Last Independence Weekend thoughts…

Give me Preaching or give me death!

“Give me liberty or give me death!” is the powerful quote by Patrick Henry in 1775 that helped bring the Virginia Commonwealth into the fight for independence.  It is one of several important statements that were both symbolic of the fight for independence and instigating to garner actual support needed at the time.  It’s a great quote.

Now, my play on the quote is less aspiring, but I still hope it provokes a mini-revolution in some preacher’s heart somewhere.

Some background…

I grew up in a church much like many of you — traditional Southern Baptist experience that I remember particularly marked by two things: 1) Get decisions by getting crowds and 2) Make a BIG deal about the holidays.  Now, I want to say right off (knowing I could offend some – even family – who may read this blog or attended the church I did) that I had a rich experience in my home church, coming to Christ there and being called to ministry.  Much of the most important early decisions of my spiritual life were made while at my home church.  So, I am grateful to God for working through many faithful workers (even if it was a revolving door with vocational leadership – the lay leaders are the ones I remember most).  Bottom line, over time I’ve come to be grateful for God’s faithfulness in my early years.

That said, when I remember those two elements mentioned above, I tend to be somewhat (okay, VERY) skeptical when I see a semblance of the same elements in churches today.  When you combine the “crowd” idea with the “holiday” idea you often wind up with an awfully “Americanized” church experience.  If the church is faithful, there will be a smattering of “gospel” elements, but often it feels more like a nod to what we are supposed to be about as a church (and at any worship gathering) rather than what is clearly central.

Personally, this puts me at risk with family, friends, even church members.  It sounds like I’m against all things holiday (no Santa, no Stars-n-Stripes, no bunnies — these aren’t good examples because we actually don’t teach our kids about Santa and ignore bunnies altogether at Easter — do love our country and the American flag).  Nonetheless, it’s risky.  What I’m against in TOTAL are competitors for the gospel when we gather together as God’s people.  By nature, we are easily distracted (with ourselves) and if we promote things above the gospel on a Sunday morning that make much of “us” (as individuals or a nation) I believe we lose sight of our true identity as believers (a humble, sorry lot redeemed by God’s grace in Christ Jesus and made citizens of heaven, NOT more entrenched as citizens of earthly kingdoms).

Let me give you a brief example.  One time I had a letter from a member of a worship team that said, “Can’t you step out of the spotlight just a few times a year to let us play?”  The charge related to having zero preaching in lieu of having a music only service (I think it related to a holiday).  This didn’t provoke happy thoughts for me, but I had to make sure my response was equal to my offense, which had nothing to do with me being at the “center” (as the preacher), rather the proclamation of the gospel being central to every worship gathering.  This has been my tenet for years (long before UBC) and will continue to be.

There are times for some of these special occasion services and I believe that holiday services can be done in such a way that God is truly glorified.  Usually, however, the tone of these services when performed (and I mean that intentionally) on a Sunday morning feels more like God empowering us to be a great people with great dreams, able to accomplish anything – but little if nothing related to the gospel, the TRUE gospel.  The gospel that redeems men from sin and reconciles them to God because God hates sin and will deal with all sin (meaning, the gospel is NOT about God redeeming a people so that we can bless them with democratic ideals — take it easy, love democracy…).

I’m just saying that the church must be distinct.  What torch are we to bear?  I believe it is the gospel proclaimed (usually expositionally) through the preaching of the Word that must be our aim every single Sunday morning (or whenever our main worship gathering is).  Again, there are times for other things, as long as they are consistent with our aim as a people.

Too hard?  Maybe.  Too narrow?  Certainly by some standards.  Truth is, I think my dad should be honored as a veteran, as well as other men in my family who have died serving our country.  I think there is a general kindness that we should be reminded of each Thanksgiving and Christmas to amp up our generosity.  But when we leave out the proclamation of the Word, which scripture commands we do when we are gathered as a people, we have done something less than have a biblically-defined worship service.  At UBC, we seasonally remember our vets and pray for our military and gospel-centered military chaplains.  But we do so without forgetting that while dying for our country is noble and good, it’s not that same as Romans 5:8 that says Christ died for His enemies (the ones that killed him) not for those already His friends.  One thing points to another and is a powerful image of the more eternal thing.

So, I’m not saying let’s not celebrate our country or holidays, but I am saying let us not waste one corporate worship gathering without proclaiming the very Word of God that will last longer than any country, any holiday.

This is just one reason I’m so grateful to God for a church that is so receptive to the Scriptures and understanding that preaching is to be central to each time we gather on a Sunday.  I’m thankful for elder / pastor types (like John Mueller) this past Sunday who faithfully proclaim the Word helping the church to see that it is the Word that is central not the personality proclaiming it.

