Now with Thanksgiving approaching, the fear of “spreading Covid-19” by gathering together is nothing like the outlook and desire of the Pilgrims, whose celebration this holiday is to follow! For they knew that coming to the New World was a monumental task and a threat to their own lives!
Well, it should be of interest to recall what the basis of their celebration really was. For, we have all heard there was a fall harvest celebration with the bounty in crops and game the Pilgrims had after the first hard winter at Plymouth. However, we are not commonly taught much else about them.
Above all, the reason for their journey to the New World was for religious freedom. The Pilgrims were Separatists, who dissented from the practices in the Church of England. The King of England was considered the head of that church who appointed bishops, who appointed the local clergy. Many were not spiritually minded, and did not follow the Scriptures. The principles of the Bible were being disregarded in many ways.
Therefore, the Pilgrims came to America, first of all, to worship God rightly! That was also the thinking of the expedition to Virginia beforehand. The First Charter of Virginia declared their purpose was for the honor of God! They wanted to come to the new world for His glory “in propagating of Christian religion to such people, as yet live in darkness and miserable ignorance of the true knowledge and worship of God.”
Likewise, the Mayflower Compact of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Bay Colony in Massachusetts declared they had come for “the glory of God and the advancement of the Christian faith.” How contrary to those in our time who foolishly want no influence of Christianity in our nation!
Instead, the Pilgrims faced the possibility of death in order to worship the Lord God as they saw the Scriptures leading them to do! One half of them died the first winter, after coming ashore on Dec. 21, 1620. Yet, later when the Mayflower was to return to England the surviving members refused to leave on that ship.
Why would they do so? Because they knew what Jesus said was the first and great commandment. That is, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.” (Mark 12:30). Obedience to His word, in faithfulness and in our work, is then expected by the Lord!
Yet, both of these colonies attempted at first to have a communal system of goods and food. The fruit of those who worked hard was gathered into a common stock and distributed to the whole colony. The result was laziness on the part of those who did not want to work. It almost meant the starvation of both colonies until each family was made responsible to work for themselves. They could no longer live off of the labors of others, when they were quite capable of working themselves!
How foolish then are modern communalists, who desire a socialistic government, “free college, free health care”, and all manner of handouts. What is never worked for will never be truly valued. Socialism derives from man’s innate greed, which is instead to be kept under control when one must work to advance in prosperity.
Of course, the idolatry of man experienced by the Pilgrims was not unique to them. Instead, the Bible proclaims the truth that human beings are made to worship our Creator. As in Genesis 1:26, God declared, “Let us make man in Our image”. Therefore, all human beings have a spiritual nature. Our sins have corrupted that understanding, yet you and I will worship something or someone!
The first of the Ten Commandments counters the evil of worshiping or putting first ourselves or anything besides the one true God, the triune God of the Bible. All are commanded to have no other God, who is also the Redeemer of sinners through the Lord Jesus Christ! His perfect obedience and sacrifice at the cross, for sinners, is the only means to have forgiveness of sins and everlasting life with God!
Also, when one has repentance and faith in Jesus, he or she will have thankfulness, of course! Then, we will want to do all things in life for the glory of God! We must then seek to support ourselves in our labors, to “work in quietness and eat (our) own bread.” (II Thessalonians 3:12).
Oh, may we each understand more fully that to know the one true God, trusting in Jesus Christ alone for salvation, is the only true way to live! To worship Him rightly, according the Bible, and to live honest, industrious lives, however God enables, is the way of thanksgiving!
May the Lord bless you, through daily repentance from sin, seeking to trust and obey Jesus Christ! May that be your and my daily experience, to God’s glory and our good!
Pastor Harvey Opp serves Providence Reformed Church, 830 Madison Street in Vermillion. The service schedule includes Sunday School at 9:30 a.m. and Worship at 10:30 a.m. He is also heard on WNAX, 570 AM each Sunday at 8:45 a.m., on “God’s Word is Truth”, and on sermonaudio.com.
