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Those Churches that consider themselves to be truly reformed have done an excellent job of preserving the faith, and for this they should be commended. However, when it comes to propagating the faith they have failed miserably, and for this they should be rebuked. We cannot claim to be truly reformed and NOT be engaged in the work of evangelism. We are those who believe in preaching "the whole counsel of God" and that INCLUDES the great commission! We must be faithful to that whole counsel.My intent is to call us as "conservatives" to repent of former failures and return to future faithfulness in our mission. We shall look at the challenge, the motivation, and the demonstration of reformed evangelism.
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Paul T. Murphy I
REFORMED EVANGELISM
A CHALLENGE To FAITHFULNESS
Those Churches that consider themselves to be truly refonned have done an excellent job of preserving the faith, and for this they should be commended. However, when it comes to propagating the faith they have failed miserably, and for this they should be rebuked. We cannot claim to be truly reformed and NOT be engaged in the work of evangelism. We are those who believe in preaching "the.whole counsel of God" and that INCLUDES the great commission! We must be faithful to that whole C01,lllSel.
My intent is to call us as "conservatives" to repent of former failures and return to future faithfulness in our mission. Weshalllook at the challenge, the motivation, and the demonstration of reformed evangelism.
THE CHAilENGl:: OF EEFORMED EV ANGEUSM
My thesis in this article is simple. Yau cannot be truly reformed unless you are evangelistic. Conversely you cannot be truly evangelistic unless you are reformed. This thesis reflects the inherent relationship between theology and practice.
This is the Biblical model. In Paul's letters, he normally sets forth docttine
first, then proceeds to set forth the practical duties that are based on or flow from that docttine. We, as re" formed Christians, have emphasized the importance of correct docttine for this very reason. We recognize that godly living proceeds from sound docttine. This has been a strength. .
What we have too often failed to recognize is that the waywe live reflects what· we truly believe. An example might help. If we read Romans, then went out determined to live the upright, moral life Paul describes in Cbs. 12-16 IN ORDER TO BE right with God, we would only demonstrate that we do not have our docttine straight. Paul tells us that we live upright and moral lives not in order to be justified but because we have been justified. Justification by faith produces good works, not the other way around. This is simply to say that the way we live reflects what we truly believe just as what we believe is reflected in the way we live.
How does this apply to the area of evangelism? It is impossible to sayyou are trulyreformed and then do nothing in evangelistic work. Our doing nothing demonstrates that we either don't believe what it means to be reformed, orthatwe are disobedient to that truth,
16 t THE COUNSEL of Cbalcedon t November, 1991
or both. Being reformed has . always meant being evangelistic. And the best evangelism was always done by those who were reformed. This is confirmed not only by the Bible (Paul certainly believed in sovereign grace yetwas also the greatest missionary) but also by church history.
Every revival that has been blessed by God occurred when the doctrines of sovereign grace were faithfully proclaimed. The reformation itself was a huge missions effort as the gospel of sovereign, free and full forgiveness was propagated. The great evangelistic preachers, Spurgeon, Whitefield, 'Edwards, etc. were Calvinistic. And an astoundingfactoften overlookedis that every mis$ion society formed in the golden age of missions was formed by Calvinists! By contrast, how many are Calvinistic today? The histmy of the Churchconfums that Godhonors those that honor Him. It is the reformed faith that is the truest, most faithful and God-honoring expression of Christianity. God has blessed His truth as it has been faithfully and fearlessly proclaimed in the past. And that is the challenge God presents to us today.
We must therefore repent of our former failures! We believe that God deals with His people covenantally, that is, blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience. I submit for your consideration that we "conservatives" are being judged for our disobedience. The unfaithful methods and practices thatare complained about are judgments from God on US for our failures. Where there was nothing being done, something filled the void whichwas leftdue to our disobedience. Letrne be perfectly clear. Before anyone condemns whatsorneone else is doing, they better examine themselves tosee if they are not guilty (Matt. 7: 1-5). If you have not faithfully exercised YOUR re-
sponsibility,thenyouhavelostallcredibility in criticizing others. At least they are doingsotuethingwhile you do nothing!
