Category Archives: Church Commentary

My thoughts on current trends or events within or affecting the Church in America and around the world.

Democracy and the Fall of the Southern Baptist Convention

Church Commentary, Theology

In recent years, the Southern Baptist Convention have added to their Baptist Faith and Message that the church is to be ruled by majority vote.  That is, the body of Christ should be a democracy, at least for the largest denomination in North America.  It figures.  After all, it has worked so well for America in general.  Plus, we have all that biblical support for the idea.

Like that day on Mount Carmel, when King Ahab was trying to decide whether to serve Yahweh or Baal.  I am sure you will recall the account:  Ahab stood up and began, “Okay, folks, let’s get this over with.  I have a 10:00 tee time with Ben-Hadad, and I DON’T want to miss it.  Prophet Elijah, I understand you have an item of business?”

Elijah rose to address the crowd:  “How long will you falter between two opinions?  If Yahweh is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.”

At that point, Ahab broke in:  “Okay, Elijah.  One motion at a time!  To repeat, Mr. Secretary, the first motion was, ‘If Yahweh is God, follow Him.’  Do I hear a second to the motion to follow Yahweh?  None?  Very well.  Sorry, Elijah.  Let’s move on to the second motion: ‘If Baal, follow him.’  Is there a second?  Oh, good.  Got three or four of them.  So.  Any discussion?”

Elijah again stood to address the crowd.  Ahab glared at him.  “The chair does NOT recognize Elijah at this time.  Did I mention I have a 10:00 tee time?  We do not have time for one of your sermons.  Anyone else?  Ah, the question has been called for.  All in favor of serving Baal, please signify by saying, ‘Amen.’  Oh, good grief!  Elijah wants a hand count.  Fine.  All in favor, signify by raising your right hand.  No, Zedekiah, your OTHER right hand.  Fine.  Hands down.  Now, any opposed?  Good.”

“Well, folks, I have good news.  The vote was 400 to 1 to follow Baal.  Clearly, the Lord has spoken through the voice of his people!  And even better…  Looks like I’m going to make my tee time!  Meeting adjourned.”

It is sad, really, that our national forefathers had the wisdom to establish a republic and not a democracy, recognizing how easily a majority can be swayed by their sin nature.  Yet, as a church, the SBC has failed to see that problem.  Victor Hugo once wrote, “Every civilzation begins as a theocracy and ends as a democracy.” Are we ready for the end of the SBC?

Consider the problem and its probable outcome.  In a sense, really, the church is to be congratulated.  We have been trying for 30 years to get unsaved people into the pews, and now that is exactly what we have: pews upon pews full of unsaved people!  Only now we want to make sure the church is run by their vote!

Imagine with me a congregation of 50 people.  Billy Graham has estimated that, in an average congregation, only about 20% are saved, or 10 of our 50.  The Barna Research Group has found it even less: only 9% of church members actually hold a Biblical (i.e. saving) world view!  But let us be generous, and say 40 of the 50 voting members of our imaginary congregation are actually saved.  They have a lot of 40-to-10 votes, but pretty much every one is in agreement to call Pastor Adam.

Pastor Adam is young and exciting, enthusiastic for outreach, and armed with a great strategy for soul-winning.  He has a proven formula to get those unsaved people into the pews, written by a best-selling author or mega-church pastor.  And so it begins.

Three years later, Pastor Adam is called to a new and more challenging (read: larger and wealthier) congregation.  By then, his outreach strategy has doubled the size of the church, bringing in and baptizing 50 new members.  The trouble is, most of these people seem genuinely unchanged by the Gospel they purport to have embraced.  Only 10 of the new 50 ever actually met Christ (though all 50 “prayed a prayer” and got wet).

Now the church has a dilemma.  It is split, 50-50, and it is time to call a new pastor.  What is more, the church doesn’t KNOW it is split 50-50, doesn’t even realize there is a problem.  So, when Pastor Bob comes along looking just like Pastor Adam did, all 50 new members are thrilled to find someone like the man who converted them (to the church, not necessarily to Christ), and most of the other 50 are at least willing to go along.  After all, he DID double the size of the church.

By the time Pastor Bob leaves his wife and runs off with the nursery worker two years later, the church has doubled again, under the same human-fueled outreach programs, putting another 80 unsaved people (and 20 genuine Christians who slipped through somehow) into the pews.  It is time to build a bigger building — and call a new pastor.

