A Reformed
Semi-Monthly
Magazine





                        John Knox

                    SPECIAL ISSUE:
                     PREACHING


 vol. 66, No. 26
 May 25,199O


Contents                                                                                         THE
                                                                    May 15, 1990            STANDARD
Meditation - Rev. James D. Siopsema
   THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST                                                              363        BE4RER
                                                                                             ISSN 0362-4692
EDITORIALLY SPEAKING . . . - Prof. David J. fngelsma                                        Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July,
                                                                                            and  Atigust.  Published by the Reformed Free Pub-
Editorial - Prof. David J. Engelsma                                                         lishing Association, Inc. Second Class Postage Paid
                                                                                            at Grand Rapids,  Mich.
   THE CONGREGATION'S REGARD                                                                POSTMASTER:  Send address changes to The
   FOR HER PREACHER                                                                  365    Standard Bearer, P.O. Box 6064, Grand Rapids, MI
                                                                                            49516.
                                                                                            EDITORIAL COMMITTEE
THE CRUX OF THE MATTER - Prof. Roberf D. Decker                                             Editor: Prof. David  1. Engelsma
                                                                                            Secretary: Prof. Robert D. Decker
                                                                                            Managing Editor: Mr. Don Doezema
PREACHING: THE MAIN DUN OF                                                                  DEPARTMENT EDITORS
                                                                                            Rev. Ronald Cammenga, Prof. Robert Decker, Rev.
   THE PREACHER - Rev. Carl J. Haak                                                  366    Arie  denHartog,  Rev. Russell Dykstra, Rev. Barry
                                                                                            Critters, Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman
EXPERIENTIAL PREACHING - Rev. Jason L. Kortering                                     371    Hanko, Rev. Ronald Hanko, Rev. John Heys, Rev.
                                                                                            Kenneth  Koole,  Rev. Jason Kortering, Mr. James
                                                                                            Lanting, Rev. George Lubbers, Mrs.  Marybeth  Lub-
PREACHING OF THE HEIDELBERG                                                                 bers, Rev. James  Slopsema,  Rev. Charles Terpstra,
                                                                                            Rev.  Cise  VanBaren,  Rev. Ronald  VanOverloop,
   CATECHISM - Rev. Marvin Kamps                                                     373    Mr. Benjamin Wigger, Rev. Bernard  Woudenberg.
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ELDER'S OVERSIGHT OF THE                                                                    Every editor is solely responsible for the contents
   PREACHING - Mr. Don Doezema                                                       376    of his own articles. Contributions of general in-
                                                                                            terest from our readers and questions for The
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NEWS FROM OUR CHURCHES - Mr. Benjamin Wigger                                         383    REPRINT POLICY
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                                                                                            The Standard Bearer The Standard  Bearet
   On fhe cover of this special issue on preaching is the Scoffish Reformer, John           Don Doezema                c/o Protestant Reformed
Knox, in his pdpif  in Sf. Giles Church, Edinburgh. Knox preached wifh passion.             P.O. Box 6064                Church
                                                                                            Grand Rapids, MI           B. Van Herk
James Melville said of Knox's way of preaching that "ere he had done wifh his ser-            49516                  66 Fraser St.
mon, he was so active and vigorous that he was like to ding that pulpif in blads and        PH:  (6161 243-3712      Wainuiomata, New Zealand
                                                                                                (616) 531-1490
flee out of if." Roughly franslafed: I`...he threatened to pound that pulpif to             SUi3SCRlPTlON  POLICY
smithereens and fly out of if." Not all fhe great preachers were characterized by           Subscription price: 812.00 per year in the U.S.,
                                                                                            $15.00 elsewhere. Unless a definite request for dis-
such a fiery pulpit-style. Jonathan Edwards, the New England Puritan, preached              continuance is received, it is assumed that the
without display, without inflection, and without gestures, lookingfixedly at the bell-      subscriber wishes the subscription to continue
                                                                                            without the formality of a renewal order, and he
rope above fhe congregafion's heads. But the powerful  content of his sermons moved         will be billed for renewal. If  vou  have a  change  of
his people deeply.                                                                          address, please notify the  B&ess  Office as  early
                                                                                            as possible in order to avoid the inconvenience of
   Eve y genuine preacher of the gospel of Christ preaches with in fensify. When an         delayed delivery. Include your Zip Code.
old Purifan preacher was asked why he always preached with urgency, he replied, "I          ADVERTISING POLICY
am a dying man preaching (the words                                                         The Standard  Bearer  does not accept commercial
                                           of eternal life) to dying men." No man sent      advertising of any kind. Announcements of church
out by Jesus Christ gefs on the pulpit, Sabbath affer Sabbath, with a bored "here-we-       and school events, anniversaries, obituaries, and
go-again, let's-gef-this-over-with" attitude. Nor does he bounce on  the platform           sympathy resolutions will be placed for a  3i3.00
                                                                                            fee. These should be sent to the Business Office
with shallow cheeriness - *`my, isn't this a nice day; lef eve yone shake hands wifh        and should be accompanied by the $3.00 fee.
his neighbor; let's have a joke or fwo to loosen everybody up," flashing acres of white     Deadline for announcements is the 1st and the
                                                                                            15th of the month,  previbus  to publication on the
teeth all fhe while.                                                                        15th or the 1st respectively.
  Heralds of the risen King bringing comfort to cifizens  of the kingdom beleaguered        BOUND VOLUMES
                                                                                            The Business Office will accept standing orders
by sin, Safan, and the world and carrying to the enemies of fhe King the summons to         for bound copies of the current volume; such
surrender in repentance and fai fh fake their Master's business in dead earnest. So         orders are filled as soon as possible after comple-
                                                                                            tion of a volume.
does His church.                                                                            16mm microfilm, 35mm microfilm and  105mm
   The Master's business in fhe presenf  age is the preaching of fhe gospel. 0              microfiche, and article copies are available
                                                                                            through University Microfilms International.
                                                                                   - DJE

362 I The Standard Bearer I May 15,199O


                                        The Gospel
Meditation
Rev. James Slopsema                     of Christ

  For I am not ashamed of the             May God keep us faithful to the        made perfect payment for our sins.
gospel of Christ: for if is the         gospel of Christ!                        Through the perfect obedience of
                                                  ****x-z+*                      Jesus Christ God has also obtained
power of God unto salvation to            The heart of the gospel of Christ      for us a perfect obedience and righ-
eveyone that believefh; to the          is the righteousness of God. For in      teousness.
Jew first, and also to the Greek.       the gospel of Christ, says Paul, is        The question arises, How do we
  For therein is the righfeous-         the righteousness of God revealed        obtain this righteousness of God in
ness of God revealed from faith         from faith to faith.                     Christ so that we may appea? righ-
fo faith....                              The righteousness of God spo-          teous before God to receive all His
                   Remans 1:16,17       ken of here is not righteousness as      blessings and favors? Is this some-
                                        an attribute of God. That God is         thing of which we must make our-
                                        righteous means that all His actions     selves worthy? Is this something
                                        are in perfect harmony with the          that we must somehow earn or
                                        goodness of His divine being. This       merit for ourselves? The answer of
  It had been the earnest desire of     truth alone, however, is not the         Scripture is an unqualified, No!
the apostle Paul to preach the          good news of the gospel. For being       The righteousness of God is a gift
gospel of Jesus Christ in Rome. In      a righteous God, God punishes            of God, freely bestowed upon all
spite of his many efforts, however,     man's sin to the extreme, with ever-     those whom God has ordained to
he had not been able to get to          lasting punishment in hell.              eternal life.
Rome as yet. And lest the saints in       The righteousness of God spo-            And therefore this righteousness
Rome concluded that Paul's failure      ken of here and in other passages        of God is received by faith alone in
to come to Rome was due to the          of Scripture is rather a righteous-      Jesus Christ. Faith is a clinging to
fact that he was ashamed of the         ness that comes from God and that        Christ, a complete reliance upon
gospel of Christ, Paul unequivo-        God provides for His people in           Christ for all things. Those who
cally states that this was not the      grace.                                   live by faith in Jesus Christ rely not
case. He was not ashamed of the            In that connection we must bear       on their own works nor on the
gospel of Christ. For this gospel is    in mind that, if we will be received     works of mere men. In all their
the power of God to salvation to        into God's favor and enjoy His           needs they look to Jesus Christ
every one that believes.                blessings, we must appear before         alone. They also do this when they
   As we survey the church world        God in perfect righteousness. This       stumble and fall into sin. With
of our day, we discover to our dis-     means that we must stand before          grieving hearts they confess their
appointment that the churches           God without so much as one sin, in       sins to God, begging God to forgive
which preach the gospel of Christ       perfect obedience to the divine will.    and receive them on the basis of the
are becoming fewer and fewer.              This is obviously something we        perfect work of Jesus Christ. In this
Many have long ago become               can not do in and of ourselves. For      way of faith God accounts the per-,
ashamed of the gospel of Christ         we have sinned against God again         feet righteousness of Christ as
and consequently replaced it with       and again in many horrible ways.         theirs.
some other gospel.                      Nor are we able to remove our sins          This is exactly what Paul empha-
                                        from before the face of God so as to     sizes to the church of Rome by say-
                                        stand before Him.in righteousness.       ing that the righteousness of God is
                                        In and of ourselves we can only ap-      from faith to faith. This means that
                                        pear before God with the filth of        the righteousness of God is re-
                                        our sins to receive eternal punish-      ceived by us by faith alone. Con-
                                        ment in hell.                            trary to what certain Judaizing
                                           But God has graciously provided       teachers were saying, this righ-
Rev. Slopsetna  is pasfor of Hope       a righteousness for us in Christ Je-     teousness and salvation is not be-
Profesfanf R@mzed Church in             sus. Through the suffering and           gun in faith and concluded with
Wallw,  Michigan.                       death of Jesus on the cross God has      works. It is a matter of faith from

                                                                                    May 15,199O  I The Standard Bearer I 363


beginning to end - from faith to            us to faith in Jesus Christ and keeps     There is the gospel of positive
faith.                                      us in that faith only through the         thinking....
   Such is the gospel of Christ             gospel of Christ.                           But these gospels are powerless
which Paul by revelation from                  For in the gospel of Christ God        to save. For they all lead us away
heaven preached.                            presents Jesus Christ to man as the       from Jesus Christ and the righ-
          *******                           only foundation of and way to sal-        teousness of God that is found in
  This gospel of Christ is the              vation. And in that same gospel           Christ alone.
power of God to salvation to every-         God also calls all who hear it to be-       The gospel of Christ alone is the
one that believes - to the Jew first,       lieve in Jesus Christ. When that          power of God to salvation exactly
and also to the Greek.                      call of the gospel comes to the ear       because it leads us to the righteous-
  Notice, that God has the power            of God's own elect, it is accompa-        ness of God in Jesus Christ.
to save. The power to save does             nied by the inner working of the                     *******
not belong to man. It does not even         Holy Spirit, Who irresistibly brings        For this reason the apostle Paul
belong to the angels. The power to          the elect of God to faith in Jesus        was not ashamed of the gospel of
save is God's alone.                        Christ.                                   Christ.
   And God saves His people                    But there is more. God also sus-         Many opposed him for the
through the gospel of Christ.               tains the elect believer in his faith     gospel's sake. He was mocked and
  When Paul speaks here of the              through the gospel of Christ. For         ridiculed; he was arrested and
gospel, he has in mind specifically         through the gospel of Christ the          beaten; he would one day even suf-
the preaching of the gospel. In             true believer is directed again and       fer martyrdom for the gospel of
verse 15 Paul states that he was            again to Christ as the only way of        Christ.
ready to preach the gospel to'the           salvation. And so the believer is           But in spite of all this Paul was
saints at Rome. Consequently,               led day by day by the gospel of           not ashamed of the gospel of
when in verse 16 Paul speaks of the         Christ to cling to Jesus Christ to        Christ. For the gospel of Christ is
gospel of Christ as the power of            find the salvation of God in all its      the power of God to salvation!
God to salvation, he obviously has          fullness.                                   Sad to say, many churches of our
in mind the gospel as preached.                This is true for the Jew as well as    day have long ago become
  The gospel of Christ is the power         the Greek, for the bond as well as        ashamed of the gospel of Christ.
of God to salvation exactly because         the free, for the rich as well as the     For the sake of respectability before
God uses the gospel of Christ to            poor....                                  men they have, either partially or
work faith in our hearts.                      It is the gospel of Christ that is     totally, abandoned the gospel of
   Contrary to popular opinion,             God's power to salvation.                 Christ for some other gospel..
faith does not find its origin in us.          Other gospels there are. There is        Will you be ashamed also?
Faith certainly does not arise from         the gospel of works-righteousness           Laying hold of the truth that the
the heart of fallen man. Man lost           which proclaims that man in his           gospel of Christ is the power of
everything in the fall, even the abil-      own goodness can work his way to          God to salvation, unashameldly
ity to believe in Jesus.                    heaven. There is the social gospel        cling to this gospel. Unashamedly
  `Faith is, rather, a gift of God. Be-     which proclaims that through the          attend a church that proclaims the
lieving on Jesus Christ to salvation        political process and education we        gospel of Christ without compro-
is something that must be given to          can cure the social ills of the world     mise. And unashamedly defend
us of God @%il. 1:29). God brings           and make a heaven here on earth.          the gospel of Christ. 0





                                            Editorially Speaking . . .

