Christmas: Something Different and Same

Our Christmas Eve Service this year is called “Lessons and Carols”.  It is a simple worship service that focuses on the whole story of redemption from various readings from the Bible.  As each passage or lesson of Scripture is read by an elder, the congregation will respond with singing a carol.   The focus of the worship will be upon the Lord of glory who came into this world to redeem us, explained through the Word of God.  This year, the simplicity of worship, where we hear God’s word and reflect on its meaning and respond with singing is a change from the candle-light service.    From time to time, our traditions, even with the best of intentions, obscure the truth rather than display it.    We can go through the motions and still miss the meaning.   Our great desire here at First Presbyterian is to exalt the glory of Christ’s gospel.  From the architecture, to the prayers and the music, our worship is designed around the hearing of God’s Word.   This is the one thing that never changes with time and seasons: the Word of God which is also ever breaking forth in newness.    Over the years, my celebrations of Christmas have changed, from snow covered trees and rooftops on Christmas morning, and visiting grandparents in their Kansas’ farm homes.   Every year, in fact, something will change because life is never constant.   Sometimes we forget that the changes are all part of God’s design and purpose in our lives.   We are to remember that in the midst of our unpredictable lives, there is truth that remains the same.  This is the truth that God has loved us and sent His Son into our world to take upon himself our sin so that we might have all the riches of His grace and true joy in a great salvation.   

Gospel Struggles (sermon excerpt Dec. 16, 2012

Romans 7:15 (ESV) 

    I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 

My life does not measure up with my belief.   There is a gap between what I believe about my position as a new creation in Christ and the constant urgings of the old nature of sin.  

But, there is now an awareness of the new desires to please God and to obey.   This was not a part of the old nature.   Before Christ, one is content to follow the desires of the flesh.   There was no conflict of heart – no psychological tension – no cognitive dissonance.     But now, as Paul describes it, there is this struggle between desire and performance -  “I don’t understand my actions – my behavior. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.” 

The life of living out the truth of the Gospel is one filled with tensions.   It is a struggle, not with the truth of the Gospel message or its reliability and trustworthiness, but with the inbetween stage of now and not yet.   We live in the world, but not of it.  The stench of death is still all around us, even though we have been restored to new life (If we are in Christ).  Just as Lazarus was walking out of the tomb by the power of Christ’s call, he had the smell of death in the grave clothes that bound him.    Christian living in the power of the Gospel does not translate us into angels.   We are as Luther described it, “Sinners at the same time Justified.”  Again, chapter 7 is not the description of an unbeliever – someone in an unregenerate state.   It is also not a description of a “carnal” or pre-Pentecost believer.

It is true that the Holy Spirit is only mentioned once in this chapter(vs. 6) -  law is mentioned over 30 times.  In ch. 8, the Spirit is mentioned 21 times. What he explains later in is not two types of believers, but the one believer who moment by moment, day by day must rely upon the Spirit, or he will return to the old ways of relying on the law.  Therefore, there are not two types of believers – a carnal believer and then one who is has the Spirit.    For one, this is no doubt someone who is regenerate.  All believers have the Holy Spirit.   “If you do not have the Spirit, you do not belong to him.” 

The struggle is the believer who is using the law to please God, even as a Christian.   It is the description of the in-between struggle of our heart that has been liberated and the flesh that remains bound in the old nature.   We have a new heart and new desires – but not the liberty or power to live holy in ourselves.  This is why chapter 8 becomes so crucial.  (first point of sermon)

The Need for Creeds

This is a good follow up from Sunday's sermon on how the Gospel is tied to doctrine and you cannot have Gospel without a confessional basis which supports sound doctrine.  See Rom. 6:17 where Paul says that believers have "obeyed from the heart the form (or body) of teaching (doctrine) which you were committed." 

Along the same line, Carl Trueman has written a book called, "The Creedal Imperative" and I've included a review of the book by Fred Sanders of Biola.  The review is from Christianity Today, which I hope will spread the word throughout the evangelical world. This is so timely and sorely needed! 

Our church has a need for a creed. In The Creedal Imperative (Crossway), Westminster Theological Seminary's Carl R. Trueman presses the case that "creeds and confessions are vital to the present and future well-being of the church."

It's not just that a creed (a public, established statement of a church's most important beliefs) is a useful tool for teaching doctrine, holding leaders accountable, defining the boundaries of church membership or cooperation among churches, and telling the world what a church stands for. Creeds do all that. But this book is not about the handy helpfulness of creeds; it's about the creedal imperative. A church that obeys the Bible should follow the injunction of the apostle Paul's pastoral epistles to Timothy, and resolve to guard "a form of sound words transmitted by eldership … ensuring good management of the household of God."

Trueman builds up this biblical case for creeds, layers over it the historical case from both the patristic church and confessional Protestantism, and puts the burden of proof on what he calls the "'No Creed but the Bible!' brigade." Given this biblical and historical trajectory of churches using creeds, "the question is not so much 'Should we use them?' as 'Why would we not use them?'"

Trueman acknowledges that there is a case to be made against creedalism, but he thinks that case is spurious because it is entirely cultural: The spirit of our age ignores history, distrusts institutions, values emotions more than words, and hankers after novelty. For moderns, the loftiest goal is to be authentic, to speak spontaneously from the heart, giving voice to unique insights from our own points of view. For this mindset, the idea of reciting a set of ancient words in public agreement with a group is, if the word be allowed, anathema.

