Lent and the Church Year

February 22, 2012 By

Lent – The word “Lent” is from middle English- length. It recognizes the lengthening of the days (northern hemisphere) moving toward yearly the remembrance of the ministry of Jesus leading to the cross.  For centuries Christians have used this period to reflect upon the sufferings and ultimately the saving works of God in Jesus Christ through his death on the cross.

Why do we mark the seasons of Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, Ascension and Pentecost?

A short answer is that although these are not specifically commanded in Scripture, we are commanded to remember God’s mighty deeds. These are commanded in places such as Psalms 71, 77, 106, 145, 150. The church year is a way of remembering God’s mighty saving deeds in Jesus Christ. God clearly commanded Israel to remember the exodus. The exodus is symbolic of Jesus delivering us out of our slavery to sin. It is fitting that we do similarly. This is the way God seems to interact with his people. The seasons of God’s grace should be more primary to us than the months and seasons of the mundane calendar. Just as Sunday for us is the Lord’s Day not ‘the day of the Sun.” Additionally, we still date many of our documents B.C. (Before Christ) and A.D.- Anno Domini (the year of our Lord) instead of the new nomenclature B.C.E. (Before Common Era) and C.E. (Common Era)

 

 

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True Confessions: Sola Scriptura not Solo Scriptura

February 8, 2012 By

PCA pastor

 “For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe” (1 Thessalonians 2.13 NKJV).
I have a confession to make. I am a catholic. To be sure, a Reformed catholic. That means at least two primary things: (1) I can heartily affirm all of the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed. (2) Also, I believe what the creeds say when they mention, “I believe in the Holy Ghost, the holy catholic Church.” I believe in one church of Jesus Christ, which Jesus promised would never fade away, nor be destroyed by hell or the devil or rotten and grubby men. Why am I telling you this? Mainly, to correct a terrible misconception. Contrary to popular opinion, the Reformation was not about starting a new, competing church. Nor was it about restoring the supposedly pristinely pure 1st Century Church. Instead, it was about reforming the Church. The foundational Reformers held to most everything the Roman clerical authorities professed to hold to, but the Reformers sensed that a few items that were once held to by the Church had been misplaced and stowed away in the ecclesiastical attic and forgotten. These few important items were pulled together and called the 5 Solas. Sola Scriptura, Solus Christus, Sola Gratia, Sola Fide, and Soli Deo Gloria. Over the next few weeks, I would like to examine these important family jewels, 1 by 1, and as I do so you will hear the true confessions of a Reformed catholic.
What Sola Scriptura Means: It basically means that the Holy Scriptures of God’s self-revelation are our final rule of faith and life. You see this sense laid out by Paul in 1 Thessalonians 2.13. It means receiving the words of God: the Hebrew Scriptures (2 Timothy 3.15-17), and the remembered and recorded words of Christ’s spokesmen, the Apostles, with Jesus Christ as the magnetic center of both, as Paul goes on to show (1 Thessalonians 4.1-2). Also, as you notice here and in Peter, James, Jude, John, et al, these spokesmen expected that what they wrote would be held as normative for Christ‘s people.
Many early church pastors and theologians taught the same principle. Irenaeus, Pastor of the Church of Lyons, in 170, did ‘battle’ with the Gnostics of his day and forcefully declared that the “writings of Moses are the words of Christ.” and also that we Christians follow the one true God, and “possess His words as the rule of truth’. Several years later, Augustine, Pastor of the Church of Hippo North Africa, announced that readers were free to disagree with his writings and the writings of other Christian teachers, but with regard to the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, he stated the following: “But in consequence of the distinctive peculiarity of the sacred writings, we are bound to receive as true whatever the canon shows to have been said by even one prophet, or apostle, or evangelist.” There are loads of other quotations I could add to this, but these are sufficient. The notion that Scripture sits over the teachings of Doctors and pastors of the church is an ancient aspect of the catholic faith.
What happened: Over the centuries, things changed, bit-by-bit, until the Scriptures where hardly known, and other things became more authoritative. Therefore, the Reformers fought to regain the ancient pattern of sound words: that the Holy Scripture is our final standard of truth and faith and practice. Resistance came from 2 fronts: (1) On one side, there were those who held to the notion that ‘Tradition’ and the Magisterium (the official teaching office of the church) were equal in authority. In the words of the dogmatic constitution of the Roman Catholic Church, Dei Verbum, “It is clear, therefore, that, in the supremely wise arrangement of God, sacred tradition, sacred scripture and the Magisterium of the church are so connected and associated that one of them cannot stand without the others” (II.10). (2) On the other side stood those Enthusiasts who thought the Spirit spoke to them directly ‘beyond the sacred page’, thus challenging the place of Scripture. Luther said these Enthusiasts had “swallowed the Spirit feathers and all.” Both the Roman clerical authorities and the Anabaptist Enthusiasts had the same problem, they placed something else along-side (and eventually above) Sacred Scripture as the chief governing guide of how we live and what we believe.
