It seems almost unnecessary to speak on the topic, “The Duty of Being Concerned.” Both the history of the Church, of Old and New Testaments, as well as the continuing history of the Church since the time of the New Testament, seem to demonstrate the need for God’s people to be vigilant in their care of the Church and constantly on their guard against departures from the faith.
But it is necessary to speak of the “Duty of Being Concerned” because most are not genuinely and actively concerned and many discerning folk do not see concern to be their duty.
Unlike many, I have experienced the utter bankruptcy of liberalism as a member in some other denominations. You may have heard of such things. I have seen them. The warnings of the Scripture to the church must be taken seriously at all times, both when there is apparent peace and when there is obvious need for concern.
I. Why Be Concerned?
“Why should I be concerned?” you may ask. Look at a few reasons:
First, because Scripture requires this concern of you. The Old Testament is a record of the continual failure of God’s people. There are many faithful exceptions, a faithful remnant, and ultimately God champions His cause through Israel’s unbelief. Still, the prophets spoke the message of warning and impending judgment because of Israel’s failure to perform their covenant obligations out of a new-heart obedience to their Lord. The prophets voiced God’s love and concern for His people. His voice was faithfully heard even where there was no apparent prospect for recovery.
The New Testament contains stern warnings by Jesus , exhortations, rebukes, and instructions in almost every book. Paul saw the Church through the eyes of Christ, a holy and spotless bride. Yet, he also knew the reality of depravity, the nature of his own heart, and the power of the world, the flesh, and the devil.
Because of preponderance of the warnings of Scripture and its prophecies about what has happened and will happen in the Church, we should be concerned.
A second reason you should be concerned is because history teaches that we must have a proper and timely concern. There is never a time when we can afford not to be concerned.
The Reformation in and throughout Europe is all but dead, at least in the church bodies of its original representatives.
Reformed and Calvinistic traditions in the United States have largely disintegrated with only remnants trying to remain faithful.
The Christian Reformed Church stands practically alone as one of the older denominations (100 years or older) who have not to this point been substantially and sharply divided by major theological debate. The Lutherans, Presbyterians, Reformed Church, and Southern Baptists are all either splintered or sharply divided over theological issues.
God has blessed our own Church with a good memory of what we came from and where we don’t want to return, with leadership to warn us of the threats of neo-orthodoxy and liberalism. Ironic, isn’t it, that from the mid 50’s to the present when the rhetoric about neo-orthodoxy and liberalism ceased, we began to feel the threats of its influences. As the saying goes, “Those who will not learn from the lessons of history are destined to repeat them.”
Third, there are many personal reasons why you should be concerned. The Scripture says, “take heed unto thyself,” and that is reason enough. The Christian lives what he eats. If he eats the gospel, he lives eternally. If he eats some other gospel, he remains dead. If he eats solid doctrine, he grows. If he eats man’s opinion and innovation, he starves. Liberalism, whether it be in the form of outright denials of biblical truth, higher criticism, or a new hermeneutic, robs the Church of its food. It starves the child that lives, and cannot give birth to the children yet to be.
II. About What Shall We Be Concerned?
Ours should be a spiritual concern, a concern about the gospel, the pulpit, and the pew. Basic to our spiritual life is the proclamation of salvation by faith in Christ. The gospel gives birth to faith which embraces Christ as Lord and Savior. Contrary to popular opinion, the gospel is not the last thing to go, but along with all other articles of faith, is progressively supplanted by another gospel. The set of doctrines which express the Reformed faith are an intricate and
interdependent package. It is impossible to alter any significant doctrines or practice without affecting all. There is no domino theory to doctrine. We cannot stop the advance of change-oriented, denial-oriented liberalism before the articles of redemption fall. When our doctrine of Scripture does not acknowledge the authority of all of the Word of God for all times and cultures (as our Creeds confess), we have not knocked down only one doctrine; we have shaken the entire table.
The pulpit couples God’s authority; in His Word with the powerful working of God’s Spirit. Paul’s preaching was powerful, “a demonstration of power,” not because he was a great and eloquent preacher, but because he preached, taught, and wrote the revelation of Jesus Christ. He preached with the knowledge and conviction that everything God has revealed in His Word is true.
There is a great deal of difference between hearing, preaching, and experiencing the ministry of God’s Word, proclaimed with the power and conviction of the Authority of the Word of God, and preaching and ministry based upon higher criticism and popular opinions, and innovations.
The pew is where our concern “meets the road,” for if we and our children are not experiencing genuine conversion, are not being challenged to be and live as believers. are not experiencing the power of God’s Spirit in church life, we have great cause to be concerned. The problem is in the pulpit, and equally in the pew. We must be concerned enough to demand piety and biblical orthodoxy from the pulpit. We should never sit idly by, becoming increasingly frustrated, complacent, and apathetic. We cannot settle for a “deceitful handling of the Word of God” by those who will not “handle the truth in a straightforward” manner.
Our concern should be biblical concern, a concern about the Bible.
Our concern about the Bible should be that we insist on and defend its integrity. The methods of higher criticism and their biblical “interpretations” attack the Bible’s integrity. Such high critical methods produce only questions and speculations.
We cannot allow the Bible’s Author to be assailed by allowing its writers to be treated as writers of myths, legends, stories, and opinions.
The higher critic’s low view of Scripture, will not “acknowledge God to be true and every man a liar.”
Ours is a concern to be biblical, to conform every belief, every practice, and every thought to the mind of God. One of our God-given strengths is our Creedal and Confessional standards. In these we have the statement of our Catholic and Evangelical faith. Yet, many treat the Creeds and Confession like toys, which have lost their charm and fascination. We carelessly throw them in the corner and begin looking for something new.
