when we think, for example, ofPaul who had a calling as a full-time apos-tle to the Gentiles but who also workedto support himself in his calling as a tent-maker.

Of course, I think we’re living in a dif-ferent social world from Paul and theCorinthians. Today people do haveopportunity through education, workexperience, and leisure to deliberateabout what they might do. There aremany opportunities open to young peo-ple today and our world offers a greaterrange of choice in determining one’s call-ing. Nonetheless, it seems to me thesame basic principle applies for peoplethen as now … it’s to do with guidance.If a person believes that he or she has cer-tain talents and a certain bent, if he findsfulfillment in a certain sort of work, thenthese indications seem to me to be signsof the Lord’s calling. I don’t believe thatwe should always be looking for suchevidence to be overridden by some sortof special voice, or miraculous interven-tion which removes the notion of callingfrom the ordinary pattern of reasoningand reflection about what one may do oris fitted to do. This also applies when weare thinking about the notion of calling

Because theworld was madegood by God,all humanendeavour –unless expresslyforbidden – is good.

to some sort of exclusive, religious min-istry.

How did Christians become confusedabout the idea of calling in theMiddle Ages?

I think it’s a very complex story thatinvolves a number of different influences.Part of the problem was due to misunder-standings about sexuality and celibacywhich contributed to the growth of themonastic movement from the fifth cen-tury onwards into the Middle Ages.

Then there was the idea that there weretwo types or levels of Christian life – the“perfect life” and the “permitted life” –which had also arisen around the fifth cen-tury. People who were in religious orderswere expected to follow the stricter pathand so a distinction began to developbetween Christians. This distinction wasencouraged by a priestly understanding ofthe ministry and the sacraments. So grad-ually there arose the idea that there weretwo orders of humanity withinChristendom: the priesthood, which wasgoverned by canon law, and the ordinaryman, who lived under common law.

Clergy also gained a great deal of pres-tige through the teaching that they had aquasi-magical power in dispensing thesacraments – ex opere operato – and thisidea, coupled with the belief that the cityand the everyday world was in some waymore tainted than the solitary or monasticlife, helped to contribute to the misunder-standing of the biblical notion of calling.So there were a number of reasons whyChristians misunderstood the doctrine.

You’ve claimed that one of the dan-gers facing Christians is the tempta-tion to divide life into spiritual andsecular compartments. How doesthis sort of thinking lead to the ideathat normal living for the Christianis a spiritually second-rate exis-tence?

Well, it’s a sort of split-mindedness,isn’t it? There are a number of elements toit. The basic idea that drives this way ofthinking is the belief that the only thingthat matters is the work of redemption inthe narrow sense. Along with this notionis the further one that the work ofredemption has to be within the churchand consists in simply evangelising andenjoying the fruits of evangelism.

Unfortunately, people who think thisway often neglect and are puzzled aboutthe place and purpose of God’s creation.For instance, how does the world relate tothe church? How should Christians treat

the created order? Should they ignore it,flee it or embrace it? Affirming the origi-nal goodness of all creation should be amatter of deep concern for people whohave a strong view of God’s sovereigntyand believe that He’s the Creator.

The pattern of thought that I’m talkingabout is extremely odd when it is foundamongst evangelicals because it gives theimpression that they believe that much ofGod’s creation has been, so to speak,abandoned by Him or demoted to sec-ond-rate status. The consequence of thisis that the ministry of the church isn’tgeared to fitting believers for Christianfulfillment in their everyday callings andactivities.

I think this is a constant problem in thechurch. There is always a subtle andunconscious pull away from everyday lifeback into church.

How did Luther recover the true ideaof calling at the Reformation?According to Luther, is there any-thing different about a person beingcalled to full-time evangelistic, pas-toral ministry?

Luther recovered the biblical idea ofcalling, as did Calvin, by showing theerror of the medieval, sacred/secular dis-tinction, particularly as it found its expres-sion in clerical orders in the medievalperiod. He showed from the Bible thatthe minister was simply a servant of theword of God and did not have a priestly,sacerdotal role.

How did his understanding of priest-hood differ from medieval views?

Well, Luther believed that the priest-hood was not confined to a clerical castebut applied to all believers. Luther under-stood the New Testament to teach thatpriesthood was not simply the calling ofan elite group within the church; rather,every Christian, by virtue of being aChristian, was both a priest and a king (1Pet. 2:5, 9; Rev. 1:5). In essence, Luther’srediscovery of the true meaning of priest-hood had a levelling-up effect within soci-

ety. It destroyed the idea of a hierarchical,priestly caste. It put every one on an equalfooting and made all legitimate work aspiritual activity.

This rediscovery of the priesthood ofall believers gave Christians, according totheir opportunities and abilities, a sense ofdignity in the various forms of work inwhich they served. As long as believerswere rightly motivated to please God, alltheir works were worthy – even sweepinga room with a broom, as the English poetGeorge Herbert pointed out. Again,motivation and intention are the key ele-ments in determining whether an action islegitimate and good. The only real barriersto any occupation are whether the occu-pation itself is forbidden or whether it islikely to lead others into sin. These seemto be the only qualifications that I canthink of that shape what are otherwise theworld-wide opportunities that Christiansenjoy. God has set us all to work in Hisgood world, and we have a duty toexplore, develop and manage it.

Christ called 12 apostles to work“full-time” in teaching and evange-lism. Was this an exceptional call ordoes it set a pattern for all Christiandiscipleship?

Well, it clearly was exceptional. It wasexceptional in the light of Jesus’ ministrybecause he called the 12 to this particulartask and not every one of his hearers. Weknow from the New Testament that the12 played a distinctive role because theyrepresented the 12 tribes of Israel. Sothere was definitely a theological rationalebehind the idea of the 12 apostles. Theywere the leaders of the New Israel. In thatsense, the appointment of the 12 is some-thing unique in the history of the churchand we should not seek its replication.

Then there’s the issue of how we aremeant to apply language in the NewTestament that was in the first instanceaddressed to the 12 and not to others. Ithink we need to be wary of the tendencyof too readily applying language whichwas originally addressed to other audi-ences apart from ourselves. Of course,New Testament language may be a directcommand to us 2000 years later; thenagain, it might only be of indirect applica-tion. I think the proper approach is tounderstand these words in their originalsetting and then apply them to ourselvesin our different contexts.

We take this approach with Paul’s let-ters. We recognise that in the firstinstance they were not addressed to us –they were addressed to believers in


V O C A T I O N

From Paul’spoint of view,

the defaultposition is for

people toremain in thecallings that

they havebeen given.


Corinth or Rome or wherever. Once wehave understood the meaning of the textin its original setting – then, and onlythen, are we in a position to identify theunderlying principle and its application toourselves in a different context. If we failto understand the original life-setting ofthe Scriptures, we can overstep the markand apply these words directly to our-selves in a way that was not intended.When we do this we can create mischief.Treating the Bible in this cavalier anduncritical way fails to show due respect tothe inspiration, trustworthiness andauthority of Scripture.

Some Christians believe that theirdaily work merely exists to providethem with living expenses and to givethem a source of income so that theycan support Gospel ministry. Arethey right in this?

Well, not in my view. I think such anunderstanding reduces the significance ofmany legitimate and essential activitiesand gives everything in life a merely inci-dental value. On this view everything issimply as a means to this wider goal ofevangelism and outreach.

My principal objection to this view isthat it implies that nothing I do as aChristian is worthwhile in and of itself.None of my activities, if they are notdirectly related to evangelism and full-time church work, has any intrinsic value.This means that my involvements in cul-ture, music, the arts, appreciation of thenatural order, the desire to sustain andfoster the environment – just to mentiona few currently fashionable concerns – areworthwhile in and of themselves. Theyonly become useful when they can beused in the worship services of the churchor in evangelism and outreach in its vari-ous forms. Such a view devalues theworthwhileness of so many activities –things like farming, caring for the sick,teaching, to mention just a few – and Ifind that very disheartening.

Calvin said each individual isappointed to a particular living andserves there as a sentry at a post. Doesthis mean that Christians shouldever be anxious about their station inlife?

Well, it is coupled with the point I’vejust been making. If you can satisfy your-self in your own mind that what you’redoing is intrinsically worthwhile in theLord’s eyes, and that where you are iswhere you should be in God’s providen-tial wisdom, then you won’t always be

looking over your shoulder to see if youshould be involved in some sort of “full-time” Christian ministry. Nor will you beconsumed with anxiety about your job asto whether that is really what you oughtto be doing. So the idea that God appointsus to our various situations frees us psy-chologically from certain kinds of anxiety.

Of course, Calvin’s teaching aboutprovidence ingeneral should dothat, and histeaching aboutprovidence cou-pled with thisemphasis uponeach person beingl e g i t i m a t e l yplaced where theyare, should rein-force each other.So Calvin’s right –we are stationedin life like sentries. We are in the place ofGod’s appointment and we shouldn’t for-get this when emphasising the importanceof the legitimacy of different Christiancallings.

Finally, we must remember thatChristians are called to be salt and light inwhatever specific calling we find our-selves. In other words, we have an over-riding responsibility to bear witness to theLord regardless of our calling. If I amcalled to be a doctor, I am called to beboth a doctor and a Christian. The sameapplies if I work at a lathe or at a super-market check-out. If we are called to it, weare called to it by God. It is legitimate.

At the same time we must rememberthat we are the Lord’s people so we must

see ourselves to be in the world but not ofit.

What sort of questions should peoplebe asking themselves to determinewhether the sort of work that theyhave in mind is really worthwhile?

I think they’re common-sense ques-tions in the main. Some of these questionsconcern a person’s fittedness – if I feelmyself attracted to work that is physicallydemanding, then am I the sort of personwho has the physical capabilities to under-take it? If I think myself called to a placewhere skills of leadership are required,then do I have those leadership qualities?And the way to answer that question is toremember that you don’t always answer itfor yourself, but seek Christian guidancefrom people who have seen you from anobjective point of view and who thereforemay see you better than you see yourself.

Then there other sorts of questionsthat have to do with temperament, intel-lectual capacity, medical and physical mat-ters, as well as family responsibilities. Allthese matters should go into the mix.Sometimes decisions are not always clear-cut. It may be that we come to a decision,which is an “on-balance” decision. Thismeans that “all things considered”, weought to pursue Path A rather than PathB. We certainly should never seek guid-ance by using occult means such as con-sulting the stars and the like.

Nor should we expect to find “God’sperfect plan” for our lives spelled outsomewhere. Looking for such a planseems to be an extraordinary way of seek-ing answers to questions about guidance.One doesn’t find a word about this in the

Luther’s rediscovery ofthe true mean-ing of priest-hood destroyedthe idea of ahierarchical,priestly caste.

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whole of the New Testament. Ultimately it’s a question of fittedness.

And this means that we have to be honestwith ourselves. It may be that our con-science tells us at some stage that we areactually running away from a responsibil-ity that God wants us to assume. Forinstance, we might be running away fromministry like Jonah and so it would be rel-evant to take our conscience into accountas we contemplate what we should do. So,it has got be a common-sense approachinvolving other people as well as our-selves. If a person trusts his or her minis-ter in this regard he may be able to offersome helpful advice. But it’s got to beundertaken before God with one’s con-science attuned to Christian responsibili-ties.

Is there such a thing as a call to theministry? How do people receive it?For instance, does it come miracu-lously and is it accomplished byvisions/voices?

Yes, there is such a thing as a call to theministry, but it’s a difficult matter. I thinkwe can usually rule out visions and voicesbecause nowadays these are usuallyaspects of the divination/occult-typeguidance that I think is misplaced.Further, I don’t believe that there is anyin-principle difference between fulfilling

one’s calling as a Christian minister andfulfilling it in some other way. Are thereany clear grounds for saying that there isan in-principle difference in the manner ofGod’s call in either case?

Personally, Ithink that dis-cerning a call tothe Christianministry involvesquestions of fit-tedness, self-examination as toone’s motives andintentions, andseeking the opin-ions of otherswho are qualifiedto offer advice.

There is also the important question ofpersonal desire or constraint. I don’t thinkone can rule out that somebody shouldfeel a strong inner constraint to theChristian ministry and feel in some wayimpelled to become a minister.

To what extent does the new life towhich Christ calls us affect our pre-sent circumstances and relationships?Does our freedom in Christ allow usto be more mobile with respect tojobs and less tied to relationships?

Although our world today is in many

respects vastly different to the world ofthe first century, that doesn’t change thebasic parameters of what I have been try-ing to say. As I have already mentioned,today we have vastly more opportunitieswith respect to travel and education. But Idon’t think these increased opportunitieschange any of the principles involved. Forinstance, you might hear of opportunitiesin other countries, and you could regardyourself as particularly fitted for the task,perhaps uniquely fitted. In those circum-stances, considering the position wouldbe legitimate, but you would also have totake into account how assuming thisresponsibility might affect your familycircumstances, your duty to parents andother obligations that you might have.That’s part of the mix, part of the hardthought that has to go into making deci-sions of this kind.

If work is a God-given calling, wheredo we draw the line between fulfillingour calling and workaholism?

We need to remember that althoughour work is a calling, it is not meant tobe an all-consuming thing. It is onething to emphasise the legitimacy of allkinds of work for a Christian, along withthe qualifications required for it.However, it’s another thing to say thatfulfilling that calling is more importantthan other duties we may have – duties,for example, to our husbands and wives,our children, our parents and friends. Allthese must be respected in the pursuit ofa calling.

While our various callings as Christiansare legitimate, we must be wary of makingthem the be-all and end-all of life. TheNew Testament is full of warnings aboutmisplaced ambitions. Jesus cautioned hisdisciples by reminding them that wheretheir treasures are, there their hearts willbe also. We must make it our ambition tolay up treasures in heaven. It is easy, evenas a Christian, to be overly concernedabout earthly treasure.

