Who are we? What can we hope for?
___Text of the address by Charles Wade to the BGCT annual meeting in Corpus Christi, Oct. 30.
___ “It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in
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CHARLES WADE (left) and Clyde Glazener at the BGCT annual meeting in Corpus Christi
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the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
___ “Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by cunning craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.” (Ephesians 4:11-16)
___ It is good for us to be in Corpus Christi fpr this historic convention. Spanish explorers named this beatiful city “Corpus Christi,” Latin for “The Body of Christ.” The Apostle Paul used the Greek phrase, “soma Christou,” “Body of Christ,” to help Christians understand the intricate, organic union that believers have in Christ and with each other.
___ 1. The Church is the Body of Christ
___ When we gave our lives in faith to Jesus Christ, we were then baptized into his body...the church. We became a part of the Kingdom of God, expressed in a visible way in the life of the local church, the Body of Christ in a particular place.
___ A. The Beauty of the Body of Christ appears as it takes on the likeness of Christ. As members of he church grow in Christ-likeness (4:13), the church becomes the very presence of Jesus in every village, town, neighborhood, city, community, county, county where it is located. When tthe members scatter throughout the week to do their ordinary work, they are the presence of Jesus in the world, a kind of continuing incarnation of God in the world.
___ B. The power of the Body of Christ flows freely as the Holy Spirit of God unites members into an organic whole so that they move in concert with one another. Like a graceful athlete, the Body of Christ moves harmoniously as the muscles and ligaments cooperate with the Head of the Body to do the work of God in the world. There are no unimportant parts or members of this body... every member is gifted by the Holy Spirit to do the work of God for the common good. (I Corinthians 12:7)
___ C. The sensitivity of the Body of Christ allows the church to experience both joy and sadness, love and pain. The Body of Christ, the local church, laughs with joy when a sinner hears the gospel and is saved. It flinches in pain when one of its members is hurt. It becomes wary and cautious when attacked. It marshals its energies to carry forward words of hope and blessing. An evangelist friend og mine, Larry Walker, has a poem in which he says of the church, “When any of us cries, we all taste the salt.”
___ Paul says we are the Body of Christ. We are a Body, not a bunch, loosely tied together like a bunch of onions. If one onion is removed from the bunch, not one other onion notices. In a church like that, someone can say, “There is nothing wrong with this church that 10 good funerals wouldn’t cure.” But when you are a body, that is a painful amputation.
___ Every individual in the Body of Christ should be as sure of his or her value as the fellow who was shipwrecked on a desert island with his friend.
___ The frieghtened friend said, “We’ll never be found. We’re doomed out here.”
___ The owner of the wrecked sailboat said, “Don’t be worried about it.” Then knockin a couple of coconuts out of a tree, he broke one open and began eating the meat and drinking the milk. He was quite relaxed.
___ “How can you be so sure we’ll be found?”
___ “Well, I make five million dollars a year. I tithe every Sunday. My pastor will find us within two weeks.”
___ II. Baptist churches in Texas have a big job to do
___ When the search committee asked me to take this job for Texas Baptists, I sat down at my kitchen table with a map of Texas in front of me. I said to Rosemary, “This is a bif state. We’ve never heard of towns I see here. We’ve never been to most of these places. How can I get my arms around Texas?”
___ God spoke to my heart. “You couldn’t get your arms around Arlington without the help of your church!” No job worth doing can be done alone. That’s why God called his church into being. I knew there were 6,000 Texas Baptist churches. In my first year, I’ve been to a few...Alpine and Pampa, El Paso and Marshall, Beaumont and Midland, Amarillo and Brownsville, Center and Brownfield. And I can see it now. All of us together, being the presence of Jesus, the Body of Christ, in each community.... we can get our arms around Texas and we can hug this state up close to God.
___ The needs are great:
___ Ten million unchurched people live in Texas. We continue to be one of the fastest growing states in the Union. We have more unchurched people in Texas than the total population of 44 oher states in our nation.
___ Over the next 20 years, 30 million people are coming to the Borderland, the area along the 1,248-mile Rio Grande border we share with Mexico.
___ Almost half of all Baptist ministerial students in the Southern Baptist Convention are studying in our eight Baptist universties in Texas.
