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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
8/12/2019 1994 Issue 9 - Are Evangelicals Really Evangelical? The Gospel of the Kingdom of God - Counsel of Chalcedon
2/6
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
8/12/2019 1994 Issue 9 - Are Evangelicals Really Evangelical? The Gospel of the Kingdom of God - Counsel of Chalcedon
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.
8/12/2019 1994 Issue 9 - Are Evangelicals Really Evangelical? The Gospel of the Kingdom of God - Counsel of Chalcedon
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
8/12/2019 1994 Issue 9 - Are Evangelicals Really Evangelical? The Gospel of the Kingdom of God - Counsel of Chalcedon
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
8/12/2019 1994 Issue 9 - Are Evangelicals Really Evangelical? The Gospel of the Kingdom of God - Counsel of Chalcedon
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
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Org.
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