Because we are given to complaining, we need to be reminded to give thanks. Complaining comes naturally to us. Giving thanks is a supernatural activity. Consider, for a moment, our propensity to complain about the state of the church. In Reformed circles we have far too many “whispering Calvinists,” men in the pulpits of Reformed churches who affirm the system of doctrine found in the Westminster Confession, but whose preaching seems unaffected by that system.
On the other side of the spectrum we have the cranky Reformed. These are men who preside over bitty little congregations of bitty little hearts. They spend their time and energy sifting through the subtle theological nuances of their enemies, other Reformed pastors. It’s not a pretty picture.
We would be wise, however, to remember that once, not too long ago, there was no Reformed world to complain about. Outside of Grand Rapids, the mecca of the Dutch Reformed, and the greater Philadelphia area, where a then very young Westminster Seminary sent its grads, seventy-five years ago the only Bible believing Presbyterians you could find were fundamentalists given to dispensational eschatology. And even they were hard to find. That we have big troubles in the Reformed world is the result of now having a big Reformed world. And that is something to give thanks for.
The same principle applies to the church at large. How hard is it to find something to complain about in the evangelical church? Turn on Christian television. Turn on Christian radio. Pick up your average evangelical magazine. Attend a conference. Chances are you will find a hodge-podge of squishy, feel-good goo-gah. You will find men in pulpits who not only don’t teach the Reformed faith, but won’t teach the plain teaching of the Bible. You are more likely to find the spirit of Madison Avenue at work than the Holy Spirit.
Once again, however, we need to remember that not long ago the evangelical church was a tiny backwater institution, dwarfed to insignificance by big churches overcrowded with parishioners who did not know or did not care that their pastor did not believe Jesus was raised from the dead. While there is great room for growth in the evangelical church, praise God we live in an age where it is the mainline churches that are insignificant shells.
Might we be still more grateful if we were to look back to that church which has so radically departed from the faith. We were once a part of the one true church known as Israel, the people of God. While our fathers may have worshipped in mainline mausoleums, our spiritual great-great grandfathers gave over the worship of the living God for the worship of the Baals- over and over again.
Read through our family story and we will find there repeated ad nauseum, “And King So and So did not fear God but established high places throughout the land… Then King So and So II, like his father before him, did not humble himself before the Lord, but welcomed the priests of Baal to his table.”
Apostasy wasn’t a surprise to the children of Israel; it was a way of life. Over and over God sent foreign lands to oppress His people, that they might turn to Him in repentance. Time and again God sent His prophets to call His bride back to fidelity. And then something amazing happened. God sent the prophet Joel. He too spoke against the sins of Israel. He too lamented the judgment of God. Famine would come. The Day of the Lord was at hand, a day of darkness and gloom. A nation would come in conquest like none that had come before:
“The earth quakes before them; the heavens tremble. The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining. The Lord utters his voice before his army, for his camp is exceedingly great; he who executes his word is powerful. For the day of the Lord is great and very awesome; who can endure it?” (Joel 2:10-11).
God calls His people to repentance, promising to forgive them, and to restore them. But then He makes this astonishing promise:
“And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophecy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit” (2:28-29).
This is a promise of a whole new world. For all our failures and weaknesses as the modern church, we are the church indwelt by the Holy Spirit. For all our infidelities, and flirtations with the world, we will remain as the bride. Institutions will come and go, but the bride of Christ will never turn away. She will be spotted and wrinkled, but she will have within her the living Spirit of God.
This promise was inaugurated at Pentecost, and is still coming to pass in our own day. We are the people of God, but with this difference. We are His people, indwelt and empowered by His Spirit. We dream dreams and we see visions.
The Spirit that indwells us is at work driving far from us the spirit of grumbling and complaining. He is teaching us to give thanks, and we would be wise to begin by giving thanks that He is teaching us. We should be dreaming this, a dream that, for all her weaknesses and failures, the church will grow ever more faithful. Our vision should be forward looking, driven by gratitude and hope. This is why the Father spoke these words through Joel. This is why the Son told us that it was better for us that He should ascend. This is why He sent His Spirit, that we would rejoice and give thanks.
We live in the new and improved. Our calling is to make the new newer still, and the improved still more improved. We march from victory to victory. And in the end we will dance, bride and Groom together, forever and ever.
This is the thirty-seventh installment of an ongoing series of pieces here on the nature and calling of the church. Stay tuned for more. Remember also that we at Sovereign Grace Fellowship meet this Sunday March 30 at 10:30 AM at our new location, at our beautiful farm at 112811 Garman Road, Spencerville, IN. Please come join us.
This is off topic from this article, but I have a question and need your advice and counsel. I am reading J. Stuart Russell’s book The Parousia and your father wrote an introduction to this edition. In it, he says Russell is basically correct but goes too far with his preterist view. He also said his view on eschatology was in transition. I believe he wrote that in 1999. My question is twofold….what is your opinion of the preterist view espoused by Russell and current proponents like Don Preston, and where did your father “land” toward the end of his life regarding the whole subject? Thank you so much for your articles…..always edifying to me.
Steve- my father became, later in his life, a post-millennial partial preterist. He was grateful for Russell’s book insofar as it addressed the time frame issues and pushed back against dispensational understandings. On the other hand, he recognized that full preterism is full heresy, a denial of several essentials of the faith, the resurrection of the body and the future return of Christ. Please, for the sake of your soul, steer clear of these men. Do not flirt with them. Hold fast to the gospel. Hope that helps.