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The following poem appears in the August, 2010 issue of “The Testimony”, a publication of the Old German Baptist Brethren Church – New Conference. It was written by a dear friend and Christan brother, Reuben Huffman.
Our brother’s poem brings to mind Jesus’ words, found in Matthew 7:21-23: “Not every one that says unto me, ‘Lord, Lord’, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that does the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in your name have cast out devils? and in your name done many wonderful works?’ And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, you that work iniquity.”
The Iniquity of Our Holy Things
Exodus 28:36-38
We pray and ask forgiveness of our sins, The way we coveted our neighbor’s house or friends.
The adulterous eyes that lingered on that girl, And sharp words thoughtlessly to others hurled,
The shortness of my temper to a child, When childishness was met with anger riled,
And over these the blood of Jesus pours, And righteous mercy frees me from my sores.
With that behind us now we go to church, to bring our praise to him Who loved us first.
To offer thanks and holy songs of praise, to think of God, make vows for coming days,
To fellowship with others of the faith. Surely such holy things will find us safe.
Surely, in Sunday best, presenting these, our offerings will be received, and He’ll be pleased.
Yet high in splendid majesty sits God enthroned, His glory streams while deafening praise surrounds
His Holiness that cannot stomach sin, Beholds our Sunday offering coming in…
And what we tho’t was pure and sanctified is rightly seen all stained and sot with pride,
Too weak for what His glorious face deserves, Halfhearted, cool, distraction — oh, what nerve.
”What nerve,” the angels murmur, “to expect Jehovah to receive such disrespect,
And take such routine, glum, and shallow praise. He ought to vindicate his honor and erase
The hypocrites that send such filthy stuff to Heaven … and think it is enough.”
But God beholds the Answer to the need, in Him who ever lives to intercede.
O Glory to the Lamb! For sins he died — Not just our blatant crimes, but inborn pride;
And bears the evil in our holy things, presenting us in splendor to the King.
O Glory that the Spirit’s groanings plead, when we don’t seem to know just what we need.
O Glory to the Father’s boundless love, That welcomes even us unto Himself above.
By Sam Walter Foss
One day through a primeval wood, a calf walked home, as good calves should;
But made a trail all bent askew, a crooked trail as all calves do.
Since then three hundred years have fled, and I infer the calf is dead.
But still he left behind a trail: and thereby hangs my moral tale.
The trail was taken up one day by a lone dog that passed that way;
And then a wise bellwether sheep, pursued the trail o’er vale and steep,
And drew the flock behind him, too, as good bellwethers always do.
From that day, o’er hill and glade, through those old woods a path was made.
And many men wound in and out and dodged and turned and bent about,
And uttered words of righteous wrath, because ‘twas such a crooked path;
But still they followed – do not laugh – the first migrations of that calf.
And through this winding wood they stalked, because the cow wobbled when he walked.
So, the forest path became a lane, that bent and turned and turned again;
This crooked lane became a road, where many a horse with his load
Toiled on beneath the burning sun, and traveled some three miles in one.
Thus, since a century and a half, they trod the footsteps of that calf.
The years passed on in swiftness fleet, and the road became a village street;
And this, before men were aware, a crowded city’s thoroughfare.
Soon the central street was this, of a renowned metropolis;
And men two centuries and a half, trod in the footsteps of that calf.
Each year a hundred thousand men followed that zigzag calf again,
And o’er his crooked journey went, the traffic of a continent.
A hundred thousand men are led, by one calf, three centuries dead!
They follow still his crooked way, and lose one hundred years a day;
For this such reverence is lent, to a well-established precedent.
A moral lesson this might teach, were I ordained and called to preach;
For men are prone to go it blind, along the calf-path of the mind,
And work away from sun to sun, to do what other men have done.
They follow in the beaten track, and in and out and forth and back.
And still their devious courses pursue, to keep the paths that others do.
They keep the path a holy groove, along which all their lives they move;
But how we might be wont to laugh, now knowing the origin of that path.
Ah, many things this tale might teach – but I am not ordained to preach.
John Piper preaching on the need for Christians to properly understand justification in light of their wretched, sinful nature:
“You might say, ‘Aren’t you concerned about producing a church full of wretched people? ‘Wretched man that I am’ – everybody feels wretched on Sunday morning; everybody feels wretched on Monday morning. Wretched, wretched, wretched. All you ever produce here is wretchedness.’
I’m a little bit concerned about that – but not much.
I’m way more concerned about producing a church full of pasted smiles, and hypocrites, and lies. That’s what I’m concerned about.
