There is an order to the home of God, just as there is an order to your home. After Paul gives timothy the qualifications for elders and deacons he writes in 1 Timothy 3:15, “I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these things to you so that, if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth.” Yes there is a certain way we ought to behave in the household of God. A way that displays that we are the church of the living God. That this household of God is the pillar and buttress of truth. Just like a home has a certain God ordained order in it, so the house of God is ordered.
It would make no sense if parents had to be obedient to children. Could you imagine? Or if there was no discipline, no order to the lives of the family. So, there must be order, and structure to the church of God. Therefore we “We believe that this true church must be governed according to the spiritual order which our Lord has taught us in his Word.”
Today we will talk about the church order and structure more generally, next time we will talk about the office-bearers of the church, then we will talk about the discipline of the church, and then we will also talk about the sacraments. But in this sermon, I would like to take a few moments just to talk about the church order more generally.
The Spiritual order of the Church
- Its Biblical
- It's important
- Some Principles
It is Biblical.
Now many associate spirituality with spontaneity and impulsiveness. They believe order and structure is restrictive, and that we should throw off all order. They believe the church should listen to the “Spirit” leading.
But Our God is a God of order. He is a precise God, and he works according to a definite plan. Just consider the words, “this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men (Acts 2:23)”
Focus on these words for a second: “The definite plan and foreknowledge of God…” God was incredibly precise in how He predetermined events to unfold. It’s one of the miracles of both history and Scripture. His earthly life and ministry as well as His death & resurrection was according to a definite plan. As it is in salvation, so it is in the way of salvation. God has commanded that his church be structured in a definite and ordered way. This order and precision can get to us and frustrate us, but it is there to protect us, and cause us to flourish. When we fight against order, we basically say we want to worship God in our own way.
The Spirit of God does not work on a whim. This is not the way the Bible portrays life or church life. Not at all. We see the fact that God is a God of order. In salvation but also in creation. God tells Job, “Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you establish their rule on the earth?” or to Jeremiah, “Thus says the Lord: If I have not established my covenant with day and night and the fixed order of heaven and earth.” God is the God of the universe. And there is a certain perfect order reflected in the universe.
This order and structure are then also reflected in how he deals with his people. In fact, when you start back in the Old Testament God orders every aspect of life for his people: politically, economically, and socially. There is supposed to be a divine order to their entire society that reflects the glory of their God, and his goodness to them. The people’s relationship with the land, with each other, and with God are all guided by a book of order, or teaching found in Deuteronomy. God cares how his covenant people worship him, how they live, how they interact, how they are ruled. And he has given us principles to implement in his word. He does not just care that they worship him, but the how of worship as well.
Paul says that church that “all things should be done decently and in order.” Do things “decently” refers to doing something in a pleasing way. You know when you see a professional sports player play their sport. No movement is wasted. Their form is pleasing. They do exactly what they need to do. The Bible uses the same word when it speaks about how we are to live, In Romans 13:13 it says, “Let is walk properly (decently) as in the daytime.” Doing things in good “order” refers to orderly arrangement. So, Paul wants the church to do all things properly, or pleasingly, and in an orderly arrangement. This is something that Paul rejoices when he sees it in the church as he says in Colossians 2:5, “…rejoicing to see your good order, and the firmness of your faith in Christ.”
There was apparently some of this disorder in Crete to for Paul later says to Titus, “This is why l left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you…”
And it is not as if this is something only of the reformed church. No from its birth the church has seen the importance of having a church order based on the Bible so that the church and her leaders could be held accountable to the authority of the Scriptures and the Lord ship of Christ. The Didache (Greek for teaching) is our earliest example of a “church order.” It sets out how congregations should baptize, fast, pray, receive visiting prophets, and the like. The Didache probably reached its present form before the end of the first century A.D., but it certainly contains earlier material.
It’s important.
Now one church in the New Testament that fell into this temptation of associating spirituality with an impulsiveness and disorderly spirit was the church of Corinth. And because of that there was also a lot of confusion in the church. There was disunity. There was acceptance of sin. There was false teaching. There was confusion in worship. There were people that were taking each other to court. There as an impulsiveness and spontaneity in worship that allowed people to talk over each other, or that had some people speaking in tongues and no one had any idea what they were saying.
Paul lays down a number of points of order down for this church and ends with the words, “All things should be done decently and in good order.” Order. Unity. Love. Disciple. Understanding are terms that all relate in Scripture.
