And why you should join such a church
Part 3 of 3: Eighth to Tenth Reasons
[This is the third tranche of a three part series of articles to commemorate the Protestant Reformation. We are considering ten reasons why a church should be Reformed and reforming and why we should be part of such a church.
The first seven reason are:
1. The Reformed church insists on contending for the faith once delivered unto the saints, in contrast to modern churches, which seek to be innovative and contemporary.
2. The second reason is: The Reformed Doctrine of God is Biblical, unlike the common caricatures today.
3. Reformed Worship Glorifies God, unlike modern, man-centred worship.
4. The Reformed Doctrine of Salvation emphasises the need for genuine salvation, instead of seeking a form of godliness.
5. Reformed church Government honours Christ the King more than worldly systems often adopted in churches today.
6. The Reformed church envisages a Christ-centred, instead of Israel-centred eschatology.
7. The Reformed church has a biblical rather than an unbiblical mystical doctrine of the Holy Spirit.
—JJ Lim]
8. The Reformed church emphasises covenantal family religion for the glory of God
Years ago, when I was a young Christian, I had a Methodist Bible Study leader whom I looked up to. One day, he explained to us that he would not give his children Christian names because he did not want to compel them to be Christian. “I want to give them the freedom to choose what they want to believe when they grow up,” he added. While I did not think Asian Christian parents needed to give Christian names to their children, I was not persuaded by his reasoning. Yet I was not able to refute it.
It took several years before I began to understand the impulse behind the decision of the dear brother. Individualism had crept into Christianity in the guise of the inalienable right of freedom of choice! At the same time, the church had jettisoned Covenant Theology in favour of Dispensationalism1. It will require a book to describe the difference between the two theological systems2. But essentially, Reformed Covenant Theology insists that God relates to man not merely as individuals, but as federations and families. All mankind fell because our first representative, Adam, rebelled. Jesus is sent as the representative of the elect to live, suffer, die and rise again for their salvation. He is our covenant head in the Covenant of Grace, wherein we are saved in union with Him as our representative. This is how God’s people throughout the ages (including believing Jews) are saved. That’s why there is a pervasive reference to the covenant throughout the Bible. And as a corollary, the Bible makes it clear that God is not only concerned about individuals, but also their families. The apostle Peter, alluding to God’s word to ancient Abraham, declared to the people gathered to hear his sermon at Pentecost: “The promise is unto you, and to your children” (Acts 2:39).
In the face of the onslaught of individualism and theological decay, the modern church lost sight of all these things. It is not surprising, therefore, that amongst other things, most modern churches, including conservative ones, do not emphasise family religion anymore. Family worship is almost unheard of, and if practised, it is done haphazardly only when there is time to spare.
The confessional Reformed church, on the other hand, insists on family worship. The Westminster Standards, for example, define the visible church, which includes all those who profess the true religion and their children (WCF 25:2), and teach that children of believers are to be baptised and brought up in the fear and nurture of the Lord as members of the covenant (WLC 166; 118). To this end, families must worship together daily (WCF 21:6).
From our experience, hardly any church outside the Reformed community teaches the importance of family worship, let alone instructs its members on how to have family worship. The result is that children are growing up in ignorance despite being brought up in Christian families.
While we do not claim every child brought up in a Reformed church will come to a saving knowledge of our Saviour, we fear that many professedly Christian families are functioning as pagan families, and their children are being led to think that the caricature of Christianity that is so rampant is the real McCoy, to the detriment of their souls.
9. The Reformed church insists on the proper complementary roles of men and women in the family and the church
We have already seen how many churches ordain women as pastors and elders, contrary to the word of God. However, underlying this phenomenon is a fundamental departure from the pattern that God laid down in His Word for men and women, who were created in His image. The word of God is clear that God created Adam before Eve, and ordained that Eve fell before Adam to teach men and women their responsibilities of leadership or submission according to their gender (1 Tim 2:11-15).