In the West, we put special emphasisupon work that involves knowledge,individual initiative, and responsibil-ity along with the consumerist life-style that goes with it, and we lookdown on repetitive, mundane work.Is this a Christian way to look atwork?

Christians may be torn in this. I thinkevery Christian is given talents, and wemust use these talents in order to glorifyGod. If I am called to use my brain, myleadership qualities, my personality, and


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my organisational talents, then thatshould not tempt me to belittle the call-ing of anyone who is differentlyequipped. I suppose the best analogy wehave here is Paul’s teaching about thebody of Christ. Every member of thechurch is equally a member – there is akind of egalitarian strand to his teaching.But he also emphasises that within thisegalitarian relationship to Christ there arelegitimate differences as well. Not allmembers of Christ’s body function ashands or eyes.

It is true that there are different kindsof work. Some sorts of work are more dif-ficult than others. With regard to themore mundane forms, I think there arecertainly people who are better suited torepetitious work. They may find they canlive with the demands of this type of workwhich would drive other sorts of peoplemad. On the other hand, they may findthat they cannot sustain or bear thedemands of complex knowledge work.What legitimises their work is that it isgiven meaning and significance by the factthat what they do is a good thing. Whenthey do what some may regard as mun-dane activities they can be assured thattheir work is valuable to God if it is donefor God’s glory and with the aim of pleas-ing Him. They should certainly not feelinferior as though they belong to a lesserorder of Christian because they areinvolved in humble work.

Does a Christian’s calling to workcome to an end when he retires, or isunemployed, or inherits a fortune?

I may have given the impression inwhat I have already said that our callingsare meant to be identified with paidemployment. Of course, for the vastmajority of people this will be the case,but there are exceptions and qualifica-tions to this general rule. As a calling iswider than our work, so it is a mistake toidentify our calling with paid employ-ment.

Obviously, as people get older andtheir natural capacities decline, they getweaker in body and mind. Sometimespeople find that their skills are no longerrequired because their work is supersededby new technology. These factors have tobe taken into account when determiningwhether a person should consider achange in occupation. When a person’shealth, skills or family circumstances haveundergone a major change, he must againreview his personal circumstances and see,whether given the chance to retire, heshould retire or continue on. If a person

believes that he should retire then therewill be other opportunities to use his skillsin alternative activities or hobbies. This isa difficult area in which to give advice. Ithink in this sort of area one has to be verydiscriminating in the way in which guid-ance is sought, and especially so when oneis thrown into unemployment. I find itdifficult to prescribe a general rule whichwould apply to every Christian who ispassing through these major life transi-tions.

How should a Christian face unem-ployment? Are we free to do as weplease in such circumstances, as

though we are on one long holiday?An unemployed Christian has a lot of

enforced leisure time. What is he to do? Ishe to treat each day and each week as along holiday? Not only is idleness of thiskind psychologically and often physicallydestructive, it is also incompatible with aChristian’s calling. While it is not desir-able or possible to go into detail here overwhat a Christian ought to do in such cir-cumstances, nevertheless a person who isunemployed through no fault of his ownshould not worry or complain himselfinto inactivity. Are there opportunities tobe retrained? Could he secure odd jobs?Ought he to look for work away fromhome? Does he have a hobby that he candevelop? These and many other questionsare the sorts of things that an unemployedChristian should be asking himself.

How does the idea of Christian call-ing affect the modern notion of“leisure”?

Well, we have touched on that a little.First, let me say that I do not think thatthere is a theology of play or leisurewhich could prescribe amounts andkinds of leisure for everyone. Such anidea is absurd, however well-intentionedit may be. The fact is that it is difficult toprovide a biblical justification for leisureand recreation by appealing to isolatedtexts and passages of Scripture which

refer, for instance, to the Sabbath rest, orto what Ecclesiastes says about theimportance of the present, or to what theSong of Solomon says about the celebra-tion of love between the sexes. The prob-lem with all such appeals is that they areforced, for such passages have no refer-ence to the twenty-first century idea ofleisure time and how it may be spent.What we need to do is to think in a bib-lically distinctive way about leisure interms of our calling.

So how does leisure relate to theseideas of calling? I think in this way. Theidea of calling invites each of us to see ourlives as a whole, before God, and to recog-nise the obvious fact that people differfrom one another. Nothing should bedone, in the name of a Christian theologyof leisure, or of anything else, to erodethese differences.

For many in the 21st century, in theWest, the enjoyment of leisure timewhich is not wholly occupied with recov-ering from the effects of working is a factthat can be taken for granted. It is one ofthe “inputs” into our lives. It represents anew set of opportunities along with, say,the higher standards of provision forhealth that we all have come to expect.And since calling is not equivalent to paidwork, increasing amounts of leisureought not to be an embarrassment to theChristian any more than the fact thatsmall-pox has been eliminated shouldembarrass him. Formerly life consisted inworking and resting from work. Now itconsists in working, resting and “leisuretime”.

But leisure is a word for many differentthings – playing sport and watching it,traveling, developing sophisticated hob-bies, and so on. If the differences betweenpeople which I have been stressing as partof the biblical account of calling and thedifferent kinds of leisure are addedtogether, then very many different atti-tudes both to paid work and leisure and totheir relationship are possible.

Some people find fulfillment in onelife-long, week-long job, some in a combi-nation of work and leisure, some in workwhich is not employment, some in workwhich is play for others, and so forth. Allsuch differences are compatible withChristian integrity and with the idea ofeach Christian having a calling. What isnot compatible with this is any activitywhich is sinful or for which the motiveand end is unchristian, or which is theimposition of one pattern of living by oth-ers. Again, “let every man be fully per-suaded in his own mind”. ap

The idea ofcalling invitesus to see ourlives as awhole, beforeGod, andrecognise thatpeople differ.

Iremember a public meeting at univer-sity when I first came across the ideathat “full-time” ministry was themost appropriate calling for the faith-

ful Christian. I still recall the speaker’simpassioned plea to think of the millionsof people in the world who were destinedfor a Christ-less eternity unless many ofus heeded his call to become evangelistsand missionaries. And I also distinctlyremember that he challenged us to give upour small ambitions in this world so as toembrace God’s plan for world evangelisa-tion.

It was a moving appeal, and while itdidn’t directly affect my decision to trainfor the Christian ministry, it did create atension in my mind. Could a Christian ingood conscience pursue any of a thousanddifferent careers while there were still somany people who hadn’t heard of Christ?Who would warn them of the comingjudgment and point them to Jesus as theSaviour?

Come to think of it, was it even legiti-mate to be spending time pursuing cul-tural, artistic and sporting activities? EricLiddell’s sister, Jenny, in the film Chariotsof Fire, echoed many of the lecturer’s sen-timents when she accused her gold medal-winning brother of selfish indulgence byrunning in the Olympics. The issue is: isthe only way to evaluate our lives to askthe question whether our occupationshave provided us with umpteen opportu-nities for witness and evangelism? Manymodern Christians seem to think so.

In my experience as a pastor I oftencome across young people in particular

who experience enormous spiritual tor-ment over these issues. Well-meaningfriends, who recognise their considerabletalents, suggest that they are wasting theirlives if they do not devote themselvesexclusively to gospel ministry. Often,these friends exert considerable psycho-logical pressure to persuade them to pur-sue theological studies or to begin Gospelministry training.

Usually, the two assumptions that areimplicit in their advice are, first, that theChristian life consists essentially of “wit-ness” and evangelism and that those whodo not devote themselves seriously to this

task are a lesser breed of believer. The second assumption is related to the

first in that it sees life as divided into spir-itual and worldly components. The spiri-tual realm consists of religious activitiessuch as prayer, Bible-reading, evangelismand church attendance. The worldly realm,by contrast, is found in the more mundaneactivities of life – holding a job, doing the

shopping, payingthe bills andchanging a nappy.These activitiesare considered ofa lower order, andtherefore lessimportant.

My aim in thisarticle is to exam-ine the second ofthese assump-tions and to see

whether it is well-grounded in Scripture.Then I want to look at Martin Luther’scontribution to the doctrines of priest-hood and vocation to see how the 16thcentury reformer used biblical insightsand historical theology to bring balance tothis perplexing subject.

First, then, let’s look at the assumptionthat the spiritual realm stops at the churchdoor and does not extend into the publicsquare. In the Genesis creation account,we read that God created the heavens andthe earth and everything in them. The pin-nacle of God’s creative activity, of course,was man – male and female (Genesis 1:26,27). Note the repeated reference to God’sreaction after each of His creative acts.One refrain is repeated over and over:“God saw that it was good.”

One can only draw the conclusion thatGod is at pains to affirm the essentialgoodness of the material realm. Christiansare meant to believe that the created orderis fundamentally good and that activitiesthat explore, develop and protect thatorder are meaningful, worthwhile and

pleasing to God. Unfortunately, not everygeneration of Christians has seen theworld in this way.

During the early history of the churcha movement developed that regarded thematerial realm as basically evil. The move-ment was known as Gnosticism, andalthough it was condemned by thechurch, it has never really been silenced.Gnostic tendencies have appeared in thechurch in every generation. They are eas-ily identified by the way in which theycompartmentalise existence into spiritualand material realms with the implicationthat activities related to the material orderare of a lesser kind. This means, forinstance, that a doctor who looks after ourbodies is engaged in a less important formof work than a minister who is principallyconcerned for people’s souls.

This assumption runs into a brick wallwhen we think about the Incarnation. TheIncarnation represents God’s love for theworld. God, who is Spirit, became man.That is, the Divine was somehow unitedto the material world.

The implications of the Incarnation arerevolutionary and Christians in variousages have struggled to come to terms withthem. For example, the Docetists in thesecond century couldn’t conceive how thespiritual could be linked to this world. Onthe other hand, in the fourth century, theArians had difficulty coming to termswith the idea that a man could be God.They couldn’t bring themselves to believeJesus really was divine.

Each of these heresies, whetherGnosticism, Docetism or Arianism,

compartmentalises the spiritual and mate-rial realms, and each is reluctant to affirmthe fundamental goodness of creation andthe human activities that support it. Andthis is why we should be especially wary ofmodern tendencies within the church thatmanifest these characteristics, especiallywhen they appear in the guise of well-intentioned advice that effectively down-grades every occupation that is not directlyinvolved in the ministry of the Gospel.

So in a real sense, the fundamentalgoodness of the created order is the issueat point in whether “full-time” Christianministry is the most worthy occupation

1 0 • A U S T R A L I A N P R E S B Y T E R I A N February 2005

We are all priestsAll true Christians are in full-time ministry, whatever we do.

PeterHastie

V O C A T I O N

Down throughthe centuriesthe idea that

matter issomehow

inferior hasbeen the baneof the church.

A U S T R A L I A N P R E S B Y T E R I A N February 2005 • 1 1

for a Christian. In my judgment, thisnotion is founded on a defective under-standing of the goodness of God’s cre-ation and the reality of the Incarnation.

Sadly, down through the centuries theidea that matter is somehow inferior, andthat its possession (usually in the form ofgold) is evil, has been the bane of thechurch. For instance, in the Middle Agesit found expression in the radical call topoverty by St Francis of Assisi, and todaythe same note is struck by Marxist libera-tion theologians who assume that wealthis fundamentally evil and that rich peoplemust be compelled to give it up (usually atthe point of a gun). Both these move-ments are founded on a basic misunder-standing of the goodness of creation, andthe idea that church-related ministry is asuperior calling for the Christian isequally defective. It is founded on a simi-lar (but often unconscious) misunder-standing.

Now for Luther’s part in all this. Lutherwas born into a world where it was

assumed that Christendom was com-prised of two different orders of people –the religious (monks, nuns and priests)and the laity. The first order was consid-ered a superior class. The distinctionbetween the two had developed in theearly centuries of the church.

The idea is first found in the bookDemonstration of the Gospel, byEusebius, Bishop of Caesarea (AD 265-339). He argued that Christ in theSermon on the Mount authorised twoways of life for believers. One way isreferred to as the “perfect life”; the otheris the “permitted life”. The perfect life isspiritual, dedicated to religious exercisesand reserved for the clergy and religiousorders; the permitted life involves everyday activities such as politics, soldiering,farming, and raising a family. It is the lotof ordinary believers.

This division controlled the socialorder from the early Middle Ages untilthe Reformation. For example, while bothAugustine and Thomas Aquinas praisedthe work of farmers, craftsmen, and mer-chants, they always regarded the religiouslife as qualitatively superior to the secularlife.

Luther reacted violently to this teach-ing. His understanding of the doctrines ofjustification by faith, the priesthood of allbelievers and Christian “calling” castdoubt over this division of life into spiri-tual versus secular orders. He denied therewas a special religious vocation because heclaimed the call of God came to each man

at his common tasks. One of Luther’scontemporaries said, “This is the workwhich emptied the cloisters”.

In Luther’s mind, the real “spiritualestate” was made up not of clergy but ofthe whole body of believers through JesusChrist, clerical and lay alike. Further, hebelieved that the Bible taught that everyChristian was a priest (1 Pet. 2:5, 9; Rev.1:5). A soldier belonged to the spiritualestate as much as a bishop. He said: “Weare all consecrated priests through bap-tism, as St. Peter says in 1 Peter 2:9 ‘youare a royal priesthood’ … all Christiansare truly of the spiritual state and there isno difference among them except that ofoffice.” Elsewhere he says: “Scripturemakes all of us equally priests; and thechurchly priest-hood which wenow separatefrom the laity isreally called ‘min-istry’. In factnowhere is itcalled priest-hood.”

A number ofconsequencesflow fromLuther’s view of the priesthood of allbelievers. First, perhaps the most obviousis that “lay people” can live the Christianlife to the full. The distinction betweenclergy and laity as an order of existence isabolished. This puts paid to the idea that“full-time” church work is somehow bet-ter than other callings.