By now, slick but shallow Pastor Chuck has no trouble being voted in, since the unsaved out-number the Christians by almost 2 to 1. Then things really get rolling downhill, so that by the time Pastor Diabolos applies for the job, he is voted right in.  Oh, a handful of old fuddy-duddies leave the church over it, but what is that?  The church of 50 has grown to a church of 400, with the offerings to go with it, in only a few years.  Clearly, the Lord has spoken through the voice of His people!

Now, these illustrations may serve to spotlight a problem, but to establish the Truth requires Scripture.  Paul’s letters to Timothy and to Titus give us a wealth of insight into God’s design for the ruling of the Church.  I made it my practice to read them regularly during my 13 years of pastoring, as I believe every pastor and church leader should.  God’s design starts with the appointment of elders (Titus 1:5) or overseers (Titus 1:7), who are to “take care of the Church of God” (1 Timothy 3:5). The parallel sentence structure of that verse strongly implies that he cares for the church by ruling it (“If a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?”), and the word “overseer”, which to us has become a title, was a simple word with a literal meaning when the New Testament was written: they are to oversee the church.  Those three letters (to Timothy and Titus) are also chock full of instructions to overseers on how to lead, teach, train, and guide their own congregations.  Paul understood that, although God can work through a majority, it is certainly not wise to count on a majority, even in the church.  Especially when the right to vote is as easy to get as saying a prayer and taking a dip in water.  Inside.  Where it is warm.  Where no unsaved people will see you.

I know, this measure by the SBC was put to a vote, and the majority already decided that I must be mistaken.  I don’t mind.  I have a habit of standing with the minority, but then, so did all my childhood heroes: Elijah, Moses, Jesus and Paul.

So, the SBC encourages democratic rule.  I prefer the theocracy.  And God laid out that He would rule through elders and overseers.  Not Lone Rangers, mind you, like our modern business-inspired church CEO’s, but what the early church fathers called primus entre pares: first among equals.  The church should follow a group of elders, those wise and experienced in the faith, full of the Holy Ghost, with one from among them designated to take that first step to lead.

All in favor, please signify by saying, “Amen.”

Raising Anchor

Church Commentary

The following is an article I wrote for The Baptist Banner, printed August 2005.  It is addressed to Southern Baptists, as that is the conservative Southern Baptist paper for Virginia, but the concerns expressed are universally true.  If preachers abandon the Word of God and the sacred calling to grapple with that Word personally, therewith to feed their sheep, the consequences will be devastating.

Raising Anchor

Dating back past the Trojan War, even to the serpent in the garden, one frequently finds that a seemingly blessed gift is in fact the vehicle of one’s own destruction. Satan convinced Eve that the fruit would make her wise. The Greeks convinced Troy that their wooden horse was the envy of the ancient world. Likewise today, many hail as a great boon a vehicle of imminent danger to the cause of Christ. Specifically, the much-lauded and respected Dr. Rick Warren is succeeding single-handedly where the entire liberal agenda could not – in leading Southern Baptist pastors and churches to abandon the infallible and inerrant Word of God. If we do not wake up and stop the trend immediately, our “Conservative Resurgence” will have been nothing more than “one last gasp”. Specifically, Doctor Warren undermines our conservative stance in three ways: by teaching, exemplifying, and marketing a dangerous form of sermon preparation which is independent of God’s inerrant Word.

Now, to begin, it is necessary to define our terms. For the purpose of this article, “the infallible and inerrant Word of God” refers to the original Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic manuscripts. The Southern Baptist Convention, in its updated Baptist Faith and Message, and the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia, by vote in their annual meeting on November 11, 2003, have both acknowledged the Bible to be the infallible, inerrant Word of God in the original manuscripts. (This emphasis is the very part we have just added.) Our definition for this article, then, simply reflects this shared conviction. Sadly, Doctor Warren’s ministry would lead us away from this standard.

