AUSTIN?Speaking from authority gained through experience, key Southern Baptist preachers and leaders addressed the unique ministry challenges pastors face during the Pastors’ Conference of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, held Nov. 12-13 at Great Hills Baptist Church in Austin.
The pastors heard from former SBC president Tom Elliff that their highest calling is being with Jesus. During the two-day conference that preceded the SBTC annual meeting, the group elected new officers. Serving first terms are President Don Wills, pastor of First Baptist Church of Fort Worth; First Vice President Billy Norris, pastor of First Baptist Church of Fate; and Secretary-Treasurer Lyn Holly, pastor of Boyd Baptist Church of Bonham.
The Pastor’s High Calling
Using Martha and Mary as examples, Elliff, International Mission Board vice president for spiritual nurture, told the conference during the opening session that a pastor’s highest calling is simply being with Jesus. If a pastor’s activity grows greater than his personal fellowship with Christ, Elliff predicted an eventual train wreck would occur. “Sometimes people around you notice before you. A dry well sounds deep to itself,” Elliff said, noting that the religious leaders in Acts 4:13 perceived that Peter and John, though unlearned, had been with Jesus.
“What is the greatest joy of heaven going to be? Uninterrupted witness and fellowship with Christ,” Elliff remarked. “The highest calling is being with Jesus.” Elliff said there is danger in teaching people to love the principles of Christianity without loving the person of Christ. From a comparison of the two sisters described in Luke 10:38-42, Elliff explained how Martha, while doing worthy activities, failed to respect the highest calling of fellowship with Jesus?the one thing that would not be taken away from her. In Mary’s life is a definition of the relationship that pastors, and all Christians, must have for effective service, Elliff said.
From the passage, Elliff observed about Mary:her posture, seated before him, revealed her reverence for Jesus; her proximity revealed her availability as she sat as close to Jesus as discretely possible; andher preference revealed a desire not just to hear, but also to listen to Jesus.
Elliff told of his grandfather, whom he was assisting in his wood shop one day, asking young Elliff to fetch a tool. While he looked for it, his grandfather used his screwdriver instead because it was handy. “‘Listen, I didn’t use this screwdriver because it was the best tool for the job,'” Elliff said, quoting his grandfather’s words. “‘I used it because it was close to my hand.’ And then he said, ‘I want to tell you something, Tommy. There are a lot of men out there you’re going to meet; they are perfect to do something ? God has great things in store for them. They are so equipped. But they’ll never be used, and you’re going to wonder why. Just remember this, son. It’s the handy tool that gets used the most.'”
“If the highest calling is defined by Mary, it’s differentiated by Martha,” Elliff said. “Here we see some things that look a lot like being with Jesus. They’re not bad things, but you can do them and not be with Jesus,” he said, noting of Martha:her praise, by which she welcomed him with her words, failed to affirm him from her heart; her productivity that only amounted to “doing stuff” for God; andher plea for help instead of spending time in fellowship with Jesus. “Nobody was better at doing stuff than Martha.”
AUSTIN?Messengers to the ninth Southern Baptists of Texas Convention annual meeting voted to increase the percentage of Cooperative Program funding for Southern Baptist Convention mission causes to 54 percent and approved an unprecedented ministry relationship with the Baptist Missionary Association of Texas.
Newly re-elected Republican Gov. Rick Perry addressed the meeting at Austin’s Great Hills Baptist Church during the afternoon session Nov. 14, with Perry telling messengers, “I don’t make any bones about it. I’m a Christian.” Perry said churches offer people something government cannot: redemption.
Miles Seaborn, retired pastor of Fort Worth’s Birchman Baptist Church and a former missionary to the Philippines, received the H. Paul Pressler Distinguished Service Award, named in honor of Pressler’s work in the SBC’s conservative theological resurgence and given annually to a Texan who has demonstrated similar leadership at the state or national level.
