Dr Greg Bahnsen - How to Choose/Leave a Church: How to Choose a Church, Pt 2 (Acts 20) (Part 2)

Morning we continue in a discourse that was begun last Lord's day on the subject of how to choose a church. We're going to continue this next Sunday as well as we discuss how to leave a church, and so that we have the whole story in front of us. But this morning we continue the beginning of our short series on churchmanship by looking at ACTS, the 20th chapter, ACTS, chapter 20, and the topic how to choose a church. Now begin the reading of God's word at Acts 20, verse 7. Hear this, as it is the word of our God. And upon the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul discoursed with them, intending to depart on the morrow, and prolonged his speech until midnight. And there were many lights in the upper chamber where we were gathered together. And there sat in the window a certain young man named Eutychus, borne down with deep sleep. And as Paul discoursed yet longer, being borne down by his sleep, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead. And Paul went down and fell on him, and embracing him, said, make ye no ado, for his life is in him. And when he was gone up, and had broken the bread, and eaten, and had talked with them a long while, even till break of day, so he departed, and they brought the lad alive, and were not a little comforted. But we, going before to the ship, set sail for Assos there, intending to take in Paul, for so had he appointed, intending himself to go by land. And when he met us at Asius, we took him in and came to Mitylene. And sailing from thence, we came the following day over against Caius. And the next day we touched at Samos. And the day after we came to Miletus. For Paul had determined to sail past Ephesus, that he might not have to spend time in Asia, for he was hastening, if it were possible for him to be at Jerusalem the day of Pentecost. And from Meletus he sent to Ephesus, and called to him the elders of the church. And when they were come to him, he said unto them, ye yourselves know from the first day that I set foot in Asia, after what manner I was with you all the time, serving the Lord with all lowliness of mind and with tears, and with trials which befell me by the plots of the Jews, how I shrank not from declaring unto you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly, and from house to house, testifying both to Jews and to Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. And now behold, I Go bound in the Spirit unto Jerusalem. And not knowing the things that shall befall me there. Save that the Holy Spirit testifieth unto me in every city. Saying that bonds and afflictions abide me. But I hold not my life of any account as dear unto myself. So that I may accomplish my course in the ministry. Which I receive from the Lord Jesus to testify the gospel of the grace of God. And now behold, I know that ye all among whom I went about preaching the kingdom. And shall see my face no more. Wherefore I testify unto you this day that I am pure from the blood of all men. For I shrank not from declaring unto you the whole counsel of God. Take heed unto yourselves and to all the flock. In which the Holy Spirit hath made you overseers to feed the church of the Lord. Which he purchased with his own blood. I know that after my departing, grievous wolves shall enter in among you, not sparing the flock and. And from among your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after them. Wherefore watch ye, remembering that by the space of three years I cease not to admonish everyone night and day with tears. And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace. Which is able to build you up and give you the inheritance among all them that are sanctified. I coveted no man's silver or gold or apparel. Ye yourselves know that these hands ministered unto my necessities. And to them that were with me in all things. I gave you an example. That so laboring ye ought to help the weak. And to remember the words of the Lord Jesus. That he himself said, it is more blessed to give than to receive. And when he had thus spoken, he kneeled down and prayed with them all. And they all wept sore. And fell on Paul's neck and kissed him, sorrowing most of all for the word which he had spoken. And that they should behold his face no more. And they brought him on his way unto the ship. And thus far the reading of God's word. Well, we've really done it now. We've begun a discussion which we haven't finished and really can't finish until we say a few more things which may prove to be just a bit provocative or controversial. Certainly will prove to be out of the ordinary. Not your garden variety kind of comment. We're going to be talking about things that impinge upon our feelings about the Church. How we relate to the Church and how others relate to the Church. And it's just in this area I suggested last week that people don't like to have absolute standards imposed on them. It's just in this area that our culture would have us believe that the choice of a church is like the choice of a breakfast cereal. We may not particularly approve of people eating Cocoa Puffs, but we don't get particularly upset. We wouldn't break fellowship with them over their breakfast cereal. We would like to believe that there's a sense of democratic charity expressed toward everybody and so that we don't take take a condemning attitude or a censorious attitude. We aren't in any sense negative toward the religious affiliation of our neighbor or even more of his or her denominational choice. I suggested to you last week that that attitude, though it is prevalent in American culture and may make for peace between people in some ways, does not make for peace with God. And that's because Jesus Christ, Christ is the Lord and the only Lord and head of the Church, and He rules that church by His Word. And when those who claim to be the Church of Jesus Christ or are making efforts to perform as the Church of Jesus Christ depart from His Word, that's not a minor, insignificant matter. And it's not a minor, insignificant matter to those who do follow Jesus Christ in purity and love. You see, to declare that Jesus is the head of the church and sets the rules for the church. But it's really a matter of indifference to me if people want to depart from them is to say it's a matter of indifference to me whether Jesus is head of the church, whether his authority and direction is honored and recognized or not. And so we continue, then, a consideration of what may prove to be something of a controversial subject, but one which is still governed by the Word of God. And those who honor the Word of God will want to pay heed what makes an organization a church. We do a little review from last week. I suggested to you that there are five things which, if any, are lacking. You do not have a Church of Jesus Christ. You may have an intervarsity Christian fellowship. You may have a woman's Bible study fellowship. You may have a nice friendly Christian organization of one sort or another. But you don't have the church unless you have, first and foremost, adherence to apostolic doctrine. In addition to adherence to apostolic doctrine, there is the administration of the New Covenant Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper. There is, among those who adhere to this apostolic doctrine and celebrate the New Covenant Sacraments, a fellowship in worship and mutual concern. I suggested to you that though this is not a prevailing view, perhaps among many in our own denomination, I think it is a biblical view that if you were to have true doctrine and the celebration of the sacraments and yet a total lack of fellowship and mutual concern, so that the poor were utterly neglected and those who were in any kind of need were just turned indifferently turned away from, I would suggest you don't have the Church of Jesus Christ. The Apostle John would certainly not recognize such an organization as a church. He would say you are rather liars when you say you love God and show no better love towards your brother. Fourthly, there must be evangelistic outreach. A church that does not evangelize. And I'm not talking about any particular mode of evangelism, whether the four spiritual laws are used, whether the four spiritual laws are condemned, whether there's door to door calling, whether there are mass rallies or telephone campaigns. I'm just saying that the church must be interested in fulfilling the greatest of the commissions given to it. And that is to disciple the nations. And then fifthly, the church is marked. Perhaps I should correct myself. The church ought to be marked by discipline in purity, harmony and good order. One of the marks of the Church is the government of the Church. That there are officers in the church that are submissive to the rule of Jesus Christ by his word, and who do impose, and I say that in a loving way, impose purity, harmony, in good order on the body. Now, last week we read from the Westminster Confession of Faith showing that there were in fact prevailing marks of the Church of Jesus Christ. We also read from our Book of Church Order as a denomination where our form of government says that there are greater and lesser degrees of purity among the various bodies that are churches of Jesus Christ. And that we should in all good charity, recognizing the holy Catholic Church, honor those which have those marks of the Church, even if they should be of various degrees of purpose, purity in any