FORGET NONE OF HIS BENEFITS, volume 7, number 34, August 21, 2008

Son of man, can these bones live? Ezekiel 37:3.

Three Affirmations, Three Denials

The revival on the Isle of Lewis, off the coast of Scotland , from 1949 until 1952 was a remarkable outpouring of the Holy Spirit, bringing conversion to many in all the various towns of that secluded island. God wonderfully used the preaching of Duncan Campbell to break the hearts of these moral, church-going people. Though they almost all attended church and though the men, saved and unsaved alike, led their families in morning and evening devotional times, many were not yet in Christ. God worked powerfully to change them. At the same time Billy Graham was preaching in Los Angeles and the new evangelicalism came from it, replacing the old fundamentalism which was perceived as negative, separatist, and anti-intellectual. Carl F.H. Henry, Harold J. Ockenga, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Bill Bright, and Francis Schaeffer were also major players in the movement. Though these men disagreed on secondary issues liked Calvinism and Arminianism, church polity, mode of baptism, and eschatology they all agreed on two major doctrines- the inerrancy of Scripture and the vicarious, penal atonement of Christ.

Times have changed drastically since then. David Wells, in his latest book, The Courage to be Protestant, has noted that evangelicalism is fragmented, divided into three camps. The first is the traditional evangelical who still believes in inerrancy and penal atonement. He is driven by theological considerations above everything else. However two new strands of evangelicals have arisen in recent years. The first is the church growth, seeker friendly movement. Bill Hybels is the major architect of the movement and it is pragmatically driven. As long as something works, gets results, then use it. There is little concern for tradition or theological considerations in the seeker friendly movement. The second, however, is much more cutting edge, and I suggest much more dangerous. It is the emerging church movement which is very sensitive to the post-modern mind.  Since post-modernism denies any final, absolute truth the emerging church folks are prone to get their theology from their community instead of Scripture. For example, some have said, “Who are we to be so bold as to think we know the mind of God on such issues as women’s ordination, abortion, or gay rights.”

Our tendency in the evangelical movement, since the late 1940’s (see George Marsden’s book Reforming Fundamentalism) is to want to sit at the table with the scholars of our world. Far too many have compromised evangelical theology in order to sit at that table. The same is happening today in a sincere effort to relate to and reach the baby boomer and Gen-Xer.  We see this even in churches which historically have embraced the Reformed and Calvinistic doctrines of God’s sovereignty, man’s total inability, and Christ’s lordship over His church.

If you have any doubt about the inability of man and the sovereignty of God then study carefully the vision of the valley of dry bones in Ezekiel 37.  In his vision Ezekiel sees bones, dry as dust, bleached in the desert sun, spring to life with muscle, sinew, and breath. Clearly the vision is an encouragement to Judah to believe in better days, that God will save a multitude of people, moving them from death to life, from darkness to light, from slavery to sin to freedom in Christ.

Many pastors and church leaders I know are terribly discouraged in ministry. They have tried the latest silver bullet and it has not worked. They are disillusioned, dismayed, and disappointed. It seems that many are simply going through the motions, waiting for the day they can retire or go to another church. May I suggest three affirmations and three denials, which if embraced and applied, can go a long way toward encouraging the discouraged pastor or Elder? First, affirm God’s sovereignty and deny man’s autonomy. See Isaiah 25:1, Psalm 115:3, Romans 3:10ff. God is absolutely, without equivocation, all powerful and sovereign. He foreordains all that comes to pass. Man is not in control of anything, certainly not his eternal destiny. We say we believe these things but we tend to do another, living as de facto deists. Deism taught that God created all things but then leaves man to work everything out the best he can. He must make every thing happen from that point forward. So, as de facto deists we tend to think we can fix any problem, whether marriage, addiction to drugs, or pornography by some how-to program or pill. Second, affirm man’s total inability and deny semi-Pelagianism. See Ezekiel 37:1ff, Romans 5:6-8. By man’s total inability we mean unregenerate man cannot believe on Christ through his own efforts. He is dead in his sins. He does not seek for God. He is nothing but dry bones in a valley. By semi-Pelagianism we mean modern day Arminianism which denies the doctrine of original sin, believing man has the ability within himself to respond to the gospel.  We are in trouble today because we say one thing and do another, living as de facto social engineers.  When Bill Hybels admitted last year his model of ministry had not worked, that his people were ignorant of the Bible, he was man enough to acknowledge his error. However his remedy was built on the same false premise. In order to see what to do next his staff would conduct another survey to see what people want. Should he not instead simply look at Scripture and receive his marching orders from it?  A social engineer has an agenda. He will make people in his own image. We fall into this in ministry when we believe man holds the trump card, that he decides for or against Christ. The moment we do this (and evangelicalism since the early 19th century has been built on this premise) we are open to programs, music, and all manner of persuasive tactics to get results. While many of these churches are growing numerically they seem largely to be failing in discipling and promoting biblical holiness in their people. Clearly semi-Pelagianism is not working. The church of Christ in America today seems weaker than it has been in years. And third, affirm the Lordship of Christ and deny missional manipulation. See I Corinthians 3:6, I Corinthians 2:1-5.  We don’t need to worry about numbers or how many are attending church. We don’t need to lament the rise of Islam. Christ’s church will not go out of business. She will continue to grow and embrace the nations because God is the One who calls His elect for whom Christ died into union with Him. So we don’t need to manipulate or coerce people to attend church by dumbing down our preaching, omitting hard sayings of sin and judgment and the call to holy living. We need to preach and teach in the power of the Holy Spirit, trusting Christ to build His church in His time, in His way. I’m not saying we have a license for laziness or shoddy work. I’m not denying our need for structure, planning, and strategy. I am saying, however, that our confidence is in the Lord, not in man or our devices to reach him.

FORGET NONE OF HIS BENEFITS is a weekly devotional by Reverend Al Baker, pastor of Christ Community Presbyterian Church in West Hartford, Connecticut.

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