SPURGEON'S PRIMARY BURDEN WASN'T TO CONTEXTUALIZE THE GOPSEL ...but to proclaim it!

UPDATED

Current evangelicalism is vibrant with the latest of buzz words - contextualization. It is a central theme to Bible conferences; it is the focus of books, blogs, pulpits and preachers. We tend to forget that It's not the audience what is sovereign but the message that is sovereign.

At its most base level, contextualization is about proclaiming the gospel to a specific audience group without violating the truth claims of Scripture. To some, it is the attempt to make Jesus relatable by making the gospel germane; to others it is about more effectively making those truth claims lucid and salient.

For example: some missionally minded (cultural in scope, unique in literary apprehension, and operating with concinnity and concision without diluting gospel content) have asserted that even reformers like Calvin experienced explosive church growth and saw thousands of souls regenerated through evangelism because he contextualized the gospel. Considering the religious and political climate of Calvin's day, this conclusion may not be entirely inaccurate, but has some merit to it.

I understood that Calvin's consolidation of Geneva and the creation of The Consistory dramatically changed Geneva and France, so we shouldn't be surprised to see great numbers. But also, the massive growth in Huguenot churches had as much to do with southern French provincialism and the refusal to join the growing nation states as it did with the power of reformed teaching and the spreading of the gospel. To be clear, Calvin had a tremendous burden for missions, church planting, and evangelism; but he remained a faithful contender for the truth of the gospel until his death.

Beloved, the gospel does not benefit from our programs, methods, target specific agendas, cultural analysis, when those programs are do not uphold gospel truth at its core. We must lead with theology in our evangelism and not with methodology. Scripture affords no luxury for such human pragmatics when it comes to the salvation of lost souls. The gospel IS the power of God unto salvation (Roms. 1:16-17); and it is the Lord who adds to the church daily (Acts 2:42ff)--not us.

Paul combats an early rise of sectarian views of ministry when saying,

"So, what is Apollos? And what is Paul? They are servants through whom you believed, and each has the role the Lord has given. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth" (1 Cor. 3:5-7).

Paul never sought to primarily contextualize the message by being culturally relevant, but "sought to nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified" (1 Cor. 2:2). He contextualized himself and became all things to all men so that he might win some for the gospel. But he never once watered-down the truth the gospel in order to adapt to his culture. That is why the gospel message remained constant in all of his epistles and did not change from one cultural distinctive to another.

In this same vain, it has been asserted today that the church should strive to have a "humble orthodoxy" out of concern that civility must lead the day in the proclamation of Christianity. Truth by definition is exclusive; truth is commanding; it is bold; and it is unwavering. Christian doctrine and theology contained in the pages of Holy Scripture (the 66 books of the O.T. and N.T.) is objective truth; it is unbending, unyielding, uncompromising, and it asks not for man's approval, but demands obedience to its claims. It is... God's Word and He does not negotiate with His creatures as to what is acceptable or not. His Word silences all other "truth assertions" by taking "every thought captive to the obedience in Christ" (2 Cor. 10:1-5). There is nothing humble about truth, about orthodoxy; however, the truth does humble its listeners.

In the same vain, what we do need in the proclamation of a "bold orthodoxy" are "humble servants" of Christ proclaiming a bold orthodoxy; not watering down the offense of the cross (1 Cor. 1:18ff); but in and of ourselves, we are not to be the offense (2 Cor. 6:1-3). Paul was such a man: "For they say, 'His letters are weighty and strong' (a bold orthodoxy), 'but his personal presence is unimpressive and his speech contemptible'" (a humble servant) (2 Cor. 10:10). There was the perfect marriage of humility and orthodoxy.

Again, Paul represented a bold orthodoxy and yet remained a humble bond-servant of Christ.

"For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I may win more. To the Jews I became as a Jew, so that I might win Jews; to those who are under the Law, as under the Law though not being myself under the Law, so that I might win those who are under the Law; to those who are without law, as without law, though not being without the law of God but under the law of Christ, so that I might win those who are without law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak; I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some. I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become a fellow partaker of it" (1 Cor. 9:19-23).

Notice in these verses above that there is not one instance where Paul ever "contextualized" the truth claims of the gospel to adapt to any cultural setting - not once. He simply sought to remove any offense of his own person, or cultural barriers, so that "he might win some." Should we seek to understand the times in which we live; understand the people we are ministering to? Yes. Should we do all we can to remove any offense of ourselves and without compromising the Word of God, be all things to all men so that by all means some may be saved? Absolutely.

But Paul never comprised or yielded ground on the message of the cross, the gospel, the truth claims of Scripture, or even by redefining the gospel to his listeners. On the contrary, if that were the case, they would have never sought to persecute him or kill him for his ministry in the gospel.

"As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed! ¶ For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ" (Gal. 1:9-10).

