The Heart of Biblical Restoration Displayed in Song

Having now passed our church covenant and then our constitution & bylaws, in January we embark upon a massive enterprise to reach out to every member family of FBC Farmersville. Like most SBC churches, we have a number of members on the roll of the church who are either not very active in the life of the church or not active at all.

The easiest thing to do, of course, would be nothing at all—to ignore those folks and focus our energies upon the people who are active in the congregation as well as new prospects. The second easiest thing to do would be to conduct a massive purging of the congregational rolls, giving a few seconds of attention to each of these wayward members before returning our attention once again to our active members and prospects.

However, a few words from 1 Corinthians haunt me enough to drive us to a different course. In chapter 5, discussing the man having an illicit affair with his step-mother, Paul castigated not the sinner but the church, saying, "you have become arrogant and have not mourned instead."

Clean rolls can be accomplished without any correction of congregational arrogance. God calls us to congregational mourning over the sinful lifestyles of wayward members. Mournfully we hope to go out after those who have fallen by the wayside.

The lyrical nuances of this song will likely drive some of you crazy, but I hope that you'll permit me a musical flashback to my college days. The general emotional feel of this song represents a sentiment under-articulated in Christian music produced during my lifetime—biblical mourning over the backslidden and an accompanying longing for restoration. Enjoy…or rather…don't enjoy. Mourn.

FBC Farmersville's Proposed Covenant

In this morning's worship services the members of our congregation will receive copies of our proposed church covenant. This is a momentous occasion in the 144-year history of our congregation, representing a key element of our prayerful quest to become more and more a church in the New Testament pattern.

I am thankful to say that the process of developing this proposed covenant is representative of the best in church polity. It bears the mark of the leadership of our pastors/elders/overseers, who first began to labor over some of this wording as much as five years ago. It demonstrates the value of congregational leadership, having been considered by a committee of lay leadership and our deacons. Many improvements have taken place in the development of this covenant. Each group has given transformational leadership to the initiative, with the result that this document now legitimately belongs to our congregation and not to any individual person.

So today, we place it before our congregation. We have already done so with our proposed Constitution & Bylaws. We will be voting on both of these documents together in our July 19 business meeting. For our members of FBC Farmersville, and for whoever else has interest, below is our proposal. This may very well not be the document that we eventually adopt, for the membership of the congregation will have the same opportunity to improve the document that others have had. Nevertheless, we are happy at this stage to place the document before the broader Christian family in the hope that it might open a conversation that will clarify the discipleship journey of other congregations as it has our own.

God established the church to change every member—especially me—into a Christ-like disciple to carry out the Great Commission. (Matthew 28: 19-20; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Philippians 1:6) Because such transformation is impossible apart from being born again, I make the following two affirmations (which are prerequisite for church membership):

• That I have been born again, having personally repented of my sin before God; sought and received His forgiveness; believed upon Jesus Christ—crucified, buried, and resurrected—as the one-and-only Savior of all mankind; surrendered to Him as the master of my life; and identified myself publicly as a Christian. (Mark 8:38; John 14:6; Acts 3:19, 16:31; Romans 10:9-10; 1 Corinthians 15:3-4; Ephesians 1:7; 1 Timothy 2:5)

• That, after having become a Christian as described above, I have received New Testament baptism as explained in this congregation’s statement of faith. (Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 1:9-11; Romans 6:3-5; 1 Peter 3:21-22)

I want to see God change my life according to His plan, and I need the help of the entire church body for that to happen. I am not perfect, and God will not be finished perfecting any of us until we get to Heaven. That is why, whatever commitments we make, we will need much love, grace, and gentleness to keep us together. (Proverbs 27:17; Ephesians 2:19-22; Philippians 1:6) As a member, in spite of my failures, I commit never to quit trying to live up to the following affirmations:

• To join with my fellow members in this congregation to seek God’s will in our common decision-making; to allow every member the privilege of seeking to influence the church in its pursuit of God’s will; to accept congregational decisions without grumbling; and to work to prevent division in the church. (Matthew 18:15-20; Acts 15:1-33; 1 Corinthians 1:10; 2 Corinthians 2:6; Philippians 2:14; Jude 19)

• To confess and repent of personal sin; to practice personal worship, prayer, and Bible study; to participate in corporate worship and Bible study with this congregation, except as prevented by illness, travel, necessary labor, or other serious incapacity; to join my fellow members in observance of the Lord’s Supper; to discover and use my spiritual gifts for the common good of the congregation; to seek the conversion of those who are lost; and to serve others in Christian ministry. (Mark 9:35; Luke 22:19; John 4:23-24; Romans 12:1; 1 Corinthians 5:7-8, 12:7; 2 Corinthians 5:18-21; 1 Thessalonians 5:17; Hebrews 10:25; James 5:16; 1 Peter 2:2; 1 John 1:9)

• To treat other people as the Bible teaches me to treat them. (Matthew 22:37-40; Philippians 2:1-8)

• To practice biblical stewardship of my resources, including the faithful support of this congregation. (Malachi 3:8-12; 1 Corinthians 16:2; 2 Corinthians 9:7; 2 Thessalonians 3:7-12; 1 Timothy 5:8; 1 Peter 4:10)

• To pursue brotherly love in my relationships with other members of this congregation, to aid them in times of difficulty, to pray for their spiritual and physical needs, to encourage them toward spiritual growth, to resolve conflict with them as the New Testament teaches, to pursue peace with all, and to be eager to forgive fellow members of this congregation. (Matthew 18:15-35; John 13:35; Romans 12:10, 14:19; 1 Corinthians 6:1-8, 13:1-13; Galatians 6:2; Ephesians 4:32; Hebrews 10:24-25, 12:14, 13:1; James 5:13-18)

• To respect the spiritual leadership of pastors (also called elders or overseers in the Bible) and the service of deacons as taught in the Bible. (1 Timothy 3:1-13, 5:17-19; Hebrews 13:17; 1 Peter 5:5)

• To keep my speech and my conduct pure and unstained by the world, pursuing biblical morality as a consistent lifestyle (James 1:27; 1 Peter 1:14-16; Ephesians 4:29). In particular, I commit to pursue biblical holiness with regard to those sins that pose the gravest dangers in this age, including my commitments:

  • To employ chemical substances such as alcohol and drugs only as informed by the teachings of the Bible, wise medical counsel, and the dictates of the law (Proverbs 23:29-35; 1 Corinthians 5:11, 6:9-11; Ephesians 5:18; 1 Timothy 5:23).

