Membership Vows 4: Traveling Companions

A church is fundamentally a covenantal community, founded on the belief that promises power passion, and not the other way around. This is the last in our series on the promises that we make to one another as we join the church. See others in the series here.

“Q: In loving obedience, do you submit yourself to the government and discipline of this church, promising to seek the peace, purity, and prosperity of this congregation as long as you are a member of it?”

Once on a church mission trip in Louisiana doing hurricane relief, our group was forced to sleep in a bunkhouse with two other groups from different parts of the country. After a long day of building houses, clearing rubble, and hauling it away, we were ready to sack out. Unfortunately, our newfound traveling companions were asleep before us, which wouldn’t have been a problem, except for the snoring. I remember lying awake in the middle of the night, listening to what sounded like two lawn mowers running over tambourines on a tin roof, when one member of the other group shot up in bed and screamed, “PLEASE, JUST BREATHE THROUGH YOUR EARS!”

Apparently this is possible.

This membership question is an attempt to help us be good traveling companions to one another, on the journey from where and who we are now to that day when we see Jesus as he really is, when the new heavens and the new earth are revealed to us (Revelation 21). It spells out that the government of this church (known as the elders of the Session) will, as their mission, invite us to do three things:

1. Seek peace. Peace is not the absence or cessation of conflict. Instead, it is the deep, abiding intimacy that comes from truly knowing your brothers and sisters in Christ. Peace takes time to cultivate; it takes grace, as we learn to bear with one another. It takes courage, to keep from running from one another. Sometimes, it takes humility, as we learn to “breathe through our ears” so that we don’t keep one another awake.

2. Seek purity. Purity invites us not to avoid one another, but that we strive to be instruments of God’s healing and holiness for our fellow traveling companions. We are involved in one another’s lives, not for the sake of being busybodies, but because relationship with the body of Christ is one of the ways in which God crafts us into the image of his Son.

3. Seek prosperity. Seeking prosperity means that we long for our group to succeed in the pursuit of its kingdom mission. As members of this church, we serve in its ministries and missions, not those of other churches, as valuable as they may be. When (not “if”) our church is deficient in some area, we strive to improve it, rather than consuming a better product at a different church like we are in the buffet line at Ryan’s.

Membership Vows 3: Being in the A.R.P.C.

A church is fundamentally a covenantal community, founded on the belief that promises power passion, and not the other way around. This is the last in our series on the promises that we make to one another as we join the church. See others in the series here.

“Q: Do you accept that the doctrines and principles of the Standards of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church are founded upon the Scriptures?”

If you were a high school student in Columbia, SC in the late 1990s (like some of my older friends), there was only one place to get any sort of frozen goodness- the TCBY on Forest Drive. All of your friends worked at TCBY, increasing the chance that you could get a decent sized free “sample” from behind the counter. So we were confused when the TCBY shut down, all our friends got fired… and a Baskin Robbins took its place. Wasn’t it all ice cream? Then, not three blocks away, the new ice cream revolution continued- a Marble Slab, followed by a Cold Stone Creamery. Options abounded.

In many ways, denominations are like ice cream stores- they arise in response to different cultural situations, providing unique insights, emphases, strengths and weaknesses to the witness of the church down through the ages. The important thing to remember is that, though there are many options, its still all ice cream. The Associate Reformed Presbyterian (ARP) Church, of which Christ the King-Savannah is a part, delights in the unity we have with any denomination which is founded on the confession that “Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God,” (Matthew 16:16) as made explicit in the Nicene Creed. At the same time, we believe that our heritage as ARPs uniquely situates us as a group of churches testifying to the truth of the gospel in our own cultural moment. It is all ice cream, but this is our ice cream, and we love it. To find out more about what it means to be an ARP, click here.

Membership Vows 2: The Christian Life

A church is fundamentally a covenantal community, founded on the belief that promises power passion, and not the other way around. This is the second in our series on the promises that we make to one another as we join the church. See others in the series here.

“Q: Do you accept the Bible, comprised of the Old and New Testaments, as the written Word of God; and that is is the only perfect rule of faith and how to live?

Q: Do you promise to trust in the guidance and strength of the Holy Spirit so that you can live all of life as a Christian, following the example set by Jesus Christ?

