What are the springs of true obedience? Find out in this post as I continue to blog through the Marrow of Modern Divinity with my friends.

The Marrow blog is back after a brief hiatus. I just posted a brief meditation on the opening of Fisher’s section on the “law of Christ.” Hopefully, my blog partners will be inspired to start posting again.

Next Tuesday night, May 3, from 7-9PM our White Horse Inn discussion group in Regina, SK will be hosting a live Skype session with one of the White Horse Inn co-hosts, Dr. Kim Riddlebarger. Dr. Riddlebarger has graciously agreed to teach on the end times for about 45 minutes followed by a Q&A session. If you are in the area and are interested in learning more about what the Bible teaches about the end times you won’t want to miss this.

Dr. Riddlebarger is a minister in the United Reformed Churches of North America and pastors Christ Reformed Church in Anaheim, CA. He is also visiting professor of systematic theology at Westminster Seminary California and a frequent contributor to Tabletalk and Modern Reformation. He has written two books on the end times: A Case for Amillennialism: Understanding the End Times, and The Man of Sin: Uncovering The Truth About the Antichrist. He has also spoken at many conferences on this topic. For free resources on this subject visit his blog, The Riddleblog, where he has a plethora of free charts, manuscripts and audio.

We’ll be meeting at my house for our discussion. If you need directions or more info you can e-mail me at brian@redeemerchurch.ca. Hope to see you there!

Shane Lems is a pastor in the URC who has planted a URC church in Sunnyside, WA. He also co-edited the book Planting, Watering, Growing: Planting Confessionally Reformed Churches in the 21st Century. He blogs at The Reformed Reader. As I type he is presenting “11 Theses” on church planting along with an annotated bibliography on church planting under each theses. It is an excellent resource. He says this is a work in progress, but this is his wisdom on the topic thus far:

1. Church plants need to focus on making disciples (evangelism) and maintain that focus after the church is organized/particularized.
2. Those involved with planting a church need to be well informed before the plant begins.
3. Church plants need to think, act, and exist like missionaries by “contextualizing” to some extent.
4. Church plants need to know the dynamics of an average American church/Christian
5. Church plants need to take leadership training very seriously.
6. Church plants need to continually train the disciples they are making.
7. Church plants need to have a biblically structured liturgy that is understandable and explainable.
8. Church plants need to have a solid knowledge of and love for the church.
9. Church plants must be ready, willing, and able to minister to all sorts of people.
10. Church plants should always have a wide variety of free reading material available.
11. Church plants must be familiar with the methods and means of other denominations and networks that have experience in church planting.

This looks like a great book on “Planting Confessionally Reformed Churches in the 21st Century.” I’ll be picking up my copy next week at the first ever URCNA Church Planting Conference/Colloquium in Denver, CO. You can get your copy here.

Here is the publishers description:

“As a response to the unique challenges facing the twenty-first-century American church, church planting has become a popular topic. But at a time when churches that spread the seed of the Word through preaching, the sacraments, and prayer are greatly needed, much of the focus has been on planting churches that adapt pop culture to meet “consumer demand.”  In Planting, Watering,Growing, the authors of this collection of essays weave together theological wisdom, personal experiences, and practical suggestions, guiding readers through the foundations and methods of planting confessional churches that uphold the Word of God.”

 

Table of Contents:

Foreword: Was the Reformation Missions-Minded?—Michael S. Horton

Introduction—Daniel R. Hyde and Shane Lems

 

Part 1: The Foundation of Planting Churches

1     The Fruitful Grain of Wheat—Brian Vos

2     The Sovereign Spirit of Missions: Thoughts on Acts 16:6–10 and Church Planting—Daniel R. Hyde

3     The Reformed Confessions and Missions—Wes Bredenhof

4     No Church, No Problem?—Michael S. Horton

 