  • To flee sexual immorality; to shun pornography; to dress modestly; to reserve sexual activity solely for one man and one woman united in marriage; and not to initiate a divorce, except optionally if wronged by an adulterous spouse. (Genesis 2:24; Leviticus 20:13, 15-16; Psalm 101:3; Malachi 2:13-16; Matthew 5:28, 19:1-12; 1 Corinthians 6:18, 7:10-16; Ephesians 5:3; Philippians 4:8; 1 Timothy 2:9; Hebrews 13:4)

  • To protect and defend the lives of my children from the moment of their conception; to abstain from abusive violence in my home; to practice biblical discipline of my children; to obey my parents so long as I am a child and to honor them always; and to encourage every member of my household to learn about and serve God. (Exodus 20:13; Psalm 139:13-16; Proverbs 13:24, 22:15; Colossians 3:19-21; Ephesians 5:22-6:4; Hebrews 12:6)

  • To practice justice and compassion toward all people, including the poor, the sick, the disabled, widows, and orphans. (Leviticus 19:32; Proverbs 14:31; Isaiah 1:17, 47:6; Luke 14:13; Galatians 2:10; James 1:27; 1 John 3:17)

  • To conduct all business in honesty and integrity, practicing the Golden Rule in my dealings with others. (Deuteronomy 25:13-15; Matthew 5:37, 7:12; James 5:1-6)

• To pursue the growth of the fruit of the Spirit in my life. (Galatians 5:22-23)

Because I am a sinner, I know that I will not fulfill the terms of this covenant perfectly. Nevertheless, I affirm the ambitions of this covenant as my own, and I commit always to try to fulfill its terms. As I fail to live up to this covenant, I commit to yield to correction, to seek forgiveness and reconciliation, and to turn from my sin. (James 1:19-25)

Because my fellow members are also sinners, I know that they will not fulfill the terms of this covenant perfectly. Nevertheless, I commit to encourage them to pursue spiritual growth by following this covenant. As they fail to live up to this covenant, I commit—as much as it depends upon me—to correct and restore them in gentleness and humility, never refusing forgiveness and reconciliation in the face of repentance. (Galatians 6:1; James 5:19-20)

If I find myself unwilling even to try to fulfill this covenant, I commit to remove myself from this congregation. If relocation outside the community prevents me from fulfilling this covenant, I commit to unite with another congregation and to continue to pursue growth as a Christian.

I enter into this covenant voluntarily. I believe that attempting to follow this covenant will benefit me spiritually, so I ask my fellow members to interpret this covenant, apply it to my life, and live a life of mutual spiritual accountability with me.

WOPR, Johnny Cash, and Regenerate Church Membership

If I could start again, a zillion miles away,
I would save myself; I would find a way

–“Hurt” by Trent Raznor, covered by Johnny Cash, American IV: The Man Comes Around, ©2002, American Recording Company

The palpable agony in Johnny Cash's final album still haunts me nearly a decade after its release and Cash's death one year later. "Troubling" has been an apt word for the lyrical accomplishments of Johnny Cash, all the way back to his scandalous shooting (in the fictional lyrics) of "a man in Reno, just to watch him die," back in 1955. But American IV is, in my opinion, the most troubling project in Cash's career.

The lyrics of "Hurt" are certainly dark in and of themselves: "I hurt myself today to see if I still feel" are the opening words. To hear Nine Inch Nails perform the song is somehow less disturbing—young people often go through difficult seasons in their lives, and they occasionally tend toward unmerited melodrama. It is easy, therefore, to write off Nine Inch Nails's dissonant performance of "Hurt" as someone going through a phase (or a narcotic-induced stupor), but destined to sort it all out as maturity dawns and to discover that life isn't so dismal after all. But to hear the voice of a tired old man bringing forth such fatalistic and dark poetry is another experience altogether. It brings one to doom and loss not as the angst of overwrought hormonal excess, but as a final judgment upon the vanity of life from one who has lived long enough to have some credibility upon the subject. His final words, feverishly attempting to conjure up hope for self-salvation give us, in the end, more an unfulfilled (unfulfillable?) desire for "a way" than any tangible belief that such a way exists.

That the album includes a couple of songs hinting toward Cash's professed faith in Jesus Christ, to me, only makes matters worse. It places before us the proposition that the source of all of this angst is not one who has no hope merely because he hasn't looked for any. He has searched. He has engaged the Christian faith, and it has left him to face death in despondency. I don't know that Cash actually felt that way, but that is the inescapable message of his final recording project.

The final strains of "Hurt" put before us the idea of starting again, not as a belief in reincarnation, but as a hypothetical exercise. The author doesn't suggest that he's learned any concrete lessons that he could readily and easily apply. He makes no appeal to being wiser for being older. He doesn't know the way; he only knows all the more how important it is to try to save himself.

The image that these final couplets of "Hurt" place into my mind is that of Matthew Broderick, Ally Sheedy, and John Wood in the 1983 movie "War Games" standing in the bowels of Cheyenne Mountain watching the WOPR computer play "Global Thermonuclear War." The computer restarts the game over and over and over. It tries something different each time. Every plan ends in the annihilation of the world in this Cold War thriller. Finally, the computer compares the prospect of thermonuclear war to the game tic-tac-toe. "An interesting game," WOPR declares, "The only winning move is not to play."

Cash's final album seems to make the same observation about life.

