What Does The Gospel Include?

It thrills my soul when my listeners take their valuable time to write tome about some message they have heard on the International Gospel Hour. A few weeks ago I received a letter from a dear lady in Kentucky. I am grateful for the letter and will respond to its contents in this lesson. I want her and you to understand that I have no ill will toward her because of the criticisms of my lesson. She has every right to disagree with what I taught on the program. And her attitude seems to be gracious. Incidentally, she closes her letter with this admonition: "Please share this letter with your friends." I am actually doing better than that. I am sharing it with an international audience. My lesson today has the title: "What Does the Gospel Include?"

Her first suggestion in the letter was for me to read Charles Swindoll’s book, The Grace Awakening. I read as widely as time permits, but I do not read Chuck Swindoll’s books. I know how popular his books are, but I choose not to buy them and read them because they are filled with Calvinism. Dr. Swindoll believes and teaches that we are saved by grace alone through faith alone. While I have no doubt of his sincerity, his view of salvation simply cannot be sustained from the teaching of scripture. If we were saved by grace alone through faith alone, why do all New Testament writers continually emphasize doing the will of God?

The New Testament uses the word "do" poieo in the Greek) 576 times. I would love to see anyone try to harmonize words like "do," "obey," "abide" and "keep" with the Calvinistic doctrine of salvation by grace alone through faith alone. Have Dr. Swindoll and my correspondent bothered to examine the book of James? I shall not take the time today to read large portions of James, but it is important to read some from this great book. "But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any man be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like a man beholding his natural face in a glass: for he beholds himself, and goes his way, and straightway forgets what manner of man he was. But whoso looks into the perfect law of liberty, and continues therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed" (Jas. 1:22-25). James also wrote: "Therefore to him who knows to do good, and does it not, to him it is sin" (Jas. 4:17).

I have read a great number of books by Calvinist scholars, such as, John MacArthur, Jr., R. C. Sproul, James Montgomery Boice, James White and others, but I have avoided buying Charles Swindoll's books. From what I know about Calvinist scholars, in my opinion, Dr. Swindoll does not rank very high among them. You have every right to disagree with my assessment of Swindoll's books, but I prefer to read from other Calvinists.

In the sermon the dear lady heard, I made reference to liberalism. She asked: "Did you know the dictionary definition of liberal is: favoring civil liberties, democratic reforms, and the use of public funds to promote social progress?" As an old English teacher, I live with dictionaries virtually everyday of my life. My dear wife and my sons bought me a copy of Webster's Third New International Dictionary. Hardly a day passes that I do not consult that scholarly dictionary or the Concise Oxford English Dictionary. Yes, I know the dictionary definition of political liberalism. But I was not speaking of political or economic liberalism. I had in mind theological liberalism. My correspondent should consult a theological dictionary, not a general dictionary of the English language. I assumed, incorrectly may I add, that my listeners would know I was speaking of theological liberalism.

The Evangelical Dictionary of Theology (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1984), edited by Dr. Walter Elwell, outlines the major feature of theological liberalism. The dictionary says that liberalism and modernism are basically the same. Liberals reject the inspiration of the Bible, the deity of Christ, the miracles of Jesus and of the apostles and the Bible as our only source of authority in religion. Former Episcopal Bishop, John Shelby Spong, one of the most liberal of the liberals, does not believe in the virgin birth, the reliability of the gospel records, the physical resurrection of Christ and the moral values taught in the Bible. Spong may be more radical than most liberals. He does not believe God is a person. I wonder if he prays to the force or to the unmoved mover. My correspondent would do well if she did more research before she writes letters of criticism.

The lady writes: "Meanwhile, Jesus' teachings of peace, acceptance, grace (giving unmerited love), giving to the poor, taking care of the widows, admonishing the rich, forgiving, and healing have been somewhat ignored in the pulpit and by government officials." I wonder where this dear lady attends worship services or if she attends at all. If her preacher does not discuss these topics, he ought to be plowing corn and not preaching Christ. The preachers I know—and I know hundreds and hundreds of them—preach on all the topics she listed. How could anyone faithfully proclaim the word without teaching what Jesus said about peace? "Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God" (Mt. 5:9). The apostle Paul admonished the Roman Christians: "Let us therefore follow after the things that make for peace, and the things wherewith one may edify another" (Rom. 14:19).

