                         THE
                        STANDARD




VOI. 03, N O .   LU
September  -!,  1989


Contents                                              September  ?,I989                    THE
                                                                                      STANDARD
Meditation  - Rev. lames D. Slopsema                                                     BE4RER
   THE PROMISE TO US AND OUR CHILDREN                                          459
                                                                                      ISS N 0362-4692
EDITORIALLY SPEAKING .  ..-  Prof. David).  Engelsma                           461    Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July,
                                                                                      and August. Published by the Reformed Free Pub-
Editorial  -  Prof. David  /. Engelsma                                                lishing Association, Inc. Second Class Postage Paid
   "FEED MY LAMBS!" - COMMAND TO CATECHIZE                                     461    at Grand Rapids,  Mich.
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                                                                                      Editor-in-chief: Prof. David  J. Engelsma
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THE YOUNG PERSON'S STRUGGLE FOR HOLINESS                                              DEPARTMENT EDITORS
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        Miss Shari Huizinga                                                    469    Arie  denHartog,  Rev. Russell Dykstra, Rev. Barry
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458  / The Standard Bearer  / September 1, 1989


                                        The Promise to Us
Meditation
Rev. James D. Slopsema                  and Our Children

   For the promise is unto you,         shall receive the gift of the Holy          However, of equal importance
and to your children, and to            Spirit.                                  in salvation is the work df the
all that are afar off, even as             For the promise is unto you,          Spirit.. For it is through the Spirit
many as the Lord our God                and to your children, and to all         that God applies to us the bless-
shall call.      -Acts  2:39            that are afar off, even as many as       ings of salvation that are ours in
                                        the Lord our God shall call.             Christ. It is through the Spirit that
                                          This last statement of Peter
  It was Pentecost.                                                              we enjoy the forgiveness of sins,
  And Jesus had poured out the          was really a summary of what             the power of the new life, the
Holy Spirit on the few faithful He      God had spoken through the               hope of life eternal . . . .
had left behind. There had been         prophet Joel, which Peter had               Through Joel God had prom-
                                        already quoted in his sermon.            ised that in the last days He
the sound as of a mighty rushing
wind, cloven tongues as of fire,        This summary of the prophecy of          would pour out the Spirit upon
and last of all the gift of speaking    Joel was given by Peter as a             all flesh.
                                                                                    Certainly the Spirit was
in tongues.                             reason. The crowd must repent
  To the crowd gathered in              and be baptized. Upon such               operative in the salvation of
amazement Peter explained what          repentance they could expect the         God's people in the Old Testa-
they had seen and heard. This is        gift of the Holy Spirit. For, as the     ment. However, the saints of old
that which had been spoken by           prophet Joel had indicated, the          possessed the Spirit and the
the prophet Joel: And it shall          promise is unto you, and to your         salvation of God only in small
come to pass in the last days,          children, and to all that are afar       measure. This was due to the fact
saith God, I will pour out of my        off, even as many as the Lord            that Christ had not as yet come.
                                                                                 We must understand that the
Spirit upon all flesh . . . .           our God shall call.
  Peter went on to explain that           The same applies to us as well.        work of the Spirit depends on the
Jesus of Nazareth, whom the             We must repent. And upon                 atonement of sin. In the Old
crowd had recently slain, God           repentance we may expect the             Testament, however, the atone-
had raised up and exalted at His        gift of the Holy Spirit.                 ment had not yet been accom-
own right hand. And having                Not only to us, but also to our        plished. It had been promised.
received the promise of the Holy        children. For the promise is unto        And on the strength of that prom-
Spirit, Jesus had shed forth this,      us, and to our children, and to all      ise the Holy Spirit worked
which they had seen and heard.          that are afar off, even as many as       salvation in the hearts of God's
  In response many in the crowd         the Lord our God shall call.             people in the Old Testament. But
were pricked in their hearts.           * * * * *  * * * * *                     only in small measure.
Their question to Peter and the           The promise.                              Through the prophet Joel God
disciples was urgent: Men and             Through the prophet Joel God           promised that one day He would
brethren, what shall we do?             had promised to pour out the             pour out the Spirit. There would
  Peter charged them, Repent            Spirit upon all flesh.                   be a gushing forth of the Spirit so
and be baptized every one of you          The work of the Spirit is essen-       that the church would enjoy the
in the name of Jesus Christ for         tial for our salvation. When we          Spirit and His salvation in full
the remission of sins, and you          think of salvation, we tend to           measure.
                                        concentrate our attention on                This promise concerning the
                                        Christ's death on the cross. For         Spirit was fulfilled on the day of
Rev. Slopsema is pastor of the Prot-    through His atoning death Christ         Pentecost, as Peter pointed out in
estant Reformed Church of Walker,       earned salvation.                        His sermon to the crowd. And it
Michigan.                                                                        was of this promise that Peter

                                                                                September 1, 1989  / The Standard Bearer  / 459


 now also spoke - the promise                         In a certain, outward sense          faith and salvation in Jesus
 concerning the gift of the Spirit                  God calls all who hear the             Christ. This certainly is not true
 and salvation.                                     gospel. This is the call Peter pro-    of all children of believing
 * * * * * * *  * * *                               claimed to the crowd on                parents. Born into the line of the
     The promise is unto you, and                   Pentecost. He charged them to          covenant are not just Jacobs, but
 to your children, and to all that                  repent and be baptized in the          also Esaus. Yet, believing parents
 are afar off, even as many as the                  name of Jesus Christ for the           have the assurance that their
 Lord our God shall call.                          remission of sins. This is the call     covenant God will, indeed, give
     This is really a summary of                   to which Jesus referred in His          to them elect children, whom He
what God had said through the                      often repeated statement, "Many         will sovereignly call to faith and
prophet Joel. Through the proph-                   are called but few are chosen."         salvation in Jesus Christ.
et God had proclaimed that the                        As this last statement of Jesus         And so the promise is to
Spirit would be poured out upon                    suggests, the call of the gospel is     believers and their children . . .
all flesh. For most of the Old                     effective only in the elect of God.     even as many as the Lord God
Testament era salvation had been                   And it becomes effective through        shall call.
for the Jews only. One day, how-                   the inner working of the Holy              What an incentive this is for
ever, God would pour out His                       Spirit. For when the elect hear         believing parents. It serves as an
Spirit on all flesh, i.e., on every                the call to repentance, they are        incentive not only to bring forth
tribe, tongue, and nation.                         irresistibly led by the Spirit to       children but also to train them up
     And God had indicated                         turn to Jesus Christ with godly         in the fear of the Lord. Because
through Joel that the gift of the                  sorrow and to cling to Him with         God's promise is also to their
Spirit would not be limited by                     true faith, so that they rely upon      children, even as many as the
any natural considerations. For                    Jesus for all their salvation.          Lord shall call, parents know that
the Spirit woul'd come upon sons                     And it is to those who are            their work is not in vain. They
and daughters, old men and                         called in this sense that the           may labor in the expectation of
young men, male slaves and                         promise comes. The promise is           seeing the fruits of the Spirit in
female slaves. No one would be                     not to all who hear the gospel, so      the lives of their children.
excluded from the gift of the                      that the realization of the prom-         This also presents a challenge
Spirit because of race, nationali-                 ise is conditioned somehow on           to our children and young people.
ty, age, social standing, sex, etc.                man's work and man's choice.            Do not be lulled into a false
     There was, however, one very                  God promises the gift of the Holy       security by your outward place in
important limitation God made in                   Spirit and salvation by the Spirit      the church and by your baptism.
all this when He spoke through                     to those whom He has sovereign-           The promise of the Spirit and
the prophet Joel. The Spirit                       ly called to genuine repentance         salvation is to those whom God
would be poured out only upon                      of faith.                               sovereignly calls to genuine
the remnant whom the Lord                            Consequently, Peter promised          repentance and faith in Jesus
would call.                                        the gift of the Holy Spirit only to     Christ. God's promise of salvation
     All this Peter now summarized                 those who repented and were             is not to those who revel in their
for the crowd on Pentecost. The                    baptized in the name of Jesus           sin, continue in sin, lead others
promise is to you, i.e., the crowd                 Christ for the remission of sins.       into sin. For such like there is on-
of Jews who were pricked in                        The promise is unto you, and to         ly the wrath of God. The promise
their hearts. And the promise is                   your children, and :to all that are     of God is for those only who
to your children. Remember, Joel                   afar off, euen as m&y as the            have come through the call of
had spoken of sons and                             Lord our God shdi call.                 God to hate their sins and who
daughters.                                         * * * * *  *i * * * *                   turn to Jesus Christ to find for-
     And the promise is to all that                  Those whom God calls to faith         giveness and the power to live a
are afar off, i.e., to the Gentiles.               and salvation in Jesus Christ are       godly life.
Remember, Joel had spoken of                       generally found in families.              Repent, therefore, and turn to
all flesh.                                           This brings us to'the realities       Jesus Christ.
     And then there is the qualifier                                                         This is your calling before God
-                                                  of the covenant.
     even as many as the Lord                        Gods covenant is not only             day by day.
your God shall call. The calling                   with believers but also with their        And in the power of the Spirit,
to which both Joel and Peter (in                   children. For that reason God           which is promised to all who tru-
his summary of Joel) referred is                   gives to believing parents elect        ly repent, live in godliness to the
the effective call of God to repen-                children whom He ,will call to          glory of God and the enjoyment
tance and faith.                                                                           of your own soul. Cl

460  / The Standard Bearer  / September 1, 1989


Editorially speaking . . .

  This special issue of The            The list of recommended                   If you find this issue useful for
Standard Bearer is devoted to the    books for the children and young        friends or relatives who do not
subject of the children and young    people was compiled, at our re-         yet subscribe to The SB, copies
people of the church. They are in    quest, by Gary Van Der Schaaf.          can be ordered from our Business
our hearts, not only because of      Most, if not all, of the books are      Manager at $1 per copy. We con-
the natural ties of flesh and        available from him at Family            tinue to ask our readers' help in
blood, but also because of the       Book Services, 826 Edna St.,            spreading the witness of The 573
covenant of God established with     Grand Rapids, MI 49507.                 and increasing the subscription
believers and their children.          We hope that the children and         list.
  The rule concerning catechiz-      young people read at least some            Your comments on the issue,
ing children in Calvin's Geneva      of the articles. Besides asking         or on particular articles (or on an
that appears on the cover is         parents to encourage this, we are       aspect of the subject that we
taken from The Register of the       printing extra copies of this issue     overlooked), are welcome in our
Company of Pastors of Geneva in      and are asking elders in every          "Letters" column.
the Time of Calvin, tr. by P.E.      Protestant Reformed Church to              God bless the PRC with young
Hughes (Grand Rapids: William B.     distribute copies selectively to        men who are stalwart in the
Eerdmans Publishing Company,         older young people in the con-          truth and with young women
1966). The quotation indicates       gregation after the morning ser-        who are beautiful with holi-
Calvin's rejection of child-         vice on September 10.                   ness! El                               -DJE
communion, as well as his in-
sistence on the indoctrination of
the children of the covenant.




