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A
Matter of Perspective
I was recently invited to speak at Mainstream Baptists of Virginia. I was pleased to be in Virginia, which many believe to be the birthplace of Religious Liberty in America. The following are excerpts from my speech to a group of Virginia Baptists. People will long remember the contribution John Leland of Virginia made to religious liberty. Virginia is an island of independence and freedom. You know what it means to be Baptist. John 1:17, says "For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ." This text is significant because it describes the battle we are in today, one as old as the first century. Is Jesus about law or is Jesus about grace and truth? The answer also addresses one about Mainstream/Traditional Baptists. Why do Mainstream Baptists do what we do? Why do we resist fundamentalism? Why do we try to preserve the Baptist Witness in America? Why not just "go along to get along?" Since traditional Baptists and fundamentalist Baptists both believe in Jesus, why can we not work it out, reconcile, focus on the "main thing," Jesus? 1. We do what we do because of Jesus. I
believe this "Jesus stuff" as I like to call it. Recently,
I preached the funeral of one of my best friends and it was my
faith in Jesus that gave me the strength to preach. I believe
Jesus is the way to salvation. I believe Jesus was God in the
flesh, fully human and fully divine. The
Jesus preached by many fundamentalists is similar to the character
of God preached by some of the religious leaders of Jesus' day.
They saw a God that was narrow, petty, legalistic, judgmental
and more interested in the surface details of the law rather than
in its spiritual intentionality. Some
religious leaders focused on being "technically right"
but not morally right. They opposed a compassionate interpretation
of the law. Thus, when Jesus healed on the Sabbath (technically
the wrong day); talked to women in public (technically the wrong
sex); traveled through Samaria (technically the wrong race), they
criticized him. Many modern fundamentalists also preach a Jesus
who is judgmental, angry, and mean-spirited. For
fundamentalists, what is good is less important than what is legal,
and the law determines the truth, not grace. Barclay says in his
commentary on Galatians: "what Paul is saying is, 'this legalistic
movement may not have gone very far yet, but you must root it
out before it destroys your whole religion." Fundamentalism
will destroy the Baptist witness in America. We must stop it! Division
in Southern Baptist life is the result, most of all, of our belief
in a different Jesus! Mainstream Baptists and many fundamentalist
Baptists have different, unreconcilable visions of the Gospel.
The Jesus of the Scriptures is a person of love, compassion and
grace. The danger of fundamentalism is portraying Jesus as an
unreflecting legal literalist. The Jesus written about in Scripture
was severely criticized by the fundamentalist religious leaders
of his day. Likewise, traditional Baptists are severely criticized
by the current SBC fundamentalist leadership. Both Jesus was,
and traditional Baptists are, criticized for the same reason--our
understanding of the character and nature of God. As
traditional Baptists, we resist fundamentalism because it does
not focus on the Jesus of Grace and Truth, only on surface elements
of divine laws revealed to Moses. Fundamentalism
is more interested in telling people how to live than telling
people about the power to live, Jesus the Christ. Fundamentalism
is fighting a cultural war while we are fighting a spiritual war. In
short, we believe Jesus is the answer for the world today. Above
Him is no other. The heart of Christianity is a personal relationship
with Jesus Christ. We
must resist fundamentalism because America and the world needs
a Baptist witness focused on Jesus, not power; grace not a narrow
interpretation of the law; compassion not judgment. Baptists will
reunite when Baptists hold up the Jesus of the Scriptures. I
urge you to become obsessed with Jesus, with preaching Jesus,
with living for Jesus, with imitating Jesus, with telling people
about Jesus, with doing good deeds in Jesus name and for His sake.
The result of the past 21 years in Baptist life must be a revival
of our focus on Jesus. We do what we do because Jesus deserves
to be presented truthfully. 2. We do what we do because we believe the Bible. The
myth of the past 21 years is that Baptists are battling over the
authority of Scripture. This is now and has always been an outright
lie! Let
me be clear about Scripture: I do not believe we have any knowledge
of Jesus apart from the Scriptures. I also believe we have a personal
relationship with Jesus, the living Christ. He helps us interpret
the Scriptures and interacts with us daily in a way consistent
with the Scriptures. The
Bible is our final authority in all matters of faith and practice.