Paul was not seeker sensitive; he opposed relativism and never sought to be relevant. He was not a man pleaser in any fashion, but a bond-servant of Christ--an ambassador in chains. Like Paul, one man in his day who stood against the pragmatics of the gospel was Charles Spurgeon. Please read these quotes below by Spurgeon on the gospel. My prayer is that it will impact you as greatly as it has so impacted myself.

And may we always remember: though He calls us to be His witnesses and to herald His gospel and truth to all people everywhere, that the fruit of it and the efficaciousness of it and the results of it belong to and are caused solely by God the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit - and not to us.

May we be spectators of His grace, going into all the world empowered with His Spirit to do the work that He has sovereignly prepared for us in advance to do. And as we go, may we go armed with nothing by the truth of His life-changing gospel; proclaiming it plainly to every man's conscience, calling all men everywhere to repent.

Shipwrecked on His grace; for apart from Him—we can do nothing!
Steve
2 Cor. 4:5-7

Spurgeon Quotes on The Gospel

"If the professed convert distinctly and deliberately declares that he knows the Lord's will but does not mean to attend to it, you are not to pamper his presumption, but it is your duty to assure him that he is not saved. Do not suppose that the Gospel is magnified or God glorified by going to the worldlings and telling them that they may be saved at this moment by simply accepting Christ as their Savior, while they are wedded to their idols, and their hearts are still in love with sin. If I do so I tell them a lie, pervert the Gospel , insult Christ, and turn the grace of God into lasciviousness." -Charles Haddon Spurgeon

"The hearing of the gospel involves the hearer in responsibility. It is a great privilege to hear the gospel. You may smile and think there is nothing very great in it. The damned in hell know. Oh, what would they give if they could hear the gospel now? If they could come back and entertain but the shadow of a hope that they might escape from the wrath to come? The saved in heaven estimate this privilege at a high rate, for, having obtained salvation through the preaching of this gospel, they can never cease to bless their God for calling them by his word of truth. O that you knew it! On your dying beds the listening to a gospel sermon will seem another thing than it seems now." -C.H. Spurgeon

"Do you know, my dear unsaved hearer, what God’s estimate of the gospel is? Do you not know that it has been the chief subject of his thoughts and acts from all eternity? He looks on it as the grandest of all his works. You cannot imagine that he has sent his gospel into the world to be a football for you to play with–that you may give it a kick, as Felix did when he said to Paul, "Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee" (Acts 24:25). You surely cannot believe that God sent his gospel into the world for you to make a toy of it, and to say, as Agrippa said to Paul, "Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian" (Acts 26:28), and then put away all thought of it out of your souls. You cannot even speak of it irreverently without committing a great sin." -C.H. Spurgeon

"Avoid a sugared gospel as you would shun sugar of lead. Seek the gospel which rips up and tears and cuts and wounds and hacks and even kills, for that is the gospel that makes alive again. And when you have found it, give good heed to it. Let it enter into your inmost being. As the rain soaks into the ground, so pray the Lord to let his gospel soak into your soul." -C.H. Spurgeon

"Jesus is the Truth. We believe in Him, —not merely in His words. He Himself is Doctor and Doctrine, Revealer and Revelation, the Illuminator and the Light of Men. He is exalted in every word of truth, because He is its sum and substance. He sits above the gospel, like a prince on His own throne. Doctrine is most precious when we see it distilling from His lips and embodied in His person. Sermons [and songs] are valuable in proportion as they speak of Him and point to Him. A Christ-less gospel is no gospel and a Christ-less discourse is the cause of merriment to devils." -C.H. Spurgeon

"Never lose heart in the power of the gospel. Do not believe that there exists any man, much less any race of men, for whom the gospel is not fitted." -C.H. Spurgeon

"I do not come into this pulpit hoping that perhaps somebody will of his own free will return to Christ. My hope lies in another quarter. I hope that my Master will lay hold of some of them and say, 'You are mine, and you shall be mine. I claim you for myself.' My hope arises from the freeness of [sovereign] grace, and not from the freedom of the will." -C.H. Spurgeon

"Let this be to you the mark of true gospel preaching - where Christ is everything, and the creature is nothing; where it is salvation all of grace, through the work of the Holy Spirit applying to the soul the precious blood of Jesus." -C.H. Spurgeon

"On Christ, and what he has done, my soul hangs for time and eternity. And if your soul also hangs there, it will be saved as surely as mine shall be. And if you are lost trusting in Christ, I will be lost with you and will go to hell with you. I must do so, for I have nothing else to rely upon but the fact that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, lived, died, was buried, rose again, went to heaven, and still lives and pleads for sinners at the right hand of God." -C.H. Spurgeon

"We have an unchanging gospel, which is not today green grass and tomorrow dry hay; but always the abiding truth of the immutable Jehovah." -C.H. Spurgeon

"The heart of the gospel is redemption, and the essence of redemption is the substitutionary sacrifice of Christ." -C.H. Spurgeon