What Sola Scriptura doesn’t mean: It doesn’t mean bare or stripped-down Scripture alone. It doesn’t mean “me and my Bible, sequestered off in a corner alone”. It doesn’t mean  Solo Scriptura “My interpretation of Scripture alone“. And it doesn’t mean, “my interpretation of my favorite Scriptures alone”. Unfortunately, all of these misconceptions are the pretty common, man-in-the-pew-and-woman-in-the-pew-and-preacher-in-the-pulpit misunderstandings, and they’re wrong. The Reformers believed that the Church’s teachers and councils and creeds and confessions of faith had a valuable human role to play in understanding the Scriptures, because they humbly and clearly acknowledged that we have our own presuppositions and culturally conditioned perceptions, and need to hear what others have thoughtfully said about the Scriptures, which have stood the test of time, so as to help us get it right. But no theologian, pastor, creed, nor confession of faith is equal to or above Sacred Scripture. The creeds, confessions and councils of Christ’s church help us as we read-but they never sit over the Scriptures. That’s why when you read Calvin and Luther you will find them quoting the early pastors and theologians and church councils and creeds of the church, agreeing and occasionally disagreeing. This is not only the Classic Protestant position; but if words and practice are any indication, then this was the position of church leaders and Doctors of the Church throughout the ages, both the earlier centuries, and since October 31, 1517. It’s the truly catholic position.
The Present Need: Here in the 21st century we live in a religious environment that is losing this important Christian—catholic truth. There are growing numbers of people promoting “spirituality without organized religion” and are claiming direct revelations of the Spirit in spite of, and against, and over the Scriptures. There are those who babble about “Scripture alone” while giving more capital to psychology, therapy, self-help, statistics, social planning, the Wall Street Journal, Guidepost magazine, Oprah and other forms of entertainment than they do the Scriptures. There are Protestants, Independents and Evangelicals who claim Sola Scriptura but scarcely have any Scripture read and prayed in their worship assemblies. There are those who place creeds and councils and dogmas above Scripture. There are those who place social justice, social conservatism, politics and tolerance above Scripture. There are those who affirm Sola Scriptura but their lives are lived in a drastically opposite direction to the Scriptures.
How do we counteract all this? The following are some simple starter-thoughts:
· A congregation’s Worship should declare their firm conviction and confidence in Scripture alone. One crucial way this is done is by having a substantial portion of Scripture in our public Worship assemblies. Another way to correct the negative trend in our congregations, is for preachers to recapture the ancient pattern of preaching through whole books of the Bible.
· Our congregations need to get back to having serious Bible studies that grabble with all the books of the Bible. Also, the leadership needs to start encouraging their parishioners to get involved in those Bible studies.
· We must be reading the Scriptures at home, in our own personal devotional time and also as family.
· Finally, we must check ourselves: “Why do we do what we do?” Is it because the statisticians, therapeutic gurus, social scientists, and media talking-heads say it’s good and right? Or do we do what we do because the Scriptures have the place of primacy as the rule for our worship, walk and worldview.
Sola Scriptura; not just a cool sounding Latin mantra, but a way of living and being and dying.

“For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe” (1 Thessalonians 2.13 NKJV).

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Prayer of application 1/29/12

January 29, 2012 By

Almighty and merciful Father, restore our souls in Jesus Christ, that we may be merciful and kind even as you are. Let your forgiveness make us willing to forgive all wrong which we have suffered, and to ask forgiveness for every wrong which we have done. Give us the spirit of Him who dwelt among men in great humility, and was meek and lowly of heart. Let the same mind be in us which was also in Him. And grant that, being rooted and grounded in the mystery of the Word made flesh, we may receive the power to overcome the world, the flesh and the devil; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Filed Under: Sermon Notes, Worth Considering

Amazing in its relevance at this time.

