Without the Gospel Everything is Useless and Vain

John Calvin’s preface to Pierre Robert Olivétan’s French translation of the New Testament in 1534.

Without the gospel, everything is useless and vain; without the gospel, we are not Christians; without the gospel all riches are poverty, all wisdom folly before God; strength is weakness, and all the justice of man is under the condemnation of God. But by the knowledge of the gospel we are made children of God, brothers of Jesus Christ, fellow townsmen with the saints, citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven, heirs of God with Jesus Christ, by whom the poor are made rich, the weak strong, the fools wise, the sinner justified, the desolate comforted, the doubting sure, and slaves free. It is the power of God for the salvation of all those who believe.

This is what we should, in short, seek in the whole of Scripture: truly to know Jesus Christ, and the infinite riches that are comprised in Him and are offered to us by Him from God the Father.

It follows that every good thing we could think or desire is to be found in this same Jesus Christ alone. For, He was sold, to buy us back; captive, to deliver us; condemned, to absolve us; He was made a curse for our blessing, sin offering for our righteousness; marred that we may be made fair; He died for our life; so that by Him fury is made gentle, wrath appeased, darkness turned into light, fear reassured, despise despised, debt cancelled, labour lightened, sadness made merry, misfortune made fortunate, difficulty easy, disorder ordered, division united, ignominy ennobled, rebellion subjected, intimidation intimidated, ambush uncovered, assaults assailed, force forced back, combat combated, war warred against, vengeance avenged, torment tormented, damnation damned, the abyss sunk into the abyss, hell transfixed, death dead, mortality made immortal. In short, mercy has swallowed up all misery, and goodness all misfortune.

For all these things which were to be the weapons of the devil in his battle against us, and the sting of death to pierce us, are turned for us into exercises which we can turn to our profit. If we are able to boast with the apostle, saying, O hell, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting? It is because by the Spirit that Christ promised to the elect, we live no longer, but Christ lives in us; and we are by the same Spirit seated among those who are in heaven, so that for us the world is no more, even while our conversation [life] is in it; but we are content in all things, whether country, place, condition, clothing, meat, and all such things. And we are comforted in tribulations, joyful in sorrow, glorying under vituperation [verbal abuse], abounding in poverty, warmed in our nakedness, patient amongst evils, living in death.

Source: https://www.monergism.com/without-gospel-everything-useless-and-vain-john-calvin

Message of Reconciliation, Truth and Justice Highlighted at German Protestant Gathering

A press release of the World Council of Churches (WCC) on the 27^th May 2017

Reconciliation was once primarily seen as a message of the church but is now used by secular leaders trying to establish peace in communities torn by conflict and war, WCC president for Africa, the Rev Dr Mary Anne Plaatjies van Huffel, has said at a major Protestant gathering in Germany.

“To pursue punitive justice exclusively will not result in reconciliation,” said South African theologian Plaatjies van Huffel in a Bible study during the 24-28 May German Protestant Kirchentag, or “church festival,” in Berlin. “Reconciliation has also to do with the uncovering of the truth and forgiveness.”

Referring to South Africa’s post-Apartheid Truth and Reconciliation Commission, chaired by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Plaatjies van Huffel said both victims and perpetrators revisited the divided past together and shared in collective feelings of hurt and shame.

“The premise of the truth and reconciliation process was that reconciliation is needed, not only at an individual level, nor only between individuals, but also within and between communities and the nation as a whole,” she noted.

“The road to reconciliation requires more than forgiveness and respectful remembrance. Forgiveness is not about forgetting, but rather means remembering the past in a way that makes a different kind of future possible for both victim and the wrongdoer,” said Plaatjies van Huffel, the first woman to be ordained as a pastor within the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa.

Organised every two years in a different German city, the Kirchentag this year has gathered more than 100,000 participants of all ages in Berlin.

Other Bible studies were offered by WCC general secretary the Rev Olav Fykse Tveit; Agnes Abuom, moderator of the WCC Central Committee; and Central Committee members Bishop Samuel Azariah of the Church of Pakistan, and Audeh Quawas, belonging to the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, and from Amman in Jordan.

“For us at the World Council of Churches, the Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace has become the key through which the fellowship of churches seeks to make its mission resonate in the face of the challenges of our time,” said Tveit in his Bible study.

Referring to the biblical account of the encounter between Jesus and Zacchaeus, a repentant tax collector in Jericho (Luke 19:1-10), Tveit noted that Zacchaeus found peace in joyfully welcoming but he was also ready to make up for the injustice of the past by rendering justice.

“Our call as followers of Christ is to proclaim the message of justice in order that our world will experience true and lasting peace. And this is the core message of the Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace,” he continued.

The story, said Tveit, “can open not only minds and hearts, but open the walls that are erected to divide people of today, walls of suspicion, of hatred, of sin.”

“This story brings hope to us, wherever we are in our closed minds and closed behaviour. The story can also bring hope to those who are living in Jericho and near Jericho today, who are divided by occupation and oppression and violence,” said the WCC general secretary.

In his bible study, Quawas noted that Zacchaeus would have been considered by his townspeople as a collaborator with the Roman occupiers of the time.

Jesus, however, showed unexpected grace and love towards Zacchaeus, and in so doing brought the anger of the townspeople upon himself.  Grace is unexpected, “because Zacchaeus didn’t earn it,” said Quawas. “Grace is free, but not cheap. And its nature is love.”

Source: http://www.oikoumene.org/en/press-centre/news/message-of-reconciliation-truth-and-justice-highlighted-at-german-protestant-gathering

GREETINGS FROM URCSA TO DRC GENERAL SYNOD 2015

A speech by Rev Dr Dawid Kuyler, then scribe of the URCSA General Synod, to the 2015 Dutch Reformed Church General Synod.