Modern society has largely discarded this doctrine. We are constantly reminded that men and women are created equal. There is some truth to that statement, for the apostle Paul says, “there is neither male nor female… in Christ Jesus” (Gal 3:28). Thus, we rejoice that women have equal rights to success in the world. However, we cannot endorse the tendency in many modern churches to deny the clear teaching of Scripture about the roles of men and women in the family and the church. These do so in deference to the principle of egalitarianism in such a way as to obliterate the inspired qualifications laid down in the word of God. To do so is to sin against Christ, the Prophet and King of the Church, who has revealed how men and women are to serve in the church.
The confessionally Reformed church refuses to bow to societal pressure, contrary to the word of Christ.
10. The Reformed church ought to have a biblical rather than traditional observance of holy days
You may have noticed that I am more tentative on this point. This is not because I lack a firm conviction on this point. Instead, it is because many conservative Reformed churches and denominations, especially those which hold to the Three Forms of Unity, will disagree with us on this final point even if they agree with the previous nine. I believe they are wrong. I believe that Reformed Presbyterian Churches that subscribe wholeheartedly to the Westminster Standards are right.
Nowhere in the Bible are we taught to celebrate Christmas or the birth of Christ. Neither are we called to commemorate the death of Christ once a year. We are, instead, to remember His death every time we observe the Lord’s Supper! And we are indeed not enjoined to celebrate the resurrection of Christ only once a year. No, we are to do so every Lord’s Day in obedience to the Fourth Commandment: “Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy.” We are to do so in celebration of the resurrection of Christ! “This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it” (Ps 118:24). This is the day on which “The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner” (Ps 118:22; cf. Acts 4:11).
How are we to keep the Christian sabbath holy? The Westminster Shorter Catechism answers:
“The Sabbath is to be sanctified by a holy resting all that day, even from such worldly employments and recreations as are lawful on other days; and spending the whole time in the public and private exercises of God’s worship, except so much as is to be taken up in the works of necessity and mercy” (WSC 60).
Today, apart from confessional Reformed Presbyterian churches, very few churches emphasise the significance of Sabbath observance. Indeed, many deride it as legalism or pharisaism, when, in fact, doing the opposite is lawlessness, i.e., sin (cf. 1 Jn 3:4; 5:3). The words of Isaiah are surely still applicable to believers today, for there remains a sabbath rest for the people of God (Heb 4:5):
“13 If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: 14 Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it” (Isa 58:13-14).
Where a church refuses to delight in the sabbath, she will begin to delight in unbiblical holy days. When she does so, she can have no assurance of the Lord’s promise of blessing issued by Isaiah—regardless of how large she grows numerically.
Conclusion
Here then are ten reasons why we must be Reformed and reforming as a church. These reasons are drawn from comparing what was taught and practised by the Reformed church of the 16th and 17th centuries against Scripture and against what we observe in many modern churches today. We thank God for guiding PCC along the narrow path, according to the principles highlighted. We are far from being a perfect church, and individually, we have much to grow by way of reform. However, we desire to be obedient to the word of God and to honour Christ, the king of the church. We believe the best way to do so is to align our doctrine and practice with those old paths our fathers in the faith walked in.
Why should you join a Reformed or reforming Church? You should if: (1) you want to believe and walk according to the faith once delivered unto the saints; (2) you want to have a proper understanding of who God is; (3) you desire to glorify God rather than pander to the flesh; (4) you want to know if you truly saved in Christ; (5) you desire to be led by Christ instead of mere human authorities; (6) you want to enjoy a Christ-centred hope uncluttered by political developments in the Middle East; (7) you desire to experience the power of the Holy Spirit without constantly worrying if you are imagining things or being misled; (8) you want your children to grow up amongst those who take covenant theology and family religion seriously; (9) you want to learn and be encouraged in your roles as a man or woman according to God’s will; and (10) you want to turn away from superstitious and unbiblical observances of holy days and to delight in the Sabbath of the Lord. In short, it does matter where you worship if Christ Jesus is truly your Lord and King. Amen.
—JJ Lim