The Message of Christmas: Then Neither Do I Condemn You

(I originally wrote this for TBC's Baptist Reflections series and published it on December 23, 2008.)

Jesus’ words seemed to accuse the accusers. If any of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her (John 8:7). So the Pharisees, standing convicted, slunk away, one by one.

But just a minute. Why didn’t Jesus finish what the Pharisees left undone? Why didn’t Jesus carry out the execution of the woman? He would have been fully justified, both by the law and by the standard He had just stated – If any of you is without sin . . . After all, Jesus was the one person on the scene who had no sin of His own.

But He didn’t do it. Then neither do I condemn you, he says. Go now and leave your life of sin.

That may well be the essence of the Christmas message: Then neither do I condemn you.

Did Jesus deny the woman’s sinfulness? No. Did He excuse her sin? No. Did He affirm her sinful lifestyle? No. Quite the contrary. He recognized her sin and challenged her to turn away from it. What do we call that? Redemption.

Jesus chose redemption over condemnation. Earlier in the same gospel, we read, For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him (John 3:17).

Some have said that we Baptists – and evangelical Christians in general – have, in recent years, become better-known for what we are against than what we are for. To me, though, it seems not so much a matter of “against” vs. “for” as a matter of condemnation vs. redemption.

Sometimes we Christians seem to be more comfortable with the law than with grace. We give the impression that we think we keep the law pretty well and that we like to keep the law handy to “lord it over” those who don’t. That probably sounds harsh, but think about it. If this event happened today, in our own community, would we side with Jesus or the Pharisees? I can’t answer for you, and I’m pretty uncomfortable answering for myself. Frankly, I’m afraid I might wind up on the wrong side of this story.

“Hot-button” Christian leaders denounce selected groups of “sinners” and use them to advance a political agenda. And many Christians have fallen right in line behind them. The result has been a spewing of condemnation and hatred in the holy name of Christ . . . the one who was without sin yet refused to condemn sinners.

Have we forgotten the parable that Jesus told about the Pharisee and the tax collector? (Luke 18: 9-14) The Pharisee prayed in the temple, thanking God that he was so much better than other men – like this tax collector. The tax collector, standing at a distance, prayed a much different prayer – God, have mercy on me, a sinner. Jesus tells us that it was the tax collector, not the Pharisee, who went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.

Condemnation seeks to destroy and manipulate while puffing oneself up. Redemption seeks to love and restore while confessing one’s own unworthiness.

We Christians like to talk about “hating the sin and loving the sinner,” but this phrase has turned the word “love” upside-down. Christ’s life and example, more than anything else, define “love” for us, and our way of “loving the sinner” often has nothing in common with the love that Christ lived out and exemplified for us.

The message of Christmas is that the holy and righteous God could have condemned us but chose instead to redeem us by sending His Son. Jesus’ first concern was not the sin but the person. His first concern was not to make an example of the sinner but to be an example for the person. His first concern was not the sinner’s past but the person’s future. He saw a humanity struggling to overcome its sinful nature and offered redemption. He saw people who needed His love.

How do we see the people in our community? In our church? In our world? Do we see them in terms of their sin? Or do we see them as people . . . people who Jesus loves enough to redeem? In our everyday interactions with people, do we seek to be redemptive . . . in whatever way that person needs redemption?

Maybe it’s food or shelter for those Jesus described as the “least of these” (Matthew 25: 31-46). Maybe it’s an encouraging word in difficult times. Maybe it’s a listening ear. Or maybe it’s simply acceptance for one whom everyone else has rejected.

This applies to our family relationships, too. Are we so focused on being right or winning an argument that we lose sight of our loved ones and their needs? Might they, too, need a redemptive spirit from us?

So how do we live redemptively? Well, Jesus showed us that redemption must start with a refusal to condemn. Jesus always begins by not condemning and then offers redemption . . . restoration.

Then neither do I condemn you. That, I believe, is the message of Christmas. May it be our message throughout the year, as we share the grace and redemption that only Christ can give.

Texas Baptists Committed - It's You!

The 2010 annual meeting of the Baptist General Convention of Texas was historic - as messengers moved from their usual venues to meet in McAllen, in the Rio Grande Valley. Messengers elected three new officers: Victor Rodriguez, president; Jerry Carlisle, first vice president; and Sylvia DeLoach, second vice president. All three will serve our convention well and faithfully.

TBC again did not officially endorse any candidates for BGCT office. Not endorsing, however, does NOT mean that we don't care. Though we didn't endorse, we did provide information about the four officer candidates to enable messengers to make informed decisions.

In the Southern Baptist Convention elections during the 1980s, we learned that elections have consequences. Convention officers - whether national or state - possess appointment authority that can affect the operations of a convention for generations to come. In the SBC, appointments that were made in the 1980s by a succession of Fundamentalist presidents forever changed the SBC landscape and left many of us looking for a new place to send our mission dollars.

Today, the BGCT faces many challenges, some of which were addressed in motions brought before the messengers this week. For instance, the BGCT is challenged to make these annual meetings once again matter to people and churches, as well as to make the convention itself relevant to new generations that don't relate to denominations and conventions in the ways that my generation - and my parents' generation - once did.

