Westminster Wednesdays: WCF 1.1, Part Three

The God Who Reveals

Last week we thought about what God has revealed to all those made in his image: that he exists, that he is good, powerful and wise, that all are without excuse because they fail to worship him as they ought. Yet this is not all that is true about God and man. To be sure, General Revelation speaks truly about God and man, only partially so. God, in his infinite mercy and love, chose to reveal himself further.

First, we need to recognize the purpose of revelation: to give us the knowledge of God and his will that is necessary for our salvation. In other words, Scripture is redemptive. Its purpose is not to tell us everything we want to know about the cosmos, nor those things God has chosen to keep to himself, but to enlighten our understanding about who we are, who God is, what God has done and is doing for our salvation and what he requires of us who are being saved. God revealed himself and his will to his church and then caused this to be committed wholly to writing.

Second, we need to separate the act from the record of that act. God speaking to Moses upon Mount Sinai was an act of revelation. However, it did not become Scripture until Moses recorded the act. Some of the details of the conversation did not become Scripture for forty years, until Moses penned Deuteronomy. For Moses and for the Israelites, the direct and indirect communication of God was revelation. The recording of that revelation is Scripture.

Third, we need to note the purpose of Scripture: to better preserve and propagate the truth which God reveals concerning himself and his will. While God was free to choose a different manner of disseminating truth, he chose the written word. Therefore the standard is not human memory or tradition, but a stable and unchanging corpus of documents which are authoritative. Because the authority is external to us, all of God’s people are subject to it.

Fourth, we need to consider the necessity of Scripture. The confession reminds us that Scripture contains the whole of revelation. Not the whole of what God spoke to Moses or what Jesus spoke to his disciples. Rather, the Scripture contains the whole of what God intended to reveal concerning himself and his will unto his church. Given that the former ways in which God communicated his will to his people has now ceased with the closing of the canon and with the apostles and prophets passing from the scene, Scripture is our sole resource for gaining knowledge of God and of his will. Therefore, if we are to know him and his will for us and for our salvation we can go nowhere but to Scripture.

From Sunday: June 26, 2011

In the morning, we looked at 1 John 2:23-27, where John exhorts to abide in the message we received concerning Christ. It is a message that communicates the benefits of the gospel, for we are saved through believing this message and as we receive Christ, we receive all the benefits of redemption that he has purchased for us. Further, it is a message which separates us from the world as holy unto God. Therefore, we should not be surprised when some fall away as this is just Christ sifting out his church such that it does remain infected with the leaven of hypocrisy and unbelief. Finally we saw that this message which we have received is sufficient to instruct us, not exhaustively, but such that we can know the truth about God and therefore be able to know error from truth.

In the evening, we looked at Deuteronomy 16:18-17:13 (no audio yet). Here Moses gave the Israelites instruction in the establishment of a judicial system in Israel. We saw the character, the process, the authority and the purpose of justice in Israel. We were reminded of the connection between the qualifications for judges in the Old Testament and those for elders in the New Testament, our need to love justice as a reflection of God's character, and to love Christ all the more for taking the full penalty of the law due to us for our own sins.

Westminster Wednesdays: WCF 1.1, Part Two

General Revelation Renders All Inexcusable

Section one of Chapter one begins by placing everyone in their proper category: without excuse. God has given us three things which work in concert such that we are without excuse: his work of creation, his work of providence and the light of nature he has implanted within us. Creation screams loudly that God exists and that he is good and wise and powerful. I cannot watch a nature show with my family without both being amazed at the complexity and intricacy of what God has wrought by merely speaking and being dumbfounded by the willful and arrogant disregard those shows have for the very God who created.

But, as if creation were not enough, God also demonstrates his wisdom, power and goodness through his providential care of all his creatures. Rather than just allowing for rain to fall upon the lawns of Christians, he also causes it to rain on our pagan neighbors (though I have a sneaking suspicion that having to mow grass is actually a sign of the curse, but I digress…). When the rain clouds spin into tornadoes, God doesn’t just smash the houses of those who willfully disbelieve in his Son. Further, God demonstrates in his ordering of the animal world that parents should care for their young and that the young should listen to and honor their parents. In fact, the rare exception to this kind of behavior only serves to underline how common and natural we consider it.

Thirdly, God demonstrates his goodness, wisdom and power through what the confession calls the “light of nature.” In Seventeenth Century parlance, this is the faculty of reason. We have the capacity to think and reason from cause to effect and from effect back to cause. We have the capacity to infer and deduce. God did not give us the capacity to do these things infallibly, and certainly the effects of sin deeply affect our ability to reason, but we have that capacity as a gracious gift from God. In addition to the capacity to reason, God has implanted within every human what Paul calls “the works of the Law” (Romans 2:14-15). This isn’t the Law in terms of the specific list of ten positive and negative commands. Rather, God has implanted within us all a conscience that points us away from those things God’s Law prohibits and rebukes us for failing to do those things his Law commands.