May God make us the kind of Christians who go hard after the eternal while faithfully brining the eternal into the temporal world we live in.  We will blow it on this point and I’m certain that many of us will fail at being too stringent.  May we be gracious and loving in our veracious love for Scripture proclaimed KNOWING that the REAL difference in us will occur when that Word proclaimed changes the way that we LIVE.

Independence Day thoughts…

First, Independence Day (July 4th) is a wonderful celebration of the freedoms that are afforded us in this great country, preserved through the lives and deaths of great politicians and soldiers through the last 233+ years.  Ultimately, God has seen fit to give our country a common grace of democratic freedoms, which are most clearly seen in our freedom to worship Him.

We would be missing the point of earthly freedoms if we did not allow such earthly reminders to point us to the real (and eternal) independence we have as born-again believers in Christ.  To capture this thought, I’ve included a quote below by Spurgeon on Christ’s rule over heaven and earth and hell (thanks 9Marks):

“It is the iron crown of hell, for Christ reigneth there supreme. Not only in the dazzling brightness of heaven, but in the black impenetrable darkness of hell is his omnipotence felt, and his sovereignty acknowledged; the chains which bind damned spirits are the chains of his strength; the fires which burn are the fires of his vengeance; the burning rays that scorch through their eyeballs, and melt their very heart, are flashed from his vindictive eye. There is no power in hell besides his. The very devils show his might. He chaineth the great dragon. If he give him a temporary liberty, yet is the chain in his hand, and he can draw him back lest he go beyond his limit. Hell trembles at him. The very howlings of lost spirits are but deep bass notes of his praise . While in heaven the glorious notes shout forth his goodness; in hell the deep growlings resound his justice, and his certain victory over all his foes. Thus his empire is higher than the highest heaven, and deeper than the lowest hell.” C. H. Spurgeon, “The Savior’s Many Crowns” Oct. 30, 1859, printed in New Park Street Pulpit, vol. 5, p. 450.

Which yields a second thought…

In a recent article, Conrad Mbewe, a Baptist pastor in Zambia, exhorted American Christians on several ways they could could help the Zambian Church.  One point that seemed particularly significant to me was the following:

3) DEMONSTRATE BIBLICAL CHURCHMANSHIP

Western Christians entering Zambia as missionaries are generally very good examples to us with respect to their personal and domestic lives. In these two areas, we see a very clear difference between them and their non-Christian counterparts from the Western world.

However, where we see no difference is in their commitment to the local church. Their church attendance is scanty to say the least. They do not join a local church. We do not know where they give their tithes and offerings. They are not involved in any local church ministries (except to preach when they are asked to do so), and so on.

As a result, our young professional Christians believe that this is enlightened Christianity. They also end up having a very loose relationship with the church. I really think that this has been the Achilles’ heel of the work of Western missionaries in Zambia today. They are not good examples of biblical churchmanship!

We need to find a way in which Western missionaries can maintain relationships with their sending churches and at the same time exhibit biblical accountability to local churches where they labor, so that they can be good examples in this area to those whom they win to Christ.

This gives some evidence to a concern / suspicion I’ve had in the years I’ve worked with (or chosen not to work with) certain mission agencies or para-church organizations.  Many mission organization (SBC or not) do a great job in arousing a passion for missions and equipping individuals to live as missionaries.  However, many of them lack a most critical element:  teaching missionaries to love the CONTEXT of their work – The Church.

When missionaries go and proclaim the freedom in Christ from sin, death and hell even in cultures where freedoms are withheld in just about every way, they often do so with an independence that is not good.  It is not good for a missionary to go and do mission work independent of the local church sending and the local church established locally.  We have made huge strides in de-Americanizing the churches we start on the mission field, but too often we treat the local church in a missional setting as if it would just be icing on the cake if it just happened to pop up after we’ve done our missionary work.

However we train missionaries to proclaim the freedoms we have in Christ, we must make certain that they have a biblical ecclesiology and model that on the mission field.  We are not saved unto ourselves.  We are ransomed as a people by God and for God, gathered together in local settings to show the distinctiveness of being His people and proclaiming the gospel through Word and modeled in deed (particularly toward fellow believers).

Martin in England #2 – On this Cross…

On this Cross in the Road

Much of the classes I am taking this summer deal with our spiritual forefathers in a sense, and today gave me an opportunity to walk the streets, sit in the churches and cathedrals, and praise God for men that loved the Lord Jesus enough to be martyred for their beliefs. I hesitate to even begin to list some of the men I am talking about that walked the halls of various colleges and universities in the historic Oxford system for fear of leaving some out, nevertheless; John and Charles Wesley, C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Hugh Latimer, Nicholas Ridley, Thomas Cranmer, John Wycliffe and many others.

