************ Sermon on Belgic Confession Article 29 ************
Doctrine: True and False Christians
By: Rev. Adrian Dieleman
This sermon was preached on May 23, 1999
B.C. 29(b)
Romans 6
"Marks of the True Christian" I The Marks of the True Church
A In articles 27-29 the Confession of Faith tells us we have a duty to join the true church. With all the denominations and independent churches that exist in today's world, how can we tell which church is a true one and how can we tell which is a false one?
Article 29 tells us that to find the true church we have to look at 3 things: preaching, discipline, and sacraments. We need to look for the pure preaching of the gospel both within and without the 4 walls of the church building, the right administration of the sacraments, and the faithful exercise of church discipline. These marks are just as important today as they were at the time of the Reformation. But these are but formal and outward signs of the true church and do not tell the full story. A couple of years ago while on vacation my family and I worshiped with a congregation belonging to another denomination. I looked through the hymn book and found beautiful confessions and standards of faith. This was a church that outwardly and formally was a true church. It quickly became evident, however, that these marks were but a sign of dead orthodoxy; it was nothing but cold doctrine that the members no longer believed nor lived out. In other words, it is possible for a church to have the marks of a true church without being a true church.
B Article 29 tells us that in our search for the true church we must look not only at the formal and outward signs of the institution; we must also look at the lives of individual members. Here we take sharp issue with Roman Catholic Church which says the marks of the church apply to the priests and ordinances they must live by. In contrast to this, we know that the church is more than the minister, she is more than the church order, she is more than the sacraments. Therefore, her marks must extend – beyond the institution, beyond the clergy, beyond the creeds and confessions – to the lives of the individual believers.
Topic: Christian Calling
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Title: A Professor Who Acts Like A Pagan
According to United Press International in a November 1991 report, a 9-year-old girl was raised by barnyard pigs in the Chinese province of Liaoning. The girl had been suckled and raised from infancy by a peasant family's pigs because her disabled parents could not care for her.
Like a Chinese version of "Believe It or Not," the report indicated that the severely deprived child is now being taught to abandon pig-like behavior in favor of acting human. Her counselors say that the child had learned to crawl like a pig and imitate other piggish actions. She displayed fluctuating emotions and tended to want to live in solitude.
We will find out this evening that there is something worse than a 9-year-old child who behaves like a pig. It is a church member who doesn't act like Christ.
When we look for a true church, then, we must also look at the people within her. We must ask: Do they show real faith? Avoid sin? Love God and neighbor? Stay single-minded? Crucify their old nature? You see, congregation, true churches are filled with true Christians. True churches have members who live out the Gospel. True churches are not places of dead doctrine but of living, loving members. In a true church the lives of individual members reflect the riches of the Gospel.
Many people quote what Article 29 of the Belgic Confession of Faith says about the formal marks of a true church: preaching, sacraments, and discipline. In a lesser known section, Article 29 speaks to us this evening of the marks of true Christian believers.
Permit me to sum up this evening's message in one short statement: in true churches there are true Christians.
II The Marks of the True Christian
A The first and chief characteristic of the true Christian is faith. In my visiting and calling throughout Visalia I have noticed that a lot of people claim faith, even those who never go to church. And every church member, even those whose lives are nothing but lies, also claim to believe. Churches can deceive themselves into thinking they are true churches of Christ when they are not; likewise, church members can deceive themselves and others into thinking they are true Christian believers when they are not. What we should say, then, is that the first and chief characteristic of the true Christian is a true faith, a real faith, a genuine faith.
True Christians are characterized by a genuine faith. A good synonym for the word genuine is the word sincere. If you look in a dictionary that lists word origins, you'll find that it comes from two Latin terms - sine and cere, meaning "without wax."
Years ago, a potter would often put his seal, or stamp, upon a completed vessel with the words sine cere. This meant that to his knowledge there was no flaw in that work. If a potter did crack a vessel, he would carefully patch that flawed vase or bowl by filling in the crack with wax. Then he would glaze it over. But it did not merit the stamp sine cere, "without wax," because it was not a flawless piece of pottery.
True Christians have a sincere "sine cere" faith. Those without this kind of faith have no right to claim for themselves membership in the church of Christ.
True churches have true Christians. True Christians have true faith. And true faith, says the Confession, receives "the one and only Savior, Jesus Christ."
When John Paton was translating the Bible for a South Seas island tribe, he discovered that they had no word for trust or faith. One day a native who had been running hard came into the missionary's house, flopped himself in a large chair and said, "It's good to rest my whole weight on this chair." "That's it," said Paton. "I'll translate faith as 'resting one's whole weight on God.'"
True Christians with true faith rest on God, lean on Christ, and look to Him alone for grace and salvation.
Now, the Reformed churches have never been satisfied with a mere claim to believe in Jesus. For, as I said earlier, many people claim to believe who have no right to make that claim. In order that men and women may make the good confession, the Reformed churches have always insisted that they first be instructed in the facts and mysteries of the Christian faith. In insisting on this we are but following the final command of Christ before He left this earth:
(Mt 28:18-20) Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. (19) Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, (20) and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
Notice, the Lord Himself wants His people to be taught so that they can be sincere "sine cere" disciples. To this end the Reformed family of churches puts much emphasis on Church School, Catechism, Adult Sunday School, and Bible Study. We want people to make a sincere and knowledgeable confession of belief in Christ.
