************ Sermon on Belgic Confession Article 28 ************
Doctrine: Responsibilities of Church Membership
By: Rev. Adrian Dieleman
This sermon was preached on January 24, 1999
B.C. 28(b)
Romans 12
"The Responsibilities of Church Members"
Introduction
I was looking through my files and came across the following want ad this past week:
Topic: Service
Subtopic: Spiritual
Index: 3894-3899
Date: 9/1987.8
Title: God's Want Ad
Workers needed immediately. Urgency of task and shortage of workers makes it mandatory that we expand our labor pool immediately. Recent resignations have left many openings.
Frequent absenteeism will force us to make unwanted cutbacks in services unless we expand work force immediately. Ability not as essential as availability. Our excellent training manual has been tried and proven over the past two thousands years.
We hire regardless of sex, race or age. Diverse backgrounds welcome and even helpful. We will take on anyone ...
Qualifications: a soft heart, a thick skin, and a belief in what you are doing.
This work is not suitable for everyone. Must be able to withstand criticism of fellow workers and shirkers who often insist on their rights while ignoring their responsibilities.
Lousy hours, no pay, excellent retirement plan.
How many of you would respond to an ad like this? How many of you would think, "At last, the job of my dreams?" Yet, if God would write a want ad for His church and kingdom this is what it would sound like.
Last time, in looking at Article 28, we said that everyone is duty bound to join and unite themselves with the true church. This time we look at the obligations and duties of church membership.
I Keeping the Unity of the Church
A I remember the time I had the privilege of leading worship in my home church of Aylmer, Ontario. In front of me that Sunday morning was a hurting congregation of believers – without a pastor, badly divided, tired, depressed, seemingly without any spirit or joy anymore; the week before, 28 families withdrew their membership and started their version of the true church. It's the same way in the communities surrounding the last two congregation I have served – hurting congregations that have been robbed of all joy and vitality, ordinary Christians overwhelmed by the fights and quarrels, loving people who have a hard time singing "I Love Your Church, O Lord"; there too families and entire congregations have been leaving and will be leaving.
Part of the blame has to be placed on a Synod which made a decision the majority of CRC members seem neither to agree with nor are ready for – the decision to allow women into all the offices of the church. Part of the blame has to be placed on a vocal minority which is never satisfied and now wants us to call God "mother" and to dance in the aisles. And part of the blame also has to be placed on the so-called "concerned members of the CRC" who aren't satisfied until they have turned back the clock – back to 1950 in terms of liturgy, hymn book, Bible translation, and Church Order. And when they don't get what they want, many of these leave.
Topic: Church
Subtopic: Bride of Christ
Index: 737
Date: 1/1990.8
Title:
In her book The Key to a Loving Heart, Karen Mains includes a parable about the church titled "The Brawling Bride". It tells about the most climactic moment in a wedding ceremony. The families have been seated. The groom and his attendants are in their places. The minister is waiting, Bible in hand. The bridesmaids have come down the aisle. The organ begins the bridal march, and everyone rises. A gasp bursts from the guests. The bride is limping. Her gown is ripped and covered with mud. One eye is purple and swollen. Her hair is mussed. In the parable, the groom is Christ. "Doesn't He deserve better than this?" the author asks. His bride, the church has been fighting again.
Ridiculous? Not when we hear of churches with factions that sit on opposite sides of the aisle. Not when one part of the congregation meets upstairs at the same time the rest meet in the basement. Not when we hear what is going on in the CRC today.
B According to the Confession of Faith our first duty as church members is to maintain or keep the unity of the church. Notice, it isn't our job to unify the church, to make her one; that is something Christ has already done.
(Rom 12:5) so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.
As church members we are called to maintain or keep the unity that Christ has given to the church. We are to preserve the oneness that Christ has given to His body.
C1 How are we to keep the unity of the church? The most obvious answer is that we are not to have church fights, quarrels, and schisms. I think of what Paul says in our Scripture reading:
(Rom 12:16,18) Live in harmony with one another ... (18) If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.
Christians maintain the unity of the church by living up to these Spirit-inspired words of Paul.
Does this mean that all church schisms and fights are wrong? What about Martin Luther and the Reformation? Did you know it was never Luther's intention to start another church? It was his goal to reform the Roman Catholic Church from within. In fact, he never started his own brand of Christianity until he was forcibly removed from the church he grew up in. And notice too the issues that Luther faced, issues that laid right at the center of the Gospel: Christ alone, faith alone, the Bible alone, grace alone.
