1994 issue 9 - are evangelicals really evangelical? the gospel of the kingdom of god - counsel of...

8/12/2019 1994 Issue 9 - Are Evangelicals Really Evangelical? The Gospel of the Kingdom of God - Counsel of Chalcedon

1/6

How beautiful on the moun-

tains are the feet o those who

bring good news, who proclaim

peace, who

bring good

tidings,

who

proclaim salvation, who say

to

Zion, 'Your God reigns " Isaiah

52:7.

Are Arminian evangelicals really

evangelistic? Does Calvinism

squelch

evangelistic zeal, as is often

charged? For years Calvinists have

falsely been criticized for being

disinterested or uninvolved in

evangelism. There is an old saying

concerning the evange

lism of the American

West

in

the

19th

cen

tury, that the Baptist

preachers

went on

foot,

the Methodists followed

on horseback,

the

Presbyterians wai ted for

stagecoaches, and the

Episcopalians atrived by

train

and

steamboat,

whichever offered

greater luggage space

Presbyterian

(and

Reformed) preachers

aren t considered to be

all

that

evangelistically motivated or

active. Is this true?

On

the

one hand we do not

want

to be like the person

who

chided

D.L Moody for his "method"

of

evangelism, to which he replied,

"Madam, I prefer

my method

of

doing

evangelism

to

your method

of not doing evangelism " On the

other hand,

the

end

not only does

not

justify

the

means,

but

frankly

may

tragically affect the product. A

man

once

testified to having come

Certainly

in

tenos of the extent

and the intensity of proclamation of

the

"gospel,"

we

are living

in

the

mOst "evangelistic" era in the

history

of

the

church. Most Chris-

tians, however, defme evangelism

in tenos of altar calls, "numbers,

nickels,

and

noise," or making

decisions rather than disciples.

When I was in Seminary

an

"evan

gelistic" questionnaire was sent to

students

by

a well known evange

list

in

the South to determine if we

were evangelistic. The tests in

cluded questions like "Do you give

alter calls?" "Do you have annual

evangelistic crusades" "How many

people have you led to the Lord in

the last year?" At the heart of

evangelism

and

missions, however,

is the message: "Your God reigns "

When evangelism is measured

against the message, we may be

living

in

the least evangelistic

generation

in

the history of the

Gospel.

I want to touch

on

two key

issues involved in Biblical evange

lism, the method and the message

of evangelism. Evangelical

Arminian evangelism is too narrow

in both message and method. They

have too narrow a definition of

evangelism. A definition of evange

lism that has been widely accepted

is, "To evangelize

is

so to present

Jesus Christ in the power-ef the

Holy Spirit, that men shall come to

14 THE COUNSEL

of

Chalcedon December, 1994

put their trust

in

God through him,

to accept

him as

their Saviour,

and

serve him as their king in the

fellowship of his church." We are to

present Christ in the power

of

the

Holy Spirit. But how is Christ to

be

presented

in

the power of the Holy

Spirit? Most Christians limit "pre

senting" Christ to tracts, evangelis

tic books, confrontations, and

evangelistic sermons and crusades.

The wimess of the church is

indeed

a verbal one, but this

in

the Bible is

never disassociated from presenting

Jesus Christ in the

power of the Spirit

in

the worship and life of

the people of God as

the context, the plat

form, and the proof

thatjesus is Savior

and

Lord.

' i

our God

Reigns" must not only

characterize our wit

ness, but

our worship,

and

our

work

Evangelism is

not

an

activity that may be

cut off from the total

context

of

the worship

and

work

of

the people of God. Biblical wor

ship is evangelistic,

not

as an

evangelistic service with

an

invita

tion

at

the conclusion,

but

as a

celebration of God's salvation

in

the

presence of God and His people,

giving evidence that

our

God is

alive

and

reigning. Would an

unbeliever

in

your worship service

conclude "Your God

is

dead" or

"Your God Reigns"? Would

an

unbeliever

be

convinced

by

the

Spirit that this God who is wor

shipped is real, powerful, awesome,

and alive I Cor. 14:25)?