In 2019, the Synod created a Strategic Planning Special Committee to review our practices and to suggest ways in which the RCUS can use our limited resources to more faithfully advance the kingdom of God. Two years later, the committee presented its report. It said, in part: “Instead of only relying on our own perceptions of the strengths and weaknesses of the RCUS, your committee sought counsel from ten other denominations by sending them a series of questionnaires addressing a variety of subjects. “We asked leaders and experts in these denominations to offer “unofficial” counsel and promised that they would not be named in our report. These leaders and experts came not only from our fraternal churches, but from the Associate Reformed Presbyterians, Presbyterian Church of America, Evangelical Presbyterians, Southern Baptists, Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, and others…. “We divided our subject areas into Home Missions, Missionary Training, Church Planting, Foreign Missions, Technology, Communications (including social media), Pensions, and Planned Giving. We also divided our committee into Teams: Best Practices, Missions, Technology, Communications, and Finance, to handle the work of drafting, circulating, collecting and collating our questionnaire responses.” It was a major undertaking, involving hundreds of hours of interviews over two years, and collecting thousands of pages of manuals and documents. We were humbled and gratified at the willingness of denominational leaders with whom we had little or no previous contact, to engage with us, and share their resources and experiences. The majority of the committee’s recommendations were adopted, but it is one thing to adopt, and quite another to implement, particularly when it meant changing the ways to which we had become accustomed. We learned about financing church plants from the Southern Baptists, how to structure pension plans and planned giving from the Missouri Synod Lutherans. We learned about how to be welcome new congregations from the Conference of Conservative Congregation Churches. Virtually all of these denominations offered insights into funding foreign ministries, building successful home missions, and utilizing digital communications. While some of the practices of others were “non-starters” for the RCUS, a surprising number were solid, practical, and financially responsible. The most visible change you may have noticed is our new website, specifically designed to welcome those inquiring about joining a conservative, Reformed denomination. A new Communications Committee built a social media presence on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. We designed a new logo featuring our founding date of 1725, anticipating our 300th Anniversary in 2025. We collected emails from all church officers – not just delegates to synod – and regularly communicate broadly about the activities and ongoing needs of the church. We sought out digital experts who helped make our website a destination that now gets several times as many visits as denominations many times our size. Synod established a Welcoming Committee to handle inquiries received from our website. Those inquiries have already resulted in the addition of a new church and ministers who found out about pulpit vacancies on our site. Committees began meeting monthly, becoming much more active. Our Finance Committee has brought on a part-time development director to meet with those interested in planning a legacy for the ministries of the church. To be sure, we have a long way to go. The 2022 Synod encouraged our Home Missions Committee to revisit the Special Committee report with a goal in view of finding ways to plant churches more effectively. The Orthodox Presbyterian Church has regional Home Missionaries who travel from home mission to home mission, proactively encouraging the congregations to give and to evangelize. The Southern Baptists require a church planter to be trained in church planting before going on the field. The Associate Reformed Presbyterians look for locations where a church can reasonably foresee growing to 300-500 members, and to insist that these new churches then engage in church-planting themselves. If a home mission does not grow annually in numbers or giving, the Presbyterian Church in America pulls funding and invests their resources elsewhere. The Southern Baptists are, surprisingly, even more strict. The church planter, after being trained, must find a church to “sponsor” him, paying his salary. He must then find people to fill four key roles before the work can be designated as a Southern Baptist church. They are: 1) a facilities person, who finds a location to meet and and secures chairs, a piano, hymn books, etc., 2) someone to run the Sunday School program, 3) someone to oversee music, from the pianist (or whatever instrument is available) to the children’s choir, and 4) a finance person who opens the checking account, makes deposits and – most interestingly – sits down with the core families and the proposed budget and asks for commitments for the year. In other words, the nation’s largest Protestant denomination provides church-planter training, Sunday School materials, etc, but seldom direct funding. It works for them, but that doesn’t mean it will work for us. What almost certainly would work is requiring members in the church plant to share the workload instead of leaving everything to the pastor and his wife. What clearly does not work is investing funding in a prospective church plant whose members aren’t interested in inviting people to church, sharing the work, or making a financial commitment. The Welcoming Committee reports, perhaps