More Thoughts on Why We Do Not Have Children’s Church at CHBC

Again, the eighth mark of a healthy church is the promotion of Christian discipleship and growth. This includes, but is not limited to, parents discipling and nurturing the growth of their own children. Hopefully this article by John and Noel Piper will help us think rightly about helping our children worship God rightly.

The Children, The Church, and the Chosen

The primary fact about little children in the Bible is that they are helpless and dependent on adults for their life. We have to give them food, clothing, shelter and protection. Otherwise, they will starve or freeze or choke or fall. A little child knows nothing of self-reliance. He relies on his parents for everything, and, for a while at least, he doesn’t mind this at all. He loves it. And good parents love it.

Since the main fact about little children is that they are helpless and dependent, the Bible has two general things to say about how adults should relate to them. On the one hand, their helplessness means that we are called upon to help them, and on the other hand, their helplessness means that they are an example for us in our relation to God. Perhaps we can sum up the total picture like this: Be like children in relation to God and be like God in relation to children. Or to put it still another way: Rely on God’s fatherly care to supply all your needs and use all that supply to meet the needs of the children.

That, I think, is a summary of what the Bible teaches about children and their relation to adults. But what I want to do is use some specific Scriptures to spell out in more detail these two admonitions: 1) help the children, and 2) be like the children. Let’s begin with the first: Children come into the world utterly helpless and God commissions us to meet their needs. He does not do it apart from us, but only through us.

The first thing to get before us is the cruciality of the younger years. Ecclesiastes 12:1says, “Remember also your creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw night, when you will say, ‘I have no pleasure in them.’” Truly I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for an old man to be converted and enter the Kingdom of God . It is very hard to teach an old dog new tricks. It is even harder when one of those tricks is admitting yourhave thrown your life away.

On the other hand, what strength of soul can emerge in a person who cuts his teeth on the Christian faith, whose hope is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob from as far back as he can remember. Psalm 71 is written by an old man looking back over a lifetime with God. He says:

O God, from my youth thou hast taught me, and I still proclaim thy wondrous deeds. So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, till I proclaim they might to all the generations to come … Thou who has done great things, O God. Who is like thee? Thou who hast made me see many sore troubles wilt revive me again…” (verses 17-20).

It is a magnificent thing when an old man can stand and say, “God has been my hope from my youth on. I have seen sore troubles, but have never been forsaken, and by God’s grace have never forsaken Him.” That is what I want my sons to say in 70 years. I don’t want them to have to give any glowing conversion story. I want them to say, just like I hope to say myself with the Psalmist, “For thou, O Lord, art my hope; my trust, O Lord, from my youth” (71:5).

After that goal for the children becomes clear, then we hear God’s commission to us to train the children in the faith. Here I am going to leave a big hole in my message to be filled up at another time, namely, the responsibility of parents—especially fathers—to train their children in the faith at home. Suffice it now to hear Moses say, “These words which I command you this day shall be upon your heart; and you shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by that way, and when you lie down and when you rise” (Deut. 6:6,7). These words cannot honestly be paraphrased as, “You shall drop your children off at Sunday school for religious training.” Parents who do only that are simply disobeying God. But more on that another time.

What I want us to focus our attention on instead of that are two less common teachings of Scripture. Two Sundays ago all the children in the first grade and over started attending the Sunday morning worship service with their parents or some other responsible adult instead of having a special children’s service. I think this came about mainly at my urging, so I thought it would be good to tell the larger assembly why I feel this way, just as I told the C.E. Board.

After Joshua had led the Israelites into the Promised Land and captured several cities, he built an altar at Mount Ebal and read the law at a big ceremony. Joshua 8:34-35 says,

He read all the words of the law, the blessing and the cursing, according to all that is written in the book of the law. There was not a word of all that Moses commanded, which Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel , and the women and the little ones and the sojourners who lived among them.

At least some of the time the little children were included in worship in the Old Testament.

There are three reasons, at least, why I have urged that, at the latest, from first grade on the children join their parents in worship. First, we live in a day in which pressures from all sides are on the family to be fractured and atomized. Fathers are worked to a frazzle and so are too dogged to spend quality time with children; mothers are lured away from their little children to the work force; children have their own activities, and the one thing that pulls them all to the same room makes zombies out of them all: the television. Stir into this a general cultural mood of “me first,” and my rights and my self-realization, and you have got a powerful anti-family milieu. In this atmosphere, the church, as the preserver of biblical principles, must find ways to say “no” to these pressures and affirm the depth and beauty of familial bonds. But where and how? It seems to me that the high point of our corporate life together is the place to start. Let’s make worship a family affair as much as we can.

Second, five-, six-, seven- and eight-year-olds will gain tremendously from being in worship. Many six-year-olds have made professions of faith after sitting through a worship service. But even where most of the sermon goes over their heads, the children profit. They learn more theology and piety from the hymns than we realize, they come to be comfortable and at home with the form of the service, they experience from time-to-time the large and awesome moments of quietness or the blast of an organ prelude or fervor of an old man’s prayer. Week-after-week they see hundreds of adults bowed in worship, and unless we teach them otherwise, they will grow up thinking, “This is where I belong on Sunday morning, and this is the way one behaves in Sunday worship.” It will never enter their heads that not being there is a possibility if we expect it of them and insist on their right behavior.

Which leads me to my third reason for wanting the children in worship. I want us, as a church, to say, “No!” to the lackadaisical attitudes toward child training and the harmfully low expectations placed upon children in our day. Paul said in I Timothy 3:4 that a bishop or elder must “manage his own household well, keeping his children submissive and respectful in every way.” And if it is required for elders and deacons (v. 12), it is an ideal for all. Children are to be kept submissive and respectful in everything. The opposite of submissiveness is insubordination or disobedience. Therefore, little children ought to be trained to obey implicitly, with no back-talk and no dawdling. It is a travesty of biblical parenthood when children are told to do something or stop doing something and then disobey, but nothing happens, except perhaps an irritated repetition of the command and then maybe after two or three of those, a burst of anger. Children who disobey ought to be spanked, without rage or vindictiveness or humiliation, but swiftly, consistently and severely, according to the circumstances, until they obey. The proverb will never cease to be wisdom: “He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him.” The expectation that a six-year-old sit quietly to the honor of God one or two hours a week is not a high expectation, and we should demand it of our children.