Second, although some believed thatthe doctrine of the priesthood of allbelievers undermined the pastoral office,this was not so. Luther was at pains toremind people that the pastoral office wasa vocation too, a calling from God with itsown authority and responsibilities. Theoffice of the preacher and the work ofevangelists and missionaries areabsolutely essential to the advance of theKingdom.

Third, the “priesthood of all believers”,while it did not mean that everyone auto-matically became involved in full-timechurch work, did turn every kind of workinto a sacred calling. Up until this time,people in the church had looked uponmarriage as a second-class form of exis-tence. However, Luther insisted that mar-riage was a legitimate calling and that amother and father could be priests totheir own children and could render avaluable religious service unto God.

The second doctrine which trans-formed Luther’s thinking about a

Christian’s role in the world was the doc-trine of “calling”. Since the doctrine of thepriesthood of all believers had abolishedthe distinction between the spiritual andsecular realms, Luther saw that the biblicalteaching of calling was particularly signif-icant in explaining a Christian’s work andrelationships.

Further, once Luther realised that all oflife was spiritual, he suddenly saw how

ordinary work could be done for the gloryof God. If all worthy occupations weredivine callings, then no labour wasbeneath a man’s dignity. “A dairy-maid canmilk cows to the glory of God,” he said.Further, Luther saw that common workwas good because God Himself performsthese tasks. For instance, God is a tailorwho makes a coat for the deer that will lasta thousand years. He is also a butler whosets forth a feast for the sparrows andspends on them each year more than anyking.

All of this solves the problem that somany Christians face today: is the onlytrue calling a call to full-time service? No.And if I can’t be a full-time Christianworker, does my work have any signifi-cance apart from being the means to paythe church’s bills? Yes. If you doubt it,remember the goodness of creation, thereality of the Incarnation and the contri-bution of Martin Luther to the doctrinesof the priesthood of all believers anddivine calling.

Peter Hastie, minister of AshfieldPresbyterian Church, Sydney, is issues edi-tor of AP. ap

The priesthoodof all believersturned everykind of workinto a sacredcalling.

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Imagine that a gifted young man, ableto think well on his feet, and to speakfor three or four hours if need be,were to profess faith in Christ and

ask for advice as to what he should dowith his life. Today almost any evangelicalminister would be quick to encouragesuch a man to consider entering the min-istry. First the Metro or MTS programme,then theological college, then a lifetime ofholding forth in pulpits and at confer-ences. Not so, however, when WilliamWilberforce visited St Mary’s church inLondon on 4 December 1785, and con-fessed in a note to “ten thousand doubts”about himself.

The rector was the converted slavetrader, John Newton, who had come toknow God’s amazing grace. Newton readWilberforce’s note, and set up a meetingbetween the two men on the followingWednesday, 7 December.

Wilberforce had emerged from a uni-versity career in Cambridge, where he hadplayed cards rather than attended lectures.In 1780 he stood successfully for Hull,and so became a member of the BritishHouse of Commons. Yet he was struckby what he called the “shapeless idleness”

of his past, and was inching his waytowards saving faith in Christ. A polishedspeaker, armed with a talent for devastat-ing sarcasm, Wilberforce was well suitedto a life which revolved around publicspeaking.

The “greatchange”, asW i l b e r f o r c ecalled conversion,came throughmeans of the con-versation of IsaacMilner (the evan-gelical tutor fromQueen’s College,Cambridge), andreading PhilipD o d d r i d g e ’ sbook Rise andProgress of Religion in the Soul, togetherwith the Bible. By 1787 Wilberforce wasclear concerning his evangelical convic-tions, and wrote: “God Almighty has setbefore me two great objects, the suppres-sion of the Slave Trade and theReformation of Manners.” By “manners”,he meant what we would call “morals”.

Until Newton’s death more than 20years later in 1807, “the old African blas-phemer”, as Newton used to refer to him-self, often advised the eloquent youngpolitician on spiritual matters. Newtonwas never keen to urge Wilberforce toenter the ministry. In 1786 he wrote ofhim: “I hope the Lord will make him ablessing both as a Christian and a states-man. How seldom do these characterscoincide!” Ever the optimist, Newtonadded that “they are not incompatible”.

In 1796 Newton again advisedWilberforce to remain in politics: “Ibelieve you are the Lord’s servant, and arein the post which He has assigned you;and though it appears to me more ardu-ous, and requiring more self-denial thanmy own, I know that He who has calledyou to it can afford you strength accord-

ing to your day.” Newton never fell forthe line that the only possible avenue ofChristian service was so-called “fulltimeministry”. All Christians are called to full-time ministry in their respective callings.

So Wilberforce pressed on in theHouse of Commons. Each year he wouldargue the case for the abolition of theslave trade, and each year he would bedefeated. Finally, in 1807 the Abolition ofthe Slave Trade Act was passed, and theHouse of Commons broke out with threehurrahs for Wilberforce – quite an unusualdisplay of enthusiasm and affection forpoliticians. Finally, in 1833, whenWilberforce himself was long retired andnear death, the parliament abolished slav-ery itself.

Wilberforce was an extraordinary man.He thought that what was needed in pol-itics was not more talent but “resoluteintegrity”.

Was Newton right to steer Wilberforceaway from the pulpit, and keep him in thehurly burly of the world of politics? Itwould seem so. As Wilberforce himselfput it: “A man who acts from the princi-ples I profess reflects that he is to give anaccount of his political conduct at theJudgment seat of Christ.”

The greatest need in the Western worldtoday may not be more preachers somuch as more Christians of true salt andlight who can operate in whatever sphereof service God has placed them.

Peter Barnes is minister of RevesbyPresbyterian Church, NSW. ap


A force for goodJohn Newton persuaded William Wilberforce to stay an MP – thank God!

PeterBarnes

V O C A T I O N

Wilberforcethought thatwhat wasneeded in politics wasnot more talent but“resoluteintegrity”.

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E V A N G E L I S MB I B L E S T U D Y

THE PASSAGE 1 THESSALONIANS 1:1-3THE POINT Paul never lost his deep pastoral concern for thechurches he’d planted. His letters to them usually contained admo-nition and the correction of errors and misunderstanding. But healways began them on a positive note, full of gratitude and praise. Itis a good model for the attitude in which we should approach tasksthat have the potential to cause tension. In this letter Paul choosesto highlight the obvious fruit being borne among the Thessaloniansby his favourite trilogy of virtues: faith, hope and love.THE PARTICULARS• The Church is established in the eternal Godhead. Therefore itisn’t just an optional extra for believers; they are part of it (1).• Paul maintained an active, grateful, personal and prayerful rela-tionship with all the churches of which he had been part (2).• Authentic faith will give birth to good work (cf James 2:18)(3).• True love will give birth to sacrificial toil (cf John 15:9-17)(3).• Genuine hope gives birth to the ability to keep going in spite ofthe inevitable set-backs in our experience(cf Romans 8:25)(3).TO PONDER ... AND TO PRAY• Would a biography of your Christian life show clear evidence ofgenuine faith, hope and love? Would yesterday’s diary entry?

THE PASSAGE 1 THESSALONIANS 1:4-10THE POINT Paul commended the Thessalonians because theywere a living testimony of God’s grace and the powerful work ofthe Holy Spirit among them. It was like a clear-sounding bell thatrang out across the whole region, even beyond their own borders.THE PARTICULARS• The powerful impact of the Gospel in Thessalonica was clear evi-dence of the Holy Spirit’s work and therefore of the fact that Godhad singled them out to be the recipients of His love (4-5a).• Much of Paul’s ministry was through relationships. His livingwith the Thessalonians is what had the biggest impact (5b-6a).• Joy is a fruit of the Spirit (cf Galatians 5:22), suppressing any suffering or persecution that comes from following Christ (6b).• The dramatic change the Gospel produced in the Thessaloniansmade them a natural example for others to follow. The most strik-ing thing was that they put the one, true and only living God first intheir lives; nothing else took His rightful place (7-9).• Their security in the risen Christ as Saviour enabled theThessalonians to look forward to His future Coming in judgment (10).TO PONDER ... AND TO PRAY• Is your life a clear-sounding bell that peals out the reality of God’ssaving grace in your family/neighbourhood/office?

Society's attitude to work is verydifferent from a century ago.Then our vocation, whetherpaid work or work in the home,

was at the centre of our life.Opportunities for rest and relaxationwere peripheral. Today, our leisuretime is much more likely to be centralin our thinking. Work has become ameans of making money to enjoy ourleisure.

The danger with the modern emphasisis that it leads us to focus on what theworld owes us, rather than what wecan contribute for the common good.This can lead to “idleness” -– not thatwe are doing nothing, but we do whatwe do for the wrong reason.

Paul saw this as a potential problemfor the young church of Thessalonica,and addresses it in his two short lettersto them, which form part of God’sinspired Word to us. There was alsosome confusion concerning Christ’sSecond Coming. It is interesting thatthese go together because in His para-bles about this great event JesusHimself was concerned that we shouldbe found doing the Father’s will, ful-filling our vocation, when He comes.

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DAY 1 Godliness & the three bearers. DAY 2 Clear as a bell.

20 daily Bible studies in1 & 2 Thessalonians

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B I B L E S T U D Y

THE PASSAGE 1 THESSALONIANS 2:1-6ATHE POINT Paul’s Church planting efforts in Thessalonica in51AD lasted only a few weeks. He had travelled the 100km fromPhilippi, having been forced to leave there because of violent Jewishopposition (the gaol/earthquake/evangelism episode in Acts 16).Now similar opposition in Thessalonica forced another hasty retreat(Acts 17). This gave rise to some criticism that Paul was nothingmore than a superficial, opportunistic, self-serving peddler of thegospel. Paul points out how contrary to fact this criticism was,challenging the church members to verify this from their own expe-rience (“you know” in verses 1, 2 and 5).THE PARTICULARS• The positive response to Paul’s proclamation of the Gospel inThessalonica was clear proof of the success of his visit (1).• With God’s help Paul stayed valiantly committed to the Gospel inspite of ongoing opposition, thus proving he was genuine (2).• The Gospel can be (and often is) undermined by heresy, less thanhonest motives, trickery, saying only what people want to hear, flat-tery, hypocrisy and greed. Paul could demonstrate that he wasapproved by God and remained true to the task given to him (4-6).TO PONDER ... AND TO PRAY• How does our proclamation of the Gospel stand up to Paul’s?

THE PASSAGE 1 THESSALONIANS 2:6B-12THE POINT Paul did not only aim to be honest to God in hisgospel work, he also made sure he was honest to men. We would dowell today to follow his example of leadership in the Church, combin-ing strength with humility and authority with service (cf Phil. 3:17).THE PARTICULARS• Paul saw his relationship to the churches he’d planted and nur-tured as an intimate and loving parent-child relationship (7-8, 11).• Paul was careful never to use (or abuse) his rightful apostolicauthority and privilege to take advantage of others (6b, 9).• Paul was careful to be above reproach in all his dealings withbelievers, to the point that he could call God as a witness (10).• Paul’s underlying purpose in everything was for believers tobehave consistently with their profession. He used all the ploys of ahuman father – exhortation/encouragement, comfort/understand-ing, urging/commissioning – to achieve his purpose (12).• It is God who acts first to call us into His kingdom and glory (12).TO PONDER ... AND TO PRAY• Why is the parent-child relationship so helpful as a model forleadership in the Church? How does it strike a good balance?• Is it common to see this balance in Church leadership today?

THE PASSAGE 1 THESSALONIANS 2:13-16THE POINT Paul’s dramatic conversion on the Damascus road(see Acts 9:1-19) effected a 180º turn-around in his thinking.Although he had been a Pharisee who was hostile to the idea of Jesus’being the Messiah (cf 1 Tim. 1:13), he was now equally passionate indenouncing the Jews in their continued disbelief and opposition.THE PARTICULARS• Paul was quite self-conscious of his special calling from God to bean Apostle (cf 1 Corinthians 15:8-10), chosen as an official instru-ment to declare God’s inspired word to the Gentiles. The believersat Thessalonica gladly accepted such authority (13).• In the early days of the Church, persecution of new believers bytheir fellow Jews wasn’t confined to Judea; it continued whereverthe Gospel was preached and new churches were planted.• Paul did not try to absolve the Jews as a group from their part inthe guilt of Jesus’ death with its consequent judgment (15-16).• Commitment to God’s Word usually results in active hostility.TO PONDER ... AND TO PRAY• Why were the Jewish leaders so antagonistic towards Jesus?• Why did they persist in their antagonism to his Church?• Why is there still such strong resistance to the Gospel by Jews?

THE PASSAGE 1 THESSALONIANS 2:17-3:5THE POINT Paul can never be found guilty (although many try!)of being a cold, detached theologian. Under the inspiration of theHoly Spirit he teaches us profound spiritual truth. But it is alwaysin the context of a warm, loving, personal relationship with his fam-ily in Christ. We would do well to make the sentiments heexpresses in these verses a model for our own approach to whateverministry God has given us to do within His Church.THE PARTICULARS• Paul knew that he was involved in a spiritual battle (17-18, 5).• Paul had a deep, personal concern for the people who had cometo faith through his ministry; he longed always to be with them.• Paul saw them as trophies of God’s grace that he could hold upbefore the Lord when he returned, giving him a real sense of joyand fulfilment, and making all his efforts worthwhile (19-20, 5).• Paul did not let setbacks discourage him; he always had a contin-gency plan, usually involving others as co-workers (1-2).• Persecutions are an inevitable part of following Jesus, becausethey are part of God’s sovereign plan for us in Christ (3-4).TO PONDER ... AND TO PRAY• Is there someone to whom you could have a special ministry ofnurture and encouragement, someone who could be your trophy?

