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                                 See "Christian Education," p. 483



V o l .   7 1 ,   N o .   2 0
S e p t e m b e r   I,1995


 CONTENTS:                                                                                                                          September  1, 1995
 L                                                                                                                                                                                                      I


Meditation - Herman Hoeksema
          Christian Education . . . . . . . . . ..*...........................................................                                                                             483
Editorial - Prof. David J. Engelsma                                                                                                                                                                           ISSN 0362-4692
          Judging Ministers (2) . . . ..*.*.............................................................                                                                                   488                Semi-monthly. except monthly during June, July. and August.
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A Word Fitly Spoken - Rev. Dale H. Kuiper                                                                                                                                                                    4948 lvanrest Ave., Qrandville, Ml 46416. Becond Class
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Taking Heed to the Doctrine  - Rev. Bernard Woudenberg                                                                                                                                                        EDtTORtAL COMMDTEE
      , The Covenant Promise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 493                                          Editor: Prof. David J. Engetsma
Go Ye Into All the World - Rev. Jason L. Kortering                                                                                                                                                           Secretary: Prof. Robert D. Decker
                                                                                                                                                                                                             Managlng Editon Mr. Con Doezema
         The Gospel in Southeast Asia (3) *..........,.....................................                                                                                                496               DEPARTMENT EDITORS
In His Fear - Rev. Arie denHartog                                                                                                                                                                            Rev. Wilbur Brulnsma, Rev. Ronald Cammenga, Prof. Robert
          A Special Sermon for the Young Women of the Church (1) . . . . . . . 498                                                                                                                           Decker,Rev.ArladenHartog,Rev.RussellDykstra,Rev.Bany
                                                                                                                                                                                                              Grltters,  Rev. Oart Haak, Rev. Jason Korterlng, Rev. Cornelius
Ministering to the Saints - Mr. Gord Schipper                                                                                                                                                                Hanko, Prof. Herman Hanko, Rev. John Heys, Rev. Date
          State Aid and the Work of the Deacons .,..............................  ~ . . . . . . 501                                                                                                          Nulpsr,  Mr. James Lanttng, Mrs. MaryBeth Lubbers, Rev.
                                                                                                                                                                                                             Jaikishin Mahtanl, Rev. Thomas Mlersma, Rev. Charles
News From Our Churches  - Mr. Benjamin Wigger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..-...... 503                                                                                                      Terfstra,  Rev. QlseVanBaren,  Rev. RonatdVanrXsdoop,  Mr.
                                                                                                                                                                                                             Benjamin Wlgger,  Rev. Bernard Wwdenberg.

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                   ,`..'                     _..,,,:  :



                             Christian Education
                                                      t `I       -     "

     "And thou shalt teach them dili-                         one that would deny this, apart now        know that his sins and the sins of
gently unto thy children, and shalt talk                      from the question as to the charac-        his children have been washed away
of them when thou sittest in thine house,                     ter this Christian education ought to      in the blood of Christ Jesus, and that
and when thou walkest by the way, and                         assume. For as Christians we all           now he and they are marching heav-
when thou liest down, and when thou                           agree that we are not satisfied to         enward. On the contrary, his cove-
rises t up. "                                                 know that our children receive an          nant God did save him, in order that
                            Deuteronomy  6:7                  education of the world and for this        with His children he might be to the
                                                              world, but we confess that we are          praise of His glory, here in the
     That the education of children                           pilgrims, that we are travelers to an-     church militant and in the midst of
is one of the most important sub-                             other city, and that, somehow, the         the world, and presently in the glo-
jects that can possibly demand our                            education of our children must be          ry of heavenly perfection. He must
consideration is a truth that is clear-                       related to that other city that is in      fight the good fight. He must walk
ly realized, not only by the Chris-                           heaven. I repeat, therefore, that as       in the precepts of'his covenant God.
tian, but still more so by the people                         Christian parents we cannot be in-         He must reveal himself as a child of
of the world. Especially is this true                         different with regard to the religious     light in every sphere of life.
of our own age. Witness the many                              instruction of our children. Religious            Now, this conviction has a defi-
books that are published on the sub-                          instruction they certainly must have,      nite influence upon one's conception
ject, the many magazines that see                             and they must be brought up in the         of the task of education. Were it
the light and that are devoted par-                           fear and admonition of the Lord, our       different, it might be an irrelevant
ticularly to educational problems, the                        covenant God in Christ Jesus.              matter as to what sort of education
large sums of money that are spent,                               Once more I will limit this state-     the child might receive to help him
the laws that are enacted, the edific-                        ment, and maintain that as Re-                   through this world, as long as he
es that are raised - all in the inter-                        formed Christians we will also                       is saved. But entirely differ-
est of education. On the importance                           insist that our children must                          ent it becomes if also the sal-
of education in general, therefore,                           receive a religious education      .a. somehow,         vation of your child is in
we are entirely agreed.                                       of a very marked type.             the education         your view only the means
    But there is more. I may safely                    . ..That we agree on this is ev-         of our children        to the highest aim: the
limit this statement. For I am en-                            ident from the confession         must be related        glorification of the Most
tirely safe in saying that we also                            we repeat every time we of-       fo that other@         High. Then you will aim
agree that our children ought to have                         fer our children for baptism.         that is           in your education at the
a Christian education. There is no                            We promise to bring them            in heaven.         perfect man of God, know-
                                                              up "in the aforesaid doctrine,                       ing the will of his God for
                                                              or help or cause them to be in-                   every sphere of life and for ev-
                                                              strutted  therein to the utmost of our    ery step he takes upon the path of
                                                              power." This is very significant. For     life, and you will take care that in
                                                              this doctrine is the Reformed doc-        his life he is well equipped with a
This sermon  on  Christian education by                       trine. And one of the characteristic      clear and concise knowledge of all
the Rev.  Hertian Hoeksema was                                features of the Reformed faith is that    the precepts of the Most High. And
preached in September, 1916, when                             it confesses that all things exist for    since for the Reformed Christian the
Hoeksema was still a minister in the                          the glory of God, that even our sal-      subject of the education of his chil-
Christian Reformed Church. It was pub                         vation is not the ultimate end of all     dren is so highly important we
lished in the September 1, 1927 issue of                      things, but that it is a means to an      thought it very appropriate to de-
the Standard Bearer (Vol. 3, pp. 532-                         end. It is, for the Christian of the      vote our discussion to this topic this
536). The sermon is fitting for the be-                       Reformed type, not sufficient to          morning and in connection with the
ginning of the school year.

                                                                                                                September 1,1!395/Standard  Bearer/483


words of Deuteronomy  6:7 to speak        thing clearly and sharply to the un-       God cleansed them and forgave all
to you on:                                derstanding of the child.                  their iniquities. God delivered them
                                              The question, then, is, what           and formed them to be a people unto
The Lord's Command Regarding the          must be taught according to the            Himself. He spread abroad in their
     Instruction  of  our Children        words of our text? What is the ma-         hearts a new love, the love of God
                                          terial of this instruction? Our text       in Christ Jesus. In that love they
In respect to the material                tells us: "Teach them unto thy chil-       must obey the Lord their God and
of that instruction                       dren." In the words immediately            keep His precepts. This obedience
     I think we will all agree if we      preceding our text the man of God          must be an obedience from the love
define education, in the sense in         says to the people: "And these words       of their whole heart, with all their
which we are dealing with that sub-       which I command thee this day shall        mind and soul and strength. For,
ject this morning, as the impartation     be in thine heart." In our text he         mark you, Scripture knows of no di-
to the child of knowledge regarding       refers, therefore, once more to  these     vision of our life, one part for the
his material and spiritual relation to    words, and he enjoins the children of      exercise of this obedience in cove-
the world. With this all education        his people that they shall also teach      nant love, and another part entirely
has to do. We bring children into         them to their children, to the seed        separated from that love. The Chris-
the world. And when these chil-           of the covenant. Nor is it difficult to    tian possesses but one life. And that
dren come to consciousness, that          find out what is really meant by           whole life must be consecrated to
world is strange to them if they are      "these words." They simply refer           the Lord his God, who redeemed
not informed about their relation to      to the law of the covenant God, as         and delivered him. In other words,
the same. But to the Christian this is    has been delivered unto Israel be-         all the time and everywhere, in the
not enough. No, there is not only a       fore, and as is now repeated by the        midst of the world or in the church,
world, but there is also a God. And       man of God summarily, as they are          in the home or in society, he must
the child must also learn to see his      about to enter the promised land,          reveal himself from the principle of
true relation to that God. In short,      and as he is about to leave them.          the new life he received from his
principally the education of the child    All the precepts of Jehovah the par-       covenant God by grace. Thus we
must give him an answer to the            ent must teach definitely and con-         promise and confess it in our Bap-
question: Who am I? Who am I in           cisely to his children. And these pre-     tism Form so beautifully and truly,
relation to the world in which I live?    cepts are again expressed in princi-       when it says that our part of the cov-
Who am I in relation to my God?           ple in the fifth verse of our chapter,     enant is that we love the Lord our
And thus education becomes the            where the prophet says to his peo-         God with all our mind and heart and
transmitting of such knowledge from       ple? "And thou shalt love the Lord         soul and strength, and walk in new
generation to generation. But when        thy God with all thy heart, and with       obedience before Him. To know,
our text says, "Thou shalt teach          all thy soul, and with all thy might."     therefore, and to keep the precepts
them unto thy children," it uses in       In brief, Scripture here, as well as       of the Lord our God and to acknowl-
the original a word for teaching that     throughout, knows of but one kind          edge no other precepts than His, that
places the nature of education in a       of actual religion. It is the religion     is our covenant religion.
very peculiar light. The word really      of obedience. And again the Word               But if this is true, then it is also
means, in the first place, "to sharp-     of God knows of but one kind of            clear that we must teach these pre-
en," and is used, for instance, to de-    obedience. It is the obedience from        cepts and none other to our children.
note the sharpening of a sword.           love. Obedience and love are for that      For the Lord established His cove-
From this basic idea it further de-       very reason often used interchange-        nant with us and our children in the
rives the meaning "to sharpen the         ably in Scripture, seeing that they        line of generations. With us and our
tongue," and further to use pointed       signify the very same thing, and the       seed the God of our salvation raises
speech, to express oneself definitely     one without the other is inconceiv-        His blessed covenant. We and our
and concisely, and in this sense it is    able.                                      children  -are His covenant people.
finally used to denote the idea of            For this reason, it is to the obe-     And, therefore, very logically, the
teaching. To teach, according to this     dience of God's covenant people that       man of God comes to this injunc-
idea, is to sharpen in.  Inscherpen,      the man of God refers in this text.        tion: "And thou shalt teach them
the Dutch would say. Education ac-        The natural man does not know the          unto thy children." In all our life, at
cording to this conception must not       love of God, for his mind is enmity        home or at large, in the church or in
be vague or indefinite, but sharp and     against God and he walks in dark-          the world, we have to do with the
concise. So definitely was this idea      ness. But God's people, the people         precepts of our God and we ac-
of conciseness conceived of as es-        the man of God is here addressing,         knowledge but one Lord. These pre-
sential to education that, in the view    have been saved and redeemed by            cepts are the rule of our thinking
of Scripture, to teach meant actually     the power of His grace. They are           and willing, of the life of the soul
the same thing as to express some-        once more His covenant people.             and of the body, our guide accord-

