What is a true Southern Baptist? Could someone who denies most of the major views held by Southern Baptists at their founding (in 1845) be considered a true Southern Baptist?
This article will examine some of the those major doctrines that were most common at the time of the SBC’s founding and compare them to views held by modern Southern Baptists.
Click here for the article: What-is-a-True-Southern-Baptist?
The Bible says that in order to go from an unbeliever to a Christian, one must be “born again.” When a person is born again, they begin a new life in Christ.
There’s nothing wrong with being a “babe in Christ” soon after the new birth. There is something wrong with being a “babe in Christ” decades into your new life in Christ.
Likewise, there’s nothing wrong with being a kindergarten-level Christian for a time; there is something wrong with being a kindergarten-level Christian your whole life.
There is a brand of Christianity called “Calvinism.” Calvinism generally refers to a particular view of how a person becomes born again. Really, Calvinism is simply a nickname for “Protestant.” All of the Protestant Reformers had Calvinistic views of salvation.
Even before John Calvin, Martin Luther (the first “Protestant”) had a Calvinistic view of salvation. In fact, the doctrine of salvation was one of the main doctrines over which the Protestants broke with the Roman Catholic Church. You really aren’t a Protestant if you don’t have the view of salvation that Martin Luther and John Calvin held to.
Unfortunately, there are many today (in fact, the majority) who call themselves Protestants who are actually quite opposed and even hostile toward Calvinism. The doctrine of salvation is such an important and foundational doctrine, and yet even among Protestants there’s much disagreement over the Protestant view of salvation!
Because of the difficulty surrounding this issue, one might think that the doctrine of salvation would fall into the “college-level” category. In fact, many Calvinists today will stick out their chests and look down on their fellow Christians who haven’t reached their level of doctrinal maturity. But do Calvinists really have bragging rights over their brothers with different views?
While I would affirm the traditional Protestant view of salvation, I would also be quick to note that just being a “Calvinist” doesn’t make you a mature Christian.
Again, salvation is an extremely important and foundational issue. But salvation is only the first step in the Christian life. Taking your first step as a baby was an important milestone in your life, but hopefully, you didn’t stop there.
To use another analogy (borrowed from R. J. Rushdoony), salvation is like the alphabet. In order to engage in higher learning, like going to college, you need the alphabet. You can’t read or write without it. And yet, if a college student spends most of his time reciting his ABC’s, you’d think something was wrong with him.
So it is with salvation. Yes, we need to be constantly thankful to God for saving us. Yes, we need to be eager about telling others how to be saved. Yes, salvation is what makes everything else in the Christian life possible.
But if we focus on the doctrine of salvation to the point that we are minimizing the other hundreds of doctrines in Scripture, we are not mature Christians.
Of course, it’s not only Calvinists who do this. Many, if not most, Arminian churches today are constantly preaching about salvation from their pulpits on Sunday mornings. Members in these churches never mature beyond preschool Christianity. But Calvinist churches are often guilty of the same thing. They may be a little past the preschool level, but not by much.
Did you know that kindergarten Calvinists are actually mentioned in the Bible? In Hebrews 5:12-6:3, the author says that the Hebrew Christians were not maturing as fast as they should have been (5:12-14). They were considered “unskilled” and “babes,” and those aren’t meant to be compliments!
So, what was the evidence that these believers were immature? They weren’t progressing past the “elementary principles of Christ.” They were stuck on the basics, they were laying the “foundation” over and over. And what were these foundational issues? Hebrews 6:1-2 tells us those doctrines being taught over and over were things pertaining to:
“…repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment” (NKJV).
In other words, things pertaining to our salvation!
Many Calvinist preachers seem to think they’re really an elite preacher if the most common themes of their sermons have something to do with the Five Points of Calvinism.
Interestingly enough, Jesus seemed to suggest there was another topic that would mark a teacher as being “great in the kingdom of heaven.” That topic was God’s law/commands (see Matt. 5:17-19). God’s commands pertain to economics, education, government, law, charity, family, and everything else under the sun.
Furthermore, the Great Commission is to teach the nations “to observe all things” Jesus has commanded (Matt. 28:20). As important as teaching the doctrine of salvation is, that in itself is nowhere near adequate for fulfilling Jesus’ plan for the nations.
So, are you a Calvinist (or Arminian for that matter) who thinks maturity is gauged by how much you talk about Calvinism? At the risk of sounding too harsh, please, grow up!
Pragmatism is the view that we can determine if something is right or wrong, good or bad, true or false, by whether or not that thing produces the results we desire. In other words, if it “works,” it’s true and good; if it doesn’t “work,” it’s false and bad.
