The Inward and Outward Face of the Church

There is much talk in the blogs in our time about the disease of the "inward-facing church," and the health of the "outward-facing church."  The "inward-facing church" is perhaps described as living in the "complacency of the club."  The "outward-facing church" is perhaps defined as "friendly," or "attractive," or perhaps "evangelistic."  The purpose of church leadership is then to convert the church from being complacently self-satisfied into a church that is actively interested in outsiders who might be attracted into the church and to Christ via the ministry of the church.  The terms "inward-" and "outward-" are almost exclusvely used in negative and positive senses, respectively.

But, there is another view to be taken.

It is clear from many sources in the Scripture that the inward health of a church -- that is, only "health" in Scriptural terms -- is the key to the outward ministry of a church.  Our Lord speaks to this issue repeatedly in the Upper Room Discourse and Prayer in the Gospel according to John, Chapters 13-17:

John 13 New King James Version (NKJV) 

[my comments are in square brackets]

13 Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. ...  ⁵ After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded.  ...  ¹⁴ If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.  ...   ³⁴ A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.

³⁵ By this all will know [inside and outside the church] that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another [inside the church].” ...

 The first thing to notice is that the love of those inside the church for one-another -- the kind of love that knows one another, loves one another fervently, prays for one another, and serves one another inside the church -- is the kind of love that impresses the world that Christ has come and saved a people.  To those who are being called by the Spirit (and by the preaching of the gospel) this love is attractive, and they will approach the church.  This kind of inward relationship in the church is by no means the complacency and self-satisfaction that is often called "inward-facing" by those who point it out and complain about it.  Also, the replacement of the complacency and self-satisfaction by programs which attract visitors will not reform the church, if she is not reforming inwardly in spirit all along.

We continue with the text:

14 ²⁸ You have heard Me say to you, ‘I am going away and coming back to you.’ If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, ‘I am going to the Father,’ for My Father is greater than I.  ²⁹ “And now I have told you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe. ³⁰ I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me. ³¹ But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, so I do. .  ...

15 ¹¹ “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. ¹² This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. ¹³ Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. ... ¹⁶ You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. ¹⁷ These things I command you, that you love one another. ¹⁸ “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. ¹⁹ If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. ... ²⁶ “But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me. ²⁷ And you also will bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning.

17 Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, ² as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. ³ And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. ⁴ I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. ⁵ And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.

⁶ “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. ⁷ Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You. ⁸ For I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me.  ⁹ “I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. ¹⁰ And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them. ¹¹ Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are. ¹² While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. ¹³ But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves. ¹⁴ I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. ¹⁵ I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. ¹⁶ They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. ¹⁷ Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. ¹⁸ As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. ¹⁹ And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.  ²⁰ “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; ²¹ that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. ²² And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: ²³ I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.

²⁴ “Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.  ²⁵ O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. ²⁶ And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”

No! to "Hypercalvinism"

This post has been revised.

One measuring stick by which to measure any system of theology is to think of the two concepts of: 1)  God's Will, and 2) Freedom, or History, as ordained by God.

Those who inhabit the so-called "calvinistic" systems have to maintain a Scriptural position which affirms God's decree of history, along with the freedom that he has ordained on the created level, and the divine interaction with that creation in the course of history.

This is affirmed by the Westminster Confession, which states that:

God, from all eternity, did, by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will freely, and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass: yet so, as thereby neither is God the author of sin, nor is violence offered to the will of the creatures; nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established. (WCF 3:1).

We could summarize this by saying that God ordained what comes to pass in history, but God also ordained that the process of history be real.  History is not a vapor that dematerializes before the decree of God, but is the reality -- the real process -- which has been ordained to take place by the decree of God, and by which the ends of his decree are met.

It is only in the process of history that prayers make sense.  It is only in the process of history that God's goodness is manifested to the undeserving.  It is only in the process of history that common grace exists -- even a measure of grace to the non-elect.  It is only within time that the love for sinners leads to the propagation of the gospel.  It is only within time that the moral process of growth, conversion and even apostasy can take place, because all this takes place in the visible church, in process of time.  The visible church is not a mistake.  Prayers that ask for anything besides simply "God's will" are not wrong.  We do not preach the gospel to all, only because we do not know who the elect are.  The fact that the non-elect reject all natural and special revelation from God does not mean that God's exclusive motive was damnation when he revealed his goodness to them.

