Our Ascended High Priest and His Blessing (An Ascension Day Sermon on Luke 24:50-53)

When our son was about 3 or 4 months old, he was easily amused.  We lived in a small basement suite in Hamilton and he had his crib in a very tiny room with a sliding door.  One day, he was lying in his crib and I came past the room rather suddenly and he just started giggling uncontrollably.  This caught my attention because I’d never heard a baby giggle like that before.  After he calmed down, I backed up a few steps and tried it again.  Same thing.  Then I tried it with some added expression; I threw in a “Boo!”  Well, that just about made him bust a gut.  Not only was it endlessly amusing to him, Rose and I also found it incredibly delightful.  I still get tears of joy when I think back to it.

But what does that have to do with the Ascension?  Well, why did our son find peek-a-boo so amusing?  It has to do with something called object permanence.  Up until a certain age, if babies can’t see something, it doesn’t exist.  Our son found it so amusing because to his little mind, I was a magician.  I could make myself disappear, I was the incredible existing/non-existing Dad.  I’m sure some of you have had similar experiences with your kids.  At a certain age, kids develop object permanence and then peek-a-boo isn’t amusing anymore.  But before then, if they can’t see it, it doesn’t exist.

Sometimes we’re that way when it comes to our Saviour Jesus Christ.  He has ascended up into heaven.  He is no longer on earth where we can see him and touch him.  Does that mean that he has vanished from existence?  No, Scripture tells us that he has a human body and soul in heaven at God’s right hand.  He has a beating heart, blood that flows through veins and arteries, lungs that inflate and deflate with every breath, eyes that blink, a brain with neurons that fire.  But we can’t see all this with our own eyes and so we sometimes have a difficult time with its reality.  We tend to think of Christ being at God’s right hand as an abstract theological truth, rather than a physical reality.  Sometimes we have a problem with object permanence.

Here is where we have to learn to believe and trust the Word of our Father.  He assures us that his Son Jesus has not simply vanished into non-existence with his ascension.  With our text, God comforts us with the truth that Christ has ascended into heaven and this is for our benefit.  With this passage from Luke, we discover that our ascended High Priest continually blesses his church.  We’ll see that he does this by:

1. Reminding us of his atonement
2. Reassuring us of his presence
3. Revitalizing us to his praise

Please click here to continue reading this sermon.

Top Ten Things I Love About Hamilton

Let me tell you a secret:  the first time I lived in Hamilton I hated it.  Coming from western Canada, I felt like I was living in exile.  And Hamilton didn’t have a lot going for it besides the fact that the Canadian Reformed seminary was located there.  That was back in 1996-2000.  We moved back here nearly three years ago and I have to say that this has been an awesome three years.  This city has grown on me.  Many improvements have been made and this city is now a great place to live.

I got to thinking about all this today as we took in the Royal Botanical Gardens.  This is a jewel in Hamilton’s crown.  It definitely ranks in my top ten of things I love about this city.  Here’s the full list:

10.  Hamilton International Airshow

This actually was a highlight of living here back in the late 1990s.  It went on hiatus when I did.  But it’s back and better than ever.  This year’s airshow promises to be spectacular — they’ll be celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Warplane Heritage Museum.

9.  Architecture

Last weekend we took in Doors Open Hamilton and we were excited to see a lot of really neat historical buildings in this city.

8.  HMCS Haida

This world class National Historic Site used to be located in Toronto.  Now she’s berthed in Hamilton and well-taken care of.  You can tour the entire ship — “Canada’s Fightingest Ship!”

7.  John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport

Ten minutes away from our house is this much-preferred alternative to Pearson in Toronto.  If you’re travelling anywhere in Canada, this is the better option.  What it lacks in amenities it makes up for in convenience.

6.  Hillbilly Heaven

I have searched far and wide across this fair land to find the best barbeque in Canada and I found it right here.  Enough said.

5.  Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum

This was around back in the 1990s too, and it was a bright spot back then and still is today.  Almost everything is in flying condition, including one of only two Avro Lancasters in the world.  This place is a tribute to the people and machines who were instruments to win our freedom in ages past.

