Salvian observeth that the church, like a river, loseth in depth, what it gaineth in breadth.

And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.

I know there are some who say, "Well, I have given myself to the Lord, but I do not intend to give myself to any church."

Now why not?

"Because I can be a Christian without it."

Are you quite clear about that? You can be as good a Christian by disobedience to your Lord's commands as by being obedient? There is a brick. What is it made for? To help build a house. It is of no use for that brick to tell you that it is just as good a brick while it is kicking about on the ground as it would be in the house. It is a good-for-nothing brick. So you rolling-stone Christians, I do not believe you are answering you purpose. You are living contrary to the life which Christ would have you live, and you are much to blame for the injury you do.

Others, again, sin in this respect, not so much from that insane pride as from inconsiderate zeal. Seeing that among those to whom the gospel is preached, the fruit produced is not in accordance with the doctrine, they forthwith conclude that there no church exists. The offence is indeed well founded, and it is one to which in this most unhappy age we give far too much occasion... Still those of whom we have spoken sin in their term, by not knowing how to set bounds in their offence. For where the Lord requires mercy they omit it, and give themselves up to immoderate severity. Thinking ther is no church where there is not complete purity and integrity of conduct, they, through hatred of wickedness, withdraw from a genuine church, while they think they are shunning the company of the ungodly.

...not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.

One of our great allies at present is the Church itself. Do not misunderstand me. I do not mean the Church as we see her spread out through all time and space and rooted in eternity, terrible as an army with banners. That, I confess, is a spectacle which makes our boldest tempters uneasy. But fortunately it is quite invisible to these humans. All your patient sees is the half-finished, sham Gothic erection on the new building estate.

On Hearing Sermons

by John Newton

I am glad to find that the Lord has at length been pleased to fix you in a favoured situation, where you have frequent opportunities of hearing the Gospel. This is a great privilege; but like all other outward privileges, it requires grace and wisdom to make a due improvement of it. The great plenty of ordinances you enjoy, though in itself a blessing, is attended with snares, which, unless they are carefully guarded against, may hinder rather than promote your edification. I gladly embrace the occasion you afford me, of offering you my advice upon this subject.

Faithful ministers of the Gospel are all the servants and ambassadors of Christ. They are called and furnished by his Holy Spirit; they speak in his name; and their success in the discharge of their office, whether it is more or less, depends entirely upon his blessing. Thus far they are all upon a par. But in the measure of their ministerial abilities, and in the peculiar turn of their preaching, there is a great variety. There are "diversities of gifts from the same Spirit; and he distributes to every man severally according to his own will." Some are more happy in alarming the careless, others in administering consolation to the wounded conscience. Some are set more especially for the establishment and confirmation of the Gospel doctrines; others are skilful in solving points of application. Others are more excellent in enforcing practical godliness; and others again, having been led through depths of temptation and spiritual distress, are best acquainted with the various workings of the heart, and know best how to speak a word in season to weary and exercised souls. Perhaps no true minister of the Gospel is wholly at a loss upon any of these points. But few, if any, are remarkably and equally excellent in managing them all. As to their manner; some are more popular and appealing, but at the same time more general and diffuse; while in others the lack of life and earnestness in delivery is compensated by the closeness, accuracy, and depth of their compositions. In this variety of gifts, the Lord has a gracious regard to the different tastes, dispositions, and wants of his people. By their combined efforts, the complete system of God's truth is illustrated, and the good of his church promoted to the highest advantage. His ministers, like officers assigned to different stations in an army, have not only the good of the whole in view, but each one his particular post to maintain. This would be more evidently the case, if the remaining depravity of our hearts did not give Satan too great an advantage in his subtle attempts to hurt and ensnare us. But, alas! how often has he prevailed to infuse a spirit of envy or dislike in ministers towards each other, and to withdraw hearers from their proper concerns by dividing them into parties. He stirs them up to contend for a Paul, an Apollos, or a Cephas, for their own favorites, to the disparagement of others, who are equally dear to the Lord, and faithful in his service! You may think my preamble long, but I shall draw my counsel chiefly from it.

As the gifts and talents of ministers are different, I advise you to choose for your stated pastor and teacher one whom you find most suitable, upon the whole, to your own taste, and whom you are likely to hear with the most pleasure and advantage. Use some deliberation and much prayer in this matter. Entreat the Lord, who knows better than you do yourself, to guide you where your soul may be best fed. When your choice is fixed, you will do well to make a point of attending his ministry regularly at the stated times of worship on the Lord's day. I do not say that no circumstance will justify your going elsewhere on certain occasions, but I think more seldom you are absent the better. What I have observed of many, who run about unseasonably after new preachers, has reminded me of Proverbs 27:8: "As a bird that wandereth from her nest, so is the man that wandereth from his place." Such unsettled hearers seldom thrive: they usually grow wise in their own conceits, have their heads filled with notions, acquire a dry, critical, and censorious spirit; and are more intent upon disputing who is the best preacher, than upon obtaining benefit to themselves from what they hear.