484lStandard  Bearer/September 1,1995


ing to which we desire by the grace            outside of that law of God. Noth-          cate his children always and every-
of God to walk in every sphere of              ing else might the parent-teacher          where, in the home and outside,
life. But then, it is evident that also        have in his mind but to instruct the       from morning till evening, in the
these precepts must constitute the             child in that law. And, therefore, it      commands of the Most High.
subject material of all our education,         is perfectly clear that our text deems         It is, therefore, not true at all that
and that it is quite impossible to con-        the instruction in that law all-suffi-     the parent can educate his children
ceive of any sphere or branch of in-           cient. That does not mean that the         at home in the precepts of the Lord,
struction from which these precepts            young Israelite might learn nothing        and that he can excuse himself for
of our God may or can be excluded.             but the law of the ten command-            the rest and say that he can do no
If, therefore, you ask What, accord-           ments, learn nothing but how to sing       more, that he has fulfilled his duty
ing to Scripture, must be the materi-          the songs of the fathers, how to cel-      and lived up to his promise. No,
al in which our covenant children              ebrate the solemn feasts, and how          that does not at all finish his task.
are instructed? we answer without              to bring his sacrifices and tithes. No,    The parent must also educate his
hesitation: The precepts of the Lord           the Jew of old did not know of such        children outside of the home. In the
our covenant God with relation to              a narrow conception of religion and        catechism and in the school, on the
every sphere of life.                          of the law of God. But it meant that       street and in every other place, it is
                                               the Israelite, always and everywhere,      the parent whose duty it is to edu-
In regard to the time                          had to live according to the will of       cate his children. He may perhaps
for that instruction                           God, and for every sphere of life he       perform that duty through someone
    That such is actually the concep-          had to teach his children those same       else, that is, his servant, but that does
tion of the words of our text is evi-          precepts.                                  not make any difference. Not the
dent. Let us ask the question: How                   Notice, in the second place, that    teacher, private or public, has any
much time must be devoted to this              all this time the parent is held re-       duty regarding your children. The
instruction in the law of the Lord?            sponsible for the training of his chil-    duty to educate them is yours, and
A few hours, say, every day? Or                dren. Moses does not at all address        it can only become the duty of the
must this instruction in the precepts         the congregation of the people of           teacher by your employing him.
of Jehovah perhaps be limited to the           God in general, but emphatically he            From this follows in the second
Sabbath day? Shall we transfer the             speaks in the singular. He address-        place that you are responsible for
burden of this injunction to the               es the individual parent. Thou shalt       all that your child is taught. It is not
preaching in the church and to the            teach them unto thy children. Thou          thus, that you are responsible for
Sunday School? And is it sufficient            shalt talk of them, etc. Education is,     what the child learns directly in the
if, in addition to all this, the chil-        therefore, the duty of the parent and       home, and someone else for what
dren receive an hour's instruction in          of no one else. This stands to rea-        he learns in the school, and again
the precepts of the Lord in catechism          son. In the first place, there is no       someone else for what he learns in
during the week? Listen. The text              one that has more right, more God-         the catechism and in the Sunday
says: "Thou shalt talk of them (these         given right to the child than the par-      School. You are responsible always
precepts) when thou  sittest  in                     ent. Education determines to a       and everywhere. Not as if these oth-
thine house and when thou                             large extent what the child         er persons that teach your children
walkest by the way, and when                there
                                     "*.                shall be in the future, how he    have  no responsibility. Surely they
thou risest up and when thou               2s no        shall think and act. And          do. But their responsibility is en-
liest down." Now, this is ex-       education            surely there is no one that      tirely different from yours. You are
pressing the thing figurative-       that has            has more right to determine      responsible for all that your child is
ly, but very concisely and           nothing             this than the parent. But        taught, responsible before God. Of
unambiguously. It simply                  to do          especially is this so with       course, we realize that this was far
tells us that we must instruct             with          covenant parents. They are       easier in the time of Moses and the
our children in the precepts         the law            believers, and they are the       children of Israel than in our mod-
of the Lord all the time and             of the         ones that are held responsi-      ern times. Life was so much more
everywhere, in the home and              Lord.        ble, and that express the prom-     simple. The parent was not so busy
outside of the home, and that                        ise before God and His congre-       from morning till night that he could
there is no education that has noth-          gation time and again that they shall       find no time personally to instruct
ing to do with the law of the Lord.           see to it that the children are edu-        his children in the precepts of God.
That is simply all. Always, in the            cated according to the doctrine of          And life was not so complicated, not
home and out of the home, from                the covenant. They, therefore, have         so exacting, the child did not have
morning till evening, Israel must in-         the duty to educate their children,         to learn so much, all things were
struct his seed in these precepts of          and no one else has that obligation         more simple than they are today.
Jehovah. There was nothing else for           as they have. The parent, according         And for that reason the education
the young covenant child to learn             to the words of our text, must edu-         in the home was either the only or

                                                                                              September 1,1999lS~dzd Bearerla


the main education the child re-            that sphere the child is trained and              literature based upon and permeat-
ceived. The parent could realize di-        very definitely instructed in the com-            ed by the precepts of the Lord?
rectly his responsibility for the in-       mands of the Lord.                                Where are your children when they
struction of his children. But this is          Let us a/pply this for a moment.              are not at home? Who are their
entirely different today. The par-          How does olur instruction compare                 friends? Is this entire sphere such,
ent, at least the father, is not at home    to what is required by this injunc-               nay, I will not say that they gradu-
form the time he rises up till the time     tion? How is it in our homes? Are                 ally drift away from Christianity in
that he lies down, the mother is too        we obedient in this respect? Are we               general, but yet such that they be-
busy or at least often makes herself        talking about the precepts of the                 come alienated from their own
too busy if she is not, and time for        Lord when we rise up and when we                  church circle? Remember, it is you
direct instruction by the parent is         lie down, so that our children hear               that are responsible as parent, from
actually insufficient. Besides, if the      them? No, that does not mean that                 morning till night, responsible that
parent did have just as much time           we do as a certain doctor, not long               your children are instructed and
as the Israelite of old, he would not       ago, told us that his father always               brought up in the precepts of the
be able to instruct his children in all     did, namely say to his boy but:                   Most High.
the necessary branches of education.        "Johnnie, Johnnie, think of that nev-                   And how is it when you walk
And the result is that we have now          er-ending eternity!" from morning                 by the way? In other words, how is
the school, the catechism, the Sun-         till night. No, that is sickly. Surely,           the education of your children out-
day School, where one person sys-           it is good also that we early impress             side of your home life? Do they
tematically instructs many of our           our children with the truth that time             come to catechism regularly? And
children at the same time.                  is short, and that eternity is coming;            when they come are they well pre-
     Especially in the school the child     but the fear of eternity must not be-             pared? Are you cooperating with
receives the lion-share of his educa-       come the principle of their religion,             us also in this respect? Especially in
tion. The school it is that trains the      for that is absolutely wrong. No,                 respect to our young people, and still
child, that practically shapes him,         but do we speak of the precepts of                more especially in respect to our
and the words of the teacher have           the Lord in a good and healthy way,               young men, I would urge you: See
more authority for him than any oth-        so that our children learn from us                to it that they are educated in the
er. And the result is that we begin         definitely how they must walk in the              precepts of the Most High. To some
to feel and to act more and more as         way of the covenant? Do we ever                        of you directly, I would come and
if we were not responsible for that         talk with them about their bap-      -                   remind you of the fact that
part of the education of our children.      tism? Ever speak to them             Do your              Catechism again starts. Some
That is a mistake. All these institu-       about the joy of the assurance       children              of you, alas, already are old
tions are merely extensions of the          that they are covenant chil-       receive the             enough to assume your own
home, the teacher is merely the ser-        dren, but also of the heavy        impression               responsibilities and still you
vant of the parent, and even as the         responsibility that rests upon       in your                have not confessed your
boss always remains responsible for         them because of that cove-            homes                 God as your personal Lord.
the job his servants perform, so the        nant, to walk in the way of          that the               Remember, we expect you
parent is absolutely responsible for        the covenant? In a word, do         precepts                in the class. Do not  with-
the education of his children by the        your children receive the im-      of the Lord              draw yourselves from the
teacher. The parent, also now, must         pression  in your homes that               are             influences of the precepts of
instruct his children in the precepts       the precepts of the Lord are       do;lz;Fg God. And, finally, parents,
of the Most High, always and ev-            dominating there? Or are ma-                      .       how is the education of your
erywhere, for those precepts control        terial things predominating,                            children in the school? Oh, I
our entire life. And if the teacher         perhaps the one thing that re-                         hear many of you say, as you
the parent employs cannot reason-           ceives attention? Do you, when you           have also told me when we visited
ably be expected to do this, it is the      are with your children, perhaps              you in your homes, the education in
parent that is and remains responsi-        leave them alone and read the news-          our public schools is good enough!
ble for that instruction. Thus it is        paper? Or talk about parties and             According to what standard do you
with the entire system in which the         picnics and outings and automobile           call it so, my brother and sister? Ac-
child lives. From morning till night        rides, and nice dresses, or about the        cording to the standard of the Word
the parent is responsible. The liter-       homely face of the new neighbor-             of God? God tells us that in the
ature the child reads, the places he        lady, about the new hats you saw in          home, and without, the children
visits, the friends he associates with,     church, and the faults of brother so         must be instructed in the precepts
the recreation he enjoys, in a word,        and so? In a word: what is the               of the Lord. And that no one but
the entire sphere of his life, must be      sphere in which your children live           you is responsible for this education.
dominated by the law of the Lord,           in the home? What is the literature          That this education in the  com-
and the parent is responsible that in       you allow them to read? Is also that         mands of the Lord must not be

488lStandard  BearerlSeptemlaer  1,1995


vague, but must be pointed and def-         cepts in regard to life in general. The    why? Because in the immediate con-
inite. I ask you this morning to go         education of our children is not           text we read that the Lord our God
to your God and honestly tell Him           something that applied to Israel           is one Lord. He is Lord, Lord over
that you are living up to this respect,     alone, but it is general in its charac-    all. Lord over every sphere of life.
and that your child is educated, not        ter. And, what is more, the basis of       His precepts cannot be excluded
once in a while, but from morning           this command is not found in some-         from any sphere. Therefore, Israel
till evening, and everywhere, hi the        thing that is applicable to Israel         had to educate his children only in
precepts of the Lord. No, we need           alone, but it holds as well for the        His precepts. Not in one part of life
not talk about our public schools.          people of God of all ages.                 the precepts of the Lord, and in an-
But this you know as well as I do,              In the first place, we find that       other part these precepts excluded;
that they receive no covenant edu-          this command is based upon and             but in all life these precepts are to
cation in those schools. Your chil-         brought into direct conneqtion with        be acknowledged. And thus also
dren must have a covenant educa-            the covenant relationship of the peo-      with our preparation for that life.
tion and nothing less. For this is the      ple of God. God has established a          Not the precepts of the Lord in one
injunction in the words of our text,        covenant with Israel as a nation.          part of the education and another
that in the home and without, from          Thus the man of God has told them          part nothing to do with this law of
morning till evening, the children          in the chapter preceding ours. In          God. But all our education must be
must be brought up in the precepts          that covenant, God had promised to         permeated with the precepts of the
of the Lord for every sphere of life.       bless them and to give them Canaan         Lord. This hoLds true today as well
                                            for an everlasting possession. But         as in the time of Israel - because
In regard to the basis                      He also had His demands. The peo-          the Lord our God is one Lord.
of that instruction                         ple had received blessings from their          Also we are a covenant people.
    But, I hear someone remark, this        covenant God. He had delivered             Every time when we come with our
command was given to Israel of old          them from the house of bondage,            babes before God and His congre-
and not to the people of the New            and He would give them the land            gation, for baptism, we confess that
Testament. Many laws and com-               of the promise. But there was also         we have an eternal covenant of grace
mands are given in the Old Testa-           another side. The people were in           with God. We confess that in that
ment that are obsolete, that are not        duty bound to walk in the way of           covenant God gives to us and to our
at all applicable to the days of the        the covenant and to love the Lord          children all the blessings of salva-
new dispensation, and this is one of        their God with all their heart, and        tion. We confess that also our chil-
them. We frankly admit that the             with all their mind, and with all their    dren are really in that covenant of
first statement is true. There are,         strength. And from this same cove-         grace, that they are partakers of
indeed, many laws given in the Old          nant obligation follows also their         grace, that they are sanctified in
Testament that have no direct val-          duty to educate their children, al-        Christ, that they are members of His
ue, no binding force for our day. But       ways, in the fear of the Lord, so that     body, that they are children of God,
it is not true that commands like the       also they may know His precepts,           heirs of the kingdom and of the cov-
one  we have discussed this morn-           understand their covenant relation,        enant. And every time we confess
ing also belong to that category. This      and learn to walk in the way of that       that it is our side of the covenant to
temporal and passing character of           covenant that God has established          walk in new obedience from true
the Old Testament is true only of           with them.                                 love of that covenant God who has
those precepts that applied to the              In the second place, the general       so richly blessed us. And every time
particular dispensation of Israel, in       character of this covenant education       you, therefore, promise that you will
their religious and civic life. There       is based upon a general principle          to the utmost of your power teach
were laws regarding their religious         also. It might be remarked, as we          your children the way of the cove-
life, laws regarding sacrifices and         have heard it so often, that the in-       nant, and that you will help and
feasts, that have passed away with          struction in the law of the Lord is        cause them to be instructed therein.
the coming of Christ, that have lost        sufficient if it is given in the home      You see, that same basis still exists,
their binding force when the Lamb           and in the catechism, in the home          the basis of the covenant, for we are
of God was sacrificed on Golgotha           and in the church, but that the school     a covenant people. And upon that
and the veil rent in twain. There           education has nothing to do with it.       same basis we come to you with the
were also laws that applied to the          And again, upon the basis of Scrip-        same Word of God and say: Ye shall
particular civic life of the theocracy      ture, this must be denied. The prin-       teach them unto your children and
of Israel, and also they have lost their    ciple of such a statement is wrong.        talk of them in your home and out-
particular force with the passing           God told His people of old that they       side of your home and everywhere.
away of Israel as a nation. But this        should educate their children from         And since conditions are such that
is not true of those laws that dealt        morning till night and everywhere          undoubtedly you will have to en-
with general subjects, that gave pre-       in the precepts of the Lord. And           trust a large part of your children's

