One of the more interesting activities of the Reformed Fellowship over more than a quarter of a century has been the annual meeting. This is one occasion on which the “fellowship,” necessarily limited as the organization grew from a local group to a body of many hundreds spreading across and beyond the limits of two countries, can come to more than local expression. For our many readers who were unable to join in the afternoon meeting. dinner and big evening rally on October 12 at the Dutton Church a report of the day’s activities may be of interest.
PIERSMA ON “OUR TESTIMONY”
In the afternoon business meeting Dr. Peter Y. De Jong was to have given us his observations on the “Reformed Manifesto” or “Testimony.” This statement had been a year in preparation, has just been printed in THE OUTLOOK (October and November, and in Sioux Center’s Renewal magazine) and is becoming available for wider circulation. Because of Dr. De Jong’s accident (from which he is gradually recovering) he was unable to attend the meeting. Therefore the afternoon talk was given by Rev. John Piersma, also a member of the committee which had produced the “Testimony.”
The speaker made some observations regarding the growing sense of a need amid the confusion that increasingly troubles our Reformed churches and world for a careful statement of what our Biblical and Reformed convictions really are. The efforts which the committee had been asked to make, produced some eight different draughts of the document before the one which has now been published. (No one could say that the work was hastily or thoughtlessly done.) One of the most interesting developments in the labors of the committee was the unexpected support and part contributed to it by the two youngest members who were only three years out of seminary. They wrote out of a keener awareness of the present crisis in the churches than did some of the older members whose seminary training was much longer ago. The “testimony” is offered by the committee with an awareness of human faults and weaknesses, not as a “finished statement” but rather as a “catalyst,” in the hope that it may help to provoke a new commitment to the truths of God‘s Sovereign Grace which comprise the Reformed Faith. It was intended to be not just a statement of personal “feelings” but as a “testimony” true to the facts of redemption revealed in the infallible and inerrant Scripture.
Development of the document did not always proceed according to plan. The speaker expressed regrets that some who had contributed suggestions could not wholly agree with the published document. He called attention to the committee’s growing awareness—one might almost sense his shocked realization—as the committee continued its study of “the all-comprehensiveness of the spiritual chaos of our times. We often tend to regard our problems as like particular symptoms for which we seek a doctor‘s help. But our problem is not an individual symptom or two. It will not be solved, for example, if we keep women out of the consistory room. (Although the speaker expressed his conviction that women are ‘by far the better half of the human race’ he was equally convinced that their calling was not in the consistory room.) Study and reflection on the churches‘ problems made increasingly plain the fact that our faith is being attacked not at one or two points but comprehensively,” from all sides. One can see in the extent of this onslaught the day approaching of which the Lord observed, “When the Son of man cometh. shall he find faith on earth?”
The speaker noted especially the militant and aggressive character of the assaults on the faith among us. The attackers, as one sees in the women‘s movement are determined to settle for nothing less than their total aims. He noted the personal venom that has sometimes been revealed in the attacks. “You may not say a good word for Lindsell” for example! “There is a determination to wipe out among us those things which were once our strength—the conviction that if God has spoken this must be accepted.” One of our ministers has said that it has never been Reformed to say the Bible is infallible. There is an anti-Calvinist, anti-reprobation, anti-antithesis movement among us. The idea of a Christian life-style involving separation from the world and consecration to Christ is rejected. The attacks on offices, preaching, and doctrine can be mentioned as part of the concerted, extremely aggressive movement that will not stop short of totally overturning the Reformed faith.
The speaker proceeded to comment on particular issues mentioned in the document. It expresses the conviction that the Bible does not open the special church offices to women. What is at issue in this matter is the interpretation of Scripture of which we must affirm that it is inerrant and infallible. He observed the unbelievably wide-spread immorality, going hand in hand, as it will with heresy. He noted the weakening allegiance to Christian education in our churches and schools as God’s covenant is no longer recognized.
The conclusion of the committee after its year of study was that the situation is worse than they had thought and much more complex. We are in a struggle for our very life. Our small efforts as a Fellowship are not going to bring us through or out of it. Only the sovereign mercy of Almighty God can bring revival and conversion. For that we must pray.
The ensuing questions and discussion highlighted such matters as the immorality of signing a form of subscription which one does not believe, and the quota problem, in which we must remember that quotas are not assessments. We may not give support when we cannot do so conscientiously. The document is not intended to be a last word which expresses each of the points it raises in the way that all of its supporters might choose to express it. It is hoped, however, that it will be widely circulated and that many throughout our churches, sharing the Reformed convictions it seeks to express, will join in signing it. May it help to draw them together and encourage their increasing efforts, against the rising opposition, for our biblical, Reformed faith.
IAIN MURRAY ON “NECESSARY INGREDIENTS OF BIBLICAL REVIVAL”
In the evening Rev. Iain Murray of Edinburgh, Scotland, editor of the Banner of Truth magazine and publisher of Calvinist-Puritan books, spoke to a crowded church. In a warmly devotional and delightfully precise English style he treated the subject of “The Necessary Ingredients of a Biblical Revival.” The speaker observed the age–old difference of opinion among evangelical Christians regarding “revivals.” He found reasons for. this uncertainty about them in (1) the fact that real, powerful revivals have long been a rarity in the English-speaking world. (2) There has been widespread confusion about the proper definition of “revival.” Some distrust the idea of “revivals” because they see the whole New Testament era as one of continuing revival. Since Pentecost the Holy Spirit has been poured out “that he may abide with you for ever” (John 14:16). “Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his” (Rom. 8:9).
