po box 1774, beaufort sc 29901 why i love being presbyterian · 2014-09-09 · first (scots)...

First (Scots) Presbyterian Church of Beaufort Issue 14: September 2014

Why I Love Being Presbyterian Part VI: Reliance Upon the Means of Grace

A Publication of First (Scots) Presbyterian Church of Beaufort (PCA) PO Box 1774, Beaufort SC 29901

[email protected] (843) 593-0176

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As a pastor, one of the best (and easiest) parts of my job is to proclaim the beauty of God’s character. Describing God’s character requires no embellishment, no salesmanship, and no hyperbolizing because the character of God is perfect. There is no flaw, shortcoming, or lack of anything in God, and therefore to proclaim God’s glory requires nothing more than to glance upon God’s character.

But there is a problem, and this problem is not with God. The problem is with us: we were created in God’s image, we were endued with everything necessary to serve Him, and yet each of us has turned away (Rom 3:10). We have loved the creation when we were created to love the Creator (Rom 1:23), we have boasted when we should have been ashamed (Is 64:10), and we have rejected the love we should have received (Jn 1:11). Indeed, the gulf between God and us is immense, and we are left in quite the quandary: we are not who God created us to be, and we cannot fix that problem on our own.

So how can the perfection of God and our own flawed character be reconciled? People throughout history have attempted various approaches, each of which is the behind the world’s religions (even those which appear to be “irreligious”). There is the “try harder” approach that most religions advocate. In this approach, the thought is that if we can do enough good it will make up for our bad, and many people feel this way (even some Christians). There is also the “if-you-can’t-meet-the-standard-then-lower-the-bar approach.” In this, we re-create who God is so that we can accommodate our own fallen state. Another approach would be the “forget-about-it approach”, where we ignore God or pretend He doesn’t exist so that we can feel okay about ourselves…at least for a while.

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But each of these approaches has a fatal flaw: they are still our own attempts to reconcile ourselves to God. They are our idea and we set the terms, but the problem is that we are not the offended party; God is. And each of these approaches makes the assumption that God Himself doesn’t actually want us to be reconciled, and that’s why we have to do it all ourselves.

But what if God actually does want to fix the damage that our sin has done? Do we ever think about God that way- that rather than being a passive bystander, He might actually be the active agent in our redemption? He certainly knows his own requirements better than we do. He knows how to do what is otherwise impossible with men. He alone can undo the damage that our sin has done. And God’s answer for our sin is found not in our better efforts, but in God’s gracious character.

The grace of God is our one hope for eternity, because none of our own efforts could blot out the penalty for

September 2014 Calendar of Events:

• Sun, September 7: We will observe together the Lord’s Supper during morning worship.

• Tues, September 16: Women’s Bible Study: 6PM, meets at CAPA Parent Training Center (1340 Ribaut Road, Beaufort).

• Wed, September 24: Lunch Bunch: All who would like to spend time together as a church family, join us at noon for lunch at the Cat Island Grill (8 Waveland Avenue, Beaufort, SC 29907).

• Sat, Sept 27: Men’s Bible Study: 9AM at Holy Trinity (302 Burroughs Ave).

Continued on Page 2

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our sins. Grace is the place where the beauty of God’s character intersects with man’s sin, and it is by grace that we can be restored to God.

Grace is the essential element for us to understand how we are to relate to God. It was by God’s grace that He would send His own Son to earth in order to die for our sins. It is by God’s grace that the Holy Spirit opens our heart. It is by grace that God would allow us to know Him today. In other words, our relationship with God is the product of grace alone. It is all the result of the fact that God “first loved us” (1 Jn 4:19).

And grace doesn’t only bring us into relationship with God; it also causes us to grow in Christlikeness. We often forget that; we think that God gets us saved, but it’s up to us to do the rest. But salvation, from beginning to end, is all a masterpiece of God’s grace in our lives.