For those three reasons, I would like to see our worship services become family affairs. I think it accords with the principles of Scripture, and is needed especially in our day.

Now let me bring you into the clear where we are. I started by dividing biblical teaching into two parts: 1) We are to help them, and 2) we are to be like them. Under the first part we have looked now at helping them through training them for worship and in worship. There is now one other text I want to look at under the first division of helping children:Luke 9:46-48:

An argument arose among the disciples as to which of them was the greatest. But when Jesus perceived the thought of their hearts, He took a child and put him by His side and said to them, “Whoever receives this child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me, for he who is least among you all is the one who is great.”

Who are the greatest people at Bethlehem Baptist Church? The pastor who gets to speak to all those people on Sunday? The trustees who keep watch over the flow of funds? The deacons, “the chief coordinating body of the church,” responsible to formulate plans and goals? According to Jesus, the great people are the people who receive little children in His name. The people who open the doors of God’s house and welcome all the precious little rascals into their clubs for Christ’s sake – these are the great people. And if we are like Jesus, we will never forget these people; we will thank them and pray for them and help them. We will get all excited, like the kids are, and bring a neighborhood flock in. And while the kids are whooping up a storm, we’ll be praying up a storm. And when God sees that combination—the little children being received in His name and big children praying in His name—then He will bless up a storm in Bethlehem Baptist Church .

Now that phrase “big children” brings us to the second half of what the Bible says about the Chosen and the Children, namely, we should be like the children. In Matthew 18:1-4Jesus says,

At that time the disciples came to Jesus saying, “Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven ?” And calling to Him a child, He put him in the midst of them and said, “Truly I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven . Whoever humbles himself like this child, he is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven .”

The church is not just an assembly of the chosen, but also an assembly of the childlike. Jesus zeroed in, in verse 4, on humility, “He who humbles himself like this child…” We all know children aren’t humble. They are selfish and demanding and in general think the whole world should revolve around them until you teach them differently. But there is a sense in which they are humble, and that is they are helpless and very dependent on parents for what they need to live and they don’t (at least when small) try to deny or escape this dependence. As a rule, they accept it and are glad for mommy’s and daddy’s provision, and in those earliest years, they are virtually carefree because they know mommy and daddy always take care of them. They sleep when everyone else is shaking; they laugh when everyone else is grumbling; they lie limp in the stroller when everyone else is tense. And at these times they are the picture for us of the childlike trust we should have in God, our Father. You have to be humble to acknowledge your helplessness before God and accept the status of a child in a stroller. But the result is fantastic: All God’s jealous fatherly love is stirred up for us then and we are free from anxiety.

To summarize, then, what I think the Bible mainly teaches about us and the children: We should rely on God’s fatherly care to supply all our needs and then use all that supply to meet the needs of the children at home and church. Be like children in relation to God and be like God in relation to children.

© Desiring GodPermissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way and do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. For web posting, a link to this document on our website is preferred. Any exceptions to the above must be approved by Desiring God.Please include the following statement on any distributed copy: By John Piper. © Desiring God. Website: desiringGod.org

Why Don’t We Have Children’s Church at CHBC?

Sunday, January 22, 2012 we will be looking at the 9 Marks of a Healthy Church. This is one of the rare times in our church when you will not hear an expository sermon … ironic … since the first mark of a healthy church is expository preaching.

Obviously, when I am preaching a sermon on the health of the local church, I do not have time to include everything that the Bible says about the health of God’s church. Therefore, I wanted to post two articles by John and Noel Piper on family worship. I am specifically posting these articles here because the eighth mark of a health church is the promotion of Christian discipleship and growth. We believe that the promotion of Christian discipleship and growth includes parents discipling their children to worship God rightly. Hopefully, these articles will remind us afresh of why we do not have children’s church at CHBC.

The Family: Together in God’s Presence

God-centered worship is supremely important in the life of our church. We approach the Sunday morning worship hour with great seriousness and earnestness and expectancy. We try to banish all that is flippant or trivial or chatty.

Not all services are this way. Sunday morning is the Mount of Transfiguration—the awesome place of glory and speechlessness. Sunday or Wednesday evening is the Mount of Olives—the familiar spot for conversation with the Lord and each other.

In this article, we hope to do two things: 1) demonstrate that parents (or some responsible adult) should bring little children to the Sunday morning worship service rather than send them to a “children’s church”; 2) give some practical advice about how to do it.

We don’t claim that our way of worshiping is the only valid way. Not all our ideas may fit with the way another church does it.

For example, we don’t have a children’s sermon as part of our Sunday morning service. It would be fun for the children, but in the long run would weaken the spiritual intensity of our worship. To everything there is a season. And we believe that, for at least one hour a week, we should sustain a maximum intensity of moving reverence.

The Biggest Stumbling Block

There are several reasons why we urge parents to bring their children to worship. But these arguments will not carry much weight with parents who do not love to worship God.

The greatest stumbling block for children in worship is that their parents do not cherish the hour. Children can feel the difference between duty and delight. Therefore, the first and most important job of a parent is to fall in love with the worship of God. You can’t impart what you don’t possess.

Togetherness

Worshiping together counters the contemporary fragmentation of families. Hectic American life leaves little time for significant togetherness. It is hard to overestimate the good influence of families doing valuable things together week in and week out, year in and year out.

Worship is the most valuable thing a human can do. The cumulative effect of 650 worship services spent with Mom and Dad between the ages of 4 and 17 is incalculable.