Christian living and practice,

"letting your light shine," (Mt.

: 13-16) is evangelistic, causing


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men

to

glorify God. Ungodly and

immoral behavior counteracts.

undermines. destroys the words

that are proclaimed. The old story

of the Sunday School teacher who

asked his students "Why do people

call me a Christian?" is often nue.

One

of

his

children answered.

"Maybe it's because they don' t

know you " Today. unbelievers

don't seriously consider the mes

sage we preach because they don't

know

too many of us.

From the beginning the church

and Christians had a ministry

to

the

poor . the needy. the strangers.

Christians must care for one

another. for the sick. the elderly.

the needy. the troubled.

It

is in

doing these things that

the

church

wimesses

to

the power and extent

of God's redeeming grace. that our

God reigns.

While. therefore. evangelism is

a bask task of the church. it is a

serious error to limit the work of

the church to this or to fail to see

the evangelistic implications of the

total life and worship of the people

of

God.

This definition of evangelism

proposed abcve leads us into our

second major area

of

problem with

contemporalY evangelism. The

definition speaks of serving Christ

as king "in the fellowship of

church." This is the major failure

of evangelical Christianity. influ

enced primarily by dispensational

premi lenialism and antinomian

ism. limiting the kingship of Jesus

Christ

to

the church.

What

this

manifests is

not

only that there is a

problem with too narrow a defini

tion of the method of evangelism.

but that the very message is too

narrow.

"The apostolic preaching

fol-

lowed this pattem. First.

men

are

declared

to

be sinners. under God's

wrath and sentence of

death ... Second. God as man's only

Savior through His incamate Son.

Jesus Christ. has in grace and

mercy provided the way of escape.

The atonement and the resurrection

are proclaimed as man's only

hope

... Third. to

be

saved means

more than the release of the con

demned. although it is clearly that.

It means baptism into Christ and

His Kingdom;

it

means obedience

to His law. fellowship with His

saints in the Church.

and

a com

mon service to the acknowledged

king. and much more ... We are

baptized. and we become citizens

of a community. the Kingdom of

God. members of His Church.

workers

n

every area of

our

lives

in

terrns of God's law. and. in all

things. servants of Christ. in whose

will is

our freedom." R]

Rushdoony. Salvation and

Re-

demption pg.

447

: 448.

The message is central to evan

gelism. Modem evangelism

is

like

the amusing cartoon in a magazine

at the time of the

196

Olympics

shOwing the celebrated runner from

Marathon arriving

in

Athens and

falling exhausted

on the ground

while he mumbles. with a blank

look on his face. 1 have forgotten

the message."

Evangelism is proclaiming a

message. the message And. this

frankly receives little attention in

contemporary Christianity because

it

is assumed that every Christian

knows the message. We are high

on methods. high on motivation.

high

on

missions.

but

minimal on

message. The primary concem

today is motivating

and

funding

missions without

much

regard for

accuracy or faithfulness to the

message.

Is

Arminian evangelism. there

fore. really evangelistic? Who is

really guilty of failing

to

evangelize?

Isn't it really the Arminians that

don

't proclaim the message of

evangelism-" Your God Reigns "?

Hasn' t "easy believism." "Once

saved. always saved " and "You can

accept Jesus as Savior and

not

as

Lord " not only deceived many.

hardened many.

but

also attracted

many

so that anyone who

pro-

claims Lordship. discipleship.

and

holiness is viewed as a religious

fanatic bordering on cultism?

The

difference

between

Arminians and Calvinists is more

than "TUUP

.

(The letters of the

Arminian

DAISY

. "He loves me. He

loves me not."

may stand

for its

doctrinal tenants: D-Depravity isn't

total; A-Atonement isn't definite;

I-Irresistible isn' t grace. S-Selection

isn't unconditional;

and

Y-Your

salva tion isn't secure.)

In

one sense

both

proclaim salvation

by

grace

through faith alone.

