Applied Christianity

Theirs is a movement that advocates for “missional living” as a means of applying the gospel in a way that emphasizes a way of life.

In some ways this is very admirable emphasis, except that missional living aims at being a means of evangelism.  Some years ago there was a similar movement called “lifestyle evangelism.”

The bottom line for me is that the danger of the movement is that it confuses life lived as a result of the the work of the Gospel in us, as opposed to the proclamation of the Gospel which is the mission of evangelism.

I’m reminded too of the old liberal call to apply Christianity.  J. Gresham Machen said: 

At this point Christian teaching is in full accord with the modern liberal Church; the evangelical Christian is not true to his profession if he leaves his Christianity behind him on Monday morning. On the contrary, the whole of life, including business and all of social relations, must be made obedient to the law of love. The Christian man certainly should display no lack of interest in"applied Christianity."

Only--and here emerges the enormous difference of opinion--the Christian man believes that there can be no applied Christianity unless there be "a Christianity to apply." [7] That is where the Christian man differs from the modern liberal. The liberal believes that applied Christianity is all there is of Christianity, Christianity being merely a way of life; the Christian man believes that applied Christianity is the result of an initial act of God. (J. Gresham Machen, Christianity and Liberalism, Chapter 5, "Salvation")

The Leaven of the Gospel—The Saturation Commission

From Gospel Centric:
“Christianity must pervade not merely all nations, but also all of human thought. The Christian, therefore, cannot be indifferent to any branch of earnest human endeavor. It must all be brought into some relation to the gospel. It must be studied either in order to be demonstrated as false, or else in order to be made useful in advancing the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom must be advanced not merely extensively, but also intensively. The Church must seek to conquer not merely every man for Christ, but also the whole of man. We are accustomed to encourage ourselves in our discouragements by the thought of the time when every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord. No less inspiring is the other aspect of that same great consummation. That will also be a time when doubts have disappeared, when every contradiction has been removed, when all of science converges to one great conviction, when all of art is devoted to one great end, when all of human thinking is permeated by the refining, ennobling influence of Jesus, when every thought has been brought into subjection to the obedience of Christ.”—J. Gresham Machen, Originally published in The Princeton Theological Review, Vol. 11, 1913. Read the whole article: Christianity and Culture by J. Gresham Machen

Deja Vu II

Reformed Baptist Blog: Al Mohler and R.C. Sproul on the "Seeker Sensitive...: "I saw this video over at the Reformed Baptist Fellowship blog, and I couldn't help but post it here as well. I think the readers of this blog"

It looks like there’s my friends are promoting a reformed perspective on evangelism through bringing people to church.



These specific comments by R. C. Sproul are cogent, “. . .what people were looking for was power! . . .Now the power is in 'the program.'  Whereas what Luther says. . .is that the power of the Holy Ghost is mediated in and through The Word? When are we going to believe that?"

The Culture War And The Called-Out Ones

As the church continues to listen to the voices calling it to ‘re-capture’ our society for Christ, it will regress to a place where it is no longer the church, but an unholy interest group engaged in ‘cultural renewal’ instead of individual New Birth.
In order to prevent such a regression, Christians, then, must reevaluate their role in this society and return to the mandate to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ This proclamation requires that we involve our whole being, not only in the verbal proclamation of the Gospel itself, but also in the deeds of a born-again human and a new citizen of God’s Kingdom culture.
John Piper has done much to exposit Philippians 1, especially verse 20, “. . .20 according to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death.” He points out that we need to live for Christ and exhorts us to this in his book, Don’t Waste Your Life.
We must honestly need to count all our accomplishments, talents and status as “rubbish” (Phil. 3:8) in comparison with “the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.” Christ embodies all that is and can be excellent. His example in the Gospels teach us how he balanced perfectly his love for mankind.
Christ loved the woman at the well (John 4:4-26), the certain ruler seeking Eternal Life (Luke 18:18-30), and the woman caught in adultery (John 8:1-11). In these examples we see that Jesus exercises love in perfect balance with the unique cultural issues around each person he met. Jesus balanced His love with the racial differences between Himself (a Jew) and the Samaritan women; between His humility and the pride and riches of that certain ruler seeking Eternal Live; and, between His perfect holiness with harlotry of the adulterous woman without excusing the sin of the adulterous woman.
Christ loved these people outside the confines of this world culture, by presenting the claims of the culture of the Kingdom of God, while proclaiming the Gospel.
We are called to be in the world for the same task, but we are admonished not to be conformed to this world. So we have been left in this world that we might make Christ known; as ambassadors of God’s Kingdom to our fellow humans. This will require us to proclaim the Truth of God in this present evil age, and in the face of persecution and hostility.
Paul warns and encourages us, “Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Cor 5:16-21)
Our great purpose if fulfilled in being called out of a God-hostile world culture to to live and proclaim the messages of our King Jesus and our Father God. as His ambassadors. “But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you are blessed. ‘And do not be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled.’ But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;. . . .: