We have to do a little dance. I'm not very good at dance steps but I have a PowerPoint but I want to begin at the pulpit and then we're going to move over to this on the side and then come back to the pulpit. The reason is I need to be able to see the slides on the screen and constantly doing this will be difficult, so. I can't tell if there's a slope on that or not. Let's hope not. A couple of things. Twice I have forgotten to mention that we have a new website. It's not public yet. We haven't put it on Google search engine or Yahoo or anything. But I want to give you the URL so that you can look it over. It is irbsseminary.org. Two S's in the middle, irbsseminary.org. And please look it over. Proofread it for us. Let us know if there are any mistakes, anything that's missing. We would really welcome your comments. Cam Porter and Gatlin Bredesen have worked very hard on that and it's really beautiful. It's really a first rate website. So please take a look at that. Also, let me say one more time, please take some of these brochures home to your churches. A lot of them are gone. I'd like all of them on the table to be gone so I don't have to take them home. And there are still plenty of these contribution envelopes as well. If you'd take those, you'll do me a big favor. And then one more thing to say. John and I did not coordinate at all. I didn't know what John would be saying this morning. He had no idea what I would be saying. But as I sat and listened to him, I thought, this brother is providing the biblical support for the things that I want to say. And so maybe in some ways we just have a confessional application of the really excellent exposition that we have. So brother, wherever you are, I can't pick you out at the moment. Thank you for your work. And it just amazes me how God's spirit sometimes brings those things together in ways that we never anticipate. And I think that that's the case. I think that you'll all recognize that what we have to say from the confession fits into the exposition we've just received. Well, let's begin. Theology, does not occur in a vacuum. It develops out of real-life situations. Men study the Word of God, they contemplate its teaching, and they express their conclusions. And often, it is the circumstances of life that force men to think more closely and clearly about their doctrinal views and which sharpen their expressions. When Arius challenged the deity of Christ, Christians faced new questions and the result of the debate was a clearer view of the deity of our Savior. And we could give many illustrations from the history of the Church of that increasing clarity and understanding of what the truth is about. Now the doctrine of associationalism that is expressed in our confession is another one of these circumstances. And before we actually come to look at the text of the confession, it will be helpful for us to think about this by way of introduction to our study. Now there are This is a generalization, but there are three basic views of inter-church relations. And it's good for us to recognize these three basic views. The first of them is Episcopacy. And of course, Episcopacy would have been the dominant theory of inter-church relationships throughout the Middle Ages and in England throughout the post-Reformation era up to the end of the 17th century. Episcopacy is a system of descending church power that is centered on bishops. The bishops stand in a position as personal representatives of Christ, and they exercise authority over a particular geographic area. All the way back in the history of the early church, Cyprian, one of the bishops of North Africa, is famous for his little phrase, no bishop, no church. If there is no bishop, then there is no real church, so that the church is centered on the bishop. Usually, the area of authority is geographic. and all of the clergy and all of the congregations within the diocese, that's the term that's used to describe the geographical area over which the bishop presides, all of the clergy and all of the congregations within that diocese are subject to the bishops. It's a top-down system of interchurch relationships. And the bishop has the right and the authority to impose his will on those who are under him. So in England, we had a system of episcopacy in which bishops had responsibility for geographic areas and had the right to impose their will upon the clergy and the congregations underneath them. Now, out of Geneva arose a system that we know as presbytery. And presbytery, unlike episcopacy, is a system of ascending church power. Church power that starts at the bottom and rises to the top. It is centered in the rule of elders in the church. Not a bishop, but elders. And it starts in the congregation. The congregation elects those who will represent it in the session that has responsibility for the local congregation. The session has a direct relationship to the presbytery, which is the combined elders in a particular geographic area. And then in the older form, I don't think it's so much practiced anymore in America, but in the older form, the presbytery participated in the next highest level, the synod, which typically was a larger geographical area than the presbytery. And finally, the synods were subject to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church. So that you had this ascending view of the relationship of churches that centered on eldership. Each lower court, starting with the congregation to the session, to the presbytery, to the synod, and to the General Assembly, each lower court had the right to make its own decisions But these decisions made by the lower court were subject to review and to change by the higher court. Some people have suggested that the American system of justice reflects a Presbyterian view of the church because there were Presbyterians who were involved in the Constitutional Convention in the 1780s, leading to the formation. Whether or not that's true, at least there's an analogous relationship between the American system of governance and the Presbyterian system. The lesser body is subject to the decisions of the higher body, and the final authority is the decision of the elders who are gathered together in General Assembly. Now in both of these systems, Episcopacy and Presbytery, the visible church consists of the combined congregations, the ministers and the members, and may rightly be called a church. So that you have, for example, the Roman Catholic Church. Oh, pardon me. which is an Episcopalian system, or you have the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America. I didn't know that that's what its formal name was. I had to look that up. But that's the formal name of the Episcopal Church around us, the Protestant Episcopal Church in the USA. That's why we have the Presbyterian Church in America, and the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. I have a really good friend who's a longtime minister in the Christian Reformed Church, and he regularly refers to this body as the Reformed Baptist Church. And every time I have to say, no, this is not a church. We have