On

the

other

hand there is a broad gap; we

proclaim the good news of the

Kingdom

of

God ; like the Mo

nopoly card. "Get

out

of

ail," they

proclaim salvation. "Get

out

of

Hell"

It

is surprising

that

the contem

porary church has ignored the

message announced and pro-

claimed by the great evangelist

Himself. Jesus Christ. He is

both

the message and the messenger.

While it is true

that the

message in

one sense may be stated as con

cisely and succinctly as

B

elieve

on

the Lord Jesus Christ

and

thou

shalt

be

saved

and thy

house. Acts 16:31.

in another sense the message has

been grossly understated. Jesus

came preaching saying. The

kingdom oj God

is

at hand Repent

and believe

the

good news." Mark

1:15.

December, 1994 THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon 15


3/6

In Matthew 4:

17,

23 the Gospel

is described and proclaimed as the

Gospel of

the

Kingdom. The

Sermon on

the

Mount, Mat. 5-7,

mentions the kingdom

several

times,

in

particular we are to pray

"Thy kingdom come," and

to

"seek

first

the kingdom of

God:

6:33.

Mat.

9:35

says thatjesus "we

nt

through all the towns and villages,

teaching in their synagogues,

preaching

the

good

news of the

kingdom ...

And when he

saw the

crowds, he had

compassion

on

them ...

Then

He

said

to his dis

ciples,

The

harvest is

plenteous but

the

workcrs are

few.

Ask

the

Lord

of

the

harvest,

therefore,

t

send

out

workcrs

into his

harvest

field

Jesus pro

claimed

the

parables

of the Kingdom, Mat.

13. Paul

bid

farewell

to

the

Ephesians

reminding them that

he had preached

among them

"the

kingdom of God" and identified

that

message

with

"the gospel of

the

grace of God," Acts 20:24, 25.

Most Christians must

t ink

that

the

"Great Commission" is a

new

plan

or

program

from the one

Jesus

announced

at

the beginning

of his ministry, Mat. 4:17,

28:

18-20.

He started out an

nouncing the kingdom of God is at

hand, but ended

settl ing for

sending His disciples just to make

a few decisions for 'jesus," since

His Original plan

had

been re

jected.

Most Christians must think

that the Great Commission is some

new enterprise completely

unre

lated

to the

O. T. prophecies and

purpose

of

God

as expressed

in

our

t ~ r o m

Isaiah, rather th n

seeing that Jesus is announcing

that in Himself those prophecies

are realized through the preaching

of repentance and faith in Him.

The message of "salvation"

is

stated in terms of the kingdom of

God. Faith and repentance are in

view of the presence of the king

dom

of God and repentance and

faith are reqUired for entrance into

that

Kingdom.

We would

expect

Dispensationalists

to

redefine the

message of evangelism since they

believe that the kingdom was

postponed. But Presbyterian and

Reformed "evangelism" ought

to

take seriously

the

message of the

Gospel of the Kingdom declared

by

Jesus Himself The importance

of this became all the more appar

ent

to

me

in

the context of foreign

missions

in

my trip

to

the Ukraine.

One of the first things that caught

my attention was a booklet that I

recognized even though I couldn't

read the words because they were

in Russian. t was "The Four

Spiritual Laws."

And

what struck

me most in talking with Ukrainian

Christians was that there was

no

evidence of understanding any

social, political, cultural implica

tions or applications of the Gospel

in

their thinking, or of living in

terms of being a member of the

6 THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon December, 199

kingdom of Christ

and

God. The

Gospel for them was truly

as

Marx

had said, "the Opiate of the

Masses: essentially only an escape

from the horror of their political

and religious oppression and

persecution.

There have been several evange

listic booklets, tracts, treatments,

and outlines written by Reformed

men

such

as

John

Blanchard, Nigel

Lee, Greg Bahnsen, Roland Barnes,

Ross Lindley,Jack Miller, Will

Metzger, etc. While, thankfully,

much

has also been

written about the

relationship of the

gospel to the king

dom, I am

not

aware,

however,

oEm

evan

gelistic

booklet

that is

addressed directly to

the unbeliever

and

that centers on the

kingdom

of

God as

the message of the

Gospel. We've had

E.E.; Evangelism

Explosion; now what about "K.E.,"

Kingdom Evangelism?

