When the author of Hebrews wrote to his audience of new believers, things were shaky to say the least. Little boys who had grown up carrying their lambs to the Temple for the sacrifice of sin found it no longer necessary, for Christ had become their sacrificial Lamb! The veil that once shattered any confidence of a common man approaching God was now torn, allowing access to a holy God, that he may approach the throne “boldly” to find mercy and grace (Hebrews 4:16). Everything that had been normal to a young Jew in his childhood was now something completely different. The author of Hebrews words it best, “In speaking of a new covenant, He (Christ) makes the first one obsolete…” (Hebrews 8:13).
Try to picture growing up in a church like that. Your father and grandfather taught you to worship God one way, but now, Christ followers are saying to worship God this “new way”. What you learned as God’s covenant with his people as a boy, they now say is “growing old and is ready to vanish away” (Hebrews 8:13). Well, as you can imagine, this was a struggling church…a vulnerable church.
I’m amazed when I hear people say they would rather be a part of the early church than of the church today. The church of the first century struggled just as much as we do. The Galatians had legalistic issues! The Corinthian believers were suing one another, had immortality problems, as well as immaturity when it came to abusing spiritual gifts! Church leaders always had to be on guard against the Gnostics, Nicolatians, and Judaizers, who always tried to infiltrate the Church causing divisions and disunity! It was a difficult time for the infant Church.
Well, just as God took care of the Church then, you can rest assured that He is going to take good care of the Church now! “He will tend his flock like a shepherd; He will gather the lambs in His arms; He will carry them in His bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.” Isaiah 40:11, “I am the good shepherd. I know My own and My own know me.” John 10:14
Today, when I hear things like, “There’s a shaking coming to this nation!” It warms my heart and strengthens my confidence in the sovereignty of God that we have “received a kingdom that cannot be shaken…” My hope is not in the economy, it isn’t in the decisions of the government, or even the morality of our nation. My hope is in the promises of God and the purposes He has for His Elect!
So my question is, what are we to do when we survey the landscape of our country and the condition of the Church? For me, I turn to the author of Hebrews once again. “Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the Word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:7-8). When I think of what it means to remember our leaders, I include a host of names from every generation of the Church. From Peter, Paul and John to Huss, Wycliffe, and Tyndale, to Luther, Calvin and Zwingli I also add Hudson, Livingstone, and Carey…but there’s one special group that I greatly admire…the Puritans! Scripture says to “remember your leaders…consider the outcome of their way of life.”
No group had a better way of life than the Puritans. While we have tremendous physicians for our bodies today, Puritans were known as the “doctors of the soul”! In these “Shaky” days, the Church needs guidance from Godly leaders, people in whom we can “imitate their faith.” John Owen, Richard Baxter, John Bunyan, Thomas Goodwin and John Eliot are tremendous models of faith!
I also want to note that the author of Hebrews immediately refutes the argument, “We shouldn’t follow man…we should only follow Christ.” Read carefully what the text says, “Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their life. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” I love the fact that the author teaches us, don’t just get your eyes on men…men who have clay feet! Christ is our ultimate example! Christ is the ultimate model to the Church. However, don’t belittle the fact that God uses men to speak to His Church! When he says, “…who spoke to you the word of God?” I don’t think that limits it to the actual men who wrote Scriptures. I think it means those who expound, teach, and preach the Word to the sheep.
So with all that said, I’m going to close with a few quotes from my favorite Puritan, John Owen:
“Let no man pretend to fear sin that does not fear temptation also! These two are too closely united to be separated. He does not truly hate the fruit who delights in the root.”
“Do you mortify (sin)? Do you make it your daily work? Be always at it whilst you live; cease not a day from this work; be killing sin or it will be killing you.”
“A minister may fill his pews, his communion roll, the mouths of the public, but what that minister is on his knees in secret before God Almighty, that he is and no more.”
For more resources on the Puritans, I recommend that you read, Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers (ISBN-10: 0851512283) or Meet the Puritans (ISBN-10: 1601780001) by Joel Bleeke and A Quest for Godliness: The Puritan Vision of the Christian Life by J.I. Packer (ISBN-10: 0891078193).
