David Fanning: SC Loyalist in Backcountry Revolution

David Fanning was North Carolina's
 most notorious Tory. 

He lived for a time as an Indian trader

on Raeburn's Creek in Laurens County, SC. 

For his terrible atrocities, Fanning was excepted 

from a general pardon by the US government

 after the Revolution and had to flee to Nova Scotia.

"There was born in Johnston County, N. C, in 1756, one of the boldest men, fertile in expedients and quick in execution, that ever sprang from North Carolina parentage. He was a poor boy, obscure, humble and unlettered. He was apprenticed to Mr. Bryant, from whom, on account of harsh treatment, he ran away when about fifteen years of age. 

"His miserable condition secured him temporary home with Mr. John O. Deneill, of Haw Field, in Orange county, but in the course of two or three years he went to South Carolina and engaged in trafficking with the Catawba Indians, and settled on Raeburn's creek, branch of Reedy River, in Laurens district in upper South Carolina. 

The Second Great Awakening 1800-1820

After the Revolutionary War, spiritual darkness descended over America. Sin and immorality was rampant. Christianity was mocked on college and university campuses so much that the handful of believers were forced to keep their faith secret. But something was about to change. In 1784, a significant chain of events began, which directly contributed to

Joshua 3-4 - Heading into an Uncertain Year

Israel crosses the Jordan River

We look into an uncertain year. What do we do? The book of Joshua has some answers, specifically in chapters 3 and 4 where the children of Israel cross over the Jordan River to the Promised Land. Let’s look at this passage today.

Key Truth: Joshua wrote Joshua 3-4 to teach Israel that God prepares us to cross into a new day, and He gives us power and perspective to cross over as well.

Key Application: Today I want to show you what God’s Word says about crossing into new changes.

Key Verses: Joshua 3:4; 4:24

Pray and Read:  Joshua 3-4

Flag of Gaston Blues, Co. H, 37th NCST

The flag of the Gaston (NC) Blues, Co. H, 37th NC State Troops

The Gaston (County) Blues mustered into Confederate service as Company H, 37th North Carolina Infantry, forming a part of Lane's North Carolina Brigade, and participated in all major actions of the Army of Northern Virginia from their baptism of fire at New Berne, NC, on 14 May, 1862--to the end of the war--including Manassas, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg where the unit suffered heavily in the Confederate assault on the Union center on the afternoon of July 3.

Colonel Barbour, the regiment's commander, stated in a report shortly after the Gettysburg Campaign, that "The regiment has lost one hundred and fifty men killed, seventy who have died of wounds, three hundred and two who have died of disease, and three hundred and thirty two have been wounded and recovered. Total loss killed and wounded, five hundred and fifty two....Fourteen officers of this regiment have been killed or mortally wounded... There are but six officers in the regiment who have not been wounded, a large number (both officers and men) have been wounded more than once." Stark testimony to the battle history of the Fighting Thirty-seventh.

For more information, see the Gaston Blues History and Roster and the 37th NC: Gaston Blues page.

Abortionist says he kills "ugly black babies"

On July 26, 2012, in a video published by opersvamerica, a conversation got heated when a few pro-life folks with Operation Save America met Charlotte, NC, abortionist Dr. Ashutosh Ron Virmani. As this conversation escalated, Dr. Virmani claimed he is lessening the burden on tax payers by killing unborn babies. He admitted to destroying babies, not a blob of tissue or a fetus, or as he described them, "ugly black babies." Take a look.

   

"Let me see one of you adopt one of those ugly black babies," Abortionist Ashutosh Ron Virmani said. 

The black community should be outraged because Ashutosh Virmani is a brazen racist and his statement supports what we already know of the billion dollar abortion industry--black babies are targeted because they are seen as poor, worthless and maybe even "ugly."

Memorial Day - Remember our veterans

Isaiah 23 - The Global Financial Crisis

Image via Wikipedia

Triumphal Arch at Tyre, Lebanon, today

Opening thought: 

Last Friday morning the new unemployment numbers came out for August, and across our nation unemployment remained at 9.1%. Unemployment rose in 26 states and remained the same in 12 others. With very little economic growth the first half of the year, employers could not hire. And while North Carolina was the second highest state in the Union in adding jobs, our unemployment still grew from 10.1% to 10.4%. Our Nash, Wilson, and Edgecombe Counties still have some of the highest unemployment in the state, and we all had increases in August: Nash at 12.6% (up from 12% in July), Wilson at 13.6% (up from 12.4% in July), and Edgecombe at 16.2% (up from 14.5% in July).[1]

Times are tough and they have been now for three years. Does the Bible have anything to say about economic forces? Yes, in fact, Isaiah does.

