[BBC List] why o why

[Mike Abendroth]

In the Church

 

Why Evangelize

 

By Sam Logan

 

Often, why we are doing a certain task determines how we do it. 

Early in my years at Westminster Theological Seminary, I was asked to
organize an "appreciation banquet" for Ed Clowney. Ed was retiring from the
seminary presidency, and this was to be a chance for many in the broader
Christian world to express their gratitude for what he had meant to the
evangelical Reformed church in America.

Of course, I wanted those who attended the banquet to enjoy their meal. But
their culinary enjoyment was secondary to the real purpose of the
evening-praising the Lord for Ed's ministry among us for half a century.
Therefore, seating arrangements, menu selections, and all sorts of other
details were set to accomplish that main purpose. Because that goal was
accomplished, the evening was a success, even though the baked chicken
lacked "a certain tenderness." 

So it is with missions and evangelism. 

Why we engage in these kingdom activities has a great deal to do with how we
carry out our tasks. 

Why exactly do we preach the gospel? Why do we participate in programs such
as Evangelism Explosion? Why precisely do some of us go to distant cultures
as missionaries? Why do others of us provide financial support? 

An easy answer is, "Because God requires it." While this is a true answer,
it is rarely the one given or suggested by missions committees or by
missionaries on furlough or by those who challenge us, in Christ's name, to
be more active in the work of evangelism. We are often asked probing
questions about the extent of our love for our neighbors or our family
members or even distant men, women, and children who will go to hell without
the gospel. But these challenges, well-intentioned though they may be, do
not lead us to the best answer to the question, "Why?" 

Why, then? 

Because of who God is. And because of what God deserves. That's why. 

An 18th Century Perspective 

I have found that in this area, as in so many others, the best (the most
biblical) perspective is suggested to us by the 18th century theologian,
Jonathan Edwards. Edwards was a sinner saved by grace, like all of God's
people, but he was also a saved sinner to whom the Lord gave extraordinary
gifts of spiritual discernment. And he was a saved sinner who, precisely
because of the gifts given to him by the Lord, was deeply involved in the
most profound spiritual revival ever to occur in the United States. These
are a couple of reasons why it might benefit us to get a sense of the
spiritual perspective that Edwards brought to these kinds of questions. 

Edwards' imprint on America's spiritual landscape was remarkable. When,
other than during the Great Awakening, did three times the population of
America's largest city gather for a single worship service? What other
religious event determined the shape of the nation that became the United
States of America (see Alan Heimert, Religion and the American Mind: From
the Great Awakening to the Revolution)? When were the present ecclesiastical
structures of Christianity in America determined? 

Edwards, from his pulpit in Northampton, Mass., and through his itinerant
preaching, was at the very heart of the event we call the Great Awakening. 

So, what does Jonathan Edwards have to do with the Christian rationale for
doing evangelism and missions? In his later explanation of all that had
happened during those tumultuous years (A Treatise Concerning Religious
Affections), Edwards sought to answer this fundamental question: What makes
a person a Christian? He asked both what causes a person to be a Christian,
and how do we recognize a true Christian? 

In answering these questions, Edwards provides superb, biblical insight into
the proper motive for the preacher or the evangelist or the missionary-a
motive which alone assures how our kingdom work brings appropriate honor to
God. 

Our "Affections" Reveal Who We Are
Edwards's Treatise is in three parts. In the first part, he offers what
proves to be, for the rest of his argument, a crucial foundation. He
addresses the topic of the nature of man (in the generic sense). What is it
that really defines who we are? Are we what we think? Or are we what we
feel? Or are we what we do? Or is there some other, more inclusive, way of
defining the human person that takes adequate account of thoughts and
feelings and deeds? 

Edwards thought there was, and he marshaled great chunks of biblical
evidence for this other way of understanding essential human nature, a way
he called, without much enthusiasm for the term itself, "the affections." In
his Treatise, Edwards deals with matters philosophically and theologically
complex, but the heart of the matter is quite simple. 

Take, for example, Jesus' words at the end of the sixth chapter of Matthew's
Gospel. After warning his followers about the inappropriateness of worry,
Jesus gives this positive command: "But seek first His kingdom and His
righteousness." What defines who a person really is?  It is the specific
nature of their "first seeking." What do I really, in my heart of hearts,
seek first? That is what ultimately defines me. 

Of course, "seeking first" involves thinking and it involves feeling and it
involves doing. But it is more fundamental and more determinative than any
of those other things. What, in my deepest soul, I most want-that is who I
really am! And my deepest, most profound desires, those are what Edwards
calls my "affections." 

I may very well pretend to desire certain things in order to achieve a
particular standing among friends and acquaintances. I may pretend to desire
to attend the opera in order to impress certain people. But if I, in fact,
really desire to sit at home and watch Desperate Housewives, then that is
who I actually am. 

