by Rev. Robert R. Sinclair, Wick
At the morning service I endeavoured to consider some truths as to prayer itself. And now this part of Scripture directs that by prayer believers in the Church at Philippi were to make their requests known unto God. And we by a Synod motion of last May have presented to us clearly defined matters which we are required to request God to graciously take into His divine consideration to the accomplishment of the same.
The Synod motion is: Mr J. P. H. MacKay moved that: ‘The Synod appoint Wednesday, 13th October, 1976, to be observed as a Day of Prayer throughout the Church, that we may pray that the Spirit of true repentance be poured out on ourselves as a Church, that our witness would be maintained and blessed, that we may glorify God by a meek, holy, consistent Christian life, that opportunities would be afforded us for the extension of our Witness and the ingathering of many to be true believers in Christ, and that our nation and generation would be turned to the Lord their God, and that those who are oppressed for holding truly religious views would be delivered from oppression”. This was seconded by Rev. D. B. MacLeod, and agreed to.
And now let me endeavour, as enabled, to make some observations upon each definite statement in the motion which calls for prayer.
1. “Ourselves as a Church”
rightly understood, includes all the ministers, office-bearers, members and regular adherents of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland. The blessing we are here to pray for is: “That the Spirit of true repentance be poured out on ourselves . . .” and clearly indicates a Synod acknowledgment that there are sins of heart, of speech and practice, making themselves known and felt among us and throughout the Church. It will obviously be most unwise for any of us, and others, to stand aloof from this solemn situation implied in our Synod motion. Therefore we need as a Church that the Holy Spirit, who alone can make us aware of what our sins are, be poured upon us from on high, through the Lord Jesus Christ. We also need to be brought to confess our sins to God and to mourn over them after a godly manner, in the light of the Cross of Christ. If this be granted to us, there will arise among us a definite, gracious endeavour to depart from what is dishonouring to God and injurious to ourselves and the Church.
2. Now what are we to understand by our witness as a branch of Christ’s Church?
It is firstly derived from the Holy Scriptures which we affirm are the inspired word of God. “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God”: by God the Holy Spirit. Our witness is unto the truth of God, the whole truth and nothing but the truth: and this of course calls for a profession of belief in those principal truths and doctrines and teaching relative to the true God, man, salvation, Christian practice and death, judgment and the world to come.
Our witness for God and divine truth, in the Church and to the world is also summarised in the Westminster Confession of Faith, our subordinate standards, wherein the constitution of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland finds its completion. Every chapter in the Confession of Faith, based clearly upon the Word of God, sets forth the fundamental doctrines and teaching of the Christian Faith and all this is the Confession of our faith as a Church to which we are required to bear witness.
We cannot afford to rely on the traditions of men or on the immature personal views of any person. We must rely upon: “What saith the Scripture?” and what is the incontrovertible teaching of the Confession of Faith. We need to be preserved from the state of affairs which arose in the Corinthian Church when men were declaring: “I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas, and I of Christ”.
I have given you but a brief statement of the source and content of our Church’s witness. The late Rev. Neil Cameron said on these matters: “Nothing more is required and nothing less will be tolerated, of those who hold office in the Church”. The Word of God and the Confession of Faith were handed on to us in 1893. Our business is to maintain what constitutes our witness, by the help of God’s grace: and to pray that the Word of God and the doctrines thereof will be made a blessing and a guide to ourselves and others throughout the Church and to all to whom our witness may be made known.
Professing Christians among us must make conscience of studying the Word of God and making themselves acquainted with the teaching of the Confession of Faith in every chapter thereof, that they may be informed and assured of what the Witness of our Church actually is in its entirety. Our preaching should be the fruit of study, clear, simple and with authority, that our people be left under no misapprehension as to what our witness is in all aspects of it.
3. “That we may glorify God by a meek, holy consistent Christian life”.