Let us not be hypocrites in condemning others for what is really our fault! We need to repent! And begin to practice what we preach! Then and only then will God bless us. That is the challenge of reformed evangelism!
THE MOTIY ATION OF REFORMED EVANGELISM
The greatestrnistake we can make is to think that being reformed is a hindrance to being evangelistic. Yet this seerns tobethernindset of many people, even "conservatives." I have been in many conservative churches and their tract racks are often filled withliterature thatisAnninian. Thesentimentappears to be "reformed people don't do evangelism" or "only Arrninians do evangelism." This is a gross distortion and an unfortunate caricature.
Yet I believe it is an accurate reflection of the present state of affairs in the Church. Again, this sentiment has developed because of the failure of "truly reformed" people to be obedient. However the reformed faith is our greatest asset (as weshallsee in the next section) and our greatest motivation to be evangelistic. We need to return to, recapture, and be compelled by three characteristics:
I) The Glory of God - Some have suggested that the great end and motive for evangelism is the salvation of the lost. This is not true. As great an end and motive as that is, it is not the greatest. We must be crystal clear that the great end of evangelism is the glory of God. SOLI DEO GLORIA is the cry of the reformed. And it is no less our cry in evangelism. By means of the faithful and fearless proclamation of the glOrious gospel of Christ, God will be glori-
fied. He will be glorified in the salvation of the elect as well as the damnation of thereprobate. God's Word does not go forth void; it will glorify God.
Not only will God be glorified, but he must be glOrified! Psahn 11 0: 1 records the words of God the Father to God the Son: "Sit at my right hand until r make your enemies a footstool for your feet. "When we see this used in the New Testament, it is to show that Christ is reigning now and shall reign until the nations become His inheritance (Ps.2:8) and His enemies become His footstool. He must be glorified, but how?
We are ambassadors of Christ, as though God were making His appeal through us. Every believer is a prophet, priest, and king. Acts 1: 1 tells us that
Luke in his gospel "wrote about all that Jesus began to do and teach .... " The clear implication is that whathe will now tell us in Acts is what the risen and exalted LordJesus continues to do and to teach through His Body, the Church. Inevery chapter of Acts, Luke records for us how the Word of God spread until it reached Rome, the end of the (then known) earth (d 1 :8).
There remains much work to be done until every nation, tribe, people and language has heard the Word of goodnews. ChristmustreignuntilALL His enemies are made a footstool for His feet. He will be glorified and He
must be glorified as every believer spreads that Word. This is the end of evangelism; it is also the motive of evangelism.
'The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever" (WestrninsterShorterCatechismQ.l). Unbelievers, in their rebellion against the Ahnighty, are not glOrifYing God. "For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him ... "(Rornans 1:21). God is being robbed of the glory that is rightfully His. Does that fact grieve you? Do you really believe that every creature owes God glory? Will this not then motivate you to tell them this, so that God will receive His due?
Thisiswhatmotivatedourreformed forefathers. This is what made them so zealous and passionate in, their labors. They knew that the more people that were saved, the more glory that would be brought to the name of God. William Carey, David Brainerd, Henry Martyn and George Whitefield were moved by this singular passion. They were moved to the wilderness, to the colorties, to the ends of the earth in order that greater glory would come to God Those who today confess SOLI DEO GLORIA must be roused by the same desire and motivated by the same passion.
2) Obedieru:e - Reformed people are big on obedience and rightly so. We recognize that Jesus is not only Savior but also Lord. As such we owe Him allegiance and obedience. It is Jesus Himself that has given us the great commission. Evangelism is our duty. We ought not to be complacent until everyone in the area of our responsibility (the local Church) has been confronted with the claims of Christ.
This is why we must confess our failures as sin - the sin of omission.
