Reverend Dr Edwards message focussed on the following pertinent points:

• A soldier as a legitimate instrument of God’s purpose.
• Whether war in any way can be ethically justified.
• The necessity of obedience to those in authority.
• The necessity of being loyal and giving service to the state.
• Why soldiers go to war.

The celebration of the Victorian Cross Awards brings quite forcibly to our minds, the gallantry and unselfishness of those who were prepared to give their lives to a worthy cause.

Because for many persons self-preservation is regarded as the first law of nature, there arose in ancient times the custom of rewarding bravery wherever it was found.

Josephus, the Jewish historian of the 1^st Century AD, recorded the ancient Greek practice of awarding a golden button for gallantry on the battlefield.

During the middle ages, individual acts of heroism on the battlefield were sometimes recognized by gifts of swords or grants of land.

The Victorian Cross is the most highly prized British award for gallantry. It was introduced in the year 1856.

It is said that the bronze for this rather plain looking decoration came from a Russian cannon which was captured during he Crimean war.

On June 30, 1866, a mere 10 years after this decoration was established, Samuel Hodge was awarded the Victoria Cross for exceptional acts of bravery.

The second award was made to William James Gordon a Jamaican in 1897 whose mortal remains were interred here in the military cemetery in 1922.

Gordon was buried with full military honours. The coffin covered with the Union Jack and several wreaths placed in a gun carriage drawn by soldiers of the West India Regiment.

The drum and fife band headed the precession, then walked the Chaplain. Behind him came the gun carriage with the coffin. Next walked two officers followed by Company Sergeant Bent, a Victoria Cross winner like Gordon who bore a black cushion with the dead hero's medal. Then came the civilian members and the officers and men of the Regiment.

At the military cemetery a firing squad rendered the usual honour to the dead warrior, and the last post sounded as his body was laid to rest.

Ex Sergeant William Gordon name lives after him in his country's history, and always will, so long as the virtues of courage and devotion are prized by all.

Celebrating these awards as we are today, it would be well for us to ask the question whether these men can be described as instruments of God's purpose? Or to put it in contemporary terms, when a soldier acts lawfully in the pursuit of his duty, can he be described as a legitimate instrument of God's purpose?

I ask this question because people like yourselves who have chosen the security of the state as a profession are very often caught in the horns of a dilemma. I am quite certain that from time to time you have asked the question whether war can in any way be ethically justified.

But this was a question with which the apostle Paul also had to wrestle. Listen to Paul again in that passage quoted for our text, "The ruler beareth not his sword in vain, for he is an instrument of God".

Paul was addressing a context, which was continually seething with insurrection. There was a group of people called Zealots who blatantly refused to co-operate with state authorities. They were religious nationalists who were sworn to terrorist methods. They used terrorism towards the Roman government. They wrecked the houses and burnt the crops of their fellow citizens who collaborated with the government.

They became out and out desperados embarking on some of the most violent actions against the state. They were sworn and pledged to a career invoking chaos and assassination. Their aim was to make the life of any civil government totally impossible. They refused to co-operate with the state authorities. They refused to be good citizens. They refused to pay taxes, they refused to serve in the army, and they refused to pay tribute to Ceasar.

For these Zealots, there was a clear cut line of demarcation between the function of the Church and the function of the state. They believed that attachment to one inevitably meant a prolonged hatred and hostility to the other. That the gulf between the two was as wide as that existing between heaven and hell, and that there was no common ground or meeting point between the two.

This was the context that the apostle Paul was called upon to address. His was the task of averting total chaos in the society of his day, and this was the context out of which our text emerged. "The ruler beareth not his sword in vain, he is a messenger of God". So this overzealous group who thought that they were serving God by being disloyal to the state were instead destroying the order and the well being of God's creation.

For Paul, what this group thought as being religious duty was a direct negation of all Christian conduct. And so he urges the citizen to lead a life of cooperation with the civil authorities "for the ruler beareth nit his sword in vain, he is a messenger of God". It follows then that Christianity and good citizenship are two sides of the same coin. So Paul speaks about the necessity of obedience to those in authority. He speaks about the necessity of paying taxes. He speaks about the necessity of "rendering to Ceasar the things which are Caesar’s and unto God the things which are God".

Of course this does not mean that there are not godless governments and God-fearing governments. It does not mean that all actions of governments are ethically approved by God. What it means is that it is God who gives the power to rule. And God can use unworthy and culpable people for the accomplishments of his purposes here on earth. Think about the despot Cyrus in the Old Testament who was said to be an instrument of God.

Paul was living in a heathen state. The persecution of the Christians has already begun. You will recall that even Jesus Christ had to submit to the authority of Pontius Pilate who was the Roman government official of his day.

And so we remind ourselves today of the necessity of being loyal and giving service to the state. We cannot opt out of the nation, because we are parts of the nation. We cannot demand all the privileges of the state and then refuse the duties of the state. Without the state we would be without laws. And without the mutual agreement to observe them, the bad, the selfish and the strong would be supreme. And because our whole being is wrapped up in the existence of the state, we have a sacred duty to prevent the state from disintegrating. And we have a sacred duty to defend the state at all cost. And that is why as soldiers you go to war.

Not because war is intrinsically right, but rather very often it becomes our only option for protecting who we are and what we have.

And so today as we recommit ourselves to the service of the nation, remembering those who selflessly gave of themselves in order that we may enjoy our today and have great hope for brighter tomorrow.

And so we remember those who exhibited outstanding examples of courage. Those who risked dangers and endured pain. And pray God that we may be followers of their selfless examples.

We pray that God will instill into our hearts the concept of good citizenship so that we may have very clear perspectives. That we may see his right hand at work in our world and be the instruments which he uses to perfect his purposes of goodness, justice and love.

"For the ruler beareth not in his sword in vain, he is a messenger of God".