When we see people, both young and old, drift away from the Reformed Church to join with some other church in the com­munity, we are plagued with the ques­tion, Why the church-hopping? There are a lot of external and surface reasons that are given — the other church is bigger, nic­er, more fun, closer, has less rules, does not require accountability, has more of my friends in it, etc.

None of those are good reasons regarding the church. The church, being the body of Christ, is about a communion of believers with the same true faith. If you are looking for your favorite restaurant, health club, or gas station, then these might be good reasons to make a switch. But church membership is the most important area of your life. It is not about convenience or where you feel the most comfort­able. There are “churches” today that do not even require membership so there is no pressure on those who attend. Some people want that.

Without trying to write a treatise on ecclesiology, what are the essentials in­volved here? There are many doctrines that we could mention that separate one church from another. We know the three marks of a true church as defined in our Belgic Confession — the pure preaching of the Gospel, the pure administration of the sacraments, and the faithful exercise of church discipline. (Art. 29)

What is church membership about? It is about Truth. It is about the unity of true faith in Jesus Christ. It is about commu­nion with Christ, the Head of the Church, and with each other in Christ. There is a doctrinal identity that goes with church membership.

Why would anyone even contemplate leaving the doctrines (accepted teach­ings) of the Reformed Church? Let’s face it, when a person joins another church, he/she is identifying with and accept­ing those doctrines. Most of the mega-churches of today do not have written creeds as we do that will spell these out up front. But they all do have their own unwritten creeds. That leads to the ques­tion: What are the essential doctrines that would have to be sacrificed to leave the Reformed faith? Everyone probably has a list that comes to mind. In my estimation there are two basic truths that are at stake: The doctrine of the sovereignty of God, and the doctrine of the covenant. In one way or another, these two doctrines touch on virtually every other doctrine or practice in the Re­formed Church. I’ll try to boil that down to a few words.

The sovereignty of God is about the power and the perfect will of God. When we say God is Almighty, it is grounded in the fact that the Triune God is the Creator and the preserver of His creation. Need­less to say, if the creation itself is God’s, then everything within it is in His absolute control. He does not just allow things; He ordains them and carries them out. His sovereignty extends to who is saved. If God has decreed to save man by sending His Son to die for them, who can thwart His will?

It is popular today to attribute saving faith to the free will of man, and contrari­wise the rejection of saving faith to the free will of man. Man is free, but God is limited. God’s hands are tied if man does not accept God’s offer. The Bible is very clear that before the foundation of the world God chose who He would save (Ephesians 1:4; 1 Peter 1:2; Romans 8:30, etc) and that He gave to Christ those for whom He would die (Matthew 1:21; John 15:11, 14-15, 27-30; 17:6, 11, etc.). By His Holy Spirit, He works faith in His elect’s newly-given hearts (John 3:3; Ephesians 2:8-9). Man’s repen­tance, faith, and works of thanksgiving are all by grace alone.

Needless to say, God’s sovereign rule is not limited. It is over all of life — every event in our lives and in the whole history of the world. His revealed will is found in the Bible and in the ongoing history of the world. Once we believe that, it must follow that God will receive His due glory in every area of our lives forever. There are no secular realms.

The second issue is that of the cov­enant which God has established. This ties the whole Bible together. His prom­ise is that He would send a Savior, His own Son, to redeem His chosen people through the sacrifice on the cross. This everlasting covenant is increasingly re­vealed throughout the Bible from the types and shadows to the appearance of Christ Himself. Jesus is now the Media­tor of that covenant (Hebrews 9:15-17; 10:11-18). Nobody comes to the Father except through His Son. Nobody is saved except by the blood of Christ. And nobody has the blood of Christ except by faith.

Covenant theology is a broad study, but for our purposes here, it affects not only the exegesis of the Bible but also the proper administration of the sacraments and church discipline. The baptism of in­fants is to reveal that they have the prom­ises of the covenant, and will be taught those promises by their parents. If they believe the promise of the Gospel, they are saved. The Lord’s Supper is a celebra­tion of the finished work of Christ by all believers. We live in a covenant relation­ship with God as Christians, and we are told that within that covenant there are curses for disobedience, and blessings for obedience.

More could be said on these and other subjects that are important, but to leave the Reformed faith is, at minimum, to leave these two essential truths. They may not be popular today because such truths are focused on God alone. Men and women can only believe them and live a life of thanksgiving to God by grace alone. In the end we are “unprofitable servants” who by the sovereign grace of God are numbered as members of His covenant people.

Not only are we called to separate our­selves from a church that denies these teachings, but we are also bound to join and remain with the Church that upholds them.