Is the new birth in Jesus Christ a "winning move" in the game of life? No, I don't mean in the sense of Your Best Life Now. But can the Christian believer arrive at the culmination of earthly living genuinely singing "I Can Only Imagine" instead of "Hurt"? I'm convinced that genuine conversion makes that difference. I've seen it in the people of my church. You may be convinced as well. But the world around us is not. They hear too many who claim the name of Christ but who seem to lack confidence in Him as the answer to their problems in this life and beyond. Certainly something has been said about the relevance and reality of Christ as the Conqueror and conversion as a winning move when a purported believer utters something like "I focus on the pain, the only thing that's real."

I believe that this phenomenon of such an uncertain witness coming from self-identified believers has major implications for our fulfillment of the Great Commission as Southern Baptists. In 1735 a young John Wesley—missional, devout, and pious, but as of yet unconverted—encountered his own panic and despair in the face of death. A brutal Atlantic storm beat down upon his ship, threatening the crew and passengers with their imminent demise. Wesley's momentary angst dwelt upon his own mortality, but the enduring angst from that moment focused upon the difference between Wesley's reaction to the danger juxtaposed against the reaction of a group of Moravian missionaries in the ship. Wesley panicked; the Moravians sang and prayed very calmly. Even after the storm had passed, Wesley's disquiet about the contrast between himself and the Moravians remained. It persisted for a full three years until it drove Wesley in 1738 to the Moravian meeting at Aldersgate and to his own conversion.

The momentary angst of our contemporaries is focused upon their jobs, their 401(k) accounts, their upcoming tax bills, and their mortgages. This storm will pass...may already be passing. Will those who live across the street from Southern Baptists or who work in the next cubicle emerge from this storm with any enduring angst, any sense after weathering these storms together with us that they are lacking some peace that Christ has imparted to us? If so, this reality would greatly assist us in fulfilling the Great Commission in our land. Some Southern Baptists certainly are demonstrating Christ's peace in their lives, but we must face the fact that many members in good standing of Southern Baptist churches do not show the evidence of Christ in their lives because they do not have Christ in their lives.

Meaningful and biblical church membership takes the Johnny Cashes of this world and engages them with something more real than pain. If they remain unconverted, it calls them to conversion. If they have been converted but are walking disorderly lives, it brings them the encouragement and accountability and support that they need to find Christ's strength for victorious living. If they will have neither of these things, it refuses to ignore their troubles until and unless they address them.

This biblical covenant community of encouraging accountability is the way. It is not a means for saving ourselves, but a means of acknowledging that we cannot possibly do so and pointing us to the only One who can. It does not require going back to some imagined decision-point a zillion miles earlier in life, but demonstrates that life can change even now when the Creator creates us anew. It confronts us with a message that strips away the veil and demonstrates pain to be nothing more than "temporary light affliction" that, while quite real, fades into insignificance in comparison to the glory yet to be revealed.

The way was there all along, right under Johnny Cash's nose. Let's knock the dust off it and make sure that everyone else can see it better from now on.

The Most Important Thing Happening Right Now in the Southern Baptist Convention

Pretty pretentious (or portentious?) title, huh?

The most important thing happening in SBC current events right now is the Executive Committee's consideration of whether Broadway Baptist Church, Fort Worth, TX, is or is not in "friendly cooperation" with the Southern Baptist Convention. Why do I believe this to be the most important thing presently ongoing in the SBC?

Do I believe that this case is important because homosexuality is the most important issue presently facing our convention? No. The SBC's answer to the question of homosexuality is, for the moment, clear. We'll see where it stands one generation from now, with researcher after researcher declaring an upcoming generation of "evangelicals" who are "more tolerant on issues such as gay rights and homosexuality" (John Turner, quoted in Christianity Today online article here). But I think we have reason to hope that the Southern Baptist Convention is distinct enough from evangelicalism at large to stick with the Bible while evangelicalism slides off into public relations. Whatever. But my point here simply is that the SBC, before showing Broadway Baptist Church the door, is already sufficiently on-the-record on the question of homosexuality.

Homosexuality is an important issue, but not nearly the most important issue facing us at present. But there are issues involved in this case that are very important for Southern Baptists.

Biblical Church Discipline and Regenerate Church Membership are among them. The very heart of this case is the idea that Broadway Baptist Church is responsible for those whom it admits into membership. Reports indicate that one of the most important questions posed in the last EC meeting simply asked Broadway's representatives something along the lines of, "If you knew for certain that a person seeking membership were an ongoing, active, unrepentant homosexual, would you still receive that person into membership?" It is a good question, and the committee did not receive a good answer, to my knowledge.

Broadway's defense, up to this point, has been that it has never taken any sort of a vote to place the church in favor of homosexuality. Unless it does something like that, Broadway's representatives argue, it has not "act[ed] to affirm, approve, or endorse homosexual behavior." (SBC Constitution, Article III). I'm hoping that the Executive Committee is preparing to decide that a church is indeed acting to affirm, approve, or endorse behavior when (a) the church knows full well that its members are engaged in that behavior, and yet (b) no disciplinary action whatsoever is taken by the church with regard to that behavior—no preaching, no formal disciplinary action, not even any passing over such a one for positions of responsibility in the congregation.

I believe that this action, if taken, will be an important milestone in our needed strengthening of biblical ecclesiology within our convention. It will be a clarion call to our churches to remember that membership does matter and that we are indeed responsible for the spiritual health of all of those who are members in our congregation. Particularly this is true for those of us in church leadership "who will give an account" (Hebrews 13:17) for these folks. At least with regard to homosexuality, the message from our convention will be clear: Loving and redemptive discipline toward known practicing homosexuals in the church is the only biblical option for our churches.

That lesson, once learned with regard to homosexuality, needs to be extrapolated to a great many public and grievous sins that muddle our testimony of Christ, weaken our evangelistic effectiveness, and diminish the holiness of the Bride of Christ.

And that brings us to the final reason why this is the most important thing happening right now in the Southern Baptist Convention: Because this question is all about the local church. We've had a Conservative Resurgence among our national institutions. Similar things need to happen in some of our state conventions. Discussions are underway regarding a Great Commission Resurgence to serve as extension and successor to the Conservative Resurgence. These are all good things. But none of them are the thing that we need most.

