PREACHING AND EVANGELISM

In the New Testament any follower of the Way could preach, de­ clare good news. Luke reports that Jesus said to someone, “Follow me.” But the man wanted first to bury his father. Then Jesus said, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and pro­ claim the kingdom of God” (Luke 9 : 59, 60). Jesus sent the disciples out on a preaching and healing mission (Matthew 10: 5; Mark 6 : 7) and also the seventy. The Gadarene demoniac is told, “Go home to your friends, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you” (Mark 5 : 19). The disciples are charged with preaching the Gospel to the whole world (Matthew 16 : 19; Mark 16 : 15; Luke 24 : 47, 48; John 20 : 21; Acts 1 :8 ) . Per­ secuted believers are scattered “and went around preaching the word” (Acts 8 :4; cf. 15 : 35). In order that the Apostels can devote themselves “to prayer and to the ministry of the word” seven men are chosen to adm inister the daily distribution of food (Acts 6 :1—6). But at least two of these men turn out to be preachers also (Acts 7 and 8 :5 ) . The Thessalonian believers “sounded forth” the word of the Lord everywhere (Thessalonians 1 :8 ) . All this is summarized in the fam iliar words of 1 Peter 1 :9, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s ovra people, that you may de­ clare the wonderful deeds of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.”

In the New Testam ent, evangelism understood as bringing good news with a view to conversion, was not a subject to be debated and endlessly defined. It was as n atu ral as eating and breathing. All of the theology of the New Testam ent comes out of the m issionary con text. As C hrist was sent into the world, so is the church. The question of evangelism never comes up. The heart-beat of the church was in missions and evangelism. In the intervening years, however, this too changed. T here arc all kinds of historical reasons for this not the least of which is the trem endous success which the church enjoyed until it becam e the m ajority faith in m any lands and constantinianism established it.
In Reformed theology a distinction has often been m ade between missions and evangelism. Missions is considered to be gospel outreach to those who have nev^er heard the Gospel or to those who are fa r away geographically or culturally. Evangelism is construed to be gospel outreach to those who have strayed from the covenant and those who are most like ourselves ethnically and geographically. I have searched in vain for the origin of this distinction or its biblical w arrant. I know it was widely held by Dutch theologians in the first half of this century and is still held by Die G ereform eerde Kerk van Suid-Afrika. This distinction is useful in so fa r as it helps us to tailor the com m unication of the etern al Gospel to the needs, circum stances and backgrounds of those to whom we preach. But on the whole the distinction only confuses a work th at is already too much restricted by distinctions, theological pronouncem ent and ecclesiastical inver sion. T here is only one Gospel to be preached. This Gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith (Romans 1 : 16).
It would be of g reat benefit to the spiritual health and vitality of the church if we could let go of some of our officiousness, our love of control by rules and regulation, the theological walls we build around the Gospel and recapture the New T estam ent atm osphere in which preaching and evangelism could be and was the task of all. We need to read again Roland A llen's The Spontaneous Expansion o/ the Church. By "spontaneous expansion" he m eant, among other things, "th e unexhorted and unorganized activity of individual m em bers of the church explaining to others the Gospel which they have found for them selves" (p. 7). He goes on to say, "W hether we consi d e r o ur doctrine, or our civilization, o r our morals, or our organiza tion, in relation to a spontaneous expansion of the church, we arc seized with terror, te rro r lest spontaneous expansion should lead to diso rd er" (p. 13). In the church today we need to ask in all se riousness w hether our love for order and control has quenched the Spirit who first came upon the church in a rushing m ighty wind and in due time toppled the tem ple and built a new tem ple v/herevcr men and women called upon the Name of the Lord.

THE COVENANTAL CONTEXT
We shall keep these things in mind as we tu rn m ore specifically to the topic preaching and evangelism. By preaching now is m eant the explanation and application of the Word of God, the Bible, as th at is addressed to God's people gathered for public worship, usually on Sunday, with a viev/ to the edification of believers. By evangelism is m eant this sam e explanation and application of the Scriptures with a view to the conversion of the uncom m itted.
