The Ordinary Leads to Redemption
Trusting in the Means of Grace to Reach the Lost
Howdy!
This week we again only have one question. It’s an important part of the puzzle and so instead of waiting until near the end to preview it let’s go ahead and let it breathe first:
Q. 88. What are the outward means whereby Christ communicates to us the benefits of redemption?
A. The outward and ordinary means whereby Christ communicates to us the benefits of redemption, are His ordinances, especially the word, sacraments, and prayer; all which are made effectual to the elect for salvation.
There are a lot of definitions needed for this one, but we’ll tackle two major ones today.
To open us up we need to discuss what the word: means, means. We hear the phrase the Ordinary means of grace (which has its genesis in the above Q/A) all the time, I use it, other people bring it up and we all kind of just assume we all suggest the same thing, but the truth is we don’t. While we all kind of point to similar stuff what comes out at the end of the sausage factory can look quite deafferent. Means as I understand it is to be the way that God works to accomplish His will. The Burning Bush, the Angel of the LORD, Naaman’s Donkey were all means by which God communicated to His covenant people. The brimstone and fire were the means by which Jehovah destroyed Sodom. We are probably most familiar with the prophets of the Old Testament and the apostles of the New Testament when it comes specifically to the written word. We are to remember that this is the current means by which God reveals Himself to the Church. As an old saying goes if you want to hear the Lord of glory talk, read the Bible out loud. But it isn’t just the written word we have. We also have visible means of God’s testimony to us in the form of the sacraments, Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
Next worth considering is the term ordinance. Many of us think of large battleships and surface warfare when that word comes out. I guess in a sense that applies here, but in that scenario the means are the shells and the ordinance is the weapon that fires it. To get out of more boom-boom talk maybe we should list some pertinent examples of what we are speaking of here. Preaching, Baptism, the Lord’s Supper, the Sabbath Day, worship in general each in their own way describe an ordinance. As noted above a couple of the ordinances are also means. Where do we get those from? In other words who gets to decide what one is? Well this is one of those cases where the answer is the good Sunday School response to when a minister asks you a question: God. He alone is allowed to decide how, where, and when the benefits of redemption are given unto His people. Paul in Colossians 2:20, 22-23 lays out the principle for us:
Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations— “Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,” which all concern things which perish with the using—according to the commandments and doctrines of men? These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and ]neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.
The context here is Judaizers trying to impose the Old Testament festivals and ceremonial law on Christ’s Church, but he is also speaking to the Gentiles who have left the corrupt religions of the world and are now a part of the one, true and living God. Why should they go back to those things that have passed away with the coming of the Messiah, or why should Gentiles still engage in a faith which has no power?
The answer is pretty simple: they shouldn’t.
Paul also has in mind any new ordinances that the folks at Colossae may be using that God has not told them to do or called for in His holy word. The Church is not free to impose on the conscience of men and women anything that has not been clearly and openly declared in the Bible.
Before we do anything in worship we have to ask a question:
Has God Revealed to Us the Necessity of This Action? Go read Deut. 12:32 and let me know what Jehovah has told us about free will worship.
If the answer is no then we are actually sinning against the Lord in coming up with an element or action during the worship service He has not asked for, even if we think that we are doing something that “Jesus would like”, because the truth is He doesn’t and He won’t. Christ only accepts that worship He has designed for Himself and His Church. Not only will we never receive grace from man-made religious observances, we actually take away from the gift and grant of the Lord in the doing. We should abhor such things as a violation of not only the 2nd Commandment, but the 1st and 3rd and 4th and 9th as well. You could throw in the 8th as well for that matter. We are foolish if we believe ourselves wiser than God. If He wanted us, as an example, to impose ashes on foreheads five weeks before the Passover, the Lord would have told us to do it. Same goes for the false hope that forsaking something for that section of the calendar between that Wednesday and the forty day later Sunday in the Spring. It would be a worthwhile exercise to take a moment and prayerfully consider anything and everything you and your Church do and make sure it is consistent with the witness of Jesus Christ in the Scriptures, because again if it is not than you are allowing something to be an idol, just as the Israelites who thought they were worshipping Jehovah by making the Golden Calf.
The reason why this really matters is because God uses the ordinary means found alone in His ordinances so that they may be the instrument of bringing a human being to Christ, or as the catechism says, “…all which are made effectual to the elect for salvation.” That is part of the reason why the pastor must preach the gospel every week. Foremost is that you never know when a couple of scenarios will play out: 1) An unbelieving visitor shows up, 2) Whether or not a “visible believer” who has never closed with Christ has been providentially guided to the service on the Lord’s Day you are preaching to be brought into the kingdom of Heaven by the means of the proclamation of the word. We are engaged in serious business in the Church and we need to act like it all times. Our joy and happiness is found in obedience to God, even more so when we see His word being followed with humility and sincerity.
One more thing on this:
https://www.9marks.org/article/why-the-ordinary-means-of-grace-must-be-central-in-our-gatherings/
Blessings in His Strength,
Rev. Benjamin Glaser
Pastor, Bethany ARP Church