What we need is a Local Church Reformation, fomented by Personal Revival for some, and Regeneration for others. To the degree that the case of Broadway Baptist Church reminds us about how profound is the need for reformation and revival in our churches, this is a good thing—indeed, it is the most important thing happening right now in the Southern Baptist Convention.

UPDATE: As it so happens, the good folks over at BaptistTheology.org have just posted an article by Dr. Gary Ledbetter entitled "Is There a Church within Your Church?" I just read the article and I see that it addresses some of the same points that I have addressed in this blog post. The major difference is that Gary's article is so much better written.

What's Happening at FBC Farmersville

This Summer, if our Lord tarries and is willing, my first decade at First Baptist Church of Farmersville will come to completion. FBC Farmersville has a history of long-tenured pastors, or, at least, longer than average. My two immediate predecessors were here for seven years and eight years, respectively. Passing the ten-year milestone will make this pastoral ministry the second-lengthiest in the church's 144-year history. If it pleases God for me to be here to celebrate our sesquicentennial in 2015, I will do so as the longest-tenured pastor in the congregation's history.

That could almost sound like bragging, so let me assure you that it is (a) a testimony to the grace of God, (b) a testimony to the lovingkindness and patience of this family of believers, and (c) a celebration of what I'm thankful for and not a boast in what I'm proud of on my part—God knows my heart. These people stuck with me through Ph.D. seminars and a dissertation, after all.

These next six months could well prove to be some of the most significant of the decade. After more than a year of dialogue and revisions, the congregation will see in January 2009 a proposed Constitution & Bylaws for FBC Farmersville. Once we have adopted it, I will gladly post it for anyone to see. But I do not grant any online community the privilege to see it before our church family has seen and approved it.

Coming hard on its heels will be our Church Membership Covenant. This one has passed the approval of the special committee that has been working to author it. I find that the influence of those on the committee has been very helpful to me. I authored all of the first drafts, but they brought to the table a goal to wind up with a document readable and understandable by children. As someone genuinely converted at nearly six years of age, I was sympathetic to the goal (even if unable to accomplish it without their help and prodding).

Although we will present the Constitution and the Covenant at different times, we will vote to approve them together. The Constitution & Bylaws refer to the Covenant, so were we to adopt it without the Covenant, we would be operating contrary to our Constitution & Bylaws from that point until the adoption of the Covenant.

Our deacons have joined with me in a project to develop a brief ministry plan for every household in our congregation. This will include both the households who actively participate now and those whom we have not seen for quite some time. I expect that every ministry plan will involve contact with the household, if possible. Here is my goal: To accomplish regenerate church membership at First Baptist Church of Farmersville without dropping a single household from the present membership roll. If they are lost, we want to present the gospel to them and have the privilege of witnessing their conversion and baptism. If they are backslidden, we want to see their love for the Lord and for the brethren rekindled. If they are active, we hope to encourage them all the more.

The goal is, of course, unattainable. Some of those folks go to church elsewhere. Some of them we will likely not be able to identify or find. Some of them will spurn our efforts to reach them. We're going to try anyway. And it is important to me for my people to know that it has never been my intention or the desire of my heart to effect any sort of "purge." If any wind up leaving our rolls, let it be because we were running after them to catch them for the Lord, not to chase them away.

If 50% of the people we contact tell us to go away and leave them alone, then we'll double in average attendance next year. But more importantly, I'll have the assurance of knowing that I've actually shepherded the flock over which God has made me an overseer.

I'm as enthusiastic about serving here as ever I have been. We've had a really difficult few years, marked by a few painful moral scandals among the church membership (the worst of which resulted in a sexual offender being sentenced to prison last month). Our attendance and baptisms have waned through this difficult season. Now I have every reason to hope that we have put this season behind us. Our baptisms since September have already doubled last year's ACP numbers, and far beyond. I baptized three adults in the last few weeks. We're seeing a heightened interest in evangelism to accompany the amazing improvements that our congregation has made in missions involvement in the past few years (from 0 mission trips ten years ago to 7 this year).

I've always wondered what it would feel like to have pastored a congregation for as long as a decade. The amazing thing is, it feels like I'm just getting started. It hasn't felt that way at every point along the road. Sometimes it has been quite difficult. But today, I can honestly say that it feels almost like the initial "honeymoon," only better, because we know that it is based upon a real understanding between church and pastor, and not some imaginary vision of one another soon to be exploded.

Your General Attitude of Hopeless Negativism

Today we passed a resolution on Regenerate Church Membership. The very topic is one that elicits a variety of opinions about whether there is a problem, what is the nature of the problem if it exists, and what is the solution to the problem if we comprehend its nature. Coming to a consensus statement on this topic required genuine dialogue and negotiation (a.k.a. politics), including concerted efforts at the very end of the process. I am thankful for our Committee on Resolutions, even though I was not in agreement with the "genetically modified" resolution on RCM that came out of the committee. Theirs is a tough job, and I have not the slightest inclination to snipe at them for their work. Theirs was one of the voices that entered into the dialogue, and the result was a good resolution on Regenerate Church Membership that ought to please everyone involved.

Except, perusing some of the blogs this afternoon, I find that it does not. Tom, Malcolm, and I are, as far as I can tell, happy with the outcome. But various online opinions have suggested either that the wording of the resolution was insufficient or that any resolution, even one with good wording, is an exercise in vanity.

To quote Ulysses Everett McGill, "The personal rancor reflected in that remark, I don't intend to dignify with comment, but I would like to address your general attitude of hopeless negativism." Really, forgive me for saying so, but sometimes it seems that some folks just delight in the clothing of themselves in sanctimonious condemnation of the Southern Baptist Convention. I'm not in favor of denial—we have a problem with Regenerate Church Membership and continuing to address it is an urgent matter for our churches—but I know for certain that the solution to our problems does not lie in dissing steps in the right direction. Have we all been baptized in the Spirit or cured in vinegar?