THE PASSAGE 1 THESSALONIANS 3:6-13THE POINT Paul was greatly encouraged by Timothy’s report ofgrowth in the young church plant at Thessalonica. The fact thatthey were standing firm in the Lord in spite of much persecutionfrom the Jews was like new life to his own persecution-worn body.THE PARTICULARS• Things Paul was excited about regarding what was happening inhis newly-established Church at Thessalonica included -

– their faith that enabled them to withstand persecution (6-8);– their genuine love and affection for Paul and his colleagues (and

this in spite of only a relatively brief acquaintance) (6);– the beginnings of their love for each other and for outsiders (12).

• The uplifting effect the news of all this had on Paul included -– revitalised energy in the midst of trials and tribulations (7-8);– gratitude to the Lord and a renewed sense of joy in him (9).

• The outcome for Paul in his ministry included -– a desire to revisit them to teach and encourage them (6, 10-11);– ceaseless prayer for them and for their continuing growth (10);– prayer for their growth in holiness before Jesus’ Return (12f).

TO PONDER ... AND TO PRAY• Whom are you encouraging just now? Who’s encouraging you?

THE PASSAGE 1 THESSALONIANS 4:1-8THE POINT We live on the other side of the globe, nearly 2000years later, in a vastly different culture, but Paul’s directives to theChurch in Thessalonica are exactly what needs to be said to ustoday. The pressure on Christians in a sex-oriented society to con-form to the ways (and clothing fashions!) of the world is enormous,and it seems to me the Church is not being the salt and light Godintends it to be. We need to take Paul’s inspired words to heart.THE PARTICULARS• Paul speaks with the authority of the Lord Jesus himself (1-2).• In spite of good initial progress, Paul recognised the potential forfuture trouble if a definite stand was not taken against the immoral-ity that permeated the society (3-7). So must we!• Progressive sanctification (being made holy since God is holy) isan essential part of our salvation (3, 7-8; cf Hebrews 12:14).• Avoiding sexual immorality requires concerted effort; temptationneeds to be “nipped in the bud” (cf Ephesians 5:3). And sexual sinis never private; it always affects someone else (6).• God is very serious about the sexual purity of Christians (5-8).TO PONDER ... AND TO PRAY• What restrictions will applying this passage place on your lifestyle– your TV/film watching, your reading, your social life?

DAY 3 Honest to God.

DAY 4 Honest to men.

DAY 5 God’s Word at work.

DAY 6 A model for ministry.

DAY 7 The value of each other.

DAY 8 Out of control passions.


B I B L E S T U D Y

THE PASSAGE 1 THESSALONIANS 4:9-12THE POINT Out of all the methods we use to reach people forChrist, “lifestyle evangelism” is probably the simplest and mosteffective. In every age, and especially today, people are looking forsomething that is real. In an age driven by selfishness, greed, andthe desire to be provided for and entertained, we can make a power-ful impact for the Gospel as salt and light, just by being different.THE PARTICULARS• Being born again carries with it the disposition to love others withthe “agape” love God has for us. We are taught it by God himself(9; cf 1 John 4:7-11). But we still need to be encouraged to grow inaffection for our brothers and sisters in Christ (10).• Ambition for personal advantage or aggrandisement have no partin a Christian’s approach to life. But there are things we can beambitious about: the sort of quietness that comes from content-ment and trust in God (cf Isaiah 30:15); being sufficiently absorbedin fulfilling our own calling from God so that we are not interferingin the affairs of others (cf John 21:20-22); and not being afraid toget our hands dirty to earn our way (11-12).• Honest, hard work is a powerful witness to unbelievers (12).TO PONDER ... AND TO PRAY• Is your lifestyle an attractive witness? What needs to change?

THE PASSAGE 1 THESSALONIANS 4:13-18THE POINT Another reason for consistent Christian living is thefact that Jesus will return. Nevertheless, some confusion hadalready arisen within the Church in Thessalonica as to what wouldhappen when this occurred. Would believers who had already diedbe at some disadvantage, missing out on the glory of such a greatevent? Paul wants to clear up this confusion, giving a brief butinspired outline of the events surrounding the Lord’s SecondComing. He allows for the possibility of it happening in his ownlifetime (15, 17), but his language does not require it.THE PARTICULARS• Confusion about the key points concerning the Second Comingcan even lead believers to the same despair as unbelievers (13).• Jesus’ own resurrection is proof that believers who have died willbe raised to life when he comes (14, 16b; cf 1 Cor. 15:20).• The momentous event of the Second Coming on the world stage(16) will bring together all believers: the Church Triumphant (thosewho have already died) and the Church Militant (those still alive) inone unprecedented reunion in the sky (17).TO PONDER ... AND TO PRAY• Are you looking forward with anticipation to the Return ofJesus? If it were today, are you ready? What do you need to do?

THE PASSAGE 1 THESSALONIANS 5:1-11THE POINT Jesus told several parables to make clear that He willcome back without warning, and that the reason for this is as an incen-tive for consistent, godly living. Paul expands on this teaching here.THE PARTICULARS• Paul had done his work at Thessalonica; he knew they were wellinformed as to the surprise element in Jesus’ Return (1-3).• People do things they’re ashamed of under cover of darkness sothat no one can see them. If we live every part of our lives as if theworld is watching in broad daylight then we will not have to shrivelup in embarrassment when Jesus does appear (4-7).• Self-control (cf Galatians 5:23) and faith, hope and love (cf 1:3)are basic virtues we need to concentrate on as children of the Day(6, 8). These certainly make us stand out in our society, providingus with the protection we need in our warfare! (8)• We can encourage each other not to give up in the battle since sal-vation is absolutely secure in our Lord Jesus Christ (8-10).TO PONDER ... AND TO PRAY• Does your understanding of the Gospel include a clear picture ofthe sure and sudden Return of Christ, possibly today?• We live in a society whose motto is, “If it feels good, do it”. Whyis self-discipline so rare today? What is happening as a result?

THE PASSAGE 1 THESSALONIANS 5:12-15THE POINT As Paul brings his letter to a close he includes somepractical instructions on Christian living, for individuals, but mainlyfor the Church as a community of God’s people. God designed usto find fulfilment in satisfying work, which is best done together.THE PARTICULARS• Paul recognised, and so endorsed, a form of Church governmentwhere some are giving responsibility for spiritual oversight, leader-ship and discipline (elders/teachers). They are to be given appropri-ate respect in love because of their devotion to their onerous task –cf a similar exhortation in 1 Tim. 5:17 (12-13a).• It is interesting that in the context of Church government Paulpoints out the need to pursue actively peace and harmony (13)!• Not only are we to be self-disciplined (6, 8), we are to help eachother, warning and encouraging others in an attitude of patience andforgiveness if the sanctification process is a bit slow (14-15)!• The “idle” are those who, due to lack of self-discipline, are thedrifters who are out of work, not because there are no jobs available,but because of a mind-set that assumes they shouldn’t have to work– they are convinced society “owes” them (14).TO PONDER ... AND TO PRAY• Which part of these instructions do you find most difficult?

THE PASSAGE 1 THESSALONIANS 5:16-28THE POINT As Christians, our whole existence is tied up insepa-rably with God. We must be serious about walking in fellowshipwith him.THE PARTICULARS• Joy, prayer and gratitude should be so much a part of our new lifein Christ that there are no times when they’re not evident, even,and especially, in the midst of persecution. They form a sort of tril-ogy, each in turn being the outcome of the other two (16-18).• Verse 18 is really saying, “Give thanks in each and every circum-stance of your life because that particular circumstance is God’s willfor you in Christ Jesus” (cf Romans 8:28) – a hard but valuable les-son for us to learn about God’s sovereignty.• We need to be open to the Spirit’s leading, but careful to test thatit is truly the Spirit’s leading (19-22; cf 2 Corinth. 11:14).• We are a spirit-soul-body unit; the whole unit must be made andmaintained holy by God; only thus can we be at peace (23).• Our confidence is in God’s faithfulness to do what He says. Wetherefore need to read His Word daily and depend on His grace.TO PONDER ... AND TO PRAY• Are you able to rest in God’s faithfulness to His promises?• Is there any part of your life you don’t want God to sanctify?

THE PASSAGE 2 THESSALONIANS 1:1-4THE POINT This letter was probably written only a few weeksafter the first one to correct any misunderstandings that werereported back to Paul after it had been read. It gives further detailabout the Second Coming and again addresses the problem of idle-ness in the Church. But, on the whole, Paul continued to be greatlyencouraged by what was happening in the church he’d planted.THE PARTICULARS• The Church is established in God the Father, whom we can callour Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ (cf Ephesians 1:22-23); He isthe source of grace (unmerited favour) and peace to us (1).• Paul continues to be thankful to God for evidence of even furthergrowth in the faith and love of the Thessalonian believers (3).• The Church at Thessalonica had become a model to the otherchurches of perseverance and trust in God in the face of intensepersecution and other testing difficulties. It is interesting that faithand endurance can only be demonstrated in the context of strugglesso these should be seen as blessing (4; cf James 1:2-3).TO PONDER ... AND TO PRAY• Paul gives no indication as to the numerical growth that hasoccurred in the church plant in Thessalonica. Do we have some-thing to learn from this today? In what do we boast?

DAY 9 Lifestyle evangelism.

DAY 10 Christ is surely coming.

DAY 11 Daylight behaving.

DAY 12 Working in the daylight.

DAY 13 Walking in the daylight.

DAY 14 Church growth that counts.


THE PASSAGE 2 THESSALONIANS 1:5-10THE POINT As their “father” in Christ, Paul was obviously dis-tressed by the persecutions the Thessalonians were called on to suf-fer for their faith. Yes, he is encouraged by the good effect such tri-als have had on their faith, but he would naturally like to see somejustice happening in their circumstances. (We are usually more con-cerned about the suffering of our spiritual children than we areabout our own!) Paul is looking forward to the Return of Jesuswhen God will finally vindicate all who have suffered.THE PARTICULARS• The Thessalonians’ perseverance is actually evidence of God’s jus-tice, even though he has allowed them to suffer unjustly. We needto keep this in mind today as we see great injustices being done toChristians in Africa and other places (5; cf Rev. 6:9-11).• We must leave the whole question of justice and vengeance in theLord’s hands alone (cf Romans 12:19). His people will surely bevindicated when Jesus comes with the fire of Judgement (6-7).• Judgement will come on those who fail to believe the Gospel.Their fate is described as “eternal destruction” and being “shut outfrom the presence of the Lord”. Hell is a stark reality (8-10).TO PONDER ... AND TO PRAY• Will you meet Jesus as your Saviour or Judge when he comes?

THE PASSAGE 2 THESSALONIANS 1:11-12THE POINT The activity of prayer is an excellent example of theinteraction between God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility. Paulhas just expressed his confidence that God will consummate all Hispurposes for His chosen people when Jesus comes again. Instead ofthis obviating the need to pray it drives him to pray harder!THE PARTICULARS• Paul knows that the Thessalonians’ suffering for their faith will bejustly vindicated when Jesus returns. But this cannot stop him frompraying earnestly and constantly that they will also be found worthyof God’s calling on that great Day (11a).• He also prays for fruit from their labours: that God will exert Hispower to fulfil their Spirit-inspired desires and faith-inspired actions(11b; see Philippians 2:13 for the background for this).• Paul’s prayer is also reminiscent of Jesus’ prayer for His disciplesthe night before He was crucified. Jesus prayed that His own namewould be glorified and that through Him the disciples’ name wouldbe glorified as well (12a; see John 17:1, 10, 21-23).• Whatever happens in answer to prayer will be on the basis ofGod’s grace alone, through the finished work of Jesus (12b).TO PONDER ... AND TO PRAY• How does your prayer life/emphasis compare with Paul’s?

THE PASSAGE 2 THESSALONIANS 2:1-12THE POINT Perhaps because of intense persecution,Thessalonian believers had become preoccupied with the (2nd)Coming, the Parousia, of the Lord Jesus. In 1 Thessalonians Paulhad shown that the death of some believers before Christ’s Returnwas no problem. They’d misunderstood either that letter, or hispreaching, or another letter we don’t have – or someone was spread-ing false rumours. Whatever the source there was a rumour that the“Day of the Lord” had already come. Paul sets this false idea to restby drawing attention to some obvious (to them!) realities.THE PARTICULARS• Evidence that the “Day of the Lord” had not yet come includedthe fact that it would be associated with a very public rebellionagainst God and the exposure of the identity of the “man of law-lessness” (cf “antichrist” in 1 John 2:18,22; 4:3; 2 John 1:7 where“anti-” means both “against” and “in the place of”) (3-4). • The thing delaying the exposure of Satan’s henchman (cf 9) wasclear to Paul and his readers (6-7) but it remains a mystery to us.• God is sovereign; even Satan’s deception and rebellion are underHis control; but man’s responsibility for unbelief remains(8-12).TO PONDER ... AND TO PRAY• Are you resting in God’s sovereign grace as you wait for Jesus?

THE PASSAGE 2 THESSALONIANS 2:13-17THE POINT The tension between God’s sovereignty and man’sresponsibility was hinted at in yesterday’s passage (see especiallyverses 10b-12 and the interaction between God sending the power-ful delusion and the unbelievers’ refusal to love the truth and besaved). Paul again balances God’s choice with our response.THE PARTICULARS• The most appropriate response to the outworking of God’s sav-ing grace in human lives is gratitude for His love. He chose us fromthe beginning and called us to Himself; and it is His Spirit whomakes us holy so that we can share in His glory (13-14).• This work of His sovereign grace cannot be divorced from themeans by which it is applied to us: our hearing of the truth of theGospel and our active belief in it (13-14, cf Romans 10:14-15).• Paul never isolates God’s sovereign election from a strong call toobey, stand firm and persevere (15, cf Philippians 2:12-13).• But at the the same time he notes our utter dependence on theencouragement and strength of the Holy Spirit to get us through (16).• Paul agrees with James: deeds and words are inseparable! (17)TO PONDER ... AND TO PRAY• How does Paul relate God’s choice and our response in verse 12?