                                     "Feed My Lambs!" -
Editorial                            Command to Catechize

   One of the most powerful in-      children at the age of five or six      Bible in successively more ad-
struments in the Protestant          and continue until they are in          vanced courses. Building on the
Reformed Churches for the salva-     their late teens or early twenties.     child's knowledge of Biblical
tion of souls and the coming of      The program is structured so as         history, the churches teach the
the Kingdom of God is catechism.     to correspond to the spiritual and      child of thirteen through sixteen
To their cmldren and young           intellectual abilities of the child     the Heidelberg Catechism. This is
people, the churches give sound,     at different stages of his or her       followed by instruction in the
systematic, intensive, and           development and so as to give           essentials of Reformed doctrine
thorough instruction in the truth    each child a thorough religious         after the pattern of the Belgic
of Holy Scripture - the history,     education.                              Confession. The older young
the doctrine, and the command-         Three times, the child is taken       people and young adults often
ments. They begin with the           through the history of the entire       study the Word in an advanced

                                                                            September 1, 1989  / The Standard Bearer  / 461


doctrines class, using another of                  Geneva," primarily, as he himself      fession of faith and, in this way,
the creeds or special material                     stated, "to see that children          to the holy Supper of the Lord.
prepared by the pastor. Every                      should be duly instructed in the       He does this by giving them
church should offer such a class                   Christian religion." Our own           faith, repentance, and daily con-
for this age-group; and every                      Heidelberg Catechism is a Ref-         version. Catechism does great
young person should avail                          ormation catechism, intended,          and glorious things! It brings little
himself or herself of the class.                   among other ends, for teaching         children to spiritual maturity, so
   Much of the instruction uses                    children the Reformed faith.           that as men (real men of God!)
the time-tested question-and-                        But the instruction of the           and as women (real Christian
answer method.                                     children is commanded the              women!) they are capable in
   By the time he or she is eigh-                  church by God in Holy Scripture.       mind, will, and emotions to do
teen years old, every child has                    Jehovah charged Abraham, in his        the good works by which they
broad and deep knowledge of the                    capacity as father to be sure, but     are called to glorify God and
Reformed faith, unless he or she                   also as teacher of the covenant        serve the church.
sat in class like the wicked                       community, to "command his                Catechism is the instrument by
hearers in the parable of the                      children . . . after him" (Gen.        which the Spirit of holiness
sower from whose hearts the                        1819).  The risen Jesus assigns        makes children godly, purified
devil immediately snatched the                     Peter, apostle and elder in the        not only from rebellion, fornica-
Word "lest they should believe                     New Testament church, his              tion, and drunkenness, but also
and be saved" (Luke 812).                          solemn duty: "Feed My Lambs"           from the idols and false messiahs
  This is the noble tradition of                   (John 21:15).                          of the cults, false churches, and
the church from the beginning.                       The obedience of the PRC to          heresies. Walking in this piety,
Writing on creeds and their role                   God's command comes out in the         they enjoy the friendship of God
in the church, John H. Leith                       adopted questions used at the an-      and the assurance of salvation.
notes that the early church                        nual church visitation. In a four-     Pastors may never forget this
prepared adult converts for bap-                   fold way the churches examine          practical purpose of their
tism by "catechetical lectures" in                 themselves concerning the labor        teaching the children! Herman
the faith of the church. "The faith                of catechizing the young. The full     Hoeksema reminds us of this pur-
was authoritatively delivered . . .                consistory is asked whether it         pose in his seminary notes on
to him in the form of a creed.                     sees to the conducting of the          "Catechetics":
The catechumen then learned the                    classes, the materials that are        This instruction should not only be
creed and rendered it back as his                  used, and the attendance. Elders       doctrinal, but also spiritual and prac-
own." Increasingly, the church                     and deacons are questioned             tical. The purpose of this instruction
made use of the question-and-                      whether the minister teaches the       must not be lost sight ot; i.e., to lead
answer method (Creeds of the                       classes. Minister and deacons are      the children of the covenant to the
Churches, pp. 7, 8). The notion                    asked whether the elders super-        conscious confession of faith. The in-
that the church should not indoc-                  vise the classes and help in           struction, therefore, should be
trinate the children of believers,                 teaching when necessary. And a         adapted unto this purpose. It should
                                                                                          show to the children of the covenant
the aversion to the question-and-                  vital question to the full con-        the way in which they may expect
answer method and to "rote                         sistory asks about the fruit of        the assurance of faith and of their
memorization," and the hope                        catechizing, namely, the               personal part in the salvation of God
that ignorant young people "get                    children's seeking admission to        in Christ; and it should encourage
saved" as teen-agers by a                          the Lords Supper. This question,       and admonish them to walk in that
dramatic conversion experience                     of course, presupposes true faith      way (p. 38).
are all part of the incredible folly               in the children.                         The faith, holiness, spirituality,
of churches today that do not                        As this last question brings out,    and experience of the friendship
even know the church's tradition.                  Reformed churches have a deep          with God that the church so
  The Protestant Reformation de-                   concern for catechism because          ardently desires for her children
pended heavily upon catechisms,                    they recognize that catechism is       come as Gods gift through the
particularly for the teaching of                   the means of the Holy Spirit to        teaching of the Word, and no
the children. Martin Luther drew                   accomplish the great covenantal        otherwise. Not in mystical ex-
up "The Small Catechism" for                       work and blessing that God             periences, not in voices directly
children. At the very beginning                    promises to elect children of          from heaven, not in strange
of his ministry in Geneva (1536),                  believers at baptism. By means of      operations of the "Spirit" apart
John Calvin wrote the                              the catechism classes, the Spirit      from doctrine, not in emotional
"Catechism of the Church of                        leads the children to public con-      decisions for Christ under the

462  / The Standard Bearer  I September 1, 1989


"ministry" of some vagrant                the children until they are twelve       the older children sound doc-
"evangelist," but in the hearing          or fourteen years old is foolish, if     trine, the doctrine contained in
of the Word from childhood is to          it is not disobedience to Christ.        the ecumenical creeds and in the
be hoped the realizing of God's           The best years for impressing the        Reformed confessions. And as
covenant with the children of             Word upon their souls are past           you teach, and sometimes weep
believers.                                by then. Besides, Jesus did not          over the seeming lack of fruit -
   If this is the importance of           say, "Feed My young bucks, and           the disinterest, the unspirituality,
catechism  - means of faith!, the         My young ewes," but, "Feed My            the unholiness, pray. Then, you
pastor must teach the classes.            lambs."                                  may teach with confidence. God
Teaching catechism is the second             Parents, send your children to        will honor His Word. God will
duty mentioned in the                     catechism! They are the church's        keep His covenant. Whether
"call-letter." The refusal of             children too. The church has a          sooner or later, He will produce
Reformed pastors today to teach           right to them that hour of the           the fruit of faith and obedience.
the catechism classes is not due          week set aside for catechism.            In the end, it will be true for you
to their enormous busyness in             Send them prepared. When they           what we sing from Psalm 126:
the Word and in prayer, but               come home, make sure that they           The sower bearing precious seed
rather to their neglect of God's          listened and that they behaved.         May weep as in his toil he grieves,
covenant and, in many cases, to           And pray that God will bless the        But he shall come again with joy
sheer laziness. Shepherds refuse          teaching.                               In harvest time with golden sheaves.
to feed the lambs! And if they               Pastors, teach catechism!                Elders, supervise catechism!
think that a silly, little "children's    Teach with authority. Indoc-            Make sure the pastor does this
sermon" for a few minutes on              trinate. Hand down to the               work well. Does he take it
Sunday morning satisfies the              children the faith of the church        seriously? Does he prepare? Does
Great Shepherd, they are in for           as it has come to us. Teach with        he cover the material? Is he
the surprise of their lives.              urgency and passion. Before you         teaching the truth? Does he make
  Sufficient time must be de-             are God's dear, blood-bought            the class interesting? Elders can
voted to this work. No class              sons and daughters. By your             inquire about this also on family
should be shorter than forty-five         teaching, you save them. Teach          visitation.
minutes. Fifteen minutes are easi-        the truth. Leave the puppets,               Children and young people, at-
ly taken up by prayer, singing,           movies, and religious comic strips      tend catechism faithfully and
and recitation. The half-hour that        at home, in the trash can. But          with willing hearts! Prepare!
remains is the bare minimum for           bring the Word of God - the liv-        Listen! Go to catechism as though
a good Bible-story and answering          ing, mighty, wonder-working             it were Jesus Christ Who calls
questions with which the little           Word of God. Preach the stories         you to come. Hear the instruction
children are full (which surely           to the little ones. Preach them as      as though it were God Who is
must be the most delightful work          the true, factual history that they     teaching you.
that Christ privileges the Re-            are. How a minister dares to tell          It is. Cl                           -DJE
formed pastor to perform). For            five and six year-old baptized
older children, classes should be         children that God really did not
a full hour.                              create the world in six days by                A Steadfast Heart
  Consistories should strenuously         His Word; that there never was
resist all efforts to shorten the         an Adam and an Eve; that the            Oh keep me steadfast! Earthly
season. Thirty classes, which is          story of the serpent and the for-              tones
the rule among us, do not take            bidden fruit is a fairy tale, like          Fall sweetly on my ear,
up a full eight months. In my             "Little Red Riding Hood'; and           And while I pause to list to them
seminary class notes on                   that the flood (if there was one at         Thy voice I cannot hear.
"Catechetics" (now yellowing) ap-         all) was just a big puddle in the       Oh keep me steadfast! Human
pears this quotation from Pro-            valley between the Tigris and                  smiles
fessor Herman Hoeksema:                   Euphrates Rivers, amazes me.               Delude my childish heart;
Besides, in many of our churches,         That parents dutifully entrust          While rapt in them how easily
the duration of catechism is far too      their children to such ministers           From Thee I can depart.
short, viz., little more than half a      amazes me still more. It would                                -S.B. Oct. 1, 1927
year. It should run from September        terrify me. Is no one afraid any-
through May.                              more to come into the presence
  For the church to delay the             of Jesus the Judge with the blood
beginning of her instruction of           of the lambs on his hands? Teach

                                                                                  ieptember   1,1989  / The Standard Bearer  / 463


                                                   The Home: Heartbeat
   Ron 
Mr.           Koole                                of the Covenant