In the second and third parts of his Treatise, Edwards applies this
perspective to all kinds of religious issues, most fundamentally to the
question, "What makes a person a Christian?" 

Summarizing several hundred pages of Edwards' careful and thoroughly
biblical argumentation, "what makes a person a Christian" is what he/she
really seeks first. Here is how Edwards' described the "truly gracious
affections" that characterize those who have been regenerated by the Spirit
of God: "They do not first see that God loves them and then see that He is
lovely; but they first see that God is lovely, and that Christ is excellent
and glorious ... . The saints' affections begin with God." 

A Passion to See God Receive His Due
To put the matter as bluntly as possible, why have you, a Christian, placed
your faith and your trust in Christ? Is it just because, by so doing, you
will get all kinds of spiritual rewards? If this is the only or even the
dominant reason, then questions need to be asked about what it is you are
seeking first. 

The fact of the matter is that the most fundamentally biblical reason for
trusting in Christ is that He deserves your trust. He deserves the gift of
all that you are. And, therefore, the defining characteristic of the genuine
Christian man or woman, boy or girl, is that that person desires, more than
anything else, that God-Father, Son, and Holy Spirit-receive the glory and
the worship and the praise that He deserves. In other words, the true
Christian seeks first the kingdom of God, where God's rule is fully honored,
and the righteousness of God, where God's nature and character are reflected
back to Him in worship, obedience, and service. 

This passion to see God receive what is His due is the most fundamental
characteristic defining "what makes a person a Christian." It is also the
motive for all of the many things Christians are called to do. It certainly
is the best and most fundamental motive for missions and evangelism. Yes, of
course, those without the gospel will spend eternity in hell. And yes, of
course, we should love them enough to want them to avoid that fate. But
there is Another Whom we should love even more. 

Let's go back briefly to the Ed Clowney retirement banquet, which I
mentioned earlier. When urging key Christian leaders from around the country
to consider attending the banquet, I might have talked about what a great
time they would have or about what wonderful fellowship there would be or
about what excellent chicken they would eat. All of these (except possible
the last) would have been true. But these emphases would have distorted the
real reason why they should attend. They should attend because the Lord had
done great things for His Church through Ed Clowney, and it was appropriate
for us to gather to recognize those things and to praise Ed's God. 

Missions and Evangelism: Shaped by God's Worthiness
How very much more should our missions and evangelism work be shaped by the
worthiness of the One in whom we are calling the nations to trust and, by
trusting, to worship and serve! Our God deserves the worship and praise of
every creature upon Earth, and that is the primary reason for us to urge all
peoples to come to Him. Of course, if they do genuinely come to Him, they
will receive blessings unimaginable. But focusing primarily upon those
blessings distorts the real reason for them to come and, as Church History
teaches us, often leads to a distortion of the gospel itself. 

The really good news of the gospel is not that, because of Jesus's work, we
can get blessings otherwise unavailable; it is that we can give worship and
praise to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. 

So we speak about the glories of God. We paint word pictures, as Edwards
did, of the majestic grace of our Creator King. We describe in detail the
cost of that grace ("How great the Father's love for us, how rich beyond all
measure ... "). We invite others to ponder the amazing and "bles't
assurance" that "God has regarded my helpless estate and has shed His own
blood for my soul." 

We tell any who will listen even more about our Creator and Savior than we
do about what they will enjoy when they know Him. We remember the order of
that marvelous answer to the first question of the Westminster Shorter
Catechism-"Man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. We
stress that the greatest enjoyment comes when we see the One who deserves
all honor getting exactly what He deserves. 

And we build our own lives on this principle because we know that true
evangelism is more caught than taught. We begin our own affections with God.
We concentrate our private devotional times, our prayers, our Bible studies,
and our sermons on "knowing God" (to cite the title of one of the most
important books of the 20th century) because the more He is known (by us and
by those to whom we are ministering), the more passionate will be the desire
for that day when every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. 

And the bowing of those knees and the confession of those tongues is exactly
what biblical evangelism and missions are all about. 

Sam Logan is chancellor and professor of church history at Westminster
Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, and executive secretary of the World
Reformed Fellowship.  He has written and speaks on the theology of Jonathan
Edwards and British and American Puritanism.

 

 

Thanks.

 

Charis,

 

Mike Abendroth

 

 <http://www.bbcchurch.org> www.bbcchurch.org

 

2 Tim 1:2b  "Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our
Lord."

 

"After the reading of Scripture, which I strenuously inculcate, and more
than any other ... I recommend that the Commentaries of Calvin be read ...
For I affirm that in the interpretation of the Scriptures Calvin is
incomparable, and that his Commentaries are more to be valued than anything
that is handed down to us in the writings of the Fathers -- so much that I
concede to him a certain spirit of prophecy in which he stands distinguished
above others, above most, indeed, above all."  Jacobus Arminius (1560-1609)

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.bbcchurch.org/pipermail/bbc_list/attachments/20070223/2b4accd2/attachment.htm