Seaborn was instrumental in the 1998 formation of the SBTC, which has grown from about 120 churches to more than 1,820. Pressler said he initially “threw cold water” on the idea of a new state convention.
“The fact that we’re here today?over 1,820 churches?a budget that is very strong, a great leadership in giving Cooperative Program funds, a leadership in missions, a leadership in soul winning, is due to the vision of Miles Seaborn. And Miles, I’m grateful for you. You saw it, you understood it, I didn’t. And thank you for leading. I’m very grateful to you.”
Of the 2007 budget of $20.079 million, the remaining 46 percent of CP receipts will fund Texas ministries. The budget is an increase of $778,840, or 4.04 percent, over 2006.
AUSTIN–In a visit to the ninth Southern Baptists of Texas Convention annual meeting, newly re-elected Texas Gov. Rick Perry urged Baptists to take a stand in the public square for faith and God’s eternal truths. Speaking from the pulpit of Great Hills Baptist Church Nov. 14, Perry shared the story of his faith journey, affirmed the pastor’s role and responsibility in society and his own commitment to protect unborn human life.
“I don’t make any bones about it. I’m a Christian,” said Perry, a Methodist and fifth-generation Texan from Paint Creek.
Perry’s walk of faith began in the small town with one school and no post office 60 miles north of Abilene.
“We had a Baptist church on one end of the property and a Methodist church on the other end. So we spent as much time in the Baptist church and Vacation Bible School.”
Perry said he was honored to speak to “men and women who are dedicated to building a better Texas and dedicated to the faith.”
“My walk of faith started a long time ago and is substantially a more important journey [than the one] I made from that little place in Paint Creek that has taken me to the Governor’s Mansion in Austin, Texas,” he said. “My walk has taken me to the top of a number of mountains and to the very depths of a few valleys. I’m sure my mama thought I’d never make it out of the shadow of the valley–but by the grace of God here I am, a confessed sinner who has accepted our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Perry was quick to add that although he is a committed Christian, he is a flawed person who still has a lot to learn about faith.
“I’m not going to insult anyone here by saying that I’m an authority on the Christian faith or that I’m deeply versed on the Greek, but I’m an imperfect practitioner of the Christian faith,” he said. “But I do know that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and the God that led the Israelites out of Egypt, the God who blinded Saul so he could see as Paul, and who led the early Christians with the power of the Holy Spirit, the God that transcends time and ?history and who has called men and women of his own choosing is alive and well and continues to concern himself with all the issues that go on in the world today. He is alive.”
Perry said while he is thankful to know the Creator God counts every hair on our heads and is familiar with the number of drops of water in the ocean, he finds utmost comfort in the knowledge that God cares for humanity.
“The all-knowing, all-powerful Creator has a specific plan for each one of us–whether you are the child of privilege, whether you are a single mom or a son of two tenant farmers from Paint Creek, Texas–he has a plan for you.”
With a foundation built on faith in God, Perry said he understands the difficulties that arise in living the Christian life.
Acknowledging that “life’s most important battles are not waged in the halls of government; they are waged in the hearts and souls of men and women,” Perry commended Texas pastors and laymen for their call to serve Texas and the world.
“A governor has an important role. We have an important role to play in distributing services to people in need, but you dispense something more important and that is hope–the hope of redemption,” he said to the convention pastors.
Perry said he ran for governor intent on making a profound difference on society and individuals. Recently re-elected with more than 1.7 million votes, Perry garnered roughly 39 percent of the total ballots. Believing voters have confirmed his goals for office, Perry said he desires to make a lasting difference “at such a time as this.”
With spiritual battles ravaging culture and politics, Perry asked if “our children will be drawn to a culture of godlessness and licentiousness, or will we illuminate them with a path” of truth? “Will they be raised by the values taught on television or by the values taught by two loving parents? Will they aspire to hear the praise of men or the words ‘well done, good and faithful servant?’