In church circles, pragmatism is the idea that God is pleased with whatever methods we use, as long they get the desired result (getting people “saved,” growing your church, etc).
A verse that speaks to the idea of pragmatism is 2 Cor. 5:7, “For we walk by faith, not by sight.” Pragmatism is the opposite of this verse; it’s walking by sight instead of faith. It’s trusting your finite mind to accurately perceive your circumstances over and above trusting Scripture.
Today (and for almost 200 years), American Christians have thought that man-made programs which draw people to their church by using sports, games, junk food, and entertainment are good and necessary. However, the Bible gives us no such command to do these things. Things like sports, entertainment, etc, may be fine in and of themselves (in moderation), but they are not how God has told us to evangelize. And yet, in the eyes of many, they “work,” they produce the desired results, and therefore, are good and necessary.
But again, the Bible tells us not to trust our perception of our circumstances unless we are looking with eyes of faith. Eyes of faith will trust in what God has said (the Bible), over and above what appears to “work.”
Sin came into the world because of someone trusting their perception of a situation over and above what God had said. In Genesis 3:6, Eve “saw” that the fruit of the forbidden tree was “good for food,” and good “for making one wise.” That is what her reasoning told her.
God, however, had told her not to eat from that tree, and that doing so would bring about her destruction (Gen. 3:2-3). It seemed to her that going against what God had said would bring the desired result, but it didn’t work.
Or, did it?
Eve was expecting to have her “eyes opened” by eating the fruit (Gen. 3:5). She got what she wanted! Her eyes were opened (Gen. 3:7).
Eve’s pragmatism worked, but there were consequences.
There is also an account in Jeremiah where the people perceived that their troubles started when they stopped worshiping the queen of heaven. The pragmatism of the Israelites caused them to think that their worshiping of false gods “worked,” and that doing what God had said didn’t work (see Jer. 44:15-23). Their idolatry seemed to give them the results they wanted.
But really, this should not surprise us; the rest of the Bible tells us pragmatism does work – for a time. The Israelites in Jeremiah’s day were prospering even with their unbiblical practices. But only for a time.
We again see this principle in Isaiah 17:10-11. Here we see the people of Israel ignoring God. And yet, their rebellion brings success; their metaphorical “plants” grow just as they wanted. Their plans worked – for a time. But in the long run, their “pleasant plants” turned into a harvest that was a “heap of ruins” (v. 11)
A more famous passage that conveys this same truth is found in Matthew 7:24-27. Two men are described: one who listens to what Jesus (God) has said, and the other who does not. Both men have a plan to build a house, and both of them succeed. Even the man who ignored Jesus’ words was able to build the house he wanted. His plans worked – for a time. In the long run, however, his house came crashing down. But the other man, who built on the rock of God’s word – his house stood firm.
In Galatians 6:7-9 we read about the principle of sowing and reaping. The interesting thing about this principle is that you never reap what you have sown the moment after you sow it. It takes time for the good seed to produce a good harvest; and it takes time for the bad seed to produce a bad harvest.
Why did God order the world this way? Why didn’t He make it so we immediately reap what we sow? I don’t know, but I suspect it may have something to do with the fact that He desires us to have faith, to trust His word even when it seems like some other way would work better.
As you look at the American church, the man-made, pragmatic methods of church practice have been around a long time (as I said, about 200 years). For a time, it sure seemed like those methods were producing good results, but in the long run, pragmatism doesn’t work.
The disaster that is the American church was caused by many things, but one of the major contributors to our demise is pragmatism. It seemed to have worked for a time, but now we are experiencing the crash of the house that pragmatism built.
In Mark 7, there is a dispute between Jesus and the Pharisees. The issue then was ceremonial washings which were the tradition of men. In our day, the traditions we use to nullify the word of God are different, but they make Jesus every bit as mad as the Pharisees’ traditions did.
This message looks at what is wrong with man-made traditions and where they eventually lead us.
Approx. 43 min.
Seminaries. I’ve heard many churchmen say just how necessary seminaries are to the health of God’s church. There are two problems with this idea: 1) history doesn’t support this, 2) neither does the Bible.
This article won’t focus on the problems with seminaries (though they are many). Neither will we look at much history, except to note that some of the more notable Christians in the last 500 years weren’t trained in seminaries (and yes, seminaries existed back then, though they didn’t go by that name).
One such man wrote the most popular Christian book in history (other than the Bible). His name was John Bunyan and he wrote the book Pilgrim’s Progress. Bunyan was a pastor with no seminary training.
One of the most famous Bible commentaries over the last three centuries was written by Matthew Henry. Henry was also a pastor who did not go to seminary. The man known as the “Prince of Preachers” is Charles H. Spurgeon (a pastor as well); again, no seminary training.
