From Theology to Missions

What about the Kids?

E. Michael Kessler — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 18:08:06 +0000

nice knife

Missionaries often get used to hearing certain questions again and again whenever they meet new people in the United States. “Where are you going?” and “What will you be doing over there?” are two that are certain to come up whenever a missionary makes a new acquaintance. These questions are easily met with a smile, since they provide the missionary with an opportunity to glorify God by talking about what God is doing in the world. There is another common question that many missionaries find more difficult to answer: “What about the kids?”

I had this last question asked to me recently in a slightly altered form. I had just finished explaining that I had been in Japan for three years, I was then asked, “Did your kids go with you?” I am, like many missionaries I know, rather attached to my kids. I couldn’t imagine leaving Sophia behind for three years, and Elyse was born on the field. Mandi and I miss our kids if they visit their grandparent’s house for a day or two, I can’t imagine what it would be like to leave them behind for years.

When the missionary attempts to answer questions about the kids, he or she will often highlight the positive effects missions can have on a child’s life. For example, the child will be bicultural, and therefore he will be able to see the world in a way that is fuller and richer than someone who lives in only one culture. Furthermore, the child will be bilingual, which might help him to secure a great job one day.

If the missionary is talking to a Christian, he might go on to highlight some benefits for Christ’s kingdom when kids are on the field. For example, a missionary with his wife and kids will be accepted in a way that a single person will not. It is certainly possible for a single missionary to make the move from being an outsider to being an insider in his host culture, but is is much easier for him to do so if he has his family with him. A man with his wife and kids is inherently non-threatening. It is easy for the people in his host culture to think, “He’s alright. His kids play with my kids, his wife helped me prepare the yams. I mean, I still think he’s a little weird, but he and his family have really been friends to us.”

All of this being said, I think that it is important for the missionary to understand something further, even though he may never say it to a new acquaintance. When someone asks, “What about the kids?” or “Will you take your kids with you?”, he is not really asking, “What are the benefits to taking your kids?” He is asking his question with a tacit assumption. This assumption is, “Missions is dangerous, and you have a moral obligation not to take your kids with you.”

To be sure, there are times when the perception of danger is largely due to the otherness of the field of service. As humans, we naturally assume that places that are far away from home simply must be dangerous, though they may be quite safe in reality. Beyond the homeland there be dragons.

Yet, there are also times when a field of service actually is more dangerous, at least in some ways, than the homeland. Though not all places have an incidence of violent crime greater than the United States, some do. Many places do not have the same standards for health providers that we might expect. And in some places, the host culture may even be hostile towards missionaries. Is it morally OK to take our kids with us as we minister in these situations, or is the tacit assumption behind the question, “What about the kids?” really relevant? That is to say, is the missionary being a bad parent when he takes his kids to a place where there may be an increased risk of personal injury?

I believe that the Bible gives missionaries a precedent in the story of the exodus from Egypt. In the story of the exodus, the Bible describes how God had shown the Hebrews a multitude of mighty works, how he brought judgment on Pharaoh through the ten plagues, and how he delivered his people from certain destruction by parting the Red Sea. He had given them evidence of his powerful presence at Sinai as his fire and smoke descended on the mountain. God had set the Israelites apart as his beloved people, and he had told them that he would ensure that they would be able to conquer the Promised Land. His presence was before them as a cloud by day and as fire by night, a constant reminder that the God who has pledged to protect his people was with them. He would even fight for them as they entered the Promised Land, just as he had done when he sent the waters crashing down on Pharaoh and his army. They had nothing to fear.

Yet, fear filled their hearts and minds as they stood on the brink of the Promised Land. They had heard the reports from the spies that the people of Canaan were strong and mighty. They began to worry for their safety. The fire and the cloud were ignored; the mighty acts of God in the past were quickly forgotten. Nothing remained in their minds but imaginings of fierce warriors bent on destruction.

The book of Numbers tells the story of how the Israelite’s fear gave way to outright rebellion. They refused to obey God and go into the Promised Land: “Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night. And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, ‘Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! Why is the LORD bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?’” (Numbers 14:1-3).

To be sure, the real reason for their rebellion was fear, but we need to notice the rational that the Israelites used to justify themselves: “Our wives and our little ones will become a prey.” They were disobedient, but their disobedience was for a seemingly noble reason. They had to make sure their families would be perfectly safe. Anything less would be to shirk their parental duty, obviously.

If they had been obedient to God and crossed over into the Promised Land, would their children have been safe? Certainly. God had already saved these very same people from what seemed like certain death, as they were hemmed in between a great body of water and an army with seemingly innumerable chariots. They were unable to defend themselves, and had no reason to believe they would live. Yet, God delivered them and he destroyed their enemy. This same God, whose mighty acts they had seen with their own eyes time and time again, was still with them. He would defend them and their kids as they followed him.

Their rebellion had terrible consequences. Rather than living in a land of milk and honey, in houses they had not built, with vineyards they had not planted, they were sentenced to wander through the desert the rest of their lives. None of them, save Joshua and Caleb, who had been faithful to God during the rebellion, entered into the Land. They all died as homeless nomads.

Yet God, in his mercy, called their children to do what they had refused to do. “And as for your little ones, who you said would become a prey, and your children, who today have no knowledge of good or evil, they shall go in there. And to them I will give it, and they shall possess it. But as for you, turn, and journey into the wilderness in the direction of the Red Sea’” (Deuteronomy 1:39-40).

Do you see the irony in God’s justice here? The men and women who had supposedly feared for their children so much that they refused to comply with God’s commands were destroyed. Their children, whom they were supposedly protecting from sure destruction in Canaan, were the ones who showed courage as they followed God. The parents dishonored God, but the children were used by God to display his glory as he accomplished mighty acts through them. “It is as if God is saying, ‘Do you think that you know how to protect your children better than I do? You are so proud that I will dispense with you and your rebellious hearts, and I will raise up your children to do what you say I cannot do. They will enter the land by my great power, for you and all of the nations of the world to see.’”¹

By comparing these two Old Testament passages of scripture, we can see that God is big enough to protect those whom he calls to do his work. The same God who performed mighty works in the time of the exodus is with missionaries and their families today. Though their children may receive some bumps and bruises as they live in a foreign land, we need not fear for their ultimate safely. God is able to protect them as much as they need to be protected here on earth, and he is even able to deliver them into the final Promised Land.

Mark Dever, The Message of the Old Testament: Promises Made (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2006),167.

Reformissions: Were the Protestants Late to the Game? – Part Six

E. Michael Kessler — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 17:00:35 +0000

On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door in Wittenburg, and the Protestant Reformation had begun. We find ourselves some 494 years past this pivotal moment in history, and so it is an appropriate time to look at missions during the Reformational era.

It is common for Church historians to say that Protestant missions started much later in history. In contrast, I believe that evangelism and missions existed within the early Reformation period. This series of blogs, taken from a paper I wrote a few years ago, examines missiological theory and practice in the life of John Calvin.

Brazil: The Uttermost Parts of the Earth
Calvin lived during the age of discovery. He was aware of the fact that nations existed far beyond the borders of Europe, and when he found an open door to the uttermost parts of the earth, he sent missionaries through that door. The Genevan mission to Brazil was the first protestant missionary venture to a yet unreached people group, the cannibal Tupinambas. While it was unsuccessful in terms of planting a church among the Tupinambas, it still serves as a vivid illustration of Calvin’s missionary theology in action.

In November of 1555, a group of six-hundred Frenchmen arrived at an island near Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.¹ The expedition was led by Nicolas Durand de Villegagnon, a Knight of Malta who was decorated for bravery for his deeds in the campaign of Charles V in Algiers.² The expedition found necessary monetary backing from Admiral Gaspard de Coligny, who was known for his defense of the Huguenot cause.³ Upon arriving in Brazil, Villegagnon immediately began construction of a fort, which would probably have been necessary to defend Portugal’s claim to Brazil, which was given to the Portuguese by virtue of a decree by Pope Alexander VI in 1493.⁴

The fledgling colony fell into immediate troubles. Most of the people who had volunteered for the expedition were murderers who had done so in order to gain pardon from prison; in addition to a handful of Huguenots. The colonists were driven hard by Villegagnon in his desire to build his fort. In addition, the native roots, the staple food of the land, were considered to be tasteless, and no women had been brought to provide companionship to the men. Eventually, Villegagnon would be forced to suppress a mutiny. This insurrection probably made him realize that he needed better-behaved reinforcements.⁵

In 1556, he sent letters to Coligny and Calvin, requesting that they send Protestant pastors and colonists to reinforce his colony and “to indoctrinate the savages to bring them to the knowledge of their salvation.”⁶ Yet, Amy Gordon observes that his motives may have been less than pure, as his purpose in writing seemed to be, “to beg for ministers, who might, through religious teachings, help him to control and even alter the behavior of those colonists who were causing him so much trouble.”⁷ Perhaps he was additionally motivated to gain more workers like the Huguenots that were already present in his colony.

The letters were well received, to say the least. “Upon receiving these letters… the Church of Geneva at once gave thanks to God for the extension of the reign of Jesus Christ in a country so distant and likewise so foreign and among a nation entirely without knowledge of the true God.”⁸ Calvin saw the opportunity as an open door that could not be passed up,⁹ and so he sent two pastors – Pierre Richier and Guillaume Chartier, eleven laymen, and five laywomen. Among the laymen was Jean de Léry, a shoemaker turned theologian, who became the historian for the party. They were joined by three hundred Huguenots recruited by Coligny.

Things went quite well at first. Villegagnon hugged them as they arrived, and thanked God “for having sent what I have so ardently prayed for.”¹⁰ “Villegagnon’s piety was so evident that good-natured Richier did not hesitate to call him a second Saint Paul.”¹¹ However, the saintly Dr. Jekyll soon changed into Mr. Hyde.

Villegagnon forced the new colonists to labor like slaves on Fort Coligny. In addition, Villegagnon, possibly influenced by the Catholic Jean Contiac, began to interfere with the church in matters of faith. He insisted that the water for Baptism be mixed with oil, salt and saliva, and that a practical application of transubstantiation be adopted. Not long thereafter, he pronounced that Calvin “was a wicked heretic who had turned from the faith”¹²

His disposition towards the missionaries and other colonists became even worse still. De Léry tells us that “at the time of his revolt, he became so moody—as if his conscience had become a torturer—swearing every other minute by the body of Saint James (which was his habitual oath) that he would break the heads, arms, and legs of the first one who irked him.”¹³ Many decided to escape and live with the cannibalistic Indians, rather than face the fury of Villegagnon.

One of the leaders of the colonists, Corguilleray du Pont, confronted Villegagnon and told him “that since he had rejected the gospel, we were no longer his subjects, and did not intend to be his servants any longer; even less were we willing to continue carrying earth and stones for him.”¹⁴ Villegagnon was infuriated, and cut off their meager rations. He threw one man into the sea, and eventually ordered the Genevans off the island.¹⁵

Thus began the only two months of mission work to the Tupinambas.¹⁶ While fighting for their survival in the deadly tropics and waiting for a ship to arrive, the Genevan missionaries were finally able to begin reaching out to the people they had come to evangelize. Richier was staggered by what he found. He said, “There is one thing, however, which presses and concerns us – the barbarism of this people which is so great that greater could not be.” They did not seem to know God or his law. His despair is evident when he writes, “We entertain no hope of completely winning them for Christ, although this really be the most important thing of all.”

de Lery's sketch of the cannibals and a victim

While we may well fault Richier for his doubts about starting a church among the Tupinambas, we must remember that many pastors in our own day have despaired at times over their own flocks, who they have never seen eat human flesh as Richier did his flock. Yet, there were also times when Richier did not doubt that God would change the Tupinambas. He said they were easy to teach, “like a tabula rasa, easy to paint upon,” although “the great obstacle is the diversity of tongues,” since they had no “interpreters faithful to God.”¹⁷ Richier did not always despair, he had confidence that they could have won some, given time.

De Léry was consistently more optimistic than Richier: “I do recall, however another example which I will put forth here, showing that these nations of savage living in the land of Brazil are teachable enough to be drawn to the knowledge of God, if one were to take enough trouble to instruct them. One day…. I was accompanied by two of our Tupinenquin savages and by another of the nation called Oueanen… As I was passing through a great forest… I felt impelled to praise God, and feeling gay of heart, I began to sing aloud Psalm 104, “Bless the Lord, O my soul.” My three savages… took such delight in it (that is, in the sound, for they understood nothing of the rest) that when I had finished, the Oueanen… said to me, “Truly you have sung wonderfully… and I have been filled with joy at hearing you. But we understand their language, and not yours: therefore I entreat you to tell us what your song was about.” So I explained to him as best I could… that I had in general praised my God for the beauty and governance of his creatures, and in particular I had attributed to him this: that it was he alone who nourished all men and all animals, and made the trees, fruits, and plants grow throughout the whole world…. It was more than half an hour after hearing this discourse that—using their interjection of amazement, “Teh!”—they said, “O you Mairs (this is, Frenchmen) how fortunate you are to know so many secrets that are hidden from us poor wretches!” And to compliment me… he made me a present of an agouti that he was carrying.”¹⁸

De Léry had a true missionary heart. He said, “it is my opinion that if Villegagnon had not turned against the Reformed religion, and if we had been able to remain in that country for a longer time, we would have drawn and won over some of them to Christ.”¹⁹ While Calvin’s mission to Brazil ended with no actual conversions, the missionaries involved must be remembered for their unusual dedication to the spread of the worship of God among the nations.

Conclusion

Any examination of Calvin’s missions theology and practice should take the historian into the depths of his presuppositions. His worldview, possibly even more than the facts that he examines, determines how he will view Calvin’s emphasis on missions. Yet, if the historian’s presuppositions do not match up with the presuppositions and worldview of the Bible, they will be unable, at some point, to explain the particulars of history. Church historians must not only ask themselves whether or not the facts of history challenge their preconceived notions about what is true, but they must also ask themselves whether or not their preconceived notions are Biblical, whether or not they are derived from the God who knows all truth.

Calvin, and the author believes, the Bible, taught that salvation is by God’s grace alone, through faith alone. With these presuppositions in place, both Calvin’s theology and practice must be judged to be missional. All of Roman Catholic Europe, not just the cannibals in Brazil, needed to hear the truth of God’s love and forgiveness. From this perspective, Calvin devoted his life to evangelization and missions. His writing, preaching, and sending all served to send light to a dark world, helping to make the whole earth into a theatre of God’s glory. He was a missionary, in word and deed.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Primary Sources

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________. Commentary on the Book of Psalms: Vol. 1. Translated by James Anderson. Reprint. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1998.

________. Commentary on a Harmony Of the Evangelists: Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Vol. 2. Translated by William Pringle. Reprint, Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1998.

________. Commentaries of the Epistles of Paul to the Galatians and Ephesians. Translated by William Pringle. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1998.

________. Institutes of the Christian Religion, Vol. 1. Edited by John T. McNeill, Translated by Ford Lewis Battles. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1960.

________. Institutes of the Christian Religion, Vol. 2. Edited by John T. McNeill, Translated by Ford Lewis Battles. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1960.

Hughes, Philip E, editor and translator. The Register of the Company of Pastors of Geneva in the Time of Calvin. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1966.

De Léry. Jean. History of a Voyage to the Land of Brazil, Otherwise Called America. Translated by Janet Whatley. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990.

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Books

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Horton, Michael S. Covenant and Eschatology: The Divine Drama. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2002.

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Accardy, Chris. “Calvin’s Ministry to the Waldensians.” Reformation & Revival 10, no. 4 (Fall 2001): 45-58.

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Briggs, John. “The Influence of Calvinism on Seventeenth-Century English Baptists.” Baptist History and Heritage (Spring 2004): 8-25.

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Davis, Ronald E. “The Great Commission from Calvin to Carey.” Evangel 14 (Summer 1966): 44-49.

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De Jong, James. 1975. “John Calvin in Mission Literature.” Pro Rege 4 (September): 6-17.

De Jong, Brian. “Calvin and the Mission of the Church in Geneva.” Missionary Monthly 99-D (February 1995): 9-11.

________. “John Calvin’s Missionary Genius.” Missionary Monthly 99-D (March 1955): 8-10.

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________. “Calvin and Missions.” Herald 48 (July 1959): 7-8.

Edwards, Charles E. “Calvin and Mission.” The Evangelical Quarterly 8 (1936): 47-51.

Fry, George. “John Calvin: Theologian and Evangelist.” Christianity Today (October 28 1970): 1-3.

Gensichen, D. H.-W. Were the Reformers Indifferent to Missions?” In History’s Lessons for Tomorrow’s Mission: Milestones in the History of Missionary Thinking, ed. World’s Student Christian Federation, 119-27. Geneva: World’s Student Christian Federation. 1960.

Glaser, Mitch. “The Reformed Movement and Jewish Evangelism.” Presbyterion 11 (Fall 1985): 101-17.

Gordon, Amy Glassner. “The First Protestant Missionary Effort: Why Did It Fail?” International Bulletin of Missionary Research 8, No.1 (January 1984), 12-18.

Gort, Jerald D. “The Contours of the Reformed Understanding of Christian Mission: An Attempt at Delineation.” Calvin Theological Journal 15 (April-November 1980): 47-60.

González, Catherine Gunsalus. “Converted and Always Converting: Evangelism in the Early Reformed Tradition.” In How Shall We Witness? 73-91. Louisville: Westminster; John Knox Press, 1995.

Haykin, Michael A.G. “John Calvin’s Missionary Influence in France.” Reformation & Revival 10, no. 4 (Fall 2001): 34-44.

Hogg, William Richey. “The Rise of Protestant Missionary Concern, 1517-1914.” In The Theology of the Christian Mission, ed. Gerald H. Anderson, 95-111. New York and London: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc. and SCM Press, 1961.

Hughes, Philip Edgcumbe. “John Calvin: Director of Missions.” In The Heritage of John Calvin, ed. John H. Bratt, 40-54. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1973. First appeared as an article published in the Columbia Theological Sb 59 (1966): 17-25.

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________. “A Reformed Perspective on the Mission of the Church in Society.” In Major Themes in the Reformed Tradition, ed. Donald K. McKim, 361-371. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1992.

________. “Reformed Theology Impels us to Mission.” The Presbyterian Outlook (October 25, 1982): 6-7.

Morris, S. L. “The Relation of Calvin and Calvinism to Mission.” In Calvin Memorial Addresses, 127-146. Richmond, VA: Presbyterian Committee of Publication, 1909.

Paul, Robert S. “Reformed Churches and Evangelism: Historical Background.” In Major themes in the Reformed Tradition, ed. Donald K. McKim, 354-360. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1992.
Perbal, A. “Non-Roman Catholics in Latin America.” International Review of Missions 41 (1960): 455-459.

Powers, Marshall K. “The Legal Status of Non-Roman Catholic Mission Activities in Latin America.” International Review of Misssions 49 (1960): 201-205.

Reid, W. Stanford. 1983. “Calvin’s Geneva: A missionary centre.” The Reformed Theological Review 42 (September-December): 65-74.

________. “The Transmission of Calvinism in the Western World.” In John Calvin: His Influence in the Western World, ed. W. Stanford Reid, 33-52. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing Company, 1982.

________. “Calvin and the Founding of the Academy of Geneva.” The Westminster Theological Journal 18 (November 1955): 1-33.

Robinson, D.W.B. and R. Swanton, eds. “Calvin’s Geneva: A Missionary Centre.” The Reformed Theological Review 42 (September-December 1983): 65-74.

Sargant, N.Carr. “Calvinists, Arminians, and Missions.” The London Quarterly and Holborn Review 20 (1951): 339-344.

Simmons, Scott J. “John Calvin and Missions: A Historical Study,” A Place for Truth, [home page on-line], Available from: http://www.aplacefortruth.org/calvin.missions1.htm; Internet; Accessed October 10, 2006.

Smith, Preserved. “Changes in Scientific Knowledge and Ethical Feeling.” In The Reformation: Revival or Revolution?, Edited by W. Stanford Reid. (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1968.

Spalding, Martin J. “Merle d’Aubigné’s Views Challenged.” In The Reformation: Revival or Revolution?, Edited by W. Stanford Reid. (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1968.

Steffens, Nicholas M. “The Principle of Reformed Protestantism and Foreign Missions.” The Presbyterian and Reformed Review 5 (April 1894): 241-253.

Van den Berg, Johannes. “Calvin and Missions.” In John Calvin: Contemporary Prophet, Edited by Jacob T. Hoogstra, 167-184. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1959.

________. 1950. “Calvin’s Missionary Message: Some Remarks about the Relation between Calvinism and Missions.” The Evangelical Quarterly 22 (July):174-187.

White, Robert. “An Early Reformed Document on the Mission to the Jews.” Westminster Theological Journal 53 (1991): 93-108.

Wilcox, Pete. “Evangelization in the Thought and Practice of John Calvin.” Anvil: An Anglican Evangelical Journal for Theology and Mission 12 (1995): 201-17.

Yoder, John. “Reformation and Mission: Literature review.” Occasional Mission Bulletin Journal 22 (1971): 1-2.

Zwemer, Samuel M. “Calvinism and the Missionary Enterprise.” Theology Today 7 (July 1950): 206-216.

Dissertations and Theses

Clark, William H. “The Conception of the Mission of the Church in Early Reformed Theology.” S.T.M. thesis., San Francisco Theological Seminary, 1928.

Palmer, T. “John Calvin’s View of the Kingdom of God.” Ph.D., University of Aberdeen, 1991.

Pearcy, Henri R. “The Meaning of the Church in the Thought of Calvin.” Ph.D. diss., University of Chicago, 1938.

Robinson, Jack Hughes. “John Calvin and the Jews.” Ph.D. diss., Saint Louis University, 1989.

Stevens, Carl David. “Calvin’s Corporate Idea of Mission.” Ph.D. diss., Westmister Theological Seminary, 1992.

Taylor, B. Harrison. “A Historical Study of the Mission of the Church in Geneva 1536-1564.” Ph.D. diss., Union Theological Seminary (Richmond, VA), 1968.

Amy Glassner Gordon, “The First Protestant Missionary Effort: Why Did It Fail?” International Bulletin of Missionary Research 8, No.1 (January 1984), 12.
R. Pierce Beaver, “The Genevan Mission to Brazil,” The Reformed Journal 17 (July-August 1967): 15.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid., 15-16.
G. Baez-Camargo, “The Earliest Protestant Missionary Venture In Latin America,” The American Society of Church History 21, (June 1952): 136. The letters between Villegagnon and Calvin are not yet translated into English.
Gordon, 14.
De Léry, as quoted by Beaver, 16.
Charles Chaney, “The Missionary Dynamic In the Theology of John Calvin,” The Reformed Review 17, no. 3 (March 1964) : 33.
Jean de Léry, History of a Voyage to the Land of Brazil, Otherwise Called America, Janet Whatley, trans. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990), 33.
Lescarbot, as quoted by Baez-Camargo, 136.
De Léry, 45.
Ibid. De Léry goes on to describe his unwarranted punishment of a man who irked Villegagnon, writing, “I will recount the cruelty that I saw him exercise at the time on a Frenchman named La Doche, who he held in chains. He made him lie flat on the ground, and he had him beaten on the belly by one of his sergeants with great blows of a cudgel, so hard that the breath was nearly gone from him…” after beating him until he was “half-dead,” Villegagnon made him go immediately back to hard labor, 46.
De Léry, 46.
Ibid., 46 and also Beaver, 19.
Amy Glassner Gordon, “The First Protestant Missionary Effort: Why Did It Fail?”, International Bulletin of Missionary Research, 8, No.1 (January 1984), 14 and also de Léry, 50.
The missionaries were not completely unprepared to deal with the linguistic obstacles that they faced. The missions party had brought several young boys with them who were to learn the language in order to later serve as interpreters. Additionally, de Léry seems to have learned a great deal of the language after having been there for only a very short time. All direct quotes in this paragraph are from Richier, as quoted by Baez-Camargo, 140.
De Léry, 149.
De Léry, as quoted by Beaver, 18.

Reformissions: Were the Protestants Late to the Game? – Part Five

E. Michael Kessler — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 17:00:10 +0000

Europe: Calvin’s Judea and Samaria
Calvin’s influence stretched far beyond Geneva and France. Refugees and scholars from all over Europe gathered in Geneva to study under Calvin, and many of them returned to their own countries to spread the gospel or were sent across cultural-linguistic boundaries to engage in the Lord’s work.

Scotland: John Knox came to Geneva as a religious refugee, and ended up completing pastoral training at the Geneva Academy, where he was trained by Calvin. He returned to Scotland in 1560, where he would play an important part in leading Scotland to embrace the Reformation gospel. Political and religious motivations soon merged, and the Scottish Parliament adopted a Calvinistic confession of faith, and declared that the Pope no longer had jurisdiction in Scotland. After Knox’s death, other Reformers such as Andrew Melville would take up the Reformation cause, such that Protestantism and its gospel would eventually established permanent roots in Scotland.¹

The Netherlands: The pattern of evangelization in the Netherlands was similar to that of so many other countries in Europe. Missionaries were sent from Geneva to the Netherlands. Some were martyred, but some were able to plant sustainable churches. Later in history, the Netherlands would become faithfully Calvinistic, and many Calvinistic churches are there today.

One of Calvin’s greatest contributions to the missionary cause was in the Netherlands, which produced Hadrianus Saravia. Saravia wrote On the Various Levels of Ministers of the Gospel as they have been Instituted by the Lord, in which he argues that the Great Commission did not end with the apostolic age, but is still binding on the church. His writings were to inspire future Dutch missionaries, some of whom reached the shores of India two hundred years before William Carey.²

Poland: Calvin was dedicated to evangelizing the kings of the various nations. He undoubtedly intended for this evangelization to benefit the king, and also to benefit the king’s subjects by creating an open door for the gospel. Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion contains an extensive dedication to King Francis I of France, which serves both of these aforementioned purposes.³ He continued this evangelistic technique with King Sigismund Augustus of Poland. He wrote a letter to Sigismund “with the intention of accelerating the growth of those seeds of piety which even then, I had heard, were divinely implanted in your [Sigismund’s] mind.”⁴ He exhorted the King to accept Christ as Savior, and also “to put forth all endeavors to defend and assert the doctrine of piety. That Poland up to this time, defiled by the corruptions of Popery, and a polluted and perverted worship of God…. Should awake from this lethargy.”⁵ The letters seemed to have some success as Calvin was later informed that the Polish nobility accepted the gospel.⁶

Later, Calvin wrote other letters in which he mentions missionaries who were sent to Poland in order to spread the gospel. He writes to Bullinger, telling him to exhort “that excellent man M. Lismaninni” to depart quickly to go to Poland “that he might proceed with greater rapidity.”⁷ He also mentions that Geneva sent “M. Laski” to provide religious direction to the King of Poland.⁸ Laski was a model missionary, who spent his time “preaching, holding synods, translating the Bible into Polish, and seeking to bring the varieties of Protestantism into one ecclesiastical structure.”⁹ Through missionaries like Laski, Christianity spread throughout Poland, though it met major setbacks during a later period of persecution from a Roman Catholic monarch.

Italy and Southern France: The Waldensians had a profound influence in Italy and Southern France. Though they were a pre-Reformational group, they began to associate with the Protestants after the Reformation. They had experienced some persecution prior to their association with the Protestant cause, but their new relationship brought them under more scrutiny. As a result, they were subjected to one of the greatest massacres of the Reformation in 1545. Calvin was horrified by the event, and he threw his full support behind the Waldensians. He led a diplomatic legation which managed to convince Francis I to give freedom to a number of Waldensians who had been imprisoned for their faith. As a result of Calvin’s unflagging support, numerous grateful Waldensians were trained to be pastors at the Genevan Academy and became missionaries to Italy and Southern France.¹⁰

Hungary: The teachings of John Hus (1378-1417) helped to prepare Hungary for the Protestant Reformation. When the Reformation came, an indigenous movement quickly developed around Protestant ideas, such that the “synod at Erdod adopted the Lutheran Augsburg Confession in 1545, and by 1567 the Synod of Debrecen adopted the Reformed Heidelberg Catechism and the Second Helvetic Confession.”¹¹ It is difficult to establish how Calvinism entered into Hungary. We know that Calvinistic churches and confessions sprung up during this time in Reformation history, but we do not know the names of the men that brought these ideas into Hungary.

As Reformational ideas spread to Hungary, evangelism flourished. Patrick Johnstone said that by 1600, “Hungary was 90% Protestant.”¹² A great number of these Protestants were either killed or returned to the Catholic Church during the relentless persecutions that accompanied the Counter-Reformation, but the Reformed Church was not stamped out completely. Today, about 38% of people in Hungary who would claim to be Christians are associated with the Reformed Church.¹³

Turkey: A Hungarian man was to become the first Protestant missionary to the Turks. Venceslaus Budovetz of Budapest belonged to the Unitas Fratrum, a Hussite church in Bohemia. Though he was not directly influenced by Calvin, he was directly influenced by Theodore Beza, Calvin’s successor in Geneva. He lived in Constantinople from 1577-1581, trying to “win back apostates and to preach to the Turks.”¹⁴

Calvin sent out far more missionaries than this paper can note. The Register lists only 88,¹⁵ but there were surely many more. For example, in 1561, The Register records that twelve missionaries were sent out, while data from other sources proves that at least 142 were sent out from Geneva.¹⁶ Many remain nameless to this day, many of whom died for their faith as they sought to spread the gospel. They will not be honored in this life, but in the one to come.

Kenneth Scott Latourette, A History of Christianity: Volume II: A.D. 1500-A.D. 1975, rev. ed. (San Fransisco: Harper San Fransisco, 1975), 769-775.
Scott J. Simmons, “John Calvin and Missions: A Historical Study,” A Place for Truth, [home page on-line], Available from: http://www.aplacefortruth.org/calvin.missions1.htm; Internet; Accessed October 10, 2006.
John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, vol. 1. John T. McNeill, ed. Ford Lewis Battles, trans. (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1960), 9-31.
John Calvin, Selected Works of John Calvin Vol. 6: Letters 1554-1558 (Albany, OR: Ages Software, 1998), Letter 374, “To the King of Poland,” in an electronic book that is a part of The John Calvin Collection [CD-ROM].
Calvin, Selected Works Vol. 6, Letter 425, “To the King of Poland,”; c.f Letter 456, “To the Nobles of Poland,” which is another letter to the King. Also see Letter 387, “To Nicholas Radziwill,” where Calvin uses a similar strategy to evangelize Nicholas Radziwill, a Polish “prince.”
Calvin, Selected Works Vol. 6, Letter 433, “To John Laski.”
Perhaps Calvin sensed that God might be closing a door. Calvin, Selected Works Vol. 6, Letter 376, “To Bullinger”; c.f. 386, “To Bullinger”.
Calvin, Selected Works Vol. 6, Letter 459, To John Utenhoven.”
Latourette, A History of Christianity, Vol. II, 793.
Chris Accardy, “Calvin’s Ministry to the Waldensians,” Reformation & Revival 10, no. 4 (Fall 2001): 45-58.
Encyclopedia Britannica, s.v. “Reformed Church in Hungary.” Online: http://www.britannica.com.
Patrick Johnstone, Operation World: 21st Century Edition, rev. (Milton Keyes, UK: Authentic Media, 2006), 305.
Ibid.
Samuel M. Zwemer, “Calvinism and the Missionary Enterprise,” Theology Today 7 (July 1950): 215.
Philip E. Hughes, ed. and trans. The Register of the Company of Pastors of Geneva in the Time of Calvin (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1966), 25.
Philip E. Hughes “John Calvin: Director of Missions,” In The Heritage of John Calvin, ed. John H. Bratt, 40-54. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1973), 46. First appeared as an article published in the Columbia Theological Sb 59 (1966): 17-25. 46

Reformissions: Were the Protestants Late to the Game? – Part Three

E. Michael Kessler — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 17:00:56 +0000

Calvin’s doctrine of predestination and man’s responsibility in missions
Calvin clearly asserted that salvation proceeds wholly from the will of God, who decreed every event that happens in history. Men contribute nothing to their own salvation except the sin that makes their salvation necessary. Calvin explains his position quite clearly in his Institutes: “We say that God once established by his eternal and unchangeable plan those whom he long before determined once for all to receive salvation, and those whom, on the other hand, he would devote to destruction.”¹ Before creation, God decreed whatsoever would come to pass in history, down to the smallest detail, including the salvation of men.

At the same time, Calvin considered men responsible for every action that they make. In fact, Calvin specifically asserts that the doctrine of election does not take guilt and responsibility away from man. Calvin, in response to charges made against him concerning the doctrine of predestination, writes, “God’s foreknowledge does not hinder man from being accounted a sinner; inasmuch as the evils that God foresees are man’s, not his own.”²

The critics hold that both of these doctrines cannot be true. If God predestines some men unto salvation and passes over others such that they die in their sins, then the missionary cause is undone. Man can no longer truly be responsible for trying to save men whose destiny is already predetermined. Calvin describes such critics: “they say that this whole discussion is dangerous for godly minds—because it hinders true exhortations.”³ Unquestionably, God exhorts us in his word to tell others of the salvation wrought by Jesus Christ. If predestination hinders God’s exhortations, it is highly suspect.

Yet, the Bible simply does not hold predestination and human responsibility at odds with one another.⁴ Paul tells us that the same God who chose to save Jacob passed over Esau for salvation (Rom 9:13). He then asserts with equal boldness that Christians must proclaim the gospel if the world is to be brought to a knowledge of God. Paul asks, “How are they to call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?” (Rom 10:14). Michael Horton explains that Calvin’s critics treat the doctrines of predestination and man’s responsibility in a way that scripture does not: “The difficulties with the traditional doctrine of divine predestination and providence are well known, but they are not treated as difficulties in the scriptures. That God is active in caring for the world and leading history to specific ends by governing every specific natural and human event is never regarded as problematic for human responsibility in scripture. Our difficulty is due in large measure to the remarkable anthropocentricity, individualism, and autonomy that are apparently as ineluctable to many modern theologians as the acceptance of causal naturalism.”⁵

Like Horton, Calvin did not see these doctrines as being mutually exclusive. In his commentary on Isaiah 2:3, he writes, “because of the doctrine of the gospel, by which God hath gathered to himself a Church indiscriminately out of all nations, proceeding out of Mount Zion, he justly says that they will come to it who having, with one consent of faith, embraced the covenant of eternal salvation.” In this section, Calvin tells us that it is a part of God’s predestined plan for “the nations of the whole world” to come into a salvific, covenantal relationship with him. A little farther down the page, Calvin affirms human agency in this plan of salvation, observing, “this points out to us also the ordinary method of collecting a Church, which is, by the outward voice of men; for though God might bring each person to himself by a secret influence [irresistible grace, that is], yet he employs the agency of men, that he may awaken in them an anxiety about salvation of each other.”⁶ Likewise, in his commentary on Romans 10:12 he observes, “It is enough for us to bear this only in mind, that the gospel does not fall like rain from the clouds, but is brought by the hands of men wherever it is sent from above.”⁷ For Calvin, God’s sovereignty is never at odds with man’s responsibility in evangelism. Calvin, like the authors of the Bible, consider God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility both to be true.⁸

Summary of Calvin’s Theology of Mission
It does not seem justifiable to say that Calvin was in error for never having explicated a complete theology of missions in a book or some other form of lengthy discourse. Firstly, to do so would be hold him to standards that the Bible does not clearly demand of any one man. Secondly, to do so would be to hold him to a standard that simply did not exist in Calvin’s time. Complete theologies of missions were almost unheard of at this time in history. We may wish that Calvin had written a missions theology, since this would have certainly influenced later debates within Reformed thought concerning missions,⁹ but we cannot say that Calvin was at fault for his omission.

Although Calvin’s missions theology was implicit, being an integral part of his commentaries and his systematic theology, and though it was nascent, not spelled out as clearly as we might like, it was nonetheless real and vibrant. It was this theology that pushed Calvin into action.

John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, vol. 2. John T. McNeill, ed. Ford Lewis Battles, trans. (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1960), 931. (See 3.21.7).
Ibid. 953. (See 3.23.6).
Ibid., 925. (See 3.21.4).
A thorough discussion of predestination is beyond the scope of this paper. See sections 3.21.1ff of Calvin, Institutes, vol. 2, 920-1008.
Michael S. Horton, Covenant and Eschatology: The Divine Drama (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2002), 89.
All quotations in this paragraph are from John Calvin, from his commentaries on Isaiah 12:5, Commentary on Book of the Prophet Isaiah, William Pringle, trans. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1998), 94.
John Calvin, Commentaries on the Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Romans, trans. Henry Beveridge (Reprint, Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1998), 399.
See Luke 22:3; 23:11, 21, 24 c.f. Isa 53:4, 10; Acts 2:23; 4:27-28; Heb 2:10. These examples show that men are responsible for the most horrific, sinful act in the history of the world. Yet, God sovereignly foreordained this act without being the author of that sin. If God is sovereign and man is also responsible for the crucifixion, surely the same principle can be applied to other actions in history, such as the salvation of men. Thus, we may affirm that God sovereignly elects those that shall be saved (Eph 1:1-14; Rom 9:22-23) and yet man is responsible for the evangelization of the world (Matt 28:18-20; Rom 10:14-15).
For example, the debate between Justinian Von Weltz and Johann Ursinius, C. Gordon Olson, What in the World is God Doing? The Essentials of Global Missions (Cedar Knolls, NJ: Global Gospel Publishers, 1989), 115.

Reformissions: Were the Protestants Late to the Game? – Part Two

E. Michael Kessler — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 17:00:37 +0000

Calvin’s redemptive-historical theology of missions
Calvin did not have a section in his systematic theology entitled “Missions and Evangelism.” If we were to judge him based on this omission, we could easily dismiss him as an enemy of worldwide evangelism. However, we must realize that the very words “missionary” and “missions” are, for the most part, modern idioms. The first person to distinguish missions as a separate category of systematic theology was the Jesuit Jośe de Acosta. He did so in 1588, twenty-four years after the death of John Calvin.¹ Thus, while we may find no specific section within Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion on missiology, we are still able to see that Calvin believed that evangelism should be carried out on a worldwide scale.

Part of the key to discovering Calvin’s theology of missions involves looking for an implicit biblical theology rather than an explicit systematic theology. Calvin never wrote a book or any other lengthy systematic treatment on the subject of missions. Yet, in Calvin’s writings, we can see how the biblical theme of missions progressively unfolds throughout the Bible.² That is, we can see that Calvin believed that God progressively reveals his saving actions in history to his people. These saving actions involve the salvation of every “tribe and tongue and people and nation” (Rev 5:9), and are brought about through the preaching of men throughout the entire world. Although Calvin never goes so far as to expound this theme completely in any one place, we can nonetheless see that missions, as we define it today, was a part of Calvin’s overall matrix of ideas.

This section is an attempt to provide a thumbnail sketch of Calvin’s implicit redemptive-historical theology of missions. Rather than attempting to elucidate all the biblical themes that could contribute to such a theology, it focuses on only one: the kingdom of God. By understanding the citizenship of the kingdom, the extent of the kingdom, and the progress of the kingdom, it will be possible to develop a general understanding of the task of mission.

First, an understanding of the citizenship of the kingdom will aid in the development of a theology of missions. All mankind sinned and fell in Adam when Adam sinned against God. Nonetheless, God chose to be graceful to some of them, bringing them from death to life, from sinfulness to holiness. He promised to give Abraham innumerable offspring, making him into a great nation. All of those who believe as Abraham believed are called his children rightly, since they have the faith of their father (Rom 4:16).

The citizenship of the kingdom of God is composed of those who have their sins forgiven, those who believe as Abraham believed. In the Old Testament, the citizens of the kingdom would have primarily come from Israel, but in the New Testament, God extends his grace to all peoples such that all the nations of the world will have citizens in the kingdom. Calvin explains the extent of God’s grace among the peoples of the world, writing: “Since, therefore, God had not taken more than one nation to be subject to his reign, the Prophet here shows that the boundaries of his kingdom will be enlarged, that he may rule over various nations. He likewise notices indirectly the differences between the kingdom of David, which was but a shadow, and this other kingdom, which would be far more excellent. At that time God ruled over his chosen people by the hand of David, but after the coming of Christ he began to reign by himself, that is, in the person of his only begotten son… he confirms the calling of the Gentiles, because Christ is not sent to the Jews only, that he may reign over them, but that he may hold his sway over the whole world.”³

David’s kingdom was a reign of a few people in the ancient Near East. It would hardly be significant if it did not point forward to something that was far greater than it would ever be. It pointed forward, Calvin said, to a kingdom of global significance, a kingdom composed of citizens from every nation in the entire world. In this expansion, we see how the biblical theme of citizenship expands from encompassing one people to many. While God’s calling was limited to the people of Israel for a time, in this age it extends to all the peoples of the world.

The global nature of kingdom citizenship has great import for missions, since it means that God will be gathering citizens for his kingdom in such a way that Calvin can proclaim, “the church universal is a multitude gathered from all the nations.”⁴ God will gather a people for himself from all the peoples of the world, but this gathering will involve the agency of men. Calvin writes, “the power to save rests with God (Rom. 1:16); but (as Paul again testifies) He displays and unfolds it in the preaching of the gospel.”⁵ When these separate pieces of Calvin’s theology are put together, a unified picture emerges. God tells us that he is saving a people from “every tribe and language and people and nation” (Rev 5:9), but he will only do it using his human servants. Missions is a necessary imperative.

Second, an understanding of the extent of the kingdom will aid in the development of a theology of missions. Calvin believed that the kingdom of God would continue to grow until it covered the entire earth. The kingdom will not only include citizens from the entire world, as discussed above, it will also cover the entire geographic extent of the world.

In Genesis, God created man to have dominion over the earth, such that man could be called “the lord of the world.”⁶ Man was to multiply and fill the earth with images of God, thus filling the earth with God’s glory. When sin entered into the world, the images of God were marred, and man’s multiplication resulted in rebellious creatures being spread throughout the earth.

God’s plan of redemption involves the reversal of the damaging effects of sin. Whereas the first Adam spread a sinful and marred image of God throughout the world, the second Adam will bring forgiveness of sin and the restoration of fallen images to the extents of the earth. Through this process, his kingdom will expand to include every region on earth, so that his reign on earth will gradually grow to resemble his reign in heaven. Calvin explains this biblical theme of redemption, writing: “He expressly calls himself the Lord and King of heaven and earth, because, by constraining men to obey him in the preaching of the gospel, he establishes his throne on the earth; and, by regenerating his people to a new life, and inviting them to the hope of salvation, he opens heaven to admit to a blessed immortality with angels those who formerly had not only crawled on the world, but had been plunged in the abyss of death… he does not lay claim to the eternal power with which he was endued before the creation of the world, but to that which he has now received, by being appointed to be Judge of the world.⁷

God’s reign on earth will ultimately cover the entire geographic extent of the earth. Though it has humble beginnings, it will continue to grow by God’s power and grace. The Father gave the Son “all authority in heaven and on earth” (Matt 28:18), and the second Adam will continue extending his dominion and kingdom until it covers everything in that is under his authority. Calvin explains: “The Father was to deny nothing to his Son which relates to the extension of his kingdom to the uttermost ends of the earth… Although the ingratitude of men hinders the kingdom of Christ from prospering, it does not render this prediction of none effect, inasmuch as Christ collects the dispersed remnants of his people from all quarters, and in the midst of this desolation, keeps them joined together by the sacred bonds of faith so that not one corner only, but the whole world is subject to his authority.”⁸

The final fulfillment of the kingdom will only come in the eschaton. At that point, God’s reign will be such that there is no more sin or rebellion, and God will rule over a new heavens and a new earth. However, the kingdom of God has been inaugurated, and it is becoming more and more like it will finally become. Even in this age, it will become a kingdom that stretches throughout the extents of the earth.

Once again, the progress of the kingdom involves human agency in missions. Calvin distinguishes between this age and the one to come, asserting, “would that peace reigned entirely in us! For then would peace also have its perfect influence. But since we are still widely distant from the perfection of that peaceful reign, we must always think of making progress.” Calvin longed for the perfect eschatological peace that will characterize the final form of the kingdom, but he understood that, in this age, our preaching is the means that God will use to make progress as he grows his kingdom.⁹

Third, an understanding of the progress of the kingdom will aid in the development of a theology of missions. This kingdom theme has been mentioned, in part, in the previous two sections. In the section on citizenship, we saw that citizenship in the kingdom of God progresses from one nation, Israel, to all the nations of the world. In the second section, we saw that the kingdom progresses from one geographical location to encompass the geographical extents of the earth. One of the most fundamental characteristics of the kingdom of God is that it progresses throughout history. This progress does not happen automatically, however. It happens via the missionary endeavor.

God ensures us that his kingdom will grow to include all peoples in all places, but he also wants us to recognize that this work will not happen without the preaching of the gospel to the most distant countries through his human agents. Calvin explains this concept:

God would be heard not only in Jerusalem and in Judea, but that he would make his word to be proclaimed everywhere… The Prophet, I doubt not, intended to include the most distant countries; as though he had said, that God would not be the king of one people only, or of Judea alone, but that his kingdom would be propagated to the extremities of the earth… they shall forge their swords into plowshares… Again, a question may be asked, – Was this fulfilled at the coming of Christ? It seems that the Prophet… shows what would be the kingdom of Christ to the end. But we see, that when the Gospel was first preached… insatiable avarice, greatly prevail[ed]… And at the same time it would have been inconsistent in the Prophet to have thus spoken of the kingdom of Christ, had God not really designed to perform what is here predicted. My answer is this – that as the kingdom of Christ was only begun in the world, when God commanded the Gospel to be everywhere proclaimed, and as at this day its course is not as yet completed; so that which the prophet says here has not hitherto taken place.¹⁰

This quote points out a critical connection between the promise of the expansion of the kingdom and the progress of the kingdom. Calvin claims that God’s kingdom will encompass the entire earth, but he also maintains that this process has not been completed. Some later Reformers, such as Ursinius, said that the apostles had fulfilled The Great Commission.¹¹ In this section, Calvin claims that Christ’s conquest of the earth is ongoing in this age. It was not completed by the apostles, but is still progressing in the midst of history via human agency.

The progress of the kingdom, as much as any other kingdom theme, calls us to missionary action, since it shows us so clearly that God’s work on this earth depends on his use of missionaries. It is only by missionary action that the world will become a “theatre of God’s glory,”¹² filled with redeemed images of God. Commenting on Isaiah 12:4, Calvin claims that when Isaiah writes, “Make known his works among the people,” “He means that the work of this deliverance will be so excellent, that it ought to be proclaimed, not in one corner only, but throughout the whole world…. spread abroad to all men.”¹³ As we proclaim salvation to the nations, he will progressively transform the world to reflect his glory.

This work continues throughout this age, and involves the labor of Christ’s church. Though non-believers may sometimes come to the church by their own accord, normally the church must go to them and tell them about God’s grace and forgiveness: “Thy grace towards me is worthy of being recounted through the whole world”… These words… contain a prophecy concerning the kingdom of Christ… Unless the heathen had been allured into the fellowship of the chosen people… to praise God among them would have been to sing his praises among the deaf… [a] foolish work and lost labor… the Church is appointed to be the sacred dwelling-place for showing forth the praises of God.¹⁴

The progress of the kingdom depends on outward-reaching missionary action for its progress. Non-Christians are not able to understand properly why the church praises God, since they do not know the God it praises. We must go out and help them to understand why he is praiseworthy.

God assures us that he will reach every nation in every part of the world as he builds his kingdom. The kingdom of God acts to reverse the curse of sin as it spreads throughout the entire earth, gradually making the world into the theatre of God’s glory that he intended for the earth to be. At the same time, we understand that God’s kingdom building involves our labor. The nations will not be reached unless we teach them why God is glorious and worthy of all praise. The progress of the kingdom depends on missionary action.

Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, s.v. “Missiology,” by A. F. Glasser. It should be noted that Acosta’s writings were said to lead to a wave of Dutch Calvinist missions to the East Indies in the seventeenth century.
I am making a traditional distinction between systematic theology, what the Bible teaches about “X” where “X” is a category of knowledge, and biblical theology. Biblical theology (here called “redemptive-historical” theology) tells us how “X” is revealed progressively in the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, where “X” is a biblical theme. For more, see Geerhardus Vos, Biblical Theology (William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1948; reprint, Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1996), 3-18 (page citations are to the reprint edition).
John Calvin, Commentary on Book of the Prophet Isaiah, vol. 1, William Pringle, trans. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1998), 98-99.
John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, vol. 2. John T. McNeill, ed. Ford Lewis Battles, trans. (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1960), 1023. (See 4.1.9).
Ibid., 1017. (See 4.1.4).
Ibid., 1017. (See 4.1.4).
John Calvin, Commentary On a Harmony Of the Evangelists: Matthew, Mark, and Luke, vol. 2, William Pringle, trans. (Reprint, Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1998), 382, (page citations are to the reprint edition.), (Commentary on Matthew 28: 18,19).
John Calvin, Commentary on the Book of Psalms: vol. 1, James Anderson, trans. (Reprint, Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1998), 19.
John Calvin, Commentary on the Book of the Prophet Isaiah: vol. 1, trans. Rev. William Pringle (Reprint, Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1998), 102.
John Calvin, Commentaries on the Twelve Minor Prophets: vol. 2, trans. Rev. John Owen (Reprint, Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1998), 259, 262, 265.
I would argue that many people misread Calvin concerning the Great Commission. In Calvin’s commentaries, he asserts that the Great Commission does not validate the Roman Catholic doctrine of apostolic succession. In this sense, the office of “apostle” has ended. Calvin never claims that the Great Commission mandate is not transferred to the church, which the apostles figuratively represent.
Calvin, as quoted by Johannes Van den Berg, “Calvin and Missions,” in John Calvin: Contemporary Prophet, ed. Jacob T. Hoogstra, 167-184. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1959), 169. The original quotation is in French.
Calvin, Commentary on… Isaiah, 402.
Ibid., 306.

Reformissions: Were the Protestants late to the game? – Part One

E. Michael Kessler — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 19:30:40 +0000

“But we shall always find it hard to love the man [John Calvin] who darkened the human soul with the most absurd and blasphemous conception of God in all the long and honored history of nonsense.” – Will Durant¹

Many modern church historians would concur with Durant. Their analyses of Calvin’s contributions to theology and missions are only a little less vehement. Gustav Warneck, who is often considered the “founder of the Protestant science of missions,”² writes concerning Reformation missions, “We miss in the Reformers not only missionary action, but even the idea of mission.”³ Likewise, Kenneth Scott Latourette, writes that the “early leaders of Protestantism disavowed any obligation to carry the Christian message to non-Christians.”⁴ Ruth Tucker traces the deficiency of Reformation missions back to John Calvin by asserting, “Protestant theology was another factor that limited the vision of missionary enterprises . . . the doctrine of election . . . made missions appear extraneous.”⁵ More recent church historians would seem to agree with their predecessors. Neill characterizes the early Protestants by claiming, “Protestants tended to say, ‘Missions are neither obligatory nor desirable.’”⁶ Kane’s analysis is no less forgiving: “The Predestinarians… all but precluded the responsibility of man. ‘If God wills the conversion of the heathen, they will be saved without human instrumentality.’”⁷ Together these historians agree that Reformation theology, as typified by its most able spokesperson, John Calvin, sounds a death-knell to Christian missions.

In light of such claims, this paper seeks to show that Calvin’s theology and practice of missions should be re-evaluated by modern church historians. Calvin’s writings contain an implicit missions theology, and this theology caused Calvin to encourage real missionary action. This progression, from belief to action, suggests the paper’s two major divisions. We will look at Calvin’s theology of missions and his practice of missions.

Calvin’s theology of missions

Calvin said, “It is our duty to proclaim the goodness of God to every nation. While we exhort and encourage others, we must not, at the same time, sit down in indolence.”⁸ To be sure, Calvin had a theology of missions. To understand how historians can overlook this theme in Calvin’s writings, we will examine two of their fundamental presuppositions. Calvin’s missiology, derived from redemptive history, challenges their first presupposition. Their second presupposition is addressed below by comparing Calvin’s missiology with his views concerning theology proper.

