St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church

6 June 2021

Prayer of Adoration and Confession

God of creation and compassion, we praise you for your attention to each and every blessed creature, marveling at the detail and the grandeur you call into being. You tend the fragile beauty and balance in the world, receiving praise from the depths of the sea to the tops of the mountains. You have seen your church grow from tiny beginnings to a worldwide community of those who follow Jesus, full of diversity in voice and vocation. Receive our praise as we witness your patience and perseverance with all you have made. Open our eyes to the purposes you have for us, for our congregation, and for our denomination. Awaken us with the insight of your Spirit and reveal to us how best to serve you in the world you love. For we offer ourselves to you in the name of Christ, our Lord.

God of purpose and possibility, you give us work to do and the skills we need to accomplish your calling. Yet we prefer to follow our own ways. We resist your wisdom and fail to consider the suggestions of others. We think we know better. Forgive our stubborn nature  and our unwillingness to reconsider our own views. By the power of your Holy Spirit and the grace of Christ our Lord, give us a teachable spirit to learn new ways to serve you and live as good neighbours in church and community. Amen.
Assurance of Pardon
The prophet Micah reminds us that God requires three things of us: to do justice, to love kindness, and walk humbly with our God. To all who turn away from self-interest and seek reconciliation with God and neighbour in kindness and humility, God offers forgiveness and peace. The peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

 

1 Samuel 8:4-20

Psalm 138

2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1

Matthew 5:17-20

 

Sermon: Who is the king of your life?

 

In a country church, there was a janitor who had been keeping the building clean and tidy for years. As this was a small church the janitor did many of the things that others would not do. Part of his duties were to see that there was glass of water in the pulpit, help the minister on with his robe and carry in the pulpit Bible at the start of worship, and help the minister off with his robe and hang it up at the end of the service, and safely store the pulpit Bible where the church mice could not eat it. After many years of the minister’s preaching there came the day when the he announced that he would be moving to another parish, and the janitor, as he was hanging up the minister’s robe, announced that he would be retiring. The minister said to him, “But you will soon get another minister, and I am sure you will like him every bit as well as you have liked me, once he gets here!” “Oh no!” said the janitor, “that is what the last seven ministers have said, and I don’t think I can take any more disappointments!”

 

There are many people that disappoint us in life! Politicians who promise one thing and then find that they cannot deliver it, disappoint us. Doctors who can’t find the cure for whatever disease afflicts us, disappoint us. Stores that are out of that last item on our shopping list, disappoint us. Family and friends disappoint us as they fail to follow through on their commitments and promises.  Most of us have learned to live with some level of disappointments in our lives. As the old song tell us we have learned to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and start all over again. When it comes to disappointments, we know that tomorrow is another day, and that we have a number of tomorrow ahead of us so we try to not take disappointments as a personal afront.

 

There was great disappointment among the leaders of Israel at the failure of the new generation of Judges. They wanted to start all over again, with a new to them system of government. They wanted the system of government that everyone else had in their world. They wanted a king! They thought that by being like everyone else they would have a more stable life and would be protected from their enemies by the constant presence of a king.

 

So great was their disappointment when they came to Samuel in this mornings Old Testament Lesson. They had faced so many disappointments that they no longer wanted to try again, with another judge and be disappointed when they became more corrupt than the last one. It had been a system that had worked reasonably well for over 450 years, since the time of Joshua, but there was becoming an increasing level of corruption within the ranks of the judges. Many of the local judges were like Joel and Abijah, the sons of Samuel, in that they too took bribes and perverted justice. They may have openly relished the office of Judge, but they refused to do the hard work or make the tough decisions that were needed to keep the system running as fairly as possible.

 

Samuel had been OK as a judge, maybe even more than OK as a leader of the people! But he would forever be remembered not as the child of promise, not as one who heard the voice of God clearly when others had forgotten how to listen, not even as a great man in his own right but as the father of two sons who were corrupt and taking bribes from people to whom, they were suppose to be dispensing God’s justice. They seemed to have a blatant disregard for the laws of God and were only interested in what profit they could make for themselves. And their shameful behaviour would show that Samuel had not raised them to be men of God after him. While they had inherited the role of judge in the land, they failed to live up to the high expectations that belonged to a judge.

 

Imagine Samuel’s feelings of personal disgrace when the elders of the people came to him and said, “You are old and the life of a judge is getting away from you, but the worst part of it is that your sons do not follow in God’s ways! Appoint for us a king to govern us like other nations.” After over 450 years of the nation of Israel being lead by Judges, who would rally the people in times of need to do the task which needed to be done to keep the people safe and under the authority of God, the people said “We don’t like what is happening! The judges are unjust.” Instead of calling for judges who would judge rightly and fairly for all people they said, “Change the system! Now! We want to have king like all of the other nations! We want stability in our leadership that we can depend upon.”

 

No doubt Samuel was hurt by their demand, but nonetheless he took the request to God. God says to Samuel: “It is not you that the people are rejecting but rather me. I who have been the king over all the people, am to be replaced by an earthly king! Remind the people that a king who will tax the people and take your young men for his warriors. He will have you work in his palace and labour in the king’s fields.”

 

This marks a transition from the religious and spiritual leaders to being led by a king. But unlike the other nations around them the king of Israel was to have a spiritual role. According to Deuteronomy the people were to appoint a king upon their entry onto the Promised Land. A king who would lead the people back to the presence of God. A king who would show the people how to keep the laws by his own example of righteousness. A king who would use wisdom and fairness in his dealings with all the people and for the betterment of the people as a whole. This would be a king who was not susceptible to bribery or flattery of any form, but rather one who would judge by what he knew to be the right thing to do in the eyes of God.

