faith for faith

From observation and experience, I believe it is safe to presume that ingrained in every human being is a desire to do something great with our lives–to make our short stint in this world count for something. Perhaps greater than the fear of death is this fear that we would have finished our lives unnoticed by the world and that our very existence would be forgotten by most soon after we die. For while we all know that we are mortal and that we shall all die (be it ten years or sixty years from now), many, if not all, of us feel that if we can be remembered for something after we die, we will achieve some sort of immortality in this world.

And while we who are Christians profess our immortality to be vested Elsewhere, we are certainly not exempt from this desire to be remembered in this age. And while our ambitions might be sanctified to some degree when compared to those of the world, the underlying desire is the same—to be remembered on this earth after we have passed from it.

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There is a sad reality in the existence of denominations in the church, and it is this: denominations unite people in the church under secondary doctrines of the Faith so as to make those doctrines primary to the denomination, and they take doctrines that should be primary and make them secondary for the sake of unity in the denomination. For example, the Southern Baptist denomination is a denomination that is united under the secondary doctrine of the mode of baptism (viz. immersion), and since Southern Baptists have this secondary doctrine of mode of baptism in common, it becomes to the denomination a primary doctrine. Despite this common ground on baptism, there is division within the denomination on other issues that are of primary concern to the Faith (e.g. the Gospel and its proper understanding) that however become secondary issues in the denomination because they divide the denomination. And thus you will find in these denominations capitulation of doctrines that are of first importance for the sake of preserving the denomination, for the denomination, not the Church nor righteousness, is end of doctrine and practice, and therefore every doctrine must be filtered and ranked through the denomination not through the Revelation of God.

And thus, to jump to the point, you will find efforts in the Southern Baptist Convention to unite with one another within the denomination over issues such as Calvinist / Arminian understandings of the Gospel for the sake of what is being called the Great Commission Resurgence whose chief end is to get the Gospel out to the Nations. The problem with such an endeavor is that despite pious sounding mantras to “Just give the world the name of Jesus,” it neglects the very Gospel that is to be delivered to the Nations. Its practice would be tantamount to rounding up medicine and sending it to a country that is perishing from smallpox, when it is not merely medicine that the country needs, it is the particular medicine of a smallpox inoculation. Sending aspirin would not do, and neither would a measles vaccine, but they need the pure, unadulterated cure of a smallpox vaccine. Likewise, when we speak of a Great Commission Resurgence, we do not merely need to send to them the name of Jesus (for the Mormons and the Jehovah’s Witnesses are just as well-equipped to do that), but we need to send to them the pure, unadulterated Gospel that was delivered to the prophets and apostles.

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“Actions speak louder than words.” It is an old axiom that rings true no matter what culture or religion one finds himself in. And when a particular group trumpets a mantra over and over again for decades, people do actually look to see if that group’s actions line up with that which it trumpets.

For Southern Baptists, the final words of Christ and its implications have been the words that the denomination has trumpeted for decades: “Go and make disciples”; “Go and preach to a lost world”; “Bring the Word of salvation to the Nations.” All of which are true and good words, but do the lives of those who preach those words line up with what they claim is their heart’s desire?

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Early one Sunday morning, a solemn Southern Baptist pastor cuts through the freshly paved parking lot that surrounds his recently constructed church building. He slowly passes the new church building, which his church had named, “The Campus of the Martyrs,” in honor of those who had given their lives for the sake of the Gospel around the world. For a moment, he meditates on the plight of those around the world who do not share the freedom that he and his people do in America, and he laments that more cannot be done for the sake of the lost world. As he laments, he cuts through the wrong way of the deserted one-way street that separates the new building from old one, and finds that his solemnity is momentarily eased by the wonderful thought that because of the new building he now only has to preach one service on Sunday instead of two. “What a blessing!” he exclaims in his heart. “Now I have an extra hour on Sunday afternoons to spend with my family.”

His jubilation is interrupted as his eyes are cast down at the passenger seat of his Lincoln Navigator at a report from the International Mission Board that he has decided to share with his church that morning. He first heard the terrible report at a meeting that was held in the newly constructed foreign missions building at the Southern Baptist seminary that lies just few miles from his home. As he looked at the report, a plethora of images rushed through his mind as he recalled the announcement by the representative of the Board that no new missionaries would be sent out because of the lack of American giving. He recalls the huge, golden globe surrounded by fine mahogany that that acts as the centerpiece of the great building as a reminder of the world that has yet to hear Christ. He thinks upon the Great Commission passage from the Gospel of Matthew that is upon the wall across from the globe, that in gold-fashioned letters proclaims the heart of Southern Baptists to all who come in. And then he thinks upon the great number of flat-screen televisions that fill the whole of the building that incessantly flash the names of people groups in the world that have yet to hear the Gospel.

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Having attended a Southern Baptist college and seminary for the better part of a decade, I have what is commonly called, “The Great Commission,” imprinted on my brain. At Southeastern Baptist Seminary, it was / is not uncommon to hear multiple messages preached on the Great Commission every semester and to see in its buildings (Jacqumin-Simmons in particular) the passage from Matthew 28 spelled out in golden letters:

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age (Mt. 28:19, 20).

Now the desire to fulfill the final command given by our Lord to his apostles is a great one indeed, and being that it was the final instructions given by Christ, the Great Commission should have a profound impact on how we operate as a Church. And I do not make the case of some, who argue that this command was issued to the disciples alone, but that it is effective till “the end of the age,” when Christ returns as our Champion, and all things are made new.

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A common question is often raised, often in hostile dialogues, “If one believes in a God who has determined beforehand the destination of souls, why would one ever evangelize or do missions?” When that question is raised, I, more often than not, hear an inadequate or just plain bad response given instead of a proper response. Usually the answers are given by some poor, young soul who has not given much thought to the matter and does not want to get burned at the stake for the denying the present validity of the Great Commission, thus he says something like, “God has commanded us to do missions. We do not know who the elect souls are. Christ will not return until the Gospel has reached the ends of the Earth, etc.” All of these are true statements, but none of them are a proper answer to why we as Christians are to be about the work of evangelism and missions.

However, contrary to the popular belief that those who hold to a more Reformed view of theology are less apt and motivated to preach the Gospel and to reach the Nations than those who are not, I believe that the opposite is true, namely that those who are truly Reformed in their theology are better equipped both doctrinally and historically to be about the work of the Great Commission. Therefore, I hope that this post will not only adequately answer the question, “Why do Calvinists do missions?” but will also demonstrate that those who are genuinely Calvinists cannot help but “to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of [Christ's] name among the Nations” (Rom. 1:5).

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