I hope that by now it will be seen that the Church is in a great crisis. The Church has been given over to programs, morality, and basic practices. But it has abandoned its terminal end or purpose as set out by God. I would imagine that I am speaking as if in a foreign language to many. But surely it is self-evident that if a church is doing what it does apart from the purpose that God has assigned all things to be done and that from eternity, that what it is doing is being done from wrong motivations and for the wrong reasons. The topic we are dealing with is that vital.
Last time we were dealing with evangelism. I hope that anyone reading this will get a knot in the stomach when they see the importance of this. That knot would arise because the person might begin to see that so many of the activities and ministries that are done in the name of evangelism are simply done for the wrong reasons and perhaps that means that the evangelism is done improperly. Evangelism is not something that is to be done just because the church is to be involved in it. It is not to be done because it gives people something to do. It is not something to be done because the church needs people to keep it going. No, no, and a thousand times no. Evangelism is to be done because it fits with God’s eternal purpose for the Church and it is to be done in a way that is in accordance with that. Evangelism is not even to be done as a terminal purpose or primary purpose because souls are saved when it is done with the truth of the Gospel.
One thing that might show the importance in this is to imagine that people go out preaching a Gospel or gospel with a terminal purpose in mind. If the gospel that is preached has the purpose of getting a person to pray a prayer, then what is said and done will be focused on that. If the gospel that is preached has the purpose of getting a person to come to a church building at a stated time, then everything will be focused on that. In other words, a terminal end or goal always determines the way we do things and what we try to do. Having the true and biblical terminal end or goal is that important. Without it everything else will be done incorrectly even if it is done to some degree as the Bible says. The terminal end or purpose is utterly vital to doing things as Scripture sets out.
I can only hope that once again at least a few people are getting knots in their stomachs. The evangelism practiced today is to be judged by what it does and how it does it by the terminal end or goal as set out in Scripture. If it is not in accordance with that goal, it is wrong and is deceiving people. It is not that God cannot save people if enough of the truth is presented, but simply that many are being deceived in and out of the Church today by false methodologies that are because the terminal purpose of Scripture is not understood or perhaps ignored. It is easier to go out with a message than it is to be guided by the purposes of God.
Without question the whole tenor of Scripture is that God has created all things for His own glory and pleasure (Rev 4:8-11). God created things as a means to manifest His glory. When Adam sinned and the fall occurred man began to live apart from that purpose. Now all that man does is to sin which is to fall short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23). The Gospel is the restoration of man back to where man is saved and then enabled to live for the glory of God. In fact, the whole reason for salvation is said to be “to the praise of the glory of His grace” (Eph 1:6). If this theme is not in the message of evangelism, then the main them of sin and of the Gospel has been missed. There is no true evangelism apart from the message of the glory of God in Christ. When humanity is set out to be the main focus of evangelism, it has missed the real point of it all and what is really good news is not set out and declared. That negates the Gospel.
God Loves... Himself 
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