June 23, 2023
The storms that passed through last week blew trees on or through the homes of at least four of our church families (Everett and Jennifer White, Matt and Morgan Vitart, Kyle and Leslie Cunningham, and Madison and Liz Taylor), and lightning struck the home of Ken and Tammie Haynes. Many of you had trees and limbs down on your property, and I daresay most of us were without power for longer than usual (I finally got to use my generator!). I have been thankful to hear all the ways our deacons and you saints have served one another through trial. Let's continue to lift up our church family in prayer and sustain them with tangible love.
These storms rolled through with destruction in their wake, like wave after wave crashing upon our church family. Psalm 13:1 came to mind: "How long, O Lord? Will you forget us forever? How long will you hide your face from me?" The Psalms are full of God's people wrestling with His providence, feeling like He had abandoned them, and we need to mine them for our own prayers as we suffer.
Psalm 77 is particularly encouraging. In the day of Asaph's trouble he sought the Lord tirelessly and his soul refused to be comforted (77:2). But the Lord wasn't merely the source of his help, He was the source of his struggle: "When I remember God, then I am disturbed...Will the Lord reject forever? And will He never be favorable again? Has His lovingkindness ceased forever? Has His promise come to an end forever? Has God forgotten to be gracious? Or has He in anger withdrawn His compassion? Then I said, 'It is my grief, that the right hand of the Most High has changed.'" (77:3, 7-10). We've all asked those questions, haven't we?
Asaph finds the answer to his questions in God. He remembers God's deeds and wonders of old (77:11-12). He meditates on God's attributes of holiness, greatness, and strength (77:13-14). He brings to mind God's redemption out of Egypt (77:15-20). It's as we remember who God is and what He has done that we are able to steady our hearts and strengthen ourselves in Him (see I Samuel 30:6). The one who wounds us is the one who brings us healing, for He always has a purpose in His ways—although as Asaph reminds us (and William Cowper lyricizes in his hymn "God Moves in a Mysterious Way"), "Your way was in the sea and Your paths in the mighty waters, and Your footprints may not be known" (77:19). We rarely see where God is going or what He is doing; His providence is mysterious and confounding. Yet we know that the God who led His people like a flock under the old covenant continues to do that today under the new covenant in Jesus Christ. And so we can rejoice even in our tribulations: "In this [salvation] you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ" (I Peter 1:6-7).
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I wrote last week that I would highlight some of the important actions of the 50th General Assembly that gathered last week in Memphis. This is in no way a comprehensive list, but here goes!
We amended our Book of Church Order to make clear that officers in the PCA, contrary to those who hold to a Side B view of homosexulatiy and same-sex attraction, must affirm and live out a biblical view of sanctification.
BCO 16-4 -- "Officers in the Presbyterian Church in America must be above reproach in their walk and Christlike in their character. While office bearers will see spiritual perfection only in glory, they will continue in this life to confess and to mortify remaining sins in light of God’s work of progressive sanctification. Therefore, to be qualified for office, they must affirm the sinfulness of fallen desires, the reality and hope of progressive sanctification, and be committed to the pursuit of Spirit-empowered victory over their sinful temptations, inclinations, and actions."
BCO 21-4 -- " In the examination of the candidate’s personal character, the presbytery shall give specific attention to potential notorious concerns. Careful attention must be given to his practical struggle against sinful actions, as well as to persistent sinful desires. The candidate must give clear testimony of reliance upon his union with Christ and the benefits thereof by the Holy Spirit, depending on this work of grace to make progress over sin (Psalm 103:2-5, Romans 8:29) and to bear fruit (Psalm 1:3, Gal. 5:22-23). While imperfection will remain, when confessing sins and sinful temptations publicly, the candidate must exercise great care not to diminish the seriousness of those sins in the eyes of the congregation, as though they were matters of little consequence, but rather should testify to the work of the Holy Spirit in his progress in holiness (1 Cor. 6:9-11)."
We gave initial approval to a BCO amendment that, if it is approved by 2/3 of the 88 Presbyteries and a majority of next year's GA, would make clear that the PCA is committed to sexual purity in its officers: "He should conform to the biblical requirement of chastity and sexual purity in his descriptions of himself, and in his convictions, character, and conduct."
We gave initial approval to a BCO amendment that would prohibit the practice of some churches of calling unordained men and women officers: "Furthermore, unordained people shall not be referred to as, or given the titles of, the ordained offices of pastor/elder or deacon."
We voted to empower our Moderator to appoint a commission to draft a humble petition to send to Federal and State officials condemning the practice of surgical and medical gender reassignment, especially of minors.
We voted to declare the "Message to All the Churches" a faithful exposition of Biblical polity which shaped the founding of the PCA in 1973. You can read this statement from the 1st GA (with an addition from a statement by our own Presbytery in 2016) here.
There were several other actions that we took, but these are some I thought you might be interested in seeing. Pray that the Lord would continue to make the PCA faithful to the Scriptures, true to the Reformed faith, and obedient to the great commission!