Tuesday 8 September 2009

"There was no man!"

I am a bit surprised when ministers say that getting ministerial colleagues to stay closer to the WCF was the way to reform the church.

My view was, and still is, that the church has to be reformed according to the Scriptures, the church's supreme standard, NOT any manmade document, no matter how good it might be. The 'rule of faith' requires this, does it not?

Ministers and elders are to submit conscience to no other authority than the Word of God, revealed in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments.

I think you will agree with me when I say that the reason the church is in such a decadent condition is because she has departed from the truth, the Scriptures, the Word of God. There is no way that any Christian and Reformed church body can substitute anything for the supreme place the Scriptures ought to have, for anything else!

It is my conviction that our country, and indeed the whole world, is as they are today because of the state of the church. Society reflects accurately the spiritual condition of the church.

Yet there is no one to "stand in the gap," no one to bring the living Word of the living God to a faithless church and a perishing nation. Where are the true prophets of God who bring His message to the decadent church and nation? Is there no one who sees what is happening, or are there too many 'time servers' - as a former colleague of ours from the ... Presbytery described them? We are getting too many sermons, but precious few messages from God!

How often do we celebrate great men like Calvin and his true sons and successors, Baxter, the Wesley's, Whitefield, Edwards, Brainard, Chalmers, Ryle, yet we all tend to run a mile from doing what they did! We praise them for their sacrifice in the cause of God, but we will be sure to protect ourselves when it comes to standing for God and His truth.

What does it say about a church that encourages men, and women, who are liberals, ecumenists, modernisers, Arminians, and Gospel haters, to subscribe the WCF at the various milestones, yet it hounds out true evangelical reformed ministers, and no one cares a toss! As someone once famously said, "You cannot criticise what you are prepared to tolerate."

If we can stir one another up to greater faithfulness to the Lord and His Gospel, then there is hope for the reformation of His church. But if we insist on being "firm's men" to the core, then we care nothing for the well-being of Christ's body on earth, and she will never be reformed according to the Word of God, or transformed into the likeness of Christ.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well said Dr Lynch. The only man i have come across today that is fearless is Jacob Prasch, though hes no fan of calvinism! But he isnt afraid to name &shame sins inside and outside the church. In fact he couldnt care less about being popular. I appreciate consistency, which is a rare trait these days.

Hazlett Lynch said...

Thanks Colin. It is good that there are young men like you who can recognise the duplicity that goes on within every church today. Nobody wants to tell it as it is!

I can understand the paid servants of the church not wanting to jeopardise their positions, but if they claim to be reformed men, their silence is contemptible - and they are everywhere!

At the end of the day, "you cannot criticise what you are prepared to tolerate," and that's what keeps so many otherwise good men silent!

Your comments are always welconme.

God bless you.