FBC Cracker Barrel, Part 3
I said in the first article and in the second article that the two marks of true church are (1) the pure preaching of the Word of God and (2) the right administration of the ordinances.
Why these two marks? Who determined that it should be these two marks? In subsequent articles, we’ll dig into passages of Scripture and see how these conclusions are supported by the New Testament. But for now, think of it this way:
God expects His people to hear His Word and to do His Word. That is how we know which people on earth are His people.
When the pure preaching of God’s Word in the gospel is presented, some people will be saved and are united to Christ in the New Covenant. If they are truly God’s people, then they will be led by God’s Spirit to want to rightly practice God’s Word as He commanded. In other words, the Word of God changes men’s hearts to live together in obedience within the context of the church.
As one, old Baptist pastor put it, the preached Word makes the matter fit for the form. But that strange sentence leaves us with some questions. What is the substance (or matter) of the church? What does it mean that the matter can be made fit? And how does this matter, now been made fit, adhere to a form? And how does this shed light on why the right preaching of the Word in the gospel and the right administration of the ordinances go together to form the two marks of the true, local, New Testament church?
Help from a Particular Baptist
John Spilsbury wrote a book in 1643 called A Treatise Concerning the Lawfull Subjects of Baptisme. He lived in a context where the constituting cause of the Church of England was the will of the king, the command of the bishops, and the law of the land. Upon examining the Bible, he and other Baptists discovered that the true constituting cause and nature of the church began with the Word of God.
What did they see in the New Testament? They saw from Scripture that a church is created just like how a Christian is created. God’s Word creates God’s people.[1] Just as how an individual man becomes a Christian by hearing God’s Word in the gospel and believing it in obedience, so also is the local church created: by the preached Word and in obedience to the Word. From Spilsbury:
This will be further cleared in the constitution of the Church, which now follows, which constitution is the orderly collection or conjoining of persons into the New Covenant, or visible union with Christ their head, as their mutual faith and agreement in the truth to the practice of it, and so consequently into an orderly body among themselves; wherein the Saints are the matter, and the covenant the form; from which two concurring, the Church ariseth, and is by them constituted. By which it appears, that is the promise, or the Covenant of grace, that produceth a Christian, and gives him a being in such an estate of grace, and so consequently the Church itself: for that which is true in a part, is the same in the whole. [69-72]
In other words, the Word of God creates the substance (or the matter) of the church, which is the saints. These saints’ hearts have been changed by the gospel. They have believed in Jesus and are eager to follow their Master. They are now ready to be a church. And having been made fit for the context of the church (also called the form), the saints gather together in a mutually agreed submission to live out God’s Word together.
To put it simply, God’s Word rightly preached will create Christians, and that same Word will make those Christians ready to gather together and make promises to each other to obey God’s Word as a church. The matter is shaped and made fit for the form. Essentially, you can know who is a true Christian because they are made by the Word and seek to obey the Word. So the same is true of true, local, New Testament, Christian churches. They are made up of Christians under the Word who seek to obey the Word together by mutual covenant.
In his book, Spilsbury then laid out four steps in this process:
Now for the constituting causes by which God ordinarily useth to effect this work; they are these:
1. The word of God, which is to fit and prepare the matter for the form.
2. The confession of faith, which is to declare the fitness of the matter for the form.
3. The free and mutual consent and agreement of the particular persons, upon the practice of the same truth believed and confessed, as aforesaid.
4. And lastly, the Spirit of Christ, uniting and knitting up their hearts together, in and by the same truth.
In the paragraph above, Spilsbury lists out the steps for the creation of a local church. First, the Word is preached. Second, men and women believe it. Third, these men and women who have individually submitted to God agree by a church covenant to obey God’s Word together. And finally, the Spirit of God will continue to unite them together. What happens next in A Treatise Concerning the Lawfull Subjects of Baptisme, is that Spilsbury expands upon each of the four steps:
Step One:
First, of the word of God, fitting and preparing of the matter; and this appears in the ministry of John the Baptist… and now the manner how this is to be done, is to fill up every valley, and to bring down every mountain and hill, and to make the crooked ways straight, and the rough ways smooth…In which sense the gospel is a preparative means to fill up such valleys, by pouring in the great abundance of God‘s grace, and free love in Christ towards all such as believe, and his all-sufficiency to preserve such as suffer for his name sake.