For obvious reasons, today was nostalgic as I sat and ate lunch with our group in the historic Eagle and Child Pub where C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien would regularly go to discuss theological matters. However today the most valuable place was a very simple cross in a road in the heart of Oxford where three men were martyred for their faith. I am including a link so you can read more about their stories. I am including an except from the story but urge you to take 5 minutes to read their stories: Speaking of Cranmer who was the archbishop of Canterbury,

“He (Cranmer) had believed, with a fervor that many people today will find hard to understand, that it is the duty of every Christian to obey the monarch, and that “the powers that be are ordained of God” (Romans 13). As long as the monarch was ordering things that Cranmer thought good, it was easy for Cranmer to believe that the king was sent by God’s providence to guide the people in the path of true religion, and that disobedience to the king was disobedience to God. Now Mary was Queen, and commanding him to return to the Roman obedience. Cranmer five times wrote a letter of submission to the Pope and to Roman Catholic doctrines, and four times he tore it up. In the end, he submitted. However, Mary was unwilling to believe that the submission was sincere, and he was ordered to be burned at Oxford on 21 March 1556. At the very end, he repudiated his final letter of submission, and announced that he died a Protestant. He said, “I have sinned, in that I signed with my hand what I did not believe with my heart. When the flames are lit, this hand shall be the first to burn.” And when the fire was lit around his feet, he leaned forward and held his right hand in the fire until it was charred to a stump. Aside from this, he did not speak or move, except that once he raised his left hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead.”

Article Link: http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bio/269.html I am sure there are better articles for this that are a more full treatment of this, but this one is brief and will give you a little bit of history! Enjoy!

Again I am flooded with these questions in my mind like would I be willing to defend the faith at the price of my life? Would I be willing to recant my recantation and honor my Lord in the end should I have chosen foolishly? I like to believe that the Lord will sustain those who are truly His to the very end, Praise God! I was also just reminded of how grateful I need to be for the men and women that have stood for the faith generation after generation to as Paul told Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:1-3, ” You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.” In addition to that, the passage in Timothy where Paul implores Timothy to guard the good deposit of the Gospel…today I was privileged to walk one of the many streets of those who heeded Paul’s advice to Timothy to preserve the riches of the Gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord.

The architecture was amazing and with every church and college I walked in I said to someone near to me, “I wish my brother was here….he would love this!” He is an architect for those who may not know. Oxford truly was breath taking on many levels and I am glad that I had the opportunity to walk the cobblestone roads of Oxford, England today praising my Father for His sovereignty in preserving the Gospel through faithful men. The picture I am posting is a picture of the actual pulpit where John Wesley and C.S. Lewis gave several sermons in St. Mary’s Cathedral. Arguably Lewis’ most famous sermon he preached from this pulpit was preached June 8, 1942 titled, “The Weight of Glory” if you are interested in it you can google it and download it for free.

One last note about the location of the pulpit; it is not the focal point in the church, in fact it is off to the side. In many Anglican and other denominations the Eucharist table is central whereas in almost all traditional Evangelical churches today, even bad ones , the pulpit is central in the churches. The reason for the dispute is based on what is seen as most important for the church. In traditional evangelical churches the proclamation of God’s Word is the most common means by which the church is edified, sanctified, and the most common means of grace extended to sinful man. However, in churches where the Eucharist table is central it is usually so because the common thought is that is what is most important to the church. Many believe that the means of grace, that being the receiving of God’s grace comes through receiving of the Lord’s Supper. This is part of the doctrine of transubstantiation whereby the bread and wine are believed to literally become the actual body and blood of Jesus while retaining there bread and wine qualities. Many believe, though I disagree, that it is in the receiving of such elements that God dispenses his grace to man.

Romans 10:9-17, “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”How then will they 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? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”

Blessings,
stephen

The Edifier!

Here’s a word-picture for you…

This new ipod / iphone speaker is called “The Edifier Luna5″.  Here’s what I’m thinking.  As big as this speaker is (in fact, Jan saw the picture and says, “Don’t you dare buy that ‘Darth Vader’ lookin’ thing!”) without the smaller device plugged in (ipod or iphone) that contains the content to be magnified, it’s just a big, useless “Darth Vader lookin’ thing” speaker.

The body of Christ should be compelled by Scripture to edify (that is, build up) one another in love with the Scriptures.  Without the simple, powerful Word of God plugged into our lives, we’re just big mouths with nothing of benefit to say.  At best we utter static, or at worst we pick up on other “signals” and just are negative.

According to Paul, the Gospel is what edifies the church the most…

9 For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. 11 Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

1 Thessalonians 5:9-11

Make sure the Gospel is plugged into your life and then encourage one another with it.  Be an Edifier!