                                               This issue of The Standard Bearer,     who only  hear the  preaching.
                                            one of the three special issues pub-         The June 1 issue of The SB will
                                            lished each year, is devoted to the       feature the Protestant Reformed
                                            subject of the preaching of the           Synod, 1990. The editor will re-
                                            gospel. We consider aspects of            view the agenda, especially for the
                                            preaching that are not always cov-        information of the members of the
                                            ered in treatment of the subject.         PRC. Certain matters coming up at
                                            We also present the views of those        Synod that may be of special inter-

364 I The Standard Bearer  I May 15,199O


est will receive indepth coverage in       decisions of other Reformed and                  church reformation yearly.
separate articles.                         Presbyterian synods and general                    All of these plans are freely sub-
  The July 1 SB will contain several       assemblies in which our readership               jected to the will of the Lord Jesus
of the speeches given at the Confer-       is interested.                                   Christ, Whom we desire to serve
ence of Sister Churches scheduled             Looking further into the future,              with The SB.
for the second week of June in             our October 15,199O issue is to be a               Our readers will remember that
Grand Rapids, MI. We also hope to          special issue on the Protestant Re-              during the summer months The !5B
publish pictures of the Conference.        formation of the 16th century The                appears only on the first of the
  In the August 1 issue, we plan to        editorial committee of  The SB  has              month. 0                          - I)JE
give a full report of the PRC Synod.       decided to devote this number of
Perhaps, we can also report on the         the magazine to some aspect of





                                          .m The Congregation's
Editorial                                                  Regard for Her Preacher

W The Congregation's                       elders that rule well be counted                 asked by curious souls, "How do
Regard for Her Preacher                    worthy of double honor, especially               you like your preacher?" we
                                           they who labor in the word and                   should answer, `We receive our
  It is not out of place in a special      doctrine." Whenever a preacher is                minister in the Lord with all glad-
issue on preaching, and therefore          installed in a church, the Reformed              ness."
on the great task of the preacher, to      "Form of Ordination of the Minis-                   It is downright carnal for church
remind our Protestant Reformed             ters of God's Word" is not content               members to play one preacher off
congregations of their responsibil-        to give a mandate only to the                    against another, preferring the one
ity toward their preachers. For not        preacher. It gives a mandate also                and rejecting the other. This was
only does it follow from the impor-        to the congregation:                             one of the sorest evils in the di-
tance of preaching that those who             Receive this your minister in the Lord        vided Corinthian church, and a
are engaged in the work must be            with all gladness, "and hold such in repu-       cause of the division: "every one
honored, but it is also true that a        tation." Remember that God Himself               of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of
sinful attitude toward the preacher        through him sped&h unto and beseecheth           Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of
can obstruct the benefits of the           you. Receive the Word which he, accord-          Christ" (I Cor. 1:12). The only time
preaching for the believer and his         ing to the Scripture, shall preach unto          that the apostle called Christians
family. Wrong behavior toward              you.... Let the feet of those that preach the    "carnal" was when he was rebuk-
the preacher can even injure the           gospel of peace...be beautiful and pleasant      ing the congregation's sin of form-
glorious work of the ministry in a         unto you....
                                              The "Form" concludes with the                 ing parties around their favorite
congregation.                              prayer that the congregation may                 preacher (cf. I Cor. 3:1-4X I dare
  The duty of the congregation is                                                           say that it is not unknown to at
to honor the preacher. This honor          have grace "that they may becom-                 least some of our pastors that cer-
is a very high esteem. For it is not       ingly deport themselves towards
                                           this their minister...."                         tain of the congregation virtualhy
merely regard for a man's person-             This high regard for the preacher             refused their ministry because of
ality and abilities, but it is respect     is the simple, solemn calling of ev-             the members "puffing up/ as the
for an appointed servant of Christ         ery congregation and of every                    apostle puts it in I Corinthians 4:6,
exercising the ministry of being a         member of every congregation. It                 for other of our ministers against
steward of the mysteries of God.                                                            them. The worst is not that such
This is the charge of Christ's apos-       is unspiritual to suppose that every
                                           member has the right to make up                  members deprive themselves of
tle to the congregation in I               his own mind what he will think of               the mysteries of God administered
Corinthians 4~1: "Let a man so ac-         the preacher. The minds of all of                by the rejected pastor. But they
count of us, as of the ministers of        us are made up for us by the Lord                threaten division in the congrega-
Christ, and stewards of the myster-        of the church: "esteem them very                 tion and in the denomination. To
ies of God." The same command is           highly in love for their work's                  such an extreme will these "carnal
given in I Timothy 5:17: "Let the          sake" (I Thess. 5:13). When we are               Christians" press their preferences.

                                                                                               May 15,199O  / The Standard Bearer / 365


       Like Paul who suffered this treat-    Christ, but rather opposes and per-       have the primary responsibility to
ment at the hands of the Corinthi-           secutes it." Protestants make the         see to it that the congregation is
ans (they preferred the eloquent             same mistake when they submit             well served by a faithful prearher.
Apollos), the pastor who is handled          themselves to (and support) the              The reason for this protection of
in this disgraceful manner by some           ministries of the television preach-      the minister's reputation in the
in the church must endure in the             ers who live scandalous lives, or         church is not favoritism, or partial-
strength of the conviction that it is        when they unprotestingly maintain         ity, for the person of preachers. It is
a very small thing to him, how               their membership in churches that         not what an old elder once sug-
members judge his ministry. What             give'them stones for bread.               gested to me when he said with his
matters to him is that his ministry            The preacher must be faithful.          tongue only partly in his cheek,
is judged by the Lord (cf. I Cor. 4:3,       He must be faithful in teaching the       `We oppose unions, but you minis-
4).                                          pure Word of God. He must be              ters have the tightest union going."            .
       But the congregation errs in this     faithful in exerting himself strenu-      Calvin indicated the reason in his
presumptuous, preferential judg-             ously on behalf of this teaching es-      sermon on I Timothy 5:19:
ment.                                        pecially as regards the public               And as for the privilege He (the HoZy
       The church must esteem her pas-       preaching on the Lord's Day. He           Ghost - DJE) gives, it is not without
tor highly because of his office and         must be faithful in his own per-          cause: for we see the ministers are more
because of the great things that are         sonal behavior, living godly and          subject to slanders and false reports than
done through his office. By means            giving offense to none. Then he           others are. And who brings this but Satan
of the office of preaching, the risen        must be honored. Otherwise not.           only, who forgeth all this in his shop? For
Christ speaks the words of eternal             But the withdrawing and with-           it is indeed the best means he has to bring
                                                                                       us out of taste with God's Word, wkn any
life to believers and their children.        holding of honor must be orderly.         fault can be found with the ministers: "Ho,
As the ground for his own exhorta-           It must take place in the prescribed      they are such men and such men." When
tion to the people of Geneva, that           way. And it must be the decision of       such bruits (rumors) are sown and #are re-
they honor their preachers, John             the church officially, not that of the    ceived, then are we turned straightway
Calvin wrote, "the pulpit is God's           individual member on his own.             from the Word of God, and we honor it and
seat, from which He will govern                The Word of God safeguards the          r~rence it no more as we ought.... He
our souls" (Semzons on Timofhy b             preacher and his reputation in the        meant not to favor their persons, but re-
                                                                                       spected God and His truth, to the end there
Tifus,  Banner of Truth, p. 522).            congregation. It does this by the
       "This man - our preacher -            rule of I Timothy 5:19: "Against an       might arise no contempt, for men to with-
has been called of Christ to this of-        elder receive not an accusation, but      draw themselves from the Gospel, under a
                                                                                       color and cloak, that the men are ev;il spo-
fice. Christ the Ring has sent him           before two or three witnesses."           ken of, and noted and found fault withal
here to bless us by his ministry. In         This protects the ruling elder as         (Sermons on Tiiothy & Titus, pp. 516,
himself he is nothing. Neither is            well as the elder who labors in. the      517).
any of his co-workers anything in            word and doctrine, but my concern            The glorious work of preaching
himself. To worship the man for              here is the protection of the             the gospel may not be imperilled
his charisma is as great an evil as          preacher. No one, not even a con-         among us, as it would be if every
rejecting him because he is not              sistory, may so much as entertain,        member on his own could call into
somebody else. But he is a laborer           much less act on, an accusation           question the preacher's orthodoxy
from God in God's vineyard. He               against a preacher that does not          or godliness, and probably also
has his own gifts for the work he            have the support of two or three          turn others in the congregation
must do. He comes to us in                   witnesses. (This must not be sup-         against him.
Christ's Name. In.Christ's Name              posed to rule out the permissibility         For the churches, this safeguard-
we receive him." So must the con-            of a member's reporting to the con-       ing of the preacher implies that the
gregation think about her preacher.          sistory some public sin of the pas-       denomination be rigorous in de-
       Esteem for the preacher is condi-     tor in accordance with Article 74 of      manding spiritual and natural gifts
tioned by the preacher's being               the Church Order, e.g., public            of those who present themselves
faithful in his ministry: "Moreover          heresy.)                                  for the ministry. Once a man is or-
it is required in stewards, that a             The right way to deal with an           dained, it is not easy to remove
man be found faithful" (I Cor. 4:2X          unfaithful minister is the way of         him.
The saints are not required to honor         personal admonition, admonition              We preachers may not abuse this
the preacher regardless of his               with witnesses, and lodging the ac-       protection. It will go hard with us
teaching and regardless of his be-           cusation with the consistory before       in the judgment that awaits all
havior. In this case the office              the witnesses. Only when the              stewards of the mysteries of God if
would be divorced from the labor             preacher's unfaithfulness is estab-       we do take advantage of this pro-
and service that belong to the of-           lished by the church officially may       tection. We are to use it. We use it
fice. This is the error of the Roman         the member refuse him the honor           by working to the point of exhaus-
Catholic Church to this day:                 due him for his office.                   tion, and-then beyond the point of
"Honor the pope as the minister of             Of course, a consistory may itself      exhaustion, in preaching the ,gos-
Christ even though he does not               make a pastor's unfaithfulness an         pel, for the sake of the church. Cl
proclaim and defend the gospel of            issue with him. The body of elders                                             `- DJE

366 / The Standard Bearer I May 15,199O


                                           The Crux
Prof. Robert D. Decker                     of the Matter

  What makes a church the                  statizing or which have become             gospel ought to be published an.d
church? To what church ought I             completely false? What is the crux         declared to all nations and persons
belong? What should I look for in          of the matter?                             promiscuously to whom God out of
a church? Which considerations               The answer is, according to the          His good pleasure sends the gospel
are essential and which are not? Is        Reformed Confessions, that the             (II, 5). The Cunons  also declare that
the worship style important?               church is marked by the preaching          just as God uses means to prolong
Ought I be a member of that down-          of the Word, the proper administra-        and support our natural life, so
town church which offers a "high           tion of the sacraments, and the ex-        God uses means to nourish and
church," structured, and very for-         ercise of Christian discipline (cf.        support our spiritual life; and the
mal worship? Or should I be a              The BeZgic Confession, Art. XXDO. Of       means God uses are the admoni-
member of that large church which          these three marks of the true              tions of the preaching of the gospel
features a much less formal wor-           church preaching is the chief.             (III, Iv; 17).
ship style bordering on the charis-        Preaching is the chief mark of the            The Reformed Confessions are
matic? Ought I join the church that        church because preaching is the            true to the Scriptures on this mat-
offers a wide range of "ministries"        chief *means of grace. Preaching is        ter. The inspired Apostle writes to
and support groups to singles, di-         the means which God, the Holy              the church at Ephesus:
vorced persons, youth, et. aI.? Or         Spirit, uses to work His grace in the         And he (the crucified,  risen, exalted
ought I be a member of that church         hearts of His people and to pre-           Christ) gave some, apostles; and some,
which places a high priority on the        serve them to everlasting life and         prophets; and some, evangelists; and some,
preaching of the Word, the church          glory. The Belgic Confession teaches       pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of
that makes preaching the center of         that faith is wrought in man by the        the saints, for the work of the minist y, for
its worship and insists that the           hearing of the Word of God (Art.           the edifying of the body of Christ. . . that
                                                                                      we . . . may grow up into him in all thfrtgs,
preacher proclaim the riches of the        XXIV), and that there must be min-         which is the head, even Christ. (Ephesirzns
truth of the inspired, infallible, holy    isters to preach the Word . . . that by    4:ll - 16)
Scriptures? What is the crux of the        these means the true religion may             This passage teaches that Christ
matter in determining my church            be preserved (Art. XXX).  The Hei-         gave pastors and teachers to the
membership?                                delberg Catechism teaches that the         church to make the saints perfect,
  If the church must worship God           Son of God gathers His elect out of        complete. The people of God
as He has commanded in His                 the world by means of His Spirit           through the work of the ministry
Word, and she must, then all the el-       and Word (q. 54). The Catechism            are edified, i.e., built up into the
ements in the worship (the singing,        also insists that the Holy Spirit          body of Jesus Christ. This is wh.at
the reading of the Law, confession         works faith by the preaching of the        preaching accomplishes.
of faith, prayers, offerings, preach-      gospel (q. 65). Preaching is one of           In the marvelous tenth chapter
ing) must be in harmony with the           the keys by which the Kingdom is           of the Gospel According to John Je-
will of God revealed in Holy               opened to believers and shut to un-        sus reveals Himself as the Good
Scripture. But what is the one             believers (q. 83,84X  Images are not       Shepherd Who lays down His life
thing that really matters? What is         to be tolerated in the churches as         and takes it up again for His sheep,
it that distinguishes the true church      books to the laity, The Cufechism ex-      and Who gathers the sheep into
from those churches which are apo-         plains, because we must not pre-           one fold under Himself as the one
                                           tend to be wiser than God Who will         Shepherd. What distinguishes the
                                           have His people taught not by              sheep of Jesus from all unbelievfers
                                           dumb images but by the lively              is the fact that the sheep hear Jesus'
Prof. Decker is professor of Pracfical     preaching of His Word (q. 98). The         voice, are known of Him, and fol-
Theology in  the Profesfanf Reformed       Canons of Dordrechf teach that the         low Him (verses 14 - 30).
Semina y.                                  promise and command of the