R.]. Rushdoony has defined the

message of the gospel

in

terms of

the kingdom. He stated that the

gospel is the "good

news

that the

triune God proclaims

the

Kingdom

of

God

as open

to

men through

the

salvation made possible

by

Jesus

Christ

and

His atoning death,

resurrection,

and

ascension (Acts

15:7,20:24,25; I Peter

4:17,1

Cor. 13:1-3} ...The gospel or

evangel is good news

to

a world

under

sentence of death. God calls

out

an

elect people

to

establish His

Kingdom, on earth and eternally

(Mat. 6:10}

.

The

Journal of

Christian Reconstruction, Vol. VII ,

No.2,

Winter, 1981, pg. 10.


4/6

Ed Clowney,

an

a-millenialist,

has written a chapter in

The

Pastor-Evangelist Ed

. Roger

Greenway,

P&:R

, entitled

K

ingdom

Evangelism: He states It is the

gospel of the kingdom that must

be

proclaimed

in

all the

world:

pg.

15, and he sets forth aspects of the

gospel from a kingdom perspective.

Ken Gentry's

book The Greatness

o the Great Commission is

also a

most helpful

work in

defining the

Great Commission

in

terms of the

covenant.

R B.

Kuiper

in

his book,

God-Centered Evangelism, includes

the Kingdom as

one

aspect of the

aim and message

of

evangelism.

"Significantly:

he

said, "the gospel

which Jesus preached

is

described

as

'the gospel

of the

kingdom' Mat.

4:23....

What

the selfstyled Chris

tian nations

must

learn and what

the Christian

church

must teach the

nations of the world

is

that Christ is

King as well as Savior, and that his

kingship extends,

not

only over the

church,

but

over society

in

all of its

ramifications; for a

few

examples,

over politics, both national and

international, over industry and

labor, over science

and

education,

over literature

and

an," pg. 98-99.

"It is of the greatest moment that

Christ be preached,

not

only as

Saviour,

but

also as

King. ...By

way

of illustration, the evangel may be

pictured

as

a cone, the lower half of

which represents the substitution

ary atonement, the

upper

half the

universal kingship of Christ....In

evangelism the

cr

oss of Christ and

his crown belong together. What

God has

put

together let not the

evangelist

put

asunder: pp.

144-146. (Baker Book House,

1963).

J.

H. Bavink

in

An

Introduction

to the Science o Missions

states,

"Mission work is concerned with

'the Gospel of the kingdom.' Of

course the kingdom includes peace

and salvation for all who partake of

it, but the stress is

not

laid here; the

emphasis is given to the fact that it

is the kingdom of God. God, the

much

slandered, the hated, the One

fled from, against

whom

man has

rebelled, whose grip

he

frequently

sought to escape, against whom he

sometimes rose up

in

unrestrained

hostility, this God will then appear

to be the only safe refuge, the only

resting place, '[or thine is the

kingdom, and the power and the

glory:

pg. 157.

Perhaps, the most helpful book

that I have seen as a popular

presentation of a comprehensive

view of what

it

means to be a

Christian

and

the Gospel

in

terms

of the Kingdom is Unconditional

Surrender

by Gary North

(GalY

North-evangelistic? ). While we do

not

want to give

in

to the pressure

to presenting "the Gospel

in

a

nutshell" mentality, it would

be

helpful to have a non-technical,

brief

and

direct presentation the

good news

of

the kingdom to the

unbelieving world of men. Let us

also remember that

not

all o[ God's

elect are scholars or are

presuppositionally self-conscious.

Some of th

em

aren't even con

scious

The church has [ailed to

join

that which God has combined,

evangelism and eschatology.

Indeed, this message, "The King

dom of God is at hand," proclaimed

is the primary method

of

evange

lism. We have separated what God

joined together, thus creating and

perpetuating the distinction be

tween the spiritual and the physi

cal, the now

and

the future, and

thus failing

to

disciple the nations

and extend the

kingdom of

God

in

Christ which is a light to the

nations. t is the Biblical message of

the good news of

the kingdom

that

is

the

evangelistic message that we

are to preach a

nd

teach.

