{"id":445,"date":"2014-11-24T09:31:38","date_gmt":"2014-11-24T14:31:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.westlakebaptist.org\/blog\/?p=445"},"modified":"2014-11-24T09:31:38","modified_gmt":"2014-11-24T14:31:38","slug":"a-house-divided","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.westlakebaptist.org\/blog\/a-house-divided\/","title":{"rendered":"A House Divided"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have the joy and privilege of pastoring a Southern Baptist Convention church. \u00a0Though I did not grow in in the Southern Baptist Convention, I have come to love Southern Baptist because they are people who stand on the Word of God. \u00a0Which is why my heart breaks at what I am watching within our Convention. \u00a0The good news is the outcome is avoidable, but it will take all Southern Baptists, and not just some or only those in key leadership positions to avoid the waterfall that is coming. \u00a0What I am talking about is the debate concerning method of salvation (soteriology) of Calvinism versus Traditionalism. \u00a0For the sake of this post, I am not going to dive into the beliefs of either. \u00a0I have watch from afar over the last several years the now former President of the SBC, Dr. Fred Luter, and even the current President, Dr. Ronnie Floyd speak of the declining numbers within the Southern Baptist Convention. \u00a0Over the past several years the SBC has been at historic lows in salvation decisions, baptisms, and the number of churches that are either plateaued or declining is rising. \u00a0One argument for this is that it is a sign of the times. \u00a0The \u00a0apostle Paul told us in 2 Timothy that this was going to happen. \u00a0I understand that argument and certainly can see it playing a role in it. \u00a0But I want to call all of us as Southern Baptist to ask ourselves a question. \u00a0Could part of our decline be because we are inwardly focusing on this argument of Calvinism versus Traditionalism, instead of focusing on taking the Gospel to the ends of the earth? \u00a0This debate that has raged for several years is not the only reason for the decline, and I want to note that, but I believe to dismiss it altogether as a contributing factor would not be in our best interest as a Convention. \u00a0I am reminded of what Jesus said when the people of His day were accusing Him of being empowered by satan in Matthew 12. \u00a0Matthew 12:25 says, “And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand.” \u00a0<\/span>Division brings downfall! \u00a0I have read blog after blog of Southern Baptist on both sides of the debate. \u00a0Men that I really admire the work God is doing through them. \u00a0And I will admit, maybe I don’t have the theological acumen to understand why this debate must rage on, but I do know this. \u00a0The Bible says that God hates those who cause division (Prov. 6), and that God is not the author of confusion (1 Cor. 14:33). \u00a0Therefore, the logical conclusion (at least in my opinion for what it is worth) is this, if it is causing confusion or division, then it is not from God and we need to cease and desist at once, for our own good, but more importantly for the eternal good of those who are still without Jesus. \u00a0After all it was the newly elected President of the International Mission Board, Dr. David Platt, who recently asked the question, “when it is going to be completely intolerable to us as Christians that there are 2 billion people (2,000,000,000) who have not heard the Gospel? \u00a0So that this post is not just one lamenting a problem without proposing solutions, let’s look at how we can correct this.<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

First, we need to realize that we have more in common than we have that we disagree on. \u00a0For instance, I have not met a Southern Baptist yet that does not believe that all people are sinners (Rom. 3:23). \u00a0I also have not met a Southern Baptist that does not believe that faith in Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven (John 3:3, 16, 14:6; Acts 4:12; Eph. 2:8-9). \u00a0Finally, I do not know a Southern Baptist who is not aware that God has given us a call to “Go” (Mt. 28; Mk 16; Lk 24; Jn 20; Acts 1). \u00a0These are our core convictions when it comes to salvation, and we all, Calvinist and Traditionalist, believe them to be true as revealed by the inerrant, infallible Word of God. \u00a0Secondly, while we fight against one another, there is a world that is lost, dying, and going to hell and I cannot believe for a second that God is pleased with us on this. \u00a0The apostle Paul told us in 1 Corinthians 10, “. . .whatsoever we do, do all to the glory of God.” Let me ask us all,myself included, how is our fighting while people are going to hell bringing glory to God? \u00a0Even if one side of this debate wins, we both lose. \u00a0Because we will have allowed so many people to die without hearing the Gospel, and we will have succeeded in splitting what has been the largest and most powerful Convention within America. \u00a0I have heard state and national leaders say, “we accomplish more together than we ever could separately” and they are exactly right. \u00a0Because of the Southern Baptist Convention, Southern Baptist churches have six of the best theological training seminaries in the world, there are approximately 5,000 missionaries around the world, there are new church plants going up all over North America, when disasters strike, the Southern Baptist Disaster Relief workers are there to help physically as well as spiritually, and so many other things. \u00a0Are we willing to watch this fall by the wayside just to win an argument? \u00a0In the words of the apostle Paul, God forbid! \u00a0Finally, we must realize that there is room for both sides of this argument at the table, because our mission is the same. \u00a0Both Calvinist and Traditionalist believe we don’t know who God will save, but that we are called to preach the Word every where we go. \u00a0Therefore, why don’t we get back to focusing on that. Let us lay down our arguments, pick up the banner of Christ, and spend the rest of our lives proclaiming Jesus saves! \u00a0I have heard one side of the argument say, “well they are attacking us and they have all the key seats in SBC leadership.” \u00a0Maybe that has happened and maybe it hasn’t, I’m not in a position to say. \u00a0But I am in a position as a fellow Southern Baptist to remind us all that we are to have the mind of Christ in us. \u00a0One of the aspects of the mind of Christ is putting others ahead of ourselves. \u00a0I preach fairly often here at Westlake that you cannot control what others do, but you are solely responsible for what you do. \u00a0It is not just our Convention that is at stake, it is the eternity of untold billions of people that are at stake.<\/p>\n

My prayer is that this post will not come across as mean spirited or hateful, but as it is intended, from a broken-hearted Southern Baptist who wants to see the SBC lead the way in reaching the lost with the love, grace, and mercy that God has shown us. \u00a0I also pray that this will be a warning to all churches and organizations, religious and secular. \u00a0You must have one common goal that you strive for. \u00a0If you have any more than one goal, you will pull apart and your downfall will be certain. \u00a0The three keys are simple: Have a common goal, know your core values, and work together.<\/p>\n

By His grace and through His strength may we live for Him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have the joy and privilege of pastoring a Southern Baptist Convention church. \u00a0Though I did not grow in in the Southern Baptist Convention, I have come to love Southern Baptist because they are people who stand on the Word … Read More →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[312,314,315,311,60,150,310,313,9],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westlakebaptist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westlakebaptist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westlakebaptist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westlakebaptist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westlakebaptist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=445"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.westlakebaptist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":447,"href":"https:\/\/www.westlakebaptist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445\/revisions\/447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westlakebaptist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westlakebaptist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westlakebaptist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}