4.  The Niagara Escarpment (“The Mountain”)/Waterfalls/Parks

Hamilton has been designated the waterfall capital of the world.  All that water falls over the Niagara escarpment, a cliff that runs right through the middle of the city.  There are some spectacular sights along the escarpment and many great parks.  One of our favourites is Dundas Valley.

3.  Infrastructure

Some folks will disagree with this one.  Some of the roads are not in the greatest shape.  But it is easy to get around this city.  Whoever had the foresight to plan such things as the Lincoln Alexander Parkway/Red Hill Creek Expressway deserves more than applause.  And bike lanes!  Lots of bike lanes on main arterials on the mountain — awesome!

2.  Royal Botanical Gardens

This is a fantastic place to enjoy the plant life our Creator designed and built.  It’s huge and diverse.

1.  Providence Canadian Reformed Church

I am tremendously blessed to serve as the pastor of this church.  It’s by far the best of Hamilton!  The people of this church are hungry for the gospel, they have a vision for sharing that gospel, and they’re friendly.

Yep, this is a great place to live, no doubt about it.

 

Why No Rebaptism?

A friend recently wrote asking for resources about the topic of rebaptism.  One of the things I sent him was this little piece that I wrote for Reformed Perspective back in 1999.

WHY IS THERE NO REBAPTISM FOR EX-ROMAN CATHOLICS WHO JOIN A REFORMED CHURCH?

A good question!  We could even extend this question to those who come to us from other false churches.  This difficult question has a long history in the Christian church.  Since the time of Augustine, the Christian church has recognized the validity of baptisms administered by heretics — with one condition:  a valid baptism must be administered by an ordained minister of the gospel according to the Trinitarian formula of Matthew 28:19.

However, an appeal to history is meaningless if we do not also show from the Scriptures why the church has always maintained this position.  One thing we notice from the Scriptures is that it is always the role of God which is central.  We see this for example in Colossians 2:12.  We do not get the impression from the Bible that baptism depends upon the one who is baptizing, other than the fact that the administrator must also be one ordained to preach the Word.  As long as the baptism is administered according to the command of Christ it is valid.  We must look to what baptism signifies, namely the covenant promises of God which are signed and sealed by God to the one being baptized.   God is the active subject in the administration of baptism, and thus a baptism is valid so long as it is administered by an ordained minister of the gospel in the name of the Triune God.  For that reason we should accept the baptism of an ex-Roman Catholic (administered under those conditions), but we should not accept the baptism of an individual baptized in an evangelical church only in the Name of the Lord Jesus.

Tied up with this question is the question of what constitutes a church.  Consider this:  in our confessions we imply that the Roman Catholic Church is a false church.  But note that we still consider it a “church.”  It has gone drastically astray, but it retains some things which permit us still to speak of it as a “church.”  It has vestiges or traces of what the church should be.  It still confesses the Triune God and baptizes in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit (although adding many unscriptural elements).  It still maintains the Apostles’ Creed, although it is understood in often radically unscriptural ways.  Among the Jehovah’s Witnesses, however, we do not find traces of what the church should be.  A baptism administered among the Jehovah’s Witnesses should never be recognized as valid.  Of course, that leads right back to the conditions for a valid baptism.

For further study:  Dr. J. Faber wrote his doctoral dissertation on this very subject: Vestigium Ecclesiae:  De doop als ‘spoor der kerk’  (Goes:  Oosterbaan & Le Cointre, 1969).  Although this book is in Dutch, there is an English summary by Rev. G. VanDooren: “Baptism as ‘Vestige of the Church.’” in Canadian Reformed Magazine, Vol. 18, Nos. 37-40 (1969).  For the history of this issue, cf. “Baptism as Administered in Non-sister Churches,” by Rev. G. VanRongen, in Una Sancta Vol. 34, No. 26, and Vol. 35 No. 3 and No. 4.