As a result, anti-creedal evangelicalism is, ironically, "not countercultural, but culturally enslaved." Trueman is passionate and eloquent about how creeds enable churches to dig in their heels and stand with the great tradition, pushing against the modern temperament.

One of Trueman's most deft arguments is that every Christian and every church already has a creed in the sense that they all "think the Bible means something and that its teaching can be summarized" in different words.

He continues, "The only difference is whether one writes the confession down, so that others may scrutinize it and judge whether its teaching is consistent with Scripture, or whether one refuses to do so, in which case one's beliefs are essentially identified with the teaching of Scripture and placed above such scrutiny."

It is the anti-creedalist, in other words, who trumps the Bible with an unassailable (because unstated) tradition.

Ironies like this are delicious to the already persuaded, but they are unlikely to change minds. Trueman almost always avoids what he calls the "rather distasteful, not to mention sinful, tendency among many confessional writers to look down with scorn and derision on those who are not confessional." But he does lecture from a rather high seat, and at times he makes it clear that all God's ways tend toward a good Presbyterian church.

But what about evangelicals not already convinced by confessionalism? Perhaps, for them, the most helpful parts of The Creedal Imperative will be the section on the biblical foundations of creedalism and the delightful chapter on "confession as praise." Trueman's fine book may actually give them a glimpse of the high helpfulness, if not the necessity, of creeds.

Fred Sanders is associate professor of theology at Biola University's Torrey Honors Institute, and the author of The Deep Things of God: How the Trinity Changes Everything (Crossway).

Thanksgiving Day

A Puritan Holiday

On August 5th, 1620, two ships carrying puritan families, the Mayflower and the Speedwell set sail from Southampton, England, for the new world.  Most of the passengers on the Mayflower were a single congregation that left Nottingham in 1607 for Holland fleeing the imposition of English Prayer Book by Elizabeth. 

Yet after they set sail, the Speedwell began to leak and the ships were forced to stop in Dartmouth, England. On August 21st, they left again, only to be forced to return home for England, this time to Plymouth. The Speedwell was considered not sea worthy and the hopes of those on board were dashed.  Some managed to squeeze into the Mayflower so that it was carrying 102 souls. On September 6th, the Mayflower launched from Plymouth, this time alone.

Crossing the Atlantic two and a half months, enduring bad weather, sickness and hunger, they landed on Cape Cod, November 21st.  Eventually they moved inland for a more secure settlement in what is now Plymouth, Massachusetts, on December 21st.

Enduring many hardships, seeking to find a place where they could not only worship as the Bible prescribed, they desired to establish a Christian commonwealth where the Gospel could go out to the nations.  William Bradford, the congregation’s pastor and first governor of the colony wrote:  “They saw themselves as “stepping stones unto others…laying some good foundation, or at least to make some way therunto, for the propagating & advancing the gospel of the kingdom of Christ in those remote parts of the world.”

 A year later, with the help of local Native Americans, to whom they had shared the gospel, the Pilgrims celebrated a good harvest with the first Thanksgiving.  They maintained the puritan conviction that God in his good providence had provided for them, even though the first winter over half of them died.   In the midst of hardship and in the pursuit of godly aims, the first Thanksgiving was a feast of grateful hearts for the blessings of God.  Of course, most Americans have forgotten this heritage.   May you and your family recapture this sort of worship and gratitude that is rooted in God’s provisions even when things are hard and difficult, but persevere in the godly pursuit of Christ’s kingdom in the midst of this world.     

Psalm 79:13 (ESV) 

    But we your people, the sheep of your pasture, will give thanks to you forever; from generation to generation we will recount your praise.

Front Almost Done

This was the front of the Church back in August as we were getting close to the finish line. All the construction took about 6 months.  We had our first service back in the new sanctuary on Sunday, Sept. 3rd, 2012.  We have now being worshipping in the new space for almost three months.  It still feels and smells so new and fresh and so different.   We have since put lettering on the front of the building - First Presbyterian Church PCA.   Soon a new sign will be put up.  May the Lord be glorified in this place!

“Breaking the Cycle”

Psalm 78:1-8 (ESV) 

   (a transcript of sermon, so not grammatically correct for writing purposes)TDB preached on Nov. 4, 2012

[4] We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation

1.      Passing on the Faith Requires us to remember the Gospel.

2.      Passing on the Faith to the Next Generation is Keeps us Future Minded.

3.      Passing on the Faith Breaks the Cycle of Bondage to the Past.

We are a church that stresses the use of the catechism for teaching the Faith.  In fact, it was the practice of years past, to use the catechism for evangelism – teaching the Gospel (content of the Faith) to children and new believers (seekers learning) so they could then fully participate in the worship and life of the Christian fellowship – Body of Christ.  

Today, many have turned around the this process, so that now we use worship to evangelize (entertain the seekers) and then we teach the saints.   This psalm is a reminder to us the way to go back to the biblical model of teaching as a means of evangelism.   One that begins first in the home, but is also the mandate of the Church to make sure the Gospel is passed on to the next Generation. 