“I am always intrigued with the debate that rages, and I ask myself if we can so openly talk about the spiritual battles that confront us in the Sunday pulpit, why can we not have the same debate in the public square?”
In finding a public forum for discussion, Perry said one of the greatest lies of all time is the misperception that morality cannot be legislated.
“The fact is, we can’t change people’s values just by passing a law. But to say you can’t legislate morality is to abdicate all responsibility for the laws we do legislate,” he said emphatically. “If you can’t legislate morality, you can neither lock up criminals nor set them free. If you can’t legislate morality, you can neither allow prayer in school nor prevent it. If you cannot legislate morality, you can neither recognize gay marriage nor prevent it. I say you can’t not legislate morality.”
Perry said a larger question looms over the predicament of legislating morality: whose morals will we legislate?
“Some say the people of faith shouldn’t impose their beliefs on society,” he said, noting his critics have used this criticism against him during the recent election. “They claim that is intolerance, but isn’t the act of shutting people of faith out of the public square the very different definition of intolerance?”
In trying to find balance between morality and intolerance, Perry acknowledged that today’s culture is pluralistic in nature and that the government should not endorse a particular view. But the governor also said “freedom of religion should not be confused with freedom from religion.”
“What a sad day it will be when the role of faith in the public squire is limited to a few monuments and symbols while the laws of God are on assault,” Perry said. “That’s a sad day if it were to become a reality.”
In looking at the laws of God that should be protected, Perry reaffirmed his commitment to the sanctity of life.
“One of those eternal truths is the idea that human life is sacred and should always be protected by the laws of this state and this nation,” he said, receiving a standing ovation from convention messengers. “Today, that truth is under assault by the decision made by the highest court in our system. The most vulnerable are to be taken from us before they are ever born.”
Quoting Jeremiah 1:5, Perry said God’s Word reveals a Creator “who had plans for our lives—who has plans for all of mankind—long before we were ever even conceived. I can only imagine the great sorrow that God feels for the lives of purpose who are lost to the tragedy of abortion.”
While it is true that not every child is born into ideal circumstances, Perry said there is no such thing as an unwanted child.
“God calls people of all circumstances. Look at Moses floating along in that basket by the river. He was condemned by an edict by Pharaoh that all Hebrew baby boys would be killed. He was the son of a slave. You could argue that Moses was not born into ideal circumstances, but my God works in some mysterious and I would suggest, even humorous, ways. This 3-month-old outlaw was rescued by the daughter of the man who sought his death—raised all on Pharaoh’s credit card,” Perry said with a smile.
With so many parents vying for adoption, Perry said God is a loving Creator who not only gives life, but also provides a clear purpose for those lives. With the lives of society’s most vulnerable at stake, Perry wondered how people of faith can abstain from entering the public square.
“How can you be silent when those without a voice need a chance?” asked Perry, who signed a bill last year limiting late-term abortions and requiring girls under the age of 18 to obtain parental permission for the procedure.
“How can you turn your back on policies that trap the very people that they are supposed to help? A government’s compassion shouldn’t be at odds with wisdom.”
Perry said his role as governor gives him an unusual perspective on Christian social responsibility.
“I want to lead this state with an inclusive agenda that lifts all people up,” he said. “People of faith mustn’t be lulled into complacency. You need to be empowered for your faith to change the face of our state and nation.
With the danger of indifference lurking in our hearts, the governor encouraged Texas Southern Baptists to speak up for truth and faith.
“I stand before you today one flawed human being who God has given a great opportunity to make a difference. But I want to be real up front with you. It is not about me. With all due respect, it isn’t about you either,” Perry said. “Whether we get the credit it is irrelevant, as long as God gets the glory. If we will take an unshakeable stand and build on the solid rock, then we can make a huge difference. But we must speak the truth and act decisively in the public square.”
FORT WORTH?The death knell of Western Christianity may be the mass exodus of young people from evangelical churches within a year of high school graduation. At least that’s the contention of some youth experts familiar with church statistics.
