While I love books, if we could just focus on what Jesus said in Matthew 28:18-20, we'd do better!

Challenge to Adopt 3,800 Unengaged People Groups

Reported from the SBC Annual Meeting by J. Gerald Harris


PHOENIX (BP)--The starting point for Southern Baptists is not the Great Commission, but "falling in love with Jesus once again," Bryant Wright told messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting June 14.

Wright, president of the SBC and pastor of Johnson Ferry Baptist Church in Marietta, Ga., likened Southern Baptists to the New Testament church of Ephesus that Jesus rebuked for having abandoned its first love.

Taking his text from Revelation 2:1-7, Wright noted that Christ began his message to the Ephesian church with words of commendation -- and Wright acknowledged that Southern Baptists are doing thousands of good things at home and around the world.

"Ephesus had existed for 40 years and endured hardship in the midst of a pagan culture," Wright said. "The Southern Baptist Convention, formed in 1845 in Augusta, Ga., has survived a civil war, two world wars, the Great Depression, the recent years of economic recession and years of abundance and great prosperity. In the past 50 years our convention has persevered in the midst of the most rapid moral and social change in the history of the American culture."

Like the church at Ephesus, Southern Baptists have resisted and exposed false doctrine, Wright said. "Unlike other mainline denominations that have chosen to take one pro-sin position after another, Southern Baptists have stood unapologetically upon the Word of God," he declared.

Wright continued: "Southern Baptists years ago decided that we must be faithful to the perfectly true written Word of God. In our seminaries, it is unbelievable what has happened in the last 30 years. Seeing the sound doctrine and the passion for Christ, for missions and church planting among our faculty and students, is an absolute miracle."

After Christ affirmed the church at Ephesus, Wright noted, He offered a word of rebuke because the church had lost its first love.

"We leave our first love when other priorities begin to be bigger priorities in our lives than our relationship with Jesus," Wright said. "I believe the No. 1 idol within the lives of our people and in the lives of our churches is materialism.

"Studies have shown that less than 2.5 percent of every dollar is given by evangelical Christians in America today [to missions causes]. What it clearly says to us is that no matter how much our people profess that they love Jesus, they love their money more," Wright said. "There is no way that when a person is continuing to steal from God, they can claim they love Jesus Christ."

America's hedonistic culture influences today's church, and pornography is sapping the spiritual life from men in congregations, Wright asserted. 

"There is also an incredible lust for the latest, up-to-date technology," the Georgia pastor said. "To stay connected through the latest social network technology becomes the dominant focus of the lives of many people.

"We can even let good things cause us to leave our first love -- our families, our work, even our ministry," Wright continued. "I believe the major temptation for anyone who serves in Christian ministry is to begin to confuse their ministry with their relationship to Jesus Christ. Not our family, our work or our ministry is to come before Jesus Christ."

Wright pointed out that Christ told the church at Ephesus to do three things to reclaim their first love: remember, repent and then repeat what they did in their "honeymoon" days.

"When we begin to love the Lord, we will begin to love the lost," Wright proclaimed.

"The Southern Baptist Convention was founded on two key issues -- one was good and one was bad," Wright said. "We were founded in defense of slavery. We finally apologized, but it was 150 years late. The good thing was the spread of the Gospel. The Great Commission is the reason we were formed as a convention of churches."

Wright pointed out that the International Mission Board has identified 3,800 "unreached and unengaged" people groups that, as far as researchers know, have no church, no mission ministry, no witness for Christ. He challenged Southern Baptists to reclaim their first love by taking the Gospel to those people groups.

"There is no reason why Southern Baptists cannot adopt every one of those 3,800 people groups," Wright said. "Churches of all sizes can be a part of this effort. Churches can partner together to adopt some unreached and unengaged people group." 

Wright recalled a conversation with Tom Elliff, president of the International Mission Board, in which they discovered their hearts were in complete agreement about mobilizing churches to reach the remaining unreached and unengaged people groups. 

"We have to make a decision. Our decision is to be a part of God's Kingdom business or be on the sidelines," Wright said. "With all of our resources and with all 45,000 churches, there is no reason why we cannot have a sufficient number of churches to step forward and embrace every one of the unengaged and unreached people groups."

Wright reminded the audience that Christ warned the church at Ephesus their "lampstand would be removed" if they did not appropriately respond to the challenge placed before them. "If Southern Baptists do not respond to the challenge God has given us to reach the world, we risk having our lampstand removed," Wright declared.

"We need to repent and get our priorities right," Wright said. "Are we going to be on the front lines of ministry or are we going to be on the sidelines?