of those areas. However, there are some bodies which have so degenerated in one or the other of the marks of the Church as to no longer be called churches of Jesus Christ, but in some cases actually synagogues of Satan. And as our form of government teaches us, to have fellowship with such bodies is in fact disloyalty to the Lord of the Church. It is spiritual adultery. And so we are called upon to separate from unholy bodies which, though they profess to be churches of Jesus Christ, do not show the marks of the Church. So in brief, what we saw last week is that there are five major marks of the church and that true churches will have all five, but will not necessarily have all five in the same intensity or degree of purity. There may be emphases, maybe hobby horses are ridden, are going to be followed in one church or another, and then between churches, the overall evaluation on all five of those points may vary as well. How then do we choose a church? Well, what standard should we use? The standard that is used today is pretty much a standard of what pleases me. And what is contrast convenient. The standard however that we ought to use, I suggested, is the word of Jesus Christ himself as the head of the church regarding the church and decisions about the church, we are obligated to use scripture as our standard, not our personal preferences. Now this is the wrong church to tell that to. I mean we of all people on earth are certainly the ones who proclaim our adherence to the Sola scriptura above all, don't we? And so that was really just wasted time last week, wasn't it? No, because a little self examination shows us, shows me that we are all prone to let personal preferences and cultural attitudes determine what we say about the choice of a church. That it's just in this particular place that Calvinists and those adherents of the Reformation should want scripture to dominate, that we tend to put scripture on the shelf. We tend to say, well yeah, we know the Bible says that, but which of course is the greatest of the devices of the Pharisees to avoid what God's law tells them. Jesus indicts the Pharisees because the word of God says, but you say by your tradition, and I want to suggest to you this morning, the word of God says some things about the church which is directly contrary to our traditions, personal and cultural. The example of the Apostle Paul From Acts the 20th chapter, I think is normative for us here. Paul was quite a churchman. He was interested in the life of the church. He was willing to give his life, life for the well being of the church. He labored, he said, so that he might present the church to Christ, a spotless bride. Paul was very earnest about the church, so much so that he would preach all night long. And I suggest that Eutychus, though he may be the source of humor among us, is not the example for how people should hear the apostolic preaching of the word. And Paul was so concerned with those Ephesian elders that though he could only go as far as Miletus, he called to them to come to him from Ephesus so that he might exhort them one more time. And there's of course that touching scene there where they realize they'll see his face no more. And they wept bitterly for that. They loved Paul and he loved them. And the example of Paul, as we see in Acts 20, shows the regular administration of the sacraments. When they met on the first day of the week, they broke bread. The Lord's Supper was not an occasional matter for the early church. It has become so in the 20th century church, especially in many reformed circles. There was a prolonged exposition of God's truth, as we've already seen. And then in verse 20, remember how Paul says that he is free from the blood of all men because he did not fail to proclaim the whole counsel of God. Evangelistic fervor is evident as Paul goes door to door proclaiming repentance toward God. God. There's oversight by the elders who are now to discipline and protect the flock from those who will enter in and from among them, draw away the disciples and a ministry of mercy to those in need. Because we remember how it's more blessed to give than to receive. The example Acts 20, of course, is just one slice from New Testament history. However, we do see in that particular slice these dominant elements that we've already talked about as the marks of the church. And so what principle should govern the choice of a church? Well, first and foremost, we have to make sure that the candidates we're looking at when we're trying to choose a church are churches. And that seems to be an obvious point we should be able to go on. But let me elaborate just for a moment because you see, if we believe that there are in fact marks of the church of Jesus Christ, not everybody who claims to be a church is a church. Even as in the early days of Christianity, not everything that was called the Gospel was the gospel, and not everyone who claimed to be an apostle was an apostle. And so not everything that claims to be a church is a church. In a similar manner, there are denominations within the Christian fold. And that idea of denominations calls for some explanation, explanation and some clarification. Because having once recognized that Baptist and Presbyterians and Episcopalians, all in one way or another historically and lay claim to being Christian churches, many people start, elaborate, go beyond and say, well, okay, well then Unitarians, they're a denomination among Christians too. And Roman Catholics, they're a denomination among Christians too, aren't they? And the answer to that is surprisingly perhaps, but is firmly no, they are not. What is a denomination? I think the easiest analogy is the denomination within our currency. If you were to open up your wallet, probably not mine. But if you were to open up your wallet today, you would find a variety of denominations of bills in there. You might have a $10 bill and a $5 bill and a $1 bill among some of us, maybe even $50 bills or $100 bills. And even if we don't have them, we know they exist. There are many denominations and all of them pass as currency within our particular culture. Those are denominations within the currency of the culture. And you could say the same thing about coins as well. They too count as denominations. Now, the important thing that you see here is that indicates that there are variations or degrees within a particular currency. Now, when I recognize another church as a denomination, I'm saying they're trading in the same currency theologically, that they are of the same general order as I am. Is the Hare Ka group a denomination within Christianity? Now, we don't have any trouble with that example, do we? Of course not, because they aren't Christians don't claim to be Christians. Of course, if you knew the theology of the Hare Christians, you'd know that in one sense they do claim to be Christians. But nevertheless, outwardly they're a separate group and nobody thinks of them as denomination. What determines that? They don't trade in our theology. They're not in the same general league with us as to our ideology, our worldview view, our teaching about God and man and how to be saved. Well, how now the Roman Catholic Church. Is the Roman Catholic Church a denomination among the Christians? Well, if you're running for office in our political spectrum, you probably would have to say yes if you wanted to stand much of a chance of acceptance in this culture. But if we are to be true to our conception here, the fact is that the reason we have Protestant churches is because Roman Catholicism was not trading in Christian currency. The teaching of the Roman Catholic Church and the practice of the Roman Catholic Church was apostate. And for that reason, the church required reform. And not just reform within it isn't just a little bit of window dressing. The church needed. It needed a new edifice. It needed to be rebuilt. It needed to be placed now upon the foundation of Christ and the apostles. And so the Roman Catholic Church does not deal in gospel currency. It teaches salvation by personal merit. Oh, that isn't to say you won't hear talk about salvation by grace through faith in the Roman Catholic Church, but what you have to press beyond and ask about is who receives the grace of God. Well, it turns out that the those who receive the grace of God, not just at the time of the Council of Trent, but even to this very day, even after Vatican I and Vatican ii, those who receive the grace of God are those who by their life and by the loveliness of their character, attract the attention of God, who by their congruent merit have God then give them his grace. And that was appalling to the Protestant Reformers, and it ought to be appalling to us. Paul said any other gospel than the gospel he brought was to be accursed. It was certainly accursed in the eyes of God and will be by God's people. Roman Catholicism, then, is not a Christian denomination because Roman Catholicism is not Christian. Those are words that you'll probably not find in many pulpits today, but they are words that need to be spoken today and adhered to. The Unitarian Church, as they say, is likewise not a Christian church because it denies the Trinity. It denies the deity of Christ and his saving merits. And so these are not denominations, however, at least historically, we would say that the Lutheran Church and the Episcopal Church, the Methodist Church, the Baptist Church, we can give other examples. Examples would be denominations among