This is a solemn and pertinent request which we are enjoined to present to God and it has a very personal application to each one of us and certainly to every professing Christian. Such a profession should be sustained by the Christian spirit, practice and character indicated to us in this part of the Synod motion. We all need to be given a constant sense of our obligation to honour God whose eyes are upon us continually. This will be a regulating and spiritual influence upon your life and my life day by day. We all need the Holy Spirit by the Word of truth, to cleanse us within from such as pride, arrogance, self and covetousness and such evils, if we are to manifest meekness and humility as Christians. And a consistent Christian life will require that we be truthful and honest in all our contacts with others and that we be sober, righteous and godly. In every situation we should be had in reputation according to our Christian profession. All this should be my concern and yours, not only in the fellowship of the Church: but that we have a good report of them that are without. Men of the world who have some knowledge of what the Christian should be in conduct, can in their own way commend the life of the consistent Christian and severely criticise us if imperfections are obvious in our lives and practice. The latter view weighs heavily against the reputation of the Christian Church and the individuals concerned. Let us pray to be known as those who belong to Christ and are witnesses for Him within the Church and to the unconverted around us.
4. “That opportunities would be afforded us for the extension of our witness and the ingathering of many to be true believers in Christ'”.
Every Christian among us must be careful not to ignore the matter for prayer here and to guard against treating it as the responsibility of others. We should pray that the most High would direct, not only the Church as such, but each one of us here by His Spirit and His ruling in providence to observe wherein consists circumstances and opportunities for the manifestation and extension of our witness. Our Scriptural guide should be the clear record of the mind of the Lord Jesus Christ, His practice and example and that of the Apostles. It is incumbent upon all of us who declare an interest in the conversion and salvation of our fellow sinners to be earnestly praying that many be brought to be believers in the Lord Jesus the Saviour, of lost sinners. And we should be seeking guidance as to how each one of us should be engaged in addition to prayer.
Precious souls around us are living and dying in ignorance for want of a Biblical Witness. When the Lord Jesus quoted to a Lawyer: “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself”, the lawyer immediately responded with the question: “And who is my neighbour?” The Lord answered him with the account of the good Samaritan. The priest and the levite, the legalists, passed by the man left half dead, failing to think or act according to the law they boasted in. The despised Samaritan showed love to his needy neighbour. Let us do likewise.
5. “And that our nation and generation would be turned to the Lord their God”.
Herewith we are called to reach out in prayer to our own nation and the regions beyond in the name of the King of nations. Russia, China, Japan, India, Africa and Ethiopia, Israel, the Middle-East and peoples in the Far-East and the Western Nations, require that the Word of God would obtain an entrance into their midst and have free course among them. Bible societies alone cannot accomplish this. God alone can make way for His Word. And where it is made known, let us pray that the King of Nations will make it a living Word of salvation by His Spirit among the Nations.
And thus that many be turned from Atheism, paganism, idolatry witchcraft, materialism and indifference to the Word of God, and in grace be turned to the Lord and to worship before Him. I recently read a book about Sudan Interior Mission activity in Ethiopia. Before the last war, most of the tribes in the great area between Addis Ababa and Kenya were either Moslem or pagan. When Italy invaded the country, the missionaries had to flee and left behind them a few converts. Five years later when the Italians were ejected, the missionaries returned and found thousands of Ethiopians living under the influence of God’s Word and Christ’s gospel.
6. “That those who are oppressed for holding truly religious views would be delivered from oppression”.
We are all aware of the deplorable fact that a goodly number of Christians in countries behind the Iron Curtain, are being persecuted and subjected to various types of punishment and sufferings for their Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ and their faith. We should be deeply affected by the news of their terrible trials and should carry them in our prayers to the throne of grace. Their needs include, that the Lord would bring down their godless oppressors in judgment or give them a change of mind regarding Christians or convert them, and bring days of relief and joy to His suffering people in these present days.
May the Lord bless to us these observations on matters for prayer and cause us to continue to pray accordingly.