Pray and Read:  Isaiah 23 in portions

Contextual Notes: In the chapters before us today, Isaiah continues his predictions of judgment that will soon strike the nations of his day in the Middle East. He had begun at chapter 13, and chapters 21-23 are a middle section that will end with an end-times prediction of judgment on the whole world in chapters 24-27.

The oracle of judgment in chapter 23 is about Tyre, the wealthy Phoenician seaport on the Mediterranean coast north of Israel. Just as Babylon is the land power (21), so Tyre is the sea power (23). Isaiah predicts the harbor will be destroyed and its greatness end. We see here the principle that every culture on earth will surely bear the judgment of God one day.

Key Truth: Isaiah wrote Isaiah 23 to teach Israel that the Lord uses economic forces for his sovereign purposes.

Key Application: Today I want to show you what God’s Word says about how the Lord uses the global economy for his purposes.

Sermon Points:

1.   The Lord uses global economic forces to bring forth His glory (Isa. 23: 1-9).

2.   The Lord uses global economic forces to bring forth His purposes (Isa. 23:10-14).

3.   The Lord uses global economic forces to bring forth His redemption (Isa. 23:15-18).

Training at Baptism: Practically recovering regenerate church membership

"So, Mr. Tom, tell us why you think you're old enough."

Another area to help with regenerate church membership is a period of examination before and training after baptism. Examination is probing to understand if a person truly understands salvation and has submitted himself to Christ Jesus. 

Training is the initial disciple-making that is supposed to take place and is the church’s responsibility to provide. Examination and training were common in North Carolina Baptist churches a century ago, and continue to be important in other parts of the world today. Young children are one area to consider. 

As late as the early 1800s, during the tenure of the famous Richard Furman as pastor of First Baptist Church of Charleston, SC, children were carefully taught the church’s catechism, but “the greatest care was exercised in guarding against premature professions of piety.” Among earlier Baptists, the supposed conversion of someone under age 16-18 was considered unusual at best and more often suspect. Believer’s baptism was seen as synonymous with adult baptism. 

Baptism of children is rare among Baptists worldwide. The United States is the exception. Today, Baptists in Romania, Ukraine, Brazil, France, and nearly everywhere except the American South expect to baptize their young people no earlier than age 14.

In many of our Southern Baptist churches, while we do not practice infant baptism, we do practice toddler baptism. Between 1996 and 1993, baptisms of children under 6 years of age tripled. Recently, the only age group among Southern Baptists showing an increase in baptisms was preschoolers, a statistic not even kept until 1966. Certainly many had a genuine conversion, but many baptized as young children have never experienced a redeemed life. How do we know? 

We know because of the disturbing numbers of re-baptisms. A 1993 survey by the old Home Mission Board found that of adult baptisms (age 18+) in SBC churches, 3 of every 5 had been previously baptized. Some of course were coming from previous traditions, but 36% of all adults baptized in SBC churches in 1993 had been previously baptized in SBC churches. 

This is heinous. More than one third of those previously baptized Southern Baptists asked for re-baptism because they had just experienced conversion. It seems we are guilty of prematurely baptizing people, especially children, without insuring that they understand the gospel and are indeed responding to the leading of the Holy Spirit to submit themselves to Jesus Christ.

So what is a minimum age at which a child can be truly saved? That answer is impossible, but there is cognitive information in the Gospel that is beyond preschoolers’ concrete thinking skills. Art Murphy, Children’s Pastor at FBC, Orlando, says that “we have found that most children who make that decision under the age of 7 tend to need to make another decision later” and points to the high numbers of rebaptisms as evidence. Some people place a lot of emphasis on the age of 12. It is the age at which Jesus assumed spiritual responsibility (Luke 2:49); it seems to be the age at which Paul saw one as spiritually accountable (Rom. 7:9), what used to be called the age of accountability. It is the age of bar mitzvah and confirmation in paedobaptist churches). It is within the age-range that many developmental psychologists say significant cognitive abilities blossom. It was the age of conversion mentioned overwhelmingly in a Southern Baptist survey (more mentioned 12 than 11 and 13 combined; overall 67% were converted between 7 and 16).

How do we deal with a child age 4 or 5 who might come forward, who have asked Jesus into their hearts, and who are requesting baptism and church membership? First of all, we should encourage that child. At FBC, Dallas, young children making professions of faith are a cause for celebration that the Holy Spirit is at work in that child, but there is no hard conclusion drawn conversion has occurred nor that they should be immediately baptized. They take the attitude that the child has taken an important step in their relationship with Jesus, and a time is planned with the parents to further counsel the child.

