I have been asked often to present a summary of teaching differences I have with typical Southern Baptist materials and messages. Part of my contention is, of course, I am certain my view best reflects Scripture. SBC folk have a long-standing claim there is no written creed but the Bible, and prefer a minimum of strictures. Even if you compare what follows with the content of The Baptist Faith and Message, I believe you'd be hard put to say I am at variance in any way, neither in words nor their obvious intent. This is no quibbling over definitions of terms, but a more substantial difference in depth.
This is about underlying assumptions. It's one thing to claim we are not legalists, but quite another to demand a specific measure of narrowly defined observable performance before we say someone is obeying the Lord. People aren't born again if they don't parrot certain key phrases, hit certain logical points, in a formulaic "Sinner's Prayer." We might as well pass out the cheat sheets so folks can properly memorize prior to the baptism ceremony. For all the claims of concern for a genuine conversion experience, we demand so little of the fruits of conversion. This is a direct result of Decision Theology. While there are passages of Scripture translated into English which seem to indicate we are to seek the spiritual rebirth necessary for membership in God's Kingdom, such as Romans 2, reading those passages that way ignores other passages. What about Romans 8, where Paul makes it clear the fallen mind of man cannot possibly desire redemption? Man has no part in his own salvation; redemption is solely the work of God. To assume man takes some active part before the Lord has reached out to the fallen soul diminishes God; it is approaching blasphemy.
We fail to see how completely everything in the spiritual realm is the work of God. Obedience after rebirth is not about learning all the rules, nor even principles. Obedience to God is maintaining close contact with our convictions. We know from the Bible man can be thought of as body, soul and spirit. Prior to the coming of the God's real presence in a human life, the spirit is dead. No action, regardless how admirable in terms of positive impact on the world, can be righteous so long as the spirit is dead. All of one's life is sin itself without Christ. Upon the resurrection of one's spirit by union with the Holy Spirit, there is born in the soul a bedrock of truth. It may be small and ill-defined at first, but is there nonetheless. It's mere presence is a miracle of God, a gift from His hand. Our convictions collectively are this bedrock of truth. These hold us, though they can be ignored. They are the primary means of the Lord's direction in our lives, as they are the things we cannot compromise without harming ourselves.
All this baloney about a Word from the Lord in some charismatic gift means nothing if we do not measure such ephemeral things against our convictions. The mighty miracle work of the Holy Spirit in our lives is not reflected in dynamic moments, deeply moving emotional experiences, but in the enlargement and clarifying of our convictions. Giving those convictions dominance in our choices moment by moment is the primary expression of obedience to God. That the bedrock of a soul grows from exposure to the Word of God (reading, hearing, pondering, teaching, etc.), and results in daily changes to our thinking and behavior, be it ever so slight, is the primary evidence of the Holy Spirit.
This element of life-long change is our primary witness. Evangelism is not a matter of presenting a canned spiel, a logical outline of the Plan of Salvation. Evangelism isn't "getting people to commit to Jesus Christ." Evangelism is revealing God through our witness, of which our words are but a small element. The compelling logic of our presentation of the Gospel has no power to save, because it is not a matter of persuasion. The Word in that sense does not save anyone, because it has no meaning unless it is incarnated in the life of a born-again human. Our part is to reveal the Lord by our changed being, our Fruit of the Spirit, and leave the results to Him. No one can come to Christ unless the Father grants it (John 6:65). He is by no means compelled to work through any counseling outline, and quite often souls are reborn without it -- so it was in my own life. It is wholly His work, and no mere man can place limits upon it. Thus, our mission is to live the truth. Be prepared to answer questions; know how to share the existence and content of your faith commitment to Jesus Christ. Better by far it is when we share that naturally within the context of the moment. How is it we understand preaching in the public square is somewhat passé, and have merely shifted that to preaching to folks in their living room? How did we decide this was somehow the primary model for evangelism? The vast majority of vibrant believers did not come to Christ that way, but through a long-term exposure to Jesus reborn in a believer's life.
That we do not understand this, that we ignore it, explains how we have so many members of the church who are not members of the Kingdom. The primary evidence of Christian faith is Christian fruit. Our problem is we understand even that too narrowly. Holiness is not behavior, but desire. While a longing for God, His purity and power, tend to be reflected in behavior, we cannot afford to place too much weight on mere outward modification. The standard cannot be met, because the standard is on-going change. In failing to grasp this, we have built a false standard by which charlatans can take leadership roles, simply because they manage to hide their dead spirits behind a charismatic facade. Meanwhile, genuine servants are cast aside for altogether ordinary mistakes. That is, the mistakes are ordinary unless we promote the foolish atmosphere of demanding mere conduct. Men and women will inevitably have failings, for we are all but flesh. Even should they maintain a measure of victory over their thorns in the flesh, they dare not mention them for fear of ugly scenes of rejection. So instead of having a fellowship which holds them up from stumbling, they must carry dark secrets and hope they don't have to face the fatal temptation, because they'll surely be alone. Many simply avoid the limelight for this reason, and we lose the deep spiritual leadership of great servants of God. We look not with eyes of the Spirit, but of the Flesh.
A critical element in our failure to see with God's eyes is our unwillingness to sacrifice the self fully on the Cross. We somehow believe God couldn't possibly want us to set aside our mainstream goals for life. There is no room in our hearts for laying on the altar our middle-class American dreams. To the degree we try to exempt those things from the Lord's calling on us, we are not standing on the Rock, we are not in touch with our convictions. Until we cast all at His feet -- possessions, decisions, plans and dreams, family, life itself -- we cannot have the assurance to face this world with peace and clarity of heart.
By Ed Hurst
21 November 2006
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