Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - Nov/73

Contributor - Henry Van Essen

Title - Wanted: Leaders of the Exodus

Topic -

The Church is the people of God. And throughout all of the O.T. and N.T. it is made clear to us that the people of God are migrants, people that are seeking a homeland (Hebr. 11 : 14-16). And they are after a particular homeland. "If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God."

The people of God are between homes- they have left their old home, the prison house of sin - they are on their way to complete freedom. Already they have tasted of this freedom! The first bite was a glorious experience; and there was the longing for more, more. But ... there was also the experience of threat, of loss, of pain, when the forces of darkness and of captivity sought to hurt them and to destroy them.

Actually there is no better picture than the deliverance of the people of Israel out of Egypt. The pain and the struggle to keep going when Moses demanded the Pharaoh, "Let they people go!", while Pharaoh hit back. Then the glorious march to freedom, because of the mighty arm of the Lord! Then the terrifying fear when caught between the water and Pharaoh's army! followed by the glorious delivery, after which they are free!! - see, how Miriam leads the joyful thanksgiving and praise.

But as yet they are only out of the country of bondage, of slavery, and barely on their way to the Promised Land. Before they get there, they will learn much, for the Lord seeks to re-form these newly liberated masses. The Lord wants them to become as He is, completely free by nature - to have -a natural freedom. Now freedom for many people means to be able to do what you want, to do your own thing. Like a dog free from the leash, one then can go where he wants to go. But a dog let loose will sometimes get himself killed, while rushing about excitedly in his newfound freedom. This kind is not the divinely intended freedom.

The man, however, who is truly free, will remain free from darkness, will remain clean, pure, not because he is trying with his utmost -strength to stay clean and pure, but because as a result of his new nature he walks and lives and thinks and does only that which is good and holy and pure: that is natural freedom.

This natural freedom was fully shown for the first time when God the Son became man. God the Word became flesh to destroy the work of the Devil, to destroy the prisonhouse of darkness and of sin, of moral pollution and of death. "If the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed!" (John 8:36). As the Church Fathers said, God became man, that man might become god. By that they meant to say: God became man, so that by grace man might share in the freedom and presence of God - be free by nature, always walking in the light, where no darkness can penetrate. The Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, is therefore after Adam the first truly free man. He is the second Adam, He is the first fruit, the very beginning of a new people. And see then, how this Man lives and walks and speaks and acts during His whole life on earth! He is truly free, his purity is natural;'he can touch the leper, and eat with the rif-raf, and mix with those of lose morals, and yet it does not touch Him, but He touches them! And these outcasts of society realize better than the more decent burghers that this man holds he key of their release, the key to true freedom.

But the key to true freedom is not just in the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ, so that He could turn the lock and let us go, free, wherever we would want to go - the key to true freedom is the Lord Jesus Christ. "Apart from Me you can do nothing" (John 15). Apart from the Son of God no man is really free. For God became man to share His own freedom with all people. And this freedom is not a gift which He hands over to us, after which He leaves us to enjoy this gift, as we like it, or as we think best. No, this freedom is part of Himself, and will always remain part of Himself. We are to be fresh dough, really unleavened - so that God's gift to us of Himself may penetrate us (1 Corinthians 5 :7), for "The Kingdom of heaven is like leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till it was all leavened" (Matt. 13 :33). And our Lord said (Luke 17:21), "The Kingdom of God is within you." But to cleanse out the old leaven", "the leaven of malice and evil" (I Cor. 5 : 7, 8), that is the pilgrimage, that is the struggle.

Again the Exodus of the people of Israel during the years in the wilderness provides a moving account: jealousy, even by Moses' own brother and sister, discontent, lack of trust, idolatry, refusal to take possession of the promised land, all these make it clear that the old leaven is not yet removed. A whole generation needs to pass away, before the new leaven can take some hold, forty years in the wilderness (see I Cor. 10 : 1-16).

We began by saying that the Church is also the people of God, that is, a pilgrim people, between homes. And when the blessed apostle Paul, who saw the Lord, and who was instructed by His appearances (Acts 26 : 16) confesses, "Not that I ... am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, as Christ Jesus has made me His own" (Phil. 3 : 12), then we ought to be humble and not only confess the old leaven still present, but throw it out, and let God's freedom rule!

The life of a Christian then is an Exodus. And as the Lord God appointed Moses to lead His people in His Name, so the N.T. people of God are not left without leaders appointed by the Head of the Church.

"And His gifts were that some should be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, for the equipment of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ; so that we may no longer be children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the cunning of men, by their craftiness in deceitful wiles" (Eph. 4 :11-15).

Notice that the offices in the Church are the gift of the Lord and that this gift has a positive reason - "for that this gift will remain until the goal is reached - "until to -and that this gift is to prevent something very serious "so that . . ." Those persons, who are called to these positions (and Paul includes among them the elders and deacons) follow therefore in the footsteps of Moses of the O.T. prophets; these people are to "tend the flock" (1 Peter 5 : 2).