We can all learn from Luther here. It should never be our intention to separate from the church in order to start a new one. By God's grace and strength our goal, like Luther's, should always be to reform the church from within. And, when separation does become inevitable, it should be over questions that hit right at the center of the faith. We should never separate over an issue like women in church office; an issue which, in comparison to salvation by grace through faith, is rather minor.
Many of those in Chino, Ontario, and elsewhere who recently separated from the Christian Reformed Church say it is their duty to leave. They point to the third paragraph of Article 28:
And to preserve this unity more effectively,
it is the duty of all believers,
according to God's Word,
to separate themselves
from those who do not belong to the church,
in order to join this assembly ...
"We separate from the Christian Reformed Church," they say, "because she is no longer the church."
I personally don't agree with Synod's decisions about women in church office. I don't like the way Synod or Calvin has handled the views of Professor Howard Van Til or Professor Hessel Bouma. Yet I am not prepared to say that the CRC is no longer the church, that she is apostate, that she is false, and that therefore I must separate from her.
2 How are we to keep the unity of the church? We maintain the unity of the church by accepting and treating each other as brothers and sisters in the Lord. The Apostle says:
(Rom 12:9-15) Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. (10) Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves ... (13) Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality ...(15) Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn ... (Rom 13:8) Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law.
I believe Trinity does a superb job of doing this: visitors and new members are warmly welcomed and invited into homes and circles of friends and family; those who are hurting and sick receive lots of attention and love. By acting in this way you are keeping the unity of the church.
3 How are we to keep the unity of the church? Imagine a church in which each member was allowed to do and to believe what was right in his or her own eyes. She would be badly divided on basic questions and standards. To maintain the unity of the church none of us can believe what we want. Nor can ministers preach whatever they want. Nor can any of us live however we want. The Confession says,
keeping the unity of the church
by submitting to its instruction and discipline
None of us are free to live how we want or to believe what we want.
4 How are we to keep the unity of the church? The Confession also talks about obedience to Christ:
keeping the unity of the church ...
by bending their necks under the yoke of Jesus Christ.
To understand this we must understand something of the nature of the church. The church is seen in Scripture as a body. All bodies have a head or else they are not alive and cannot possibly function. The head or king of the church is Christ. The apostle says,
(Col 1:18) And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.
As head of the church, Christ gives her much instruction on how He wants her to live. Jesus calls us to holy living; He tells us to evangelize to the ends of the earth; He commands us to pray; He preaches repentance; He urges faith and obedience; He wants us to be soldiers of the cross. And, He has a whole list of demands in our Scripture reading from Romans 12
When members of a church joyfully and willingly submit to this yoke of Christ, they maintain the unity of the body, for they are all working towards the same ends and share the same goals.
5 How are we to keep the unity of the church? We hear the Confession also talking about our service to and of each other:
keeping the unity of the church ...
by serving to build up one another,
according to the gifts God has given them
as members of each other
in the same body.
Undoubtedly Guido de Bres has in mind here the words of the Apostle in our Scripture reading:
(Rom 12:6-8) We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. (7) If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; (8) if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.
Every Christian is gifted. At the time of conversion each one has been given 3, 4, 5, or even more spiritual gifts to use for the benefit of all the other members.
Topic: Service
Subtopic: Spiritual
Index: 3894-3899
Date: 1/1988.4
Title: Pulling Together
Back in 1957 the First Brethren Church of Sarasota, Florida had a ground breaking service. Instead of the usual shovels for special people to use in digging, they brought an old one horse plow. Recalling the words of Jesus, "Take my yoke upon you," they borrowed an old yoke and two stalwart laymen were hitched up. But the two were unable to pull the plow. Then the entire Building Committee of the congregation were put on the rope, but even then the plow did not move. Other church officers were added, and the Sunday school officers and teachers, but still the plow did not move. Finally every member of the congregation who was present each took a hold of the rope. With every member pulling together, the plow moved, the ground was broken.
Too many churches expect the preacher or a few officials to do the work and pull the entire load to keep the church going. If we want to see progress and unity we must all work together.
D Why is it so important to maintain the unity that Christ has given to the church? Because the enemies of the church, especially Satan, take advantage of a divided church. You know the old saying: "United we stand, divided we fall." When we are divided Satan finds it so much easier to attack and defeat us.
Topic: Unity
Subtopic: Battle with Satan
Index:
Date: 2/1992.101
Title:
In the battle for Stalingrad during World War II the Russian commanders ordered their soldier not to give up any more ground. Any soldier who fled from the Germans was shot on the spot. The Russian commanders knew that if even a couple of soldiers fled their post the Germans would have an opening through which they could pour into the city.