   "I have `no greater joy than to                   Wherever one turns in the              The school is the extension of
hear that my children walk in                      Scripture to passages that deal        the home. It cannot and must not
truth" (III John 4). This verse cer-               specifically with instruction of       attempt to replace the home.
tainly states the goal of all in-                  children, one finds that the           Teachers in the school in a very
struction and covenant rearing.                    responsibility falls first of all      real way instruct products of the
To find young people who love                      squarely on the shoulders of           home and church. Let me say a
the truth, confess it with their                   parents, and especially fathers.       few things about these "products"
mouth publicly in the church,                      The home is the heartbeat of the       in their very early years. Most of
and give evidence of it in a godly                 covenant of grace and the prom-        the child's values and attitudes
walk of life in the midst of the                   ise of God to continue His cove-       are developed before the child at-
world is a source of great joy not                 nant in our generations. It is         tends a day of kindergarten.
only to parents but also to                        covenant parents who bring their       These will be developed by the
pastors, teachers, and older                       children to church to receive the      training of us parents by example
members of the church. We                          spiritual food and drink they          (good or bad), the spiritual
know that this is possible only by                 know their children need. It is        climate of our home (godly or
the electing grace of God and the                  parents who send their children        ungodly), and by direct spiritual
fruit of the Spirit in the hearts of               to the Christian school to be in-      instruction (or lack of it). The em-
covenant children. But we also                     structed in all aspects of God's       phasis today is on earlier instruc-
understand, and Scripture is clear                 creation in the light of Holy          tion in numbers and letters. The
on this, that God uses means,                      Scripture. There is no institution     pre-school boom is alive in our
weak and foolish in the eyes of                    that can take the place of the         society. As a teacher I am con-
men, to work faith and godliness                   home, and there is no influence        cerned that children are intellec-
in the hearts and lives of His                     as effective and telling as the in-    tually ready for school; but as a
own. The demands of the cove-                      fluence of the home.                   Christian school teacher I wish
nant obligate Christian parents to                   There is a real danger here for      for a child who has from his
instruct and bring up the children                 us as parents. The danger is that      earliest years been taught sound
God has placed in their care. This                 we begin to think that we fulfill      spiritual values and has
training is a full time, all encom-                our responsibility in covenant         developed a godly attitude. Real-
passing, serious obligation (Deut.                 rearing simply by seeing to it         ly only when this foundation is
6:6-9, Eph. 6:4). Members of the                   that our children go to church to      set is the child ready to attend
church cannot expect to ex-                        hear the truth of the Word             the Christian school and will that
perience the joy in Ill John 4                     preached, and send our children        intellectual training be beneficial
mentioned above if they do not                     to the Christian school to have        in his development. Remember
carry out their God-given calling                  them taught under God-fearing          that Proverbs teaches that the
to train their children in the fear                school teachers, We are quite          fear of the Lord is the beginning
of the Lord.                                       willing to feed and clothe our         not only of wisdom but also of
                                                   children and care for their bodily     knowledge.
                                                   wants and needs but leave their          Let me cite a couple specific
                                                   spiritual needs to proper church       values that are so crucial in these -
                                                   and school instruction. Sadly          early years and need develop-
Mr. Koole is administrator/teacher in              mistaken is this notion, but I fear    ment throughout childhood. First
the Loveland Prof.  Ref: School in                 that it is many times alive with       and foremost is the teaching of
Colorado, and the father of six                    us today.                              reverence and respect for God
young children.

464  I The Standard Bearer  I September 1, 1989


and sacred things. The child must      teachers must demand this loving            chetical instruction our children
see that by our example in the         behavior of our students and so             receive. The home, too, is active
home. The things of God and His        help covenant homes rear their              here in teaching the children the
kingdom causes must be first in        children. The teachers who stand            catechism and reinforcing these
our life. Are they in your home?       in your place had better be lov-            truths.
We need to hear this also in the       ing examples here. Once again, a               As great as this strength of
preaching in church. Not long          child who has been taught his               knowing the truth and being able
ago our pastor preached on the         calling to love is ready for                to identify the lie is (in worldly
reverence of God, from Isaiah          school.                                     textbooks, for example) there is
28:9-10. This teaching is given ac-       In an interesting book entitled          something lacking here. What is
cording to the child's develop-        Baptism and Christian Education,            lacking is the ability to be able to
ment, "those drawn from the            Samuel Miller writes the follow-            turn to the Bible and prove the
breasts," and given repetitively,      ing about developing godliness in           truth and expose the lie. I know
"line upon line, here a little and     early youth:                                that all of us struggle here, but I
there a little." You see, when a       "On the one hand, when the early            think that if we would use more
child comes to school with             youth of children is passed without         repetition and specific application
reverence for God, then he             proper instruction in divine things, it     of passages, we would be better
respects those God has placed in       is difficult to measure or conceive         equipped also to be a witness to
authority over him, his teachers.      the thick darkness which generally          those who ask us concerning our
He can understand and respect          covers their minds, . . . When men          faith. We must be able to "prove
authority in government and the        grow old in ignorance as well as in         all things, hold(ing) fast to that
state (civics). He will respect the    sin, they are surrounded with a dou-
                                       ble barrier against the entrance of         which is good" (I Thess. 5:21).
creation of that God (science) and     heavenly light. On the other hand,             A second weakness in this area
his relation and calling toward        when seed of truth and duty are ear-        is the lack of vitality with which
the earth (geography). He will be      ly and faithfully sown in the minds         our children are willing to discuss
interested in the carrying out of      of youth, though they may long lie          the truth. I hear ministers and
the counsel of that God (history       buried, there is a strong ground of         Young People's Society leaders
and Bible) and he will appreciate      hope that they will eventually spring       complain that creating discussion
Gods creative order of all things      up and bring forth a rich harvest.          is like pulling teeth. The same is
(math and language). In a word,        Who can estimate, then, the cruelty,        true in school many times.
that child who is taught respect,      the awful guilt, of those (whether          Discussion on George
reverence, and the fear of God is      parents or pastors) who neglect that        Washington's battle strategies or
ready for school.                      which is so closely connected not on-
                                       ly with present happiness, but with         some literary character's actions
  A second attitude and value is       the everlasting welfare of every            can bring hands galore, but
love-love for God, of course, but      youth committed to their care?" (pg.        analyzing things in the light of
also now love for one another. I       143-144)                                    the Bible seems to close minds.
Corinthians 13 clearly teaches the       You see, the school as well as            Why? Is it because we're not talk-
importance of this spiritual gift. All the home and church must be                 ing about spiritual things when
other learning and gifts are           concerned not only about the                we are sitting, walking, lying,
nothing without this one. We as        present life of the child but also          and rising in our homes (Deut.
parents surely must teach it by        about his everlasting welfare.              6:7)? We need to speak and
our example in the home. We            Please, parents, don't let the              discuss openly with our children
must teach our children Gods           church and school be more con-              the light of the Word in all areas
great love for us, and we must         cerned about this than you are.             of life. I think this is an area in
show from examples in the Bible          One of the strengths I see in             which the school can greatly
what true love is. We then de-         the covenant youth whom I have              build on foundations laid in the
mand that our children live in         taught is that they know the                home and church.
love toward one another. In a          truth. They have no doubts about               In a book entitled A Christian
school setting, surely, one can        the doctrine of creation or of              Pedagogy, written by Edward
see the benefits and effects of        sovereign predestination. They              W.A. Koehler, the author writes
children who have been taught          know that Arminianism is wrong              this:
this. They respect one another's       and that common grace is the lie.           "Whoever wishes to raise a crop of
persons and bear one another's         I know that this strength can be            vegetables must not only keep his
burdens. They learn to let others      attributed to the sound preaching          garden free from weeds, but must
be first, and they don't mock or       of the Word of God in our                  also sow good seed and water it and
laugh at one another. We as            churches and the systematic cate-          nurse the tiny plants till they grow

                                                                                  September 1, 1989  / The Standard Bearer  / 465


strong and ripen unto the harvest. It              the positive goal of godliness in        These things amount to prac-
is even so in the training of                      the child's life. We must              tical Christianity. To know the
children,  " (page 223)                            remember that the Scriptures are       truth is not enough. One is called
  The point that Koehler is warn-                  profitable not only for correction     to live the truth. Christian instruc-
ing against is one-sided instruc-                  but also for instruction in            tion must build positive values,
tion. This instruction is                          righteousness (I Tim. 3:15-17).        cultivate Christian virtues and
characterized by the word "NO"                       An important aspect of Scrip-        godly habits, as well as mold
and the phrase "thou shalt not"                    ture's instruction in righteousness    Christian character. It must be a
as if the negative will in itself                  is the teaching that each child of     striving for the command of God
reap positive fruit. But active ser-               God is part of a large body which      in I Peter 1: 16 where we read
vice to God is fostered by putting                 is the church of Jesus Christ (I       "Be ye holy; for I am holy." We
on the new man and not only by                     Cor. 12). How much of our cor-         as parents and teachers need to
curbing the old man of sin (Eph.                   rection in the home and school         be more like the pious
4:22-24, Col. 3:12-14). When                       results from a neglect of this         Waldenses, whom historians tell
asked in school to list specific                   truth? I fear that we often begin      us were in the habit of using
sins that are evident of the old                   to glorify the American ideal of       every hour they could rescue
man, students can fill pages.                      rugged individualism. We can           from labor and sleep in gaining
Asked to do the same with the                      easily do this by acquiring the        religious knowledge themselves
desired fruits of the new man,                     things of this world that we want      and imparting it to their children.
students struggle to list any at all.              and desire, and never show ex-           I guess I have found it easier
One wonders why. I don't mean                      pressions of love and kindness to      to see weaknesses than strengths.
to minimize knowledge of sin,                      those who have needs (physical         I think that is because I know my
but education must be construc-                    and spiritual). When children see      own weaknesses as a parent and
tive. The good seeds must be                       father and mother and family liv-      teacher and can see so much
watered and the tiny plants                        ing in luxury, and the church and      room for spiritual growth and im-
nursed. The goal is the man of                     Kingdom causes begging for sup-        provement.
God who is thoroughly furnished                    port, they are being taught a            May we as pastors, teachers,
unto all good works. Children                      value of which we ought to be          and parents be diligent in bring-
must learn to avoid evil, but they                 ashamed. It should not be surpris-     ing the children to Christ through
also and primarily must be taught                  ing then that our children grow        His Word. And in this way may
to do the good. Our discipline of                  up to be selfish and self-centered.    God give us the blessed joy of
them must reflect that too. It has                                                        seeing our children (young
                                                                                          people) walking in truth. Cl




                                                   To the Utmost
                                                   of Your Power
Mr. Edwin Gritters



                                                      Probably the greatest obliga-       covenant seed. How many of us
                                                   tions in the lives of most Chris-      have not said, in retrospect, our
                                                   tian couples are making a liveli-      children having grown up and
                                                   hood, homemaking, and rearing          left the home, "Would to God
                                                   children. Regrettably, we prob-        that I had more faithfully re-
Mr. Gritters is a member of Hope                   ably approach these tasks in just      deemed the time while my
Protestant Reformed Church in                                                             children were under my wing,
Redlands, California. He has six                   that priority, too! Regrettably, I
children and nineteen grandchildren,               say, because life's busyness so        those critical years in their
and has served often as elder in the               easily warps our perspective           spiritual growth and develop-
church.                                            when it comes to raising the           ment!" How hard we labor to

