LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 2001, Page 96

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96

CONVENTION ESSAYS AND REACTIONS

This was evangelism—that is, proclaiming the “evangel,”
the Gospel; all of it was. It was all evangelism, making disciples by baptizing and teaching them to observe all things
whatsoever Christ commanded. To appreciate why our
Synod’s fellowship practices are so vital to fulfilling the
Great Commission, it’s first crucial to appreciate that teaching all things is an essential part of the Great Commission.
Why does Christ give teaching all things such priority?
If everybody who believes in Jesus goes to heaven, why
doesn’t Jesus just say “give it to ’em down and dirty at first,
and, if you’ve got time, clean up the theology later”? Because, quite simply, Jesus knew that clean theology is what
gets people to heaven. “Teaching them to observe all
things” is essential to the salvation of souls. Let’s say that
again: “Teaching them to observe all things” is essential to
the salvation of souls. “Down and dirty” results in souls
spending eternity in hell.
Now don’t get me wrong. It’s not a person’s orthodoxy on
every point that earns him salvation. Certainly countless
people who hold theological errors will be in heaven, because
there are countless such people who still hold simple faith in
Jesus’ death and resurrection for the forgiveness of their
sins, and everyone who believes that will be in heaven.
But it is also only Baptism and orthodox teaching that
gets them there. No one ever comes to faith in Christ by
anything false he’s been taught. Only the truth creates and
sustains faith. Now, a person may have heard the truth in
a heterodox church; she may have heard the Gospel mixed
with lots of error and still become a believer. But it was not
the error that brought her to faith. Jesus says, “You shall
know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John
8:32). Paul writes, “You were included in Christ when you
heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation” (Ephesians 1:13a). James agrees, “He chose to give us birth
through the word of truth” (James 1:18).
It was not when a revival preacher falsely invited the
audience to come forward and accept Christ that people became believers; it was when, earlier in his sermon, he proclaimed the cross that the Holy Spirit created faith in their
hearts. It was not by the faith of the parents that a baby
baptized in a Presbyterian church was saved; it was by the
washing of regeneration in the child’s heart, even though
the congregation denies it. We sincerely rejoice with the angels in heaven when a sinner comes to repentance at the
preaching of an ELCA pastor, but that new faith was in no
way enhanced by the fact that the pastor was a woman. It’s
the truth, not errors intermingled with the truth, that fulfills the Great Commission.
We probably all agree with that. It’s obvious enough.
But what about the flip side? Only truth fulfills the Great
Commission, but is error really so bad? Does a little false
teaching really hurt? Can’t you do evangelism well enough,
as long as most of what you’re saying is true? Are all things
that Christ commanded really necessary to doing evangelism? Aren’t some teachings pretty peripheral? Two ways
we might get at the answers.
First, let’s ask ourselves why God gave the truth as He
did. Why 66 books? Why a doctrine of Baptism? Why
Christ’s real presence in the Lord’s Supper? For that matter, why would God forbid a little thing like coveting, and,
200l Convention Proceedings

for the Old Testament people, why not boil a kid in its
mother’s milk (Exodus 23:19a)? Well, if we believe that “all
Scripture is inspired by God and profitable” (1 Timothy
3:16a), then, as Paul says in Romans, “everything that was
written in the past was written to teach us, so that through
endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we
might have hope” (Romans 15:4). And that hope which does
not disappoint us is this: “Having been justified by faith,
we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ”
(5:1). That is to say, as John does about his Gospel, “These
things”—all these things—“are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by
believing you may have life in His name” (John 20:31).
That’s evangelism. That’s “Telling the Good News about
Jesus.” Every word, every doctrine, of Scripture, God gave
for one purpose: the salvation of souls. Let’s say that again:
Every word, every doctrine, of Scripture, God gave for one
purpose: the salvation of souls. We don’t always understand
fully, but nothing is expendable. God didn’t give a single
word, a single doctrine, for His good. Somehow every teaching leads us to Christ. In other words, replacing any truth
with any error takes away some of what God intended us to
use in doing evangelism. Regardless of what our reason,
our observation, may suggest, you cannot do evangelism as
well without all of God’s truth. “Teaching them to observe
all things” is essential to the salvation of souls.
A second answer to the question about error: How much
harm to evangelism can a little bit of false teaching really
do? We each have dear Christian brothers and sisters in
erring churches who are “on fire for the Lord,” who are out
there doing evangelism like we wish we were. And we give
thanks that God is using them to bring people to saving
faith. They’re doing evangelism. Why should we be concerned about their errors?
For starters, can there be any doubt that souls are
spending eternity in hell because our dear, sincere Baptist
friends didn’t baptize thousands and thousands of babies?
Haven’t some been lost? Or have you ever counseled with
one of your college students who was now questioning his
salvation because of what friends at school said? His
friends believe that revival preacher and told your young
man he wasn’t really saved unless he made a decision for
Christ. Can there be any doubt that a false teaching of conversion has caused someone along the line to lose the security of his salvation, to despair and spend eternity in hell?
And what about the woman pastor? She defends her claim
to the office by alleging that clear passages of Scripture on
the order of creation and the role of the sexes were timebound and no longer relevant. Do we doubt for a minute
that that has caused someone else, somewhere, to disregard
other passages of Scripture, perhaps on sexual morality,
and fall into impenitent sin . . . and spend an eternity in
hell? When truth is compromised for error, ultimately other
truth will be lost. As Paul says in Galatians, “A little leaven
leavens the whole lump of dough” (Galatians 5:9).
That’s a hard reality, isn’t it. Maybe this is why all of us
at times struggle with our practice of fellowship. Because we
each have dear friends in other churches, because by everything we see we’re confident of their sincere personal faith,