                                                                                           September 1,1995lStandard  Bsart1ri487


     education to others, there we again                     spheres, and that. those precepts          from morning till night, definitely
     come to you and say: Send them                          must form the very basis of his'edu-       and sharply, to be faithful in regard
     there where you know that they re-                      cation. Religion must not be some-         to the catechism classes that are
     ceive a covenant education, an edu-                     thing that is added to our life, but it    presently to begin again for the com-
     cation in the precepts of the Lord.                     must be the heart of our life. Reli-       ing season, faithful in regard to the
     Send them to our catechism classes                      gion must not be something that is         education the child receives in the
     regularly and do not neglect it, send                   added to our education; but it must        school, and to send them to that
     them also to our Christian schools,                     be the heart of our education, the         school of which you are certain that
     where you know that they receive                        precepts of the Lord must be the ba-       they will receive a covenant educa-
     the education they must have.                           sis from which our entire education        tion. Then we have hope also for
             And finally, also today, the Lord               must proceed.                              the future. For then we have the
     our God is one Lord. Also today                              And, therefore, we come once          promises of God for His faithful cov-
     He is Lord over all - Lord not only                     more to you upon the basis that the        enant people, that He will continue
     in the church, but Lord also in the                     Lord our God is the one and only           to bless us and our children, as His
     state, Lord also in social life, Lord                   Lord over all. We come to you as           people, and we shall walk before
     in our home life, Lord in the life of                   your pastor, anxious about your            Him in childlike obedience, subjects
     our education. For that very rea-                       spiritual welfare, anxious that also       of His kingdom, in the home, in the
     son, also today His precepts are val-                   your children shall be educated in         church, in society, and in the great
     id for every sphere of that life. But                   the fear of the Lord; and we enjoin        land in which God has given us a
     if this is so, then it is also clear that               you to be faithful in the home, and        place, acknowledging His one and
     the child must learn to see and hon-                    to talk of the precepts of the Lord to     only Lordship. 0
     or those precepts, for all those                        the children God has given unto you,
I                                                                                                                                   ,,,.              /                   ./i                     i    ,.'

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                                      Judging Ministers*
                                                                            0

                               Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.
                               Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.
                               But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's judgment: yea, I
                           judge not mine own self
                               For I know nothing by my.+ yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord.
                               Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the
                           hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every
                           man have praise of God.
                                                                                                          - I Corinthians 49-5


                                                                 Every minister of the Word will            There is a judging of ministers
                                                             be judged as to his faithfulness in        that is improper and that may safe-
           The address @*ven at the graduation               the ministry. Paul wrote in I Corin-       ly be ignored. This is mere human
     l 
exercises  the Theological School                            thians 4:2 that it is required in stew-    judgment, or "man's judgment," as
                   o f                                o f
     the Protestant Reformed Churches on                     ards that a man be found faithful -        it is called in verse 3. This is the
June 19,199s at Hull, Iowa. The first                        found faithful by a judge in court.        evaluation of a man's ministry by
installment appeared in the August,                              The question is: by whom is the        members of the church according to
1995 issue of the Standard Bearer.                           minister judged?                           their own carnal standards.

4WStandard BearerlSeptember  1,1995


       Usually this is a critical judg-    od. Synod judges a man when it                 minister, because I am more popu-
ment.                                      declares him a candidate for the min-         lar than others." Or, "I am a poor
       "Our minister is not a good min-    istry in the churches. The consistory          minister, because in my sermons and
ister because his preaching is too         constantly judges whether its minis-           other work I never manage to meet
doctrinal and deep." Or, "because          ter is faithfully carrying out his of-        the high standards I set for myself."
in his work with the children and          fice and edifying the congregation,
youth all he does is teach the Bible."     especially by his preaching. Every                             Liberated!
Or, "because in his preaching and          member judges his minister every
writing he is critical of other church-    Sabbath, that he brought the gospel.                 From all human judgment, the
es, theologians, and teachings." Or,             We must take this responsibility        minister is freed, gloriously freed.
"be&use  he isz eloquentin speak-          seriously. The church must judge              Now he may live and work in the
ing.`/ Or, "because the congregation       her ministers as to competency, doc-          conviction and with the attitude,
does not grow."                            trine, and life. We ministers must             "What people say about me as a min-
       The human evaluation that is        submit to this judgment. We must               ister, whether the world or critics in
improper may, however, be affirma-         be open to it. We must pay atten-              other denominations or members of
tive, glowingly affirmative. "Our          tion to it.                                   my own congregation and denomi-
minister is a good minister because              But this is divine judgment             nation, is `a very small thing' to me."
he is practical, not doctrinal." Or,       through the church and through the                   What a liberating, empowering,
"because he never applies the doc-         office of believer. The standards are         invigorating thing is this freedom
trine to the real needs of the congre-     Scripture, the creeds, and the church         from human judgment, for the work
gation in a painful and possibly di-       order. Although given by men and              of  the gospel-ministry!  How crippling
visive way." Or, "because he is al-        women, it is not "man's judgment."            it is to labor with the fear, "What
ways positive, never negative." Or,                                                      will the people say about this ser-
"because he is mainly negative." Or,                      Self-evaluation                mon? how will these people react
"because he is tolerant and open to                                                      to me if I give this warning? will
novel ideas in doctrine, worship, and            Yet another human judgment              this article make me popular? what
conduct." Or, "because he is such a        that is improper is the minister's            will be the success of this act of dis-
nice personality." Or, "because he         own evaluation of his ministry. This          cipline in the congregation?"
is a dynamic speaker." Or, "because        is not to say that we ministers                      How dangerous is reliance on
he is successful."                         should not be constantly examining            one's own judgment of his ministry!
       This judging invariably ranks       our ministry. Rigorous examination            Either the minister is easily satisfied
ministers: this one is good and that       of our own official work and of                      with his performance, when he
one is not as good, or even bad.           the personal life inextricably                           should not be, or, as his own
       This judging forms factions         bound up with the work is                                  worst critic, he falls into
around the ecclesiastical heroes: "I       demanded. The apostle im-           The minister           discouragement because
am of Paul;                                                                          is not,
                I am of Cephas; I am of    plies as much when, hav-                                    he fails to meet his own
Apollos."                                  ing said, "yea, I judge not           finally,              carnal and proud expec-
       We ministers may, indeed must,      mine own self," he adds,             the servant             tations.
discount such judgment. "With me           "For I know nothing by                 of men,                    Man is not the judge
it is a very small thing that I should     myself, yet am I not here-         not even of the           of our ministry, to justify
be judged of                                                                   congregation
                 man's  judgment."         by justified.m "By myself"                                   or condemn. Of course
       Ministers may not conclude          is actually "against myself,"      that called him,         not! Man lacks the abili-
from this that they are above all          as      Calvin       explains:     but the servant         ty to judge. Who knows
judging by the church and her mem-         fl though he (Paul) is not con-       of  Christ.         the hidden things of dark-
bers. Human judgment is one thing;         scious to himself of anything                           ness in a minister< life, what
judgment by humans is quite anoth-         wrong."                                              an unfaithful minister may do,
er.                                              The apostle could say that he           or fail to do, when he is out of the
       There is a lawful, necessary        was not aware of any unfaithfulness           public eye? Who knows the coun-
judgment of ministers by the church        regarding his ministry, implying that         sels of the heart of a minister?
and her members. The consistory            he had examined his ministry. So                     Man also lacks the authority to
judges a man when it recommends            must it be for every minister.                judge ministers. The minister is not,
him for entrance into seminary. The              But there is the danger that the        finally, the servant of men, not even
Theological School Committee judg-         minister himself judges himself as a          of the congregation that called him,
es a man when it accepts him into          minister according to faulty stan-            but the servant of Christ. He is not
seminary. The faculty of the semi-         dards, whether positively or nega-            the steward of his own theology and
nary judges a man when it recom-           tively, and makes his self-evaluation         ecclesiastical realm, but the steward
mends him for examination by syn-          the decisive judgment. "I am a good           of the mysteries of God.

                                                                                                September 1,1995/Standard  Bearerl489


        The minister belongs to Jesus         criticism from men: "You have been             Some ministers - heretics, hire-
     Christ the Lord.                         faithful to My Word and, therefore,        lings, and hypocrites - will be ex-
                                              to Me. Well done, faithful steward         posed and damned. Other minis-
      Jesus Christ, Judge of Ministers        of the mysteries."                         ters, though saved themselves, will
                                                  An unfaithful minister is also         suffer the burning of their ministeri-
        Judging ministers is the Lord's       convicted by the Lord's judgment.          al works as hay and stubble - no
business. "He that judgeth me is.             What a misery for a minister! "You         happy prospect (I Cor. 3~12-15).
the Lord" (v. 4). The risen Christ is         are unsound in doctrine." "You seek            But all genuine, faithful minis-
     our judge, dear graduates and es-        yourself." "You are lazy.,  uYou           ters will alike have praise. There
teemed colleagues in the ministry.            scatter My sheep."                         will be no ranking and comparison,
        He.is the Lord: appointed to be           All of us know something of this       no loading of one with all the praise
judge of all (Acts 17:31).                    lordly rebuke. It brings us to repen-      while withholding it entirely from
        He is  our  Lord  - Lord of us        tance and moves us to greater faith-       the other. "Well done," God will
ministers. He bought us with His              fulness.                                   say to Paul, to Apollos, to Calvin, to
blood, with all the saints. He called                                                    Hoeksema, to Ophoff . . . and to us.
us to function in His. office among                    A Future, Final Judgment              Since the Lord is the judge of
His people on behalf of His cove-                                                        ministers, the saints should withhold
nant and kingdom.                                 The Lord will conduct a public         judgment for the time being. They
        The Lord Jesus Christ judges His      judgment of ministers as a special         should simply receive their minis-
ministers.                                    phase of the final judgment: "the          ters now as servants of Christ.
        He judges us now. The apostle         Lord (will) come (and) will bring to           Since the Lord is the judge of
uses the present tense: "He that              light the hidden things of darkness,       ministers, we ministers must labor
judgeth me is the Lord." The Lord             and will make manifest the counsels        eschatologically: "until the Lord
judges our sermons and other in-              of the hearts: and then shall every        come." What an incentive to faith-
struction; our preparation for ser-           man have praise of God" (v. 5).            fulness! Let us keep this in view:
mons, including. prayer; our edifica-             The standard will be faithful-         one day, before all, we will be found
tion, protection, and gathering of His        ness.                                      faithful. We will hear the Word of
church; our personal lives, that are              The judge, however, will be gra-       Judge Christ Jesus, "Well done, good
to adorn the doctrine; the counsels           cious; for none, not even Paul, is a       and faithful servant; I approve your
of our hearts.                                sinless steward of the mysteries.          ministry, and your work abides in
        The faithful minister is conscious        The outcome will be praise for         the everlasting kingdom."
of this judging by the Lord. It is a          us all from God. This, then, is our            Can a man desire more?
judgment "in foro conscientiae. N What        reward: praise from the living,                Could anything stir up zeal
an encouraging testimony is this              triune God by His mouth, Jesus the         more?  0
judgment by the Lord at the end of            Christ.                                                                    - DJE
a Sabbath, especially in the face of              There will also be censure.
I


                                              and no one has to live in poverty. I       ing their responsibility of caring for
                                              will enclose the latest booklet of the     their family, and caring for the
           Deacons and the State              social security for your perusal, and      household of God, and working with
                                              it will give you some idea of what is      sweat on their brow to support their
        I would like some clarification       happening in Australia. It seems to        family.
of the article written by Mr. Gordon          me that we as Christians are so easy           Perhaps you can write an article
Schipper, "The office of deacon: Its          to use those benefits, and the tasks       about this issue, as it is quite com-
function" (Standard Beareu, April 15,         in God's church as deacon are made         plex matter.
1995). My understanding of the end            so much easier.                                                           N, Kleyn
of the article is that we as Christians           My questions are as follows:                                        Tasmania
should not ask for social benefits            May we use social benefit, can we
from the government, but that as a            expect God's blessing upon it? Or,         Response:
church we should support anyone               is the church responsible, and is she          Mr. Schipper answers these
that lives in poverty in the commun-          not doing her duty?                        questions in the rubric, "Minister-
ion of saints. I don't know how it is             I do believe that, because it is so    ing to the Saints," in this issue.
in the USA but here in Australia we           easy to get benefits here in Austra-                                        - Ed.
have a very socialistic government,           lia, the people of God are also los-