Now these people are not perfect: neither were Peter or Paul. But' unless they are complete fakes, they are very much aware of the responsibility involved! In the Reformed Churches, for better or for worse, the minister's guidance can often be decisive. And a responsible minister will therefore move rather carefully when he is confronted with new teachings or movements. He does not only have to think of himself, but of the whole congregation to whom he ministers. That flock consists of sheep and lambs. Maybe there are too many overgrown lambs, that ought to be sheep, yet they are, part of the flock, they too are God's people.

Now we read in I Cor. 10:6 that "these things (the story of the Exodus) are warnings for us . ." But the story of the pilgrimage of the people of God did not end with the Exodus. This story continued, and when God became man, this story began all over again for the heathen people, who n-ow were being grafted on the old tree of Israel. The liberation, the being set free is the Gospel story; the first record of God's new people-on-the-way is the Book of Acts. But the record does not stop with Acts 28 : 31. The record of movement of the Gentile people of God through the ages is the history of the Church. And that history therefore has also become part of "these things" which "are warnings to us". Practically all the wrong paths a flock car take were followed within the first 500 years of the birth of the N.T. Church. As Rev. T. Hogerwaard wrote some eight years ago in this magazine, "New Warriors, Same Battle." When therefore new and exciting (emotionally) teachings and movements appear, those who are careful in tending the flock, will check the history of the people of God to prevent making an old mistake again.

If this is called 'following tradition', so is checking the Exodus history. And when we are warned that there are wolves in sheepclothing, and satanic angels of "light", then it becomes all those appointed to tend the flock to be twice as careful. It is therefore grossly unfair (as was done in a R.C.A. magazine last year) to accuse such ministers and such consistories of being afraid, of ignorance, of giving only a crust of bread to the flock. These people, if sincere, are surely well enough aware of their own limitations But precisely because they cannot oversee the consequences of a "new" teaching, do they want to be so very careful; careful not to immediately and completely Condemn, since they do not know everything; but also jealously guarding the flock, especially the weaker and unstable members.

Those who are called to tend the flock must base their decisions and conclusions on more than simply saying, "We have the mind of Christ" therefore we can simply judge whether this is wrong or right. If this were so then there would be no need for the O.T. and N.T.! Just having "the mind of Christ" would be sufficient. But "All Scripture is inspired by God as profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction and for training in righteousness that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work" (II Timothy 3 : 16, 17). And our Lord said that the Holy Spirit "will take what is Mine and declare it unto you" (John 16 : 15). "What is Mine . . .", that includes also the guidance of all the people of God in the past, for it is His Church, and the protection of the Church from outside attack and the overcoming of inside disruption is of the Lord and by the Lord. Therefore we must hold that the Holy Spirit also takes the history of the Church as an important instrument of instruction. No one can say "We have the mind of Christ" who is ignorant of being part of that great Exodus out of the clutches of darkness and death; for those who lived and died in the faith are one body with us. What happened to them, happened to us; and now they surround us as a cloud of witnesses, anxious that we be open to the Spirit to profit from their experience.

Of course, one can be a Christian without much knowledge of the Bible and the Church in history. But those who are called to tend the flock should! very much so! Therefore it is an absolute 'must' for all those who seek to be workmen that need not be ashamed, to listen, and to consider the history of the people of God in the O.T., in the N.T., -and thereafter. And, at the same time, it is an absolute must that they fully recognize their own limitations and misunderstandings. This truly humbles a person. Such ministers and elders and deacons are often only too well aware that it is only a crust of bread that they can give. But woe to the person who thinks that he is able to feed the flock as it ought to be fed. He completely has forgotten that five rolls and two fishes fed 5000 with baskets full to spare. Let us be thankful to God for the men and women who tend and teach the flock, and ask the Lord to sustain them in their awesome responsibility. For they are appointed as leaders of the Exodus of God's people today! True, as leaders they are to look to Jesus, the author and pioneer of our faith. But upon their judgement and discretion depends to a very great extent the answer to the question whether the flock is led closer to true freedom or back to some form of bondage.

And the enemy is not flesh and blood. If it is true that the apostle Paul had to wait six years before he was allowed to preach, then it might be a good idea if all those as suddenly converted and filled with the Holy Spirit would also stay in the background for a number of years, while they joyously and quietly were instructed by the Holy Spirit concerning all that has happened during the Exodus and since the first Exodus to the freedom and presence of God, which is, after many centuries still going on; this would mean that they would expose themselves to some church history and theology. Such people would really come to be well-equipped saints. How this would contribute to the upbuilding of the Body of Christ, the Church! How this would assist all of us during the exodus-pilgrimage of the Church today. especially those tending the flock.

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