Catch the Spirit

Parents have the responsibility to teach their children by their own example the meaning and value of worship. Therefore, parents should want their children with them in worship so the children can catch the spirit and form of their parents’ worship.

Children should see how Mom and Dad bow their heads in earnest prayer during the prelude and other non-directed times. They should see how Mom and Dad sing praise to God with joy in their faces, and how they listen hungrily to His Word. They should catch the spirit of their parents meeting the living God.

Something seems wrong when parents want to take their children in the formative years and put them with other children and other adults to form their attitude and behavior in worship. Parents should be jealous to model for their children the tremendous value they put on reverence in the presence of Almighty God.

Not an Excessive Expectation

To sit still and be quiet for an hour or two on Sunday is not an excessive expectation for a healthy 6-year-old who has been taught to obey his parents. It requires a measure of discipline, but that is precisely what we want to encourage parents to impart to their children in the first five years.

Thus the desire to have children in the worship service is part of a broader concern that children be reared so that they are “submissive and respectful in every way” (1 Timothy 3:4).

Children can be taught in the first five years of life to obey their father and mother when they say, “Sit still and be quiet.” Parents’ helplessness to control their children should not be solved by alternative services but by a renewal of discipline in the home.

Not Everything Goes Over Their Heads

Children absorb a tremendous amount that is of value. And this is true even if they say they are bored.

Music and words become familiar. The message of the music starts to sink in. The form of the service comes to feel natural. The choir makes a special impression with a kind of music the children may hear at no other time. Even if most of the sermon goes over their heads, experience shows that children hear and remember remarkable things.

The content of the prayers and songs and sermon gives parents unparalleled opportunities to teach their children the great truths of our faith. If parents would only learn to query their children after the service and then explain things, the children’s capacity to participate would soar.

Not everything children experience has to be put on their level in order to do them good. Some things must be. But not everything.

For example, to learn a new language you can go step by step from alphabet to vocabulary to grammar to syntax. Or you can take a course where you dive in over your head, and all you hear is the language you don’t know. Most language teachers would agree that the latter is by far the most effective.

Sunday worship service is not useless to children just because much of it goes over their heads. They can and will grow into this new language faster than we think—if positive and happy attitudes are fostered by the parents.

A Sense of Awe

There is a sense of solemnity and awe which children should experience in the presence of God. This is not likely to happen in children’s church. Is there such a thing as children’s thunder or children’s lightning or the crashing of the sea “for children”?

A deep sense of the unknown and the mysterious can rise in the soul of a sensitive child in solemn worship—if his parents are going hard after God themselves. A deep moving of the magnificence of God can come to the young, tender heart through certain moments of great hymns or “loud silence” or authoritative preaching. These are of immeasurable value in the cultivation of a heart that fears and loves God.

We do not believe that children who have been in children’s church for several years between the ages of 6 and 12 will be more inclined or better trained to enjoy worship than if they had spent those years at the side of their parents. In fact, the opposite is probably the case.

It will probably be harder to acclimate a 10– or 12-year-old to a new worship service than a 5– or 6-year-old. The cement is much less wet, and vast possibilities of shaping the impulses of the heart are gone.

Some Practical Suggestions from Noel

When our four sons grew to be young men, we assumed that the worship-training chapter of our life had ended. But God has wonderful surprises. Our youngest son was 12 when we adopted our daughter, who was just a couple of months old. So our experience with young children in the pew started more than twenty years ago and will continue a while longer.

Getting Started Step by Step

We discovered that the very earliest “school” for worship is in the home—when we help a baby be quiet for just a moment while we ask God’s blessing on our meal; when a toddler is sitting still to listen to a Bible story book; when a child is learning to pay attention to God’s Word and to pray during family devotional times.

At church, even while our children were still nursery-aged, I began to help them take steps toward eventual regular attendance in Sunday morning worship service. I used other gatherings as a training ground—baptisms, choir concerts, missionary videos or other special events that would grab the attention of a 3-year-old. I’d “promote” these to the child as something exciting and grown-up. The occasional special attendance gradually developed into regular evening attendance, while at the same time we were beginning to attempt Sunday mornings more and more regularly.

I’ve chosen not to use the church’s child care as an escape route when the service becomes long or the child gets restless. I don’t want to communicate that you go to a service as long as it seems interesting, and then you can go play. And I wanted to avoid a pattern that might reinforce the idea that all of the service is good, up until the preaching of God’s Word—then you can leave.

Of course, there are times when a child gets restless or noisy, despite a parent’s best efforts. I pray for the understanding of the people around me, and try to deal with the problem unobtrusively. But if the child won’t be quiet or still, I take him or her out—for the sake of quick discipline and for the sake of the other worshipers. Then I have to decide whether we’ll slip back into service or stay in the area reserved for parents with young children. It depends on how responsive the child seems and whether there’s an appropriate moment in the flow of the service. If we stay in the “family area” outside the sanctuary, I help my child sit quietly as if we were still in the sanctuary.

By the time they are four years old, our children assume that they’ll be at all the regular weekly services with us.

Preparation All Week Long

Your anticipation and conversation before and after service and during the week will be important in helping your child learn to love worship and to behave well in service.

Help your children become acquainted with your pastor. Let them shake hands with him at the door and be greeted by him. Talk about who the worship leaders are; call them by name. Suggest that your child’s Sunday School teacher invite the pastor to spend a few minutes with the children if your church’s Sunday morning schedule allows for that.

If you know what the Scripture passage will be for the coming Sunday, read it together several times during the week. A little one’s face really lights up when he hears familiar words from the pulpit.

Talk about what is “special” this week: a trumpet solo, a friend singing, a missionary speaker from a country you have been praying for.

Sometimes you can take the regular elements of the service and make them part of the anticipation. “We’ve been reading about Joseph. What do you think the pastor will say about him?” “What might the choir be singing this morning?” “Maybe we can sit next to our handicapped friend and help him with his hymnbook so he can worship better too.”