466  / The Standard Bearer  / September 1, 1989


feed our children, to clothe them       Cooperation, and Communica-            fact that you will be meeting
to perfection, and to shower            tion.                                  with their teachers. And the
them with an abundance of                  Cooperation - working               following morning you can report
earthly possessions!                    together toward a common goal          back: "Son (or daughter), we
  But-is that what we prom-             - is vital. If you take a child by     talked to your teachers and they
ised we would give them? When           the hand and pull him to the left,     say you're doing a good job.
we stood before God's people            and I take him by the other hand       Arithmetic seems to be your
with this child in our arms,            and pull him to the right, he will     hardest subject, so we promised
we were asked simply and clear-         not only suffer physical and men-      your math teacher we'll work
ly, "Do you know that this child        tal distress - he will go exactly      with you on it." Now your child
is sanctified in Christ; that the       nowhere? (An over-simplification,      is thinking, "Dad and Mom talked
doctrine of the scriptures, and         no doubt.) Our children must see       to my teachers. Dad and Mom
our confessions, and of this Chris-     that in love we are all pulling in     both talked to my teachers. Dad
tian Church is the perfect doc-         the same direction. And that is        had an important committee
trine of salvation, and therefore,      best demonstrated by good com-         meeting last night, but he asked
you must instruct them, or cause        munications. This, too, begins at      to arrive a half hour late so he
them to be instructed therein, to       home. (Has Mother indeed said          could attend my parent-teachers
the utmost of your power?" And          you shall start on your                conference. Wow! He must really
we said, "Yes! We do. We will."         homework right now? Well, I'm          be interested in how I'm doing."
What a promise! What a respon-          figuring on taking you to play             But then we must follow up on
sibility! What a commitment - a         ball for a while!) Such "conflict"     our good intentions, too. We
commitment we carry with us             should be resolved before it           don't help our children with their
from our children's infancy to          comes to expression before our         homework just to please our
adulthood.                              children. Young people must also       teachers (though they certainly
  But how quickly the years race        see evidence of unity between          appreciate it). It is for our
by; and, before we know it, our         parents and teachers. We cannot        children's growth and well-being.
bumper sticker says, "Happiness         imply to our children that in case        What about catechism? Do we
is being a grandparent!" A grand-       of a disagreement with their           sometimes send our children to
parent? How often do we as              teachers, we will stand behind         school on the morning of
parents exhibit such enthusiasm         the child. We may do so to spite       catechism day ill-prepared for
and reflect with the Psalmist,          the teacher, but in so doing we        their catechism class that after-
"Lo, children are an heritage of        only diminish the effectiveness of     noon? Our teachers can
the Lord. Happy is the man              the teacher-student relationship;      recognize them; they are the
whose quiver is full of them.           and, in the end, the child suffers.    children busily poring over their
They are like olive plants about        Why should we hinder those we          catechism books during the last
thy table." Children are and            have hired to assist us?               study period rightfully devoted to
should be our pride and joy, but          I have heard parents say to          reading, writing, and arithmetic.
we must always remember they            teachers, "If my child disobeys,       Our pastors can spot them, too.
are Gods children. In the same          just give him a good whack, and        They are the ones taking a last
way that God deals with us - His        when he gets home, he'll get one       minute peek at their questions
children - so we must firmly,           from me, too!" A bit of a hyper-       while the minister is taking the
and in love, educate the children       bole, maybe, but when a child          roll call and the "collection."
He entrusts to our care.                knows that his parents respect -       What a poor reflection on us
  It is to this same end that the       in fact, demand - the exercise of      parents if we fail to do our part
Lord has called faithful ministers      our ministers' and teachers' right-    as our teachers and ministers
and teachers to assist us in this       ful authority and discipline, such     strive to do their task. Their task?
awesome but wonderful task.             a child will probably seldom re-       IMy children - my task! God's
They too, in their special callings,    quire more than a mild admoni-         children - my responsibility!
share the commitment to "pious-         tion or rebuke.                            But - I am so weak. I, like my
ly and religiously educate . . . ."       It is so important that our          children, am conceived and born
  How can our church and our            children know that we are com-         in sin. As we said at the outset,
schools be most effective in help-      municating with their teachers,        we so easily lose sight of our
ing us to rear our children? Let's      too. Join and attend your PTA-         commitment because we become
consider three aspects. To the          PTF. Take full advantage of            so absorbed in material things. (I
Commitment we addressed                 parent-teacher conferences.            work long hours, so my evenings
above, I would add two more:            Discuss with your children the         are for relaxing. When I have a

                                                                               ieptember 1, 1989  / The Standard Bearer  / 467


day off, I devote it to recreation.                find that is not even the most dif-     parent, minister, or teacher. Then
I earned it, and no one's going to                 ficult part of your calling. You,       together we can reecho the bap-
deprive me of it!) That attitude is                too, must deal with all our weak-       tismal prayer of thanksgiving -
reflected in our children, too.                    nesses and those of our children,       "that God may always be pleased
What reason have we to con-                        as well as with those you may           to govern these baptized children
clude that our children will be                    find in yourself as a parent or in      . . . that they may be piously and
different from us? Does a bitter                   your family. Nevertheless, you          religiously educated . . . acknowl-
fountain bring forth sweet . . . ?                 are exhorted to "feed His sheep,        edge thy fatherly goodness . . .
And so, intentionally or unin-                     taking the oversight of them not        live in all righteousness . . . man-
tentionally, we shift the burden                   by constraint - but willingly." (I      fully fight against and overcome
to others.                                         know, that's easy for me to say.)       sin . . . to the end that they may
  Teachers, do you sometimes                       But - don't lose sight - there          eternally praise and magnify
feel you are the only ones who                     are still the "seven thousand."         Thee and Thy Son Jesus Christ,
care? Are you sometimes tempt-                     Don't feel it unbecoming of your        together with the Holy Ghost, the
ed to say to yourself, "If they                    office to share your burdens with       one and only true God!" 0
don't care, why should I?" I'm                     other parents and your teachers.
sure you, too, must pray for                       You are a shepherd of the flock,
strength and must daily remind                     but, under Christ, you also are a       RECOMMENDED READING
yourselves of your commitment.                     member of that flock. And, as           (continued from page 478)
Why did you become a teacher?                      such, you can be a strong in-
You certainly didn't do it to                      fluence on our young people,            Grow in Grace
"make a killing." (You probably                    too. Show an interest in their             Sinclair Ferguson. Banner of
barely make a "living"). You did                   jobs, their problems, their leisure        Truth. Fall `89
it because you felt a calling and a                time, their societies, the efforts      The Shadow of the Cross: Studies
desire to be instrumental in the                   they put forth in making our            in Self-Denial
growth and development of the                      societies and Young People's               Walter Chantry. Banner of
covenant youth. If you, too, by                    Conventions a success. It may be           Truth. 4.95p
God's grace, can keep your eye                     nothing more than a kindly              No Holiness, No Heaven
on your commitment, you will be                    word, a casual recognition, at an          Richard Alderson. Banner of
given strength to pick up where                    appropriate moment.                        Truth. 4.95p
some of us in our weakness leave                      Let me close with a final            Living the Christian Life (booklet)
off. I wish I could remember a                     thought for all of us, our teachers        A.N. Martin. Banner of Truth.
"Teacher's Prayer" I read some                     and ministers as well, in our role         l.OOp
40 years ago. It was something                     as parents. Rev. VanBaren had
like this:                                         an article in a recent Standard         Importance of the Local Church
"My Lord, I do not ask to stand                    Bearer  dealing with the extreme-       (booklet)
As lord or king of high degree.                    ly high cost of Christian educa-           Daniel Wray. Banner of Truth.
I only ask that, hand in hand,                     tion. I believe that it is only good       l.OOp
A child and I may come to Thee.                    stewardship on our part that we         Authority
To teach a tender voice to pray,                   get full value by fully utilizing          D.M. Lloyd-Jones. Banner of
Two childish eyes Thy will to see;                 the resources of church and                Truth. 4.45~ Cl
Two feet to guide in Thine own Way,
This, fervently, I ask of Thee. "                  school, faithful ministers and
  Ministers of the Word, do you                    teachers, which the Lord has so
sometimes feel discouraged?                        graciously provided us. If we are
Would you sometimes, in despair,                   to obtain optimum benefit from
murmur with Elijah, "and I, even                   our teachers and ministers, we as
I only, am left"? Thinking back,                   parents cannot be slack in our ef-
though, did your professors in                     forts.
seminary ever tell you your task                     And, yes - happiness is being
would be an easy one? At one                       a grandparent! As such, we too
time you probably wondered                         must share in the rearing of our
how you would ever be able to                      children's children - financially,
produce an average of three ser-                   physically, and exemplary. Be
mons, speeches, lectures, or ar-                   assured, the Lord will certainly
ticles per week. Now, you may                      reward the work of a faithful ser-
                                                   vant - whether parent, grand-

468  / The Standard Bearer  / September 1, 1989


                                          The. Young Person's
                                          Struggle for Holiness
Miss Shari Huizinga



  The name "Christian" implies a          Because of this fact they are easi-       presumed innocence which
very important responsibility. As         ly swayed by pressure from peers          makes the VCR so tempting and
Christians, we have a respon-             to engage in sinful activities.           therefore so dangerous. The VCR
sibility to lead a sanctified life. In    These activities in which they            is very accessible to young peo-
other words, we are called to             often engage are a detriment to           ple. Many families own one. It is
lead a life free from sin and             their living a sanctified life.           much easier for the young person
worldly lusts. This calling is ex-          Because of their vulnerability          who refuses to sit in the theater
plicitly stated in Titus 2: 11, 12:       to peer pressure, high school             to sit in the family room of his
"For the grace of God that bring-         students are especially suscepti-         home and watch a movie on the
eth salvation hath appeared to            ble to temptation. It is in high          VCR. Once again, the world's
all men, Teaching us that, deny-          school where the young person's           technology makes it very difficult
ing ungodliness and worldly lusts,        struggle to lead a sanctified life        for the young person to resist
we should live soberly, righteous-        intensifies. The pressure from            temptation and to persist in his
ly, and godly, in this present            peers is great in any high school,        attempt to lead a sanctified life.
world . . . ." It must be our desire      but it is especially so in a small           In addition to the temptations
to put aside all sinful pleasures so      school such as Covenant Chris-            provided by the theater and the
that we can present our lives as a        tian, the high school that many           VCR, temptation also lies in the
living sacrifice before God.              Protestant Reformed young                 music of the world. For several
  Fulfilling the mandate set forth        people attend. Young people are           reasons, this would seem to be
by the apostle in Titus 2 is dif-         pressured by "friends" to par-            the most difficult temptation for
ficult. We are by nature sinful           ticipate in activities which have         young people to overcome. First
creatures who delight in the              no place in a sanctified life. One        of all, music is an integral part of
pleasures of the world. Leading a         temptation which young people             human life. It surrounds the
sanctified life is a responsibility       struggle with is the movie. The           young person no matter where
with which all Christians struggle.       theater is the world's accepted           he goes. Its presence in the home
Although Christians of all ages           and revered form of entertain-            is manifested by the stereo. Its
experience difficulty in their at-        ment. It is as much a part of             presence in the car is evident by
tempt to lead a holy life, it is          American life as baseball or ap-          the radio. Stores, restaurants,
especially difficult for Christian        ple pie. It is also fast becoming         doctors' offices, and office build-
young people. Young people                an accepted form of entertain-            ings all play worldly music over
generally do not possess a clear          ment among our own young                  their loud speakers. It is this very
understanding of who they are             people. Therefore it is difficult for     pervasiveness which makes it so
and what their place in life is,          any young person to resist the            very difficult for the young per-
They have the knowledge but               taunts and the pressure from              son to resist the temptation of
not the confidence to stand up            friends who would lead their              the world's music.
for what they know is right.              classmates into sin.                         In addition to the temptations
                                            Closely related to the problem          of the entertainment industry are
                                          of the theater is the VCR. Com-           those temptations which involve
                                          pared to the theater the VCR              dangerous substances. Many
Miss Huizinga is a member of our          seems harmless. After all,               young people struggle not only
Hope Church in Grand Rapids. She is       material shown on the VCR can            with movies, VCR's, and worldly
a senior at Calvin College, an            be monitored and viewed in the           music but also with cigarettes,
English major, studying to be a           privacy of the home. It is its           alcohol, and drugs. Once again
school teacher.