There is a mystery here.  God has ordained the ends.  But, he has also ordained the means to his ends.  How can he make an offer of Christ to those whom he does not call, and yet speak of this offer of Christ as a manifestation of his goodness, when he has ordained eternal suffering for those he knows will not accept it?  But he has done all this.  This is a mystery we cannot solve, and it is not a mystery simply because of our creaturehood, but it is a mystery in God, creation and time, all under the sovereign control of God.

When the ultimate ends of God's decree are used to override his expressed motives in Scripture during the execution of the decree, then elements of the moral significance of history simply vanish.  For one thing, "common grace" vanishes.  But, the church of Christ, and all her members, must play their parts in history, with all tribulations, questions, prayers, and joys.  We have to see that the Triune God, in our Lord Jesus Christ, is truly engaged in the history he has ordained.  We have no "platonic," static Greek God, but an active God involved in history.  History is real -- he has ordained it.  And, history moves to his ordained ends.  But, let us not short circuit the process by intellectually or practically denying the fact that God participates in history with us, as it moves to his ordained ends.

How thankful we ought to be that in the simplicity of his offer of his saving goodness, he has called us unto himself!  And, yet we too cannot deny that he is good, and means to be good, even to those who are not made to submit to his call, by the Spirit.  It is because they reject his real and true expression of real goodness to them that they are condemned.  They end up condemned by their response to his common grace -- but that "common grace" was a real offer of grace to them, from God, in history.

We know that the Triune God lisps to us at our level about himself, when he reveals himself as a moral agent as well as a sovereign.  Let us be content with what he lisps to us in our language, and not break the paradigm by beginning to say, "Well, I know how he really is!" by viewing our present reality only through the decree.

Predestination and Evangelism (rev. 7 Oct 2010)

You'll have to pardon me for making this post a little technical, but I think the big words are useful in this post.  I'll try to define them, for my purposes, as I write.

One of the theological struggles of the Reformed theology is to properly maintain the visibility and relationship of both particularism and universalism.  In the context of the doctrine of salvation, we may speak of "election," or predestination to salvation, which is God's choice of those sinners upon whom he will have mercy.  This is a kind of particularism.  Yet many Scripture passages show God making a universal offer of salvation to all the sinners who hear the gospel preached.  This is a kind of universalism -- not meaning that all get saved willy nilly, but meaning that all are in principle offered the free grace of the Gospel. 

The problem here is to ask how the particularism of election and the universalism of the gospel offer are to be reconciled with one another.  What is the balance?  How to we keep one aspect of the truth from being emphasized in some manner which is wrongly at the expense of the other?

It's pretty simple to envision the consequences of imbalance toward predestination.  When the divine predestination dominates, then the question that will be asked implicitly is whether the people I propose to witness to are elect.  I think this is "subliminal."  The consequence will likely be the downplaying of evangelistic efforts.  God is in charge.  Let him bring them.  If they show an interest, we'll try to take them in.  Why spend your effort on so many who are likely non-elect? 

Now it sounds like I'm mocking, but I'm serious.  I think I'm describing a position that is implicitly held in the heart, though never expressed verbally, nor consciously acknowledged.  What else can happen if you think God really doesn't express love to all who hear the gospel offer, or that his gospel call to everyone who hears is not a bona fide offer?  You really cannot say to anyone that "God loves you and offers a wonderful plan for your life," if you wonder if it's true! You don't dare say to someone what you're actually thinking: "Christ's death may or may not be for you, but if you believe that it is for you, then you will be saved by it!"

This way of thinking is all wrong.

No matter how true predestination is -- and it is very true -- it is still the case that a bona fide offer of the gospel is made by God to all sinners who hear the gospel preached.  If God is going around having the gospel preached all over the place and making bona fide offers of salvation to all who hear, who could ever think that love for sinners, and recognition of their real need for the gospel, should somehow be stifled by the doctrine of predestination?  

