Misunderstandings

1 Timothy 6: 3-10 & 2 Timothy 2:14-26

The Reformer's Fire
/\~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Exposition by Max A Forsythe

Question 55:
What is forbidden in the third commandment?
Answer 55:
The third commandment forbiddeth all profaning or abusing of anything whereby God maketh himself known.

 

The more I study the demands of this third commandment, the more I am convinced that we do not warn the young men in preparation for the ministry enough about the extreme seriousness of their calling. I once owned a small book for three days that described jobs for people who loved to study and read. When I got to the chapter on ministry and read that once the Sunday sermon was prepared, the week was yours to study and read - I promptly put the volume to the flames. Again, I was once part of a job survey seminar where the vulgar languaged feminist announced that she would have made a great minister if only there had been a better opportunity to have an impact on the world at large. Then there was the seminary class where the worldly communicator advocated the use of the profession as a means to participate in social change. When I asked him what organizations might be appropriate, he suggested the liberal political party and its assorted action groups.

The ministry is a high calling and ought not to be sought unless the seeker has a firm conviction that the Lord would have him do nothing else. And in the seriousness of that calling, he must attend to the highest standards of orthodoxy possible in order not to make a vain thing of the Lord's work.

In the course of finishing our study of what we are not to do according to the third commandment, our theme today is avoiding misunderstanding. This theme includes five unprofitable pitfalls that those who study theology must sincerely avoid. The first is to avoid curious, unprofitable and false doctrines of every kind. Second is to avoid the abuse of God's word in thought, and deed. Third is not to oppose God's truth by attitude, teaching or secret doubts. Fourth is to avoid hypocrisy and a sinister use of the Word. Last is to never be ashamed of the gospel given to the Church.

As we consider the passage in First Timothy which we have just heard in this context, I believe that the whole professionalism of the ministry in this century is being described. I well remember the liberal church and the minimum salaries that kept the smaller churches from being able to have their own pastors. Sadly, the notion that pastors must always be full time and compensated at the level of doctors and teachers is wide spread. While salaries ought to be enough to cover the actual time invested, it is not the purpose of Christ's Church to enrich the servants of God at the expense of everything else that the Church ought to be doing. When the career rewards reach a certain level, unfortunately all kinds of lesser men suddenly imagine a call. These are the ones who enjoy disputes, quarrels and all the sad sorry descriptions predicted by Paul.

I well remember hearing about a young pastor who served a small church. He had little to do and instead of seeking people to meet and minister too, spent his time in unwholesome study. He wanted to read every possible position of interpretation and in the course of a year and a half's study he abandoned several key doctrines which he had sworn to uphold. The Puritans too had a similar problem with men who passed theological muster in their youth only to abandon the holy religion for Unitarian and universalist themes in their old age. I once heard a young minister admit that he had doubts about the punishment of sinners even as he was expected to offer the free gift of salvation week by week. Of course, he was on the fast track to promotion and such misunderstandings were tolerable.

The second problem described by our catechism is the wanton abuse of God's word. You have only to read some of the discipline cases dismissed in the liberal bodies to be alarmed and what passes for respectability today. One liberal Presbytery was upset because almost forty percent of the pastors voted against allowing the name change of a pastor who had had a sex change operation. Another pastor was allowed to keep his charge even when witnesses described how he passed out money to dancers so that they could buy some clothes to cover their shame! Another case just recently reported involves a ruling elder who unwisely came out at a "Bible" study and his congregation and liberal presbytery are required to reinstate him because there wasn't enough evidence to take away his ordination even though he lives openly with another man.

A third and fourth concern in our catechism is the harboring of secret doubts and unorthodox beliefs. In our Presbytery, any of our exceptions to the Confession must be on file and we are encouraged and expected to affirm the essential doctrines every year. One of the oaths of office that must be signed off on is one that insists that if we as pastor's begin to doubt the essential doctrines of the faith, then we are to turn ourselves in for questioning, encouragement and correction. It was this honest expectation that allowed dishonest men to come into the church in the last century with other agendas on their mind. Before the church at large realized the deceit and lies, the dissenters were in with enough numbers to make orthodoxy heretical if a trial were to be held.

That type of hypocrisy and sinister abuse of the office to turn the Church to more worldly pursuits has to be the greatest scandal in the history of Christ's Church. Denomination after denomination has fallen to lying liberals in the last hundred years. Only two of the old mainline denominations have avoided the modernist takeover. The Missouri Synod Lutherans and the Southern Baptist Convention. At least their executives are committed to orthodoxy even if some congregations do not toe the line.

Lastly and sadly is the all to human temptation to be ashamed of the Gospel of Christ. Too often, the church is being sold as a social organization, a community club and a supporter of family values. The church it seems must serve some other or almost any other purpose than being a worshiping community of the only Triune God of heaven and earth. I believe that it is this last issue that limits the growth of true churches in our day and time. The church growth experts have a checklist that is seen as absolutely necessary for packing the visitors in. These include a full slate of programs for every generation and age group, a paved parking lot, a fully staffed nursery and assistant ministers galore to do the work that the congregation would normally be expected to do. As you can well see from our brief survey these last three weeks, there is very much in the challenge of the third commandment that Christ's Church has missed for at least the last hundred years!

May it be our calling here at Christ Covenant to insist that your leaders fulfill their vows and uphold the correct doctrines and the reflected aura of holiness that is pleasing to our Lord, God and King.

Return to
Christ Covenant REFORMED (Presbyterian Church in America)
Westminster Shorter Catechism Series