                                                                                   September 1, 1989  / The Standard Bearer  / 469


peer pressure plays a role in the                  outside of the church. This is a          much easier to give in to the
struggle experienced by young                      potentially dangerous situation.          temptation to attend a movie or
people to lead a sanctified life.                  Usually, people outside of our            to go to a party when one has no
Most young people who smoke                        churches do not share the same            specific direction.
cigarettes and drink alcohol do                    religious beliefs as we do. Young         Seek Godly Friends
so to be accepted by peers - not                   people who do not have the                  When one associates with
because they enjoy doing so. It is                 same religious sensibilities as we        people of the world it becomes
not easy for a young person to                     do often have the freedom to at-          much easier to fall into sin. It is
ignore the taunts of "friends" and                 tend movies, to dance at parties,         imperative, therefore, that young
to refuse a cigarette or a drink. It               and to listen to secular music.           people seek relationships with
is sometimes easier to ignore                      Young people who date outside             fellow Christians. Godly friends,
one's conscience than to ignore                    of their church often experience          who share the desire to live a
the taunting of others. Leading a                  conflict. Often their association         sanctified life, will support each
sanctified life is not easy.                       with people outside their church          other in their responsibility.
   If the struggle to lead a sanc-                 becomes an obstacle to their              View Your Family As a
tified Iife was intense in high                    leading a sanctified life.                Means of Support
school, the problem becomes                           Obviously, fulfilling the man-           Members of a Christian family
more acute after high school.                      date presented in Titus 2: 11, 12 is      share a special bond. They share
The young person who enters the                    not an easy task. It is clear that        the desire as well as the respon-
world as an employee or a stu-                     the Reformed young person who             sibility to lead a sanctified life.
dent finds the struggle to lead a                  attempts to lead a sanctified life        By sharing this responsibility,
holy life even more difficult than                 in today's world faces intense            they also provide support for one
before. He must now learn to                       and bitter struggles. The young           another. Young people must view
deal with new freedoms and the                     person's life is fraught with temp-       their families as a terrific source
struggles which they entail. In                    tations which he must struggle            of strength and support. They
college, as well as in the work                    with and overcome. Oftentimes,            must realize that they can turn to
place, the young person is sur-                    it seems that the responsibility to       their families when they are
rounded by a multitude of people                   lead a holy life is one which can-        tempted to fall into sin.
from a variety of religious back-                  not be fulfilled. With God's help,          Without the Bible and prayer,
grounds, Some are Christians but                   however, the responsibility is not        the young person cannot possibly
many are not. Gradually, these                     too difficult to bear. The young          succeed in his attempt to live a
new acquaintances have an in-                      Christian must say with the               sanctified life. Both are an in-
fluence upon the young person.                     writer of Psalm 121: 1, "I will life      valuable means of aid in the con-
They begin to make subtle                          up my eyes unto the hills, from           stant struggle. The young person
demands upon him. They suggest                     whence cometh my help. My                 must follow the command Christ
that he question the values and                    help cometh from the Lord,                utters in Luke 22:40: ". . . Pray
priorities which he grew up with                   which made heaven and earth."             that ye enter not into tempta-
and that he reevaluate them.                       The calling to be holy is one             tion." The temptations are great
They encourage him to establish                    which can and must be fulfilled.          as well as constant; but through
standards, priorities, and values                    There are several things a              prayer and God's word the young
that are more in step with the                     young Christian can do to                 person will find the strength to
times. They make it increasingly                   achieve the goal of a sanctified          win the struggle against these
difficult for the'young person to                  life. With God's help, these efforts      temptations. 0
maintain his distinctly Protestant                 can bear much fruit.
Reformed world-life view. These                    Know the Truth
new "friends" with their worldly                     The young person must know              Give a gift of
influence increase the bitter                      the truth. He must also be confi-
agony of the young person's                        dent in this knowledge. He will           the Standard
struggle to lead a sanctified life.                then find it much easier to ignore
   Another problem which many                      the pressure of "friends" and to          Bearer to a
young people face in their strug-                  resist doing what is wrong.
gle to lead a sanctified life in-                  Remove Yourself From
volves dating. It is becoming                      Temptation                                friend or loved
more and more common for                             In order to resist temptation,
young people, both high school                     remove yourself from it. When             one today.
students and graduates, to date                    friends call, set specific plans. It's

470  / The Standard Bearer  / September  1,198I


Rev. Russell 1. Dykstra                  Our Chief joy

If I do not remember thee,               But the psalmist further explains       power of God unto salvation, has
  Then let my tongue from                this "remembering" with these           been given only to the church.
         utterance cease,                words: "if I prefer not Jerusalem       You can find the lively preaching
If any earthly joy to me                 above my chief joy." Now if we          nowhere else. Thus, since this
  Be dear as Zion's joy and              would understand "chief joy" to         Word is the content and the
         peace.                          mean that the church is our             sustenance of the believer's joy,
    (Psalter#379, from Psalm 137.)       greatest joy, that the church fills     he seeks it with all his being. On-
  Beloved young people, how              us with more gladness than              ly in the church can he find his
important to you is Zion, your           anything on this earth, this would      salvation clearly described. Only
church, with all that is especially      be a rather bold statement. Then        there is the chief means of
for you, i.e., society, retreats, and    the church (Sunday worship ser-         strengthening his faith. There in
conventions? Have you ever sung          vices, catechism, societies, con-       the divine worship services and
these words - I mean, really             ventions, communion of the              in the company of saints he ex-
sung them from the heart? Strong         saints) is more important to us         periences the greatest joy in his
desires are expressed in this in-        than our houses and cars, our           salvation. This is a significant
spired song. In Psalm 137 this is        times of relaxation and play, our       point. All this is obtained in the
written: "If I forget thee, 0            .jobs, our families, and our very       church alone! No wonder then
Jerusalem, let my right hand             lives. The church is our chief joy.     that Jerusalem is the chief joy of
forget her cunning." Think of               But "chief" here means more          the believer.
how many hand-skills you have            than just greatest; it is chief in         What does this have to do with
developed - eating, writing,             the sense of principal or head.         young people's societies, retreats,
perhaps the playing of a musical         Think of it this way. What the          and conventions? First, we
instrument, or athletic skills, not      body is to the head, our whole          distinguish societies from the
to mention the skills you learned        life is to our chief (head) joy. The    worship services and catechism
for your job. Could you ever             body serves the head and is             classes. Christ calls to the wor-
seriously wish to forget all these       nothing without the head. Like-         ship services and to catechism in
skills just because you forgot           wise all the people, events,            order that He might speak to all
Jerusalem, that is, the church? Or       possessions, and joys of this earth     believers through the preaching,
could you ask that, from the mo-         exist only for the sake of our          and to the "lambs" of the flock in
ment you forgot the church, you          chief joy. They all serve to help       a special way through catechet-
would be unable to speak                 us seek our chief joy, and apart        ical instruction. Societies are dif-
another word? That is a remark-          from our chief joy they cannot          ferent. They are not specifically
able request to make to the              give joy at all.                        required by Scripture, for Christ
Sovereign God.                             That the church is and must be        does not officially speak to us in
  But what does it mean to               our chief joy should be quite           society, even when an ordained
remember the church? At the              plain from Scripture. The church        minister leads.
least it would mean to think             is our spiritual mother in whom            Why then do we have societies
about the church, to be mindful          we are begotten. She feeds and          and related activities? Societies, it
of her needs, and to pray for her.       nourishes us in all the years of        seems to me, grow (or should
                                         our earthly pilgrimage. She cares       grow) spontaneously out of the
                                         for our souls with guidance and         church as a response to the of-
                                         correction. The preaching of the        ficial preaching and teaching of
Rev. Dykstra is pastor of the Prot-      Word, which is the revelation of        the church. They are not im-
estant Reformed Church of  Doon,         the God of our salvation and the        posed upon believers by a higher
Iowa.

                                                                                 ieptember 1, 1989  / The Standard Bearer  / 471


   authority. Rather, societies are                   tures, arid a dampening effect on        job), then society wiI1 be of little
   proposed, organized, and main-                     others, not to mention acute             significance. We will not need it;
   tained by interested church                        boredom.                                 our lives are full enough. If our
   members. This is one major prob-                     The opposite is also true.             chief joy is in possessions - cars,
   lem with many young people's                       Preparation, enthusiasm, and par-        clothes, and stereos - society
   societies, namely, that too many                   ticipation yield tremendous              can do nothing to help us gain
   young people feel almost no                        benefits. I have personally led          these. And in fact, retreats and
   responsibility towards maintain-                   discussions where the young              conventions hinder us because
   ing their society. To such, Young                  people inspired me. In other             they cost money and we lose
   People's Society is a fixture in                   groups, even my enthusiasm for           hours at work. If the chief joy is
   the church imposed by others. It                   discussing God's Word was buried         in the pleasures of this world,
   was there as long as they can                      by the apathy of the young               society is out, for it stands
   remember; it will be there in-                     people. When all is said and             opposed to these.
   definitely, regardless of what                     done, it is up to you, young               Only when our chief joy is the
   young people put into it. This at-                 people (especially the older ones),      church of Christ will the society
   titude is wrong! "Young People's"                  to make your societies work. Will        be a significant part of our lives,
   is your society and your respon-                   your weekly meetings be an               as it should be. Psalm 137 makes
   sibility. Societies, then, are con-                unbearably dull hour that drags          this very clear. For, on the one
   crete expressions of a threefold                   on for an eternity, or an in-            hand, since this is the inspired
   response to the preaching: 1) a                    credibly quick hour that leaves          song of a believer, God reveals
   zeal for the truth; 2) a desire to                 behind the urge to come back             that this must be our song as
   grow in the knowledge of the                       next week for more?                      well. (,`. . . If any earthly job to
   truth; 3) a love for the saints.                     Finally, societies grow up as an       me be dear as Zion's joy and
     In the first place, filled with a                expression of Christian love for         peace.") And on the other hand,
   zeal for the truth which he has                    the saints. It is a fact of life that    these words came from a
   heard, the young believer looks                    we enjoy being with those who            believer in Babylon (a type of the
   for opportunities to talk about                    are like us and with whom we             ungodly world about us today),
   these precious truths. Societies                   share many common interests              when Babylon was encouraging
   are one such opportunity, and a                    and possessions. Our fellow Prot-        the Old Testament church to
   precious one for young people                      estant Reformed young people fit         forget about Zion, to loosen up
   since peer pressure makes it hard                  this description perfectly. Oh,          and enjoy life in Babylon. The
   to bring up spiritual matters with                 perhaps this does not always             saints refused. So must we.
_ friends in a casual setting.                        seem true from the outward               Beloved young people, let us be
     Secondly, societies express the                  viewpoint of personality or              sure that Zion is our chief joy. A
   desire to grow in the truth. One                   shared earthly interests. The            vibrant, enjoyable, and profitable
   who attends society is confessing                  young people from the world              society life is sure to follow. 0
   an inadequate knowledge of                         may have personalities more
   Scripture. Desiring to learn more,                 compatible with ours or interests
   the church member attends a                        closer to ours in some things. But       Every day I grieve Thy spirit,
   society where the saints can                       spiritually the young people in            Wound the heart that broke for
   discuss the Word in a systematic                   your congregation should be                      me,
   way. By means of both prepara-                     closest to you. (If this is not the      Yet in Thy great love and mercy
   tion and discussion, difficult                     case, then either you or the rest           Cast me not away from Thee.
   passages become clear, obscure                     of the society is living contrary        Help me live as Thou wouldst
   truths become familiar. Especially                 to the Scriptures in walk and/or              have me;
   here the old saying is so true,                    confession.) This spiritual unity          Cleanse me, Lord, and keep me
   "You get out of society what you                   breeds a love for +he fellow saints              pure;
   put into it." Zero preparation plus                and a desire to be with them.            Give me grace and strength that
   zero enthusiasm plus iero partici-                 Societies fill this desire.                   safely
   pation equals zero spiritual                         Whether or not this is true for          To the end I may endure.
   benefits. Actually, that is not                    us depends on the priorities in                           -S.B. Sept. 1, 1928
   quite correct, the result is rather                our lives. Another way of saying
   a negative spiritual effect, in-                   it is, What is our chief joy? If our
   cluding a more callous attitude                    chief joy is found in school
   toward the truth, a greater                        (whether in sports, social life, or
   distaste for studying the Scrip-                   preparation for a good paying

