Dear BPCWA worshipper, Our 40^th Anniversary commemoration message at the last Lord’s Day Worship Service was “The LORD that brought us forth”, from Deuteronomy 6:10-16. We were reminded that God’s chosen people were at the end of their 40 years in the wilderness. And they were about to enter the critical phase of their mission on earth – to be God’s national witness in the promised land. But they failed miserably. Hence, the local church has become her temporary replacement. They failed because they refused to heed God’s warnings. They were not to forget God, not to go after the gods in the land, and not to tempt God. Instead, they were to fear the LORD their God, serve Him, and swear by His Name.  They failed in all of these. Will BPCWA also fail? It is dependent upon our leaders’ and worshippers’ personal and public lives of obedience. Today, I want to delve more into a particular warning – going after other gods (Deu 6:14). Idolatry was one of Israel’s key sins, which caused them to fail God in so many ways, resulting in them being cast out of the land eventually.

What are the other gods?1) The enemies’ gods. In v14, these were the gods of the people who were around them. The inhabitants of the land had various gods that they were devoted to at all costs. How devoted? They would sacrifice children to them! We live in an environment where the concept of a “god” is not popular. However, this does not mean that there is the absence of “gods”. We may say we are glad we left the rat race behind when immigrating here. However, we continue to worship the same gods in different forms by what we put our children through – bringing them up just like the children of the world. 2) Demons of lust. Baal was the god of storm riding on a bull. It symbolised fertility, the key desire for the land and reproduction. Their worship revolved around one theme – gaining more for themselves to enjoy. Many in this generation have grown up tasting the “good life” and want to indulge in it when they have their families. Material comforts, pleasures, and leisures are the focus of their lives, appealing to these lusts. God warned us about these in verses 10-12. 3) Demonic religions. The worship of Baal naturally spawned licentiousness, which included sexual fornication and prostitution. Research showed that the sacrifice of their children must be done without emotions to pacify and incentivise Baal. Why would God’s people, including us today, go after such gods instead of casting them out of the land and their own lives? This is because the selfish flesh seeks to be gratified. And the flesh is easily deceived and loves to deceive, too. And because sin is like leaven, these gods of lust quickly pervade all areas of our lives and keep us in their bondage because we allow them to do so.

What must BPCWA and its worshippers learn?1) Remember God’s reasons for the warnings. Why did God make repeated commands to have nothing to do with the land’s gods, and to kill every single inhabitant? This is so that not a single idolator could influence and defile His people and jeopardise their mission going forward. For the church, we must not allow worldliness or the practices of the gods of the world to be left unaddressed. For worshippers, we must not be the ones who introduce the gods of the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life into our own lives, and into the church. These will leaven the church and cause us to fail in our mission to be a holy witness for God. These other gods can make us too tired or too busy serving that we neglect the service of our LORD. 2) Remember your purpose in life. The idol worshippers sought blessings for selfish purposes to fulfil their own lusts.  They would even offer their children’s lives to their gods because they wanted more blessings from their gods for themselves. They were willing to sacrifice anything for personal gain. We have witnessed from our church history how one’s lusts and desires were introduced into the church and led it down the wrong path. Once others have tasted it, they will begin to enjoy it and want more of these lusts too. BPCWA and each worshipper must remember that our LORD saved us, led us in this land of Perth, and placed us in this church to fulfil His purpose to be a spiritual, not carnal and worldly witness. Our personal holiness and our public life must reflect and exemplify Christ to be His holy witness, “and be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Rom 12:2). The gods of the lust of flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life must be cast out of the church and our lives. If not, they will grow like leaven. In time, they will snuff out our testimony and destroy the church and your walk with God as a witness.  This is God’s perfect will for BPCWA and your life. 3) Respond in gratefulness by caring for the future witness. Every single individual in BPCWA must care enough to live for the sake of the future generation to have a godly church to worship and serve God in. Do not be the one who brings in the gods of the world for them to creep in and gain their foothold in BPCWA.  Be grateful to God for what He has done for BPCWA in these 40 years. God told His people to remind their children how much He has done for them (vv21-23). This was so that the future generations would respond in gratefulness by fulfilling God’s purpose of being a holy witness. God did much for BPCWA and your own personal life, and wants you and your children to have the same response. Parents must stop sacrificing their children to the world by pursuing their own will. The idolators of the land burnt their children alive, and must suppress their emotions, in order to get more of what their hearts desired. It is no different when you put your own priorities, pursuits, or satisfy the laziness of your flesh above bringing them “for the increase… of the Church with an holy seed” (WCF 24.2). I am afraid that parents today also know deep down that they must suppress the convictions of the Holy Spirit and silence their consciences, which feel bad about not choosing what is spiritually excellent for their children. They will settle with “good enough” or even just “okay”.  Instead, to get gain, you offer up your child to be the “best” that they can be for this world. We listen to the gods of this world to let children choose to do or not to do what their hearts desire. To satisfy the god of our pride, we make them engage or dress them up in what the world considers “in”. The child grows up learning your priorities of self and love of the world. They may continue to attend church, but they also have imbibed the gods of the world from you. They become useless to God for the future.  They will turn BPCWA into a worldly church that God will have to snuff out (v15) because it will be the negative witness that will do more harm than spiritual good to others. We must care for the future witness for God’s Name and not be selfish.

The immense encouragement to BPCWA and each worshipper who cares for God’s kingdom’s work through His church witness is that “… the LORD commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as it is at this day” (v24). When God commands, it means He will help if we obey. And when that happens, BPCWA will surely be safe from falling because the Almighty God and faithful LORD of the covenant is the One who will preserve us alive. Let us be stirred by this to make BPCWA faithful till our Lord returns, by being faithful to Him at all costs. This is the best life because it is “for our good always”, i.e., God tells us the only life worth living always is the life that is solely concerned about being His holy witness to point others to His glory.

Yours in our Lord’s service,
Pastor