{"id":1087,"date":"1997-02-28T22:51:35","date_gmt":"1997-02-28T22:51:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/february-qis-the-gospel-socialq\/"},"modified":"2014-02-02T02:23:05","modified_gmt":"2014-02-02T02:23:05","slug":"february-qis-the-gospel-socialq","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/february-qis-the-gospel-socialq\/","title":{"rendered":"Is The Gospel Social?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Christianity will indeed accomplish many useful things in this world, but if it is accepted in order to accomplish those useful things it is not Christianity.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Christianity will combat Bolshevism; but if it is accepted in order to combat Bolshevism, it is not Christianity. . . Christianity will produce a healthy community; but if it is accepted in order to produce a healthy community, it is not Christianity. . . Our Lord said: \u201cseek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.\u201d But if you seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness <\/span>in order that<\/em> all those things may be added unto you, you will miss both those other things and the Kingdom of God as well.<\/span><\/p>\n

J. Gresham Machen (1923)1<\/sup><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

William James, the Liberal and father of American pragmatism once said that \u201ctruth is the cash value of an idea.\u201d2<\/sup> Of him, Os Guinness wrote, \u201cHe held that religious beliefs were only true because of their consequences for human behavior, not because of their philosophical claims.\u201d3<\/sup> This sort of religious pragmatism seemed to be evident to believers a century ago, faced with the onslaught of the social gospel in America.<\/p>\n

Calvin, that comic strip theologian, was walking with his imaginary friend, Hobbs, and stated, \u201cSome people are pragmatists, taking things as they come and making the best of the choices available.\u00a0 Some people are idealists, standing for principle and refusing to compromise.\u00a0 And some people just act on any whim that enters their heads.\u201d\u00a0 Hobbs answers, \u201cI wonder which you<\/em> are.\u201d\u00a0 To which Calvin replies, \u201cI pragmatically turn my whims into principles.\u201d<\/p>\n

We American Christians seem to have a knack for making Christianity the immediate solution for whatever problems society may have.\u00a0 For a century now this has been tried as the solution for poverty, war, hatred, illness or economic depression.\u00a0 We have not yet learned the lesson that Christianity is and must be first a belief, and that we believe it because it is true regardless of the consequences.\u00a0 Thousands of souls in the Soviet Union would never have found Christ as Savior if their faith had been conditioned on social advantage.\u00a0 As Machen points out, to preach Christ because of the social advantage, is not to preach Him at all.<\/p>\n

Living in a day when the world expects the church to be a social agent for change brings great pressure on the church of Christ to downplay the biblical condition of repentance for communion with Christ.\u00a0 The gospel is seen as an avenue to gain the things of this world rather than to lose them.\u00a0 Did not Jesus say, \u201cIf any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.\u00a0 And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple\u201d (Lk 14:26,27).<\/p>\n

But Charles Colson says, \u201cInvesting time and money in building a rightly ordered society is the most powerful antidote to chaos and crime.\u201d4<\/sup> Rick Warren says, \u201cI also believe that pastors are the most strategic change agents to deal with the problems society faces.\u201d5<\/sup> Warren\u00a0 mentions that his church advertises to the community classes on potty training and miscarriage as well as weightier social concerns.<\/p>\n

I agree with Ernest Pickering who wrote, \u201cThere is no evidence in the New Testament of any church-sponsored programs organized for the purpose of alleviating human suffering in the unsaved world.\u201d6<\/sup> The writer of Hebrews had this message to the \u201cunchurched\u201d Jews who were inspecting the claims of Christianity, \u201cBut call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions; partly, whilst ye were made a gazingstock both by reproaches and afflictions; and partly, whilst ye became companions of them that were so used\u201d (Heb 10: 32,33).\u00a0 This is because faith is for those who \u201cdiligently seek him\u201d (11:6) and \u201cnot of them who draw back\u201d (10:39) when they find Christianity is costing them something rather than gaining them something in this world.<\/p>\n

I am not minimizing the service function of the local church to its members.\u00a0 We take that seriously at our church and are very detailed about it. Nor am I discouraging being a good citizen.\u00a0 But the gospel asks a sinner to come completely to the end of himself with regards to this world so that he may give himself completely to Christ.\u00a0 If the sinner can find a pragmatic way to get around that, he will take it!\u00a0 Let\u2019s not offer him a way to find his salvation by his good works, but let\u2019s allow him to find salvation unto good works.<\/p>\n

Notes:<\/address>\n
1. J. Gresham Machen, Christianity And Liberalism<\/em> (Grand Rapids:\u00a0 Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1977) 152.<\/address>\n
2. Charles Colson, The Body<\/em> (Dallas: Word Publishing, 1992) 174.<\/address>\n
3. Os Guinness, Fit Bodies, Fat Minds<\/em> (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1994) 55.<\/address>\n
4. Charles Colson, \u201cCleanliness Is Next To Crimelessness,\u201d Christianity Today,<\/em> January 6, 1997,\u00a0 80.<\/address>\n
5. Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Church<\/em> (Grand Rapids:\u00a0 Zondervan, 1995) 20.<\/address>\n
6. Ernest Pickering, The Tragedy Of Compromise<\/em> (Greenville: BJU Press, 1994) 18.<\/address>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Christianity will indeed accomplish many useful things in this world, but if it is accepted in order to accomplish those useful things it is not Christianity.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Christianity will combat Bolshevism; but if it is accepted in order to combat Bolshevism, it is not Christianity. . . Christianity will produce a healthy community; but if it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[123],"tags":[166,165],"class_list":["post-1087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","tag-pragmatism","tag-social-gospel"],"yoast_head":"\nIs The Gospel Social? - Aletheia Baptist Ministries<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/february-qis-the-gospel-socialq\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Is The Gospel Social? - Aletheia Baptist Ministries\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Christianity will indeed accomplish many useful things in this world, but if it is accepted in order to accomplish those useful things it is not Christianity.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Christianity will combat Bolshevism; but if it is accepted in order to combat Bolshevism, it is not Christianity. . . 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