Q: Do you promise to exercise faithful stewardship of God’s resources entrusted to you for the furtherance of God’s Kingdom and purposes?
”

“Authority” can be a scary word, in part because everyone has suffered under bad authority. Bad bosses, corrupt governments, angry parents… the authorities in our lives so often use the power they have for their own ends and glory, instead of the people under them. As a result, it can be tempting to say that the best thing to do with authority is to get rid of it, all of it, and free the individual person to live their life the way they see fit, with no external constraints or guides. This sounds great, and much of our cultural and personal energy is devoted to casting off the constraints of authority. There are only two small problems with the constant revolution against authority: we are never successful in dethroning all authority in our lives, and if we were to be successful, it would kill us.

The revolt against authority is, in some ways, a relatively new feature in human life. Prior to the time in Western European history known as the Enlightenment, most human cultures saw submission to the rightful authorities of tribe, family and nation as an honorable thing. In the privileged and affluent West, however, submission to authority came to be seen as a sign of weakness. The fact is, submission to authority can be either a strength or a weakness, depending on the goodness of the authority. In some ways, our struggle to trust good authority is not new, but is in fact as old as the human race (Genesis 3). These vows invite us to see that our Creator is our rightful authority, and that we submit our lives to him and to his will as he expresses it in the Bible. And not just our lives during worship… all of our lives, all of our life.

The good news is this: we all know, deep down inside, that life is only possible if we trust good authorities. None of us ever proved to ourselves that food would nourish and sustain us; instead, we took it on our mother’s authority, and we ate. And we lived. The old saying is true: “Man does not live by bread alone, but by every Word from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4).

The implications of our view of authority are these:
1. The Bible, as God’s Word, is the good rule which keeps us alive. It is the operating instructions for the human machine. Any other operating instructions will misuse and ultimately destroy that machine.

2. The Bible is God’s rule, not just for our Sunday worship, but for all of life.

3. Everything we have (our time, relationships, money, etc.) is God’s.

4. The best way to be a human being is to follow the example of the Word of God in the flesh, Jesus Christ.

Membership Vows 1: Who Am I?

A church is fundamentally a covenantal community, founded on the belief that promises power passion, and not the other way around. This is the first in our series on the promises that we make to one another as we join the church. See others in the series here.

“Q: Do you confess that you are a sinner in the sight of God; that you deserve his punishment; that you are unable to save yourself; and that you are without hope of salvation except for God’s love and mercy?

Q: Do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of God and the Savior of sinners; and do you receive and trust in Him alone for your salvation?”

My wife and I (Soren) have philosophical differences on the nature and essence of a “good parking spot.” She is of the belief that it is always worth it to spend as much time as necessary to park as close as possible to the destination; I would just as soon park in the back and walk. Come to think of it, these are the sorts of people we are, pretty much all the time. Once, on the way to watch a sporting event with a good friend from college, we reached an intersection. But it was more than an intersection. It was a metaphysical crossroads. And at this metaphysical crossroads there was a sign: Right, towards stadium parking. Left, towards overflow parking. “Which way?” my friend asked. “Right!” she screamed maniacally. “Left,” I stated calmly. Pity the friend. But the statement is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance: unless you know who you are, and where you are going, you won’t be great traveling companions. This is what our first two membership vows attempt to capture: who are we, and where are we going? Scripture teaches that all human beings are:

1. Created by God, and bearing his image (Genesis 1:27, James 3:9). Therefore, every human being, regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation, physical or intellectual capability, or any other qualifier at all, has dignity, value, worth, and is worthy of respect. Furthermore, every human being is called to use their giftedness to reflect God’s glory in the world He has given us to cultivate.
2. Rebels (Genesis 3, Ephesians 2:1-3). Though we, as humans, have value and worth, we have used our giftedness to serve ourselves, and not the source of our life, value and worth. Though we owe God our allegiance, we have not given it to Him. We have willingly disconnected ourselves from the source of life, and therefore cannot even find the power to fix what we have broken. By God’s grace, we are not as bad as we could be; but without his mercy we can never find life on our own.
3. Offered Hope through Jesus (Genesis 3:15, Ephesians 2:4-10). The true image of God, Jesus, God’s own Son, came into the world to save and restore those who would look to him alone for life.

A Christian community that can answer these questions in the affirmative has several concrete characteristics:
1. Given that humans are made in God’s image, and that Christians recognize the seeds of rebellion in their own hearts, they strive to maintain a gracious and patient disposition towards those who think or live contrary to Christian teachings. Christians are not those who are perfect already; they are those who look to Jesus for his grace.

2. Given that humans are rebels, we look, not to our own feelings or reason for what is right, but only to Jesus himself as the trustworthy definition of what it means to be fully human.

3. Given that Jesus has offered himself as our Savior, we strive to trust, honor, magnify, and delight in him.