Yes, we're less effective at reaching the lost than we have been in the past. But we have elected a president who wants to call us to greater fervency for presenting the gospel. The latter is not an iron-clad panacea to the former (s.v. "Bobby Welch"), but it surely is not a part of the problem. Local churches are going to have to solve this problem, but the SBC can provide encouragement for those local churches, and Hunt's agenda is likely to contribute positively in that direction.

Yes, the Southern Baptist commitment to bedrock Baptist distinctives is at something of a nadir, but the SBC just held discussion about regenerate church membership, baptism, the Lord's Supper, and regenerate church membership, voting in affirmation of those concepts. Voting for those concepts at convention is not the same thing as strengthening them at home in the church, but it is certainly a step in the right direction. Those who would make nothing of the passage of such a resolution sure were willing to make a lot of the FAILURE to pass previous similar resolutions. If not adopting a resolution is very meaningful, then adopting the same resolution must be very meaningful.

We've elected two wonderful Vice Presidents to serve our convention.

We've so far had a very pacific convention meeting.

With regard to the major problems that we face, if anyone has a "general attitude of hopeless negativism" he will be excellent at showing us where we need to repent but impotent at inspiring any sort of helpful change. If any Pollyanna in the convention has a blindness toward the challenges before us, he will be like a first-rate cheerleader for the Washington Generals (look it up). What is needed is neither denial nor sourness, but an ear to hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches. That is our greatest dependency both during our annual meetings and throughout the months in between.

Or, look at me for your paradigm of hope. :-)

Southern Baptist Texan Editorial on Regenerate Church Membership

I really hate to post again so soon and push other posts down the totem pole, but Gary Ledbetter's latest editorial is just that good. Gary gets it. I'm so thankful to see a healthy interest in regenerate church membership from laypeople, pastors, and denominational staffs alike.

The Meaning of Church Membership

K. Owen White's distinguished ministry included a fruitful pastorate at First Baptist Church of Houston, TX, and an influential presidency over the Southern Baptist Convention in 1964, in the midst of the Elliott Controversy that foreshadowed the Conservative Resurgence. White's sermon "Death in the Pot" was the most prominent whistle blowing to warn the convention of the liberal contents of Elliott's The Message of Genesis. White's sermon "The Meaning of Church Membership" came out a full decade before "Death in the Pot." Styles of preaching were a bit different back then, but I find it interesting to see way back in the early 1950s a concern about weakening concepts of church membership.

I offer for your edification K. Owen White's sermon, "The Meaning of Church Membership."

And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

–Matthew 16:18-19

Some months ago I read in a newspaper the account of the death of a prominent citizen. The column beneath his picture was three or four inches in length and listed the organizations to which he belonged, the positions which he had filled, and the honors which had been bestowed upon him. There was one notable exception. In all that was said of him, there was not a word about his church! Something is tragically wrong when a man leaves the Lord and the church out of his life or when the members of his family regard his church membership as incidental and secondary to his other affiliations.

Christ said nothing at all about lodges, clubs, and associations; but he did say, "I will build my church." Granted that there are various organizations which have commendable features and engage in worth-while activities. But at the best they are only human organizations, which Christ's church is a divine institution.

Gates of hell can never

'Gainst that church prevail;

We have Christ's own promise,

And that cannot fail.

Sabine Baring-Gould

There is no substitute for membership in a New Testament church. Someone may ask, What is a New Testament church? The answer is that it is one which faithfully follows the pattern laid down in God's Word. It may be large or small, it may be rich or poor, it may be in our own community or in another land, but if it is patterned after the churches described in the New Testament, it is worthy of recognition as a New Testament church.

Another question may logically follow: What is the meaning of church membership? And that is precisely the question we want to consider. To answer it, we must go to the only source of authority we know—the new Testament itself. The Four Gospels tell us what "Jesus began both to do and to teach." Acts records what he continued to do through the leadership of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of his people. The epistles and Revelation give us a clear picture of Christ's plan and purpose for his church.

If anyone should ask whether the church itself, or membership in the church, is important, the reply is that "Christ…loved the church, and gave himself for it" (Eph. 5;25). he purchased it "with his own blood" (Acts 20:28). He wants it to be "a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing" (Eph. 5:27). "He is the head of the body, the church" (Col 1:18). The church is also referred to as "the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth" (1 Tim. 3:15).

The glorious truth which ought to stir the heart of every one of us is that unworthy, sinful men and women like ourselves, having been saved by grace, through faith, are privileged to be members of such a body.

What is the significance of joining the church? Why join anyhow? When we have joined, what does it mean?

A Vital Experience of God's Grace

Membership in a New Testament church presupposes a new birth—a spiritual birth. A church is not just a group of people who are congenial. It is a body of believers. Though they may differ in many respects, the one thing which they must hold in common is a personal faith in Christ as Lord and Saviour.

The one essential prerequisite for membership in the church is regeneration. "Regeneration is the act of God in which he renews in us the image of God." No unsaved person ought to seek membership in the church. No church should knowingly receive an unsaved person into its membership. Salvation and church membership are not synonymous. Salvation is the gift of God. Church membership is a matter of obedience and loyalty upon the part of one already saved by grace.

While pastor in Washington, D.C., I received this letter from a young woman: "Last night I heard your service over the radio. I have been a member of another faith since I was a little child but I know that I am not saved. I want to be a Christian, and I wish you would come and show me how." A visit to her home found her eager and anxious to know how to become a Christian. She gladly accepted the Lord and within a few days came forward in the church when the appeal was made and followed the Lord in baptism.

For years this woman had been a church member but not a Christian. She marveled at the truth that all she needed to do was to trust in the Lord.

Belonging to a New Testament church means, first of all, that we belong to Jesus. We are not our own; we are bought with a price. Nothing can be more important than to begin aright. "As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God" (John 1:12-13).