   472  / The Standard Bearer  / September  I,1989


Rev. jason 1. Kortering                  Confessing Faith

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF                      WHAT IS FAITH?                          of God and humbly respond in
PUBLIC CONFESSION OF                       We should have before us a            obedience.
FAITH                                    clear understanding of what we             Though this distinction is valid,
  One of the greatest treasures          mean by faith. Faith is dis-            we must not separate the two
that God gives to the church on          tinguished from unbelief. Ephe-         elements, as if one can have ob-
earth is her youth. The reason is        sians 2% "For by grace are ye           jective faith without subjective
obvious: youthful energy and ex-         saved through faith and that not        faith, as if one can believe the
pectancy brought under the               of yourselves: it is the gift of        facts of the Bible without per-
guiding hand of the Holy Spirit          God." It is that union with Jesus       sonally confessing sin and receiv-
accomplishes great things. The           Christ as He Himself expressed,         ing Jesus as Savior. They go
aged saints breathe a bit easier         "As the branch cannot bear fruit        together. Hence Paul could say of
when they are reassured that             of itself, except it abide in the       the Ephesian church, "I also,
God will preserve His church for         vine; no more can ye, except ye         after I heard of your faith in the
another generation. Parents              abide in me" (John 15:4). Our           Lord Jesus, and love unto all the
quietly thank the Lord when they         Heidelberg Catechism speaks of it       saints, cease not to give thanks
see their children take on the           as being ingrafted into Christ (Q.      for you." James adds, "Even so
responsibilities of the covenant.        20). Through this union with            faith, if it hath not works, is
Children look up to those who            Christ, His life passes into us and     dead, being alone" (James 2:17).
stand up for what they believe           we become active in our faith.          WHAT IS CONFESSING
and put it into practice.                  The Bible makes a distinction         FAITH?
 As with every venture of faith,         between objective and subjective           The word to confess means to
making confession of faith has its       faith. By objective we mean the         say the same thing. God speaks
vexing aspects. The heart of the         teachings of the Bible. In Jude 3       to us and we say the same thing
issue is, are our young people           we read, "Beloved, when I gave          back to Him. "Now I beseech
sincere when they make public            diligence to write unto you of the      you, brethren, by the name of
confession of faith? Oh, we ask,         common salvation, it was needful        our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all
how can we be sure that our              for me to write unto you and ex-        speak the same thing" (I Cor.
young people really mean what            hort you that ye should earnestly       1:lO). Or we can think of the
they say when they answer the            contend for the faith which was         words of Romans 10: 10: "For
three questions proposed at              once delivered unto the saints."        with the heart man. believeth un-
public confession when they              By subjective faith we mean the         to righteousness; and with the
stand before God and His                 acceptance of these facts and the       mouth confession is made unto
church?                                  application of them to ourselves.       salvation."
  It is important that we con-           "Through faith we understand               When our youth make confes-
stantly examine the significance         that the worlds were framed by          sion of their faith, they join the
of such an act in order that we as       the word of God" (Heb. 11:3).           entire church by expressing
young people, parents, and               The answer to the Philippian            agreement with God as He
church may accomplish what               Jailer's question, "Sirs, what must     speaks to us through His Word.
God will have for us in this             I do to be saved?" was, "Believe           This includes both the objec-
event.                                   on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou       tive and subjective elements of
                                         shalt be saved and thy house"           faith. If we keep this in mind, we
                                         (Acts 16:30, 31). When we are           will understand why the ques-
Rev. Kortering is pastor of the Prot-    united to Jesus by faith, we ex-        tions for public confession of
estant Reformed Church of Grand-         press agreement with the Word           faith are formulated as they are.
ville,  Michigan.

                                                                                September  I,1989  / The Standard Bearer  / 473


Often times, attempts are made                     one who simply agrees with the           young person should have some
to introduce a subjective element                  objective doctrine of the church         time with the consistory in-
into the questions of public con-                  has the ability to lead a godly          dividually. Parts of the examina-
fession of faith. Complaints are                   life. That can only be done by           tion may be with a group pres-
expressed that they only address                   one who has a personal relation-         ent, but there should be time for
the doctrine and not the personal                  ship of faith with Jesus as His          individual evaluation. If a larger
aspect of faith. "1. Do you                        Savior and Lord.                         number of young people desire
acknowledge the doctrine con-                      PUBLIC CONFESSION OF                     to make such confession of faith, .
tained in the Old and New Testa-                   FAITH                                    it is worthwhile to set aside an
ments and in the Articles of the                     There are two stages in mak-           entire evening for this examina-
Christian faith and taught here in                 ing public confession of faith: the      tion.
this Christian church to be the                    examination before the con-                Our youth and the entire con-
true and complete doctrine of                      sistory, and the public agreement        gregation will know that, when a
salvation? 2. Have you resolved                    expressed during the worship ser-        young person expresses agree-
by the grace of God to adhere to                   vice. Both aspects are important         ment with "the doctrine taught in
this doctrine, to reject all heresies              and must be carefully understood         this Christian church," such
repugnant thereto and to lead a                    if we are to benefit from this ac-       agreement is not limited to the
new, godly life? 3. Will you sub-                  tivity. Here, too, it is best to view    objective facts, but those facts
mit to church government . . . .?"                 these two stages as inseparably          are personally believed.
If we realize that our Reformed                    connected, as one event with two           The public confession is the
fathers approach the doctrine,                     parts.                                   real confession. Examination by
not as abstract facts, but more                      The examination before the             the consistory simply opens the
correctly as the content of faith                  consistory concerns both aspects         door for this main event. By this
which is both objective and sub-                   of the faith of each young per-          act, our youth do not "join the
jective, then the problem is                       son: their knowledge of the doc-         church'; for at baptism we
removed. The doctrine of God, of                   trine objectively, as well as their      already confess, "as members of
Jesus, of salvation, of the church,                own salvation. The abilities of          his church ought to be baptized."
etc. is not abstract. A truly                      young people vary, as is true also       We must not give the impression
Reformed church does not teach                     of the adults of the congregation.       to our young people that they
her youth simply to believe that                   The question that concerns the           are not members and therefore
a sovereign God exists, but she                    elders is, does this person know         do not have the obligation as
teaches them that such a                           "the doctrine as taught here in          members of the church until they
sovereign God is our God. The                      this Christian church' so as to          make confession of faith. They
doctrine of Jesus does not simply                  enable him to know why he                are immature members who are
concern the humanity and deity                     belongs to this particular church        being nurtured in faith with a
of Jesus, but that He is Savior,                   (this includes the distinctives of       view to their own personal
our Savior. The doctrine is not                    the Reformed Faith), and so as to        maturity. God is faithful to His
simply that we believe a church                    equip him with the tools to grow         covenant. The babe that was
of Christ exists, but that I am a                  under the preaching of the               presented for baptism has now
member of that church by faith                     gospel? Since this examination           come forth in order to assume
and shall remain forever such a                    must also include the subjective         the full benefits of the covenant,
living member. Proof of this is                    element, the formulation of the          participation at the Lord's Table.
seen when the reference is made                    questions is important. It is not        This is accompanied with a
to "the Articles of the Christian                  proper to open some catechism            public expression of agreement, a
faith and taught here in this                      book and read questions and ex-          promise. The answer to the three
Christian church." Such reference                  pect "canned" answers. If we do          questions is viewed as a sacred
is not simply to the Apostles'                     that we will convey to our youth         trust. When we make public con-
Creed, but to the Three Forms of                   that confession of faith is simply       fession of faith we speak the
Unity. In all three confessions the                a graduation from catechism              same thing with God, and before
doctrine is not taught simply ob-                  class, an oral exam. Questions           God and His church. This makes
jectively without applying it to                   about God must draw out their            it a sacred obligation and bless-
the one who confesses that truth.                  personal response to that God.           ing. Adherence to the doctrine
If we acknowledge that doctrine,                   Questions about Jesus must in-           and government of the church
then the foundation is laid to                     clude their own relationship to          places us in the safety of the
lead a new, godly life and to sub-                 Him and their own confession of          Lord Jesus as He rules through
mit to church government. No                       sin. To do this properly, each           His church.

474  / The Standard Bearer  / September 1, 1989


PROPER PREPARATION                           In all three spheres, doctrine      therefore have I spoken."
  This aspect of the subject is           and godliness must be taught as           P.S. I am happy to learn that
broad and involved. For our pur-          one whole. We fail our youth if        the Beacon Lights is in the pro-
poses in this article we simply           we separate doctrine from per-         cess of publishing, The Zmplica-
want to make this point: prepara-         sonal, subjective faith. Anything      tions of Public Confession, by
tion includes home, school, and           less will produce intellectual         Abraham Kuyper. Our youth do
church. They stand and fall               giants with hearts of stone.           well to read this book carefully
together. The home is basic to all           May our youth stand before us       and, if we have pre-confession
three.                                    upon the public confession of          classes, to incorporate its con-
                                          their faith and say, "I believe,       tents into the material used. Cl




                                          Lord, What Wilt
Prof. Robert D. Decker                    Thou Have Me To Do?

  This has to be one of the most             But how do I know and how           to keep God's commandments
important questions you need to           can I learn what God wants me          every day of the week. God tells
ask and to which you must find            to do with my life? How does           us, "Remember the sabbath day,
the answer. God calls us to work          God reveal His will concerning         to keep it holy." But God also
and He calls each of us to a              our calling in life? God will not      says in this commandment, "Six
specific task. This is true whether       do that in some mysterious way.        days shalt thou labor, and do all
we be called to dig                       God will not somehow whisper in        thy work." And God adds that
ditches or preach the gospel;             your ear saying, "This is what         "the seventh day is the sabbath
whether we be called to marry             you must do with your life." But       of the Lord thy God: in it thou
and bear children and keep house,         God does indeed reveal to each         shalt not do any work . . . ." We
or teach in the Christian School. It      of us what He would have us do.        must work six days and rest from
simply is not true that only              God reveals this in His Word.          those labors on the sabbath.
ministers and perhaps Christian           Very simply put, if you want to        Why? Because that is the way
School teachers have a calling            know what God wills for your           God worked. God blessed and
from God while all other Chris-           life's work, you must look for the     hallowed the sabbath day and
tians just have jobs. God calls us to answer in the Bible. And as you            commands us to keep it holy
our work.                                 meditate upon and search the           because ". . . in six days the Lord
  This means that we must know            Holy Scriptures for the answer         made heaven and earth, the sea,
exactly what God wants us to do           you must pray fervently that God       and all that in them is, and rested
with our lives. What purpose              will guide you to make the cor-        the seventh day" (Exodus
does God have for me? To what             rect decision concerning your          20%1'1; Deuteronomy 5:12-15).
occupation does God call me?              life's task.                              It is true of course that when
What is God's will for my life?             The Bible has a great deal to        man fell into sin God cursed the
You must give answer to these             say about work. We usually think       ground and therefore man works
questions.                                of Sabbath observance in connec-       in the sweat of his brow. But
                                          tion with the Fourth Command-          Jesus also redeemed us from that
                                          ment. While the Fourth Com-            aspect of the curse through His
                                          mandment is indeed about Sab-          death on the cross. And because
                                          bath observance, it is a com-          God raised Him from the dead
                                          mandment that covers all of our        you and I are called to abound
Prof. Decker is professor of Practical    daily living. It is really a com-      always in the work of the Lord in
Theology in the Protestant Reformed       mandment about the way we are          the confidence that our labor is
Seminary.

