SERVING BEFORE HIM

A recent article has suggested that we ought to take a second look at the wisdom of King Henry VIII of England. To be sure, Henry was a glutton, an adulterer and a monarch who believed in the divine right of kings. He is not one noted for any commitment to rule by law and submission to Christ. However, one thing that scholars have recently discovered is that he collected the wealth to firmly establish the power of those who followed and built on his foundation a kinder gentler monarchy which finally became a model for the western world.

In this respect, there are some similarities to the more ancient reigns of David and Solomon. Especially as we understand the less perfect and public performance which even the best of leaders are capable. You see good and honest leaders wisely prepare for the next generation to follow them. Here in Ohio one of the greatest obstacles to conservative politics was the self serving attitude of a former Republican governor who kept lesser men in their place so that no one might ever challenge him for real power. And so it is today that we have a rather undeveloped Republican leadership who were not encouraged nor allowed to grow into higher offices for most of a generation. By contrast we see in our passage in 1 Chronicles that King David very much planned for the future by amassing a fortune and establish God's chosen son of David on the throne.

In a like manner, the current crop of Army officers and gentlemen are very concerned to pass on to the next generation of leaders an organization that can do everything and more that is ever asked of it. Leadership is carefully chosen and groomed decade by decade so that what was destroyed beyond recognition in Viet Nam might never again be run down so ruthlessly by management technicians who little appreciate the human factor in all things.

Here at Christ Covenant, we like the great Captains of the American military are concerned about teaching and training leaders for the future. Timothy will be working with two of our men for the rest of the year in this regard and we hope that several more will make themselves available in the coming months as well. This process is ever continuing in Christ's Church and an outside observer recently noticed that we here are free from the ongoing power struggles that have limited and even fractured other congregations as the power and authority of lawful rulers is established and transferred from generation to generation. May the Lord certainly continue to bless us in this regard even as He grows His own Church.

A second lesson that we need to learn from our catechism and our text is the personal admonishment given to Solomon in verses eight through ten which very well applies to each of us as we serve the God of heaven in our day and our time. We have only to reflect on the career of Solomon who while retaining His salvation and His heavenly given wisdom, still brought so much discredit upon the kingship of Israel that the kingdom was fractured for ever after. Does this sound like the fracturing of American denominations where leaders have failed regularly in being faithful to the God of heaven who has commanded that He come before everything else?

Look carefully at the second portion of verse eight:

"Be careful to follow all the commands of the Lord your God, that you may possess this good land and pass it on as an inheritance to your descendants forever."

As a Christian congregation, we have been organized under the authority of a particular Presbytery and Denomination to whom we owe certain theological and financial obligations as well as the necessity of sharing the responsibilities of leadership and fellowship with like minded people. Within this context of Covenantal and Confessional solidarity there are several areas of derived authority from Scripture to which we must remain accountable.

In my mind these six areas of submission are clearly stated as principles based upon biblical absolutes. These six areas are contained in two documents. The Westminster Confession includes our confessional integrity by which the catechism is divided into three areas. What we must believe, how we must live in relation to the law and finally how we are to pray. In addition there is a Book of Church Order which defines the Presbyterian Form of Government derived from Scripture, a Rules of Discipline guide and a Directory for Worship.

Please understand these documents do not take precedent over scripture but only outline the theology and practices revealed therein. Just this week I received some email about a World War One site I have on the web. A browser found some mistakes and encouraged me to correct them. He is right, my work was less than perfect and I must keep refining ideas, information and content. In the same sense we are encouraged to constantly be reforming our understanding of the Biblical principles so that our work gives greater and greater glory to our God and King whom we love, obey and serve.

Of the six areas of submission, let me speak briefly. In the Westminster Shorter Catechism the first thirty-eight questions define the basic doctrines of grace with which every believer must be confronted. Certainly, many able and competent Christians have taken biblical exception to the lesser of those doctrines. But the greatest and most fundamental doctrines cannot be overturned if Christ's Church is to remain true to our Lord and the revealed faith once given to the saints. Early in this century the essential fundamentals of the faith were formulated by conservative Presbyterian pastors who diligently defended the absolutely necessary doctrines of biblical inerrancy, creation, virgin birth, resurrection and atonement (among others) from the forces of humanistic modernism.

A second division of questions thirty-nine to eighty-four concerns itself with the Law of God. This relationship between law and grace has been our consideration for several months already and we have almost a solid year to go in this matter. Here in this context we are concerned with how the law demonstrates our depravity as well as our joyful accommodation to the instructions of the law as the Lord gives us the grace of salvation and sanctification.

A third division of questions from ninety-nine to one hundred and seven carefully outlines the practice and purpose of prayer using the Lord's prayer as a revealed outline and model. Certainly we have realized that our prayers are not just to satisfy our wants and needs which God already knows about. In and through our Lord's Prayer, we like the Apostles may learn how we participate spiritually in the working out of God's providence and pleasure. And all the while sensing like C.S. Lewis that God does indeed answer every single prayer whether we notice it or not!

A fourth area of submission is found in the ordering of our church life. This Form of Government which grew out of the English and Scottish experience and application of biblical principles defines how our Presbyterian form of government must work. The wonderful thing about this system of biblical government is that no man, woman or child is left out of the biblical scheme of authority. Wives and children submissive to husband and father. Fathers and singles submissive to the local sessions and the sessions in turn to other sessions within the Presbytery, which itself is under the authority of a General Assembly or Synod. The General Assembly itself must yield its authority back to the Presbyteries and all in all are submissive to the revealed Word of God which shows us the ultimate Kingship of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

A fifth area of submission is in the form of discipline derived from the great passage in Matthew 18. These Rules of Discipline would help us control heresy, divisiveness and guide us in discipling all of those under the authority of Christ and Church.

Our last area of submission is contained in The Directory For the Worship of God. Here we may learn what acts of worship please our Creator. Certainly there is much debate in this respect and as we begin the study of the second commandment next week, we shall dig deeply into this issue.