From
Faith to Faith
August 2006
VOL. XXII No. 8
Senior Pastor: Dr. Carl W. Bogue
Assistant Pastors: Rev. Bruce Buchanan & Rev. James Kobb
The adult Sunday
School class opening exercises will discontinue beginning in August. The adult
Sunday School class, beginning August 6th, will begin promptly at 9:30 a.m. in
the fellowship room.
Parents are encouraged to have their children settled in the children’s opening
exercises in a time frame that allows them to be situated for their own class
when it begins at 9:30.
Ladies of Faith Church: Several ladies are needed to assist with the floral
arrangements we have in the sanctuary. If you would be interested in assisting
in this area please see Karla Richards to volunteer. You will also need to see
Melinda Althuis to get a copy of Session’s policy on decorations for the
sanctuary.
A New Opportunity for
Outreach
Faith Church now has a new opportunity for it’s members to reach out to others
of our church family who may be in need of words of comfort, love,
encouragement, celebration or appreciation using personal messages, scripture,
poetry, hymns, etc. Instructions concerning the current need will be inserted
into the church bulletin periodically. A box will be available on the vestibule
table to receive the notes and letters. The notes will then be collected the
following Sunday and mailed following the morning worship. (This gives you one
week to compose your note.) Please pray that this new outreach will be a
blessing to both the sender and the recipient.
CONGRATULATIONS TO TWO OF OUR YOUTH
Last year Kate Tasseff (age 15) and Audrey Tasseff (age 11) competed in CCO
Speech and Debate Tournaments. The mission of Christian Communicators of Ohio (CCO)
is to assist parents who are home educating their children in Ohio and
surrounding states with the development of communication and critical thinking
skills, equipping these children to be faithful servants of the Lord Jesus
Christ by preparing them to give a defense of their faith to everyone who asks
for a reason for the hope that is within them, and to do so with grace, seasoned
with salt. It has been a fabulous experience for the entire family. The girls
did very well in the competitions. Kate placed in both her speech events,
Persuasive and POI (which is a combination of poetry, prose and drama), at each
of the four tournaments, and at the last tournament was one of only four
students who qualified to compete for the Sweepstakes Award for best overall
speaker. Audrey made the final round of her division, Junior Varsity Prose, at
every tournament and placed at two of them. Their parents were very proud of
them, but it wasn’t just the success that made the year so profitable. The girls
challenged and stretched through the classes and the competition. Overall the
experience has been wonderful and the Tasseff family looks forward to another
year of competition. The Tasseff family would like to thank all the people at
Faith Church for their interest in the girl’s progress and for their support for
homeschooling in general. Anyone interested in more information about CCO can
check out their website at www.ccodebate.com
Prayer Chain Requests
July 13: Julia Hariharan is in Children’s Hospital because of an infected lymph
gland. She is being treated with IV antibiotics. If the antibiotics aren’t
effective she may have to have surgery. Please pray that the antibiotics will
work and that Julia will recover quickly.
July 14: Please pray for Bertha Horvath’s friend, Marlene Smith. Marlene was
taken to the psychiatric ward at St. Thomas Hospital. She was behaving
strangely, imagining things, and being very destructive to her home. Her mother
and brother came yesterday from Florida to see her. Please pray that they will
be able to treat her successfully.
July 15: Please pray for Louise Lawrence (a new visitor at our church – her
husband’s name is Mike). Louise has been having back and knee pain. This is an
ongoing problem, recently involving hospitalization. The couple is contemplating
whether she should return to a doctor’s care for surgery. She has been operated
on in the past.
July 17: Please pray for Todd Sebright. He had bladder surgery this week and is
also starting chemotherapy. Please pray for strength and for God’s healing had
to be upon them.
July 17: Jim’s step-mother passed away June 24th. The email had not been
previously sent out. The Kadlecek family would like to express their
appreciation for everyone’s prayers and kindness. They also ask for continued
prayer for Jim’s father and for his salvation.
July 22: Todd Sebright is continuing to feel better each day. The pain is slowly
going away and he has more energy.
August Preaching Schedule
6th: AM: Dr. Bogue – “Sexual Incompatibility & Marriage”; 1 Cor. 7:3-4
PM: Pastor Buchanan
13th: AM: Dr. Bogue – “Spiritual Incompatibility”; 2 Cor. 6:14-15
PM: Pastor Buchanan
20th: AM: Dr. Bogue – “Marriage as a Covenant”; Hebrews 13:4
PM: Dr. Bogue – “A Guide to the Desired Haven”; Ps.107:23-32
27th: AM: Dr. Bogue – “Justified by Grace”; Romans 3:4
PM: Rev. Kobb
The Ordinary Means of Grace—Ordained by Christ
by Rev. Bruce Buchanan
“ The outward and ordinary means whereby Christ communicateth 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.”