Jesus will never reveal Himself inconsistently with the Written
Word. Nevertheless,
Jesus is alive as the Holy Spirit. He reveals Himself daily to
us in many ways, but always consistent with His character as revealed
in Scripture. I
wrote a book about God speaking to me through secular music. We
find God many ways. We can know Him long before we know Scripture
through the Holy Spirit. He guides us as we read and interpret
Scripture. Without Jesus, we cannot know the truth of Scripture
nor interpret Scripture. We
believe the Bible. It is our authority. I do not know a single
Baptist who does not believe the Bible as our final authority
in matters of faith and practice. I do not know a single Baptist
who does not base their personal beliefs on the Bible. I don't
know any Baptist that believes that their personal beliefs are
based on teachings that are "extra-Biblical" in origination.
We believe the Book of all Books and to claim we do otherwise
is to lie blatantly! We
do what we do because we are trying to reclaim the authority of
Scripture and preserve the power of Scripture. The Bible is a
living book. Its truth is eternal and its application is constantly
expanding to meet the needs of modern society, whether it is the
1st century, the 11th century or the 21st century. That
is the beauty and power of God's eternal written word. Its authority
transcends all time and its application is relevant for any time.
The Bible is a timeless book and its truth is absolute! The
Bible is not a time-locked book. It was written for its own time
and period, but its principles are eternal in application. Fundamentalism
is in danger of locking the Bible's truth in time and space, making
the Bible irrelevant for modern problems and situations. We must
rescue it for our generation and generations to come. An
example: I know of no Baptist church that ordained a woman that
did not do so based on their understanding of Bible teachings.
No one questions Paul's writings about women being silent in the
church as he wrote to a first century audience where they regulated
women to non equality. Paul gave the exact perfect, God-inspired
advice to churches he was writing to in the first century. His
words were inspired and appropriate. God
also told Paul to write that "in Christ, there is no male
or female, Jew or Gentile, free or slave." This is the eternal
principle of Paul's teaching. In Christ, all are equal. Reading
Paul's message to first century Christians because of the culture
in which he wrote is not liberal. Interpreting
his words differently in light of modern society also is not liberal. Failing
to interpret Scripture in light of modern culture is to deny its
eternal truths and make the Bible a dead book with no authority
in our time. I
believe women whom God calls should be ministers, deacons or church
leaders precisely because I believe in the authority of Scripture
and the eternal principles taught in Scripture. I do not believe
these things "in spite of Scripture" but because of
Scripture! Nevertheless, I also respect those who disagree with
me and do not question their commitment to the authority of Scripture. Traditional
Baptists must save the Bible from legalistic fundamentalists who
have made its eternal truths "locked in time" prescriptions
for time long past. We must save the authority of Scripture for
modern society, not from modern society. The
Bible's truths are eternal. Traditional Baptists, more so than
fundamentalists, have a high view of Scripture. We believe its
principles have application in all situations and will continue
to have application in the 21st century. The
world needs the Bible. The world needs eternal, timeless, absolute
truth and we are seeking to preserve it. That
is why the 1963 Baptist Faith and Message preamble had the words
"Baptists are people who profess a living faith. This faith
is rooted and grounded in Jesus Christ who is 'the same yesterday,
and today, and forever.' Therefore, the sole authority for faith
and practice among Baptists is Jesus Christ whose will is revealed
in the Holy Scriptures. A living faith must experience a growing
understanding of truth and must be continually interpreted and
related to the needs of each new generation." They
deleted these words in the 2000 BF&M. This reflects a narrow
view of Scripture by persons more interested in fighting a culture
war determined to return modern society to a cold-hearted world
view. This is disrespectful of the eternal truth of Scripture.
The Bible is a living book and we must reinterpret its truths
with each new generation. We must apply them to situations readers
never imagined. Mainstream
Baptists work to rescue Scriptural truth from those who downgrade
it to legalism rather than grace. Additionally,
we must save the purpose of the Scriptures from those who use
the scriptures as a weapon, a club to beat people they oppose.
This has been done when fundamentalist leaders have sought to
destroy the reputations of those with whom they disagree. They
are constantly accusing people of not believing the Bible. The
Bible is to instruct and teach us eternal, spiritual truths about
God, ourselves, sin and salvation. We must use the Bible for,
"teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness."
(2 Tim:3:16) Rebuking and correcting does not mean to destroy
rather to enlighten, learn, grow, deepen. The Bible needs to be
rescued from those who use it to divide rather than unite. 3. We do what we do because Baptists believe in freedom The
genius of the Baptist faith is freedom. Freedom is the reason
Baptists have been effective partners with God in reconciling
the world unto Himself. Jesus told us that the truth will set
us free. Jesus said, "I am the way and the truth and the
life." (John 14:6) What
is the truth that sets us free? Two pillars of Baptist authority
are Jesus and the Scriptures. If we stand firm on the person of
Christ and the Scripture, the result is freedom, not creedalism. Mainstream/traditional
Baptists resist fundamentalism for the sake of freedom given us
through our relationship with Christ and the freedom promised
us in God's written word. Mainstream Baptists must resist creedalism
because being free is the secret to our success as God's partners.
