Summer Time

Busy

Technically, it isn’t summer until June 21st. But, I think we can all agree that summer starts on Memorial Day. Our summer is off to a busy start. This week we have been having Vacation Bible School. This has been one of the best VBS’s that I have ever been around. Everyone has been so positive and energetic about pointing the children to the truth found in the Bible. Our theme has been “Farmer’s Market,” emphasizing the fruit of the Spirit from Galatians 5:22. 

On top of that, of course, all of the hustle and bustle of normal life has continued on. Camp, vacations, various summer activities seem to pile our days and nights with a seemingly infinite list of things to do. This isn’t a bad thing, just something worth recognizing. In keeping with our VBS theme and the season, the old saying “you have to make hay while the sun shines” comes to mind. During these busy seasons it is important that we not miss the blessing that we have received.

Baptists

This is also the time of year that many of the denominations are having their big annual meetings and that includes the Southern Baptist Convention. I was not in attendance at the SBC annual meeting and, barring some extreme providence, doubt that I will ever again attend that meeting. I really don’t want to comment on the things that took place there, because my views would be second hand at best.

However, one of the things that I often hear surrounding these meetings (in almost all denominations) is the struggle between the liberals and the conservatives. This often parallels the same kind of conversation observed in the wider political sphere. Of course, many of the specific things being argued about are things that would be differences between liberals and conservative. However, especially concerning the SBC, I think the division is actually at a different point than liberal and conservative.

I think the distinction is actually, at least among these Baptists, between the pragmatists and the biblicists. By biblicist, I mean those who believe that if we only do things according to instruction and prescription of the Bible, we can expect God to bless His church according to His purpose (Ephesians 1:11-12). I do not mean to say that the others do not believe in or trust God’s word, but only that the biblists are committed to simply obeying and applying the Bible to the life and mission of the church.

On the other side of the debate are those who would also affirm the inerrancy, infallibility, authority, and even sufficiency of the Bible, but they would say that it can be faithfully contextualized to our culture in a way that is not as strict and offensive. The pragmatist believes that this is necessary if the minds and hearts of men are going to turn toward God in repentance and faith.

I believe that so much of the debating happening amongst churches today stems from this very distinction. This is not only true on the denominational level, but also on the local church level. Many people in a genuine desire to reach people with the gospel are wanting and encouraging their churches to use unbiblical practices for the sake of evangelism. But the problem with programmatic and pragmatic evangelism is that it uses things that lost people like to bring them in and in many cases these people become a part of the church without being born again to new life in Christ. Thus the church must do more pragmatic things to keep these goats entertained and the cycle continues until the church is destroyed. This destruction can mean that the church closes because no one comes or worse, it grows but has no genuine gospel testimony.

Fruit

Ironically, the pragmatist will argue that their way produces results, such as baptisms, attendance, budgetary goals, etc. But the fruit that the Lord is most concerned with is the fruit of the Spirit and the transformation of people's lives. The Lord Jesus in closing out His great sermon on the Mount pointed us to the fact that the good trees are shown to be so by the good fruit that they bear (Matthew 7:17-20). But the good fruit is the eternal fruit not the temporal fruit, so it takes changed hearts and transformed eyes to see it (Ephesians 1:16-21).

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