The Church’s Perpetual Need: The Preservation of Old Paths (2)

3: The Liturgical Path

Another significant mark representative of our eighty-five-year denominational heritage, is our liturgical path. Church worship and liturgy — how we conduct a service, the forms we use, etc. — are critical for a church. Happily, our worship and liturgy have always been controlled by biblical simplicity and our three doctrinal standards which are grounded in Scripture. It is a good custom to preach from the Heidelberg Catechism weekly and to read the Belgic Confession of Faith and Canons of Dordt regularly at worship services. On this biblical and Reformed foundation, we engage in congregational worship for approximately an hour and a half two or three times each Lord’s Day to hear what God desires to speak to us through His Word.

We believe in the regulative principle of scriptural worship so ably set forth by the Westminster divines when they forbade all intrusion into the worship service of that which is not expressly commanded in Scripture. In our worship and liturgy, the proclamation of God’s Word, petitioning of His Name, the administration of the sacraments, and the singing of psalmody, receive exclusive emphasis for these are the ingredients Scripture sets forth as belonging to congregational worship. Moreover, we believe that jealous vigilance of time set aside in the worship service to preach, pray, and sing is in itself sufficient reason to reject all other intrusions, such as personal testimonies, congregational readings, and choir singing. Let us uphold the underlying principle of our liturgy: coveted preservation of Word-proclamation to the total exclusion of man-centered activities and worship. All that transpires in the worship service must be subordinate to and reinforce the central event of the service: God’s ambassador speaking on God’s behalf. Consequently, anything that would hinder the worshiper from giving full attention to God’s message to him must be rejected.

To maintain the good, old path of Reformed liturgy we must devote undiluted attention to the proclamation of the Word of God — biblically, doctrinally, experimentally and practically. Never may we become primarily a social church, seek social ministers, nor expand ministerial obligations to such a degree that serious pulpit preparation inevitably suffers. The highest calling of the minister must remain the prayerful, Spirit-guided preaching of the Word to the glory of God; the highest goal of each church member must be the prayerful, Spirit-applied receiving of the Word to the glory of God. We come to church to worship God — not man.

For God’s hungry people, the assembly of worship becomes their “home”; the preaching of the Word and its accompanying ordinances become precious “green pastures” for them. The whole system of instituted worship bears the image and superscription of their Lord and Lawgiver, who maintains His authority and imparts His grace through them by means of Word and Spirit. Precious as the Word of divine truth is in itself, this Word is ordinarily clothed with less majesty and accompanied with less power in the exercises of their closet than in the service of the sanctuary. “The Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob” (Ps. 87:2).

Next to the Holy Spirit, the ministry of the Word is Jesus Christ’s principal ascension-gift. It is a standing pledge to the church, and a sure proof to the world, that He is now “in the presence of God for us.” Therefore it pleases Him to put a special honor upon this institution for the preaching of the cross which is foolishness to them that perish, is the power of God to them that believe (1 Cor. 1:21-24). Oh, what a blessing to receive food and rest for our souls under God’s preached Word! Under the divine Word in public worship, God’s people may find the balm of Gilead, rest upon the unconditional promises of God, be strengthened in their inward man, and find finished salvation in Christ. There, in the house of God, Jehovah’s flock meet their God and shepherding King. There Christ rests and dwells, for He has desired it. There Christ abundantly blesses Zion’s provision, satisfies her poor with bread, and clothes her priests with salvation, so that her saints shout aloud for joy (Ps. 132:14-16).

4: The Doctrinal Path

We are also called to preserve the doctrinal path of our forebears. The special emphasis on orthodox, experiential doctrine that our denomination has established over the past eighty-five years is based primarily upon God’s Word, and only secondarily flows out of our creeds, confessions, and the writings of godly divines. Rooted in God’s Word, and thus beginning and ending in God’s sovereign good pleasure, the path of true doctrine is being neglected or misunderstood by the majority of church members today; indeed, we are in grave danger of backsliding from this critical path. How few understand with their minds, much less in their hearts, the preciousness of the doctrines of free grace in which God is exalted to the highest and man abased to the lowest! If and when we lose the doctrinally sound path of emphasizing God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility in a balanced manner, future generations will receive a spoiled heritage. Then, as in so many other churches today, human will-worship will prevail.

In both textual exposition and in catechism preaching, we must emphasize and re-emphasize the old beaten path rightly called sound, orthodox doctrine. Our young people must know what we believe, why we believe as we do, and how to defend it. They must know the foundations of the truth and understand the distinctives of our denomination. Is not God’s warning to Israel by means of Hosea equally applicable to us today — “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge” (4:6)? We must labor with all our power, first and foremost as office-bearers, but also as members, to learn, digest, and study the doctrines that God has handed down to us through our forefathers, examining them in the light of Scripture and praying that the Spirit may bless them to our hearts.

True doctrine excludes man’s contributing to his salvation. Rooted in God’s Word, it leads to true experience when accompanied with the Spirit’s blessing. Contrary to popular opinion, experience does not dictate doctrine, but doctrine applied begets experience. Succinctly stated, experience is rooted in doctrine; doctrine is rooted in Scripture; Scripture is rooted in God.

Commencing with God, continuing with Scripture, doctrine and experience, the path of truth preaches the necessity of the Holy Spirit. For who can appropriate true experience to himself without the Spirit’s application? It also points to Christ as the end of the law, as heaven’s Heaven, and as All-in-all of His church (Jn. 16:13-14; Col. 3:11). Christ, in turn, leads to the covenant of grace as the eternal charter God has given to His flock. Oh, what a blessed ancient path is that eternal counsel of peace in which the triune God, from eternity to eternity, binds Himself to Himself by a blood-decreed, blood-agreed way through Christ to save and establish His church, restoring her into intimate covenant union with Himself on the grounds of justice by means of His Word and Spirit! Thus, the eternal covenant of redemption leads to the Father’s sovereign election. “The Lord knoweth them that are His” (2 Tim. 2:19). The covenant was established, not as an end in itself, but to direct the church to the fulfillment of calling and salvation in a sovereign Father. The covenant serves divine election. And election ends in, and serves, the triune God’s pure sovereign pleasure (Rom. 9-11 ). This, then, is the old biblical and Reformed path of sound doctrine: (1) God; (2) His Word; (3) sound doctrine; (4) true experience; (5) the work of the Holy Spirit; (6) Jesus Christ as full Savior; (7) the covenant of grace; (8) election; (9) pure, sovereign good pleasure. Thus, salvation begins with God, is fulfilled by God, and ends in God. It is exclusively a divine work of free grace.

These Reformed doctrines that underscore God’s sovereignty, however, by no means deny God’s unconditional offer of one-sided grace to all hearers of the gospel nor relieve any of us of our responsibility (see Canons of Dort, III-IV, 8-9). The biblical, Reformed faith steadfastly maintains that the church is called to walk by the revealed will of God rather than His secret will. “The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law” (Deut. 29:29).

The words of this law, the Holy Scriptures, speak both positively and negatively of this offer and the responsibility of man inseparably connected to it. On the one side there are gracious invitations:

“Unto you, O men, I call; and My voice is to the sons of man” (Prov. 8:4). “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price” (Isa. 55:1). “Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel” (Ezek. 33:11). “In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink” (John 7:37). “Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins” (Acts 13:38). “Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely” (Rev. 22:17).

Then there are also serious warnings:

“He that rejecteth Me, and receiveth not My words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day” (John 12:48). “In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Th. 1:8). “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard Him” (Heb. 2:3). “See that ye refuse not Him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused Him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from Him that speaketh from heaven” (Heb. 12:25). “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?” (1 Pet. 4:17).

Our Reformed forefathers stressed that for those hearers of the gospel who reject these explicit divine declarations, it shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah and for Tyre and Sidon in the day of days than for them (Heb. 10:29). Against them the wrath of the Lamb shall be kindled; it will be a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God.

The doctrines associated with God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility have also been an integral part of our denominational heritage. For example, the 1954 Synod minutes of the NRC in North America state:

It is our earnest conviction that the doctrine proclaimed to us in the Word of God, expressed in the confessions, and of which our congregations have ever been proponents, is that the absolute sovereignty of God is to be preached in maintaining His eternal counsel in the election as well as the rejection of men. However, at the same time the truthful and sincere offer of God’s grace to all hearers of the gospel is to be preached. The doctrines of responsibility and the unconditional offer of grace, however, are also not to be separated from the truths of our total depravity, inability, and unwillingness to seek after God. Rather, as too few realize, the doctrine of God’s one-sided, unconditional offer of grace, serves to emphasize that whereas God freely offers His Son and His benefits to all who hear the gospel, He also frees Himself from the blood of all hearers, for due to our deep and tragic fall in Adam, our corrupt nature will always reject God’s invitations, “except we are regenerated by the Spirit of God” (Heidelberg Catechism, Q. 8). Thus, the offer of grace when rightly understood prevents anyone from casting blame upon divine predestination, for reprobation is always both sovereign and just, particularly for those who have lived under the gospel and die in unbelief, for they make God a liar (1 John 5:10). Therefore no one will end in hell who has not fully deserved to be there. In fact, as Thomas Brooks solemnly writes, those who have rejected the gospel shall be “thrust into the center of hell to endure hell within hell.” In short, the offer of grace on the one hand reveals that God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked but therein that they would turn unto Him and live, and on the other hand it absolves God, condemns man, and serves to focus on the guilt (rather than the excuse) of our inability and unwillingness. “Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions” (Eccl. 7:29).

