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Contents:
The Church
The
Address of the Gospel (12)
What
is Reformed Evangelism? (5)
Scripture speaks so often of the church that the study of Scripture's teaching concerning the church is a separate part of the study of theology. Indeed, several New Testament books have the church as their main focus. Acts tells the story of the gathering of the NT church, I Corinthians speaks especially of God's faithfulness to His church (1:9), Ephesians has as its theme the church as the body of Christ (1:22-23, 5:30-32), Colossians emphasizes the glorious truth that Christ is the Head of the church (1:18, 2:10), I Timothy teaches us proper behaviour in the church (3:15), and Titus the way of good order in the church (1:5).
The doctrine of the church ought not, then, be neglected or overlooked. Yet there are few today who know what the Bible teaches concerning the church, or realize why the church is so important.
The Greek word that is translated "church" means "called out." The name shows that the word in the highest and best sense refers to those who are saved and to them only. The name reminds us that the true members of the church are those who are "called out of darkness into his marvelous light" (I Pet. 2:9). It reminds us, too, that their place in the church is of grace. They are not members by their choice or works, but by God's calling.
That they are called out refers not only to their salvation from sin (they are called out of darkness), but to their spiritual separation as members of the church from the world and its wickedness (cf. II Cor. 6:14-18). Implied in the very name "church," therefore, is the holiness and obedience of the church's members of the church. A church whose members are not holy does not deserve the name "church."
This holiness is essential to the very existence of the church. Unto holiness the members are not only called but chosen (Eph. 1:4) and redeemed (Col. 1:21-22). Nor does it merely happen to be so. It all has to do with God's purpose in the church.
The reason, you see, for the church's existence is the glory of God (Eph. 1:6, 12). It is in the holiness of the church and its members that this purpose is reached. An unholy church, that is, a church whose members are not holy, cannot and does not glorify God. In the holiness of the church God's glory shines out.
That the members of the church do not live as those who are called out, is the shame and hurt of the church today. That the church itself is not any different (called out) from the world around in its teaching, in the conduct of its members, and in its practices, is the reason the church's witness is so ineffective. The church's glory and glory of its witness to this lost, hopeless world, is the fact that it is called out, separate and holy - different in holiness from the wicked world.
Pray, then, that we and all the members of Christ's church may be "holy and without blame before him . . . to the praise of the glory of his grace (Eph. 1:4, 6). Only in that way will the witness and work of the church prosper. Rev. Ronald Hanko
The Address of the Gospel (12)
(Continued from the previous issue)
We had, in our last article, confronted the question: Why does Scripture require of God's people perfection when we know that perfection is unattainable in this life?
If I may phrase the question in a slightly different way. we could ask: Why does God wait until glory to give His people the full holiness which He requires of them? And why, while they are still in the world, does God demand a holiness which He will only give when they arrive at their eternal destination?
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There are a number of reasons for this, all of which have to do with the general question of the address of the gospel.
The first reason is that, by means of the demands of perfection, the child of God may see his sins and flee to the cross for forgiveness.
When Scripture requires us to be as holy as God is (I Peter 1:15, 16) or to love the Lord our God with all our heart, all our mind, all our soul, and all our strength (Mt. 22:37, Deut. 6:5, Luke 10:27), or to love our neighbor as ourselves (Mt. 22:39, and many other places), the Holy Spirit brings to our consciousness how far short we fall from what God requires.
This brings us to the cross where we seek forgiveness and pardon.
It is not saying too much to insist that this knowledge of sin is always first in our conscious experience when we hear the gospel. It is not only first when we first believed and fled to Christ; it is always first every time we hear the gospel proclaimed.
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The second reason why God demands perfection is that we, seeing how far short we come to what God demands, may learn that the only power by which we are able to keep God's commands is by the power of the cross of Christ.
And again we flee to that cross to find strength and grace to escape sin and walk in obedience. We learn that all our sanctification is only in the blood of Christ.
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A third reason why God requires of us perfection, though we cannot attain it, is that we may see that we do have the beginnings of all that God requires. We do begin to walk in God's ways. We do start on the road of sanctification. We do love God, walk in holiness, seek Him in fellowship with Him.
