To the Ends of the Earth

Today, on Renewing Your Mind. And it's not how you would describe the church. It seems like it goes against the idea that Christians should be kind, compassionate, anything but militant.

But Dr. R.C. Sproul is going to explain how this term applies to us as the body of Christ. I remember when I was a seminary student preparing for the ministry, I had the opportunity to spend some hours with an elderly Methodist minister, and I took advantage of seeking to gain some insight from his vast experience. And after I had quizzed him on a number of things, he turned the tables and asked me a somewhat provocative question. He said, R.C., he said, if you were to choose between two images to describe the nature of the church, which of these two images would you select? And he gave me the options of an army or a hospital. He says, is the church more like an army, or is it more like a hospital? I didn't hesitate for a second. I knew the answer to that question cold.

I said, that's simple. The church is an army, because I was fired up. I was a young man. I had enlisted in the battle. I had enrolled for the duration, and I saw the principal task of the church to be a spiritual army for the cause of the kingdom of God. And I didn't look at the church principally as a place where I could go and have my wounds tended and have balm poured into my sores, but rather I wanted to enlist for battle.

And that's typical, I think, of youth who get more excited about the adventure of victory and conquest than of ministry to those who are in pain, who are lonely, who are hurting for one reason or another. Of course, this minister in his wisdom quickly rebuked me and told me that actually the question he had posed before me was intentionally a false dilemma. He said, son, the church is both an army and a hospital.

And that was a simple little thing that that man communicated to me so many years ago, but for some reason it's one of those things that has stuck in my mind ever since. I can remember the cynical words used by Madeline Murray O'Hare when she said that the church is the only army in the world that shoots its own wounded. Again, a cynical statement, but a statement that probably reflects some painful episode in her past where she didn't feel properly ministered to by the church. We do go to the church to be ministered unto, but there comes a time, ladies and gentlemen, when we are called, as we are strengthened by the means of grace, as we experience the healing that the church has to offer to us, there is a time where the call comes for us to enter into that warfare that the Apostle Paul says is a warfare not against flesh and blood, but it is against but it is against powers and principalities and spiritual wickedness in the high places. Beloved, for the church to be the church, the church must in this world be the church militant. And I don't believe the church can ever be the church triumphant unless it is first the church militant. No one can be victorious in the battle without being in the battle.

It's that simple, and that we have been called to a battle is abundantly clear in sacred Scripture. Let me go back and look at something that is recorded in the New Testament that takes place immediately following the martyrdom of Saint Stephen. I've already alluded briefly to the death of Stephen when I pointed to it as a watershed moment in church history where the establishment, the authorities of the existing church condemned Stephen to death as a heretic when in fact he was the one who was pleading the true faith. Well, after the record of his death in chapter 7 of Acts, we read these words in the beginning of chapter 8 of the book of Acts, and Saul was consenting unto his death, and at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem, and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria except the apostles.

And devout men carried Stephen to his burial and made great lamentation over him. As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering into every house and hauling men and women and committing them to prison. Verse 4 then reads, Therefore they that were scattered abroad went everywhere, preaching the word. Now here we have an exceedingly brief summation of an exceedingly important point of transition in the early church. We're told at the beginning of this chapter that this great persecution arose against the church in Jerusalem. And why was the church in Jerusalem in the first place? You remember that when Jesus ascended, He told His disciples to tarry in Jerusalem, He promised them, He said, you will receive power.

After that, the Holy Ghost will come upon you. And He instructed them to wait for that power from on high. And He said, from on high. But what was the purpose of that power? Christ was going to pour out His Spirit upon His church to empower them for the task on the mission that they had been given.

And He also set forth the purpose of that task. Do you remember at His ascension, the last question that His disciples asked, Lord, are you now going to restore the kingdom to Israel? And Jesus virtually ignores that question.

You know, He said, those days, not in my hands, none of your business. But then He said to them, what? But ye shall be my witnesses, first in Jerusalem, then in Judea, and then in Samaria, and then to the othermost parts of the earth. Now we see that the commission that Christ gives the church is one that works again in concentric circles. It begins here in Jerusalem, and then it moves outward from Jerusalem to Judea, and then to Samaria, and then where?

To the whole earth, basically. But the task to which every Christian is called is to be a witness, to be a witness. Now what's the context in which Jesus gives this task and this mandate to His church? Will you now restore the kingdom to Israel? It was in the context of a question that focused on the character of the kingdom of God.