She said that Jesus taught acceptance and I agree, but on what basis did he accept men and women? Did he accept them unconditionally? If you are a serious Bible student, you should have no difficulty answering that question. Jesus Christ invited all men to come to him (Mt. 11:28-30). But he listed conditions we must obey to have our sins forgiven and be added to the Lord's church. For example, Jesus told some Jews they had to believe in him or be lost (John 8:24). He also taught in the Great Commission: "He who believes and is baptized shall be saved; but he who does not believe shall be condemned" (Mk. 16:16). And did he not tell men they had to deny themselves, take up their crosses and follow him (Mt. 16:24)? Christ gave other commands we must obey to be saved and given a home in heaven.

Are some preachers ignoring what the Bible says about grace? I suspect some preachers are. In fact, some preachers seem to care less about most Bible topics. But I do not know one preacher among churches of Christ who ignores what the Bible says about grace. Faithful gospel preachers deny that salvation is by grace alone. If they want to be faithful to the sacred text, they have no choice about that. I preach in a number of gospel meetings every year and have for many years. I always preach on grace during those meetings. When I was director of the Freed-Hardeman University Annual Lectureship, in 1987 we devoted a full week of lectures to the topic, "Grace Abounding." I had the privilege and responsibility of editing the book for that lectureship.

Is she correct in asserting that preachers are ignoring the Bible's teaching about giving to the poor? Are there some preachers who neglect preaching on helping the poor? It would be strange indeed if that were not the case. Tragically, there are preachers of all religious groups who seem more interested in entertaining their audiences than in preaching the whole counsel of God. But both the Old and New Testaments command God's people to take care of the poor. Solomon exhorted: "He who has pity upon the poor lends unto the Lord; and that which he has given will he pay him again" (Prov. 19:17). James admonished his readers: "My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. For if there comes unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; and you have respect unto him who wears the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand there, or sit here under my footstool: are you not then partial in yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? Hearken, my beloved brothers, Has not God chosen the poor in this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he has promised to them who love him? But you have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats? Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by which you are called? If you fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, You shall love your neighbor as yourself, you do well: but if you have respect of persons, you commit sin, and are convicted of the law as transgressors. For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all" (Jas. 2:1-10).

In the late 19^th century and in the early 20^th, there was a powerful force in this nation called "the social gospel movement." Washington Gladden, Josiah Strong, Walter Rauschenbusch and Charles M. Sheldon were influential leaders in this movement. Some of the leaders in the movement had little or no respect for sound doctrine. They were determined to initiate a social revolution. One of the best known literary works to come out of that movement was Charles Sheldon's best selling book, In His Steps: What Would Jesus Do? I read that book many years ago and there is much good in it, but it fails to emphasize the great doctrines of the Bible. We must do our best to improve the moral and spiritual atmosphere in the United States, but we can never do that without emphasizing the whole counsel of God, not just the social aspects of the gospel.

My correspondent seems to think that preachers are not adequately stressing Christians' obligations to take care of widows. That may be true of some preachers, but I seriously doubt it is true of most of them. Most people are familiar with these words: "Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world" (Jas. 1:27). I strongly suspect we do more preaching on helping widows and orphans than we do on keeping ourselves unspotted from the world. The Old Testament urged the Israelites to provide for widows. One example will have to suffice. The prophet Isaiah commanded the people of God: "Learn to do well; seek justice, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow" (Isa. 1:17). A church that fails to take care of widows is not the church of the living God, whatever its pretensions.

My correspondent accuses preachers of failing to admonish the rich. I have no way of proving or disproving her contention. I know I often speak on the dangers of trusting in our riches. In fact, in many of the meetings I conduct, I speak on the topic, "Hindrances to Fruit-Bearing." My lesson is based on the Parable of the Sower. Jesus said that some of the seed of the kingdom is sown among thorns. He then explains the meaning of the thorns. "And that which fell among the thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit unto perfection" (Lk. 8:7, 14). Matthew's record of the Parable of the Sower speaks of “the deceitfulness of riches" (Mt. 13:22).