Thus, both rails upon which the train of true doctrine travels — namely, divine sovereignty and human responsibility — reenforce free will, Arminianism, and easy believism as tragic error. May God keep us far from the repugnant error of human possibility: “And they were astonished out of measure, saying among themselves, Who then can be saved? And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible” (Mark 10:26-27).

May God graciously teach us that ever since our fall in Paradise there was nothing in us, is nothing in us, and never shall be anything to come from us that could make us acceptable or righteous before God. The best of our best is as filthy rags in God’s sight (Is. 64:6). All that is of value for eternity must flow solely from the pure stream of free and sovereign grace. Only sovereign grace can satisfy a truly convicted sinner, for when it is right within, our confession is, “I have sinned myself outside of communion with God and chosen death and hell.” Oh, dear friends, the Lord is sufficiently clear of our blood to damn us all to hell without one word of objection from us! In the Day of days we shall not have one answer upon a thousand questions (Job 9:3). Free grace is and must remain our only hope.

Sovereign grace is the doctrinal heritage revived by the Reformation in the sixteenth century, the heritage preached in our churches for eighty-five years. God forbid that we sell His vineyard, though, Naboth-like, it cost us our blood!

Let it also be stated unequivocally that this old path of sovereign grace doctrine in not antiquated. The truth is never outdated. The truth is always real, always substantial, always relevant. Especially to the young people, we desire to testify unashamedly that our denomination and office-bearers, by the grace of God, though beset with many human imperfections, may still cling to the true and sound doctrine of free and sovereign grace. It is this doctrine built on God’s Word that gives us an identity, not only in the eyes of God, but also in the midst of those wavering churches which have no foundation beyond the sandy one of pleasing men. A minister from a Reformed congregation once said to me, “If I ever had an opportunity to speak to your young people, I would say to them: ‘You still have an identity to maintain in the Netherlands Reformed Congregations. Value your heritage. In our church nothing can be called truth any longer; everything is accepted; everything can be believed in the name of sincerity; every man can do that which is right in his own eyes. Therefore, hold fast to the truth, maintain your foundations, live your identity.’”

Young people, parents, seniors, are you nurturing, championing, defending our doctrinal paths? How many of us are truly concerned to hear, learn, and live true doctrine as spoken from the pulpit both in preaching and reading services? How many of us are truly concerned to experience death in Adam and life in Christ? How many are concerned to acknowledge the full responsibility of man preached on the foundation of our tragic fall in Paradise? How many are truly concerned to hear, above all, the full sovereignty of God proclaimed —that sovereignty which is our only hope for salvation if we truly believe in the doctrine of total depravity?

Are we carefully guarding the old path of God’s sovereignty which does not allow one speck of man’s responsibility to be taken away, but by which we must come to experientially learn that we can do nothing with all our responsibility other than fall into the hands of a sovereign God who is righteously free to do with us what He will? Are we concerned that our doctrinal path retains God’s sovereign good pleasure as the heart of all truth, as the “hub of the wheel” from out of which other doctrines flow as spokes, to form the only true religion in the world which serves to the utter exaltation of God and the total abasement of man?

Are we concerned to “live out” the rich “spokes” of doctrine preached in all their fulness? Do we know by experience the doctrines of God’s eternal love, our deep fall in Paradise, redemption through the blood of Christ, justification, sanctification, perseverance, and the Spirit’s indwelling?

Ought we not fear that ignorance and indifference of our doctrines and doctrinal heritage is making us ripe for the loss of that heritage? On our eighty-fifth anniversary as a denomination, it behooves us to turn Jeremiah 6:16 into an earnest petition, “Grant us grace to stand in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and to walk therein.”

[to be continued]

Dr. J.R. Beeke is pastor of the First Netherlands Reformed Congregation of Grand Rapids, Michigan.

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