THE PASSAGE 2 THESSALONIANS 3:1-5THE POINT Paul consistently made requests for prayer when hewrote to the believers in the various churches. He knew that with-out God’s help he could achieve nothing. Without the Spirit ofGod at work in the hearts of men all his efforts in preaching andteaching were to no avail. He was also aware of the dangers he facedfrom his own countrymen as he proclaimed Jesus as the onlySaviour. It is worthwhile praying because God is faithful.THE PARTICULARS• As God’s Word does its work in us and His name is honouredthrough that Word bearing fruit, so we should pray for this processto continue to bring others to faith in the Lord (1).• An implication of verse 2 is that anyone who does not have faith(in Jesus as Saviour) is in the class the Bible refers to as “thewicked”. Failing to accept God’s gracious provision is evil.• We need to pray for the Lord’s protection for one another; it isworth doing because we are talking to a faithful God (2-3).• Exhorting one another to greater obedience and perseverance, andputting our confidence in God to work out His purposes in us any-way, are complementary, not mutually exclusive (4-5).TO PONDER ... AND TO PRAY• Has God been faithful to you in prayer? Have you been to Him?

THE PASSAGE 2 THESSALONIANS 3:6-18THE POINT Paul concludes with the other matter raised in hisfirst letter: the value of good, honest work, and the danger of lazi-ness. His principles have relevant application to believers today.THE PARTICULARS• A disposition towards laziness is contagious. We find it easier tohave a positive attitude to work if we are among people who findreal fulfilment in their tasks and are not just there to watch theclock and pass the time. And idleness breeds idleness (6-9).• Failure to play our part in the scheme of things inevitably puts agreater burden on someone else. There is no free lunch (8).• Being a good role model to others often requires us to surrenderrights and privileges. This is especially so today in a society thatputs more emphasis on rights/privileges than on serving (9-10).• The sin of idleness can easily lead to other sins like meddling inthe affairs of others and all that results (11; 1 Peter 4:15).• We should never give up on doing the right thing, even if othersdo! Good self-discipline puts us in a position to exercise spiritualdiscipline towards our brothers in Christ (13-15).TO PONDER ... AND TO PRAY• How do you approach your work? Are you a good role model?

B I B L E S T U D Y

DAY 15 God is just.

DAY 16 A model prayer.

DAY 17 The Day of the Lord.

DAY 18 God chose... stand firm.

DAY 19 Pray for us.

DAY 20 No free lunch.

New ministers

Anew group of graduating students fromour three theological colleges havetaken/are about to take up variousappointments and ministries. They are: InNSW, David and Ashleigh Burge –Missionaries to Mongolia; Michael andAnita Campbell – Mudgee congregation;Robert and Christine Coleman –Wollondiliy congregation; Ben andLouise Johnson – Blacktown East con-gregation; Peter and Caroline Williamson– associate minister at WesternBlacktown, working at Glenwood; Scottand Grace Xu – NSW Mission andMinistry are looking at a consortium toestablish a ministry amongst Mandarin-speaking Chinese. In Victoria, Andrewand Kareen Gall – Naracoorte congrega-tion (SA). In Queensland, Kwang-HoSong – assistant minister at St. Andrew’s,Townsville; Cameron Wills – Athertoncongregation; Will Henderson – NewLife Camira congregation.

Joining the army

Rev. David Niven has left The GapCharge (Qld) to become a full timeArmy Chaplain. As a consequence hewishes to sell some of his books. MrNiven can be contacted on 0413 489 200.St. Andrew’s Townsville celebrated its150th anniversary in October. The guestpreacher was the Very Rev. Dr KenGardner. Dr Gardner spoke on holiness.Copies of the messages, which PCQModerator Ron Pilkington describes as“very scholarly, thoughtful and excel-lent”, are available.

Open night

The Presbyterian Theological Collegein Melbourne held its open night at theend of October. Rev. Dr Neil Chambersof Bundoora (Vic) spoke on making themost of theological education. Hisaddress can be downloaded from the col-lege website. Graduation took place on26 November at the end of a year of con-sistent and solid growth. Tim Meyers ofPioneers preached. The 25 years of col-lege ministry by the principal, DrDouglas Milne, was marked with a sur-prise presentation.

Caloundra growth

In late October the Session of theCaloundra-Maleny (Qld) congregationadded 16 new members by public profes-sion of faith to the church roll. GordonHunter was ordained and inducted to theeldership at Maleny by Rev. N.Thomason at Maleny on 24 October.

Hospital dedicated

On 16 October the Presbytery ofSydney North dedicated the AllowahPresbyterian Children’s Hospital. Thehospital forms part of the outreach workof the PCNSW Social Services. NSWModerator Rev. Dr. Paul Logan spokefrom Mark 10:13-14 and unveiled twoplaques, one relating to the past history ofAllowah Hospital and the October dedi-cation itself.

Good business

Una and Henry Kim of St Ives-Pymble(NSW) were finalists and award winnersin the Ethnic Business Awards (under $5million turnover p.a. section) held at theend of October. The awards were laterscreened on SBS Television.

Peripatetic pastors

Various Presbyterians were among the8500 riders who took part in the GreatVictorian Bike Ride that toured aroundthe south west of the state in lateNovember. They included ministersRichard O’Brien from Scots’ Church(Chaplain to the event) and PeterOrchard (Ashburton), elder Col Rumpand his wife Chris (Leongatha), elderJohn Flett (Eltham) and Tom Leach(Koroit). There was also a team fromKing’s College, Warrnambool. Participantscycled more than 550 kilometres in eightdays so everybody enjoyed the rest day atApollo Bay. It was a physically demandingweek so some, including Peter andRichard, took up the offer of a second restday! The event which started at Port Fairyfinished in Geelong where relatives andfriends greeted the weary cyclists.

Tasmania doubles

The Tasmanian Assembly in May 2004dissolved the Presbytery of Tasmania andorganised two new presbyteries, thePresbytery of Bass in the north of theApple Isle and the Presbytery of Derwentin the south. The new presbyteries metfor the first time on 7 December 2004.


N E W S

AcrossAustralia

Presbyterian Theological Centre – Sydney“From Every Nation –

Reaching a Multicultural City”18-20 April 2005

This conference will examine the challenges of bringing the gospel of Christ to people and establishing healthy

churches in a multicultural community. If you are a minister, elder or church leader who is involved in reaching the many cultural groups in our city, or you long to see your church engage the community more effectively,

From Every Nation is for you.

A Featured Speakers Include: A

CS Tang (Cornerstone Church), John Davies (PTC), Mike Wilson(Strategic Ministries, Anglicare, Sydney), John Thew (CMS Australia)

and a presentation from the National Church Life Survey.

ATo be held at the Presbyterian Theological Centre

77 Shaftesbury Road, Burwood NSW. For more information contact John McClean on 9744 1977 or [email protected]

Faithful service

On 21 November 1954, four elders wereordained and inducted at St Paul’s,Lismore. After 50 years two of theseelders, still at Lismore, have celebratedtheir “jubilees”. They are TreverBartholomew and Jack Gaggin. Bothhave given conscientious service to theLord and the Church. Trever and his wife,Amy, are the parents of Rev. ArnoldBartholomew of St Andrew’s Canberra.Jack has had his activities restricted by astroke and he was recently declared to bean Elder Emeritus. Trever and Jack hadtheir long service recognised at theDecember Communion at St. Paul’s.

Vale Sunny

Presbyterians in Victoria will be sad-dened to learn of the death of Mrs SunnyMuller on 21 March in Crescent City,Florida, USA. Sunny was the wife of Rev.Dr. John H. Muller who had served in thePCV during the mid-1980s. The Mullershad been members of the ReformedChurch in the United States and came toAustralia to engage in church-plantingand pastoral work. Dr. Muller wasappointed by the Victorian GeneralAssembly to lecture in pastoral theologyat the Presbyterian Theological College.He conducted this ministry with distinc-tion and was instrumental in helpingmany young pastors adapt to the chal-lenges of modern pastoral life. He alsoserved as a pastor to the Swan Hill andColac congregations. Both these congre-gations flourished under John and

Sunny’s ministries and they saw numbersof people become Christians.

The Mullers returned to America inthe early ’90s and have been involved in avariety of short-term pastorates in a num-ber of states over the last 10 years. Johnand Sunny had been married for 62 yearswhen Sunny was suddenly stricken with acerebral haemorrhage while attending amusical program at a nearby church. Shedied five hours later. John continued toserve the Crescent City PresbyterianChurch in Florida where his contractcame to an end on December 31, 2004. Hemay continue pastoring if the Lord opensanother door. John can be contacted at128 South Prospect Street, Crescent City,FL, 32112, USA.

WA Assembly

The smallest of the six state assemblies,the West Australian Assembly met at StColumba’s Church, Peppermint Grove,on 29 and 30 October 2004. The 16Commissioners were led in worship byModerator-General Bob Thomas andthe Moderator of the 2002 and 2003Assembly, Rev. Darrell Thatcher. Rev.Keith Morris, minister of St Columba’s,was elected and inducted as Moderator ofthe 2004 assembly.

The Moderator welcomed Rev. PeterKossen who brought greetings from theChristian Reformed Church and Rev.Andrew Priddle and Simon Stewart whobrought greetings from the WestminsterPresbyterian Church. The assembly wasadvised that a new Presbyterian ChurchAct has been drafted to replace the

Presbyterian Church Act 1908. Theassembly also encouraged Sessions todevelop plans for training women forgospel ministry. Rev. J. Nocher wasthanked for 20 years of faithful service asChaplain to the Braemar PresbyterianHomes for the Aged in Bicton and EastFremantle. The assembly also resolved tohold a planning day to give prayerful con-sideration concerning how to develop fur-ther the ministry of the PCWA.

More life: here and later

Research shows that regular churchgo-ers live longer than non-believers, anAmerican study has found. A 12-yearstudy tracking the mortality rates of morethan 550 adults over the age of 65 foundthat those who attended services at leastonce a week were 35 per cent more likelyto live longer than those who neverattended church. It also found that goingto church boosted elderly people’simmune systems and made them lesslikely to suffer clogged arteries or highblood pressure.

Susan Lutgendorf, a psychologist atthe University of Iowa who did the study,said: “There’s something involved in theact of religious attendance, whether it’sthe group interaction, the world view orjust the exercise to get out of the house.There’s something that seems to be bene-ficial.”

The researchers found that amongindividuals who reported never attendingreligious services, the risk of death overthe 12 years was 52 per cent. By contrast,the risk of death of those who attendedmore than once a week was 17 per centover the same period.

Sydney Morning Herald

The boy who doesn’t exist

18-month-old Luka Eyvazov does notofficially exist, Forum 18 News Service hasfound, because Azerbaijani authoritiesrefuse to issue birth certificates for chil-dren with Christian names. “We have let-ters from village residents and 98 per centare opposed to registering Christiannames,” local registration officialAybeniz Kalashova told Forum 18.Mehman Soltanov of the JusticeMinistry asked Forum 18 “why did they

N E W S


Around the World

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choose a religious name?” and speculatedthat it was not Luka’s parents who chosehis name but “some religious sect”.

Luka’s father, Novruz Eyazov, insiststhat children are from God and toldForum 18 that “We went many times toask what basis they had to interfere in ourfamily life. They indicated there was pres-sure on them from on high. When theytold me to choose the name of a famousAzerbaijani poet or writer instead,” hetold Forum 18, “I responded that Luke, asone of the Gospel-writers, will still befamous when all the poets and writers arelong forgotten.” Without birth certifi-cates, people cannot go to kindergarten orto school, get treatment in a hospital ortravel abroad.

Bible for Panama

After faithfully preaching the Gospel inPanama for 40 years, a Guaymi pastor hasheld the New Testament in his own lan-guage for the first time. Up until now hehas been reading the Scripture to thechurch in Spanish, then explaining it inGuaymi.

The Guaymi New Testament arrived inPanama on 18 December. Wycliffe mis-sionary translator Bill Bivens, a Guaymitranslator, and translation helpers handedover the completed New Testament to theleaders of the Guaymi church in a dedica-tion ceremony.

New Tribes Mission missionaryEleanor Larson started serving among theGuaymi in 1952. But the tribe’s popula-tion exceeds 100,000 and, instead of vil-lages, the people live in farms scatteredover the mountains. Their life is rigorousand ministering among them is difficult.

New Tribes Mission

Turks get NTs

There has been mixed reaction to thesuccessful Christmastime distribution ofmore than 50,000 New Testaments in theTurkish cities of Istanbul, Ankara andIzmir, according to a report received at theGrand Junction, Colorado-based USoffice of Turkish World Outreach fromthe Alo Dua Prayer Centre in Istanbul,Turkey.

The report, made available to ASSISTNews Service, says: “You and we have bothbeen amazed at what the Lord has done!Thousands of New Testaments went outin Istanbul, Ankara, and Izmir. Alo DuaIzmir got their ‘OK’ one hour before theywere going out on the streets. Alo Dua

Ankara, due to threat of protestors, had todo a last minute location change.”

The Alo Dua correspondent said thepolice went from being main opponentsto helping hand out NTs and getting NTsthemselves! “After being out on thestreets, the Turkish believers who weredistributing with us are strengthened, andrealise that they could publicly be bold fortheir faith.” The correspondent said therewere many reports (good and bad) aboutthe NT Distribution on the internet, TV,radio, and newspapers – all of it free adver-tising!

The following Sunday (January 9),there was a protest of around 70 Turkishnationalists shouting Islamic chants out-side the Alo Dua Prayer Centre, the AloDua writer said.

Rongliang arrested again

One of the most prominent ChineseHouse Church leaders, Pastor ZhangRongliang, was arrested at Xuzhai village,Zhengzhou city, Henan province inDecember. Zhang’s wife and childrenwere not at home and are now in hiding.The apartment was searched and all PastorZhang’s Christian DVDs, materials andphotos revealing relationships with for-

eigners and foreign agencies were confis-cated.