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   The question is, how do the                     preaching is the chief means by             Thus, because preaching is the
sheep hear the voice of Jesus? How                 which God works His grace in the         chief means of grace, it is the chief
do they hear His voice today? The                  hearts of His elect in Christ and        mark of the church.
answer is found in Romans lo:13 -                  preserves them to everlasting life          And this is the crux of the mat-
15 where we read:                                  and glory. If we as Protestant Re-       ter! I must be a member of that
   For whosoever shall call upon the name          formed Churches are to continue to       church which preaches the Wi3rd of
of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall         be a Confessionally Reformed             God. Then I shall be hearing
they call on him in whom they have not be-         Church it is absolutely necessary        "Christ crucified" (I Corinthi8ans
lieved? and how shall they believe in him          that we hold fast to this biblical       1:23). This explains our choioe  of
of whom they have not heard? and how               truth. Preaching is not merely one       the word "crux." It is 
shall they hear without a preacher? And                                                                                derived1 from
how shall they preach, except they be sent?        man addressing all the others as         the Latin word for cross. In the
as it is written, how beautijkl are the feet of    some maintain. Preaching is much         cross of Jesus Christ is all of our
them that preach the gospel of peace, and          more than a lecture on some doc-         salvation. Apart from the crolss of
bring glad tidings of good things!                 trine of the Bible. Preaching is that    Jesus Christ we are lost. This
   This passage teaches that in or-                unique, mysterious miracle by            means that we must be and remain
der to be saved one must call upon                 which God uses a sinful, weak man        members of that church which
the name of the Lord. In order to                  in the way of expounding Holy            faithfully proclaims nothing less or
call upon the name of the Lord one                 Scripture to %ave them that be-          more than Jesus Christ and Him
must believe on Him, -and in order                 lieve!" By means of preaching, the       Crucifix.
to believe on the Lord one must                    sheep of Christ hear His voice; and        How clearly the Scriptures speak
hear the Lord. In order to hear the                hearing His voice they know and          to this! In response to the schism
Lord one must have a preacher                      follow the Good Shepherd into life       and party strife in Corinth Paul
who is sent. This means that we                    eternal. It is crucial that we main-     stresses that not baptism, but
hear the voice of Jesus by means of                tain this truth by the grace of God.     preaching is the chief means of
a preacher called, qualified, or-                  Preaching must remain central in         grace. Christ did not send me to
dained by Christ through the                       our worship; it must be the main         baptize, writes Paul, but to preach
church. This is the means God                      element around which everything          Christ crucified. The reason for
chooses to use to work faith in the                in the worship revolves.                 this is that preaching is: "Christ, the
hearts of His people enabling them                   As to its content this means that      power and wisdom of God" and:
to call upon His name and be                       preaching must declare and pro-          "... it pleased God by the foolish-
saved. This is utterly crucial, for it             claim nothing less than and noth-        ness of preaching to save them that
means that without preaching there                 ing more than the Word of God.           believe . .." (I Corinthians 1:17 - 25).
can be no believing, and without                   And, because this is true, preaching       For this reason no one has the
believing there can be no calling                  must be exegetical or expository.        right to separate himself from that
upon the name of the Lord, and                     Ipreaching must explain the plain,       church which faithfully preaches
without calling upon the name of                   simple, yet utterly profound mean-       the Word (The Belgic  Confessim Art.
the Lord there can be no salvation.                ing of the Word of God as that           XMX).
   Standing firmly on the rock of                  Word applies to every sphere of hu-        Preaching is the crux of the mat-
Holy Scripture the Reformed tradi-                 man life and meets every need of         ter! 0
tion maintains, therefore, that                    the child of God.





                                                   Preaching: The Main
Rev. Car/J. Haak                                   Duty of the Preacher

                                                     `The Lord gave the word: great         desire which God works in a sanc-
                                                   was the company of those who             tified heart. Many are the holy de-
Rev. Haak is pastor of the Profesfanf              published it."                           sires which God works in the
Reformed Church in Lynden, Wash-                     The compulsion to preach the           hearts of His children. Believing
ington.                                            gospel is the greatest yearning and      parents can confess that God gives
368 1 The Standard Bearer I May 15,199O


them a great jealousy and yearning        Here God's Word stands alone             myself considering the possibility
to impart to their children the         and unique. Nothing other than             of showing slides this Sunday
"praises of the Lord, and his           the Word of God can put a man un-          evening or asking the people to
strength, and his wonderful works       der constraint - nothing other             bring their musical instruments  ~so
that he hath done" (Ps. 784). A         than the frue Word of God summed           that we could perhaps sing away
wife and mother is consumed in          in the Reformed faith, which sets          the blues.
her soul for the good of her family     forth the glory of our incomprehen-          But under the gospel of the gllory
and looks after the ways of her         sible God and the greatness of His         of God in the face of Jesus Christ, a
household. And believing hus-           grace and mercy in Jesus Christ,           cross which shall not fail to accom-
bands can testify of a yearning         His Son. The noble themes of man           plish all God intends it should, al
which God gives them for the fel-       cannot produce this effect in the          forgiveness which hides my trans-
lowship of their wives.                 heart of a man. Bring the noblest of       gressions from view, a grace which
  But excelling them in intensity       man's ideas, the height of his wis-        surely breaks the bars of sin, anti a
and in constraining force upon the      dom and learning, the most pas-            God Who is God and sovereign
heart is the yearning and compul-       sionate of his virtues, and although       over all - such a gospel must be
sion God works in the heart of a        men may speak of them with elo-            proclaimed! Indeed, the soul of the
true preacher to preach the gospel.     quence, they cannot put one under          preacher who has been given to see
Attend to these verses of the Scrip     compulsion. They have no power             that Word grows impatient for Sun-
ture as proof....                       to cause the heart to soar with love       day. "The lion hath roared, who
  "So, as much as in me is, I am        and praise to God and to bring the         will not fear? the LORD God ha.th
ready to preach the gospel..."          heart into subjection to His will and      spoken, who can but prophesy?"
(Rom. 1:15).                            command. Nothing can place a               (Amos 3:8).
  "But his word was in my heart as      man under constraint but the true            This compulsion to preach will
a burning fire shut up in my bones,     Word of God. It alone shows the            be seen in that a minister devotes
and I was weary with forbearing,        reality of this life of sin and evil in    his energies and strength to preach-
and I could not stay" (Ter. 20:9).      true light; it alone affords the solid     ing.
  "...for necessity is laid upon me;    and only ground of comfort in the            To pursue successfully a goal,. we
yea woe is unto me if I preach not      mercy of God; and it alone fur-            must make that goal a great and
the gospel" (I Cor. 9:16).              nishes the power sufficient to free        absorbing object. A divided hea.rt
  Why? Because "the Lord gave           us from our former slavery to the          can never master the strength and
the word"! In an altogether special     love of this world and to make us          energy needed to attain a single
way Jehovah God entrusted His           the willing servants of Him Who            goal, but squanders its energy over
Word to the preacher who is law-        has redeemed us in His blood.              many interests, none of which alre
fully called of God's church and in-      It must be the true Word of God.         ever attained.
wardly called by the operation of       I have often wondered what moti-             Jesus observed that the children
the Holy Spirit in his heart. And       vates a man to preach the false            of this world, in pursuing their
when God calls, a man is under          gospel. I find nothing constraining        goals, understood this principle::
constraint to lift up his voice and     about it. To preach a Christ and           "for the children of this world are
declare unto Zion, "Behold, your        salvation which is a grand possibil-       in their generation wiser than thle
God!"                                   ity if only the sinner will make it so     children of light" (Luke 168).  The
  Every sincere preacher can tes-       by a decision of his free will; to pro-    men of the world are absorbed in
tify of this. The Word of God on        claim a Christ Who died for all'men        their objet  t - the rich in their pur-
which he has studied and medi-          without exception and thus for a           suit of gain, the ambitious in their
tated in the week gone by becomes       countless number who now suffer            pursuit of power, the scholar in :his
a burden to him which he must get       the torments of hell; to herald a          pursuit of learning. Once a man
off his heart by preaching it. By a     message that God would like to see         has set his heart on something and
compulsion to preach I do not           things turn out alright for you but        feels its tug on his heart, see how
mean that the desire to preach is an    is powerless to see to it because He       he can immerse himself in it almost
irresistible impulse to perform an      does not control the winds of trou-        to madness? His burning zeal at-
irrational act similar to what hap-     ble, death, sickness, etc.; such a         tracts everything around it to feed
pens when a pregnant woman feels        word leaves me unmoved and is              the flame. His favorite schemes,,
compelled to gorge on some rich         best left unsaid. I would feel under       his pet projects are hardly ever ab-
food she normally would not crave.      no more compulsion to look into            sent from his mind.
The preacher knows why he is un-        that gospel than I do to open the            Something like this must charac-
der compulsion: it is owing to the      junk mail I receive and disregard.         terize the preacher. With singleness
Word of God which in a week's           If that is the word the Lord gave (a       of mind and zealous pursuit, the
time of study has penetrated the        powerless god, an iffy salvation, a        preacher must have preaching for
hidden places of his heart and now      sovereign man whom I have                  his sole object. A minister today
simply must be proclaimed. The          learned is a beast at heart, and a         can hardly be called lazy when one
compulsion to preach comes from         well-meaning but impotent will of          stops to look at the list of duties re-
the Word God gives to be preached.      God), then I could well imagine            quired of him. Scripture calls him

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to visit the sick and widows, teach             which you might want him to                        guage of Nehemiah: "I am doing a
the youth and children, open the                make with you because you are                      great work, so that I cannot come
Scriptures from house to house,                 feeling inadequate. Your preacher                  down: why should the work cease
lead the people of God in Bible                 is inadequate too; but he must not                 while I leave it and come down to
study class, bring God's Word to                be that on Sunday when it comes                    you?" (Neh. 6:3).
the flock in their grief and glad-              time to preach. And he will be if he                 If the Lord gave the Word, what
ness, counsel the distressed, ad-               has not been given time to prepare.                but the most sanctified determina-
monish the wayward, and comfort                 It is far worse for the preaching to               tion to make the preaching of that
the depressed. The flock may use                suffer under neglect than any other                Word the one fhing in our lives is re
him, they may spend him up, says                aspect of the work of the church.                  quired of us? In comparison 1:o this
the Scripture (II Cor. 12). Today               And let all members of the church                  one thing, everything else is to be
countless other obligations are                 not look on their minister as the                  under-valued and neglected, if it
placed on him: committees, meet-                one to be involved in every nook                   should prove a hindrance to our
ings, subcommittee meetings, and                and cranny of church life, but learn               task to preach the gospel.
what not more. He must be a man                 and discipline yourself to view him                  God is the one Who works this
for the youth, for the aged, and for            as the herald of God, which task he                compulsion in the preacher.
all in between. He must be able to              fulfills centrally from your pulpit.)              Preaching is a calling which, in the
slide into second base, have time to              However, it is the ministry of the               face of continual exertion and ex-
fish and frolic at picnics, attend ev-          gospel that we must see as the tar-                pense, requires a continual supply
ery church and school function, be              get at which we are to aim and on                  of God's grace. The difficulties
an example in rearing his children              which we are to have our eye fixed.                which attend this calling are `more
in what is called "quality time;"               We are set as watchmen to sound                    than enough to prevail against the
have a sound marriage, and be                   the alarm, to warn the wicked of                   best ministers, if they were left to
well-known and sociable in the                  their evil ways, to direct God's peo-              carry on by themselves. There are
community.                                      ple to the place where they shall                  frequent times when God teaches
  Now for everything there is a                 find their peace, to point out the                 ministers to feel the meaning of
season, says the Preacher of Ecclesi-           snares and temptations to which                    Paul's words: `We were pressed
astes, and none of the above activi-            they are exposed, to charge them to                out of measure and above strength,
ties are in themselves wrong; in-               walk.worthy  of the gospel; in a                   in so much that we despaired of
deed, the Scriptural duties of a pas-           word, to use the best endeavors                    life." There are peculiar trials for
tor are a must. Yet, a preacher must            both publicly and from house to                    preachers in addition to the ones
with one holy passion devote his                house, in season and out of season,                cornmon to all Christians. They
strength and energy to the preach-              to build up our hearers in the most                have the honor of bearing a double
ing - that is, preparing sermons,               holy faith. We are to give an ac-                  share of the "burden and heat of
which is time consuming, mentally               count for all of this and of the tal-              the day" and am marked out for
exhausting, and spiritually drain-              ents Christ bestowed on us to per-                 the fiercest assaults of the enemy.
ing work. (If you ask now how a                 form this. We should tremble at the                Their only resource and hope is in
minister is supposed to do what he              thought of being obligated to ac-                  the faithfulness and compassion of
should, I have something to say.                knowledge in that day, "while thy                  their Lord, under Whose banner
Please, now, for the love of God's              servant was busy here and there,                   and eye they fight, and Who has
Word, view your minister as a                   the man was gone" (I Kings 20:40).                 said, "Lo, I am with you alway,
Preacher  whose first, primary, cen-            To many of the proposals and pur-                  even to the end of the world." 0
tral, all-important task is to preach.          suits which our own inclinations
Elders, don't load him with calls               may lead us, we must use the lan-