A more common view is that revival is nothing more than energetic evangelistic activity. It was proposed by Charles Finney a century and a half ago and people since then have held that revivals be regarded not as miracles hut as the results of our use of means. The speaker observed that this view has done great harm and there are overwhelming reasons for rejecting it. The Bible nowhere teaches that God will give revival if we only work hard enough. On the contrary, it cautions us, “Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it” (Ps. 127:1). We recall the Apostle’s words, “I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planneth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase” (I Cor. 3:6, 7). Our activity does not guarantee results. Only those whose heart the Lord opens (Acts 16:14) respond to the gospel. The idea that revivals can be produced by proper use of means misunderstands the Scriptures and church history. The labors of Whitefield and of Spurgeon reveal that where on one occasion the Lord might give a great response, on others He did not. “It is not of him th at willeth . . . but of God that showeth mercy” (Rom. 9:16). Revival is not an evangelistic campaign which we can organize.
Real revival, as the Christian church has experienced it, depends upon Christ as the Head of His Church. He received the “fulness of the Holy Spirit” and began the outpouring of that Spirit upon His people throughout the earth at Pentecost. The work of that Spirit is uninterrupted and all Christians have that Spirit of God. Although He is permanently present, there are degrees in his work. The response of 3000 to the gospel on Pentecost was not followed by an equal response on every succeeding day. The disciples continued to pray for the Spirit after Pentecost as well as before. In Acts 4:31 we read that “when they had prayed . they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spake the word of God with boldness.”
Among the ingredients of a biblical revival we observe that the evidence of the Holy Spirit’s normal work will be present. A revival is not a different kind of Christianity but only heightened normal Christianity. There will be conviction of sin and reliance on Christ. If these are not present there is no reason to speak of a revival. The Holy Spirit leads men to Christ. He opposes Satan‘s kingdom. He moves men to give greater attention to the Word of God. He always works as the Spirit of Truth. He produces love for God and man. The speaker stressed the fact that real revival is marked by a strong consciousness of the nearness of God. While He is always present Christians are not always aware of this. In real revival they are overwhelmed with the awareness of His presence. “And fear came upon every soul” (Acts 2:43).
Real revival affects the entire life of the church; it includes a revival of love, zeal, joy and obedience. Humility and reverence mark real revival. The Lord reminds us that we depend on Him, as we are prone to forget it. The church when it begins to act as though success depended on itself degenerates into just another human institution. Real revival brings a renewed concern in evangelism. Men begin to experience and realize the fact that the Word of God is active and powerful, transforming lives. The Bible teaches us to pray for revival, not for our success, but for God’s glory. In Rev. 3:1ff. the church at Sardis which had a name of being alive but was dead, was aroused to “be watchful” to “remember” and “hold fast” to the gospel and to “repent.” We too are called to “look unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith” (Heb. 12:2). In our concern with the current problems and need of the church, Rev. lain Murray’s warmly devotional and biblical address on revivals gave us a needed reminder that it is the Lord alonc to whom we must look to revive His church.
Concluding Prospect
The attendance and interest in this annual meeting of the Fellowship came as another of many indicators that in our time of spiritual and moral confusion in the church as well as the world an increasing number of people are coming to appreciate and share our efforts on behalf of the Reformed faith. The masthead of THE OUTLOOK reminds us of our Fellowship’s announced purpose, “to give sharpened expression to this (Reformed) Faith, to stimulate the doctrinal sensitivities of those who profess this Faith, to promote the spiritual welfare and purity of the Christian Reformed Church particularly and also of other Reformed churches, and as far as possible to further the interests of all Christian action and institutions of Reformed character.” Seeking to fulfill that purpose in our time of increasing uncertainty demands that we see more clearly and stress more emphatically than ever before the fact that this Faith is not merely a tradition we hold because of others who held it before us. As the Reformers saw so clearly and we have been forgetting, it is neither less nor more than the teaching of God’s Word.
(2) Seeing and proceeding from this conviction we cannot be satisfied with or emphasize only negative opposition to changes that deny or threaten the faith, necessary though such defensive action is. As that faith is no longer either known nor appreciated by many who are nominally committed to it, we have to redouble our efforts to show positively what that faith is and why we hold it. Even our necessary contention against error must be “for the faith which was once for all delivered unto the saints” (Jude 3.)
(3) Our concern with urgent matters within our own denomination must (as the masthead statement suggests) be within the larger framework of a concern with our Lord’s church in a larger way. We can see our own problems much more clearly when we see them in relationship to the Holy Spirit‘s work in the Church around the world and across the centuries.
(4) We need to concern ourselves (as again the masthead statement reminds us) with Christian action as well as belief, with the whole gospel for the whole of life. As we confront the depth and extent of this Christian responsibility who is not moved with the Apostle to ask, “Who is sufficient for these things?” Let the awareness of our inadequacy drive us, as the Bible and the speakers reminded us, in continuing prayer to the Lord that He may be pleased to guide and use us in His business.