Covenant Protestant Reformed Church
83 Clarence Street, Ballymena BT43 5DR
Rev. Angus Stewart
Lord’s Day, 9 November, 2025
If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (John 8:36)
Morning Service – 11:00 AM
The Greatest Song Ever (5)
Brought Into the King’s Chambers [youtube]
Scripture Reading: Song 1
Text: Song 1:4
I. The Bride’s Petition
II. The Royal Answer
III. The Upright’s Love
Psalms: 91:1-3, 14-16; 148:1-10 (AOS); 27:3-6; 36:5-11
Evening Service – 6:00 PM
God’s Good Pleasure and Our Daily Bread [youtube]
Scripture Reading: Ephesians 1
Text: Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 50
I. God’s Sovereignty
II. Our Petition
Psalms: 23:1-6; 148:7-14 (AOS); 127:1-5; 145:13-20 (AOS)
For CDs of the sermons and DVDs of the worship services, contact Stephen Murray
If you desire a pastoral visit, please contact Rev. Stewart or the elders
CPRC Website: www.cprc.co.uk • Live Webcast: www.cprc.co.uk/live-streaming
CPRC YouTube: www.youtube.com/cprcni
CPRC Facebook: www.facebook.com/CovenantPRC
Quotes to Consider
James Durham on Song of Solomon 1:4: “Experience doth often make out, that a lively soul in a congregation, or family, will readily occasion and provoke others to stir and seek [Christ] with them” (Clavis Cantici, p. 51).
John Gill on Song of Solomon 1:4: “Christ’s love is excellent and valuable; it is preferable to life itself, and all the comforts of it; and a frequent revolving it in our minds will enlarge our desires after a greater knowledge of it, and heighten our value for, and esteem of it. We should so remember it, as to exercise faith in it; for it will bring us but little comfort, and do us but little service, unless we can, in some measure, appropriate it to ourselves, saying, with the apostle, ‘He hath loved me, and hath given himself for me;’ it will afford us no solid joy and comfort that he has loved others, if we have no reason to hope and believe that he hath loved us; for it is faith’s viewing a peculiar interest in this love, that fixes a sense of it more firmly upon the mind” (The Song of Solomon, p. 26).
Announcements (subject to God’s will)
Monday night catechism classes:
5:00 PM: Felicity & Sophie (Juniors NT)
5:45 PM: Grace, Jonas, Liam & Sammy (Beginners NT)
6:30 PM: Eleanora, Hannah, Jorja, Penelope & Xander (Seniors NT)
7:15 PM: Jason, Maisie & Sebastian (Heidelberg Catechism – Book 2)
8:00 PM: Abbie, Jack, Josh, Samuel & Taylor (Essentials)
Tuesday Bible study will meet this week at 11 AM to consider Paul’s second sabbath in Pisidian Antioch (Acts 13:44ff.).
The Belgic Confession class on Wednesday at 7:30 PM will discuss the sounds at our Lord’s second coming.
The Reformed Witness Hour broadcast next Lord’s day (Gospel 846 MW at 8:30 AM) by Rev. Haak is entitled “Enduring From One Generation to the Next” (Ps. 145:4).
Rev. Joshua Engelsma and Sid Miedema are this year’s church visitors. They plan to arrive on Saturday, 10 January, and return home on Monday, 19 January.
Rev. Engelsma will give a lecture on “Biblical Masculinity” on Wednesday, 14 January, at 7:30 PM in the CPRC.
The congregational dinner is being planned for Friday, 16 January.
Offerings: £2,051.80. Donations: £200 (Yorkshire), £30 Lancashire, $17,000 (USA).
Translation Additions: 2 Spanish.
PRC News: Hope PRC (Redlands, CA) has a new trio of Revs. Brummel, D. Holstege and De Boer. Southwest PRC will call from a new trio of Rev. De Boer, Prof. Gritters and Rev. Lee. Grace PRC called Rev. Spronk. Lynden PRC called Rev. Brummel.
Be at Peace With Church Office-Bearers as Much as Possible! (1)
The fourth article in a series written in 2021 by Rev. Angus Stewart for the Salt Shakers
Previously we considered “Murmuring, Strife and Contention Against Church Office-Bearers.” Now we turn from the negative to the positive: “Be at Peace With Church Office-Bearers as Much as Possible!” The phrasing of both titles comes from the last paragraph of Belgic Confession 31, which is headed, “The Ministers, Elders, and Deacons”:
Moreover, that this holy ordinance of God may not be violated or slighted, we say that every one ought to esteem the ministers of God’s Word and the elders of the church very highly for their work’s sake, and be at peace with them without murmuring, strife, or contention, as much as possible.
Church Office-Bearers Themselves
Let us suppose that you are “not impressed” by your minister or elder or deacon. In fact, you are tempted to despise him and criticise him to others. What should you do? How should you react?
First, we should heed our Saviour’s sharp word of warning: take the mote out of your own eye before judging others (Matt. 7:1-5)! Similarly, the apostle Paul exhorts us frequently to that humility of mind which honours the brother (e.g., Rom. 12:10; Phil. 2:3).
Second, we need carefully and calmly to evaluate the relative seriousness of the problem. Are the office-bearer’s faults real or imaginary? Are they being viewed accurately or are they being exaggerated? How bad are they? Serious enough for suspension or deposition, or do they not reach that level? Church Order 79-80 gives the principal gross sins justifying the former and outlines the main steps to be taken. However, most concerns regarding church office-bearers in a solid creedal and Reformed church fall (a long way) short of suspension or deposition, and so this part of the article will cover the church member’s proper attitude and behaviour towards an office-bearer whom he or she perceives (rightly or wrongly, fairly or unfairly) as weak.
We must remind ourselves of the basic principles of biblical and Reformed church government, which Belgic Confession 31 calls a “holy ordinance of God.” Jesus Christ, our crucified and exalted Saviour, is the sole head of His church. As the only universal bishop, He calls ministers, elders and deacons as His representatives. He does this through the nomination of qualified men by the council, the election of some by the congregation and their installation into ecclesiastical office (Acts 6; I Tim. 3; Belgic Confession 30-31; Church Order 4, 22, 24). As such, these men “are lawfully called of God’s church, and consequently of God himself,” as the “Form for Ordination of Elders and Deacons” states.
Having established the truth of the lawful call, we must call to mind and obey the Scriptures that concern the believer’s duty towards his church’s office-bearers. Here are some such exhortations:
And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; And to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake. And be at peace among yourselves (I Thess. 5:12-13).
Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine (I Tim. 5:17).
Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you (Heb. 13:17).
The Heidelberg Catechism’s explanation of the fifth commandment is pertinent:
I [must] show all honor, love, and fidelity to my father and mother and all in authority over me [including my church office-bearers], and submit myself to their good instruction and correction with due obedience; and also patiently bear with their weaknesses and infirmities, since it pleases God to govern us by their hand (A. 104).
Notice the key elements from Lord’s Day 39:
- The church office-bearer is “in authority over me” for “it pleases God to govern us by [his] hand.”
- I am called to “show all honor, love, and fidelity to” him and “submit myself to [his] good instruction and correction with due obedience.”
- This includes that I “patiently bear with [his] weaknesses and infirmities.”
It is, therefore, my solemn duty before God, as the Belgic Confession puts it, to “be at peace with [all the church’s office-bearers] without murmuring, strife, or contention, as much as possible.” (to be continued…)