The word “catechism” means to “sound down” – it is the sounding out, by questions and answers what one believes about God and our salvation.  

In the 17^th century, English Puritan pastors, concerned about the biblical illiteracy in the nation – and ignorance of Christian truth, began writing their own catechisms,  so that dozens of catechisms, being published and circulated.  

There is a new interest in catechisms today.  I hope it is not a fad, that will disappear soon. But, the beginning of a new revival of true faith in our churches.   This Psalm is a call for us today to see the value of the past,  our need to be mindful of the future and the great means of breaking the cycle of unfaithfulness that we see in homes.  

     [2] I will open my mouth in a parable;

        I will utter dark sayings from of old,  [3] things that we have heard and known,

        that our fathers have told us.  [4] We will not hide them from their children,

        but tell to the coming generation

Things we have both heard and known – things that our fathers have told us. 

We see this pattern given to the covenant with Abraham –

Genesis 18:17-19 (ESV) 

    The Lord said, "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, [18] seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? [19] For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised him."

The promises of God’s love – a covenant to generations – is where the blessings of Abraham are passed down to future generations and the nations will be blessed by it.    We see here that teaching the faith and world evangelism were tied together from the beginning.  

Jesus said, “make disciples of the nations , teaching them…  (Matthew 28:18)

The Psalmist speaks of telling the future generations the “dark sayings from of old” -  this is a word of mystery – that is not a mystery that is a deep dark secret – to keep under wraps. – but the mystery of the Gospel – revealed by God.

1 Tim. 3:16 (ESV)   Paul speaks about the Mystery of the Gospel  - as the confession of the church looking at the person and work of Jesus Christ -

    Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness:

    He was manifested in the flesh,

        vindicated by the Spirit,

             seen by angels,

     proclaimed among the nations,

        believed on in the world,

            taken up in glory.

 Only a Gospel of Free Grace – that we have been chosen and adopted as God’s children – can be believed and received as it is taught and passed down from our fathers.  

There must be a content to our faith in order to pass it on.   We tend to think that faith is something that will just appear.  The old liberal notion of faith is that it is a feeling.   But, the theology of that kind has seeped into our songs -  Remember the camp song – “It only takes a spark to get a fire going”  -  God’s love is like a fire, just warming us up , so we pass it on.    Well, it is a good song, but the idea is that faith is just a warm feeling.  

Wesley found Christ, after attending seminary, and work as a missionary – “my heart was strangely warmed.” -  but the warmth was based on his understanding that he was justified freely by grace in the work of Christ.”  Today people talk about the feelings of faith, but the content of faith is rather nebulous. 

If you don’t know the faith -  who is Christ, what he has done – the core of the Gospel, you will have nothing to pass on.  

When Moses was nearing his death his great concern was about the next coming generation.  Read in Deut. 6 – what he is telling Israel -  the generation of the Exodus was not obedient.  They were hard hearted and rebellious.   But, Moses was still hopeful about the promises of God.   Just because they had unfaithful fathers, did not mean that God was an unfaithful father.   The Grace of Adoption – the fact that Israel was chosen was not something that was going to change.  

Twice in Deut 6 – he repeats the charge to “teach them to your children” -   The teaching was both formal and informal.  That is, both sitting down and then walking.   Faith has to be taught and lived out in the home and this of course is reinforced in the Church.    We must not just be orthodox in our doctrine – I am glad we are.  We have to be orthodox (right thinking-rule) in our daily lives.  

This command to teach the next generation is also found in chapter 11 in Duet. 

Deut. 11:19 (ESV) 

    You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 

I think of this passage often as we baptize our covenant children and as we minister to young couples.  Many of them end up moving away. But, we have the responsibility to lay down a good foundation.  

This is not however a call for just parents.   Most churches are made up of about 50 percent single people.  There is a tendency in our family churches to think that ministry and teaching is just for families with children.   The Bible does not separate home life and church life.   We are God’s family.   Some people in God’s family are married, some are not.  Some have children, some not.  Some have different size families.    But, we are to see ourselves as God’s children by adoption and God is our Father.    There is a great need to see the responsibility of passing on the faith to the next generation as a collective responsibility.    This is what we reflect when we promise as a church to raise our baptized children in the Faith.  

I am very thankful that our SS material is faithful to God’s word and reinforces our WA catechism.    I have no worry that what I teach my children at home is reinforced in SS and in our church’s teaching.  

In fact, this is what must happen.   If our children are only taught at home – it can lead to an imbalance in their minds.   They will be cut off from the history of the Church’s teaching role.   They need spiritual fathers and mothers who are wise in the faith and can support and reinforce what they get at home.  

What we see today, is a weak emphasis on SS – even those who say it is past and over.   Teaching in the church is replaced with fellowship.   

We must recover the Church’s role in shaping the hearts and the minds of a new generation.   The millennial generation (20’s) are the most unchurched and secular minded generation ever in America. 

One writer puts it this way - “Young people aren’t walking away from the church, they’re sprinting…Barna Group estimates that 80 percent of those reared in the church will be “disengaged” by the time they are 29 years old.”

That is a shocking statistic.  But, it is tragic, because many in the Church today, are not doing anything to stop the decline into unbelief.  

