I rejoice in the understanding that worship is the whole of life lived before God in joyful obedience, rather than an act which must be performed. My problem is in trying to ensure that what we do as we meet together is best for equipping us for that whole of life worship.

More specifically, I have been trying to think through how the sermons we preach and hear help us in being equipped for everyday living. I first realised the issue when I visited Protestant churches in another country where Protestants comprised a tiny part of the population. The blood of Jesus was preached from every pulpit I visited every week, and yet the congregation members I spoke with did not have the capacity to even think Biblically about whether they should leave their children in order to take up a job in the field in which they were educated. Back in Australia I am forced to ask, "In what ways does coming to grips with a chapter of Scripture in a sermon better prepare me for the questions about the schooling of my children, or gender issues in society, or which career to follow?"

The answer is clear and must be repeated. God chooses to make Himself known through His Word, and so our task must be to expose the mind of God as he has exposed his mind in the Bible. This is the way that God has promised he will work by his Spirit. But the second question still lingers. Why is it that with such good Bible teaching, it is so hard to work out what it means outside the walls of the building?

Here is where we must work hard at analysing and bringing the light of gospel revelation to our culture. It is our responsibility to critique culture. Any culture that does not have God as its centre will move into ways of thinking that must be opposed. Wherever the enlightenment of the Word stands in opposition to culture we must declare it, because the culture is wrong and these declarations give examples to our congregations of how to live in this world.

Last week I was asked by a friend for my opinion on equal employment opportunities for men and women. As we talked it became clear that my friend was offended by the failure to view people on merit. The Bible however treats humans with much more respect than that. Merit sees us as mere factors of production. God sees us as in relationship with him, others and the world. So we must always make our decisions not on ability alone, but also and more importantly on relationships. That means to answer a question about jobs, we have to consider first the relational issues, then the ability issues.

There is one more thing which I think we need to ensure our preaching contains. We must aim to help us all see that we live in an intermediate state: being true and present citizens of heaven, while being truly present here. This creates its own issues and tensions, but more of that next time.