___ We have the largest prison population in America.
___ We have some of the poorest families and children.
___ We live among people who are frightened and lonely, seeking comfort in unrighteousness, some not believing God could love them and others swearing enmity against God.
___ But we have 2.7 million Texas Baptists in 6,000 churches who, if they should become spiritually sensitive to the presence of Jesus in their lives could, together, being revived and motivated, put their arms aropund Texas and hug this state up close to the heart of God.
___ III. The Controversy that Threatens the Baptist Vision.
___ This has been a year of challenge and frustration. We Baptists have been locked in a real struggle. How should Texas Bapitsts respond to the long-standing difficulties we have experienced with Southern Baptist leaders? As I have prayed and considered what the options might be for us in Texas, these thoughts have been uppermost in my mind.
___ First, we ought to work hard for the unity of the Baptist family. Though the Body of Christ primarily refers to the organic unity of the local church, still, we treasure the unity that Baptists have worked hard to achieve state by state, and in our nation.
___ Second, though the early church valued unity and the apostles urged upon the churches the importance of working in harmony with one another, when any group tried to impose on fellow Christians rules and regulations that grew out of an old legalism, Paul would insist on the freedom which the believers had in Christ. (Galatians 5:1)
___ Third, surprisingly, the very occasion of conflict could result in spiritual renewal and revival. Consider the events described in Acts 15. Paul and Barnabas had preached the gospel in Antioch and many Gentiles had come to faith in Christ. But some of the men came down from Jerusalem to teach the new Christians that they needed to be circumcised. These Judaizers did not understand the new thing God had done in Christ at the cross. Paul and Barnabas enetered into “sharp dispute and debate with them.” Then the church sent them to Jerusalem to discuss the matter with church leaders there. Along the way, as they shared the nws of the salvation of the Gentiles with other believers, there was joy and gladness. When they got to Jerusalem, Peter heard their report and recalled his vision on the roof of Simon the Tanner’s house in Joppa, where he learned from the Lord that God was no respecter of persons. A momentous decision was made that day. In th Spirit of Christ Jesus, who opposed the imposition of burdens too heavy to bear on the people, the Christians in Jerusalem decided that the Spirit of God was at work in Gentiles and they would not attempt to force them to be Jews before they could become Christians.
___ In the midst of controversy note this: Christians faced the issues. They did not hide from them. The principles at stake were too important to ignore. And as they dealt with the controversy, still people were being saved and the church was abl to rejoice that salvation could be preached to everyone. The grace of God drew new believers into the family of faith... the Body of Christ.
___ In the midst of our denominational distress, God has still been helping Texas Baptists to baptize more in the last four years than in any four-yar period in our history. WE have started 1,500 new churches in the last five years, 100 more than our Texas 2000 goal. Praise be to God. All glory belongs to Him.
___ We want to move beyond this painful time, but we don’t need to be afraid to address the issues. We Baptists believe that our faith is too important to be left to the religious experts. All of us are called on to study the matters and prayerfully make our decisions. One of my predecessors, J. M. Gambrell, speaking in 1916, said, “Baptists, on average, need more sense than those who are not self-governing.”
___ What if Felix Mainz and Conrad Grebel, the early Swiss Anabaptists, had been content to ignore the doctrine ofbeliever’s baptism and separation of church and state which they found in the Greek New Testament they had begun to study? They would have saved their lives, but the Baptist Vision would have died before it was born.
___ What if John Leland, the Virginia Baptist, had agreed to Patrick Henry’s proposal to include Baptists in his plan to use tax dollars to support the Christian churches of Virginia?
___ What if George Truett had been afraid to stand on the steps of the U.S. capitol in 1925 and proclaim that the Baptists believe in a free church in a free state and will tolerate no religious or political authorities to coerce conscience?
___ What if W. T. Conner and L. R. Scarborough had succumbed to the threats and intimidation of J. Frank Norris when fundamentalism created division among Southern Baptists 80 years ago?
___ What if T. B. Maston has not found the courage to speak out on behalf of racial justice when Baptist people did not want to hear it?