churches. But Arbca is not a church. It's really difficult for our Presbyterian and Episcopalian brothers to understand that point, no matter how often we tell them. But this is different. You see, the Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Escondido, California, is a part of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church in America. And the one is a church, and the other is a church according to their system. In all of these cases, the entire body is as much a church as the individual congregation. So in Episcopacy, you have a descending system of church power. In the Presbyterian system, you have an ascending system of church power. But the third system is different. Because the third system, which we'll call today independency, defines church as a local congregation. and refuses to acknowledge anything greater as a church. The only churches are the churches that we represent, are the churches locally in various places. And rather than independency being a system of descending or ascending power, it's a system of reciprocating power, or perhaps cooperating power. Because this system views all participating churches in an equal light, with equal status, and equal rights. The church in this system can only be the local congregation. So you have Episcopacy and Presbytery, which ultimately form one large church, but you have Independency that recognizes various churches and equates them in status and in rights. Now why is this important for us to know? Well, simply because the independent system and some of its emphases developed in response to these historical ecclesiastical circumstances. And this is especially true of Episcopacy, which was until 1688, the year of the Glorious Revolution when William and Mary came to the throne, it was until 1688 a persecuting authoritarian ecclesiastical system. And our system developed in response to that system. Now, I want to, with those things in mind, and they'll take on significance as we move forward, with those things in mind, I want to begin to talk about what our confession says about associationalism. Now if, I didn't take the time to look this up in the hymnal. If you have a copy of the Confession, please turn to chapter 26. If you don't, and you need to look it up in the hymnal, in the back, you'll find it somewhere in the 680 pages based on, I'm sorry? 684, thank you. I was remembering Pastor Dykstra yesterday said page 682, so I assumed we were in that same area. 684. And we want to notice chapter 26, paragraphs 14 and 15. Now let's put this into context. Chapter 26 is the first chapter in a subset that deals with the doctrine of the church. And it lays out for us, it's the longest chapter in the Confession, it lays out for us the doctrine of the Church in some sweeping terms. Chapter 27 is neglected, but a very important chapter that deals with the communion of saints, the obligations that we have to each other. And chapters 28, 29, and 30 deal with baptism and the Lord's Supper, the really distinctively Baptist doctrines that are found in the Confession. Chapters 26 through 30 on the Church are themselves a subset of a larger section that focuses our attention on Christian liberty. It begins in chapter 21 with a great statement about the freedom that we have in Christ. And then those chapters after 21, 22 through 30, all deal in one way or another with the question of Christian liberty. Really, it comes down to questions like this. What duties does our Lord Jesus Christ expect from his people? What are the boundaries of our liberty? Or where is our freedom? And what is the boundary that is given to us in our freedom? And chapter 26 addresses this by asserting the doctrine of the Church. Now, chapter 26 develops its doctrine this way. Let me just briefly summarize the way it moves forward. In verse, I'm sorry, in chapters, no, no, no. In paragraphs one through four, verses, then chapters, no, paragraphs. Paragraphs one through four describe the invisible and the visible aspects of the Church of Christ. They assert that it's universal, that it consists of visible saints, that it is not, meaning any individual congregation, it is not perfect, every one of the churches described are imperfect and subject to faults. It never ends, and Christ alone is the Lord. And it asserts at the end, or in paragraph four, that the true power in the Church belongs to Him, belongs to our Lord Jesus. And that's why you have the statement of the Pope of Rome, because he blasphemously claims to be the authority over the Church. He usurps the authority of our Lord Jesus. The central figure, the central person in chapter 26 is our Lord Jesus Christ. We need to keep that in mind as we work our way through. It's always pointing us back to Christ and the power that belongs to Christ. When you see the language of lordship in chapter 26, it's a reminder of the centrality of our Lord Jesus Christ. everything here focuses upon his will and his purpose and what he wants to do. In fact, later on we'll notice twice in the chapter you have the phrase, according to the mind of Christ, a very important phrase. It's in paragraph eight and it's in the paragraphs that we'll look at 14 and 15. So the first section describes, it introduces and describes the church in this way. Then from Paragraphs 5 through 13. I wish that we had the time to read them. We simply can't. Paragraphs 5 through 13 address matters of His power. How does He express His power as the central figure in the life of the Church? Well, in paragraph 5, He calls churches into being through the Gospel. The assumption is that Jesus Christ, ascended to the right hand of God in heaven, is a present and active Lord. who in his activity calls men and women and children to faith. He is the one who gives them faith, who causes them to believe, and moves them to be organized together into churches. Paragraph six says those who are called by his power, by the sovereign present activity of Jesus Christ, have a responsibility to join together and form local churches. Paragraph six, I'm sorry, seven, says that these churches who have come into existence because Jesus Christ is Lord and is active, hold within themselves His power. He grants it to them, and this power is given to the local churches. Not to some higher body, not to a bishop, but it's given to the church. This is essential to the independent system, to say that every church has within itself everything that is necessary to govern itself. And it does not need a higher body. It does not need the imposition of someone above it. Now, oftentimes we use the phrase autonomy, and it's abused and misused. It doesn't mean that we can thumb our noses at everybody else and claim that everything belongs to us. But there is a point to the doctrine of the autonomy of the church, and it is that Christ has set within the church everything that it needs to accomplish His purposes for it. Of course, they have to be His purposes. Paragraph eight, moving on. These churches are to have officers, elders and deacons, or pastors and bishops and deacons, and they are to exercise the power that is given