Martin in London #1 – Speakers Corner

Starting today, I’ll be posting some blog entries by Stephen Martin, UBC’s Collegiate Pastor, as he studies abroad (via Southern Seminary) in England…

Speakers Corner

Today was a most unusual day, both in London and for me personally. This day was unusual in London from the stand point that Speaker’s Corner only happens once a week on Sundays in Hyde Park in Central London. It was most unusual for me because what Speaker’s Corner is…let me explain. For a number of years, there have been radical Muslims engaging in debate over who is the One true God with what I will call a group of “radical” Christians. This debate has been started by these “radical” Christians and their street preaching against the beliefs of the Koran. For most the term radical Christians will elicit a picture in your mind…some accurate and some not so accurate. Those “radical” Christians at Speaker’s Corner today very much love the Lord and want very desperately for the Sunni Muslims in Central London to love this same Lord and God through the worship of adoration of the Son, Jesus Christ. The “radical” Christians at Speaker’s Corner today use a polemic method of sharing Christ, that is to say where an apologetic is a defense of the faith; a polemic is an offense of the faith. These “radical” Christians were quick to point out that Speaker’s Corner is unique and this method is most likely not transferable in every Muslim environment. Literally in Hyde Park today as thousands fled to the grounds to hear Dave Matthews opening for Bruce Springsteen, there were Muslims clerics and “radical” Christians alike proclaiming their beliefs from step ladders, hence the name Speaker’s Corner. There was shouting, debating, points, counterpoints, and even a few fists thrown by angry Muslims (though none of those punches were thrown at our group), all over the issue of who is the One true God. There are groups that go to Hyde Park every Sunday to engage in this open air preaching debate and part of the design is to draw a crowd and engage willing listeners in evangelism opportunities. You need not look far because if you did not engage a willing participant in one of the opportunities, one of the willing Muslims would engage you in conversation. One of the most helpful things I heard in going to Hyde Park today was the conversation you enter into when it is heated is not as much for the person you are debating rather for the those who are casual observers of the conversation. It is about what you say, but is also about how you say it. I am posting a link to an article about Speaker’s Corner from Christianity Today, 2008http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2008/june/21.34.html Whether you agree with the method or not is not the point of this post. Learn what you can learn from this post and the article and ask yourself what are you willing to do for the name of Jesus Christ to be anthemed on this earth?

Before I tell you what I learned I want to take you on a little journey through my mind as we sat in a pre-meeting about this excursion/adventure that we had no prior knowledge of before it was announced. Before we left to walk to Hyde Park I ran the gamete of emotions; fear and excitement, hope and inadequacy, spiritual warfare and spiritual victory, etc. We had been told that though unlikely, violence was a possibility and, we were told that some Muslims would be very nasty to us personally. It was kind of a prepare for anything type of let’s go get’em pep talk! The skies were overcast and even spitting some rain and I found myself in my flesh thinking, “maybe I will pray for rain so this thing might get canceled.” I have never in my life thought about doing anything of this nature in this manner. I have shared my faith before and I have witnessed to friends and others, but never gone out looking for confrontation of sorts. Then, as I was thinking about the reality that the victory is the Lord’s forever and ever and I as a child of the King can claim this victory I was reminded of at least three things: First, this was not and never would be about me, this was about the Lord and what He wanted. Second, instead of praying for rain in the flesh, I was reminded that I was to pray for fruit walking in the Spirit. Third, I was reminded of one of the verses that I have been memorizing this summer: Matthew 10:28, “And do not fear those who can kill the body but cannot kill the soul, rather fear Him who can destroy both body and soul in hell.” So literally in a worst case scenario, the worst that could happen to me is I could be killed for my faith. While that would be and was a little difficult to think about I was reminded of the words of Paul, “for me to live is Christ and to die is gain!”

Today was a most unique experience indeed! I am glad that I had the opportunity and I am glad that I engaged in conversation today with a Muslim man named, or as they say in London a man called, Hussein. Pray for him, that the Lord would open his heart and his mind and he will come to know without a shadow of doubt that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. I am posting 2 pictures from today so you can see Hussein to be reminded to pray for him and one of the crowd gathered at Speaker’s Corner. May God receive all the glory and honor forever and may the seeds planted today in the hearts and minds of those who engaged in conversation and those who only observed bring about fruit that glorifies our God and King! Been outside YOUR comfort zone lately???

I Wonder…

I wonder if we have a few “arm-chair” worshipers out there…

A Couple of SBC Points of Interest…

First and foremost, we should be in prayer for Prestonwood Baptist Church (Plano, TX).  A news report was released today that Jack Graham, Senior Pastor, has been diagnosed with prostate cancer and has had successful surgery and is entering a 2 month sabbatical.  More info HERE.