We must preserve freedom or the Baptist vision will die! They
accuse Mainstream Baptists of having no standards because we believe
in freedom. Nothing could be further from the truth. Our standard
is Jesus Christ revealed in Scripture. The Baptist way builds
into its structure checks and balances on license when freedom
goes beyond Scripture. To stifle freedom is to stifle the genius
of the Baptist way. What are the freedoms Mainstream Baptists treasure? I mention these acknowledging that Buddy Shurden said it better than anyone in his book, Four Fragile Freedoms. Bible Freedom: We are people of the book. Historically, we have never required allegiance to a humanly crafted document such as a faith statement or loyalty oath. The modern SBC has a loyalty oath, the 2000 BF&M. You cannot serve on any SBC agency board or institution unless you ascribe to it. Today, the Bible is not enough. Reformers resisted the creeds of their day and demanded "Scripture alone" as their authority. SBC's current leaders have taken a position that would have condemned Luther, Zwingli, Calvin and our Anabaptist forebears for their emphasis on Scripture alone. The 2000 BF&M says it will be used as a document of doctrinal accountability. No authentic Baptist would ever dream of such a thing. Individual Freedom: The Priesthood of each Believer is critical to Baptist effectiveness. It means God can call, lead, direct anyone in specific situations for specific ministries anywhere. It means we are all ministers. What will happen to evangelism when they vest all authority in the pastor and do not challenge lay persons to be ministers? We resist fundamentalism for the sake of evangelism! Without the priesthood of each believer, Baptist evangelism will die. When Richard Jackson was pastor of North Phoenix Baptist Church, he baptized more than 20,000 people. Lay people led most of them to Christ, not Jackson, because he taught them to be authentic Baptists. Baptists will die if we do not focus on individual evangelism. I challenge you to make it a priority in your church because God has ordained some to be evangelists. Preach Jesus and challenge people to share their faith as God gives them the opportunities. Local Church Freedom: This principle gives us the genius of creativity. Churches should not be alike, worship alike or minister alike. Church members have different gifts and different purposes. We must resist control and conformity because it is essential to spreading the Kingdom of God. The kingdom needs all kinds of Baptists. Religious Freedom: I do not nor should not need to discuss this in Virginia, but sadly we must emphasize it everywhere. Leland, according to Baptist historian, William Estep, fought for religious liberty because they imprisoned 90 Baptist ministers and lay persons in colonial Virginia for preaching the Gospel. Leland called for absolute religious liberty. He wrote, "Let every man speak freely without fear, maintain the principles that he believes, worship according to his own faith, one God, three Gods, no God, or twenty Gods; and let government protect him in so doing." George Truett said, "God wants free believers or none at all." If we do not preserve this truth in Baptist life, who will! We ground commitment to religious liberty first in our commitment to evangelism. We want the freedom to preach Jesus anywhere, anytime, within the bounds of religious civility. Many fundamentalists attack religious freedom because they want to use the state's power to promote Jesus, enforce and spread faith. Authentic Baptists want freedom from the state to preach Jesus. That is a huge difference. We cherish these freedoms. I also want to emphasize freedom overall. Mainstream Baptists must defend and make freedom a key emphasis of Baptists nationally. Freedom is essential to fulfilling the call and challenge God has given us. We can be successful only as free Baptists, not creedal Baptists. As creedal Baptists, we will have no creativity, Spirit or power. Ultimately we will die as a movement. Why have I come from Texas to Virginia? Why are we here early in the morning on a November day? Are we about anything worthwhile? Yes! I believe God is specifically asking Texas and Virginia Baptists to be the two poles of support for the Mainstream Baptists' movement around which other states can rally. We are here because God has given us an unbelievable challenge. God is asking us to preserve the Baptist vision in America. He wants us to do this for Jesus, the Bible and for the sake of the Gospel truth itself. We cannot compromise Jesus' true character. We cannot compromise the Bible's authority and purpose. Freedom under Christ is essential to being effective partners with God in carrying out the Great Commission. We do what we do because of so much more to God and His Word than fundamentalists will ever see. One Baptist vision will dominate the 21st century. Will it be the vision of personal judgementalism, creedalism and control, or will it be the vision of grace and truth, Jesus, the Bible and freedom under Christ? Search your heart. The answer lies within. The vision that will survive is the one with most people deeply committed to it. January 2001 |