November,1991 t THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon t 17
Evangelism in most reformed Churches has become the great Onrlssion! Why is this so serious? Because God takes it seriously. "When I say to a wicked man you will surely die' and you do not warn him orspeakoutin ordertosave his life, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold youaccountableforhis blood"(Ezekiel 3:18). PaulspeakssimilarlyinActs20:26:
"Therifore I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of all men. For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole counsel of God!" We are far from having done all that we could to make sure that everyone has heard the gospel. Our duty to our Lord should motivate us to evangelism.
3)~passion--Wearetobellrrita
tors of God (Eph. 5:1). We should exhibit the same compassion for the lost that Jesus did. What constandy amazed people and often angered them wasJesus' compassion to sinners (Luke 15:1,2). The grace that He has given to us should make us gracious and compassionate to others.
Do we really believe that sinners will be eternally darrmed in the flames of Hell without Christ? Do we really believe that people are without God and withouthope?Dowereally believe that our fate would have been the same except for the grace of God? If so, then we must be moved with compassion.
After all what is a Calvinist? A Calvinist is one who has looked into the fires ofhell and seen its terror. A Calvinist is one who knows that he is a Helldeserving sinner. A Calvinist is one who has been drawn to the foot of the cross and seen .Christ in all His glory as a Savior for sinners. A Calvinist is one who knows that Hell is where, but for the sovereign grace of God and no other reason, he belongs. A Calvinist is one who has experienced compassion and
thus should be one who is filled with compassion.
Paul taught the sovereignty of God more than anyone and yet also said "since then we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men . . . far Christ'slovecompelsus"aI Cor. 5:11,14). May God teach us thatfearand thatlove such that we would be compelled as Paul was, to persuade men to be reconciled to God. MAY THE COMPASSION OF CHRIST MELT OUR HEARTS AND return us to the path of faithfulness. When our hearts are gripped by these characteristics, then we will be faithful.
THE DEMONSTRATION OF REFORMED EVANGELISM
I have contended that the reformed faith is our greatest motivation for evangelism. It is also our greatest asset. Far from being a hindrance, it is the mostpowerfulinstrumentforthework. This is what far too many fail to realize. I suspect that the reasons for throwing out our theology are more pragmatic than theolOgical. Some have begun to define evangelism in tenus of results, success in terms of numbers. This is a sad state of affairs and is to be deplored. Success in Christ's service is always defined in terms of faithfulness!
Ifwe want to be truly evangelistic, it isnecessaryto bereformed. Thiswillbe demonstrated by going through the five points of Calvinism (TUUP). TUUP is by no means anexhaustive expositionof thereformedfaith. Itis only the marrow as it were. Butwe shall see how helpful it is in our task.
Total Depravity
This does not teach that we are absolutely depraved, that is, as sinful as we could be. But it teaches that we are totally depraved. Sin has affected the
18 ~ THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon ~ November, 1991
whole man. Sin has affected the mind, the will, the emotions. This has implications for evangelism.
Man does not have a free will. He is a slave to sin, a child of the devil; Satan has taken him captive to do his will. 1£ it were up to our wills we would not choose Cbristsincewelovesin. Weare totally unable to choose the good. 10 fact we are dead in sin (Eph. 2:1,5).
Wealsoneedtorecognizethatrnan's problem is not intellectual but moral. Out of the heart are the issues of life. The heart of sinful man is in love with sin Qn. 3:19) and hates God (Rom. 8:7). Man does not believe because he does not want to believe. It is not because the unbeliever lacks knowledge. Rather he doesn't like the knowledge he has (Rom. 1:18-21).
The majority of gospel proclamation ignores this today. Failure to recognize these implications leads to the dishonesty of decisionism. This decisionism is prominent in. such methods as altar calls, evangelism explosion, four spiritual (Dlaws, evidence that demands a verdict, and others.