To think so is contrary to every decent Reformed doctrinal statement ever written on the subject.  The Westminster Confession says, referring to Adam's breaking of the Law of God:

WCF 7:3  Man, by his fall, having made himself uncapable of life by that covenant [of creation], the Lord was pleased to make a second,(1) commonly called the Covenant of Grace, whereby He freely offereth unto sinners life and salvation by Jesus Christ, requiring of them faith in Him, that they may be saved;(2) and promising to give unto all those that are ordained unto eternal life His Holy Spirit, to make them willing, and able to believe.(3)

(1) Gal. 3:21; Rom. 8:3; Rom. 3:20,21; Gen. 3:15; Isa. 42:6.
(2) Mark 16:15,16; John 3:16; Rom. 10:6,9; Gal. 3:11.
(3) Ezek. 36:26,27; John 6:44,45.

You will notice that the offer of salvation is made by God (through his preachers).  The genuineness of the offer cannot be denied by saying that it's the preachers' offer, and they don't know who the elect are, and therefore they have to preach to everyone.  That's not the Confession's point, and that's not God's point!

No matter how predestination and gospel preaching may seem to conflict in our rationality, we have to accept the Scripture presentation of both sides of this issue.

Both are simply true.

How to Speak the Gospel

I suspect that part of our difficulty in speaking the gospel to our friends, and to the man in the street, is caused by making it too complicated.  This post presents a "simpler" option for your consideration.

Consider Paul's gospel:

Read 1 Corinthians 15:3-8.  

Paul is delivering something which he received and is passing on.  He did not construct his own gospel presentation.

The essential elements of the presentation are these:

1)  Christ died for our sins,
           in accordance with the Old Testament Scriptures.

2)  He was buried.

3)  He rose again the third day,
           in accordance with the Old Testament Scriptures.

4)  He was seen alive by a great many witnesses.

The space given to the witnesses of the resurrection shows how important this is.  The witnesses were many, and the list seems to be carefully given in chronological order:  He was seen by Cephas (Peter), then by the twelve (apostles), then by over 500 brethren at once, most of whom are still alive (you can go and ask them about it), then by James, then by all the apostles (again), then last of all by me (Paul).

The more time one has to tell the story, and the more patience potential listeners have to listen to it, the more Biblical and theological content can be put in, but what Paul gives here as the gospel is basic.

The Holy Spirit is the engine of conversion, and this simple rendition is the story he uses to create faith.  It really doesn't matter if someone who hears this has ever been in church.  The facts of Jesus' divine nature (Son of God), his death for our sins, his burial, and his resurrection are key.

See 2 Corinthians 5:18-23 for a partial gospel rendition which speaks more of the exchange of sin and righteousness between believers and Jesus Christ.  I only say it's partial because it is speaking in a church context and does not mention the resurrection.  That is simply understood.  The word of the resurrection, however, is absolutely key in any witness to outsiders.

See Acts 17:22-35 for an example of witnessing to intellectuals.  There is more "theism" taught there, that is, the doctrine of God, taught from the standpoint of natural revelation, followed by the doctrine of man, again reasoning on the basis of common grace, but Paul's presentation ends up in the story of special grace:  the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus.

An amateur theologian wrestles with theology

Some may be familiar with the "Romans Road," or other witnessing method based on a deeper exposition of the doctrines of law and gospel, penal substitution and justification by faith.  I don't suggest by not giving that as an example, that it's not the right thing to use.  What I do suggest is that our witnessing methodology needs to be sure to present the experience of the actual, living, physical Christ, in his death, burial, and resurrection.  It's not proper to let that fall too much into the background, if we try to speak the gospel (especially to outsiders) by talking more deeply about covenants, law and gospel, total depravity, penal substitution and justification by faith than we do about the biography of Christ.  Christ falls into the background even as certain intellectual content of the faith moves to the foreground.

There is inexhaustible intellectual content to our faith -- Christ is the fountain of all wisdom -- and we want this wisdom.  But, there is a theological problem that can occur with theology.  Our faith has intellectual content, but it is not fundamentally an intellectual system.  Our relationship to Christ is "organic," by the Spirit.  We live because he died for us and lives again, not because of the depth of our understanding.  We live because of what he did, not because of our explanations of what he did, however correct.  Our simple faith in the simplicity of the gospel message will lead to deeper understanding, but not the other way around.

This affects how the gospel of Christ is preached, spoken, described, or announced.  It is about Christ, and what he did, when he "died for our sins and rose again."  This keeps the gospel simple enough to say to our friends and neighbors -- perhaps in a single sentence!