God can move at any age in a person, but when does the church certify that? The church is in no way hurting him or keeping him from obedience. If his conversion was indeed genuine, then there is nothing the church can do to damage his salvation. If on the other hand, the church baptizes the child and receives him into church membership without a genuine conversion, then the church has hurt the child by providing a false sense of hope to him and his parents. Speaking as a pastor, usually it is the parents who want the pastor to do something who apply the pressure to baptize their child. The child is usually easily led in these circumstances. All the child wants is to be obedient to the Lord at that point. Here’s a rule of thumb: If a child is too young to read the church covenant, then he is probably too young to join the church!

Second, we need to be clear that salvation and baptism are separate issues. Salvation is God’s business, and he can save whomever he wants whenever he wants. Baptism is the responsibility of the church, and should occur only when the church has reason to believe that the one to be baptized has experienced salvation in Jesus Christ. Since baptism doesn’t complete salvation, there is no rush to baptize except to give a person freedom to partake in communion. Give the child’s commitment time to take root and grow and for the church to see evidence of new life in that little person. 

Third, some churches, like FBC Orlando, make baptism contingent on completing a four-week new Christian’s class and younger children are encouraged to grow and enroll in the class when they reach second grade. I don’t favor making baptism contingent on taking a class. In fact, I am growing in the idea that once converted one needs not to wait a long time to be baptized, but I like the idea of encouraging children to wait to be part of a new Christian’s class when they can, in fact, read the material presented to them! 

Some churches deal with that issue by baptizing children but adding other requirements to be a voting church member, such as age 16 or 18. Such a requirement seems to betray the idea that young children understand what they are doing. It doesn’t make sense that a congregation says a child can understand the most important decision of their lives at age 4 but they cannot understand how to vote on whether to pave the parking lot until they are 16.

Everyone who comes forward at an invitation should be warmly welcomed, but the church must take its responsibility seriously as a baptizing body. The church needs to have reason to believe the candidate for baptism is genuinely a believer. It is the church who decides who are to be church members, not the individuals coming forward. Christ Himself gave the church the competence and authority to make this decision, but we have exalted soul competence and neglected church competence. In order to make an intelligent vote on admitting someone to membership, they need some basis on which to vote.

Related articles

• The Church's Ministry of Worship (genebrooks.blogspot.com)
• The Church's Ministry of Service (genebrooks.blogspot.com)

Recovering the Treasure of Regenerate Church Membership

(Part of a series this week)
Recovering the Lost Treasure – So how may we recover the doctrine of regenerate church membership?

Recover the Church’s Calling: First, we must remind the congregation of the church’s calling to purity. We must teach the Biblical necessity and importance of regenerate church membership. Since the day of Augustine (4^thC AD), the ideal of a pure church had been abandoned in favor of a corpus permixtum, a church with both believers and nonbelievers mixed in. The Biblical justification was the parable of the wheat and tares (Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43), with the field being the church. The problem with that justification is that Jesus said, “The field is the world” (Matt. 13:38). Later the Calvinist doctrine of God’s secret work of predestination in the heart of the elect became another support. Since no one can distinguish with full accuracy those genuinely saved and those who are not, the best solution is to make all the inhabitants of an area (a parish) members of the church. Thus we saw the rise of the state church. Everyone came together and heard the Word of God, and genuine faith would be born in the hearts of those God wanted to save.

Unfortunately, this teaching is not Biblical. The New Testament clearly pictures the church as a body of redeemed believers, God’s people, Christ’s pure Bride, living stones bound together by the Holy Spirit. Despite whatever difficulty we find in distinguishing who is genuinely saved and who is not, this is the ideal we should reach.

Recover the Church’s Competence: Second, we must recover the sense of the competence of the church. While E.Y. Mullins and later more moderate/liberal Southern Baptists of the late 20^th Century highlighted the concept of soul competence, earlier Baptists emphasized church competence. The Second London Confession (1689) stated, “To each of these churches thus gathered according to His mind declared in His word, he (Christ) hath given all that power and authority which is in anyway needful, for their carrying on that order in worship and discipline, which he hath instituted for them to observe, with commands and rules for the due and right exerting and executing of that power.”

Church competence is the basis for local church autonomy. Congregations choose their own pastors, accepting and disciplining their own members, and governing themselves in all matters. Unfortunately we have retreated from this high view of church competence, especially in the area of church membership. Who are we, we say, to question the sincerity or genuineness of someone requesting baptism or church membership? Who are we to judge others as needing church discipline? We must begin again to answer, “We are the church of Jesus Christ, given competence and responsibility by Him to act in such matters, under the leadership of the Holy Spirit, manifested in the consensus of a congregation of regenerate believers.”