[5] He established a testimony in Jacob

        and appointed a law in Israel,

    which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children, [6] that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children,

        [7] so that they should set their hope in God

    and not forget the works of God,

        but keep his commandments;

This is a far reaching vision into the future.  It is about generations yet unborn.   Verse 7 gives the purpose of this generational blessing -  so they will set their hope in God.   

We can never guarantee that our children will believe -  it is not a power we have to create faith.   But what we have are promises of God, so that we can create a place where faith can flourish.   

The final verse of this passage, this morning – puts us on track concerning our abilities.  The truth is Israel was a bad role model.  Their fathers were rebellious.   This was not a generation of faithful men and women who were passing the torch.  These were sinners who desired future generations not to endure the mistakes they made.   It is hopeful verse, because it reminds us that the hope of future generations rests not in us, but in the power of God’s grace.   

    [8] and that they should not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation,

    a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God.

It is only the Gospel that breaks the cycle of rebellion.  It is God’s free gift of mercy to generation that sees it’s sin and turns from it and embraces Christ. 

Five Reasons Protestants Become Catholics

The reason young Calvinists are abandoning the principles of Reformation for the structured faith of the Roman Catholic Church are as myriad as the individuals who convert from John Henry Newman (of the 19th century Oxford Movement) to Tom Howard (brother of Elizabeth Eliot).  One cannot judge inner motivations.  One can, however, take an honest look in the mirror and see the problems that are self-generating.   So, with this mirror of looking at ourselves, we may discern certain inherent tendencies, even weaknesses that make this trend more readily comprehensible.  It saves us from all the head scratching that happens when the next book or published announcement of one of our own crossing over to the other side of the line.   This mirror I offer is not a perfect analysis of the problem, it is just one man, with one angle, standing in one place, with one glance at a many faceted reality.  

1.       Most conservative Reformed people are ignorant of history beyond the sixteenth century. The Reformation did not start when a German monk nailed a list of grievances on the door of a church.  The reforming of the Church began in Acts 15, when the first council of the early Church met in Jerusalem to discuss what was essential to the Gospel and the Church’s mission in light of it.   There was after that a rich and diverse history of the Church seeking to reform itself in light of Gospel truth for over 15 centuries.   The Protestant Reformers saw themselves in line with Chrysostom, Augustine, Bernard and a great host of reform minded luminaries against dark forces in every age of the Church.   They never saw themselves as schematics or doctrinal innovators. 

 

2.       Calvinists today tend to focus on the debates of the Reformers and the Puritans without reference to five hundred years of change in Roman Catholicism.   It is just as dangerous to ignore recent theological reflections (for different reasons maybe) as to engage in dialogue between Evangelicals and Catholics today without knowledge of the debates of the Reformation, which led to the historic division of the Council of Trent.   There is a tendency to be short-sighted on either end of the spectrum.  It requires due diligence to be both good historians and contemporarily engaged with living tradition, even though it frustrates the modern obsession with being specialists.  But such engagement requires honest and accurate scholarship.   We should not be historical experts without knowledge of post –Vatican II theological formulations, not should we be naïve (or snobbish) to think that we moderns have outgrown the concerns of our forefathers.  

3.       We view Roman Catholics with a monolithic perspective.  What defines Roman Catholic belief is not easily described like confessional Protestants.   Getting two Catholics to agree is about like trying to get two Calvinists to agree.   Doctrinal unity is not a goal and the summum bonum for Roman Catholics like us Reformed minded believers.   They look to more of a mystical union established in a tradition that is complex and ever growing.  We point to our Confession, and they will say to us, “the Church is much bigger than that.”  In a sense they are right.  Confessions do not define the Church, they express its truth.  The Gospel defines and gives life to the Church, and of course this is where we can help Roman Catholics.  

4.       Ignorance of ancient strands of Catholic spiritual traditions and renewal movements keep Protestants stuck in a myopic mindset about the universal church.   Ignatius was a contemporary of Calvin, fought the Reformers about grace, but also encouraged a system of studying the Bible that laid a foundation of spiritual life in Benedictine circles that inspired great missionary endeavors.   Prior to the Reformation, writers and practitioners of the imitation of Christ stood in contrast to the corrupt morals of the church leaders.    Their body of literature belongs to us as well.   

5.       Protestant soteriology is often stressed to the exclusion of a rich, historically informed ecclesiology.   Calvinists today tend to focus more on salvation than on the means of salvation.  We are functionally more Quaker in this regard than we are Reformed.   We are often more aware of Catholic heresy than our own Protestant heresy that has prospered like a new Gnosticism, looking for salvation in a theory more than in Christ and His Church.  

The Missing Jewell

Jeremiah 6:16 (ESV) 

    Thus says the Lord: "Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls.  But they said, 'We will not walk in it.'

One of our great aims at FPC is to recover our historic distinctive of Reformed belief and practice in our worship and our way of being a church.  This is not a popular road to travel, even among people of our own denomination.  It seems as though we are constantly bombarded with the message that to be relevant to our culture we must move from the past.  But, the Bible reveals the way of faithfulness is not mimicking the culture, but going back to the ancient paths our spiritual ancestors marked out for us.  Our new sanctuary is one example.  Its newness is a recovery of historic Reformed worship where people gather around the preaching of the Word.  This sanctuary has been designed in the shape of a Cross to reflect the centrality of Christ’s work as the means of coming into the presence of God.   The congregation gathers around the raised pulpit to hear the Word of God read and expounded to capture the Reformed priority of the Holy Scriptures in bringing forth faith in those who believe. 

