I wonder what name our Lord and Savior would give to the Southern Baptist Convention? I’ve spent a lot of time in recent years studying and teaching from Revelation 2 and 3, the seven letters to the seven churches of Asia Minor. I’m going to give you my opinion, and you can take it for what it is worth. As I look at the SBC, the church at Ephesus in Revelation 2 comes to mind. Would Jesus call us the “Ephesus Baptist Convention?”
Jesus described the church at Ephesus in very complimentary terms in verses 2-3.
I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary.
They were a hard-working fellowship who toiled and endured in the service of God. C’mon, people, give us our due. SBCers are the spiritual descendants of Jesus’ friend Martha who wore herself out in service to the Lord while resenting her proto-charismatic sister Mary. We’re a working bunch. And we are careful in our orthodoxy, something that the Ephesians were commended for. They tested those who claimed to represent God and identified those who were false. They refused to compromise the truth and did not grow weary in serving their Savior.
But Jesus had a problem with them (v4).
But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.
Have we abandoned our first love? Has our passion for Jesus and his Kingdom waned as we have become embroiled in petty conflicts over minor doctrines, as we have invested more (both as churches and as people) in the pleasures of this world than in the mission of the Kingdom, as we have conformed to the world and its ways more than we have been transformed by the power of Christ, and as we have sought our own glory instead of his.
Jesus Christ demands to he the primary focus and passion of our hearts. He will not accept second place and will not share first place. He is a jealous God!
That’s my opinion. The SBC may have organizational issues, perception issues, strategic issues. But I am convinced that what we really need more than anything else is to:
Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the works you did at first.
No, I’m not talking about some kind of silly nostalgic notion of doing everything like the SBC used to do it. That ship has sailed. We do not need to return our old ways.
We need to return to a consuming passion for Christ and his Kingdom. We can argue all day over the GCR recommendations and their implementation. We can discuss the efficacy of a name change. We can talk about new strategies and new ministries. But until we return to our first love for Jesus Christ individually, as churches and as a denomination, nothing is really going to matter.
That’s how I see it. What say you?
Thanks Dave for reminding us that Jesus’ last word to the church was not the Great Commission, but repent … or else!
I’ve also been thinking in recent days that the SBC closely resembles the Ephesian church as recorded in Revelation. In its early days, the church at Ephesus was a center of Gospel influence to the point that “all the inhabitants of Asia heard the Word of the Lord” (Acts 19:10). Driven by a passion for Christ, they impacted their world with the Gospel as far as their legs would carry them! In my youth, I remember well SBC revivals in communities across America and evangelistic outreach to the world as far as our resources would take us. While we are still exercising Martha’s business in that regard, we have largely lost Mary’s passion to sit at Jesus’ feet.
Yes, there is a close resemblance of today’s SBC to the Ephesian church at the close of the Book. Sadly, our testimony to the world is characterized by great conflict rather than great commission. We will never have the individual and corporate passion for Christ that we should or truly experience a resurgence of the Great Commission in SBC ranks, until we humble ourselves, pray, seek God’s face and turn from our wicked ways (fussing about name change, doctrinal disputes, etc.). “If” my people … “Then” will I.
The trick will be to seek a renewed passion and zeal for Christ without falling into the trap of just substituting tradition and nostalgia.
A renewed zeal for Christ might look very different today than it did when I was a kid.
A journey with Christ usually takes us into the unknown.
Agreed. And that renewed passion and zeal may be a more individual pursuit this time around, rather than corporate … pursuing holiness, rather than the teachings and traditions of men. “A time will come when true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth.”
Some among Southern Baptists, who may feel wounded now, need to give thanks to God that among them there have been many servants of Our Lord have been used to further the work of His Kingdom.
. . . don’t forget . . . . listen and respond to the quiet Voice of the Shepherd who has never ceased to call you ‘beloved’.
“You are confronted again and again with the choice of letting God speak or letting your wounded self cry out.
Although there has to be a place where you can allow your wounded part to get the attention it needs,
your vocation is to speak from the place in you
where God dwells.”
Henri J. M. Nouwen
I’ve been thinking of this but couldn’t recall the place in which it was said. Nouwen was a profound writer.
Apologies to Debbie. Because of a change in the posting here, her comment got deleted. It was, as I recall, simply an amen.
Thanks Dave. Yep a simple Amen was all that needed to be said. 🙂