************ Sermon on Belgic Confession Article 28 ************
Doctrine: Church Membership
By: Rev. Adrian Dieleman
This sermon was preached on January 17, 1999
B.C. 28(a)
Acts 2:37-47
"Join the Church"
Introduction
Topic: Church
Subtopic: Preciousness of
Index: 729
Date: 1/1999.101
Title: Roman Catholics vs Protestants
On July 29, 1928, a young evangelical pastor began his sermon with these words:
"There is a word that, when a Catholic hears it, kindles all his feeling of love and bliss; that stirs all the depths of his religious sensibility, from dread and awe of the Last Judgment to the sweetness of God's presence; and that certainly awakens in him the feeling of home; the feeling that only a child has in relation to its mother, made up of gratitude, reverence, and devoted love. . . .
"And there is a word that to Protestants has the sound of something infinitely commonplace, more or less indifferent and superfluous, that does not make their heart beat faster; something with which a sense of boredom is so often associated. . . . And yet our fate is sealed, if we are unable again to attach a new, or perhaps a very old, meaning to it. Woe to us if that word does not become important to us soon again. . . . Yes, the word to which I am referring is Church."
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
What a difference, what a contrast, between Protestants and Roman Catholics when it comes to the church.
I want to tell you this evening that we should never let the church take the place of God in our worship, praise, and adoration. Yet, we do need to realize that God expects the church to have a significant place and role in our life – that's the message of the Belgic Confession of Faith to us this evening!
I Two Ways of Looking at the Church
A There are two ways of looking at the church. First, we can look at the church from the perspective of God. We talked about this last time. From God's perspective she is a congregation of true Christian believers, young and old, called by Him and awaiting their entire salvation in Christ. When God looks at the church He sees one single, holy, catholic or universal church that prevails against and even flourishes through the attacks of the powers of darkness.
The church that God sees we call invisible – because only God can see this church. God is the only one Who can see the invisible church, for only God can look within hearts and see who is a true believer, only God knows who has been washed and cleansed by Christ's blood and Spirit, only God knows the names of those He has called to join the church, and only God knows those who are awaiting their full salvation in Christ. That's the first way of looking at the church – from the perspective of God.
B Second, we can look at the church from the perspective of man. Unlike God, all that we can see is the visible church, the church on this earth. What can we say about the visible church? Let's start off by admitting she is imperfect:
Topic: Church
Subtopic: Imperfections of
Index: 726-761
Date: 1/1999.101
Title: FDA limits for natural substances!
The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) has a Food Defect Action Levels list, which indicates the limits for "natural or unavoidable" substances in processed food. While people may blanch at eating insects and their wastes, some are allowed in processed food. The foods and the FDA limits for natural substances in them:
TOMATOES - an average of 2 maggots per 17½-oz can
RAISINS - 35 fruit fly eggs per 8-oz
POTATO CHIPS - 6% of the pieces showing rot
GREEN COFFEE BEANS - 1 live insect per 2 cans or 2 dead bugs per 5 cans
CHOCOLATE - 1 rodent hair per large candy bar
PEACHES - 3% moldy or wormy
MUSHROOMS - 20 maggots per 3½-oz can
GREEN PEPPER - 1% mammal excreta per lb
(TIME, October 1990)
What can we say about the visible church? Let there be no doubt about it: she is as imperfect as the processed food we eat. There are some within who do not belong. As Guido De Bres tells us in Article 29:
We are not speaking here of the company of hypocrites who are mixed among the good of the church and who nonetheless are not part of it, even though they are physically there.
In the church and in the kingdom there are weeds mixed in with the wheat (Mt 13); there are wolves among the sheep (Mt 7:15; Acts 20:29); there are bad fish caught with the good (Mt 13). Jesus Himself says,
(Mt 7:21) "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
Not everyone who is a baptized or professing member of the visible church will be saved. There are some, perhaps many, who hear the Word, profess their faith, partake of the sacraments, submit to discipline, and display many of the marks of true faith – yet, they fall away. These people the Bible calls apostates. In an important sense they are members of the church. Before they stumble, nobody challenges their uprightness. But it later becomes obvious that in another sense they have never really been members of the church at all. Quoting the Confession, they are not part of the "gathering of those who are saved."
What can we say about the visible church? Let there be no doubt about it: she is imperfect; but not only because there are some within her who do not belong but also because every member who does belong is a sinner. To prove this we don't have to point to ministers or elders or other church leaders caught in sin; all we need do is point to you and me. All of us, none excepted, are imperfect and stained with sin. And we, in turn, make the church on this earth imperfect and stained with sin. We can look where we want for a perfect church, but the second you or I join that church it loses its perfection. So again I say, the visible church is an imperfect church.
The visible church is imperfect. Yet, the Belgic Confession--based upon the Word of God – tells us in no uncertain terms that you and I "are obliged to join and unite with it." Why does it say this? Why are you and I urged to join something so imperfect, so stained with sin? Tonight's article gives us an answer.
II No Salvation Outside of the Church
A Article 28 says something rather startling when it talks about the visible church: "there is no salvation apart from it." If any statement sounds Roman Catholic, this is it. This is the English translation of an old Latin phrase used much by medieval theologians to say that outside of the visible, organized, Roman Catholic Church there is no salvation. In other words, you have to be Roman Catholic in order to be saved.
B Of course, Guido De Bres does not even dare to make such a claim for the Church of the Rose, the Church of the Palm, or any of the other congregations he pastored. Such claims are the height of arrogance and denies salvation to all but your own. So what does he mean when he says "there is no salvation apart from it"?
