What Happened to the Votum?
Someone handed me a page of your (December) issue entitled, “What Happened to the Votum?” (by Rev. C. Van Schouwen). Being 49 years old and having read the Bible for quite a few years, I have yet to read anywhere in the Bible that an order of worship is outlined. I think that if we are gathered in a place of worship it would be just as fitting as not, for a congregation to respond by saying, “Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and ‘earth.’” It would be just as appropriate to begin our prayer in the home with the same words. After all, we do depend on the help of our Lord every day.
“Religious services” – In the paragraph above, “A Worship Service,” Matthew 18:20 is referred to; then in this paragraph it is stated that no religious worship service can be a worship service unless an ordained consistory is present. What about Matthew 18:20? What about those people behind the Iron Curtain, our brothers and sisters in Christ who have to meet in secret? Is that not a worship service?
Not long ago a preacher said in his sermon when he spoke of worship, “God is the audience; we are the worshipers.”
Regarding the last item on the page, “Conclusion,” how much more meaningful and more blessed a worship service becomes when members of a church are spiritually involved. If we, the congregation, ask God for help in His name, that would be meaningful.
In His Service,
Lawrence De Ruiter, 1527 Elisabeth, Escalon, CA 95320
Response to L. De Ruiter
Brother De Ruiter is absolutely correct in saying that there is no order of worship in the Bible. Neither does the Bible say that infants must be baptized nor how it must be done. Pertaining to spiritual and ecclesiastical matters, Scripture often presents principles that must be discovered and applied to the Church.
The earmarks of a duly established congregation are found in the following elements: 1 – It is a spiritual corporation of a local church. 2 – It has a membership list of all those who belong to this corporation. 3 – This corporation functions according to fixed and binding rules expressed in a church order. 4 – The calling of a worship service is initiated by the ruling body of this corporation called the consistory. 5 – The chief task of a consistory is to seek the glory of God and the edification of the believers through the administration of the Word, and sacraments and the exercise of discipline.
We must never underestimate the spiritual authority of those who have been called by God to speak in His name to the congregation. This power is derived from Christ and exercised in subordination to His sovereign authority and in harmony with the Word of God (Matt. 28:18–19; Romans 10:13–15; Ephesians 5:23; and I Cor. 5:4). The office bearers of the church are given the right to administer the sacraments (Matt. 28: 19–20), the right to determine what is right and wrong in the kingdom (Matt. I6:19), the forgiving and retaining of sin (John 20:23) and the exercise of discipline in the Church (Matt. 16:18, 18:17; 1Cor. 5:4; Titus 3:10).
By virtue of its authority given by the King of the church, the consistory calls the congregation together every Sunday for worship services. If the times and circumstances demand, the consistory could even call a worship service during the course of the week. Being conscious of the gravity, the solemnity and the sacredness of a worship service—for God is present in such a service (Matt. 18:20)—the consistory begins the service by pronouncing the votum. In thus doing, they are actually telling the congregation “In ourselves we are unable to carry out this sacred task; but our help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth.” Since the consistory, as ordained office bearers, has full charge of the worship service from beginning to end, it doesn’t make sense for the congregation to pronounce the votum. In so doing the congregation arrogates authority which was not given them by God.
To prove his point, brother De Ruiter refers to Matt. 18:20, “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” This text must be understood in the light of the context. Christ is speaking about discipline. Verse 17 says “And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church; and if he shall neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as a heathen man and a publican.” And then in verse 18, Christ said, “Verily I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Why does the church have this authority? “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”
Since the chief task of the consistory is to labor for the spiritual upbuilding of the congregation, it has arranged an order of worship logically and spiritually, so that the congregation will receive the greatest spiritual blessing in a Sabbath day worship service.
C. Van Schouwen, Sioux Center, Iowa
Rev. De Jong,
The January 23, 1984 edition of The Banner asked the question, WHITHER WOMEN? I wish, people of God, that this was the only question, but it is not. The real question is, Whom will we serve, God or man? Will we dare to change our stand on women in office and headship because of a few who question the Word of God and want to reinterpret its simple truths? How can we say that those scriptural truths were for those times and cases when the Bible so clearly states in Isaiah 40:8 that “. . . the word of our God shall stand forever.”
Pick up your Bibles, people, and read for yourselves! Don’t pick verses out of context, like some supposedly educated people do. Read and study for yourselves what God says about women in the home and in the Church and take it in simple faith, knowing that it is God’s will and that we are called to obey it.
If women are allowed office in the Church, what will we throw out of the Bible next? How about the Ten Commandments? They’re real old and maybe they were written for the people of that age?
Finally, my brethren, “Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might, putting on the whole armor of God that we may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil” (Eph. 6:10–11). Let’s be strong again! People of the CRC, whom will we serve, God or man?
“. . . but as for me and my house we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:15
In Christ’s Love,
David Pruin, Stout, Iowa
Dear Sir,
The Outlook, February 1984: Vol. XXXIV, No. 2. I thank you for agreeing to print my article on “What is a Reformed Ministry Today?” but please note the following part-sentence omission in paragraph 6 on page 10 of the Outlook. I quote the paragraph in full, with the omitted words in italic type below:
“I believe this has been a cardinal failure of evangelicals in our own Church of Scotland for many generations. They have been concerned—and rightly so with preaching and with the recovery of a biblical ministry within the church. But they appear to have neglected the areas of church government and discipline. To be consistently Reformed involves our concern in these areas as well.”
Without the omitted words, the whole paragraph becomes garbled, so you may wish to put a footnote with the correction in the next issue.
Many thanks,
Rev. Anthony Dallison, Box 1064 King City, Ontario
Dear Mr. De Jong:
I have seen the reference made in the February issue of The Outlook, to the passage of the bill by Congress providing for the sending of an ambassador to the Vatican. I wish that you might have made a stronger protest against that action. Enclosed is an Open Letter that I wrote to President Reagan regarding that action, copies of which have been sent to all of the Senators. In regard to the manner in which that action was pushed through Congress, a letter from Senator Jesse Helms (N.C.) to Evangelist George A. Kleve, Maple Heights, Ohio, reads in part as follows:
“Authority for diplomatic recognition of the Vatican slipped through Congress on a voice vote during the closing hours of the session (in Nov.). All of us were up to our ears with conference committee meetings, etc. In my case, I was presiding over a conference relating to a farm bill. Senator Lugar offered an amendment on behalf of the administration, and it was adopted without opposition-because nobody was on the Senate Floor at the time.”
I think that a much stronger protest should have been made and should yet be made, against action that is so important to this nation.
Sincerely Yours,
Mr. Loraine Boettner, Box 56 , Rock Port, Missouri