 

The implication was, that in the days before the appointment of the kings, every man did what was right in his own eyes. That meant that there was a lot of different laws in different parts of the kingdom. The rule of law did not exist and those who were stronger took from those who were weak. The rich and powerful prospered, while the average person fell further behind.

 

It has been said that of all forms of government, the best form is not a democracy  where the most popular opinion is the rule of law, but a benevolent absolute monarchy. That means that the nation is ruled by a king or queen who always wants what is best for the people. Such a Monarch come the closet to creating a perfect model by maintaining a healthy society for all people While that would seem to be what the elders of Israel wanted for themselves it did not work out quite that way. Once in a long while they were to find a king who was able to do the things that glorified God and united the people around the common worship of God. But more often the monarch was to have disastrous results for the people because they were flawed human beings.

 

They wanted a king who would be their military leader like all the other nations had to lead them in battle. They found they could no longer trust that God would raise up a mighty warrior at their time of need. They thereby rejected the spiritual leaders who had been their leaders to the point in time. Yet in God’s design, the leader of Israel was to be one who would lift the people up to God. Often they had been charismatic leaders and where those upon whom the Spirit of God rested. The king while being hereditary would hopefully pass on the spirit of God to the next generation by virtue of how he had kept the laws of God. But such a king was not always possible.

 

Jesus came to fulfill the law! That includes the law in Deuteronomy that says there should be a king in Israel. He came to fulfill that law by becoming the king God needed him to be. When a soldier in Canada joins the army, they take an oath to defend not the prime minister, or even the Governor General, but to defend the Queen herself! The implication is that everything we do in Canada is to keep the Queen’s Peace and good order. As the

 

When you look at all the verses from the words of “God save the Queen” you gain a glimpse of what is implied in having a monarch who truly loves and serves the people, who gives guidance and stability to the nation they govern, and who knows the power of God that is greater than they are. Listen to all of the words!

 

“God save our gracious Queen Long live our noble Queen, God save The Queen: Send her victorious, Happy and glorious, Long to reign over us: God save The Queen.

 

O Lord, our God, arise, Scatter thine enemies, And make them fall: Confound their politics, Frustrate their knavish tricks, On thee our hopes we fix: God save us all.

 

Thy choicest gifts in store, On her be pleased to pour; Long may she reign: May she defend our laws, And ever give us cause To sing with heart and voice God save The Queen.”

 

As Christians we are the lucky ones, for the ruler of our lives is not a prime minister, or a premier, or a mayor or councillor, our neighbour or even our spouse. Our supreme ruler is the Living King of all the earth, and the God of all creation. He is the most benevolent King ever known for he has give us fresh air to breathe and a good planet to live on. He has given us work to do and the creative minds to fill the world with things beautiful and filled with purpose.  He has given us just laws to live by and asks only that we follow in the path he has laid before us. That we should be creative and righteous as He is the force behind all creation and the epitome of righteousness.

 

The strange thing is this, is what the people of Israel had before Saul became their first king. God was their king. But they wanted a king they could see and hear, that they could take their complaints to, and get an answer.

 

As Presbyterians we affirm that Jesus Christ is the only king and head of the church. As a commissioner to this years General Assembly, that is one thing I have to keep in mind, to seek the will of God in every debate that comes before us. To know the power and the presence of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. To seek to be guided by the wisdom of God, and to help make decisions that will build up the people of God. We already know there will be some tough issues this year. That people will feel they have not been heard, or ignored. Sometimes that happens when you are a king and cannot threaten to divide a child to determine who is its mother; (but that is a story for another time).  Our task is to seek to listen to the voice of God, in the mist of sometimes heated debate. Our task is to find the will of God our king, and to have the nerve to do it.

 

Is he the king of your life?

 

Prayers of Thanksgiving and Intercession

God of communion and community, we give you thanks for our life together in Christ, and the work of the Spirit that draws us closer to you and to each other.

We pray for the life of our denomination as it meets in General Assembly. Send your Spirit to work in and through the commissioners, even while they gather at a distance and engage through virtual technology. Speak through your Spirit to open minds and hearts to your leading. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ sustain us in communion and community, even when we differ over decisions and directions.

God of compassion and concern, thank you for all the ministries and mission Presbyterians undertake together in Canada and in many places throughout the world. Thank you for lessons learned and hope inspired by all the partners we have worked with, over this difficult year and throughout many years and many different cultures. We pray for all who serve in the name of our church and for those who join in ministries supported by Presbyterians Sharing and Presbyterian World Service & Development. Bless the important work undertaken in Jesus’ name which looks so different in each location. Open all our hearts to support these ministries with generous giving and ongoing prayer, so that lives will be healed, transformed and strengthened according to your compassionate concern.

God of our hearts and our hopes, We pray for those you have given us to love.

Hear us as we place their needs and hopes before you in this silence…. We pray for those who serve our nation as leaders in business, politics, health care and education. Grant them wisdom in this challenging time, so that their choices consider the needs of the most vulnerable whom we name before you in silence….

We pray for those who face uncertainty, unrest and threat from violence day by day. In this moment of silence, we bring before you people in our own community who know upheaval because of the pandemic, and those in places around the world where injustice is unrelenting….

God of the earth and all its fullness, in this season of planting and growing, of nesting and nurturing, we pray for the environment and all the creatures it supports. Protect species and habitats at risk, and awaken us to better stewardship in the garden you have entrusted to us. Hear our prayers for everything and everyone you have created in love. Amen.