Then there are several practical steps we as a church may take.They will be explored in the tomorrow's post.

Related articles

• The Church's Ministry of Worship (genebrooks.blogspot.com)
• The Church's Ministry of Fellowship (genebrooks.blogspot.com)
• Acts 2:42-47 - God's Institution of the Church (genebrooks.blogspot.com)
• North Carolina Association adopts Regenerate Church Membership Resolution (john925.wordpress.com)
• Baptist Mark of the Church: Regenerate Church Membership (genebrooks.blogspot.com)
• The Significance of the Lord's Supper (genebrooks.blogspot.com)
• The Church's Ordinance of Baptism (genebrooks.blogspot.com)

I am indebted to John Hammett at Southeastern Seminary for the large portion of this material.

Baptist Mark of the Church: Regenerate Church Membership

Baptists have contributed a number of distinctives to the doctrine of the church: believer’s baptism, congregational government, local church autonomy, and the priesthood of the believers are examples. There is, though, a more fundamental idea about what the church should be that roots all these distinctives – a body of regenerate (i.e., regenerated, saved) believers. Regenerate church membership is the distinctively Baptist mark of the church.

Baptist historian Leon McBeth writes, “Perhaps the origin of Baptists is best explained as a search for a pure church.”[1] The idea of a pure church as a pure Bride of Christ leads to the Baptist mark of the church, regenerate church membership. Believer’s baptism is important because it is a way we ensure the church remains pure. Closed communion reflects the high value of a pure and regenerate church. Congregational government is possible because the church is composed of regenerate believers. 

Effective church discipline is possible because of a regenerate church membership, for only such a church will have the compassion and courage to lovingly correct and protect a believer and the church membership. Church discipline protects the purity of the church by removing those whose lives demonstrate they are unregenerate (unsaved.) In 1905, at the first Baptist World Congress in London, J.D. Freeman said, “The principle of regenerate church membership more than anything else, marks our distinctiveness in the world today.”

Baptist Confessions of Faith – Regenerate church membership (a congregation of saved individuals) is also reflected in the historic Baptist confessions of faith. Each of them show a concern that those baptized and received as members of the church be genuinely saved by Christ Jesus, or “visible saints,” living a separated life, different from the world, giving evidence of the faith they profess. The Somerset Confession (1656) declares, “In admitting a member into the church of Christ, it is the duty of the church, and ministers whom it concerns, in faithfulness to God, that they be careful they receive none but such as make evident demonstration of the new birth, and the work of faith with power.” The Second London Confession (1689) says, “The members of these churches are saints by calling, visibly manifesting and evidencing (in and by their profession and walking) their obedience unto that call of Christ.” The Charleston (SC) Confession (1773) adopted three prerequisites to church membership. First, they required conversion (“an entire change of nature”). Second, they required that new members have some competent knowledge of divine and spiritual things, viz., doctrine. Third, they required that church members’ lives not contradict their profession of faith, that their lives support their confession.

Church Discipline – Zeal for regenerate church membership can be seen in Baptists’ historic emphasis on church discipline. From the time of the early Anabaptists (1500s) until the late 1800s, church discipline was commonly practiced among Baptists. There was no mean or judgmental spirit behind it, but a concern for the purity of the church, for people who name Christ to live like followers of Christ. At the end of the American Revolution, only 10% of the American population was Evangelical. 

Image via Wikipedia

The area generally considered the Bible Belt

After the Second Great Awakening (1801-2) in the South, conversion became so radical, so demanding, so counter-cultural, that many Southerners were hesitant to commit to membership in Baptist churches. Baptist churches in the South had 2 to 3 adult adherents for every member of a church. The concept of an inactive member was unknown and would have been ruled a matter for church discipline. In fact, a church that tolerated or had an inactive membership list would have been considered in doctrinal error. As late as 1810, no more than 20% of Southerners were members of an evangelical church. 

Between 1810 and 1830, Southern evangelicals, including Baptists, began to accommodate their teachings and practices to the culture to present fewer obstacles to church membership, and the numbers began to rise. Churches won members by surrendering to the culture, and religion became a mile wide and an inch deep, leading to what became the Bible Belt.[2]

Today, Southern Baptist churches make a mockery of the concept of a regenerate church membership. In 2007, of 16.2 million Southern Baptists on roll, average Sunday morning worship attendance was 6.15 million – less than 38%.[3] For the local church, this means that from a roll of 400 members, 150 are present on any given Sunday morning. For the Southern Baptist Convention as a whole, it means 10 million supposedly regenerate members were not committed enough to attend their church’s major worship service once a week. Many of our churches have names on the roll whose whereabouts are unknown, even if they are dead or alive.