An Open Profession of Faith in Christ

As a lad I did not have the privilege of attending or belonging to a church. We lived so far back "in the sticks" that there were no churches within many miles of us. It would have meant much to me at the time I made a profession of faith if I could have followed it up with a public profession before a whole congregation of people. I was sixteen years of age before I had the privilege of belonging to a church with a regular schedule of activities. I was nineteen years old when the study of the New Testament in a nondenominational school made a Baptist out of me!

The book of Acts indicates that the normal procedure is for new converts—young Christians—to join the church immediately. The response to the gospel message and appeal on the day of Pentecost was marvelous. "And the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls" (Acts 2:41). The work went on and the response to the appeal continued. "And the Lord added to their number [the church] day by day those who were being saved" (Acts 2:47 RSV).

Church membership provides an opportunity for an open, public profession of faith in Christ, who has clearly said, "Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven" (Matt 10:32). But have not some of the Lord's people forgotten that this public confession of Christ should be continuous? It begins when a man joins the church, but it ought to continue to the end of his life. Paul calls attention to the example of our Lord who "witnessed a good confession" (1 Tim. 6:13) before Pontius Pilate. What sort of confession are we witnessing day by day? Having joined the church, have we neglected and forgotten it?

Can you think of any finer way that a Christian can give a clear witness to his faith than by identifying himself openly with a church, becoming a part of that church, and investing everything possible in the life of that church?

Obedience to His Clear Commands

A New Testament Baptist church has been defined as a body of baptized believers, equal in rank and privilege, banded together for fellowship and service, administering its own affairs under the lordship of Christ. It is important to remember that all of our work is under his lordship. Someone has said: 'Christ must be Lord of all if he is to be Lord at all."

If I have trusted Jesus as Savior as professed my faith in him before others, I have thereby said to him and to them that I belong to Christ. Therefore I am under solemn obligation to seek and to do his will.

During the Napoleonic wars when the armies of France were deep in Russian territory, a group of French soldiers captured a Russian gunner known as One-eared Michael. That night when sheltering in the old barn and blacksmith shop, one of the soldiers heated up the forge and fashioned a branding iron with the letter N. Thinking to have some fun with their prisoner who had refused to give them any information concerning his friends, they heated the iron red-hot. Opening the fingers of their prisoner's left hand, they pressed the searing iron into the palm of his hand and said to him gleefully, "Now you belong to Napoleon."

Seizing an ax which lay before him, with one swift blow the gunner severed his hand from his arm and drawing himself up proudly said, "Take what belongs to your emperor. As for me, I belong wholly and absolutely to the Czar."

Oh, let it be remembered by every Christian that by right of redemption he belongs wholly and absolutely to the Lord Jesus Christ! Every wish of his divine Lord becomes an absolute command for him.

What are Jesus' commands to his people? To his churches he has given two ordinances. Both testify of him. Both of them set before us in vivid imagery the facts of the gospel. He expects us to remember and to observe them, to cherish them in their original form and meaning, and to maintain them as memorials to him.

What a glorious experience it is for the one who has just been saved to follow his Lord into the waters of baptism, to hear the words "buried with him…risen with him," and to know that he has taken the first step of obedience to his new-found Lord! Baptism is for believers only. Faith is the way of entrance into God's kingdom, and baptism upon a profession of such faith is the way of entrance into the church.

Yet this is only the beginning. When one has come into the church, the candle of testimony has been lighted; but it must be burned down to the socket.

Baptism is the initial ordinance; but there is given to us another, the continuing ordinance, the Lord's Supper. Lest our hearts should grow cold, lest we should forget the price of our redemption, we are commanded by our Lord to assemble as oft as we will to share in a simple yet glorious memorial to him.

Another command is given to us which is overlooked by many of his people. It is: "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together" (Heb. 10:25). There are too many empty seats, too many vacant pews!

An empty seat (unless it is empty for some good reason) means an added wound in the heart of Christ. It means a broken appointment. It means a vote against the church. It means victory for Satan and the forces of evil. It means that temporarily at least the lamp of some member's testimony has flickered. It means that the sense of personal responsibility has died out.

Yes, church membership means obedience to his commands. Can we, dare we forget his command to witness for him? To his own people, to the members of the churches, he is continually saying, "Ye shall be my witnesses" (Acts 1:8).

The witness which you and I give is the sum total of the influence of our whole lives.

Fellowship with His People

Membership in the church means fellowship with other Christians. In Jerusalem, after Pentecost, believers by the thousands identified themselves with the church. It was a personal relationship. It was a continuing relationship, for "they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayer" (Acts 2:42).

Let us break that statement down for a moment and look at it. "They continued steadfastly." Some folks transfer their membership from one church to another and that is all. Their church letter is in the file. The name is on the roll. The individual goes no further and grows no more spiritually.

Steadfastness is one of the characteristics of a growing Christian. Physical growth depends upon nourishing food and regular exercise; so does spiritual growth. Those early Christians continued "in the apostles' doctrine." Their souls were nourished, their hearts were warmed, their faith was strengthened, their lives were enriched by constant contact with the gospel message. Christians need to know the outstanding doctrines of their faith, but these doctrines must be related to life in a practical way.

The early Christians continued in the apostles' fellowship. That is simply another way of saying that they were with them as frequently and continuously as possible. They went to church.

In a former pastorate I was visiting in a little grocery store across the town from our church. One of our members owned the store. As we talked, a young woman came in. The owner said, "Here is one of your members, Dr. White, but I don't know whether you have met her."

I had not and I knew it; so I said, "How long has it been since you were in our church?"

She furrowed her brow and said slowly: "Well, let's see, I was married five years ago in July. I don't think I have been there since I was married."

Yet she professes to love the Lord and holds membership in the church and is well able to come! Somehow fellowship has been broken.

Those early Christians continued in "breaking of bread, and in prayers." If the reference to breaking of bread refers to the Lord's Supper, then it ought to smite the conscience of some who never join with their fellow believers at the Lord's table. If it refers to a wholesome friendship which brought them close together in one another's homes, then it is a practice that might well be encouraged.