"God is going to find someone who is willing, and if we are not faithful to obey His Word, our lampstand will be removed. There is nothing sacred about the Southern Baptist Convention," Wright said, "[if] the Southern Baptist Convention refuses to follow the will of God."
--30--

J. Gerald Harris is editor of The Christian Index (www.christianindex.org), newsjournal of the Georgia Baptist Convention.

Astonished Reverence

O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth, Who have displayed Your splendor above the heavens!   Psalm 8:1

by A. W. Tozer

Man is better qualified to appreciate God than any other creature because he was made in His image and is the only creature who was. This admiration for God grows and grows until it fills the heart with wonder and delight. "In our astonished reverence we confess Thine uncreated loveliness," said the hymn writer.  "In our astonished reverence."  The God of the modern evangelical rarely astonished anybody. He manages to stay pretty much within the constitution. Never breaks over our by-laws. He's a very well behaved God and very denominational and very much one of us, and we ask Him to help us when we're in trouble and look to Him to watch over us when we're asleep.  The God of the modern evangelical isn't a God I could have much respect for.  But when the Holy Ghost shows us God as He is, we admire Him to the point of wonder and delight.

Lord, give me just a taste of "astonished reverence."  Let me see You today as You really are and experience that "wonder and delight"of which Tozer speaks.  Amen.


(from Tozer on Christian Leadership, June 5)

(with thanks to Joe McKeever)

Worship: Going About It In the Wrong Way

by Dr. Joe McKeever

Give unto the Lord the glory due to His name. (Psalm 29:2)

It's Sunday around noonish. As the congregation files out of the sanctuary heading toward the parking lot, listen closely and you will hear it.

It's a common refrain voiced near the exit doors of churches all across this land.

"I didn't get anything out of that today." "I didn't get anything out of the sermon." "I didn't get anything out of that service." "I guess her song was all right, but I didn't get anything out of it."

Sound familiar? Not only have I heard it countless times over these near-fifty years in the ministry, I probably have said it a few times myself.

This is like dry rot in a congregation. Like a termite infestation in the building. Like an epidemic afflicting the people of the Lord, one which we seem helpless to stop.

But let's try. Let's see if we can make a little difference where you and I live, in the churches where we serve and worship. We might not be able to help all of them, but if we bless one or two, it will have been time well spent.

1. You are not supposed to 'get anything out of the service.'

Worship is not about you and me. Not about "getting our needs met." Not about a performance from the pastor and singer and choir and musicians. Not in the least.

2. Worship is about the Lord.

"Give unto the Lord the glory due to His name." That Psalm 29:2 verse is found also in I Chronicles 16:29 and Psalm 96:8. It deserves being looked at closely.

a) We are in church to give. Not to get.

Now, if I am going somewhere to "get," but find out on arriving, I am expected to "give," I am one frustrated fellow. And that is what is happening in the typical church service. People walk out the door frustrated because they didn't "get." The reason they didn't is that they were not there to "get," but to "give."  Someone should have told them.

b) We are giving glory to God. Not to man.

We know that. At least we say we do. How many times have we recited, "...for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory"? And how often have we sung, "Praise God from whom all blessings flow..."?

c) We do so because glory is His right. He is "worthy of worship."

This is the theme of the final book of the Bible.
--"Who is worthy?" (Rev. 5:2)
--"You are worthy...for you were slain, and have redeemed us" (Rev. 5:9).
--"Worthy is the Lamb that was slain" (Rev. 5:12).

3. Self-centeredness destroys all worship.

If my focus is on myself when I enter the church--getting my needs met, learning something, hearing a lesson that blesses me, being lifted by the singing--then Christ has no part in it. He becomes my servant, and the pastor (and all the other so-called performers) are there only for me. It's all about me.

We have strayed so far from the biblical concept of worship--giving God His due in all the ways He has commanded--it's a wonder we keep going to church. And it's an even greater wonder that our leaders keep trying to get us to worship.

The poor preacher! Trying to cater to the insatiable hungers of his people, even the best and most godly among them, is an impossible task. One week he gets it right and eats up the accolades. Then, about the time he thinks he has it figured out, the congregation walks out grumbling that they got nothing out of the meal he served today.

The typical congregation in the average church today really does think the service is all about them--getting people saved, learning the Word, receiving inspiration to last another week, having their sins forgiven, taking an offering to provision the Lord's work throughout the world.

Anything wrong with those things? Absolutely not. But if we go to church to do those things, we can do them. But we will not have worshiped.

Warren Wiersbe says, "If you worship because it pays, it will not pay."