490lStandard  Bearer/September 1,199s


                                               Inheritance
    We understand an inheritance to be something: that        and reveals to us that we are also God's inheritance.
is precious and valuable. An inheritance is a precious        Moses prays that God will not destroy His people
possession that a person has no right to of himself; it is    and His inheritance which He has redeemed  (Deut.
something freely and graciously bestowed upon an in-          226). David sings, "Save thy people, bless thine
dividual. An inheritance is a legal matter; it has its        inheritance" (Ps. 289). We are a people chosen for
basis and protection in law. And before one can enter         His inheritance (Ps. 33:12).  Thus we can understand
into the possession and enjoyment of his inheritance,         why the Lord takes pleasure in His people (Ps.
the death of the testator must occur. The Hebrew word         149:14),  views them as His peculiar treasure (Ps.
for inheritance (and related words) means to distrib-         149:4),  and counts them His jewels (Mal. 217). Since
ute, to give as a possession, to cause to inherit. Most       we have no value or beauty in ourselves, this can
of the Old Testament occurrences of these words are           only be understood in Christ. In Christ we are given
found in context with the words "land" and "by lot."          beauty for ashes, in Christ the image of God is re-
The Greek for inheritance is a compound word, the             stored to us, in Christ is God always well pleased.
parts of which mean: a pebble or polished bit of wood         Through the work of Jesus Christ for us, in us, and
used in casting lots, and to distribute, apportion or         through  us, God inherits and possesses a people unto
assign.                                                       His praise! Give thanks unto the Father who "hath
    The land of Canaan was given to the children of           made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of
Israel as an inheritance. "This is the land which ye          the saints in light" (Col. 1:12)!
shall inherit by lot" (Num.  34~13).  After the land was          We inherit God and a place in His kingdom only
surveyed for each of the twelve tribes, the lines were        because we belong to Christ through eternal elec-
drawn for each individual family within each tribe,           tion. All of God's promises are spoken first of all to
and lots were cast to determine each one's inheritance.       Jesus Christ. "Ask of me, and I shallgive thee the
The salvation of each elect Israelite was inseparably         heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts
connected to the exact piece of ground that the Lord          of the earth for thy possession" (Ps. 28). Christ is
gave him. Thus, the Israelite could look over his pos-        the seed out of Jacob, the inheritor of  God's
session and sing, "Thou maintainest my lot. The lines         mountain(Is.  639). By inheritance, the Son hath ob-
are fallen unto me in pleasant places; Yea, I have a          tained a more excellent name than the angels (Heb.
goodly heritage" (Ps.  16:5, 6). This explains the godly      1:4). Because we have received the Spirit of adop-
concern of the daughters of Zelophahad, who died with-        tion, we are children. And if we are children, then
out a son (Num. 27:11),  and the refusal of Naboth to         are we heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ (Rom.
sell his vineyard to King Ahab. Their salvation could         8:15-V).  All that Christ has been promised, and all
be enjoyed, not in the land of Canaan generally, but on       that Christ receives, is ours because we are members
the precise piece of ground God gave to them. So our          of His body, one plant with Him. And we are sealed
salvation also is not to receive heavenly glory in some       with the Holy Spirit of promise, "Which is the ear-
vague way, but to receive a definite, God-ordained place      nest of our inheritance until the redemption of the
in heaven, a place prepared for us, a place for which         purchased possession, unto the praise of his  glow
we are being prepared and that will fit us.                   (Eph. 1:14).
    That which .we inherit is described in Scripture              In  .the opening paragraph, we stated that there
with wondrous beauty and endless variation. We will           are certain things we understand about an inherit-
inherit the throne of glory, the earth, the nations, the      ance on the earthly level. Bad things can happen to
Gentiles, life everlasting, the kingdom prepared for us,      an earthly inheritance. A person may change his
the kingdom of God, the promises, a blessing, even all        will; lawyers' fees may greatly reduce it; taxes may
things. But the richest expression of inheritance is that     eat into it; inflation may render it all but worthless.
we will inherit God! Not only did the Levites do so           This heavenly inheritance is incorruptible, undefiled,
(Num 18:20),  but He is the portion of our inheritance        and `never fades away (I Pet. 1:4). It is reserved in
(Ps. l&5);  we partake of the divine nature (II Pet. 1:4);    heaven for us by the God and Father of Jesus Christ.
the treasures and pleasures that are at His right hand        Will we actually receive the precious inheritance?
are ours to enjoy now and forever. That God is our            Not only is the inheritance reserved for us by God,
inheritance means that we know Him as He really is,           but we are kept by the power of God through faith
know His amazing virtues as they are displayed in             for that inheritance (I Pet.  1:5)! The inheritance and
Jesus Christ, and knowing Him enjoy Him as the God            the inheritors will come together. Of that we may be
of gracious salvation.                                        sure!  0
    In a very striking way, Scripture turns this around

Rev. Kuiper is pastor of Southeast Protestant Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan.


                                                                                         September I, 1995lStandard  Bearen'


                                           Christian Reformed Church does not           mission process: two-thirds of those
q   REPENT  AND RESCIND                    repent of and rescind the action at          voting at a Council meeting may
    That is the message the Chris-         Synod." A separate motion instructs          propose that a denomination's mem-
tian Reformed Church (CRC) re-             the Interchurch Relations Commit-            bership be terminated, a decision
ceived from the Presbyterian Church        tee to monitor "the acts and pro-            which takes effect if at least two-
in America (PCA). Negative reac-           nouncements of the CRC Synod"                thirds of the synods or general as-
tion to the CRC synod's decision to        and makes clear that the repentance          semblies of the member denomina-
permit women to serve in office by         and rescinding described in the com-         tions also vote to expel the denomi-
permitting classes to declare parts        munication is expected at Synod              nation.
of the Church Order "inoperative"          1996. One sentence was added to                  Current NAPARC  member de-
has been strong and immediate. Fra-        the communication by a motion                nominations are the Associate Re-
ternal delegates to the CRC synod          from the floor of the General As-            formed Presbyterian Church, Chris-
from the Orthodox Presbyterian             sembly. Rev. Mark Dalbey, who had            tian Reformed Church, Korean
Church (OPC) and the Christelijke          served as the PCA's fraternal dele-          American Presbyterian Church, Or-
Gereformeerde Kerken in Nederland          gate to the CRC synod, moved that            thodox Presbyterian Church, Pres-
expressed strong reservations about        the PCA General Assembly inform              byterian Church in America, and the
the decision in their fraternal ad-        the CRC that "we commend the size-           Reformed Presbyterian Church in
dresses to the CRC synod.                  able number in your midst who are            North America. Our own Protes-
    But the strongest reaction to date     working hard to see the CRC remain           tant Reformed Churches have been
has come from the PCA, whose In-           faithful to Scripture on this issue and      sending observers to the annual
terchurch Relations Committee has          pray for God to use this group to            meetings of NAPARC.  Our Synod
previously been quite supportive of        prevail at the 1996 Synod."                  instructed our Committee for Con-
the CRC in ecumenical matters. Act-               In the minutes of the session, the    tact with Other Churches to do so
ing upon the unanimous recommen-           General Assembly took the unusual            again in the coming year.
dation of its committee of commis-         step of noting that its decisions on             Given the conservative stance of
sioners for interchurch relations the      the CRC were adopted unanimous-              the member denominations of
PCA General Assembly voted at its          lY*                                          NAPARC  it is likely that this coun-
June 22 session to send a communi-                A longtime defender of the CRC,       cil will terminate the CRC's mem-
cation to the CRC stating that, "We        Rev. K. Eric Perrin, chairman of the         bership if the CRC does not "repent
are grieved and distressed over the        PCA's Interchurch Relations Com-             and rescind" its action regarding
action of the 1995 Synod of the            mittee, says, "It appears to us that         women in office.
Christian Reformed Church to per-          this is not merely a step to open of-            Given the fact that the CRC re-
mit women to hold the offices of           fices to women, that it is a disturb-        fused to break sister-church relations
minister and elder."                       ing precedent and all sorts of things        with the Reformed Churches in the
    The PCA is more than grieved           could transpire. The barn door is            Netherlands and given the fact that
however; if the CRC does not               open, the cows are out, and the              some of her leaders (Banner editor,
change its position, it faces possible     Christian Reformed Church will nev-          Jon St& in a guest editorial in the
expulsion from the North American          er be able to get them back in."             Church Herald said, "It's time for
Presbyterian and Reformed Council,                The PCA action indicates that         re-union) are "courting" the Re-
the interdenominational fellowship         the CRC has lost one of its most im-         formed Church in America, it's like-
of conservative Reformed and Pres-         portant supporters and raises the            ly that the CRC is not going to "re-
byterian denominations in the Unit-        real possibility that the CRC will be        pent and rescind."
ed States and Canada. "The action          effectively driven out of the conser-            We of the Protestant Reformed
of the Christian Reformed Church           vative Reformed church world.                Churches are also grieved and dis-
is in contradiction to the clear teach-    Most of the theologically conserva-          tressed over the mother church's de-
ing of Scripture and the historic          tive Reformed and Presbyterian de-           cision to permit women to serve in
presbyterian and reformed confes-          nominations in the United States and         the office of minister and elder. We
sions of faith," wrote the PCA. "Fur-      Canada are members of NAPARC,                pray fervently that the CRC will "re-
thermore we have instructed our In-        and the CRC is currently the largest         pent and rescind" that action. In
terchurch Relations Committee to           member. According to  NAPARC                 the unlikely event that the CRC
use all due process to remove the          stated clerk, Rev. Donald Duff, the          heeds the admonition of the PCA,
Christian Reformed Church from             process for termination of NAPARC            we of the Protestant Reformed
membership in  NAPARC,  if the             membership is identical to the ad-           Churches would like to see the CRC

492lStandard  BearerlSeptember 1,1995


"repent and rescind" its synodical            n RCUS SYNOD                                 gates from that denomination and
decisions of 1924 regarding common                The Reformed Church in the               by making further plans for contin-
grace and those decisions approv-             United States (formerly known as             ued cooperation in the foreign mis-
ing of classical action to suspend and        Eureka Classis) at its 249th synod           sion work conducted by the two
depose the consistories of First              took significant action on several           churches in Zaire, Africa. The syn-
Kalamazoo, Eastern Avenue in                  matters. The 1994 synod of this very         od also continued its close relation-
Grand Rapids, and Hope in Grand               old denomination had approved, by            ship with the Orthodox Presbyteri-
Rapids. We of the PRC have been               more than the necessary two-thirds           an Church by receiving its delegate,
grieved and distressed over those             majority, the Be@ Confession and             Rev. Robert Needham,  and by con-
actions for over seventy years.               Cunons  of Dorf as creeds for the de-        tinuing ecumenical discussions be-
      United Reformed News Service            nomination in addition to the Heidel-        tween the two denomination!s  Inter-
                                              berg Catechism which for many years          church Relations Committees. The
n ORTHODOX                                    was the only creed of the RCUS.              focus of these talks was somewhat
PRESBYERIAN  CHURCH                           When the 1995 synod met, it was              changed by the RCUS synod to that
ALSO DISTURBED  BY CRC                        apparent that two-thirds of the class-       of discussing differences "which
     At its sixty-second General As-          es had indeed approved these                 need to be resolved in order to move
sembly (convened May 30,1995), the            creeds. By this action the Reformed          toward closer unity."
OPC unanimously adopted a com-                Church (US) "once again holds to                 About a month after the synod
munication to the CRC that "af-               the three very creeds it first adopt-        adjourned the Lord took to himself
firmed our convictions against the            ed in 1748 with the first Coetus con-        one of the RCUs's leading ministers.
ordination of women to the office of          stitution."                                  The Rev. Peter Grossman, editor of
elder or minister, and that declared              The synod continued its sister-          the Reformed Herald and pastor of
homosexual orientation as welI as             church relationship with the Re-             Emmanuel Reformed Church of
action to be sin."                            formed Churches in the Netherlands           Sutton, Nebraska, died suddenly of
                         New  Horizons        (Liberated) by receiving two dele-           cardiac problems on July 12. Ct
         .i       j                                                            -.                          i         ,,
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                 The Covenant Promise

                                              the position of the Christian church         munication can hardly take place -
    And I will esfablish my covenant          historically and biblically - that log-      it is just that they do not want it to
between me and thee and thy seed after        ical consistency in the interpretation       be insisted upon. They want to be
fhee in their generations for an everlasf-    of the Scriptures and of the doctrines       able to maintain divergent teachings
ing covenant, to be a God unto thee,          elicited from them must be main-             whose harmony cannot be resolved.
and to thy seed after fhee.                   tained; for, if one teaching contra-         And the result is that .they and we
                               Genesis 127    dicts another, both cannot be cor-           end up with some strikingly differ-
                                              rect, and our minds will not be able         ent understandings as to the real
    We have noted in the past that            to grasp the true biblical depth of          meaning of certain basic Reformed
the Liberated churches appear to be           either. But the Liberated reject this        doctrines on which creedally we
committed to quite a different kind           and even seem offended by it, ap-            ought to be agreed. Particularly is
of logic than are we. It has always           parently having accepted the rather          this so with the doctrine of the cov-
been our position - and, we believe,          modern notion that to require con-           enant and its promise.
                                              sistency is to be rationalistic and              There can be little question but
                                              scholastic, as though rationality and        that the seminal source of the doc-
                                              scholarship are bad things. It is not        trine of the covenant is to be found
Rev. Woudenberg  is pastor of the Prof-       that the Liberated are completely in-       in that promise which was given to
esfanf Reformed Church of Kalamazoo,          different to logical thought  - for,         Abraham in Genesis  17:7: "And I
Michigan.                                     after all, without it meaningful com-        will establish my covenant between

