I’ve been making my way through John Frame’s Salvation Belongs to the Lord: An Introduction to Systematic Theology. It has been a good, readable introduction to systematic theology from a triperspectival perspective (say that 3 times fast). Chapter 19 on the Task of the Church stood out to me this morning.
Frame begins by discussing the inter-relatedness of status (being) and tasks (doing) with regard to the church. It is (exists) to do; if it isn’t doing, it is really a church. As sinful people, we tend toward extremes so some stress being over doing with regard to the church. Scripture, ever true, holds them both in tension.
After this he moves into a discussion of the kingdom which is sure to rankle a few people. “The gospel, then, is the coming of the kingdom; that is, the coming of the King to make things right. Incidentally, there is no dichotomy here between gospel and law. The coming of the King means that he will enforce his law in the world, that he will bring righteousness. That is the gospel, the good news. It is important for us to distinguish between salvation by grace and salvation by works, but I don’t think Scripture justifies a sharp distinction between law and gospel.”
That’s a mouthful. Jesus is subduing rebellious hearts by his grace. Justified people are also sanctified people who are growing in obedience. The Law is not null and void- but we aren’t justified by trying to keep the law. This is important if we are to consider the tasks of the church. Without law, there really is no place for doing but only being.
He then moves into the tasks of the church as revealed in the Mandates of the Church. Frame addresses the Cultural, or Creation, Mandate. It is broken into blessing (normative), filling (existential) and subduing (situational). It is a good thing for people to multiply (contrary to the zero population growth people) and subdue the earth (not exploit it, but we do utilize it contrary to some environmentalists). God empowers, or blesses, people to accomplish these tasks. Frame notes that the creation mandate was given prior to the Fall. The creation mandate is repeated in the covenants God made with Noah, Abraham, Moses, David and Jesus.
But, as a result of the Fall we reject the Creation Mandate altogether or corrupt it by pursuing it selfishly instead of for God’s glory. As a result “the Great Commission is the application of the cultural mandate to a fallen human race. … If human being are to fulfull the cultural mandate, their hearts must be subdued to God before the earth can be subdued to them.” Frame does not go far enough in the respect that Christ will usher in the ultimate subjection of the world when He consummates the kingdom. What we can only do in part, He will do in full upon His return.
“As in the cultural mandate, we have both filling and subduing. The preaching of the Word fills the whole world with disciples and subdues their hearts to obey God’s commands.”
The church has always had a missional focus (his chapter 18 traces the origin of the church, assembly, in the Old Testament). In the Old Testament this was largely centripetal, or attractional. People from other nations came to worship the God of Israel in those rare moments when they were faithful.
In the New Testament, the missional focus in centrifugal- we are sent out of Israel to make Jesus and the Great News known in all the world. “The task of the church, then, is to carry out the Great Commission. When it does this, it will also be enabling people to carry out the cultural mandate. But the Great Commission must be the focus on everything the church does.” So… the church focuses on worship, discipleship/nurture and witness. Christians subdue the earth as they work well, produce art/culture etc. Some churches make the creation/cultural mandate the purpose of the church. As a result they squelch the Great Commission. Ministry focuses on the Commission, and maturing Christians engage in the Cultural Mandate. Make sense? The work of the church prepares you to engage in culture building and transformation.
The specific tasks, as I briefly mentioned, are worship (normative), nurture (existential) and witness (situational). These are all related. “Everything we do in the church has to be planned with the gospel as the center. … This concept is sometimes called the missional church, where missions and evangelism are not just activities of the church or departments of the church but everything is focused on the advance of the gospel.”
This means that worship should glorify God, nurture Christians and call sinners to faith & repentance. Fellowship events that focus on nurture include worship/service to God, and involve some outreach to unbelieving friends or family in the process. There they should also see us love one another well.
I like his reminder about nurture: “Because sin continues in the lives of the regenerate, the church needs to bring us again and again to repentance. It needs to turn us away from pride and self-satisfaction, so we will be humbled, so that we will turn again and again to the all-sufficiency of Christ.”
Frame returns to the officers of the church in discussing the ministries of the church. He notes why character is the main qualification for office. “A godly life is the body language of sound teaching. A godly life teaches people how sound doctrine should be put into practice. And where godliness is absent, teaching is unpersuasive, even meaningless.” Couldn’t have said it better.
The ministry of deacons is focuses on mercy. Too often deacons get caught up in discussions of facilities, budgets and the like. They need to be encouraged to regularly consider the material needs of congregants and community in order to reveal God’s mercy through meeting them.
Frame briefly summarizes why he holds to male leadership in the church. And I mean brief. He included 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 where though women are permitted to pray and prophesy in church, they were not permitted among those to judge whether a prophecy is authentic. He then recommends an Appendix from an OPC report by Robert Strimple arguing that Scripture does not prohibit women from being deacons (it is an office of service, under the authority of the Session, not authority). I found this encouraging.
There was plenty to consider in this short chapter on the task of the church.
Cavman Considers 
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