4. Evangelism and discipleship, giving and praying, grow out of worship. Not the other way around.

The disciples were worshiping on the Day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit filled them and drove them into the streets to bear a witness to the living Christ (Acts 2).

Isaiah was in the Temple worshiping when God appeared to him, forgave his sins, and called him as a prophet to the people (Isaiah 6).

It was in the act of worship that the two distraught disciples had their eyes opened to recognize Jesus at their table (Luke 24).

5. We are to give Him worship and glory in the ways Scripture commands.

"Give to the Lord the glory due His name and bring an offering." So commands I Chronicles 16:29 and Psalm 96:8.

"The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. A broken and contrite heart--these, O God, you will not despise." (Psalm 51:17)

Singing, praise, rejoicing. Praying, offering, humbling, loving. All these are commanded in worship at various places in Scripture.

The Lord Jesus told the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well, "Those who worship God must worship in spirit and in truth" (John 4:24). That is, with their inner being, the totality of themselves, their spirit, not just their lips or their bodies going through the motions. And in truth--the revealed truth of how God has prescribed worship to take place. He is not pleased with "just anything" that we claim as worship.

We must balance our worship between spirit (the subjective part: body, soul, emotions) and truth (the objective aspect: all that God has revealed in His word).

6. We are the ones who decide whether we worship on entering the House of the Lord.

Don't blame the preacher if you don't worship. He can't do it for you.

No one else can eat my food for me, love my cherished ones in my place, or do my worshiping for me.

No pastor can decide or dictate whether we will worship by the quality of his leadership or the power of his sermon. Whether I worship in today's service has absolutely nothing to do with how well he does his job.

I am in charge of this decision. I decide whether I will worship.

When Mary sat before the Lord Jesus, clearly worshiping, He informed a disgruntled Martha that her sister had "chosen the good part," something that "will not be taken away from her" (Luke 10:42). That something special was time spent in worship. Such moments or hours are eternal.

Lest someone point out that Martha could have worshiped in her kitchen by her service for Christ, we do not argue, but simply point out that she was not doing so that day.

7. Remember: worship is a verb.

And it's an active verb at that.  Worship is something we do, not something done to us.

In the worst of circumstances, I can still worship my God. In the Philippians prison, while their backs were still oozing blood from the beating they'd received, Paul and Silas worshiped (Acts 16:25).

Even if a church has no pastor and has to make do with a stuttering layman or some inept fill-in, I can still bow before the Lord, offer Him my praise, and give Him my all. I can humble before Him and I can bring my offering.

What I cannot do is leave church blaming my failure to worship on the poor singing, the boring sermon, or the noise from the children in the next pew. I am in charge of the decision whether I will worship, and no one else.

Someone has pointed out that ours is the only nation on earth where church members feel they have to have "worshipful architecture" before they can adequately honor the Lord. Millions of Christians across the world seem to worship just fine without any kind of building. Believers in Malawi meet under mango trees, according to retired missionary Mike Canady, and their worship is as anointed as anyone's anywhere. (What? No stained glass!)

Our insistence on worshipful music, worship settings, and worshipful everything are all signs of our disgusting self-centeredness.

It's disgusting because I see it in myself, and do not like it.

No one enjoys a great choir more than I. I love to hear a soloist transport us all into the Throne room by his/her vocal offering in the service. A great testimony of God's grace and power thrills me. And of course, being a preacher, I delight in hearing a sermon that you feel is direct from the heart of God.

But if I require any one or all of those before I can worship, something is vastly wrong with me.

My friends, something is vastly wrong with us today.

(For more from Joe McKeever, visit www.joemckeever.com)

A Personal Philosophy of Discipleship Related to Local Church Ministry

A paper prepared by Justin Smith as part of his doctoral studies at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, August 18, 2010.

In the closing section of each of the gospels and the opening of the book of Acts, the biblical writers record Jesus Christ’s final commands to his followers, commonly known today as the Great Commission. In Matthew’s account, Jesus instructs his disciples that “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matt. 28:18-20, NASB:1995 Update). The command is made up of a single verb with three participles and, despite the number of works written for missions, the verb is not “go.” Rather, the verb is “make disciples,” pointing us back to the idea of discipleship and spiritual formation. But if Christ’s command is to make disciples of no less than all of the nations, one would do well to consider the following questions: What do Christ’s disciples look like? What is it that we are to produce? Fortunately, Christ has given three participles to clear up what His disciples are like: baptizing, teaching, and going.