A God ordained order causes the beauty of his glory to shine. It takes the focus point off man and places its squarely upon God. If there was no church order the Consistory could make up things as they go along. It could even be one elder against another. The church order lays out practically how things are to be run in the household of God.
Now there may be some who says, having a church order, is dry and boring. Well, it depends what you mean by that. If you mean a worldly kind of excitement, and shallow pleasure. You may be right. Sin has a certain pleasure and addictive character for the sinner. But think about a family life without any sort of routine? Do children flourish without authority? Without routine? Without boundaries? Of course not! Why would the children of God be any different? When the order is lived out people are more enabled to find their joy in the Lord, to experience the peace that transcends understanding, and to feel the love of the Lord together with all the saints. It becomes less about the individual and more about the community. It unites you to something larger than yourself, without erasing your identity. Without this order the church can quickly descend into factions and become about the loudest and most assertive rather than the weakest and the most broken. Order is there to protect the bride of Christ.
As we read in the article, “By these means they preserve the true religion; they see to it that the true doctrine takes its course, that evil men are disciplined in a spiritual way and re restrained, and also that the poor and the afflicted are helped and comforted according to their need.” In Corinth this was not happening. Sinners were allowed to keep on sinning openly, the poor were being mistreated, generosity needed to be encouraged. Church order is important if we want to flourish, to love each other, to be united. It is there to protect the weak, the vulnerable. It is there as guard against false teaching, against strong personalities.
Some Principles
I would like to end with some principles upon which the church order of this church is based.
First it sees the local visible body (or church) as the body of Christ as Christ describes in 1 Corinthians 12, led by office-bearers who serve under the direct authority of Jesus Christ. We do not believe that synods or popes or councils, but that God has appointed under shepherds and he governs his church using office-bearers. Therefore, you will see also the largest section in the church concerns office-bearers, because this is where scripture lays its emphasis.
Does this mean the office-bearers must be obeyed in all circumstances! Of course not! Another principle of the church order is the priesthood of all believers. We can all read the Word of God and understand what it says. Each person therefore can appeal a decision made by the consistory that they deem to be against scripture or the confessions as a summary of scripture. Just as Paul appealed to Peter when he was not living according to the gospel when he was eating with Jews and not gentiles. In this way the church is also called to hold the elders accountable before God.
Which flows into the third principle that Christ alone is the head of the church. Not the elders, pastor, classis, synod, tradition, pope, or anything else you might want to make your ultimate authority. He alone has absolute authority, and we must all bow under his yoke in obedience to his Lordship.
It recognizes that the church is not perfect, and must be watchful not only over the doctrine, but also over the life of its membership, continually calling them to faith in Christ, and the lifestyle that entails. That is why you will find several articles on addressing sin in office-bearers and also membership. Never with the purpose of kicking them out of the church, but with the purpose of calling people back to Christ.
Another principle of the church order is unity. We have a church order so that there is unity between churches around the world. There is a certain kind of Biblical wisdom and order that it gives to churches around the world. So that no church can do whatever they want when they want.
It is broad and does not lay unnecessary burdens on the church where scripture gives freedom. It does not say exactly how we need to celebrate the Sunday. It does not say exactly how often we need to celebrate the Lords Supper. It does not say what you need to wear, or what instruments to use. It does not say where we should worship.
And finally, it is important to note that it does not carry the authority of the confessions. It’s important to recognize that the Church Order is not a legal text with rigid commands. As one pastor commentator notes,
“Particularly when the Church Order speaks of matters beyond the clear teaching of Scripture, we treat the Church Order as a voluntary agreement between churches. It’s an agreement between churches who have decided to federate together on these terms. This is why we don’t speak about the Church Order commanding us to do x or y. Instead, we speak about having agreed as churches to do x or y. There can be times under certain circumstances, in discussion and full transparency with other churches, that certain articles (or parts of articles) are suspended in their application. Moreover, the Church Order is not the “law of the Medes and Persians” which can never be changed. It has been modified and edited in the past, and it certainly can in the future as well.”
Having said that we have this order because we believe as we noted that it is biblical, important to the unity, love, protection, and upbuilding of this body. That it is built on biblical principles and commands, and that this document has stood the test of time. Therefore, when it feels like a rock in our shoe that is slowing us down, we must not just throw it out, but must ask ourselves, why are we feeling this way. Is it because it is right and biblical, or because we just want to do things our way.
Dear church God has given order to his world, to his people. Let’s submit to that, gladly! Know that it is for our benefit!
Amen.