January 28, 2012 By

The Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany.

Collect

O GOD, who knowest us to be set in the midst of so many and great dangers, that by reason of the frailty of our nature we cannot always stand upright; Grant to us such strength and protection, as may support us in all dangers, and carry us through all temptations; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Hymn

For all thy Church, O Lord, we intercede;
make thou our sad divisions soon to cease;
draw us the nearer each to each, we plead,
by drawing all to thee, O Prince of Peace;
thus may we all one Bread, one Body be,
through this blest Sacrament of unity.

So, Lord, at length when sacraments shall cease,
may we be one with all thy Church above,
one with thy saints in one unbroken peace,
one with thy saints in one unbounded love;
more blessèd still, in peace and love to be
one with the Trinity in Unity.

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Biblical formality and festivity

January 10, 2012 By

Pastor Cathey quotes Pastor Sumpter who quotes  a scholar in the field of reformed worship:

“Since for Americans there is often an in-built negative reaction to any mention of formality in worship, let us turn briefly to Hebrews 12 and Revelation 4-5. Hebrews 12:22-24 describes a New Covenant (contrasted with the Old Covenant worship of vss. 18-21) corporate, Lord’s Day worship service. When the church gathers on the Lord Day she enters into heaven (by faith) to worship God with all of the angelic host and departed saints. It is as if the roof of the church building is torn off when the pastor calls the people to worship. Notice that the worshipers are all organized around the throne of God. The worship service does not merely provide an opportunity for private devotional experiences. The church is a ‘city’ and a ‘joyous assembly’ or ‘festal array’ (v. 22). The word translated ‘festal assembly’ denotes an assembly of people gathered for a celebration or festival. Later, when we are privileged with the Apostle John in the book of Revelation to peek into heaven, how is the worship conducted? What kind of worship is modeled for us in heaven? There are all kinds of liturgical lessons to be learned here. I only wish to highlight one aspect: the heavenly service is liturgical and formal. According to Revelation 4-5, heavenly worship is a formal, coordinated activity. There are cooperative, formal responses by groups of worshipers. Everybody responds together with the same words. There are no individual displays of spirituality. Angels, elders, and creatures respond antiphonally with responses that must have been learned! They have been trained. There is a pre-arranged form to the worship. They have rehearsed this event, and they are dressed accordingly (Rev. 4:4). In other words, heavenly, Spirit-guided worship is liturgical and formal (1 Cor. 14:26-33).”
G. Mark Sumpter

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Scoring Points for Traditional Hymnody

January 5, 2012 By

 

Scoring Points for Traditional   Hymnody
Written by G. Mark Sumpter
Monday, 02 January 2012 00:00
What’s great at Christmastime can   be great 48 other Sundays. At the Christmas season, traditional hymnody—it’s   words and musical genre—scores big. For about 30 calendar days, traditional,   even some really old, hymnody rebounds in worship-life and society. People   show that they actually like the old stuff. Maybe this is one way to be more   strategic in recruiting worshipers from within the contemporary side of   the evangelical and reformed. It’s time to do a little CARPE DIEM. Here are   some good vibes at Advent, musically speaking.Generations Hold Hands: elementary age kids, very young children, 14 year olds,   25 year olds— goateed and lip piercings to-boot—stand next to 69 year olds,   those still sporting wire frame bifocals, and they’ll work their way through   five lines of #221 Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming. If you look close,   they’re holding a hymn book too. They appear dialed in with gratitude. Carols   bring about the pleasant wrapped-up gift of the church being the   church—young, old, wide, narrow, rich, and poor. Knuckles and high fives.

Sweat on the Brow is No Biggie: At Christmas we don’t mind having to work at our   singing. In our worship age, when we’re told about KISS—Keep It Simple   Songwriter, at Advent we’re not afraid of fancy notes, awkward beats, and   funny syllables. “The shepherds at those tidings re-joice-ED much in mind…”   How odd. (I wonder if Chris Tomlin uses re-joice-ED in contemporary   expression?)  At Christmas, that doesn’t scare us, and that’s good. I   still struggle with the line in O Come All Ye Faithful, the one, “very   God, begotten, not created.” I have to work at this line every time we come   to it. The timing with the syllables freaks me. But our willingness to work   at freaky beats and syllables is good. We see that people don’t mind going   over and over a tune to get it right. Maybe once Christmastime is over we can   make use of our willingness to be patient and work on singing skills. If   people are showing that they’re not afraid of elbow grease, let’s go for it.   Whistle while you work—on more difficult traditional worship music.