But our convention isn't intimidated by these challenges. Randel Everett, BGCT executive director, is boldly leading the convention to actively share the hope of Christ around the world. He has followed TexasHope 2010 with Hope 1:8, which challenges churches and individuals to be personally and actively involved in mission trips.

A few weeks ago, Michael Bell wrote a blog post here in which he said, "Naysayers, critics, negaholics, and detractors, you will have with you always." Amen! The BGCT has them, and TBC has its share as well.

Well, the BGCT isn't going away! Its leaders are working hard to find new ways of meeting the needs of a new day. And God will bless those efforts. What shape will those blessings take? Who knows but God? But God still has a purpose and mission for the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

By the same token, TBC isn't going away, either. It's obvious that God still has a purpose and mission for Texas Baptists Committed. We serve a different role than the BGCT - a role of the "lookout" or "watchdog."

Those who stole Baptists' freedom in the SBC - ultimately using extremely narrow and dogmatic interpretations of Scriptures to dictate whom Southern Baptist churches could and could not call as pastor; who could and could not serve as Southern Baptist missionaries; and how members of Southern Baptist churches could and could not interpret certain Scriptures - haven't gone away, either. Nor will they.

In the 1980s, we moderate Baptists were ostriches who lost the Southern Baptist Convention by refusing to pull our heads out of the sand and look around at the irretrievable changes being wrought on the Baptist landscape. In the 1990s, Texas Baptists pulled our heads out of the sand and fought hard to save our state convention from meeting the same fate as the SBC.

Only ostriches would deny the key role that Texas Baptists Committed played in preserving the freedom of the BGCT. Led by David Currie, TBC woke up Texas Baptists, unflaggingly held meetings across the state to inform the members of our churches of what was at stake and encourage them to go to the annual meetings as messengers and vote to preserve our freedom.

But TBC wasn't just David Currie. TBC was people - it was the people that David, his staff, and his Board encouraged to actively engage in Baptist life. To deny the work of TBC is to deny the work of thousands of people who lived out the courage of their convictions in a perilous time for Texas Baptists.

By the time 2000 rolled around, Fundamentalists had largely given up their fight to control the BGCT and had begun their own convention - the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention. And many freedom-loving, battle-weary Texas Baptists breathed a sigh of relief and headed back to ostrich country, wanting to believe the battle was over.

So now here we are in another new decade. Will we again wait until it's too late?

Last year, Georgia's state convention disfellowshipped a church in Decatur, Georgia, for calling a woman as pastor. Rest in Peace, local church autonomy!

This fall, the North Carolina CBF (yes, CBF!) is debating whether it should scrap its insistence on the freedom of each individual to interpret Scripture and instead adopt a "Bapto-Catholic" model that stresses creeds (such as The Apostles' Creed) and Scriptural interpretation by the community rather than by the individual. RIP, priesthood of the believer!

And in our own state, it has become apparent that the primary purpose for which the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention was formed was to misrepresent the doctrinal positions of the BGCT and lead churches to forsake it for the Fundamentalist state convention. Tragically, they have experienced some success at that, pulling the wool over some churches' eyes and persuading them to leave the BGCT. Tell a lie enough, and people start believing it.

That's where TBC comes in. Rather than burying its head in the sand, TBC keeps an ear to the ground. We make ourselves available to members worried about their churches to contact us and let us know (anonymously, if necessary) what's going on at their churches so that we can provide them with the information and tools needed to protect themselves before it's too late. We stay informed about available pastors, their qualifications, and their integrity, and then provide that information to pastorless churches who request it.

Now is not the time for ostriches; it's the time for lookouts. Remember, Texas Baptists Committed isn't us - it's you!

THANKS DAVID LOWRIE...

I appreciate the leadership that President David Lowrie has provided for Texas Baptists over the past two years. As president of the Baptist General Convention of Texas (BGCT), David has been a pleasant surprise to some and a disappointment to others. I’m in the former group. David has been fair and thoughtful in his dealings. Unfortunately, there are those who wanted him to do their bidding and trumpet their displeasure with all things BGCT. But David sought to serve all Texas Baptists, and he deserves our commendation.

I remember at least a couple of private conversations I had with our outgoing president; as always, he was gracious and considerate. David is an unabashed Jesus follower, and I’m glad I’ve gotten the opportunity to know him.

David will preside one more time in McAllen, in just a few days. Of course, we will elect a new president in McAllen. Victor Rodriguez is the only announced candidate for BGCT president. A humble, principled man, Victor pastors a growing congregation in San Antonio, South San Filadelfia Baptist Church. There’s a line in South San Filadelfia’s statement of practice that reveals Victor’s heart. It reads: “As a church, we practice giving to and praying for missions around the world.”

If you made it to San Antonio during the week of June 28-30, you got the opportunity to see Victor lead Convención Hispana de Texas Bautista as president. There were over 3,000 in attendance, and the spirit was one of celebration and genuine fellowship. What a joy it would be to have Victor serve our convention as president.