But as human nature is prone to extremes, permit me to give you a caution on the other hand. If the minister under whom you statedly attend is made very acceptable to you, you will be in the less danger of slighting him. But be careful that you do not slight any other minister of Christ. If you come to hear your own preacher, and you find another in the pulpit, do not let your looks tell him that if you had known he had been there, you would not have come. Some persons are so weak that if their favorite minister is occasionally absent, they hardly think it worth their while to hear another. A judicious and faithful minister, in such a case, instead of being delighted with such a mark of peculiar attachment to himself, will be grieved to think that they have profited no more than that by his labours. It is his desire to win souls, not to himself, but to Jesus Christ. I hope you, my friend, will always attend the ordinances with a view to the Lord's presence; and when you are in your proper place, consider the preacher (if he preaches the truth) as one providentially and expressly sent by the Lord to you at that time; and that you could not choose better for yourself, all things considered, than he has chosen for you. Do not limit the Almighty, by confining your expectations to a single instrument. If you do, you will probably procure your own disappointment.

But besides the Lord's day, you have many opportunities of hearing sermons occasionally in the course of the week; you may thus partake of that variety of gifts which I have already spoken of. This will be either a benefit or otherwise, according to the use you make of it. I would recommend that you take advantage of the opportunity, but under some restrictions.

In the first place, be cautious that you do not degenerate into the spirit of a mere hearer, placing the chief stress of your Christianity upon running hither and thither after preachers. There are many who are always upon the wing. Without a due regard to their responsibilities in the shop, in the family, or in the closet, they seem to think they were sent into the world only to hear sermons, and to hear as many in a day as they possibly can. Such people may be fitly compared to Pharaoh's lean cattle; they devour a great deal, but for lack of proper digestion, they do not flourish. Their souls are lean; they have little solid comfort. Their Christian life abounds more in leaves than in fruit. No public ordinances can make amends for the neglect of secret prayer; nor will the most diligent attendance upon them justify us in the neglect of duties which by the command and appointment of God we owe to society.

As it is our trial to live in a day wherein so many contentions and winds of strange doctrine abound, I hope you will watch and pray that you may not have itching ears, inclining you to hearken after the novel, singular, and erroneous sentiments of men of unstable minds, who are not sound in the faith. I have known some who have gone to hear such men, not for the sake of edification, but to hear what they had to say. They thought themselves too well established in the truth to be hurt by it. But the experiment (without a just and lawful call) is presumptuous and dangerous. In this way many have been hurt, or overthrown. Error is like poison; the subtlety, quickness, and force of its operation is often amazing. As we pray not to be led into temptation, we should take care not to run into it wilfully. If the Lord has shown you what is right, it is not worth your while to know how many ways there are of being wrong.

Next: I advise you, when you hear a Gospel sermon, and it is not in all respects to your satisfaction, do not be too hasty to lay the whole blame upon the preacher. The Lord's ministers feel (it is to be hoped) their own weakness and defects, and the greatness and difficulty of their work. They are conscious that their warmest endeavors to proclaim the Savior's glory are too cold, and their most urgent messages to the consciences of men are too faint. Indeed, they have much to be ashamed of; but it will be useful for you, who are their listener, to consider whether the fault may not possibly be in yourself. Perhaps you thought too highly of the man, and expected too much from him; or perhaps you thought too little of him, and expected too little. In the former case, the Lord justly disappointed you; in the latter, you received according to your faith. Perhaps you neglected to pray for him. Accordingly, though he might be useful to others, it is not at all strange that he was not useful to you.

Lastly, as a hearer, you have a right to try all doctrines by the word of God; it is your duty to do so. Faithful ministers will remind you of this. They will not wish to hold you in a blind obedience to what they say, upon their own authority. They would not be lords over your conscience, but helpers of your joy. Prize your liberty in the Gospel, which sets you free from the doctrines and commandments of men, but do not abuse it to the purposes of pride and self. There are hearers who make themselves, and not the Scripture, the standard of their judgment. They attend not so much to be instructed, as to pass their sentence. To them, the pulpit is the bar at which the minister stands to take his trial before them; it is a bar at which few escape censure, from judges both severe and inconsistent. For as these censors are not all of a mind, and perhaps agree in nothing so much as in the opinion they have of their own wisdom, it has often happened that in the course of one and the same sermon, the minister has been condemned as a legalist and an antinomian, as too high in his notions, and too low, as having to little action, and too much. Oh! this hateful spirit, that prompts hearers to pronounce ex cathedra as if they were infallible!

I pray God to preserve you from such a spirit, and to guide you in all things.

The above was edited and abridged for the modern reader DW

The Obligations of Members

by Douglas Wilson

Linus, of Peanuts fame, once observed that he loved mankind; it was people he couldn't stand. In a very similar way, many Christians express a great allegiance to the invisible Church, the company of the redeemed, while displaying no biblical faithfulness and loyalty at all to the assembly to which they are attached.