Baptism: Disciples Identify Themselves with Christ

            Part of making disciples includes baptizing new followers in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Baptism involves dipping one in water as a symbol of repentance and the purification which ensues from it (Louw and Nida, 1989). For the Christian, it is an outward symbol of the inward change which has occurred when the sinner turns to Christ for salvation. Paul, when addressing whether a believer should continue to live in sin, argues in Romans 6:3, “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?” Indeed, as he details in verses 4-10, we have been buried with Christ, dying to the sin which enslaved us, yet we have also been raised with Christ, allowing us to walk in newness of life where death no longer has mastery over us. Thus, we can now consider ourselves “to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 6:11). Baptism, in effect, identifies us with Christ and reminds us of that union in a public manner. Disciples, therefore, take part in baptism as a way to identify that they are under the authority of the Triune God and have committed to serve Him alone.

Teaching: Disciples Obey Christ’s Commands

            A second task to making disciples involved teaching, specifically teaching believers to obey Christ’s commands. In fact, to be a disciple is to be the student of a teacher, the apprentice of a master. Jesus points this out in Matthew 10:24-25a: “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a slave above his master. It is enough for the disciple that he becomes like his teacher and the slave like his master.” Disciples do not learn for the sake of knowledge, but rather, for the purpose of becoming like Christ. As Paul wrote, the true disciple counts “all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ and be found in Him” (Phil. 3:8-9a).

            Indeed, the test of the disciple’s knowledge of Christ is found in his willingness to obey Christ, his master. First John 2:3-6 details this element, claiming that “we know that we have come to know Him [Jesus] if we keep His commandments.” In fact, others will know that a person is a disciple of Christ on the basis of whether he walks in the same manner as Jesus. But the learner of Christ is not alone in this endeavor, as Christ calls him, saying “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matt. 11:28-29, emphasis added). Further, Jesus promised his disciples that the Holy Spirit, the great Helper, will teach them all things and bring Christ’s words to remembrance (John 14:26).

            But what are the commands which the disciple must learn? He must learn what it means to live under the authority of God. Colossians 1:13 informs us that God has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son; in other words, we have become subjects of a new king, Christ Jesus, and now dwell in a kingdom which is diametrically opposed to that of the world we live in now. Thus, the disciple must learn the ethics of a new kingdom; he must literally rid himself of the thoughts and motives of the former land and learn how to think in the land to come. Hence, as Paul told the Ephesians church, if you have heard Christ and have been taught in Him, then you must lay aside the old self, that former manner of life in which you had lived, and be renewed in your mind, putting on a new self which is in the likeness of God and has been created in righteousness and truth (Eph. 4:21-24). The disciple must be ready for a complete paradigm shift, as he now must become an imitator of God (Eph. 5:1).

            It is the reality of this need for a complete shift in lifestyle and thinking which requires the utmost commitment, a trait which must be learned for the disciple to stay true to his new master. Jesus repeatedly reminded his followers of this fact, telling them, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it” (Matt. 16:24-25). Further, if anyone loves his father or mother or son or daughter more than he loves Jesus, he is not worthy of Christ (Matt. 10:37). Truly, the disciple must be willing to have nothing and lose everything in order to follow Christ (Matt. 8:19-22).

Thus, the call to follow Christ, to become His disciple, requires one to consider whether he is prepared to pay the price to follow Him. He must consider the costs, just as a builder must check his finances and a king must check the size of his army before they build or battle (Luke 14:28-32). The cost is high: Christ says that “none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions” (Luke 14:33); none who would seek to save his life will keep it. However, though the disciple may be forced to give up everything, he is not in need, for his Father meets his needs. God knows what His disciples need even before they ask Him, so they have no need to worry about their needs, for He will provide for them (Matt. 6:8, 25-33). Further, the Father, because of His great love for us, has raised us with Christ so that in the ages to come, He might show us the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus (Eph. 2:4-7). The disciple, therefore, must realize the tradeoff is not one sided, but rather, is for the best: give up the muck of the domain of darkness in exchange for the glory of the eternal kingdom to come.

Going: Disciples Work Together to Multiply Disciples

            If the disciple of Christ is one who identifies himself under the authority of the Triune God and learns under the yoke of Christ how to walk in the light of God, both actions concerning who the disciple is, then the question becomes: what does the disciple do? Christ’s answer found in the Great Commission is quite simple: he goes and makes disciples. As stated above, the verb of the Great Commission is “make disciples,” but this verb is modified by the participle “go.” Go appears as an attendant circumstantial participle, meaning that it is in some sense coordinate with the finite verb, but semantically dependent on the verb (Wallace, 1996, p. 640). In other words, Christ is not calling his disciples just to go; rather, he is calling them to go and make disciples. In effect, the command is not simply a call for the disciples to move, but instead is a call to be about the work of forming new disciples.