Second, a really great statement was received well today at the Southern Baptist Convention that was championed by Johnny Hunt, SBC president, Danny Akin, President of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, and my president, Al Mohler of Southern Seminary.  Here is what the statement says:

Toward a Great Commission Resurgence

Then Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20, HCSB).

Preamble

Southern Baptists have always been a Great Commission people. Christ’s command to go, disciple, baptize, and teach is woven into the very DNA of our churches. By God’s grace, over the last thirty years, the SBC has undergone a Conservative Resurgence that has brought substantive changes to many of our churches and all of our Convention’s seminaries and boards. We are thankful for the Conservative Resurgence and believe that God has also called Southern Baptists to a Great Commission Resurgence as the next step in the fulfillment of our mandate in missions and evangelism which will result in the renewal of our Convention. It is our conviction that a Great Commission Resurgence must embrace the following ten commitments:

I. A Commitment to Christ’s Lordship. We call upon all Southern Baptists to submit to the absolute Lordship of Jesus Christ in all things at the personal, local church, and denominational levels. (Col. 1:18; 3:16-17, 23-24)

Scripture is clear that Jesus Christ is Lord of all. Therefore, Jesus Christ must be our passion and priority and we should aspire to both know Him and love Him more fully. We must long to see Him have preeminence in all things. We desire to see a Convention of Christ-centered, “Jesus-intoxicated” people who pursue all that we do by God’s grace and for His glory. We believe we need the ministry of the Holy Spirit to lead us into a new and fresh intimacy and communion with the Lord Jesus that results in greater obedience to all that He commands. Christ’s Lordship must be first and foremost in a Great Commission Resurgence or we will miss our most important priority and fail in all of our other pursuits.

II. A Commitment to Gospel-Centeredness. We call upon all Southern Baptists to make the gospel of Jesus Christ central in our lives, our churches, and our convention ministries. (Rom. 1:16; 1 Cor. 15:1-4; 2 Cor. 5:17-21)

The gospel is the good news of all that God has done on behalf of sinners through the perfect life, atoning death, and victorious resurrection of Jesus. As individual Southern Baptists, we must be gospel-centered from first to last. Gospel-centered living will promote a grace-filled salvation from beginning to end by putting on display the beauty of the gospel in every aspect of our lives. It will remind us that we do not obey in order to be accepted, but rather we obey because we are accepted by God in Christ. Gospel-centered living will help ensure that the bloody cross of a crucified King is the offense to non-believers rather than our styles, traditions, legalisms, moralisms, personal preferences, or unhelpful attitudes.

The gospel must also guide and saturate our local churches and convention ministries. Too many of our pulpits have jettisoned the pure proclamation of the gospel, which has resulted in many of our people losing the full meaning and wonder of the gospel. Too often our convention programs and agendas have been crafted without a close tethering to the gospel. If we assume the gospel, we will lose the gospel.  If we are to experience a Great Commission Resurgence, we must get the gospel right and proclaim it with clarity and boldness.

III. A Commitment to the Great Commandments. We call upon all Southern Baptists to recommit to the priority of the Great Commandments in every aspect of our lives and every priority we embrace as a network of local Baptist churches. (Matt. 22:37-40)

Every Christian is called first and foremost to love God and secondly to love others. Greater love for God will always lead to greater love for people created in His image. The Great Commission flows from the Great Commandments.

We believe too many of us have lost some of our love for God and others somewhere along the way. This has devastated our witness. If we love Jesus as we should, we will love sinners as we ought and pursue them as He did. Though we believe that God calls believers to speak out against moral ills, this must not be done in a way that is hateful toward unbelievers or trades gospel priorities for political influence. We must not condemn those who are already under the just wrath of God, but must seek to serve them and proclaim Christ to them with the hope that God will save them.

Loving God and loving others means our churches must become more diverse. Southern Baptists were born, in part, out of a racist context and for over a century embraced systemic racism. For far too much of our history we failed to love our neighbors as ourselves, and that will forever be to our shame. By God’s grace and the Spirit’s conviction, we publically repented of this in 1995 on our 150th anniversary, but there is still much work to be done. Until our churches better reflect the diversity we look forward to in heaven, we must labor at gospel-centered racial reconciliation.

Furthermore, loving God and loving others means each of us must be watchful in our relationships with others in our churches and our Convention. We must accept our constant need to humble ourselves and repent of pride, arrogance, jealousy, hatred, contentions, lying, selfish ambitions, laziness, complacency, idolatries and every other sin of the flesh that leads to broken relationships and harms our witness before the watching world.