Dear Moderator, Moderamen and delegates

GREETINGS FROM URCSA TO DRC GENERAL SYNOD 2015

It is an honour for me to bring greetings to you from URCSA. On behalf of the leadership in URCSA, the seven regional synods and the 753 congregations it is my pleasure to greet you in the name of Jesus who is Lord.

When I bring greetings today, I bring it from a church that is in a relationship with you. Our relationship is not only historically and confessional, but a relationship that is currently defined by our Memorandum of Agreement for our journey towards unity.

In our Memorandum of Agreement together we stated:

2.1          We as churches have decided to covenant together, because we believe that the Lord, who graciously committed himself to us, requires this of us. We use the term covenanting because we want to bring ourselves and the reunification process under the authority of the word of God and the will of Christ. As the family of churches, we already decided together at Achterberg to journey together.

2.2          We envisage a new organically united reformed church, organized according to synodical-presbyterial structures, which lives missionally and is committed to the biblical demands of love, reconciliation, justice and peace. At the same time, we are committed to non-racialism, inclusiveness and the acceptance and celebration of our multicultural composition. The different languages in our churches will be treasured.

In our road map, we charted the map we are following to achieve our goal of unity. We have agreed on church unity that:

3.1          From the different models for church unity in different churches, we intentionally choose a Presbyterial-synodical church body (i.e. organic) that supports the Gospel of Jesus Christ who broke down the wall of separation between people (Ephesians 2: 14-16).

3.2          We believe that this proposed model is a Scriptural embodiment of unity in the Southern African context. This model we believe can help the church on different levels to be the living body of Christ in the world.

3.3          As reformed churches we believe that the local congregation is the expression of the church of Christ in a local community, but we also believe that local congregations live in communion with one another and this communion is expressed in various manners e.g. presbyteries, synods.

The four churches undertake to identify ways in which the local churches can express their unity with each other inter alia forming uniting congregations, receiving ministers across cultures, starting uniting commissions and projects, re-aligning the congregations with their full consent to incorporate wards of other cultures.

In the past month, we have together drafted a proposed Interim Order at Volmoed in Hermanus to make it possible to start at different levels with unity and not only to co-operate. We cannot let some regional synods and congregations keep the whole church hostage while others are ready for unity. As URCSA we are eagerly looking forward to see how you will deal with the Interim Order.

On the Confession of Belhar we have agreed to journey together.

4.1          We agree that the Confession of Belhar will be taken up in the confessional basis of the reunited church.

4.2          We understand that the Dutch Reformed Church decided to make the Confession of Belhar part of the confessional basis of the Dutch Reformed Church in a church orderly way and we also understand that it proposed to do it in the following way:

Already in November 2013 URCSA cautioned you about the process to get Belhar accepted and in the beginning of this year as the results from Namibia and Free State was made known, we had a very honest conversation. URCSA conveyed to you that we have experienced the results have brought us to a Stop and Go in the road to unity. We are looking forward to see how you will deal with Belhar on the way forward. We were encouraged with the Cape Synod and their decisions on Belhar. The question now is: How will this General Synod deal with the process of Belhar. That will determine whether we have to stay longer at the Stop and Go, do we have to turn back, or do we need to build another road or do we need a 4x4 for the journey?

What we appreciate on the journey that we have traveled since 2011, is the relationship between the leadership of URCSA and DRC. We have become brothers and Sisters in Christ. We have moved from arguments to conversation. We have learned to hear one another and to work on a common goal. I would like to thank Prof Jerry Pillay, the President of the WCRC, for the role that he played in getting us together.

I am excited about two projects that we have decided to jointly embark on, to help us on the journey towards unity: The Season of Human Dignity and Churches Addressing Racism. Our past was influenced by a theology and anthropology that undermined peoples´ dignity. Together we need to work on a process to help our members and all citizens in SA to rediscover in one another´s presence the dignity bestowed upon us as humans by God. We need to re-affirm one another’s dignity. That will only be possible if the members of URCSA and DRC and the rest of the DRC Family will meet at grassroots level. This does not mean that we ignore the hurtful past, but that we constructively deal with it and move on. In 2014 we agreed that the elephant in the room is racism. Churches through their theology and practices have assisted racism to flourish in our society and unfortunately continue to do so. It is time that we do something together to address racism in all its forms: personal and institutional. Every day we are reminded of incidents of racism. Let us together create opportunities and stories how Christians can relate how they are helping one another to be move beyond racism and foster a society and church not defined by racism. This will tell our children and the world that DRC and URCSA are serious about being church in Southern Africa.

The Season of Human Dignity and Churches addressing Racism needs to make reconciliation and justice visible within the church and in society. Together with other churches in South Africa we need to show how an alternative society look like based on the principles of God´s Kingdom.

Church unity, reconciliation and justice is not a luxury for the church in South Africa. This challenge is our challenge. We are looking forward to your decisions how to deal with these issues.

As fellow members of the SACC we need to make our prophetic voice heard in Southern Africa. Let us speak truth to power.

It is my prayer that God through his Spirit will guide you in your deliberations. Not everybody will be happy with your decisions but may you be guided to be obedient to God.

We believe that, in obedience to Jesus Christ, its only head, the church is called to confess and to do all these things, even though the authorities and human laws might forbid them and punishment and suffering be the consequence.

Source: http://kaapkerk.co.za.dedi740.jnb2.host-h.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Greeting-DRC-Gen-Synod-2015.pdf