A Side Order of Church History, PART 1

Consistently interpreted, in each the man symbolizes Christ, the field is the world, and the seed is the Word which tells of Christ and his kingdom.

The parable of the mustard seed and the parable of the leaven are a pair. The former deals with the outward development of error in the church; the latter deals with the secret and inward development of error. As in the parable of the sower and the parable of the tares, something seems to have gone wrong, something foreseen and foretold by Christ.

Yet such unusual growth has provided roosting places for those who are enemies of God, who seek the shade and fruit of the tree for their own interests (even nations like to be called “Christian”).

But as this seed has a hot, fiery vigor, gives out its best virtues when bruised, and is grateful to the taste of birds, which are accordingly attracted to its branches both for shelter and food,

The idiomatic expression “birds of the sky” refers to wild birds as opposed to domesticated fowl (cf. BDAG 809 s.v. πετεινόν).

Certainly “Christendom” has become a worldwide power with a complex organization of many branches. What started in a humble manner today boasts of material possessions and political influences.

Some make this parable teach the worldwide success of the Gospel. But that would contradict what Jesus taught in the first parable. If anything, the New Testament teaches a growing decline in the ministry of the Gospel as the end of the age draws near.

Christ Jesus came into the world not to establish a religion, but to give life.

In the Gospel of John the word “life” occurs forty-four times, and the word “religion” not once. Dr. Scofield once had occasion to tell a young minister that he did not believe he ever had been born again. In astonishment the young man said, “Why, I got religion ten years ago at such a place.” “That is interesting,” the older minister answered; “and while you were getting religion, why didn’t you get saved?” “Why, isn’t getting religion getting saved? Didn’t Jesus Christ come to bring religion?” “No. He himself tells us why he came: ‘I am come that they might have life.’ ” The conversation led to the two men kneeling in prayer, and the young minister accepted Christ as his personal Saviour in a real way.

I was walking in San Francisco along the Golden Gate Bridge when I saw a man about to jump off. I tried to dissuade him from committing suicide and told him simply that God loved him. A tear came to his eye. I then asked him, “Are you a Christian, a Jew, a Hindu, or what?”

He said, “I’m a Christian.”

I said, “Me, too, small world. . .Protestant or Catholic?”

He said, “Protestant.”

I said, “Me, too, what denomination?”

He said, “Baptist.”

I said, “Me, too, Northern Baptist or Southern Baptist?”

He said, “Northern Baptist.”

I said, “Well, ME TOO, Northern Conservative Baptist or Northern Liberal Baptist?”

He said, “Northern Conservative Baptist.”

I said, “Well, that’s amazing! Northern Conservative Fundamentalist Baptist or Northern Conservative Reformed Baptist?”

He said, “Northern Conservative Fundamentalist Baptist.”

I said, “Remarkable! Northern Conservative Fundamentalist Baptist Great Lakes Region or Northern Conservative Fundamentalist Baptist Eastern Region?”

He said, “Northern Conservative Fundamentalist Baptist Great Lakes Region.”

I said, “A miracle! Northern Conservative Fundamentalist Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1879, or Northern Conservative Fundamentalist Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912?”

He said, “Northern Conservative Fundamentalist Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912.”

I said, “DIE HERETIC!’ and pushed him over the rail.

“Teaching”; used of the content rather than the act of teaching. The Greek word may be used of the doctrines of men (Matt. 15:9), but more important, refers to the teaching of Jesus (Matt. 7:28) and later the teaching of his followers. “My teaching,” Jesus said, “is not my own. It comes from him who sent me (John 7:16; i.e., it is from God). The word was used of Christian doctrine (Acts 2:42), to which believers are to be wholeheartedly committed (Rom. 6:17). It is important to “continue” in the doctrine (2 John 9) and to be able both to teach it and to refute those who oppose it (Titus 1:9).

Some years ago I was scheduled to hold meetings in a church that I had every reason to believe was fundamental, Bible-believing, and sound in doctrine and practice. However, I discovered that there were people in positions of authority in that church who believed and taught a doctrine that attacked the deity of Christ. When I confronted the church leaders, they hedged as long as they could, and only when they were driven into a corner did they admit that their sympathies were with the false teaching. Here was a branch of the professing church where one would have thought that no error could be found, yet the doctrine of demons had silently flown in and was now roosting comfortably in its new nest. (I did not conduct the meetings!)

If false doctrine can penetrate a church always considered impeccably sound in the faith and true to the Word of God, how much more easily can evil spirits reside in branches of Christendom where the Bible was abandoned long ago as the sole authority and rule of belief and behavior?

The parable of the mustard seed and the parable of the leaven are a pair. The former deals with the outward development of error in the church; the latter deals with the secret and inward development of error. As in the parable of the sower and the parable of the tares, something seems to have gone wrong, something foreseen and foretold by Christ.

The meal offering was made of fine flour because it symbolized Christ in the purity and evenness of His life on earth. He was always the same, never flustered, never in a hurry, never at a loss, never anxious, never afraid, always in control. He stood apart from the greatest of His followers. Peter was impetuous, John was known as a “son of thunder,” and Paul lost his temper on more than one occasion. So the fine flour of the meal offering prefigured the matchless life of the Lord Jesus.

When my sister-in-law Sara was five, her mother decided it was time to teach her how to cross the street safely. Hand in hand, they waited for a green light at the intersection. Staring at the road, Sara asked, “Mommy, what are those white lines for?”

“That marks where the pedestrians cross,” her mom replied.

Confused, Sara asked, “Then where do us Baptists cross?”

One of the great Baptist gifts to the Reformation Heritage is a full awareness that for individual believer priests (1 Peter 2:5; 1 Peter 2:9) to “work out” their “own salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12) they must be unhindered by governmental interference. Early in the seventeenth century the great English Baptist, Thomas Helwys, penned the first published plea in the English language for religious liberty in his A Short Declaration of the Mystery of Iniquity when he declared in 1612 that the King of England was a mere man and had no authority over men’s souls “for men’s religion to God is betwixt God and themselves.”