Sweet tomatoes...

Being out of the country for the month of July, it took longer than usual this year, yet with delight I report the Bayly household is back to our late-summer habit of eating bacon, lettuce & tomato sandwiches for lunch each day. But the habit will come to a grinding halt as soon as homegrown or farm stand tomatoes vanish.

There may be some among our good readers incapable of distinguishing between the tasteless red things called "tomatoes" commonly sold in supermarkets and the old reliable, "Burpee Big Boy." I pity them.

Still, I admit I might have lost my ability to distinguish between real and fake tomatoes had I not been able, each July and August, to have access to the real thing. But one bite each summer and I am innoculated against the counterfeit for another ten months. No, I refuse even to hope that the commercial growers will have sent a genuine tomato to our supermarkets--I've been disappointed too many times.

And as I think about the taste of the genuine article innoculating us against a counterfeit, I wonder whether there are Christians who, by God's grace, plunked themselves down in a true church while on vacation this summer, and got enough of a taste of the old paths to return home and depart from the false church where they've sat the past ten years, comfortably numb.

By "old paths" I don't mean old music, old liturgy, or old stained glass windows...

I'm referring to old, very old things that are much more important: the right preaching of the Word of God, the right administration of the Sacraments, and the right exercise of church discipline. Down through Protestant history these old things have been recognized as the marks of a true church;. [See also the Confession of the English Congregation at Geneva (1556), the French Confession of Faith (1559), the Scottish Confession of Faith (1560), and the Second Helvetic Confession (1566).]

Much could be said here to assist our evaluation of our churches by these biblical criteria, but here at Church of the Good Shepherd we've come to summarize them as follows:

As pastors and elders, we are committed to saying God's 'yes' and His 'no," both from the pulpit and in person, to one another.

Is this the commitment of your pastor and elders? If not, why have you settled for a church that's not a church? Because your kids like the youth group? Because your wife likes to sing hymns? Because you like anonymity?

As a reminder, here's a taste of the real thing. Not quite McChurch Lite, is it?

They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles. And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common; and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need. Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved. (Acts 2:42-47)