Decisionism of the Arrninian type assumes that faith (a decision) precedes regeneration. Thus"believeandbebom again." The problem with this is that dead men can't believe. No matter how long or how loud I might preach in a cemetery, no one is going to come out of the graves. The same is true with unbelievers. Itisdeceptive to lead them to trust in a decision for their salvation.
Decisionism of the other variety mistakenly assumes that the problem with unbelievers is intellectual. If they were presented with enough information or evidence they would be convincedforChristianity. The failure here is that a shallow and merely external mental assent is all that is called for.
Man must be peISUaded in order to achieve results. Tills accounts for the emphasis upon methods and techniques in the Church.
The Biblical pattern, taking full account of total depravity, is quite different. It aims for the heart. It aims to get man to see himself as God sees him. It is honest in informing man that he is desperately in need of radical heart surgery and totally unable to do anything to save himself. In so doing we seek toelicita total reliance upon Christ to save.
How is this accomplished? First by the communication of BiblicaltruthaboutGod,man, sin, and Christ. The criterion should always be, "Howmuch not how little truth was conveyed?" Paulisreported tohave disputed, reasoned, taught, and persuaded. Tills presupposes thattherewasmuch time taken to communicate. A brief dispensing of a few faCts is deficient.
Second,inordertogetmen to see their true selves as God sees them we must use the Law. The Heidelberger is quite helpful here. Note the order. Misery then deli verance. How do you come to know your sin and misery? The Law of God tells men (Q &: A 3). Only when the HolySpirit and the Lawhavedone their work in a person's heart will he see ills need of deliverance.
Unconditional Election
THIS TEACHES THAT GOD, BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD, CHOSE A CERTAIN NUMBER and only that number to be saved. The reason for this is none other than for His own good pleasure. Simplyput, there are two individuals, one is saved
and the other is not. Why is the one saved and the other lost? Arminians teach that it is because one believed. The Bible teaches that it is because God only chose one to believe. Tills has four implications for evangelism.
1) This saves us from despair in our work. The easiest thing to occur in evangelism is to be discouraged by the lack of response. But if it is God alone who saves and it has been determined from before the foundation of theworld, then we are not responsible for results.
We are responsible to put the message out; "the man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose," but the respOnsibility for someone being saved is God's "who makes things grow' (I Cor. 3:7,8). Tills has incorrectly led some to then say that it doesn't matter whether ornot we evangelize. Butthisisadistortion as we see in the next implication.
2) Election is a great motivefor evangelism.Jesus said "I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. 1mustblingthem also. They too willlisten to my vOice"Qohn 10:16). The eject are out there and they must come! "How can they hear without someone preaching to them?" (Rom 1 0: 14). While some think that election
evacuates motive from missions, we see thatitisno less motivating for a Calvinist. We recognize God uses means, the preaching of the Word, therefore we tell others. They must and they will come as that message is spread.
3) The insufficiency of merely believing. Oneisnotelectbecausehebelieves. While this may appear self-evident to reformed people we need to be sure believing isn't presented as a work in evangelism. We love because He loved us first.
4) The need to preach election.Ispeakhereespeciallyto ministers and missionaries. I have heard some say that election is a difficult teaching ' and should be reserved for the seasoned Christian. I disagree. Jesus taught election and so should we. Tills is ofgreatbenefuinevangelism. Those whom the Holy Spirit has qUickened respond and the sheep are separated from the goats.
Limited Atonement
This teaches that Christ died on the cross for the elect only. He did not die for ev
eryone but only for those the Father had chosen in eternity. It is important to realize that everyone limits the atonement. Arrninians limit the effect. They say that Jesus died for everyone. But they realize that not everyone is saved so they qualify their statement by claiming that Christ's death made salvation possible for everyone. Perhaps you've heard the statement such as " "God sent His Son, He died on the cross, He's done His part, now the rest is up to you" With all its well meant sincerity, thisissincerelywrong. What's more, it is offensive to God.