Part 2: The Methods of Planting Churches

5     Church Planting Principles from the Book of Acts—Daniel R. Hyde

6     Heart Preparation in Church Planting—Paul T. Murphy

7     Church Planting: A Covenantal and Organic Approach—Paul T. Murphy

8     Planning the Plant: Some Thoughts on Preparing to Plant a New Church—Kim Riddlebarger

 

Part 3: The Work of Planting Churches

9     On Being a Church Planter—Daniel R. Hyde

10     Being a Welcoming Church Plant—Kevin Efflandt

11     Flock and Family: A Biblical Balance—Shane Lems

12     Declare His Praise among the Nations: Public Worship as the Heart of Evangelism—Daniel R. Hyde

13     “How’s the Food?” The Church Plant’s Most Important Ingredient—Michael G. Brown

14     Church Membership and the Church Plant—Michael G. Brown

15     Shepherding Toward Maturity, Part 1: The Authority in Church Planting— Spencer Aalsburg

16     Shepherding Toward Maturity, Part 2: Identifying a Mature Church Plant— Spencer Aalsburg

17     Motivation: The Planting Church and the Planted Church—Eric Tuininga

 

Part 4: The Context of Planting Churches

18     Church Planting in a Melting Pot—Shane Lems

19     The Cultural Factor in Church Planting—Mitchell Persaud

20     Growing Contextually Reformed Churches: Oxymoron or Opportunity?—Phil Grotenhuis

21     Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?—Michael S. Horton

 

Epilogue—Daniel R. Hyde and Shane Lems

 

Appendix A Church-Plant Timeline: A Big and Brief Picture of a Plant—Daniel R.    Hyde and Shane Lems

Appendix B The Steering Committee—Spencer Aalsburg

Appendix C Guidelines for the Steering Committee—Spencer Aalsburg

 

Selected Bibliography

Contributors

Scripture Index

Confessions Index

 

About the Editors:

Daniel R. Hyde and Shane Lems are the church planters and pastors of the Oceanside United Reformed Church in Carlsbad/Oceanside, California, and United Reformed Church of Sunnyside in Sunnyside, Washington.

Contributors:

Michael S. Horton, Brian Vos, Wes Bredenhof, Paul T. Murphy, Kim Riddlebarger, Kevin Efflandt, Michael G. Brown, Spencer Aalsburg, Eric Tuininga, Mitchell Persaud, Phil Grotenhuis

I have always loved the words of the URCNA form for communion for those churches who celebrate the Lord’s Supper frequently. One of my parishioners has often told me that he really loves these words as well. So I thought it would be good to share these beautiful words which explain in a nutshell the Reformed view of the Lord’s Supper and how we should approach it with reverence, joy and thanksgiving.

Form for the Frequent Celebration of the Lord’s Supper

Approved for provisional use 2/15/07; revised 12/07/09

Preparation:

To all of you who have confessed your sins and affirmed your faith in Christ, the promise of Jesus is sure: “Whoever eats my body and drinks my blood has eternal life and will not come into condemnation.” For on the night in which our Lord was betrayed, he took bread; and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body, which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of me.” After the same manner also he took the cup, saying, “this cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” While remaining bread and wine, these sacred elements nevertheless become so united to the reality they signify that we do not doubt but joyfully believe that we receive in this meal nothing less than the crucified body and shed blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.

For all who live in rebellion against God and unbelief, this holy food and drink will bring you only further condemnation. If you do not yet confess Jesus Christ and seek to live under his gracious reign, we admonish you to abstain. But all who repent and believe are invited to this sacred meal not because you are worthy in yourself, but because you are clothed in Christ’s perfect righteousness. Do not allow the weakness of your faith or your failures in the Christian life to keep you from this table. For it is given to us because of our weakness and because of our failures, in order to increase our faith by feeding us with the body and blood of Jesus Christ. As the Word has promised us God’s favor, so also our Heavenly Father has added this confirmation of his unchangeable promise. So come, believing sinners, for the table is ready. “Taste and see that the Lord is good.”