There are two additional and important pre-service preparations for us: a pen and notepad for “Sunday notes” and a trip to the rest room (leaving the service is highly discouraged).

What Happens During Service?

First, I let a child who wants a worship folder have one—it helps a child feel like a participant in the service. And quietly, before service begins, I may point to the different parts of the service listed in the folder.

During service, we all sit or stand along with rest of the congregation. I share my Bible or hymnal or worship folder with my little one, because use of these is an important part of the service.

The beginning of the sermon is the signal for “notetaking” to begin. (I want a child’s activities to be related to the service. So we don’t bring library books to read. I do let a very young child look at pictures in his Bible, if he can do it quietly.) Notetaking doesn’t mean just scribbling, but “taking notes” on a special pad used just for service.

“Taking notes” grows up as the child does. At first he draws pictures of what he hears in the sermon. Individual words or names trigger individual pictures. You might pick out a word that will be used frequently in the sermon; have the child listen carefully and make a check mark in his “notes” each time he hears the word.

Later he may want to copy letters or words from the Scripture passage for the morning. When spelling comes easier, he will write words and then phrases he hears in the sermon. Before you might expect it, he will probably be outlining the sermon and noting whole concepts.

Goals and Requirements

My training for worship has three main goals:

1. That children learn early and as well as they can to worship God heartily.
2. That parents be able to worship.
3. That families cause no distraction to the people around them.

So there are certain expectations that I teach the young ones and expect of the older ones:

• Sit or stand or close eyes when the service calls for it.
• Sit up straight and still—not lounging or fidgeting or crawling around, but respectful toward God and the worshipers around you.
• Keep bulletin papers and Bible and hymnal pages as quiet as possible.
• Stay awake. Taking notes helps. (I did allow the smallest ones to sleep, but they usually didn’t need to!)
• Look toward the worship leaders in the front. No people-gazing or clock-watching.
• If you can read fast enough, sing along with the printed words. At least keep your eyes on the words and try to think them. If you can’t read yet, listen very hard.

Creating an Environment in the Pew

For my part, I try to create an environment in our pew that makes worship easier. In past years, I would sit between whichever two were having the most trouble with each other that day. We choose seats where we can see the front better (while seated, not kneeling on the pew; kneeling leads to squirming and blocks the view of others).

Each child has a Bible, offering money and worship folder at hand, so he doesn’t have to scramble and dig during the worship time. During the prelude, if I notice in the bulletin something unusual for which we need to be prepared (a responsive reading or congregational prayers, for example), I quietly point it out to a child who is old enough to participate.

Afterward

When the service has ended, my first words are praise to the child who has behaved well. In addition to the praise, I might also mention one or two things that we both hope will be better next time.

But what if there has been disregard of our established expectations and little attempt to behave? The first thing that happens following the service is a silent and immediate trip to the most private place we can find. Then the deserved words are spoken and consequences administered or promised.

Closeness and Warmth

On the rare occasions when my pastor-husband can sit with the rest of us, the youngest one climbs right into his lap—and is more attentive and still than usual. What a wonderful thing for a young mind to closely associate the closeness and warmth of a parent’s lap with special God-times.

A child gets almost the same feeling from being next to his parent or from an arm around the shoulder or an affectionate hand on the knee.

The setting of the tight family circle focusing toward God will be a nonverbal picture growing richer and richer in the child’s mind and heart as he matures in appreciation for his family and in awe at the greatness of God.

© Desiring GodPermissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way and do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. For web posting, a link to this document on our website is preferred. Any exceptions to the above must be approved by Desiring God.

Please include the following statement on any distributed copy: By John Piper. © Desiring God. Website: desiringGod.org

Are We Required to Attend Church on Sundays?

One of the great opportunities that I get as the pastor of Cedar Heights Baptist Church is to have interns, pastoral assistants, associate pastors, and other staff members. Several times each year in our staff meetings the question of what it looks like for Jesus Christ to be the fulfillment of Sabbath becomes a topic of discussion. Together we have discussed questions like (but not limited to): “If Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the Sabbath in the Old Testament, what does that mean for the New Testament corporate gathering of the church?” “If Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the Sabbath, does that mean the fourth commandment has no bearing upon the New Testament people of God?” “If God always relates to His people in covenants (and He does), are Sunday corporate worship gatherings covenant renewal ceremonies?” “If we do not meet for Sunday corporate worship to observe God’s ordinances (sacraments), pray, sing hymns, psalms, and spiritual songs, and hear the Word of God read and proclaimed are we robbing God’s people of God’s grace? In other words, can God’s people ever decide not to meet for corporate worship, or are we commanded by God to worship Him weekly, and worship Him in a particular way?”

Michael Horton just put out an interesting article on, “Out of the Horses Mouth” entitled, “Are We Required to Attend Church on Sundays?”  This is a great read! And while you may not agree with all of Horton’s conclusions (although I hope you agree with most of them), I would love your feedback. I have posted Michael Horton’s full article below.

“Are We Required to Attend Church on Sunday?” The very fact that we have to address this question, even in evangelical circles, demonstrates the true measure of the church’s worldliness. It is not a superstitious attachment to days, but respect for the Lord’s generous service to us, that gives us one day in seven to be swept into the drama of redemption. When the holy day is reabsorbed into the common week, the church is bound to be reabsorbed into the world’s bloodstream.

In the Old Testament, the weekly Sabbath is anchored in creation (Ex 20:8-11) and God’s redemption of Israel from Egypt (Dt 5:12-15). The apostolic church met on Sunday, “the first day of the week,” also identified as “the Lord’s Day” (Jn 20:19, 26; Ac 20:7; 1 Cor 16:2; Rev 1:10).

After the apostles, the twin dangers of antinomian neglect of the weekly assembly and “Judaizing” legalism already reared their head. Addressing the latter problem, Ignatius reminds the Magnesians, “If then, those who lived in antiquated customs came to newness of hope, no longer keeping the Sabbath but living in accordance with the Lord’s day—on which also our life arose through him and his death (though some will deny it), and by this mystery we received the power to believe…(Mag. 9:1). At the same time, the Lord’s Day continued to occupy its princely status in the weekly schedule. Constantine declared it an official day of rest in 321, launching a civil application of the fourth commandment that lasted even into twentieth-century Europe and the United States.