to them. They have duties, they have responsibilities, and Jesus Christ has given to them power that they must exercise. In paragraph nine. Our Lord Jesus Christ is directly involved in each church by giving to each church pastors and deacons. Who we are, you know, this is a phrase that can be misunderstood and misabused. No, abused. You, pastor and deacon, are Christ's gift to your church. Now you see how that can be abused. But that's the truth, that is the truth. And when our congregations long for more officers, what we ought to do is pray to Christ and ask Him to fulfill His promise to give gifts to the church so that the church will have officers. Now you look at that the other way, when you say, I'm Christ's gift to the church, that ought to humble you into the dust. not give you pride, not let you puff out your chest, but humble you to the dust and say, who am I that Jesus Christ would appoint me to the church? That's a tremendous help to me when I have those moments of doubt and struggle and I say, I can't leave this behind because Christ has called me to do this, I better fulfill my responsibility. Paragraph 10. The duties of pastors are described to us, and I would put it this way, they are to fulfill their Christ-appointed duties. They need to know what those duties are and fulfill them. Paragraph 11, a paragraph that thrills me to hear being brought back into practice in our churches, gifted brothers are to be recognized in our churches. we recognize that the preaching of the word is given to some who perhaps don't occupy an office, but still are called, recognized, set aside by the church, given the authority to preach the word of God publicly. That's a very inadequate and rapid movement through the first 11 chapters. But you'll notice here that there is a movement from Christ to the church, and the assumption is that Jesus Christ is a present and active Lord with His church. Now, at this moment I need to move over because I'm at the point of slide number one, so forgive me for a moment here while I try to make this work. And please forgive my back, those of you on this side. All right, now let's see. Very good, all right. I was asked by the planning committee to handle paragraphs 12 through 15. I'll only deal with 12 and 13 very briefly. But 12 and 13 deal with good churchmanship. They speak about the way that the people of God, who are the members of the church, ought to behave within the church. Let's read it here. As all believers are bound to join themselves to particular churches, and we saw that that doctrine is stated earlier on in the chapter, when and where they have the opportunity, so to do, so all that are admitted unto the privileges of a church are also under the censures and government thereof according to the rule of Christ, not the mind of Christ here, but the rule of Christ, a very similar statement. All believers are to join churches, and all believers are subject to the discipline of their churches. None of us are exempt, see? We are all subject to the correction of our churches should we violate the principles of the Christian life and the Christian faith. 26.13 says this, If there's a problem that arises, no church members, upon any offense taken by them, having performed their duty required of them towards the person they are offended at, ought to disturb any church order or absent themselves from the assemblies of the church or administration of any ordinances. upon the account of such offense at any of their fellow members, but to wait upon Christ in the further proceeding of the church." Oh, that God's people would understand and practice this. See what it says. It says, somebody offends you. You go and do your duty according to what our Lord Jesus says. You go to that person privately and address them, and you hope to win them as your brother. You hope that's the end of it. But if they don't respond properly, you take one or two others with you, and you go, and the thing escalates, and finally it comes before the church. And rather than getting in a huff and walking off, You wait, notice the very end, wait upon Christ. Here's the assumption again, that Jesus Christ is a present and active Lord in the church. This is something that I've tried to cultivate in my own mind as a pastor. You know, some of you are single elders, but actually you're not. You know why? Because Jesus Christ is your co-pastor. He is the good shepherd. And he loves your church. He gave himself for your church. And he is as present in your church as a physical co-pastor would be. He speaks to you through his word and tells you what your duty is. We're not talking about something mystical here. But Jesus Christ is present. And all of our people need to learn that His presence can be trusted. You know, one of the realities of our Lord Jesus is that He is gentle, and He is kind, and He is patient with sinners. Sometimes we're aggressive, and we want answers, we want people to be dealt with immediately. But the Lord Jesus says, hold on, give them an opportunity to turn away from their sin and to repent. And that's what this is saying. Good churchmanship doesn't walk off in dismay saying things aren't going the way that I want them to go. I've been offended and the church hasn't acted in the right way. But it says, I'll wait upon Christ. Of course, what does that mean? It means coming to Him in prayer. assuming His powerful presence and activity, and coming to Him and praying to Him and asking Him to work and to resolve the circumstance in the further proceeding of the church as this escalates and moves forward in the action of the church. Ultimately, it is the church that will make a determination about what happens. This, we can move on. These give us a context of proper churchmanship, and we'll come back to this at the end, remembering this model of how individuals are to behave in their circumstances in a church. Now, 26, 14, and 15 conclude the chapter by addressing the matter of the interrelationship of churches, and they do this in a Baptist form. Most of the material of Chapter 26, much of it, comes from two documents. The Savoy Declaration, which was the Congregationalists' editing, revised version of the Westminster Confession of the Presbyterians from the 1640s. And then also, the Savoy Congregationalists published alongside of their confession what was called the Platform of Polity, a series of statements that described how churches were to function. And in this case, paragraphs 14 and 15 are taken directly from the Savoy Platform of Polity with some subtle modifications that better fit the practice of Baptist associationalism as over against early congregational polity. One phrase that they remove, for example, is that the Savoyans say that the elders meet together in a synod, and Thomas Goodwin says that that synod has the right and jurisdiction over the congregational churches. Our fathers removed that, because even in that early congregational polity, they did not want a higher body of any kind. to have jurisdiction over the churches. So this really is Baptist associationalism as understood by our fathers. Now, the way that the confession typically works is that it gives you the basic doctrine first, and then it gives you the details of how that doctrine should work out. And that's exactly what we have in 26.14 and 15. 