Letter from "Theology Matters" Oct. 8, 2008

"Members of our Board of Directors were greatly distressed by several of the actions taken by the 218th General Assembly and in the coming months we will be speaking out clearly against the false doctrines and blatant mistakes being promoted in the PC(USA) by some of its leaders. However, we will not leave the denomination, nor will we encourage others to leave. After much prayer and consideration we are firmly convinced that leaving the PC(USA) sends the wrong message and leaves far too many of God's precious children without a defense and without proper leadership. We are committed to remaining within the PC(USA) and working from within for the much needed reform. We trust God's power to bring new life to his church and seek to have the same love for the lost that took Christ to cross.

God has not abandoned his church. Today is a time to remember God's promises to his church and increase our resolve. The apostle Peter encouraged the church in Asia Minor, which was struggling against false teachers, by reminding them that their situation was not unusual. There were false teachers in the OT and there will be in our churches. Peter wrote, 'There were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They wil secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them...' (2 Pet. 2:1-2)

Commenting on those verses, Calvin explains that God has a purpose in allowing the strife to continue. He writes,

'He (Peter) encourages and strengthens those to whom he writes with the argument that God has always disciplined His Church with this kind of trial so that their hearts may not be disturbed by its novelty. He says that the condiiton of the Church under the Gospel wil lbe no different from what it was under the Law; false prophets upset the old Church, and we much expect the same. It was necessary to say this specifically because there were many who though that the state of the church under the reign of Christ would be peaceful...Let us, therefore, remember that the Spirit of God has declared once for all that the Church will never be free from this internal trouble, and let this image be kept in mind that the trail of faith is common both to us and to our fathers, because it has the same purpose, namely to make clear by this means whether we truly love God as is written in Deuteronomy 13:3'

Calvin recognizes how tempting it is for us to want to withdraw from the struggle. He continues his commentary.
'the idea is apt to insinuate itself that if the Lord wants to keep his people unspotted, why does He not gather them all together into some corner of the earth where they can encourage each other in holiness? ....When God appropriates to Himself the responsibility for helping and protecting His own, so that they do not fail in the struggle, we take heart to fight the harder.'

The struggles in the church are not new and they should not weary or discourage us. God has not left us without his aid. The struggles today are over the pwoer of Christ to redeem and transform a life to live in joyful obedience to God's Word and thus glorify God. The issues we face over sexuality and marriage, over the nature of the Trinity and sin go to the very heart of the Gospel and therefore the person of Christ. We cannot grow weary of the struggle."