___ What if H. H. Hobbs, in 1963, had tried to write a Baptist Fiath & Message that was designed to divide Baptists rather than unite us?
___ There are truths and principles worth speaking out clearly about. We live in such a moment in time. Baptist principles have been ignored.
___ IV. What Shall We Do Now?
___ Here we are in our time in Baptist history.
___ We face tremendous needs in Texas. You will hear from the committees regarding their conviction that we need to make it possible for seminary students to attend our Texas seminaries at a comparable cost to attending a Southern Baptist seminary. You will hear the conclusion that we are still a mission field as well as a mission base––as Dr. Pinson often reminded us––and that the needs of Hispanics, children and families, and the teaching of biblical ethics in our churches, are major concerns for us.
___ We have been criticized that we only care about Texas. But of the 40 million dollars Texas Baptist churches gave to Southern Baptist mission causes last year, we are talkin about redirecting only 5 million dollars. Approximately 35 million dollars will still be going from our churches to support the worldwide mission efforts of our Southern Baptist people.
___ Why has it come to this? Why has the Executive Board recommended that Texas Baptists make these changes?
___ Over the lasy many years there has beena rigid limitation on who can serve Southern Baptists. Unless a professor or a prospective trustee or committee member has prepared to use certain language concerning the Bible, they could not be considered for service. People who believe the Bible were not eligible because they could not frame their convictions regarding the Bible using the special code word.
___ And now Southern Baptist leaders have brought to Baptists a non-Baptist confession of faith. And they have proceeded to use it in a non-Baptist fashion as a creed rather than as a confession of faith.
___ I know there are those who question my judgment in this matter, but I simply point out that never before have Baptists adopted a statement of faith that claims to be an “instrument of doctrinal accountability.” Previously, our confessions have served two purposes. First, they have been a “witness” to Christians. Second, they have been a “guide” for instruction to a new members so they could learn the historic doctrines of Baptist churches. Never before have we called a confession of faith an “insturment of doctrinal accountability.” Accountable to whom? Some religious authority? Some ecclesiastical committee?
___ In the last month, I received a form letter from the president of the Southern Baptist Convention that he had sent out to all executive directors in the state conventions. He asked for names of people whom he could nominate for committees and boards in the SBC. One of the three qualifications he listed was that they be “fully supportive of our 2000 edition of the Baptist Faith & Message.” That meas it is not only for those who are employed by Southern Baptists, but also any pastor or layperson who might be asked to serve in a position of shaping policy or making important decisions on behalf of the rest of us, who will have to sign on to the new confession of faith. That makes it either a creed or a loyalty oath, or both.
___ Even more troublesome to many Baptists has been the removal of the sentence in the section on Scripture, which asserts: “The criterion by which the Bible is to be interpreted is Jesus Christ.” Clearly, Jesus interpreted the Old Testament in a way that was different from the religious authorities of his day. His standard of interpretation, his divine viewpoint, does and ought to instruct our interpretation o Scripture. The earliest Baptists interpreted the Old Testament by the New Testament, and they interpreted the whole Bible in the light of what they knew about Jesus in Scripture.
___ This is not a neo-orthodox idea as some have claimed. It is a New Testament truth and the consistent view of Baptists since there have been Baptists.
___ And now it has been removed from our confession of faith. Jesus is the Lord of Scripture. The Bible is the faithful, divinely inspired and totaly true witness of God to man concerning all he has done to bring us to salvation, but the Bible is not Jesus. I am sure they did not intend to nudge the Bible into a place of idolatry, but that is exactly the efect of deleting that sentence.
___ We Baptist Christians are a peculiar people. We believe in the unity of the church, but we insist that unity must grow out of shared vision and mutual trust/ It must not be imposed upon others by a top-down, man-made, ecclesiastical authority. We believe that cooperation grows out of kindness and respect, not out of power politics, false accusations and loyalty oaths.
___ Today you will hear the reports of the study committees. I urge you to listen carefully. I have found their findings and recommendations to be both convincing and compelling.