Of course, there is also the opposite problem of excessive loyalty to one's leaders at the expense of unity with other Christians. This is not written to deny the existence of such divisive attitudes; it is merely to point out there is a ditch on both sides of this road.

What is the scriptural basis for faithfulness to a particular assembly of Christians? The answer to the question is governmental, that is, it must be answered by defining the leadership of a church.

We read this in Hebrews 13:7,17: Remember those who rule over you, who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow, considering the outcome of their conduct... Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you.

In these verses it is easy to see those requirements which cannot be obeyed outside the context of loyalty to a particular assembly, with a defined leadership. If someone has a general allegiance to the universal church only, then the requirements of these verses will, of necessity, be neglected and disobeyed.

Remember those who rule over you...whose faith follow...obey those who rule over you...be submissive... These commands presuppose a set class of elders, with an assigned and recognized field of responsibility. The identity of the elders is public knowledge. The boundaries of this required obedience are set in this passage by four, very obvious, characteristics. So when a Christian asks for biblical criteria in this area, the text is clear. Christians must remember, imitate, obey, and submit to:

· Those elders who have spoken the word of God to them.

· Those elders who have been close enough to consider their Christian lives, and the outcome of their conduct.

· Those elders who rule, i.e. who require obedience of them.

· Those elders who must give an account to God for them.

It is not really that difficult. I am an elder, with three other men, in a particular assembly of Christians. But there are fellow-Christians in our community who have no governmental obligations to us, nor we to them. Why? We have never taught them, they don't know us or the outcome of our lives, we have never told them they must do anything, and God is not going to hold us accountable for their condition at all.

When the elders of a particular gathering are identified biblically, it is morally obligatory to remember them, and obey them. The Christian should ask, "Have I submitted myself to their teaching, looked to them as an example, submitted myself to their authority, and does God hold them responsible for me?" The answer to these four questions cannot be yes outside the context of a defined government of a particular assembly, and God requires us to answer yes to the questions.

For someone who holds to a vague loyalty to the "invisible" church, the requirements of this passage are impossible. When the leadership is vague and undefined it is impossible to obey. To affirm submission to all elders is the same thing as affirming submission to no elders. The point is obvious on the face of it; a woman cannot submit to her husband if she does not know his name. In the same way, Christians cannot obey their elders, as commanded, unless the boundaries of the eldership are expressly defined. And that cannot be done outside particular gatherings of the saints, with an established government.

It sounds very spiritual to express loyalty to the invisible church. But it is an easy thing to do; the invisible church cannot be located anywhere, it has no teaching to study, its leaders cannot be imitated, it never makes demands, and there is no one who is held accountable by God for me.

Because of a false emphasis on the invisible church, many Christians neglect their duties to the visible church the assembly where God has placed them. Note that we are not talking about our duties to visible Christians that we meet on the street, or in the music section of the local Christian bookstore. We are talking about our duties to a visible assembly of believers, governed by an identifiable group of men. These men teach, set an example, rule, and give an account.

Christians who ignore the Bible's teaching on this make the work of their elders a grievous task. It is not the joy it should be, and lofty language about the invisible church will not make their work less of a chore.

Every one that hangs about the court does not speak with the king.

For one sect then to say, Ours is the true Church, and another to say, Nay, but ours is the true Church, is as mad as to dispute whether your hall, or kitchen, or parlour, or coal-house is your house; and for one to say, This is the house, and another, Nay, but it is that; when a child can tell them, that the best is but a part, and the house containeth them all.

Some people in church look like guests at a royal banquet, who couldn't afford to be left out, but have been forbidden by their doctor to eat anything.

Today we have hundreds of churches to choose from. And not all of these are apostate. There is even a wide choice in some areas of churches within the same denomination. Now it has often been said that Americans are "joiners." This is also true of American Christians. We need but little encouragement to join some church. But it is not uncommon, in our best churches, to find someone missing in his own church only to discover that he is now going to the church down the street that recently called a new pastor. It never seems to have crossed this church member's mind that he has any obligation to give notice of his intention to go elsewhere to his own spiritual rulers, much less to give honest reasons for so doing.

A plague upon denominationalism! There should be but one denomination. We should be denominated by the name of Christ, as the wife is named by her husband's name. As long as the church of Christ has to say, "My right arm is Episcopalian, my left arm is Wesleyan, my right foot is Baptist, and my left foot is Presbyterian," she is not ready for the marriage. She will be ready when she has washed out these stains, when all her members have "one Lord, one faith, one baptism."

Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you.

The word Church in Scripture has always one meaning, and one only an assembly of the people of God a society of Christians.

Consequently there emerges the new community of Christ's Church which begins in Christ risen from the dead. When he arose from the dead it was as the beginning of the Church.

Next Month!

Our next issue will be devoted, as our lives should be, to the applications of grace sovereign, saving, efficacious, complete, and wonderful grace.

Credenda/Agenda is published monthly by Canon Press, the literature ministry of Community Evangelical Fellowship/PO Box 8741/Moscow, Idaho/83843. Subscriptions are free.

Credenda/Agenda Vol. 3, No. 2