The presuppositions of Calvin’s detractors concerning his theology of missions

In our modern world, the same facts are usually available to all historians. With the click of a mouse, a distant dissertation or article can be obtained. Nonetheless, variations in the interpretations of these facts abound, such that there seems to be at least as many historical interpretations as there are historians. Like so many sciences,⁹ the objectivity of history is often subjected to the presuppositions of the observer.

All historians, including Durant, Warneck, Latrourette, the reader, and the author, interpret the historical facts in light of their presuppositions. The noetic affects of sin are such that even our very presuppositions are often tainted.¹⁰ What we should know to be true we often sinfully deny. Yet, as Christians, the Holy Spirit gradually sanctifies our presuppositions such that they more closely match the presuppositions of the Bible. Thereby, we are enabled to see the world as God (the only truly objective observer) sees it. As we engage the Bible, God changes our presuppositions to be like his, and we are gradually enabled to see our world more accurately and therefore to do history better. Though the author’s presuppositions are not yet perfected, he hopes nonetheless to bring into question some of the presuppositions of many church historians, such that they and he would be able to see God’s world more clearly.

The presuppositions of many church historians regarding Calvin’s theology of missions inevitably color their interpretation of the facts. These presuppositions often seem to involve two elements.¹¹ First, they presuppose that Calvin does not have a theology of missions, since we cannot find any given section of his work devoted to missions.¹² Second, they presuppose that Calvin’s belief in predestination unavoidably excludes any significant theology of missions.¹³ These two presuppositions will be engaged in following blogs.

Will Durant, The Reformation, vol. 6, The Story of Civilization (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1957), 490.
Francis M. DuBose, ed. Classics of Christian Missions (Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, 1979), 75.
Gustav Warneck, Outline of a History of Protestant Missions (New York: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1901), 9. Warneck’s views have been accepted by many historians, see Charles Chaney, “The Missionary Dynamic in the Theology of John Calvin.” The Reformed Review 17 (March 1964): 24.
Kenneth Scott Latourette, Three Centuries of Advance: A.D. 1500-A.D. 1800, vol. 3, A History of the Expansion of Christianity (New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1939), 25.
Ruth Tucker, From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1983), 67.
Stephen Neill, A History of Christian Missions (Pelican Books, 1964; Reprint, London: Penguin Books, 1990), 189 (page citations are to the reprint edition).
J. Herbert Kane, A Concise History of the Christian Mission: A Panoramic View of Missions From Pentecost to the Present, rev. ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2001), 76.
John Calvin, from his commentaries on Isaiah 12:5, Commentary on Book of the Prophet Isaiah, William Pringle, trans. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1998), 403.
Thomas Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, 3d. ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996).
This is implicit in Calvin’s doctrine of the knowledge of God, which comes to us through his creation. We know “sparks” (1.5.14) or “droplets” (2.2.18) of real truth through our examination of our world, but natural man smothers these by his sinful denials of this truth. John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, vol. 1. John T. McNeill, ed. Ford Lewis Battles, trans. (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1960), 68-69, 277-282.
Some authors note a third presupposition, claiming that historians overlook Calvin’s missiology “partly due to ignorance and partly to slavish following of other writers.” The author will not attempt to address this presupposition in this paper. See Fred H. Klooster, “Missions- The Heidelberg Catechism and Calvin,” Calvin Theological Journal 7 (1972): 183.
Warneck, 9.
Tucker, 67.

How Our Stories Envision Our World

E. Michael Kessler — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 12:37:14 +0000

Westerners commonly perceive folktales as kid’s stuff, not realizing that they themselves love stories; stories that often encase their most profound beliefs and values in concrete form. This blog examines a story from Okinawa City, where I used to live. It is more than a story for entertainment, it is a way to see the world.

Brother and Sister
There once lived a brother and his older sister. Their parents died when they were small, so they depended on each other as they grew up. They were poor but happy, and the sister worked hard to support them so the brother could go to school. The brother was very smart and was always at the top of his class at school. His peers, mostly rich and dumb, hated him.

One day, the rich boys called this poor boy over to them and told him, “We’re going to have a toy boat race tomorrow on the stream next to the school. Our teacher is going to be the judge.”

Being very poor, the young brother could not afford a toy boat for the race. When he went home that day, he told his sister about the race.

“I couldn’t tell them I didn’t have a toy boat, sister. What shall I do?”, he asked.

“Don’t worry, little brother. Go out to the woods and get some bamboo bark. We’ll use it to make you a fine toy boat.”

The young brother went off and soon came back with an armload of bamboo bark. His sister made a toy boat by weaving the bamboo bark together, then added a piece of cloth for a sail.

The next day after school, the group of boys gathered at the stream. Each boy held his toy boat on the surface of the water and waited for the race to begin. When their teacher whistled, the race started. They toy boats ran along the direction of the stream and the boys clapped and laughed.

“Go, go, go!” They urged their toy boats on.

The toy boat made of bamboo bark sailed smoothly along the stream. The rich boy’s boats were made of nicer materials like wood or tin, which eventually became too heavy to float on the water and slowed down. A little wind on the water also helped the bamboo toy boat go faster and soon it was far ahead of the others. The teacher whistled again, the signal for the end of the race, and announced the bamboo bark toy boat as the winner.

The rich boys were angry at the poor boy for winning the race. They made a plan to get rid of this boy once and for all. One of the boys went over to the poor boy and said, “We’re having a party at my house tomorrow afternoon. There will be a big feast and I want you to join us.

When the young brother went home, he told his sister of the invitation. The sister, knowing the rich boys were vicious and would go to great lengths to harm her brother, was not at all happy, but knew he wanted to go.

“All right. But remember, do not touch anything that is cold. Eat only hot dishes.”

The young brother went to the party the next afternoon and was promptly served a bowl of cold soup. He didn’t drink it and the boy host was angry.

“Is there something wrong with the miso soup? Go ahead and have it.” The boy host said. “The rest of our friends are enjoying it, why not you?”

The other boys agreed with the boy host and gathered around the poor boy and tried to force him to drink the cold miso soup. The poor boy had no choice and finally drank the miso soup in one gulp.

After the party, the poor boy felt sick on the way home and as soon as he entered his house, he collapsed.

“Oh no!” His sister ran to him and saw he was dead.

She burst into tears and carried her dead brother to a closet and put him on it. Then she closed all the windows and locked the doors of the house. She read her little brother’s textbooks loudly, imitating his voice. A group of the rich boys soon came walking by the house to make sure the poor boy was dead. Although the windows and doors were shut tight, they heard the boy’s voice reading out loud. The rich boys were surprised, sure they had killed the poor boy. They got scared and ran as fast as they could back to the house where the party had been held. They were all thirsty from running, and since they thought the miso soup was all right, they drank it up. A short while later, all of them were dead on the floor.

As soon as the rich boys ran away from her house, the sister put on her brother’s clothes. Disguised as a flower boy, she went to a wealthy flower wholesaler’s house and talked to a girl in the fields.

“One of my rich clients wants to buy a treasure flower, one he says you have,” the sister asked in a boy’s voice.

The girl in the field looked at the boy standing in front of her and strangely enough, fell in love with him at first sight. She hesitated, for the treasure flower this handsome-looking boy wanted was indeed a treasure of her family and her father never showed it to anyone. But, as you know, love is blind and the girl bought a bundle of the treasure flowers to the boy, who knew the flower was called fuuchiibar (mugwort), and worked as an antidote to poison. When the girl turned around, the boy grabbed a fuuchiibar and hid it in his kimono sleeve.

He (she) graciously thanked the girl in the field and left, then hurried home to the dead brother in the closet. She held the flower to her brother’s nose and prayed. A few moments passed and then the brother was breathing again. He was alive.

The next day the sister and her young brother dressed up and went back to visit the wealthy flower wholesaler’s home. The beautiful girl whom the sister got the treasure flower from appeared at the door. The sister explained how she had come yesterday to get the treasure flower to save her brother’s life. The girl was surprised to hear this and looked at the woman who stood in front of her and had been disguised as a boy just yesterday. She was disappointed until she looked at the brother. Her heart leaped and she fell in love again, for the brother looked just like his sister had the day before, almost like a twin, but more manly, of course.

Her parents liked the brother and sister and thought them both intelligent, honest, and hard working. The family welcomed the young brother as the bridegroom of their daughter and their new heir. His sister was given a good house close by and they all lived happily.¹

We see the world through our stories
Paul Heibert explains the role of stories in society by saying, “People in all cultures tell anecdotes about the incongruities of life and the strange ways of others. They tell children’s stories and stories for women and men. They also tell stories about the origins of the world and of their tribes. Such stories, commonly known as myths, express their fundamental beliefs about the nature of things, especially about the nature of human beings and their relationships to their ancestors, the spirits, and the gods.”²

In the West, we like to think that stories are simply for entertainment, and that they are morally neutral. It is hard for us to imagine the possibility that stories often contain the most fundamental beliefs of a people, statements about how things really are. The various cultures of the world (including the Western ones) use stories to transmit cultural beliefs about such things as ultimate reality, morality, and the role of human beings in history. They are entertaining, but not mere entertainment.

Certain truths are too important to be forgotten. They must be passed down from generation to generation in a form that is easy to remember. These truths are “who we are as a people,” the highest and most definitive maxims of culture, the lens through which a culture sees their world. They are clearly established, and no one should question them. Mircea Eliade said, “Once told, that is, revealed, the myth becomes apodictic truth; it establishes a truth that is absolute. ‘It is so because it is said that it is so,’ the Netsilik Eskimos declare to justify the validity of their sacred history and religious traditions…. myth shows how a reality came into existence, whether it be the total reality, the cosmos, or only a fragment–an island, a species of plant, a human institution.”³

Thus, these stories are like windows through which we can see the innermost being of a people. By analyzing these stories, we can gain insights into the fundamental values of a people, and by understanding these values, we can communicate the fundamental values of Christianity to them more effectively. Stories help us to do the task of missions.

Justice
The Okinawan story of the brother and sister teaches about justice. It is common for the poor to be neglected in courtrooms. The judge may improperly blame then for something they did not do, or they may not be able to get a proper judgment against a rich oppressor. Due to their status, they are more subject to judicial prejudice, and are less able to properly defend themselves in court. In this story, justice prevails in the lives of a poor family. It seems as though their rich oppressors have won, but ironically, proper justice is met in the end.

The overall picture of justice that we see in this Okinawan story bears some resemblance to biblical justice. Psalm 10:17-18 states, “O Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted; you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more.” Those who are fatherless and oppressed may expect to find justice by the hand of God.⁴

Furthermore, some of the particular aspects of justice within the Okinawan story also bear some resemblance to biblical justice. In the Okinawan story, the evil oppressors are punished. The miso trap they laid for the poor boy ensnared them as well. This sort of justice is similar to the ironic justice that we see in Psalm 7:14-16: “Behold, the wicked man conceives evil and is pregnant with mischief and gives birth to lies. He makes a pit, digging it out, and falls into the hole that he has made. His mischief returns upon his own head, and on his own skull his violence descends.”

In the Okinawan story, justice is served as virtue is rewarded. The poor boy gets the girl. She is beautiful and rich, but she and her parents are won over by the poor boy’s intelligence, honesty, and work ethic. In a somewhat similar fashion, we see that righteousness is rewarded in the Bible. David correctly says, “The Lord rewards every man for his righteousness and his faithfulness” (I Sam 26:23).

So, some of the teachings about justice in this Okinawan story bear some similarities to biblical teachings. As such, they may serve as a communications bridge as the missionary seeks to explain biblical teachings to his Okinawan hearers. This bridge will help to make the Bible, which seems so foreign to an Okinawan, a little more comprehensible.

To be sure, the missionary may not stop here. He must go on to show differences between the Okinawan concept of justice and the biblical concept of justice. Similar is not the same. Once again, the story provides helpful clues.

Who ensured that justice prevailed in the Okinawan story? No clear answer is given in the body of the story. This lacuna should prompt the missionary to ask this question to an Okinawan. The Okinawan, if pressed, would probably say, “The ancestors made sure that the rich boys drank the soup and the poor boy got the girl.” Justice, quite often in Okinawan society, takes place by the hands of the ancestors. If the Okinawan were to answer in this way, the missionary would do well to explain that the one, true God, not the ancestors, is the one who ultimately enforces justice.

Will justice always prevail? It did in this story, but if the ancestors are behind justice, then justice may or may not reign in a given situation. The ancestors tend to be fickle. As he explains biblical justice, the missionary must explain that God’s justice will certainly prevail in the end.

Thus, the stories of a people provide bridges for good communication about spiritual things, but further distinctions must be made by the missionary so that confusion does not ensue.

Resurrection
Another theme that is worth mentioning here is the theme of resurrection from the dead. In the Okinawan story, the sister holds the mysterious treasure flower underneath the brother’s nose and prays. Though the flower is said to have acted as an antidote to the poison, more than mere medicine is in view here. The sister’s prayer plays a part, as the spirit world acts in some way to help bring about new life in the boy. In this story there is the idea that death may not be final, but that new life may be a possibility through the spirit world.

The resurrection of the dead can be found in Okinawan stories, and so we may safely assume that it was a common concept in Okinawan society, at least at the time that the stories were told. In one such story, Agaripatoruma is a husband who brings his wife, Fumukaji, back to life via a gift from the gods: “He carefully put the mosquito in his hand and went to the room where his wife’s body lay. He placed the mosquito under her nose and soon her cheeks were pink and she began to breathe like she was sleeping. He waited and finally Fumukaji opened her eyes and looked up at him… The gods made a very special exception for this couple because of their deep devotion and love for each other.”⁵ Shoji Endo, who teaches Japanese literature at Okinawa International University and who chairs the Okinawa Folktales Study Society, says that this story and those like it picture the Okinawan belief that death is not the end, but that there is a possibility of life after death.⁶

Once again, we can see the Okinawan culture has a concept that will be useful to the missionary as he seeks to explain biblical truth. He will not have to attempt to fill a blank slate with information, but rather will find that some things have already been written on the slate. Some of these things will be similar enough to the biblical teaching concerning the resurrection that the missionary will find them to be useful bridges to communication. Other beliefs will need to be corrected. Certainly, the resurrection of the dead will not occur through a sacred object such as a treasure flower or magical mosquito, but solely by the power of God upon the return of Christ.

Study the Stories
As a missionary begins to deeply understand the stories of his host people, he will also understand the people themselves. Our stories are a reflection of who we are and what we believe. As images of the one, true God, some of our beliefs inevitably line up (at least in part) with the great story of the Bible. Where there is common ground, communication is easy.

Yet, as images tarnished by sin, our beliefs are tainted, and need to be corrected. The Bible helps us to make these corrections, since it pictures the world as God sees it. By knowing both what the Bible teaches and what a host people believe, the missionary is enabled to teach God’s truth effectively.

Shoji Endo, Folktales of Okinawa, trans. Terunobu Tamamori and Jayne A. Hitchcock (Naha, Japan: Bank of Ryukyus International Foundation, 1995), 159-161.
Paul G. Hiebert, Anthropological Insights for Missionaries (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1985), 175.
Mircea Eliade, The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature of Religion, trans. Williard R. Trask (New York: Harcourt, 1987), 95, 97.
God’s justice may be manifested in this life, but it will most certainly be manifested on the Last Day.
Endo, 190.
Ibid.

The Older Brother – Part Two

E. Michael Kessler — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 17:00:02 +0000

In a previous blog series, I covered the first half of the story of the prodigal son. This blog continues the story of the older brother. And he said, “There was a man who had two sons. 12 And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them. 13 Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. 14 And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. 16 And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.17 “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.”’20 And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. 23 And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. 24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.

25 “Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. 27 And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.’ 28 But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, 29 but he answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’ 31 And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32 It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found’” (Luke 15:11-32).

So we left off with the older brother fuming, outside of the party, angry and alone. The story does not end there.The good Father isn’t content to let his son sit and stew. Out of his compassion for his boy, he leaves the party to go and tell him to come back.What a good and gracious Father! It would have been much easier just to stay at the party, to enjoy everything that was going on, but this Father left the rejoicing to go and face the anger. We know that this Father was no fool, he surely knew before he even left the party that the older son would be mad. After all, if he were not mad, he would have come to rejoice with everyone. The very fact that he is outside the party demonstrates that there is something wrong in his heart. The Father must have known that, but went out to deal with his wayward son anyway, rather than to continue to enjoy the happiness of the party.

When the Father talks with the older brother, he is still gracious. He could have cuffed him on the ear and told him to quite whining or else. Instead, we see him pleading with his son, asking him to come to the celebration.

The older brother refuses his dad’s pleas, and he starts to come up with all sorts of reasons why he is right and his dad is wrong.

We can imagine what he might have said, “I don’t see why you are so happy that he is back! He’s meant nothing but trouble for our family, and he spent your money doing everything bad under the sun! He is worthless, and he doesn’t deserve to be called your son! In fact, he isn’t really your son, anymore, remember?”

“And what have you done for me? I’ve been loyal, I’ve been faithful, I’ve been obedient! You haven’t done anything special to honor me! Where is the justice in that! I deserve to be treated better by you!”

The older brother prided himself in his obedience and loyalty. Is he being obedient and loyal? Not at all! His father told him to come to the party, he refused. In this culture, that would have been a big deal.

What is worse, he gets angry. He is angry with his brother, but he is even angrier with his dad. He made his dad’s graciousness and mercy seem like a bad thing. He accused his dad of being unfaithful and unfair. He claimed that his younger brother’s actions shouldn’t be be forgiven, and that he should be rejected just as he had rejected the rest of the family. He claimed that his dad was dead wrong to receive the dirty sinner into his household.

So when he refused his dad’s pleas to come to the party, he who thought he was obedient was really disobedient. When he got angry with his dad and accused his dad of wrongdoing, he who thought he was loyal proved himself to be disloyal. He knew the commandment that said, “Honor your father and your mother” (Ex 21:12), but he sin of his heart came out in his actions anyway.

Then the father says to him some of the most beautiful words ever spoken, “Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found” (Luke 15:31-32). The implication is clear: “You should stop your grumbling and repent of your self-righteousness and rejoice with the family. Repent of your disobedience and disloyalty. Don’t continue to remain outside. Come inside. Be more like your brother!”

You better believe that the Pharisees heard that. They knew that this wasn’t just a simple story meant to entertain people. It was pointed at them. They had grumbled at Jesus when he spent time with sinful people. “He even eats with them!”, they would say.

If their hearts had been right with God, they never would have grumbled one bit. Instead, they thought about how good they were, and how bad other people were. They showed their anger towards Jesus himself for accepting these sinful people, for being kind to them, for loving them, for forgiving them. “It is hardly fair,” they said. “Why would he show favor to sinners and not to good, righteous Pharisees? Why doesn’t he celebrate us, honor us, tell us what a great job we are doing on behalf of God?”

There is, of course, a warning for us here as well. A real love for God should always cause us to rejoice whenever someone is saved. We should be willing to join in the celebration.

Close your eyes, think of someone that you know who is bad. Really bad. Maybe it is someone who you don’t like very much, someone who has always just been mean, to you and to others. Maybe it is someone who cheated you out of something you really wanted. Think about some particular person that is so bad that it is hard to like them.

Now imagine what it would be like if that person heard the gospel of Christ, that God is willing to wipe the slate clean with anyone who repents and believes in Christ. That Christ’s blood covers over sin, that he gives his righteousness to all who trust in him. That person that you don’t care for very much hears the good news, and accepts it with joy. He is baptized, becomes a member of the church, and on Sunday morning, he walks over to your pew and sits right next to you.

Will you rejoice? Will you say, “This is the best day ever! Look at what Christ has done!” Whenever there is real repentance, the angels in Heaven rejoice: Jesus said, “There is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents” (Luke 15:10). Likewise, it is good for us to “celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found” (Luke 15:32).

After all, it isn’t that he is really that much different than you or me. He might be a more notorious sinner than we are, but that is just a difference in degree. We have all sinned, and we all fall short. It is God’s grace, and his grace alone, that saves men. Salvation is not won by loyalty, but a gift that no one deserves.

There is one more part of this story that we need to see. What happened to the older brother? Did he repent and come inside, or did he continue to sit and stew? We don’t know. And there is a reason that Jesus doesn’t finish the story. He wants us to stop and say, “What happened? What did he do?” More importantly, Jesus want us to wonder, “What would I do, if I were him?”

In response to this story, Jesus wants each of us to take a long, hard look at ourselves, and ask ourselves, “Am I like the older brother? All these years, have I thought that I was an insider, when I was really an outsider? All these year, have I been resting in my loyalty to God and to his church, when really I wasn’t as loyal as I thought I was?” If so, the response that we should have is clear. We should repent of our self-righteousness, put away our pride, and repent.

The earthly father in this story is a picture of the Heavenly Father. Just as the earthly father accepted the wayward son with joy, hugging him and kissing him, so the Heavenly Father will rejoice if you repent. And just as the earthly father plead with the older son to come inside and enjoy the party, so the Heavenly Father invites you to join in the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. Let him who is outside come in.

The Older Brother – Part One

E. Michael Kessler — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 03:19:30 +0000

In a previous blog series, I covered the first half of the story of the prodigal son. In this blog and the next, I will look at the second half, the story of the older brother.

And he said, “There was a man who had two sons. 12 And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them. 13 Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. 14 And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. 16 And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.17 “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.”’20 And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. 23 And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. 24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.

Who was the good one? The younger brother, who spent dad’s money on reckless living and prostitutes; or the older brother, who never left his dad’s side, and who was obedient to his dad? Which was the black sheep, and which the white? The answer seems quite obvious at first glance. However, we need to look closely at this story, to make sure that we see Jesus’ point. In this story, Jesus uses a normal situation in life to challenge our normal expectations and values.

When we first hear about the older brother, he is out in the field. Undoubtedly, he has spent the day working there. He is tired and walking home, having exhausted himself working for his father.

He is so very different from his younger brother. He has not spent his dad’s money foolishly. Rather, he has worked to advance his dad’s estate even further, making up just a little bit for all that his dad sold to give money to his worthless brother. Here is the picture of obedience and loyalty.

As he started to get closer to the house, he thought he heard something. He walked a little farther, and his suspicions were confirmed. It was music, beautiful music. When he saw the house, he saw the people dancing, and he saw the band playing. “What is going on?” Why is there a party?”, he thought to himself.

When he arrived at the big event taking place in his house, he saw one of his father’s servants standing by, and he went over to him and asked what was going on. The servant, rather matter-of-factly, replied, “Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.”

He probably thought to himself, “My brother! What?” Everything would have come rushing back. All of the shame that he had felt. After the news had started to spread around town, people would have started whispering whenever they saw him. His brother had made the entire family into a laughingstock.

“That stupid low-life that took off with dad’s money is back?,” he thought, “the one who humiliated us out of his greed?” And the more he thought about his younger brother, the angrier he got. “That guy is worthless and little better than a thief. He betrayed us!”

“I thought that dad had lost it when he have him the money in the first place. Now, that stupid brother of mine has spent all the money like the idiot he is, and when he comes back home like a whipped dog, my dad decides to throw a party for him!”, the older brother might have said to himself.

“The whole thing is completely unfair! I never left home. I never stopped working for him. What does that old man think he is doing? There is no way I’m going into that party!”

You can imagine it, can’t you? The older brother is so mad that he refuses to have anything to do with the party, and so he sits down on the side of the road near the house, steaming in his fury, coming up with reasons to look down on his brother, to look down on his father, and to make himself out to be the good guy, the worthy son whose loyalty had been betrayed by his dad.

Here is the irony: He thought he was an insider. He thought that he was perfectly a part of his father’s household. But here he sat, on the outside. He was a stranger to the joy of his father’s household, and you know this because he refused to celebrate with his dad. The one who thought he was an insider was really an outsider. He thought he was loyal, but he really wasn’t.

When it came right down to it, his heart wasn’t in it. When you look at the story closely, you can see that he didn’t really love his father the way that he needed to. Sure, he was obedient. He worked the fields, he jumped when his dad said, “jump!”, but these are things that you can do for any leader, and still not love that leader.

He gets mad because his father had a big party for his younger brother, and bar-b-ques the calf that they had been getting ready for a big festival. He wonders why his dad has never even killed a goat and had a party for him.

This shows us something important: the older brother is very concerned about his father’s possessions. He isn’t content to let his dad do what his dad wants to do with his own possessions, he would have really liked for his dad to go ahead and give him something. After all, he reasons, that would be one step towards being fair. “Dad gave so much to my younger brother, why not give me something as well?”

There is a a sense in which the older brother has the heart of a wanter; maybe not to the extent that his brother did when he left home, but he still has one. He loves his dad’s stuff, and this love of possessions ends up making making him angry at his dad. At the end of the day, his wanting prevented him from loving his father like he should. And so there he sat, beside the road. The one who thought he was on the inside was really on the outside.

We need to remember that this story that Jesus tells is part of a bigger story, which we see in chapter 15 of Luke’s gospel. The chapter began with, “Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them” (Luke 15:1-2).

Jesus is telling all of this so that the Pharisees would understand that they are acting a lot like the older brother. They are grumbling because all sorts of people with filthy lives are gathering around Jesus.

The Pharisees, as you probably know, thought quite a lot of themselves. They considered themselves to be the best people on the entire earth. They worked diligently in their Heavenly Father’s household, they had elaborate ways in which they tried to make sure that they would always keep his commands, to do their duty. The one thing that they were sure of is that they were better than the prostitutes, they were better than the thieves, they were better than anyone else around. God, in his fairness, would see their loyalty to him and he would most certainly make sure that they were a part of the Messianic Banquet, that time at the end of time in which the Messiah would bring all of his people together for a big celebration.

They couldn’t possibly be more wrong. Their loyalty didn’t really count for much, since they didn’t really love the Father. Luke 16:14 says, “The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things, and they ridiculed [Jesus].” The Pharisees loved the Father’s gift of money more than they loved the Father. And that’s not all they loved. Jesus said, “Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seat in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces” (Luke 11:13). They loved popularity. When it came right down to it, they loved the things of the world more than they loved God. The sin of wanting always goes hand in hand with the sin of idolatry.

Their wanting would cause these people who thought they were on the inside to remain on the outside. They thought that they were sure to be invited to that Messianic Banquet, when the bridegroom would celebrate his covenant bond with his people, that time of rejoicing, that time in which the music would play and the food would be good and plentiful; that time in which the Father’s people would see his face and be with him forever.

But in reality, they who had never really loved the Father would forever be outside of his love, outside of his life and light, outside where darkness reigned.

It’s not just the older brother. It’s not just the Pharisees. There are still people today who think they are insiders when they are really outsiders.

There are those who take comfort in their loyalty to Christ, and think that they will be a part of the Heavenly Banquet. “I have been in this church for twenty years! I have kept the kids, I have taught Sunday School, when you look up the word ‘committed’ in the dictionary, my picture will be right there!”

The older brother wasn’t as bad as the younger one in some ways, but he was still plenty bad. He still had the heart of a wanter, he still grumbled against his father. I’ll bet that if God shined a light on your heart, he would find something there amiss, just like we see in this older brother. Make sure that your love for the Heavenly Father is real, lest you end up like so many who believe themselves to be loyal servants: “On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness’ (Matt 7:22-23).

Habakkuk 1:11 – Their Might is Their God, Part Two

E. Michael Kessler — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 17:00:39 +0000

What is idolatry? Is it relegated to religious practices in faraway lands, or is it a basic problem in the hearts of all men? This verse in Habakkuk gives us an insight into idolatry that is the starting point for this blog series. In the previous blog, we examined how idolatry arises in the human heart and becomes an objective form to which individual’s submit. In this blog, we will look at the specific idol of “power.”

“Then they sweep by like the wind and go on, guilty men, whose own might is their god!”

“I made that country happy by eradicating its enemy everywhere. All its scattered inhabitants I led back to their settlements. What no former king had done [I achieved]: I cut through steep mountains, I split rocks, opened passages and I constructed a straight road… I erected there a stela showing me as everlasting king of this region… I, myself.” Nebuchadnezzar, the king who unified the Babylonians and destroyed their enemy, Judah in 586 BC¹

Idols meet human needs that only God should meet
As creatures created by God, we have a natural need to worship the one who is perfectly awe-inspiring. Yet, if we refuse to worship him, that need still must be met somehow. One of the ways that this need may be partially satisfied is by worshiping things of this world that are awe-inspiring, particularly if they provide us with a feeling of safety.

For this reason, power has always been (Gen 4:23-24) and will always be one of man’s favorite idols. When we see a strength that is immense compared to our weakness, it inspires awe within us. We can trick ourselves into worshiping the immense, yet created, power rather than the infinitely powerful Creator, by telling ourselves that it is rational to do so, since the immense created power is so much bigger than we are. In this way, an entire nation may end up worshiping the power that it has collectively as a nation, or a king may worship the power that he commands. Worshiping power satisfies needs within us, the need for an awe-inspiring object of worship, and also the need for safety. The king or nation with a powerful army has no reason to fear the chaos that the enemy may bring. So, the power of a nation may easily provide a substitute for the security that can only come from the real God. Christopher J. H. Wright, a missiologist, wrote about this tendency of men to worship the things in creation that inspire our awe: “If the gods of a nation are in fact the collective human construct of that nation’s pride, then the glory of god is identical to the glory of its nation and vice versa. To glorify the nation usually meant praising their combined military might…. in massed battalions of soldiers, parades of military hardware or on the decks of aircraft carriers…. We have a tendency to worship whatever makes us tremble with awe as we feel our tiny insignificance in comparison to the great multitudes that surround us. We seek to placate and ward off whatever makes us feel vulnerable and afraid. We then counter our fears by investing inordinate and idolatrous trust in whatever we think will give us the ultimate security we crave²

The Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar, as the opening quote in this blog indicates, idolized power. He looked out at the armies that his hands had created, and the battles that they had won against all their enemies, and he felt proud and secure. He erected a stela, a stone with writing on it, that told everyone what they needed to know about him: He was a great king, and his greatness was everlasting. The Babylonians valued power as well. They knew they were the most formidable nation in the Ancient Near East, and they were secure in their power. Their god, Marduk, whose statues they bowed down to, was a god of power, embodying the Babylonian understanding of power.

So, the Babylonian understanding of power was made concrete in various physical forms: in the army with its glittering swords, in the battles won and remembered, in the king’s stela that immortalized him, and in the statues of Marduk. All these physical things were idols of power, which were unified with the Babylonians idolatrous idea of power. The physical things, and even the Babylonian idea of power, were things created by men, and served to distract them from the one, true God.

The idolatry of today is not exactly like the Babylonian worship of Marduk. Yet we are all idolaters, every one of us. We still trick ourselves into believing that national power or some other form of human strength gives us security, though God teaches us that he is the ultimate source of security: “The king is not saved by his great army; a warrior is not delivered by his great strength” (Ps 33:16). We still foolishly believe that bank accounts and retirement funds guarantee our future, though God is the one who provides for our future in a way storehouses never could (Luke 12:13-21). We find our purpose for life in our professions or our noble causes, rather than simply accepting the purpose given to us by God, which is greater than any we could create for ourselves (1 Cor 10:31). We all look for the things only God can give us in the things of this world. We, like the Babylonians, are “guilty.” Praise be to God for the blood of Christ which cleanses our all our sin! (1 John 1:7).

James Prichard, Ancient Near Easter Texts Relating to the Old Testament (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1955), 307. Quoted by John Currid, The Expectant Prophet: Habakkuk Simply Explained, Welwyn Commentary Series (Darlington, England: Evangelical Press, 2009), 41.
Christopher J. H. Wright, The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible’s Grand Narrative (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2006), 156, 167, 171.