Women in Office in the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands (GKV)

I have been debating whether to write this post.  I don’t like to be the one who breaks bad news.  I don’t like to point out the failings and weaknesses in other churches.  Yet putting our collective heads in the sand does no one any favours either.  There is a need to be up front about what is happening among our sister churches and we need to speak up — because we care and because there is no guarantee that we will not head down the same road.

Een in Waarheid has a story here (rough English translation here) about a church planting project in the Netherlands that’s sponsored by the Reformed Churches (GKV) — those would be the sister churches of the Canadian Reformed Churches.  The work (“Stroom” — “Stream” or “Current” in English), in Amsterdam, is close to institution.  However, the GKV classis involved (Amsterdam/Leiden) is faced with a problem because Stroom already has a provisional council which includes female elders.  The church planter, Martijn Horsman, defends the practice.  As a church plant, Stroom comes from a different context and that needs to be taken into account.

What we have here is a blatantly unbiblical practice being smuggled into the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands under the cover of mission and church planting.  Forget about what the Bible teaches — that doesn’t even really figure into the equation.  Stroom is about the freedom of Jesus and finding new ways of bringing that into practice.

Thankfully, there are voices within the GKV protesting this.  The story reports how a GKV missionary in Ukraine, Rev. Henk Drost, has voiced his opposition.  He argues that this has do with disconnecting Reformed identity and the Reformed confessions from mission.  He is correct.  There are those who see being Reformed and being mission-oriented as being antithetical.  To be missionary churches, we have to give up our Reformed identity and therefore also our confessions.  This makes our Reformed identity more about culture than about confessing and holding to the truth of Scripture.  To be sure, there are certain aspects of our identity that are more culturally conditioned than we have previously recognized.  But is the restriction of the offices of the church to men only one of them?  If the GKV accept that argument it’s a dangerous step away from the authority of Scripture.  Let’s pray that the brothers in Classis Amsterdam/Leiden will have the wisdom to draw the line with Stroom and call Rev. Horsman and his fledgling congregation to repentance.

A New Way to Settle Political (Or Maybe Theological) Differences?

They’ve called it “The Thrilla on the Hilla.”  Conservative senator Patrick Brazeau and Liberal MP Justin Trudeau went head-to-head in a boxing match on March 31.  Brazeau was the odds-on favourite going in, but Trudeau surprised everyone with a third-round TKO.  The match was all for a good cause, raising over $200,000 for cancer research.  Following the bout, Brazeau kept his word, trimmed his trademark locks and wore a Liberal jersey on Parliament hill for a week.

Leaving aside the ethics of boxing or even boxing for charity, the story reminds one of the long history of duelling in western society.  Two men would go at one another with a sword or pistol to resolve their differences.  Many know the story of how astronomer Tyco Brahe ended up with a metallic nose implant because of a duel that didn’t go his way.  But did you know there is a story involving two Reformed theologians and a duel?

The story happened at the great Synod of Dort in 1619.  It was January, not exactly the season for warm and happy moods in northern climes like the Netherlands.  The Synod was wrestling with the question of the extent of Christ’s atonement.  The Arminians had argued that Christ died to make salvation possible for all.  Reformed theologians maintained that Christ died only for the elect.  However, there were some theologians who tried to moderate between these two positions.  One of those was Matthias Martinius, a German delegate from the Reformed church in Bremen.

Franciscus Gomarus was a Dutch professor delegated to the Synod.  He would have nothing of moderation on this point.  Gomarus was getting angrier with Martinius.  Finally, towards the end of the day, Gomarus literally threw down his glove at the Synod and challenged Martinius to a duel.  Gomarus wanted to go at it with Martinius right there in front of the Synod!  Martinius had a cooler head and refused.  The Synod president stepped in and called it a day, finishing with Bible reading and prayer, hoping that these devotions would defuse the potential violence.  No sooner had the president said “Amen,” then Gomarus went after Martinius again and challenged him to armed combat.  To his credit, Martinius walked away and the two never did get into the proposed duel.  Thankfully, Reformed synods no longer feature such antics.  But will we see more of it in Canadian politics?

The above originally appeared in the April 2012 issue of Reformed Perspective.