The Biblical Gospel: Its Significance and Impact in Spiritual Renewal

The

BIBLICAL

GOSPEL

Its Significance and Impact

in Spiritual Renewal

Reid Hensarling

Copyright © 2012 by Reid Hensarling.

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All Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001. Used by permission of Crossway Bibles.

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ISBN: 978-1-4497-4926-2 (sc)

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2012907625

WestBow Press rev. date: 06/18/2012

Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1

Theological And Scriptural Support For The Biblical Gospel And Spiritual Renewal

Chapter 2

The English Reformation Brings Renewal Through The Biblical Gospel

Chapter 3

The Dangers Of Postmodernism And The Opportunities For Biblical Solutions

Chapter 4

Clergy And Lay Renewal— The Hope For The Gospel

Chapter 5

Conclusion

References Cited

Bibliography

Introduction

The Problem

Each day, we encounter serious and seemingly unsolvable problems—economic, political, educational, environmental, moral and, most assuredly, spiritual. Christian denominations in the United States, Canada, and Europe are undergoing great stresses as they deal with a postmodern culture that wrongly emphasizes relativism and pluralism at the expense of objective truth. Even the most conservative Christian churches struggle against the prevailing culture and powerfully imposing counter-Christian mores and ideas. Many in our country mistakenly believe there are no absolute truths, instead erroneously buying into political correctness and morally inclusive attitudes and practices that are embraced by our society and churches rather than eschewed.

Added to the mix of this progressive turmoil is a world awash with myriad views regarding the reasons for these problems and their corresponding solutions. On just the religious spectrum, there is a plethora of viewpoints regarding religion and what constitutes truth. With so many competing philosophies and ideologies, one might question whether absolute truth exists or whether it is even possible to know what is right or wrong. Our postmodern society clearly answers no because truth is personal and subjective, and what may be true for you may not be true for me. Donald Bloesch astutely observes the following:

In the postmodern climate in which we live, traditional values as well as universal norms have become problematic. Even God is more of a question than a certitude. Language becomes a game to control one’s destiny or gain power over nature rather than a pathway to truth. Truth is no longer universal and ontological but efficacious and enriching, not informative so much as transformative. In Christian circles the story of salvation is increasingly seen as a projection of human hopes and dreams upon the plane of history rather than a divine intervention into history (1992, 28).

Transitioning from a broader perspective to a more personal point of view, parishioners frequently come to me—an associate pastor at All Saints’ Episcopal Church in Lakeland, Florida—seeking answers to a multitude of psychological and spiritual problems. Beset by so many competing forces, their questions seem impossible to answer. What can I say to give them hope, restoration, and peace?

On a grander scale, a microcosm of our moral and religious concerns can be observed in the present state of the Episcopal Church. The Anglican Communion has been undergoing major convulsions since August 2003 when a practicing gay priest was ordained as bishop in the Diocese of New Hampshire. Critics believe this once-influential denomination has lost its way because so many clergy are preaching and teaching a different gospel (Gal. 1:6-9).

On the whole, the Episcopal Church and other Christian denominations are sadly trading their rich heritages and God-centered histories for the prevailing and dominant postmodern worldview, which avidly supports moral relativism, pluralism, and subjectivism. What does this mean exactly? Truth goes out the window and the way to heaven is up to you—if you even choose to believe in heaven. Only a few US Episcopal dioceses remain faithful to the gospel and its liberating and saving message because the majority of dioceses have been seduced by the world and its false and misleading biblical message and worldview.

The Diocese of Central Florida, where I am presently serving, is one of the remaining dioceses where the gospel has not been marginalized but still makes a significant and lasting impact in the church, community, and culture. If the truth of the gospel is compromised and falsely rendered, what hope can be given to the faithful, and what message can save the lost?

The future of the Episcopal Church is of great concern to many who love and cherish this body of believers. This is a challenging time for all who support and uphold the Christian faith and its historic teachings. The foundations of the faith have slowly eroded over time, and this once-vibrant church body may one day be a dinosaur—thereby rendering itself totally irrelevant to the culture, a mere skeleton of what it once was.

Unfortunately, the Episcopal Church is not the only denomination reeling from the onslaught of our postmodern culture with its new, improved theologies and insidious ideologies. In addition, the problems of church theology are certainly not indigenous or specific to Episcopalians but to a wide range of denominations that struggle with competing worldviews, false doctrinal teaching, penetrating secularism, and immoral and amoral mores.

The pervasive and pernicious influence of postmodernism has deeply pervaded the church and produced a new theology, one that is clearly counter to the traditional faith of the church. Towns and Stetzer inform us that most Americans have no concept of philosophical postmodernism. Instead, they just live in this postmodern culture. Nevertheless, they are postmodern people (156). Postmodernity presents new threats and challenges to today’s church, and the fire in some churches is being extinguished. With the transition from modernism to postmodernism the mainline churches have succumbed to the beguilements of relativism and have thereby become reluctant to uphold a particular claim to truth. The mainline denominations are no longer custodians of revealed truth but loose coalitions tied together by a social agenda that bears the marks of ideological commitment (Bloesch 1997, 13).

The church has observed similar difficult times in her past and survived by God’s grace to witness to the truth of the gospel. The English Reformers of the sixteenth century were mightily used by the Lord to bring spiritual life and renewal to the English Church, which had lapsed into gross immorality with little or no understanding of the Bible and Christian faith and practice. The monolithic Roman Catholic Church had a stranglehold on the clergy and its people, and its ungodly practices and false teachings in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries are well documented. By the sovereign, providential action of God and mighty movement of the Holy Spirit, the English Reformers brought the Scriptures to English churches and homes through a variety of means and methods, some of which are still felt today. The faithful reading and proclamation of the Holy Scriptures in their native tongue changed the course of history for the English and much of western Europe as the gospel was proclaimed with all its power and influence.

The same effect could happen today and is desperately needed in a culture starving for truth and longing for spiritual meaning and vitality. The church today is badly in need of reformation again. And Christ’s lordship over His church is still the central truth we must recover, which requires the unleashing of His word among His people again (MacArthur 69). We will have less anxiety ourselves and more of a hearing from the world if we will believe in and preach the awesome, dangerous, but solid realities taught in Scripture (Loveless 1979, 144).

Significance

This message is significant because most churches seek to grow, expand, and develop their membership in terms of numbers and spiritual maturity. Concrete, tested ways exist to reach this goal while bringing genuine spiritual renewal, vitality, and real growth to the life of our churches. Believers and nonbelievers desperately need something that will change their lives and give them meaning and purpose. That something has to be supernatural because we surely cannot generate deep and lasting change by our own efforts and power. However, many churches are languishing and dying because the saving power of the gospel is not faithfully and truthfully preached, taught, and received.

We are in critical need of faithful, biblically based ministers of all denominations to proclaim and demonstrate God’s Word to a world dying for substance, meaning, and value. The Holy Scriptures provide what we all ultimately need and desperately desire—hope, love, meaning, faith, truth, direction, knowledge, understanding, and wisdom.

Goals

This book seeks to develop a model for using the gospel as an instrument to bring spiritual renewal into the life of a congregation by addressing and fulfilling these four primary goals:

1. Biblical/Theological (Chapter 1)

A description of the importance of God’s written and living word from a study of the Old and New Testaments while evaluating and analyzing the power, effectiveness, validity, and truthfulness of the Bible. A description of how biblical characters were used by God to bring spiritual renewal to his people.

2. Historical/Literature Review (Chapter 2)

A description of ways the English Reformers were obedient to the gospel and the corresponding impact and consequences of their faithfulness on the English people and a description of how God used them to bring spiritual renewal to their nation.

3. Analysis (Chapter 3)

An evaluation of the problem in light of the biblical/theological and the historical/literature review findings.

4. Synthesis (Chapter 4)

A suggestion for how these descriptions and evaluations regarding the recovery and application of the biblical gospel can be used to significantly impact an individual’s and a congregation’s spiritual renewal and growth in Christ.

Delimitations

Because of the vast nature and complexity of this topic, the primary focus of this book must be limited to biblical, theological, historical, contemporary, and devotional studies related to spiritual renewal and will draw from several diverse sources. The theological research for this study will focus on the truthfulness, importance, impact, and effectiveness of the gospel to bring spiritual life and renewal to our churches. The biblical research will explore a limited number of important figures of the Old and New Testaments who were used by the Lord to bring spiritual renewal: Josiah, Ezra, Jonah, Peter, and Paul. The historical research is linked to several members of the English Reformation, namely William Tyndale, Miles Coverdale, Thomas Cranmer, and John Jewel. Three contemporary scholars, J. I. Packer, John Stott, and Donald Bloesch, will be studied to evaluate their impact and influence in the present day.

This book is designed to draw significant attention and interest to churches’ obligation and critical calling by God to present the Holy Scriptures in a faithful, passionate, loving, and true way to a congregation that will bring lasting change and transformation to the body of Christ. It is written primarily for those who work in churches to bring their knowledge and understanding of the gospel to those they serve with the purpose of bringing spiritual life, renewal, and transformation to their lives.

Chapter 1

Theological And Scriptural Support For The Biblical Gospel And Spiritual Renewal

A crucial centerpiece of this book is the gospel; therefore, a critical question to ask initially is What is the Gospel? Stephen Charnock writes, The gospel is nothing else but the revelation of Christ (501). The gospel is the good news of Jesus Christ, and the power of the gospel is Jesus Christ. Timothy Keller, senior pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, writes in Gospel Theology that through the person and work of Jesus Christ on our behalf, God saves sinners by grace, rescuing them from judgment for their sin into fellowship with him now in the church and ultimately in the new heavens and new earth. To receive this salvation, we must repent and believe this gospel (1).

The preexistent Son of God (John 1:1, 14), Jesus Christ, who took on human flesh and was born of the Virgin Mary (Luke 1:31; 2:7), lived a sinless life (Heb. 4:15), began his earthly ministry at thirty years old, and became a servant of God who boldly and obediently proclaimed the gospel (Mark 1:14-15). At the hands of those who hated him, he willingly died on the cross for our sins, exchanging his life for ours, cancelling our debt, and defeating the power of evil (Isa. 53:4-6; Mark 10:45; Col. 2:13-15; 1 Peter 3:18; 1 John 2:2). He was buried and on the third day rose from the dead (1 Cor. 15:3-6). God’s justice and wrath were duly served with Christ’s death on the cross and subsequent resurrection from the dead so that those who by the grace and mercy of God repent of their sins and put their trust and faith in Christ are justified in his sight (Acts 2:38; Rom. 3:24-26; Gal. 3:26; Eph. 2:8-9).

The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ ultimately solved the problem of man’s separation and alienation from God by removing sin (Ps. 51:5; Rom. 3:10-12, 23; Rom. 5:12). Man is guilty of breaking God’s divine law and justly deserves death (James 2:10; 1 Peter 1:16). Additionally, man’s heart and the world in which he lives are corrupted and infiltrated by sin (Jer. 17:9; Mark 7:21-23; 1 John 2:16). Man tries to find happiness, meaning, and purpose in life apart from God,