                                                   Two Men Went Up...
    Head swelling and heart bursting with false pride,               Head bowed, heart aching, stands the publican
    (The Devil at his side)                                          And smites his breast. "Oh wretched man
    Approaching to the temple gate, he looks about                   Am I!" he cries. "Merciful God above,
    And spies the wretched publicans that stand without.             Look on me in Thy Love."
    `Thank God," says he, "that I am not of these."                  This and no more he offers. No defense;
    He enters in and `round him rise the sinners' pleas.             No words of vain conceit. Just penitence -
    But he is unaware, so high his eyes are raised                   Outpouring of a broken heart.
    Toward Heaven. "God be praised,"                                 And,  as the sinners part,
    His prayer begins, "that I am not as others are -                A sentence rings from Heaven's Judge. Each has been tried,
    Extortioners, unjust, adulterers. So far                         But only one is justified.
    Have I removed myself from them.                                 And only one knows Mercy's bright increase.
    Twice in the week I fast.                                        And leaves with joy and peace.
    My generosity is unsurpassed.
    And thankful even more I am to be                                (Lord of the publican, destroy in me The Pharisee.)
    Not as this publican  I see."                                                                              - Sue Looyenga - 1!)89
370 I The Standard Bearer / May 15,199O


                                           Experiential
Rev. Jason L. Kortering                    Preaching

  The preaching of the gospel              preacher for a job well done (for a        recorded in the Bible, an analysis
speaks to the hearts of God's peo-         well-organized sermon which care-          which contains a moral lesson for
ple. This is what makes preaching          fully expounded the truth of the           the congregation. In all instances,
unique. Because preaching is the           text, which applied that text to the       whether the passage is Old Testa-
highest form of communication, all         life of the congregation, and was          ment or New Testament, whether
the rules of language, logic, and or-      eloquently delivered). Indeed the          historical or hortatory, it will be
atory apply. Through the preach-           preacher needs encouragement in            God's Word.
ing of the gospel, the congregation        his work and must know that hard             The term, experiential preaching
is instructed in the knowledge of          work is much appreciated by the            (sometimes also called experimen-
the Bible and they become more fa-         congregation. He does not need a           tal), is not commonly used among
miliar with the truth of that Word.        weekly "ego trip" which gives him          us. It is more commonplace in the
All of this must lead them to wor-         the adrenalin for another week.            English and Puritan tradition -
ship the One True God, revealed in         Rather, the goal of preaching is ac-       which has some connotations (a
His Word. Worship is an act of             complished only when the                   mystical tendency) which we
faith, personal and corporate re-          preacher and the congregation are          would not endorse. As I listen to
sponse to God. For this, the heart         brought to their knees in repen-           some criticism, read articles, enjoy
of the hearer must be touched.             tance and are reconciled to God by         discussions on how to evaluate the
  Who can touch that heart, but            the good news of the blood of the          preaching in a given church or our
God!                                       Lamb. We must hear Jesus, not the          churches in common, it seems to
  He does work in our hearts by            preacher. Only then will the com-          me that we are grappling for
means of the preaching of the              fort of the Word produce lasting ef-       words. The old doctrinal-practical
gospel.                                    fect in the lives of God's people.         dichotomy for describing  sermons
  The preacher must be keenly              The evidence of such growth in             just does not fit. Every now and
aware of this dimension in his             sanctification is the greatest reward      then we hear a criticism that the
preaching. The goal of preaching is        for faithful preaching. The                sermon is just too doctrinal, that we
not accomplished if the members of         preacher and congregation know             need practical preaching. Most of
the congregation congratulate the          that such fruits are exclusively di-       us do not know what is meant by
                                           vine. Pride is dashed to pieces and        "practical" preaching. More help-
                                           thankful humility takes its proper         ful is the term "applied" preaching.
                                           place.                                     This is helpful because the entire
                                             The preacher is a living tool in         Word of God, whether the passa,ge
                                           the hands of God. The more the             is of a more doctrinal nature or
                                           message fills his heart, the more he       whether it deals with the daily life
                                           comes to the pulpit with the bur-          of the saints, must be applied to the
                                           den of a message from God to His           church which has gathered in wor-
                                           precious people. The more he               ship. The preacher fails in his task
                                           wrestles with the Word of God and          to expound the Word of God if h.e
                                           its significance in his own life and       does not carefully and with much
                                           as he sees its impact upon the lives       diligence tell the congregation how
                                           of the congregation, the more he           this affects their lives and how they
                                           will bring the living Word.                are to respond to such truth.
                                             That preaching will not be a dry-          The idea of experiential preach-
Rev. Kortering is pastor of the Protes-    as-dust lecture on abstract theology.      ing must be distinguished from the
tant Reformed Church of Grandville,        Neither will it be a brilliant analysis    foregoing along these lines. The
Michigan.                                  of a certain historical event              emphasis rests upon the preacher

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experiencing himself what the              this moved Him to say, pray ye            all contribute to and influence the
gospel has to say. He personally           therefore the Lord of the harvest         way in which he relates the Word
knows the sorrow of repentance for         that He may send forth reapers            of God to the people of God.
sin. He knows the temptations of           (Matt. 9:35-38).  The burden Jesus          Let me illustrate the truthfulness
the flesh. He knows the amazing            felt for His people affected the way      of this. When the pastor experi-
depth of forgiving love. He knows          He brought the message. When He           ences the death of a member of the
the joy of obedient living over            began to experience the hostility of      congregation and is asked to pre-
against greed and self-seeking.            the Jews, He pointedly said to His        sent a message at the funeral, that
This experience affects his own            disciples, "If the world hate you, ye     message is going to be highly
preaching, as he deals with the sub-       know that it hated me before it           charged with what he has just ex-
ject at hand. He shows proper              hated you" (John 15:18).  As He led       perienced concerning death and
emotions; his heart is involved as         His disciples in prayer (Christ           glory. The circumstances prepare
well as his mind. He has spiritual         taught through His prayers), He           him for the effective commuruca-
sensitivity which becomes evident          identified the glory which He had         tion of the gospel. It is not theory,
in the pulpit. When the passage            with the Father as the glory He           abstract, or just an idea. Death is
deals with conflicts, he can speak of      sought to give to them through the        real, and God's people need com-
them in a real and sincere way be-         deep way of His suffering and             fort in that reality. He will struggle
cause he has had the same conflicts.       death (John 125).                         with his own sorrows, but that will
When these are applied to the con-           An Old Testament example of             prepare him to bring the Word of
gregation, he does not say, "you           such experiential preaching is the        God powerfully and meaningfully.
people," divorcing himself from the        use of the song Moses sang upon           The same is true in dealing with
message, but uses "we," and                his departure at Mt. Nebo (Deut.          pastoral concerns during the week.
thereby speaks to himself as well.         32). What a testimony of Jehovah's        If the pastor is going to preach ex-
   Such experiential preaching             faithfulness as experienced by that       perientially, as the Word lives in his
builds a bridge between the                man of God and expressed to Israel        own soul and as he desires the
preacher and the congregation as           at his time of death!                     same word to live in the souls of
he brings the Word of God. The               When Paul "preached" to the             the congregation, he will be spiritu-
message of the sermon must al-             Roman Christians concerning the           ally enhanced as he cries with those
ways be a careful exposition of the        salvation of the Jews, he expressed       who sorrow and rejoices with those
Scriptures. If you will, solid exege-      it so eloquently and passionately:        who rejoice.
sis is the skeleton of every sermon,       "I say the truth in Christ, I lie not,      Another important aspect is to
it holds everything together. The          my conscience also bearing me wit-        allow the particular passage to fill
message must always be what God            ness in the Holy Ghost, that I have       one's soul. An important discipline
has to say to His people. That is          great heaviness and continual sor-        for the pastor to learn is to select
determined by His Word. It forms           row of heart. For I could wish my-        the passage early in the week,. to
the content of our faith, and that in      self accursed from Christ for my          read the context carefully, meditate
turn controls our life of obedience.       brethren, my kinsmen according to         upon it while taking a walk, allow
As this is being done in the sermon,       the flesh..." (Rom. 9:1-3). He expe-      the Word of God to become part of
the preacher deals with this in such       rienced that sincerely and it             his being as he goes about his activ-
a way that everyone in the audi-           showed in the way he said it.             ities as pastor. It is amazing h.ow
ence knows that what he is saying            Our Reformed fathers make ref-          the different ways of saying it,
is important. It deals with life and       erence to this same idea in connec-       ways to apply it, even specific illus-
death, heaven and hell, faith and          tion with Lord's Day 35. The ques-        trations which relate to the every-
unbelief; and that is most impor-          tion is raised, "But may not images       day experience of God's people can
tant to the preacher and everyone          be tolerated in the churches, as          effectively communicate to God's
sitting in the audience.                   books to the laity? Answer, No:           people the message from God.
  If we look about in the Holy             for we must not pretend to be wiser       When the pastor is aware of the
Scriptures to find examples of this,       than God, who will have his people        need for the preaching to be experi-
we could do no better than to sit at       taught not by dumb images, but by         ential, he will incorporate the:=
the feet of Jesus Himself. Think of        the lively preaching of his word."        things in his outline and communi-
these stirring words: "And Jesus           There are many factors in what            cate them through the message.
went about all the cities and vil-         makes preaching lively. The living          In conclusion, it is important that
lages, teaching in their synagogues,       God comes with the Word of life to        however the personal experiences
and preaching the gospel of the            quicken dead sinners. The vehicle         of the pastor affect his preaching, it
kingdom, and healing every sick-           of such communication is not              must never draw attention to itself.
ness and every disease among the           dumb images, but a living minister        The focal point of preaching must
people. But when he saw the mul-           as well, And since he is a living in-     always be this: What saith
titude, he was moved with compas-          strument, all his previous experi-        Jehovah? Cl
sion on them, because they fainted         ences, his upbringing, his own joys
and were scattered abroad, as              and sorrows, those which he shares
sheep having no shepherd," and             with the people of God as pastor,

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                                          Preaching on
                                          the Heidelberg
Rev. Marvin Kamps                         Catechism