This reality of the centrality of preached Word, has implications in everything we do.  It means more than just one hour of listening to the pastor and then going back to life as usual.  It stands as a call that the whole day, which our Presbyterian forefathers called the Sabbath, was to be spent in holy rest and religious worship, because God rested after six days of creating this world(Gen. 2:3), and as a Gospel rooted  ordinance (Acts 20:7).  In fact, what we see in Acts, is a church more engaged in worship, then what Israel was mandated in the law.  Worship in the reality of Christ’s finished work and resurrected power is the transforming experience of Christian living.   The more I study the Scriptures, the more convinced that this is the missing jewel (to borrow A.W. Tozer’s phrase) in many people’s lives.   People are living under greater stress today; our lives are being pulled apart by discord and unhappiness.  The more we work to find contentment and joy, the less we experience it.  Our children and family life with our middle class affluence are filled with discontent and rebellion.   They see the hypocrisy of our disjointed morality and according to many studies are leaving the faith in masses. 

It may sound overly simplistic, but the core problem of our manifold crisis is our contemporary disregard of the fourth commandment to “honor the Sabbath.”   The whole day was meant to reconnect our lives, our homes to our true identity as God’s people.  Through all day worship, training in the Scriptures, learning the catechism, praying with one another, in godly fellowship and caring ministry, this one day was set apart as a blessing and not a burden.   I am not talking about a legalistic observance, but a Gospel soaked experience of getting us back to where we find God’s grace poured into our lives.  

I will make a challenge for you.   Is your life fraying at the edges?  Do you need more peace and joy?  Then do what God prescribes, by making the whole day, not just one hour, the Lord ’s Day, where He is central in your week.  If you are struggling in some area in your life and are not worshipping weekly, don’t ask first for pastoral counseling, go first to this God designed pattern for wholeness.  This is the missing jewel in your life.  In public worship, God uses the ordinary means of grace to minister to heavy hearts.  In those times you need someone to hear you unburden your heart and to be prayed for (James 5:16), we have prayer/counseling rooms behind the sanctuary, where an elder and the pastor can meet with people following worship, as needed.   It is our hope that coming to church on the Sabbath will become a wellspring of life and blessing to the saints gathered at First Presbyterian Church in Enterprise.  

Eat and Drink

Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, "Take, eat; this is my body."  [27] And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, "Drink of it, all of you,  [28] for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.  Matthew 26:26-28 (ESV) 

…to the end that the one should be eaten, and that all should drink of the other..

What Christ Jesus did, and commanded to be done, is evident by the evangelists, and by Saint Paul. Scots Confession, Ch. 22

Is the modern practice of “intinction” or dipping bread into the cup, as some argue an ancient practice of the church that does not undermine the Reformed theology of the “Lord’s Supper”?   Is this just a matter of indifference, since the confession does not spell out for us the manner of distribution?   Is concern over this issue just theological nitpicking over matters best left to the discretions of ministers and sessions?

In the Reformed theology of the sacraments there has been a clear distinction between what has been understood as essential to them and things indifferent.  It may surprise many in our ranks today to find among the Calvinists’ confessions and catechisms a remarkable uniformity in how both baptism and the Lord’s Supper were to be taught and performed.   There was a certain simplicity conveyed in the use of sacramental ministry of the Church, which did not add to elaborate elements of the symbols of the sacraments so as to impede or obscure the truth they represent and the grace that they convey.   Sacraments are mysteries that reveal the Gospel.  Our Reformed Churches throughout the German, Dutch, French and English extractions would wholeheartedly agree with the view of Richard Greenham, “the more ceremonies, the less truth.”    However, our Reformed family today is often found in a haze of various sacramental views and practices, so that this uniformity of practice is lost.   This is a cause of great concern, for the Reformers understood “the right use of the sacraments” to be one of the sure signs of a true Church of Jesus Christ.   Like the truth of the Gospel, the sacraments belong to the person and authority of our Lord and Savior.  The validity and the ministration of the sacraments are directly related to the meditorial office of Jesus Christ and not to a minister, or individual church.   The efficacy of the sacraments does not rely upon the minister who performs them but, as our confession states, “but upon the work of the Spirit, and the word of institution.”  It is the Spirit at work in connection with the words and actions that Jesus commanded his church to use which make it the means by which he promises to seal his grace upon his own body, the Church.  

When the Westminster Assembly was charged to reform the theology, the worship and the government of the Church in the three kingdoms of Britain, they were instructed to base their reformation only upon “the word of God, and the practice of the best of Reformed churches.” (The Solemn League and Covenant) 

What this meant in terms of developing a liturgical guide for England, was not merely to reinvent the wheel based on their own cultural needs, but to conform their practice to the long standing Reformed use across the Continent and the ancient practice of the Catholic Church from early times. The Reformers like Luther, Calvin and Bucer understood the fundamental connection between the faith of the Gospel and the worship of the Church.  