Those early Christians continued in prayer. Fellowship finds its greatest heights in fervent, united prayer. How many real prayer meetings do we have? What percentage of our people attend the midweek service? How many really know how to pray?

What a thrilling thing it is to read again the record of the victories won by prayer in the early days. "These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication…And they continued steadfastly…in prayer…Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer…and when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord…And when they had prayed, the place was shaken."

How well do I remember an occasion when revival services were being held and day after day passed by with no professions of faith. Thursday evening of the first week arrived, and after the service the pastor's heart was so heavy that he called his Sunday school superintendent.

In the shadows of the front porch they sat for a few moments talking and then went into the darkened front room of the pastorium and knelt together and prayed.

The next morning two high school girls made professions of faith, and at the evening service almost a dozen came on profession of faith. Forty-three people were baptized before the meeting was over. Was it because two men agonized in prayer that night until long past midnight?

Church membership involves fellowship with other Christians. It means "continuing steadfastly." It means going to church when it is hot and going to church when it is cold. It means going when it rains and going when it snows, when the road are good and when they are bad. It means going to church when one feels like it and when one does not feel like it. That's when he needs it most! Without the fellowship of other Christians, his heart may grow cold and careless.

Faithful, Consistent Service for Christ

There is something seriously wrong with church membership that does not result in supreme loyalty to Christ and express itself in fruitful, faithful service.

The churches of the New Testament are described as colonies of heaven in a world of sin. People who associate with Christians ought to be conscious of their presence. Christians ought to be different. Paul challenges Christ's followers to be "blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world" (Phil 2:14 RSV).

Through all the centuries the call of Christ to his people has rung out clearly: "Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing" (2 Cor. 6:17).

A bewildered, confused, materialistic world is skeptical of spiritual realities and needs desperately the witness of clean-cut Christian lives which are different. It demands something tangible, something it can see and feel!

"No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier" (2 Tim. 2:4). Christians lose spiritual power and energy, churches bog down, and the world suffers because of worldly encumbrances and entanglements.

Beer, cocktails, tobacco, gambling, Sunday sports, roadhouses, dance halls, and other worldly amusements find no place in the life program of the one who wholeheartedly desires to please Him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.

High are the privileges but great are the responsibilities of church membership! Church membership involves discipleship in its highest form. It says to us that "denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ; who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works" (Titus 2:12-14).

On the Virtues of Closed Doors

It's not every day that I quote Amy Grant favorably (please direct your hate mail to...), but one interview she gave contained a real nugget of wisdom, IMHO. Asked about criticism she had received for something she had done (I think it had to do with her crossover project that she released with Peter Cetera), Grant offered a viewpoint of criticism that struck a good balance, I thought, between the foolish refusal to listen to criticism (which can often help us to grow) on the one hand, and the foolish practice of listening to all criticism immediately (which will paralyze us, robbing us of productivity).

It was Grant's analogy that I thought was truly profound. She compared her entertainment career to the painting of a great work of art. An artist, Grant said, can't set up the easel, squeeze out the paints onto the palette, pull out a brush, paint a single stroke, and then step back and ask the world, "What do you think?" before painting stroke two and repeating the request for criticism. No, Grant observed, sometimes you just have to dive into the canvas and paint. Then, later, when the painting is done, that's the time to request and evaluate criticism of the finished project. The painting of the masterpiece rightly takes place behind closed doors, and then its exhibition and evaluation come publicly when it is finished and ready for showing.

There's a good reason for this—every painting is a mess at some point in the process. I love to watch the PBS show "The Joy of Painting" with the late Bob Ross. He was a bit quirky and odd, but I think his show is entertaining. In a mere thirty minutes (minus network time), Ross paints an oil painting from scratch. There's always a point about ten minutes into the show where I find myself staring at the screen and saying out loud to nobody in particular, "Well, he's messed up! He didn't mean to pull that paint all the way over there. That's not going to look good at all."

Of course, when the end of the show comes, the painting always looks precisely as it should. That's why Bill Clinton would make a horrible painter—you can't build masterpieces with daily opinion polling.

Recently I began to work to build support for the Resolution on Regenerate Church Membership. RCM is a principle that matters a great deal to me. Although I am not the author of the resolution's wording, I am thankful to be able to do my part in carrying it forward. Malcolm Yarnell wrote the original draft of this resolution. When he did, he approached several people and asked them to suggest revisions or indicate whether they could support the resolution. This all took place in 2007, quite some time ago. As I began my efforts to bring the resolution forward this year, my first task was to contact all of the people who had already seen and tentatively affirmed the resolution in order to learn whether they were still in support of the resolution and willing to lend their support as the process went forward.

It is a selective culling of this conversation, carefully trimmed to put forward a false impression, that Wade Burleson released in a recent post. Later, Nathan Finn published a post declaring that there are no more secrets in Southern Baptist life.

I am posting today to say that, if there are no more secrets in Southern Baptist life (presuming that the email exchange I initiated qualifies as a "secret"), then we will be much the worse for it. There's a reason why authors don't publish their first drafts. There's a reason why you pastors out there work on your sermons in the privacy of your study before you proclaim them from the pulpit. There's a reason why Christ's own commanded procedure for the most serious bit of business a church might consider—the exclusion of a member by church discipline—is a process that begins very secretively before it becomes a public spectacle down the line.

The reason for all of these things is quite simply that ideas need to mature, facts need to be checked, proposals need to be vetted, and negotiation needs to take place, in the vast majority of cases, before the whole world gets caught up into some public show about something. I'm a big proponent of congregationalism, but the very worst form of congregationalism takes place when somebody stands up in a public meeting and throws upon the floor some question that neither the congregation, the moderator, nor he himself has ever really pondered before. These moments typify the phrase "the pooling of our ignorance." No, I'll take every time the person who has given careful thought to what he wants to do, has sought the advice of others, and has brought to the congregation a thoroughly considered and well-worded motion for the body's perusal.

