Posted 6/19/03
Hawkins calls Baptists to exclusive message
By Charlie Warren
Arkansas Baptist
PHOENIX, Ariz.–“God has raised up Southern Baptists to be a certain sound in our culture,” O.S. Hawkins told messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in Phoenix. “There is a war on truth and on the trustworthiness of the word of God. … If Southern Baptists don't make a certain sound in this culture, who will?”
Hawkins, president of the SBC Annuity Board, delivered the convention sermon June 18.
Every epoch of Christian history has faced a different question, he said, and 21st century Christians face the biblical question asked by Jesus in Matthew 16:15, “Who do you say I am?”
First century Christians, Hawkins said, faced the question of John 13:38, “Will you lay down your life?” and many met a martyrs death.
Later Christians, he added, faced the question of Matthew 22:42, “What think ye of the Christ; whose son is he?”
After the church entered the dark period of the Roman popes, he continued, it faced the question of John 11:40, “Did I not say if you believe you would see the glory of God?”
Then the modern missionary movement brought the question of Luke 18:8, “When the Son returns, will he find faith on Earth?”
Sign up for our weekly edition and get all our headlines in your inbox on Thursdays
After that, Hawkins said, the influence of 20th century liberalism, pluralism and inclusivism affected the church and raised the question of Luke 17:23, “Will you go away?”
Many mainstream denominations left the faith of their forefathers, he said, bowing instead to pluralism, inclusivism and political correctness.
“Now we minister in the 21st century,” Hawkins said. “All seminarians about to embark on ministry will face the single most important question of our time, the question of Matthew 16:15, 'Who do you say that I am?'”
He identified two kinds of contemporary leadership–those who lead by public consensus and those who lead by personal conviction.
“Those who lead by public consensus lead people to do what they want to do,” Hawkins said. “Those who lead by personal conviction lead others to do what they ought to do. … Jesus knew the tendency we all would have to leave personal convictions for the convenience of public consensus.”
He said Jesus' question of Matthew 16:13, “Who do men say I am?” is a question of public consensus, but the question of Matthew 16:15 is one of personal conviction.
“Some have pushed the mute button on the exclusivity of Jesus Christ,” Hawkins said. “They say Jesus is not the only way to heaven. … Had Paul not been an exclusivist, he would have told the Philippian jailer he probably was saved already. Instead, he said, 'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.'”
Pluralism threatens Christian doctrine, and inclusivism impacts Christian mission, Hawkins declared.
“Does anyone wonder about the need for the conservative resurgence and the need for a revised faith statement?” he asked, referencing the effort to move the SBC in a more conservative direction since 1979 and the Baptist Faith & Message 2000.
Liberalism caused other denominations to lose their passion for evangelism and missions, and leaders of the “conservative resurgence” knew that could happen to Southern Baptists, Hawkins explained. “We have removed those shabby coats of pluralism and inclusiveness. The question of public consensus is not for Southern Baptists.”
Jesus didn't say he would show the way but that he is the way, Hawkins reminded, explaining that Christians cannot pretend there is any other way to God.
“Liberals are screaming that we'll put a gospel tract in those food packages going to Iraq,” he said. “Why didn't they scream about Saddam Hussein cutting off the tongues of those who opposed him?”
It was not a belief in inclusivism that motivated Martha Meyers to meet her martyrs death in Yemen, he said, referencing the medical missionary who was killed by a lone guman Dec. 30.
“Southern Baptists are unapologetically trying to Christianize America,” he said. “Southern Baptists are leading the evangelical world today not by public consensus but by personal conviction … We are busy telling the world that Christ is the only way.
“All other ways are false. … Southern Baptists have been raised up in this time to give our world a certain sound.”
We seek to connect God’s story and God’s people around the world. To learn more about God’s story, click here.
Send comments and feedback to Eric Black, our editor. For comments to be published, please specify “letter to the editor.” Maximum length for publication is 300 words.