Words and Actions

Our confession states that there are two elements to every sacrament, the outward sign and the inward grace (Ch. 27:2).  This is what defines the term of what we mean by sacramental signs, of which baptism and the Lord’s Supper were instituted by Christ for His Church.   Secondly, the efficacy of a sacrament is tied to the “Spirit and the words of Institution”.   That is to indicate that while the inward work of the Holy Spirit makes the sacrament to be a real means of grace, that work is tied to the very commandment of Jesus Christ. A.A. Hodge describes it vividly as, “The Spirit is the executive of God.  He takes of the things of Christ and shows them unto us.” (pg. 334, The W.C. Commentary)  The Reformers understood that it is upon the testimony of Scripture that the Lord’s Supper was a meal in its most fundamental character.  It was not a sacrifice of Christ, nor is it a mere memorial of a bare sign, but a real means of participating in Christ and all his benefits.   As Luke reminds us in his account of the meal, the Lord’s Supper grew out of the Passover, where the bread and the wine of Israel’s deliverance were given new meaning and significance (Luke 22:17-20). 

Therefore the meal in which Jesus shared with his disciples was a matter of essential significance for the church’s continual sacramental practice.    Indeed, the biggest debate at the Westminster Assembly over the Lord’s Supper was concerning the use of a real table, and whether it required all to sit at the table or remain in their pews.   The Directory of Worship has language that points to a compromise between the two practices,  where those who receive the elements can do so “at or around the table”, in other words sitting at the table as was the Scottish practice or at the pews.   This does not mean that distribution in any form is a matter of indifference, but that the idea of a table meal should be retained in any particular context of distributing the elements.  

Why are the words of the institution required?   They are required to be said, by “a lawfully ordained minister,” because the minister does not act for himself, but is by Christ’s command following the order and the actions of Christ in the right use of the sacrament.   As the Scots confessed, “the holy action” of this sacrament was to be done only with the sanction of Christ and nothing done without his “word and warrante.” (Thompson, pg. 292).  We do not make up our own words, nor do we introduce new actions, or innovations that would diminish the simplicity of the “eating and drinking” of the bread and wine.   There are four clear commands that Jesus gives us in the outward elements in the institution (harmonizing the Gospels and Paul):  “Take bread, give thanks, break it and eat”.  For the cup, the command is to “take the cup, give thanks, give it and drink it.”  Both the elements (real bread and real wine) and the actions are considered by our Confession to be essential to the sacrament.   It represents to us a real communion with Christ, so that the shared meal is a true eating and drinking of Christ and his benefits by faith.   The use of intinction, where the cup seen, but not drunk removes this basic symbol of the meal and robs the church of truly drinking of the benefits of their redemption (an issue that the Reformers and our confession always makes clear as a gross violation of Christ’s sacrament).   It furthermore removes the cup from the table and brings it before people who come to a minster or elder to receive the elements, ironically putting an emphasis on an individualist participation rather than a communal participation of the meal. 

The Larger Catechism clearly expresses the Confession’s singular emphasis of the shared meal of the Lord’s Table given in two separate actions.  To feed upon Christ, by the Holy Spirit is to be nourished through the physical act of eating and drinking.  

Q. 169. How hath Christ appointed bread and wine to be given and received in the sacrament of the Lord’s supper?
A. Christ hath appointed the ministers of his Word, in the administration of this sacrament of the Lord’s supper, to set apart the bread and wine from common use, by the word of institution, thanksgiving, and prayer; to take and break the bread, and to give both the bread and the wine to the communicants: who are, by the same appointment, to take and eat the bread, and to drink the wine, in thankful remembrance that the body of Christ was broken and given, and his blood shed, for them.

We should then follow Christ’s command with a joyful obedience and with thirsty souls drink from the cup he offers.  Intinction then should not be used simply because it is not consistent with Christ’s example and our Reformed Confessional heritage.  

Studying Proverbs on Wed. nights

Here is a few quotes from my study where I introduced the book of Proverbs.  

            In Greek mythology there were the sirens, the beautiful and irresistible creatures, which lived on the rocky islands in Odysseus’ tale.  Their beautiful songs would lure unsuspecting sailors unto the rocks and to mortal danger.   In a similar fashion, Proverbs tells us there are two voices that cry out for our attention -two voices that summons our allegiance.   In chapter One, we are told to listen to the voice of Lady Wisdom.   She cries out in the streets, in the public square, but very few listen to her voice.  She offers life.  Few listen, most ignore her, and some mock her. They turn from her warnings and embrace the way of folly, the way that leads to death.

            In chapter 9 of Proverbs we are introduced to the second voice, the voice of Madame Folly.  She too shouts in the middle of the streets, in the public square, and many are enticed by her promises.  Her way is the way of false fulfillment and fleeting pleasures.  Her way leads to destruction.  "The woman Folly is loud, she is undisciplined and without knowledge. .. calling to all those who pass by, .."Let all who are simple come in here," she says to those who lack judgment.  "Stolen water is sweet, food eaten in secret is delicious!"  But little do they know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of the grave" (vs.13, 17-18).

            Like the Greek sirens, her voice entices its victims with false promises that can never deliver.   The stolen water is only sweet for a while; it leaves a bitter aftertaste and the food she offers turns into dust in the stomach. 