Somewhere between 75 to 88 percent of young people leave the church in their late teens and aren’t reconnecting later.
The low number, 75 percent, represents the findings reported by LifeWay Christian Resources’ Glenn Schultz in his book “Kingdom Education.” The 2002 report of the Southern Baptist Council on Family Life stated a higher number?88 percent?of young people from evangelical homes who leave the church.
Similar numbers are getting the news media’s attention, prompting questions about Christianity’s viability in North America.
The statistics alarmed SBTC Youth Evangelism Associate Brad Bunting enough to organize a summit next month of some of the leading youth experts to tackle the problem.
That summit, called “Discovering a Biblical Paradigm for Youth Ministry,” is planned for Dec. 7 at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth and is sponsored by the SBTC. It is free of charge and will attempt to answer why churches are not retaining their young adults and to formulate solutions, Bunting said.
The eight-person panel includes Southwestern professor and True Love Waits founder Richard Ross; Houston pastor Voddie Baucham; Mark Matlock, founder of Wisdom Works and a youth ministry author and speaker; Eric Bancroft, youth minister at Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, Calif., and professor at The Master’s College; Bubba Thurman, youth minister at LakePointe Church in Rockwall; Alvin Reid, evangelism professor at Southeastern Seminary; Jeff Pratt, managing director of student ministry publishing at LifeWay Christian Resources; and Johnny Derouen, youth ministry professor at Southwestern.
According to promotional material, the topics will address:
?What should biblically principled youth ministry look like?
?Is there a biblical model for youth ministry?
?What is the greatest role that youth ministry can play in the local church?
?Does contemporary youth ministry usurp the role of parents in the discipleship of students?
?What needs to change in the current youth ministry paradigm?
“Our current approach to youth ministry is unbiblical, unhealthy and unsuccessful,”
Baucham said in a statement printed on the conference flyer. “The overwhelming majority of teens in our churches are biblically illiterate, steeped in secular humanism, and are not likely to stay in the faith past their freshman year in college. We can no longer turn a blind eye and conduct ‘business as usual’ if we are serious about our future.”
Bunting said in 1972 Southern Baptist churches baptized 138,000 young people?the highest number on record. Since then youth baptisms have dropped dramatically while the United States population has increased to more than 300 million. In 2004, the number had dropped to 84,000 baptisms. In 2005, the number was 81,000.
“So what we’ve been doing is not effective,” Bunting said.
Not that the blame belongs entirely to youth ministers, Bunting added. The family breakdown and cultural rot also have played negative roles in reaching and discipling students, he said.
LOUISVILLE, Ky.?The Baptist Faith and Message speaks of baptism and the Lord’s Supper as ordinances. As we consider Article 7 on the Lord’s Supper, we do well to begin by asking what is an ordinance? Why do Christians celebrate and perform these?and only these?two ceremonies?
An ordinance is an act:
1. commanded by the Lord Jesus in the Gospels and given by him for his followers to practice (Matthew 26:17-30; Mark 14:12-26; Luke 22:7-23);
2. passed on as a tradition by Jesus’ authorized agents, the apostles, in the letters to the churches (1 Corinthians 10:14-22; 11:17-34); and
3. practiced by the early church in the history of the church recorded in Acts (2:42, 46; 20:7, 11).
Thus only baptism and the Lord’s Supper can be considered ordinances of the Christian church.
Ordinances are symbolic acts that set forth primary facts of the Christian faith and are obligatory for all who believe in Jesus Christ. Baptism dramatically pictures our entering into covenant relationship with God through Jesus Christ by faith, and the Lord’s Supper portrays our continuing in this relationship.