The Missing Link – It is obvious that regenerate church membership is totally missing in Southern Baptist life, and the consequences are disastrous. Membership in an SBC church means nothing, and our corporate witness is soiled for unbelievers. In a Lifeway survey, 72% of respondents said the churches are full of hypocrites. Worse, 86% said one can be a Christian without being a member of a church. Even the practice of congregational government becomes difficult when unsaved church members are a significant voice in the church. If 60% of the congregation has no interest in the church, how can the congregation possibly hear God? More tragic, millions of church members are trusting in their membership to get them to heaven but in all other respects they are non-Christian. If we have 10 million missing church members, most of them are most probably unsaved. There is a grave concern about your eternal destiny when you don’t associate with your congregation. If there is no fruit, then perhaps there is no root.

---

[1] Leon McBeth, The Baptist Heritage, 75.

[2] See Christine L. Heryman, Southern Cross: The Beginnings of the Bible Belt, 1997.

[3] It bears noting that the percentage has increased from 33% in 1997.

Related articles

• North Carolina Association adopts Regenerate Church Membership Resolution (john925.wordpress.com)
• The Church's Ministry of Worship (genebrooks.blogspot.com)
• An Invitation to Study Preaching at Southeastern (betweenthetimes.com)
• An Invitation to Study New Testament at Southeastern (betweenthetimes.com)
• The Significance of the Lord's Supper (genebrooks.blogspot.com)
• The Church's Ordinance of Baptism (genebrooks.blogspot.com)
• The Church's Ministry of Missions and Evangelism (genebrooks.blogspot.com)

The Church's Ministry of Missions and Evangelism

Part of a series on the ministries of the church found in Acts 2:42-47.

Well-drilling missionary David Humphries preaching in Liberia

Matthew 28:18-20: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations…” We look forward to the day when every person would hear of His name and that some from every people would believe in His name (Matt. 24:14; Rev 7:9). 

Thanks to missionaries, more individuals confess the name of Jesus than any other religion in the world. An arm of the Christian movement is found in nearly every country. 

In AD 100, there were 360 people for every Christian. Today  one in nine people on the planet is an active believer. Christianity is growing faster than ever before, in many places exceeding population growth. There is no need of pessimism. But at the same time, two-thirds of the world’s population do not know or believe the Gospel. Why? Cultural distances between believers and the lost.

Evangelism or Missions? We often confuse the terms missions and evangelism. Evangelism means sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ with someone within one’s own culture (Mark 16:15). In Acts 2:47, it was the Lord who added daily believers to the church, but we must be intentional about evangelism. The training programs we use, memorizing a presentation and presenting it to people, is really designed to teach believers to understand for themselves how the gospel fits together and how to talk about it to others. People in our culture today usually come to Christ after journeying with other Christians, building relationships while they examine and consider their claims about Christ.

Missions is the extension of the Kingdom through making disciples among the nations (John 17:18; 20:21). Missions began with the promise to Abram that all the families of the earth would be blessed through him (Genesis 12:3) and continues with the various versions of the Great Commission (Matt. 28:18-20; Mark 16:15; Luke 24:46-49; John 20:21-23; Acts 1:8) to the climax around the Throne (Revelation 7:9) where the Lamb is praised by every tribe, nation, language, and tongue.

Go or Send? Missions and evangelism involves bearing witness at home (1 Thess. 1:8) and abroad (Acts 1:8; 8:4; Phil 4:10-18; Rom 15:23-29). Everyone is called to involvement in missions, whether going (as a missionary) or a sending (as a supporter). Churches have a responsibility to call their people to go to the nations and enlist prayer partnerships with specific missionaries. Most missionaries either go as “tent-makers” (paying their own way or working a job), or as missionaries requiring financial support. In Southern Baptist life, we have developed Cooperative Program giving which, along with the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions and the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American Missions, funds our missionaries, allowing them the privilege of serving without having to do support raising. 

However, in the last decade we have seen a yearly weakening of giving to the Cooperative Program. Younger Southern Baptists seem more interested in direct involvement in sending their own missionaries and leading short-term mission trips for their members. Short-term trips radically change lives and ultimately increase missions giving. The challenge is to keep the vision for missions before the people of God so that they know the priorities of the King, but it is also important that our Cooperative Program be funded and that those responsible for the funds trim every ounce of bureaucracy they can which is not Great Commission related and send those monies to those on the front lines.