                                                                                               September 1,1995/Standard  Beared493


me and thee and-thy seed after thee        directly by the Scriptures: "He saith        22:17)?  And what about Abraham
in their generations for an everlast-      not, And to seeds, as of many; but           himself, was not the promise for
ing covenant, to be a God unto thee,       as of one, and to thy seed, which is         him? Here again, when we look,
and to thy seed after thee." In this       Christ" (Gal. 3:16). When all is said        the Scriptures speak. In both  Ro-
is contained the whole truth of the        and done, and the whole history of           mans and Galatians we are told that
covenant and the essential reality of      this world has been examined, there          when "Abraham believed God," it
the gospel of grace.                       is but one human person who is wor-          means that he believed in the com-
     1. It begins with the very nature     thy of inheriting God's promise, of          ing of Christ. That is why it was
of what it is that constitutes a prom-     entering into covenant with him, and         "counted unto him for righteous-
ise, particularly when it is a prom-       that is His own Son, Jesus Christ,           ness."     Abraham saw (John 856)
ise of God. When God makes a               come into our flesh. Of everyone             and believed this promised seed to
promise, we would maintain, that           else it must be said that they have,         be the answer to his sin and need.
promise is a statement of what is          "sinned, and come short of the glo-          Abraham could not enter the cove-
going to happen, that which He ful-        ry of God" (Rom. 3:23). He alone is          nant by his own works or worth;
ly intends and without question will       worthy to inherit the world, given           but through faith in Christ he did.
bring to be, much as it is set forth in    to Him by the hand of God.                   And so do all of those who follow
Hebrews  613-15:  "For when God                 It is very difficult to overestimate    as his spiritual children in this same
made promise to Abraham, because           the importance of this in the over-          faith, as Galatians  3:7,27,29 says,
he could swear by no greater, he           all context of biblical truth, touch-        "they which are of faith, the same
sware by himself, saying, Surely           ing as it does the heart of the New          are the children of Abraham.... For
blessing I will bless thee, and multi-     Testament focus on Christ. Essen-            as many of you as have been bap-
plying I will multiply thee. And so,       tially it is the same as when IE-Ie is       tized into Christ have put on
after he had patiently endured, he         called in Romans  829 "the firstborn         Christ.... And if ye be Christ's,. then
obtained the promise." For Abra-           among many brethren," and in                 are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs ac-
ham that was all that was needed.          Colossians  1:15-18  "the firstborn of       cording to the promise."
The fact that it was the Lord who          every creature," and, "the firstborn             5.That is what is designated by
promised was sufficient for him, as        from the dead; that in all things he         the covenant sign, whether circum-
Galatians 3:6 says, "Abraham be-           might have the preeminence." [See            cision in the Old Testament or bap-
lieved God, and it was accounted           also Hebrews 12:23.] Clearly these           tism in the New. The symbolic cuf-
unto him for righteousness."               passages are not speaking in terms           fing away of the filth of the flesh or the
    2.Neither is there any question        of time, for in time there were many         external washing wifh wafer,  each in
as to what it was that God was             births before His. The Scriptures are        its own way and time, points to the
promising here; it was, "to be a God       speaking here of the mind and pur-           cleansing needed to enter into cove-
unto thee, and to thy seed after           pose of God. To Him Jesus is al-             nant communion with God, which
thee." It was all that anyone could        ways the One through whom and                only faith in Christ can supply. No
ever desire, for what can be more          unto whom all other things were              one can do it of himself, for the Holy
wonderful than to know that the            made (see Eph. MO). He is first in           Spirit is the "author of faith," as
eternal God of heaven and earth is         God's mind, even as in time He is            Ephesians 2:8 explains: "By grace
committing himself to be one's God         the only one ever to enter that cove-        are ye saved through faith; and. that
- his Savior, his Lord, and his            nant by His own desert. To Christ            not of yourselves: it is the gift of
Friend? It was by every measure            belongs preeminence in will and val-         God." It is the gift given only those
the equivalent of what Jesus so beau-      ue of the eternally Triune.                  who are chosen by God and given
tifully speaks at the beginning of his          (Perhaps we should note as well,        to Jesus Christ, as Acts  13:48 ex-
great High Priestly prayer, "And this      if only in passing, that, if there is a      presses it, "as many as were or-
is life eternal, that they might know      conditional element to be found in           dained to eternal life believed." It
thee the only true God, and Jesus          the covenant of grace, it must be            is the elect of God alone who can
Christ, whom thou hast sent" (John         here; and the only one ever able to          ever be partakers in the promise of
17~3).  This was God's promise which       fulfill it is also this same Jesus, God's    covenant grace.
without question or equivocation           only Begotten Son. Everyone else                 Now all of this is little more than
would certainly come to pass, the          has failed, and always will - which          basic Reformed doctrine, a simple
end of all things.                         is after all the lesson of the law [Rom.     expression of the gospel; and I
    3. The real question is, however,      3:20].)                                      would assume that most informed
to whom was this promise ad-                   4.But still, the question is, if this    members of the Liberated churches
dressed, or, in effect, who is the         be so, what of that seed which is            would agree with it - except, that
promised "seed"? The answer to             promised to be in number "as the             is, for that last part, the inference
this is quite different from what we       stars of the heaven, and as the sand         that the promise is only for the elect.
might expect, except that it is given      which is upon the sea shore" (Gen.           It is not so much that they reject the

494lStandard  Bearer/September 1,1995


doctrine of election, or that in the           which all others must enter in, for           and when finally this purpose has
end it is only the elect that are saved;       when everything is said and done              been served, it will be no more.
they simply do not think that this             there are others in the covenant who               5. And so the sign of baptism, as
should be brought into consideration           failed to meet the conditions and             that of circumcision before it, if it
along with the doctrine of the cove-           never come to them. He may be the             speaks the promises of God exter-
nant, and that for a reason particu-           greatest, He may be the one who               nally to some to whom God never
larly their own. As we have point-             helps some to perform the demands             intended to impart the Holy Spirit
ed out in recent articles, they are            of God (while others are left in their        internally (Mat?. 3:11), it is not some-
very determined that the covenant              sin); but the only seed, He is not, for       thing sure; it expresses God's will-
must be for each and every baptized            some are counted as seed who nev-             ingness to save some whom He fi-
child, and not just for the elect. In-         er belong to him. He is not the only          nally chooses to leave in their sin.
stead of election, it is conditionality        one.                                          Once again a contradiction is left be-
which should be brought in, or else                    4. If indeed all who are baptized,    tween what God says and what He
human responsibility will not be suf-          including those who fall away, are            does.
ficiently understood. Little do they           part of that great multitude whose
seem to realize, however, that in do-          number is "as the stars of the heav-               This we sensed from the start.
ing so a wholly different twist is             en, and as the sand which is upon             With good intent, we thought, the
placed on nearly everything we have            the sea shore," it can only mean              Liberated, with their conditional cov-
just said:                                     that the covenant of grace is not an          enant, were losing the true depths
     l.If every baptized child must            end in itself. There are those who            of what God had wrought. We
receive the promise, then the prom-            belong to it of whom Jesus will say           wanted badly to discuss this with
ise of God is not as certain as the            in the end, "Depart from me, I nev-           them on the basis of the confessions
Scriptures make it appear. It all              er knew you" (Matt.  7~23). The cov-          and the Word of God. They were
hinges on demands and warnings,                enant is not an eternal reality, it is        resolved, however, that, if we dif-
which is to say, on conditions which           not that "the tabernacle of, God is           fered with them, we must be in
many fail to meet, with the result             with men" (Rev. 21:3), but only a             agreement with their enemies; and
that they are lost in the end. God's           temporary means to an end. Here               the only question was whether we
promise has no certain fulfillment in          in time it may serve to urge men to           would accept their view to be prop-
them.                                          Christ, after which it will finally be        agated within our churches. When
    2.And, if the promise is for ev-           done. The covenant and its prom-              it became apparent that we would
ery baptized child, some of whom               ise are in effect mere rhetorical de-         not, the knitting of the sock was
go lost, then the content of the prom-         vices used to urge men to fulfill the         stopped; nor is there any indication
ise, "to be a God unto thee, and               conditions necessary for salvation;           it will soon be started again. Cl
unto thy seed after thee," is not as
rich as it says. There are some who                                                 Fill Me, Lord
receive the promise, and yet never                             Fill me, Lord, I'm just an earthen vessel,
come to know God as He said that                               But I am willing to be used of Thee;
they  ,would. They may have the                                Fill me with Thy precious Holy Spirit
right to it - as the Liberated are                             So that Thy love may be revealed in me.
inclined to claim (even to the point
that; `if a child dies in infancy, the                         Fill me, Lord, for then I shall be useful,
parents may be assured that child is                           From all that hinders, Savior, set me free;
in glory because of this); they may                            Take away my pride and self-assurance
be told that God is willing to save                            And let me lean entirely on Thee.
them; but, having no place for re-
pentance and faith, they never know                            Fill me, Lord, with Thine Almighty power,
God in that living fellowship He                               Enable me to do Thy Holy Will;
seemed to be speaking of. The reali-                           For then my life will truly be a blessing
ty of the covenant is less than it                             As I draw ever closer to Thee still.
might seem to be.
    3. And again - most important-                             Fill me, Lord, I'm just an earthen vessel,
1Y - if the covenant is for all, gone                          But I am willing to be used of Thee;
is the  preeminence  of Christ, the  first-                    Fill me with Thy precious Holy Spirit             ..
born from the dead, the only true seed                         So that Thy love may be revealed in'me.
and only heir to the promise given                                                                      Anneffa Jansen
by God. In the end Christ is not the                                                                   Dorr, Michigan
first and only seed, the means by

                                                                                                  September 1,1995/Standard  Bearei495


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  The Gospel in Southeast Asia
                                                                           part 3


    When we first arrived in                                one hardly knows what it is about,          alone is a wonder of grace. Yes, it is
Singapore, it became evident to me                          some of it worthwhile and to the            a wonder from the point of view of
rather quickly that I could not just                        point. This article is not about the        gospel outreach. The church must
open my file of sermons which were                          theory or understanding of a cross-         be motivated to do this work and
preached over the past thirty some                          cultural ministry. Rather we want           an open door must be granted in
years and use them here. Interest-                          to demonstrate, though briefly and          order to do it. But this is especially
ingly, I find the same thing now in                         inadequately, how it is done in our         true from the point of view of effec-
reverse: when we visit in the States                        setting in Singapore. Purposely, we         tive communications. In a certain
on holiday, it is not easy to use ser-                      limited our focus for this series of        sense there are three cultures in-
mons written for Singapore to                               messages on Southeast Asia to               volved, the culture prevailing in Bi-
preach there. Though for the most                           Singapore. It is quite different when       ble times, the culture of the people
part things are the same, it is in the                      applied to Myanmar, where the cul-          who hear the gospel, and also the
application of the message that                             ture, of course, has its own unique         culture of the person who brings the
things are quite different. I well re-                      features.                                   Word.
call attending a public lecture which                             Since there is a diversity of cul-        It is the calling of those who
was given by a Westerner in                                 ture throughout the world, it is the        bring the gospel not to transport cul-
Singapore on the subject of Chris-                          task of the person bringing the gos-        ture, but to transport gospel. Part
tian education. It was advertised as                        pel to take that into consideration         of the beauty of the diversity of the
one to give guidance to parents in                          when he prepares his message. By            church is seen in the culture of God's
the Singapore context. It took only                         culture we use John Stott's descrip-        people. It is the task of every mis-
a few minutes of listening to know                          tion given in Down to Earth: "Cul-          sionary to take special care not to
that the speaker really did not know                        ture may be likened to a tapestry,          rape the culture of the people under
much about Singapore and that the                           intricate and often very, beautiful,        the pretense of gospel. To accom-
lecture was prepared from the per-                          which is woven by a given society           plish this, the Bible must be viewed
spective of Western society. And                            to express its corporate identity."         as a sieve through which the culture
when it came to making any appli-                           Though God in His infinite wisdom           of the people must be passed. That
cations, he admitted he didn't know                         formed and scattered the nations            which conflicts with the Word of
how it "fit" in Singapore. He drew                          (cultures) at Babel, it is also His glo-    God must be abandoned; that which
principles out of the Word of God                           rious purpose to unite these nations        conforms is allowed and practiced;
correctly, but he was handicapped                           once again in true harmony and              that which is neither condemned nor
in making that Word of God speak                            peace through the gospel of Jesus           advocated becomes a matter of
to the people in their own context.                         Christ. In Christ the middle wall of        Christian liberty. It is biblically cor-
    This change falls under the                             partition that separated Jews and           rect for people to wear clothes, but
buzzword "cross-cultural ministry."                         Gentiles was taken away (Eph.  1:13-        what styles they wear are dictated
Much has been  written  about this                          15). By the work of His Holy Spirit         by culture. What about cremation
over the years, some of it glamor-                          through the preaching of the gospel,        - is that biblically forbidden . . . or
ized far too much, some of it writ-                         all the nations, each with its own          culturally permitted? In Singapore
ten in such a muddied fashion that                          cultural diversity, are united by a         the majority of people are cremated
                                                            true faith and look forward .to the         after death; the Muslims forbid it;
                                                            international host of saints in glory       many Christians arrange for it. I
                                                            ( R e v .                29).               am sure we would all agree that the
Rev. Korfering  is a Protestant Reformed                          To accomplish this, the gospel        old Hindu custom of the widow
minister-on-loan  to Singapore.                             must be brought to them. That fact          committing suicide by jumping onto