Zhang is the leader of the FangchengMother Church, Henan, and the leaderof the China for Christ Church, which isone of the largest house church networksin China, estimated to have more than 10million members. He has been wellknown by the international community asone of the house church patriarchs. PastorZhang has already spent twelve years inprison for his faith during five separatedetentions since his secret baptism in1969. He experienced harsh torture,including electric shocks, during hisprison terms.

It is reported that there is now a gov-ernment disinformation campaign againsthouse churches, similar to that usedagainst the Falun Gong before the majorcrackdown against them. In recent weeks,the Chinese government has launched aninternational media propaganda cam-paign. It was reflected from articles bothin an overseas pro-China website calledDUOWEI news and the New YorkTimes. The articles portrayed housechurches as secret religious fanatics whoeven commit murder in the fight for newmembership.

Voice of the Martyrs


N E W S

Reformed Theological CollegeBible and Ministry Training College

125 Pigdons Rd, Waurn Ponds Geelong, Vic 3216

Development/Business ManagerA passion for the advance of the gospel, visionary thinking and com-mitment to the Reformed faith are required in the successful appli-cant. The primary responsibility of the position involves working inconjunction with the faculty in promoting the College’s vision, seek-ing additional students, and fundraising.

The position also oversees the support services: finance and account-ing, property services, accommodation, function and event services(extensive delegation is being implemented in all these services).

The position requires some combination of quality marketing/publicrelations, and business management experience, and organisationalskills. Relevant tertiary qualifications will be well regarded.

The position is a full-time appointment, and remuneration will becommensurate with experience.

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Flew concedes God

One of the best-known atheists in theacademic world, Professor Antony Flewof the England’s University of Reading,has accepted the existence of God, theInstitute for Metascientific Research(IMR) has announced.

In a symposium sponsored by the IMRat New York University last year,Professor Flew stated that developmentsin modern science had led him to acceptthe action of an Intelligent Mind in thecreation of the world. In “Has ScienceDiscovered God?”, the recording of thesymposium released in December, Flewsaid his conclusion was influenced bydevelopments in DNA research.

“What I think the DNA material hasdone is show that intelligence must havebeen involved in getting these extraordi-narily diverse elements together,” he said.“The enormous complexity by which theresults were achieved look to me like thework of intelligence.”

“It speaks very well of Professor Flew’shonesty,” observed America’s pre-emi-nent philosopher of religion, AlvinPlantinga. “After all these years of oppos-ing the idea of a Creator, he reverses hisposition on the basis of the evidence.”

In 1955, Flew set the agenda for athe-ism with “Theology and Falsification”, apaper first presented at a meeting of theOxford University Socratic Club chairedby C.S. Lewis. This work was reportedlythe most widely reprinted philosophicalpublication of the last half century. Overthe decades, he has written 28 books andedited 12 others; at least 10 of his bookswere critiques of belief in God. He hasalso had debates and discussions with awide range of religious believers. In onesuch debate, he declared: “We reject alltranscendent supernatural systems, notbecause we’ve examined or could haveexamined each in turn, but because itdoes not seem to us that there is anygood evidence in reason to postulate any-thing behind or beyond this natural uni-verse.”

Also participating in the NYU sympo-sium were Dr Gerald Schroeder fromIsrael, Dr John Haldane from Scotlandand Dr Paul C. Vitz from New York. TheMIT-trained Schroeder, who once taught

at MIT in Boston and worked at theWeizmann Institute and HebrewUniversity laboratories in Israel, is theauthor of the best-selling book TheScience of God. Haldane is Professor ofPhilosophy at St. Andrews University inScotland and the author of numerouspublications on culture, philosophy andreligion. He delivered the StantonLectures at Cambridge University and isscheduled to deliver the prestigiousGifford Lectures at Aberdeen Universityin 2005. Vitz, professor of psychology atNYU, is the leading psychologist of reli-gion in the U.S. His many books includePsychology as Religion and Faith of theFatherless.

In the course of the symposium, theparticipants address the origins of the uni-verse, life, reproduction, consciousness,language and the mind while also dis-cussing the existence of God, the problemof evil and the roots of atheism. Althoughmany biologists have not considered thephilosophical implications of DNA orreproduction, this dimension is of partic-ular interest to professional philosophersFlew and Haldane. One theme of discus-sion is the thesis that of all of the great dis-coveries of modern science, the greatest isGod.

N E W S


2005

On the Agenda

Friday 17 December 2004 will godown as a sad day for Christians inVictoria, for on this day under theState Government’s Racial and

Religious Tolerance Act 2001, religiousfreedom and freedom of speech took amortal wound in this state. On this day,Judge Michael Higgins found in theVictorian Civil and AdministrativeTribunal that a Christian group and twopastors vilified Victorian Muslims.

I believe the finding of Justice Higginsagainst Catch the Fire Ministries is a graveinjustice, and entirely the result of theapplication of this iniquitous Act.

Judge Higgins found against Catch theFire Ministries (CTFM), its leader, PastorDanny Nalliah, and a seminar leader,Pastor Daniel Scot under clause 8 of theact, which says “a person must not, on thegrounds of the religious belief or activityof another person or class of persons,engage in conduct that incites hatredagainst, serious contempt for, or revulsionor severe ridicule of, that other person orclass of persons”.

Two months after the act became law,Pastor Nalliah, an AOG pastor and presi-dent of CTFM, organised an all-day semi-nar in three sessions with another AOGPastor, Daniel Scot, to explain aspects ofIslam and its history from the teaching ofthe Koran and Hadiths and in so doing toassist Christians to reach out in love tominister among the growing Muslim com-munity in Melbourne. The three sessionscovered Jihad from the Koran, the Koranand the Bible, and Witnessing to Muslims.

The seminar was advertised throughvarious Christian outlets including theCTFM website. The Islamic Council ofVictoria (ICV) was instrumental in threeMuslim converts of Anglo-Australianancestry attending portions of the semi-nar. With the backing of the ICV, thesethree Muslims lodged a complaint.

In support of his decision, JudgeHiggins said: “Pastor Scot, throughout

the seminar, made fun of Muslim beliefsand conduct. It was done, not in the con-text of a serious discussion of Muslims’religious beliefs; it was presented in a waywhich is essentially hostile, demeaningand derogatory of all Muslim people, their

god, Allah, the prophet Mohammed andin general religious beliefs and practices.”

In fact the decision went further, find-ing that both pastors lacked credibility aswitnesses – Scot’s evidence was said to be“very unsatisfactory in many ways”, andNalliah’s was “evasive, inconsistent andexaggerated”.

These areextremely dam-aging conclu-sions, but arethey fair?

Writing in TheSunday Age on 2January, colum-nist Terry Lanesaid: “The pom-posity of thejudgment isbreathtaking.‘Expert witnesses’ called by the IslamicCouncil of Victoria are believed andpraised by the tribunal for their academicqualifications and expertise. The ‘expertwitnesses’ called by the respondents areridiculed for their mendacity, lack of acad-emic standing and bias. There is littlemention of the bias evident in the appli-cant’s witnesses.” And again Lane avers,“reading the transcript of the VCAT judg-ment, which is riddled with errors, is adepressing affair for anyone who caresabout the fundamental freedom to saywhat we are thinking without fear of pros-ecution”.

I have read both the transcript of theseminar and the tribunal’s reasons for thedecision. My assessment is as follows.

First, the decision ascribes the worst ofall motives to the two pastors. The wholeseminar, it is said, was simply an exercisein incitement of “hatred against, seriouscontempt for, or revulsion or severeridicule of” Muslims. This assessmentcompletely ignores repeated statementsscattered throughout the transcript of theseminar, such as that Christians are “to

share the love of Christ”, “we do loveMuslims”, “Muslims are not our enemy”,“we need to pray for Muslims”. On morethan one occasion, Scot says “the Koran isa wonderful book”. Whilst Scot does usehumour at times, to say “throughout theseminar” is too severe and fails to takeinto account the dynamics of aPentecostal assembly, and especiallywhere people are struggling to come togrips with the material being presented.

Second, the decision pays no credenceto the history of Nalliah and Scot. Nalliah,originally from Sri Lanka, lived for a timeunder sharia law in Saudi Arabia, whileScot, a Pakistani, was forced to flee fromPakistan when charged by Muslims withblasphemy. Both have experienced radicalIslam, and both are concerned that Islam,should it come to dominate in Australia,would cast aside its current benign appear-ance in favour of the radical Islam currentlycoming to the fore in parts of Europe. Thisversion is epitomised by the recent murderof the Dutch film maker Theo van Goghby a Muslim offended by van Gogh’s doc-umentary on female repression within theDutch Islamic community.

The seminar was held only six monthsafter the destruction of the twin tow-

ers and Australian Christians might beexpected to want to know from their ownleaders something of the nature of theIslamic religion that had motivated theplane hijackers. It is not good enough forthe decision to declare that the “interpreta-tion of the Koran by Pastor Scot repre-sented the views of a small group of funda-mentalists, namely Wahabbists, who arelocated in the Gulf states and who are aminority group, and their views bear norelationship to mainstream Muslim beliefsand, in particular, Australian Muslims”. It iswell known that the Saudis with their oilincome are actively exporting Wahabbismthroughout the Western world, buildingmosques, providing Islamic teachers andmore. Australians, having lost many peoplein the Bali bombings and now with allegedMuslim terrorists under investigation intheir own country, know this to be so.

Third, the judge rejected the respon-dents’ argument that the seminar wasexempt under the act as a properly consti-


The Gospel chained?A Victorian judge brings Christians a step closer to persecution.

DavidPalmer

P A S T O R S I N C O U R T

Are judgesnow requiredto make theo-logical judg-ments underthe act, andjust how quali-fied are theyto do so?

tuted religious exercise. This findingseems highly questionable.

Fourth, the decision does not respectScot’s deep and thorough familiarity withthe teaching of the Koran and Hadiths.One of the reasons Scot’s credibility isfaulted is Scot’s treatment of a particularportion of the Koran. The decision goesover a number of pages proving Scotwrong when in fact Scot has the supportof the Hadiths and it is the decision that isfaulty.

This fourth point raises two importantissues.

Are judges now required to make theo-logical judgments under the act, and

just how qualified are they to do so?Making decisions about which version ofIslam is truly authentic is a big call for ajudge in a secular court to have to make,and certainly a decision open to question.This point is reinforced by the Judge’sassertion that the one billion adherents ofIslam “regard the Koran as equivalent tothe Bible; that it agrees substantially withChristian beliefs save for particularevents”. This would be news to mostMuslims and Christians, if not downrightoffensive to both. Further, the decisionjudged the shocking material cited fromthe Koran by Scot as no longer relevant tothe 21st century – this is clearly contraryto the views of those Muslims who regardthe Koran as dictated from the hand ofAllah and therefore unalterable.

In the second place, are we to assumethat Christians quoting and commentingon Islamic texts in ways the Muslimsobject to will be penalised?

This ability to critique another per-son’s position is integral to a free anddemocratic society. Senator GrantChapman from South Australia hasrecently well observed: “it is the role ofteachers in every religion to demonstratewhy their faith is worthy of adoption, andthis may involve showing why – in theiropinion – other religions may be lesstruthful, or even in error”. The decisionmakes no allowance for the apologeticfunction in religion. It is unreasonable tomake it a condition of apologetics to gainthe approval of your adversary for what

you wish to sayabout their theo-logical position.The state has noright to intrudein this way.

If Islam andits writings arenow to be placedin some privi-leged positionwhereby theycannot be criti-

cised, this indeed is a rare privilege, a priv-ilege invariably denied to Christianity byits cultured despisers in the West. If this isso, then it is a serious indictment of theAct.

It was a great mistake for theGovernment to lump religious vilificationin with racial vilification. Race and reli-gion, with few exceptions, in the modernworld are not the same thing. Race for anyperson is a given, not so religion. BothIslam and Christianity are missionary reli-gions, counting adherents among an ever

expanding number of races and peoplegroups, and this situation will not change.

Australia must remain open to all wholove liberty and truth and therefore theprospect of making a good life. We mustaffirm in this context that Muslims shouldhave liberty to make disciples for “theirgod, Allah (and) the prophetMohammed”, as we too, should have asimilar liberty to make disciples for ourLord Jesus.

Leaving aside the emotive trappings ofthe word, “vilification”, were the twoPastors at fault? Yes, they were, though indifferent ways. I found the evidence ofsome of the literature provided by Nalliahat the seminar and on the CTFM websitean embarrassment to read, and no doubtoffensive to many Muslims. Daniel Scot,while drawing a distinction on a numberof occasions during his seminar betweenwhat he called the “true Muslim” – that is,someone holding to the teaching of theKoran and Hadiths as he was expoundingit – and the “vast majority of Muslims”who “don’t know what’s in the Koran”,failed to mention a third group aroundwhich the ICV built its case, namely thoseMuslims, who, having knowledge of theKoran and Hadiths, choose to understandit in a more benign fashion.

So, has persecution of Christians finallyarrived? It will have, unless the judge’s

decision is overturned or the governmentwithdraws or amends the legislation toremove religious vilification. ThePresbyterian Church of Victoria, whichvirtually stands alone among the Christiandenominations in Victoria in being thor-oughly orthodox across all its constituen-cies, needs to be at the forefront for suchoutcomes to be achieved.

In fact it was a Muslim who gave one ofthe best summaries of the issues. Arguingin The Age on 4 January against the con-cept of religious vilification, Amir Butler,executive director of the AustralianMuslim Public Affairs Committee, wrote:“Religion is, in essence, simply a set ofideas about the world and how one con-ducts one’s affairs. As religion is, unlikerace, a matter of choice, it does not needthe same legal protections. Instead, it isimperative to our pluralist society that allreligions be able to compete freely in themarketplace of ideas. If an ideology oridea is defective, then it will be exposedand rejected with the same efficiency assubstandard commodities are rejected inthe commercial market.”