                                                                                September 1, 1989  / The Standard Bearer  / 475


never in vain in the Lord (I Cor.                  Has God blessed you with a              your fellow-saints? Does this
15:58).                                            strong body? Has he given you a         mean He calls you to serve Him
   This means that our work is a                   love for His beautiful creation?        as a minister, as a nurse, as a
gift from God. It is a privilege.                  Perhaps the Lord is calling you to      Christian doctor? Do any of these
But the Bible also teaches that                    the farm. Ask yourself the ques-        appeal to you? The Bible says,
our work is a commandment and                      tion: "with what gifts and abilities    "Delight thyself also in the Lord;
a duty which we must perform in                    has the Lord blessed me?" And           and he shall give thee the desires
obedience to the will of God and                   then, ask: "How can I best use          of thine heart" (Psalm 37:4).
to His praise.                                     these gifts in the service of my          Having ruled out those occupa-
   All of this brings us back to                   fellow-saints and in the service of     tions in which a Christian may
our original question: what does                   my God?" You may be sure that           not be involved, and having con-
God want me to do with my life?                    God does not call you to a work         sidered the gifts and abilities with
In the light of Holy Scripture                     which He has not given you the          which God has blessed you and
there are at least five considera-                 abilities to perform. God gives to      the desires and aspirations which
tions involved in making a deci-                   each of us the gifts necessary to       the Lord has put into your heart,
sion in harmony with Gods will.                    do the work to which He calls us.       you must now face this question:
These are: 1) There are occupa-                      In this connection be sure to         "Does God open the way for
tions in which a Christian may                     seek the advice and counsel of          me?" Does God make it possible
not be involved. 2) We need to                     your godly father and mother.           for you to pursue this or that
consider the gifts God has given                   They bore you and reared you.           career? If the way is open, this
us. 3) We need to consider our                     They watched you mature from a          too is an indication that God is
desires. 4) We must face the                       helpless infant to a mature young       calling you to this work. Certain-
question: does God open the way                    man or woman. They know you             ly you may conclude God does
for me? and 5) We must consider                    better than you may think! God          not call you to a vocation for
where the greatest needs are in                    gave them to you and you to             which He does not open the way.
Gods church and Kingdom.                           them exactly in order that they           Finally, assuming all of the
   There are those occupations                     might help and guide you also to        above, you must consider where
which you may rule out because                     seek that calling which God has         the greatest needs are in Gods
no Christian ought to be involved                  in mind for you. Seek also the          church and kingdom. God has
in them. Those which would                         advice of your Christian School         blessed our churches and people
make it impossible for you to                      teachers. These too know you            with many children of the Cove-
observe the Lords Day (except                      better than you may think! God          nant. God has blessed us with the
for legitimate works of mercy or                   gave you a pastor and elders to         means in many of our com-
necessity) fall into this category.                guide you along your pilgrimage.        munities to establish covenant
Any occupation which involves                      Ask them to help you. They will         Christian schools. At the moment
disobedience to the Word of God                    be more than pleased to give you        of this writing there is a severe
is obviously not for the Christian.                godly counsel in the matter of          shortage of teachers for those
   Crucial to making the correct                   your vocation. Scripture calls us       schools. At a time when mothers
choice of vocation is the con-                     to seek the advice of our parents,      with young children (even pre-
sideration of the gifts you have                   teachers, and officebearers when        school children) are forced to
received from God. Every Chris-                    it says, "The way of a fool is          teach, and when older veterans
tian has been blessed with gifts                   right in his own eyes: but he that      in the teaching profession are
and abilities which God calls him                  hearkeneth (pays attention to and       forced to postpone well-deserved
or her to use for the benefit and                  accepts) unto counsel (advice) is       retirement, no one can deny that
blessing of the church (Romans                     wise" (Proverbs 12: 15).                the need for teachers is great in-
12:6). Has God blessed you with                      Consider too your desires.            deed! Perhaps you are blessed
intellectual abilities, communica-                 Sometimes because of our sinful         with an aptitude for math and
tion skills, and a love for your                   natures our desires are impure          aspire to serve God as an accoun-
fellow saints? Just maybe this                     and wrong. These of course we           tant. Ask yourself where is the
means you ought to consider the                    must put away from us by Gods           greatest need? In the accounting
ministry. Have you been blessed                    grace. But consider your desires.       profession? In education? Perhaps
with an aptitude for the sciences?                 To what do you aspire? Do you           God calls you to teach math in
This may mean that God wants                       have a strong desire to help            the light of Holy Scripture in one
you to serve Him in the field of                   people in need? Has God graced          of our Protestant Reformed Chris-
medicine, as a nurse or doctor or                  you with more than the usual            tian Schools.
some other health-care worker.                     compassion and sympathy for               God has blessed our denomina-

476  / The Standard Bearer  / September 1, 1989


tion with numerical growth. By        our professors. Perhaps you have          what young Christian, qualified to
His grace three new congrega-         intellectual abilities, you enjoy         preach, who asks in the spirit of the
tions were organized in the past      reading and studying, and you             true convert `Lord, what wilt thou
year. Some of the larger con-         have gifts of communication.              have me to do?" can say in view of
gregations are at the point where     With those gifts and abilities you        these facts, that God and his fellow
they are thinking of organizing       are thinking of college and law           men have more need of him at the
daughter churches or calling a        school (an honorable profession           bar, behind the counter, or in the
                                                                                physician's calling, than in the
second pastor. God has opened         indeed). Is the greatest need in          pulpit?  If he cannot, let him beware
many doors in missions. Two           the law profession? . . . or in the       how he neglects the prayerful ex-
missionaries are needed in            ministry of the gospel? Over one          amination of the duty of preaching,
Jamaica; there are opportunities      hundred years ago the great               at the peril of the wrath of his
for church extension work in          Southern Presbyterian preacher-           Saviour. "* (emphasis Dabney's)
North America; and there is a         theologian, R.L. Dabney wrote                As you prayerfully and in the
need for ministers in Australia       the following and what he says is         light of the Bible consider your
and Northern Ireland. There are       still true today:                         gifts, desires, and the needs of
several churches without pastors.     Gb where we may, we see more mer-         Gods church and kingdom, may
Several of our ministers (in-         chants than can find customers,           God give you grace to choose
cluding one of our professors)        more physicians than have patients,       that vocation to which He calls
will, D.V., reach retirement age      more lawyers than clients. Society        you. cl
within the next few years. One of     has enough of them - too many.
                                                                                *R.L. Dabney, 
our retired ministers is no longer    But. . . to carry the gospel to every                       Discussions Evangelical and
                                                                                Theological  (Banner of Truth edition),  v. 2,
able to preach because of illness.    one of the 800 million of pagans on       1967, p. 41. (quoted by Sinclair Ferguson in
God recently took to glory one of     our globe, the church needs a hun-        his book,  Discovering  God's Will,  Banner of
                                      dred times as many ministers. Now,        Truth, 1984, pp. 8485.)





Mri Gary VanDerSchaaf                 Recommended Reading

History/Biography                     Here I Stand - The Life of                 Pop Goes the Gospel.
On Fire For God: The Story of         Martin Luther                              Revised Edition
John Hus                                 Roland Bainton. Abingdon.                  John Blanchard. Evangelical
  Victor Budgen. Evangelical             4.95p                                      Press. 6.95p
   Press. 14.95p                      By Their Blood: Christian lMartyrs         The Role Relationships of Men
Gods Outlaw: The Story of             of the 20th Century                        and Women
William Tyndale                          James Hefley. Baker Book                   George W. Knight. Evangelical
  Brian Edwards. Evangelical             House. 14.95p                              Press. 6.95
  Press. 11.95p                       The Men Behind the KJV                     The Genesis Flood
Evangelical Doctor: The Story of         Gustavus  Paine. Baker Book                J.C. Whitcomb & Henry
John Wycliffe                            House. 6.95p                               Morris. Baker Book House.
  Douglas Wood. Evangelical           God Made Them Great                        10.95p
  P r e s s .   11.95p                  John Tallach. Banner of Truth.           Whom Shall I Marry?
Such a Candle: The Story of              6.9513                                     Dorothy Voshell. Presbyterian
Hugh La timer                         The Shall Be Mine                             & Reformed. 6.95p
  Douglas Wood. Evangelical             John Tallach. Banner of Truth.          Abortion & the Christian
  Press. 11.95p                          6.95p                                      John Davis. Presbyterian &
Luther and His Katie                                                                Reformed. 6.95p
  Dolina MacLuish. Christian          Contemporary Issues                       All the Way Home: A Christian
  Focus. 4.50~                        Shall We Dance?
                                        Brian Edwards. Evangelical              Looks at Feminism
                                        Press. 6.95p                                Mary Pride. Crossway. 12.95p

                                                                               September 1, 1989  /  The  Standard  Bearer  / 477


Dating, Sex, & Friendship                          Christian Living                       The Young Christian
  Joyce Huggett. IVP. 6.95p                        Discovering God's Will                   Matthew Henry. Christian
Confronting the New Age                               Sinclair Ferguson. Banner of          Focus Publications. 3.95p
  Douglas Groothuis. IVP. 7.95p                       Truth. 4.95p                        Learning to be Happy (Abrg't of
The Lure of the Cults & New                        The Practice of Godliness              the Rare Jewel of Christian
Religions                                             Jerry Bridges. Navpress. 4.50~      Contentmenf)
  Ronald Enroth. IVP. 6.9513                       The Pursuit of Holiness                  Jeremiah Burrough. Evangel-
                                                      Jerry Bridges. Navpress. 4.50~        ical Press. 4.95p
                                                                                                          (continued on page 468)



                                                   News From
                                                   Our Churches
Mr. Benjamin Wigger



                    September 1, 1989              throughout his life, but to rejoice    by calling our attention to the
DENOMINATIONAL                                     in our sovereign God and His           fact that God is also our guide.
HIGHLIGHTS                                         wisdom and will.                       He guides us both through His
  On July 17 of this year, the                        Tears were shed that night, but     word and the preaching of that
Lord took unto Himself Prof. H.C.                  there was no feeling of being          Word by His faithful servants.
Hoeksema after he suffered for a                   overburdened with sorrow. There          The service was closed with
brief time with cancer.                            was indeed a sense of joy that         the singing of Prof. Hoeksema's
  For some forty years Prof.                       Prof. Hoeksema had been                favorite Psalter number, number
Hoeksema preached and taught                       delivered from the church mili-        163, after which Rev. J. Korter-
the gospel of sovereign grace. He                  tant to the church triumphant in       ing closed with prayer.
faithfully served as a minister of                 glory. It was a night of celebra-        After the singing of the Dox-
the gospel and was a strong                        tion.                                  ology, the audience was asked to
leader and teacher of theology in                     Prof. R. Decker led the au-         remain standing while Mrs. Mary
our churches, as well as editor of                 dience in opening prayer, in the       Velthouse, Prof. Hoeksema's
this magazine. In accordance                       singing from the Psalter, and in       niece, played the Hallelujah
with his wishes, the family                        the reading from scripture.            Chorus on the organ.
mourned his passing in a private                     Prof. Hoeksema and his family          We extend our sympathy to
family funeral.                                    had expressed their desire that        Mrs. Hoeksema and her family.
  Then, on July 20, a memorial                     the message for this service be        May they find consolation in the
service, entitled Soli Deo Gloria,                 based on Psalm 48:14: "For this        promise of God and in the hope
was held in the sanctuary of our                   God is our God for ever and            of final resurrection.
Protestant Reformed Church in                      ever, he will be our guide even          Rev. Robert Harbach cele-
Hudsonville, Ml. Those who filled                  unto death."                           brated his 75th birthday on July'
the auditorium that night                            Prof. Decker went on to show         27. Rev. Harbach is confined to
gathered not to mourn, but to re-                  us that the verse serves as a          his home, suffering from Parkin-
joice, to rejoice not in what Prof.                tremendous comfort. It tells us        son's disease, which causes him
Hoeksema had accomplished                          that Gods church can not be            almost constant pain. And Rev.
                                                   destroyed. God is God forever,         George Lubbers celebrated his
                                                   and He has established His             80th birthday on August 6. A let-
                                                   church and not man. Prof.              ter, or just a card, to these men
                                                   Decker also challenged us to           would mean so much. It would
                                                   keep up our covenantal responsi-       certainly cheer the hearts of
Mr. Wigger is an elder in the Prot-                bility to tell the generation          these faithful servants of Christ
estant Reformed Church of Hudson-                  following that this God is also        who have for many years served
ville, Michigan.                                   their God. And he encouraged us        our denomination both as