Shorter Catechism answer 88
In last month’s article, we looked at Acts 2:42, and saw from that text the
outward form of the church in its original apostolic purity. The Word,
sacraments, and prayer were the defining characteristics of the church. In the
churches of the Reformation the crude accretions which had come to overlay and
obscure the divine ordinances were stripped away. Our forefathers wanted only
those things that were apostolic in origin kept in the church, for only by
adhering to this rule could worship be kept “in Spirit and in Truth” (John
4:24).
But, in order to realize our purpose of appreciating the ordinary means, we need
to take an additional step back to see not only that these means are the natural
face of the infant church, but that they were so at the express direction of
Jesus Christ, the head of the church.
1)The Word—John 20:21 reads: “Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As
the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.’” Jesus came to preach the
good news of the kingdom, for he had been “sent” by the Father for that purpose
(Lk. 4:43). So, it came about that as Jesus finished his earthly ministry,
having suffered, died, and risen, he commissioned his disciples to act as the
ambassadors of his new reign. For he was ascending to sit on his throne and
commence his rule. Theirs was essentially the same message as Christ’s own, with
the addition of the facts of his completed work and instatement.
The gospels record (Mt. 10, Lk. 9, 10) that Jesus sent out his disciples all
over the Jewish nation during his earthly ministry to announce the kingdom’s
arrival. Luke records for us in Acts 8:12 the preaching of Philip the Evangelist
as he preached the “good news about the kingdom of God,” in the early days of
the church. Acts 6:4 describes the work of the apostles—the primary message
bearers—as being dedicated to “prayer and the ministry of the Word.” The book of
Acts closes (21:31) with Paul “proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about
the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance.”
Jesus was the living Word of revelation from God (Jn. 1:1). Jesus said to those
whom he sent (Lk. 10:16) “He who hears you, hears me; and he who rejects you,
rejects me, and rejects him who sent me.” Whom do they hear? They hear the Word
(Rom. 10:14).
2)Sacraments—Jesus ordained both New Testament sacraments. Mt. 28:19 shows Jesus
dictating the permanent place baptism in his church, as well as the words of
institution. John the Baptist’s use of water for baptism was brought over into
the church (cf. Act. 1:5, 11:16, 8:36, 10:7). Similarly, Luke 22:19-20 records
for us Christ’s words of institution for the Lord’s Supper, which we read again
in 1 Cor. 11:23-26.
Some people object to the term “sacrament” because to them it sounds too
“Roman.” This is not a sound objection. The term “sacrament” came into use in
the old Latin church from earlier religious usage. The term is related to
“sacred,” but also to “secret.” Thus, it came to have the connotation of
“Christian mystery,” or something only understood by those initiated into the
church. However, such use had dangerous consequences.
This idea is quite close to Gnosticism. There are aspects of Christianity that
are only fully comprehended after one has become a Christian (1 Cor. 2:14). But
the sacraments are not “mysteries” that way. When the Bible mentions a “mystery”
of the faith, such language indicates the opposite of arcane or mysterious, but
rather that what was unknown before is now being plainly explained. These things
may be profound, but they are not irrational. The Christian religion has
boundaries, but it is not a hidden faith.
The term “sacrament” had another ancient meaning. It denoted an oath, or a
ceremony that laid an obligation. Roman legionaries took this kind of
“sacrament.” It is in this sense of “oath” that the term “sacrament” is
valuable. For the sacrament of baptism contains an oath marking our solemn
“engagement to be the Lord’s” (WSC 94). And we renew that vow in the Lord’s
Supper, risking “judgment” if we misuse it (1 Cor. 11:29). Our sacraments set up
the boundaries that separate those within the faith from those outside it.
3)Prayer—Jesus also instituted prayer for his church. Not that the church from
Abraham’s day, or even Adam’s day, had not been a praying church. Nevertheless,
it is the Lord Jesus who instituted New Testament prayer for his church. Jesus’
disciples explicitly ask him, “Lord, teach us to pray” (Lk. 11:1). And thereupon
he gave out the model prayer, which we know as “the Lord’s Prayer” (also Mt.
6:9ff).
Jesus introduces the church to explicit Trinitarian prayer. He advised his
disciples to pray to "the Father," in both the Lord's Prayer and in the upper
room. Then in Jn 14:13 he advises them to pray “in my name” to the Father, which
does not refer to the “tag” at the end of our prayer (as confessional as that
is) but rather to the authority of Jesus to command what wills; so it also
includes submission to his will. In the following verse he also says “ask me.”
We also have the church praying to Jesus in the following passages: Acts 1:24,
7:59, 9:10-17; 2 Cor. 12:8; 1 Thess. 3:11; 2 Thess. 2:16. Again, in the upper
room, Jesus promised the Holy Spirit, the Helper in all things spiritual (Jn.
14:16). Paul explicitly refers to the Spirit as helping us to pray (Rom. 8:26f;
Eph. 6:18).
(next installment: The Word as a Means)