26.14 is the basic doctrine. Notice the language. as each church and all the members of it, so think of your church, just put the name of your church in there, okay? As each church and all the members of it are bound to pray continually for the good and prosperity of all the churches of Christ in all places, and upon all occasions to further it, everyone within the bounds of their places and callings and the exercise of their gifts and graces, So the churches, when planted by the providence of God so as they may enjoy opportunity and advantage for it, ought to hold communion amongst themselves for their peace, increase of love, and mutual edification. Now let's take this apart. Let's look at this a little bit more closely. I want to, what I've tried to do is highlight some things in the color red and make some comments on these phrases. We are first presented in this paragraph with a universal obligation. Notice the language here of all places. Each church and all the members of it are bound to pray continually for the good and prosperity of all churches of Christ in all places. We have a universal obligation that belongs to each church. Remember I said, put in the name of your church. Your church has an obligation for the good and prosperity of all the churches of Christ in all places. I hope you pray for other churches in your community. Maybe they're not Reformed Baptist churches, but if they're true churches, you ought to pray for them. You have to pray for the churches in the United States or in your state and then the United States and around the world for God's movement in their midst on the Lord's day. Let's not be sectarian and recognize that there are other true churches that are not exactly like us, but they are true churches. And this is an exhortation within our confession to recognize that and to promote this. It's also true of every church member. Not only is it every church, put in your name, but every member of every church has this obligation in some way. Now largely, all that we can do is pray here. There's not much more that we can do in a universal obligation for the church in all places. Nevertheless, we have this responsibility. But notice what it's about. It is for the good and prosperity of all the churches of Christ. Ultimately, that's what associationalism is about. It's the good. And good here, of course, would have the sense that it has in a place like the pastoral epistles, good as defined by God. Not just something that culturally we look at and say, that's a good thing. But something that is good as defined by scripture. And prosperity, of course, here doesn't mean wealth. It means spiritual growth. It means an increase of holiness, an increase of the extension of the gospel. You understand, I know that I'm speaking to the choir, at least proverbially. And by the way, last night the choir sang beautifully here in this place. That is our responsibility. a universal obligation for each church and each church member to pray for the good and prosperity of all of the churches of Christ. Now, notice that I have highlighted the word it right here, and upon all occasions to further it, and then down here, as they may enjoy opportunity and advantage for it. It, equals the good and prosperity of all the churches of Christ. So when you read this paragraph, the antecedent of it, the referent of it, must be in your minds that it is the good and the prosperity of all of the churches of Christ. We are upon all occasions to further it, to further the good and prosperity of all the churches of Christ. And when they are planted by the providence of God so they may enjoy opportunity and advantage for it, for the good and prosperity of the churches of Christ. That's what associationalism first and foremost is about. It's the good of your church, and the prosperity of your church, and the church of the brother or sister who sits next to you, and the other church, and the other church, and the other church. It's about working together and supporting and strengthening one another so that we're not isolated and trying to go it alone in the kingdom of God, but rather together we are strengthening each other. That will have significance as we move forward. Now, the next phrase that I want to highlight is interesting. Because notice here, we have the it, we know what the it refers to. Everyone within the bounds of their places and calling. Now, this is one of those places, was it Arden mentioned yesterday, that sometimes language changes. And this is one of those places where language has changed over the years. And when you look at that, you think boundary and place, you think geographic location, don't you? That's the natural way for 21st century English readers, I think in America and probably in England as well, to read this and think, well, it's talking about geography. But actually it isn't. There's something else that's going on here. Let me show you that. The bounds and places I'm sorry, bounds of places and calling has a very specific meaning. In the Oxford English Dictionary on the word place, we find this. A position or standing in an order of estimation or merit, specifically a person's social rank or status, the duty or rights appropriate to a social rank. Now that's what they have in mind here. And they're thinking especially of the church and the fact that there are some, not social ranks, but there are ranks within the church. You know what we call them? We call them elders and deacons and members. That's what this is talking about. And what it is saying to us is that there are different responsibilities that the people in the church have according to the bounds of their places. Let me give you a couple of illustrations of how this works in religious literature. The Solemn League and Covenant from 1643, which was the agreement between the Scots and the English to work together in the civil war against King Charles I. And in the Solemn League and Covenant, we read this. We shall also, according to our places and callings in this common cause of religion, liberty and peace of the kingdoms, assist and defend all those that enter into this League and Covenant in the maintaining and pursuing thereof. Now, of course, here they are talking about social ranks. those who are higher in the social system, as they give themselves to the Solemn League and Covenant, commit themselves to use their resources and their status in society to further the cause of religion, is over against the English king. So here we have the same language used very clearly with regard not to geography, but to one's position in a particular society. We also, in this interesting sermon by Robert Sanderson on Proverbs 24, 10 through 12 from 1630, he says this. The truth is, there is an outward and there is an inward honor. The outward honor belongeth immediately to the place, and the place casteth it upon the person, so that