The Consecration:

Let us pray:

Almighty and everlasting God, who by the blood of your only begotten Son has secured for us a new and living way into the Holy of Holies, cleanse our minds and hearts by your Word and Spirit that we, your redeemed people, drawing close to you through this holy sacrament, may enjoy fellowship with the Holy Trinity through the body and blood of Christ our Savior. We know that our Ascended Savior does not live in temples made by hands, but is in heaven where he continues to intercede on our behalf. Through this sacrament, by Your own Word and Spirit, may these common elements be now set apart from ordinary use consecrated by You, so that just as truly as we eat and drink these elements by which our life is sustained, so truly we receive into our souls, for our spiritual life, the true body and true blood of Christ. We receive these by faith, which is the hand and mouth of our souls.

Apostles’ Creed (optional):

Sursum Corda:

Let us now go to our Heavenly Table and receive the gift of God for our souls. By the promise of God this bread and wine are for us the body and blood of Christ.

(Minister) Lift up your hearts!

(People) We lift them up to the Lord.

Communion:

(The elements are distributed, and the minister may use the formula)

The bread which we break is a communion of the body of Christ. Take, eat, remember, and believe that the body of our Lord Jesus Christ was broken for a complete remission of all our sins.

The cup of blessing which we bless is a communion of the blood of Christ. Take, drink all of it, remember, and believe that the precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ was shed for a complete remission of all our sins.

Thanksgiving prayer:

Our gracious Heavenly Father, we thank you for the blessing of this holy feast. Although we are unworthy to share this meal with you, it is by your invitation and dressed in Christ’s righteousness that we have come boldly into the Holy of Holies. Instead of wrath, we have received your pardon; in the place of fear we have been given hope. Our High Priest and Mediator of the New Covenant has reconciled us to you and even now intercedes for us at your right hand. Please strengthen us by these gifts so that, relying only on your promise to save sinners who call on Jesus’ name, we may, by your Spirit, honor you with our souls and bodies, to the honor

Evangelista says to Antinomista concerning the Abrahamic covenant it was “the very voice itself of the gospel, it being a true testimony of Jesus Christ.” How then was this so? Read more here.

The Oceanside United Reformed Church has provided a great opportunity to support the Kauai Reformation Church plant. I love this church. I had the privilege and joy of meeting them all and filling the pulpit while I was in seminary. I’d love to see the work continue and for the Gospel to be proclaimed on “The Garden Island” of Hawaii. For more details on how to support this work, see the e-mail below from Pastor Danny Hyde:

Hello friends, colleagues, and everyone else in between!

I am sending this note to almost everyone in my contact list in order to spread an opportunity as far and wide as possible for the sake of Christian missions.

As a means of providing some residual support for our mission work, the Kauai Reformation Church (http://www.kauaireformation.com), and our church planter there, Rev. Derrick Vander Meulen, the consistory (pastors & elders) of the Oceanside United Reformed Church and a gifted member of our congregation have produced an attractive book containing the ancient Christian creeds and Reformed confessions, entitled, Our Faith. Again, all revenue goes directly to support the work of missions on the island of Kauai.

Many of you already have these documents readily available. If you do not, or if you would like to add this edition to your collection, all for the support of missions, follow the links below.

For $4.99 this paperback can be purchased: http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/our-faith/14850604

For $3.99 this downloadable .pdf for your e-reader can be purchased: http://www.lulu.com/product/file-download/our-faith/14850605

Blessings and please forgive the intrusion into your inboxes.

Danny

(click to view issue on-line)

 

One of the hardest things in writing a sermon is deciding on what to leave in and what to leave out. And often there is so much more that could be said: so many quotes that could be used, so many Scripture texts that weren’t mentioned, so many more applications and illustrations.