___ I ask you to vote prayerfully what you believe would be the mind of Christ. I would remind you that Jesus took his stand against religious authoritarianism, moral judgmentalism and dogmatic fundamentalism. We Baptists learned from Jesus the importance of both an earnest biblical fidelity and a celebration of responsible soul competency before God. We believe in a servant ministry, because we see it in Jesus. We believe in honoring women and believing they can participate in theological doscussion because Jesus spent quality time discussing theology with them.
___ We believe Jesus is the criterion, the interpretive guide, the hermeneutical teacher, for all who read the Bible, because Jesus showed us the way to understand Scripture.
___ But we will not all agree today. We didn’t all agree in the FBC of Arlington. But never did I demean or demonize or fail to show respect to those who disagreed with me. You and every church are important to the BGCT and to me.
___ What can we do today that could help us work through this controversy?
___ 1. We need to pass all the recommendations of the committees today. WE need to do this because of the need to treat the students in our Texas seminaries the same as those in our Southern Baptist seminaries. And we need to do this because Southern Baptist leaders have shown grater willingness to talk with Texas Baptists in the last six weeks than ever before. If we vote to do this today and the churches heartily follow the recommendations adopted, then I believe we may have some influence with Southern Baptist leaders. We can say, “Many Southern Baptists want to be loyal, want to be a part, but they will not go where you are trying to take us.”
___ 2. We can urge Southern Baptist leaders to discuss with Texas Baptists appropriate ways that the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message can be modified. The BF&M should comprise a consensus of Baptist beliefs and include the words of H. H. Hobbs which were omitted in the 2000 preamble that “Such statements have never been regarded as complete, infalible statements of faith, nor as official creeds carrying mandatory authority.” It would be a truly Baptist act for them to desire to make this document beg enough to include all of us in the Southern Batist family.
___ 3. We can continue to study the mission sending agencies and urge that our missionaries be free to srve without surrendering their conscience t a non-Baptist creed. In the meanwhile, we are encouraging churches to support the mission agencies as we have in the past and do now.
___ 4. We can pray. It is prayer under trying circumstances that God uses to bless his people in oten surprising ways. I dare to pray that revival will break out in our churches, associations and convention as we pray for one another. Peopl are lost, churches are stalled in past memories. We need to move forward joyfully sharing the good news in every possible.
___ 5. And we can go forward, as partners with Sothern Baptists if they will allow us to do so and if they will make room in the Southern Baptist family for Texas Baptists.
___ There is room in the BGCT for all Texas Baptists.
___ No church has to leave because you want to support Southern Baptist mission causes. You can do so through the BGCT. You can decide in your local church exactly how you want your mission dollars to be spent, and the BGCT will be responsible and accountable to you in seeing that every dollar goes where you ask for it to go.
___ Of course, we encourage every church to examine carefully the mission causes and the recommendations of these convetion -appointed committees and make its own best decision regarding Cooperative Program giving.
___ We will discuss and vote onthese matters today. Don’t be anxious or fearful. We will behave in a courteous manner, and we will show respect to one another as Christians are expected to do.
___ But we will not be afraid of the process. Baptists can be very good at this. And when we have prayed and talked with one another, we will vote, and we will go forward together.
___ Texas is too needy. The world is too lost for us to stay mired in this quagmire. If God will give us energy, if God will draw our churches together, if God will give us time, Texas Baptists will step forward for the sake of Baptists everywhere, in every part of the world, and hold the Baptist vision high.
___ Texas Baptists will train our seminarian and lay leaders so that they can be strong and effective witnesses to the Gospel of God in Christ Jesus. They will be committed to the divinely inspired truth and trustworthiness of the Bible. They will be believer who are free in their conscience before God and who will deffend the spiritual liberty of all men and women everywhere.
___ For more than 150 years Texas Baptists have been putting God’s Word to Work. We have been lifting up Jesus Christ. We have been the body of Christ in our communities, cities and counties. Together with his help we will be his voice saying: “Whoever will may come.” We will be his eyes seeing the hurt and pain in other’s eyes. We will be his ears listening to the needs of a dying world. We will be his heart being broken for the crowds who have no one to gather them safely home. We will be his willingness to forgive every sin. We will be his arms reaching out to Texas and the whole world that we might together hug this state and this nation and this world up close to God.
___ As Mary said on that glorious day when the angel appeared, “Lord, let it be!”
___
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