Part 12 in a series of Sunday posts celebrating the glorious Truth we believe as Christians. The readings are quoted from the Elder Affirmation of Faith, of my church, Bethlehem Baptist (Pastor John Piper). I’m doing this because every few weeks our congregational reading is an excerpt from this document, and every time we all read aloud the truths we confess, my soul rejoices. I pray these posts will aid you in worshiping our Lord on His day.
Christ’s Church and Her Ordinances
We believe in the one universal Church, composed of all those, in every time and place, who are chosen in Christ and united to Him through faith by the Spirit in one Body, with Christ Himself as the all-supplying, all-sustaining, all-supreme, and all-authoritative Head. We believe that the ultimate purpose of the Church is to glorify God in the everlasting and ever-increasing gladness of worship.
We believe it is God’s will that the universal Church find expression in local churches in which believers agree together to hear the Word of God proclaimed, to engage in corporate worship, to practice the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper, to build each other’s faith through the manifold ministries of love, to hold each other accountable in the obedience of faith through Biblical discipline, and to engage in local and world evangelization. The Church is a body in which each member should find a suitable ministry for His gifts; it is the household of God in which the Spirit dwells; it is the pillar and bulwark of God’s truth in a truth-denying world; and it is a city set on a hill so that men may see the light of its good deeds — especially to the poor — and give glory to the Father in heaven.
We believe that baptism is an ordinance of the Lord by which those who have repented and come to faith express their union with Christ in His death and resurrection, by being immersed in water in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. It is a sign of belonging to the new people of God, the true Israel, and an emblem of burial and cleansing, signifying death to the old life of unbelief, and purification from the pollution of sin.
We believe that the Lord’s Supper is an ordinance of the Lord in which gathered believers eat bread, signifying Christ’s body given for His people, and drink the cup of the Lord, signifying the New Covenant in Christ’s blood. We do this in remembrance of the Lord, and thus proclaim His death until He comes. Those who eat and drink in a worthy manner partake of Christ’s body and blood, not physically, but spiritually, in that, by faith, they are nourished with the benefits He obtained through His death, and thus grow in grace.
We believe that each local church should recognize and affirm the divine calling of spiritually qualified men to give leadership to the church through the role of pastor-elder in the ministry of the Word and prayer. Women are not to fill the role of pastor-elder in the local church, but are encouraged to use their gifts in appropriate roles that edify the body of Christ and spread the gospel.
*Taken from the Bethlehem Baptist Church Elder Affirmation of Faith, paragraphs 12.1 – 12.5. You are free to download the entire affirmation [pdf] complete with Scriptural proofs for the above statements.
Bob
this is good stuff here!
Thanks for sharing it so we can come into your facility, your heart at Bethlehem Bapist and experience Christ from afar.
One part of the first bit, let me quote and then I will point to a verse and then some that excites me everything I think about it seeing I have read it numerous times!
The quote: “and ever-increasing gladness of worship.”
The verse:
1Ch 16:31 Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice, and let them say among the nations, “The LORD reigns!”
My emphasis, “yes and amen” is, let the Holy Christian Church both in Heaven where many have gone on before and those of us here now ever-increase the worship to Our God to such a degree that King David’s insight is magnified significantly more than it is being now increased that the heavens God created indeed are glad and the earth rejoices and men around the world in every nation declare “the Lord Reigns!”
Here’s a few good reasons why I preach these things:
Psa 2:1 Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?
Psa 2:2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying,
Psa 2:3 “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.”
Psa 2:4 He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision.
Psa 2:5 Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying,
Psa 2:6 “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.”
Psa 2:7 I will tell of the decree: The LORD said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you.
Psa 2:8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.
Psa 2:9 You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”
That not good enough?
Well, will this help?
Psa 46:1 To the choirmaster. Of the Sons of Korah. According to Alamoth. A Song. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Psa 46:2 Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,
Psa 46:3 though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah
Psa 46:4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High.
Psa 46:5 God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns.
Psa 46:6 The nations rage, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts.
Psa 46:7 The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah
So King David did say: let the heavens be Glad, right?
Ok, so you are not convinced that God can do this on the earth in every nation, huh?
Ok, will this increase the determination then?
Psa 110:1 A Psalm of David. The LORD says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.”
Psa 110:2 The LORD sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your enemies!
Psa 110:3 Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power, in holy garments; from the womb of the morning, the dew of your youth will be yours.
Psa 110:4 The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind, “You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.”
Psa 110:5 The Lord is at your right hand; he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath.
Psa 110:6 He will execute judgment among the nations, filling them with corpses; he will shatter chiefs over the wide earth.
Psa 110:7 He will drink from the brook by the way; therefore he will lift up his head.
So courage is coming is it to rise up and reign with Christ Jesus our Lord, ok, well, here’s some more encouragement:
Psa 149:5 Let the godly exult in glory; let them sing for joy on their beds.
Psa 149:6 Let the high praises of God be in their throats and two-edged swords in their hands,
Psa 149:7 to execute vengeance on the nations and punishments on the peoples,
Psa 149:8 to bind their kings with chains and their nobles with fetters of iron,
Psa 149:9 to execute on them the judgment written! This is honor for all his godly ones. Praise the LORD!
Maybe that is not enough for you, but these Words of God seems to me to be a good enough reason for me to live my life in such a way that daily the Life of Christ is exalted through mine, aaah, ok, a little, but, I too am focused on those words now from your posted readings you “do” at Bethlehem Bapist:
…the ultimate purpose of the Church is to glorify God in the everlasting and ever-increasing gladness of worship.!!!
Michael
Ok, ok, ok, can I hear an Amen?
Ah, Baptist Church, you are writing to a Baptist, not a Pentacostal, they don’t raise their voice loud like Pentacostals! 🙂
“We believe in the one universal Church, composed of all those, in every time and place, who are chosen in Christ and united to Him through faith by the Spirit in one Body, with Christ Himself as the all-supplying, all-sustaining, all-supreme, and all-authoritative Head. We believe that the ultimate purpose of the Church is to glorify God in the everlasting and ever-increasing gladness of worship.”
I’ve heard this concept of the Universal Church is taught at Fairhaven, but I am curious where the proof text comes from? This is not a doctrine that I see in the Bible. Each local Church is referred to as the Body of Christ, not all believers that ever lived (otherwise if my church were a foot and yours a nose, we could never accomplish anything). A proof text or prior post for explanation would be great! Thanks brother!
“Women are not to fill the role of pastor-elder in the local church, but are encouraged to use their gifts in appropriate roles that edify the body of Christ and spread the gospel.”
Amen!!!
Michael,
I’m glad you enjoyed the post. Oh, and we Baptists do say Amen sometimes!
DG Scott,
Thanks for your question about the universal church. I figured this might come up.
I challenge you to look up the topic in virtually any Systematic Theology, they will discuss it.
Keep in mind church is synonymous with bride, body, building, vine and other images in Scripture. So don’t limit your study to just instances of “ekklesia”.
Here are some verses which it seems most simple to view them of speaking of the church in a universal sense.
Mat 16:18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Rom 12:4 For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function,
Rom 12:5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
1Co 10:32 Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God,
Gal 1:13 For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it.
Eph 1:22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church,
Eph 1:23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
Eph 2:19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,
Eph 2:20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone,
Eph 2:21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.
Eph 2:22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
Eph 3:21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
Eph 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,
Eph 5:26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,
Eph 5:27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.
Col 1:17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
Col 1:18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.
Heb 12:22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering,
Heb 12:23 and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect,
1Ti 3:15 if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth.
The most natural understanding of these verses is that the church is spoken of in a spiritual sense for all the people of God — God’s institution here on earth.
Blessings,
Bob Hayton
Also, church is often used geographically in Scripture. The church, here or there. So sometimes the term isn’t referring to one specific church (as we think of it), but of many grouped in one locale. Ryrie deals with this issue in his theology as does Grudem.
Also again 1 Cor. 10:32 is especially strong for universal church.
Hey Bob,
Good post…(other than the baptism part) of course, I’m a paedo-baptist. But I am curious of the words you used in regard to the “sacraments.” You spoke of them as ordinances and then expressed the idea of the “spiritual” presence of Christ in the Supper. Is there a reason you refer to them as ordinances, rather than sacraments?
Gage Browning
Post Tenebras Lux
Gage,
The wording comes from our church’s elder affirmation of faith. So I’m sure the elders had a reason for ordinance not sacrament. Part of that may stem from our being Baptist. Our church does teach that there is a spiritual presence of Christ in Communion.
“Sacrament” carries with it connotations of Catholic ideas about infused holiness and the idea that the act of communion itself conveys grace, irrespective of a spiritual participation with the ceremony in the heart of the believer. Of course “sacrament” may be used often by Reformed or other churches without that idea of communion. But the word is a little “scary” to Baptists, I think.
Personally, I don’t mind it, and wish we could redeem that word.
Thanks for bringing up that point,
Bob
PS I hope you know that I’m sympathetic to the Reformed view of baptism. I’m not a “big B” baptist anymore. 😉
Hey Bob,
You know I understand your sentiment about the word “sacrament”. Surely, since the Reformers used the word, it’s not necessarily “Catholic” (Roman). It’s just suprising to see the word “ordinance” used by those who believes in the spiritual presence. That phrase “spiritual presence” I would have thought was “scary” for baptists as well. It’s not very “baptistic” to hold to spiritual presence.
Let’s steal back the word!
Gage Browning
Post Tenebras Lux