It’s almost like a movie. Viewers watch a movie that is 1 to 2 hours long but there are so many deleted scenes that didn’t make the cut. Because of this there are special features on DVD sets with deleted scenes, an extended version of the movie, an alternate ending, bloopers, etc. A lot of hard work goes into those deleted scenes and it’s nice to be able to show them in some way. I feel this way about some of the things I discover in my study and preparation of a sermon, I wish I could have used these other 5 quotes or applications but I only had 30-40 min (my goal for sermon length). Because of this I thought I would start posting some of the quotes and other applications/illustrations that I discovered in the study while preparing for a sermon that didn’t make the cut. And so, here are some of my “deleted scenes” from this past Sunday’s sermon on the 4th commandment and “The Blessing of the Lord’s Day” (BTW, I won’t always post this many quotes, but these are just too good. I bolded my favorite parts if you just want to skim them):

Michael Horton, A Better Way: Rediscovering the Drama of Christ-Centered Worship (his chapter on this topic is still may favorite thing that has been written on this topic):

“‘I wish I had more time to dig deeply into Scripture and solid Christian teaching, but my life is just too crazy.’ How many times have we heard that? Said that? And yet, deep down we know that we always have time for what we really want to do in life–because we make time. . .The goal of this chapter is to show how God has made time for us and therefore expects us to make time for him. While many readers probably think this statement refers to a daily routine of private devotions, it doesn’t. Though heartily in favor of such habits, I actually have in mind the Lord’s Day, or the Christian Sabbath. For generations of faithful believers, Sunday was not about football or shopping but about God and feeding at his luxuriant table. But somehow, we got caught up in the buzz, and we wonder if we can ever get out. That’s why we keep trying the latest spiritual diet plan–a new quiet time program, a new prayer, maybe even a spiritual director or a week in a monastery. But who suggests a recovery of the Sabbath? Irony of ironies, amid all the stress of ‘try this fad or feel guilty,’ a commitment to the institution that God has actually commanded risks being called legalistic.” (p. 189).

“Therefore, right from the beginning, all of history was moving toward the consummation–the state of living beyond the possibility of sin and death and sharing God’s Sabbath rest with him forever. We see this fleshed out throughout redemptive history, right up to the end, where in Revelation–because of Christ’s fulfillment of the probation–all those who are in him are given the right to finally eat of that Tree of Life (Rev. 2:7; 22:1-5, 14). It will not be a return to Eden–the beginning of the play–but an entrance with Jesus into a state more blessed than the first (innocence), which has yet to be played out on the stage of history (consummation). . .In its character, therefore, the Sabbath is not cessation from activity but cessation from a particular kind of activity–namely, the six-day labor that is intrinsically good but has suffered the curse after the fall. God did not rest because he was tired; rather, it was the rest of completion, the rest of a king who has taken his throne. Representing the consummation, this sabbatical pattern was the way not only of hoping for the new creation but of experiencing it and participating in its peace.” (p. 195).

“The resurrection, sufficient to move the Sabbath to Sunday, reverses the curse placed on creation because of man and represents the birthday of the new creation. Furthermore, it represents the privilege that we as creatures, not just as Christians, were meant to possess” (p, 195).

“The Sabbath is the weekly link to both past creation and future consummation. Thus, it keeps us anchored to the order that God established before the fall as creatures who share his image as well as stretch our necks forward, longing for our full entrance into the Sabbath day that the Second Adam already enjoys with God. The Sabbath keeps us navigationally fixed to these two points–what is built into creation (Alpha) and what is still awaiting us in the future in the new creation (Omega). It gives us the tempo of belonging to the One by whom we exist and for whom our existence is directed” (p. 196).

“Unlike the temple worship, the Sabbath was not a sacrament of the church but an ordinance of creation (like marriage, vocation, and the state) and was not abrogated in the New Testament but strengthened and confirmed. The reinstitution of the Sabbath after the fall was actually very good news: It meant that God still held out hope of entering his rest” (p. 196).

“The Pharisees had misinterpreted the Sabbath, since God had never prohibited works of necessity and mercy. The disciples were not working the fields but receiving God’s provision to sustain their life–the very thing that the Sabbath itself signified. Any approach that turns the Sabbath into a slavish observance misses its point” (p. 197).