Christians. Now, the fact that they all trade in the same currency, the fact that you can hear the Gospel in the preaching of these denominations or the gospel shines forth in their creedal declarations, does not mean that all are the same. We have American currency, right? But there's clearly a difference between a $10 bill and a $1 bill. There are stronger and weaker forms of the currency, more valuable and less valuable forms of the currency. And now if you're following it all and your mind is not drifting at this point, you're thinking, now wait a minute. This is leading up to saying that the Orthodox Presbyterian Church is the highest form of currency. Right? Right. If that weren't true, we wouldn't be here, I trust. I mean, that's why we are drawn to this particular, first of all, general denominational structure. We, we are drawn to Reformed churches because we believe Reformed doctrine. We are drawn to Presbyterian and Reformed churches because we believe Presbyterianism is the biblical form of church government. And I take it that we're drawn to this particular denomination, one, because of its discipline and two, because of its adherence and purity to the Westminster Confession of Faith as an expression of Reformation truth, Biblical truth. And so, lest anybody think at this point they can embarrass us by trying to make us out to be somehow too proud, the fact of the matter is that the Orthodox Presbyterian Church expresses the marks of the church in greater and lesser degrees of purity and in some places, the degree of purity of discipline is notoriously low. And in some places, the degree of evangelistic fervor is notoriously low. And so the Orthodox Presbyterian Church is not heaven on earth, and it's not even close to heaven on earth. But like Noah may have said in the ark, consider the alternatives. We may not like living with all these animals, but the fact of the matter is, outside of this particular place, things are a lot worse. And so understand me properly. If we believe in denominations in the sense of greater and lesser degrees of purity in Christian or Gospel currency, there is going to be some church that strikes us as being somewhat better than other churches. And that's the sort of church we ought to be drawn to, it seems to me. So which church should we choose? Now that we've got this idea of denominations down and the idea of currency, and then choosing the best of the currency, the most powerful of the currency, I want to ask this question. I want to pose the question, where should the consideration of doctrine fall in our priorities? We have had, in our own particular experience as a congregation, kind of a varied reaction on a particular point that I'm going to use for illustrative purposes this morning. And that's the form of worship that we follow. And if I were to be an Aristotelian and believe in the ethic of the golden mean, I'd be very happy this morning. Because we must be the golden mean, it seems, because we've had people who said they wanted to join with another church because we were far too rigid, far too formal, far too structured. We've also had people who have desired to join with other bodies because we're far too loose, far too informal, not nearly liturgical enough. I mean, we've heard this from both sides. That doesn't make us necessarily right. I'm joking with you about this golden mean, but I want to use that particular illustration. How should we evaluate a church when it comes to doctrine and style of worship? Now, there are a lot of different styles of worship. You've noticed that this morning I am not wearing a coat. For most of this summer, I have not worn a coat. Now, there are some churches where that informality, if you want to consider it, that informality would be considered disrespectful to the word of God. It would not be conducive to a sense of the majesty and awesomeness of God from the pulpit. You may also have noticed that we meet in a woman's club. We know. In fact, it's sometimes very evident to us that sometimes, the day before, some things were going on in here that were not at all like what the church is supposed to be like? It's left for us that way sometimes. And so this building is not a particularly attractive building. It's certainly not stained glass windows and high Gothic architecture and all the rest. Now, if it were the case that we had a church just like this one, hopefully there isn't such. But if we had a church just like this one, with the exception that they had a very beautiful building and their preacher never took off his coat, would this be a biblical reason to switch from this church to another? I pose an even more important question. What if we had a church that's not just like this one, but as a matter of fact very different when it comes to its preaching and to its doctrinal adherence? What if we have a church that teaches doctrine which is at variance with ours, but it is a church that is more suitable to your likings and to its worship style. It uses, let's say, a very informal setting. The order of service is determined by the wants of the people or how, as it's piously put, the spirit moves at the time. Or on the other hand, you have a church that has great high formality, clerical robes and say, a book of worship that is followed. Now, where should we put this consideration of doctrine over against the consideration of worship style? That's the question I put before you. And I'd like to have you open your Bibles for a little study of this particular matter. First of all, you'll notice in the worship of scripture as scripture sets it before us, throughout the history of redemption, worship turns out to be a response to the presence of God in his word and in his saving activity. Worship is a response to the presence of God in his word and saving activity. People don't get together and just try to dream up a form of worship. Well, I take that back. They do. We see a very good example of that in the case of Aaron leading the people in the absence of Moses while he was up on the mount receiving from God instruction about how he should be served. And at that point the people decide that they're going to worship Jehovah, not a false God. In fact, this is something that must constantly be drilled into the heads of modern day Christians. The story of the golden calf has nothing to do with following false gods. The golden calf was Jehovah to the Hebrews. They thought that if they could have a form that would be similar to their neighbors, to be sure, but would be Jehovah. As far as their concern that this would please God, it was golden. After all, you know, it took a lot of money to make that, a lot of time. There was a lot of religious fervor involved. Now in modern day America, what do we make of our golden calves? I mean, if it's costly and if people are sincere and a lot of time goes into it, then it must be good. But it wasn't good. And God condemned the people for the incident, the golden calf. Because worship is not dictated by the whims and imaginations of men. It is dictated by the word of God. If Scripture does not direct us to worship God in this way, then we, we are doing what is wrong. Worship is a response to God's word. The word of God is central to worship. We see this in the synagogue pattern of the Jews, at least in the intertestamental and New Testament periods. In the experience of Jesus. For instance, in Luke the fourth chapter, Jesus goes to the synagogue on the sabbath day. And listen to these words in Luke 4, beginning at the 16th verse. And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And he entered, as his custom was, into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And he opened the book and found the place where it was written. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor. He he hath sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are at bruise to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. Because that was the style of exposition. You stand to read the word, you sit down to expound it. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, today hath this scripture been fulfilled in your ears. They didn't like that sermon. They decided they would kill him. For it seemed to be remarkably short. I mean, in our day and age it would seem that would make some people very happy about it. But they didn't like what he was saying. The point here though is that Scripture was central to synagogue worship. We see that not only in the preaching, excuse me, the experience of Jesus, but we see it also in the experience of Paul. In Acts 13 I'll read verses 14 to 16. And they, passing through from Perga, came to Antioch of Pisidia. And they went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and sat down, and after the reading of the law and the prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent unto them, saying, brethren, if ye have any word of exhortation for the people, say on. And Paul stood up and beckoning with the hand, said, and then we get his word of exhortation, the preaching of the Word, and the exposition and exhortation based upon it. This is the pattern that we see. And in the New Testament that same the same pattern continues. Worship is again the response of God's people to his presence in word and saving deed. In Colossians 3:16 other elements of worship are mentioned, but I want you to see what relationship they have to the word of God and to preaching. Colossians 3:16 says, Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, and