            Lady Wisdom, on the other hand, prepares a table, "Come, eat my food and drink my wine I have mixed.  Leave your simple ways and you will live, walk in the way of understanding" (9: 5).

            Wisdom offers real substance for the soul.  Who listens to Lady Wisdom?  Is she not ignored today?  Is she not mocked in the public square?   The voice of Madame Folly is heard everywhere. 

            Jesus often said, "Those who have an ear to hear, let them hear."   Listening often implies understanding in the Bible.  C.S. Lewis tells us the sure way to avoid the voice of wisdom,

"Avoid silence, avoid solitude, avoid any train of thought that leads off the beaten track.  Concentrate on money, sex, status, health and (above all) on your own grievances.  Keep the radio on.  Live in a crowd.  Use plenty of sedation.  If you must read books, select them very carefully.  But you'd be safer to stick to the papers.  You'll find the advertisements helpful; especially those with a sexy or snobbish appeal."

Economics and The Reformation

http://www.archbishop-cranmer.blogspot.com/2012/07/too-much-catholicism-is-detrimental-to.html

Check out this site for a compelling analysis on the current Eurozone crisis as it relates to Protestant and Roman Catholic legacies. Here's part of the essay from the BBC:

In Goethe's Faust, one of the most famous works in German culture, Mephistopheles persuades the Holy Roman Emperor to issue a new paper currency - despite one of his advisers warning that this is the counsel of Satan. Order duly breaks down as the Emperors' subjects go on a binge bearing no relation to their real wealth. Weimar Republic hyperinflation in the early 1920s - when "money went mad" and all moral as well as economic order was seen as collapsing - seemed a diabolical vision made real. Some in Germany suggest today's eurozone would be better dividing, with some kind of Latin Union on one side, and on the other a German-led group of like-minded countries including perhaps the (Calvinist) Dutch and the (Lutheran) Finns. The former head of the German industry association, Hans-Olaf Henkel, has said that "the euro is dividing Europe". He wants the Germans, Dutch and Finns to "seize the initiative and leave the euro", creating a separate northern euro. A new split along ancient lines? The government in Berlin has begun to plan for what it sees as a hugely significant anniversary in 2017 - 500 years since Luther began The Reformation. He was protesting against indulgences, a controversial attempt by the Papacy to solve its fiscal problems by persuading Europeans to buy absolution from their sins. One German commentator, Stephan Richter, has suggested mischievously that the eurozone's problems would have been prevented if only Luther had been one of the negotiators of the Maastricht treaty, deciding which countries could join the euro. "'Read my lips: No unreformed Catholic countries,' he would have chanted. The euro, as a result, would have been far more cohesive," says Richter. Richter is himself a Catholic, but an admirer of thrifty economics. "Too much Catholicism" he suggests, "is detrimental to a nation's fiscal health, even today in the 21st Century". But he believes some historically Catholic countries, such as Austria and Poland, may have come under more Germanic influence due to their geographical proximity. They are "Catholics perhaps, but with a healthy dose of fiscal Protestantism," he reasons. Commemorations in 2017 will doubtless try to stress that Reformation divisions between Protestants and other reformers and Catholicism were not too great. But the usually thrifty government under Chancellor Merkel has already promised 35 million euros to mark this birth of Protestantism. And where will the eurozone be in 2017? Still intact? Or coming to terms with a new historic divide between the Latins and the preachers of Protestant thrift?

Without Restraints - A Sermon by Pastor Baucum

Here is a sermon from Romans 1:26-32 entitled "Without Restraints", which I preached with a heart of love, would be against the law to preach in some European countries and considered hate speech in many denominations. It is presented here in the hope that it will convey the grace of our Lord Jesus in a redemptive way to the brokeness of our our fallen world.Without Restraints

The Raising of the Cross

The New Dome and Cross

One of the distinguishing features of this downtown neighborhood of Enterprise is the cross over the dome. It is one of the few Protestant churches of the south to have this feature. The symbol of the dome is to represent the world, and the cross on top is a reminder that our Savior is Lord and Savior over the world and His kingdom is world-wide.

The Dome and the Cross

The old dome and Cross on the old copula, which had to be rebuilt with all new material.

Sermon from Romans Ch. 1 - Part 2

Double click link to hear sermon. It will download from dropbox. For some reason due to technical difficulties or the inability to push right buttons, two other sermons from Romans (part 1 and 3) were not recorded. This is a new series from Paul's letter to the Romans on Sunday mornings. It is a key book in understanding God's glorious underserved grace. It is bread for the soul and wine for the heart. Here are a few quotes to whet the interest.

The Letter to the Romans stands as Paul’s greatest contribution to Holy Scripture in elucidating the profound nature of God’s grace in our redemption in Jesus Christ. Martin Luther was right to suggest that this epistle is “daily bread for the soul”, because the Gospel declared, defined and defended in simple terms is what the Christian believer needs everyday for staying healthy and walking in the right way. Our week to week exposition of Romans, will do three things, by God’s help: remind us of our inability to be righteous and good; secondly reveal the importance of free gift of God’s grace and underserved righteousness; and thirdly how grace reorients our relationships in the Body of Christ as effective witnesses to all nations.