In making this statement, Guido De Bres is keeping in mind what God has entrusted to the church. He knows that to the visible, earthly church God has entrusted the means of grace (which is the Word and the sacraments) and the keys of the kingdom (which is preaching and discipline). By the use of the means of grace – entrusted to the visible church – the Holy Spirit produces and confirms faith. By the use of the keys of the kingdom – also entrusted to the visible church – the Holy Spirit opens the kingdom of heaven to believers and closes it to unbelievers.
C We are told something here about the work of God. Do you see how God operates? God works out His grace and salvation through the ministry of the visible church. It is through the visible, earthly church that God makes election real in the lives of His children. The almighty and eternal God – Who saves whom He wills and justly condemns the rest for their sin – has chosen to limit Himself in the area of salvation to the work of the church. Do you realize what this means? It means that the mission of God to save the lost is worked out through the visible, earthly church. And, if we fail to spread the Gospel we are holding back the mission of God and the salvation of His own.
D John Calvin, like Guido De Bres, also held to a highly exalted view of the visible, earthly church. I have always loved what he said about the church. Calvin calls the visible earthly church the "nurturing mother for the souls of believers." In other words, it is the visible, earthly church that is a vital source of spiritual nourishment and growth. It is through the visible, earthly church that one comes to faith, is confirmed in faith, matures in faith, and grows in grace and godliness.
God has given us the church with her offices, with her gifted members, with her programs and ministries, so that we can be built up. The church is God's gift to us so we can grow up in the faith. I think here of what Paul teaches in Ephesians 4:
(Eph 4:11-13) It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, (THIS IS THE CHURCH THAT PAUL IS TALKING ABOUT HERE) (12) to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up (13) until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
God has given us the church, the visible church, as the mother of faith. Through the church God wants us to be built up, to grow up, to be one, to do works of service until we eventually become like Christ.
III The Necessity of Church Membership
A What can we say about the visible church? In spite of her many imperfections she is "the gathering of those who are saved and there is no salvation apart from it." In spite of her many imperfections she is the "mother of faith." Therefore:
no one ought to withdraw from it,
content to be by himself,
regardless of his status or condition.
"No one ought to withdraw from the church." The Confession is not talking here about a transfer of membership, of going from one church to another. It is talking here about quitting the church altogether. It is talking here of leaving the true church and going to a false church.
It is wrong to withdraw from the church. It is wrong to resign as a member of the church. It is wrong to no longer involve yourself in the life of the church. All of these are horrible sins worthy of full condemnation for when you withdraw from the church you cut yourself off from the means of grace and God's plan of salvation. As the last line of Article 28 puts it:
all who withdraw from the church
or do not join it
act contrary to God's ordinance.
My brothers and sisters, we must pray for those in our church family who withdraw themselves from the church of Jesus Christ; we must plead with them to return; we must admonish and encourage them. And, we must instruct and encourage our children and youth to join themselves fully to the church and to never withdraw from her. We must let all the world know the necessary connection between faith in Christ and commitment to His church.
B The Confession also tells us that no one ought to be "content to be by himself." No one should attempt to be a Christian all by him or herself. I mentioned last week those who limit themselves to the electronic church on radio or TV and those who commune with God in nature instead of joining the church. I am sure many of you know what John Dunne has said:
No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.
This is especially true of Christians. We cannot live by and for ourselves. To be a Christian is to be a member of a living organism whose life derives from Christ. There is no other way of being a Christian.
We see this so clear in our Scripture reading. What does Peter say after he presents the Gospel? He says,
(Acts 2:38) "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."
In other words, the new believers are to receive the mark of church membership. And then what happened? "About three thousand were added to their number that day" (Acts 2:41). In other words, they joined the church. And then what happened?
(Acts 2:42) They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer ... (46) Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, (47) praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
Those new believers who joined the church, they committed themselves to the church, they made a habit of regularly meeting together with other believers.
Join the church and stay joined to the church – that was God's will for the first century believer and that is God's will for the 21st century believer too.
In the first and second centuries Christians were persecuted for their faith and many were forced to flee for their lives. Wherever they went they met secretly together. In the city of Rome they met in natural or man-made tunnels under the city. These early Christian knew that to be a follower of Christ meant to be a part of Christ's body. They knew and realized no one can be a Christian by him or herself. As Christians we need the communion of the saints.
C Instead of separating from the church, instead of being a Christian by yourself,
... all people are obliged
to join and unite with it ...
even if civil authorities and royal decrees forbid
and death and physical punishment result.
Everyone has a duty to join and unite with the true church. Church membership is necessary. It is a duty of all men. Therefore, young people, single adults, you should make public profession of faith and join yourself fully to Christ and His body.
In its evangelistic task the church has to stress the necessity of church membership. It is not enough to believe in Jesus. It is also necessary to have fellowship with Christ's body. When people accept the claims of Christ, they also are to accept the claims of Christ's body. To join with Christ means to also join with the church.
Why does Guido De Bres make such a point of this? Why is there so much emphasis on joining the church? In the Netherlands at the time the Confession was written there was a struggle between Protestants and Roman Catholics. In this struggle towns were burned, churches ransacked, ministers and priests executed, nuns raped, and children left to starve. Many people decided the wisest course of policy was to sit on the fence, not to commit themselves to either side. They decided to wait and see which side would win before declaring their allegiance. It is these fence-sitters, these neutralists, that De Bres is urging to join the true visible church. And those who do not join it, they "act contrary to God's ordinance."
Conclusion
Church membership is a serious thing. For to be joined to the church, the true church, indicates you are joined with Christ. And, to withdraw from the church or not to be joined to it, is to cut yourself off from salvation and to close the doors of the kingdom.
Let us join the church and remain in the church, imperfect though she may be
since this holy assembly and congregation
is the gathering of those who are saved
and there is no salvation apart from it.