Various designations have been used for the Lord’s Supper by different churches due to the fact that the act is referred to in a variety of ways in the New Testament. These designations include:
1. breaking of bread (Acts 2:42; 20:7; 1 Corinthians 10:16);
2. communion (1 Corinthians 10:16);
3. Eucharist (from the Greek word for giving thanks, cf. Matt 26:27; Mark 14:23; Luke 22:17, 19; 1 Corinthians 11:24);
4. the Lord’s Supper (1 Corinthians 11:20); and 5. the Lord’s table (1 Corinthians 10:20).
The accounts in the Gospels show that the Christian ceremony of the Lord’s Supper has its roots in the Jewish Passover festival. This festival was a ceremony observed by the Jewish people to remind them of the Exodus?that awesome event when the Lord rescued them from 400 years of degradation and slavery in Egypt.
Through great miracles and displays of power, Yahweh brought them out of Egypt, rescued them from the cruel oppression of Pharaoh and brought them into a beautiful land they could call their own. Although by definition the Exodus was a non-repeatable event, its significance was preserved for future generations of Israelites by the institution of the ceremony of the Feast of Passover (Exodus 12:24-27), celebrated every year at the Spring Equinox.
Just before Jesus was betrayed and handed over to the rulers to be crucified, he celebrated this “freedom meal” with his 12 disciples. As he did so, he turned the symbolism of the meal in a new direction.
He used the Passover festival to act out in symbolic drama the meaning of his coming death at the hands of the Jewish and Roman rulers. The unleavened bread and the wine were no longer symbols of deliverance from slavery in Egypt, but pictured him as the Passover Lamb sacrificed so that his people might be delivered from slavery to sin and death. As the leader of a new exodus, he instituted a new ceremony to commemorate it.
The explanation given by the Apostle Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians (11:17-34) helps us to understand the meaning of the Lord’s Supper. His explanation of the Lord’s Supper reveals six major themes.
1. Saving Sacrifice (This is my body):
On the night Jesus was arrested and betrayed by one of his close followers to the Jewish and Roman authorities, he broke bread. And as he was doing so, he said, “This is my body which is being given for you.”
In the Jewish Passover feast, bread was eaten that was made without yeast.
FORT WORTH?A proper understanding of the Lord’s Supper combines the personal self-examination with local church responsibility, Thomas White stated in a paper presented at the second conference in the seminary’s Baptist Distinctives Series Sept. 28-29.
“The hidden matters of the heart must be adjudicated by the individual, but the church bears the burden of maintaining the integrity of the ordinance,” White, vice president for student services, told participants.
From 1 Corinthians 11:28-30 he explained, “Each person bears responsibility for searching the hidden things of his or her life in order to take the ordinance properly. A person must determine and make right such things as grudges, hatred, lust, covetousness, or hidden sins. Without proper self-examination a person risks improperly taking the ordinance.”
At the same time, White reminded that Christ charged the governance of the ordinances to the local church, noting to whom the letter Paul wrote was delivered. “Perhaps the clearest emphasis of church responsibility comes from 1 Corinthians 5:11,” he said, referring to Paul’s warning not to associate with any so-called brother who is immoral, covetous, an idolater, reviler, drunkard or swindler. “No sound hermeneutic can deny that this verse indicates exclusion from the Lord’s Supper. Why? Because the previous verses clearly indicate the supper is in mind,” White said, recalling references to “cleaning out the leaven,” “Christ our Passover,” and “celebrate the feast.”
White said the use of unleavened bread maintains the proper symbolism and follows the example of Christ.
“In today’s larger churches baking a loaf large enough for all to partake is not feasible; however, the administrator of the ordinance can have one whole loaf at the front which is symbolically broken to demonstrate the breaking of Christ’s body.”
Regarding the juice, White said, “Wisdom suggests that in American society wine should not be used because it has been the subject of strenuous debate and such debates need not occupy the mind during the celebration of the Supper,” though he noted there is nothing sinful about the use of wine for the ordinance.
“Grape juice works well for this element as the color leads the mind to reflect on the blood of Christ shed for us.”