Pastor Baucum

“St. Paul wanted to comprise briefly in this one Epistle the whole Christian and evangelical doctrine and to prepare an introduction to the entire Old Testament; for, without doubt, he who has this Epistle well in his heart, has the light and power of the Old Testament with him. Therefore let every Christian live and abide in it always.” Martin Luther

“If one understands Paul’s letter to the Romans, one has a sure road opened to an understanding of the most hidden treasures in the whole Scripture.” John Calvin

“Paul’s epistle to the Romans has been regarded as the high peak of the Bible, the place where all the main biblical themes are brought together and displayed in a single panoramic sweep.” J.I. Packer

“

Romans is all about the revelation of God’s righteousness in freely offering salvation to all people through faith.” Rev. Paul Barnett, Australian Anglican

Where is True Satisfaction Found?

Jeremiah 50:19-20 (ESV)

I will restore Israel to his pasture, and he shall feed on Carmel and in Bashan, and his desire shall be satisfied on the hills of Ephraim and in Gilead. [20] In those days and in that time, declares the Lord, iniquity shall be sought in Israel, and there shall be none. And sin in Judah, and none shall be found, for I will pardon those whom I leave as a remnant.

Israel had been deported to the land of Babylon and God had brought judgment on them because of their disobedience. We must not brush by too quickly at the reality of sin’s consequences for the testimony of Israel’s captivity stands as a reminder that God will not tolerate rebellion and disobedient hearts among his people. Holiness is always a mark of His grace, not a merit badge of our efforts. So, we must also always come back to grace. Israel was to be restored and find complete satisfaction on the hills of Ephraim and Gilead. The image is one of sheep that Jeremiah depicted as a flock without a shepherd and aimless in life. God will not leave his sheep left to despair in the wilderness of their sin or bewilderment. How many times do we seek other things to fill the heart and run from God, but our only satisfaction is on the hills of Ephraim, which is the life of Jesus Christ. “My God will supply all your needs- according to the riches of Christ Jesus” Phil.4:19. He is the fount of living water. He is the living Bread. In Jesus we have life and one that is abundant (John 10:10). The promise made to Israel for restoration was fulfilled in Jesus Christ and as Gentiles we are in-grafted into the people of promise. The sin in Judah is not found. Look upon your soul redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus Christ and there is no sin to be found. If you believe and trust in the words of our Savior then “there is no condemnation”. God’s pardon of those who have faith in Jesus Christ is complete and total. The prosecuting investigator will look in vain for any dirt, scandal, or a bad record on the Day of Judgment for the believer. He stands on the record of the pure and righteous Son of God. Hence, the fields of Christ are a sweet haven of a grace-filled life where we are sustained by his love. The law and the Old Testament continue to stand for us as a reminder of God’s perfection and displeasure at sin, but in Christ we no longer wear them as frontlets upon our heads. The Grace of forgiveness and the redemption of the Cross now mark us and direct our lives. We desire to walk in holiness not because the law stands over us, but because Grace has overwhelmed the harshness of the law into the sweetness of the honeycomb. Song 5:1 (ESV) I came to my garden, my sister, my bride, I gathered my myrrh with my spice, I ate my honeycomb with my honey, I drank my wine with my milk.

The Greatness of God's Love (Scougal)

As we consider the nature of true spirituality and its branches, let us consider that love and affection where our souls are united to God, so as to see how great a truth it is. Love is the most powerful affection by which all the parts of the soul (mind, heart, spirit) are determined and from which full happiness flows. The measure of the soul is found by the object of its love. The one who loves small and worthless objects will eventually become what it loves. Well placed affections therefore are a great advantage to the soul in conforming it to a great love. We can see how this happens where people who love each other will begin to resemble each other; their voice and mannerisms will begin to match, so inward beauty and virtue will be resembled in us when they become the object of our love. This is why anything less than perfection, however good, is not sufficient as an object for these holy affections. The only true way to improve our souls is by fixing our love and passion on God’s perfections, setting them before us, “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit” 2 Cor. 3:18 (ESV).

The one who with sincere devotion raises his eyes toward that uncreated beauty and goodness, with affections fixed there, is of a better disposition than the rest of the world and is ready to ignore all sinful distractions and lesser realities. Love is the most excellent of realities we can master, and it is just foolish to squander it recklessly. Indeed the only thing we can call our own, which cannot be taken from us by force, is our love. Love is something we give freely from our heart with a will that is joyfully obedient. In giving our love away, we give ourselves away. Just as the value of a gift comes from the heart of the giver, not the object, but the intent of the one who loves and gives as it were all one had for the happiness of the beloved. So with confidence one can say , “that divine love that God gives himself is the happiness and perfection of his nature.” While this may be difficult to comprehend, certainly we know that love is the best gift we can give to God and it is wasted if we give to another that which is due him. When our affections for God are misplaced it will often be expressed by coming to the surface --- The way, for example, we flatter and praise others is just borrowed language that was meant for God. Words truly crafted and fit only for God, because all praise and obedience is due him, reflect the unfulfilled affection given to another. The chains and cords of true love that bind us to this pure affection are infinitely more glorious than liberty itself. This slavery to God is nobler than all the empires of the world. a paraphrase for modern readers by Pastor Baucum