While this shows that a seminary education isn’t required to make an impact for God’s kingdom, our main arguments about any subject ought to come from the Bible. It is to the Bible we now turn.
First, we must note that God did not establish seminaries to train the “Bible-teachers” in OT Israel (the priests). Furthermore, Jesus didn’t start a seminary either, and neither did the apostles. Why not? They knew about the universities of the pagans, and yet they didn’t copy that model of education. Instead, they employed another method for educating church leaders. This method of education is found all throughout Scripture; it’s basically a mentor/apprentice method of training.
In Deuteronomy 6:6-7, this type of education is employed by parents when teaching their children. Parents are to teach by verbal instruction, but the children will also be observing the parent’s life as they “sit in their house, walk by the way, lie down, and rise up.”
Jesus also used this method for teaching His disciples. He lived life with them for three years. During that time, He gave them verbal instruction, but they also got to observe the way He lived, the way He acted, and how He behaved in different situations. This is basically how pastors are to be trained as well.
A student will be like his teacher (Luke 6:40). The best way to become a good pastor is to observe and follow the example of a good pastor. A seminary isn’t a church, and even if the seminary professor is, or was, a pastor (and they’re usually not), he can’t model how to be a pastor in the classroom. He can only do that in a church setting.
But would following the Bible really thoroughly equip a man to be a pastor? Paul, in 2 Tim. 3:16-17, answers “yes.” Here’s how a man could be “thoroughly equipped” for the good work of pastoring:
First, if a boy was raised in a Christian home, his parents (especially his father) would be teaching him the Bible (see Gen. 18:19; Deut. 6:7; Eph. 6:4; and many others). If this boy were a true Christian, he would also be reading the Bible on his own.
If, in addition to this, our hypothetical young man was in a Bible-believing, Bible-teaching church (and a godly family should be), he would be learning good, solid theology from the pulpit for decades. The young man I’ve described so far would already know more than many seminary-trained pastors by the time he was twenty!
But this would not be the extent of his training. For a man to be a pastor, he must have shown that he can lead a family (1 Tim. 3:1 + 4; Titus 1:5-6; note: the words bishop, overseer, and elder are all names for a pastor). Leading a family would give him experience in handling the conflicts that are sure to come up in any church he may pastor.
Furthermore, in teaching his own children, he will be gaining experience in communicating deep theology in a way that’s easy to understand.
When his pastoral training did begin, he would already have experience in leading a group of Christians (his family), and he would have spent decades studying and learning the Bible, theology, and church history. Then, he would be taught how to preach and to shepherd the flock through a mentor/apprentice relationship by another church leader (see 2 Tim. 2:2). This man would be thoroughly trained! This type of training would equip him far more than four years of seminary lectures could.
At this point one may ask, “but where is a man going to learn Greek, Hebrew, church history, etc., if his own church doesn’t have anyone who knows those things?” Here’s where the rest of Christ’s body can come in and help. If a man needs some training that his church cannot give him, there are likely other churches in his area with men who are knowledgeable on these subjects. He can go to them for training in those subjects.
So, the church of today must ask and answer these questions: Are we smarter than Jesus? If He didn’t use the seminary model to train church leaders, why do we think we must? Jesus certainly could have used the seminary model, but He didn’t. He has a better way, and He has shared this way with us in His word.
If we ignore Jesus’ way of training pastors, they will be ill-equipped for their task. If pastors aren’t equipped, the church will be weak. If the church is weak, our society will fall apart. We have ignored Jesus’ way of doing things, pastors are ill-equipped, the church is weak, and society is in shambles. Coincidence? You be the judge.
Having had many opportunities to interact with other Christians over the years, I’ve found that some who claim to love the Bible have very clever ways of denying its teachings. I’m not just referring to the more liberal types of Christians either. Many who would call themselves “Bible-believing, conservative Christians” have come up with various reasons why certain parts of God’s word can be ignored. If I were to compile all of those reasons together, one could literally disobey everything God has told us to do.
The following excuses are real, meaning I have heard them expressed by those who profess to love and obey God’s word.
1. That’s the Old Testament!
This one is the most common. If there is anything in the first ¾ of the Bible (the OT) that you don’t like, all you have to do to get out of obeying God is say, “That’s the OT. That was only for ancient Israel. I don’t have to obey that!”
Voila, problem solved!