By pouring the juice into a few of the cups, the administrator could explain the representation of Christ’s blood being poured out, he added. White worked through various historic errors on the presence of the Lord in the elements, including:
?Transubstantiation: the belief that the bread and wine actually become the body and blood of Christ, failing to view John 6:53-56 symbolically and misapplying the passage to the Lord’s Supper;
?Consubstantiation: the view that the bread and juice contain the body and blood of the Lord but the elements themselves are not substantially changed, creating a Christological problem by making the two natures of Christ indistinguishable, failing to anticipate Christ’s return, and presupposing the presence of the Savior’s body in different places at the same time; and
?Spiritual Presence: a view formed by John Calvin that appears to support a spiritual feeding for the soul, uncomfortably close to the view that grace is infused.
“The Lord’s Supper does look back to the cross in memorial, but it also looks around in fellowship and forward in anticipation of Christ’s return. Thus, a complete understanding should characterize the Lord’s Supper as a meaningful, symbolic celebration,” White said. However, although the practice is symbolic, he added that Baptists should guard against making too little of it as “mere symbol.”
He cautioned against blessing the elements as a practice too similar to Roman Catholic dogma, preferring to follow the scriptural pattern of giving thanks. Another admirable intent may lie behind allowing families to come forward together and partake of the Supper, however, White said the practice fails to understand the corporate nature of the Lord’
“Few doctrines are more central to the life and identity of the people of God than baptism,” declared Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary President Daniel L. Akin in his exegetical and theological treatise on Romans 6 at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary’s second conference in its Baptist Distinctives Series, Sept 29-30.
The conference was titled “Maintaining the Integrity of a Local Church in a Seeker- Sensitive World: The Baptist Perspective on Baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and Church Discipline.”
Akin said baptism inaugurated the public ministry of Jesus, citing Matthew 3:13-17, and is at the heart of the Great Commission, citing Matthew 28:16-20. From the book of Acts, Akin directed readers to multiple references indicating believers in Jesus were baptized immediately, even if a church was not gathered.
“The New Testament has no category for a believer in Jesus Christ who has not been baptized,” Akin declared.
Early Baptist confessions further establish the historical precedence for believer’s baptism, Akin said, turning first to the record of Anabaptists, forefathers of Southern Baptists. Balthasar Hubmaier spoke to it in 1524 as his eighth proposition in “Eighteen Dissertations Concerning the Entire Christian Life and of What It Consists.” Michael Sattler listed it as the first of the seven articles of the Schleitheim Confession of 1527, Akin said.
“One will look in vain to find a major Baptist confession that does not include the doctrine of baptism,” he said, adding that the discussion most often revolves around the proper candidate, a believer, and the proper mode, immersion, though the meaning of baptism needs more attention, he said, making that the focus of his address.
Recent developments at the International Mission Board, within several Southern Baptist congregations and by prominent pastors influencing many SBC congregations point to the need of further study, he said.
?discussion at the IMB over the importance of who administers baptism, and the necessity of the baptizing church holding to eternal security of believers.
?discussions, now on hold, at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, pastored by John Piper, and Henderson Hills Baptist Church in Edmond, Okla., where leaders considered allowing professed Christians not baptized by immersion to become members?a practice taught in years past by John Bunyan and D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
More recently, Akin said, this view has been taught by former Southern Baptist Andy Stanley, that all that matters is that at the “time” of one’s baptism, “that you were a believer. Neither mode, administrator, or location is of any consequence,” Akin said, quoting from a Feb. 26 sermon by Stanley called “Baptism?What’s the Big Deal?” Akin said Stanley at one point misrepresents the word baptize as meaning “washed,” despite the nearly universal recognition that immersion or “to plunge under” is its primary meaning.
“This may explain why, in part, he is not worried about how and where but when you are baptized,” Akin remarked, restating Stanley’s comment, “Hence, ‘I don’t think [immersion] is such a big deal.'”