By separating

the

Gospel (evan

gelism) from the Kingdom (escha

tology) we have separated what

God has

joined

together. Popular

evangelists

hav

e

made

religion a

matter of "pie-in-the-sky-by

and-by," while people live "where

the rubber meets

the

road." The

"religious" philosophies of

human-

ism ha

ve

offered real solutions

to

cun-ent problems of life, and the

false religions

and

cults are offering

a competing faith

and

message

of

hope for the after-life (reincarna

tion, for example). It is only

as we

preach the good news

of

the

kingdom of God that

we

have a

message that is relevant to the real

world and men,

not

dualistiC,

dividing the sacred

and the

secular,

but

truly creational, spiritual

and

physical, now and eternal.

What

is the message

of

"Good

News concerning the Kingdom

of

God that we proclaim?

It

is first,

the Gospel, "the good news: of the

Kingdom. Secondly,

it is

the

announcem

ent that

the Kingdom is

at hand. Thirdly, Repent

and

Believe the Good news :

1

GOD

RULES AS

KING

AND

HIS

KINGDOM

IS

OVER

ALL.

A. GOD IS A KING. God

is

the

creator-King of the universe.

B.

GOD HAS A KINGDOM.

As

king and sovereign, He

has

revealed

His

will, His righteous, holy, just,

and good laws for SOciety, for

civilization. Men have

turned

away

from God and His commandments

to establish and

build

their own

societi

es

. However, these societies

December, 1994 THE COUNSEL

of

Chalcedon 17


5/6

are filled with crime, greed, hatred,

injustice, war, insecurity, and

despair. That is because they have

failed to recognize that the world

was

created by God and can only

be lived

in

happi ly in terms of

God's blueprin t. Also, societies of

men

cannot

change the

human

.

heart which

is sinful. God must

change

the heart

before society can

be

changed.

Our

only hope for life

now and eternally is living in and

in

terms of the Kingdom of God.

God

is the sovereign over every

affair, Dan. 4: 17. Man is

under

His wrath and condemnation for

disobedience to His command

ments because

of

unbelief.

c.

GOD'S SON,jESUS

CHRIST, WHO IS LORD AND

SAVIOR, IS ALSO THE KING OF

KINGS AND LORD OF

LORDS

God purposed to secure redemp

tion a

people

for Himself, to be a

kingdom of priests, to the praise of

His glory, to bling covenant bless

ings, and to break the power of sin

and evil, Dan. 7:13. His eternal

Son, jesus Christ, very God

of

very

God, inaugurated the

5th

Kingdom

of Dan. 2.

He

became a man,

and

following his humiliating and

substitutionary death, has been

exalted as King and Savior. Follow

ing His ascension He is seated

at

His father's right hand until he

makes

his

enemies his footstool.

II. THE KINGDOM OF GOD

IS

A PRESENT

REALITY,

HAVING

BEEN PROMISED IN THE O.T.,

INAUGURATED IN THE N T

AND WILL BE CONSUMMATED

IN ETERNITY.

A. THE KINGDOM OF GOD

WAS PROMISED IN THE O.T.

The O.T. foreshadowed the king

dom of God, Mat. 21:43. God

established His kingdom with His

people, the nation

of

Israel. He

promised David that he would have

a son who would also be God's Son

and His kingdom would be forever,

II Sam. 7. The King of the jews ac

cording to the word of God would

be

the king over all nations, Isa. 2.

B.

THE KINGDOM OF GOD

WAS INAUGURATED IN THE

N.T. WITH THE ADVENT, THE

ATONEMENT, AND THE ASCEN-

SION OF JESUS

CHRIST.

In jesus

Christ the kingdom of God has

arrived, Mat.

12

:28 . He was born

the Son of David

to whom

was

promised an everlasting kingdom.

He was crucified

as

the King of the

jews. This jesus, upon His resur

rection, ascended to the throne of

God from which He now rules until

He makes

is

enemies His foot

stool, Acts. 2:38f.