“If God’s ‘rest’ is a royal enthronement rather than a cessation of activity, the same is true for us. As kings under God, we take our place with Christ in heavenly places, setting our minds on things above where our true inheritance lies” (p. 198).

“What the Romans called Sunday was in fact the birthday of the new world. Each Lord’s Day is a ‘little Easter‘” (p. 199).

“Who would want to miss this day or crowd out the in-rushing of God’s eternal rest by surrendering it to the twisted, plot-less, pointless, and powerless forces of consumerism, greed, ambition, and self-assertion? Do we not believe that God provides for us?” (p. 200).

“B.B. Warfield captured this transformation of the Sabbath by its fulfillment when he wrote, ‘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’” (p. 201).

“This day was given to us not because we are strong but because we are weak” (p. 204).

“‘But every day is the Lord’s Day’ often leads to the unintentional consequence that no day is the Lord’s Day” (p. 204).

“So, the Sabbath should not be treated as a blank space in the week but as the one space that is filled and overflowing with the richest gifts of divine activity” (p. 205).

D.G. Hart and John R. Muether, With Reverence and Awe: Returning to the Basics of Reformed Worship:

“Why has a practice that enjoyed universal acceptance among American Protestants from roughly 1776 until 1960 virtually disappeared in the last half of the twentieth century?” (p. 63).

“Believers are sanctified through a lifetime of Sabbath observance.  In  other words, the Sabbath is designed to work slowly, quietly, seemingly imperceptively in reorienting believers’ appetites heavenward. It is not a quick fix nor is it necessarily a spiritual high.  It is an “outward and ordinary” ordinance (WSC 88), part of the steady and healthy diet of the means of grace.  . .North American Protestants, we have noted, are generally not in sync with this rhythm.  Attracted to the inward and extraordinary, they commonly suffer from spiritual bulimia, binging at big events, then purging, by absenting themselves from God’s prescribed diet.” (p. 65).

[In response to the objection, “But every day belongs to the Lord” therefore there is not one day that is to be set apart, Hart says]: “The flaw of this argument is easily detected if we apply the same logic to our tithing to the Lord.  We ought to view the Sabbath and our use of time in the same way that we regard the tithe and the stewardship of our money.  To set apart a portion of our income for the work of the church is not to acknowledge that ten-percent of our possessions belong to God.  Rather, it expresses our conviction that all that we possess is the Lord’s.  Still, God’s comprehensive lordship over our possessions does not remove the obligation to give to him a portion specifically for the work of his church.  In a similar way, even though all of our days are to be used in service to God, we are still commanded to set apart one day in seven for special worship and service.  While we live all of life in God’s presence and within his eyesight, only in worship on the Lord’s Day do we enter into the holy of holies.” (p. 67)

“God has given us a holy meal (the Lord’s Supper), holy water (baptism), holy words (preaching), and a holy vocation (the minister of the Word).  He has also given us holy time: one day for worship and rest. Contrary to popular claims, Reformed Christians do believe in a liturgical calendar.  But it is weekly, not seasonal.” (p. 73).

J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Luke volume 2 , [Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1998], 120. {Luke 13:10-17} (HT: Erik Kowalker):

Let us never forget that our feelings about Sundays are sure tests of the state of our souls. The person who can find no pleasure in giving God one day in the week, is manifestly unfit for heaven. Heaven itself is nothing but an eternal Sabbath. If we cannot enjoy a few hours in God’s service once a week in this world, it is plain that we could not enjoy an eternity in His service in the world to come. Happy are those who walk in the steps of her of whom we read today! They shall find Christ and a blessing while they live, and Christ and glory when they die.