The Means of Grace When God desires to work in the heart of a person, He generally uses certain means in order to extend that grace to people. This is why we have missionaries, pastors, and evangelists: to extend the grace of God to a lost and dying world. We do not impart grace, but we do proclaim the grace of God in order that some might believe. Indeed, the messenger isn’t the means of grace; it is the message that is the means of Grace. It is through messengers of His Word that God ordinarily offers grace to people.

These ways that God extends

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grace, both the grace of salvation and the grace of growth in Christ, are known as “Means of Grace.” These are the things that God regularly uses to establish and grow our relationship with Him. Namely, they are the Word, sacraments, and prayer.

When those three things are given priority in the church, God typically does an amazing work. These are, to put it in terminology of daily life, like fuel for a car; nothing else can be substituted in order to take its place. No matter what other approaches we might try, none will produce the effects of a faithful ministry of the Word, sacraments, and prayer. Other things may produce an apparent change, but only the means of grace produce a lasting change in people.

Historically, these means of grace have been the center point of all activities in the Presbyterian tradition. This is why, from the time of the Reformation, Presbyterians have been vehement not to allow anything into the worship service except for that which the Scriptures require. Anything else would work in contradiction to the means of grace.

The Means of Grace and the Church In God’s kind providence, the means of grace are not only a requirement for building the church, but they are also a great blessing. When we emphasize the Word, sacraments, and prayer, it no longer becomes the church’s priority to use the world’s methods to entertain, engage, and draw members. We must simply preach Christ, pray faithful, and administer

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the sacraments. It will be God who gives the increase.

I often feel sorry for my brothers in Christ who are pastors in churches that do not emphasize the means of grace. I don’t say that because we are in any way superior to them, but just the opposite: I cannot imagine how hard it must be to rely on human wisdom and ingenuity to grow a healthy body of believers, and the fruit will never be sufficient. But when the means of grace are ignored or given a low priority in the life of the church, that is exactly what must happen: the church leadership takes on the work that God has already promised to accomplish through the means of grace.

I light of all this, I invite you to trust the Holy Spirit to do His work. You job is simply to lay your hand to the plow and follow God as He accomplishes his will here in Beaufort!

Blessings in Christ,

Rev. Alex Mark

Means of Grace (continued from Page 1)

Join Us on Sundays:

Sunday School: 9:30AM

Worship: 10:45AM

We are located at 302 Burroughs Ave,

Beaufort, SC If you have questions about First Scots, please

email the church at [email protected] for

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Service of Ordination

Alex Mark

August 24, 2014

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If you spend time in a Christian bookstore, you’re bound to see a plethora of books promising church growth if you will follow a few simple steps. But how many of us have ever seen anything promising to help to shrink or even kill a church?

There are two reasons that we won’t come across a book like that: first, because nobody would buy it; we’re all well intended. Second, there will never be a book like this because we simply don’t need any help self-destructing. When as many sinners are joined together as there are in a church, we don’t need advice on how to harm ourselves; we can do it just fine on our own. In reality, no article could cover all the ways that we have figured out to make churches die. Yet there is one thing that every slow, painful church death will have in common: it is the product of forget ting that Christ has given instructions for the care and feeding of the church.

Christ’s instructions take two forms: organizational and individual. Organizationally, the Bible gives certain directions for how the church should be organized, who qualifies to be a leader, when to meet, how to worship, and so on. God has not left us without instructions for the life of the church.

Thankfully, as part of a longstanding and historically healthy system of church government known as Presbyterianism, we have structure, doctrine, and practice that have stood the test of time as long as churches work within those bounds.

But more often than not, it’s not the doctrine or structure of the church that causes people to come to a church or leave it. In many cases, it’s the people. If the people are loving and living a life compatible with the redeemed of the Lord, people will generally be drawn to the church. But if the church allows itself to be marked by hypocrisy and unbelief, or if the members are territorial and threatened by outsiders, then it will repel those who are simply seeking a warm community where they can worship, grow, and find fellowship.

Each of the next five months, we’ll examine those patterns that seem minor and we could easily avoid, but have led to the downfall of many a church. My one request of you is this: rather than reading and thinking of others in the congregation who are guilty of these things, ask the Lord to show you where you have been guilty of these offenses. Then, ask for his grace to no longer do them, but instead to make you a catalyst for bringing life to First Scots!