The Kingdom of God in Christ

is manifest in the forgiveness of

sins, regeneration, reconciliation,

and sanctification. This kingdom

begins like a mustard seek and

leaven

and

will grow and

fill

th

earth, Ma t. 13. The gates

of

Ha

des (death) will

not

be

able to

prevail against it, Mat. 16. He

is

the present King whose kingdom is

being advanced through the

preaching of the Gospel in spite of

men who still rebel and oppose

Him. Christ does reign in the

hearts and lives of

men

now. This

reign is externalized through us.

The kingdom

is

not

yet perfected

although it is real and relevant

C.

THE KINGDOM OF GOD

WILL BE CONSUMMATED IN

ETERNITY. There is coming a day

in which the sheep and the goats,

the wheat and the tares, will be

finally separated. There will be a

new heavens and a new earth in

which righteousness dwells and

18

THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon December, 1994

every wicked and evil aspect of the

fallen world will be destroyed in

hell for eternity, 2 Pet. 3 1Of.

III. THE KINGDOM OF GOD

MAY ONLY BE ENTERED

THROUGH REPENTANCE AND

FAITH IN THE

LORD

JESUS

CHRIST, WHICH

IS

MANIFEST IN

OBEDIENCE AND HOLINESS OF

LIFE.

A.

THE

CALL

TO CHRIST -

THE FREE OFFER OF THE GOS

PEL:

The

kingdom

of

God is at hand,

repent

and

believe the good news ...

The kingdom of God is proclaimed

to all men, commanding them to

repent

and

believe the good news,

with the promise that if anyone

will

receive

im

he

will

be

saved, is a

new creation, enters th kingdom

of God, is born again to a living

hope, justified, adopted, sanctified,

and will be glorified. It is more

than

an

invitation, it

is

a ptoclama

tion and an indictment.

B. THE CALL TO SAVING

FAITH AND REPENTANCE: There

is a difference between faith and

saving faith, sorrow and repen

tance.

SAVING FAITH is not only

assenting to the truth of the prom-

is of the gospel, but receiving and

resting upon Christ and His righ

teousness for the forgiveness of sins

and for

our

being accepted as

righteous in the sight of God.

REPENTANCE

is

a turning from

sin,

not

only out of a sense of the

danger

of

sin,

but

also

out of

a sight

and sense of the filthiness and

odiousness of sin,

and

upon

an

apprehension of God's mercy in

Christ, turning to God purposing

and endeavoring to walk

with

Him

in all the ways of new obedience.

cont on page 4


6/6

W Roge/ 5. cant from page 18

Those who

do

not repent of

their

sins

and

receive

jesus Christas

Lord

and Savior are

condemned and

will be

destroyed with eternal destruction n

the hell-fire of God's judgment.

C. THE CAll TO DISCIPLESHIP:

Having been born

again we

are

raised

to

newness oflife n the kingdom of

Christ,

Col.

1:13, we

are His

disciples

and

to

disciple the

naclorts

in

is

name, teaching them

to observe all

that

he

has

commanded.

The

kingdom of

God is

at

hand,

repent and believe the good

news. It

is

good news for it

is

the announce

ment of salvation, healing. blessing.

security, prosperity, redemption,

hope, and deliverance

from

enemies.

We must through many tribulations,

persecutions. and sacrifices enter

and advance the Kingdom of our

Lord jesus Christ. However. The

Lord

is

our udge,

the

Lord

is

our

lawgiver, th

e Lord is

our king;

it

is He

who will save

us.

sa. 33:

22

. jesus

said.

Come unto me all ye who

labor

and

are heavy laden, and

rwill

give

you

rest; take

my

yoke upon

you

and

learn of me for I am meek

and

lowly of

heart,

and you

shall

find

rest unto your

sou/s,

Mat.

11:28-30.

24 m COUNSEL of Chalcedon

December,

1994

Non-Profit

Org.

U.s . Postage

PAID

BULK RATE

Permit

No

. 1553

Greenville

,

SC

296 2

1994 issue 9 - are evangelicals really evangelical? the gospel of the kingdom of god - counsel of...

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