            This value was definitely handed down to the members of the apostolic church, as Paul directed his protégé, Timothy, to carry out the work of passing down the message of the gospel. In 2 Timothy 2:1-2, Paul admonishes the depressed, young pastor to be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus and reminds him of his disciple making task. “The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses,” Paul elaborates, “entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” While it is true that disciples in general are those who identify with a certain teaching and commit to learning that body of knowledge, Christ’s disciples have the added obligation to transmit that knowledge and commitment to another generation. Notice the path of transmission in this text: God revealed His Word to Paul, who taught it to Timothy and other witnesses, who are then to teach it to others who will be able to eventually teach others. The mission of discipleship includes the necessity to help in the spiritual formation of others.

            It is this calling which surfaces a new need for the true follower of Christ: he must be prepared and able to work with others. Relationships built on Christ’s love are essential for the disciples of Jesus, as there is one body and one Spirit to which we have been called (Eph. 4:4-6). Indeed, this is one of the marks Jesus identifies as an indicator of the disciple’s commitment in John 13:34-35: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” The disciples’ love for one another is often the hallmark of the church and achieves two ends: it helps the disciples to work together and to restore one another.

            The command to make disciples of all the nations is quite overwhelming at first glance, but the true disciple understands that this is a group project: disciples work together to carry out this task. Having established the doctrines of justification and sanctification, Paul turns the Roman church’s attention to application in Romans 12, teaching them not to think too highly of themselves, but to humble themselves, as God has allotted a measure of faith to all of the members of the body. He continues, “For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly” (Rom. 12:4-6a). No disciple, even the most mature, is able to complete the ministry of Christ on his own; he can only carry out the gifts and abilities that Christ has given him. Thus, it is imperative that the disciples work together. Not only does this aid in the completion of the Great Commission call, but it also helps the body to grow to maturity. God has given gifts, according to Ephesians 4:11-16, for the equipping of the saints in order to build up the body of Christ until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God to be a mature man. Therefore, true disciples must work together in order to carry out their callings and grow to maturity in Christ.

            Further, the disciples must work together in a restorative ministry. The simple reality is that disciples, though they are fully committed to Christ, are constantly under attack, as Satan accuses the brethren and sin remains a threat on this side of heaven. There will be disciples who will fall and need to be restored. It is this very ministry that disciples, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, must dare to venture into. Galatians 6 instructs the church that if anyone is caught in any trespass, those who are spiritual should restore them in a spirit of gentleness, making sure that they are not being tempted in the process. “Bear one another’s burdens,” verse 2 teaches, “and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.” Disciples must work to help one another as they mature in Christ.

            Finally, disciples realize they must go and make disciples now, for Christ’s return is imminent. Jesus, upon teaching his disciples how the end will be, reminds them to “be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming” (Matt. 24:42). Disciples must be about doing the work of Christ, lest He should return and they are found to be unfaithful to their master. Therefore, true disciples of Christ must be about producing disciples, working together to mature in Christ, and being prepared for Christ’s return.

Final Applications to the Church

            In summary, a disciple of Jesus Christ is one who identifies himself with Christ, placing himself under the authority of the Triune God; who learns and obeys Christ as a student and committed follower; who commits to work together to go and reproduce, looking forward to the day of Christ’s return for His church. But how does this relate to the local church’s ministry? It is the very essence of its ministry! The church is a body made up of Christ’s disciples; therefore, it is the church’s mission to carry out the tasks of the disciples. The church is to be the place where the disciples can work together and restore one another, where they can learn who Christ is more fully and walk in the light of God. Therefore, the church’s ministry is in fact the ministry of discipleship and the church’s leaders are to be the directors of its spiritual formation.

            In conclusion, Christ has called all who would be his disciples to identify themselves with Him, learn His ways and walk in them, and reproduce. He has left His Spirit and His people, the church, to help in this task and guarantees that He will be with His disciples and will one day return for them. Until that time, His disciples should be ever growing in faith and love as they make disciples of others.

References

Louw, J.P., & Nida, E.A. (Eds.). (1989). Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament based on    semantic domains (2^nd ed.). New York: United Bible Societies.

Wallace, D.B. (1996). Greek grammar beyond the basics. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
(Justin Smith is a teacher and leader at Wilson Grove Baptist Church, Charlotte, and hopes to complete his studies toward the Ed.D. at Southeastern Seminary in 2013.)

The Great Commission revisited

(with special thanks to Joe McKeever)