all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts unto God. Here we have that element of praise in him and singing in worship. And what is central to the praise of God and the singing to God is the word of God, which dwells richly in your hearts, so that with that word your singing admonishes one another, instructs one another, and brings proper and pure worship and thanks to God. And so we could go on here. The point is that the word of God is central to worship. Take away any consideration of the worship of the church, take away any consideration of God's Word and the doctrine based on it there, and you're really off center, you're really lopsided, you're really hobbling along because Scripture, Scripture says the key issue here is doctrine is God's word and the apostolic doctrine that is based on it. In Romans 6:17, Paul speaks of the conversion experience of his hearers, and he describes it in a way that we're not accustomed to thinking of. I would imagine, he says, but thanks be to God that whereas ye were servants of sin, ye became obedient from the heart. And you might expect here, if he's going to have a nice parallelism, you were servants of sin. Now you've become slaves of righteousness. He says that in this very passage. But in this particular verse he says, whereas you were servants of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching, better translation, that pattern of doctrine whereunto ye were delivered. And so those who are Christians are obedient to a pattern of doctrine. Doctrine. In First Timothy 1:10, Paul calls that the pattern of healthy or health giving doctrine sound doctrine. In Titus 2:1, it's called good doctrine. And in First Timothy 6, verses 3 and 4, Paul gives a very stern warning against those who depart from this pattern of sound doctrine. First Timothy 6, at verse 3. If any man teaches a different doctrine and consents not to sound words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness, he is puffed up, knowing nothing, and doting about questions and disputes of words whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil, surmisings, etc. We are told in the New Testament, Romans 16, verse 17, to mark those who are dividing the congregation by teaching different doctrine. In 2 John 10, John says, those who come bringing a different doctrine don't even receive into your house, which I take anyway to be your household church. Who is a good minister, according to Paul? Paul writes to a few ministers in the New Testament. He writes to Timothy and to Titus. We get some idea of what is expected of pastors from these epistles. In 1 Timothy 4:6, we read these if thou put the brethren in mind of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Christ Jesus, nourished in the words of the faith, and of the good doctrine which thou hast followed until now, but refuse profane and old wives, taste and etc. If you want to be a good minister, he says, pay attention to good doctrine, and it's necessary that this doctrine be taught. In First Timothy 4:12 he continues, Let no man despise thy youth, but be thou an example to them that believe in word, in manner, of life, in love, in faith, in purity, till I come. Give heed to reading, to exhortation, to teaching. Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy prophecy with the laying on of hands of the presbytery. Be diligent in these things give thyself wholly to them, that thy progress may be manifest unto all. Take heed to thyself and to thy teaching, or to thy doctrine. Continue in these things. For in doing this thou shalt save thyself and them that hear thee. My friends, I think this is clear. What is Timothy as a pastor supposed to pay attention to? Of course, his manner of life is an example to the flock. But pay heed to your doctrine. Give yourself diligently and holy to these things. And now what I want to ask you, and with which I would challenge you, is, where in all of the New Testament do we find anything about worship style to compare to this? Mark those who don't wear coats while they preach, and have nothing to do with them. Mark those who don't wear clerical robes. Mark those buildings that don't have stained glass windows. Get away from those churches that don't use a lectionary. Beware of such churches that don't have a book of common prayer. There is nothing even remotely like that in the New Testament. And that's because worship is a response not to personal style, not to those things which entertain us, not to those things which have a particular subjective response upon us, whether they be formal or informal. Worship is the response to God's Word. And God's word is central. And the whole preaching of his counsel, therefore, is the standard of judgment and not whether we particularly like the style, the cultural style of that worship. In fact, we. We find very little, precious little, in the New Testament giving us details of New Testament worship. And what little we do have is rather obviously ad hoc. You look at First Corinthians 12, 13 and 14, you'll find some offhand mention of elements of worship. But my point is Paul doesn't ever stop to say, now remember, don't forget to have the sermon after you do the singing. He doesn't stop to give us instruction on what the style of worship should be. We may see some things that are there, but you see, even at that, we see differences of emphases. In the New Testament, Paul's worship was clearly eucharistic. The centrality of the bread and the wine and the way that's used as discipline in the church can be seen in the Corinthian Epistles. And yet John de emphasizes that. Do a study. John writes quite a bit of the New Testament. Don't forget that. How much in John emphasizes the Lord's Supper. This may surprise you. When John writes his Gospel later in the New Testament period, he doesn't even have the institution of the Lord's Supper in the Gospel. You read the letters to the seven churches and you will not find any mention of the Lord's Supper. Now, does that mean the Lord's Supper is not important? Of course not. What it does show, though, is that from church to church, there were different emphases and personalities, and perhaps cultural styles affected them, but this didn't affect them what they preached. So that as much as Paul, John can say in First John Chapter four that if there's any spirit, and that is a beautifully ambiguous word, to stand not only for any demonic spirit, but any human spirit or any idea or any movement, if there's any spirit that comes to you that agrees not with what the apostles have taught, that spirit is to be marked out. That spirit is to be rejected in the end in all of the churches, be they Pauline or Johannine or what have you. The centrality of God's word and apostolic doctrine cannot be overlooked. And so obviously there was no fixed and inflexible worship style in the New Testament, but there was a fixed and, dare I say it, inflexible kerygma proclamation of the Good News. There was a pattern of sound words when a man departed from which he was to be rejected. And so the first principle then, for choosing a church this morning that we must use after we've delineated those denominations using Christian currency. The first principle we must use is the principle of the priority of God's word and sound doctrine. Not the lowest common denominator either. Paul says, I'm free from the blood of all men because I didn't fail to proclaim to you the whole counsel of God. The whole counsel of God. And so we should look for a church which is not just talking, but walking the truth. If you have a church that proclaims apostolic doctrine but is not disciplined on the basis of it, that allows people to live in sin, let's say it has people that are committing adultery or living with each other out of wedlock, they may proclaim, thou shalt not commit adultery. But that church that does not discipline on the basis of it is not living the truth. If you have a denomination that says, well, most of us believe in the virgin birth, but we allow people to have ordained office even though they deny the virgin birth. They aren't disciplining and therefore not walking in the truth. And so the truth is what we must pay attention to the truth. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. And any suggestion that you can have spiritual life or another way apart from the truth that he is and what he requires is just rebellion against him. The first principle, then, is the principle of the centrality of God's word and apostolic doctrine in worship. The second principle that I want to give to you has to do with separation from unbelief in Second Corinthians, the sixth chapter. In Second Corinthians 6, 14, 18, Paul uses words which are familiar to us, I think, when we get around to advising our believing sons and daughters not to marry unbelievers. But of course, the application is broader than that. He says, be not unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what fellowship have righteousness and iniquity? Or what communion hath light with darkness, and what concord hath Christ with belial or what portion hath a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement hath a temple of God with idols? For we are a temple of the living God, even as God said, I will dwell in them and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people. Wherefore come ye out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch no unclean thing. And I will receive you, and will be to you a father, and you will be to me sons and daughters, saith the Lord. Almighty God has chosen for himself a people, and that people he calls his temple. And he says, what does the temple of God have to do with idols and unbelievers? If you wish to have the promises of the covenant fulfilled in your midst, then separate yourself from unbelief. Separate yourself from idolatry. Fundamentalists may have been the ones who have pushed, and maybe pushed to the point of aggravating people this particular text. But they are right in that we are to separate from those denominations which have a false apostasized from the truth, or from discipline, or from any of those marks of the church that we've already mentioned. God's word requires that if he is going to be our God, we must separate from those bodies which are not true to him. Separation from unbelief. A third principle that we notice here as we choose a church is a principle about retrogression. Retrogression. If In Hebrews the fifth chapter, if you look at verse 12, you will notice that the author of Hebrews expects constant progress in the Christian life. Hebrews 5:12 says, for when by reason of time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need again that someone teach you the rudiments of the first principles of the oracles of God. My point here is that the underlying assumption is that as time goes on in your life, you should be getting closer and closer, closer to being able to teach others. You should be growing, not falling back. And in James 3:1 you will find James says, in a way that I think clarifies even more this point, be not many of you teachers, my brethren, knowing that we shall receive the heavier judgment. James says, the more you know, the more liable you are for it. Now these two passages taken together rather strongly confirm this idea that God expects of us, not retrogression in our Christian teaching. He doesn't expect us to go from one church that is very good in terms of its doctrinal affirmation to some church that is very weak in it, especially for less than scriptural reasons. Because, say, that church is more convenient to me, or that church is more entertaining to me, or perish the thought, because that church has a bigger youth program or what have you. And so when we choose the church, we must remember to choose the church that is as good as, if not better than, our previous experience. Retrogression, in that matter is under the disapprobation of God. We don't go backwards in the Christian life. We go forwards constantly getting, if you will, further involved in the word of God rather than less involved in the word of God. And then fourthly, there's a principle of loyalty to be brought up as well. Principle of loyalty. We don't think in those terms. We don't think in those terms because fast food outlets, you know, well, some people go to McDonald's, some people go to Carl's Jr. And all the rest. And it's not a matter of loyalty. I mean, I have no loyalty to McDonald's. If Carl's Jr. Can give a better burger at a better price, I'm going to Carl's Jr. But you see, to evaluate the church in those terms is abhorrent. The apostle John, I mean, all of the apostles would. But especially if you read the Johannine literature of the New Testament, the apostle John would be appalled at such thinking. There is in the congregation, in the flock of God and all those who are vines, part of branches, part of this one vine, Jesus Christ. There is supposed to be a sense of commitment to one another. We don't break from one another until Scripture requires us to do so, because we love each other. We love each other so much that we would lay down our lives for the brothers. We love each other so much that we would sell what we have to see to it that my brother is eating and is clothed properly. You know, there's a lot of talk about these things in the Christian church. But, you know, when it comes to action, we're really shy, aren't we? We've got to back up from that. We're supposed to stick with each other and stick with each other and stick with each other. Paul says, fulfill my joy. Be of one mind with one another. Be of one accord. Have no divisions among you. Recognize that the body is one. There may be many functions and many gifts, but there's one body. And so I'm going to sum all of that up. I mean, it would take a lot longer if we look at all the concrete details. I'm going to call that the principle of loyalty. Loyalty to the body of Christ to those who are my brothers and sisters in the Lord, so that I separate from them when I am required to do so by perhaps I have to move, my job may take me somewhere else. And of course that occasions grief and tears perhaps over that separation, or I have to leave again in tears because this body will not proclaim apostolic truth or is become apostate as to discipline or what have you. But the separation is a required separation. It's not one that I say, well, I think I'm going to go get my hamburger somewhere else. I'm going to choose another style here. It's not a matter of styles. It's a matter of biblically mandated loyalty. The centrality of God's word, the principle of separation from unbelief, the principle of constant progress, not retrogression, and finally, the principle of loyalty to our brothers and sisters in the Lord. So let me conclude by proposing two things to you. What should you do under idealized circumstances when you choose a church? Idealized circumstances, that is, when we have a case of all things being equal or nearly so, our choice of a church may follow certain clear and simple guidelines. Here's what I consider an idealized scenario. Your town offers every conceivable denomination. They're all out there. Moreover, there are a number of congregations within each denomination available to. To. You see, that takes care of the problem that there may be only one OPC church in town, but you can't stand it. No, there are many denominational offerings and many congregations within each of those denominations in your town. And each congregation just happens to be exactly, exactly the same distance from your home. So you're right in the middle. And every one of those congregations on a periphery, a circle around your house. And you have been newly converted or you've just recently moved to town and you have no prior church affiliation. Now that I would say, is your idealized circumstance. Okay, Everyone is there, every denomination, many congregations, all equal from your home geographically, and you have no previous obligations. Now, what should you do, all things being equal? What you should do is look at them to see which ones have the marks of the church. Find out where the full or whole counsel of God is best being proclaimed. And they're walking in the truth and not just talking about it. And then go to that particular church. In such a situation, you choose that denomination and congregation which is founded upon the truth and its profession and its walk. And now I'm going to dismiss real quickly for the sake of time here, these hypothetical. Well, what if one is Calvinistic but lets people live in adultery, but another one disciplines people for living in adultery but they don't have pure doctrine. What if we have some Unitarian who disciplines for adultery and some Calvinist that doesn't? Well my friends, all I can tell you is you're going to find in our day and age, which is pitifully poor when it comes to the choice of Christian churches anyway, you're going to find in our day and age that those who are not interested in walking in the truth are not interested in talking about the truth and vice versa. You aren't going to be faced with that kind of dilemma here. We have some heretical Armenian group that disciplines for everything and really pastors their people. But then you have this really strong Calvinistic group that says oh, we don't care how people live, it doesn't happen that way. But anyway, that's an idealized circumstance and all of you are saying so what? None of us are ever going to move to a town with no previous affiliation, have all these churches equidistant from our home. What do we do in other circumstances? Not every case of choosing a church home enjoys the simplicity of my scenario there. In many cases there are complicating circumstances that require us to take into account relevant qualifications. In every case we should try to conform, I think, to the simple guidelines I've just given and then incorporate considerations qualifications when they become necessary, that is. Here's your decision making process. As much as you can, follow the idealized scenario I just gave you, stick as close to that as you can. But now when other qualifying circumstances come in, here's what I'd suggest. In a fresh situation that is newly converted or you're new to town, when your denominational options within your reasonable or acceptable geographical range are severely limited and all inadequate in some important way, then it seems to me you may one choose the best from among the weak evangelical options and work for reform to the degree that is feasible given your circumstances. If you go to a town and all of them are inadequate, then one thing you may do is you may choose the best of the weak evangelical churches there and hope for reform to whatever degree you can. Or you may affiliate with other like minded individual believers to begin a new congregation with the oversight of the best denomination that you can interest in the project. Alright, you go to town or you're newly converted in town, you