478  / The Standard Bearer  / September 1, 1989


     ministers and as missionaries.          appointed at the last meeting         children and grandchildren. It is
     Rev. Harbach's address is 3409          presented a constitution for dis-    our prayer that Cod will con-
     Goodman, Wyoming, MI 49509,             cussion and adoption, following      tinue to bless them with good
     and Rev. Lubbers is 2074 Cran-          which a society was to be             health and all spiritual bless-
     brook Dr., NE, Grand Rapids, MI         organized, the Lord willing. 0        ings.
     49505.                                                                       Dave and Donna Vander Kodde
       The P.R. Sunday School Asso-          RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY               John and Deb Knoper
     ciation sponsored an evening of                                              Bob and Linda Lenting
                                                The Adult Bible Society of
     fellowship on June 22. A speech                                              Mike and Cheryl  Atman
                                             the Byron Center Protestant Re-      Kurt and Deb Van  Overloop
     by Rev. J. Heys and an oppor-           formed Church expresses its             and 11 grandchildren
     tunity to meet with the teachers        Christian sympathy to Mr. and
     and the editor of "Our Guide"           Mrs. Ken Kuiper and family in         SEMINARY CONVOCATION
     was planned at Faith Church in          the loss of Eunice's father,             The Protestant Reformed
     Jenison, MI. `Parents and in-           PROF. H.C. HOEKSEMA.                  Seminary will conduct its an-
     terested friends as well as all Sun-       "Precious in the sight of the      nual Convocation Service at 8
     day School teachers were cordial-       Lord is the death of His saints."     PM on September 6, in Byron
     ly invited to attend.                   (Psalm 116:15)                        Center Church.
     CONGREGATIONAL                          Rev. Barry Critters, Pres.               Topic: "The Task of the PRC
     ACTIVITIES                              Julie Dykstra, Sec'y.                 in Their Seminary."
~      The Council of our South                                                       Our new professor, the Rev.
     Holland P.R.C. in South Holland,        RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                David J. Engelsma, will be our
     IL planned a farewell program on           The Mary-Martha Society of         speaker this year. There will be
     June 20 for their former mis-           the Hope Protestant Reformed          opportunity for fellowship over
     sionary, Rev. R. Van Overloop,          Church of Redlands,  Calif. ex-       coffee after the meeting.
     who had faithfully served as their                                               All friends of our Protestant
I                                            presses its sincere sympathy to
     missionary for the past ten years.      Mrs. Thys Feenstra, Mr. and           Reformed Churches and
     A short program was planned.            Mrs. Bill Feenstra, Mr.  and.Mrs.     Seminary are welcome to attend
     During the program a collection         John Feenstra, Mr. and Mrs.           this happy occasion.
     was taken and given to Rev. Van         Don Feenstra, Mr. and Mrs.
     Overloop as a token of their ap-        Everett Van Voorthuysen, and          NOTICE!!!
     preciation for his faithful work.       grandchildren in the death of            Classis West of the Protestant
       In early July a congregational        their husband, father, and            Reformed Churches will meet in
     meeting was held in the Lynden          grandfather, MR. THYS                 Doon, Iowa, on Wednesday,
     P.R.C. in Lynden, WA. The con-          FEENSTRA.                             September 6, 1989, at  8:30 a.m.,
     sistory's proposal to build a new          Our prayer is that God will be     the Lord willing. All delegates in
     church building on their existing -     their comfort in their sorrow.        need of lodging or transporta-
     property was approved by the               "For whether we live, we live      tion from the airport should
     congregation.                           unto the Lord, and whether we         notify the Clerk of South
     MINISTERIAL CALLS                       die, we die unto the Lord:            Holland's Consistory.
       Rev. G. Van Baren has de-             whether we live therefore, or         Rev. R. Hanko, Stated Clerk
     clined the call to Peace P.R.C. in      die, we are the  Lord/s." (Romans
     Lynwood, IL. Rev. R. Hanko has          14:8)                                 NOTICE!!!
     declined the call to Isabel, S.D.       Rev. Kenneth Koole, Pres.                The Fall meeting of The
     and Rev. A. den Hartog has              Anna Mae Meelker, Sec'y.              League of Eastern Men's and
     declined the call to serve as mis-                                            Ladies' Societies will be held,
     sionary to the island of Jamaica.       WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                   the Lord willing, on Tuesday,
       Rev. J. Kortering is considering         On September 9, 1989, our          September 26, 1989, at 8:00 PM
     a call from our congregation in         parents, MR. AND MRS.                 at the Hudsonville Protestant
     Pella, Iowa.                            DONALD KNOPER, will cele-             Reformed Church. Prof. David
     SCHOOL ACTIVITIES                       brate their 40th wedding an-          Engelsma will speak on the
       On June 6 all the men-of the          niversary with an open house at       topic "Is good self-esteem im-
     congregation of the Immanuel            First Church from 2 to 4 P.M.         portant for a Christian and how
     P.R.C. in Lacombe, AB were                 We are thankful to our             is it developed?" All members
     urged to attend a meeting, the          Heavenly Father for the many          and others interested in this
     purpose of which was to form a          happy years He has given them         topic are urged to attend.
     school society. The committee           to each other and to us their         Reka Sietstra, vice-secretary

                                                                                  September 1, 1989 / The Standard Bearer / 479


  THE                                                                  ~__-                   ---..
gmDl                                      :---                                                              SECOND CLASS
                                                                                                            Postage Paid at
 BMR                                     j;                                                            f    Grand Rapids, Michigan
/?O. Box 6064
Grand Rapids, MI 49506



RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                             parents, and for the love and          WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
   The Consistory of the  Pella                    Christian instruction they have          On August  26,1989,  our
Protestant Reformed Church ex-                     given us through these years.          parents, MR. AND MRS.
presses its sympathy to the                           "But the mercy of the Lord is       ROBERT PASTOOR celebrated
children and grandchildren in                      from everlasting to everlasting        their 35th wedding anniversary.
the death of our beloved                           upon them that fear Him, and           We, their children and grand-
brother and adult Bible Class                      His righteousness unto                 children, rejoice with them and
member MR. JACOB S. DE                             children's children." (Ps.  103:17)    give thanks to our heavenly
VRIES on July 28, 1989.                            Their grateful children:               Father for the years they have
   "Thou shalt guide me by thy                       Tom and Ardyth  Heyboer              shared with each other and their
council and afterwards  recelive-                    Arie and Ann Griffioen               family. It is our constant prayer
                                                     John and Ginger Huizinga
me to glory." (Ps.  73:24)                                                                that Cod will continue to bless
                                                     Denny and Sharon Gleason
Carl  VanDonselaar,  vice-pres.                        17 grandchildren                   them in the years to come.
Andrew  DeNooy, clerk                                  24 great-grandchildren               "But the mercy of the Lord is
                                                                                          from everlasting to everlasting
RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                             ANNOUNCEMENT                           upon them that fear him, and
   The Consistory of the                              Attention R.F.P.A. Association      his righteousness unto children's
Redlands Hope Protestant Re-                       Members, Friends, and Sup-             children; to such as keep his
formed Church expresses its                        porters of the Standard Bearer.        covenant, and to those that
Christian sympathy to its fellow                      Reserve Thursday, September         remember his commandments
office bearers: Elder John                         21, to attend the Association's        to do them." (Ps.  103:17, 18)
Feenstra, Elder E. Van  Voor-                      Annual Meeting at 8:00 PM in           Doug and  JoAnn Pastoor
thysen, and Deacon Steve                           Southwest Church. Speaker:               Nicole, Eric
Feenstra and their families, in                    Editor-in-Chief Prof. David  J.        Jim  and Jane Pastoor
the loss of their father,  father-                                                          David, Kevin, Steven
                                                   Engelsma. Topic: "The Standard         Dan and Lori Pastoor
in-law, and grandfather THYS                       Bearer: Holding the Traditions."         Brad, Nathan, Bryan, Jonathan
FEENSTRA on July 21,1989.                          Special numbers, and-presenta-         Larry and Pam  VanPutten
   "For we know that if our                        tion of a plaque to retired              Laura, Lisa
earthly house of this tabernacle                   Business Manager, Henry  1.            Steve Pastoor
were dissolved we have a build-                                                           Tom Pastoor
                                                   VanderWal, and refreshments.
ing of God, a house not made                       Election of three new board            RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
with hands, eternal in the                         members from the following               We express our sincere love
heavens." (II Cor.  5:l)                           brethren: Vern Casemier, Leon          and sympathy to Mrs. H.C.
Rev. K.  Koole, Pres.                              Kamps, Gary Nienhuis, Neal             Hoeksema, our Bible teacher, in
Otto Caastra. Clerk                                Pastoor, Alvin Rau, and John           the loss of her beloved hus-
                                                   Veltman. A beneficial evening
WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                                                       band, PROF. H.C. HOEKSEMA
                                                   for all in attendance.
   On September 26, 1989, the                                                             whose wisdom was often
                                                   Peter Koole, Secretary
Lord willing, our dear parents,                                                           brought to us through her.
                                                                                            "Behold God is my salvation:
grandparents, and great-grand-                     IN  MEMORIAM                           I will trust, and not be afraid:
parents MR. AND MRS.                                  In loving memory of PROF.
ADRIAN  CRIFFIOEN will cele-                                                              for the Lord Jehovah is my
                                                   H.C. HOEKSEMA.
brate their 60th wedding anni-                                                            strength and my song; he also is
                                                      "For the Lord himself shall         become my salvation." (Isaiah
versary. An open house is being                    descend from heaven with a             12:2)
planned for September 16, 1989                     shout, with the voice of the
at First Church of Grand Rapids,                                                          Hudsonville Wednesday Morning
                                                   archangel, and with the trump          Women's Bible Study
MI from 2 to 5 PM. We are                          of God: and the dead in Christ
thankful to our heavenly Father                    shall rise first." (I Thess. 4:16).
for giving us God-fearing                          The Evangelical Reformed
                                                     Church  ofSingapore


480  / The Standard Bearer  / September 1, 1989


