Finding Safety in the Church

3 MAY

And mine hand shall be upon the prophets that see vanity, and that divine lies: they shall not be in the assembly of my people, neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, neither shall they enter into the land of Israel; and ye shall know that I am the Lord GOD. Ezekiel 13:9

SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Hebrews 10:19-25

The Holy Spirit admonishes us not to conclude that people are true members of the church because most of them seem to excel other people. For just as the chaff lies above the wheat and suffocates it, thus hypocrites bury the sons of God, whose number is small. Hypocrites also shine forth in their own splendor, and great numbers of them seem to make them exclusively worthy of the title of the church.

Hence let us examine ourselves, searching whether we have the living root of piety and faith, which are those interior marks by which God distinguishes His children from strangers, or hyprocrites.

This passage also teaches nothing is more formidable than to be separated from God's flock. We cannot hope for safety unless God collects us into one body under one head. When we safely reside in Christ alone, we cannot be separated from Christ without falling away from all hope of safety. Christ will not and cannot be torn from His church that He is joined to by an indissoluble knot, as the head is to the body. Hence, unless we cultivate unity with the faithful, we are also cut off from Christ. Nothing, then, is more fearful than to be separated from God's people, and therefore from Christ.

Psalm 106:4 says, "Remember me, O God, in Thy good will towards Thy people: visit me with Thy salvation." When the author of the psalm prays this way, he acknowledges that we will have true and solid happiness when the Lord embraces us along with the rest of the faithful. For God's good will toward His people is that fatherly kindness by which He embraces His elect.

If God thinks us worthy of His fatherly favor, then we may be truly confident of safety.

John Calvin

FOR MEDITATION: 

In a day when many Christians are focused only on their own individual relationship with God, this passage reminds us of the importance of the church. The church is not just a means to advance our own walk with God, but a divinely appointed institution. Connecting with the church is therefore not an option, but a requirement for true believers.

365 Days With Calvin

Selected and Edited by Joel R. Beeke

Bringing Believers Together

24 APRIL

And I will be found of you, saith the LORD: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the LORD; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive. Jeremiah 29:14

SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Revelation 7

God's people who have been dispersed into all nations and all places, will one day be brought together, the prophet says. The same message is declared in the Psalms: "he gathereth together the outcasts [or, the dispersions] of Israel" (Psalm 147:2). Jeremiah declares this truth to Jews who are considering their dreadful dispersion and can entertain no hope.

We see how the prophet offers them hope and encourages them to struggle against this trial. The words seem to have been taken from Moses, who says that, though they will be scattered through the extreme parts of the world, yet God will gather them (Deut. 30:1-3). In Deuteronomy 30, Moses expressly reproves the unbelief of God's people if they despair of God's mercy and salvation when they are torn and scattered. He says that God's power is abundantly sufficient to gather them together, even if they are scattered to the four quarters of the world.

We now perceive the intent of the prophet. We also gain a useful teaching that God in a wonderful manner will gather His church when believers are scattered to form them into one body. For a time He may obliterate the name of the church and even its appearance. He has given us some proof of that in our time. For who could have thought that the church we now see with our eyes in some parts of our world would ever take place? How could we know that in a time of dreadful desolation everywhere, when no corner in the world could be found where two or three faithful men could dwell together, that God in a secret manner would gather His elect?

We hence see that this prophecy has not only been fulfilled at one time, but that by the grace of God it has often been manifested and is still being made manifest in the gathering together of God's church.

John Calvin

FOR MEDITATION:

How can we believe the church is triumphant when it is constantly torn apart by schisms or frequently driven underground, such as in China and Russia? How can we grasp this promise that all believers will one day be gathered into one body to praise and worship God?

365 Days With Calvin

Selected and Edited by Joel R. Beeke

Separating Wheat from Chaff

4 APRIL

When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning.  

Isaiah 4:4

SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Zechariah 13

When the church's filth has been washed away, she will be clean, and all who belong to her will truly be the elect of God. Now, it is certain that what Isaiah says here does not apply universally to the external church, into which many have been admitted under the designation of believers and who have nothing that corresponds to their profession. 

The number of unbelievers in the church may even exceed the small number of true believers, as chaff often exceeds wheat in a barn. And though the captivity in Babylon was used by God as a sieve to remove a large portion of chaff, yet we know that the church was still very far from being as pure as she ought to have been. Still at that time there was, in some measure, a resemblance of that purity which will be truly and perfectly manifested after the lambs are separated from the kids (Matt. 25:32). When Isaiah speaks of those beginnings, he includes (as his custom is) a period that extends to the end, when God will bring to perfection that which he has begun.

We see the same thing today, for though chastisements and punishments do not entirely remove all spots from the church, yet when spots have been washed out, she recovers a part of her purity. She suffers no great loss by the strokes inflicted in her because, while she is diminished, she is at the same time comforted by casting out many hypocrites. For it is only by casting out offensive or corrupt matter that a diseased body can be restored to health.

In this we obtain a most useful consolation, for we tend to want a multitude of believers and to estimate by it the prosperity of the church. On the contrary, we should rather desire to be few in number in which the glory of God shines brightly. But because our own glory leads us in another direction, the consequence is that we more greatly regard a great number of men than the excellence of a few.

John Calvin 

FOR MEDITATION: 

What is the use of a great number of nominal Christians if few behave like Christians in any sense of the word? The greater concern is building a holy church, not building a mega-church. How can you help your church become more holy?

