Special Invitation

A special invitation from a sovereign to have an audience with him is delivered to you by his emissary. This invitation includes an air ticket and a note to inform you that all incurred expenses would be at his pleasure. This invitation is accepted without hesitation, and with pride and joy. On the day of your departure, you decide to go to the airport 3 hours before the departure time even though on the ticket you are advised to be there 90 minutes early. You wear your best clothes and suit. Your hair is properly trimmed, and a pair of new shiny shoes is put on. About one hour before departure, boarding commences and you immediately say your goodbyes to your spouse, family members and friends, who have come to send you off. At last you board the plane and you are directed to a comfortable seat with all the latest gadgets to entertain you and to relieve your boredom in this extra long trip. You pay careful attention to the announcements from the captain and the chief steward. Finally, you arrive at your destination and you are starting to get excited and pumped up. You are patient when you are advised to remain seated with your safety belt on while the plane is taxying slowly along the runway to the terminal. Then the plane stops and you hear that you can unbuckle the belts. You come out to the waiting lounge, relieved that you have landed safely, and the same emissary is there to welcome you. He directs you to a limousine and you are on your way to meet the sovereign. The emissary informs you that there is still ample time before you meet the sovereign, but you prefer to be at the palace early so that you won’t cause any possible offence to the sovereign. Just in case! Eventually, the audience with the sovereign occurs at precisely the time as indicated on your invitation card. You display your good manners, courtesy, respect and loyalty. You utter all the good things that need to be said. 

Our Duty to Government

The scenario described is what we will most likely do if the head of state, or prime minister or any high ranking official calls us to have an audience with him or her. It is indeed our duty to show our respect and loyalty to our government, and the ministers and officials who represent her. The Word of God says “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God” (Rom 13:1). It is God who places people in positions of authority and power. God wants us to “Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well” (1 Pet 2:13-14).

Our Duty to God is incomparable with our Duty to man.

But, we have a problem! We seem to show far greater respect, fear and loyalty before these earthly rulers, ministers and officials, than to God who places them in positions of authority and power in the first place. We come to have an audience with our Supreme Creator every Lord’s Day, to worship and praise Him, and yet we do not seem to give Him the proper reverence and respect that He deserves from us. We do not appear to fear Him like we should. God demands our respect, our love and our reverence! He demands our obedience to Him and His Word. This is what Joshua says to the Israelites and is pertinent for us: “Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD” (Josh 24:14). However, we are behaving contrary to this. Even though we come regularly to worship Him and involve ourselves in the many activities of His Church we continue to be mesmerised by “other gods”, such as our pursuit of wealth, pleasures, and power. We continue to show disrespect and every Lord’s Day, to worship and praise Him, and yet we do not seem to give Him the proper reverence and respect that He deserves from us. We do not appear to fear Him like we should. God demands our respect, our love and our reverence! He demands our obedience to Him and His Word. This is what Joshua says to the Israelites and is pertinent for us: “Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD” (Josh 24:14). However, we are behaving contrary to this. Even though we come regularly to worship Him and involve ourselves in the many activities of His Church we continue to be mesmerised by “other gods”, such as our pursuit of wealth, pleasures, and power. We continue to show disrespect and irreverence to God and His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, dishonour the Sabbath Day by continuing to purposely work when we should not, disobey God’s commandments, fail to love our neighbours, procrastinate or refuse to participate in The Great Commission (Matt 28:19-20), withhold our tithes and offerings, and to decline to separate from things of this world! When is 

Special Invitation

A special invitation from a sovereign to have an audience with him is delivered to you by his emissary. This invitation includes an air ticket and a note to inform you that all incurred expenses would be at his pleasure. This invitation is accepted without hesitation, and with pride and joy. On the day of your departure, you decide to go to the airport 3 hours before the departure time even though on the ticket you are advised to be there 90 minutes early. You wear your best clothes and suit. Your hair is properly trimmed, and a pair of new shiny shoes is put on. About one hour before departure, boarding commences and you immediately say your goodbyes to your spouse, family members and friends, who have come to send you off. At last you board the plane and you are directed to a comfortable seat with all the latest gadgets to entertain you and to relieve your boredom in this extra long trip. You pay careful attention to the announcements from the captain and the chief steward. Finally, you arrive at your destination and you are starting to get excited and pumped up. You are patient when you are advised to remain seated with your safety belt on while the plane is taxying slowly along the runway to the terminal. Then the plane stops and you hear that you can unbuckle the belts. You come out to the waiting lounge, relieved that you have landed safely, and the same emissary is there to welcome you. He directs you to a limousine and you are on your way to meet the sovereign. The emissary informs you that there is still ample time before you meet the sovereign, but you prefer to be at the palace early so that you won’t cause any possible offence to the sovereign. Just in case! Eventually, the audience with the sovereign occurs at precisely the time as indicated on your invitation card. You display your good manners, courtesy, respect and loyalty. You utter all the good things that need to be said. 

Our Duty to Government

The scenario described is what we will most likely do if the head of state, or prime minister or any high ranking official calls us to have an audience with him or her. It is indeed our duty to show our respect and loyalty to our government, and the ministers and officials who represent her. The Word of God says “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God” (Rom 13:1). It is God who places people in positions of authority and power. God wants us to “Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well” (1 Pet 2:13-14).

