Clarity for the Sake of Christ
One night, around 9:30 PM, Sarah and I went out for some dessert. If I remember correctly, I was trying to smooth over something foolish I had said. It was raining rather heavily when we got there, so I offered to go inside for her and order everything to go. Sarah is rather habitual when it comes to what she orders, so I knew what she would have. When I approached the counter, I realized that what she typically got (raspberry ice with chocolate custard) was gone. They had the custard, just not the ice. I called her and asked her what she wanted instead. You need to know, when I walked in, around thirty people followed behind me. They were young and loud; I could barely hear Sarah on the phone. The conversation went something like this:
Me: *talking amidst the crowd* “Hello dear, they do not have raspberry ice. They have blue raspberry, strawberry, and black cherry. What would you like?”
Sarah: “I’ll have *muffled* chocolate.”
Me: “Chocolate?”
Her: “Yes.”
Me: “Chocolate, are you sure?”
Her: “Yes.”
Me: “Got it. I love you. See you in a minute.”
After I got off the phone, I promptly ordered what I wanted along with a cup of only chocolate custard for my wife. When I got to the car, I handed Sarah her custard, and I could tell I had made a mistake, but what was it? That muffled noise I had heard- it was Sarah indicating that she wanted strawberry ice and chocolate custard, not just chocolate. With the crowd behind me, I had misheard and placed the wrong order for my (then pregnant) wife. Herein lies the tragedy of the situation- I knew then that my wife never wants just chocolate custard. How? For the same reason she knows I would never order a steak well done; we know one another. Against my better judgment, I ordered it anyway. So, what went wrong? The noise of the people combined with the pressure of them waiting behind me caused me to question what I knew to be true of my wife, and order contrary to reason.
Often, the noise of the society and culture around us causes us to mistake what Christianity is. We see the multitudes proclaiming and standing for something, and we begin to question whether what we believe is true.
We hear arguments like “Would a loving God send people to hell?”, or “I’m not nearly as bad as some people!”. These arguments and ideas begin to fester and we start to have doubts- the noise has gotten through and has begun to contradict what we know to be true. In these moments, it is imperative that the Church, and each one of us, stands on what the Bible says and what we know about God.
In his providence, the Lord has brought about many wise men and women to write, teach, and proclaim the truths of Scripture to the world and the Church. If we seek to be Christians, we must be Scripture people. Where Scripture has spoken with authority and clarity, we must stand firm and refuse to compromise regardless of the assault of our peers.
Throughout this blog series, we are going to work our way through the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith. The men that wrote this confession set about to be like the Bereans (Acts 17:10-15) and publish a confession containing essential doctrinal truths. To best discuss the doctrines they included, each post we'll look at a new chapter and answer three questions:
1) What is it?
2) What does Scripture say about it?
3) Why is it important?
I hope that you will be encouraged and strengthened by the truth of His Word, and the doctrines we hold dear.