whatsoever person holdeth the place, it is meet he should have the honor due to the place, whether he deserve it or not. Now if this were in the secular realm, it would be someone who is in the ranks of nobility, an earl or a duke, and maybe the man is a good leader in his community, we honor him for this. Maybe he isn't, but still because he has that place, we show him the honor. When this is applied to the church, what it means is pastors and deacons need to be given the proper honor that they rightly deserve because of the office that they hold. Again, I don't mean any political overtones to this, but if the President of the United States walked in here today, whatever we thought of his policies, it would be right for us to honor him because of the office that he holds, you see. In a sense, that's what this is about. That's what our confession is addressing, the fact that there are bounds of places and calling. It has specific meaning. And it refers to a rank and position in a society. In this case, the rank and position that one has in the church. All right, so let's read it like this. As each church and all the members of it are bound to pray continually for the good and prosperity of all of the churches of Christ in all places, and upon all occasions to further it, everyone within the bounds of their places and callings. So, different people, according to the position that they hold, have different responsibilities in the furtherance of the good and prosperity of all the churches of Christ. I see some heads nodding, I'm glad to see that. This is in the exercise of their gifts and graces. This, again, has specific meaning. We need to be precise and we need to think about what it says. Put it all together, each one, according to the place and calling, exercises gifts and graces. Now, to summarize this, it goes like this. Pastors have obligations for the good and prosperity of all of the churches of Christ. Gifted brothers have obligations for the good and prosperity of the churches of Christ. Deacons, there should be another line in there, deacons have obligations for the good and prosperity, and members have obligations for the good and prosperity, but they're not all the same. Not everyone does the same things. They are not the same obligations. Pastors and gifted brothers and deacons, this should be amended, use their office gifts to increase the good and prosperity of the church. Now, I wish that I could go to the other slide that lays out the confession. If you have it in front of you, notice how gifts and graces are employed. When it speaks of gifts, it means those who hold office in the church and have spiritual gifts to use. When it's talking about graces, it's talking about holiness in the life of all of the people. The gifts in the church are the pastors and the gifted brothers and the deacons. They use their gifts for the good and prosperity of all of the churches. And everyone employs their graces so that all pray and give as God gives them ability to increase the good and the prosperity of the churches. And this is a kingdom perspective. You see, it's everybody in the church recognizing that they have a part, a role to play in the forward movement, not only of their own church, but in the good and benefit that is extended to all of the rest of the churches as well. You know, we, in our association, we don't have individual membership, right? We have churches who are in membership. But all of the members of our church are members of ARBCA. Really, they are. They are members of ARBCA. Not that they have an individual membership in the association, but because their churches participate, they also participate, and for this reason, they have obligations. And those obligations are the good and prosperity of all of the churches of Christ. Now as we'll see, it gets even more specific as we move ahead. There's the paragraph again with some new red words. When providence affords opportunity and advantage, the churches together are to advance it, the good and prosperity of all of the churches. And how do they do this when providence affords opportunity and advantage? Well, what does it mean by providence affording opportunity and advantage, but churches together with the ability to work together to advance this cause And the way that this is stated is they ought, there's an obligation here, they ought to hold communion among themselves. This is associationalism. That's what our confession is teaching here. The good and the prosperity of the churches is advanced by means of the oughtness of holding communion amongst themselves. Now, there are some of our brothers who don't approve of our doctrine of associationalism, who want to read communion as if it means the friendship of pastors. Now, we just don't have the time to go into this. Let me give you a summarizing quotation from my book, Edification and Beauty, which was my PhD dissertation. The whole final chapter deals with the meaning of the word communion. And I argue at length in there that communion is the equivalent of association. Maybe those of you who bought the book Faith and Life for Baptists will notice how they move back and forth using the language associate or association when they refer to what they are. Here's the final quotation. The weight of this evidence provides strong indication that the final paragraphs of chapter 26 of the Second London Confession advocate formal association in their use of the word communion. From the beginning of the movement in the 1640s, the established pattern of inter-church relationships points to this fact. Among the Baptists and even at times among the Independents, the word was used in a technical sense referring to formal associations. So when we read in the paragraph here that they ought to hold communion, this says, they ought to form associations of churches. That's the only meaning that can be given to it. Now notice, when the providence of God, when planted by the providence of God so that they may enjoy opportunity. There may be places where churches are so isolated, they cannot enter into communion with others. It's not a requirement. except when the providence of God makes it possible. And the providence of God has made it possible in many places. Here we are in Association of Churches. We have several state associations of churches. Our brother brought us greetings from the Association of Churches in New Zealand. That's the providence of God bringing churches together. Now notice at the end of paragraph four, this notion of the good and prosperity of all of the churches of Christ is repeated in alternate language. Now we read about the peace, increase of love, and mutual edification. This further definition that is given to the notion of good and prosperity. It's so that the church as, individually and collectively, might have peace, that love might grow within the church and among the churches, and that they might be edified. So we have at the beginning and we have at the end these parallel statements that define for us the nature of the good and the prosperity of all of the churches. It is peace, increase of