It’s Tuesday, so we take a look at the next direction in the Directory for Private worship.
XII Seeing the word of God requireth that we should consider one another, to provoke unto love and good works; therefore, at all times, and specially in this time, wherein profanity abounds, and mockers, walking after their own lusts, think it strange that others run not with them to the same excess of riot; every member of this kirk ought to stir up themselves, and one another, to the duties of mutual edification, by instruction, admonition, rebuke; exhorting one another to manifest the grace of God in denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, and in living godly, soberly and righteously in this present world; by comforting the feeble-minded, and praying with or for one another. Which duties respectively are to be performed upon special occasions offered by Divine Providence; as, namely, when under any calamity, cross, or great difficulty, counsel or comfort is sought; or when an offender is to be reclaimed by private admonition, and if that be not effectual, by joining one or two more in the admonition, according to the rule of Christ, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.
We are first reminded of the truth that God requires believers to encourage each other toward love and good deeds. This requirement is especially important in times where the culture at large provides many examples of people who ignore God and live contrary to God’s law and expect others to join them in their rebellion. I am reminded of the situation we Christians find ourselves in here in New Zealand in the 21st century. Many weaker Christians are being sucked into the vortex of rebellion. Many have been incapacitated by the secular worldview that surrounds them. Consequently, we need Christian brothers to spur us on in these times, to help prevent us from either taking on the world’s opinions and ideas, or falling into its sin. This should start in the Christian nuclear family, but extend throughout the Church body.
The creators of the directory desire that every member of the church should see it as their duty through instruction, admonition and rebuke to exhort others to show the grace of God and reject ungodliness and worldly lusts. It’s not something I have seen a lot of in recent years. Culturally, we modern Westerners are individualists, and it comes as a shock to us if someone has the temerity to rebuke us or instruct us. Part of the issue here is that our churches are not as strong as they should be, because we have not developed the kind of community and fellowship that ought to be seen. We don’t want to get too close to each other precisely because people might see our flaws and that could get quite uncomfortable. Rightly, we also want to avoid legalise. Nevertheless, this aspect of the directory was certainly a challenge to me. Sometimes it is hard enough to rebuke or take a rebuke from someone in our immediate family. Taking this out into the community of believers we belong to seems even more daunting. Yet it is a command of Scripture.
The rule continues by highlighting the positive side of encouragement and admonition. Not only do we help our brothers and sisters avoid ungodliness and worldly lusts, we exhort them into godly and sober living. I think an element of this is the older and more mature Christians modeling Christian living as well as promoting a Christian view of the world. We should not only critique pagan approaches to living, for example, the unnecessary putting off of marriage and family for the sake of a career, but we should also encourage a Christian culture – one of marriage, family and lots of children! Again, unfortunately, the promotion of such Christian ideas is something that can be difficult, because much of the church is individualistic and has imbibed the pluralism of the age. We are brought up to believe that we just have to choose the best path for us. An approach to Christian living that highlights some paths as godly and others as ungodly runs counter to this. Furthermore, the promotion of what is a good and right Christian norm can be seen as a rebuke to those who for whatever reason do not fit the norm. When was the last time you heard a sermon on a Christian approach to child-raising that decried the scourge of daycare and instead promoted mothers…well…being mothers? It’s hard for pastors to encourage a godly lifestyle when they are afraid of the pushback from congregations. It takes courage to promote godly Christian approaches to life.
We conclude our brief look at the twelfth direction, by noting the way it highlights comforting the faint-hearted and praying both with and for each other. We live in perilous times, and courage is needed to live as Christians. There will be times where we are the faint-hearted and we need the community of believers to comfort us, and there will be times where we have to comfort those who are faint-hearted. Prayer is going to be a necessary part of this. In such time as these, it is clear that nothing we can do on our own will change anything. We need God’s Holy Spirit to be at work in and through us and our Christian communities.