  Catechism preaching has a long          must continue, if we are going to            During the last fifteen years many sig-
and blessed history in the Re-            continue in the Reformed tradition.       nifiant  changes have occurred in the
formed community of churches.             Catechism preaching has not been          Christian Reformed Church. While some
For nearly five hundred years Re-         our weakness but our strength as          minor changes - because forced upon the
formed preachers have fulfilled           churches. Our people have been            attention of the churches -have receked
their ecclesiastical responsibility to    taught and know the Reformed              considerable attention, major changes have
                                                                                    occurred by trends that quktly and un.no-
preach the Word of God as set forth       faith and their calling in God's          ticed worked their transformation.
in the rich confession of these           covenant of grace by means of the            One such trend-working change has
churches throughout the world. It         faithful exposition of the Heidel-        been the increasing discontinuance of
is without a doubt true that these        berg Catechism in the light of            preaching on the Heidelberg Catechism.
churches have remained faithful to        God's most Holy Word.                     No one is conducting a crusade, of course,
the truth of God's Word in the mea-         However, there are those who            or overturing Synod to eliminate it. It is
sure that they have also been faith-      are, to put it mildly, uncomfortable      being effectively eliminated by attrition
ful to her task to preach faithfully      with Catechism preaching. From            from the pulpit with the consent of the pew.
the catechism each Lord's Day.            time to time complaints are heard         Slowly but surely catechism preaching is
Centuries ago the great church fa-        from the pew about this style or          silently stealing its way out of Christian
                                                                                    Reformed pulpit practise (Banner, Nov. 2,
thers, assembled as delegates of the      form of preaching. Pressure is            1973).
Dutch Reformed Churches, decreed          brought to bear on the preacher.             I have a question: Is that where
that the blessed confession of these      His preaching is often criticized as      the complainers about Catechism
churches based on God's Word              boring. His Catechism sermons are         preaching wish to have our
should form the subject material          too doctrinal. The individual com-        beloved churches in the future? If
for the preaching of the Word once        plains that when the Catechism is         we wish to have people who per-
each Sabbath day This, truly Re-          preached they are not hearing             ish, as the great prophet Hosea
formed men have thankfully done           God's Word. The faithful Re-              said, "for lack of knowledge," then
in their desire to build up the           formed preacher is informed that          hasten the day when the Heidel-
church of Jesus Christ in the truth       the neighboring, more popular,            berg Catechism will no longer be
of the gospel of sovereign grace          preacher does not preach on the           heard as the church's confessioln of
over against the errors of individu-      Catechism. This more popular              the great truths of sacred Scripture.
alism, Pelagianism, and Arminian-         preacher exegetes a particular pas-          Many, if not all, the objections to
ism. The Protestant Reformed              sage of God's Word and only once          Catechism preaching are rooted in
Churches through her ministries of        in a while during the course of his       a fundamentalistic conception of
the Word have been committed to           sermon refers to the Catechism.           the church. Fundamentalism is
this same task for some sixty-six         This is the way the Catechism             anti-creedal. The shrill cry of fun-
years.                                    should be preached, it is claimed.        damentalism is "no creed but
  This most significant practice          Some Reformed preachers have              Christ." They only want to hear
                                          caved in to all this criticism and, in    the Word, they say. We must not
                                          a desire to appease men, have             preach anything but the Word of Je-
                                          abandoned Catechism preaching             sus Christ. We may never substi-
                                          entirely Dr. James Daane, writing         tute "the words of men" for the
Rev. fimps  is pastor of Southwest        in his church's periodical, The Ban-      Word of God. To do so, the funda-
Protestant Rt$ortned Church in Grand      ner,  made the following observa-         mentalist claims, is presumptuous-
Rapids, Michigan.                         tion:

                                                                                        May 15,199O  I The Standard Bearer  I373


ness and disobedience to our Lord.         Reformed preaching is church             chism preaching is boring, and that
On and on the fundamentalist goes          proclamation!                            because it is doctrinal? Is not the
in his harangue against Catechism            Catechism preaching is the             church's confession in harmony
preaching.                                 proclamation of the Word by the          with the doctrine of Scripture'? Is it
  Now really, were our Reformed            church of Christ. The Reformed           not true that to receive in faith the
fathers so foolish and ignorant that       church studied, exegeted, and drew       truth as it is in Christ Jesus is .to
they violated willfully the obvious        from the Scriptures the Word of          confess the Reformed doctrines?
when they decreed: "The ministers          truth. Reformed preaching is             The Christian faith is the Reformed
shall on Sunday explain briefly the        proclamation by the Church of            faith. If one does not believe ihat,
sum of Christian Doctrine compre-          Christ. All her preaching is that.       then I can readily understand his
hended in the Heidelberg Cate-             But above all is that true of Cate-      objection to Catechism  preaching
chism..." (Church Order, Art. 68)?         chism preaching. In our day indi-        as too doctrinal. Non-Reformed
Do those who remind us that the            vidualism is exalted. People rush        people will ever be irritated b;y Cat-
Word must be preached imagine              to hear what this or that preacher       echism preaching. But then, they
that the great divines of old were         has to say. They want to hear the        are not one in faith with us.
ignorant of this fact-that maybe           man. But the Reformed conception           How can catechism preaching be
they were over-zealous and lost            of preaching is not individualistic      boring? It is possible that the
sight of their high calling? That too      but organic. Believers as a body,        preacher does not carefully prepare
is not true.                               the body of Christ Jesus in the          his sermons? Maybe he treats the
  No church on the face of the             world, preach the Word of God.           catechism as abstract dogma.
earth has had a higher view of             The church preaches. Surely this is      Maybe the minister in his preach-
preaching than the Reformed                accomplished through a particular        ing busies himself with proving
church. She has always been insis-         man, but he is one who is under the      that what the catechism says is bib-
tent that the Word must be                 supervision and direction of the of-     lical and does this by proof-texting
preached, and that it be preached          ficebearers of the church.               week after week. That would be
in the service of the exalted Christ         Further, the Reformed church is        boring. But that is not preaching
Jesus, our Lord and King. Exposi-          a confessional church. Her pulpit        either. And why should we feel ob-
tion of God's Word has always              therefore represents creedal preach-     ligated to prove repeatedly w:hat
been for the Reformed church the           ing. We believe and therefore have       we have "confessed"? But if the
foundation of God-honoring                 we spoken. The many believers, yet       preacher proceeds from the view-
proclamation. Here is the point:           one body, preach the Word in the         point that the Catechism expresses
Heidelberg Catechism preaching             service of Christ Jesus through the      the church's understanding of
does not violate that most sacred          instrumentality of one called and        God's Word and preaches it as the
calling. Catechism preaching is the        ordained by the church. No indi-         church's proclamation, then his ser-
preaching of God's Word.                   vidualism is there, no free-lance        mons will ring with power and
  The fundamentalist critic of Cat-        preachers interpreting the Word in       conviction.
echism preaching demands to hear           isolation and to the exclusion of the      The people will know that they
the Word directly. This is impossi-        church as a whole. The church has        heard God speak to them His Most
ble - unless one would consider            an authoritative interpretation of       Holy Word through the means of
the mere reading of God's Word to          the Word of God that it has decreed      the church's confession and p:rocla-
be preaching. Yet the fundamental-         shall be preached to all assembled       mation. Then the church is given
ist critic of Catechism preaching          to hear the Word.                        its rightful place in the work of the
fails to recognize that when the ser-        We must not grudgingly ac-             preaching of the Word. Then too
mon material is presented as de-           knowledge that this is indeed the        individual believers will under-
rived by the preacher from Scrip-          Reformed church's conception of          stand their personal responsibility
ture, he is then already one step          the catechism preaching. Rather          thankfully to receive the Word
from the Word itself. This cannot          we must be thankful for this con-        when proclaimed. And they will
be helped, for it lies in the very na-     ception and position. Is there any       raise their voices in protest when
ture of preaching. But when the            one minister who can give better an-     the Word of God is unfaithfullly
church is responsible for the ser-         swers to the questions which are         proclaimed because it contrad.icts
mon material, we are then but one          presented in the Catechism, than         the church's prior and authoritative
step removed from the text of              has the church itself in that Cate-      proclamation in her creeds.
Scripture. Whether the individual          chism? How would unity of faith            Let us make it our prayer to the
interprets Scripture, or the church        be preserved in the churches if each     great Lord of the church that we
interprets Scripture, we never have        minister would present these doc-        may be preserved in the blessed
in the sermon just the naked text of       trines as he saw fit? We would           tradition of Catechism preaching,
the Bible itself. In the preaching,        soon have a babe1 of conflicting         that His Name may be exalted, the
the Word is always mediated to the         voices. All unity in the faith would     covenant children instructed in the
people of God, either by the indi-         soon be lost forever.                    gospel, and all the saints edifiled
vidual or by the church. Non-Re-             In addition, how is it possible        and strengthened for their task in
formed preaching is individualistic;       that believers complain that Cate-       the world. q

374  I  TheStandardBearer/   May15,1990


     Mr. Bernie Bruining                      On Being Fed

       Hunger leads to eating. Food al-       healthy our spiritual life is. They      keep it diligently, or above all keep-
     ways tastes better when I am hun-        cannot be separated.                     ing, we will examine it also in the
     gry than when I have to eat again.         Next is the mind. It is true that      light of the Word preached.
     Feeding on God's Word has the            the mind and heart work so closely         before we can ever expect a
     same effect. Being hungry for            together that it is hard to distin-      blessing from God we first have to
     God's Word, and going to God's           guish the outworkings of each sep-       be reconciled with our brother.
     house because it is again time to        arately. They influence each other       That is the order of the heavenly
     go, are two entirely different situa-    greatly. Therefore these thoughts        kingdom (Matt. 5:21-26).
     tions on the Lord's Day.                 on mind and heart preparation              Praying for the minister at the
       Getting the body, mind, and            may be interchangeable.                  breakfast table on Sunday morning
     heart ready to meet God and His            In order to receive a blessing         reminds the children that we have
     Word is the subject of this article.     from the preached Word, the mind         God's kingdom at heart, that she
       First the body. If my body is          has to be in the right frame. It can-    may prosper and grow until all
     tired and demands my attention,          not be busy with yesterday's prob-       God's children are gathered.
-    the mind and heart suffer. If my         lems or tomorrow's business deal-          We must thank God for the min-
     eyes are closed because my body          ings. Our prayer must be that God        ister - calling him by name -
     yearns for sleep, the mind and           will take away anything that would       praying that the minister may have
     heart are unable to receive and          hinder our worship of Him. In or-        been faithful in his study so that he
     learn and be blest. God tells us to      der to be filled we have to be emp-      may speak with conviction, vitality,
     open our mouths wide and He will         tied.                                    and vigor. We must pray that the
     fill them (Ps. 81:lOb).  This takes        Peace and harmony at home also         minister may be an instrument of
     work and discipline. How we live         helps the mind to be able to receive     God's peace through His two-
     our physical life indicates how          God's Word. A fight or argument          edged sword.
                                              on Sunday morning takes away               We must search the Scriptures to
                                              from it.                                 see that what was preached was
                                                Children who learn their cate-         God's Word, but never may we
                                              chism lessons well will understand       have roast minister for Sunday din-
                                              the preaching better than those          ner.
                                              who do not learn it well.                  How often we read in connection
                                                Learning to listen is not an easy      with God's house that we must be
                                              matter but takes humility. In our        glad, joyful, singing, praising,
                                              relationships with our fellow man        thankful, blessing His name, play-
                                              we receive very little learning when     ing with instruments. All these ac-
                                              we do the talking. We learn when         tivities tell us something about the
                                              we listen. So it is with God. We         heart and its condition. The heart
                                              have to learn along with Job that        is joyful in the Lord because it sees
                                              we must put our hand over our            its past condition and basks in its
                                              mouth and let God do the speaking        present state of being saved for ev-
                                              (Job 40:4,5).                            ermore. St. Augustine once said,
                                                Doing a fair amount of reading         "Thou hast made us for thyself,
                                              through the week on biblical mat-        and our hearts are restless until
                                              ters and godly walk helps the mind       they rest in Thee."
                                              to understand the preaching of             In Psalm 84 we read how envi-
                                              God's Word and is able to translate      ous David was of the sparrow
                                              it to the heart with fuller meaning.     which had placed its nest so clo:se
                                                Lastly we come to the heart. The       to God's altar. Lord, fulfill our
     Mr. Bruining is a member of the          heart constitutes the center of our      envy, now and forever. 0
     Protestant Refortned Church in Hud-      being - out of which are the issues
     sonville, Michigan.                      of life (Prov. 4:23). Since we are to
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                                            Elder's Oversight
Mr. Don Doezema                             of the Preaching