In the medieval church, myriad regulations—civil and ecclesiastical—had been attached to the Lord’s Day, along with a host of celebration, holidays, and rituals that Scripture does not authorize. The Reformers rejected this return to the shadows of the law. In fact, Luther tended to distinguish sharply between the Sabbath and the Lord’s Day. Yet he called each Lord’s Day “a little Easter.” It is not the day itself that sanctifies, but the ministry of the Word. For that very reason, though, his Larger Catechism insists upon the regular participation in the weekly assembly.

Calvin saw a threefold purpose for the Sabbath institution: 1) as a sign of the final rest that would come with Christ; 2) to maintain church order, and 3) to offer relief for workers. Calvin’s view (Institutes 2.8.31-32) is essentially the same that can be found in Luther’s Large Catechism.

Both reformers argue that while the moral obligation continues, the ceremonial aspect of the commandment, including the rigorous restricts attached to it, are abolished in the new covenant. Like Luther, Calvin emphasized that every day believers receive Christ as he is given in his Word and that we would attend daily services if we were not so sluggish. Knowing our weakness, God sets aside one day for the ministry of Word and sacrament. The same view is found in the Heidelberg Catechism:

First, that the gospel ministry and education for it be maintained, and that, especially on the festive day of rest, I regularly attend the assembly of God’s people to learn what God’s Word teaches, to participate in the sacraments, to pray to God publicly, and to bring Christian offerings for the poor. Second, that every day of my life I rest from my evil ways, let the Lord work in me through his Spirit, and so begin already in this life the eternal Sabbath (Q. 103).

In addition, our Church Order (originating at the Synod of Dort) states that although the consistory may call for other gatherings on special occasions, “Worship services shall be held in observance of Christmas, Good Friday, Easter, Ascension Day, and Pentecost…” (emphasis added).

The Westminster Confession embraced explictly the “one-in-seven” principle, anchoring the Christian Sabbath in creation, “to be kept holy unto him: which, from the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ was the last day of the week; and from the resurrection of Christ was changed into the first day of the week, which, in Scripture, is called the Lord’s day, and is to be continued to the end of the world, as the Christian Sabbath.” There is no list of forbidden activities, but the general requirement to exchange ordinary “worldly employments and recreations [that] are lawful on other days” for “public and private exercises of his worship and in the duties of necessity and mercy” (Ch. 21). The Confession allows for public services “on special occasions,” but Puritans generally opposed the celebration of Christmas and other holy days. When one examines the ways in which these days were abused (not unlike today), this approach is quite understandable.

Reformed churches came to argue that Christ’s resurrection was sufficiently epoch-changing that it moved the weekly Sabbath to Sunday. Dutch Reformed theologian J. Douma warns, however.

The distortion of the Sabbath given in the casuistry of the Pharisees finds its mirror image in various casuistries related to what we may and may not do on Sunday. Every gospel—whether concerning the exodus from Egypt or concerning Christ’s redemption—can be made into a law.” This happened in the church, especially during the Middle Ages, “because the church no longer grasped the gospel of the fourth commandment. And this, after Christ’s own instruction about the Sabbath, is even more blameworthy” (121-2).

Paul warns against the superstitious attachment to holy days (Rom 14:5), particularly when people fail to realize that the old covenant Sabbaths and festivals were pointing to Christ as the reality (Col 2:16-17; see also Gal 4:10). This is the point, too, of Hebrews 4: an everlasting rest in Christ, that is signified by the various sabbaths under the old covenant. The Lord’s day is never said explicitly to be the Sabbath in the New Testament, but the fact that the former is set aside by the apostles singles Sunday out as the divinely ordained festival of Christ’s resurrection. As J. Douma points out, these passages clearly indicate that “the Jewish Sabbath has ceased” (136). He adds a comparison with circumcision:

Christ is the fulfillment of circumcision. The shadow has disappeared; but precisely for this reason, something else could replace the Old Testament sacrament, something which, just like circumcision, signifies and seals the covenant: baptism. Christ is the fulfillment of the Sabbath. That shadow too has disappeared, but in its place something else could arise which, just like the Sabbath, commemorates liberation. Anybody wanting to maintain the fourth commandment without keeping time with the clock of redemptive history must stick with the Jewish Sabbath. But then such a person will catch no glimpse of the true, liberating intention off the fourth commandment…The shadows of circumcision, Passover, and Sabbath made room for the signs of baptism, Lord’s Supper, and Sunday (137).

The key to a Christian use of the Lord’s Day is not drawing up a list of what can and cannot be done, but to give the whole day to basking in God’s Word, loading ourselves up with the treasures of Christ. Churches themselves are making this more difficult, as they trim down the public worship to a single service of an hour or so. Some churches suspend worship on “Superbowl Sunday”; others incorporate the new holy day into the service. Yet even in “rightly ordered” churches, the question has to be asked, especially by pastors and elders: Are we preparing a feast each week or are we contributing to the trivializing of the Lord’s Day and then blaming the people for not taking it seriously enough?

The Puritans called Sunday “the market-day of the soul.” On this day, we come and buy wine and meat without cost. We set aside our ordinary activities and past-times; we are not primarily doers but receivers on this day, although there may still be works of necessity and mercy. What are we indicating about where our ultimate treasure lies when we give ourselves to sports, shopping and entertainment on this day? Has nothing changed with Christ’s resurrection from the dead? Is there no new creation and new family to which we belong, with Christ as its first-fruits and head? Are there no means of grace through which the age to come is breaking into this passing age? Is there no place on earth today, no time in our weekly routine, in which the Spirit is at work uniting sinners to Christ, justifying and renewing them by his Word? It has become fashionable to pit “being the church” against “going to church,” but there is no church for us to “be” apart from the assembly that God is erecting in the wilderness by his Word and Spirit. We go to church to receive the means of grace, precisely so that we can be the church in the world.