By limiting the effect, they put God
November, 1991 ~ TIlE COUNSEL of Chalcedon ~ 19
in a position of desiring salvation but unable to accomplish it He has only made salvation posSible. Itisnowoutof God's hands and up to the indiVidual to be saved or not This is not good news at all but the worst possible news there could be.
On the other hand, the reformed position limits the scope of the atonement. Christactuallyaccomplished the salvation of everyone for whom He died, that is the elect. Salvation is not possible but actual for all who sincerely repent and believe. This is good news indeed and there are two imphcations for evangelism.
1) This saves us from manipulation. Those for whom Christ died must and will come. We need not engage in emotional or psychological practices intended to get someone to make a decision. We can instead have full as
. surance that when the message of the gospel is faithfully, preached, the Holy Spirit will apply it. Our only responsibilityis to be faithful What a rehef to be free from methods and techniques and tricks that are not only intricate but cheapen the gospel at the same time. 2) We must not and need not tell people that Christ died for them. It is thought that this enhances the gospel message but in fact it is deceiving. And it is not necessary. If they are convicted of their sin by the Holy Spiritandsee theirneed of a Savior.when Christ, in the full glory of His life and death is presented, they will come.
Irresistible Grace
This teaches that the Holy Spirit never fails to bring to salvation those sinners whom He personally calls to Christ. We distinguish here between the external call presented when the gospel is preached and the internal call which alone is of the Holy Spirit The
latter alone is effective. That is the work of grace in an individual heart enabling himtounderstandandbehevespiritual things. Here also there are imphcations for our work.
1) Faith and repentance are divine gifts. They are not the products of men but the gracious gifts of God. Here we see that regeneration precedes faith. The only way anyone will beheve is if they are given faith.
2) Thegospelisimperative. Itisnotan option but a command. God now calls all men everywhere to repent and beheve (Acts 17:30). We must not only inform people's minds and hearts. We must also impress upon them the urgency of our message. We speak of eternal matters here and theyshould be presented as such. Preach asa dying man to dying men!
Perseverance of the Saints
Those whom the Father chose in eternity are those for whom the Son died and also those to whOrtJ. the Holy Spirit applies salvation. Those elect persons shall certainly endure to the end. What does this have to do with evangelism? Two things:
1) It Is the perseverance oj the saint not the sinner. Those people who profess the Name of Christ but evidence no change of life, persisting in ungodly living are subjects of evangelism. Those who are in Christ will grow in holiness.
This is necessary to understand in our day because of an unbibhcal teachingprevalentthatsaysthatJesuscanbe Saviorwithout being lord. Yetthe Bible teaches that it is only because Jesus is lord thatHeis also Savior. Without this
20 t THE COUNSEL of CbaIcedon t November, 1991
emphasis many have been led to think they are saved when there is no fruit evident This not only deceives them but disgraces the Name of Christ.
They are deceived because theywill wake up on the other side of death to fearful judgment. Blit more seriously, Christ's Name is dragged in the mud as those who call themselves by His holy Name live unholy lives. Furthermore this leads to the destruction of the Church when thereishttle difference in effect between her and the world. She will have. become full of professors but not possessors.
2) Thematterofassurance. It has become common practice to assure those who have "made decisions" for Christ that they have eternal security. There is no Biblical warrant for this practice. We are taught that we shalllmow them by their fruits not their decisions.
Assurance is the work of the Holy Spirit As such we should not be presumptuous . and assure people of something we cannot be certain of at that point If they persevere, the Holy Spirit will testify with their spirit · that they are children of God.
I hope it has been sufficiendy demonstrated that the reformed faith is not only the truth and God honOring, but also anindispensable assetfor the evangelisticministry. To attempt to be evangelistic and not reformed is only to end up defonned.
Hopefully you have also been challenged and motivated to the task. Now you must be faithfuL May our great God richly bless our labors so that His elect are gathered, His Kingdom advanced, and His Christ glorified!Q
Rev. Paul T. Murphy is pastor of the Dutton Christian Reformed Church, Dutton,MI.