find no good reformed witness or what have you. Then you go to the best evangelical church you can find. If all of them are apostate, you don't go Then your option is to only find individual believers who will join with you. But you either choose the weak evangelical church and try to reform it, or you join with other believers and take the best denomination. Of course, the best one you can interest in the project. Not all have the money or the interest to start something in, say, Reeker's Gulch, Utah. You may only get one denomination that's orthodox reformed interested, but you take the best oversight you can get in a fresh situation or secondly in a fresh situation when you're congregational, not denominational. But when your congregational options within an acceptable denomination and its circle of sister churches in your geographical area are limited to various congregations which are inadequate for whatever reason, I won't go into all the ways we find those congregations inadequate. Then you may notice pattern here. Choose the one most likely to respond to your informal or formal efforts toward reform. Or you may seek permission to begin a new congregation in a non competitive locality under the denomination's oversight. You go someplace and say it's the OPC that you've chosen, or the PCA or the Christian Reformed Church. You go there and the only OPC congregations or Christian Reform Reform congregations available are for some reason not acceptable. Then what you must do is choose the one that is most open to reform from you as you evaluate it. You probably wouldn't go to the session and say, I'm here as a reformer. I'd like to know what degree of response I'm going to get from you. Listen to some ideas I have. You either choose the one most open to reform or you start a new one within that denomination in a non competitive locality. Note well that in these previous guidelines that I've given you, I've assumed that the church with which you deal is at least fundamentally sound in evangelical doctrine or is part of a denomination which is open to biblical methods of reform and discipline, and if need be, resolution of grievances through graded courts. You must in all cases choose evangelical churches and in every case you can, one that is open to reform through the Presbyterian procedure. Thirdly, and lastly this morning, when you are already affiliated with a church group, and this is where most of us are coming from, isn't it? When you are already affiliated with the church group, but one which so inadequately manifests the marks of Christ Church as to call for change or correction as you see it, then your obligation is to seek reform at the appropriate level and in the appropriate way. Your obligation is to seek reform. We don't say, you know, there's something wrong with this church I'm getting out. We say, rather, there's something wrong with this church, and if God has been so gracious as to show that to me, I'm going to at least try to do something about it. Now, maybe you're not one of the elders of the church, and so your only option is to go to the elders and see if they even want to talk to you about these things. And if they say, no, we're really not interested in. In reading and talking and going into these things, then what they're telling you is, well, there's no reform possible here. Or it may be that you're an elder and you may have to bring charges against that pastor who won't evangelize, who won't preach the word of God or what have you. My point is, I can't go into all the illustrations of informal and formal efforts at reform and all the problems you can have. I'm simply saying your first obligation is to seek to reform the group in which you're found. They say, oh, that applies, of course, only if you're an OPC church. You guys wouldn't say that if some Baptist came to you, would you? And I say, yes, I would. I might also know pretty much in advance what the answer is going to be in a Baptist church when you want to go in and make them covenantal and start baptizing babies. I mean, there are some. I mean, that's why denominations have fallen out the way they have in history, is because efforts at reform at this point are not going to work in a Baptist church. But nevertheless, if I had a Baptist come to me, I'd say you must be convinced that you, as a Christian in that Baptist church, can't do anything to affect change. And it may be very quick, quickly that you come to that conviction. But when you do, then you are free to choose the better of them. If you've become convinced, with good reason, that your efforts at reform have failed or have become unwelcome and somehow futile, then you, at whatever level of reform was sought, you come into the same position as a person in order, fresh situation. Either start with another congregation of the same denomination, or if the denomination has failed you, you start with a new denomination. Now, my friends, these are the principles that I think Scripture requires of us. They aren't the principles that we would very likely, I'll tell you for certain, I would not choose because they are uncomfortable and inconvenient, and they do a lot, lot to restrict my freedom. But then again, the restriction of my freedom shouldn't be too surprising. Jesus said that those who become slaves of righteousness are those who escape the bondage of sin and truly know the freedom of following after Him. I haven't given you these sermons the last two weeks to put a straight jacket on you. I've given you these sermons so that that you might see what the path of genuine freedom, happiness and prosperity within the Church of Jesus Christ is. Let's pray. Lord, this morning make us true to our profession of sola scriptura. Help us to let Scripture dominate all of our evaluations, including this very crucial determination as to what church we should choose to be with. Lord, help us to be true to these principles and consistent. We confess our sin that it's so easy to be inconsistent, to make exceptions for ourselves and our friends. We do pray that you would help us to be true to the principles involved because truth to those principles is in fact being true to our Savior Jesus Christ, who is head and Lord of the Church. We also pray for greater purity and peace within your church as these principles are more fully imbibed and digested and grow up into righteous living not only in our lives, but in the lives of others as well. Lord, we pray for your church on earth that you might grant it great success externally with many converts and internally with great spiritual strength and maturity. Help us not to be tossed to and fro as children with every wind of doctrine, but to be firmly established in that pattern of sound words which we find in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. And help us not simply to be those who hear the Word and do nothing about it, but rather those who want to walk in the truth as well as to talk about it. And help us to be loyal to one another. Not just loyal to these principles, but loyal to our Lord, but also loyal to all those who are the Lord's people. Give us in this congregation and in every congregation that truly calls upon you. Give us a greater sense of inner strength, commitment to one another, and love for the brothers. And we pray that your name would be honored and magnified, would be glorified, and that our worship would be more pure and acceptable in your sight. Be because we have taken and followed these principles in our own lives and have recommended them to others. In Colossians the third chapter, verse 16, other elements of worship are mentioned, but I want you to see what relationship they have to the word of God and to preaching. Colossians 3:16 says, Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, and all wisdom, teaching and admonishing, admonishing one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts unto God. Here we have that element of praise and hymn and singing in worship. And what is central to the praise of God and the singing to God is the word of God, which dwells richly in your hearts, so that with that word your singing admonishes one another, instructs one another, and brings proper and pure worship and thanks to God. And so we could go on here. The point is that the word of God is central to worship. Take away any consideration of the worship of the church, take away any consideration of God's word and the doctrine based on it there, and you're really off center, you're really lopsided, you're really hobbling along. Because Scripture says the key issue here is doctrine is God's word and the apostolic doctrine that is based on it. In Romans 6:17, Paul speaks of the conversion experience of his hearers, and he describes it in a way that we're not accustomed to thinking of, I would imagine, he says, but thanks be to God that whereas ye were servants of sin, ye became obedient from the heart. And you might expect here, if he's going to have a nice parallelism, you were servants of sin. Now you've become slaves of righteousness. He says that in this very passage. But in this particular verse he says, whereas you were servants of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching better translation, that pattern of doctrine whereunto ye were delivered. And so those who are Christians are obedient to a pattern of doctrine. Doctrine. In First Timothy 1:10, Paul calls that the pattern of healthy or health giving doctrine sound doctrine. In Titus 2:1, it's called good doctrine. And