Use the Principle of Reinforcement: If you go to the malls and over to   the hospital, and turn on the radio, and attend the Christmas   programs…and—even open a Hallmark Card, you’ll get reinforcement of   traditional hymnody-like carols. The principle of reinforcement should cue   us. Pastor, Worship Leader: do you want a shot at seeing your people grow in   their singing? Discipleship centers on familiarity, recognition and   re-play. Once again—here’s hope for traditional worship music. Finding ways   for traditional hymns to be piped into ears and hearts is key. If God’s   people hear it enough, they’ll grow to love it. Christmas proves this.

If only it was Christmastime every   Sunday.

 

G. Mark Sumpter is a minister in   the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and is serving as pastor of Faith Presbyterian   Church in Grants Pass, Oregon. 

 

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Why Baptize Babies?

December 26, 2011 By

Why Baptize Babies, Does it Matter?

Rev. G. Mark Sumpter, Pastor of Faith OPC, Grants Pass, WA

In the discussion of the administration of the water of the rite of Christian baptism, the question about the subjects of baptism gets most of the attention. To whom should the sacrament of baptism be administered? Does the Bible teach that covenant children are to be baptized or only those of age, based on their profession of faith? But soon in the conversation another question comes: What does it matter anyway if we baptize at a very early age? Don’t we both, Baptists and Presbyterians, as church-going families with children, give ourselves to training the children in the love and grace of Christ? Don’t we both teach our kids to pray? Don’t we both teach our kids to sing to Jesus, memorize specific Scriptures and the catechism? Aren’t all faithful parents in earnest working at correcting and training their kids in obedience unto the Lord? So, whether baptized or not the kids of the church and Christian home get Christian nurture, right? Does it matter?

It does:

1. Its administration is obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ in His great commission (Matthew 28:19).

2. Signs in the Bible are directly associated with a teaching ministry, and in particular, a teaching ministry to children (Josh. 4:21-22).

3. Our children fundamentally need the security of belonging, of being included. They are kids. Baptism includes them in God’s Kingdom, under His ownership (Acts 2:39).

4. Baptism is a witness and summons to the parents to carry out their responsibilities to train, correct, nurture and admonish their children (Matt. 28:19; Gen. 17:7; Gen. 18:19). Just as a wife and husband have responsibilities to one another, respectively, according to one’s role in faith, so are parents called to faithful responsibility to the child who is set apart for Christ–holy in Him (1 Cor. 7:14).

5. Baptism includes the child in God’s story of the out-working of history–the story of the Old Testament, the New and beyond (Acts 2:39; and note the persons included in God’s story of grace in Hebrews 11, for example, Noah and his sons 11:7; Abraham and Issac 11:17-18, et al, and Hebrews 12:1-2). The child knows that he, like his parents and his grandparents, and other senior generations, shares in the generation by generation work of God. Baptism includes the child in God’s tale.

6. Baptism mirrors the societal relations that we know in the biological family and city of man. Just as our children bear a surname in God’s institution of the family and just as they hold a certificate of citizenship testifying to membership in God’s institution of the state, so he’s associated with God and His people with entitlement, expectations and opportunity in the institution of the church (Eph. 4:4-6; see Paul’s welcome into membership in the church Acts 9:19, 26-28). All three institutions ordained by God are rightly represented, starting with the child’s birth.

7. Water baptism of children unites them to the visible, historic body of Christ, distinguishes them from the world and reminds them to take up the tangible practicalities of weekly public worship and congregational service in the life of the church. They help to make up of the recognized body of Christ today, not merely the church of tomorrow (The Book of Ephesians). The historic marks of the church, specifically the administration the sacrament of water baptism, cover the younger generations of the church. The marks are not merely for the older generations.

8. Baptism includes children in the conquering work of the epoch or era of Christ’s earthly glory (John 17:4). It’s the day of the great glory of the One who is the express image of God, who has brought about His regenerating work. The Book of Hebrews denotes the superiority of Christ over the prophets, the angels and Moses, and specifies that this age is under His triumph and finished work (Heb. 2:5). The coming of Jesus signals the dawn of the era of fulfillment, and thus, water baptism, associated with Christ’s atoning, cleansing work, is their basis for claiming the promise of salvation.

9. Baptism of children keeps the corporate, historical identity of the covenant people of God in view (Acts 2:39). The materiality of water, as a means of grace, reminds the church of her glorious ways of ministry, preaching, fellowship, meal-sharing, prayer, evangelism, diaconal work and more, and it helps to keep at bay the notion that the secret work of the doctrine of election is all that matters. We must not allow the secret work of God to eclipse the tangible, revealed things, especially the means of grace (Deut 29:29).

10. Baptizing children is the gospel in miniature. Helpless, dependent children display the mark of discipleship in the kingdom (Matt. 18:3). Fleshy works fail; complete dependency on God, the granting of the gift of faith in Christ, secures life (Eph. 2:8-10). Man’s strength does not save, only God (Rom. 5:6).

11. Baptism is the seal, the stamp of God’s love for all ages, all generations of the church–from birth to death. His care doesn’t skip over anyone (John 3:16; 1 John 2:12-14).

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Predestination/Election Quiz

December 25, 2011 By

Reformed Christians are accused of many false and foolish things regarding the doctrine of predestination. Here is a short list. Do you hold to any of these errors? Take a close look.
1. The doctrine of predestination and related subjects, by its very character and tendency, turns the hearts of men away from all godliness and religion.
2. It is an opiate for the flesh administered by the devil, and a stronghold of Satan, where he lies in wait for all, wounds multitudes, and mortally pierces many with the darts both of despair and false security.
3. It makes God the author of sin, an unjust tyrant and hypocrite; and is nothing more than a renewed Stoicism, Manichaeism, Libertinism, and Mohammedanism.
4. It leads to sinful carelessness, since it makes people believe that nothing can prevent the salvation of the elect, no matter how they live, and that, therefore, they may safely commit the most atrocious crimes. On the other hand, it would not in the least contribute to the salvation of the reprobate, even if they had performed all the works of the saints.
5. The same doctrine teaches that God has predestined and created the greatest part of the world for eternal damnation by a mere arbitrary act of His will, without taking into account any sin.
6. In the same manner in which election is the source and cause of faith and good works, reprobation is the cause of unbelief and ungodliness.
7. Many innocent children of believers are torn from their mothers’ breasts and tyrannically thrown into hell, so that neither the blood of Christ nor their baptism nor the prayers of the church at their baptism can be of any help to them.

Does your thinking about predestination lead you to these false conclusions? The famous Synod of Dort 1618-19 rejects all of the above false notions and states boldly:

“And there are many more teachings of this kind which the Reformed churches not only do not confess but even detest wholeheartedly.”

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Collect for Christmas Eve

December 24, 2011 By

O God, you make us glad by the yearly festival of the birth of your only Son Jesus Christ: Grant that we, who joyfully receive him as our Redeemer, may with sure confidence behold him when he comes to be our Judge; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Amen.

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Christmas Message

December 22, 2011 By

Dear Congregation:

The importance of the mystery of the Incarnation of God is impossible to underestimate! It is a “mystery” not because it has not been revealed, but because it is unfathomable. I sincerely hope and pray that everyone who reads the words below will meditate upon this mystery during Christmastide and beyond.

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.
(1 Timothy 3:16 ESV)

You must understand why it is that the Word of the Father, so great and so high, has been made manifest in bodily form. He has not assumed a body as proper to His own nature, far from it, for as the Word He is without body. He has been manifested in a human body for this reason only, out of the love and goodness of His Father, for the salvation of us men. We will begin, then, with the creation of the world and with God its Maker, for the first fact that you must grasp is this: the renewal of creation has been wrought by the Self-same Word Who made it in the beginning. There is thus no inconsistency between creation and salvation for the One Father has employed the same Agent for both works, effecting the salvation of the world through the same Word Who made it in the beginning.

from St. Athanasius On the Incarnation – Christian Classics Ethereal Library.

Christ by highest heav'n adored
Christ the everlasting Lord!
Late in time behold Him come
Offspring of a Virgin's womb
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see
Hail the incarnate Deity
Pleased as man with man to dwell
Jesus, our Emmanuel
Hark! The herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!"
-- Charles Wesley

A very blessed Incarnation celebration to all!

Pastor Edd

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