Tag Archives: Encouragement

PCA GA Day 2

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A Day of Reports, Deliberations, and Encouragement

Today was the second day of the 51st General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America, our Church’s national gathering to further the ministry and mission of Christ throughout the world.

That sounds like a high and lofty goal, but it may not always be clearly evident in the details of the Assembly’s business. Take today’s work, for example.

Wednesday began committee reports, starting with the Review of Presbytery Records. The RPR committee met before GA began and read through the minutes of all 88 presbyteries, making sure that the meetings of the presbyteries upheld the fundamentals of our church’s polity and theology, and requiring responses from presbyteries when exceptions to our polity and theology are discovered. This may sound tedious, and there are times when the conversations get bogged down in the parliamentary procedures. Still, this is a vital working of the assembly. Without pastoral oversight and Biblical discipline, the integrity and witness of the Church is severely harmed. Reviewing presbytery and session records helps to ensure that the church remains faithful to the scriptures, true to the reformed faith, and obedient to the great commission. This RPR report took quite a bit of time, but was really worth every minute of discussion.

We also heard today from Fraternal Delegates of other Reformed and Presbyterian Churches, national and international. Representatives from the Korean Presbyterian Church, the National Presbyterian Church of Mexico, the Presbyterian Church of Brazil, the Free Church of Scotland, as well as the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.

The committees of Covenant Theological Seminary, Geneva Benefits Group, Reformed University Fellowship, Mission to North America, Covenant College, Mission to the World, Ridge Haven, and the Standing Judicial Committee all shared their reports, and all the reports were well received, celebrating the work of God in His Church and calling the assembly to pray for these ongoing ministries.

As I said at the outset, it was a day of reports and deliberations, but most importantly a day of great encouragement. It has been 6 years since I was last able to attend General Assembly. the 2018 Assembly in Atlanta soured me on the whole event. It was divisive, tense, and overtly political. I left discouraged, and determined to focus on my own church and presbytery for a period of time.

What a joy then to return to GA this year to find an entirely different spirit among the brethren here. There have been disagreements, but have been encouraged to press in to the relationships and seek reconciliation and humility, without compromising on the principles of our faith and polity. We have met difficult situations with humor, truth, and grace. What a blessing this has been.

I am encouraged, also, in the fact that, while other national church gatherings have brought troubling news, the PCA is standing firm in the Word of God. We will vote on overtures tomorrow (Day 3), and I’ll share more about that when all is said and done, but there is much to celebrate in the Church, so let us give thanks to God for His abundant grace, and pray that God would continue to strengthen His church that the gospel may advance throughout the world.

SDG

Go Up, Leaning on Jesus

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Every now and then, when feeling overwhelmed or fighting through writers block, I’ll turn to old books, and page through for inspiration. Sometimes I find gems that spark the writing fire. Other times I wander upon whole treasures that just need shared. Here’s one of the latter.

The following is a letter from Pastor Robert Murray McCheyne to a young man simply identified as “a soul seeking Jesus.” I found this letter to be such a great reminder, not just for those seeking Christ, but for those who know Him but often wander from Him. Cling to Christ, lean wholly upon HIm. Own the fact that you are a sinner, and that Christ saves sinners. This is where we find Christ, strong and mighty to save…

But let me have you read McCheyne – and may you be strengthened and encouraged in your walk with Christ.

Dear Friend, I have heard of you, and have been praying for you, that your eye may rest on Jesus, and that your soul may lie in perfect peace under his blood shed for the sins of many. I have been thanking my Father, too, for dealing so bountifully with you. “He is the Father of mercies, and the God of all comforts.” 

I will give you a sweet verse to meditate upon: “Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon the beloved?”—Song 8:5. 

Do you think this is your position? Truly this world is a wilderness if you have seen it rightly. It is a place of guilt and shame. Every natural heart is a wilderness—a dead place without a drop of living water; and then all natural hearts put together make up a wilderness world. The whole world lies in wickedness. There are few that know and love Jesus, and these few are panting to get more of the living water. But if you have truly fled to Jesus, you are coming up from the wilderness. Now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. “The night is far spent, the day is at hand.” 

Have you found Jesus truly? Do you feel willing to be all vile, all hell-deserving in yourself, and to let God’s dear Son be all your shield and righteousness? Oh! make sure of this. 

Never mind what man thinks of you. I would not give a straw for the opinions of men, as to whether I was safe or no. It is not what man thinks of us that will cover us on the judgment-day. 

Oh no! You must be in Jesus, sitting at his feet, allowing Him to wash your stains away, allowing Him to enwrap your guilty soul in divine righteousness. If you were lying at the bottom of the sea, no eye could see your deformities: so when the infinite ocean of Immanuel’s righteousness flows-over the soul, you are swallowed up as it were in Christ. Your blackness is never seen, only his fairness; and thus a God of truth can say, “Behold thou art fair; behold thou art fair, my love. Thou art all fair, my love; there is no spot in thee.”—Song 4:1–7. 

Keep this always in memory; and when guilt comes on the conscience, as it will, lie down again beneath the righteousness of Jesus. Never lose sight of this. Jesus must be seen by the Father instead of our guilty soul. It is no change in our black soul that is to be our covering. You must leave self, and stand in your Elder Brother. Hide behind Him. Let the Father’s eye fall on Him, not on you. This is what Jesus wants. He died to be a shelter for such as you. This is what the Father wants; for He is not willing that any should perish. If you are seen by the Father a naked, guilty sinner, you must die; there is no help for it. But if Jesus appear for you—if you hide in his wounds like the dove in the cliffs of the rock, and under his snowy raiment—then the Father himself loveth you, and now you are coming up from the wilderness. 

Every hour that strikes, that is an hour less between you and glory. Oh! do not grieve to part with the world if you are in Christ: an hour with Christ will make up for all your griefs and pains. Half an hour in the presence of our God will make us forget a lifetime of agony. 

“Leaning on her beloved!” Is this the position of your soul? Do you feel empty, weak, and helpless; and do you see Him mighty to save, able to save to the uttermost? “His legs are like pillars of marble.” This is Christ’s glory, that He justifies sinners who have no righteousness, and sanctifies souls that have no inborn holiness. Let Jesus bear your whole weight. Remember, He loves to be the only support of the soul. He is a jealous Savior. He wants to be entirely trusted. There is nothing that you can possibly need but you will find it in Him. 

“All my springs are in Thee.” Do you want righteousness? He has the spirit of a weaned child to give you.—Ps. 131. Do you want love! He is the fountain of love: all the promises of God in Him are yea and in Him amen. I am sure, if you get a glimpse of Him, you would lay your head in His breast and stay there. May the Spirit anoint your eyes to see Him more and more, and soften your heart to lean on Him. Those that have leaned on Him through the wilderness shall sit with Him on the throne.—Rev. 3:21. 

Farewell, dear soul! the Lord feed you sweetly, as he feeds the flowers, by silent drops of dew.—Ever yours, etc.

From: McCheyne, Robert Murray, and Andrew A. Bonar. Memoir and Remains of the Rev. Robert Murray McCheyne. Edinburgh; London: Oliphant Anderson & Ferrier, 1894. Print.