Southern Baptists Keeping Sacred Promise

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Southern Baptists Have a Sacred Promise To Keep

By Cky J. Carrigan , Ph.D. (rev. 2/2005)

Why do Southern Baptists and other evangelicals develop and implement specific strategies to focus some of our evangelistic efforts on people from other world religions and counterfeit Christian groups? And why do we do so in the face of harsh criticism from a variety of constituencies?

And why do we do so at the inevitable risk that some people from other world religious groups and counterfeit Christian groups might be offended by our efforts? And why do we do so even when some of our own respected personalities express some objections to this practice?

Well, the answer is really very simple. We have a sacred promise to keep to Jesus Christ. You see, we believe, with good reason, several important propositions. We believe that there is a personal God who created everything by the sheer will of His word. We believe that this God reveals himself in various ways to men and women, who are the unique bearers of His very image.

We believe that this God reveals some things to us by means of the created order itself. And we believe that this God also reveals some things to us by means of the Old and New Testaments of the Holy Bible. We believe that the Bible is the error-free unfailing work of God. We believe that the Bible alone is therefore the ultimate authority that shapes our patterns of belief and practice.

We do not believe these truths in the face of clear and convincing evidence otherwise. On the contrary, we claim to have very good reasons to believe them all.

Now, according to the Bible, the eternal Son of God is the Messiah. He became flesh and was born of a Jewish mother in Bethlehem's barn. He lived a perfectly virtuous life and instructed His followers in many things. He died a torturous death on an old rugged cross in order to pay for the sins of the world. He was buried in a borrowed tomb. And He was raised from the dead.

The resurrected, incarnate Son of God appeared to more than 500 witnesses during the forty-day period that followed His resurrection. At the end of that forty-day period the eternal Son of God, Jesus Christ, gathered His followers of Jewish descent to receive one final instruction from Him.

He confirmed His absolute authority over all things in the universe then said, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Mat 28: 19-20). Then Jesus Christ ascended back to heaven from whence He came.

Those followers made a sacred promise to Jesus Christ that day. They made a sacred promise to make disciples among all peoples. They traveled to the uttermost parts of the world at great personal peril and told many people what they had witnessed in Jesus.

An apostle of Jesus Christ kept a sacred promise to tell someone, who kept a sacred promise to tell someone, who kept a sacred promise to tell someone………………………………………….. who kept a sacred promise to tell me.

And when I embraced for myself the life changing truths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, I too made a sacred promise to make disciples among all peoples. And millions of Southern Baptists and other evangelicals have made that sacred promise too.

I wish I knew better how to keep my sacred promise to Jesus Christ. I wish there were no down-side to keeping it. I wish I knew better how to keep my promise without offending the people I sincerely intend to help.

I wish I knew better how to keep my promise without drawing criticism from many quarters. I wish I knew better how to keep my sacred promise so as to please everyone.

Perhaps Southern Baptists and other evangelicals could sometimes do a better job of speaking the truth as we understand it in love. If that is the critic’s point, then point well taken.

BUT KNOW THIS. . .

We have made a sacred promise to Jesus Christ to try to make disciples from all kinds of peoples from all walks of life. Yes, this includes people from other world religions and counterfeit Christian groups. And with God's help we will keep on keeping our sacred promise to Jesus Christ.

No criticism, no legal action, no act of intimidation, no misguided definition of tolerance and no hurt feelings shall make us break our sacred promise.

That's it. It really is just that simple. We're just trying to keep our sacred promise to Jesus Christ.

***The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of the North American Mission Board, the Southern Baptist Convention, or any other Southern Baptist Church or Agency***