With reason and conscience God, as it were, gave us one third of the puzzle and then set before us the two other parts of creation and providence. Taken together, we have all we need to discern that there is a God and that he is wise, powerful and good. This, however, is as far as it goes. We cannot reason from creation and providence that God is merciful. In fact, quite the opposite: the more we know of God’s goodness, the more we are forced to consider our non-goodness, the more we expect from him judgment, not mercy. At the end of the discussion of what God has chosen to reveal to all (called General Revelation), we find that we are all without excuse. We know that God exists. We know we owe him our love, devotion and service. And we know we fail to do those very things.

From Sunday: June 19, 2011

In the morning we looked at 1 John 2:12-17. John first provides some words of comfort (12-14) in which he reminds us of our reception of all Christ's benefits by grace alone. Important to remember is that if John's audience needed to be reminded of the gracious benefits they have in Christ, we too must consider all we have is by the grace of God alone. Second, John builds upon his words of comfort with words of exhortation (15-17): we are not to love the world. More specifically, John describes what we are not to love as that which is set in opposition to God - our ungodly lusts, desires and pride. We must not do this because to love such things is to not love God (we cannot serve two masters!). Besides the obvious application of putting the love of the world to death in our lives, we also saw how John is reasoning with us: sin and rebellion is vanity, but in Christ we have received grace so that we might no longer live for ourselves, but for him who died for us. This last part echoes Paul in 2 Corinthians 5. As we looked to that passage, we saw that Paul uses the same ideas John is teaching to demonstrate why he is so passionate about outreach and evangelism.

In the evening, we looked at Deuteronomy 16. Here Moses reminds the Israelites of three major festivals. Passover (1-8) is all about remembering redemption - how God brought them out the fiery furnace of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. We saw that we, too, must reflect on our own need of redemption - every last individual is either redeemed from sin and misery or remains in need of redemption. The Feast of Weeks (9-12) was the celebration of a harvest just begun with great anticipation of the fullness of the blessing that God would provide. Also called Pentecost by Greek speaking Jews, we saw how Acts 2 magnifies the meaning of this feast as we see the beginning of a new harvest as the first fruits of the New Covenant are brought in to the church. The Feast of Booths (13-17) celebrated a harvest complete with thanksgiving and rejoicing. As Pentecost in Acts 2 magnifies Weeks, so too is there a greater Feast of Booths: the final gathering in of all of God's elect. Lastly, as we contemplated coming to the Table, we considered how the Lord's Supper acts as our focal celebration: looking back to all that Christ has done in redeeming us from sin and misery, how we are now enjoying the first fruits of that salvation and how we look forward to the final consummation of all things in him.

Serving Under Sovereignty

Are you serving under sovereignty? As you endeavor to do the things God has placed before you, do you approach them as though God is in complete control and as though you must do them? Often times we tend to focus on one or the other. Either we are tempted to "let go, and let God," or we think we must accomplish things in our own strength.

In Nehemiah 4, those rebuilding the walls were under constant threat of attack from the enemies of God. Nehemiah arrayed his men in defense of the young wall and awaited what might come. Seeing fear in their eyes, he arose and gave a rousing speech: "Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, great and awesome, and fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses" (Nehemiah 4:14). In other words, do what your hand finds to do (fight), recognizing the power of God. Serve under the sovereignty of God.

In our lives we often face difficulties, however less lethal they may be than what Nehemiah faced. In every case, God calls us to an obedience which builds upon his sovereignty. Knowing that God orders the universe for the good of his people, we can go forth and face any kind of trial or difficulty secure in the knowledge that our God goes with us, and indeed before us.

The Advent of Humility

"Christian humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less, as C. S. Lewis so memorably said."

The Advent of Humility by Tim Keller.

Westminster Wednesdays: WCF 1.1, Part One

Why Begin Here?

One common objection or question some people have regarding the confession is that it begins not with the God who has created and redeemed us, but with Scripture. Why not, they might ask, begin with a positive statement about who God is, going from there into statements about our need of salvation and Christ as the only and all sufficient remedy for our fallen state? Some confessional theologians even want to subsume the discussion of Scripture under the doctrine of the Holy Spirit.

To be sure, the Westminster Confession is somewhat abnormal in this regard. The confessional statements of the sixteenth and seventeenth century normally began with a statement about God, rather than about Scripture. However, the Westminster divines had a very good reason for beginning here. A summary of section one of chapter one might read something like this: everyone knows that God exists, but only those who come to know God as he has revealed himself in his Word can be saved. This is not the exaltation of knowledge over relationship. Rather, it is a realization that there is no possibility of a saving relationship with God apart from true knowledge about the God of salvation. Therefore, we need to begin with reflection upon and a realization of Scripture as the foundation of our knowledge of Christ our Redeemer.

Welcome

Welcome to A Vital Faith, a blog by Steve Tipton, the pastor of Hillcrest Presbyterian Church in America, near Grove City, Pennsylvania. This blog is being written with the members of Hillcrest in mind, that they might know the kinds of things I am thinking about each week, as well as potential members of Hillcrest, that they might know what they might be getting themselves into.

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