   It has been said that "there is no          Just why is that? What is there          ing? What are they able to do?
class of men on whom, under God,            about the elders' work which                Who of the elders, after all, has had
the prosperity of religion in our           makes it so important to a church's         any training in homiletics or in
churches is more dependent than             well-being? A look at the "Form of          hermeneutics or in exegesis of the
those who are invested with the of-         Ordination of Elders and Deacons"           Old and New Testaments in the
fice of the eldership" (McKerrow,           may shed some light on the matter.          original languages? What "good
in The Office of Ruling Elder in the        Elders, according to it, must give          counsel and advice" can elders pos-
Christian Church).  And Berghoef            diligent heed to "whether every             sibly give to men who have sur-
and DeKoster  have observed in              one properly deports himself in his         vived the rigors of three or four
their Elders Handbook that "the             confession and conversation." That          years in semina  y? It would almost
health and effectiveness of the             in itself is a pretty big order, includ-    seem therefore that, if there is one
church in the world will be in large        ing as it does the work of Christian        aspect of the calling of elders which
measure dependent upon the dedi-            discipline. Add to that, that elders        could be left pretty much to the
cation, courage, and perseverance           are to `be assistant with their good        teaching elder, this one would `be it.
of the eldership. As goes the elder,        counsel and advice, to the ministers          Infallibility however is not con-
so goes the church."                        of the Word, yea, also to serve all         ferred along with the diploma at
   In both instances the reference          Christians with advice and consola-         the conclusion of a man's seminary
was to ruling, not teaching elders;         tion," and the task looms larger.           training. He can still err. In spite
and in neither instance did the             Particularly however are the elders         of his best efforts, for example, he
writer overstate the case, for there        to "have regard unto the doctrine           might sometimes miss special
can be no doubt that elders play a          and conversation of the ministers           needs of the congregation. Espe-
critical role in the welfare and good       of the Word, to the end that all            cially is that likely to occur when a
order of a congregation. So true is         things may be directed to the edifi-        minister is new to a congregation.
that, so great is the task and the re-      cation of the Church." Article 23 of        Besides, the best of preachers lcarry
sponsibility, that were a nominee           the Church Order likewise declares          their treasure in earthen vessels,
for the office to dwell for awhile on       that it belongs to the office of elders     and there will therefore in the:ir
that alone, he might very well de-          to "take heed that the Ministers...         ministries be times when these
cide to decline the nomination.             faithfully discharge their office." If      faithful shepherds do not speak
                                            there is one aspect of the work of          and act in the best interests of the
                                            elder, the weight of which is felt          flock. Wise elders must make it
                                            more keenly than that of others,            their business to know the needs of
                                            this is it.                                 the congregation and to evaluate
                                               The form's use of the word "par-         the work of the pastor in light of
                                            ticularly/ in this connection, is un-       those needs, both as to his preach-
                                            doubtedly correct; for, if the              ing (to assure that the church of
                                            preaching of the Word is the pri-           Christ is being fed to their spiritual
                                            mary task of the church of Christ, it       edification) and as to his life (that
                                            follows that the oversight of that          the congregation may have before
                                            preaching is the primary supervi-           them an example worthy of emula-
                                            sory responsibility of the elders.          tion). If in any respect the minister
                                            That responsibility we make the fo-         fails to lead an exemplary life,. the
                                            cus of our attention in this article.       ruling elders must correct him. If
Mr. Doezema is a member of the First           We might ask, first of all, what         the minister obviously spends in-
Protestant Reformed  Church in Grand        exactly is the responsibility of the        sufficient time in sermon prepara-
Rap'&, Michigan.                            elders  with respect to that preach-        tion, or if perhaps his pastoral work
376 I The  Standard Bearer I May 15,199O


leaves something to be desired, the       ing pronouncements concerning               need not be soZeZy his. Capable el-
elders should do what they can to         the same. Important as on-going             ders ought not to shun opportuni-
spur him on to greater zeal. If the       critical analysis of the minister's         ties to take charge of a class for the
preaching is in any respect not true      work may be, elders should ordi-            year, if some relief is necessary for
to the Scriptures, the elders of          narily, for the welfare of the congre-      the pastor. Elders, at any rate,
course must not rest till that is cor-    gation;direct most of their energies        should  look for these things. All
rected. Likewise, when a minis-           not to scrutinizing but to fu&tating        other things being equal, the con-
ter's sermons am doctrinally and          the work of the pastor. And there           gregation whose elders not only in-
exegetically correct, but he settles      are a host of ways to do that.              sist that the minister maintain a
in his preaching for a kind of bland        How about, for example, protect-          proper balance in the different as-
orthodoxy, or leaves to the congre-       ing his time? . . . time, i.e., which he    pects of his labor, but also are
gation the application of the text to     needs and wants to spend in the             themselves active in the work of
their daily lives, then too the elders    solitude of his study. A minister           the congregation, to make it possi-
are obliged to work with the minis-       who tries, commendably, to be "all          ble for the minister to achieve such
ter toward a remedy.                      things to all men/ may as a result          a balance, will reap the benefits of
  Not to be forgotten is the              find insufficient time to wrestle           it from the pulpit.
church's catechetical instruction. If     with the Scriptures, not only in or-          Then there's the matter of the
catechism is indeed a form of the         der to arrive at correct exegesis but       minister's tools. He should have               .
ministry of the Word, and if, by the      also to develop sermons which               them within easy reach. His per-
instruction they receive in cate-         make for IiveZy preaching (with the         sonal library must be large. That
chism, children and young people          kind of vivid imagery which char-           means more than just reference
are prepared to appropriate for           acterized the preaching and teach-          books. In order to maintain a fresh-
themselves the Word as it is              ing of the Master) and which speak          ness in his preaching, the minisi:er
preached from the pulpit, it is of ut-    compellingly to the needs of the            must continue to read widely. The
most importance that that instruc-        people of God who must face in              consistory (session) should there-
tion be both thorough and inten-          these increasingly evil days the            fore see to it that funds are avail-
sive. The responsibility for seeing       threefold enemy. Time for that, we          able, beyond the minister's salary,
to it that that in fact happens is the    say, must be protected. And elders          for the purchase of books and for
elders'. And the only way for el-         help, in that regard, not by decree         subscriptions to various periodi-
ders to exercise that oversight is to     ("You must spend such and such              cals. He should be encouraged
be there - i.e., personally observ-       number of hours in preparation")            also, for the same reason, to attend
ing the catechism classes, with           but by taking  to themselves labors in      seminars, to take classes, to write
enough frequency to get a good feel       the congregation which will other-          for publication. If this requires a
for the manner and effectiveness of       wise of necessity fall to the minis-        mini-sabbatical, for study pur-
the instruction given. With the           ter. Does the congregation have             poses, or just a service or two off on
spiritual maturity of our covenant        many sick, or aged, or infirm, or           occasion, the elders do well to con-
seed at stake, the elders must not in     widows and widowers - all of                sider granting that. They should,
their oversight of this aspect of the     whom are in need of being visited           again, be ready and eager to pro-
preaching of the Word take any-           with some regularity? How many              vide both opportunity and incen-
thing for granted.                        families are on the minister's fam-         tive for their minister to grow. This
        *  *  *  *  *  *  *               ily-visitation list? How many soci-         is taking heed that the minister                    .
  Now, if the foregoing were all          eties does the minister lead? How           faithfully discharges his office.
that is involved in the elders' work      many catechism classes must he                (The point in all of this is that el-
of oversight over the life and doc-       teach? On what synodical commit-            ders who have caught the spirit of
trine of the minister, their task         tee(s) does he serve? The minister          their own office will be on the look-
would be roughly comparable to            must be neither obliged nor permit-         out for ways to assist their minister
that of the fire department. Elders       ted to carry too heavy a congrega-          in the faithful discharge of his. Do
then could rest easy as long as all is    tional and/or denominational load.          we understand and appreciate
well in Zion. Only when their close         What can elders do about that?            that? This concerns the glorious
scrutiny of the work of the pastor        They can be diligent in their visit-        manifestation of the body of Christ.
reveals that there are some defi-         ing of the sick and shut-ins. This is       This concerns Christ's sheep. The
ciencies which must be dealt with         a duty for which minister and el-           duty of the preacher is to nourish,
do they swing into action. Noth-          ders together share responsibility.         to feed, to be a shepherd to that
ing, however, could be farther from       A conscientious pastor who sees             flock. And part of the duty of th.e
the truth. For, having "regard to         neglect of the sheep in his congre-         elders is to assist him in becoming
the doctrine and conversation of          gation will sometimes himself take          a better shepherd. From that per-
the ministers of the Word" is not         up the slack. Elders must therefore         spective, we say, the elders will
something that can be accom-              see to it that there isn't any. How         keep their eyes and ears open for
plished simply by sitting back and        about catechetical instruction? It's        ways to be of service to the minis-
evaluating the minister's work and        true that catechism is primarily the        ter...and the minister will welco:me
then, at the appropriate time, mak-       duty of the teaching elder. But it          their "oversight.")

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   Elders should remember too that          tionship between the teaching and                We mentioned earlier that is man
the pulpit can be a lonely place,           ruling elders lacks vitality, the el-          who stares only at the responsibili-
and that the duties which belong to         ders may not content themselves                ties of the office would be disin-
the minister's office are very de-          with the status quo, waiting for the           clined to serve in it. But he must
manding. A minister who is left to         minister to provide better leader-              never do that. He does well of
wonder whether or not he has the            ship. In the interest of preserving            course to consider seriously those
support of the elders will have a           the strength of the pulpit, and                responsibilities. But he must recog-
hard time fighting a discourage-            maintaining a godly zeal for the               nize too that they are, besides, ap
ment which cannot help but affect           soul-care as that is exercised also           portunities. Opportunities  they are
his work. Berghoef and DeKoster             by the elders, there must be an on-            to be of special service to the
address this in their Elders Hand-          going sharing of vision among the             church, in the service of the King.
book when they exhort elders to             elders and the minister, there must            And further, he need not depend
"stand firmly at the minister's side        be mutual sharpening of skills. El-            for the fruits of his efforts on :his
when criticism comes, even if you           ders must therefore do all in their            own wisdom and his own insight
then must advise him against some           power to promote a creative, fruit-            into and knowledge of the Scrip-
fault of his own. Make the elder-           ful relationship between the session           tures and Confessions. True, he
ship the place where the minister           (consistory)  and pastor.                     had better stay close to the Word,
can come for support, for honest              Hardly least in the responsibili-           and he must be diligent in his
discussion, for free admission of er-       ties of the elders is that of praying,         study of the creeds; but it is the
ror and mistake. Yours must be a            fervently, frequently, for the bless-          Lord Who gives the increase (1 Cor.
solidarity in continual search for          ing of God on the pastor in his                3:6). The task of the elder is fhere-
livelier obedience to the Word."            work, asking also that God might               fore a gift of the Lord, Who is
Not, in other words, should an el-          prosper their mutual labors. Noth-           pleased to crown also this gift, in
der feel obliged to defend always           ing can we hope to accomplish                 that those who by His grace serve
what the minister does, whether it          apart from that blessing; with it,             well in the use of it are rewarded
be right or wrong. But he should in         there is every reason for confi-              with double honor. Cl
every circumstance be prepared to           dence.
stand with the pastor, striving
mightily to the end that, if mistakes
have been made, all parties con-
cerned Iearn from them, and even                                 C O M P L E T E   I N   C H R I S T
gmw through them. An intimate,
empathetic relationship between el-                          Complete in Christ! 0 blissful sound,
ders and preachers, formed early                                         Let saints with wonder tell;
and kept alive through good times                            `Tis full redemption wrought by blood
and bad, will surely serve to                                            That saves from sin and hell.
strengthen the pastor's pulpit min-
istry and, thus, serve well the edifi-
cation of the body of Christ.                                Complete in Christ! `tis wondrous grace,
   Sometimes that kind of relation-                                      In God's electing love,
ship evolves easily, naturally. At                           That gave the Church a hiding-place,
other times circumstances, or per-                                       And sealed the same by blood.
sonalities of the parties involved,
make it attainable only with great                           Complete in Christ! are all the heirs,
effort and determination. No effort
should be considered too great.                                          Their names are writ above;
What higher incentive can there be,                          The price was paid on Calv'ry's hill,
both for minister and elder, than                                        In sweet atoning love.
that they are dealing together with
the sheep, the lambs, considered so                          Complete in Christ! `tis heaven on earth
precious that Christ, for them, gave                                     To feel the same within;
His life?                                                   When unctuous power attends the word,
  More often than not it is the min-                                     The saints rejoice therein.
ister who determines by his own
attitude the spirit which prevails
between himself and the elders.                             Then let the Church now sing the song,
He provides too the inspiration                                          In strains of noblest joy;
necessary to get the best out of the                        And in the land of sweet repose,
church's elders. But if, for one rea-                                Where bliss shall never cloy.
son or another, the working rela-                                                        SB, December 15,193O

378 I The Standard Beafer  I May X,1990


Mr. Larry Huisken                        W h o ?   M e ?