Akin acknowledged that the idea of “washing” is not completely foreign to baptism biblically and historically, pointing to Ephesians 5:26 and Titus 3:5 as conveying the idea while the catechism of Baptists James P. Boyce and John Broadus refer to that significance. However, the rest of his paper offers convincing proof of immersion as the biblical mode, fully explaining its significance. Stanley contends that baptism simply needs to be public and identify with Jesus, Akin said.
From Romans 6:1-14, Akin examined Paul’s continued development of the doctrine of justification and its relationship to sanctification where the apostle addresses baptism, relating the significance of identification and union with Christ. Looking back to the context of Romans 5:12-21, Akin presented what he said were seven vital and necessary implications for a Bible doctrine of baptism orbiting around Romans 6.
?1. Baptism signifies that we are now identified with the Man of life, not the man of death. Paul has just drawn the remarkable contrast between the Man of life, Jesus Christ,
My generation, probably all generations, but my generation at least, loved the idea of being unique. As younger people we wore the same faded, torn, and patched dungarees, to be different. We wore our hair pretty long, to be different. We all listened to the same music, to be different. Later we made an unfortunate foray into platform shoes en masse, to be different. It sounds silly but we made a crusade of our self-aware posturing.
We’ve cut our hair now or lost it. Most of us are humiliated to think that our children would see the way we dressed back then. But the urge to stand out in the crowd persists. I think it significantly impacts the way we think about how God relates to us. At the expense of God’s relationship with us corporately, we are overly concerned about the way God relates to us individually. We sing “It’s all about you” to Jesus and then we sing “When He was on the Cross, I was on His mind,” to ourselves as if the atonement was after all, “all about me.” It’s a bit contradictory.
Of course we come to God as individuals. We are not called in family groups or by nation or according to special interests. Additionally, we will stand before the God as individuals, not churches.
All that is true. Efforts to “customize” the atonement or to take other biblical issues such as the ordinances into a more personalized usage (see Thomas White on page 9) go beyond the biblical witness or even take away from the full significance of the biblical witness. It is not, for example, necessary to imagine that Jesus was thinking of us each individually while hanging on the cross. It feeds our egos to think like that, but our need for everything to make us feel affirmed wars against the whole, “it’s not about us,” thing, doesn’t it?
I’m struck by how many places in Scripture God deals with people corporately. In the Old Testament, he judged and blessed families (Gen. 9:1, Joshua 7:24), tribes (Deut. 33:13), cities (Joshua 6:2, 21), and nations as well as individuals. We don’t know the virtues or guilt of many who shared in the consequences of the actions of family or political leaders in many cases.
Achan’s children and animals were killed for his sin without any mention of their own guilt. We also don’t know the virtues of Noah’s wife or daughters in law, and yet they were spared?and shared the blessings God gave Noah. Even some of his blessings on individuals were actually realized in their children.
In the New Testament we see a similar thing. Jesus dealt with many individuals, preached, healed, forgave, and loved them one on one. His ministry had a more expansive point, though. Personal encounters like John 3 (Nicodemus) or John 4 (the Samaritan woman) are related to us in detail so that we all can understand the kingdom of God Jesus came to declare. Many of the healings and other great wonders blessed individuals but had a larger point of validating his ministry for us all.
The work of the Holy Spirit is an important reason for us to remember our connectness to a larger body of believers. From Pentecost on, the children of God have something in common that comforts, teaches, and sanctifies us personally but also binds us together with gifts and revelation meant to edify believers in relationship with one another?the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. We remain individuals but our purpose (worship, service, love) is necessarily expressed corporately.
In Romans 5:6 we’re told that “Christ died for the ungodly” (individuals). Ephesians 5:25 says that “Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her.” Of course Christ’s atoning work has a personalized result in our lives but it’s not merely personal.