496iStandard  Bearer/September 1,1995


the funeral pyre when the body of                   The second layer pictures me plus a         the temptation to make too much of
her husband was being cremated is                   sheep. So the word translated righ-         dynamic equivalency, finding simi-
not right. The Chinese observe Qing                 teousness comes from a word which           larities between local culture and the
Ming when they worship their an-                    means kill a sheep for me - a rath-         Bible.
cestors where the ashes are stored                  er interesting description of Christ            This means that the missionary
or at the graves of those who have                  and atonement for our righteousness         in a foreign culture has to be a care-
been buried. Christians only partic-                before God. This, by the way, is            ful expounder of the Word. We see
ipate in cleaning up the graves of                  used as an argument that years ago,         this importance as we write to our
their ancestors, much like Westem-                  when the Chinese language was               Indian brothers and as we have the
ers do for Memorial Day.                            formed, those who composed it               privilege to teach our friends from
    This bears on the way in which                  must have been Christia.ns.                 Myanmar and Singapore. All our
the gospel must be brought to peo-                      Use of that kind of approach has        time is spent in the Scriptures. They
ple of different cultures. Two ar-                    its limits not only, but dangers as       must learn the language of the Bible
eas of concern come to the                               well. I well remember the pres-        just as much as any Western pastor.
foreground here. First,                    It is          ence of an older Indian who           To their best ability they must know
should the gospel itself be            the calling         appeared unexpectedly for            the history of the Bible, the message
adjusted so that when it is             of those           evening worship. He sat              of the Word of God, and exposit
proclaimed it takes on the             who bring           through the message and af-          carefully the Word itself. There are
local color of the people?             the gospel           terward argued vociferously         plenty of biblical examples that no
This is generally called                 not to             that his guru was the same          matter where Paul preached he al-
"contextualization." Sec-              transport            as Jesus Christ. Hinduism           ways preached Christ crucified and
ond, consideration must be              culture,            advocates openness to all  re-      risen, and thereby the power of God
given to the way in which                but to            ligi0l-S-which explains why          unto salvation" The call of the gos-
the gospel is applied to the           transport          it is the root of the New Age         pel is what is most significant.
people - that is, effort must           gospel.          religion. If we take as our start-     Whether the listener may be a nom-
be put forward to get the mes-                          ing point a local "god," and then       inal Christian from Myanmar,  a
sage across so that it speaks to the                argue from their understanding of           backslider from the ERCS, a Chinese
people in their own life's setting.                 this god to the true God, it never          Taoist, an Indian Hindu, or a Mus-
    Contextualization might include                 works. Remember, when Paul re-              lim, all must hear the one Word of
things like these. If we would speak                ferred to an "unknown God" in Acts          God: Repent from your sins, believe
on the passage of the Bible where                   17~23,  he did not draw a compari-          on the Lord Jesus Christ, embrace
we are told that Jesus died outside                 son between their idol god and Je-          the true God of heaven and earth
Jerusalem, we could bring into the                  hovah. This god was unknown. If             and serve Him.
sermon a detailed reference to the                  you try to begin the gospel on the              This Word of God must be made
tradition of the Chinese emperors                   level of their perception off religion,     relevant to their daily lives. Just as
who from 2,205 B.C. (almost 1500                    they will continue to take that per-        Paul could make reference to the po-
years before Confucius) went yearly                 ception into their understanding of         ets (Acts 17:28) or to God the Cre-
to sacrifice to the Sheng Ti, the                   the gospel. For this reason, many           ator (Acts 14:15), so we can make
Heavenly Ruler. This would impress                  Chinese converts, especially young          reference to their local customs. I
old timers in two ways, it would in-                Christians, cannot understand how           recall Pastor Lau doing that effec-
dicate that Chinese emperors under-                 their God will afflict them or send         tively in a pamphlet he prepared for
stood the idea of offering without                  them hardships, for the Chinese god         distribution on Chinese New Year.
the gate (they went to the border,                  never does evil for good, it always         The custom is for Chinese families
outside China), and also it would                   rewards good with good and pun-             to hang over their door a bright red
connect that past activity with Jesus'              ishes bad people. Many young                and gold sash (auspicious colors for
death. Even Confucius called this a                 Christians face their first real test of    good luck). He used that as a point
riddle (Mysteries Confucius Couldn't                Christian fidelity in this area.            of contact how the Christians have
Solve, by Nelson and Broadberry).                       Far better it is to forget trying to    a banner over them which is love
Or as another example, if we were              build bridges to heaven by way of                (Song of Solomon  2:4). From there
to preach on the doctrine of justifi-          local culture and rather focus on un-            he directed the reader to the cross.
cation by faith, we could point out                 derstanding clearly what the mes-           Comparison can be made between
to the listener that even the language              sage of the gospel is and how to re-        the gods of the heathen and the true
of Mandarin has the idea of atone-             late it to their own experiences. J.H.           God of the Bible, in order to show
ment built into it. Mandarin is pic-           Bavinck, in An Introduction to the               why the Christian God is the only
ture language, it has layers of callig-        Science of Missions, suggests we call            God. The same is true when we
raphy. The first layer projects the            it the point of attack rather than the           deal with evil spirits. The Bible rec-
image of a hand and a lance (sword).           point of contact. That will eliminate            ognizes the presence of such spirits,

                                                                                                    September 1,1995lStandard Beared


 and on that level has much to say to         lives among them in their own cul-             This only indicates that for ef-
the local Chinese. The wonderful              ture, the more he is able to bring         fective cross-cultural missions the
thing is that, even though evil spir-         that Word to their level of under-         missionary must live close to the
its are around us all the time, Christ        standing and also to their special         people. It is good that we do not
has overcome them, and once we are            needs. Readers in the States may           drive a car, live in a condo in the
Christians we cannot be possessed             not need to know how to cope with          ex-pat area of Orchard Road, or
of evil spirits, though we must con-          ungodly parents and siblings.              wine and dine in Western restau-
stantly contend with them.                    Singaporeans certainly do. Tempta-         rants. If we did, we would miss all
           The more we are able to live in    tions for riches and the drive for ex-     the local color and just might cause
the life of the people, the more we           cellency and reward is universal, but      some fellow saint to stumble. At
are able to make the Word of God              when it is the life-style of a kiasu       the same time we are able to learn
meaningful for them. Indeed, we               Singaporean who lives in a culture         how the people live and relate to
cannot make the application of the            saturated with Confucian thinking,         them and bring messages which
Word in every instance. This is the           it takes on special meaning and must       speak in such a way that they know
Holy Spirit's domain. Thank God,              be carefully `seemed  and applied.         that we understand their frustrations
He does His own applying. What I                             4'
                                              Christian Wes emers who are tempt-         and problems of life.
mean is that every Scripture mes-             ed to use their liberty in excess have         We are thankful to God that He
sage which speaks about certain god-          a different set of life-challenges than    continues to add to the church daily
ly behavior must be applied to the            a Singaporean who lives under an           such as should be saved (Acts 247).
hearer. The more the messenger un-            authority which dictates most of his       The cross is still God's power unto
derstands the life of the people and          life-style.                                salvation (I Cor. 198). 0
 .; ./j~`j.j$$ ff&g                                  ;
                             `.  -..'  .'  ,;,.  :  .'  ,;  j;:y  i,  `:  ;                    F&&j &ii@ cf@n/
j ,. : b ~, .._      I                  .I  .  .  " I


                   A Special Sermon for the
                    u,ng Women of the Church
                                                             (1)

          I recently had the opportunity      vast majority of the exhortations of       We are called to strive together to
to preach a special sermon to the             the Word of God apply to every             confess the truth of God and to live
young women in our church in con-             member of the church. We have a            the Christian life.
nection with the wonderful occasion           common calling as saints of God no             This does not mean however
of the confession of faith of three of        matter who we are and what our             that we are all the same and in ev-
our covenant young women. In sev-             station in life might be. In Christ        ery respect have the same calling in
eral places the letters of the inspired       Jesus there is neither Jew nor Greek,      life. This notion is a heresy com-
apostles of our Lord specifically ad-         neither male nor female, neither           mon in some churches today. The
dress various classes of church mem-          bond nor free. We are justified and        Lord made us different and gave us
bers. This is rather striking. The            saved by the same grace of God and         a different calling. This is a won-
                                              righteousness of Christ Jesus. We          derful thing. We are not ashamed
                                              have one faith, one Lord, one bap-         of the fact that the Lord gave a dif-
                                              tism, one God and Father who is            ferent place in the church, for exam-
                                              above us all, through us all, and in       ple, to men than He did to women.
Rev. denHartog  is pastor of Hope Prot-       us all. We are called to strive to-        Therefore the Lord deemed it nec-
estant Reformed Church in Redlands,           gether to testify of the glory of God      essary also to speak specifically to
California.                                   and the greatness of His salvation.        various classes of members accord-

498/Standard Bearer/September 1,1995


ing to their nature and because of           must behave ourselves in the church           church. Young people are not yet
their unique calling in the church.          of the living God which is the pillar         burdened with the serious concerns
    There are several passages of            and ground of the truth. So we have           and troubles of adult life that give
Scripture that specifically address          in this passage a very specific treat-        older members of the church gray
young women in the church. We                ment of the question of our behav-            hair and leave permanent marks of
have read some of these this morn-           ior in church, our calling as mem-            anxiety on their faces. There is some-
ing (I Tim. 2:9, 10; Tit. 2:4, 5; I Pet.     bers of the church. Secondly, the             thing beautiful about the joy and en-
3:1-4). It is true that in all these pas-    Word of God here speaks to women              thusiasm of youth, especially the joy
sages the reference is especially to         professing godliness. That is what            of the Lord, the excitement, zeal, and
married young women in the                   you do when you make confession               joy of godly living which is the fruit
church. The Bible highly regards             of faith and what you must contin-            of the working of the Holy Spirit in
marriage and the role of women in            ue to do for the rest of your life.                  the heart of the child of God.
marriage. But these passages cer-            Thirdly, in Titus 2 the apostle of                      Being sober is the opposite of
tainly also apply to unmarried               the Lord is giving instruction                           being drunk. Certainly that
young women. Many, though not                on those things "that become           The sober-         is true according to the com-
all young women, will in the Lord's          sound doctrine." Later in               minded             mon usage of this term.
providence marry some day. The               this chapter he speaks of                 realize           However, the Word of God
best preparation for marriage, for           adorning the doctrine of                that the            speaks of a spiritual sobri-
some day serving the Lord as a god-          God our Savior in all things.         consequences           ety. Spiritual sobriety is a
ly wife and mother, is to consider           There is and must be a rela-           of ungodly            certain serious spiritual at-
carefully what God's Word has to             tionship between the doc-               actions             titude toward life. This is
say to you in your youth already             trine we confess and the life           are very            the opposite of being
and by putting His Word into prac-           that we live. The life of god-           sevious             drunk with worldly pas-
tice already now, with grace in your         liness of the child of God        already in this            sions and sinful lusts so
hearts.                                      must "adorn" the doctrine               life and            that one loses his or her
    The words spoken by the apos-            he or she confesses.                   certainly           spiritual senses and does
tles of the Lord in the passages that            Let us consider some of            in the life        things that are evil and
we read are some of the most often           the beautiful virtues the pas-          to come.
                                                                        *                              shameful in the sight of God.
criticized and even hated teachings          sages under our consideration                           Soberness involves a serious
of God's Word in our modem age.              speak of, virtues that God espe-                     understanding of our calling in
The holy apostles of our Lord have           cially  wants to  see in Christian            life and how the Lord wants us to
been called male chauvinists, wom-           young women professing godliness.             live. It means that we understand
en-haters, and all sorts of other evil       I Timothy 2 speaks of shamefaced-             that we have to be concerned about
things. The less "daring" have stat-         ness and of sobriety and of good              more in life than just the excitement
ed that: when the apostles wrote the         works. Titus 2 speaks of being so-            and pleasure of today. The sober-
passages which we read they were             ber. (It is interesting that Paul men-        minded have an understanding of
only giving their own opinion or             tions the virtue sobriety in connec-          the serious consequences of a life of
they were only stating something             tion with his admonition to each              sin and disobedience to the Lord.
true in the culture and time in which        class of members of the church he             They understand that a life of world-
they lived, and that today in the age        specifically addresses.) Titus 2 also         ly pleasure and sin will bring the
of the liberated woman these words           speaks of love, discretion, chastity,         judgment of the Lord upon one's
no longer apply. We know howev-              goodness, and obedience. I Peter 3            life. They realize that the conse-
er, do we not, beloved Christian             speaks of a chaste conversation (life-        quences of ungodly actions are very
young women, that God's Word is              style), the fear of God, and the              serious already in this life and cer-
unchangeable. It applies in every            adorning of the hidden man of the             tainly in the life to come. Such a life
age. The teaching given in the pas-          heart which is a meek and quiet spir-         will end in misery and judgment.
sages we read is rooted in God's cre-        it before God.                                The love of the world is enmity
ation ordinance. It is based on the              The godly young woman must                against God. A worldly life will sep-
unchangeable, perfect, and holy law          be sober. Sober does not mean that            arate us from the favor and
of God. It is the good Word of God           you have to go around with a long             lovingkindness of our God which is
for your salvation also in 1995 in our       face all your life, that you may nev-         more than life. Be not drunk, young
modem age.                                   er laugh or smile. There is a proper          women, with worldliness, with its
    There are three more observa-            enthusiasm of youth. This is a beau-          temptations to sin, with its immoral
tions I want to make by way of in-           tiful thing to see, We are glad there         pleasures and its total disregard for
troduction. In the passage in I Tim-         are young people with such enthu-             God and His Word.
othy 2 the apostle Paul is address-          siasm in the church. This adds a                     There are many things that we
ing the general subject of how we            beautiful dimension to the life of the        need to be sober about. We really