love, and mutual edification. Let's summarize what we see from 2614. There are universal obligations, we ought to pray, We ought to further the good and prosperity of the churches. There are providential obligations that depend upon our places and bounds. Gifts, pastors and gifted brothers and deacons ought to use their gifts for the good of the larger community of churches. And graces are to be exercised by everyone so that associationalism is a providential duty. And the goal of this is the good and prosperity of the churches, peace, increase of love, and mutual edifications. Churches care for and aid other churches in associations. That's what the doctrine is here. That's what the association is about. It's caring for and aiding other churches. Now, 2615 provides the details of associationalism, really the how-to. So let's read it. In cases of difficulties or differences, either in point of doctrine or administration wherein either the churches in general are concerned, or any one church in their peace, union, and edification, or any member or members of any church are injured in or by any proceedings and censures not agreeable to truth and order, It is according to the mind of Christ that many churches holding communion together do by their messengers meet to consider and give their advice in or about that matter indifference to be reported to all the churches concerned. Albeit these messengers assembled are not entrusted with any church power properly so called or with any jurisdiction over the churches themselves to exercise any censures either over any churches or persons or to impose their determination on the churches or officers. Now this is a fairly comprehensive statement, and sometimes we miss the full teaching that is incorporated here. Not only is this true of some doctrines, as our brother Arden mentioned yesterday, but it's also true of this practical paragraph as well. Confessionalism calls us humbly to listen and perhaps revise our practice according to what our confession states. Now, the assumption of this paragraph is the phrase, according to the mind of Christ. For the sake of time, I'll just pass over this, but in paragraph 8, you also have this phrase, according to the mind of Christ. It simply means that this is the stated will of Jesus Christ for his churches, that they work together for the good and prosperity of one another. And the way of doing this is that they hold communion together. That's how it works, and of course, communion means form associations of churches. Now let's take apart this paragraph in some ways. Paragraph 15, let's start at the beginning. In cases of difficulties or differences, either in point of doctrine or administration. Now we need to look at this very closely. Okay, let's think about this carefully. In cases of difficulties in doctrine, And in cases of difficulties in administration, I'm gonna argue that there are four things that are laid out for us here. And I want to be redundant in order to be able to make the point. The first two things that we encounter are difficulties in doctrine and difficulties in administration. And then we have differences in doctrine and differences in administration. We have four things that are set out before us. There are four possibilities that associationalism addresses. Difficulties in doctrine, difficulties in administration, differences in doctrine, and differences in administration. Now what is this about? Let's give some examples. An example of difficulties in doctrine, one that was encountered by our brothers in the 17th century was the question of justification from eternity. In the records of the narrative of the 1689 assembly, they had to address this. This was an increasing problem that later on in the 1690s erupted into actually a church split. And at this point in 1689, they're discussing and trying to work their way through what is a very difficult question of doctrine, rejecting it. We ourselves have some examples of our difficulties in doctrine by some of the discussions that we've had even this week. For example, was it yesterday or the day before, the draft proposal for the discussion of subscription came out, and we had a discussion here about the wording. Is it subscription? Is it affirmation? Is it adherence? That was trying to resolve a difficulty in doctrine, you see. We weren't settling the doctrine. We were just trying to work through how that expresses itself. What about difficulties in administration that ought to come before associations? Well, there's the question of ministerial support. there is the question of ministerial training, which were both present at the 1689 General Assembly. Yesterday, Jason and I proposed a question to this assembly about whether or not pastors ought to be aware of the amount of money that their people give. That was a genuine question on our part because we wanted to hear your wisdom I haven't had a chance to talk with Jason about it, but I was really helped by that conversation yesterday. It really gave me some information and it really confirmed in many ways what we have done in the past. And I thank you for that. That was a difficulty in administration. that was discussed among you and you helped us to be able to move forward in the conclusions that we would make. That's an example of what the confession is talking about. That's a difficulty in administration. How should we as elders administer this action in our church? And I found it tremendously helpful. Thank you to all of you. I almost got up at the end and was gonna say something. I thought, no, I'll wait till tomorrow and thank everybody because it fits right here. It's a good illustration of what our confession is talking about. You see, sometimes when we read this, we only think about bad things. But it's actually addressing the possibility of helping us with good things. And yesterday's discussion, which addressed several subsidiary questions, was incredibly helpful. And I had several of you say that you were helped by the comments of the men. That's a good example of what this is talking about. What about differences in doctrine? Well. Should a church worship on the first day or the seventh day? That was a question that faced the 1689 General Assembly. And their resolution was that the day has been changed and we worship our Lord Jesus, we worship the triune God on the first day of the week, not on the seventh day, and they had to exclude a seventh-day church from participation as a result. There's a difference in doctrine. Apparently, all of the rest of the confessional issues would be in agreement, but the day that you worship. And they said, that day is important, we won't give in on that. How about differences in administration? Well, the questions that were asked, how do you recover people who've wrongly left the church? We noted that yesterday. That's a question to ask. How do we recover these people? Or, the maladministration of church discipline, which is the next point that we will notice. Those are just examples of the four possibilities. Well, the doctrine says also that these things may occur among the