Secrecy in the wrong places most certainly can be a problem. Other than exceptional cases, the convention and her entities ought not to be able to act in secrecy and ought not to be able to cover up past actions. Here's a brilliant idea: We ought to arrange to have a free and open meeting where all of our decisions are made in full view of the public with all of our churches having an opportunity to participate. People ought to be free to work privately before that meeting to decide what is the best thing to propose, the best way to explain a proposal, or the best person to advocate for one thing or another. But when the hour arrives and the time comes for Southern Baptists to make their final decisions, those decisions ought to take place in an atmosphere of open discussion and free debate. Now THAT would be a system that would combine the strengths of private preparation with the strengths of open discussion and decision-making. We ought to put together a system like that.

Oh wait a minute…that's the system we ALREADY HAVE.

Or at least it is the system we ought to already have. I'm troubled by rumors I heard in this discussion that, unlike at SWBTS, at some of our entities the salaries of entity heads may be a closely guarded secret kept even from trustees. Our public decision-making process and our past actions (such as the setting of salaries) ought to be made in openness and kept freely available to Southern Baptists, while we preserve the freedom of individual Southern Baptists to seek counsel, negotiate with one another, and develop proposals in whatever level of privacy they desire and wish to attempt to have.

As a final note on this topic, allow me to say that the most curious and comical aspect of this entire latest melodrama in Southern Baptist life is the fact that the three principals involved—Tom Ascol, Malcolm Yarnell, and myself—have gotten along so swimmingly well throughout it all. Others suggest that we would have a combined resolution rather than two resolutions if everything had played out on a blog from day one. From my perspective, I say au contraire, the very best and most productive collaborations we ever had have been the ones that have taken place with the greatest level of privacy (secrecy, if you wish). The more people who have been involved, and the more melodrama injected into the process by others, the more elusive has been the challenge of coming to a single unity of thought. In my opinion, Wade and Nathan's advice is precisely the way NOT to get anything productive done in the SBC (OK, Nathan's post wasn't precisely in the way of advice).

I think that I speak for both Malcolm and Tom when I say that both of these resolutions are good resolutions, and that we three are cordially and fraternally committed to seeing something good and productive on the topic of Regenerate Church Membership passed at this year's Annual Meeting. Were there nobody else in the Southern Baptist Convention, the three of us would already have something put together. Of course, if we were the only three people in the SBC, there would be neither any need for such a resolution nor any interest from the world in what we wished to say!

So here's the deal: I have in the past and will in the future continue to work "behind the scenes" any time I have anything that I wish to accomplish in the SBC. If you ever hear me offer a resolution, you can be absolutely certain that I had someone else look at it to see whether there was anything stupid in it before I stand up in front of the Jumbotron and start trying to read it through the five-second delay. I may have had fifty people look at it. I may have had five hundred people look at it. To do otherwise is just foolish, as is the expectation that I would have to CC: the sixteen million Southern Baptists on every email I send out in order not to be secretive.

After all, we don't even know where all of those people are.

Poster Boy for Church Discipline

I wonder: Is J. Davis Mallory still a member of a Marietta, GA area Southern Baptist church?

(HT: Big Daddy Weave)

By the way, Mallory is one of our recipients of that "Christian worldview" promulgated by a formerly-Baptist institution (Stetson University) that proclaims to exist "For God and Truth."

What Kind of Housecleaning Does the SBC Need?

As I sat in the assembly at the SBC Annual Meeting in St. Louis, MO, I was surprised at how conspicuously some of the platform personalities were wearing on their sleeves their disappointment that the Conservative Resurgence in the SBC had not eventuated a dramatic upsurge in baptisms and a Convention-wide revival. After all, one of the promises offered occasionally during the lengthy and difficult denominational campaign was that commitment to theological orthodoxy would usher in a new spiritual awakening. Of course, Americans expect results to come within no longer than 4 to 6 weeks after the effort begins, so by now we're beside ourselves as we watch our evangelistic effectiveness decline, not increase. What are we to do? Fast-forward to a later encounter, and you'll get my opinion on the matter. Sitting on a panel with Jerry Sutton at the Center for Theological Research, I offered, "Dr. Sutton, I really liked your book, but I think it has a bad title." Sutton's book, The Baptist Reformation, offered an inside history of the Conservative Resurgence. In Sutton's defense, the publisher chose the title. I told him, "Especially in Baptist life, when you've shuffled around the denominational entities, you haven't brought about a reformation. It is only legitimately a reformation, in my opinion, when you've dealt with the local church." Southern Baptist Churches are in desperate need of reform. The nature of the reform we need is ecclesiological. In this age of nondenominationalism, what we really need is to rediscover our Baptistness. I doubt that the early Baptists would consider as many as 10% of Southern Baptist churches to be genuinely Baptist. The central concept of the Baptist movement was the creation of local churches that were, to the best of the church's ability to secure it, comprised only of people who actually claimed and appeared to be Christians. Today we count on half of the membership of a Southern Baptist church to be missing in action. We have abandoned church discipline. We have abandoned the meaning of membership. We have abandoned our Baptistness. So, this is the A#1 reason that I'm opposed to the new dissent in the SBC. It works its way out in two aspects. First, I think that the convention agencies are in good enough shape. They aren't perfect, but neither will they be when Burleson & Co. get finished with them. And we'll have expended more effort and energy trying to fuel round 2 of convention reform. Round 1 was necessary. This round is not. Instead we ought to be moving past the convention level and focusing our attention upon local church reform. Second, the folks behind this round of proposed reform are, as best as I can tell, gung ho for moving further away (if that is at all possible) from our Baptistness and becoming more broadly evangelical. Half are enamored with Presbyterianism. Half are caught up in neo-pentecostalism. Half (I don't have any degrees in mathematics) have merely drunk deeply at the well of doctrine-shunning pragmatism that describes modern evangelicalism. Nobody is more "reformed" than Baptists. The Baptist experiment is the pinnacle of reform. We need more of it. Let the real Baptist Reformation begin!