Make Disciples? Jesus commanded us to make disciples (Matt. 28:19). What is a disciple? The word disciple (matheteis), means “learner.” When someone makes a decision to follow Christ they become a convert. They have converted their life to submit it to Jesus Christ, and it is marked by believers’ baptism (“baptizing”). Then they grow as disciples of Jesus Christ through the teaching of the Word (“teaching them whatsoever things I have commanded you”). How do you know when someone is discipled? When that person has a growing, vital relationship with Christ in prayer and they can feed themselves on the Word of God.

All Nations? Jesus did not just call us to make disciples among those who look like us. He commanded us to make disciples among the nations? Which nations? Commonly, nations means countries or political nation-states. In Scripture, nations means peoples or ethnic groups.  It is better to understand missionaries laboring at significant cultural distance rather than a significant geographical distance.

The majority of the least reached peoples are the last to hear the Gospel because they are the most isolated geographically, culturally, and linguistically, socially, and spiritually from witnessing Christians. A people group is considered unreached when less than 2% of their population consider themselves Christian believers. Few of them have no Christians at all among them. They average 0.4% of the people’s population. Currently there are roughly 6800 unreached people groups. Of that group, a large majority are not only unreached. No one is working among them.

They are also unengaged. Currently there are 3800 unengaged unreached people groups. The International Mission Board is asking local churches to take responsibility for one of those groups and begin to pray and go to them, working with the IMB, to see a church planting movement begin among each of those peoples. Why shouldn’t our church do this? Will it cost us time? Yes, in prayer and going. Will it cost us money? Yes, some. Will it cost us our sons and daughters? Yes, but only for a while in this life. The highest priorities are penetrating these unengaged, unreached peoples, mobilizing missionaries for them, and mobilizing missions on the congregational level.

Why the urgency? When we sense that we are in the last days, that Jesus has been given all authority to send us to the nations, we are unafraid of the persecutions that may come. When a Haitian voodoo priest or a Sudanese merchant comes to faith in Christ, it is not just one more Christian convert, it is one more sign that the demonic powers that the Kingdom of Jesus Christ is massive, global, and moving forward (Matt. 16:18-19; 11:12). If the Kingdom will repay me for everything I have walked away from in this life (Matt. 19:29), then how can I refuse a call to serve in a faraway land simply because I do not want to be away from family or consumer culture? Or worse, how can I begrudge a son or daughter going to the nations just because I want my grandchildren close by?

“The Great Commission is not merely an ideal to aspire toward, but an achievable command given by the Lord. The commissioning of the Church was accompanied by assurances of God’s power and authority and the very real presence of the Holy Spirit. The scale of the task before us is matched only by the greatness of the God who promises to accompany and empower us.” – Operation World 2010

Mission Agencies or Direct Church? In 1829 in eastern North Carolina, a great missions controversy came to a head at Falls of Tar Church here in what became Rocky Mount, NC. Baptists had fallen into two camps in regard to missions: those of the regulative principle (if the Bible doesn’t say you can, then you can’t) – the Regular or Primitive Baptists, and those of the normative principle (if the Bible doesn’t say you can’t, and it helps the Kingdom, you can) – the Missionary Baptists who organized in 1830 as the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina.

In a great debate at Falls of Tar Church, the Primitives, driven by Biblical principle, had a great orator who swayed many to their side in the debate who said that God never ordained mission boards or mission offerings. He ordained the local church to do the work of missions alone. The Missionaries, driven by Biblical mandate, but without a strong speaker, argued for the value of mission boards and mission offerings to help the churches with missions.

The two groups agreed to part ways, and the Primitive Baptists, largely of Calvinist doctrine, continued on in the same way they had been. Today they are a shadow of their great numbers in 1829. In 1830 the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina formed to promote church planting and missions. The Missionary Baptists understood the value of what a symbiotic relationship between local churches and the mission board, what missiologists today call modalities and sodalities. 

Modalities are people-oriented organizations, like local churches. Nothing is done in a local church until the people feel the same way about a direction in which to go. Sodalities are task-oriented organizations, like mission agencies/boards. Accomplishing the task is the priority.

For example, everyone is a citizen, but only qualified individuals can serve in the Navy SEALs. They must be people who can accomplish the task. Similarly, the mission boards oversee the task and select people who can accomplish the task and relate to the local churches which fund and supply missionary candidates. It is a good relationship where the board has the expertise and performs the service that the local church needs done for its own vitality.

Related articles

• The Church's Ministry of Teaching (genebrooks.blogspot.com)
• Acts 2:42-47 - God's Institution of the Church (genebrooks.blogspot.com)

Thanks to John Hammett of Southeastern Seminary for the basis of the material provided.

1 Peter 2:13-17 - God's Design for Citizenship

Opening thought: 

On this weekend of the Fourth, we remember; we are grateful for the heritage of liberty and freedom which we have. But we also see that things are not as they should be in our nation, and therefore we pray for our nation.