Marva J. Dawn, Keeping the Sabbath Holy: Ceasing, Resting, Embracing, Feasting (HT: Rev. Andrea Ferrari via Facebook)

“One of the ugliest things about our culture is that we usually assess a person’s worth on the basis of his or her productivity and accomplishment. Once we have ceased working we might as well [cease producing and accomplishing]. The practice of Sabbath keeping [gives us] the delight of quitting this endless round of trying to produce….”

“One of the reasons that the Sabbath is so freeing is that when we cease working, we dispense with the need to create our own future [not] striving to be God.”

Jason J. Stellman, Dual Citizens: Worship and Life Between the Already and Not Yet:

“This is precisely what the Sabbath does [for God's covenant people]: it enables them to live out their convictions in the context of fellow believers, providing the social support for their ‘otherworldly,’ or heavenly, citizenship. Put another way, a counter-cultural identity and the practice of the Sabbath become mutually reinforcing‘” (p. 59; quoting from: John R. Muether, The Sabbath: Plausibility for Presbyterian Pilgrims)

Brenton Ferry (on the shift from Saturday to Sunday), The Age of Jubilee: A Redemptive Historical Case for the Christian Sabbath:

“The previous arguments (whether satisfying or not) set the stage for my present argument from the Year of Jubilee. Simply stated, the Year of Jubilee fell on the first year after a cycle of seven sabbatical years. Every seventh day, Israel rested for a Sabbath day (Ex. 20:8-10). Similarly, every seventh year, Israel rested for a Sabbath year (Lev. 25:4). But after seven Sabbath years, the climax of the sabbatical calendar was reached on the following Year of Jubilee (Lev. 25:11-12). In other words, the Sabbath of all Sabbaths was the year after the seventh Sabbath year.

This Jubilee pattern was portrayed in miniature annually in the Feast of Pentecost (which means “fifty”). On the day after the seventh Sabbath from the wave offering, the Israelites observed another Sabbath day (Lev. 23:15-21). Therefore, inherent in the annual Sabbath cycle was the anticipation of the climactic Sabbath after the Sabbath.

Furthermore, Ezekiel prophesied that the end of the Babylonian captivity would fall on the Year of Jubilee (Ezek. 46:16-17). Freedom from the Babylonian captivity was a shadow of the redemption of the New Testament era.

We live on the inaugural side of the real Jubilee Sabbath, into which our Savior has entered. The Sabbath of Sabbaths has already begun. The eschatological eighth day has arrived. Therefore, we rest on “the eighth day.” This structure is built into the Old Testament Sabbath calendar, providing God’s people with an inherent anticipation of a better Sabbath, the ultimate Sabbath.“

I have given my opinion on what I think a “Great Hymn, Not So Great Tune” looks like and what a “Great Hymn, Great Tune” looks like.  I thought from here on out I will just post the great hymns that I have discovered in using the Trinity Hymnal this past year, and let you decide if you think the tune is appropriate to and reinforces the words that are written (I’ll join the conversation if and when it get’s going). I like this hymn because of it’s balance between the first use of the law (to drive us to Christ alone for salvation) and the third use of the law (as a rule of love and gratitude for the Christian life). Here is the tune in the Trinity Hymnal (let me know if there are any other tunes floating around on the web). So what do you think, is this a “great tune” or a “not so great tune”?

The Law of God is Good and Wise

By Matthias Loy

The law of God is good and wise,
And sets His will before our eyes,
Shows us the way of righteousness,
And dooms to death when we transgress.

Its light of holiness imparts
The knowledge of our sinful hearts,
That we may see our lost estate
And seek deliverance ere too late.

To those who help in Christ have found
And would in works of love abound
It shows what deeds are His delight
And should be done as good and right.

When men the offered help disdain
And willfully in sin remain,
Its terror in their ear resounds
And keeps their wickedness in bounds.

The law is good, but since the fall
Its holiness condemns us all;
It dooms us for our sin to die
And has no power to justify.

To Jesus we for refuge flee,
Who from the curse has set us free,
And humbly worship at His throne,
Saved by His grace through faith alone.