  Yes, you and I and every believer      real Word of God, we will not leave        In order to judge the preaching,
who sits under the preaching have        hungry, for we have been fed by          we must be equipped. A court-
a responsibility regarding the           Christ Himself. We will leave satis-     room judge has to spend a good
preaching in the church. This is not     fied, for we have heard our Savior       deal of his time learning the law.
left up to the elders alone. Those in    speak to us.                             So too, a believer must spend a
the pew have a very definite role in       One of the most satisfying and         good deal of his time equipping
regards to the preaching. You see,       refreshing things we do after a          himself. How can I judge if this
we are the church. The church            day's work is to sit down to a truly     preaching is biblical if I do not
preaches. The church administers         delicious meal - a meal prepared         study my Bible? How can I judge
the sacraments. The church con-          to satisfy the needs of our body, a      this preaching to be creedal if I do
ducts discipline. Ultimately then,       meal designed to replenish the en-       not know the creeds and that for
we are responsible to judge the          ergy spent in our daily activity.        which they stand. How can I deter-
preaching. This is not only our          Without nourishment, we die.             mine if this word is authoritative if
right but also our duty.                   So to, it is true of our spiritual     I have not taken the time to exam-
  Our judgment is twofold. We            needs. We must be fed with spiri-        ine the church of which I am a
must not only judge the correctness      tual food. A child of God needs          member? Is it really a church,~the
of the preaching, but also how this      spiritual energy to go out into the      manifestation of God's people with
word applies to us personally.           world every day, energy to fight off     Christ as its head? Or is this a sect
  When we judge the correctness,         the devil and his host of demons.        with some man as its head? Daily
we must be sure it is authoritative,     One does not have to leave his           we must grow in the grace and
biblical, and creedal. When we           home to be accosted by the world         knowledge of our Lord and Savilor
judge for personal application, we       of iniquity. The newspapers, maga-       Jesus Christ.
must be sure to include ourselves        zines, radios, and televisions which       The apostle James says, "The ef-
and not be so sure that "that ser-       we bring into our homes are per-         fectual fervent prayer of a righ-
mon" was for some of those `back-        meated with the vileness and sin of      teous man availeth much" (Jam.
sliders." Further, we must judge         man. Adultery divorce, murder,           596). Pray that the minister will be
the preaching to be spiritual food.      mayhem, lewdness, homosexuality          a herald, an ambassador, of Jesus
We must be sure that we are get-         are [shown] made to be normal be-        Christ and that the word he brings
ting real food, and not some substi-     havior. To fight this, we need spiri-    will be that of Him that sent him.
tute. The real Word of God is not        tual food. In our family life, we are      Pray that you may have faithful
to be confused with the philosophy       prone to bicker and quarrel with         elders, as true watchmen on the
of man. The real Word of God, the        brothers and sisters. The same is        walls of Zion, men of conviction,. of
Gospel, goes forth even as a two-        true for husbands and wives. To          zeal, and of courage, men who will
edged sword. It draws some closer        fight this we need spiritual food.       not waver when it comes to the
to God, and it hardens the hearts of       The work place, the office, the        truth. Without faithful elders, the
others. It will convict some of their    farm, the factory are dens of iniq-      church is in dire straits.
sin. It will condemn others. It will     uity. Filthy talk, cheating, lying,        We must pray for ourselves, that
show us the mercy of God and also        theft are commonplace. To fight          the Holy Spirit will open our eyes
God's justice. When we hear the          this, we need spiritual food.            of understanding and that He will
                                           There is only one place to get         give us grace to apply the preach-
                                         this food and that is sitting under      ing to our lives.
                                         the preaching. If we leave hungry,         We must pray for the church uni-
                                         we have a problem. Could it be I?        versal, that the preaching will
                                         Could it be my spiritual condition?      gather the church from every na-
                                         Or could it be that I'm being fed        tion, tribe, and tongue.
                                         stones for bread, skim milk, wa-           If we leave the preaching hungry
Mr. Huisken  is a member of Hope         tered down soup and a meat sub-          because we do not hear the whole
Protestant Rtformecl Church in Red-      stitute?                                 of God's Word and are being fed
lands, California.

                                                                                     May 15,199O  I The Standard Bearer I 379


man's philosophy, we have some              doing. The elders call this "the ne-       our actions, our speech, and ~DUT re-
choices to make. We can go the              glect of the means of grace." Before       lationships one with another, All
way of protest, which is open to all        long, they will be at our door with        that we think, say, and do must
members of a "Reformed church"              the Word, with prayer, with admo-          show forth thankfulness for the
using the Presbyterian form of              nition, pointing us to the error of        great salvation earned for us by the
church government. Secondly, we             our way, pointing us to the void in        death of Jesus Christ.
must be true to the Confession of           our lives and to our weak disposi-           Are we then personally affected
Faith Article 28 which instructs us         tion because of the lack of spiritual      by the shortage of ministers and
to search out the truest manifesta-         food. They continue in this in love        missionaries? Are we affected by
tion of the church of Christ on             for the sheep over which Christ the        the opening in the communist
earth.                                      Ring has given them oversight. It is       block of Europe? Surely there are
   If we look around, we find pre-          with grief and sadness, when there         God's people there. Surely  t!hey are
cious few churches who will be              is no repentance, that finally the         in need of spiritual food. Even in
held to their Standards, Confes-            wayward are cut off from the               this country, the most prosperous
sions, or Creeds, much less to the          church. Equally true, there is much        nation in the world, we see hunger,
Holy Scriptures. Protesters are             joy and rejoicing when one has             not only physical hunger but true
treated as trouble makers and are           turned from his evil way and m-            spiritual hunger. Churches that
accused of living in the Dark Ages          turns to the fold.                         once maintained the sovereignty of
or lacking the new enlightenment               `Now that the Lord has fed our          God, the inerrancy of Scripture, the
of the Word. Protests are shelved,          souls at this table, let us therefore      practice of pure preaching, faithful
pigeonholed, or given to some               jointly praise his Holy name with          in maintaining the sacraments and
committee to "study." As the years          thanksgiving" (paraphrased from            unafraid to exercise discipline are
pass, the protests are forgotten or         the communion form, The Psalter,           gone by the wayside. What ,about
the protesters leave, frustrated. If        p. 95). This not only applies after        God's people? Have we personally
we are put into this situation and          communion but also after every             spoken to those we know who are
become a searcher for the truth, we         service.                                   in these circumstances? Have we
must pray for the Holy Spirit to               Preaching is the chief means of         hidden our light? Are we afraid to
guide us in finding the truth.              grace, and prayer is the chief             speak, afraid to declare? Many of
Those who are searching for the             means of thanksgiving. So then,            us do not want to rock the boat.
truth have an appetite for good ma-         living the Word preached will lead         Many of us will look the other way.
terial, for forthright, clear, concise      us into true thankfulness. `There-         We will rationalize and compro-
treatment of the doctrines of Scrip-        fore shall my mouth and heart              mise. Why should I? They will not
ture. Many have been brought un-            show forth the praise of the Lord          listen. I do not want trouble with
der the preaching after reading and         from this time forth forever more"         my neighbor or brother or sister.
studying good material.                     (Communion form, p. 96).                   Are we active in promoting the
   New converts to the truth, to the           Living the preaching is impossi-        Word of God in our family, our vil-
Reformed faith as we know it, con-          ble without prayer, for we are still       lage, our town, our city? We can
tinually amaze us with their quest          in this world and still fight the old      send men to the far reaches of the
for understanding. They put many            man of sin in us. Because of this,         earth, but if we fail in being ,a wit-
of us to shame in their grasp of is-        the child of God is constantly in the      ness to our neighbor, father,
sues. They read, they listen, and           strife, and he will be until death.        mother, brother, sister, all is in vain.
they are ready to discuss their new-        Therefore, we look forward to each           We think of the early church in
found faith. Thank God that He              Sabbath, to the preaching, to the          Jerusalem. "And the Lord added to
continues to gather His church              food, to the refreshment, to the           the church daily." Surely much of
through the preaching from every            comforting word of our Savior Je-          this was accomplished by activity
comer of the world, and thank God           sus Christ. Then we say with the           among the first to believe and those
that we as churches are able even           Psalmist, "I was glad when they            who followed.
with limited resources to promote           said unto me, let us go up to God's          Our faith must be active. We
the truth to the ends of the earth.         own house."                                may not hide it. We must declare it
   If we leave the preaching hungry            How we show this new life of            as an act of faithfulness (H.C. an-
and unfed because of our spiritual          Christ in us is manifested in all that     swer 86). `That we may so testify
condition, we have a problem,               we do for Christ's sake. A word, a         by the whole of our conduct,, our
mainly because we do not know               helping hand, a smile, a prayer, a         gratitude to God for his blessings,
we are hungry. It may be that our           tear, a gift, a slice of bread, a drink    and that he may be praised by us;
walk may be in sin. Before long we          of water, a visit done for ChrisYs         also, that every one may be assured
will show some outward signs. We            sake - all of that reveals this new        in himself of his faith, by the fruits
stop coming to the preaching, we            life in us.                                thereof; and that by our godly con-
stop going to catechism. We do not            This brings us full circle. Yes,         versation, OTHERS MAY BE
enjoy the communion and fellow-             you and I, the individuals that            GAINED TO CHRIST." q
ship of the saints. There is always         make up the church, our lives,
something else we would rather be           must exemplify the Word of God in

380  / The Standard Bearer I May 15,199O


                                          Book Reviews

BORN AGAIN: A BIBLICAL                    his failure to make sharp distinc-        plex social relationships and ad-
AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY                     tions is the reason for his ambiguity     vances in science and medicine,
OF REGENERATION,  by Peter                on the relation between faith and         many books on Christian ethics are
Toon; Baker Book House, 1987;             regeneration (pp. 186,187). 2)            being published, some of which `we
206pp., $8.95 (paper). (Reviewed          While he has a good summary of            have reviewed from time to time in
by Prof. H. Hanko.)                       the doctrine of baptism with the          The Stmdard  Bearer. This book is
  Peter Toon, pastor of an Angli-         Holy Spirit (p. 47,481, he is insuffi-    another such book, although it is a
can congregation in England, has          ciently critical of this view and         valuable addition to what has been
written on other theological sub-         even leaves the door open to              originally written.
jects. In fact, this book is not the      charismatic teachings (p. 187). 3)          First, a bit about the author.
first he has written on the subject of    Again, perhaps because of his An-         Norman Geisler was formerly the
regeneration.                             glican tradition, he is not strongly      professor of Apologetics at Dallas
  The book is divided into two sec-       condemnatory of baptismal regen-          Theological Seminary, but is now
tions, the first dealing with the         eration (see especially p. 188). 4) He    dean of the Liberty Center for
Scriptural data on regeneration and       is not strong on the doctrine of in-      Christian Scholarship at Liberty
the second dealing witha historical       fant baptism and seems to have no         University. He has written over 25
survey of the doctrine. The second        conception of the Reformed doc-           books, most of which are in the
part I found to be the most interest-     trine of the covenant (pp. 65,661. 5)     fields of philosophy and apologet-
ing and valuable. In this part he         In my judgment he misinterprets           ics. His philosophical training is,
deals with patristic and medieval         Calvin when he says that Calvin           evident also in this book, for the ar-
ideas, the teachings of the major re-     taught a pm-regeneration work of          guments are carefully and suc-
formers, Roman Catholic,                  the Holy Spirit (p. 104). 6) He           cinctly crafted. One must pay close
Lutheran, and Anglican teachings,         seems to reveal some wrong con-           attention as he reads the book. Yet,
the views of Reformed theologians,        ceptions of the relation between the      it is not difficult to understand and
Puritans, Pietists, and evangelists       C);d6Fment  and the New (pp.              can be read by all God's people
-the latter including our modem                                                     with profit.
era. Much historically valuable             `There are certain strengths of the       One of the great advantages ojF
material can be found in this sec-        book, however. Although some-             the book is that the first 132 pages
tion.                                     what inconsistently, he maintains         are devoted to a discussion of vari-
  While the first section treats the      that regeneration cannot be man's         ous ethical systems, arising out of
doctrine as such, it has several          work (p. 28), and calls the concep-       both unbelieving and believing
weaknesses about it. Some of the          tion of modem evangelists that            thought. Geisler proceeds from the
more important weaknesses are: 1)         John 3:3 is to be interpreted as a        fundamental position that the ab,so-
It is not a sharp and concise discus-     command or exhortation, a serious         lute character of God's sovereign
sion of the Biblical truth and does       mistake  (p. 188).                        will determines all our ethics.
not come to grips with some signif-         The book is well written, easy to         Among evangelicals,  who hold
icant and important aspects of re-        read, and will be of value to anyone      to the absolute authority of God's
generation. An example would be           wishing to study this important           will, Geisler finds three ethical sys-
his failure to discuss the question       subject. Especially the historical        tems which he calls: 1) Unqualified
of whether regeneration is mediate        section is recommended. 0                 absolutism, which holds that there
or immediate - although this may                                                    are no moral conflicts in the be-
be because the question arose par-        CHRISTIAN ETHICS: OPTIONS                 liever's life, and the will of God iFor
ticularly in continental (specifically    AND ISSUES, by Norman L.                  us is always clear and without ex-
Dutch) theology and was not a sig-        Geisler; Baker Book House, 1989;          ception. 2) Conflicting absolutislm,
nificant factor in his own Anglican       335 pp., paper. (Reviewed by Prof.        which holds that the believer, when
tradition. Yet, even then, a sharp-       H. Hanko.)                                faced with moral conflicts, is al-
ness of definition is lacking and the       Because of the many ethical             ways guilty in some measure no
discussion is general and, conse-         problems which are facing the peo-        matter what he-does.  3) Graded
quently, somewhat vague. Perhaps          ple of God in these times of com-         absolutism, which holds that in

