The Theft of Hope - The Emerging Church and Missions

November 1, 2008

Newby, Ed

Among the many promises in God's Word, two stand out: He said He would keep His promises to Israel to reestablish her in the land given to her and rescue her when Satan incites the world against her. The end result is the reconciliation and restoration of a godly remnant. Replacement Theology, or the teaching that "The Church is Israel," denies these promises and destroys the hope that God's promises are true. If the Jews can't be preserved in Israel, Satan will have shown that God cannot keep His promises.

Moreover, if the gospel is not preached to the ends of the earth, Satan's purpose is also served. Jesus said, "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness to all nations; and then shall the end come" (Matthew:24:14). There are five specific "Great Commission" scriptures: Matthew:28:19-20, Mark:16:15, Luke:24:47, John:20:21, Acts:1:8. All speak of sending, going, and teaching (making disciples) of "every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation" (Revelation:5:9). The direct implication is that God has given His people a message of "good news" that can be taken to the world. If the gospel is compromised, it ceases to address man's true need. If it isn't the gospel that is going forth, but rather good deeds and a watered-down version of the gospel, this also voids God's promise and destroys the hope of His return in triumph.

Let me focus on the Great Commission. Romans:1:16 tells us that the gospel "is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek." One of the premises of the Emerging Church movement is that the "old ways" don't work. If this is true, then the "old ways" must have been somehow corrupted, because the Bible says: "In the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe" (1 Corinthians:1:21). God intended for His people to preach the Word. Isaiah tells us very specifically that the Word will not return unto Him "void" but that "It shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it" (Isaiah:55:11). Hebrews states: "The word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart" (Hebrews:4:12).

Any approach that minimizes, the Word of God strips God's people of hope. Satan always unearths and presents the same moldy question to humanity, "Yea, hath God said?" (Genesis:3:1). The consequences of questioning God's Word are always detrimental to man's God-given eternal hope. Prominent Emerging Church leader Brian McLaren has stated, "First, I think our future is more about the Christian way of life than it is about a rigid and polemicized system of belief [the gospel?]. Second, I think our future is mission-oriented-meaning that we focus on forming disciples who advance God's mission [what mission?] in their daily lives [emphasis added]."¹

Although McLaren speaks often of "making disciples" and of "mission," he can't be speaking of the biblical method, because his approach has removed the "hope of the gospel" (Colossians:1:23). Abandoning the certainty of the Scriptures, he not surprisingly seeks other sources of spiritual nourishment: "I think our future will also require us to join humbly and charitably with people of other faiths-Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish, secularists, and others-in pursuit of peace, environmental stewardship, and justice for all people, things that matter greatly to the heart of God."² Is this the gospel that we are commanded to preach? Will it rescue anyone from hell?

How can McLaren so easily and emphatically pronounce what he says "matters greatly to the heart of God" and yet deny God's inspired Word? The only way one can know what matters to God is by consulting the Scriptures! McLaren has joined with partners who deny the Scriptures. To know the "things that matter greatly to the heart of God," we should pay attention to what Jesus, the eternal Son of God who is the Living Word, has to say: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised" (Luke:4:18). Jesus is not speaking here of merely bringing comfort and material needs, because He said, "The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost" (Luke:19:10). Broken hearts can be healed only by reconciliation with the Father; "deliverance" has to be from sin and Satan; "recovering of sight to the blind" is to reveal the truth and the light of the Word of God; true liberty is realized only through understanding the truth of the gospel.

McLaren's "Joining "humbly and charitably...with people of other faiths" requires compromising and setting the gospel aside for the sake of "harmony." It is one thing to be discreet and respectful of others. It is something else to hide the truth of Scripture and the hope for humanity that it reveals. To keep silent and listen "noncritically" overlooks the simple fact that not everything taught and believed by others is desirable, helpful, or, most important of all, true. Jesus said in John:8:31-32: "If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free!"

One of the best-known Bible verses is John:3:16. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." That is our message. Those who come to Jesus "shall not perish, but have everlasting life." This hope gives meaning now and for eternity to our lives that the most well-intentioned social program can never provide. "Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech" (2 Corinthians:3:12). Let us have confidence in the message God has given.