IV. A Commitment to Biblical Inerrancy and Sufficiency. We call upon all Southern Baptists to unite around a firm conviction in the full truthfulness and complete sufficiency of Christian Scripture in all matters of faith and practice. (Matt 5:17-18; John 10:35; 17:17; 2 Tim 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:20-21)

Through the Conservative Resurgence Southern Baptists reaffirmed their historic belief that the Bible is God’s written revelation to humanity and is “truth without any mixture of error.” By God’s grace, what some have called the “Battle for the Bible” that began in the SBC 1979 has been won. However, we believe the “War for the Bible” began in the Garden of Eden when the serpent first questioned the truthfulness of God’s words and will continue until all things are made new in Christ. Southern Baptists must not retreat one inch from the non-negotiable doctrine that the Bible is without error, lest we squander the gains of recent years. Furthermore, we must recommit ourselves to the full sufficiency of Scripture. It is not enough to believe that the Bible is inerrant; we must also be willing to submit to all of its teachings, even if that means we must relinquish our own preferences or human traditions.

V. A Commitment to a Healthy Confessional Center. We call upon all Southern Baptists to look to the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 as a sufficient guide for building a theological consensus for partnership in the gospel, refusing to be sidetracked by theological agendas that distract us from our Lord’s Commission. (1 Tim. 6:3-4)

In 2000 the Southern Baptist Convention overwhelmingly adopted a revised edition of the Baptist Faith and Message as an instrument of doctrinal accountability to be used by our seminaries and boards. Many state conventions followed suit. While the BF&M 2000 is neither exhaustive nor infallible, we believe that it is a sound confession for building theological consensus for Great Commission cooperation. Like the best of confessions, the BF&M 2000 speaks most clearly to those doctrines wherein we enjoy greatest agreement and speaks more generally concerning areas where some differing opinions exist.

The promise of the Conservative Resurgence was that eventually we would find enough common biblical and theological ground that we could focus on the Great Commission. We believe the BF&M 2000 is a key tool in this endeavor because it articulates a theological consensus that is simultaneously orthodox, evangelical, and Baptist. As we attempt to discern the difference between primary, secondary, and tertiary issues, we believe that by God’s grace the BF&M 2000 will guide us in our cooperation.  This is what lies at the heart of many of our present tensions.

VI. A Commitment to Biblically Healthy Churches. We call upon all Southern Baptists to focus on building local churches that are thoroughly orthodox, distinctively Baptist, and passionately committed to the Great Commission. (Matt. 16:13-20, 18:15-20; Acts 2:41-47; Rom. 6:3-5; 1 Cor. 5)

Baptists have always been a people committed to building local churches that reflect as closely as possible the faith and practice of New Testament churches. We sense numerous threats to contemporary Baptist churches including worldliness, laziness, faddishness, heterodoxy, arrogant sectarianism, and naïve ecumenism. Our churches must be committed to a biblical orthodoxy that informs every aspect of church life. Sound doctrine must guide every priority our churches embrace and every task they undertake.

We must be especially mindful to resist contemporary threats to our historic, biblical Baptist identity. Our churches must remain committed to the Baptist distinctives of a regenerate church membership, believer’s baptism by immersion, the priesthood of all believers, congregational church polity, local church autonomy, and liberty of conscience for all people. Each of these distinctives must be embraced under the Lordship of Christ as revealed in Christian Scripture and interpreted by gospel-centered congregations. We must be willing to alter our practices to better accord with a robust Baptist identity, including in many churches a more responsible baptismal policy, the recovery of a redemptive church discipline, a healthier relationship between pastors and their people, and a commitment to an every-member ministry.

Mission is not a ministry of the church, it is at the heart of the church’s identity and essence. We must encourage our churches to see themselves as the missionary bodies that they are. Pastors and other leaders must be willing to teach and model for their people how to be missionaries in their community, regardless of their vocation or location. Churches must have a global perspective and recognize those members who are called to serve overseas long-term and engage in short-term global missions. Churches must labor to both plant new churches in unevangelized areas of North America, especially the great urban centers, and revitalize existing congregations. We long to see a Convention where every church is a church planting church in its unique Jerusalem, its Judea and Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth.

VII. A Commitment to Sound Biblical Preaching. We call upon all Southern Baptists to affirm and expect a pastoral ministry that is characterized by faithful biblical preaching that teaches both the content of the Scriptures and the theology embedded in the Scriptures. (2 Tim. 4:1-5)

Biblical preaching is central to building healthy churches that pursue healthy agendas within the context of a healthy Convention. We need a new battalion of well trained pastors who preach the whole Bible with clarity and conviction. Authentic preaching must develop systematically the Bible’s theological content. It should understand both the Old Testament and New Testament to be Christian Scripture that together communicates one grand narrative about the world’s creation, fall, redemption, and restoration, with the person and work of Jesus Christ as the climax of the Bible’s storyline.