The Creeds and Confessions are not toys; they are tools—the great tools of the Reformation. They were constructed of big chunks of the Word of God, smelted in the fiery process of challenge and opposition, formed to be used by the children of the Reformation that they might always be Reformed “according to the Word of God.”
To confess the Creeds with integrity, appreciation, and thankfulness to God is not our option, but our duty. To insist that they be preached, taught, and defended is our responsibility.
There is much envy out in the churches toward the evangelical world. That world appears to have glitz, glamour, charisma, and excitement; it appears to have everything that we want. In reality, we have what it seeks and desperately needs. We have the Truth. We must continue to preach, teach, defend, and promote this Truth. We have mighty tools, while it is still trying to discover the right pieces. The Reformed faith is a thoroughly and consistently biblical faith.
Our concern should be about the Reformed Faith. I came into the Christian Reformed Church as a Calvinist, a traditional five-point Calvinist. I’ve heard that condemned as “that old scholastic stuff,” “wooden biblicism” and other names that I don’t recall. I would almost rather hear it condemned than to see it ignored.
There are only two roads of departure from the Reformed faith. One road generally leads to a broad evangelicalism. This road provides a spectrum of evangelical belief from pentacostalism to fundamentalism.
The other road of departure from the Reformed faith is a bankrupt liberalism. Its voice turns from “change” to “denial” rather quickly, until truth turns to relativism, and relativism to agnosticism.
If forced to choose between these two, I would much rather stand with evangelicals. At least they are brothers in the Lord. But, I would rather not have to choose. Why should I knowingly travel either path, if revival of the Reformed faith is still possible.
Evangelicalism is the Reformed faith in its infancy. Why would I want to go back to infancy? I better serve the cause of Christ if I maintain my biblical distinctiveness and share that with my evangelical world.
Our children are not (for the most part) learning who John Calvin is and what he taught. If they are, they are hearing about him in a derogatory fashion and are told to dismiss his teaching. I don’t know what Calvinism is to you, but to me it is a “godly preoccupation with the doctrine of salvation.” What could be more foundational than that? What is a Calvinist? A sinner who has been saved by God’s grace. Every true believer is a Calvinist in the narrowest sense of the word. The evangelical world is ready now for an in-depth, biblical explanation of faith and salvation. The question is, have we so completely lost sight of our Calvinistic heritage that we have nothing to share with them?
We have more than just an explanation of salvation to give to them. As Abraham Kuyper said, “Calvinism is a life-system.” The sanctifying and redeeming grace of God must continue to be brought to bear upon our culture. To proclaim Christ as Sovereign Lord over all creation is the goal of our Calvinism. What could be more inclusive than that? Yet most have lost sight of Calvin and Kuyper, or are trying to run the system without the gospel as its heart. You can’t run the life-system of Calvinism without a Bible that speaks with final and timeless authority, without a gospel that demands that we be born again, without churches nurturing members conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. Pray to God that we return to both the form and the spirit of the Reformed faith.
Fourthly, we should be concerned about our mission as a Church. Will our Synods be force d to follow the social agenda of popular, progressive leadership? The recent past has shown that Synod is engaged in a rather interesting game of “Mother, May I” with its membership. It seems that almost any question asked that serves the purpose of the popular, progressive agenda receives all of the time, attention, and resources necessary to enact change. “Mother, may I interpret the Bible with a new and improved hermeneutic? May I dance? May I have women office-bearers? May I use higher criticism to interpret Genesis and feed the fire of theistic evolution?” “Well, yes you can. After all, you had the courage to ask, and these things are for the good of the family.”
What will our answer be as Synod’s agenda gets cluttered with questions about other issues that we have always believed to have been settled by the Word of God? What about Liberation Theology? Homosexuality? Nuclear disarmament? Women elders? Women preachers? If recent past history repeats itself, if someone has the courage to ask the question on the popular progressive agenda, the church will take all the time and resources necessary to enact change.
What is our mission? Have we nothing more important to do than engross ourselves in such church politicking? Is every soul surrounding our local churches aware of the gospel witness? Is every mission field conquered? Have we arrived at such perfect sanctification in Christ that we can afford the luxury of debating the faith and practice already embraced by our members? What corporate contempt before God, that we should neglect Christ’s great commission and spend our time and resources on things that do not work for love and edification. God grant that we may all repent of such self-centered contempt for God’s Mission and the great tools He has given us to accomplish it.
III. How should I be concerned?
A. Prayerfully. Paul said “and I pray” in the midst of every situation. We must prayerfully commit our concerns to God. We must ask God to bless us with wisdom and discernment to make our concerns active and constructive.
B. Actively. The Scripture says, “earnestly contend for the faith.” We must be aggressive, by every means lawful, to stop the cancer which has entered our body.
C. Informed. Paul said, “It is reported to me,” and we can do nothing about problems if we do not know the facts. We can also do nothing if we do not devise a working and patient plan for victory.
D. Militantly. Paul said, “fight the good fight of faith.” He said it of himself and commended it for others. Do you love your faith enough to fight for it? Do you cherish your salvation enough to work for it? Do you love your church enough to contend for her Truth?
Stephen M. Arrick is the pastor of the Calvary C.R. Church at Lowell, Michigan. This is the substance of a speech presented on Jan. 8, 1987, at the Caledonia CR Church at the organizational meeting of the Thornapple Valley Chapter of the Committee of Concerned Members of the CRC.