Telling The Old, Old Story In The Brave New World

A collection of addresses delivered by several Moderators General at the Opening Session of the General Assemblies of the Presbyterian Church of Australia over recent years, for the building up of the Lord’s people in their most holy faith and to assist them to have a clear vision of the Glory of God in His Being, Works and Word in this year of grace, 2020.

ISBN 978-0-9871280-4-1

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It would be appreciated if those who receive it would make a donation to the work of the Overseas Aid and Development Committee of the General Assembly of Australia via their website: www.presaid.org.au ii Contents

Foreword And Introduction ______v

1. An Unchanged Gospel For A Changed Australia ______1

2. No Time For Uncertainty ______5

3. Declaring His Glory ______11

4. Declare His Glory By Shining Like Stars ______19

5. What Difference Does The Gospel Make? ______25

6. Paul’s Apostolic Ministry: A Pattern For His Day And For Ours ______29

7. The Sign Of Jonah: The Church’s One Essential ______31

8. Revival From The Dead ______37

9. Epilogue ______41

iii iv Foreword And Introduction To A Collection Of Addresses By Moderators General Of The Presbyterian Church Of Australia, 1994 – 2019. I HAD spent eight years as Professor of Old Testament at the Free Church College, Edinburgh (now Edinburgh Theological Seminary), when I was asked to come and teach at the Reformed Theological College, Geelong. This was in 1974, just as the move to create the Uniting Church of Australia was coming to a conclusion. Every Presbyterian minister and congregation were given a vote on whether they approved of the formation of the Uniting Church, and secondly whether they wished to remain as a member of any continuing Presbyterian Church after union. In fact, two votes, using the same questions, were taken. The second vote took place in mid-1974 when I, with my wife Mairi and our children, were on the SS Brittanis on our way from Southampton to Melbourne. Soon after arriving and commencing teaching at the Reformed Theological College, I had a visit from two representatives of the (continuing) Presbyterian Church of Victoria, Rev Robert Swanton, formerly the minister of Hawthorn, and Mr F. Maxwell Bradshaw, the Procurator (legal adviser) of the church. Their request was, if the Board of the Reformed Theological College agreed, that I would come the following year and teach for a day a week at the re- organised Theological Hall of the PCV. It was meeting in the premises of Hawthorn Presbyterian Church, with Robert Swanton as Acting Principal, and several part-time lecturers covering the basic theological course. There was a small number of students at various stages of their preparation for ministry. A church union never produces absolutely clear-cut theological groups, and so it was with the division of the PCA on the formation of the Uniting Church in 1977. Not all leaving the Presbyterian Church to enter the Uniting Church were liberals, nor were all who stayed in the continuing Presbyterian Church Reformed Evangelicals. In fact, it has been estimated that only about 20% were committed to a Reformed Evangelical position, while another 20% held to a Conservative Evangelical position. The remainder comprised 50% Traditionalist/Liberal, with a group of hard-core Liberals comprising about 10% of the whole. As I got to know the continuing Presbyterian Church from late in 1974, this theological diversity meant that it was hard to predict the future direction of this church. In 1977, I had to make a decision as to whether I was going to accept a full-time position on the theological faculty of the PCV. I had taught part-time for three years (1975-77), and now the opportunity was there to share in the future direction of the church. I remember sitting in the General Assembly of the PCV in October 1977, observing the business, and trying to make up my mind. I realised that the tensions I could see in the business of that General Assembly were not going to disappear overnight, but on balance I believed that I could offer support for the Reformed Evangelical section as it worked to pull the church back to its orthodox theological position. When the General Assembly appointed me to the Theological Hall staff, I accepted the position. Various friends were disappointed with my decision to leave the Reformed Theological College and go to work for a denomination that at that time was not wholly

v committed to the Westminster standards. I already knew of battles ahead, both with those of Evangelical persuasion but not Reformed standpoint, and those who held a much more Liberal position. The difficulties had already surfaced in the theological course, as the students, all evangelical, complained about the liberalism of one lecturer. This problem was solved by me being asked to take on more lecturing to by-pass that lecturer, though I knew that was just side-stepping the basic issues of doctrinal commitment. One friend asked me how long it was going to take before I knew that I had made the right decision, and that the Presbyterian Church of Australia was, under God’s blessing, moving more strongly to re-affirm its commitment to the Westminster Confession Of Faith. I answered that it would take at least ten years for that to become apparent. In fact, it took about 15 years before I could see the changes that had already taken place, assess further changes that were imminent, and feel confident that the desired reformation of the church was well under way. One decision of the General Assembly of Australia that assisted greatly was the production of its own hymnbook. When it appeared, Rejoice! made a significant impact on the church as a whole, as now it had a hymnbook containing at least 100 psalms and hundreds of evangelical and Reformed songs of praise. Accompanying changes in preaching, Rejoice! reinforced the new Gospel emphasis in the church, so that hymnody and preaching were in accord with one another. Within a few years those of us teaching in the Theological Hall (Robert Swanton, Robert Miller, and Douglas Milne) could see changes coming. Older men, who had stayed on in service to help after union, were retiring, and they were being replaced by men trained by ourselves. Some traditionalists, working with liberals, thought they could control the future direction of the church, but they had no successors to replace them. All the students in Victoria, apart from one, were evangelical. That one student realised, after about a term, that he was out of step with the doctrinal position of the church, as given expression in lectures, and he resigned. Younger evangelical pastors soon found that the eldership was a problem, as many elders did not hold to the doctrinal position of the church, and often seemed to lack basic Biblical knowledge. In particular, they objected to pastors who refused to baptise indiscriminately, even though the General Assembly of 1979 had reverted to a position first introduced in 1906. Once again, at least one parent had to profess saving faith in the Lord Jesus to qualify for obtaining baptism for a child, or to put it in other terms, they had to display the same faith for baptism of their children as would qualify for admission to the Lord’s Supper. I offered to conduct seminars around the Victorian church to reaffirm the church’s position, and to help take pressure off the younger men who were facing strong opposition because of their adherence to Biblical standards. By the early 1990’s I was certain that the PCA was a church undergoing reformation. Students from our three theological colleges (Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne) were making a real impression. Their preaching differed from many of the older, traditional pastors in that they were preaching for evangelical conversions and seeing a new generation of members sitting in the pews. Also, younger evangelical elders were starting to make an impression both in local congregations, in church courts, and on denominational committees. The General Assembly of Australia, which met every three years, was perhaps slower to change than state assemblies. Those holding traditional views, or Liberal ones, managed to get appointed as commissioners to it, and they stood for the theological position that had

vi characterised the church prior to 1977. However, by the 1988 General Assembly in Brisbane, it was clear that, under God’s blessing, the change was gathering momentum and within a few years the Presbyterian Church of Australia would overall stand consistently for Biblical truth and confessional doctrinal standards. This became clear in the Sydney Assembly of 1991, when it was decided overwhelmingly that ordination to the ministry was for men only. Mairi and I were overseas in 1993 when I was informed that I had been elected as the Moderator General of the next General Assembly to be held the following year. My own theological position was well-known in my home state of Victoria, because of my role in theological training, my service as Victorian Moderator (1989-90), membership of state denominational committees, and my personal knowledge of practically all our congregations. I knew the change had already come, but various facts confirmed it. A President of the Baptist Union of Victoria said to me that previously when evangelical people went to country Victoria, they asked, ‘Where is the nearest Baptist church?’ He said that had changed; now people are asking, ‘Where is the nearest Presbyterian Church?’ I decided that from the opening of the General Assembly in Sydney my own personal adherence to evangelical and Reformed theology was going to be at the forefront. Hence, I chose to speak on An Unchanged Gospel For A Changed Australia. This was a recognition that while Australia had changed greatly since the end of World War II, the Gospel was still ‘the power of God unto salvation for all who believed’. Not only was this a message for the General Assembly, but for all the congregations in which I was asked to speak, and at many functions at which I had the opportunity to represent the Presbyterian Church. The turning point had come for the church, and I endeavoured to utilise my role as Moderator General to encourage personal commitment to the Saviour on the part of our members, and consistent adherence to our Reformed doctrinal standards on the part of the church as a whole. The addresses as Moderator General by my colleagues who succeeded me are incorporated in this book. They show the unity that we enjoy within the church in regard to doctrine, worship, and mission. Each of them has their own distinctive style, but yet there is no mistaking the common bonds that join them together in service of the Gospel. In days when attacks are constantly being made on Christian belief and practice, these addresses give some idea of the response that we in the Presbyterian Church of Australia are making to maintain adherence to ‘the faith once and for all delivered to the saints’. No one can predict the future of the Presbyterian Church of Australia. Critics, especially those who left her to enter the Uniting Church, prophesied a very short history for the continuing Presbyterian Church. The last Moderator General of the Presbyterian Church before union was Rev G.A. McConnell Wood of Scots’ Church, Hobart. One of his sons, Malcolm Wood, did a doctorate on colonial Presbyterianism in Victoria. In the published version, he ends the book on this note: ‘The church split in 1977 – the Strong Case’s unfinished business – was a bitter, but honest, resolution of long-repressed tensions in doctrine and outlook. Again, disproportionate energy was expended on property issues. An important distinction was that liberals, joining the Uniting Church, were now in the majority, whereas conservatives, continuing in the proud, exclusive Presbyterian tradition, were a dwindling band, facing an uncertain future. To use a particularly apt term, the weakness of the present continuing Presbyterian Church had been predestined.’

vii We do not accept his characterisation of the Presbyterian Church, nor his assertion of its predestined weakness. What we have seen is a church renewed by the power of God and standing firmly for Gospel truths. It has attracted many people who want Biblical ministry, and at present it has more people attending services than it has communicant members. We who have spent years in its ministry encourage those who are younger to hold fast to ‘the faith once and for all delivered to the saints’, and to make sure that the next generation, in dependence on Divine Grace and strength, continue to bear a good witness for the Lord Jesus.

– Allan M. Harman.

viii 1. An Unchanged Gospel For A Changed Australia

The Moderator’s Address To The 42nd General Assembly Of The Presbyterian Church Of Australia, Delivered On Monday 12 September 1994 By The Rev Dr Allan M. Harman.

THE picture we have often been given of early Australia does not place any great stress on the evangelical roots of our country. Our secular historians have written of our early history in a way which emphasises the irreligious nature of our past – ‘the most Godless place under Heaven!’ But now there is a change on the horizon as various historians are reassessing our historical roots, and they are rightly drawing attention to the place which evangelical Christianity has contributed to Australian life. Some of this reassessment can be seen in the articles in the journal Lucas, which is an evangelical history review. The recently published Dictionary Of Australian Evangelical Bibliography is a further example of this new trend in historical writing, as is the Rev Iain Murray’s book, Australian Christian Life From 1788 – An Introduction And An Anthology (Banner of Truth Trust, 1988). The evidence points to a strong evangelical presence from the outset of the colony of New South Wales. Richard Johnson, the Chaplain to the First Fleet, was hand-picked by influential evangelicals in England for this appointment. Through William Wilberforce they convinced the Prime Minister, Pitt, that such a chaplain was needed for the new colony. His task, as his supporters envisioned it, was threefold: to rehabilitate the convicts, to evangelise the Aborigines, and to provide a base in Australia which would facilitate the evangelism of the Pacific region. Johnson made his own position clear too in the very first sermon he preached, and he maintained that position right through his time in Australia. The early Anglican influence in New South Wales was soon joined by other denominational groups which reinforced the evangelical position. Among them were the Presbyterians, first meeting without ministerial leadership until 1823, and then represented by the Rev John Dunmore Lang and others. There are ample records to show the evangelistic zeal of the majority of these early Presbyterian ministers, and the vigour with which they set about the task of ministering to the total society in which they lived and worked. We can look back on our early heritage and thank God for it, and apply ourselves to the tasks which confront us as we near the 21st Century.

Challenges Today THERE are special features of Australian life which challenge us as Presbyterians today, and I want to mention three of them. First, throughout the history of the Presbyterian churches of Australia there has, up until recent time, been considerable immigration which provided a flow of new members and

1 which formed the basis of many new congregations. That is no longer the case, as there are no large numbers of Presbyterian people from other countries coming into Australia, except from Korea and the Pacific nations. This means there is no great numerical growth through migration. If we are looking for church growth, then it has to come in the main from direct evangelism. Just look at many of our new housing estates and you cannot but be struck by the absence of any church in them. The opportunities for the Gospel are abundant. We need to show commitment to the cause of proclaiming it, and to face the missionary task we have all around us. Secondly, we are living in a multicultural and multilingual Australia. This has brought about major changes to our community as a whole and to our way of life. This ethnic change brings its own tensions for evangelical Christians, for there is pressure to relate to those of other faiths in a non-evangelistic way, or even show tolerance to views that are directly opposed to Christian teaching. We wish to see others given rights and liberties, but not to have a nation without moral and spiritual standards. We have to be unashamed of the Gospel we love and profess. Thirdly, we are facing a country coming to terms with itself, and also with its role in South East Asia and the Pacific. I have lived overseas for several extended periods of my life, and always on return to Australia I have been struck by the changes that had happened during my period away. Last year my wife and I were overseas for the year, and it was noticeable how intense the debate had become on the future of Australia within that time. As Christian people, we can’t stand outside that process. We have seen many changes in the outworking of our Commonwealth this century, largely in the direction of greater centralisation of government in Canberra. Further changes are bound to come. Whether or not Australia becomes a republic, we have to be active in the debates in order to help inject a distinctly Christian influence into the discussion and into the ultimate decision making process. The future of Australia depends not on economic strength, but on real spiritual vitality and commitment. Likewise, the greatest help we can be to our neighbours is not in economic assistance, but in spiritual values and aspirations.

The Gospel Unchanged WITH all the changes which have taken place since the first settlement, there was and is one sure thing: the Gospel is still the same! What Richard Johnson first preached to officers and convicts, freemen and Aborigines, is still the Gospel we proclaim. It remains ‘the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes’. Changes for the better in our society will only come when the power of God’s Word is felt by more and more of the Australian population through faithful preaching. We need to hold to the Gospel and preach it with fervour. We also need to be ready to adopt new approaches of contacting our fellow Australians, and especially those who come from other ethnic groups than most of us in the Presbyterian Church. It is interesting that we meet tonight in Chalmers Church, in Chalmers Street. This church was named after the great Scottish evangelical leader of last century, Thomas Chalmers. If we want to be loyal to the traditions of those Scots who established this and many

2 other similar congregations, then we should seek to emulate the inventiveness of Chalmers and bring the Gospel to bear on society today. There should be no pessimism that we live in an unresponsive time as far as the Gospel is concerned. Rather, we should thank God that we are here to be witnesses to the Lord Jesus, and that His Gospel is able to change lives, and families, and society at large. The next few years will also see the continuing growth in non-English- speaking congregations. This is part of our increasing diversity as a church. There is a double challenge here for us all. On the one hand, we should be seeking new opportunities to minister in Christ’s name to people of other language groups who have never had the Gospel presented to them. On the other hand, we have to show how the Gospel unites Christians, irrespective of cultural or language backgrounds. We cannot allow these new fellowships from other cultures to remain on the fringe of our church’s life, but must take positive steps to ensure that they really become part of our church life. They need to feel that they are welcome more than in name only, and that they have much to contribute to our church life. Finally, we need to be realistic about our resources as a church and to channel them in the most productive ways for the furtherance of the Gospel. Because we are a national church, there is a temptation to think that we should enter into a broad spectrum of activities, and virtually have programs corresponding to denominations much larger than ours. To me this would be wrong. It is far better for us to concentrate on the things of greatest importance, and which we have shown, in the last few years, that we do best. Already we have shown that we can place evangelical ministries across much of our country, and this emphasis on preaching and teaching the Gospel must remain central to our mission. While our greatest strength lies on the eastern seaboard, we should remember our smaller state churches in Tasmania, South Australia, and Western Australia, and some of our resources should be channeled to helping them to consolidate further their work and to press out into new communities with the Gospel.

Conclusion THE work before us in this Assembly represents but a part of the life of our denomination. It is, however, a necessary and important part, for decisions have to be taken by this General Assembly on a variety of issues. Those of us participating in the Assembly must be conscious of our responsibility to think Biblically on issues and to take decisions wisely which will advance the testimony to the Gospel which we hold. The unchanged Gospel has to be reflected in this. But these decisions have to be translated into reality in the work of parishes and in our outreach activities. The work at local level is the vital work, for it is there that the Gospel comes into direct contact with needy people; it is there that the Gospel has to be seen as relevant, and providing the God-given answer to our deepest need, that of alienation from Him and our consequent need of His forgiving grace. The greatest blessing from this Assembly will be if we together find fresh encouragement from God’s Word, and from our meeting together press on with our commitments to the life of the church, and to sense afresh the need for God’s blessing to accompany our labours. Without the presence of the Spirit of God all our human efforts will be fruitless.

3 Professor Allan Harman is a ‘son of the Manse’, who grew up on the North Coast of NSW under the ministry of his father, the Rev Joseph Harman, long-time minister of the Hastings River Congregation of the Presbyterian Church of Eastern Australia. He has served as Professor of Old Testament in several theological colleges: the Free Church College in Edinburgh (now Edinburgh Theological Seminary), Reformed Theological College in Geelong, and Presbyterian Theological College in Melbourne, where he also served as Principal. He served as an Adjunct Professor of Old Testament at the Reformed Theological Seminary, Jackson (1994), and at Kosin University, Pusan, Korea (1998). This address was delivered in 1994 during his principalship at PTC. Now retired and living in Ocean Grove near Geelong, he devotes himself to the encouragement of his brother ministers and continuing a vigorous writing ministry.

4 2. No Time For Uncertainty: Commitment to God's Word, Commitment To God's Son, Commitment To God's People ‘If the trumpet does not sound a clear call, who will get ready for battle?' (1 Corinthians 14.8)

The Moderator’s Address To The 43rd General Assembly Of The Presbyterian Church Of Australia, Delivered On Monday 3 September 1997 By The Rev Bruce Christian.

Introduction I WAS only a small child when my father came home from the Second World War, but I remember something of the excitement and celebration as the soldiers, sailors and airmen were welcomed back as national heroes. I was somewhat older when the conscripts came home after the Vietnam War. Some of them were young guys who had been in the youth group of which I had been a leader. What a contrast there was between the two events! It would be more than 20 years before my mates were recognised as heroes. Many of them had come back as disillusioned agnostics. What made the difference? Unlike the 1930s and 40s, the 1960s were a time of great uncertainty and confusion. We didn't know what we were fighting for, or even what we stood for or believed in as a nation, and many forces were actively at work in our society to make sure we never found out. We were told that the Age of Aquarius had superseded the Age of Pisces, the Fish, and this symbolism was not lost on astute Christians! We have been swept along by the floodtide of 'Aquarius' for too long now, and after 30 years we are getting sick of just drifting without a reliable map or compass. We are starting to realise that our lack of commitment in any and every area of our lives is signalling the disintegration of civilised society. The continued breakdown of marriage and the family, the acceptance of self-assertion as the basic virtue, the drug culture, 'road rage', even falling church attendance and membership are all symptoms of an underlying lack of commitment to anything that requires any self-sacrifice or self-discipline. As a church we have been entrusted with a Gospel message that can give direction and bring hope to such a desperate situation. In fact, it is the only solution to the problem because it has its source in the sovereign Creator. But we cannot expect the world to have any interest

5 in our Good News, or take any notice of it, if there is no clear, practical evidence of our own commitment to it, both collectively and individually. There are three areas of commitment which we as a church need to address seriously: commitment to God's Word, commitment to God's Son and commitment to God's People.

Commitment To God’s Word THE advances made in technology in my adult lifetime have been staggering and unprecedented. The frightening thing, even for the young people at the cutting edge of this rapidly growing and changing phenomenon, is that there seems to be no end to the possibilities! We don't really know where it is leading us, or how it will affect us along the way. The rate of acceleration of the process is almost out of control. I first began programming electronic computers in 1961, when there were only two of them in Australia. The one I was working on was called UTECOM, at the then University of Technology (now UNSW). It filled a large double room and was less capable and less powerful than a modern small programmable pocket calculator! Today (in 1997) I am already 'centuries behind' in the field of information technology. If I were to rate myself on a scale of one to ten in the day to day use of available electronic gadgetry, I would put myself generously at two, and falling! I am totally intimidated by it all. But our advance in technology has placed us in a vast ocean of unanswered moral and ethical questions and has left us anchorless, rudderless and powerless. We know how to clone sheep, but we have no basis for assessing the implications for human genetic engineering. We can ring each other up from any place on Earth at any time, but we don't know how to talk to each other in the living room. We have almost unlimited instant access to vast amounts of information, but we fear for the moral protection of our children. We have made a terrible mess of censorship, or rather the lack of it, over the last 30 years, and now, just as we were starting to realise this, and to see the need to do something about it, we find that the Internet makes censorship virtually impossible, even for our young children. We were having enough of a battle just with the television in the family room, but now all the protective fences are down. Even in the church we are faced with complex issues of change which we are finding hard to handle. When I was a teenager we were very comfortable in the way we did things – the way we worshipped, the way we dressed, the way we related to the world around us, the way we evangelised (or, more accurately, the way we didn't evangelise). Yes, things did change back then, but they changed at a comfortable and manageable rate. We were in control; we knew what we were doing. I am presently serving on a 'Joint Task Force For Church Multiplication' set up to look at how the Presbyterian Church can best tackle outreach and evangelism, and it frightens me. We are actually talking about strategies we've never used before, doing things we've never done before! I'm frightened about what effect it will have on everyone from my generation and older. But I do know this: if we don't do something drastic, we won't reach our present generation with the Gospel. The thing which keeps me going in all this vast sea of change is that some things don't change, and they are like a solid rock, a fixed reference point that is always reliable, goal posts that never move. More than ever before, we need to be committed to the absolute truth and reliability of God's written Word. It is because the Scriptures are relevant and infallible that we don't

6 despair. The Bible is relevant, and will always be relevant, because it was written under the inspiration of the God who created the Universe out of nothing, and who maintains it consistently, in accordance with His unchangeable purposes. The Bible is infallible because this same God has declared: 'My Word that goes out from My mouth will not return to Me empty but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.' (Isaiah 55.11). It is not easy to make such a stand on God's Word today. We will be branded with derogatory terms such as 'fundamentalist' and 'obscurantist' and 'academically unacceptable’ in the present political and theological climate. But I would rather go into the third millennium confidently, positively and optimistically, with the Bible as my only guide, than be lost in the Universe like a disabled space-station, drifting who-knows-where. What will become of marriage, of the value we place on all human life (whether that of an unborn child or an elderly dementia sufferer) if we violate God's framework, God's boundaries, God's rules, God's value system?

Commitment To God's Son WHEN Jesus became man, He entered a society in which there was no clear division between religion and politics, between church and state. The whole nation was God's nation, the people were God's people, the laws were God's laws. But Jesus brought with Him a Gospel, a message of Good News from God, that transcended national and political boundaries. It was the same Gospel for all people – for Jew and Greek, for educated and uneducated, for rich and poor, for slave and master. It was a Gospel that was cross-cultural and multi-national. Notice I said 'cross-cultural' and 'multi-national', not 'multi-cultural.' It crossed cultural boundaries, it was to involve all nations, but it was not a Gospel that was multi-cultural! 'Multi- culturalism' is another term for 'pluralism.' The Gospel Jesus brought was a very specific message that centred on Him alone – on His person, His life, His death, His resurrection. In Australia today we have been very cleverly and subtly brainwashed into believing that our country ought to be multi-cultural, but as Christians we can have no sympathy with such a concept. We benefit from cross-culturalism. We cannot deny the richness different cultures bring to the fabric of our society, and to our understanding and appreciation of the Gospel. We benefit from multi-nationalism. We cannot isolate ourselves and our economy from the rest of the world – although multi-nationalism also brings its measure of difficulties and challenges. But as Christians, as people redeemed by God's grace from eternal death and made citizens of Heaven and the heirs of eternal life, we are at odds with the pluralistic implications of multi- culturalism. By its nature multi-culturalism denies even the logical possibility of the uniqueness of the Christian Gospel. In a pluralistic society it would be considered ludicrous for Jesus to make the claim He made: 'I AM the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No-one comes to the Father except through Me.' And yet that is the very claim we must make about Him today, loudly and strongly, or we have no Good News at all. The pressure on us to move away from our central message, with its emphasis on the uniqueness of Christ as the only Saviour, is very forceful and very subtle. We want our message to be acceptable. We want it to be relevant. But the more we persist in declaring that Jesus is the only Saviour, the only Mediator between God and man, the only means of escape from eternal hell, the only hope for peace at every level of human society, then the more we are

7 marginalised, the more we are seen to be out of step with what is acceptable, and the more we will incite the anger of the community around us. The world doesn't mind us talking about Jesus, even encouraging others to follow Him, provided we only treat Him as one of the many options available. Our smorgasbord society is not only used to having choices, it demands them. It is no longer politically correct to say that one belief system is right, and all others are wrong. The world requires us to be tolerant, and then defines tolerance intolerantly, as holding no point of view strongly! As Christians we are on a collision course with the world's way of thinking more now than we have ever been before. By contrast, we define tolerance in terms of how we treat those with whom we differ. We believe them to be wrong, and therefore we have a deep concern about their eternal destiny, but we treat them as fellow human beings who have a right to be heard and understood. This stand is also not easy. We need to decide today that we will be committed to God's Son regardless of the outcome for us. Peter was writing to Christians who were suffering greatly for the stand they were taking when he said: 'But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.' (1 Peter 3.15). Being committed to God's Son at the end of the second millennium will cost us. It will cost us in terms of our acceptability – socially, academically, politically.

Commitment To God's People NEVER before has our society had such ability and facility for communicating with each other, and never before has it been so pitifully inept at it. The Scriptures tell us why this is so. When we lost our harmonious relationship with God through sin, our ability to get along harmoniously with one another went with it. We became self-centred, aggressive, conscious of our personal rights and determined to assert them. We became experts at noticing the faults in others and experts at being blind to our own. We became critical and judgmental, jealous and hard to get on with. These are not problems which can be solved by improved communication technology. In fact, better technology only gives us a greater opportunity to be the egotists that we are by nature, so it should not surprise us that our society and our world are falling apart today. The people of God, the church, are a new society, a new community. We have been born again by the Spirit of God. Our relationship with God has been restored. This must affect our relationship with each other. At the end of his life the Apostle John wrote a letter with that very point as its theme. He had earlier recorded in his Gospel how Jesus had repeatedly emphasised in the lead-up to His crucifixion: ‘This is My command: Love each other.' (John 15.17; cf 13.34; 15.12) But we don't find obedience to this command easy. It's no wonder God gives us so many reminders about it in His Word! We have differences of opinion about a whole lot of important things. This is not bad in itself. It is actually a good thing that we think seriously about what we believe and are not just detached spectators. But being passionate about what we believe (as we should be) brings with it the strong probability that we will be in conflict with others who are equally passionate about their opinion. Some of these conflicts can even manifest themselves in the course of a General Assembly! Conflicts are also part of our everyday congregational life: the sort of songs we sing, the musical accompaniment, the way we approach worship, the clothes we wear, the language we

8 use, the acceptable length of a sermon, the activities that make up our congregational life, the 'Mary versus Martha' conflict and so on. Let me encourage you by reminding you that we won't have these conflicts in Heaven. Why then do we have them on Earth? The Church Militant should be a 'model', a prototype of Heaven. We are already citizens of Heaven, so how can we know that perfect harmony will be a fact of Heaven when we struggle so much with it down here? What will make the difference? Why will it be different in Heaven? I think the most significant factor will be that in Heaven the focus of our attention will be Christ, the King seated on His throne as the Lamb that was slain. We will experience, as we have never experienced before, the height and depth and breadth and length of His love. This will so outshine everything else that we won't be the slightest bit interested in proving to all and sundry that we were right after all! We will be totally humbled in His glorious presence. But even now we know all this, so why isn't the church more like Heaven? Paul recognised our problem in his letter to the Church at Ephesus. He reminded them who they were, how this came about, and what difference this made to them in relation to one another. And in the middle of his pleading with them to 'live as children of light' (with many practical pointers as to how this should be done), and encouraging them to at least make the marriage relationship a picture of Heaven, he said: 'Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.' (Ephesians 5.21). That's the secret! Keep the heavenly picture of the reigning slain Lamb so clearly before you: who He is, why He died; how and why He saved you, that you cannot help but submit to one another 'out of reverence for Him.’ There is no place for foolish pride in Heaven; there should be no place for it among the citizens of Heaven who make up the Church on Earth. Commitment to God's people, commitment to one another, is submission to one another; just as commitment to God's Word is submission to God's Word; and commitment to God's Son is submission to God's Son. As the followers of Jesus, we have an almost unprecedented opportunity today to be light and salt in a darkening and rotting world. If we are committed to God's Word we will be resolute, confident and positive in a confused, experimental society that is still groping and learning the hard way. If we are committed to God's Son we will proclaim a clear message that is 'the power of God for the salvation of all who believe'. If we are committed to God's people by mutual, humble submission we will draw attention to the power of the Gospel in such a way that it could be the groundwork for a mighty awakening. Let us pray that these things might be.

Bruce Christian was Minister of Rose Bay, NSW, when this address was delivered. He was born in 1940, ordained in 1975 and is married to Pat. Bruce grew up in St Giles Church, Hurstville, where he committed his life to the Lord.

9 Great God Of Truth Tune: Melita

Great God of truth, whose glory's seen in all the Earth and sky and sea; Your will and ways have clearly been set in Your Word, our guide to be; Lord, make us all, Your people, hear and do Your will in godly fear.

Great God of love, who sent Your Son to suffer in the sinner's place, and, having challenged death and won, to rule and save by sovereign grace: Lord, fill us with Your pow'r to tell of Him alone who saves from hell.

Great God of peace, in whom we rest, we humbly bow before Your throne; by grace we come, from east and west, and pray that you will make us one. Lord grant that we might here below true love to one another show.

Great God of truth, and love, and peace, whose Son fulfilled Your perfect Word, may we from labour never cease till every tongue proclaim Him Lord. Lord, make Your Church a beacon true to guide lost sinners back to You.

- Bruce Christian

10 3. Declaring His Glory (Acts 17.16-34)

The Moderator’s Address To The 45th General Assembly Of The Presbyterian Church Of Australia, Delivered On Monday 13 September 2004 By The Rev Bob Thomas.

Time To Reflect MY thoughts tonight go back to the last day of the 1959 Billy Graham Crusade. Although I had been raised in middle class respectability in the western suburbs of Newcastle, sent to Sunday school since an early age, learnt innumerable Bible verses and even by that age felt called to the ministry, I did not have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour. I had gone along to the old Newcastle Stadium every night to hear Billy Graham preach, thanks to the cutting edge technology of the land-line and 35mm slides of the evangelist in various poses projected onto a giant screen and changed every few minutes. During the course of the Crusade there came a growing conviction that he was speaking to me – only to me, directly to me, putting his finger on my sin, calling me to repentance for sin, and trust in Christ for salvation. Being a shy 15 year old youth utterly lacking in self- confidence, I remained in my seat every night as the evangelist made his appeal. I went to the last meeting in turmoil of soul. This would be the day! Come what may, I would go forward to register my decision for Christ. Billy Graham preached. He issued the invitation. The choir sang ‘Just As I Am,’ and as they sang the last verse, I plucked up all my courage and went forward. How I thank the Lord that He drew me to Himself that day, and ever since has enabled me to serve Him in various ways in His church. Almost from earliest days I have known about God. I said to my mother once: ‘Mum, you send me to Jesmond Baptist Sunday School in the morning, and Nanna takes me to Brown Street Congregational Church at night, and I go to the Methodist Scripture with my mates at the Protestant school. What am I?’ ‘Oh’ she said, ‘you’re a Presbyterian.’ So I started attending St Andrew’s, Wallsend, and immediately felt that I had found my spiritual home. When I was about 12 years old, my grandmother took me to see the film A Man Called Peter, about the Rev Peter Marshall, who had been Minister of New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, DC, and Chaplain of the United States Senate. As we left the theatre, my grandmother put her arm around my shoulders and said: ‘Perhaps you’ll become a minister some day.’ (I tell you this for the encouragement of all grandmothers – never be afraid to plant such a thought in your grandson’s mind!)

11 Late in 1959 my family endured a great tragedy, but the Lord brought us through it under the ministry of a fine home missionary, Bill Glendenning, and I thought: ‘If a minister can help people like Mr Glendenning has helped us, then I want to be a minister.’ So from early teenage years, my whole focus was on entering the ministry. School teaching was a means to that end, but I can’t tell you what joy filled my soul when at the ripe old age of 22, on 3 January 1967 at 9am I knocked on the vestry door at St Andrew’s, Wollongong to take up my first appointment as home missionary assistant to the Rev Bob Caldwell. He sat me down, outlined my duties and about 10am announced: ‘Well I’m off to do hospital visits, but you can go and unpack your car.’ ‘Oh, Boss,’ I said, ‘couldn’t I come along and see how it’s done?’ He was a little taken aback, but said: ‘You sure can.’ After we finished at the hospital, he said, ‘Well I’ve got a few old people to see, but you can go and unpack your car.’ ‘But Boss, couldn’t I come along too?’ Smiling now, he agreed. About four o’clock he announced: ‘Well, I’ve got a wedding at five. The assistant usually acts as church officer, but my wife will do it tonight. You can go and unpack your car.’ ‘But Boss … ?’ ‘Yes, of course you can.’ The wedding over and confetti all swept up, he announced: ‘We hold Leaders’ Prep for the discussion group leaders at PFA (Presbyterian Fellowship of Australia) tonight. It’s part of your job, but I’ll take it tonight. You can go and unpack your car.’ By now, you’ll know what my response was. About midnight I finished unpacking the car, and I had time for just one prayer: ‘Lord, may it always be like this.’ And the Lord has answered that prayer ‘far more abundantly than ever I could have hoped or imagined’ over the past 37 years both in parish ministry and in the wider work of the church. How I thank Him for calling me to faith in Christ and to service in His church; and I would like to challenge the men of the church to pray about whether the Lord could be calling them to the ministry.

Declaring His Glory THE theme of my address tonight, is: Declaring His Glory, and this is the Bible reading on which it is based: ‘Paul was greatly distressed to see that the city of Athens was full of idols. So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there. A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to dispute with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. ‘Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we want to know what they mean.” (All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.) ‘Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.

12 ‘The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of Heaven and Earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And He is not served by human hands, as if He needed anything, because He Himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man He made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole Earth; and He determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. ‘God did this so that men would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us. For in Him we live and move and have our being. As some of your own poets have said, “We are His offspring.” ‘Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone – an image made by man’s design and skill. ‘In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now He commands all people everywhere to repent. For He has set a day when He will judge the world with justice by the Man He has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising Him from the dead. ‘When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.” ‘At that, Paul left the Council. A few men became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others.’ (Acts 17.16-34)

Introduction LET me take you back to that 15 year old lad at the last meeting of the 1959 Billy Graham Crusade. If it can be as hard as that to reach someone for Christ, who is on the threshold of faith, how much harder must it be to reach those for whom God is completely unknown, who worship false gods or no God at all? That’s a trick question, of course. The answer is that it’s no easier and no harder, and that only God can do it. Yes, but in the ordinary course of events, He graciously chooses His people and uses them to do it. In fact He has commanded them to do it in the Great Commission: ‘Go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.’ (Matthew 28.19,20) Despite the lethargy, even the heresy of many in the visible Christian church today, that Commission has never been withdrawn. In fact, it weighs heavily on the hearts of true Christian people today. Like Paul, we should be greatly distressed as we look around us and see that the world has got so far away from God, that it will so willingly and wilfully place itself into the hands of ‘gods many and lords many’ yet it will not turn to the One, True, Living God, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our purpose in this church must be to equip the saints to fulfil that Great Commission, to enable, facilitate, inspire, encourage the Lord’s people as they go into all the world and preach the Gospel. So in this Olympic year, 2004, we turn our attention to the way in which Paul fulfilled it in Athens in the 1st Century. For one who lives and ministers in Melbourne, ‘the Athens of the South’, those words we have just read have a familiar ring about them. I dare say that Athens might have claimed to be ‘the world’s most liveable city’ of its day, just as Melbourne so immodestly does today. Situated

13 a little inland, enjoying a Mediterranean climate, a centre of trade and commerce, of culture and learning, famous for its temples and great public buildings – and hedging its bets by erecting an altar ‘TO AN UNKNOWN GOD’ – 1st Century Athens is eerily like 21st Century Melbourne, or any other Australian city, town or village for that matter. This leads me to believe that Paul’s message to Athens in his day sets the pattern for the message we are to proclaim in the world today; his methodology provides the example for us to use today; the results he achieved lead us to expect similar results from our endeavours. The account of Paul’s Mission to Athens recorded in Acts 17.16-34 provides us with four major points to consider:

1. Paul’s Research WE live in an age of research, and evidently Paul was no slouch when it came to doing his research. We can picture him strolling around Athens, climbing Mars Hill, stopping at each of the multitude of altars erected to pagan gods and goddesses, getting a feel for the place, finding out ‘where they were at’, what made them tick, what preoccupied their minds, how to present the Gospel in such a way as to connect with them, and what did he find? First of all he noticed that the place was full of idols (16). Paul was no stranger to idols and idol worship. They were all over the ancient world, mostly symbolising the baser elements of human nature. Idols, idol worship and idol making were so bound up with the life of society and made such a contribution to the economy of the day that Alexander the coppersmith did Paul much harm just as Christianity began to turn that world upside down. Secondly, Paul found that the Athenians were great debaters (21). They loved to keep abreast of the latest ideas: ‘Worshipping Zeus does it for you, does it? Great!’ ‘Oh, you’re an Epicurean are you? Well that’s fine for you, but Stoicism’s the go for me. I reckon when the going gets tough, the tough should tough it out!’ Sounds a bit post-modern doesn’t it? Thirdly, Paul saw that they were very religious (22). Paul knew religion like the back of his hand. Steeped in Judaism and taught by the great Gamaliel himself, he knew the religion of the Law inside out and from bitter experience. Observing the pagan religions all around him he had become an expert in comparative religion and had learnt the only lesson that comparative religion teaches: that there is no comparison; no comparison between the religions of this world and Christianity. He knew that all of these religions were ‘doing’ religions, requiring the impossible from their hapless adherents, but that Christianity was a ‘done’ religion, staking all on the finished work of Christ on Calvary’s Cross. Now, I have done a little research myself. Walking among the Epicureans sipping their lattes on the sidewalks of St Kilda, and ministering to suffering Stoics in the Intensive Care Ward of the Alfred Hospital, I have discovered that these two great philosophies have entered into union, although there are significant minorities of continuing Epicureans and continuing Stoics. Nevertheless, most people today seem to me to be either Epicuroics or Stoicureans. The pursuit of pleasure is the art-form of the 21st Century. Even our daily newspapers devote a section to it each day in one or another of its manifestations, with colour magazines on Saturdays and Sundays; and when pleasure gets to the end of its rope, Stoicism kicks in with such platitudes as ‘Cheer up, old fella, you can always find someone worse off than yourself’,’ although Spurgeon says: ‘Only a fiend would want to find someone worse off than himself.’

14 So we live among people who will ‘grin and bear it’ while ever they can; but when they must, they will ‘grit their teeth and bear it’, people who are ‘without hope and without God in the world.’ And the challenge we face is to be in this world but not of it; to change it without allowing it to change us; to bring it the Gospel of hope and never lose hope ourselves.

2. Paul’s Reaction AS a result of his research, Paul was greatly distressed (16). Those of us who have found ‘the pearl of greatest price’ will empathise with Paul in this. We cannot understand why everyone in all the world is not glad to be a Christian, and we marvel that Christianity is perceived by worldly people and those of other religions to be such a threat that they must persecute, torture and kill Christ and His followers. We agonise particularly over loved ones who refuse to believe. As we look to the whole flow of Biblical revelation, so much of it given through the Apostle Paul himself, we begin to understand this distress and perplexity. We gather from Scripture that man is totally depraved, rebellious against God, lost and dead in trespasses and sins, and therefore completely unable to save himself. Yet wondrously, God has chosen for Himself a people whom He will raise to new life through faith in Christ as Lord and Saviour, not because of any merit of their own, but solely because of His great love and mercy for them. He has appointed Christ to die for them so that their salvation is guaranteed. His grace is so powerful that they cannot help but be saved. His promises are so sure that He will hold them fast and they will not fall away from Him but will persevere to the end. All of this understanding is drawn together in the belief that God is Sovereign in all things: sovereign in creation, sovereign in providence and sovereign in redemption. But distress was only the motivating factor in Paul’s reaction. He wasn’t just distressed; he was moved to action. First, Paul reasoned in the synagogues with Jews and God-fearing Greeks (17). These were people he knew well. He had once shared their truncated faith, and on account of what they had done both to his Lord and to himself, he would have had every reason not to have had anything to do with them at all. But rather than stand aloof from them, rather than stand on the opposite side of the street and hurl insults at them, he went into their synagogues and reasoned with them while ever he could. Then he went to the market-place where he spoke with the Epicureans and the Stoics (18). Paul puts us to shame when it comes to mixing it with people, taking the Gospel up to them on their home turf and talking with them in terms they knew well, yet keeping on track in the presentation of the Gospel. But he sets us an example that we should follow: stay and reason with those whose faith is truncated, go and show to them what the Bible says, and go out and reason with all sorts and conditions of people, whoever they are and wherever you find them.

3. Paul’s Revelation WELL, where do you start when you want to preach the Gospel to such a world as this? Paul doesn’t seem to have known much about pre-evangelism; he seems to have known only two laws of church planting (‘We will give ourselves to prayer and the preaching of the Word,’ Acts 6.4); so he simply launched straight into the heart of the Gospel, ‘preaching about Jesus and the resurrection’ (18).

15 When this provoked a response, he ‘touched base’ with them: ‘Paul stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: ‘Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: “TO AN UNKNOWN GOD”. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.’ (22,23) Then he gave an outline of the plan of salvation: God in Creation: ‘The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of Heaven and Earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And He is not served by human hands, as if He needed anything’ (24,25a). God in Providence: ‘He Himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man He made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole Earth; and He determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live’ (25b,26). God in Redemption: ‘In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now He commands all people everywhere to repent’ (30). God in Judgment (31a) and Resurrection (31b). This, of course, must be the framework of our proclamation: Christ, and Him crucified; Christ, and Him risen; Christ, and Him the Judge of all people; Christ, and Him coming again! The world we live in today is a wicked, tawdry, sin-soaked world which needs to see and know the GLORY of God, the Triune God in His Being, Word and Works; the Sovereign God of Creation, Providence and Redemption; the God before whom we must one day stand in judgment.

4. Paul’s Results SO what were the results of Paul’s engagement with the people of Athens? First, there was misunderstanding (18). ‘This babbler’, they called him, and your 1st Century ‘Babbler’ became your medieval ‘Lollard’, your 16th Century ‘Puritan’, your 17th Century ‘Enthusiast’, your 18th Century ‘Methodist’, your 19th Century ‘Bible-basher’, your 20th Century ‘Fundamentalist’, and it won’t be too long before the 21st Century coins its own ecclesiastical swear word. Paul, of course, was no babbler. One of the plainest speakers, clearest thinkers and finest apologists this world has ever known, he ploughed on regardless. We who love God’s Word, who believe it, who obey it, must learn not to flinch when the world calls us ‘fundamentalists.’ What we really are is ‘Bible-believing Christians’. Even that, of course, is a tautology, since Christians ought to be Bible-believers by definition. But if this world’s thought processes are so unsophisticated that they must label us with a tag like ‘fundamentalist’ then so be it. We know – and God knows – that we are not fanatics, we are simply lovers of His Word and our joy is to do our Father’s will. Then, there was further enquiry (19,20). Some people will always find something interesting in Christianity. Perhaps they will be taken with the grandeur of the English language used in the Authorised Version of the Bible. Perhaps they’ll admire the teaching methods of Jesus and even accord Him the title of “The greatest Teacher who ever lived”. Perhaps they’ll go as far as to say that they honour Him as a prophet, though not the greatest of all prophets and not as Prophet, Priest and King. Perhaps they’ll think the Christian faith is up for some sort of negotiation, that a Bible study meeting is an opportunity for the pooling of

16 ignorance. After all, they do that all day long on talk-back radio, so why not treat the Bible like that too? Some treated Paul with disdain (32a). Disdain for the Lord and His people is an attitude with which we’re all too familiar today as negativity, contempt and disdain gather strength. But some showed interest (32b), and still others came to a lively faith (34). I met a young fellow recently who was best man at a wedding. He had the joy of the Lord written all over him, and I discovered that a group of zealous young Christians had met him in the market- place at Preston Markets one day and witnessed to him. The Great Transaction was done, and Mahomet is now one of the most bright-eyed believers I’ve ever met. ‘The arm of the Lord is not shortened, that it cannot save,’ and as we continue faithful and fulsome in the proclamation of the Gospel, the Lord will continue to do His work of salvation through us.

In Conclusion WE meet together in General Assembly for fellowship with one another across all borders; we meet together in General Assembly to be taught of the Lord in the Assembly’s devotional program; we meet together in General Assembly for the transaction of business with the aim of equipping the whole church to go forward ‘DECLARING HIS GLORY!’ In order to do this, we must set an ambitious agenda for ourselves as a church. First, we must affirm that the time has well and truly come for us to declare that we are a Bible-believing church, that the Bible really is our Supreme Standard, our only rule of faith and practice, and if that is not the case, then we have no reason to exist. Secondly, we must demonstrate to all Christian people and to all the world that the terms ‘Bible-believing’ and ‘main-stream’ are synonyms. We are blessed with three theological colleges in which every teacher is committed to the truth and authority of Scripture and which handsomely meet the requirements for accreditation laid down by the authorities both secular and sacred. Humanly speaking they are the heart-beat of the church and we must invest heavily in them so as to maximise the benefit we will receive from them. Thirdly, we must not withdraw into our shell. We can hold our head up high in the market- place of ideas, taking the Gospel into all the world and looking to the Lord to give such increase as He wills on account of our endeavours. Fourthly, we must stand beside, support and encourage all fellow Bible-believing Christians who sometimes find themselves in discouraging situations. In particular we must forge bonds of fellowship with Presbyterians in other countries who are going through similar ordeals to the one we went through all those years ago. The emergence of Grace Presbyterian Church of New Zealand, for example, should bring us much joy as we know that a faithful testimony is again being raised in that land. Fifthly, we must not rest on our laurels. We rejoice at the large number of missionaries raised up to go under our banner into all the world, at the re-establishment and growth of the Presbyterian Inland Mission, at the numbers of men coming forward for the ministry. But the fields remain white unto harvest, and we must be constant in prayer that the Lord of the harvest will send out more and more and more and more workers into His harvest fields.

17 Sixthly, we must develop into a national church. Many years ago now a new constitution was written for the PCA, but only the third part of it was invoked in order to enable the church to enter into union with other churches. Parts One and Two continue to gather dust on a shelf somewhere, when they could be brought into use to draw us more closely together in more effective Gospel endeavour. Seventhly, we must depart with all our hearts from ‘The Five Words of Presbyterianism’: ‘We’ve Never Done That Before.’ It’s high time Presbyterians learnt to surprise themselves and to discover not what they can’t do, but what, under God, they CAN do. Brothers and sisters, if we can adopt a new church crest, we can do anything. Eighthly, we must look to our administrators to empower us. When a new initiative or a fresh approach comes along, we don’t want to see it knocked out on a technicality; we don’t want to know why we can’t do it; we want to know how we can do it when the Assembly decides we should do it. Ninthly, we must look to our financial experts to resource us. If the Parable of the Talents is anything to go by (and it is), the question the Lord will ask us when He returns will not be: ‘How much money have you locked away?’ The question will be: ‘What have you done with what I gave you?’ Tenthly we must never take our eyes off Jesus. We are His ransomed people. He is the King and Head of the church. Without Him we can do nothing; with Him we can do all things.

‘And now unto Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen!’

Bob Thomas was born in 1944, ordained in 1971, and is married to Alison. He came to faith in Christ as his Lord and Saviour at the Billy Graham Crusade in 1959. He was Minister of St Kilda-Balaclava, Vic, when this address was delivered.

18 4. Declare His Glory By Shining Like Stars (Philippians 2)

The Moderator’s Address To The 46th General Assembly Of The Presbyterian Church Of Australia, Delivered On Monday 10 September 2007 By The Rev Robert Benn.

1977 And The Beginning Of Our Walk THE year 1977 marked a significant turning-point in my life. Our family had just arrived back in Queensland after a decade of missionary service in Indonesia. As we began the process of re-entry into Australian life, one of the most pleasing things that I discovered was that the Presbyterian Church of Australia was a church in search of its roots. Some 15 years earlier, I had refused to attend a Presbyterian Theological College in Australia. Most of the colleges were in the grip of liberal theology. Now I detected the winds of change. Ken Gardner was Moderator General, and was gratified by the warm response that he received as he called the national church back to its confessional position. Leaders of the denomination were once again willing to affirm and defend the Westminster Confession Of Faith. Throughout the 1960’s confessionalism was in such decline that trying to find a copy of The Westminster Confession Of Faith was not unlike searching for the proverbial needle in the haystack! It was around this time that a group of leaders amongst Presbyterians who had voted to ‘continue’ called a meeting at the Ann Street Church, Brisbane. They met to consider the many challenges that our ‘remnant’ church was likely to face. My impression of that meeting made these words ring in my ears, ‘The zeal of the Lord has consumed them!’ I was elated by what was happening. It wasn’t long before Professor Stanford Reid, a Minister of the Presbyterian Church in Canada received a call from the Convener of the Christian Education Committee. He was asked to come to Australia to help us to think through the implications of looking to the past – the New Testament Church, the Reformation, the progress of revival of religion in Scotland and Wales; then to help us in looking to the struggles of the present with a view to becoming a renewed and spiritually invigorated church as we stepped into an unknown future, with a church only about 40% the size of what it had been just a year or two before. I remember Professor Reid reminding us of the haunting words of Isaiah the prophet to the remnant church in his own day, ‘Look to the Rock from which you were hewn, and to the quarry from which you were dug. Look to Abraham your father … for when he was but one I

19 called him, and I blessed him and made him many. For the Lord will comfort Zion … joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the voice of joy.’ (Isaiah 51) And so Presbyterians regrouped. For the first time in many years we genuinely celebrated our Reformation heritage, drawing attention to the principles of Sola Scriptura, Sola Gratia, Sola Fide. The early days were difficult ones. Battles were fought and won. We owe a debt to the theologians who held unswervingly to the historic Christian faith and taught the rising generation of ministers – Robert Swanton, Allan Harman, Robert Miller, Douglas Milne, John Davies, Jonathan Boyall, Bruce Christian, Harold Whitney, Graeme Goldsworthy, Francis Nigel Lee and Norman Barker. Others like Guido Kettniss saw the strategic nature of a ministry in Christian literature and kept a flow of affordable copies of The Westminster Confession Of Faith circulating in bulk around the church. Committees were re-established. Ministries were restored. A smaller but humbled church was declared to be ‘in good heart.’

Moving Through The Years SINCE those days we have passed through the age of the Baby Boomers, the Busters, Cold War and Detente. We have watched a seemingly invincible kingdom collapse in the dust and debris of the Berlin wall. We have lived through a cultural revolution in which we learned through bitter experience that ‘greed was not good’ and that the cost of sexual liberty is moral and spiritual bankruptcy. We have lived through Generation X and Y. We have heard them say that we are institutional relativists. And now we are living through a cyber and communications revolution which has its own unique dangers. Now all of the world is interconnected. Globalisation is the new reality with all its attendant risks. As John Piper says, ‘Globalism and the postmodern worldview come in the same package … we can’t have one without the other.’ So where are we at this moment in history? We are told that we are a post-Christian, post- feminine, post-modern, and post-marriage society in need of a new ethic for personal and sexual relationships. But we are also a church on a mission to be a ‘Light to the Gentiles’, commissioned to ‘Declare His Glory’.

The ‘Religious’ Society In Which We Exist SO what are the analysts saying about Australian spirituality, and what the church should be in this context? Gary Bouma wrote in Australian Soul following the 2006 census: ‘I detect amongst Australians (the belief that) that God is essentially benevolent, but a long way away, quite possible to hide from, safely (enshrined) in the preamble of the Constitution, just to be sure, able to be got around and while useful for desperate last-minute appeals, not quite relevant to daily life.’ It doesn’t surprise us therefore when he informs us that amongst so-called Christians there is, ‘A low level of commitment and consistency between belief and practice.’ Well, we ask, why would there be?

20 Presbyterians, on the other hand, are committed to the authority of the Scriptures and the uniqueness of Christ as an atoning sacrifice. We stand quite unashamedly for absolute truth. Truth for all, and truth for all times. But Gary Bouma tells us that that kind of God is ‘not the God in demand today.’ Further, he is dismissive of the notion of Christ’s substitutionary atonement and says, ‘It does not feel right to see God as having to punish His Son instead of us.’ He continues, ‘In post-modernity we can expect what has been called bricolage, the piecing together of cultural elements drawn from a variety of sources. So we have Christian meditation, Christian yoga … theologies must be emotionally satisfying.’ Again he writes, ‘Purists, (referring of course to people like Presbyterians) decry the blending. Those who complain about such sharing seem to argue that there is or was a pure religion. This is an untenable position’, he says. Nevertheless, the Scriptures tell us that we can lay claim to a pure form of religion, centred and focussed on Christ. Francis Schaeffer contended that all other religions are simply a bad memory of this pure religion!

How Then Shall We Live? SO what are we to be? Richard Dawkins and pure secularists say we are deluded. Theologically liberal church folk call us ‘evangelical fundamentalists’. Those committed to creating another world religion that will encompass all, who speak of interfaith dialogue as the top item on the agenda, see us as pathetically intolerant, and the sooner we are out of the way, the better. A letter from Nerida Bell, a Presbyterian missionary in Japan tells us, ‘To be a Christian here is difficult, for the nail that sticks up gets hammered down!’ Never would we have expected in Australia that Bible-believing Christians would be the nail that protrudes, that needs to be hammered down. But it has happened, and it is happening. As a denomination we are out of step with our society. To a certain extent we have lost our nerve. Historian Manning Clark calls the church’s witness ‘a shy whisper’! So disillusioned with Christianity are some members of our society, that when other religions seek a voice, they are often given the media’s prime time. But we are caricatured as being the out-of-touch, rather odd eccentric group. When Brisbane announces that they will celebrate Buddha’s birthday, 200,000 people turn up, many being descendants of WASPs. When the spiritual leader of Tibet comes to Canberra, politicians fall over each other to have the opportunity of meeting with him. And the City of Darebin in Victoria (2005) ‘takes on board the task of promoting, facilitating and nurturing interfaith dialogue, relations and cooperation’ (Bouma), all funded by the tax-payers’ dollar. And so it goes on.

Taking Our Stand SO now, in the context of Australian life, culture and spirituality, we need to stand with Luther, voicing with confidence that we fix our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our salvation, declaring, ‘Here I stand; I can do none else. So help me God.’ But what are we to be? Or as Schaeffer puts it, ‘How then shall we live?’ How can we ‘declare His Glory’ with such integrity that, as with Jesus, ‘People will come from towns and villages to hear’?

21 Guidelines From Philippians IN Philippians 2, Paul states powerfully why our commitment to Jesus as Saviour and Lord is so fixed and profound: Christ is equal with God. He did not grasp at equality, but surrendered that right, in order to become a servant, a servant obedient even unto death on the cross. Therefore God gave Him a name above all names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow. Piper states it quite poignantly. ‘The centre of our Christianity and the centre of pastoral life is the dishonourable, foolish, gruesome and utterly glorious reality of the tortured God-Man, Jesus Christ. More and more He must become the issue. Not the vague, comfortable, pleasant Jesus.’ That being so, I ask again, how should we live, that we might be channels of God’s Good News to Australia? Paul gives us the answer! ‘Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life.’ One of the first songs we teach little children is, Twinkle, twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are. I love to take my grand-children into our back garden, and there gaze up into the heavens through the branches of the massive radiata pines, and talk to them. I love to intensify the measure to which they are mystified, transfixed, and wondering about the beauty of the heavens, twinkling with the glories of the Creator’s energies. This is what the world should be able to do as it gazes at the church and sees the church leadership, with absolutely no hint of suspicion that they can’t be trusted with their children! There’s wonder at the evidence of purpose, commitment, and integrity. There’s Someone worth dying for, because He first died for them! The world should be able to look at us, and see something radically purposeful and profoundly attractive – a church that is ‘shining like stars in a crooked and depraved generation’ – so that as they gaze they will see that in our personal lives, while others are zealous for sport and entertainment, we will be zealous for God. And while others are dabbling in all things which border on the immoral, we will be passionate for holiness. In our families, the open Scriptures rather than television will be the rule and guide for our homes. We will be ever ready to teach Biblical precepts to our children (as we are commanded in Deuteronomy 6) and take delight in ushering our children and grandchildren into the Kingdom where grace abounds. In professional/work-a-day life, we will be radically different. The word ‘integrity’ will be heard to describe us. In respect to the use of time, while others are scurrying around accumulating goods, we will be available to build relationships with a view to introducing our friends to Jesus. In our community life, while others are consumed with selfishness and greed, we will be committed to generosity for the dispossessed, caring for the lonely. As we meet, we will not be focussing on a God who exists to meet our needs and satisfy our desires, but One who is all glorious – a consuming fire, gracious, merciful, and compassionate. Then we will be confident that if an unbeliever comes in, ‘he will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, “God is here … God is really among you”.’ (1 Corinthians 14.24,25)

22 In short, we will be a community which is countercultural. We will acknowledge no other lords – neither the lords of mind and imagination who direct the television networks, nor the lords of entertainment and sport. Instead we will confess only one Lord – Jesus. Then what are we to be in a world where church leaders are in trouble because ‘the church has no right to dabble in politics’, where Douglas Coupland is writing Life After God, where secularists are baying about ‘the Church babbling on with its irrelevant superstitions’, where Richard Dawkins talks about The God Delusion, with plenty of media space to promote his wares, where Dan Brown is selling an alternative Jesus, where the drama with the two Dannies demonstrates the evidence of political correctness gone crazy, where Jesus Seminar people are using coloured balls to work out a Jesus that suits them, where global theologian Lloyd Geering is writing Christianity Without God and where many main-line denominationalists are calling for religious compromise and adjustment to ‘One size fits all’. Yes, what are we to be?

A Passion For Righteousness RECENTLY the Dean of the Australian College of Theology was invited to attend a dinner for company executives. Recognising that many companies were not strongly in favour with the Australian public, there were robust comments made about Company Reputation. One speaker made this statement, ‘If you lose dollars for our firm by bad decisions, I will be understanding. If you lose reputation for our firm, I will be ruthless.’ Fellow leaders, in our Australian Society and our Australian Church, the reputation of our God is at stake. There is a very real sense in which we need to be ruthless; ruthless in being counter-cultural for the reputation of our God. The Apostle Paul yearns for an uncomplaining, non-arguing community, becoming blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which we shine like stars in the universe as we hold out the Word of Life! John Piper longs for ‘radically Bible-saturated, God-centred, Christ-exalting, self-sacrificing, mission-mobilised, soul-saving, culture-confronting ministers, let the chips fall where they will: palm branches one day, persecution the next.’ Isaiah, overwhelmed by the depravity all around him cries, ‘For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent. For Jerusalem’s sake, I will not keep quiet, until her righteousness shines out like the dawn.’ (Isaiah 62) Dear friends, that’s what I would love to be among you for the next three years. A leader who reflects those graces and those passions. And I invite you to walk with me.

Robert Benn was born in 1940, ordained in 1978, and is married to Laurel. Having served for eight years in the Reformed Church In Indonesia, then in Redcliff and St Giles. He was Director of Australian Presbyterian World Mission when this address was delivered.

23

5. What Difference Does The Gospel Make? (Acts 16)

The Moderator’s Address To The 47th General Assembly Of The Presbyterian Church Of Australia, Delivered On Monday 10 September 2010 By The Rev David Jones.

Introduction IN Moscow, in the old days of the Soviet Union, there was a building which proclaimed itself rather grandly to be The Commissariat For The Electrification Of All The Russians, and on the door it said: Bell Out Of Order. Please Knock! It’s a big challenge, isn’t it, to electrify all the Russians, to bring electricity to the teeming millions in the Soviet Union? But it's a far bigger challenge that Jesus has given us: to bring the Gospel to the entire world. That's what church is – it’s God’s Society For The Evangelization Of All The World. Sounds impressive doesn't it? But when it comes down to the day to day, nitty gritty of church life, the bell doesn't work. We hardly seem up to the momentous task Jesus has given us. I want to encourage you tonight by reminding you of how the Gospel came to the Western world. The story is here in Acts 16. Most people tend to assume that Christianity is a Western religion that has been foisted onto the Eastern world. But it comes from the East, and here in Acts 16 is the point at which it crosses over to the West at a place called Philippi, described here in v.12 as ‘a Roman colony and the leading city of Macedonia.’ Philippi was the product of the two greatest civilizations of the ancient world: Greece and Rome, and yet it’s crying out for the Gospel, isn't it? Look at vv.9,10 – the so-called Macedonian Cry. ‘During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the Gospel to them.’ I wonder, would we jump to that same conclusion today? I wonder if we are still persuaded that the crying need of human beings all over the world, is to hear about Jesus. However advanced they might be, however sophisticated or civilised, there's no help for humanity in philosophy or politics. Philippi had all that, but they needed the Gospel.

Australia Today Needs The Gospel LET me show you from this 16th chapter of Acts why Australia today needs the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Notice five things the Gospel does in Philippi:

25 1. It Makes The Rich Generous (vv.13-15) THYATYRA was the Milan of the ancient world, the fashion capital of the Roman Empire. And purple was in. And this woman Lydia was a seller of Purple. She was a very successful and wealthy business woman, the Laura Ashley of her day, a CEO in the fashion industry, with a house in Philippi and a house in Thyatira. Such people aren’t always the easiest to reach with the Gospel. Wealthy people aren’t necessarily generous people! But look what happens: The Lord opened her heart to respond to the Gospel (vv.14,15) and she opened her home, and it became the base for the evangelization of Europe. This hard-nosed businesswoman became benefactor to the church in Philippi. The Gospel does that – it makes the wealthy generous. In the Gospel we meet the One who was rich and became poor so that we through His poverty might become rich towards God. The One who left His home in Heaven and became homeless in order to bring us home to God. That's what the Gospel does: it makes the rich generous.

2. It Sets Slaves Free (vv.16-18) SEE what happens next: a slave girl is set free. She is doubly a slave, exploited by her human owners and dominated by an evil spirit. And look at v.17. She acts as a kind of town crier announcing the Gospel. She follows Paul and his companions all over town, shouting out ‘These men are servants of the Most High God and they are telling us how to be saved.’ Isn’t that interesting? She seems to have a clearer grasp of the Gospel than Lydia. Lydia was a God- fearer, we are told. She was trying her best to be a good person, but she didn’t know that she needed to be saved, at least not until the Lord opened her heart. But this girl knows, she understands she needs to be saved. Her life is a mess. She’s aware of her need. And look what it says in v.18. Paul is troubled about this. Why? Surely it’s the perfect photo opportunity isn’t it? She’s drawing a crowd. It’s good publicity for the Gospel. Any publicity is good publicity, don’t they say? But is that so? If you work for Holden and drive a Ford, that's not good publicity for Holden is it? And it's not good publicity for Jesus when someone so obviously enslaved to the devil is shouting about it. What kind of a Saviour is He if this woman is anything to go by? So notice what Paul does. He confronts the evil that is within her – in the name of Jesus. ‘In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!’ and ‘at that moment the spirit left her.’ Do you see? The Gospel does that. It's Jesus who does that. It’s the name of Jesus that sets people free. Jesus conquered Satan at the Cross and when Paul confronts her in the name of Jesus, ‘devils fear and flee’. And this girl who has been enslaved for years and shamelessly exploited, this girl who has been in the enemy’s camp, driven by the devil, dominated by evil, hopelessly and helplessly trapped and enslaved, is set free. That’s what Jesus does. He ‘breaks the power of cancelled sin and sets the prisoner free’. The Gospel does that. It makes rich people generous, it sets slaves free and …

3. It Causes Sufferers To Sing (vv.19-22) REMEMBER what comes next. Obviously her owners are furious. Paul has just robbed them of their livelihood so they report him to the authorities and Paul and Silas are thrown into gaol. They are stripped and whipped and thrown into what is called the inner cell (v.24), which sounds cosy but it's a dark, damp, stinking, rat-infested hole in the ground. And their feet were put in the stocks. That sounds quaint but it was torture. They pulled your legs so far apart that your pelvis almost cracked. And that's where Paul and Silas find themselves on account of the

26 Gospel. In a dark, dank hole in the ground, their bodies racked with pain, and in the middle of the night when your spirits are at their lowest. What are they doing? ‘Singing hymns to God’ (v.25). That’s what the Gospel does. It causes sufferers to sing. They could have had what the Americans would call a pity party. But they don't. Instead they have a praise meeting. Not poor me, sob, sob, but praise God that He counted us worthy of suffering for the sake of Jesus. No wonder the other prisoners were so impressed. What have these men got? What’s their secret? What is the reason for the hope that is in them? It’s Jesus Christ risen from the dead. That’s the reason for the hope that is in us, isn’t it? That's why we can smile through our tears and rejoice in our tribulation. The Gospel. It makes the rich generous. It sets slaves free. It causes sufferers to sing, and …

4. It Makes The Guilty Glad THERE’S an earthquake so powerful that it shakes the very foundations of the prison and throws open all the doors. So, the gaoler called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas... and asked them, ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’ Saved from what? Not the earthquake. That's over! From his superiors? He could lose his job, even his life, if the prisoners escape. But they are all there; none has escaped. So what does he need saving from? The clue is there in the testimony of that slave girl. It’s the talk of the town, isn’t it. She has been shouting it out all over the place. ‘These men are servants of the most high God and they are telling us how to be saved’ (v.17). It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. And so the gaoler says, ‘What must I do to be saved?’ This hardened, brutal, ex-army officer is suddenly aware that he is in the hands of an angry God. He’s convicted of his guilt and he cries out for mercy, and look what happens: ‘They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved – you and your household”.’ (v.31). And it says, ‘He was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God – he and his whole household’ (v.34). The Gospel does that – it makes the guilty glad and …

5. It Makes The Cruel Kind ‘HE took them and washed their wounds; and ... brought them into his house and set a meal before them’ (v.33). He has become a good Samaritan hasn’t he – washing their wounds, taking them home, feeding them. This callous, cruel hard-hearted Roman gaoler has now become the Good Samaritan to Paul and Silas. And that's what the Gospel does. It makes the rich generous. It sets slaves free. It causes sufferers to sing. It makes the guilty glad. It makes the cruel kind.

Australia’s Great Need Today ARE you going to tell me that Australia doesn’t need the Gospel? Isn’t this just the kind of help our society needs? Gospel help! Haven’t you read the newspapers? There is such brutality, cruelty, corruption, injustice, exploitation of others, and maybe you have been on the receiving end of that.

27 There is such suffering, such sadness in people’s lives. Broken homes. Broken hearts. Don't tell me Australia doesn’t need the Gospel. And what about us? Are we kind, generous, hospitable people? Is the Gospel doing its work amongst us? Are people being set free from sin and from Satan? Are there people in our congregations who are ‘ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven?’ I love what John Stott says about this. He points out that every morning the head of a Jewish household would pray: ‘I thank Thee, Lord, that I was not born a woman, a slave or a Gentile.’ And now here is a woman, a slave and a Gentile, all one in Christ Jesus! Lydia a wealthy businesswoman, powerful, prosperous, professional, who has made her money in the fashion industry, with a house big enough to house a church. A nameless slave girl, powerless, exploited, dominated by demonic forces, from the other side of the tracks, from the opposite end of the social spectrum. A rough and ready ex-army man. The good old Ozzie battler, true blue, not really in touch with his spiritual side. Racially, socially, psychologically they are a mixed bunch aren’t they? They couldn’t be more different. Under normal circumstances they would never have met, but the Gospel has brought them together. Lydia the God-fearer with her intellectual questions. The slave girl with her obvious psychological and emotional needs, and this rough, tough Roman gaoler with his moral struggles – all one in Christ Jesus. That’s what the Gospel does.

David Jones was Minister of Mt Stuart Presbyterian Church, Hobart, Tasmania, when this address was delivered. He was born in 1949, ordained in 1973 and is married to Ruth. He came to faith in Christ at the age of 17. He has served churches in Wales, London and Australia, and now lives in Tasmania.

28 6. Paul’s Apostolic Ministry: A Pattern For His Day And For Ours (Acts 20.17-38)

The Moderator’s Address To The 48th General Assembly Of The Presbyterian Church Of Australia, Delivered On Monday 10 September 2013 By The Rev David Cook.

I HAVE a pastor friend who, when asked on a plane what he does for a living, replies: ‘I prepare people to die’. This might be a little unsettling for the fellow traveller, but today, advertising for pastor’s positions requires innovative pastors, achieving, team-building, competent pastors. The New Testament gives us a pattern of Apostolic Ministry in one church from its planting in its generation which is good for the next, the one beyond, down to our day – and beyond. In Acts 19 we have the account of the planting of the church in Ephesus, first in the Synagogue, then in the Hall of Tyrannus, (v.10), so that the whole Province of Asia heard the Word of the Lord. Throughout Acts it is the Word that is prominent (vv.11,12). Paul was enabled to do extraordinary miracles, but the passage is not about Paul or about his miracles, but about the unstoppable Word. This church in Ephesus is Paul’s last church plant, but from v.21 onwards, Luke names eight of Paul’s co-workers, showing clearly that although Paul’s pioneering work is over, the pioneering work of the church as a whole goes on. The ministry described in Chapter 19 is repeated for the elders in Chapter 20. At Miletus, 50 km from Ephesus, Paul reminds the elders what he did in order that they might carry it on. His strategy (v.20), was preaching; (v.21) declaring; (v.24) testifying; (v.25) preaching; (v.27) declaring. What he preached (v.20) was anything that would be helpful; (v.21) that they should turn to God in repentance and faith; (v.24) the Gospel of God’s grace; (v.25) the Kingdom; (v.27) the whole will of God. All Apostolic ministry revolves around the Word of God. It is this Word that saves. Faith comes by hearing. Martin Luther said the most essential organ in the body is not hand or eye, but ear. What is unique here, however, is in v.32 – that this Word that saves is also the Word that builds them up, matures and nurtures them, giving them an inheritance among the sanctified. The Word which brings Salvation also causes Maturity. This Apostolic strategy is matched with an Apostolic manner. Paul was a single-minded man. He says in v.24, ‘I count my life worth nothing to me’; (v.27) ‘I have not hesitated …’ In v.28 he is a diligent watchman keeping watch. He is therefore innocent of the blood of all,

29 because he has warned all (v.26). Savage wolves will come, but they are to be on their guard (v.31). For three years he has warned them night and day with tears. The New Testament scholar F.F. Bruce concluded, ‘Paul strikes us as a man possessed of an uncommon strength of will, not easily to be turned aside from the path which he believed to be his duty to follow.’ In these days of personality, charisma and dynamism we must note that Paul says in v.30 that it is the wolves who seek to draw away disciples after them. Paul was never in the limelight. Rather, it was God; His Word of Grace (v.32) which was focal; Paul (v.28) watches himself that he might watch them. Paul was thus single-minded, self-effacing and sincere (v.32). He says clearly that he was not in ministry for the money (v.33). Paul knew the importance of the ear to hear, but he also knew that his people had eyes. In v.18 he says, ‘You know how I lived’ (v.20); ‘you know that I have not hesitated’; in v.34 ‘You yourselves know about these hands of mine’; in v.35 ‘In everything I did I showed you the benefit of giving, not receiving.’ Our matter is to focus on the Word. Our manner is to be single-minded, self-effacing; sincere. Luke, the author of Acts, provides the contrast of the Christian leadership to the leadership of the idol-worshippers at Ephesus. What motivated Demetrius in chapter 19? Often people have two reasons for doing something – one which sounds good, and the real one. Chapter 19.27 is the reason which sounds good – the Silversmith’s trade will lose its good name, the Temple of Artemis will be discredited. But the real reason (v.25) is that men will lose their income from making their silver idols. So (v.32) they organised themselves politically and there is a riot. The City Clerk, (vv. 36,37) urged them not to do anything rash, but they were out of control. What a contrast this is to the persuading, single-minded, self-effacing sincere ministry of the Apostle. Is there a happy ending to this church plant? Some 20 years later we have the letter to the church at Ephesus. Then in Revelation 2, we have the further generational contact of the church. We find the church is discerning, hard-working, enduring, but alas, has lost its first love for Christ. Today the church in Ephesus is non-existent. The Church’s greatest need is a clear commitment to Apostolic ministry in the context of a lived Apostolic lifestyle. Christ’s Church is precious and we are to shepherd her as His treasured possession, bought with His own precious blood. Please pray for our Pastoral Leaders as those who will give account, and do everything to encourage such strategic leadership.

David Cook was born in 1947 and is married to Maxine. After ten years in parish ministry David served at Sydney Missionary and Bible College for 26 years. When he delivered this address he was on the pastoral staff of Chinese Presbyterian Church in Sydney.

30 7. The Sign Of Jonah: The Church’s One Essential (Matthew 12)

The Moderator’s Address to the 49th Session Of The General Assembly Of Australia Delivered On Monday 12 September 2016 By The Rev John Wilson.

1. A Personal Reflection THANK you for entrusting me with leadership. I’m not worthy of this role. I don’t measure up to those present tonight who have gone before me. I’m not of the calibre of the eminent John Meiklejohn (our first Moderator-General) or of the redoubtably famous Australian, Flynn of the Inland, but under God’s grace I will do my absolute best for you. There is a saying of Wordsworth: ‘the child is the father of the man’, which at least has the appearance of holding true most of the time. In that line ‘the child is the father of the man’, the poet says that we are the product of our habits and behaviour developed in childhood. It’s a reminder that every father was once a son, that we all start out as children, and that that experience remains within us. I’m the product of English parents, 93-year old Mum who’s praying for us tonight, greeting you from her home in Melbourne, and Dad who passed away three years ago. Dad would’ve so enjoyed tonight, the fruit of my earliest days, seeing Christian faith in action, saying prayers in the home, reading Scripture around the dinner table, seeing Christ in my parents, practising humility, learning self-control and obedience … Yes, Wordsworth’s maxim holds true. Let me trace back a generation or two. Dad was a PK (pastor’s kid). During childhood days in the Longditton Rectory he watched my grandfather, the so-called ‘Pedalling Parson’, ride this way and that through bombed-out London suburbs attending to the well-being of his parishioners. Further, dad saw the mettle of my grandparents’ Christian faith the day two uniformed service members came to the rectory door to notify them that their eldest son, an RAF pilot, was missing, presumed dead. He watched his dad slip outside to the back lane, still a man full of faith, but weeping. What would the Rev Robert Henry Wilson have thought of his grandson, leaving Anglicanism behind and now deeply entrenched in the Scottish Church? Well, boundaries are never so absolute. It’s not that I’ve abandoned my family’s English church – for one of my grandfather’s colleagues sits in pride of place on my bookshelf and in my hands – the stunningly relevant and discerning writings of Bishop J.C. Ryle. Let’s go back one step further. My grandfather was a child of a most enterprising and thoughtful Christian family, the Wilsons of Wandsworth. My grandfather’s grandfather William Wilson founded, owned and managed the largest candle-making factory in the world. Prices Candles by name, it was the candle-supplier for Queen Victoria’s wedding and for every royal engagement since. William Wilson was a keen evangelical Christian who in his youth

31 supported the London Missionary Society, and keenly supported the Gospel pursuits of David Livingstone in Central Africa. The Wilson candle-making factories on the Thames at Battersea and on the Mersey in Liverpool were renowned for compassion and care for their workers. My great uncle, James P. Wilson, was factory chaplain at the Battersea plant, and he loved his 2,000 workers as his own parishioners, and cared for the boys who worked there, providing them with reading lessons after work, and with prayers, warm baths, Bibles and cricket on the common for exercise. Chaplain J.P. Wilson’s reputation of Christian care for factory workers was such that Harriet Beecher Stowe (of Uncle Tom’s Cabin fame) praised him, and Elizabeth Gaskell visited the factory before writing her novel. I have a journal article that suggests that Price’s Candle factory management inspired Gaskell to write North And South. William Wilson’s prayerful conviction was that all of England should have ready access to light, and so he and his genius son George invented a new and cheaper way to make candles for the relief of the poor and the engagement of a better standard of living for all. William Wilson believed: ‘If we can manufacture and control light, many things become possible. It means we’re no longer bound by the seasons, no longer compelled to rise at dawn or sleep out the winter.’ To achieve this they imported palm oil from plantations in West Africa – but never from anywhere that involved slave-trading – on the contrary, from those who provided a healthy alternative trade to the slave market. So, ‘the child is the father of the man’ is true, but only to a point. If I have inherited something of Christian value from my parents’ faith, from the Rev Robert Henry Wilson, from great uncle Chaplain J.P. Wilson and from head of clan William Wilson, then fine – but the maxim doesn’t work automatically. Wordsworth is not quite right. William Wilson worked his candle-making trade for the relief of the poor; great uncle George F. Wilson applied his genius chemistry intellect for the glory of God; great uncle J.P. Wilson gave himself for the care of factory workers to bring them to know Christ. These are inspiring examples to have, but they remain just that: inspiration – examples to follow. All this is preparation of the soul. All of what I’ve so far said is, at best, grounding in the way of faith, but it’s NOT faith … until it’s personally appropriated. The grace of God may be prepared for by childhood, but it comes by repentance of one’s own sin and by reaching out in faith to Christ, laying hold of Christ – and through this the supernatural event of new birth occurs. That’s the key element on which I rely and by which I’m assured that I can proceed: personal repentance for sin; trusting Christ (that He has covered my sin at the cross), through which comes God’s event of new birth. And for God’s new birth in Christ I am supremely grateful. It’s because of God’s new birth, that I am assured that I’m a Christian, confident that I’m loved of God, and convinced that I can serve the church.

2. A Reflection On The Church COULD it be that the same maxim applies for the church: ‘the child is the father of the man’? How true is it to say that the Presbyterian Church of Australia is the product of our fathers who have gone before? Our church, in its colonial form, is Scottish in origin. All our earliest ministers were from Scotland. Rev John Dunmore Lang, our 1800s rambunctious and enigmatic church leader and unofficial colonial government immigration agent, energetically

32 recruited as many good-quality Scottish ministers as he could persuade to make the perilous journey down under. So, if Scottish, then this means we are building on the best foundations laid by that wise and fiery pastor, John Knox, whose thunderous preaching and bold leadership changed the face of 16th Century Scotland, shaking it from its Roman slumber. Then, if our foundation is aligned with the Knox-led Scottish Reformation, we realise also that our Reformed patterns of worship and our convictions about the power of Spirit-led preaching is Genevan – that these Reformed convictions are built on John Calvin’s Genevan model, where Knox sat for a time, sipping coffee with some of the greatest reformers. And then, if our foundation is the Reformation, we further realise that we inherit all that is truly inspirational and biblical from great medieval minds such as Archbishop Anselm, Thomas à Kempis, Bernard of Clairvaux and even Thomas Aquinas, and also everything good from the classical church fathers such as Augustine. All of this means, in the end, that our foundation is Apostolic and based on the teachings of Jesus and the entire Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. However, the child is not automatically the father of the man. Which being interpreted means: our church is not automatically a good church today because of our great heritage. The Presbyterian Church of Australia is not a great church today because we have a staggeringly rich Reformed heritage. We can rest too proudly on heritage, sit too quietly with our reputation and satisfy ourselves too easily with maintenance ministry. We must grasp the Gospel with fresh eyes of faith (as if we’re comprehending it for the first time) and apply it, again, today. Let’s pick up and grasp what is most needful for the church. And what is that? What is our most needful mission? It’s the original mission. The Presbyterian Church of Australia must know what this is. A church must KNOW what it’s about and where it’s going.

3. A Reflection On The Pharisees MATTHEW 12 is a wonderful part of God’s Word. I will go to three places in this chapter. In Jesus’ day there were leaders of God’s people who had no idea what they were to do. No idea! The Pharisees were self-appointed custodians of truth in Jesus’ day. In His response, Jesus gives us three indications as to the church’s true focus. This is what the church ought to know about itself. This is what we must acknowledge for ourselves. a) Matthew 12.2 says that the Pharisees looked with contempt at the disciples of Jesus, critical of their works of mercy. The Pharisees were so proud of their own record, so pleased with their heritage, so secure in their rule-keeping, that in their blindness they had no room for mercy. Jesus’ answered (v.7): ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ Later, in his recording of all this, Matthew helpfully reminds us by asking: ‘But what about the bruised reed?’ quoting Isaiah’s prophecy in v.20. The essence of Jesus’ ministry can be described in part as: gently supporting the bruised reed and maintaining the smouldering wick. This is part of the church’s core business. Through Christ’s name, we are to be champions of God’s mercy, agents of compassion in order to lift-up the downcast, encourage the weak, strengthen the fearful, relieve the oppressed, welcome the refugee. As Jude says in his letter: ‘being merciful to those who doubt; snatching some from the fire and saving them; to others showing mercy, mixed with fear’ (vv.22,23).

33 The Presbyterian Church Of Australia delights in all good things that display the care, compassion and mercy of God. As Zechariah reminds us: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor’ (Zechariah 7.9,10). Note: this comes immediately after exactly the same display of blindness as the Pharisees (Zechariah 7.5,6). b) Matthew 12.24 says that the Pharisees made the audacious claim that Jesus is the agent of the devil – that His power to deal with the spirits is the devil’s power. They were so envious of Jesus’ advancing cause and his endearing popularity, as they saw their own patch shrink and their influence diminish. And in their pettiness, they couldn’t see the lordship of King Jesus. Matthew records Jesus’ response (v.28) that He is Lord of the spirit world and was sent from Heaven to deliver people from evil and to save them. Matthew 12 reminds us that the essence of Jesus’ ministry can be described in part as deliverance from bondage. This is the essence of being God’s people: we bear a message of great hope: deliverance from bondage. This is part of the church’s core business: to be a beacon of hope. Through Christ’s name, we are champions of God’s Lordship, proclaimers that Jesus is King. This church’s message is that Jesus has come from Heaven to bind the binder, to overpower the strong man, to declare that Jesus is Lord of everything. Jesus will set you free (John 8.34,36). How do we apply this? Where is hope? Hope is found in such things as our encouragement in pastoring the small congregation and dreaming of revitalisation in that Jesus is Lord and can deliver people from sin and doubt, and that He can deliver a church from malaise. Our church’s confidence in evangelism is that Jesus is Lord of the human heart, and that He can change it. Our passion for planting new churches is because we know that Jesus is Lord of all and can grow His Kingdom from the proverbial mustard seed beginning. Our compulsion to invest ourselves in cross-cultural and international mission is due to our assurance that Jesus is Lord of the nations and that Jesus came from Heaven to deliver souls, regardless of language, or race or background. c) Matthew 12.38 says that they taunted Jesus with the challenge: ‘Show us a sign’, ‘prove Yourself’. It was as if to say: ‘If You show us a sign, we will believe.’ Jesus’ response is clear. The only sign we need is the sign of the cross. Did I jump too quickly to that? Or did you see that already? Of course, He didn’t say that in so many words, but that’s where He’s going (vv.39, 40). Some of Christ’s most profound teaching follows to the end of the chapter. It’s such a powerful illustration: Jesus said that what happened to Jonah is a picture of what is to happen to Him. As disobedient Jonah was swallowed by a huge fish, and somehow, on the third day was vomited up on the beach, so Jesus will be crucified, dead and buried, but on the third day will be raised to life again. This sounds like the Apostles’ Creed, doesn’t it? ‘… was crucified, died and was buried. He descended to the dead. On the third day He rose again …’ Never mind clever miracles, never mind other distracting remedies … the key remedy He offers is the cross and the empty tomb. Then, as a further rebuke to the self-appointed custodians of truth, Jesus says: ‘This is how it’s always been’. In fact, He says that the townsfolk of Nineveh were saved by looking to God’s provision and accepting His offer (Jonah 3.5); the Queen of Sheba was saved by inquiring into

34 this matter and accepting God’s offer (2 Chronicles 9.8). And, all the more, Jesus says, the Ninevites and the Queen of Sheba will judge you because they accepted God’s offer long before the coming of Christ, whose coming made the way of salvation so much clearer than it was to them.

4. A Reflection On Our Methods THERE are way more refined and more evangelical-sounding ways to make the same challenge than the Pharisees did: ‘Lord, show us a miracle … Show us … clever things … upbeat things … cool things … that attract lots of people.’ You can unpack this yourself by the Spirit of God. I won’t probe any further. For example, I won’t take you to Wittenberg where …. the church’s free Wi-Fi service, called Godspot, is ‘a strategic move to draw young people back into Germany’s glorious but underutilised churches and cathedrals.’ I won’t take you to England where clergy were told to use Pokémon Go to help boost congregations. ‘The virtual creature-hunt craze provides an unprecedented chance to meet people from their area who might not normally come to church’. What is our church known for? Clever things? Upbeat things? Cool signs? The Presbyterian Church of Australia is known for what true Presbyterian churches across the world are known for: the sign of the cross and the empty tomb, and the message that Jesus saves by this, that God’s righteousness is delivered through this.

5. Old Paths, But True IN Lusaka, last month, one of the highlights of my life occurred when Paula and I celebrated the goodness of God with Zambian Presbyterians. What was the focus of their General Assembly? What did we rejoice over? We rejoiced over the cross of Christ and His empty tomb – the sign of Jonah. Through tears I listened to a report from Rev Kingstar Chipata, Deputy General Secretary of the Zimbabwean Presbyterians. What was his joy and lament for his church? His joy was that CCAP Harare Synod is growing; his lament was that ‘a curse has descended on the African church’. Kingstar didn’t mention HIV/AIDS, a collapsing economy, malaria. Rather he declared that the burden that’s fallen on Zimbabwe is ‘visiting preachers who promise miracles they can’t deliver; the curse of false prophets who give false hope.’ In a nation with an unemployment rate of 90%, HIV/AIDS devastation, death from fever, the cross of Christ still delivers. The church, world-wide, only needs the sign of Jonah. Let’s do a cross-check on this (pun intended) with the greatest Christian who has ever lived. What did Paul say? Well, among other things: ‘May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ’ (Galatians 6.14). Yes, the greatest Christian who’s ever lived thinks this of the cross of Christ. Let’s look one step further: ‘For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified’ (1 Corinthians 2.2). Why is the cross his only boast; the cross his only message? • Because the cross of Christ is the single distinguishing feature of the church. Other faiths have laws and morals, ceremony, rewards and punishment, but no other religion speaks of a dying Saviour. They never show us the cross. The cross is the crowning glory of the Christian Gospel. It’s the cross that provides relief, speaks comfort and gives assurance.

35 • Because the cross of Christ is the strength of every pastor. Bishop J.C. Ryle said: ‘I should feel like a soldier without arms, like an artist without his pencil, like a ship’s captain without a compass. So as a pastor: give me the cross of Christ, it is the only lever that has ever turned the world upside down.’ • Because the cross of Christ is the secret of all mission work. The cross is the only weapon that has won victories in the hearts of people all over the world – all races, all cultures, all nations have felt its power. • Because the cross of Christ is the glory of every church.

In Conclusion WE love our churches, we want them to grow, we seek the good of our congregations, we want for them the best Biblical teaching, the best fellowship, the best music, we want what is good and honourable. But no church will ever be honoured in which Christ crucified is not the focus and in which the message of the cross is not continually lifted up. Essential to the church is the sign of Jonah, for it’s through the message of the cross that darkened hearts will be given light, lives will change, the grieving will be comforted, the downcast given hope, and the wanderer brought home.

John Wilson was born in 1951, ordained in 1981 and is married to Paula. John has served the Presbyterian Church of Victoria as pastor at Numurkah, Reservoir, Kangaroo Ground and the Presbyterian Theological College, Melbourne, and occasionally as pastor with Presbyterian Churches in Malawi and Zambia. He was Clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Victoria when this message was delivered.