Jesus is saying, wait a minute, you guys don't have it right. The times for the kingdom are in My Father's hands. When that's going to happen is none of your business, but in the meantime, when the King leaves, I am ascending now to My Father in heaven. I'm going to My coronation. I'm going to My investiture as the King of the kings and as the Lord of the lords, but My kingdom is invisible.

Pilate was looking around for Jesus' kingdom at the trial. Are you the King of the Jews? If you're the King, where's your palace?

Where's your army? Jesus said, My kingdom is not of this world. Does that mean that He has no dominion over this world, that the sphere of His authority doesn't include this world? On the contrary, all authority in heaven and earth has been given to Christ, and at the ascension He has been atthroned so that the King of kings is already seated in the place of cosmic authority. Do they understand that down in City Hall in Orlando? Do you think that Washington consults with the King of kings every day before it gives its decisions?

Do you think that every politician in the world is jealous to carry out the will of the One who is the King over Him? You know better than that, because no one can see no one can see the kingdom of heaven. No one can see Christ in His exalted state of cosmic authority. The kingdom of God right now is basically invisible. And so what's the primary task that Christ gives to the church? We talked already about the difference between the visible church and the invisible church. I remind you of what John Calvin said, the chief function of the visible church is to make the invisible church visible. That is, the true Christian is called by Christ to make the reign of Christ visible to the world. And the operative word is the word witness. There are all kinds of ways by which the church is called to bear witness to the kingdom of God and to the lordship of Christ. One of the most important is clearly the preaching of the gospel, the work of evangelism. That's a vital form of witness. But when the church ministers to the poor, when the church feeds the hungry, when the church gives water to the thirsty and clothes to the naked, when the church visits prisoners in jail, the church is making manifest, making visible the reign of Christ. So the general task is to bear witness, whether by ministry to the sick or to the imprisoned or whatever, by being fair on the job or by verbally preaching the gospel. Those are all forms of witness. But those of you who have never had the opportunity to study the Greek language perhaps are not aware of the Greek word that is translated by the English word witness.

Some of you I'm sure know what it is. I'll transliterate it for you on the board. Marturia, not Matoria, which would mean mature, but Marturia. What English word do you suppose comes from that? The word martyr. Those who died for the faith in the first century and through all of Christian history, those who bore witness to the kingdom of God even unto death by pouring out their own lives were called martyrs, not because they died but because they bore witness, because they made the invisible kingdom of God visible through their profession and through their obedience. But beloved, martyrdom occurs only when the church is the church militant.

Nobody ever bothers to persecute the church quiescent or the church acquiescent. The church was hardly born before persecution descended upon the followers of Christ, those followers whom Jesus once had defined as being the students who were not above the master. If the world has hated Me, they're going to hate you. You're going to have to take up your cross.

If you identify with Me, you're going to have to be willing to participate in My humiliation and in My disgrace and in My suffering if you ever want to participate in My glory and in My exaltation. And He had hardly left until the fire fell upon the early church and caused the Christian community that persecution was so severe that they fled from Jerusalem. It's ironic that that diagram of concentric circles was accomplished in the providence of God in the first instance because of persecution. It was persecution that drove the church out of Jerusalem and into Judea and into Samaria and into the uttermost parts of the earth. Now we noticed that in verse 4 of chapter 8 we read, therefore they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the Word. That was the net effect of persecution. Where the church was persecuted, it was dispersed, it was scattered, but wherever it was scattered, those that were scattered went everywhere preaching the Word.

Now here's my question. Who were those who were scattered? Did you catch it when I read it?

Let me read it again. And they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. Ladies and gentlemen, the church militant of the first century, the church militant that turned the world upside down was a church with a mobilized laity.

The apostles stayed in Jerusalem. It was the rank and file that fled and did the work of evangelism. One of the primary tasks of the church is to equip the saints for ministry. The church is not only here to nurture your soul and to prepare you for heaven, but also is to train you and assist you in gaining the skills to minister here in this world. Every Christian is called to participate in the ministry of the church to some degree and at some level. And it's only when the laity becomes mobilized that the church militant makes an impact on the world.

I understood that 20 years ago. That's why instead of devoting my life exclusively to the preparation of pastors in seminary education, I was called to participate in the ministry of the church. And when I was called to participate in the ministry of the church in seminary education, I was convinced that nothing was going to happen in this world for the cause of Christ until the gospel went to the layperson, until the layperson became equipped, became knowledgeable, became articulate, and not just a 90-day wonder conscripted in a national and skilled people who enlist in the army of Christ. But if you do it, if you join the church militant, you can expect persecution. When we're not persecuted, it's not so much because we've already won the battle and now everybody's a Christian. The reason why we're not persecuted is we're not considered a threat to anybody. We have been assigned to a reservation, and the second nation has said, as long as you behave yourself and live within the confines of that reservation, you have all the freedom and protection to pray as much as you want, to read the Bible as much as you want, to sing all the hymns you want, but you dare step off that reservation and it'll be your head. Don't you come in to the public arena with your faith.

You try that and you see how soon the hammer of persecution falls. But the early church was fighting for the kingdom of God, and they were prepared to be casualties to be casualties for Christ. Let me just read the conclusion of the roll call of faith that we find in the great chapter 11 of Hebrews where he concludes his rehearsal of the great actions of faith of the heroes of the past, and he says, "'But what shall I more say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon and of Barak, of Samson, of Jephthah, of David also, and Samuel and of the prophets, who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, and stopped the mouths of lions."

That's the church. They quenched the violence of the fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the alien. Women received their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection. And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings of bonds and imprisonment. They were stoned. They were sawn asunder.

They were tempted. They were slain, slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, and tormented, of whom the world was not worthy, all of them looking for a better country whose builder and maker was God, each of whom, at the end of his or her pilgrimage, passed over the line from the church militant and entered into the church triumphant. One of my great fears is that at the end of my life, God will say to me, Sproul, you are a man of whom the world was worthy.

What a judgment that would be. But unless we're willing to fight and willing to die, we are not the church. The call is to take up our cross and follow Christ. Our call is to follow in His suffering and to be willing to face persecution. We've heard another convicting message from Dr. R.C.

Sproul today, and you're listening to Renewing Your Mind. All week we have featured Dr. Sproul's series on the church, and our resource offers an important reminder of our duty as Christians. When you contact us today with a donation of any amount, we'd like to send you Dr. Robert Godfrey's latest series, The Necessity of Reforming the Church. Dr. Godfrey is a Ligonier teaching fellow and the chairman of the board of Ligonier Ministries. As a church historian, he's been observing trends in the church for many decades, and in this series he provides biblical ways we can bring reform to the church today. You're welcome to contact us and request all six messages. We'll send the DVD to you when you give a donation of any amount to Ligonier Ministries.

Again, the title of the series, The Necessity of Reforming the Church, by Dr. W. Robert Godfrey. You can reach us by phone at 800-435-4343, or you can make your request and give your gift online at redoingyourmind.org. I want to welcome Ligonier's president and CEO, Chris Larson, to the studio.

And Chris, the title of R.C. 's message today was, To the Ends of the Earth. And that seems appropriate as you and I thank our listeners for their support. We're reaching parts of the world that were unimaginable only a few months ago, and we're grateful for listeners from near and far. I know for many of our listeners and for so many students of Ligonier Ministries, this past year has been a difficult time for the people of God, not being able to gather with fellow believers on the Lord's Day for a period of time. And that separation has been difficult, but yet God's Word has continued to go forth and to encourage and equip God's people around the world. Just listen to this collection of testimonies that came in during that difficult time. Hi, I'm Joy.

I am a retired pharmacist from Arizona. I'm currently on vacation in Yellowstone. But if you're listening in the background, you may hear R.C. 22 years of listening to R.C.

I really can't turn it off. Whatever we watch or listen to, we know that it's truth, it is solid, it is biblical, and it is trustworthy. And for that, I'm so grateful. Through the teachings of R.C. Sproles, I was able to grow in Christ during a time where it was hard and I was very proud.

And I think R.C. Sproul would be very proud of how his ministry is being run. And I just want to thank you guys. And I can't thank you enough from the bottom of my heart to be able to feed me and for me to be able to grow in Christ.

Dr. Sproul has always been one of my favorite teachers, and he has taught me even as I've tried to teach others. So I'm grateful for Ligonier, grateful for all that they supply, and pray that it will continue on for generations to come. Please keep up what you're doing. Your labor is not in vain, and many lives have been changed because of Ligonier Ministries. Thank you, and God bless. Well, we thank you because those encouraging words put wind in our sails. We always enjoy hearing from you, our listeners. Well, we thank you for being with us today. And before we go, let me tell you about what we'll be featuring next week. Studying Scripture reveals everything we need to know about our sinfulness and God's faithfulness to save. Next week, Dr. Sproul examines the biblical doctrine of redemption, as summarized in the five solas of the Reformation. He'll remind us that God alone deserves the glory for our salvation. So I hope you'll join us beginning Monday for Renewing Your Mind.