We also believe that genuine preaching is more than mere Bible teaching, no matter how orthodox and articulate. Healthy preaching should apply biblical truths in a way that makes unchanging truths relevant to contemporary believers. It must also be gospel preaching that pleads with men to be reconciled with God and expects the living and powerful Word of God to produce results and usher in conversions. It must be preaching that convicts sinners, encourages saints, changes lives, and glorifies God.

VIII. A Commitment to a Methodological Diversity that is Biblically Informed. We call upon all Southern Baptists to consider themselves and their churches to be missionaries in non-Christian cultures, each of which requires unique strategies and emphases if the gospel is to penetrate and saturate every community in North America. (Phil. 2:1-5; 4:2-9)

There are essential and non-negotiable components of biblical ministry like proclamation, evangelism, service to others, prayer, and corporate worship. At the same time, we are convinced there is no specific style or method ordained by our God through which we must engage in these biblical ministries. In the past, Southern Baptists were characterized by a remarkable uniformity in both style and substance, but those days have long passed. Though we must remain united in substance, we must embrace a healthy, biblically informed diversity in our methodology if we are to effectively evangelize North America.

Different contexts demand diverse strategies and methods. We must think like missionaries and ask, “What is the best way to reach the people I live amongst with the gospel?” Various ethnic believers and social/cultural tribes will worship the same God, adore the same Jesus, believe the same Bible, and preach the same gospel. However, they may meet in different kinds of structures, wear different kinds of clothes, sing different kinds of songs, and engage in different kinds of ministries. We must treat the United States missiologically and do so with the same seriousness that our international missionaries treat their foreign people groups. As long as our varied methods communicate gospel truth, with theological integrity, unto God’s glory, we should not allow our different approaches to divide us.

IX. A Commitment to a More Effective Convention Structure. We call upon all Southern Baptists, through our valued partnerships of SBC agencies, state conventions/institutions, and Baptist associations to evaluate our Convention structures and priorities so that we can maximize our energy and resources for the health of our local churches and the fulfillment of the Great Commission.  This commitment recognizes the great strength of our partnership, which has been enabled by the Cooperative Program and enhanced by a belief that we can do more together than we can separately.

At the midpoint of the 20th century the Southern Baptist Convention was a convention characterized by impressive institutions, innovative programs, and strong loyalty from the churches. But the convention has too often failed to adapt its structure and programs to the changing culture. We are frequently aiming at a culture that went out of existence years ago, failing to understand how mid-20th century methods and strategies are not working in the 21st century.

Some of our convention structures at all levels need to be streamlined for more faithful stewardship of the funds entrusted to them. We must address with courage and action where there is overlap and duplication of ministries, and where poor stewardship is present. We are grateful for God’s gift of Cooperative Program dollars to both state and national entities.  Both state and national entities must be wise stewards of these funds, and closely examine whether the allocation of Cooperative Program dollars genuinely contributes to Kingdom work or simply maintains the status quo. We are grateful for those churches and state conventions that are seeking to move more Cooperative Program  dollars  beyond  their  respective selves, and encourage this movement to continue and increase in the days ahead.

We must take steps toward simplifying our convention structures in an effort to streamline our structure, clarify our institutional identity, and maximize our resources for Great Commission priorities. We should ask hard questions about every aspect of our Convention structure and priorities and pray for God’s wisdom and blessing as we pursue wise answers to those questions. We must be willing to make needed changes for the good of our churches and the spread of the gospel. We believe that North American church planting, pioneer missions around the globe, and theological education are three priorities around which Southern Baptists will unite. Our Convention must be examined at every level to facilitate a more effective pursuit of these priorities.

The Great Commission, missions and theological education is the responsibility of the local church.  As a convention of churches, we cooperate together to support theological education so that we can continually train competent shepherds who will lead churches through teaching, love and example, and who will see to it that the churches they lead are Great Commission churches that are promoting missions and advancing theological education.  We are blessed as Southern Baptists to have such an avenue to serve the local church.  Furthermore, we are grateful for the impact of the Conservative Resurgence that has given us seminaries committed to the inerrancy, infallibility, and the sufficiency of the Bible.

We believe the local church must be “ground zero” in a Great Commission Resurgence, and that our associations, state conventions and national agencies exist to serve and assist the churches in their divine assignment.  We are convinced that as our people see our entities in this light, they will respond in even greater support of the Cooperative Program.

X. A Commitment to Distinctively Christian Families. We call upon all Southern Baptists to build gospel-saturated homes that see children as a gift from God and as our first and primary mission field. (Deut. 6:1-9; Psalm 127, 128; Eph. 6:4)

The family is the first institution ordained by God and the foundational institution in all human cultures. Unfortunately, in our own time we see the family attacked on a number of fronts. Too many Southern Baptists have embraced unbiblical notions about marriage and family. Too often we believe that children are a burden rather than a blessing and smaller families are more “responsible” than large families. Too many believe that motherhood is not valuable as a woman’s unique and primary calling and is not as “fulfilling” as other occupations. Too many believe that husbands and fathers are not uniquely called and gifted for leadership in the home and that biblical gender roles destroy authentic equality.

