It is a disturbing fact in missionary history that what began as a sincere effort to go out and convert people of the world to believers in Christ has often eventually developed into a conversion of missionaries and their sending churches to paganism. That remarkable reversal should not altogether surprise us. The Lord had no sooner announced to the confessing Peter, “Upon this rock I will build my church” (Matt. 16:18), than the devil trapped that disciple of Christ into a denial of His atonement (vv. 22, 23)! The Lord’s missionary church is engaged in a mortal war and as soon as it loses sight of its combatant role, ceases to maintain it in dependence on the Lord’s Word and Spirit, and exchanges it for a more congenial and cooperative activity, it is losing instead of winning its war.

This state of affairs is unusually well described in an editorial article by J.C. Maris in the March and April 1983, issues of Getrouw, the Dutch publication of the International Council of Christian Churches. Of the article entitled “Zending, Missionair of Demissionair?” an abbreviated free translation follows.

Christ’s Commission

In the Lord’s missionary call (Matt. 28:19) He ordered His church to “Go . . . and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you.” The greatness of this task is apparent when we observe that “teaching” means to “make disciples” and that it is applied to “all nations.” Noting that Christ at the same time said, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth,” we see Him claiming unlimited world–rule.

Anyone looking around at the world is prompted to ask whether that is not claiming too much. With few exceptions, the world seems to rock that claim.

Devil and World

Perhaps, instead of “world,” one should say “the devil.” But the Lord’s order reckons with that. At Calvary He overcame the devil and his kingdom. Missions is therefore the proclamation of the King and His victory. The devil knows that full well, and is prodded into feverish counter activity, as we see in those he “possessed.” But the Lord demonstrated His victory over the devil. Recall the demonstration of that victory in Luke 4:33–37. The amazed people said, “What is this message? For with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits, and they come out.” This was not an exceptional case. The same thing happened to “many” (v. 41). “The Son of God appeared for this purpose, that He might destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8). The process announced in Genesis 3:15 (the struggle of the seed of the woman against the seed of the serpent) is now completely controlled by Christ’s victory. Satan endures defeat after defeat.

While we might have wished that the devil would now be cast into his eternal punish ment (Rev. 20:10), we still, as New Testament church, experience his power and trickery. Although overcome, he still goes about as a “roaring lion” (1 Pet. 5:8), and we constantly encounter the opposition of “the devil and his whole dominion.” We must learn to resist him (1 Pet. 5:9) and overcome him “by the blood of the Lamb” (Rev. 12:11). We must do this especially in the work of missions.

   

Christ the Victor

Accordingly, we are alerted to the effort and purpose of God’s enemy to destroy His work in the world of man, and at the same time assured of victory in the missionary command of Christ who has all power, and who promised, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matt. 28:20). Although His followers are forewarned of opposition and persecution , the outcome is never in doubt, as the missionary gospel goes to the ends of the world (Matt. 24:14).

The Gospel of the Kingdom

This gospel is the “gospel of the kingdom.” It is not merely friendly “good news” to be noticed or ignored; it demands unconditional acknowledgement of God as the only King. This gospel of the kingdom demanding obedient submission, is at the same time the only good news for sinners. Rebellious men must once again know, acknowledge and glorify God as their only King. Christ came to accomplish that (cf. I Cor. 15:24).

God’s Enemy

Satan hated that kingdom because he wanted it for himself and tempted mankind to support him with his lie, “You shall be as God.” In the same vein, he claimed ownership of all nations and offered that to his worshipper (Luke 4:5–7).

The preaching of the gospel of the kingdom confronts men with the ultimatum, “Repent or perish,” on the authority of Christ, the Triumphant Lord.

Since the authoritative announcement of the kingdom of God means the destruction of the works of the devil (1 John 3:8), we should not be surprised at the violent reactions it provokes. We see such reactions in the persecutions of ancient Rome, of Reformation times, and of the Nazis and communists of our age. Satan’s counteroffensive also takes the forms of erroneous teachings and deceptions. His apostacies in the church disappoint and discourage many orthodox believers in our time. How did matters ever come to such a pass? The church no longer offers security. To transfer to another church is not easy. And sometimes one sees the same symptoms in the other church. Although we may hesitate to ascribe this state of affairs to the devil, the Bible plainly teaches that error and apostasy are in his work. We may be deterred from recognizing that because the people involved may often be attractive and highly respected. People who later are revealed as heretics may have been models of good behavior.

