I received an objection from one person about the consequences of being so concerned over Reformed theology, and the fruit of Reformed theology. I was stationed in the Muslim country of Turkey at the time, where it is illegal to proselytize (evangelize), and Christians are persecuted. The person who wrote this had no idea about my activities though, and then decided to set himself up as judge and jury over me, merely because I was attempting to set forth the truths of Reformed theology with him (which I never really was given an opportunity to do, since he just kept providing one objection after another, without allowing me sufficient time to respond). Maybe the greatest irony of all is that the person who raised the objection not only failed to understand Reformed theology, but also failed to understand its importance to evangelism. When, as I point out, we consider that Reformed theology deals with what the entire Bible teaches, we discover that in point of fact it has direct bearing on our evangelism, because it deals with the very heart of the Gospel, as well as who is really the primary agent in evangelism, what the proper role of man is in the process, etc. I will first state the objection, with my answer underneath it:
"Look at the fruit of Reformed
Theology. What has it
got you doing with your time? Evangelizing the world? No."
I agree that there is a danger of people becoming so immersed in one
aspect of the faith that they neglect other parts of it.
Some people are absolutely consumed with eschatology (how
many “Left Behind” books is Tim LaHaye going to write!).
However, I think you need to realize that Reformed theology isn’t
simply concerned with the so-called Five Points of Calvinism; it is an entire
worldview. It states in no
uncertain terms that God is the Sovereign King and Ruler of Heaven and
earth, and all of life (church, family, friends, politics, the arts, etc.) is
lived in light of that principle. Thus,
Reformed theology impacts everything that we believe, and how we in turn live
our lives. It impacts our teaching
on every single doctrine of the Bible. Theology
itself is nothing but the study and knowledge of God and how He interacts with
the world, and is the most important enterprise that can be undertaken by any
person, but especially the Christian, and we believe that Reformed theology is
in fact the theology of the Bible and is, as Spurgeon put it, “Nothing less
than Biblical Christianity.”
As for the fruit of Reformed theology, I
think history bears eloquent testimony to the "ripeness" of the fruit.
These theological convictions served as the basis for
the greatest revival in Church history, the Protestant Reformation of the 16th
century. They were the convictions
of the greatest theologian and defender of Christian orthodoxy in the first
1,000 years of the church, St. Augustine. It
was, if we are correct, the theology of all of the apostles and prophets, and of
Jesus Himself--and these all turned the world upside down.
I can think of nothing better to do with my time than to study that
theology which has so impacted the world.
I haven’t even mentioned other important movements and Christians in the past that held to the Reformed view. I’ve already mentioned the Reformation. It is significant that there wasn’t one person among the key Reformers that would be considered Arminian/non-Reformed…not one! Luther, Zwingli, and Calvin actually renounced what would later be known as Arminianism as something that completely undermined the Gospel.
There were the revivalists of the Great Awakening Jonathan Edwards and George Whitfield. There are the Puritans, whose Calvinism and ethic were the essential instruments through which God brought revival and reformation to England, and were foundational to the formation of this country.
There is the Prince of Preachers, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, and William Carey,
considered to be the father of modern missions. There’s
the prominent theologian’s Hodge, Warfield (many more could be added, and I
already mentioned Edwards, who is considered by all objective observers to be
the greatest scholar, philosopher and theologian America has ever produced).
I have not yet mentioned Wycliffe,
John Knox, Cranmer, Owen, and Gill. There
is John Bunyan, the author of the classic “Pilgrims Progress,” which is the
2d most read book (next to the Bible) in history. There's John Newton, author of one of the
most famous hymns of all time, “Amazing Grace.”
There is Matthew Henry, the wonderful Puritan whose commentaries have blessed
generations of Christians.
In modern times (the past 100 years or so), there’s D. James Kennedy, whose Evangelism Explosion program is probably the most effective tool that has been given to layman to help them share their faith in recent memory. There’s the theologians, such as Warfield, Machen, Murray, Strong, Boyce, Packer, and Berkhof. There’s the tremendous preachers such as Spurgeon, Lloyd-Jones, MacArthur, and Alistair Begg. There’s the great apologist’s, such as Van Til, Gerstner, Bahnsen, Schaeffer, Sproul, and Dr. James White.
I belabor all of this merely to point out, as A.W.
Pink, in his book “The Sovereignty of God,” states, “We mention
this simply to show that many of the most eminent saints in by-gone days, the
men most widely used of God, held and taught this doctrine which is so bitterly
hated in these last days…” (p.108)
As for evangelizing the world, I’ve personally had the opportunity to
share the gospel with a number of people here at the base (at the time of this
writing, Incirlik AB Turkey) since being assigned here (I was assigned there
from January 2002 - January 2004). It is
difficult though, because Turkish law prohibits proselytizing.
However, I have had the opportunity to share on several occasions, even
to Turkish people, and ironically, just this past week (before I received your
e-mail), I was able to witness to a Roman Catholic.
He heard me preach the Biblical
view of the grace of God and God’s sovereignty in salvation (you can read
that sermon here: Amazing
Grace!), and said
he wanted to hear more (truly, I have not found such sentiment in all of the
"land" of "Evangelicalism!"). The next day I was able to share the Gospel with
him.
Your
comments are even more ironic, given the fact that I had started teaching
Evangelism in Sunday School about 4 weeks ago, which was really birthed out the
study we were doing in my home group on Reformation Theology!
In that study, one of the “students” made this statement that really
speaks volumes, “The Reformed view really makes me want
to witness more to people than ever before!”
In short, the fruit of Reformed theology has produced some of the greatest
minds and works in Church history, and it would be difficult to imagine
where the Church would be without it. There
never would have been a Protestant Reformation without it, and it could very
well be argued that there would be no Church at all--no Christianity
whatsoever--if it is true that Reformed Theology is simply the expression of the
doctrine of the apostles, prophets, and Christ; or as stated earlier, “Nothing
less than Biblical Christianity.”