The first permanent English settlement in America was located at Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607. There, the settlers' first act when they landed was to covenant America to God by planting a tall cross upon arriving. Ever wonder what that Jamestown Covenant was? They prayed to the Lord. We have a copy of that prayer. Here’s how it goes:

The Jamestown Settlers covenant prayer is:

"We do hereby dedicate this Land, and ourselves, to reach the People within these shores with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and to raise up Godly generations after us, and with these generations take the Kingdom of God to all the earth. May this Covenant of Dedication remain to all generations, as long as this earth remains... May all who see this Cross, remember what we have done here, and may those who come here to inhabit join us in this Covenant..."

That incredible covenant with the Lord of evangelism and Godly families and international missions has been beaten up a good bit in the last five decades. The Jamestown settlers’ covenant follows the mandates of Scripture for the way Christians should live in their culture and how they should relate to the state, i.e., holy and good citizenship. Today we want to look at what the Scripture says about citizenship. We could look at several places in the Text, but today that passage is found in 1 Peter chapter 2. Start turning there while I give you a word of background about the letter of 1 Peter in order to help us understand our text.

Contextual Notes:

Peter probably wrote this letter between the martyrdom of James, the Lord=s brother, in 62AD and the outbreak of persecution under Nero in AD 64. This letter was delivered and possibly drafted by Silas (1 Peter 5:12) because of the excellent Greek writing.

Peter writes to Jewish believers (ADispersion@ 1:1) and Gentile Christians (1:14, 18; 2:9-10) mostly in northern Asia Minor enduring Afiery trials@ from hostile Jews and fanatical Gentiles.  Hostility and suspicion were mounting against Christians in the Empire, and they were being reviled, abused, and their loyalty questioned for their lifestyles and talking about another Kingdom.  The stage was set for severe persecution, an official government ban, and martyrdom in the near future, maybe even before Peter finished this letter.   Bad news about an outbreak of persecution against the believers may have prompted his adding the exhortation at 1 Peter 4:12-19.

Notice that Peter uses the term, Babylon, as an origin for his letter.  The literal Babylon was mostly a deserted place by AD 41. This was really code language for the city of Rome (Revelation 17, 18) was a security measure in case a government censor inspected the document. The letter mentions Mark (1 Peter 5:13) who was in Rome during this time with Paul (Colossians 4:10), and who would write down Peter’s memoir of Jesus in his Gospel of Mark. Only 1 Peter and 1 John of all the General Epistles were never doubted in their authority in the early church.

The letter of First Peter is characterized by the Christian Hope in time of Trial B 1 Peter 1:3, 13, 21; 3:15. The word Suffering is found with cognates 16 times.  Peter says suffering is essential to Christianity. The Prophets predicted it for Christ (1 Peter 1:11) and Christians must now share in the shame and glory of the cross (1 Peter 4:13). Hence suffering is within the will of God (1 Peter 4:19) though Satan may try to gain an advantage by it (1 Peter 5:8). Even so, God gets glory from suffering (4:16) through our purified characters (1:7). Peter advises us to embrace it cheerfully (4:13), the more so as it will be brief (5:10).

J. Vernon McGee provides this outline which I have slightly modified:

1 Peter 1:1-9: Suffering and the Security of Believers produce joy (see 1 Peter 1:6). 1 Peter 1:10-25: Suffering and the Scriptures produce holiness (see 1 Peter 1:15). 1 Peter 2: Suffering and the Suffering of Christ produce Separation (see 1 Peter 2:11) in our individual lives (1-3); in the church (4-12); in the state (13-17); and in society (18-25). 1 Peter 3: Suffering and the Suffering of Christ produce Christian Conduct in the Home (1-7); in the Church & Society (8-17); in Noah=s and our Day (18-22). 1 Peter 4: Suffering and the Suffering of Christ produce obedience to the will of God. 1 Peter 5: Suffering and the Second Coming of Christ produces service and hope (1-4), humility and patience (5-14).

Key Truth: Peter wrote 1 Peter 2:13-17 to teach believers that as citizens they are to be submissive to authority, to cherish goodness and freedom, and to show proper respect to God, church, and country.

Key Application: Today I want to show you what God’s Word says about Christian citizenship.