                                                                                                   September 1,1995/Standard  Bearer/499


must be sober about the seriousness         opposite sex. The Lord has placed              wedding gown. Do not in your
of all of our life that in the provi-       in the yotmg woman a powerful feel-            youth, by carelessness in regard to
dence of the Lord still lies before us      ing connected with her sexual na-              the use of sex, spoil the beauty of
as young people. We need to be              ture. This feeling will motivate her          being a virgin and a chaste bride for
sober about the goal and purpose of         to seek a life's partner of the oppo-          a God-appointed husband. There is
our life which is to live for the glory     site sex. This feeling however can             more to your life than today and the
of God and in obedience to His              easily come under the control of sin.          sinful pleasure of youth that lasts
Word in holiness and fear. We need          In fact, by nature it is controlled by         for only a very short time but can
to be sober about the instruction and       sin and we have to be very careful             have sad consequences for later life.
guidance that we receive from our           about it in our life.                          Honor the Word of God and keep
parents, from our church, from god-             God made a woman's nature                  yourself holy and pure in this im-
ly friends, and from the more expe-         sexually different from the nature of          portant area of your life. This will
rienced mature saints of God in the         men. Therefore there is need of spe-          bear a blessed fruit later in life, I
church. We must not just disregard          cific words of advice concerning this          assure you.
all of this and live a life of rebellion    for godly young women. Men are                         Another virtue that must char-
against our godly parents and the           by nature easily aroused by the dis-          acterize godly women is meekness.
truth we have by God's grace been           play of a woman's body. The world             Meekness involves humility, godly
taught by the church. We must not           tempts young women to use their               humility. Not pride and self exalta-
foolishly imagine that we have              bodies for display and for sexual en-         tion is pleasing to the Lord but hu-
grown so mature in life that we             ticement of men. That is exactly                       mility. Meekness involves kind-
know better than anyone else and            what the ungodly women of the                            ness and gentleness. These
we need not listen to the good coun-        world commonly do. This has                               virtues are especially becom-
sel and advice of people in the                                                     Be careful
                                            the great potential, however,                              ing to godly women. They
church whom God has placed on the                                                    to keep
                                            of leading you into great and                              describe the true beauty of
path of our life to guide us and in-        terrible sin in your life which    yourself holy,          God possessed by the God-
fluence us in the right and good way.       could have lifelong and very             so that            fearing women. Meekness
We need to be sober concerning the          serious      consequences.               on your            also is the spiritual grace
life partner we choose. How many                                                   wedding day
                                            God's Word commands you                                     of being able to suffer
young women, because of the fool-                                                   you might
                                            to control your sexual na-                                  wrong without seeking re-
ishness of their youth, end up with         ture by His grace and Spirit             beable             venge. This world in
a husband that later in life brings                                                  honestly
                                            in your heart. God tells you                                which we live is full of
them grief and leads them astray            that your body is a temple               to wear            wrong. As Christians we
from the Lord! We need to be sober                                                 the beautiful
                                            of the Holy Spirit to be kept                              must be prepared that we
to prepare ourselves for our life's         holy and pure. Your bodies                white            will sometimes in life have
occupation. We must not squander                                                     wedding
                                            are not to be used for unclean-                           to suffer even grievous
the days of our youth so that later                                                   gown.
                                            ness and sin. True beauty is to                          wrong and hurt from others
we are not prepared for the calling         be holy, not to be sinfully attrac-                     around-us. Sometimes even
God has for us in our life.                 tive to men whose minds and hearts            those who love us and are close
    The word that is in the King            are full of adultery.                         friends do us wrong and cause deep
James Bible translated as "discrete"            Our calling to be holy is broad-          hurt by doing this. The temptation
(Tit. 2:5) really comes from the same       er than that of avoiding sexual sins          in such circumstances is to seek re-
root as the word sober. Discretion          in life, but this matter is a very im-        venge, to render evil for evil. But
has to do also with the ability to          portant aspect of holiness before             as a godly woman you must resist
judge wisely between that which is          God. In this connection let me re-            this temptation with all your might
good and that which is evil. It is          mind you of the soberness we just             and follow the example of the Lord
the spiritual ability to avoid the pit-     talked about and also of what we              Jesus Christ. Leave vengeance up
falls of sin and the foolish and vain       said, that many of these passages ad-         to the Lord. Be ready to suffer
ways of the world.                          dress the young unmarried women.              wrong and bear it patiently for the
    Several times in the passages           For many of you, God wants you                Lord's sake. There is true beauty in
which we read, the word "chaste"            some day to be married. Think                 this.
appears. This word admonishes us            about being a chaste bride some day,                            O.. to be continued. 0
regarding the proper use of our sex-        for a godly young man that the Lord
ual nature. According to God's              might lead into your life to become
Word our sexual nature is a gift from       your marriage partner. Be careful
God to be used for marriage. The            to keep yourself holy, so that on your
Lord has made young women phys-             wedding day you might be able hon-
ically beautiful and attractive to the      estly to wear the beautiful white

5OOIStandard Bearer/September 1,1995


                State Aid and the Work

                                                                                                             m                I
    I am thankful to the brother who      that the citizens pay a high percent-     that he cannot afford food and rai-
has responded to my article with          age of their income to the state in       ment. Because of this, the deacons
several very good questions.* The         taxes, and in return the government       would rarely (if ever?) need to pro-
issues that he raises are all the more    offers many benefits to its citizens.     vide financial assistance. This is not
interesting because of his perspec-       The brother sent a booklet which de-      good for the church.
tive of living in a country that has      scribes the comprehensive array of             Historically, there has always
more social programs than does the        programs available to the citizens of     been a tension between the church
US. I preface my response by not-         Australia. Most of the benefits have      and the state over the privilege of
ing that I do not think there is a        to do with payments that families         caring for the poor. The church has
simple "yes or no" answer to most         receive based on the number of chil-      had to guard jealously her calling to
of the brother's questions. The           dren in the family and on parental        care for the Lord's poor. The temp-
Christian must prayerfully consider       income. While I question the wis-         tation comes from within and with-
the biblical principles that apply as     dom and biblical character of this        out. It seems that the state (in vary-
he faces each situation.                  approach, I do not think it is princi-    ing degrees) is constantly seeking to
    We believe that the state is or-      pally any different from the situa-       encroach on the church's privilege
dained of God for the praise and          tion in the US which allows for re-       to care for her poor. The devil uses
protection of those who do well, and      ductions in income tax for every de-      this situation to his advantage. He
to be a terror to those who do evil       pendent. Whether we pay less in,          would like nothing better than for
(Rom. 13). We also pray for those         or receive something back in a check,     members of the church to become
that are in authority, "that we may       is principally the same.                  financially dependent on the state.
lead a quiet and peaceable life in all        I do not want to leave the im-        For a time, there may not be an overt
godliness and honesty" (I Tim. 2:2).      pression that I am in favor of the        evil evident, but eventually the.
We pay the taxes to the state in or-      Christian taking advantage of every       church will face a real question of
der that the state may have the           program offered by the state just be-     principle. At some point the state
means to carry out its divine man-        cause it is supported by his taxes.       will insist on a condition that in-
date. We therefore have a right to        This is not the case. A classic exam-     volves a violation of principle, for
use many of the programs which our        ple of a tax-supported program we         continuing financial support. The
tax dollars support. The programs         do not support is public education.       church, having grown accustomed
are not evil in themselves just be-       We believe that education is the duty     to the support, will be tempted to
cause they are administered by the        of the parent, not the state. We do       forsake the principle because she
state. I think of such programs as        not want the state to educate our         cannot imagine taking on the finan-
the library system, the park system,      children according to humanistic          cial burden previously handled by
and even health-care (to name only        principles. We therefore ordinarily       the state. The way of wisdom is to
a few). Whether all of these pro-         do not use the public schools.            avoid the beginnings! The church
grams are wise or cost-effective is           Brother Kleyn makes an inter-         must understand the great spiritual
another question.                         esting comment when he states that        value in the office of deacon. Wide
    The brother lives in a province       in Australia "no one has to live in       is the gate and broad is the way that
of Australia, and he indicates that       poverty." He indicates that, as a         leads to destruction.
Australians have a "very socialistic      result of this, the task of the dea-           In addition to the scenario de-
government." I take this to mean          cons is made easy. This brings            scribed above, another evil lurks.
                                          weighty matters to the foreground.
                                          Apparently there are enough social
Mr. Schipper  is a deacon in Southwest    programs available so that a person
Protestant Reformed Church.               never has to suffer lack to the point     *    See "Letters" - Ed.

                                                                                         September 1,1995/Standard  Beare&


This has to do with the devil's at-          the financial aid of the state rather              but from the office of mercy in the
tack on the office of Christ in the          than the deacons. For the state may                church. There is no end of situa-
church. Brother Kleyn alludes to this        ask fewer questions. The state may                 tions to describe, but they would in-
when he indicates that because of            give more money. And no one in                     volve either a loss of income, or an
an abundance of financial aid pro-           the church will know of the situa-                 increase in bills such that the Chris-
grams the work of the diaconate be-          tion. The possibility of embarrass-                tian finds himself without the means
comes "easy." I understand him to            ment among fellow church members                   to meet financial obligations.
mean "easy" in the sense that dea-           is thus eliminated. The reasons (all                   Even in a state with a very so-
cons do not have much (if any) fi-           of them wrong) can be multiplied.                  cialistic government, I cannot imag-
nancial relief to distribute, and there-     What has been lost, however, is the                ine that Christians who support the
fore also have an "easy" time in pro-        blessing of Christ that comes                      church, missions, a seminary, Chris-
curing "many good means for relief           through the office of deacon. The                  tian education, and myriads of oth-
of the poor." In one sense, having           great benefit of the office of deacon              er kingdom causes never find them-
no poor makes the work of the dea-           for the poor is not the money, but                 selves in financial need. I believe
cons "easy"; but, in another sense,          the spiritual blessing of Christ!                  that Christ will see to that  (Matt.
having no poor makes the work im-            When the poor receive financial as-                2631). When the circumstances in
possible. Christ is present in His           sistance accompanied with the Word                 the life of some saints are such that
church through the offices. To have          and sanctified by prayer from the                  they face the reality that they can-
the deacons present in name only is          official representatives of Christ,                not meet their financial obligations,
to lose the office. Just as the office       they receive a priceless blessing from             they must make a choice. They can
of prophet would be absent if the            their Savior. The blessing is in the               go to the state and seek financial as-
preacher were not preaching, and             Word! The speaking of the Word                     sistance from a program whose chief
just as the office of king would be          by officebearers is the speaking of                focus is elimination of poverty, or
absent if the elders were not ruling,        the Word by Christ Himself. What                   they can go to Christ and receive
so also is the office of the merciful        a glorious blessing!                               not only financial assistance, but also
high priest absent if the deacons are            Where does this leave us? We                   spiritual blessings. The deacons will
not relieving physical needs. To the         may properly use some of the pro-                  bring the Word, and by this means
extent that the office is non-function-      grams that we support with our tax-                Christ will comfort His people with
al, to that same extent Christ is not        es, and yet there is a danger if these             the assurance that He will never
present with us, and to that same            programs tend to make the office of                leave or forsake them. They will be
extent we do not experience the              deacon unnecessary. The decision                   reminded that God in His perfect
blessings of salvation merited by            will need to be a matter of sancti-                wisdom has ordained the present
Christ. This should not be taken to          fied judgment as the believer exer-                way of hardship to be `the way of
mean that there must be financial            cises the liberty that he has in Christ.           their salvation. They will experience
assistance rendered each and every           I would avoid any legalistic ap-                   in a direct way the blessedness of
month of the year, but it does mean          proach to the issue. In general, my                the communion of the saints, as
that if an absence of need persists          judgment would be that the Chris-                  God's people willingly provide the
on a consistent and long-term basis,         tian may take advantage of the pro-                deacons with the means to relieve
there is unavoidable spiritual dam-          grams that are provided as a basic                 their suffering. (This assumes that
age that will ensue.                         level of service from the government               they have sought help first from their
    In this connection, I would note         to the majority of the citizens                         immediate family.)
that the office of deacon is probably        (provided that the program it-                             lt is good to remember also
the most vulnerable aspect of the            self does not compromise                     To             that the office of Christ is
office of Christ for the devil to at-        biblical principles). This may         neglect              essentially one. There are
tack. It is the least visible of the         take the form of payments            the office              three aspects to the one of-
special offices. The deacons have lit-       based on the number of                of  Christ             fice of Christ. To allow the
tle direct contact in their official work    children in a family, income           in any                office of deacon to wither
with the majority of the members.            tax deductions based on the                 of its           from disuse must  neces-
As a result, the church can lose sight                                         manifestations
                                             number of dependents, and                                    sarily lead to a withering
of the spiritual nature of the office,       even health-care. I would                   is to           of the office in its other as-
and focus primarily on the financial         tend to avoid programs that           neglect               pects as well. To neglect
aspect of the office. The office is                                                 Christ.
                                             are designed to address situ-                              the office of Christ in any of
then thought to be a financial-aid or-       ations that would otherwise                              its manifestations is to neglect
ganization rather than the office of         leave one in poverty. When God in                  Christ. The church has therefore
our merciful High Priest, Jesus              His providence leads His people in              been zealous to protect the office of
Christ. If this perception prevails,         a way of physical hardship, relief                 deacon from the encroachment of
those who are in need may prefer             should not be sought from the state, the state. Church members who are