How to Ki l l a Church in F ive S imple Steps How do so many churches f a i l e ven though Chri st sa id tha t not even the ga tes of Hel l cou ld preva i l against them?

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For whatever set of reasons, there is a widespread belief out there (internet, popular books) that the New Testament canon was decided at the Council of Nicea in 325 AD—under the conspiratorial influence of Constantine. The fact that this claim was made in Dan Brown’s best-seller The Da Vinci Code shows how widespread it really is. Brown did not make up this belief; he simply used it in his book. The problem with this belief, however, is that it is patently false. The Council of Nicea had nothing to do with the formation of the New Testament canon (nor did Constantine). Nicea was concerned with how Christians should articulate their beliefs about the divinity of Jesus. Thus it was the birthplace of the Nicean creed. When people discover that Nicea did not decide the canon, the follow up question is usually, “Which council did decide the canon?” Surely we could not have a canon without some sort of authoritative, official act of the church by which it was decided. Surely we have a canon because some group of men somewhere voted on it. Right? This whole line of reasoning reveals a fundamental assumption about the New Testament canon that needs to be corrected, namely that it was (or had to be) decided by a church council. The fact of the matter is that when we look into early church history there is no such council. Sure, there are regional church councils that made declarations about the canon (Laodicea, Hippo, Carthage). But

Ten Basic Facts about the New Testament:

“The NT Canon Was Not Decided at Nicea—Nor Any

Other Church Council .” Dr. Michael J. Kruger, president of Reformed Theological Seminary in Charlotte and one of the world’s experts on the origin of the New Testament, has allowed us to republish his blog posts from a series entitled “Ten Basic Facts About the New Testament Canon That Every Christian Should Know.” The following is part eight of Dr. Kruger’s series.

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these regional councils did not just “pick” books they happened to like, but affirmed the books they believed had$functioned$as$foundational$documents$for$the$Christian$faith. In other words, these councils were declaring the way things had been, not the way they wanted them to be. Thus, these councils did not create, authorize, or determine the canon. They simply were part of the process of recognizing a canon that was already there. This raises an important fact about the New Testament canon that every Christian should know. The shape of our New Testament canon was not determined by a

vote or by a council, but by a broad and ancient consensus. Here we can agree with Bart Ehrman, “The canon of the New Testament was ratified by widespread consensus rather than by official proclamation.” This historical reality is a good reminder that the canon is not just a man-made construct. It was not the result of a power play

brokered by rich cultural elites in some smoke filled room. It was the result of many years of God’s people reading, using, and responding to these books.

The same was true for the Old Testament canon. Jesus himself used and cited the Old Testament writings with no indication anywhere that there was uncertainty about which books belonged. Indeed, he held his audience accountable for knowing these books. But, in all of this, there was no Old Testament church council that officially picked them (not even Jamnia). They too were the result of ancient and widespread consensus.

In the end, we can certainly acknowledge that humans played a role in the canonical process. But, not the role that is so commonly attributed to them. Humans did not determine the canon, they responded to it. In this sense, we can say that the canon really chose itself.

Dr. Michael Kruger is President and Professor of New Testament at Reformed Theological Seminary in Charlotte, NC. This article was originally posted on June 4, 2013 and can be accessed at http://michaeljkruger.com/ten-basic-facts-about-the-nt-canon-that-every-christian-should-memorize-8-the-nt-canon-was-not-decided-at-nicea-nor-any-other-church-council/


First (Scots) Independent Presbyterian Church

Post Office Box 1774 Beaufort, SC 29901

Please join us for the Second Annual

First Scots Fish Fry on

Saturday, September 20, 2014 5pm

at 162 Spanish Point Drive

in Beaufort. Please bring a lawn chair and an appet ite . For more information ,

email f irstscotsbft@gmail .com or call 843-593-0176.

po box 1774, beaufort sc 29901 why i love being presbyterian · 2014-09-09 · first (scots)...

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