Covenanter Witness Vol. 86 - Rparchives.org

For the Board of EvangelismHowTo Understand And HelpThe Delinquent CovenanterTom Joseph *Member of the Evangelism BoardStop right here for a moment. . . . What would youlike my comments to be, or what do you expect them to belike? Should they be a long list of chastising accusationsgiven by one who remains "loyal to the cause"? No! Noneof us can claim a higher favor with God because of ourown "cool appraisals." All who are within Christ'skingdom of the redeemed are there for one reason, thegrace and love of God.Our basic approach is to be one of love and concernrather than a critical, standoffish attitude. We must goback to understanding the foundations which they havelaid, or had laid for them, in their earlier life. What wasit that took them away from us? Our first, basic-concern is their salvation. Have they become memberswithout receiving Christ as their Savior? One of thepurposes of the new birth is to give us a desire to pleaseGod (Ezek. 11:19,20). Without the Spirit's working theindividual can have no real desire to be a Christian.We all recognize that becoming a member involvespersonal consent to the "Covenant of Church Membership."This 'consent' can be brought about in otherways than a personal commitment. Social pressures sweepa young person into the church. Parents and churchfathers frown if young people don't follow the routine ofchurch membership at a certain age. In some ways weexpect spiritual growth to be as automatic and regular asphysical growth. The choice of loyalty to Christ vs. theworld is the most important decision of a person's life. Wedon't expect a person of fourteen to sixteen to choose hislife work, nor do we expect him to choose his marriage'partner for life. And yet we expect him to become part of(,lhe bride of Christ. We "force" him to make a maturedecision at a spiritually immature age. The decision tobecome in subjection to Christ can, of course, be understoodat a young age but not always. Has he been avictim of social circumstances through family, church, orpother young people's decisions which swept him along intochurch membership? He must be given a desire to please"Christ (the New Birth) before we can expect him to be>>al to Christ and to our church. A person finding himself* Mr. Thomas Joseph. 1080 Westview Drive. Marion,/"wa 52302 is a member of the Marion, Iowa R. P-• Church.within the membership of the church without a personalcommitment will continue to chafe and avoid coming togrips with the claims of Christ.The second basic consideration is for those whoalready have a saving commitment to Christ. Their degreeof spiritual growth and commitment can be from"righteous Lot" (II Peter 2:7,8), a man who had alwaysseemed to me to be a 'spiritual rascal' on up throughSamson (Heb. 11:32), Jacob the deceiver, etc. I list severalsituations to stimulate your thinking of reasons that theperson is found in his present position.a. Marriage to a non-Christian which graduallypulls him away from former loyalties. This may haveresulted from love infatuation at an early age, familypressures to get married, etc., again being too young formature decisions.b. Putting success in the business world aboveScriptural lovalty. This also shows a lack of conviction asto adopting Scriptural standards for himself and his familyand in many cases a lack of intention to carry out hisbaptismal vows. Sometimes it is obvious that the individualhas placed vocation above conviction whenmaking his life plans, though a Covenanter family does onoccasion find itself out-of-bounds temporarily.c. Personal grievances within the Church. Thisagain indicates where a person places his priorities. Is thegrievance important enough to jeopardize his ownspiritual growth and service? This basically indicates alack of love for the Word (Psalm 119:165) and for hisfellow Christians (I John 3:14).d. Social acceptance. "Our church is too small,out-of-date, odd, etc." Again, is this important enough tojeopardize his own spiritual growth and service? Christnever comforted us by saying that being His followerwould be the popular thing to do. We worship achangeless God who does not alter His laws to coincidewith every passing fad.Again I repeat,il is not the intention of this article tochastise, or reprimand, but to encourage those who feelled of the Holy Spirit to talk with your Covenanter friendsand their families regarding this, to first search out informationso thev will more carefully understand the 'why'of their position. To understand is to help. Through God'st>raee we can do both.• • •WRIL 7. 19-1