Like Victor, Jerry Carlisle is a person of integrity. Anybody who has met Jerry knows how caring and attentive he is. A faithful member of the Executive Board of the BGCT, he chairs the Institutional Relations Committee and serves on the Executive Committee. He is also a General Council member of the Baptist World Alliance and a Global Impact Pastor. According to the Baptist Standard, “Under Carlisle’s leadership, First Baptist Church in Plano has helped launch Hispanic, Anglo and western-heritage congregations, and it has been host to Korean and Chin congregations. The church shares its campus with Mission to Unreached Peoples, Plano Children’s Medical Clinic, Chin Baptist Church, and Texas Baptist Church Weekday Education Association.” It’s a good thing for the BGCT that Jerry is willing to serve as first vice president.

Ed Jackson is no stranger to Texas Baptists Committed. We fully appreciate his past financial support of TBC. After his retirement in 1997, Ed served as special assistant to the BGCT executive director. And, for the past year, he has served as first vice president of the BGCT. Now Ed has decided to run for BGCT second vice president.

Sylvia DeLoach has also agreed to be nominated to serve as second vice president. I’ve talked with Ed on occasion, but I’m not personally acquainted with Sylvia. However, there are people in whom I place great trust who know Sylvia and tell me that her commitment to missions is outstanding and will be a valuable asset to the BGCT.

Joy Fenner, former BGCT president and Texas WMU executive director emeritus, says this about Sylvia: “Many of you know Sylvia from her ministry as consultant with national WMU, while others know her as a Missions Innovator who assisted Texas WMU. (A few may even remember her as one of the 'singing Jones girls’ when her father served many Texas churches as music-education director.) Sylvia is a member of First Baptist Church, Richardson, where she is currently involved in multiple facets of missions and ministry; she also serves as chair of the WMU Foundation Board of Trustees. Indeed, she is a capable leader whose skills have been developed through study and experience with both women and men as well as Anglo and multi-cultural congregations large and small.”

Sylvia’s experience and heart for missions are in sync with Texas Baptists’ Hope 1:8 emphasis. I’m convinced that Sylvia’s broad experience in missions – in Texas, nationally, and around the world – is exactly what our convention needs in its leadership right now.

In closing, I’m fully aware that there are those who, without due consideration, presume to delineate parameters for others to abide by, while at the same time violating their own rubric. And I learned long ago that those who routinely miss the beauty of roses because of an overweening obsession with thorns will always have a bone to pick, an axe to grind, or someone to disparage. That’s too bad, but that’s life.

I’m excited about the BGCT McAllen convention, November 8-10. Hope (there goes that word again) to see you there.

Another Reason Why We Need TBC

I just received my copy of the Georgia Baptist Heritage Council's final newsletter.  The Baptist Heritage Council was the Mainstream Baptist organization in Georgia.  I'm sorry to see the organization come to an end, but all good things do come to an end in this world.

One-by-one formal Mainstream Baptist organizations have been shutting down as historic Baptist distinctives have lost their appeal to most Baptists in the South.

Principles that were forged while Baptists were an oppressed minority hold little attraction to Baptists who have never known a time when they were not the dominant cultural force within their region of the country.

Ever since the era of civil rights, unrelenting technological advances, shifting demographics and mounting religious and cultural diversity helped attune increasingly disoriented and insecure Southern Baptist ears to the siren song of authoritarian leadership.

Authoritarian Southern Baptists reacted aggressively to counteract an onslaught of what, to them, were unwelcome changes.

Prominent pastors concluded they could redirect social change if they could control their denomination. Evangelists shifted their message from saving souls to saving the culture. Revivals restructured from being spiritual movements and became political movements. Some pastors began assuming responsibility for leading their congregations to exercise dominion over all the civic and political life of their community and nation.

Other Southern Baptists noticed the dramatic changes taking place in their denomination and resisted it. The people in the Baptist Heritage Council of Georgia were among them. They organized to remind Baptists in the South of their historic commitment to liberty of conscience, the priesthood of all believers, congregational autonomy, and the separation of church and state. The more they talked about these historic Baptist principles, however, the more many Southern Baptist pastors felt the need to consolidate their authority. They asserted their control by making both Jesus and the Holy Spirit subordinate to a dogma of biblical inerrancy and by elevating the dogma of pastoral authority above all other doctrines.

Today, ten years after Southern Baptists traded their birthright for an authoritarian creed, a Baptist in the South who remembers what it is like to be a Baptist who is free-in-Christ is a dying breed.

Our children have never known a time when they had reason to be proud of the Baptist name. 

The churches of mainline denominations are full of Baptists recovering from abusive fundamentalist pastors. 

Oblivious to the impact on their congregations that the influence of the new politicized Southern Baptist Convention has wrought on American domestic, foreign, and economic policy since 1979, African-American Baptists have been disinterested bystanders.

There's little room for prophets in Baptist life any more.  Outside of Texas, Pharisees, Saducees, and Herodians own the brand.