in First Timothy 6, verses 3 and 4, Paul gives a very stern warning against those who depart from this pattern of sound doctrine. First Timothy 6, at verse 3. If any man teaches a different doctrine and consents not to sound words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness, he is puffed up, knowing nothing, and doting about questions and disputes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil, surmisings, etc. We are told in the New Testament, Romans 16, verse 17, to mark those who are dividing the congregation by teaching different doctrine. In 2 John 10, John says, those who come bringing a different doctrine don't even receive into your house, which I take anyway to be your household church. Who is a good minister, according to Paul? Paul writes to a few ministers in the New Testament, he writes to Timothy and to Titus. We get some idea of what is expected of pastors from these epistles. In 1 Timothy 4:6 we read these if thou put the brethren in mind of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Christ Jesus, nourished in the words of the faith, and of the good doctrine which thou hast followed until now but refuse profane and old wives tales and etc. If you want to be a good minister, he says, pay attention to good doctrine, and it's necessary that this doctrine be taught. In First Timothy 4:12 he continues, Let no man despise thy youth, but be thou an example to them that believe in word, in manner of life, in love, in faith, in purity, till I come. Give heed to reading, to exhortation, to teaching. Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of hands of the presbytery. Be diligent in these things. Give thyself wholly to them, that thy progress may be manifest unto all. Take heed to thyself and to thy teaching, or to thy doctrine. Continue in these things for in doing this thou shalt save thyself and them that hear thee. My friends, I think this is clear. What is Timothy as a pastor supposed to pay attention to? Of course, his manner of life is an example to the flock. But pay heed to your doctrine. Give yourself diligently and wholly to these things. And now what I want to ask you, and with which I would challenge you, is where in all of the New Testament do we find anything about worship style to compare to this? Mark those who don't wear coats while they preach and have nothing to do with them. Mark those who don't wear clerical robes. Mark those buildings that don't have stained glass windows. Get away from those churches that don't use a lectionary. Beware of such churches that don't have a book of common prayer. There is nothing even remotely like that in the New Testament. And that's because worship. Worship is a response not to personal style, not to those things which entertain us, not to those things which have a particular subjective response upon us, whether they be formal or informal. Worship is the response to God's Word, and God's word is central, and the whole preaching of his counsel, therefore, is the standard of judgment, and not whether we particularly like the style, the cultural style of that worship. In fact, we find very little, precious little, in the New Testament giving us details of New Testament worship. And what little we do have is Rather obviously ad hoc. You look at First Corinthians 12, 13 and 14, you'll find some offhand mention of elements of worship. But my point is Paul doesn't ever stop to say, now remember, don't forget to have the sermon after you do the singing. It doesn't stop to give us instruction on what the style of worship should be. We may see some things that are there, but you see, even at that, we see differences of emphases. In the New Testament, Paul's worship was clearly eucharistic. The centrality of the bread and the wine and the way that's used as discipline in the church can see in the Corinthian Epistles. And yet John de emphasizes that. Do a study. John writes quite a bit of the New Testament. Don't forget that. How much in John emphasizes the Lord's Supper. This may surprise you. When John writes his Gospel later in the New Testament period, he doesn't even have the institution of the Lord's Supper in the Gospel. You read the letters to the seven churches and you will not find any mention of the Lord's Supper. Now, does that mean the Lord's Supper is not important? Of course not. What it does show, though, is that from church to church, there were different emphases and personalities, and perhaps cultural styles affected them, but this didn't affect them what they preached. So that as much as Paul, John can say in First John chapter four, that if there's any spirit, and that is a beautifully ambiguous word, to stand not only for any demonic spirit, but any human spirit, spirit or any idea or any movement, if there's any spirit that comes to you that agrees not with what the apostles have taught, that spirit is to be marked out, that spirit is to be rejected in the end in all of the churches, be they Pauline or Johannine or what have you, the centrality of God's word and apostolic doctrine cannot be overlooked. And so obviously there was no fixed and inflexible worship style in the New Testament, but there was a fixed and dare I say it, inflexible kerygma proclamation of the Good News. There was a pattern of sound words when a man departed from which he was to be rejected. And so the first principle then, for choosing a church, the morning that we must use after we've delineated those denominations using Christian currency. The first principle we must use is the principle of the priority of God's word and sound doctrine. Not the lowest common denominator either. Paul says, I'm free from the blood of all men. Because I didn't fail to proclaim to you the whole counsel of God. The whole counsel of God. And so we should look. Look for a church which is not just talking, but walking the truth. If you have a church that proclaims apostolic doctrine but is not disciplined on the basis of it, that allows people to live in sin, let's say it has people that are committing adultery or living with each other out of wedlock, they may proclaim, thou shalt not commit adultery. But that church that does not discipline on the basis of it is not living the truth. If you have a denomination that says, well, most of us believe in the virgin birth, but we allow people to have ordained office even though they deny the virgin birth. They aren't disciplining and therefore not walking in the truth. And so the truth is what we must pay attention to the truth. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life. And any suggestion that you can have spiritual life or another way apart from the truth that he is, and what he requires is just rebellion against him. The first principle, then, is the principle of the centrality of God's word and apostolic doctrine in worship. The second principle that I want to give to you has to do with separation from unbelief. In Second Corinthians, the sixth chapter. In Second Corinthians, chapter 6, verses 14 to 18, Paul uses words which are familiar to us, I think, when we get around to advising our believing sons and daughters not to marry unbelievers. But of course, the application is broader than that. He says, be not unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what fellowship have righteousness and iniquity? Or what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what portion hath a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement hath a temple of God with idols? For we are a temple of the living God, even as God said, I will dwell in them and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people. Wherefore come ye out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you, and will be to you a father, and you will be to me sons and daughters, saith the Lord. Almighty God has chosen for himself a people, and that people he calls his temple. And he says, what does the temple of God have to do with idols and unbelievers? If you wish to have the promises of the covenant fulfilled in your midst, then separate yourself from Unbelief, separate yourself from idolatry. And fundamentalists may have been the ones who have pushed, and maybe pushed to the point of aggravating people this particular text. But they are right in that we are to separate from those denominations which have apostasized from the truth, or from discipline, or from any of those marks of the church that we've already mentioned. God's word requires that if he is going to be our God, we must separate from those bodies which are not true to Him. Separation from unbelief. A third principle that we notice here as we choose the church is the principle about retrogression. Retrogression. If In Hebrews the fifth chapter, if you look at verse 12, you will notice that the author of Hebrews expects constant progress in the Christian life. Hebrews 5:12 says, for when by reason of time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need again that someone teach you the rudiments of the first principles of the oracles of God. My point here is that the underlying assumption is that as time goes on in your life, you should be getting closer and closer to being able to teach others. You should be growing, not falling back. And in James 3:1, you will find James says, in a way that I think clarifies even more this point. Be not many of you teachers, my brethren, knowing that we shall receive the heavier judgment. James says, the more you know, the more liable you are for it. Now, these two passages taken together