Our Duty to God is incomparable with our Duty to man.

But, we have a problem! We seem to show far greater respect, fear and loyalty before these earthly rulers, ministers and officials, than to God who places them in positions of authority and power in the first place. We come to have an audience with our Supreme Creator every Lord’s Day, to worship and praise Him, and yet we do not seem to give Him the proper reverence and respect that He deserves from us. We do not appear to fear Him like we should. God demands our respect, our love and our reverence! He demands our obedience to Him and His Word. This is what Joshua says to the Israelites and is pertinent for us: “Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD” (Josh 24:14). However, we are behaving contrary to this. Even though we come regularly to worship Him and involve ourselves in the many activities of His Church we continue to be mesmerised by “other gods”, such as our pursuit of wealth, pleasures, and power. We continue to show disrespect and every Lord’s Day, to worship and praise Him, and yet we do not seem to give Him the proper reverence and respect that He deserves from us. We do not appear to fear Him like we should. God demands our respect, our love and our reverence! He demands our obedience to Him and His Word. This is what Joshua says to the Israelites and is pertinent for us: “Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD” (Josh 24:14). However, we are behaving contrary to this. Even though we come regularly to worship Him and involve ourselves in the many activities of His Church we continue to be mesmerised by “other gods”, such as our pursuit of wealth, pleasures, and power. We continue to show disrespect and irreverence to God and His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, dishonour the Sabbath Day by continuing to purposely work when we should not, disobey God’s commandments, fail to love our neighbours, procrastinate or refuse to participate in The Great Commission (Matt 28:19-20), withhold our tithes and offerings, and to decline to separate from things of this world! When is this going to end? The Word of God says this “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world (1 Jn 2:16). The world is not for us. It is filled with all kinds of sin, and we are all guilty (Rom 3:23). We do not really love God and appreciate all that He has done for us when we love the world. We are told “… to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices” (Mk 12:33). Where is our love for Him and our fear of Him? If we think we love God and our Lord Jesus Christ, then let us be challenged with these words: prove it!

Some Questions

Coming back to the special invitation story, I would like to ask all believers many questions, but due to space limitation I can only ask a few. Do we come to worship the Sovereign God long before the audience (worship service) begins? We should be seated at the pews and chairs at least 20 minutes before the service starts, in order to get ourselves ready for Him. God is Sovereign and more powerful than any king, ruler or minister on earth, and He deserves our early presence. If we do not like people to come to our appointments late then consider what God thinks of us when we are late. Praise God for He is so merciful that He does not send us a thunderbolt the moment we are late or come short of His glory. Perhaps, that is what we need! Do we arrive at the airport a few minutes before the boarding door shuts, or at exactly the time of departure, or even after the departure time? I am quite sure none of us would dare to do this, but we are quite comfortable about coming to the worship service late!  Coming to worship service is just like going on a plane trip. It is where we worship God in spirit and truth (John 4:24). Late comers to worship or any church meeting are never late for the airport. On the other hand, when there is no good reason, we are disrespectful to God when we walk out of the sanctuary before the worship service ends. Do we jump out of the plane with a parachute as the plane begins her descent, or do we force the exit door open as the plane is taxying slowly to the terminal? We will all sit patiently until the plane stops at the tarmac or when we are told to do so! The worship service should be likened to a spiritual plane – we must not be late nor should we leave prematurely!

Our God is Real and Great

 “But the LORD is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation” (Jer 10:10). Our God is the Great and Almighty One. He is the Creator of all things, seen and unseen, and has sovereign control over all things. He has the keys of life and death. God is merciful and in His mercy and love for us, He sent His only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus, to save us from eternal damnation (John 3:16). Through the works of His Holy Spirit we are convicted of our sins and come to repentance and belief. It is to the Godhead - the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit - we should be showing our absolute loyalty, love, fear and respect. Heb 12:29 reminds us that “our God is a consuming fire”. Yet we are oblivious to it all. Wake up all believers. Give the honour and glory due to God and our Lord Jesus Christ. Remember that we are where we are and what the world is because “by him all things consist” (Col 1:17).

“The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork” (Ps 19:1). If we look at the wonderful and vast universe there is nothing but praise and acknowledgement of the existence of God and His glory that should be coming out of our mouths and our hearts. 

With our finite minds it is hard for us to fathom what God can do. The universe that God had created is so vast and incredible. Dr David King, a former New South Wales Astronomer, helps us to understand the vastness of God’s universe with this illustration: “If the Earth were 1 cm across, then the sun would be 118 m away and 1 m wide. If the distance between the sun and Earth were 1 cm, then Pluto would be 39 cm away and Alpha Centauri 3 km away. If the distance between the Earth and Alpha Centauri were 1 cm, then the centre of our galaxy would be 100 m away and the diameter of the galaxy 250 m. If the diameter of the galaxy were 1 cm, then Andromeda would be 30 cm away and the furthest galaxy 1 km away. Or to summarize, if the earth were 1 cm across, then the furthest galaxy would be further than Alpha Centauri is at our own scale”. (Source: Creation magazine, Vol 29, No. 4, Pgs 46, Sept-Nov 2007).

Remember that God is real and great. Let us therefore “Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness” (Ps 29:2). So, in conclusion, “what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul,” (Deut 10:12). Amen.

Elder Michael D Lee

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