After the New Testament era, the need for a standard collection of authoritative biblical books was met within the context of the church. This was to our benefit because it avoided the dubious subjective revelation of the Koran or the Book of Mormon. Our holy book is written by about 40 human authors, written over the course of 1,500 years or more, consistent within itself, and sufficiently understandable to those of any culture or educational background. The makeup of it was revealed to the church as a whole and discerned independently by Christian groups across the Mediterranean world during the two centuries following the writing of the last book.
Doctrine was also discerned by the church as a whole rather than just by individuals. When various theological innovations, frequently about the person of Christ, arose during the early life of the church, church leaders went to the Scriptures to test these interpretations of God’s revelation. Peter’s claim in 1 Peter 1:20 that “no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation,” while originally intended to defend the authority of the apostles to interpret Scripture rightly, applies also to the church as it is guided “into all the truth,” (John 16:13) by the Holy Spirit. The theological opinions of individuals or cult leaders were and must be tested under the illumination o
Nearly one year after the matter of private prayer language began dominating Southern Baptist headlines, pastors, professors and church members are weighing in on a topic that is relatively new and obscure to many Southern Baptists.
In several letters posted on his church’s website, Pastor Dwight McKissic of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Arlington disagreed with what he views as forbidding the practice of a private prayer language at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Seminary officials, meanwhile, have insisted they are not forbidding tongues, but instead discouraging the promotion or advocacy of the charismatic gifts by faculty and administration through a statement the school’s trustees passed in their October meeting.
To make his case, McKissic appealed to the writings of several Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary professors and its former president.
The two Southwestern professors whose writings are quoted extensively, James Leo Garrett and Siegfried Schatzmann, along with former seminary president Kenneth Hemphill whom McKissic described as having endorsed the practice of private prayer language, varied in their reactions to McKissic’s citations.
One said he thought his treatment in a systematic theology text had been misrepresented as an endorsement of the practice, another preferred not to comment further and the last agreed that the practice should not be a test of fellowship.
McKissic made clear that he distinguishes his “continualist” viewpoint from a classical Pentecostal theology, favoring the word “ecstatic” to describe the use of a private prayer language.
Serving as a new trustee on Southwestern’s board, which last month issued a statement against promoting charismatic practices at the school, McKissic, convinced that the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 allows freedom for both views, pressed board officers to explain how their interpretation of private prayer language is more valid than his own.
“If my interpretation is unbiblical and harmful to the churches, how are you going to label the interpretations of current faculty members that are similar to mine as I will reference and document later?” McKissic asked.
Responding to a request from Baptist Press to clarify his view, Hemphill noted he had been referenced on the topic in both the recent discussion at Southwestern as well as in a document IMB trustees used a year ago. Both trustee boards used his 1992 book “Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: Discovering Your True Self Through Spiritual Gifts,” as a source. Hemphill’s workbook on spiritual gifts was released a few years later.
“Since a brief quotation from a much larger context has been used, additional information might prove helpful,” he told BP. “I do believe that Paul in 1 Corinthians 14 prohibits the public display of tongues in worship. He declares that they can be confusing to the ungifted,” citing 1 Corinthians 14:16, “and detrimental to evangelism,” referring to verse 23.
“I do not, however, believe that 1 Corinthians 14 provides sufficient scriptural warrant to prohibit the practice of a personal prayer language. I do not believe the Bible clearly teaches the cessation of such gifts,” Hemphill said.
“There are legitimate issues of interpretative difference on this matter among scholars with a commitment to biblical inerrancy. While I do not personally practice a prayer language nor advocate such practice, I do not think we should make this a test of one’s commitment to the conservative resurgence, the principles of biblical inerrancy, or loyalty to Southern Baptist life and work. I think we should be guided by Paul’s preference for intelligible speech in the gathered assembly and his caution that we should not prohibit a private prayer language,” he added, referring to 1 Corinthians 14:39.
Offering a further warning, Hemphill told BP, “We must be careful not to allow issues of personal interpretation and preference to deter us in our passion to expand God’s kingdom through our Baptist family of faith.”
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