Is the Church a Wax Nose?

This may seem like a strange question. However, I have to say that wherever I go there seems to be much confusion not only in Protestantism but in evangelicalism as to the purpose and plan of the church. For many, the church is treated like a 'wax nose'; something to be moulded into whatever shape people desire.

For some, this means the church is to be shaped around all-out evangelism, for others the church becomes a centre of social activity, while some leaders openly treat the church as a platform to fulfil their lustful desires for success, wealth or even fame.

My last article on this blog focussed on the three marks of the church. A friend of mine asked me to give more information recently and so I would like to direct the readers to a number of books to explore this matter of the church further.

These are;

John Calvin,The Institutes,Book IV, Chapters 1-3.
Edmund Clowney, The Church
R. B. Kuiper, The Glorious Body of Christ

May the importance of the church awaken in our hearts and minds. There is a clear apostolic plan laid down in the Scriptures for the doctrine, public worship, government and order of the Church of God. Therefore, the church should not be treated as a 'wax nose' to be shaped according to man's personal preferences. Note it is the 'church of God', not the 'church of man's organisation'; we must be cautious lest we face the judgement of God for treating the Church of Christ as ours.

May we all cry to the Lord, in all humility for a mighty awakening in the church, so that we comprehend the importance of the church to God, and his plan of redemption in the world. Here are a few key Bible verses in conclusion.

Matthew 16:17 Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.
18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it".

Colossians 1:18 And He [Christ] is the head of the body.

1 Corinthians 1:2 To the church of God which is at Corinth.

Looking for a Church? Some Things to Consider

It is surprising that when some people move house that they do not look for the right church before moving in to a particular area. They often just assume that there will be the right church at the end of their new road all ready to service their every spiritual need. Maybe this is a little sarcastic but many a family have ended up in a spiritually barren place through failing to adequately research this question before buying a house. So, what do we look for in a new church?

If I were to ask people to make a list of what they desire of their new church it would be interesting to think what would be on the list. What would be on your list? Maybe a friendly environment, lively worship, a good youth programme, a church in your community so that you can reach out to people or perhaps a pastor who is a good communicator. While these may have their place, they are not primary. Overall in England today we face real confusion over a single question: What is a church? A church is not a social club that meets my needs, but it is firstly a place to worship the one, true and living God. The reformers in the 16th Century in battling with the false worship of the Roman Catholic Church had to contend that there are three things that mark out a true church and these are:

1. The preaching of pure doctrine which is heard, loved and acted upon by the congregation
2. The right administration of the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper
3. Church order and discipline (moral and doctrinal)

Maybe some think that this is a little heavy but if we are concerned for the spiritual condition of our nation we should also be concerned for the spiritual condition of ourselves and the church we worship at. Listen to Acts 2:42:

They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

Notice the divine order; they devoted themselves first to the apostles’ teaching (this is pure doctrine) which is the first mark of the church and this precedes a friendly atmosphere. We need apostolic doctrine; and this may mean that we cannot find a church at the end of our road and we have to travel. Additionally we need to pray for the Lord to raise up many new churches in the UK which will faithfully pursue and display these marks of the church. For this to happen we will need to see a host of new godly pastors to emerge which is exactly what the Lord Jesus told us to pray for:

Matthew 9:36–8 Seeing the people, He [Jesus] felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd. Then He *said to His disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest."

Let us pray for and support churches that display these three marks of a true church because this is where the sheep should be best cared for, under the hand of godly under-shepherds. Maybe next time you are looking for a new church, think through again the kinds of questions you need to ask of a future church that you would consider joining.

Some Lessons from Presbyterians in the Southern Part of the USA

I have just returned from three and a half weeks of ministry in the Southern part of the USA (Georgia and Mississippi, especially). The purpose of the visit was to sow the vision that in 2010, England is a mission field! I particularly worked with the conservative wing of the PCA (Presbyterian Church of America).

Here are three websites of churches that I worked with and there are a number of resources available through the website:

http://www.fpcjackson.org/

http://www.grace-pca.net/

http://www.ipcsav.org/


There are many lessons for all of us, not just from the activity in the congregations but from the Christians I met. I experienced perhaps the best hospitality in the world, generosity of spirit, serious-mindedness and warm-hearted fellowship. No matter what your stereotype of American Christians may be, let me tell you that we can all learn lessons from Presbyterians in the Southern part of the USA.

Serious-Mindedness

So many people I met with, were quite simply modern Puritans in their sincere approach to take Christ and the gospel seriously. What a role model in an age where superficiality is sadly all-too common in sections of the professing church.

Warm-heartedness

A warm-heartedness was often combined with a serious commitment to biblical doctrine; this left a wonderful fragrance. The two need to go together and I certainly witnessed that in way that was exemplary.

Generosity

What generous people! It is simply part of them and it was in no way forced: I am sure that these qualities are the fruits of the gospel. Paul writes this to the church in Corinth:

2Corinthians 8:7 ¶ But just as you abound in everything, in faith and utterance and knowledge and in all earnestness and in the love we inspired in you, see that you abound in this gracious work also.
8 I am not speaking this as a command, but as proving through the earnestness of others the sincerity of your love also.
9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.

And again we see the example of the Lord Jesus Christ:

Acts 20:35 "In everything I showed you that by working hard in this manner you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'"

Hospitality

Hospitality was another mark of God's grace that I observed. Again, the New Testament teaches that this gift is essential to healthy Christianity.

Romans 12:13 contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.

Humility

Last but by no means least, I witnessed terrific humility among many saints. I saw very able businessmen and in some cases multimillionaires, welcoming people into the church on Sundays. There was a joy in this service as opposed to people wanting to perform tasks that may appear more grand to some. In Presbyterian churches the only men who lead the public worship of God are ordained ministers and elders and yet these able men were not frustrated because they could not occupy a public or prominent church role. What a testimony!

Again the apostle Paul counsels all of us in Romans 12:3:
For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.


May we all learn from these five lessons and pray for them in our own lives and the church where we are members. These lessons are: Serious-mindedness; warm-heartedness; generosity; hospitality; and humility.

What is Worship (Part Two)?

A theology of worship is necessary for churches to re-think how their theology informs their architecture, furniture, room layout, the administration of the sacraments and church government. Everything we do is an image of something, either consciously or unknowingly. Edward Donnelly explains that for the Reformed Presbyterian Church in Ireland, their theology guides their design of church buildings, so that the pulpit is central, to signify that the Word of God rules over everything. Beneath the pulpit and in permanent full view before the congregation is the Lord’s Table, with the communion plate, the communion cup, and the baptismal bowl. Michael Horton similarly observes that worship is not neutral and he writes:
The Reformation, in its recovery of the preached Word, gave a fresh visual prominence to the pulpit. Along with the font (baptism) and the table or altar (the Lord’s Supper), the high pulpit stood over the people as the minister himself stood under the Word that he preached.

These are some of the visual aids that the Westminster Confession of Faith permits, while excluding others.
The Westminster Larger Catechism expounds the Second Commandment, as expressly forbidding any ‘monuments of idolatry’ and it condemns the worship of images as false worship, describing them as ‘not instituted by God himself’. It condemns ‘the making [of] any representation of God’ or ‘of all or any of the Three Persons’. Donald G. Bloesch explains that the ‘Christian faith is founded on God’s self-revelation in his Word’ and he warns that it is an ‘incontrovertible fact that an image [Ex. 20:4–6; Ps. 78:58; Is. 40:18] invariably gives a false picture of God because it is necessarily limited in what it can denote’.

The Westminster Directory of Public Worship connects the Trinity to Christ as mediator but this idea needs to be further sharpened, advanced and moved further in this direction. The Westminster Confession of Faith summarises the regulative principle for worship:

The acceptable way of worshipping the true God is instituted by Himself, and so limited by His own revealed will, that He may not be worshipped according to the imaginations and devices of men, or the suggestions of Satan, under any visible representation, or any other way not prescribed in the holy Scripture.

Seven facets of public worship are gleaned from the Westminster Directory of Public Worship and it is our intention to encourage these elements in the Church of God.They are:

The Christian Sabbath
A Clear Call to Worship the Triune God in the name of God's mediator, our Lord Jesus Christ
The public reading of Scriptures
Congregational Singing (of which the singing of Psalms is singularly encouraged in the writings of the Westminster Confession).
Preaching Pure Doctrine, Pastorally.
The Right Administration of Baptism and the Lord's Supper
A Closing Benediction

Let us all pray for a recovery of biblical worship in the Church of God!

What is Worship?

This question may seem like a ‘no-brainer’ to most people and it may be the kind of question which is never asked but just simply assumed. However, do we need to ask this question again for the 21st century church?
Recently I was invited to two different services in the same day and after returning from the evening service, a relative commented to me, that he could see on my face that I had enjoyed the evening service: my countenance was obviously different and he could see that. I remarked; “to be honest, you could say that what I have witnessed today, actually represents two different religions!” Yet, both would claim the name Christian, so what was the difference?

In the service in the morning the first thing that struck me as I entered a hired hall with about 300 people and a bustling atmosphere, was the noticeable lack of Bibles. I seemed to be about the only person carrying a Bible to ‘church’ and there were no church Bibles available either. The service commenced in a very casual way with a very professional music team, power point etc. There was almost no reading of Scripture, the majority of the time was spent singing emotional ‘trendy’, supposedly worship songs and the preaching was short and in fact was not preaching. The message was more like a positive pick-me-up for Christians where the Bible was nothing more than a promise box. However this did not seem to worry the congregation. They responded most enthusiastically with more singing, hands raised and then a hot cup of tea/coffee.

This service left me bewildered with many questions and the words of Jesus to the woman at the well sprang to mind: "You worship what you do not know (John 4:22)”.
In the evening I attended a church service that I suppose the morning crowd would consider ‘non-contemporary’, traditional or even boring and out of touch. On a different note I do find that the word ‘contemporary’ is a greatly misused term in evangelicalism, it is often used as a smoke screen to introduce unbiblical worship practices in the name of being relevant. Our aim is not to be traditional or contemporary but rather biblical.

This service began with a clear call to worship based on Psalm 124:8, everything was saturated with Scripture, including Bible readings, the singing of Psalms, the occasional hymn and we sang the Apostles’ Creed. There was a clear order to what we were doing and everything was conducted in a dignified way with a sense of the fear and awe of the God that we worshipped. Needless to say the high point of this worship was a 40 minute exposition of a passage from Luke that was Christ honouring, effectively explained, and it left us contemplating the majesty and beauty of God (not man or what God wants to do for man). Jesus said, “we worship what we know Jn 4:22)”.

Once again I ask the question ‘what is worship?’Hopefully you will see that this question is absolutely a ‘contemporary’ issue and if God permits, I would like to answer that question from the Bible on the next blog. Perhaps this article has most probably highlighted ‘what worship is not’.

Church Planting in Sheffield

On February 1st 2010, I officially began as a church planter for the Evangelical Presbyterian Church of England and Wales (http://www.epcew.org.uk/). Durham Presbyterian Church have commissioned us to the work of church planting in Sheffield with the intention of establishing a long term work in the city. The aim and desire is to establish what we hope will become Sheffield Presbyterian Church. Please check out our website for more details:

http://www.gatesheadpres.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=33&Itemid=42

We have begun a Westminster Bible study in our home for those interested in finding out more about the work. If you are interested then do please contact us.

The distinctive elements of this future church will be:

A Commitment to the Westminster Standards as our confession.

Public worship that seeks to be wholly committed to the expositional preaching of the Scripture.

Pure and simple worship that includes the singing of Psalms/hymns, prayer, preaching, and the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Supper.

Hopefully the church will always be outward looking in a nation that is clearly a mission field.

Our desire is that the church will be filled with men, women and children who are serious minded about God and warm hearted at the same time.

Your prayer is valued.

Warmly,


Kevin Bidwell
Church Planter for the Evangelical Presbyterian Church of England and Wales

What is Missions?

This is a hugely important question for the church to face because enormous amounts of finance and energy are expended in ways that might not be biblical. Furthermore the constant promotion of ‘new’ church growth methods and church evangelistic movements tend to foster ever-increasing frustration and confusion as their promised methods fail to produce real fruit. So what is missions? I think the apostle gives us a clear answer in Romans chapter 10 which reads:

Romans 10:13 for "WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED."
14 How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?
15 How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, "HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE THE FEET OF THOSE WHO BRING GOOD NEWS OF GOOD THINGS!"
16 However, they did not all heed the good news; for Isaiah says, "LORD, WHO HAS BELIEVED OUR REPORT?"
17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.

Here Paul raises a logical progression of rhetorical questions which indicate the New Testament plan for missions. The sequence is as follows:

1. Authorised Messengers (who are trained and ordained men).
2. Proclamation (preaching, especially in the context of the church is the primary instrument for the extension of the gospel. Not drama’s, music, plays, healing meetings, Christian TV etc.).
3. Hearing (note the gospel is to be heard, not seen in an audio-visual production).
4. Faith.
5. Calling on the Lord’s name.

This sequence is a challenge to many contemporary mission movements who are often dislocated from the church and they commonly do not see the need for ordained men to carry that message. Instead young people are often sent on short term missions trips with little equipping in the content of the gospel message. Perhaps a major missions rethink is needed and hopefully the passage in Romans 10:13-17 can be a good place to start. Our starting point must always be the Bible and not our private opinions as Paul also wrote in Romans 4:3, ‘For what does the Scripture say?’