It is im portant to see the larg er context of preaching and evan gelism. Both are distinctly covenantal activities. God has sovereignlyraised up a covenantal people, reconciled them to Him self by His Son and revealed Him self by the inspired W ord. His people are to grow up to m aturity and to be equipped for m inistry (Ephesians 4 : 11-16). The covenant has universal dim ensions and intentions. The prom ises of the covenant are not only to "you and to your children" but also "to all th at are fa r off." God has His elect people every w here and among all peoples, "everyone whom the Lord our God calls to Him" (Acts 2 : 39). The G reat Commission of M atthew 28 is a republication of God's prom ise to A braham th at "all peoples on ea rth will be blessed through you" (Genesis 12 ; 3). This was, says the Apostle Paul, "The preaching of the Gospel beforehand to A bra ham " so th at all who have faith may claim Abraham as their father (Galatians 3 : 6 -9). Those who form erly were strangers to the co venant and therefore separated from Christ have "been brought near in the blood of C hrist" (Ephesians 2 : 12, 13). By His coming, Christ has brought to an end all hostility and division between those of every language race and nation who have faith and m ade them mem bers of one body, the household of God. The message th at brings them together is the same fo r all; "And He came and preached peace to you who were fa r off and peace to those who were n ea r" (Ephe sians 2 ; 13-22). Seen from the perspective of th e covenant, th ere fore, preaching and evangelism are inseparably connected.

THE DIMENSION OF WORSHIP
Preaching and evangelism also have their own prim ary context. Preaching is done in the context of public worship of the church and evangelism is done in the context of the mission of the church, with mission here understood as all th at the church is sent to do and say in m inistry to the world.
T here is nothing m ore characteristic of God's people than th at they worship the Triune God from whom all blessings flow. Our entire lives are to be lived as liturgies of love to God in response to Jesus Christ. This is the proper covenantal response to God. When God published the covenant to Abraham we read "Then Abraham fell on his face" (Genesis 17 :3 ). This response is fu rth e r described by Paul when, having lauded the depths of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God and ascribed to Him glory forever (Rom ans 11 : 33-36), he says, "I appeal to you therefore, brethren, by the m er cies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship" (Romans 12 : 1). Similarly, the Apostle P eter urges his readers to be "built unto a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus C hrist" (1 P eter 2 : 5 ) .
The response of worship in the totality of life comes to full ex pression in the public, corporate worship of the gathered congrega tion. This public corporate praise of God has its roots in tabernacle and tem ple worship and continues for the people of God who are "grateful for a kingdom th at cannot be shaken and thus . . . offer to God acceptable worship with reverence and awe" (Hebrews 12 : 8). The congregation gathered for worship is in many ways the address of the church w here it may be found at home and at its best.
The g reatest sin in worship is to be boring, apathetic or dull and to be so predictable and safe in the order of events th a t all sense of expectation is gone and no surprises are possible. P articular ly churches th a t pride them selves in being "non-liturgical" can be so rigid in w hat may and may not happen in the service th at it seems the Holy Spirit m ust feel strait jacketed by our patterns.
In corporate public it is God who calls the m eeting. He sets C hrist center stage and He says "Let's talk." God's praise is sung. He is adored. The w orshippers bring th eir entire lives and offer them to God. God says: "Grace to you and peace . . . " and the people re spond, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty! Early in the morning o u r songs shall rise to Thee." There is intercession and thanksgiving. The high voltage of the Spirit can scarcely be contained in the acts of worship so th at we adore Him even speechlessly or, alternatively, are struck dumb by our lack of conform ity to God's law only to hear a new God's forgiveness through Jesus Christ. There is instruction, encouragem ent and consolation from God's Word. T here is an inten sity about all this th a t can scarcely be obtained by worship in solitude. God's people are a body with m any m em bers. Christ is present in a special way w here m ore than the individual g ather for worship (M atthew 18 : 20). If we em brace God it is only because He has first em braced us as p art of His people and incorporated us, by baptism, into His covenant people. There is, therefore, a prim ary vertical dim ension in worship which gives public worship its unique power. The people respond and God continues to speak and act.