rather strongly confirm this idea that God expects of us, not retrogression in our Christian teaching. He doesn't expect us to go from one church that is very good in terms of its doctrinal affirmation to some church that is very weak in it, especially for less than scriptural reasons, because, say, that church is more convenient to me, or that church is more entertaining to me, or perish the thought, because that church has a bigger youth program or what have you. And so when we choose a church, we must remember to choose the church that is as good as, if not better than, our previous experience. Retrogression in that matter is under the disapprobation of God. We don't go backwards in the Christian life. We go forwards, constantly getting, if you will, further involved in the word of God rather than less involved in the word of God. And then fourthly, there's a principle of loyalty to be brought up as well. Principle of loyalty. We don't think in those terms. We don't think in those terms because we think of a church as we do a fast food outlet. You Know, well, some people go to McDonald's, some people go to Carl's Jr. And all the rest. And it's not a matter of loyalty. I mean, I have no loyalty to McDonald's. If Carl's Jr. Can give a better burger at a better price, I'm going to Carl's Jr. But you see, to evaluate the church in those terms is abhorrent. The apostle John, I mean, all of the apostles would. But especially if you read the Johannine literature of the New Testament, the apostle John would be appalled at such thinking. There is in the congregation, in the flock of God and all those who are vines, part of branches, part of this one vine, Jesus Christ. There is supposed to be a sense of commitment to one another. We don't break from one another intention. Well, Scripture requires us to do so because we love each other. We love each other so much that we would lay down our lives for the brothers. We love each other so much that we would sell what we have to see to it that my brother is eating and is clothed properly. You know, there's a lot of talk about these things in the Christian church, but you know, when it comes to action, we're really shy, aren't we? Got to back up from that. We're supposed to stick with each other and stick with each other and stick with each other. Paul says, fulfill my joy. Be of one mind with one another. Be of one accord. Have no divisions among you. Recognize that the body is one. There may be many functions and many gifts, but there's one body. And so I'm going to sum all of that up. I mean, it would take a lot longer if we look at all the concrete details. I'm going to call that the principle of loyalty. Loyalty to the body of Christ, to those who are my brothers and sisters in the Lord, so that I separate from them when I am required to do so. By perhaps I have to move. My job may take me somewhere else. And of course that occasions grief and tears perhaps over that separation, or I have to leave again in tears because this body will not proclaim apostolic truth or is become apostate as to discipline or what have you. But the separation is a required separation. It's not one that I say, well, I think I'm going to go get my hamburger somewhere else. I'm going to choose another style here. It's not a matter of styles. It's a matter of biblically mandated loyalty. The centrality of God's word, the principle of separation from unbelief, the principle of constant Progress, not retrogression. And finally, the principle of loyalty to our brothers and sisters in the Lord. So let me conclude by proposing two things to you. What should you do under idealized circumstances when you choose a church? Idealized circumstances, that is, when we have a case of all things being equal or nearly so, our choice of a church may follow certain clear and simple guidelines. Here's what I consider an idealized scenario. Your town offers every conceivable denomination. They're all out there. Moreover, there are a number of congregations within each denomination available to you. See, that takes care of the problem that there may be only one OPC church in town, but you can't stand it. No, there are many denominational offerings and many congregations within each of those denominations in your town. And each congregation just happens to be exactly, exactly the same distance from your home. So you're right in the middle. And every one of those congregations are periphery, a circle around your house. And you have been newly converted or you've just recently moved to town and you have no priority church affiliation. Now that I would say is your idealized circumstance. Okay, everyone is there, every denomination, many congregations, all equal from your home geographically and you have no previous obligations. Now, what should you do? All things being equal, what you should do is look at them to see which ones have the marks of the church, find out where the full or whole council of God is best being proclaimed and they're walking in the truth and not just talking about it, and then go to that particular church. In such a situation, you choose that denomination and congregation which is founded upon the truth and its profession and its walk. And now I'm going to dismiss real quickly for the sake of time here, these hypothetical, well, what if one is Calvinistic but it lets people live in adultery, but another one disciplines people for living in adultery, but they don't have pure doctrine. What if we have some Unitarian who disciplines for adultery and some Calvinist that doesn't? Well, my friends, all I can tell you is you're going to find in our day and age, which is pitifully poor when it comes to the choice of Christian churches anyway, you're going to find in our day and age that those who are not interested in walking in the truth are not interested in talking about the truth and vice versa. You aren't going to be faced with that kind of dilemma. Here we have some heretical Arminian group that disciplines for everything and really pastors their people. But then you have this really strong Calvinistic group that says, oh, we don't care how people live. It doesn't happen that way. But anyway, that's an idealized circumstance and all of you are saying so what? None of us are ever going to move to a town with no previous affiliation, have all these churches equidistant from our home. What do we do in other circumstances? Not every case of choosing a church home enjoys the simplicity of my scenario there. In many cases there are complicating circumstances that require us to take into account relevant qualifications. In every case we should try to conform, I think, to the simple guidelines I've just given and then incorporate considerations qualifications when they become necessary, that is here's your decision making process. As much as you can follow the idealized scenario I just gave you. Stick as close to that as you can. But now, when other qualifying circumstances come in, here's what I'd suggest. In a fresh situation that is newly converted or you're new to town, when your denominational options within your reasonable or acceptable geographical range are severely limited and all inadequate in some important way, then it seems to me you may one choose the best from among the weak evangelical options and work for reform to the degree that is feasible given your circumstances. You go to a town and all of them are inadequate, then one thing you may do is you may choose the best of the weak evangelical churches there and hope for reform to whatever degree you can, or you may affiliate with other like minded individual group believers to begin a new congregation with the oversight of the best denomination that you can interest in the project. All right, you go to town or you're newly converted in town, you find no good reformed witness or what have you, then you go to the best evangelical church you can find. If all of them are apostate, you don't go. Then your option is to only find individual believers who will join with you. But you either choose the witch evangelical church and try to reform it, or you join with other believers and take the best denomination. Of course the best one you can interest in the project. Not all have the money or the interest to start something in say, Reechers Gulch, Utah, you may only get one denomination that's orthodox reformed interest in, but you take the best oversight you can get in a fresh situation or secondly in a fresh situation when your congregational not denominational, but when your congregational options within an acceptable denomination and its circle of sister churches in your geographical area are limited to various congregations which are inadequate for whatever reason, I won't go into all the ways we find those congregations inadequate. Then you may notice the pattern here, choose the one most likely to respond to your informal or formal efforts toward reform. Or you may seek permission to begin a new congregation in a non competitive locality under the denomination's oversight. If you go someplace and say it's the OPC that you've chosen, or the PCA or the Christian Reformed Church, you go there and the only OPC congregations or Christian Reformed congregations available are for some reason not acceptable, then what you must do is choose the one that is most open to reform from you as you evaluate it. I mean, you probably wouldn't go to the session and say, I'm here as a reformer. I'd like to know what degree of response I'm going to get from you.