5 focal points on generational faithfulness at
Heritage Reformed Presbyterian Church:
[1.] God commands us to love Him and seek first His kingdom
and righteousness above all (Matt. 6:33). Faithfulness to God is man's highest
purpose, or as the Westminster Shorter Catechism Question and Answer 1 states,
"What is the chief end of man? Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to
enjoy him for ever. (1) I Cor. 10:31; Rom. 11:36. (2) Ps. 73:25-28.
[2.] God is a covenant making and keeping God, Heb. 9:15.
The Gospel itself is the good news of His kingdom coming to us in Christ the
King (Matt. 4:17), who now presently rules from the right hand of His Father in
heaven over all things. Because Christ has all authority now, His kingdom is
being built up on earth now, His Church is growing, through many trials and
tribulations throughout the centuries/generations, as people from every tribe,
tongue, and nation are baptized and taught. [Matt. 28:18-20]
[3.] God's covenant and kingdom has always included
households, not merely individuals, and has commanded our children be received
into His Church/Kingdom/People with the sign of the covenant . Genesis 17:7,
9ff., "And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your
descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be
God to you and your descendants after you. And God said to Abraham: “As for
you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout
their generations. This is My covenant which you shall keep, between Me and you
and your descendants after you: Every male child among you shall be
circumcised; and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and
it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you. He who is eight days old
among you shall be circumcised, every male child in your generations, he who is
born in your house or bought with money from any foreigner who is not your
descendant."
This covenant is now renewed in Christ, and the sign is no
longer circumcision, but baptism, and the command still includes that our
children are part of the covenant promise, received into Christ's kingdom as
infants, and are therefore to receive the sign of the covenant as infants,
which is baptism:
Luke 18:15-16 "Then they also brought infants to Him
that He might touch them; but when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. But
Jesus called them to Him and said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do
not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God."
Acts 2:38-39, "Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and
let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission
of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is
to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord
our God will call.”
[4.] Since we are to seek God's kingdom and righteousness
above all, and since Christ includes even our infant children in His kingdom,
we worship together with our families and do not have "children's
church". Christ said that even babies praise Him in worship, Matthew
21:15-16 --
"But when the chief priests and scribes saw the
wonderful things that He did, and the children crying out in the temple and
saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant and said to Him, “Do
You hear what these are saying?”
And Jesus said to them, “Yes. Have you never read,
‘Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants
You have perfected praise’?” --
At Heritage, we trust in God's covenant promises and strive
as parents/fathers to "raise our children in the training and admonition
of the Lord" (Eph. 6:4), believing the Lord will work in the hearts of our
children and bring them to true, saving faith in Christ.
[5.] Because the Gospel of Jesus Christ relates to His
kingdom and covenant promises, we are part of God's covenant people throughout
history, spanning the Old and New Testaments, as the true "Israel of
God" and "Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise",
Gal. 3:26-29; 6:15-16.
Christ has been building up His Church and Kingdom for
thousands of years, and told us that His kingdom is like a mustard seed or
leaven, Matt. 13:31-33:
"Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The
kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his
field, which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is
greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come
and nest in its branches.”
Another parable He spoke to them: “The kingdom of heaven is
like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was
all leavened.”
In other words, God's kingdom will not come overnight. So
many churches today promise the fullness of God's kingdom and blessings in
their lifetime. It will not come in our lifetime in its fullness, but we are
building toward that down through the generations. So generational, covenantal
faithfulness is what we need, for that is what God commands and how He has
designed to build up His Church and Kingdom.
This requires having deep, rooted relationships with your
fellow Christians at Church, starting and raising large families for God's
glory, and being patient and diligent in day to day faithfulness and service to
God and one another. There are no "get rich quick" schemes in the
Kingdom of God. But there is tremendous blessing if you live a faithful life
with your family, living in a particular town/community over the long haul, in
the same church that has the same vision and same labor as you have. This will
not only be sanctifying for you, your household, and the people of the church
you belong to, but it will become a faithful, salt and light witness to the
community around you, over many years, down through the generations.
Mega-churches that spring up overnight and fold within a few
years or a decade at most cannot build anything that is deep, rooted, and
lasting. They are almost always not true leaven that builds up God's Church and
Kingdom. They almost always drift further from God's Word and will, to keep an
audience and money flowing in. Scandals, mismanagement of funds or moral
failings, are all spun to deceive those attending and keep people coming. But
to what end?
At the end of the day, we must preach the full counsel of
God's Word, book by book, verse by verse, over the course of our lifetime. The
preaching of God's Word, the worship and fellowship of the saints, the ordinary
means of grace (God's Word, prayer, an the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's
Supper) are what God has ordained to feed and strengthen us by Christ's Spirit
poured out from heaven.
2 Tim. 3:16-17, " All Scripture is given by inspiration
of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for
instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly
equipped for every good work."
2 Tim. 4:1-5, "I charge you therefore before God and
the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing
and His kingdom: Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season.
Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time
will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own
desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves
teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside
to fables. But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work
of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry."
We pray you will come worship with us and become part of our
multi-generational, long horizon vision for God's glory and our community here
in Sanford, NC and the surrounding areas, for the good of you and your children
after you, and God willing for generations to come, down until the great day
when Christ returns and makes all things new.
https://www.heritagereformedchurch.com/
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