T here is, however, also a strong horizontal bond in public wor ship. It is, after all. corporate worship. The book of Hebrews em pha sises this when it says. "L et us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to m eet together, as is the hab it of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day draw ing n e a r" (Hebrews 1 0 :2 4 , 25). We therefore em brace not only God, but one another: "He who does not love his b ro th er whom he has seen cannot love whom he has not seen. And this com m andm ent we have from him, th at he who loves God should love his b ro th er also" (1 John 4 : 20, 21). In the worship service, dis-Itinctions of class or kind fall away between those who love God. Else we m ake distinctions among ourselves "and become judges with evil thoughts" (Jam es 2 : 1-9). The worship service is not only "the assem bly of the first-born enrolled in heaven" b u t th ere is commu nion th ere too with "innum erable angels in festal gathering" (He brews 2 : 22, 23). The cohering reality of it all is in Jesus Christ who is both eldest brother and Lord.
W orship is som ething we do, we engage in it. Body and soul are stretched; heart and voice are heard. We are not sim ply audience but actors. And we bring into worship everything we are as citizens of a heavenly kingdom who are in the world but yet not of it. In public worship the church is to be seen at its best: faith, hope and love are in full bloom; grace, m ercy and peace shine. T here is a seam less robe of fellowship th ere between sisters, brothers and th eir R edeem er with on it the words "healed and forgiven." It is for these reasons th at worship has trem endous evangelizing power. T here are m any believers today who can testify th at the first conscious stirrin g of the Holy Spirit in th eir lives came as a resu lt of w hat they felt and observed in a public worship service. The welcome they received, the friendship th at was offered, the con crete joy th at was present m otivated, them , in turn, to listen to what was said and to respond in repentance and faith. Genuine Christian w orship dem onstrates w hat cannot be observed and heard anyw here else in the world; Spirit and tru th (John 4 :2 4 ).

THE DIMENSION OF MISSION
But there is m ore to this connection between preaching and evange lism. The church of God is an apostolic, m issionary people. As Christ was sent into the world, so too His people are sent. The same Spirit which once was given to Christ w ithout m easure is now given to His people (John 20 :21, 22). The covenantal promise "all peoples of the earth will be blessed through you" (Genesis 12 : 3) is republished when Jesus said, "you will be my witnesses . . . to the end of the ea rth " (Acts 1 : 8 ) .
This essential m issionary nature of the church is not something th at can be tu rn ed off or on. The mission of the church is at the heart of w hat it m eans to be God's people. In fact, worship rises from mis sion, participates in the work of this mission and leads to mission. God is a m issionary, evangelizing God who calls unto Himself a mis sionary, evangelizing people who worship Him while on their missio n ary pilgrimage.
Because as we have said earlier, the address of the church where it m ay be found at home and at its best is at the gathering of God's people for public worship, the erroneous im pression is often left with God's people th at the only business of the church is worship and the edification of those who are already believers. About this Paul Hoon in The Integrity of Worship writes. "Materials commonly used in worship reinforce this inversion and edify the congregation in a bad ra th e r than in a good sense. Many church rites, prayers, responsive readings, invitations to worship .. . reinforce a congrega tion's preoccupation with itself" (p. 332). He adds, "An unlearning of th e esse of the Church as only cultic and a relearning of the esse of the Church as a/.so apostolic may need to be the first order of business, and in very practical ways. This may require for one thing a change in strategy whereby th e pastor reconceives his priorities, first sensitizes the laym an to experiences of m inistry in the world, and then works inductively into the m eaning of liturgy. And as long as liturgical action is understood as having integrity only insofar as it em braces both, and as long as the presence of Christ is under stood as the source of the life and the shape of the mission the lay man lives out in the world, such an approach m ay be indicated" (pp. 333,334).