And for laying low the mountains and hills, that is, to humble and bring down the proud heart of man, that exalts himself, and cannot submit unto the simplicity of the gospel, into that low and mean condition of Christ upon his cross. And for the crooked to be made straight, that is, the crooked and serpent-like nature, and evil dispositions of men, that shall be changed, and made comfortable to Christ.
The preached Word goes forth like John the Baptist preparing the way. Just as God is able to raise valleys and lower mountains, so also He is able to create a people for Himself. He raises up those who are low by his grace, and He brings down those who are haughty. We cannot come to Christ unchanged. He will make us new by His Word.
Step Two:
Spilsbury goes on in the second step of the creation of a local church to show how the preached Word will change men's and women’s hearts so that they will confess their allegiance to Christ. And upon declaring faith in Christ, many men and women will discover each other and realize that they share the same confession of faith.
The second constituting cause is the confession of faith, which declares the fitness of the matter for the form; which confession of faith is produced by the power of the gospel, shining into the heart of man, and draws away the same after that which is by the gospel revealed. Which truth is of such a working nature, that it will not be kept in, but like until leaven which so seasons and sweetens the whole man, that as fire at length it breaks forth and discovers itself, or rather such as have it, and not only so, but it brings them together, by which they come now to confer about the same, so that at length they come to be of one and the same mind in judgment in it, and withall convicted of their obedience thereunto.
If a man or woman believes upon the gospel, then he or she will not be able to contain the evidence of a changed life. What happens next is that individual Christians will discover each other, even seek each other out, and want to be united in the same gospel which changed them as individuals.
Step Three:
And upon this, here follows a third constituting cause, which is the free and mutual consent and agreement upon the practice of that truth so by God revealed, and by faith received, as his will in their obedience thereunto; which agreement is between God and them in his truth, who by his power subjects them to himself by the same, and where this is in truth.
These individuals who have received God’s Word (step 1) and declared their belief in God and His Word (step 2) will make a commitment with other Christians to obey God by His Word (step 3). They agree to help each other as disciples obey what God’s Word tells them to do, which would include rightly practicing baptism as the New Testament says and practicing the Lord’s Supper as the New Testament says. What we call this mutual agreement in discipleship is a church.
Step Four:
Fourth, and finally, the Holy Spirit will bind these believers together.
Now comes to cause in the last place, which effects and concludes the whole work, and that is the Spirit of grace and power, going forth in their hearts by faith, uniting in knitting them up together in one, for the manifestation of their obedience to God, in their practical subjection to Christ in the said truth, by them received and agreed-upon as aforesaid, and this is the covenant that forms the church, which ever goes in order before the external administration of any other ordinance than the matters agreement together for orderly practice; for persons must be informed of the truth and judgment, and bound by the same in conscience, and agree upon the practice, before the same can orderly be put into execution; which union is the Holy Ghost conjoining and uniting the said persons together in one and the same truth by faith, and so consequently into an orderly body among themselves, immediately under Christ their head.
In the paragraph above, Spilsbury writes that before there can be baptism and the Lord’s Supper there must first be an agreement between Christians to be the church together—“this is the covenant that forms the church, which ever goes in order before the external administration of any other ordinance.” They must make sure they agree upon the same gospel. Afterward, they will have an orderly practice as bound by the same conscience. Spilsbury argued that it is the covenant (or mutual agreement of members to obey God’s Word together) that makes the church.
Conclusion
Membership at a church shouldn’t be like membership at Sam’s Club or a country club. It isn’t a privileged status conferred on us with benefits whenever we want to draw upon them. Neither is going to church like going to a movie theatre or a concert where we watch as detached observers the show that happens on the stage but in the end have no relationship with one another.
By definition, the church is a relationship with other Christians who have made promises to each other under the lordship of Christ. We have promised to obey God’s Word together.
At our church, we like to use the phrase meaningful membership. Whenever I sit down with prospective members in a membership interview I want to emphasize that at our church we have made promises to one another. Our membership means that we are in covenant community with each other to help each other make progress in the likeness of Christ. We even have a document called a Member Covenant that spells out the promises we’ve made. We read it out loud every time we take the Lord’s Supper. As those who have been converted by the truth, we seek to live out the truth of God in a community of truth.
But what if our churches don’t look like this? What should we do to recover this community of truth? I’ll plan to talk about that more next week.
[1] For more on this, see chapter 1 of 9 Marks of a Healthy Church, Mark Dever.