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THE

RECORD

MONTHLY MAGAZINE OF THE FREE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND FEBRUARY 2019 • £2.00

THE RECORD

FEBRUARY

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PARLIAMENTARY

CHAOS BY THE EDITOR

re we in a time of crisis?

At the time of writing — and I suspect by the time this is published — the country seems to be in chaos…or so the papers and media would have us believe. The collective sense of panic and hysteria is not particularly helpful. Headlines screaming that there are going to be a shortage of medicines almost guarantee that people will stockpile and thus create the prophesied shortage. Perhaps we need to take a step back and ask what is going on? Especially those of us who are Christians — because we are called upon to pray for ‘those in authority’. It’s always good for prayer to be informed prayer. The British government last month suffered the largest defeat in history. In these circumstances it would be normal for the Prime Minister to resign and yet the following day she won a vote of confidence. It does seem that in terms of our political leaders there is a great deal of chaos. In an era of ‘fake news’ and ‘misinformation’ it’s good to remind ourselves of the facts that we have. The UK joined the European Economic Community in 1973 without a referendum and public vote. In 1975 a referendum was held to determine whether the UK would leave. Remain won by a substantial majority. Forward to 2016 and another referendum was held. Why? Because the EEC, which had become the EU, had become deeply unpopular. Through a series of treaties it had changed from an economic trading block — the European Economic Community — into a political entity, the European Union. To be fair to the EU, this had always been the intention and was clearly stated. The only problem was that the British people had been lied to by its politicians. We were never asked about any of the changes and frustration increased at the anti-democratic nature of the EU and its ability to impose laws upon us, which we did not decide or vote for. There were enormous advantages to being in the EU — not least because of the Single Market, which Margaret Thatcher called Thatcherism in Europe. But there were also great disadvantages. The free movement of ‘labour, capital, goods and services’ was of great benefit to the

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wealthy and the corporations — less so to the poor — many of whom saw their living standards reduced. The EU is a technocracy rather than a democracy. It is not, as is often mistakenly assumed, a collective of sovereign national states who co-operate together, but rather a supranational body which requires states to give up much of their sovereignty. National parliaments do not get to vote on EU laws. The EU parliament is the only elected parliament in the world which does not get to propose its own laws. These are proposed by the EU Commission (an unelected body of national commissioners who swear an oath to be loyal to the Commission, not their own elected parliaments). The Parliament and the Council of Ministers only have a right of veto and amendment. The trouble is that the Commission are not accountable to any electorate and cannot be removed by the electorate. This is the great democratic deficit of the EU. As Tony Benn argued — if you cannot remove the people who make your laws, you do not live in a democracy. The tension created within the UK was felt particularly within the Conservative party. In the 1970’s that tension was within the Labour party — the majority of whom were opposed to the EEC — seeing it as an anti-democratic corporate entity. But the genius of the EU is that it governs the nations it rules, not directly but through the institutions and systems of those nations. So you will find that politicians, media, academic institutions, the arts and even major charities are funded by the EU. He who pays the piper calls the tune. The Labour party changed its view towards the EU because of two factors — firstly the rise of what are termed the ‘Islington’ or ‘champagne’ socialists — whereby it became much more the party of middle-class liberals concerned for ‘social’ justice rather than economic. Secondly, the trade union leadership were well funded by the EU. The Scottish Nationalists have morphed from the antiEU, anti-UK, pro-Scotland party (which is why they were so successful in the fishing constituencies decimated by the Common Fisheries Policy) in the 1970’s to >>

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THE

GOSPEL FOR TODAY’S SOCIETY ECCLESIASTES 5:1-7

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TRUE WORSHIP THE RECORD

FEBRUARY JANUARY

that

face

life

today ,

including

the

meaninglessness of it all , and he has shown

that all of our solutions don ’ t bring real meaning .

He had visited the courtroom, the marketplace, the travellers’ way and the palace. Now he comes to the temple, but instead of simply saying ‘God is the answer’ he notes that worship is often meaningless. He observes the religious and notices that for all their religious ritual, sacrifices and vows it did not appear to make any real difference. Their acts of worship were insincere and hypocritical. I wonder if that is not the major problem in today’s church as well? We are to guard our steps in the house of God, which means ‘watch how we worship’. We are not used to this at all. The common view is that, as long as we are worshipping God, what does it matter how we worship? We tend to think of worship as a matter of taste, style and culture. But the Bible regards it as the most important thing we can do and is far more concerned about what God thinks of our worship than what we think!

Fools don’t listen — Here there is hastiness in prayer. Is prayer ever a bad thing? ‘When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you; even if you offer many prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood; wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight! Stop doing wrong’ (Isaiah 1:15-16, NIV). Yes – when we do not consider who we are praying to. Just as a human has dreams (sleepless nights) when they have many responsibilities — so these responsibilities may also lead to careless words. Not just in prayer but in promises — to God. The dreaming refers to daydreaming, casualness, thoughtlessness in approaching God. So how do we worship God? How do we approach God?

1) THE WORSHIP OF FOOLS Fools rush in — Solomon speaks of those who rush into the house of God. The whole structure and architecture of the temple spoke of God’s inaccessibility except by sacrifice. They forget that ‘God is in heaven’ — that he is glorious and that there is a vast difference between him and human beings. A casual approach to God, whilst it may have the appearance of worship, in fact does a great deal of harm. People are called fools not because they are deliberately coming and doing something wicked

2) TRUE WORSHIP In John 4:23 Jesus tells us what true worship is. God is spirit and he seeks those who will worship him in spirit and in truth. This includes heartfelt sincerity but it also includes being thoughtful and attentive. True worshippers use their minds — What we think about God will determine how we worship him. This is what the fear of God means. It is also a theme that runs through the book. ‘So what shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my mind’ (1 Corinthians 14:15, NIV). True worshippers listen to God — We must be prepared to listen to the Word of God. How are you going to know how or who to worship? Through the Word. ‘But Samuel replied: “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams”’ (1 Samuel 15:22, NIV). Our attitude must be ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’ Not ‘Listen, Lord, for your servant is speaking!’ I’ll hear what God the Lord will speak. We are to pray. It does not mean that we are not to pray long prayers – but we are not to do so for a show nor because we think that the longer we pray the more God is likely to reward us. ‘And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words’ (Matthew 6:7, NIV). We are to take prayer seriously. We are to ask the Lord — ‘teach us to pray’. We need >>

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but because they think they are doing good — they are well-meaning. But that is not good enough. ‘These people honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men’ (Matthew 15:8-9, NIV). ‘The Lord detests the sacrifice of the wicked, but the prayer of the upright pleases him’ (Proverbs 15:8, NIV).

olomon has identified many of the problems