PREACHING GOOD NEWS
Having set preaching and evangelism in th eir contexts of worship and mission and asserted th at these two essential tasks of the church m ay not be practised in isolation from one another, how does this affect the week by week preaching? Evangelism is, at its sim plest, preaching good news. And preaching good news is the centerpiece in the Reform ed worship service. Preachers and books on preaching tend to qualify serm ons in m any different ways. A preacher may be preaching a doctrinal sermon or catechism serm ons or a series of serm ons on the Apostel's Creed or expository messages on a book of the Bible. He may be preaching "through th e Bible" with one ser mon on each of the sixty-six books of the Bible o r a series of mes sages on Old Testam ent characters. Sermons may be topical or semitopical in n atu re such as when the preacher deals w ith m arriage and fam ily life. The g reat m oral problem s of our day such as abortion, nuclear arm am ents, sexual behaviour, and m aterialism may be dealt with. The pulpit cannot and may not ignore the social and political questions th a t are faced nationally and internationally. But all these serm ons will have in common th a t they are Gospel preaching: the good news of Jesus Christ crucified, risen, ruling and coming again.
Serm ons will warn, teach, exhort, comfort, inspire, encourage, m otivate, convince, stim ulate, lead to decision, and build up the saints-and in doing these things they will always be Gospel: the good news of Jesus Christ.
"It is my contention" w rites John R. W. Stott, "th at all true C hristian preaching is expository preaching" (B etween Ttoo Worlds: The A rt of Preaching in the Twentieth Century, p. 125). The classic Reformed m ethod is to take one or m ore verses of Scripture, distill the central them e and then organize the m aterial with several sub divisions. Application m ay be m ade throughout the serm on or prim a rily at its conclusion. Add an introduction, and the sermon is ready to be preached. It m ust be emphasized, however, th at w hat is preched m ust not be m erely the verse o r verses, but the entire Word of God and therefore Jesus Christ. Mere moralizing dim inishes o u r Lord and counterfeits the Gospel. Believer and unbeliever alike will be exhorted to tru st Jesus C hrist as the only way to God.
T here is only one Gospel -only "one body and one S p ir it.. . one hope . . . one Lord, one faith, one baptism , one God and Father, who is above all and through all and in all' (Ephesians 4 : 4 , 5, 6). T here is not one Gospel fo r the world and one fo r the church, there is not one gospel for the covenant backslider and one for the pagan. As P aul says so graphically to the Galatians, "But if we o r an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to th at which we preached to you let him be accursed. O, foolish G alatians, who has bew itched you before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified?" (G alatians 1 :8, 9 and 3 : 1 ) .
Unbelievers in the pew m ust h ear this Gospel loud and clear. If they do not h ear it and go home accursed, it is the church and the p reach er who, according to Ezekiel and Paul, have blood on their hands (Ezekiel 3 3 :1 -9, Acts 2 0 :2 6 , 27). Joyful and celebrative as worship m ust be, varied and broad as preaching m ay be, they are at the sam e tim e a m atter of life and death.

PREACHING AS TEACHING
The S criptures do distinguish in the m atter of preaching and teach ing between milk and meat. Paul explains to the C orinthians that they w ere as yet babes in Christ, in need of milk and still not ready fo r m eat (1 Corinthians 3 : 1 , 2). And the w riter to the Hebrews w ants to go on from elem entary and foundational teaching to m at ters th at lead to m aturity (H ebrew s 6 : 1 ) . I do no propose th a t the m issionary n atu re of the church and the inevitable evangelistic dim en sion of preaching dem and th at sermons always be milk. The people of God do need to be fed the m eat of the Gospel in order to grow to m aturity. I would like to make some observations about this, lest we think th at the evangelistic interest of the church will lim it the preach er to the abc's of the gospel.
In the first place, the people of God, believers and their child ren, gathered for public worship are always a m ixture of the spiri tually m ature, the im m ature and the unconverted. The milk of the gospel may never be missing, therefore. Secondly, the spiritually m a tu re who can be fed spiritual m eat but who complain when the abc's of the gospel are proclaimed thereby call into question their m atu rity. The believer's ea r never tires of hearing Christ proclaimed as crucified, risen, ruling and returning. The call to conversion is appli cable to all since we believe th at conversion is not only the initial turning to God but equally a life-long process of sanctification (cf. Heidelberg Catechism, Lord's Day 33). The genuinely m ature believer will pray for and expect th a t in the worship service there is room for the beginning of faith on the p art of the uncom m itted. In this con nection D. M artin Lloyd Jones issues an im portant warning: "I am urging th a t all the people who attend a church need to be brought un d er the power of the Gospel. The Gospel is not only and merely for the intellect; and if our preaching is always expository and for edification and teaching it will produce church m em bers who are hard and cold and often harsh and self-satisfied. I do not know of anything th at is m ore likely to produce a congregation of Pharisees than ju st th at (Preaching and Preachers, p. 152, 153).