                                                                                       May 15,199O  I The Standard Bearer I 381


many ethical situations one is faced         of "quality of life" as something de-    son"; two chapters are used to dis-
with moral conflicts; that in such           terminative in the field of biomedi-     cuss the saving work of Jesus,; in
situations, the believer must choose         cal ethics, a passage which many         the final two chapters the Holy
the lesser of two evils, and that,           evangelicals  ought to read.             Spirit, and the teaching of John on
having done this, no ethical culpa-             Sometimes the author takes posi-      the last things, are discussed.
bility attaches to his choice.               tions with which we disagree, but          Each chapter concludes with re-
      Because this latter is the option      which do not surprise us. For ex-        view questions and discussion
which Geisler chooses, it might be           ample, he takes a broader stand          questions, which aid in its use in
of some interest to cite a few exam-         than the position of the Westmin-        discussion groups.
ples. He cites the great example of          ster Confessions on divorce and re-        The book is written on a level
the Lord Himself Who, on the                 marriage; divorce is permitted,          that is appropriate for use also in
cross, was faced with the moral              though undesirable, in many differ-      high schools as a guide to an over-
dilemma of mercy and justice: dy-            ent situations for many reasons.         all view of the gospel. It is interest-
ing to show mercy for His people,               Sometimes he takes positions          ingly written and easy to undler-
and the injustice of the innocent be-        which are disconcerting and sur-         stand.
ing punished for the guilty. The             prising as, e.g., his approval of          A couple of features of the book
Lord chose mercy over justice and            AID: artificial insemination by          that should be criticized are: 1) the
so left us an abiding standard.              d o n o r .                              book is interspersed with brief sto-
      Geisler also finds additional ex-        We found the book helpful and          ries that often have little point and
amples in the lives of Daniel, of            worthwhile both because of the dis-      little relation to the material under
Daniel's three friends, and of the           cussions of various ethical systems,     discussion. They are included, no
apostles when brought before the             and because of the analysis of con-      doubt, to make the book more in-
Sanhedrin. They faced the conflict           crete ethical issues. It is a helpful    teresting, but often seemed to me to
of submission to those in authority          and interesting book. Cl                 detract from its value. 2) One of the
and obedience to the command of                                                       great themes of the gospel accord-
God. Both are required. To do                GETTING TO KNOW JOHN'S                   ing to John is the truth of sovereign
both was impossible. The lesser              GOSPEL: A FRESH LOOK AT                  grace. Arthur Custance remarked
evil was chosen in contrast to the           ITS MAIN IDEAS, by Robert A.             in one of his books, e.g., that .the
greater evil. No moral culpability           Peterson; Presbyterian  & Reformed       gospel according to John, more
attached to them because of this             Publishing, 1989;  147pp., $7.95 (pa-    than any other book, persuadled
choice. In our own lives we face             per). (Reviewed by Prof. H.              him of the truths of sovereign
such conflicts when we are con-              Hanko.)                                  grace. This great theme is not dis-
fronted with the need to break a               If any individual child of God,        cussed in the book, somethmg
promise to save a life, to kill in self-     any church society, or any group of      which disappointed me.
defense, to tell a lie to save a per-        believers would decide to study the        The author is Associate Professor
son's life.                                  gospel according to John, this is a      of Theology at Biblical Theological
      This is a very interesting position    very helpful book.                       Seminary in Hatfield, PA, and a
which Geisler takes and it is worth            It is not (and is not intended to      teaching elder in the PCA
our while to study it. I have not,           be) a commentary on the gospel.          church. 0
however, found the line of argu-             As the title suggests, it is intended
mentation totally convincing, espe-          to give an overall view of the
cially when Geisler appeals to the           gospel by treating some of its main
example of our Lord;                         themes. A brief review of the chap-
      The moral issues which he treats       ters will make this clear.
are: abortion, euthanasia, biomedi-            After the author explains the
cal issues, capital punishment, war,         purpose of the book in chapter 1,             T H E   U N F A I L I N G
civil disobedience, homosexuality            and gives its basic outline in chap                   F R I E N D
marriage and divorce, ecological             ter 2, he deals in chapter 3 with the
moral issues.                                "I am" sayings. Two chapters are         0 Lord, my Friend unfailing,
      Most of the time we are in agree-      given to a study of the ten miracles,      How dear art Thou to me!
ment with the author's conclu-               and all the material under chapters      Are cares or fears assailing?
sions. Sometimes we were even                3-5 are arranged under 1) Jesus the        I find my strength in Thee.
pleasantly surprised at the posi-            Revealer, 2) Jesus the Giver of eter-    Why should my feet grow weary
tions taken. For example, Geisler            nal life, 3) Jesus the Savior. Jesus'      Of this my pilgrim way?
flatly condemns civil disobedience           "time" sayings (that is, those pas-      Rough though the path, and dreary,
to the point of condemning the               sages which speak of Jesus' hour)          It ends in perfect day.
Revolutionary War of 1775-1781 as            are treated in 6; the themes of faith                     SB, October l, 1930
being a violation of our calling to          and unbelief in the gospel (very im-
be in submission to those in author-         portant themes) are treated in 7;
ity over us. Geisler also inveighs           two chapters are devoted to a dis-
fiercely against the whole concept           cussion of "portraits of Jesus' Per-

382 I The Standard Bearer I May 15,199O
~-      -


                                         News From
Mr. Benjamin Wigger                      Our Churches

MINISTERIAL CALLS                        1990s." He challenged all to recog-      Ft. Wayne, IN area by holding
  Rev. J. Kortering has declined the     nize the enemy and to fight the bat-     preaching services there twice a
call he received from the Randolph       tle for the cause of Christ.             month.
PRC in Randolph, WI.                       Adams Street Protestant Re-            DENOMINATIONAL
   The congregation in Isabel, SD,       formed School in Grand Rapids, MI        ACTIVITIES
where our Hope PRC is located,           presented their All-School Program             Rev. R. Dykstra spoke on the
has extended a call to Rev. R.           at the First PRC on April 20.            theme, `What It Means to be Re-
Flikkema.                                MISSIONARY NEWS                          formed," for the spring Ladies'
SCHOOL NEWS                                The Consistory of the Bethel           League meeting held in the audito-
   Supporters of the Free Christian      PRC in Elk Grove Village, IL ac-         rium of the Doon, IA PRC on Ap~ril
School in Edgerton, MN were in-          ceded to a request from the Mission      3.
vited to reserve Friday evening,         Committee to use their pastor, Rev.            On April 17, the Mr. and
April 20, for a special l?T.A. com-      R. VanOverloop, to help in the           Mrs./Adult Bible League Mass
memorating that school's 40th an-        work in Florida. The Mission Com-        Meeting was held in the audito-
niversary                                mittee has decided to ask Synod in       rium of the Southeast PRC in
  The School Board of the South          June to call a missionary to labor in    Grand Rapids, MI. Mr. Jim Lant-
Holland Protestant Reformed              the Venice area. They want to use        ing, who writes here in the SB,
School in South Holland, IL ob-          Rev. VanOverloop's  experience as a      spoke on the topic, "One Nation,
tained the services of Mr. Dan Veld-     missionary to evaluate and to help       Under God...How should we insist
man, an excellent Reformed               work in the area. Rev. VanOver-          our government view Orthodox
speaker, to speak to the students        loop will be there from May 3-11         Christianity: endorsement, accom-
every day the second week in             and Rev. Woudenberg the follow-          modation, or strict separation?"
April. On Tuesday evening he             ing four Sundays, D.V.                   CONGREGATIONAL
spoke to the young people (high            Rev. and Mrs. Gise VanBaren and        H.IGHLIGHTS
school and older) on "Battling for       their daughter, Rachel, returned               The Young People's Society of
the Cause of Christ in an Anti-          home to Hudsonville, MI on April         the Lynden PRC in Lynden, WA in-
christian Culture." On Wednesday         11 after bringing God's Word for         vited their congregation to a nigh.t
evening he spoke in the church au-       six weeks to the Covenant Re-            out. Featured were a basketball
ditorium, to parents and all inter-      formed Fellowship in Larne,              game between their married and
ested parties, on "The Strategic         Northern Ireland. He wrote in part       unmarried men, and a volleyball
Role of Christian Education in the       to his congregation, "One cannot         game between their married and
                                         help but sympathize with the             unmarried women. No informa-
                                         `small flock' hem in Lame. There         tion as to winners.
                                         are no other ministers in our                  And on April 19 the Young Peo-
                                         churches who are scheduled to            ple's Society of the Hope PRC in
                                         preach to them. These people             Walker, MI sponsored a travelogue
                                         await the decision of our Synod in       entitled "America's Beckoning  By-
                                         June and, above all, await the will      Ways" by Mr. Robert Brower. Pro-
                                         of God for them. May we, who are         ceeds were for this summer's con.-
                                         so richly blest with the preaching of    vention. 0
                                         the Word, not forget to give God
                                         thanks for the spiritual advantages
                                         that are ours. Nor may we forget to
                                         pray for His people who lack so
                                         many of these same advantages."
Mr. Wigger is a member of the Protes-      The Council of the South Hol-
tant Reformed Church of Hudsonville,     land PRC in South Holland, IL has
Michigan.                                decided to develop the work in the

                                                                                        May 15,199O  I The Standard Bearer I :383


   THE                                                                                             SECOND  CfASS
STANDARD
  BE?WFR                                                                                           Postage Paid at
                                                                                                   Grand Rapids, Michigan

 l?O. Box 6064
 Grand Rapids, MI 49506



RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                     RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                    RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
  The members of Ladies' Aid So-             The consistory of Hudsonville              The consistory and congregation
ciety of the First Protestant Re-          Protestant Reformed Church                of the Grandville Protestant Fte-
formed Church of Grand Rapids,             wishes to extend its heartfelt Chris-     formed Church wish to express
Michigan, extend heartfelt and sin-        tian sympathy to fellow off icebearer,    their sympathy to Joe and Mary
cere Christian sympathy to their           elder Bernard Bruining, in the death      Brummel and family in the death of
member Mrs. Charles Pastoor and            of his father, MR. ABRAHAM                their infant daughter KATIE
family in the death of their daughter      BRUINING.                                 BRUMMEL, whom the Lord took to
MISS CAROL PASTOOR.                          `Thou shalt guide me with thy           Himself at the tender age of 5
   "And we know that all things            counsel, and afterward receive me         months. "Blessed be the God and
work together for good to them that        to glory" Psalm 73:24.                    Father of our Lord Jesus Christ
love God, to them who are called           Rev. Gise VanBaren, President             Who has begotten us unto a living
according to His purpose" (Romans          Peter Hoekstra, Clerk                     hope by the resurrection of Jesus
828).                                                                                Christ from the dead to an inheri-
Mrs. Peter Decker, President               RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                    tance incorruptible and undefiled,
Mrs. Henry Baar, Secretary                   The council of Hudsonville              and that fadeth not away, reserved
                                           Protestant Reformed Church                in heaven for you who are kept by
RESOLUTION OF'SYMPATHY                     wishes to extend its heartfelt Chris-     the power of God..." (I Peter 1:3-5).
  The Consistory and congregation          tian sympathy to fellow off icebearer,    Rev. Kortering, President
of the Edgerton Protestant Re-             deacon Ralph VanderVeen,  in the          Tom Bodbyl, Clerk
formed Church extend Christian             death of his father, MR. ITSE
sympathy to Mr. and Mrs. Joe               VANDERVEEN.                               RESOLUTION OF SYMPATIHY
Brummel, and their family, in the            "As for me, I will behold thy face         The consistory and congregation
death of his brother, MR. RALPH            in righteousness: I will be satisfied,    of the Faith Protestant Reforlmed
BRUMMEL.                                   when I awake, with thy likeness"          Church express their Christian sym-
   May they be comforted by the            Psalm 17:15.                              pathy to our fellow church mem-
words of the Lord in John 11:25,  "I       Rev. Gise VanBaren, President             bers, Mr. and Mrs. Richard Noor-
am the resurrection, and the life:         Peter Hoekstra, Clerk                     man and Mr. and Mrs. Robert Noor-
he that believeth in me, though he                                                   man in the loss of their dauglhter
were dead, yet shall he live."                                                       and grand daughter RENAE
Rev. Michael  DeVries,  President                                                    SUZANNE NOORMAN.
Allen Hendriks, Clerk                                                                   May they be comforted in this,
                                                                                     that the death of His saints is, in the
                                                                                     sight of the Lord, precious (Fsalm
                                                                                     116:15).                     Jenison, Michigan

                                                                                     NOTICE!!
                                                                                        The faculty of the Theological
                                                                                     School of the Protestant Reformed
                                                                                     Churches is pleased and tha.nkful to
                                                                                     God to announce to the Churches
                                                                                     that Seminarian Mitchell C. Dick
                                                                                     has been licensed to speak "a word
                                                                                     of edification" in the churche.s (The
                                                                                     Church Order, Article 20).
                                                                                        The churches are urged to con-
                                                                                     tact the Rector of the Seminary for
                                                                                     their pulpit supply needs so that
                                                                                     Seminarian Dick may become
                                                                                     known to the congregations and be
                                                                                     further prepared for the ministry of
                                                                                     the Word.
                                                                                     Prof. Robert D. Decker, Rector

384 I The Standard Bearer I May 15,1990