We believe that distinctively Christian families are characterized by a deep love of Jesus Christ above all things and a desire to honor God as a family. We believe that Biblical truth is loved, taught, and lived out in healthy Christian homes. We believe that godly families cast a vision for spiritual greatness and equip every member, including children, to live for God’s glory and pursue great things for His name’s sake. We believe that strong Christian families are characterized by an atmosphere of love, fun, service, humor, faith, and fellowship. Southern Baptists must continue to reject the cultural status quo and seek to be a counter-culture for the common good when it comes to building God-centered, gospel-driven, Great Commission-loving homes.

The World vs. The Bible on Tongue-ology

In reading Psalm 39 with the family I was reminded of how diverse the world’s counsel is and how divergent it is from biblical truth.

David begins this Psalm by connecting his actions with his speech.  He resolves to guard his ways SO THAT he will not sin with his tongue.  That’s how important our words are.  He goes on to say that by keeping his mouth shut around his detractors was exhausting and even appeared useless.

Then, when he did open his mouth it was to pray (vv.3-4).  When he prays he asks God to remind him of his mortality so that he would have perspective of his current circumstances and hope in God appropriately.  In his waiting (while praying) David realizes that more tragic than anything an enemy could do would be for God to remove His favor.  In fact, it’s as if David has an “aha” moment and realizes that he is being disciplined by the Lord for his own sinfulness, even attaching the very circumstances that he is enduring as an act of God to reprove him and lead him to hope only in God.

That’s not what the world does.  The world is so riddled with victimization ideals that speech is disconnected from action, which disconnects a person from responsibility.  Christ said that our speech pours out the motivations of our heart.  The world speaks as if words mean nothing.  Are we any different?

Unlike David, the world speaks as if it will go on forever.  People need serious doses of mortality because it produces wisdom.  However, even in the face of death and tragedy the world will often play it off as anything but governed by God.  I do not mean that in a harsh way, simply that in David’s case, his difficult circumstances ended up being the discipline of the Lord for sin.

We would do well to hold our tongues and NOT vent.  There is nothing biblical or godly (as if they’re separate) about venting and just regurgitating our emotional responses all over those who would listen to us.

May we hold our tongues, endure our circumstances and when we do open our mouths to pray first.  In such praying we will get God’s perspective of the circumstances and find our resolute hope in God!

Happy Father’s Day!

May God grant us lives that live in such a way that we can rightly speak Proverbs 4 to our children…

1 Hear, O sons, a father’s instruction,
and be attentive, that you may gain insight,
2 for I give you good precepts;
do not forsake my teaching.
3 When I was a son with my father,
tender, the only one in the sight of my mother,
4 he taught me and said to me,
“Let your heart hold fast my words;
keep my commandments, and live.
5 Get wisdom; get insight;
do not forget, and do not turn away from the words of my mouth.
6 Do not forsake her, and she will keep you;
love her, and she will guard you.
7 The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom,
and whatever you get, get insight.
8 Prize her highly, and she will exalt you;
she will honor you if you embrace her.
9 She will place on your head a graceful garland;
she will bestow on you a beautiful crown.”

10 Hear, my son, and accept my words,
that the years of your life may be many.
11 I have taught you the way of wisdom;
I have led you in the paths of uprightness.
12 When you walk, your step will not be hampered,
and if you run, you will not stumble.
13 Keep hold of instruction; do not let go;
guard her, for she is your life.
14 Do not enter the path of the wicked,
and do not walk in the way of the evil.
15 Avoid it; do not go on it;
turn away from it and pass on.
16 For they cannot sleep unless they have done wrong;
they are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble.
17 For they eat the bread of wickedness
and drink the wine of violence.
18 But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn,
which shines brighter and brighter until full day.
19 The way of the wicked is like deep darkness;
they do not know over what they stumble.

20 My son, be attentive to my words;
incline your ear to my sayings.
21 Let them not escape from your sight;
keep them within your heart.
22 For they are life to those who find them,
and healing to all their flesh.
23 Keep your heart with all vigilance,
for from it flow the springs of life.
24 Put away from you crooked speech,
and put devious talk far from you.
25 Let your eyes look directly forward,
and your gaze be straight before you.
26 Ponder the path of your feet;
then all your ways will be sure.
27 Do not swerve to the right or to the left;
turn your foot away from evil.

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

A Father’s Day thought…

Yes, as a dad of 3 girls (could be 4 soon – we wait until “that” day) and a loving wife I can say that MY women were born this way…