churches in general, that is the churches in the association, or they may affect one church in their peace, union, and edification, language that largely reflects the earlier language of paragraph 14. You see how this is all woven together? These problems, these four possibilities may occur among churches, or they may occur in one church, or they may affect one member of a church, or they may affect two or more members. I didn't know how to quantify members beyond two or more. It's plural, but it doesn't say 15, it's just plural. So two or more members. If they are of any church if they are injured by unjust censures or proceedings not agreeable to the truth. This is the doctrine of associational protection. Now what it does is it contemplates many churches and one church, and many members, and one member of one church. And the way that I think about it is, imagine a camera on a satellite looking down at a particular place on the surface of the earth. And at first it might see the region, then it zeroes in on a neighborhood, and then it zeroes in on a house, and then it zeroes in on one person in that house. The confession contemplates all of those possibilities and allows for recourse in the case of problems, differences in doctrine and administration, and difficulties in doctrine and administration. Many churches may have these, or one church may have any of these, or even one member, or two or more members of any church. It moves from the larger to the smaller, like a satellite zooming in on more specific areas. This is associational protection for one member, or two or more members, or even for a church. That's what the association is intended to do. Mr. Chairman, what time am I supposed to end this session? One minute from now. I can have five. I need at least 15 or 20. I'll do my best. Okay, I apologize. Notice the content. Spiritual injuries. Censures against truth. Of course, that would refer especially to false witnesses as they are presented in Scripture. Or censures against order and someone like Diotrephes comes to mind. who exercises authority in ways that he ought not to do so. It is of the mind of Christ that many churches holding communion together do by their messengers meet to consider and give their advice in or about that matter in difference to be reported to all the churches concerned. Messengers is a technical term for representatives of churches. And notice, the messengers meet, consider, and advise. Now this is an important theological and practical point. It teaches us that the business of the association is done by the association, you see. It's done by the association, not by subordinate bodies. All of the decisions of the association are a result of the consideration, notice the language, the consideration of the messengers and not anyone else. This protects the association from committees functioning as an eldership ought to function. We don't have any committees that act as an eldership to the association. Now this does not mean that committees are non-confessional. Of course not. Because our fathers established committees. The nine men who administered the fund and the seven men who examined the books on the singing controversy were committees. But we ought to notice how these committees functioned. What they did was administrate or administer the decisions of the General Assembly and not vice versa. They did not have legislative power, they only had administrative power. And everything came back to the General Assembly. This is clearly exemplified in the actions of their committees. all of the churches are to receive a report of the considerations and advice of the messengers. And these are the narratives that we have given to us today. As reported in the narrative, this is the clear teaching of our confession of faith. So I wonder, is it possible that we ought to reevaluate two things? Should our general assemblies have more business and more discussion And you know what? We've proven that it can be done. Last year's General Assembly, I went into it with a great deal of anxiety and I came home with my heart rejoicing. Because men who differed in opinion with strong differences were able to discuss a very difficult matter in a Christian spirit. And I had men who knew that they would have to leave the association come to me afterwards and say, thank you. I was respected, my voice was heard, thank you for the way that this was carried on. We've demonstrated that this can be done. Someone came to me, and if I can paraphrase his comments, he said, you know, I've noticed something, we're different. We're not what we used to be. We've learned how to discuss with one another. We really have, and that's a good thing. Secondly, I wonder if we ought to reevaluate the function of our committees so that their actions are limited according to the practice that is stated here in our confession of faith. Let's be confessional in the way that our committees function. Now notice, there's a very important qualification. There's no church power invested in the messengers. They have no broad jurisdiction nor disciplinary powers over the churches. They cannot impose decisions. For example, the statement about regulators that we find at the end of the 1689 narrative. Probably Petty France was right that even this statement was unnecessary and inappropriate. But then we also have the rules for receiving funds. We're told there churches don't follow the rules, they can't participate. So churches have some restrictions. Now let's go back to our introduction. Independency is reciprocating church power. Every church is equal in status. But does this mean that the association cannot discipline itself? Well, the answer is no, it does not mean this. It can refuse commendation to churches, for example, the Seventh Day Church in London, and heresy as it presented itself in the Western Association. But it cannot and must not unchurch a church. It may exclude a church, but it can't unchurch the church. It can't say, you're no longer a church. It can't impose or remove officers, which a bishop and a presbytery can do. Presbytery can remove a whole session from a local congregation. We can't do that. And it cannot impose its advice on churches. The churches are free to take it or to leave it. Now let's think back to the introduction. Episcopacy was about church power. William Laud, who was the Archbishop of Canterbury from 1633 to 1645, and then Charles II and his bishops after he was restored to the throne from 1660 to 1685, imposed all kinds of things on the churches. There was the Great Ejection on St. Bartholomew's Day in 1662. There was the Draconian Clarendon Code that was imposed upon those who dissented from the church. They had the right to impose and remove ministers. They had the right to impose fines. or to imprison those who were church members. Presbyterianism, in some of its forms, was described by John Milton in that famous poem titled, On the New Forcers of Conscience Under the Long Parliament. You know the phrase, new presbyters but old priests writ large, meaning the Presbyterians who are now in power are just the