surprisingly to some, that most of those contacting the RCUS through the website rarely even mention funding. They are looking for a church that is faithful. That, of course, should be encouraging to us. Our “growth problem” is not, primarily, a financial one. We simply were not reaching out and welcoming those of like faith eager to be part of a confessional, sound Reformed denomination. Thankfully, that is changing. I would encourage your prayers for those serving on the Welcoming Committee as they come alongside inquiring groups. Pray for the dedicated brothers on our Home Missions Committee as they labor to foster home mission congregations committed to building a genuinely Reformed witness in their communities. Remember the brethren on the Finance Committee who are implementing many of these “best practices,” to ensure we are careful and productive stewards of the resources God has entrusted to us. None of us want to be the steward who buried his talent. The pandemic had as much to do with our improved use of technology as our intentional acts. We learned to livestream, we learned to communicate remotely, and we learned that these new skills can continue to be useful in spreading the gospel and growing churches. City Seminary and Heidelberg Theological Seminary, two schools closely associated with the RCUS, adopted online classes. Today, they continue offering online classes – in the Philippines and throughout Latin America. They use Zoom, Google Classroom, and WhatsApp, enabling students around the globe to train for the gospel ministry. Online giving became the norm in many congregations, often resulting in a growth in giving. We’re more informed than ever before about our mission partners like Westminster Biblical Missions, Reformed Faith and Life, etc., and diaconal works such as Hope Haven. The world has changed remarkably in the last two years, and yet we are still the RCUS. We are, if anything, more committed to our confessions. Our pastors and elders, though wearied, have not faltered. We are acutely aware that for 297 years, our Reformed Church has persevered, though not without struggles. We stand in a long line of those who sacrificed and labored so that there would be a Reformed Church for their children and grandchildren. We feel the weight of it, but it has also strengthened our resolve. And like those who have carried the banner in generation after generation, we know that we persevere only by the grace of our Sovereign God.
Predestination is the doctrine that the sovereignty of God determines the eternal destiny of all things, including the salvation of souls. It is a sometimes controversial doctrine, and there are many different interpretations of it. It is most commonly associated with the writings of St.Paul, Augustine, John Calvin, and Martin Luther.
Some people believe that predestination means that God has chosen an elect people to be saved, giving them the gift of faith in Christ and His substitutionary sacrifice on the cross, while passing over others, leaving them in their sin and unbelief. Others believe that predestination means that God has chosen to save all people, but that some people will reject his salvation. Still others believe that predestination means that God has chosen to save some people, but that he will not force them to accept his salvation.
The doctrine of predestination is based on the Bible, which teaches that God is sovereign and that he has a plan for the universe. The Bible also teaches that God is loving and merciful, and that he wants all people to be saved. How then, can God allow some people to perish?
A Protestant principle of Bible interpretation, or hermeneutics, is that “Scripture interprets Scripture.” This means that verses are not to be interpreted in isolation, but within the context of the whole Bible. What the Bible teaches, in both the Old Testament and New, is that we are born sinful, a result of the fall into sin of our first parents, Adam and Eve, in the Garden of Eden. This is called the doctrine of Original Sin. To make matters worse, we increase our guilt by sinning in thought and deed every day. In fact, the Bible says we are ethically “dead in our trespasses and sin.” Since all have sinned, all are guilty and condemned to eternal punishment. The story doesn’t end there, however, but unfolds into the glorious story of redemption, made possible when God’s Son offered His own life on the cross to redeem us from the guilt and power of sin, if only we believe.
So where does predestination fit into this story? The Bible says that, even though all have sinned, God has graciously given the gift of faith in Christ to His chosen people, enabling them to repent of their sins and be forgiven. In the fourth chapter of Ephesians, St. Paul explains this doctrine:
““Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will….”
Ephesians 1:3-5 NKJV
The doctrine of predestination can be a difficult doctrine to understand, and it can be either a source of comfort or anxiety, depending on how it is interpreted. It is important to remember that the doctrine of predestination is not the only doctrine in the Bible, and that it is also not the most important doctrine. The most important doctrine is the doctrine of salvation, which teaches that Jesus Christ died on the cross to save His people from their sins.
The biblical doctrine of predestination is most commonly associated today with Reformed and Presbyterian churches. If you would like to explore how the sovereignty of God and predestination can be a comfort to the believer, a good introductory book is The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination, by Loraine Boettner. A free audio version is available here.