The Bible nowhere condemns money as such. But when people believe that money will bring happiness, joy and fulfillment, they are being deceived. No passage in the Bible makes truth plainer than these words: "But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us therewith be content. But they who will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some have coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows" (1 Tim. 6:6-10). Incidentally, the Greek does not say that money is the root of all evil. It says the love of money is a root of all evil.

What should a man do if he has a great amount of money? Should he not give it all away? There are liberal theologians who seem to think that. But if we all gave all our possessions away, who would support us? There is no question about the deceitfulness of riches, but riches can be a blessing. Paul admonished Timothy: "Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy; that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate; laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold of eternal life" (1 Tim. 6:17-19). If we use our money to help the needy and to further the gospel of Christ, riches can be a great blessing.

The dear lady thinks that some of us who preach have ignored the Bible's teaching about forgiveness. I suspect that is true in some cases. But we must not overlook what the Bible teaches about forgiving one another and having God to forgive us. Paul pled with the Ephesians: "Be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you" (Eph. 4:32). Our Lord taught his disciples: "For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will forgive you: but if you do not forgive men their trespasses, you heavenly Father will not forgive you" (Mt. 6:14-15).

The word of God provides the avenue through which God forgives the sins that separate us from God. I do not have time to discuss in detail what the Bible says about being forgiven of our alien sins. I shall give you one example. The believing Jews on Pentecost asked the apostles, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" By the guidance of God's Holy Spirit, the apostle Peter answered: "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:38). The word, "remission," is the same Greek word translated "forgiveness." If we want our sins to be washed away and to be added to the church of our Lord, we must repent of our sins and be baptized for the remission of sins. To be faithful to the word of God, we must preach both types of forgiveness, our forgiveness of one another and God's forgiveness of us. A careful reading of the conversions in the book of Acts will confirm what I have just said about being forgiven.

Have we been ignoring the Bible's teaching on healing? We know from the pages of the New Testament that both Christ and the apostles performed some spectacular healings. For example, Peter and John healed a lame at the Beautiful gate of the Jewish temple in Jerusalem. The man had been lame since his mother's womb. The healing was instantaneous, complete and public. Nobody questioned the healing. In fact, the Jewish leaders admitted that a notable miracle had been done (Acts 4:16). If my correspondent has in mind so-called "healings'" in modern times, she needs to realize that all of these so-called "miracles" are fraudulent. Neither Benny Hinn nor Paul Crouch nor any other charismatic has ever performed a miracle. They are either deceived or they are deceiving their viewers and listeners.

The lady who wrote the letter insists: "The Gospel Hour, in my opinion, should promote the Gospel which includes everything in the previous paragraph," and that means preaching peace, acceptance, grace, giving to the poor, taking care of widows, admonishing the rich, forgiving and healing. I have news for the dear lady. I preach all of these great truths and many more. I strive with God's help to preach the whole counsel of God, that is, all that God has revealed in the New Testament for Christians.

The letter writer apparently objects to our government's opposition to terrorism. I have no desire to defend our government's actions. Some of her reasoning is way off base. She needs to re-examine what the terrorists have done to our country and have plans to do again. How are we going to live at peace when there are so many people who have plans to kill us and to take over our country?

She concludes her letter with this admonition: "May we once again do what Jesus taught us and become a just, benevolent, and respected people in the eyes of the world and God's." I agree that we must imitate the teaching and the example of Jesus Christ. But, tragically, doing what Jesus taught is one of the reasons many people in our world hate us. I know, as does every thinking person, that our nation has made some major blunders. But no country in the world has done so much to help other nations as has the United States. For example, when our nation defeated the Germans and the Japanese in World War II, we spent hundreds of billions of dollars helping those countries rebuild. In addition, wherever a tragedy, such as a tsunami or an earthquake, occurs anywhere in the world, the United States spends hundreds of millions of dollars and furnishes trained personnel to aid those nations that so desperately need help.

Winford Claiborne

The International Gospel Hour

P.O. Box 118

Fayetteville, TN 37334

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