First, Pastor Warren teaches that we ought to use less than the standard by avoiding the original languages in our preaching. “Pastors need to realize that no one cares as much about the Greek as they do,” he claims. “[A]n overuse of Greek and Hebrew word studies discourages confidence in the English text.” (The Purpose-Driven Church, p. 233). While both of these statements may be literally true, they do not support avoiding the original manuscript. So what if original language study questions the authority of the English text? That is because the only authority the English text has is in its adherence to the original manuscripts! In contrast, Dr. Paige Patterson (then Southeastern’s president) taught at Binkley Chapel on May 1, 1997 that language study should be embraced in our preaching. “One theory,” he said about the use of Greek and Hebrew in preaching, “says that you should no, no, no, no never ever, ever, ever use it. That’s pretty stupid! Come and study it for three years and never use it. That’s some pretty clever thinking.” (Original emphasis). Yet pastors by the thousands are chasing after this one who teaches that these texts are to be avoided, lest we bother our listeners with such trivia as what God actually said.

Pastor Warren then goes a step further, not merely teaching, but exemplifying abandonment not only of the original texts, but even of the more conservative and literal translations. In his own works, he most often uses the New International Version (a dynamic equivalency translation rather than a literal translation) and such paraphrases as the New Living Bible and The Message. His Purpose-Driven Church cites 194 Bible passages in the main text. Of these, 60 come from paraphrases, 120 are credited to the New International Version, and only 13 are taken from the New American Standard, King James, and New Revised Standard Versions, combined. (The last is from The Jerusalem Bible). Understand, there is nothing sinful in reading “looser” versions, or in referencing them in one’s sermon to express a concept in more modern terms. To base the entire message upon them, however, to the exclusion of the original languages and direct translations, is dangerous at best, and possibly deceptive and treacherous. In The Purpose-Driven Life, for instance, Warren often uses paraphrases to support his own points with their extra-biblical content. Consider this example (one of many) from page 268 of that book: Warren wants to point out that, “We are all uniquely shaped.” His verse to support this, taken from The Message, says, “Each of us is an original,” which fits his point exactly. Unfortunately, what Paul actually said (from the New King James, a literal translation), was, “Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.” (Galatians 5:26) While our uniqueness is not an unbiblical principle, neither has it been supported by the Scripture in this instance – yet, the reader is deceived into thinking that it has. Using this method of “Bible exposition”, one can easily make the Scripture seem to say whatever one would like! In essence, while perhaps our churches have not drifted anywhere yet, those following this model have raised anchor, and once the anchor is out of the sand, drifting is inevitable!

Sadly, the assault on Truth does not stop with erroneous teaching and a faulty example, but is marketed, as well. Our misled brother, in an alleged effort to minister to over-worked pastors, writes sermons using these same anti-Scriptural guidelines, then sells them on the web. Not only is he teaching us to abandon the inerrant original-language Scriptures; not only is he setting a poor example in his own published works. He is actually marketing poorly and dangerously written sermons, selling them to pastors to preach from the church’s pulpit! Tragically, too many pastors are yielding to the temptation to sub-contract the sacred calling God has placed upon their lives, and this highly-respected writer is making money off of their weakness. He short-circuits God’s call to pastors to “study to show yourself approved unto God, rightly dividing the Word of Truth.” (2 Timothy 2:15) He invites them to ignore God’s declaration that “I am against the prophets, who steal my words every one from his neighbor.” (Jeremiah 23:30) While we praise Rick Warren for the number of books he can sell and the amount of money he can make, we overlook the inestimable damage his work is doing in our churches, as he leads pastors to a place where God Himself has promised to stand against them!

Church, we are responsible to protect the sacred message in the pulpit. We must call our pastors to write their own sermons, and to write them (with commentary help if necessary) from the original text – the only truly inerrant and infallible Word of God. We cannot afford to raise anchor when the gales and tides against us are so great!

 

Sheep are Led

Church Commentary, Poetry and Songs

The following is a poem I wrote on my way to work the other day, which communicates a major concern I have with a popular direction the Church seems to be taking anymore:

Now a goat — you have to drive him,
so you push him to and fro,
’cause a goat’s so independent,
he knows just where he wants to go;
but a sheep — he needs a Shepherd,
and he listens to one Voice;
so it seems to me, American Church,
that we have got one choice:

Don’t let purpose drive you,
when the Son of God would guide you,
and lead you in His perfect, loving plan,
for His thoughts are not like our thoughts,
and our ways are not His ways;
you have to trust when you don’t understand.
For a life that’s worth the livin’,
know that sheep are led — not driven.