Key Verse: 1 Peter 2:16

Pray and Read:  1 Peter 2:13-17

Sermon Points:

1.   Citizens should be submissive to authority (1 Peter 2:13-14)

2.   Citizens should cherish goodness and freedom (1 Peter 2:15-16)

3.   Citizens should honor God, church, and country (1 Peter 2:17)

Exposition:   Note well,

1.   CITIZENS SHOULD BE SUBMISSIVE TO AUTHORITY (1 Peter 2:13-14)

a.   The believers to whom Peter writes were living in a strongly centralized state, with Roman governors and local kings subject to the Roman emperor. This was not a benevolent monarchy. It was a dictatorship ruled by the insane demagogue Nero, who was notorious for his wickedness and cruelty to Christians. This command of submission to the state might have arisen from the temptation to rebellion brought on by persecution. Should the Christians take up arms and resist such a government. Peter said no. Why? Because the Bible nowhere promotes anarchy. The believer was not put on earth to overthrow governments on a whim but to establish a kingdom in the hearts of men and women that is not of this world.

b.   Submit – the word is a command hupotasso, “Be subject to” or “Fall in behind” a military term that means to fall into rank under authority.

c.   Every authority – literally “every human institution.” The state (2:13-17), the household (2:18-25), and the family (3:1-7). Wherever a Christian finds himself, he must behave in accordance with his high calling. He must pray for those in authority (1 Timothy 2:1-2) and live honorably under their domain (Romans 13:1-3).

d.   Christians are called to be citizens who submit to the governing authorities “for the Lord’s sake” (1 Pet 2:13). The aim of Peter’s statement is to bear witness for Christ and to avoid giving grounds for accusations against Christianity as subversive to the state. God’s name must not be brought into disrepute by the actions of his followers.

e.   ILLUSTRATION: I know of a church in South Carolina that was building a new building, and the city inspector came out to check it. Everything checked out except the grading for water runoff. He issued a notice that it be fixed, but it added over $2000 to the building plan. Instead of going to the inspection office and trying to work out the issue, the church called a prayer meeting to ask the Lord to change the inspector’s mind. It got a lot of laughs at city hall. They made a mockery of Christ by trying to keep from being responsibly submissive to the governing authorities.

f.    APPLICATION: Believers have a responsibility to remember Whom they represent. It is not comfortable sometimes, but it is a fact. When you identify yourself as a Christian, people expect you to live like one. When the trooper pulls you over, demonstrate respect for the officer. For all he knows you might want to kill him, so don’t expect him to be Mr. Customer Service as he writes your ticket. When you apply for a permit, be respectful. When you address a politician in a phone message, an email, or a letter, we need to be respectful. When you have an opportunity to serve those who govern, do so. That is why we offer to provide human trafficking training for local agencies. If you don’t like something about your government, we have a unique setup in this country that has not been around for 8000 years – we can run for office or elect someone to change the law because the people in the end have decision-making power in the state.

2.   CITIZENS SHOULD CHERISH GOODNESS AND FREEDOM (1 Peter 2:15-16)

a.   Peter teaches that freedom and goodness are to be cherished, but we are not to abuse our freedom by doing wrong, engaging in sinful activity, or being rude to others (1 Pet 2:16; Gal 5:17).

b.   There were rumors bandied about in Rome about these people, the “Kristens,” rumors about their secret meetings where they ate flesh and drank blood, their subversive ideologies, their loyalties to another kingdom, their plans to infiltrate and indoctrinate society at every level.

c.   “Live as free men” – Peter, co-opting a familiar phrase of ancient philosophers, also makes the point that while Christians are free from the tyranny of the state (because we are citizens of heaven – Phil 3:20) they are also free to uphold the law of the state as God’s servants. Freedom to serve Christ rather than be slaves of sin. They not only have liberty to do as they please but also liberty to pursue virtue. Note the juxtaposition of free men and slaves/servants here.

d.   Christians’ lives were to be such that even when they are gossiped about or falsely accused, the accusation will not stand because of their character.

e.   ILLUSTRATION: The church training local law enforcement and agencies in human trafficking.

f.    APPLICATION: Our responsibility as Christians is to use our freedom to serve others, not lording over others and not using our freedom to become slaves of sin or enslaving others.

3.   CITIZENS SHOULD HONOR GOD, CHURCH, & COUNTRY (1 PETER 2:17)

a.   The OT associates honoring God with honoring those in authority (Exod. 22:28; 1 Kings 21:10; Prov. 24:21) because God is ultimately sovereign over rulers (Prov. 16:10; 21:1).

b.   We submit to rulers because we are submitted to Christ their sovereign. Peter rejects the absolute right to rule and points to an authority above the ruler for whose sake submission is given. (Thus, submission could not include anything which the Lord would not want, either). Peter also indicates the divine institution but the human origin of government.

c.   APPLICATION: Christians are called to the grace of honor. Honoring others above themselves instead of pushing themselves in front of others.

Invitation: