God's Church
THE DIVINE MISSION OF THE CHURCH
God's Church
THE DIVINE MISSION OF THE CHURCH
“Traditionally the church has devoted her major resources to evangelization of individuals. But recently a number of church leaders embarked on a campaign to persuade churches to use their resources to bring about a social revolution. Sometimes this movement is described as the evangelizing of social institutions, in contrast to the old plan of evangelizing people who operate such institutions. It is designed to change social structures rather than to change human hearts”, said a prominent religious leader.
It has often been said that we live in a world of change. Some of the most significant changes taking place today seem to be in the religious world. In recent decades, one of the more radical, more controversial changes – fraught with more serious consequences – is the attempt to change the mission of the church, or to put it another way, changing our understanding of the church’s role in society.
Generations to come may look back and wonder how the church could have become so involved in social, economic, and political questions, leading us away from the central task of proclaiming the Gospel, worshipping God, and offering eternal salvation to a dying and sinful humanity. This trend of thinking can be summed up in this way: “It is imperative for the churches to concern themselves with political parties, trade unions, and other groups influencing public opinion.”
What Is the Gospel: So we ask, “What is the mission of the Bible church? What is her main theological issue – the Gospel of personal conversion or the gospel of social responsibility?” There are two opposing views. One tends toward the secular, making the church of our Lord a pressure group of the world and in the world. It sees the church as the agency of political, economic, and social change – its goal the betterment of men and society. The other view sees the mission of the church as evangelizing the world – preaching the Gospel of Christ to all men. It does not reject social concern, properly understood and used, but refuses to be satisfied with temporal palliatives instead of eternal remedies.
Advocates of social revolution sometimes speak of preaching a “gospel of revolution,” calling for the use of “power” to accomplish their goals. They support the use of economic power, boycotting products or companies with whose policies they disagree. They sometimes speak of using political power. In fact, some seminaries now teach their students how to analyze legislative bill, how to lobby against those they disapprove. Some of the larger religious groups in America now support permanent lobbies in the nation’s capital and even in some state capitols. A young seminary student wrote: “Everyone knows that power, not ideologies, runs this world. The church must learn to manipulate power or perish.” A few years ago an advocate of church union argued: “By the creation of this united church we shall establish a religio-political body to which no other social institution, not even the national and state governments, will dare to say ‘No.’”
Even today the advocates of social revolution often speak of using threats and violence. One religious leader stated: “In countries where the ruling groups are oppressive or indifferent to the aspirations of the people, the revolutionary change may take a violent form.” With all of this for a background, and with the current world-situation, the question should be asked: “What did Christ teach concerning the mission of the church?”
First, the Lord established His church to preach the Gospel to the whole world. This is clearly obvious when we pause to read the final marching orders that Jesus gave to His apostles: “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20).
Mark used the same commission in slightly different words: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creation. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned” (Mark 16:15, 16). Christ’s final charge was to preach His Gospel to every creature on earth, throughout the generations of time.
What is the Gospel? The Gospel is the good news about Christ. Saying it another way, we might define the Gospel as, “everything that Jesus said and everything that Jesus did as recorded in the New Testament.” The Apostle Paul gave an inspired definition of the Gospel: “. . . I declare to you the gospel … that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures . . .” (1 Corinthians 15:1, 3, 4). In short, the Gospel is the message of Christ as proclaimed in His own words and by His life. It is the redemption story of mankind.
Christ’s Attitude Toward Power: The Bible reader is not left in uncertainty as to Jesus’ attitude toward the use of physical power to accomplish His goals. During His earthly ministry, immediately after He had fed the five thousand with only five barley loaves and two fishes, He was immediately considered by the multitude as the Messiah for which they had hoped. Through generations of suffering at the hands of Roman overlords, they thought that the Messiah promised in the prophecies of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) would be an earthly ruler with the power needed to overthrow the yoke of Rome. When they saw Jesus heal the sick, raise the dead, and multiply food for the multitude, they were sure that He must be the longed for Messiah.
In John 6:15, we learn the Lord’s response: “… Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, He departed again to the mountain by Himself alone.” If there is still doubt as to Jesus’ attitude toward the idea of the use of physical force in behalf of His cause, then hear Him as He spoke in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night of His betrayal: “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now My kingdom is not from here” (John 18:36). Jesus rejected the use of force as an instrument. Instead He submitted willingly to the cross – the opposite of physical force and violence.
Putting the Gospel to Work: Christ expects Christians to put the Gospel to work in their daily lives. He expects Christians to be Christians wherever they live and work and under whatever circumstances may arise. Someone has said: “It is not the function of the church to create a new civilization, but to create the creators of a new civilization.” In other words, the major role of the church is to infuse the Spirit of Christ into all organizations of society through individual Christians who have influence in such organizations.
As a case in point, consider the fact that when Jesus was upon the earth slavery was one of the world’s greatest evils. It was almost universal and it was ruthless. Yet, Jesus did not establish some special anti-slavery organization. He did not launch a movement to overthrow it in some grand and spectacular manner. Instead, He simply taught principles of ethical living that would ultimately overthrow slavery. When Jesus preached, “… whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 7:12), He made slavery impossible for those who would follow Him. Such was the case in the book of Philemon. The story there is a very simple one. Onesimus, a runaway slave, came to Paul in Rome. Paul sent him back to his master, Philemon, with a peculiar message. He brought all the power of Christian persuasion to bear upon Philemon to receive the runaway, not as a slave, but as a brother in the Lord. If Philemon behaved according to Matthew 7:12, he could not do otherwise.
Those of us who are part of the majority group – the establishment – have a heavy responsibility not only to hear but to heed the moral and ethical teachings of Christ. It is our responsibility to see that there are just laws, that every individual (whatever race or minority group) is both respected and protected. Their rights and needs must be as much concern to us as our own. This is what Christ did, and this is what Christianity demands of its members.
The only permanent way to change the world is Christ’s way. Some believers seem eager to march in the streets and even deliver manifestoes and threats. Most are seeking to achieve worthy goals such as ending mistreatment of minority groups, equality of opportunity, open housing, proper health care, and justice for all. Even with good intentions, resentments, hatreds, and entrenched animosity often result. Therefore, the question arises: should the church of our Lord practice such methods? It has been many years since the Civil War was fought, yet our nation still bears the wounds of prejudices and hatreds. Christ’s method is to win the heart and thereby change the life. Instead of hatred, animosity, and retaliation, His method of quiet, persistent love elicits love in return. Lord Eustace Percy made a statement of great insight some years ago: “To think of changing the world by changing the people in it may be an act of great faith; to talk of changing the world without changing the people in it is an act of lunacy.” We all should have the attitude of heart expressed in the hymn, “Have Thine Own Way, Lord.”
Hearts and Lives: Christ was concerned with changing hearts and lives and thereby changing the world. It is exciting to notice that in His teachings and in the teachings of His apostles there is the idea that men are to be “born again,” and after becoming His disciples they are “new creatures.” For example, Jesus said to Nicodemus: “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). In writing to Christians in Rome, the Apostle Paul spoke of becoming a Christian in these terms: “… do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:3, 4).
Paul also said: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17). We should keep in mind that the Apostle Paul was once Saul of Tarsus, belligerently opposed to everything pertaining to Christianity. But when Christ came into his heart and changed his life he could say, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). In his Colossian letter, Paul further wrote: “If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things that are above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory” (3:1-4).
When one seriously contemplates the apparent constant growth of religious division, it becomes more and more obvious that too many religious leaders are putting first things second – seemingly more concerned about bisexuals and society, than the Bible and spirituality. The liberal theology which doubts God’s final judgment and questions the existence of heaven naturally leads men to center their thoughts on the here and now rather than on eternity. However, for those of us who still firmly believe in heaven, and all that Jesus taught, the primary emphasis is still be on the importance of saving souls. This is not to say that we are unconcerned about man’s welfare. When real Christianity is practiced as Christ taught, it leads to respect for all mankind – to a removal of injustice and discrimination. Real Christianity replaces hate, envy, jealousy, greed, lust, retaliation, and the like with love and concern for all people. It is the only way that the world can permanently be remade.
Modern social engineers, political leaders, educators, psychologists, and scientists are powerless to produce a better social order – apart from making better, more responsible people. This is not to say that these groups cannot contribute to a better world, but it does say that their contributions, apart from the Christian heart, will never achieve peace and happiness for mankind. It is here that Christ and His teachings are so necessary. Christian principles, spiritual motivation, and the inspiring example or our Lord alone can lift all mankind to the better way.
If you are not a Christian, we urge you to obey the Gospel, to accept Jesus Christ, the better way. Then, as a Christian, spend the rest of your days helping to bring about a new world – Christ’s kind of world, in which all people can live together in peace and love. To this end, “May the Lord bless you and keep you.”
(Bible text is the New King James Version. Renderings from other translations are so noted.)
