Why would anyone want to be “Presbyterian?”
Through the years, it has been hard to be a Pirates fan. Yet, after decades of losing, I still stubbornly wear my Pirates ball cap. There’s just something about being a hometown fan that enables me to proudly identify with the team. Is being “Presbyterian” no more than that? Is it just a stubborn label to historically identify myself?
In the description of Hebron Church in our current sermon series, we are using the term, “Presbyterian.”
Hebron is a biblically-based, Christ-centered community of disciples, a Reformed, (classically) evangelical church in the Presbyterian tradition, worshipping, growing, and serving Christ in the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh.
Well, there are lots of reasons why I am a Presbyterian. The first church which shared the Gospel with me was a Presbyterian one; I was first hired as a campus minister in a Presbyterian church; I met my wonderful wife and co-worker in a Presbyterian church; I am attracted to Presbyterian form and order, to its worship styles and to its intellectual orientation. The theology and teachings of God and the Gospel as found in historic Presbyterianism are, in my opinion, the truest expression of biblical truth. All these are important for me on some level; but as a minister, I am committed to Presbyterianism for one main reason alone—my own sinfulness.
The Presbyterian system is one of a number of church structures which appears to have some biblical support. But what is unique about the Presbyterian structure is the control, the check-and-balance aspect, which it brings to its ministers. Unlike other church systems, as a Presbyterian minister, I function under the authority and guidance of other groups—the session on a local level and other ministers and elders on a “higher” level. It is through their direction and supervision that my ministry takes place. Theoretically, I count on them to curb my own theological inadequacies, inaccuracies and selfish, sinful decisions. It is their responsibility to keep me from forming a “personality-cult-of-Henry,” or something ridiculous like that.
My own susceptibility to sin, my own tendency to build my own “kingdom,” my own proneness to error, demands that I be involved in a system that is aware of the dangers of sin—a system which protects the people entrusted to my pastoral care from my own failings. A Presbyterian-like system.
By God’s grace, Hebron is a Presbyterian church, where we can find the biblical/theological integrity and pastoral accountability that is so important to the furthering of God’s Kingdom—all for the praise of His glory. In preparation for worship this week, read Titus 1:1-9.
- In verse 1, Paul lists out a number of reasons he is a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus. What are they, and how do they still apply to us today?
- In verse 2, Paul reminds us that God never lies. Why is this important to state at this point? What objection/question/concern is Paul anticipating?
- Titus is Paul’s “true child in a common faith.” Meaning, what? Whose “true child” are you? Who are your children in this sense?
- How is the first half of verse 5 connected to the last part? What does “order” have to do with “elders?”
- In verse 7, an “overseer” is described as God’s steward. What does this mean? In what way are we all stewards of the Lord? In what special way is an elder/overseer a steward?
By Henry Knapp