David Palmer is chairman of the VictorianChurch and Nation Committee. ap

P A S T O R S I N C O U R T


If Islam cannot be crit-icised, this is a

rare privilegeinvariablydenied to

Christianity.

Is God to blame for the tragic tsunamithat took tens of thousands of liveslast week? Age journalist KennethNguyen spoke for many when he

asked that question on the Opinion pagerecently. It was a version of what theolo-gians call theodicy: how can a God who isall-good, all-knowing and all-powerfulallow evil? Either He is not all-powerfulor not all good, the argument goes.

I want to make three points, none ofwhich is likely to satisfy agnostics and oth-ers who pose the question in this way.First, there is no explanation for sufferingsuch as the tsunami wrought. Second,there isn’t even a question. Or, to put itanother way, the question of theodicy restson some flawed assumptions that render itirrelevant. And third, there is a lesson fromsuch suffering, and Jesus teaches it whenasked a very similar question.

It’s natural to seek an explanation, away of showing that tragedy on such ascale doesn’t render our or God’s exis-tence absurd. And many have offered“explanations”, such as the claim that suf-fering brings growth or that it producesother benefits or even that all wrongs willbe rectified in heaven. The prophet Isaiahobserves that when the righteous die theyare removed from evil (Isaiah 57, verses 1and 2). All these things may be true, butthey don’t explain or justify suffering.

Even if we had an explanation, wouldthat provide comfort so that the grievingsurvivors can struggle on? Their needs aredeeper than simply explanations. I cannotspeak for other religions, but the God ofthe Bible can give voice to that pain andprovide a way to go on. That is the solaceof religion, and it is powerful, and it is notfalse.

It is also why the question cannot beput as theodicy puts it, for the spirit inwhich the question is asked is crucial. Tocall upon God in the midst of one’s ownsuffering – specific pain in a specific con-text – is understandable and right, but thisis not what happens when the generalquestion is put. Too often it descends topoint-scoring, and trivialises the suffering.

Theodicy discusses suffering as a theo-retical abstraction to be justified by logicalinference from an abstract philosophicaldeity who is reduced to a set of attributes:

perfect goodness, perfect knowledge, per-fect power. This philosopher’s god is ametaphysical creation of theEnlightenment for purposes of argument– the person and teaching of Jesus, forexample, does not enter the discussion.

But, as Christian philosopher StanleyHauerwas shows,for the earlyChristians, suf-fering was not am e t a p h y s i c a lproblem needinga solution but apractical chal-lenge needing aresponse of faith.Apparently itnever occurred tothem to questiontheir belief in God or His goodnessbecause they were unjustly suffering.Rather, their faith gave them direction inthe face of persecution and general mis-fortune.

Hauerwas says that to suggest there isa so-called problem of evil that is intelligi-ble from anyone’s perspective is to turnthe Christian faith into a system ofabstract beliefs, in which the role of Godis to ensure a successful outcome forhuman purposes. But Christianity is not aset of doctrines; it involves an encounterwith God and membership of a believingcommunity.

What then is the lesson of suffering?Jesus is asked (Luke 13) about some

Galileans “whose blood Pilate mingledwith their sacrifices”.

Rebutting the ancient theory that disas-ter is a punishment for sin, Jesus asks hisquestioners whether these Galileans weregreater sinners than other Galileansbecause they suffered this fate. And 18 res-idents of Jerusalem who died when a towerfell on them, were they worse than othersin the city? “I tell you, no, but unless you

repent you will all likewise perish.”In other words, asked for a theological

account of suffering, Jesus instead high-lights the urgency of the gospel call of theKingdom of God: repent and believe. Heis surely not suggesting that if you don’trepent a tower will fall on you, but thatyour perspective has to be from eternity.

The book of Job dedicates 42 chaptersto the meaning of suffering and concludesthat it is to endure. Good advice, andunavoidable. But the biblical author notesthat in all his travails Job did not sin, nordid he blame God (1:22).

The truth is that no one rejects Godbecause of the abstract issue of evil in theworld (as opposed to evil endured one-self). People reject God for other reasons,reasons they do not always understand,and use the theoretical difficulty of theod-icy to reinforce and justify that stance.We’re all naturally gifted at rationalisingpositions we want to hold.

But trusting in God or rejecting Godwon’t stop us suffering, because as Jobalso wrote, man is born into trouble assurely as sparks fly upward. And a faiththat dissipates under pressure was possi-bly not a deep faith in the first place.

The victims of the tsunami, the vastmajority of whom seem to be religiouspeople, understand this, as another Ageopinion article argued. Mihir Boseshowed that they accept that life can becapricious and cruel, and “it helps thatreligion is so much part of their everydaylives, be they Hindus, Muslims,Christians or Buddhists”.

Theologian Nicholas Wolsterstorff,who lost a son in an accident, writes:“Suffering is down at the centre of things,deep down where the meaning is.Suffering is the meaning of our world. ForLove is the meaning. And Love suffers.The tears of God are the meaning of his-tory.

“But mystery remains. Why isn’t Love-without-suffering the meaning of things?Why does God endure His suffering?Why does He not at once relieve Hisagony by relieving ours?” All I can say is,God alone knows – and that’s enough.

Barney Zwartz is religion editor of The Age,where this article first appeared. ap


God only knowsThe Asian tsunami highlights the problem of suffering.

BarneyZwartz

T H E T S U N A M I

The truth isthat no onerejects Godbecause of theabstract issueof evil in theworld.

The faith of “religious people” allover the world, so we’re told, hasbeen flattened by a spiritualtsunami. Did you feel it? If you

weren’t dumped by the first wave of tragicTV footage, then you may well have lostyour footing in the flurry of media cover-age that followed. Because suddenly, thequestion of “god” was on the agenda.

The question we Christians were grap-pling with – at least, according to mediacommentators – was “How can a lovingGod let such a thing happen?” WeChristians were – again, according tomedia reports – struggling to reconcile theTsunami disaster with our faith.

By day two of coverage, SydneyAnglican Dean Phillip Jensen was in thefiring line for suggesting that the disasterwas a reminder of God’s judgment.Letters to the editor flowed thick and fast,together with dozens of torrid editorialsand articles.

While Mr Jensen confirmed he hadtold a journalist that “disasters are part of[God’s] warning that judgment is com-ing”, he made clear that his statement wastaken out of context; his main point hadbeen that “now was the time to help vic-tims of the disaster” rather than engage intheological debate. Too late. The theolog-ical cat was out of the bag.

And so the headlines flowed. “Wavesof destruction wash away belief in God’sbenevolence” was the header of EdwardSpence’s musings in the Sydney MorningHerald on 30 December. Spence, aphilosopher at Charles Sturt University,guided the reader through a short coursein theology. “Traditionally,” he says, “theJudeo-Christian God, considered themost supreme and perfect being in theuniverse, has been ascribed the followingnecessary attributes: omniscience (all-knowing), omnipresence (present every-where at all times and at once), omnipo-tence (almighty and powerful) and benev-olence (all good and caring).”

I can’t remember the last time I readthose terms in the newspaper! Spenceconcluded his tour of the “problem ofevil” with a call for compassion, and ahelpful reminder that in Christ, God issaid to have “joined us in our suffering”.

Also on 30 December, staff writerKenneth Nguyen pondered the samequestions in The Age under the headline“Is God to blame for this?” “People mayquestion their faith because of the randomdeath and destruction caused by thetsunami,” writes Nguyen. “For agnostics,including me, the tsunami has highlightedjust how unpalatable the idea of an inter-ventionist God ultimately is. Of the thou-

sands killed in thedisaster, probablyabout one-thirdwere children,too young tohave a fully con-sidered view onthe existence ofGod. Did theydeserve to die?And what of themany Christians

and Jews, including charity workers, stillmissing? Do they, and their family mem-bers, deserve their suffering?”

By 2 January, the headlines were claim-ing that God had Gone Missing (MishaSchubert, The Sunday Age), and by 4January, apparently it was concluded“Tsunamis are Not the Wrath of God”(Paul Stenhouse, The Australian). EvenArchbishop of Canterbury RowanWilliams was entering the fray, with anarticle titled “Testing Times Test OurBelief”.

Feeling swamped? I’m not surprised. Agood place to start untangling the mess isin the excellent article “God alone knowswhy there is suffering on earth” by BarneyZwartz, religious editor of The Age, whichis reprinted in this edition of AustralianPresbyterian.

But more importantly, the currentdebate is a reminder of the importance ofapproaching such big questions with aclear view of what the Bible actually says,rather than a sentimental view that themedia says Christians are meant to hold.

To me, the most bemusing aspect of themedia storm has been the suggestion thatChristians are somehow “surprised” atthe destruction brought by the tsunami.

In fact, the Bible is abundantly clearthat we live in a world that’s far from theGarden of Eden – and our “world view”should reflect that. Mankind’s first rebel-lion fractured the created order, and everyday we live with the consequences.

Listen to the words of the Apostle Paulin Romans 8: “We know that the

whole creation has been groaning as in thepains of childbirth right up to the presenttime. Not only so, but we ourselves, whohave the firstfruits of the Spirit, groaninwardly as we wait eagerly for our adop-tion as sons, the redemption of our bod-ies.”

The world itself groans. And we groanwith it. Whether it’s a tsunami, theAfrican AIDS pandemic, or the endlesscycle of war and poverty that has taken 3million lives in the Sudan, we’re con-stantly reminded that we live in a worldthat groans for redemption.

Paul says we should wait patiently inthe midst of the groaning, even whenwe’re lost for words. Instead, of course,we surround ourselves with entertain-ment and pretend we’re still living in Eden– a sugary Disneyland that crumbles whenhit by even the smallest of waves.

Culture Watch editor Phil Campbell is onthe ministry team at MitcheltonPresbyterian Church, Qld. ap


Fool’s paradiseThe tsunami may astonish the media, but not Christians.

PhilCampbell

C U L T U R E W A T C H

Follow theBible, not the

sentimentalview that the

media saysChristians are

meant to hold.


Too right

Although Neil Cadman’s letter “ATough Law” (AP, October) was a wellthought out letter, I was confused by theclosing statement: “For is it notAustralia’s lawbreaking which is causingthe drought?”.

At the time of reading the letter, ourlocal area was experiencing heavy rainwith minor flooding.

If the closing statement is true thensome Australians are over-keeping thelaw; even Ezekiel 14:14 states that Noahwas a righteous man!

Perhaps farmers everywhere shouldtake heed of Eccl. 7:16-17 – Do not beoverly wicked, (and) ... Do not be overlyrighteous.

Ralph Holvast,Murwillumbah, NSW

Feminism and the Fellowship

Tracey Gordon’s article “Fractured fam-ilies” (AP, December) certainly had somedisturbing anecdotal evidence of the sinsof the “Fellowship”. However, as she cat-alogued their transgressions I must admitto some surprise that “some formermembers criticise the expectations thegroup held of women – particularly theirplace in marriage, where it was empha-sised that they should be submissive,quiet and gentle.” Did Tracey Gordongive this as an example of fellowship sinor of the former members’ reluctance toobey God’s word?

The last time I read 1 Peter 3:1-4 it saidthe exact same thing, Peter exhortswomen to be “submissive” and clothethemselves with “the unfading beauty of agentle and quiet spirit, which is of greatworth in God’s sight”. Submissive, gentleand quiet. For all their failings, when itcomes to teaching about the roles of menand women in marriage the Fellowshipseem to be a lot closer to the truth than

some of their former members and I sus-pect a whole lot of evangelicals too.

Rev. Darren Middleton,Miranda, NSW

Father figures

Postcards to a padre indeed! As some-one who has come to know and lovemany of the Presbyterian Inland Mission“padres’’ during my time in Charleville, Imust ask why PIM persists in using whatappears to be a very unbiblical title for itspersonnel.

The word “padre” is Spanish for fatherand this is the title which was accorded to

the Catholic missionaries in SouthAmerica. Apart from its total irrelevanceto Australian culture, I must point outthat the Scripture says (Mat. 23:8-9NKJV) “But you, do not be called ‘Rabbi’;for One is your Teacher, the Christ, andyou are all brethren. Do not call anyoneon earth your father; for One is yourFather, He who is in heaven.”

Personally I would rather send a post-card to a pastor (Eph 4:11 NKJV): “AndHe Himself gave some to be apostles,some prophets, some evangelists, andsome pastors and teachers.”

Pastor Allan H. GrantCharleville, Qld

L E T T E R S

Letters

Presbyterian Theological Centre – SydneyA

Graduation Ceremonyand

Commencement ServiceWednesday 2nd March 2005

at 7.30pmTo be held at

St James Presbyterian ChurchBelmore Street, Burwood

AThe Occasional Address will be given by

Rev. Stuart Coulton

calling $5,000+ depositors*…... the interest rate is zero, but the rewards are out of this world!

Support our 75 year old Ministry. Pensioner’s deposits in this fund torebuild our facilities will be favourably assessed by Centrelink as earning

the actual rate of interest paid by us, which in this case will equate tozero, rather than the deeming prevailing rate. By supporting our Ministry

you will not only help us, but have access to your funds after 7 dayswritten notice.

Please contact our Finance and Client Services team (no obligation)

A Ministry of the Presbyterian Church of Queensland

Ph 07-3223-4444, email [email protected] or visit www.prescare.org.au

*Always seek independent financial advice first from a licensed financial advisor.

Christian SinglesAny nice singles can join!

Send for FREE colour brochure:PO Box 122 WALLSEND 2287

Ph/Fax: 02 4955 5445www.christiansingles.com.au

FEBRUARY 200521 Riverside special (home mission )

charge northern Tasmania includingalso Glengarry, Legana and Winkleigh;with about 75 c&a (communicantsand adherents), 5 yf (younger folk –Sunday School and youth) and 1 e(elders). Norman and Dorelle Shellard.

