Young, Restless, and Reformed
Young, Restless, Reformed Calvinism is making a comeback—and shaking up the church.
This interesting article shows that there is a profound move among young people who are embracing the Reformed faith when it is presented as a life giving message of God’s grace. The emptiness of evangelicalism is causing young Christians to seek substance and a Biblical message of God’s greatness that goes beyond simplistic, self-serving and legalistic messages.
Many people coming to Reformed Churches are amazed to hear expository sermons that are actually about the Bible verse read instead of about man-centered “testimonies”. They are thankful for the historic liturgy focus on God instead of entertainment.
One shortcoming of the article is that it speaks as if Baptists were the only Reformed people!
Perhaps that’s simply because the Baptists realize the treasure we have been so busy keeping to ourselves!
One peculiar strength of our Heidelberg Catechism is its profound exposition of the salvation by Grace and the Christian’s ability to rely completely on the sovereignty of God in keeping His people through His Fatherly care. This affirmation of God’s sovereignty, though, expresses such confidence in the Almighty God of history revealed in Holy Scripture with evangelical fervor and a unique warmth of devotion. The catechism epitomizes what these young people seek – truth aflame. The same type of practical exposition of Truth is found in the Second Helvetic Confession where, we are reminded, Jesus Christ is Himself the looking glass wherein we can gaze upon the truths of election and predestination without falling into the dark pit of despairing fatalism and self-centered moral lawlessness.
From this author’s personal experience many Baptist converts to “Calvinism” unfortunately fall into the twin traps described above because they have no confessional basis to guide them as they contemplate the Scripture. They too readily embrace extreme notions never entertained (or rejected) by our Fathers in the Reformed faith and become sidetracked from a living, Christ centered faith.
Also, the Reformation doctrine of Worship is often missed in these settings. For the Reformers, “Worship” is first and foremost God’s ministering to us through Word and Sacrament and then, secondarily our presentation of ourselves as living sacrifices in light of Christ’s sacrifice (see Answer 32, Heidelberg Catechism). One large Baptist church that considers itself “Calvinistic” advertises itself as “charismatic in worship”. While that might attract many in our day, too often this falls short of the concept of worship described above. In some such churches the Lord’s Supper is never even observed with regularity and the sacrament’s purpose is never discovered!
So for this renewed interest in Reformed theology we are grateful to God and mindful of our failure to represent our Reformed Christian faith for what it is – truth aflame. And we are likewise made cognizant again of our duty to share the treasure of the Reformed Christian faith God has entrusted to us just in time to serve a hungry generation.
Related Link: Young, Restless, Reformed: A Journalist’s Journey with the New Calvinists
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