365 Days With Calvin

Selected and Edited by Joel R. Beeke

A Doorkeeper in God’s House

3 MARCH

For a day in Thy courts is better than a thousand. Psalm 84:10

SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: 3 John

Unlike many people who want to live without knowing why, wishing simply that their life may be prolonged, David says that his purpose for living is to serve God. He sets higher value on one day that is spent in God’s service than a long time that is spent among worldly people from whom true religion is banished. Because it is lawful for only priests to enter into the innermost courts of the temple, David declares that, if he were simply permitted to have a place at the porch, he would be content with the humble station of acting as a doorkeeper.

The value that David sets upon being in the sanctuary of God is striking in his comparison that he would be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. David would rather be cast into a common and unhonored place, providing that is among the people of God, than to be exalted to the highest rank of honor among unbelievers. That is a rare example of godliness indeed! Many people want to occupy a place in the church, but ambition has such sway over their minds tat few are content to be numbered among the common and the undistinguished class.

Almost all of us are carried away with the frantic desire of rising to distinction and cannot think of being at ease until we have attained some state of eminence.

John Calvin

FOR MEDITATION: When personal ambition takes over in our lives, we often succeed in turning the house of God into a “tent of wickedness.” If it is better for us to dwell in God’s house, even as a nobody, than to achieve recognition among the ungodly of this world, how then should we live? What changes should we make in our lives?

365 Days With Calvin

Selected and Edited by Joel R. Beeke

WHAT IS THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH?

The doctrine of the church is the entire and uncorrupted doctrine of the law and gospel concerning the true God, together with His will, works, and worship; divinely revealed, and comprehended in the writings of the prophets and apostles, and confirmed by many miracles and divine testimonies; through which the Holy Spirit works effectually in the hearts of the elect, and gathers from the whole human race an everlasting church, in which God is glorified, both in this, and in the life to come.

This doctrine is the chief and most expressive mark of the true church, which God designs to be visible in the world, and to be separated from the rest of mankind, according to these declarations of scripture: “Keep yourselves from idols.” “Come out from among them, and be ye separate.” “If there come any unto you and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your houses, neither bid them God speed.” “Be ye holy, touch no unclean thing, ye that bear the vessels of the Lord. Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.” (1 John 5.21  2 Cor. 6.17  2 John 10  Isa. 52. 11.  Rev. 18.4.)

God wills, that His church be separate and distinct from the world, for the following considerations: First, on account of His own glory; for, as He Himself will not be joined with idols and devils, so He will not have His truth confounded with falsehood, and His church with her enemies, the children of the devil; but will have them carefully distinguished and separated. It would be reproachful to God to suppose that He would have and acknowledge as His children, such as persecute Him; yea; it would be blasphemy to make God the author of false doctrine, and the defender of the wicked; for “what concord has Christ with Beliel.” (2 Cor. 6.14.) Secondly, on account of the consolation and salvation of His people; for it is necessary that the church should be visible in the world, that the elect, scattered abroad among the whole human race, may know with what society they ought to unite themselves, and that, being gathered into the church, they may enjoy this sure comfort, that they are members of that family in which God delights, and which has the promises of everlasting life. For it is the will of God that all those who are to be saved, should be gathered into the church in this life. Out of the church there is no salvation.

How the church may be known, and what are the marks by which it may be distinguished from the various sects, will be shown when we come to speak regularly upon the subject of the church. We may, however, here say, that there are three marks by which the church is known: Purity of doctrine – the proper use of the sacraments, and obedience to god according to all the parts of this doctrine, whether of faith or practice. And if it be here objected, that great vices have often made their appearance in the church, as by the various sects. Yea, the church is the first to censure and condemn them. Hence if there are faults in the church, these are disapproved of and removed. As long as this state of things lasts, so long the church remains.

Zacharias Ursinus

The Commentary of Dr. Zacharias Ursinus on the Heidelberg Catechism, pp. 1-2

The Church Besmirched

2 FEBRUARY

LORD, who shall abide in Thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in Thy holy hill? Psalm 15:1

SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Matthew 13:24-30

If we wish to be reckoned as children of God, we must obey the Holy Ghost, who teaches that we must show ourselves to be God’s children by living a holy and upright life. It is not enough to serve God by outward ceremonies; we must also live uprightly and without doing wrong to our neighbor.

Too often we see the church of God defaced by impurity. To prevent us from stumbling at what appears so offensive, we must distinguish between those who are permanent citizens of the church and strangers who are mingled among them for a time. This is a highly necessary warning. It is given so that when the temple of God is tainted by impurities, we may not be filled with such disgust and chagrin that we withdraw from it. By impurities, I mean the vices of a corrupt and polluted life. If religion continues to be pure in doctrine and worship, we may not stumble so much at sins that people commit to rend the unity of the church.

Yet the experience of all ages teaches us the danger of being tempted to lose heart when we behold sin and corruption in the church of God. The church should be free from all pollution and to shine in uncorrupted purity, yet she cherishes in her bosom many ungodly hypocrites or wicked persons. Some people separate themselves from the fellowship of the godly because they do not believe that a church in which vices are tolerated can be a true church. But in Matthew 25:32, Christ justly claims as His peculiar office that He will one day separate the sheep from the goats. He thereby admonishes us to bear the evils that we do not have the power to correct until all things become ripe, and the proper season of power to correct until all things become ripe, and the proper season of purging the church arrives.

John Calvin

FOR MEDITATION: Gandhi reportedly said, “I like your Christ; I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” We ought to mourn for the church when those outside it can see so much evil in it. How should we evangelize such people?

365 Days With Calvin

Selected and Edited by Joel R. Beeke