People who, in their small groups, look like they don’t have any problems: ‘I don’t ever say anything nasty. I never have any lustful thoughts, I’m never tempted to steal. I never lie on my tax report. I’m Christian!’
I don’t want to be the pastor of pasted smiles, chipper superficiality, blindness to our own failures.”
 The Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches (FGBC) has graduated one of its leaders to heaven with the home-going this evening of Dr. David Plaster, at age 61.
Over three years ago, Dr. Plaster became pastor of the Grace Brethren Church of Columbus, after long-time pastor Jim Custer retired. Prior to taking the pastorate at Columbus, Dr. Plaster had served over two decades as a professor at Grace Theological Seminary, and over a decade in other pastoral positions. He received undergraduate degrees from the University of Lyon, France, and Grace College. He also received his Masters of Theology & Masters of Divinity degrees from Grace Theological Seminary, and his Doctorate of Systematic Theology from Dallas Theological Seminary.
Dr. Plaster was a spiritual and historical leader in the FGBC. He is well-known for his documentary of Grace Brethren history in the book “Finding our Focus“, a sequel to Dr. Homer Kent’s book, “Conquering Frontiers“. The history of the various Schwarzenau Brethren have always been of heartfelt interest to me, and it was encouraging to see Dr. Plaster take up the task of maintaining the FGBC’s history where Dr. Kent and Harold Etling left off. In 2008, Dr. Plaster participated in the 300th anniversary of the birth of the Brethren church in Schwarzenau, Germany.
Over the years, particularly in the 1990′s, certain historical Brethren distinctives became uncomfortable and outmoded in the minds of some, leading to various opportunities for conflict between a few FGBC churches. Much of that conflict can be traced to efforts by some FGBC leaders to be more broadly integrated into the larger evangelical landscape (and, to be fair, can also be traced to the ignoble character of some who labeled themselves as “conservatives”, as Dr. Plaster points out in “Finding our Focus”.)
In my view, Dr. David Plaster was a watchman: gracious in tone, but unflinching in his public analysis. In 1993, Dr. Plaster wrote in the Brethren Annual,
“But now we are at a crossroads. Either we renew our vision and move ahead as a team, or we could see the beginning of an ever accelerating process of dissolution and decay. Either we imbue a new generation with the vision of what God can do through the FGBC or else we will experience what I believe to be an inevitable decline.”
When a church fellowship loses a man like Dr. Plaster, much more than the man and his immediate influence is lost. A fundamental link to what the FGBC was, and could have been in the future, is gone forever. I believe that organizational fellowships (like the FGBC) and denominations (like the SBC) should help to align the parts of Christ’s body, the church katholikos, into a harmonious, productive facility for the gospel. Dr. Plaster evidenced that he believed the same thing.
Dr. Plaster also wrote in his book, “Finding our Focus”,
“…since 1992…there is much more focus on vision, church planting, and evangelism in the FGBC. But…discussion that might lead to any disagreements has been suppressed. There was no real forum within the Fellowship for the discussion of new ideas, theological questions and issues, and consideration of changes.”
Belonging to and operating within a “distinctive segment” (i.e., an organized fellowship or denomination) of the body of Christ is, more often than not, paramount to the long-term viability of a local church carrying out the work of the gospel. Obviously, any “distinctive segment” must be spiritually strong in order for its constituent elements to be spiritually healthy. Over the years I have observed that the effectiveness of the local church, and its Christians, is eroded more rapidly when it becomes homogenized with other broad, non-distinct entities, such as non-denominational Christian schools, parachurch, and lowest-common-denominator associations (think: Willow Creek). Certainly, there should be a concentrated emphasis on vision, church planting and evangelism in the local church. But these are fruits that are produced from certain roots. New ideas must be rooted in theological fidelity, and pass doctrinal scrutiny; otherwise the fruit is destined to be puny. Churches and their leaders require a forum where their theology is nourished, not suppressed. It was my impression that Dr. Plaster was an advocate of a strong theological center (not pragmatism or recipe-based church planting) as the fellowship-anchor for like-minded, spiritually-healthy churches.
Without a theological center testified by doctrinal distinctiveness, the people-in-the-pew risk losing their missional focus, and ultimately their identity as a unique and effective part of Christ’s body. At that point the local church is in danger of becoming a preferential commodity, like choosing between K-Mart or Target.
Across the landscape of today’s churches, we need more Dr. Plasters in leadership who desire that all Christians find and maintain their focus as they function in a specific part of Christ’s body.
“Listen, son. Half-hearted Christians are the most miserable people of all. They know enough to feel guilty, but they haven’t gone far enough with Christ to be happy. Be wholehearted for Him!”
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