"When we preach Christ crucified, we have no reason to stammer, or stutter, or hesitate, or apologize; there is nothing in the gospel of which we have any cause to be ashamed." -C.H. Spurgeon

CITIZEN-KINGS AND POLITICAL ACTIVISM...by Tom Ascol

A Timely Encore Presentation

I received a call from my friend (and executive director of The Founders Ministries), Tom Ascol, this morning and in the course of that conversation I expressed to him my deep appreciation for his solid biblical insights expressed recently on the Founders Ministry website and blog concerning JS2, church and politics and political activism (a link which I feature on this blog.) Tom and I are one mind on these issues and I thank the Lord for him. In a recent blog post I believe Tom represents the balance between biblical Christianity and our duty to society (I have posted his comments below for you to read). As he and I spoke we shared a common concern for much of the misguided political direction in evangelicalism today (i.e. ECB, Justice Sunday 2).

To whet your appetite, here are a few of his razor-sharp thoughts about "church and politics" taken from his blog posted this past Monday, August 15th:

"I make a distinction (a necessary one, it seems to me) between the role and function of the church and the role and function of individual believers. A Christian can go to war in behalf of the state, but a church must never take up the physical sword as part of its mission. A Christian can be a magistrate (king, president, senator, etc.) but a church must never seek to rule a geo-political structure with political authority."

"The nature, purpose and mission of the church is to be determined by the Word of God and the Word of God alone. As a pastor I have often been lobbied by individuals and organizations who have wanted "my church" to go on record in support of (Right to Life) or protest against (public schools) various political and social causes. By and large I have declined such overtures."

"It is right and proper for Christians to be involved in every level of politics as individual citizens. But when they call for a Christian congregation to become institutionally involved in political activism they are guilty of distracting that church from its God-given mission. It is precisely because of this that the religious right's proposals are disastrous for evangelical churches."

"I find much agreement with Martyn Lloyd-Jones at this point. In an interview with Carl Henry in 1980 he said, "It amazes me that evangelicals have suddenly taken such an interest in politics." He went on to call such interest "sheer folly.... You can't reform the world. That's why I disagree entirely with the 'social and cultural mandate' teaching and its appeal to Genesis 1:28. It seems to me to forget completely the Fall. You can't Christianize the world. The end time is going to be like the time of the Flood. The condition of the modern world proves that what we must preach more than ever is 'Escape from the wrath to come!' The situation is critical. I believe the Christian people--but not the church--should get involved in politics and social affairs. The kingdom task of the church is to save men from the wrath to come by bringing them to Christ. This is what I believe and emphasize. The main function of politics, culture, and all these things is to restrain evil. They can never do an ultimately positive work. Surely the history of the world demonstrates that. You can never Christianize the world."

"It is for this resason that all the calls to "reclaim America for Christ" leave me cold. Our real need is to reclaim the church for Christ. When Christ is exalted in His church, when He is loved and revered and cherised with passion by those who bear His Name--in other words, when the church starts living like the church--then His body cannot help but make an impact on culture."

We both agree that we are to be given over to biblical cultural engagement, but not to the kind of ecumenical political practice absent of the declaration of God's Word and the gospel of sola fide that those in the ECB camp champion. I so appreciate his voice on this issue and I highly commend to you the following entry by Tom. "May his tribe increase!"

Grace and peace to you,
Steve Camp
Col. 1:9-14
Read more of Tom's articles

Tuesday August 16th
"My antipathy toward JSII and the growing evangelical political activism does not mean that I think Christians should opt out of the political process. In fact, I want to be clear in stating that I recognize the church has a prophetic role to play in relation to political powers. "Speaking truth to power" may have been sloganized by liberals but it is an apt description of the church's responsibility to civil authorities. This is a part of the church's calling as the pillar and ground of the truth.

Beyond this, I believe that American Christians actually have a responsibility to be involved in the political process to promote justice and goodness. Let me try to explain the direction of my thinking about this.

Does the Bible give directives to civil rulers and monarchs? Even the most convinced pietist would, I think, agree. Romans 13:1-7 not only calls for Christians to submit to civil authorities but it also states that civil authorities are under God's authority and are therefore accountable to Him to reward good and punish evil. The Old Testament abounds with examples of God holding rulers accountable for the way they rule. This is true not only of the kings of Judah and Israel but also the kings of pagan nations.

If we lived under a monarchy we would have not only the right but the duty to call on the monarch to govern justly, knowing (whether he acknowledged it or not) that he is God's servant and obligated to reward good and punish evil.

But we do not live in a monarchy. We live in a democratic republic. Who is our civil king? We are. The citizens. We are citizen-kings. Thus we have not only the right but the responsibility to use the political process established by the republic to promote that which is good and restrict that which is evil. Citizen-kings should advocate good laws and decry bad ones. We should hold elected officials responsible for the trust we vest in them. Citizen-kings are responsible to work for justice and goodness in society."