22 The nine licentiates who have com-pleted formal theological studies andtaken up “exit appointments” - 5 inNSW, 3 in Qld and one in SA – asthey and the congregations getacquainted and as they fine-tune theirapproach to ministry.

23 The new Presbyteries of Bass (north-ern Tasmania) and Derwent (southernTasmania) - the Moderators, clerksand members as they set up new com-mittees and adjust to their tasks.

24 Ho Ju Young Rak Korean parishHomebush, western Sydney; with about55 c&a, 40 yf and 4 e. Stephen Kim.

25 Keith and Kathy Benn, MissionPartners (APWM) workers fromCreek Road, Brisbane serving withWycliffe Bible Translators since 1973,back in the Philippines.

26 Jonathan and Anita Wood as he takesup his exit appointment assistingKeith Boulden in Byron Bay –Mullumbimby parish (four congrega-tions including also Bangalow andSpringvale) NSW far north coast.

27 Douglas and Jeanette Bennett MissionPartners (APWM) workers fromWoolsthorpe, Vic. serving withWycliffe Bible Translators since 1980in PNG.

28 Robert and Christine Coleman as hetakes up his exit appointment inWollondilly (Tahmoor) parish southof Sydney with about 70 c&a, 35 yfand 5 e.

MARCH 20051 Andrew and Kareen Gall as he takes

up his exit appointment to Naracoorteparish, SA; with about 125 c&a, 25 yfand 2 e.

2 Michael and Anita Campbell takingup his exit appointment to Mudgeeparish NSW including Hill End; withabout 90 c&a, 20 yf and 5 e.

3 Will and Nerida Henderson as hetakes up his exit appointment in NewLife parish Springfield, southernBrisbane; with about 30 c&a, and 5 e.

4 Peter and Anne Burke MissionPartners (APWM) financial workersfrom Wahroonga, Sydney starting ser-vice with SIM in Nigeria.

5 Caloundra parish north of Brisbane,including Maleny; with about 145c&a, 10 yf and 9 e. Noel and VettaThomason.

6 David and Ashleigh, APWM workersfrom Sydney serving with Pioneers ofAustralia in Mongolia in a teachingrole.

7 Ballarat North parish, Victoria includ-ing Lexton; with about 100 c&a, 5 yfand 11 e. Grant and Esther Vayne.

8 Ben and Louise Johnson in his exitappointment to East Blacktown (LalorPark) parish; with about 115 c&a, 75yf and 8 e; and Peter and CarolineWilliamson in his appointment to thenew Glenwood congregation plantedfrom the Western Blacktown(Doonside) parish, outer westernSydney with David Balzer.

9 Nicole Linklater Mission Partners(APWM) worker from NSW servingwith WEC in Chad ,West Africa.

10 Presbytery of Hawkesbury outerwestern Sydney; 15 parishes and 7home mission stations totaling 26congregations with 2475 c&a; 1 dea-coness, 1 hospital chaplain, 3 mission-aries, 7 retired ministers, 3 under juris-diction, 4 theological candidates; MickQuirk clerk.

11 Living Hope congregation, Marangaroo,NE Perth; with about 30 c&a, 12 yfand 4 e. Darrell and Margaret Thatcher.

12 People recovering from the IndianOcean Boxing Day tsunamis, andother disasters such as the EyrePeninsula fires, SA – ministry to themby Christians and an openness to theGospel.

13 Andrew and Michelle Blumer MissionPartners (APWM) worker fromParramatta City church, NSW, begin-ning service with Pioneers of Australiain Austria.

14 Guyra home mission station NSWNew England district including BenLomond; with about 50 c&a, 4 yf and6 e. Pray for the Moderator, preachersand filling of the vacancy.

15 Kwang-Ho and Jang-Woo Song in hisexit appointment assisting RudySchwartz in St Andrew’s, Townsvilleparish north Qld; with about 305 c&a,55 yf and 22 e.

16 Epping Sydney parish, northernSydney; with about 600 c&a, 130 yfand 43 e. David and Meredith Tsai,Deaconess Pam Vaughan.

17 A lasting peace in Northern Ireland(1.6 million people – 38% RC) andGospel growth both there and in theIrish Republic (4.4 million – 87% RC,3% Protestant).

18 Coffs Harbour parish includingWoolgoolga, NSW North Coast; withabout 295 c&a, 80 yf and 9 e. Peterand Ngaire Moore.

19 New patrol worker David Rodgersfrom Deception Bay, Qld in theNorth Qld PIM patrol now based onTownsville. Thank God for the work ofBarry Rossiter in the Flynn patrol, SA,and pray for a replacement for him.

20 Presbytery of Ballarat; 4 parishes and5 home mission stations totaling 18congregations with 480 c&a; 2 retiredministers, 4 under jurisdiction; KeithAllen clerk.

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The Callings:The Gospel in the WorldPaul HelmBanner of Truth, 1987.

God at WorkGene Edward Veith, Jr.Crossway Books, 2002.Reviewed by Peter Hastie

Evangelicals are renowned for their con-centration and dedication to evangelismand mission. Not only are these legitimateconcerns, but they should have the high-est priority in the church. However oneby-product of this intense focus is thatevangelicals have sometimes thought thata believer who is doing an “ordinary job”cannot be a Christian in the fullest sense.

Both The Callings and God at Workredress this misunderstanding. PaulHelm, a leading British philosopher, takesissue with those who question the notionof a divine calling to every Christian. Hisbook is an astute survey of the biblicalteaching, the historical impact of the vari-ous forms of dualism that have corruptedChristian thinking throughout the ages,and the profound influence that rigorousChristian thought and practice can haveon the social order.

Helm affirms the goodness of all lawfulforms of work and gets his teeth into suchperplexing issues as how a Christianshould approach leisure and what sort ofstrategy an unemployed Christian shouldhave. His section on calling and eschatol-ogy is extremely thought-provoking andshould be a stimulus to Christians to per-fect the gifts that God has given themhere on earth: “To suppose that the life ofeternal bliss in Christ will be a memory-

less, skill-less or character-less affair is todo violence to the whole doctrine of sanc-tification …all of His people bear thecharacter and marks of their calling and ofthe grace of God experienced in them.”

Veith is a professor of English atConcordia University, Wisconsin, andculture editor of World magazine, a lead-ing Christian publication. Veith unpacksthe biblical, reformation teaching aboutthe doctrine of vocation, emphasising notwhat we should specifically do with ourtime or what careers we are called to, butwhat God does in and through our call-ings – even within the home. In each taskHe has given us – in our workplaces andfamilies, our churches and society – GodHimself is at work. Through his brilliantapplication of Luther’s teaching on voca-tion, Veith helps us to see that the “mun-dane” activities that consume most of ourtime are “God’s hiding-places”. Bothbooks are critical of the dualism thataffects much evangelical thinking. Theyare highly recommended.

Peter Hastie is issues editor of AP.

The God I LoveJoni Eareckson TadaMichigan: Zondervan, 2003..Reviewed by Peter Barnes

Joni has told her story often enough, butthis is the latest, most penetrating andmost moving account. After her divingaccident in 1967, Joni almost died, and hadto spend two years recovering in hospital.

From the age of 17, she has been a quadri-plegic. Her testimony is deservedly well-known, and has been greatly used in manyparts of the world, including China, whereher autobiography Joni was the firstChristian book ever published by a gov-ernment-run publishing company. I foundchapter 21 most compelling as it deals withJoni’s visit to Romania when it was stillruled by a communist regime. Joni museson what happens to a culture when God isexorcised from it: “Evil goes unchecked,with everyone suspicious of his neighbour,unraveling every thread of decency.” It is alesson the West should heed.

Before her accident, Joni wrote on acard: “Dear Box, I am tired of saying I’ma Christian out of one side of my mouthand saying something else out of theother.” God answered that prayer in away she would not have chosen, butwhich she has come to embrace. Her lastcomment is a laconic one: “There aremore important things in life than walk-ing.” More profoundly, Joni has come toappreciate that “the weaker we are, theharder we must lean on God – and theharder we lean on Him, the stronger wediscover Him to be”.

This is a wonderful book, even with itslove of sentimental hymns, and lessonsdrawn from a statue of Christ.Nevertheless, Joni has been raised up byGod to teach us what it means to trustHim in darkness. She has taught us howher paralysis is yet her greatest mercy. Inan age addicted to instant gratification,this is a much-needed work.

Peter Barnes is books editor of AP. ap

B O O K SB O O K S


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ST ANDREWS CHRISTIAN COLLEGEPREP –YEAR 12Are you looking for a school that will support you in your God given duty as a parent? Our ethos is to support parents by offering a sound, traditional, academiceducation within a Christian framework. At St Andrews Christian College we want to grow God’s kids, God’s way!Our aim is to provide a traditional, academic education within a Christian framework. Find out about our special Primary/Secondary transition programme in the Middle School, Accelerated Reading Programme and our LEM phonics scheme.For further information, application forms or an appointment with the Principal,Mr. Bob Speck, please telephone (03) 9808 9911.

SPECIAL BENEFITS OF ST ANDREWSComprehensive curriculum & consistently excellent academic resultsJunior and Middle School organizationStrong Creative Arts programmeParental involvement program that ensures a working partnership between staff, students & parents.Before and After School CareEasy access via public transport

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Many “How to…” books areavailable in the bookshops.Some of them undoubtedlyoffer good advice by people

who have learned the hard way in variousaspects of life. Perhaps the most numer-ous are those dealing with money, writteneither by those who have made millions,or those who still dream about it.

But the Bible talks about riches inmany passages. Jesus gave advice to therich young ruler that made his face fall andhe went away very sad: “Sell all that youhave and give to the poor, and you willhave treasure in heaven. Then come, fol-low me” (Mk. 10:21).

However, Paul talks about another sortof riches when he encourages theChristians in Corinth to be generous intheir giving. He quotes the best exampleof all to move them to similar self-sacri-fice: “For you know the grace of our LordJesus Christ, that though He was rich, yetfor your sakes He became poor, so thatyou through His poverty might becomerich” (2 Cor. 8:9).

It’s striking that in the New Testamentthis is one of several great statementsabout the Lord Jesus that come in pas-sages teaching very practical lessons.Others are Jesus’ response to the requestof James and John for exalted positions inHis kingdom (Mk. 10:45), and Paul’sappeal for unity in the church at Philippi(Phil. 2:5-11).

What is the teaching of this verse inCorinthians, and how does it apply to us?

First, it teaches that the Lord Jesus, theeternal Son of God, left the outward dis-play of divine majesty when He came toearth for us.

If grace is the display of unmeritedfavour, how wonderfully Jesus’ coming

into our world displays grace! Paul tellsthe Corinthians that they already knowabout this grace, for it is contained in themessage of the Gospel they had heardfrom him. Likewise, we too have heardthe same message of grace over and overagain. We sing:

Thou didst leave Thy throneAnd Thy kingly crownWhen Thou camest to earth for me.

That’s the pre-eminent demonstrationof grace, that the Lord Jesus should leaveHis heavenly glory, become the babe ofBethlehem, and ultimately give Himself asa ransom for many. It is in this way thatGod demonstrated His love for a lostworld (Jn. 3:16). He humbled Himself tocome and save us, and that humiliation

took Him to Hisdeath on Calvary.

Second, it isthrough faith inthe Lord Jesusthat we toobecome rich.

Here are thereal riches! Notjust some moneyor earthly posses-sions that maymake us feel thatwe are wealthy.

The true wealth is what is spiritual andeternal. Jesus came in order to give us ofHis riches. When we trust in Him we gainheavenly citizenship. That is what Paulteaches in another of his letters: “Godraised us up with Christ and seated uswith Him in the heavenly realms in ChristJesus, in order that in the coming ages Hemight show the incomparable riches ofHis grace, expressed in His kindness to usin Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:6-7).

What’s the message of the Bible con-cerning riches? Don’t put your hope inwealth, which is so uncertain, but “hope inGod who richly provides us with every-thing for our enjoyment” (1 Tim. 6:17).Don’t let your life be dominated by thelove of money, for as Paul points out thedesire for material wealth can often causepeople to wander from the faith (1 Tim.6:10). Remember too that whateverwealth we accumulate we can’t take withus (1 Tim. 6:7). However, when we cometo Jesus in believing trust, we gain richesthat are abundant and that endure. Thereal riches are spiritual and in coming to

Jesus we gain an inheritance that can’t betaken from us.

Third, we must follow the example ofthe Lord Jesus, giving ourselves first toHim and then to others in the service ofHis kingdom.

Grace calls for a response. The givingof Jesus calls for us to give ourselves, andthat must be first of all to the LordHimself. Self-dedication to the Saviourand the work of His kingdom is the firstand basic response to Jesus and His love.Just as Paul describes the response of theChristians in Macedonia, his descriptionshould characterise us as well: “They gavethemselves first to the Lord and then to usin keeping with God’s will” (2 Cor. 8:5).

Other things follow. We give of whatwe are and what we have. We recog-

nise the lordship of Jesus over our lives,and so we give of our talents and our pos-sessions for the work of His kingdom.

Those to whom Paul wrote at Corinthexcelled “in this grace of giving”. How isit with us? Is that what others say aboutus as they look at our lives?

The pattern is clear — the Lord Jesushad all the glory of heaven, yet He camedown to earth to save sinners. He did notthink that His position in heaven as God’sSon was a thing He needed to clutch at.He was eternally the Son, and so He camewillingly to earth to become poor. Hispoverty results in our gain. “Thanks be toGod for His indescribable gift” (2 Cor.9:15).

Allan Harman is moderator of thePresbyterian Church of Victoria. ap

R E F L E C T I O N

How to become richJesus came to give us true wealth: His riches.

In Jesus wegain riches

that are abundant and

that endure.

Allan Harman

Arncliffe Studios–––––––––––––––––––––––––Third generation since 1906

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Phone (02) 9567 7348

february 2005 - ap

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