2. Jesus was speaking to Jews, so I don’t have to obey what Jesus said!
Yes, I’ve heard this one too. In fact, I’ve even heard professors from Reformed seminaries use this excuse. They say that anything Jesus said while on earth can be ignored because when He spoke the words recorded in the Gospels, He was speaking to Jews who were under the old covenant. Therefore, since we aren’t under the old covenant, we don’t have to obey most of what Jesus said in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
3. Paul was speaking to Greeks, and we’re not Greeks!
If a “New-Testament Christian” isn’t obligated to obey the OT or Jesus (since He was speaking to people under the old covenant), then surely we have to obey the writings of Paul and the other apostles, right? I mean, they were writing letters to Gentile believers so we should obey them, shouldn’t we?
Some would say, “Not so fast!” Paul, the theory goes, was writing to first-century churches that were largely influenced by Greek thought and culture. So, Paul was giving instruction to an ancient culture that we are not a part of. Therefore, his instructions really don’t apply to us in the modern world. We don’t have to obey the NT letters either!
If we add all of these excuses together – it looks like we don’t have to obey anything the Bible tells us to do! All that instruction was for other people in past millennia, not us.
But are these excuses valid? I hope anyone can see that added together, these ideas destroy the idea that God’s word must be obeyed. But clearly, He wants us to obey (Deut. 28:1-2, 15; 1 John 5:3; Rev. 22:14; etc).
And while many can see that adding these excuses together will lead to problems, some may still think that one or two of these by themselves are still valid.
That, however, is not the case. Let’s examine these three excuses.
1. That’s the Old Testament!
While it is true that the NT does show us that some OT laws are not to be practiced any more, the NT writers clearly taught that the OT was still to be a guide for Christians. While the NT writers did at times quote Jesus directly (see 1 Cor. 11:23-25; 1 Tim 5:18; etc), they more often quoted the OT when giving instruction to NT believers (Rom. 12:1-20; Jam. 2:8; and many more).
We need to keep in mind that Jesus is God. Therefore, the OT was written by Jesus!
If the NT tells us an OT command is no longer to be practiced, then, yes, of course, we don’t have to obey it. But don’t think that the whole OT has been set aside; Jesus and His apostles certainly didn’t have that view. We should assume OT commands still apply, unless the NT shows us otherwise.
2. Jesus was speaking to Jews, so I don’t have to obey what Jesus said!
Just because Jesus was speaking to Jews under the old covenant doesn’t mean His instructions have no authority over us.
Jesus did sometimes hint to His Jewish audience that the new covenant would change some things (for example, worship; see John 4:21). But Jesus often affirmed the OT, and again, so did His apostles. The apostles never taught that Jesus’ words to the Jews didn’t apply to Gentile believers.
To be a Christian means you follow Jesus’ teachings. How can anyone say that Christians don’t have to obey what Jesus said? And yet, that is what some say.
3. Paul was speaking to Greeks, and we’re not Greeks!
Both the OT and the NT were written to a particular group of people, who lived in particular cultural circumstances. While many use that fact as an excuse to disobey, that’s a mistaken conclusion.
While Paul was writing to deal with specific problems in specific NT churches, the underlying principles of the instructions he gave apply in all cultures.
One example is Paul’s instructions on braided hair (1 Tim. 2:9). The hairstyles he was referring to were very elaborate, showy, and often cost the equivalent of thousands of dollars.
It’s unlikely that the women in your church are wearing these ancient hairstyles Paul was addressing. But the principles of modesty and not drawing attention to one’s self apply in all times, and in all cultures. So yes, Paul’s instruction to the first-century Gentiles applies to us as well.
Many have invented clever ways to ignore the parts of Scripture they don’t like. True believers will not have this attitude. We may not know how each and every command applies in our day, but we should assume they do, unless other places in the Bible tell us otherwise.
God has revealed much to us in His word, but some things haven’t been revealed. These are the “secret things” of God. This message on Deut. 29:29 shows the importance of understanding the concept of things secret and things revealed.
Almost all the problems in the church stem from either ignoring the revealed things, or from seeking to know the secret things which God has not shared with us.
Approx. 42 Min.
Nearly everyone agrees that the education of children is important. Yet how many Christians have even spent one hour looking into what the Bible says about it?
This message looks at Deuteronomy 6:4-9, the classic passage on education that tells us the purpose and the method for educating children according to Scripture.
Note: the recording started after the first paragraph of this talk, and it isn’t the best quality. My apologies.
Approx. 51 min.
When most Christians hear the word gospel, they usually think of how Jesus died to save their soul. While this is true, that’s only part of the gospel.
This message shows how the word gospel in Scripture refers to much more than God saving us from our sins. The biblical gospel is way bigger than most realize.
Approx. 44 min.
The Great Commission in Matthew’s Gospel is one of the better known passages in the Bible. And yet, most don’t truly appreciate just how great it really is. If you believe the Great Commission is only about people being saved or churches being planted, your view of the commission is too small!
Approx: 45 min.