The third observation in connection with feeding spiritual m eat to the congregation is this: m eat is best digested in little pieces, one bite at a time. The pulpit is no place for a display of abstract theolo gical learning and a scholar's vocabulary. We m ust disabuse the con gregation from the notion th at "deep" is the sam e as difficult and the real Reformed teaching is that which goes over the heads of most people. It is a perpetual challenge for the preacher to preach gospel m eat in a simple, tran sp aren t way. Finally, we need to re m em ber th at spiritual m aturity come not only by right learning but also by rig h t practise. Orthodoxy and orthopraxis belong together. I take it to be the teaching of Ephesians 4 : 11-16 th at the "m easure of the statu re of the fulness of C hrist" comes at least in part as the saints m inister to one another and to the world in word and deed. It is the universal experience of the church, for example, th at those m em bers who learn to articulate the faith to th eir neighbours find this to be a significant means of grace and growth in th eir own lives.
The relationship between preaching and evangelism dem ands th at th e congregation is well instructed in the n ature of the church as God's m issionary people. This will require preaching on the Bibli cal texts which teach this. A series of serm ons on the book of Acts, fo r example, is one way to do this. It is im portant for the congrega In die SkrijUg 29 tion to be oriented to its evangelistic task and the consequences of this for worship so th at pew and pulpit act on the same assumptions and live by the sam e expectations.
Paradoxically, the relationship between evangelism and preachm g also requires that there be a careful balance between w hat may seem to be self-serving concerns and concern for others. The church does not exist for the world nor does the world set its agenda. The church exists for God. He sets the agenda. It is God's aim to restore the fallen creation to set it "free from the bondage to decay" (Ro m ans 8 : 21). To that end He sent His Son into the world and gave to the church His Spirit as a guarantee of the full Inheritance to come (Ephesians 2 : 13, 14). A lready all things are under C hrist's feet (Ephesians 3 :2 2 ) . Until the time comes for the completion of all things and every knee shall bow to God and give Him praise (Philippians 2 : 11) there is an interim agenda for the church. It is to acknowledge C hrist's universal authority and therefore to make disciples of all nations (M atthew 28 : 18, 19). It is a m istake, th ere fore, fo r the church to be preoccupied with itself, to be ecclesiocentric. R ather, the church is pre-occupied with its Lord and His autho rity over all things and concern for a new creation. Preaching re flects this and lets the light of the Gospel illum ine all the various questions, trends, problem s and issues with which the world strug gles. It is in the light of the Gospel th at sin appears at its shabbiest, th a t the idolatry of our political ideologies is laid bare, th at injus tices are clearly seen, th at our vaunted power structures are exposed as demonic. Jesus is Lord! T hat confession has consequences for our personal lives as well as all of life. This preaching of C hrist's Lord ship establishes a beachhead in the hearts of individuals-hencc even when Gospel preaching highligts the cosmic dimension of the king dom, such preaching, m ust often be accompanied by the dem and for personal repentance and faith and the promise of eternal life (Rom ans 14 :1 6 ).
INVITATIONAL PREACHING Does the relationship between preaching and evangelism dem and an invitation, the so-called altar call? In the Reformed tradition, al ta r calls of any kind have always been avoided. Grace is sovereign and does not depend on em otional m anipulation. The entire "invi tation system ," as it has been called by Iain M urray in a book bv th a t title, rests on an A rm inian theology of hum an autonom y and free will. In some fundam entalistic quarters the giving of an altar call is axiom atic -one sim ply has not preached the Gospel w ithout it. In th e Reform ed churches we need to exam ine our opposition to this and ask w hether our neglect of assuring an invitation is based on a rejection of m ethodistic and A rm inian extrem es or on our un derstanding of the Gospel.
F o r all his opposition to the invitation system, Iain M urray says quite rightly, "T here is no discussion about w hether it is right to invite men to come to Christ. T hat issue should be indisputable to those who believe Scripture. Nor is it an open question w hether m an's responsibility to repent and believe should be emphasized in evangelism. W ithout such an emphasis there can be no evangelism at all in any biblical sense of the word" (The Invitation System, p.

).
The Gospel is by nature invitation. Jesus invites and says, "Come" (M atthew 1 1 :2 8 ). Because He is Lord, the invitation is also a command. Preachers should not hesitate to stress the invitation and command. The church which takes its evangelistic m andate se riously will from tim e to tim e make th at dem and very specific and indicate how those who are led by the Spirit to respond may make this known and seek fu rth e r help. It is instructive to read what D. Martin Lloyd-Jones says about this. A fter extensively dealing with the e rro r of the altar call he nevertheless says, "The appeal should be im plicit throughout the whole body of the sermon, and in all th at you are doing I would say, w ithout hesitation, th a t a distinct and separate and special appeal at the end after a break, and after a hymn, should only be made when one is conscious of some over whelming injunction of the Spirit of God to do so. If I feel that, I do it; b u t it is only then. And even then the way which I do it is not to ask people to come forward; I ju st make it knovm th at I am ready to see them at the end of the service or at any other time. Indeed, I believe th at the m inister should always make an announce m ent in some shape or form th at he is available to talk to anybody who wants to talk to him about th eir soul and its eternal distiny" (Preaching and Preachers, p. 282).
Before I come to the conclusion on the subject, the question arises w hether the preacher should exhort people to be diligent witnesses and evangelists in their daily life, work and relationships In so fa r as this is taught in th e Scriptures he should w ithout a doubt do so. B ut only if the preacher him self is prepared to be a model and preferably is p repared to take along one o r more m em bers on his evangelistic visitation. If the preacher is not prepared to do this, the congregation will not either. All preachers should ponder again w hat Paul says to Timothy; "I charge you in the presence of God and of C hrist Jesus who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word, be urgent in season and out of season; convince, rebuke, exhort, be unfailing in patience and in te a c h in g . . . do the work of an evangelist, fulfil your m inis try " (2 Tim othy 4 ; 1-5).

CONCLUSION
Having exam ined now the relationship of the church and preaching in the light of the m issionary n ature of God's people, I urge you let the church open wide its doors and invite and expect people of every kind, class and color to taste and see th at the Lord is good and His m ercy extends over all He has m ade. I am saying this for the good of the church, for its growth, and for C hrist's sake who did not reject the adulterous woman at the well, or the children, or the tax col lectors or any of sinners who sought Him out. Indeed, he was not content to w ait for them , bu t sought them out. I do not m ean at all to say th a t evangelism or evangelistic con cerns should somehow take over the worship service. There will al ways be a sense in which the unbeliever is an outsider looking in. True worship is an act of those whose hearts are m ade right by faith in Christ. The integrity of worship m ay n o t be destroyed by m aking the service into a gospel crusade rally. But it is precisely the inte grity and power of such true worship accom panied by the preaching of God's W ord th at will lead the in q u irer to conversion and declare "God is really among you!" (1 C orinthians 14: 25).
All this has trem endous practical consequences for everything th a t happens before, during and afte r the worship service. We need, in the light of the m issionary n ature of God's worshipping people, not only to examine prcaching but also such things as the welcome ex tended to m em bers and visitors, the announcem ents m ade in bulletin and service, the prayers, the celebration of the sacram ents and the hym ns th at are sung.
In M atthew's Gospel th e re are two occasions in which Christ prom ises His continued presence -a presence which is at the heart of covenantal life. In the first instance he says "W here two or three are gathered in my nam e, th ere am I in th e m idst of them " . (M at thew 1 8 :2 0 ). The second tim e is when Jesus m et His disciples in Galilee following His resurrection. There, we read, "They worship him " and Jesus declared to them His authority, commanded them to disciple the nations, baptizing and teaching them, "and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age" (M atthew 28 : 17-20). Thus C hrist joins, w ith the prom ise of his presence, these two ccntral tasks of the church; worship and mission.