True churches have true Christians. And true Christians have true faith.
B There is a second mark of true believers. They not only have true faith but they also "flee from sin ... pursue righteousness ... and crucify the flesh and its works." Paul talks about this in Romans 6. We have been joined to Christ in His death and been raised with Him to new life. Therefore, we avoid sin and pursue righteousness. Whenever I hear that phrase "flee from sin," I cannot help but think of Joseph in Potiphar's house. Potiphar's lovely but bored wife decided that Joseph in bed was the cure for her lonely existence. When Joseph was cornered by the woman he made a decision to "flee from sin." He ran from the house in his underwear rather than "sin against God" (Gen:9).
A true Christian, like Joseph, wants to flee from sin, pursue righteousness, and crucify the flesh and its works because he or she knows that all sin is sin against God. Joseph said, "How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?" (Genesis 39:9). Sin is a great offense against God. Not only that, but those "in sin" are those in bondage. For sin will take you further than you want to go; sin will keep you longer than you want to stay; and sin will cost you more than you want to pay.
When it comes to sin within the church there is more at stake then just your and my salvation and freedom. Someone said once,
"The best argument for Christianity is Christians – their joy, their certainty, their completeness. But the strongest argument against Christianity is also Christians – when they're self-righteous and smug, when they're narrow and repressive, when they're hypocritical and fake, then Christianity dies a thousand deaths."
Christians who live lives of sin do damage to the cause of Christ and keep others from turning to Him.
True Christians always flee from sin, pursue righteousness, and crucify the flesh and its works.
Topic: Sin
Subtopic: Despised by Saints
Index: 3343
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When the great Chrysostom was arrested, the Roman emperor sought to make the Greek Christian deny his faith. But the emperor was unsuccessful. So the emperor discussed with his advisors what they could do to this prisoner.
"Shall I put him in a dungeon?" the emperor asked. "No," one of his counselors replied, "For he'll be glad to go. He longs for the quietness where he can delight in the mercies of his God."
"Then he shall be executed!" said the emperor. "No," came the answer, "For he'll be glad to die. He declares that in the event of death, he will be in the presence of the Lord."
"Well, what shall we do then?" the ruler asked. The counselor replied, "There's only one thing that will cause him pain. Make him sin. He's afraid of nothing but sin."
You and I should be this way. As true Christian believers we should be scared of sin.
True churches have true Christians. And true Christians flee from sin, pursue righteousness, and crucify the flesh and its works.
C There is also a third mark of true Christian believers. "They love the true God and their neighbors." Love, people of God, is so very important. It is what the Lord demands of us, of the church, during the time between His ascension and return:
(Jn 13:33-34) "My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come. (34) "A new command I give you: Love one another.
There is a church that is known for its deeds, its hard work, its perseverance in the faith. It doesn't tolerate wickedness. It has endured hardship. It does not grow weary in defending the faith. This church is orthodox, adhering faithfully to the historic Creeds and Confessions. It defends the faith of the fathers and admonishes those churches and individuals who are slipping from the truth. Sounds like the perfect church, doesn't it? Yet, this church fell short, way short! She was a church without love. "Repent," says the Lord to the church, "or I will destroy you." You can read about this church in Revelation 2. It is the church in Ephesus.
Love is one of the characteristics that Jesus commands of His church during the time between His ascension and His return. In fact, it is easily the most important characteristic. Faith, prophecy, knowledge, wisdom, understanding, they all mean nothing apart from love (1 Cor 13:1-3). A theology second to none, the most carefully crafted Creeds and Confessions, the most beautiful sermons, they too mean nothing apart from love.
Love is one of the ways of identifying the followers and disciples of Christ. "All men will know that you are my disciples if you love one another" (Jn 13:35). And an absence of love? It can mean only one thing: that we are not followers and disciples of Christ.
Love, my brothers and sisters, is so very important, so vitally important, in the life of the church. It comes even before the true preaching of the Word, the right administration of the sacraments, and the faithful exercise of discipline.
Topic: Brotherly Love
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Index: 2200-2202
Date: 7/1986.4
Title: Most Precious Possession
An incident is told about two soldiers who had recently been released from a prison camp in Siberia following World War II. "We did our best," said an officer, "to repatriate the men as fast as possible, but many were still there when winter threatened to close up the port." Only a limited number could board the last small boat. Among those waiting to be transported were two who had been chums all through the war. One of them was selected, but the other seemed doomed to remain behind. An order was given that those who were leaving could take only one important item of luggage. The heart of the man who was chosen went out to his buddy, so he emptied his dufflebag of its prized souvenirs and his personal belongings and told his companion to get into the canvas sack. Then carefully lifting the bag on his shoulders, he boarded the ship with his friend as his single, most precious possession.
This man showed true love.
Did you know, it is also love that draws people into the church? A recent study shows that churches that are growing are churches filled with love.
D True churches have true Christians. And true Christians have true faith, they flee sin, and they are full of love.
True churches have true Christians. However, this does NOT mean that true churches have pure Christians. No church is completely pure; likewise, no Christian is completely pure either. Says the Confession in a statement that keeps us from the sin of pride and the error of perfectionism: "great weakness remains in them." Nevertheless,
they fight against it
by the Spirit
all the days of their lives,
appealing constantly
to the blood, suffering, death, and obedience of the Lord Jesus ...
In this life even the holiest of persons make only a small beginning in living up to what the Lord expects of them.