Although they may err at certain points, they may even have said much that was appealing and edifying. We cannot say how much of error and piety may be found in the same person. But we should observe that the piety gives the error more opportunity to enter. This is the way things are in the militant church. Rest is found in the church only in the measure that it in doctrine, preaching, teaching and pastoral care represents Jesus Christ. Unless we believe in an infallible church, Roman Catholic style, our view of the church needs to be corrected, as the Lord warns us in the church to watch and pray, to strive, repent, and test the spirits. The New Testament is full of such admonitions. The Lord issued them in His letters to the seven churches in Asia Minor (Rev. 2, 3). The coming of Christ’s kingdom involves an attack on the devil’s realm.

We must not be surprised to find this state of affairs especially in carrying out the missionary commission.

Consider in this connection especially one of the Lord’s parables about the kingdom of heaven . A man had sown good seed in his fi eld during the day. At night his enemy sowed tares amid the wheat. The weeds at first looked deceptively like wheat. Only as they grew did the difference become apparent. In His explanation. Jesus said, “The field is the world,” thereby applying it rather to the mission than to the church. And he said that the enemy was the devil, whose work is done in the dark and is at first undetected. But weeds soon grow. We must reckon with them. Note that the Lord is not as upset about this as the servants are, who want to remove the weeds at once. The Lord, in due time, takes care of sin. And the weeds cannot prevent the growth of the wheat.1

The Century of Missions

The gospel seed has been sown in many lands in fulfillment of the missionary commission. But there has also been much degeneration and falling away. As we are upset, the Lord explains that an enemy, the devil, has done this. And the work goes on. It was long after the Reformation before the restored church became fully conscious of its mission. It had its hands full in its own fields. A new initiative appeared with the coming of the 19th century. The “office of believers” began to be exercised and before the church bodies were aroused , interchurch missionary organizations were organized to take up missionary work. The 19th century became the century of missions . The churches, slowly but surely, followed. In confronting missionary problems international and interchurch missionary conferences were arranged to promote the work. In such conferences denominational differences inevitably came under discussion. Was it necessary to carry them over into the mission fields?

Beginning of the Ecumenical Movement

In this way it came about that in the missionary world the desire arose to overcome denominational differences and recover the unity of the church.

In the same 19th century the principles of Biblical criticism were also at work in many western lands. Modernism arose to bring destruction in many churches. The principle of evolution, especially as Darwin promoted it, found its echo among theologians, who applied it to religion. Comparative religion arose as a new field of study with an attempt to explain the evolution of religions and relativizing religious differences. God’s special self-revelation was denied, to make way for the notion that Christianity and Judaism were not in principle different from the paganism out of which they had developed. On that basis there was no need for conversion—or missions.

The Twentieth Century

The relationship of Christianity to non-Christian religions was the theme of many missionary conferences. Especially in the mission field men pled for church-unity and Liberal lines of thought gained ground as they promoted the idea that all religions were in principle good. Thus the gospel was perverted into a social-political program to achieve the old liberal ideal of the brotherhood of all men under the universal fatherhood of God. Missions became developmental programs.² The change in missionary thinking must be seen in the light of the parable as the tares appearing instead of wheat. The parable forewarned us fo expect t his. No sooner does the missionary proclamation of the kingdom of heaven begin than the evil one comes and sows his innocent—appearing ecumeism in the mission field. And the gospel is traded in for the idea of universal reconciliation.

No Panic!

The Lord Himself called our attention to this development, not to frighten us but to prepare us to meet it. He knew of the coming developments and assures us of His victory. But all sowers and sowing churches need to face the question whether they are sowing the good seed. Under the influence of the spirit of our age we can become so preoccupied with social concerns and practical work that the real gospel preaching is displaced . We must resist the falsifying and Liberal undermining of gospel preaching, and make every effort to fully proclaim that gospel. We must also be on guard against over-simplifying it in missions and in evangelism. The Lord told us to teach “to observe all that I commanded you.” People of all nations get the same teaching as his disciples.

The message is the authoritative gospel of the Kingdom. It will be preached throughout the world, also in lands where only atheism may be officially sown. The harvest time approaches and the harvest will not be disappointing. Therefore, “Sower, continue to sow in God’s Name!”

Notes: 1. This parable should not be used as an excuse for neglecting to practice within the churches the discipline which the Word of God enjoins (1 Cor. 5:2 Thess 3:6, 14).

²The World Missions report in the 1983 Christian Reformed synod Agenda contains a dramatic example of such a distortion of the gospel message into a program that seems to be almost completely preoccupied with social and political development. Note the “General Information” (pp. 49, 50): “The challenge of the church and its mission is to sustain this powerful message of real and lasting development in the midst of famine, drought, fragile soils, unemployment, power shortages, poor wages, pollution, sickness, inadequate sanitation and poor housing. Only the power of God can free Africa from the anguish of life.”