same as the Episcopalians who were in power before. They want to do away with us. Independence was born in response to these, and it rejects both of them. Now let me move back over here. I do have three things that I want to say by way of application. I apologize for the fact that this has been such a rapid treatment of the doctrine. Our confession teaches us at least three important things. and we must do what it requires. It requires of us commitment, it requires of us participation, and it requires of us preparation. Commitment, participation, and preparation. Number one, to hold communion among themselves is a wonderful phrase. because it speaks to the commitment that we make when becoming part of the association. It's a reciprocal love and friendship and support to cooperate together for noble goals, the good and prosperity of all the churches, their peace, increase of love, and mutual edification. But how many of those terms require of us mutual commitment? All the churches, mutual edification, hold communion among themselves. By coming together, we agree to live with one another in order to achieve those goals. And it means staying together and supporting one another, even in decisions with which we disagree. You know, the Petit France Church did this in 1689. Their pastor, William Collins, signed the epistle at the General Assembly narrative, even though the church disagreed with the statement about regulators. They might have withdrawn because in some ways that was targeted at them, but they didn't. They held on and they stayed in the association to their credit. We will not always agree on everything that we do, but we must hold on to our communion together even when we disagree. That means humbly bowing to the will of the whole and support its decisions. And here we have an analogy to the churchmanship that we saw in 26, 12, and 13, where the members of the church are to work together even when things don't go the way that they would like them to go. They wait upon Christ in the working of the churches. In the last year, we have lost several churches. I have real respect for the churches who withdrew due to theological reasons. I respect their choice. It is always right to follow conscience when it believes that the Word of God teaches something. That's right, we ought to respect that. But I am troubled by the actions of others who say that they agree with our doctrine but they withdrew anyway because they didn't agree with the process and with the conclusion approved by the whole assembly in an overwhelming majority. The leaders of those churches taught by their actions their people a very bad lesson. The next time the elders of those churches make a decision with which people disagree and some families leave in protest of that decision, they will be hypocritical to call those people disruptive. That's hypocritical to leave this assembly on those terms and then say that to someone who leaves their own churches. They set an example by withdrawing from us. You see, holding community together requires commitment through the good and through the bad. And so if the assembly makes a decision with which the elders of Christ Reformed Baptist Church don't agree, our obligation is to continue with you. and support you even though we disagree in the decision that is made by the greater assembly. It requires commitment. Secondly, it requires participation. Once again, think about the noble goals of associationalism, the good and prosperity of all the churches, peace, love, edification. We are bound to further it and to enjoy opportunity and advantage for it. So I ask you this question. What gifts do you have in your church that you can share? What can you do for the good and prosperity of all the churches? How can you share your pastors who perhaps can preach in churches that are in need? Maybe give pulpit supply to them. We have a church in our Southern California Association that's in this circumstance and it's been great to see how the Southern California churches have come together to supply the pulpit week after week for a couple of years to that church in the midst of their need. Do you have gifted brothers who could assist in other churches? Do you have deacons who can use their skills in benevolence? Is there a church nearby with an empty pulpit? Or is there a lone elder who needs a break, some time away? Are there physical needs to repair a building that your deacons and your people could aid with? Do you have people who have talents that they might be able to share? You know, a couple of years ago, I visited a church. I preached there on the Sunday morning, and afterwards had a conversation with the pastor about our association. He asked me the question, what benefits will the association bring to my church? And I tried to give him an honest answer to that question. But then I said to him, maybe you need to think about it another way. What benefits can your church bring to the association? You know, we live in a consumerist culture that thinks about ourselves. But in associationalism, we need to think about others. And remember the words of the Lord Jesus Christ who said, it is more blessed to give than to receive. That's what associationalism is. We give to others more than we receive from them. Thirdly, thank you for your patience with me, associationalism requires preparation. Think about paragraph 15. No, it's not there. Paragraph 15, is about weighty matters not to be taken lightly. Difficulties and differences in doctrine or administration. Associational meetings should deal with serious topics and this requires of us caution and thorough thought. The best discussions that we will have and the best conclusions that we will draw will come when we give careful consideration to matters beforehand. when we weigh ideas according to scripture and speak from reasoned positions. I'm about to talk about modern technology. How did you know, Earl? Our advantage over our fathers and our brothers is that we are able to communicate beforehand the topics to be discussed. You know in advance, 60 days in advance. The advice that we give to one another ought to be the fruit of careful preparation governed by brotherly love. It also means that we come in humility. You know, it's a good thing to ask for advice. To say, we don't know if our wisdom on this issue is sufficient. So when you're asked to supply topics, please do so. Give it some thought. Bring your questions. Listen to the advice of the assembly. Be prepared when a perceived injury has been suffered to listen carefully and respond righteously. Associations, when functioning properly, assist churches in weighty matters. And this deserves our best preparation, not top-of-the-head advice. You see, our confession teaches us to be committed, prepared participants in our association, so that the good and the prosperity of the churches, peace, love, and mutual edification may increase. And when these grow, so do the churches, and so do the Christians in them. May God help us to be characterized by these things that we find in our confession of faith. Thank you very much. Amen.