What Augustine said more than a millennium ago is still said by every saint: "Give what Thou dost ask, and ask what Thou wilt."
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A fourth reason why God demands of us perfection is that in this way we may continue the battle against sin all our life. Sometimes we become very weary in the battle -- especially because the same sins plague us continuously. And we are inclined to give up and quit fighting.
But the high demands of God's law and the urgent admonitions of Scripture inspire within us the desire to continue to fight. Though we are often sore wounded and though sometimes we seem to be overcome, yet God continues to call us to holiness, and the Holy Spirit works through that call the continual desire to be as God is.
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And finally, the reason why perfection is preached to God's people is that through the preaching of perfection we come to see what God will do for us when He takes us at last to heaven. He will sanctify us entirely and make us as perfect as He is. He will cleanse us at last from all sin and in body and soul conform us to the image of His own dear Son.
And so, hating our sin, wearying of the battle, we look with renewed eagerness to the day when we shall be in glory. We shall be victorious, not by our own strength, but by the power of the cross.
The good that we would we do not; and the evil that we would not, that we do; and in agony we cry out, "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" But: "I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Rom. 7:14-25). Prof. Herman Hanko
What is Reformed Evangelism? (5)
We have emphasized that evangelism is preaching the gospel and that whether in the church or in missions it is the whole gospel - the whole counsel of God - that must be preached (Acts 20:26-27). It is wrong to neglect certain revealed truths or to suggest that they are a hindrance to evangelism.
Reformed evangelism, however, not only preaches the sovereignty of God and the doctrines of grace, but it is controlled by them as well. We have already seen how the doctrines of grace control the evangelistic message in that they require a message that does not declare a Christ for all, a will of God to save all, or a universal love of God.
The sovereignty of God also controls the goals and methods of evangelism. For one thing, God's sovereign command limits the means of evangelism to the preaching. As important as such things may be, medical work, education, building and agriculture are not evangelism and are not the calling of the church as she engages in evangelism. In Scripture there are no such things as medical and agricultural missionaries. These things may and even ought to be done alongside the work of evangelism, but they are not the church's work, nor does one need to be ordained and sent by the church to do them.
So too, we would emphasize the Biblical truth that evangelism is the work of the church, not of mission boards and societies. The command to preach the gospel is a command that Christ gave to His church and to no one else (Matt. 28:19-20).
And, since Scripture teaches that evangelism, the preaching of the gospel, is the work of ordained men, there is no place for women missionaries. We find it very curious that churches who would never allow women to preach and hold office at home, see nothing wrong with sending them out as missionaries to preach the gospel to the heathen.
Nevertheless, the Sovereignty of God does not only control evangelism in requiring preaching as the God-ordained means of evangelism. The doctrine of God's sovereignty controls even the aims of evangelism.
For example, a church that believes in election ought not think that the goal and purpose of evangelism are to "give everyone a chance." In that case her goals in evangelism contradict the truths of predestination and limited atonement she confesses.
Nor is the goal of evangelism to save everyone. In preaching the gospel both in the church and on the mission field the evangelist (preacher) must understand that preaching has a twofold purpose. That purpose is the salvation of God's elect and the hardening and condemnation of the rest (Rom. 9:18, 11:7, II Cor. 2:14-17).
Those who are not willing to preach the gospel on those terms ought not be engaged in the work. Indeed, Paul suggests (II Cor. 2:14-17) that ignorance of this twofold purpose of the preaching is the reason many corrupt the word of God as they do today by hiding, neglecting, or rejecting certain truths of Scripture in their evangelism.
The goal of evangelism is not even preaching to everyone. Both in the OT and in the NT
the gospel is sent by God when and where He wills (Acts 16:6-8). There are those who lay a
huge burden of guilt upon the church by suggesting that the church is not fulfilling her
calling as long as the gospel is not preached to every living person, when the Lord has
given neither the opportunity nor means to do it. This is wrong. Our sovereign God
determines also when and where the gospel will be preached. Rev. Ronald Hanko