There are Ten Commandments, not Nine. The ceremonial and civil laws attached to the moral law are no longer binding, but the moral law itself remains in effect forever. We can no more reject or treat lightly the fourth commandment because of legalistic distortions than we can dismiss the other commandments against murder, adultery, theft, and so forth. Charles Hodge observes, “The fourth commandment is read in all Christian churches, whenever the decalogue is read, and the people are taught to say, ‘Lord, have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this law’” (Systematic Theology [Eerdmans, 1946], 324). If God has commanded something, it is to be obeyed; abuse of the command doesn’t abrogate it. John Murray puts the question well: “Why should insistence upon Sabbath observance be pharisaical or legalistic? The question is: is it a divine ordinance? If it is, then adherence to it is not legalistic any more than adherence to the other commandments of God” (“The Sabbath Institution,” Collected Writings, Vol. 1 [Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1976], 214).There is a wide spectrum of interpretation even in Reformed and Presbyterian circles today with respect to the Lord’s Day. As I’ve indicated above, that is nothing new. Calvin would not have countenanced the sort of sabbatarian casuistry exhibited in Puritan New England any more than Luther approved the lax observance of the Lord’s Day in sixteenth-century Germany. I have changed my own position in (The Law of Perfect Freedom), convinced now that the Lord’s Day is grounded in creation as well as redemption.

Nevertheless, we should all be able to agree on the following points:

• The New Testament prescribes the Lord’s Day as the weekly gathering of the Lord’s people for the means of grace and public worship;
• The New Testament insists upon the regular attendance upon these public means of grace. We need a whole day to be bathed again in the powers of the age to come in the communion of saints;
• The moral intent of the fourth commandment remains in effect, but the ceremonial and civil aspects are absolete;
• The ceremonial aspects are obsolete because the types and shadows have been fulfilled in the reality, which is Jesus Christ. Any celebration of the Christian Sabbath or Lord’s Day that is not filled with this festive delight in Christ as he is clothed in the gospel is just another superstitious ritual.
• The carelessness for the Lord’s Day is ultimately a carelessness for the means of grace and the communion of saints, which is part and parcel of the Gnostic and antinomian spirit of our age. Christ has not done away with forms, structures, and tangible means any more than he has surrendered his body to the grave. As B. B. Warfield expressed the point, “Christ took the Sabbath into the grave with him and brought the Lord’s Day out of the grave with him on the resurrection morn” (“The Sabbath in the Word of God,” ed. John Meeter, Selected Shorter Writings—I [Nutley, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1970], 319).

I Can’t Help Myself …

Tonight I received an email from my brother-in-law who “Googled” our church website. If you look off to the right side, Google provides an image for “at a glance” viewing. This is the image that comes up on the google search. If you look closely … it looks like Cedar Heights Baptist Church is closed on Sundays … hahahahahaha!

Oh wait! That is not funny. We ARE open on Sundays … no really we are … I want to see you tomorrow at the church building!!

In Defense of the Phrase “Happy Holidays”

I truly thought we were going to get through this Christmas season without having a war between Christians and non-Christians over the phrase “Happy Holidays.” But apparently the war is alive and well, as noted by the Facebook post below.

I really appreciated Mike McKinley’s take on this phrase, so I am going to reproduce his blog post here … or you can read it here.

It’s that time of year when Christians get worked up about “the war on Christmas” (you know what I mean, the fact that the complete stranger selling you cable-knit sweaters at Old Navy has been instructed to wish you “Happy Holidays” rather than “Merry Christmas”).  I honestly thought the sturm und drang on this issue had been played out, but it keeps popping up.

Now, I think it’s silly for unbelievers to be offended by being wished “Merry Christmas” and I am no fan of the inanities of political correct speak… but I wish people “Happy Holidays” sometimes.  And though something in me wonders if I’ll take heat for saying it, I think people who are upset about this situation should probably relax a little.  Five reasons:

1.    Is it wrong not to assume that strangers are believers? I have a category in my mind that the person I meet at the grocery store might be a Hindu, Jew, or Buddhist who doesn’t celebrate Christmas.  I would find it odd (though admittedly, not offensive) if someone wished me “Happy Diwali”.

2.    I don’t really care what retailers instruct their cashiers to say.  If they think they’ll make more money by saying “Happy Holidays”, that’s fine.  They’re not a church, they are in the business of selling you junk that you don’t need.  I’m more concerned with the wages they pay their employees and in their factories.

3.    The outrage over “Happy Holidays” seems to be motivated at least in part by a sadness that things have changed in our culture (though the folks over at Psychology Today think it has something to do with the allure of victimhood).  But one way or the other (to modify the words of Rick Pitino) Ward Cleaver isn’t walking through that door anytime soon.

4.    The phrase “Happy Holidays” can refer to a season.  It’s an easy way of saying “I hope you enjoy the time from Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day when everything is a little different in a good way”.

5.    The word “Christmas” is nowhere in the Bible.  So, in one sense, I don’t feel like I have to have a dog in this fight.  The gospel is offensive enough, I don’t need to go looking for things with which to alienate my neighbors.

Good News: While We Fail God, God Fails None of His Children

All through the Book of Genesis we are being reminded of God’s faithfulness to His covenant people. I saw this yesterday and was so encouraged that I wanted to post it here to remind us of the faithfulness of our covenant keeping God!

 

 

(HT: znielsen)

Prayer and the Nation-State

When I came back to publishing on this blog last month (after a three-month hiatus), I purposed to publish articles with a specific audience in mind: CHBC. Therefore, while I could have published this much sooner, I have purposefully delayed. I delayed in the hopes that this article would be read thoughtfully. I desired to wait till the nonsensical rhetoric, and ad hominem responses died down, so that we could ponder this important issue together.

As most know by now, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg excluded all clergy (Catholic, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Baptist, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, etc.) from participating in the 10th Anniversary 9/11 Memorial events at Ground Zero this past month. As one might imagine, the Mayor’s position sparked a firestorm of opposition. Here is a short sample:

“What he is doing is sending a message that radical Islam takes precedence over the Judeo-Christian tradition in New York City and throughout the country. He’s sending a message that terrorists are welcome in New York City. That’s not the message that one should be sending on 9/11,” said attorney Larry Klayman, who founded Judicial Watch and now is of Freedom Watch. ”His actions are an absolute disgrace to all Americans, whatever their race, color or creed,” he said.

And again,

Some 62,000 Americans signed petitions assembled by the Family Research Council asking him to relent. Jay Sekulow of the American Center for Law and Justice wrote that the United States “has a long and cherished history of prayer, from the first prayer in Congress in 1774 to the National Day of Prayer celebrated each year. Even the Supreme Court acknowledges our religious heritage.” (read the full article from WorldNetDaily here).

Besides the logical fallacies found within these two paragraphs; something else is amiss. It appears that Mayor Bloomberg may understand the biblical gospel better than some evangelical leaders who see this exclusion as some tragic form of religious intolerance. Yet, consider the following text:

1 Timothy 2:1–7 (ESV) — First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, 2 for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. 3 This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time (emphasis added). 7 For this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.

What Mayor Bloomberg seems to have grasped, and what some evangelicals have forgotten: Christian prayer is to a particular Triune God, from a particular covenant people, for God’s will to be done for the glory of His namesake. Prayer is not generic words, to a generic God, from a generic people, for their selfish human interests to be accomplished.

So, what is it, exactly, that has upset evangelical protestant Christ-followers? Most likely, we have forgotten what prayer is, and what prayer is not. Michael Horton helps redirect our focus on prayer when he aptly points out: (the following are short excerpts. You can read Horton’s entire article here)

Nowhere in Mr. Sekulow’s article is prayer defined in its vertical relation, as an act of worship directed to a particular deity – much less, through a particular mediator. Rather, the therapeutic idiom takes over. At least in the public argument, the idea is that prayer’s value lies in its subjective effect. The references are to “the many Americans who find solace and healing in prayer,” helping victims and their families “cope with the lost of loved ones.”

As the matter was put by another critic of the mayor’s decision, “Prayer is not always about religion, it is instead often about relief and repose.”

But all of this presses the question: Is the purpose of prayer mainly therapeutic: personal and national catharsis? Is it basically horizontal-human-centered (whether in individual or national images)? Or is it a solemn act of “calling on the name of the LORD” (i.e., Yahweh, the Father of Jesus Christ)? Does such an act have a personal object? Is that personal object the God who is revealed in Scripture as the Holy Trinity? Is the prayer directed to the Father, through the mediation of the incarnate Son, in the power of the Holy Spirit by whom we confess “Jesus as Lord”?

Imagine Elijah calling for a revival by trying to negotiate a public prayer or perhaps series of public prayers led by the prophets of Baal and the prophets of Yahweh. Israel, after all, has always been a religious nation. Isn’t it more important for the nation to acknowledge its piety than to become too obsessed with the theological specifics? The nation was divided, after all, and the point is to bring the people together through prayer, to bring them consolation in the face of national disaster. Of course, this isn’t how the story plays out at Mount Carmel, as the God of Israel proved that he alone is God and Baal is a helpless idol.

We don’t live under the old covenant, driving the prophets of Baal through with the sword. Rather, we have the privilege of religious freedom for true and false worship in this country. Nevertheless, we do not expect the state to create opportunities for the advance of Christ’s kingdom through his means of grace (emphasis added).

It is in churches where we confess our sins and our faith in Christ as He is clothed in the gospel. Here, we gather as a communion of saints gathered “from every tribe, tongue, people and nation” (Rev 5:9), not as a modern nation-state. We call upon the name of the LORD, which is none other than Jesus Christ, not merely for therapeutic consolation in our troubles (though this aspect is included), but for salvation from the guilt and tyranny of sin and the death penalty that it imposes. Here, with our brothers and sisters and before the face of the Triune God, our prayers acknowledge God’s justice in our condemnation and joy in God’s grace to us in his Son. With Christ as our Mediator, we are free to enter the Father’s presence with boldness, interceding for ourselves and for others, for needs pertaining to body and soul.

Prayer is also an act of witness. What are we testifying to when we seek state acts of generic devotion to the Unknown God? To what-or whom-are we witnessing when we give the impression that people can find consolation from any “God” apart from the Father who is known only in his Son and is otherwise a judge who will not let sinners go unpunished? (emphasis added) True prayer arises as a Spirit-given response to the Word that proclaims God’s righteous judgment and gracious forgiveness in Jesus Christ.

The power [of prayer] lies not in its ability to negotiate general piety for a national soul, but in its most particular and offensive message: the gospel of Christ. We don’t evacuate the public square that we share with our neighbors – even the “prophets of Baal.” Rather, we testify there that Christ alone is Lord, that he alone has conquered death and hell, that our greatest terror and consolation have to do with headlines much more serious and all-encompassing than the genuine tragedy of 9/11. We don’t need Mayor Bloomberg to help us with that. In fact, in the very act of doing so, we have to surrender the most important things we are called to say.

It is precisely because God is more important than we are, sin is much greater than something that others do to us, redemption is far greater than therapeutic consolation, and love for our neighbors encourages us to proclaim the everlasting consolation of the gospel, that we dare not trivialize that dangerous, wonderful and absolutely effective act of calling on the name of the Lord in life and in death.

As Christ-followers, we need to seriously consider what prayer is, and to Whom prayer is directed, before we insist on prayer being put on public display in a nation-state which values all gods the same. And once we have considered what prayer is, and to Whom it is directed, only then can we begin to consider how to rightly appropriate prayer (which declares that Christ is alone Lord) in the public sphere without abandoning the gospel.