"The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, And night unto night reveals knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard."
(Ps. 19:1-3)
Well, the weather has been a bit frigid so far this winter. The snowstorms seemed to correspond perfectly with our plans for trips into Sioux Falls to pick up friends and family from the airport. Now that made for some interesting travel! After the several days of bitter cold, the many inches of snow falling over all surfaces, the driving wind piling that same snow into four foot tall snow drifts in the yard; after all this, it was indeed a pleasant relief to enjoy temps in the mid 20’s, the bright shining snow and calm skies. God is good. In the “heat of the day” of these recent days, my lovely wife and I enjoyed pleasant strolls around town. We were amazed at the glorious crystalized frost flakes from the morning fog; at the symmetrical patterns in the snow drifts, and even at the beautifying effect of the pure white snow upon an otherwise brown landscape. These are but a few of the multitude of evidences of which the Psalmist speaks in this 19th Psalm of the testimony of God concerning Himself. God shows us a glimpse of Himself in the creation which is all around us. Now we must be careful, this psalm is not saying that creation is God, nor is it saying that creation is “just like” God. Rather, in this psalm we hear King David contemplate the many ways in which creation “speaks” the words of God to all people. God is not silent. So far from being silent is God, that the psalm speaks of a virtual shouting whereby the word of God is declared clearly, boldly, and universally across the globe. This is called “general revelation”; that is, all of creation actively proclaims the truth about the nature of God, so much so that the wonder of God cannot be honestly denied. The Apostle Paul picks up this line of thought in the first chapter to the Romans:
For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools. (Rom 1:20-22)
Verse two of this 19th Psalm reminds us that this speech, or utterance, or revelation of God is continuously being set upon display. True knowledge of God is being shown. All of creation shows us something of the wonder, glory, faithfulness of our God! Every time that we witness the wonder of God, in its beauty, severity, or awesome power; it is as if we are seeing God declare to us afresh:“I am here and I have shown Myself in all of my power and glory.” The Dutch theologian, Abraham Kuyper (1837-1920) is famously remembered for his insight into God and His creation with these words:“There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, Mine!’ Often times we look upon the glory of the sunset, or the won- der of the summer skies, and see the handiwork of God. This is good, the heavens indeed declare the glory of God. But let’s not stop there, but with fresh eyes look all about us, as every facet of creation speaks clearly, and to all, the wonder of our creator God. The big picture, as well as the minutia, proclaim the wonders of the Lord. It is easy to be overwhelmed by the added struggles of living with the cold and storms; but this is just a brief encouragement to take a closer look, and to consider what we truly learn about God, as we witness His handiwork today. Have a blessed week.
After 40 years or so in our facility, the consistory last year voted to undertake a significant renovation. Under the leadership of deacon Al Esquivel, we installed new lighting and glass interior doors; we repainted, stained, and upholstered our pews. The transformation is stunning and has been well received by both members and visitors. Instead of renting another facility, we followed our practice during COVID and met outdoors in our parking lot during construction, shaded by pop-up tents. We had the usual interruptions and distractions. Squirrels playing behind Pastor Walker’s back, running to and fro and up into the tree that overhung the parking lot. Menacing black bees taking an interest in Pastor Walker’s sermon notes. David Voytek, our much-appreciated summer intern, referencing the “mighty rushing wind” in Acts 2 after a mighty rushing wind uprooted several of the tents and threatened to take them into another neighborhood. Police chasing a driver down the adjacent street, siren-a blazing. A party next door competing with our hymn singing with renditions of “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” and “Row Your Boat.” Needless to say, we were quite happy to make it back into our remodeled facility. One side benefit of the renovation is that our young ladies are now happy to get married at the church rather than looking for another venue. The previous wood paneling was notorious for providing a garish orange background for those all-important wedding photos. 2022 had its difficulties and sorrows as well. We had to erase members who left us; Some over our policies taken during COVID. Others moved away because it has become challenging to find affordable housing, especially for our young families. The Lord has been gracious, however. We welcomed new members and installed Matt Daffern as our new deacon. May the Lord grant his grace and blessing to all our churches in 2023.
Recent Comments