Resurgence

I have so far refrained from delving into denominational discussions on this blog. However, I am sitting in my hotel room in Orlando, FL, after a LONG day at the Southern Baptist Convention. I was not raised a Southern Baptist, but when I came to White Oak Baptist in 2007, I came understanding that I would be pastoring a long-time, cooperating SBC church. I felt it was the will of God to accept the call to that church, and to then participate in the denomination to which we were sending our mission support.

There was a bit of a learning curve as I begin to understand exactly how the convention operates. I must confess, while there was much about the convention that I loved and appreciated, there were things that I wrestled with, and struggled to reconcile with my conscience. Not long after I came to the church, rumblings of the Great Commission Resurgence began after Dr. Danny Akin preached his now famous (or infamous) sermon on the subject in Southeastern Seminary chapel. I began to study the issues raised by the Resurgence and began to pray about where I stood. What I found was that while I did not agree with everything or everyone speaking for the GCR, I did very much agree with the heart of the movement. Today, the convention voted to accept the recommendations of the GCR taskforce, and to move forward toward a more outward and global focus in the mission work of the convention.

By most accounts, the GCR has been fueled by a younger generation of pastors and leaders. I am no leader in the convention, but I am a younger pastor. As a 32 year-old pastor in the convention, I have often been discouraged to hear many older pastors speak disparagingly and sweepingly about "these young guys" who are "trying to wreck the denomination". Very often, they will describe what these young guys are like by using caricatures and exaggerations that more reflect a few on the fringe of the seeker-sensitive, pragmatic ministry movement. What I have found to be the typical young pastor pushing for the GCR, however, is something very different.

For one, I have seen most, if not all of these young pastors are concrete firm in their stance on Biblical innerancy, and furthermore, are passionate about deep, expositional preaching from the innerant Word.

I also found that the majority of these young men are not a part of the seeker-sensitive, church-growth, "Willow Creek" movement. Instead, they are passionate and vocal about theology and doctrine as an essential part of methodology. They are not pragmatists, preferring to be successful rather than faithful.

Lastly, most of these young pastors have a sincere devotion to doing whatever is necessary to utilize the resources and opportunities we have in America to get the gospel to people who have yet to hear. This is not to say that the older generation does not have this, nor that this is a new development in the SBC. It is simply to point out that their heart is the right place, and their motive is to obey Christ's commands for His church.

Today, I am proud to be a Southern Baptist. We are not the only ones working for Christ's kingdom, nor are we necessarily essential to its completion. He does not need the convention, or any other denomination to accomplish His will. He will however use those who are submissive to His will, and will humbly avail themselves of His power.

My prayer is that those who have fears about the future of this convention would look beyond the superficial differences that often separate generations, and would thank God that He is raising up a large number of young men who love His Word, preach His gospel, and seek His glory.

Those men who fought to recover this denomination from the poison of liberalism over 20 years ago, can be thankful that their labors were not in vain. The children of that resurgence are now poised to take their victory over the enemies of the gospel in their day, and use it as a platform from which to wage a further war on the enemy who is still seeking to keep in darkness those who are blinded to the glorious gospel of Christ. That is a good thing, even though everyone may not see it that way...yet.

Funeral Sermon

First sermons aren’t usually known for their profundity (mine certainly was not). They are usually fairly short, despite the uncomfortable pauses and nervous stuttering. All Luke tells us about Paul’s first sermon is that “he preached Christ…that he is the Son of God (Acts 9:20). It sounds as if even the great apostle’s first sermon was short and simple.

The other night at our church, a brother named Abraham preached his first sermon. He did a great job, and everyone was extremely proud of him. He will probably listen to the sermon somewhere down the road, years from now, and blush a bit at it, like all preachers do when they listen to themselves from the perspective of maturity.

I have to say though, while his first sermon surely won’t be the best he will ever deliver, he said something at the beginning that touched on a truth as deep as any he will ever proclaim. He wore a new suit to church Sunday, getting ready for his homiletic debut, and someone ribbed him a bit about it, asking him, “You going to a funeral after church?” As he prepared to dive into his text Sunday night, he told about that comment, and then he said that in a way, yes, he was dressed for a funeral. It was his funeral, because he had to die to himself in order to do what God had called him to do.

I wanted to tell him to just go ahead and sit down, because he wasn’t going to be able to top that. What a truth! Jesus said in Luke 9:23, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.” Pay attention to that phrase, “take up his cross daily”. Jesus was not referring to a piece of jewelry to be worn on a necklace. The cross was an instrument of execution. To take up your cross is akin to picking up your own coffin. There is a sense in which every one of us must have our own funeral. We must come to the point where we die to our own wishes, our own wants, and our own ways. We must die to self that we might live for Christ.

Paul put it this way. “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:20

Pray for Abraham Baker and his family. He died. Yet he is living like never before.