36 8. Revival From The Dead (Ezekiel 37.1-14)

The Moderator’s Address to the 50th Session Of The General Assembly Of Australia Delivered On Monday 9 September 2019 By The Rev Peter Barnes.

Introduction THE Fathers of the early Church, such as Tertullian and Augustine, treated this section of Scripture as a proof of the resurrection of the body. It is more about revival than resurrection but it surely points to resurrection. God is the God of life. Therefore, He can revive His cause, and grant us new life. The ultimate outcome of that is resurrection life. All this is delivered at the lowest point in Israel’s history, after the Babylonians had smashed Jerusalem, destroyed the temple and the kingship, and sent the nation out of the Promised Land into exile. Yet there is the promise of the divine Shepherd (Ezekiel 34), the defeat of Israel’s enemies (Ezekiel 35), and the promise of the coming of the Holy Spirit (Ezekiel 36). Here in Ezekiel 37, the God who kills and makes alive promises revival and resurrection.

1. The Spiritual Condition Of Israel THE spiritual condition of Israel is portrayed in graphic terms: ‘The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones. And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry’ (Ezekiel 37.1,2). This might remind us of Tony Abbott’s rather inelegant but somehow memorable expression: ‘dead, buried and cremated’ – except that they are not buried or cremated, they’re just dead. In the immediate context, they are not Babylonian or Gentile bones, but Israelite bones. It is not just a case of rigor mortis, but death under a curse (see Deuteronomy 28.25,26 and Jeremiah 34.17-20). It is not Nebuchadnezzar who has brought this about so much as God Himself. He has pitted Himself against His own people because they have grieved Him. The Bible forces us to face facts. J. Gresham Machen, in the midst of the terrible battle for the soul of American Presbyterianism in the 1920’s and 30’s said: ‘Nothing kills true prayer like a shallow optimism’. We tend to maintain hope by making believe that the situation is not as bad as the jeremiads would have us believe. But we ought not to minimize sin and spiritual deadness. The natural condition of us all is deadness in trespasses and sins (see Ephesians 2.1). If God does not regenerate us, we remain spiritually dead. What is the spiritual condition of Western Christendom today? What do you think God makes of the Western Church, pandering to what God calls an abomination, maintaining comparative silence when millions of unborn babies are put to death each year, failing to speak out against the violence, the break-down in common decencies, the corruption, the utter vulgarity of modern society? What does He make of bishops who do not believe in the resurrection, theological colleges which promote heresy and unbelief? Back in 18th Century

37 England, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu suggested that the ‘not’ should be removed from the Commandments and put in the Creed. That is where we are today, and that was the condition of Israel in Ezekiel’s day. God poses a question to Ezekiel: ‘And he said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”’ (Ezekiel 37.3a). What a question! Soft tissue has been found in the bones of a Tyrannosaurus Rex in Canada that are supposedly over 70 million years old, but these bones here have nothing. How would you answer the question? Charles Finney is reputed to have been a great evangelist, and he thought he could answer that question. He declared that revival was not a miracle but the right use of means. He considered that revival is as naturally a result of the use of the appropriate means as a crop is of the use of its appropriate mean. Indeed if the Church will do all her duty, the Millennium may come in three years. Revival was linked to the power of the human will. Ezekiel answered very differently: ‘And I answered, “O Lord God, you know”’ (Ezekiel 37.3b). He knows something of an answer: ‘See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god beside me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal, and there is none that can deliver out of my hand’ (Deuteronomy 32.39; also 1 Samuel 2.6). In one sense, Ezekiel is wise, and so is rather non-committal in his answer. J.B. Taylor is somewhat negative: ‘He had the knowledge not to deny God’s ability, but he lacked the faith to believe in it.’ In 1733 the Presbyterian, Jeremy Owen, looked out upon the spiritual barrenness of Wales, and wrote: ‘At present the cause of Christ is low in the world. It is now night in the Church … Who knows whether this is not the time for the Lord to break in upon us in a powerful manner?’ He could not have known that his prayers were about to be answered with the Evangelical Revival of the 18th Century.

2. The Two Means Of Revival THE first instrument of revival is the preached Word of God: ‘Then he said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, ‘O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord”. So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a sound, and behold, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. And I looked, and behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them. But there was no breath in them’ (Ezekiel 37.4-8). That does not seem to be an exercise which has much going for it – cry out to the bones in the cemetery! But God is the One who raises the spiritually and morally dead. We do in effect preach in a cemetery. You might be working on someone in your place of work. So remember that the unregenerate person is spiritually dead. It has ever been thus. George Whitefield declared: ‘I love those that thunder out the Word. The Christian world is in a deep sleep! Nothing but a loud voice can awaken them out of it.’ There will be no revival through liberal preaching, or entertainment, or Jesus seminars. It will not come via personalities or abilities or techniques, nor even good programs and facilities, even a good band and a splendid coffee machine. Jonathan Edwards was not dramatic and used no gestures; George Whitefield could not help but preach in a dramatic way. But God greatly used both men. It is the powerful proclamation of the Word which counts.

38 ‘Prophesy over these bones.’ The English Church used to have prophesying meetings until Queen Elizabeth I put a stop to them in 1576. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Edmund Grindal, was a kind of Puritan, and he opposed her, and so lost the workings of his office without losing his title. It is the Word of God that is needed. Yet there is a second instrument of revival, which is the operation of the Holy Spirit: ‘Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live”. So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army’ (Ezekiel 37.9,10). William Greenhill thinks this refers to their souls, but it is clearly the Spirit. The Hebrew word ruah can be translated as ‘spirit’ (vv.1,14), ‘breath’ (vv.5,6,8,9,10), or ‘wind’ (v.9). This is the only instance in all of Scripture where there is prayer to the Holy Spirit. Without the Spirit, the true Word may be proclaimed but only arouse hostility (see John 6.65,66; Acts 17.32). Spurgeon says: ‘We might preach until our tongues rotted, until we should exhaust our lungs and die … but if the Holy Spirit does not renew the hearts of our hearers, we cannot do it. If the Holy Spirit does not regenerate them, we cannot. If He does not send the truth home into their souls, we might as well speak into the ear of a corpse!’ The picture is this: God’s Word is proclaimed and God’s Spirit convicts of sin, righteousness and judgment. The sinner recognises his need of a Redeemer, to step between his sins and the wrath of a holy God. He hears of Christ and sees his need met in Him alone. When that happens on a large scale, there is revival. This collection of very dry bones (37.2) was transformed into an exceedingly great army (37.10).

3. Life From The Dead REVIVAL points to the fact that God is the God of life: ‘Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off.’ Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the Lord”’ (Ezekiel 37.11-14). And notice the two stages in creation: ‘Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature’ (Genesis 2.7). Ezekiel is prophesying that God would restore His people. Their end would not be exile in Babylon, but a restored national and spiritual life. And so it came about – the Persians defeated the Babylonians in 539BC and allowed the Jews to return home and rebuild the temple (2 Chronicles 36.23). Eventually the Messiah would come to fulfil all the Old Testament promises and bring about not just restoration but resurrection from the dead. This is not Lion-King stuff, where the deceased become stars in Heaven, somehow or other. This is a work of the God who lives forever: ‘If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you’ (Romans 8.11; see also 2 Corinthians 1.9,10). When God gives life to a sinner, He does it in the fullest way.

39 Why dost Thou tarry, mighty Lord? Why slumbers in its sheath Thy sword? O rouse Thee, for Thine honour’s sake; Arm of the Lord, awake, awake! - William Shrubsole

Conclusion. ANYBODY with an ounce of discernment could easily become disheartened by looking at the situation today. You and I can look out on a hard world, and say to ourselves: ‘This is really tough going.’ So it is. We human beings are blind, oblivious, hardened, selfish sinners. Let us also remember that God is a gracious God. He has revived His people in the past. So is anything too hard for the Lord today? That is what is said to Abraham, to Jeremiah, and to Mary. We have His Word and we can pray for His Spirit to convict of sin and testify of Christ. That is the message which could usher in revival!

Peter Barnes was born in 1953. He was ordained in 1980, is married to Lynette, and they have six children. He is Minister of Revesby (NSW) Presbyterian Church, Lecturer in Church History at Christ College, Sydney, and is the current Moderator General.

40 9. Epilogue ‘To God Be The Glory, Great Things He Has Done’ THE continuing existence of the Presbyterian Church of Australia is a major miracle. It was not the miracle of a church which rose Phoenix-like from the ashes of a former manifestation. Rather, it was the miracle of a church which withstood an almost overwhelming attempt to destroy it by extinguishing its heritage, removing its standards and joining it with two other denominations to form a uniting church. It was the miracle of a church which, under God, managed to rebuild, restore, reform, revitalise and even rebadge itself as the church which was founded on the 24th day of July 1901 and continues strong under God’s mighty hand today. Those of us who have contributed to this book bear testimony to the truth formulated by the Rev Stewart Parker, late minister of St Andrew’s Church, Toronto, Canada, who said in 1925 on the formation of the United Church Of Canada: ‘The Burning Bush of Moses was not a greater miracle than the Presbyterian Church. Sometimes it has been attacked by incendiary from without; sometimes by combustion from within. But it is not yet consumed!’ I entered into ministry on 3 January 1967 when I took up my appointment as Home Missionary Assistant to the minister of St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Wollongong. In those days, ten years before union actually occurred, we were beginning to take steps to ensure the continued existence of the Presbyterian Church of Australia following the inauguration of the Uniting Church in Australia. That decade became one of challenge and of hope. The unionists made the early running: ‘Church union is the will of God!’ they proclaimed.’ ‘No it isn’t!’ we shot back, but in the end we were forced to agree: church union was the will of God because it saw a revival within the Presbyterian Church of faith in the sovereignty of God and the truth, authority, relevance and sufficiency of the Word of God. A Presbyterian Planning Committee was put in place in 1974 with its numerous subcommittees shadowing the Assembly committees, so that on 23 June 1977 we hit the ground running, not just in the parishes but also as a denomination. At the inauguration of the Uniting Church on 22 June 1977, broadcast nationally on ABC TV, the first President of the Uniting Church, Dr Davis McCaughey, spoke during his inaugural address, studiously and deliberately, of what he called ‘the LEGEND of the Virgin Birth’ and in that moment we knew we had been justified in taking our stand. As I remember the church of 50 years ago and compare it to the church today, I see a church which has indeed been ‘struck by incendiary from without’ and troubled in the early years of its new life by ‘combustion from within’, but ‘it is not yet consumed’. In the early years after church union we had to face up to some enormous decisions, particularly doctrinal ones. We were soon immersed in a second crisis: what would be the prevailing ethos in the continuing church? Would it be an ecclesiastical extension of the Caledonian Society or would it get back to its Biblical roots?

41 Reformed Evangelicalism prevailed because we prayed. Payer meetings were held frequently in a number of venues. We built ourselves up in our most holy faith. We put on the whole armour of God, and the tenor of the church began to change steadily. Why did things work out the way they did? Why was church union the will of God? What can a little boutique denomination do to serve the King of Heaven?’ What was God’s purpose in preserving us in all this? First, it is good to have a mainstream denomination which proclaims the sovereignty of God and upholds the truth of His Word. In Australia we are the smallest of the biggest and the biggest of the smallest denominations in the visible church. Though some look down on us, many look up to us; while some scorn us, many give thanks for us. Secondly, it is good for churches in other lands to see a church which shows the way of resistance against modernism, liberalism, and all the other isms that we wish were wasms. Our sister churches in lands such as Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Sudan, Timor Leste need to see this, as liberal denominations seek to buy their affections and charm them into submission to liberalism. Thirdly, we can be a church which doesn’t just uphold Scripture, but which models it, both in faith and practice. Fourthly, we can show that when you put on the whole armour of God, having done all, you will stand. Those of us who have contributed to this book share the conviction that our continuing challenge as the Presbyterian Church of Australia is to burn and shine ever more brightly as we assert, maintain and defend the faith and practice of the church so that God may be glorified and His people may be edified as they come to know Jesus Christ as their Saviour and Lord and as they are ‘filled to the measure of all the fullness of God’. One of our tasks as one after another we took up the office of Moderator General was to deliver an address which would, hopefully, encourage our fellow elders and church members. Each address in turn has been a marker of how our church and people have grown in faith as the years have passed, and we offer them collectively in this printed form as a continuing example, challenge and encouragement to the church as we all, ‘forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called (us) heavenward in Christ Jesus.’ (Philippians 3.14)

- Bob Thomas

O Lord, who came from realms above, the pure celestial fire to impart, kindle a flame of sacred love on the mean altars of our hearts.

There let it for Your glory burn with inextinguishable blaze, And, trembling, to its Source return in humble prayer and fervent praise.

- Charles Wesley

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