502/Standard Bearer/September 1,1995


conscious of the true spiritual char-       of the great spiritual benefit that they     fered the torments of hell to pay our
acter  of the office of deacon will sup-    will enjoy. In thankful awareness of         spiritual debts will also help with
port the office with their gifts and        the spiritual riches we have in              material  needs, the poor come to
prayers. And, those in financial need       Christ, we give to the poor. Confi-          Christ as manifested in the office of
will not hesitate to come to the            dent that the One who willingly suf-         deacon.  Q
diaconate, because they are confident                                                                                 Y',#  i,",.  i
  !/tkw!@ @om au7 GhUF&@@                                                1         `.       &if&  !g&gTl~min  i!A@g$pi
                                                                                                                      i  ii
Minister Activities                         that, for the better part of a year          two-day seminar at Graves Hall on
    On the evening of July 17th,  the       now, he has preached once a Sun-             the campus of Hope College in Hol-
congregation of the Byron Center,           day for what has now become our              land, MI, sponsored by the Evange-
MI PRC met and extended a call to           Grace PRC in Standale, ML We as              lism Committee of the First PRC of
Rev. M. Dick, presently serving our         churches can be thankful that the            Holland. On July 28, Rev. Bruinsma,
churches in the Immanuel PRC of             Lord gives us these men and the rest         First's pastor, spoke on "Seeking a
Lacombe, Alberta, Canada.                   of our emeriti ministers to help us          Godly Spouse." This was followed
    After Rev. Houck's decline of a         through these times.                         the next day with two speeches, one
call from the Edgerton, MN PRC,                 Staying with emeriti ministers,          by Rev. B. Gritters, of the
the council there has formed anoth-         we are also able to report that Rev.         Hudsonville,  MI PRC entitled, "Bib-
er trio consisting of the Revs.             Robert Harbach recently underwent            lical Marriage," and the other by
Flikkema, Koole, and Moore. At a            surgery for a detached retina. And           Rev. Bruinsma entitled, "The Cove-
congregational meeting last month,          Rev. C. Hanko continues to recover           nant Family."
they extended a call to Rev. K.             from a recent fall and is able to get
Koole, who is serving our churches          around again. His eye is gradually           Congregational Activities
at Faith PRC in Jenison, MI.                improving after recent surgery and               Progress continues on the church
    The Hope PRC in Walker, MI              he will be getting new glasses soon.         building project of the Peace PRC in
also recently called a pastor. From         This will also help improve his vi-          Lynwood, IL. In one of the last bul-
a trio consisting of the Revs.              sion, which is still quite bl~.              letins we received from Peace, we
Bruinsma, denHartog,  and Dykstra,                                                       learned that the west and east up
they extended a call to Rev. W.             Evangelism Activities                        per walls are now roughed in. Most
Bruinsma of the First PRC in Hol-               Last Fall, the Evangelism Com-           of the electrical and plumbing work
land, ML                                    mittee of the South Holland, IL PRC          has also been completed. The roof
    The Council of the Hope PRC in          held a series of three meetings in           has been shingled, and brick is now
Walker, MI planned a farewell pro-          Florence, Kentucky in an effort to           being added to the outside of the
gram for their pastor, Rev. J.              spread their witness in this large           building. We can assume that, this
Slopsema, and his family on August          metropolitan area (greater Cincin-           now being some two months later,
4. Rev. Slopsema was scheduled to           nati). Since then, there has been only       still more has been completed.
preach his farewell sermon at hope          one Sunday of preaching there, when              Staying with church buildings,
on August 6.                                Rev. Terpstra traveled there over the        we can also let you know that the
    We also want to include here a          Memorial Day weekend at the end              Building Committee of the
special note of thanks to our church-       of May. Understandably, the core             Georgetown PRC in Hudsonville, Ml
es' emeritus ministers. While our           group has a desire for regular               is busy seeking land for a church
congregation in Lynden, WA was              preaching. However, they are aware           building. They report that present-
without its own pastor, Rev. G. Lant-       of our churches' shortage of men and         ly they are looking at six different
ing, of South.Holland,  IL filled their     have patiently waited for more con-          parcels.
pulpit first on Thanksgiving, then          sistent help. Since last Fall, South             Earlier this summer the congre-
Christmas, and finally around Eas-          Holland has had several new con-             gation of our Pella, IA PRC ap-
ter - difficult times to be away from       tacts, and they feel that there are oth-     proved several proposals to up-
one's family, and an especially hard        ers in the area interested in our            grade their parsonage. Proposals
time to be without a pastor. We             churches. With the approval of               called for a complete painting of the
would be remiss if we did not also          South Holland's Council, the Evan-           exterior of their parsonage, includ-
mention Rev. Breen here. It seems           gelism Committee is now trying to            ing the garage. Plans also called for
                                            work out a plan to provide these             some repair work to be done on the
                                            people with more preaching.                  parsonage roof and, finally, the con-
Mr. Wigger is a member of the Protes-           Our PR churches in west Michi-           gregation voted to replace the oven
tant Reformed Church of Hudsonville,        gan were invited to a three-session,         in the kitchen.
Michigan.

                                                                                             September 1,1995/Standard  Beare&


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          /g$zJ&m                                                                                                                                                                                                               Postage Paid at
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Grandville, Michigan
         P.O. Box 603
        Grandville, MI  49468-0603

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            This summer also saw the orga-                                                                        of vacation this summer in the First                                                                 Food-for ?lioyghit
nization of a Women's Bible Study                                                                                 PRC in Edmonton and the Immanuel                                                                "The service of God requires a
at the Hope PRC in Walker, MI.                                                                                    PRC in Lacombe, Alberta, Canada.                                                       man, not a shadow; yea all of a man
Plans called for a study of I                                                                                     While there he was able to show his                                                    and more than a man, our spirits
Thessalonians, in Walker  Commu-                                                                                  slides of Ghana and also preach once                                                   and God's Spirit also." Cl
nity Park                                                                                                         in each congregation.                                                                                           -Richard  Steels
                                                                                                                                                                                                                        A Remedy for Wandering
Mission Activities                                                                                                                                                                                                     Thoughts in Worship,  p. 44
             Rev. R. Moore spent two weeks



                                                                                                                                                NOTiCE!!                                                          WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
                                                                                                                            Grandville Protestant Reformed
                                          NOTICE!!                                                                                                                                                               REV. and MRS. GEORGE C.
                                                                                                                   Church is offering private notes to
             Classis West of the Protestant                                                                        help finance the new classroom ad-                                                                     LUBBERS,
Reformed Churches will meet at the                                                                                                                                                                       our beloved and faithful parents,
                                                                                                                   dition to their church building. Com-
South Holland Protestant Reformed                                                                                                                                                                        grandparents, and great-grandpar-
                                                                                                                   petitive rates and terms are offered.
Church in South Holland, IL, on                                                                                                                                                                          ents, celebrated their 65th wedding
                                                                                                                   Please call John G. VanBaren for
Wednesday, September  20,1995  at                                                                                                                                                                        anniversary, August 17. We are
                                                                                                                   details at (616) 896-7444 (evenings):
8:30                                                                                                                                                                                                     thankful to our covenant God for His
                 A.M.,  the Lord willing. All dele-                                                                or (616) 669-3028 (days).
gates who need lodging or trans-                                                                                                                                                                         loving and gracious condescension
portation from the airport should no-                                                                                                                                                                    in giving them to each other, and to
                                                                                                                       RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
tify the Clerk of South Holland's                                                                                           The Evangelism Committee of                                                  their family these many years. We
consistory, using the forms provid-                                                                                                                                                                      confess with David, "The lines are
                                                                                                                   Hudsonville PRC expresses its
ed for this purpose.                                                                                                                                                                                     fallen unto us in pleasant places;
                                                                                                                   heartfelt sympathy to secretary Mrs.
                                                            Rev. Steven Key,                                                                                                                             yea, we have a goodly heritage"
                                                                                                                   Rev Kuiper, in the passing of her
                                                                            Stated Clerk                          father,                                                                                (Psalm 16:6).
                                                                                                                                                                                                         + Agatha Lubbers
                                                                                                                               MR. FRANK DYKSTRA.
                                                                                                                            "Be of good courage, and he                                                  6 Tom and Greta Newhof
                                                                                                                                                                                                         + Case and Fran Lubbers
                                                                                                                   shall strengthen your heart, all ye
                                         NOTICE!!!                                                                                                                                                       9 Lamm and MaryBeth Lubbers
                                                                                                                   that hope in the Lord" (Psalm
             The Fall Meeting of the Eastern                                                                                                                                                                        13 grandchildren
                                                                                                                   31:24).
 Men's and Ladies' League will be                                                                                                                                                                                   20 great grandchildren
held on Tuesday, September 26, at                                                                                           WEDDING A .r\llVERSARY                                                                                 Grand Rapids, Michigan
8  P.M.  in our Hudsonville Church.                                                                                         With thanks to our covenant
Our speaker, Rev. Ron VanOver-                                                                                                                                                                                            NOTICE!!!
                                                                                                                   God, we announce the 40th wed-
loop, will speak on the subject "Is                                                                                ding anniversary of our dear par-
 Revjtalization of our Society Life                                                                                                                                                                              Annual Meeting of the RFPA
                                                                                                                   ents,
Necessary?" A collection will be tak-                                                                                                                                                                             September 28, 1995, 8 
                                                                                                                            PETER and NELL FABER,                                                                                               P.M.
hen to aid the needy ministers with                                                                                                                                                                                  Hope Church (G.R.)
                                                                                                                   on August 26,1995. May our heav-
whom Rev. Kortering has contact in                                                                                                                                                                        Speaker: Rev. Ron Cammenga
                                                                                                                   enly Father bless and keep you al-
 Eastern Asia. All Men's and La-                                                                                  ways. With love from your children:
dies' Society members, as well as                                                                                                                                                                                 (Three new board members will
                                                                                                                   $ Mitchell and Grace Kay Dick
any other adult Bible society mem-                                                                                                                                                                       be elected from a nomination con-
                                                                                                                                David, Elisabeth, Daniel
bers and young people who may be                                                                                   9 Paula Faber                                                                         sisting of Rod Brunsting, Vern
interested, are encouraged to attend.                                                                                                                                                                    Casmier, Leon Kamps, Sr., Jeff
                                                                                                                   +% Peter and Karen Faber                                                              Kalsbeek, Rog King, and Bill
                                                                                                                                                                 Grand Rapids, Michigan                  Oomkes.)

`504lStandard  Bearer/September 1,1995