When the church remains united she presents a solid wall to the enemy – a wall that is hard to breach.
II Separation
A What is our duty as church members? The Confession mentions not only unity – keeping the unity – but it also mentions separation:
And to preserve this unity more effectively,
it is the duty of all believers,
according to God's Word,
to separate themselves
from those who do not belong to the church,
in order to join this assembly ...
In our Scripture reading the Apostle says the same thing, albeit in different words:
(Rom 12:2) Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed ...
The Bible gives us numerous examples of people who refused to compromise to the ways of the world. I think of Joseph who fled from Potiphar's wife when she approached him with her sexual charms. I think of Daniel and his 3 friends who refused to drink the king's wine and eat his food. Christians are to be in the world but not of the world. Christians are to be a light on a hill, the salt of the earth. Christians are to be separate and different.
Christ wants a church with walls. Jesus wants a fence put between us and the world. Yes, there are to be gates and doors in that wall – how else, then, could we witness to the lost and invite them in. But the point is, Jesus wants us to be different. He wants us to be holy and righteous. He wants us to be separate and apart from unbelievers.
When everyone bends the knee or raises the glass, it is hard, terribly hard, to be separate and different. It is easy, far easier, to go along with the crowd and to do what everyone else does.
Other Topic/Subtopic/Index:
Evildoers/1161-1162
Topic: Worldliness
Subtopic: Conformity to the World
Index: 3916
Date: 1/1988.7
Title:
Once a spider built a beautiful web in an old house. He kept it clean and shiny so that flies would patronize it. The minute he got a customer he would clean up on him so the other flies would not get suspicious.
Then one day this fairly intelligent fly came buzzing by the clean spider web. Old man spider called out, "Come in and sit." But the fairly intelligent fly said, "No, sir. I don't see other flies in your house, and I am not going in alone!"
But presently he saw on the floor below a large crowd of flies dancing around on a piece of brown paper. He was delighted! He was not afraid if lots of flies were doing it. So he came in for a landing.
Just before he landed, a bee zoomed by, saying, "Don't land there, dummy! That's flypaper!" But the fairly intelligent fly shouted back, "Don't be silly. Those flies are dancing. There's a big crowd there. Everybody`s doing it. That many flies can't be wrong!" Well, you know what happened. He died on the spot.
Some of us want to be with the crowd so badly that we end up in a mess. What does it profit a fly (or a person) if he escapes the web only to end up on the glue? (The Log, Published by the Navigators)
Just because everyone is doing it is not a reason for us to do it. "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world." "It is the duty of all believers, according to God's Word, to separate themselves from those who do not belong to the church."
B Are we separate from the world today? I know the line between us and the world used to be drawn far more clearly than it is today. At times I wonder and even worry about our separateness today.
Take the matter of Sunday observance. Are we all that separate from the world today when church members have no problems doing the same thing on Sunday that their unbelieving neighbors do? Are we all that separate when church members, purely for the sake of money and profit, work on Sunday? Are we all that separate when church members don't bother with worship when on vacation? Are we all that separate when we have no problems with eating out on Sunday?
Take the matter of our celebrations: anniversaries, weddings, birthdays. Are we all that separate when we consume an excess of alcohol? Are we all that separate when Christian men and women dance with someone other than their marriage partner? Are we all that separate when the music we dance to is hedonistic trash?
Take the matter of our entertainment. Are we all that separate when we and our children watch the same garbage on TV that our unbelieving neighbor does? Are we all that separate when we rent the same movies for our VCR that the unbeliever does? Are we all that separate when we go to bars to meet people and have fun?
Take the matter of dating and marriage partners. Are we all that separate when we or our sons and daughters date or even marry those who do not belong to the Lord?
Perhaps this is not true for Trinity but recently a policeman told a group of ministers that many of the cars that cruise the streets until 2 or 3 on Friday or Saturday nights are found in our parking lots on Sunday morning. "Your kids are no different than any of the others," he said. I hope he was wrong. Our youth are covenant youth. They have received the mark of God on their forehead at baptism. At that time they have been clearly distinguished from the children of unbelievers.
The point should be clear by now: church membership means we are to clearly separate ourselves from the world and the ways of the world.
Conclusion
What a joy it is to be a member of Christ's body, the church. What a joy it is to be part of the
... holy congregation and gathering
of true Christian believers,
awaiting their entire salvation in Jesus Christ,
being washed by his blood,
and sanctified and sealed by the Holy Spirit.
(Art 27)