Precept Ministries Comes to CHBC

I want to invite CHBC, and anyone near Cedar Falls/Waterloo, Iowa to Precept Ministry’s inductive bible study workshop taking place September 23-24, 2011.

Matthew 28:19–20 (ESV) — Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

We, at CHBC, recognize the importance of being disciples who make disciples. We can think of no more valuable way in which a disciple of Jesus Christ could spend their time than learning to read, study, and apply God’s Word to their lives.

Yet, learning to study the Bible, and learning God’s commands, and even doing God’s commands are not the ultimate goal of a disciple of Jesus Christ. Rather, Jesus’ disciples are called to be disciple-making disciples. Specifically this looks like: disciples learning to read, study, and apply God’s Word to their lives, in order that they might disciple another of Jesus’ disciples how to read, study, and apply God’s Word to their lives. Who, in turn, can be a disciple-making disciples themselves.

This is the thrust of 2 Timothy 2:1–2 (ESV) — You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, 2 and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

We have an opportunity as a local body of believers to be instructed how to read, study, and apply God’s Word to our lives, in order that “what we have heard in the presence of many witness we can entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach other also.”

If you are interested sign up for Precept Ministries Workshop here. If you sign up by August 29, 2011 you will receive a 25% discount.

Back After Distraction …

After taking a three month sabbatical from blogging, Facebook posting, Twitter, and following over 100 blogs … I am back. Which begs the question: “Where have I been?”

It was three months ago that I read the book, “The Next Story: Life and Faith After the Digital Explosion” by Tim Challies (if you have not read it, I would highly recommend you do). It was then that I decided, without fanfare, to absence myself from my digital life. Namely, because distraction had become a way of life.

Paul Graham writes, “Distraction is not a static obstacle that you avoid like you might avoid a rock in the road. Distraction seeks you out” (The Next Story, pg. 116). Technology was continually seeking me out, finding me wherever I was, and drawing me somewhere else. While all of these technological devices were allowing me to communicate with those who were far from me, it was at the expense of those closest to me – my wife, children, and church. I was beginning to be shaped by technology. Distraction was becoming my identity. I was losing my ability to focus; especially the ability to focus on the people I love.

Challies writes, “If we are a distracted people … it stands to reason that we would also be a distracted church, a church with a diminished ability to think deeply, to cultivate concentration, to emphasize slow, deliberate, thoughtful meditation (The Next Story, pg. 116).” He continues, “… we are quickly becoming people of shallow thoughts, and shallow thoughts lead to shallow living (The Next Story, pg. 117.)”

Distraction —-> Shallow Thinking —-> Shallow Living

So, over the past three months, I have spent time identifying and destroying distractions. I began eliminating everything that I could find that dulled my mind instead of sharpening it. I deleted RSS feeds, and subscriptions, and stopped following those who (in my own invented words, “twoted tweets that were not worthy being twoted”).  I have sought solitude from the daily barrage of distraction.

And now I am rejoining the digital age, but with intention and purpose. Data, information, and knowledge (terms defined in The Next Story) are to be turned into wisdom; the living out of knowledge.

Data —-> Information —-> Knowledge —-> Wisdom

Therefore, I am seeking to measure the input of information to my life. I am simplifying. I am seeking those things which will heighten my desire for God, and His Word. I want my digital intake to deepen my yearning for God, and not distract me from Him.

If wisdom (putting knowledge into practice) is the goal of all our collection information and knowledge, then this means that the information I publish to this digital world will look slightly different as well. It means that this blog will not be aimed at publishing for the masses. Rather, it will be aimed at encouraging the relationships closest to me; namely, my family and Christ’s church that meets at the building located at 2430 Neola Street, Cedar Falls, IA 50613. It means that meeting with people (both believers and unbelievers) will take priority over digitally publishing thoughts about meeting with people. It means that helping others will take priority over writing about helping people. It means, in short, the gospel has begun to redeem my distracted digital life.

May God be pleased to grant me grace to live undistracted for His glory!

Oh God, My Exceeding Joy,

Singing thy praises uplifts my heart, for thou art a fountain of delight, and dost bless the soul that joys in thee.

Because of my hearts rebellion I cannot always praise thee as I ought; Yet I will at all times rest myself in thy excellences, goodness, and loving-kindness.

Thou art in Jesus the object of inexpressible joy, and I take exceeding pleasure in the thought of thee.

But Lord, I am sometimes thy enemy; my nature revolts and wanders from thee.

Though thou hast renewed me, yet evil corruptions urge me still to oppose thee.

Help me to extol thee with entire heart-submission, to be diligent in self-examination, to ask myself whether I am truly born again, whether my spirit is the spirit of thy children, whether my griefs are those that tear repenting hearts, whether my joys are the joys of faith, whether my confidence in Christ works by love and purifies the soul.

Give me the sweet results of faith, in my secret character, and in my public life.

Cast cords of love around my heart, then hold me and never let me go.

May the Savior’s wounds sway me more tan the scepter of princes.

Let me love thee in a love that covers and swallows up all, that I may not violate my chaste union with the beloved; there is much unconquered territory in my nature, scourge out the buyers and sellers of my soul’s temple, and give me in return pure desires, and longings after perfect holiness.

A Puritan Prayer from “The Valley of Vision” pg. 344. 

Jordan Holm – US Open 84kg Greco-Roman Champion!

Many of you know the story of my friend Jordan Holm. A phenomenal college wrestler, accused of a crime he did not commit, which resulted in nearly a seven year prison sentence. If you are not aware of the story you can read it here. During those seven years, Jordan and I had many conversations about God’s providence, His sovereignty, His goodness, and God using Jordan circumstances to bring glory to Himself.

Eleven months later … LOOK WHAT GOD HAS DONE! Jordan Holm is the US Open 84kg Greco-Roman Champion and he is giving God all the glory.

Genesis 50:20 (ESV) — As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good …

You can watch the complete match here.