Posted on 09/17/2013 7:01:19 AM PDT by Gamecock
WASHINGTON – Southern Baptist theologian Russell Moore challenged his fellow Christians to recover the Church's prophetic voice by first transforming the Church from the inside to reflect the hope of the kingdom of God to the world, and to not lose sight of the Cross as their central mission. Moore was delivering his inauguration speech Tuesday as the new president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, the public policy arm of the Southern Baptist Convention.
Early in his speech, Moore signaled that his approach to political engagement would be different than a previous generation of Christian political activism.
"We can no longer pretend we are a moral majority in this country," he said in reference to the early Christian Right organization founded by Jerry Falwell. "We are a prophetic minority who must speak into a world that is not different than any other era of this world's history, but is exactly what Jesus promised us the world must be."
There would be three aspects, Moore continued, to the ministry of the ERLC under his guidance: kingdom, culture and mission.
While Jesus brought judgement to the kingdoms of this world, Moore said, he also brought hope with news of the kingdom of God. And like Jesus, Christians should also bring news of that kingdom with optimism and without fear.
"As we march forward into the days that are before us," he taught, "the worst thing we can possibly do in changing times is to come with a sour and dour and gloomy pessimism about the culture around us. We cannot stand and speak, 'you kids get off my lawn.'"
Taking the long view, though, Moore does not believe that Christians are losing the so-called culture war. In a reference to the best selling 2003 book by Judge Robert Bork, Moore argued that "We are not 'slouching towards Gomorrah,' we are marching to Zion."
Speaking at Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., Moore noted that those in politics tend to focus on the short term – political cycles and the next election. Christians, though, are "called to be the kind of faithful witness that is focused on the next trillion years."
Moore also believes that the Church in America will be better off when Christianity is no longer expected to be the default religion for cultural reasons, when Americans who have not decided to follow Christ as their Lord and Savior no longer call themselves Christian because that is simply what is expected of them, and when the Church is no longer considered synonymous with the Bible Belt.
"The Bible Belt is collapsing," he declared. "The world of nominal, cultural Christianity that took the American dream and added Jesus to it in order to say, 'you can have everything you ever wanted and Heaven too,' is soon to be gone. Good riddance.
"Instead we have the opportunity now to move away from the stale, old cultural nominalism that we have had for too long. We have an opportunity to move away from the liberation theologies of the right and the left that say to us, 'give us Barabbas and let him be crucified.' And we have instead an opportunity to be the Church of Jesus Christ."
To effectively engage the culture, Moore continued, Christians must recognize and correct their own sins.
"Brothers and sisters ... as sinners we are the people Jesus warned us about," he said.
Moore's voice slowed and became more emphatic as he discussed the sins of the Southern Baptist Church, which split from a larger denomination in defense of slavery prior to the Civil War.
"The fact that we were founded, at least partly, to justify man-stealing, kidnapping and lynching – we stand here only by God's grace and mercy."
Too many churches in America, he continued, are "slow-motion sexual revolutionaries," because they adopt cultural norms about a generation later.
"We believe now what the Woodstock generation believed about divorce. We believe now what a previous generation believed about fornication and cohabitation. And even now as we speak on issues of sexual ethics, the redline that we set keeps moving further and further and further and further down. That cannot stand. ... If we are going to be a voice that speaks to the outside world, we must first be transformed as that colony of the Kingdom from the inside."
Influencing the culture, he said, cannot be measured by legislative scorecards, but when congregations begin to look "freakishly strange" to those outside the Church: "Congregations that don't simply vote pro-life, although they do, but congregations that welcome and delight in the Down syndrome child in that congregation. ... Because this Down syndrome child is a heir of the Kingdom and a future ruler of the universe."
The central mission of the Church, though, should not be to speak about ethics to the larger culture, Moore believes, it should be the Cross – that a world of sinners has been redeemed by Jesus' death and those who accept his invitation have a new life.
"We cannot be longing for Mayberry," Moore claimed. "We must have a voice that speaks to the conscience, a voice that is splattered with blood. We are ministers ... not of condemnation, the devil can do that, we are ministers of reconciliation, which means that we will speak hard words ... truthful words to address the conscience, even when that costs us everything.
"But we will never end there. We will always end with the Word ... the invitation – if anyone who is in Christ he is a new creation. ... Our voice must not only be a voice of morality, it must also be a voice of welcome."
Moore also encouraged his fellow Christians to speak with "convictional kindness" to those they disagree with, "not because we are weak but because the Gospel is strong."
"The Kingdom of God is not made up of the moral," he continued. "The Kingdom of God is made up of the crucified and our mission is to speak to a world of people who are often going to come to the end of that mess of pottage that is the sexual revolution, that is pursuit of self, and will ask, 'what else is there?' The final word that we must have for those repented souls who throw themselves upon Christ after an abortion, after murder, after family dissolution, should be, there is, therefore, now no condemnation for those who are in Christ."
Other speakers at the inauguration included: Fred Luter, president of the Southern Baptist Convention, Congressman James Lankford (R-Okla.), former Congressman Gene Taylor (D-Miss.) (who Moore once worked with before he became a theologian), Robert P. George, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence at Princeton, and the former head of the ERLC, Dr. Richard Land, president of Southern Evangelical Seminary. Around 200, mostly Southern Baptist pastors, were in attendance.
Well said.
??
Some of that sounds like LDS or Scientology....
How do people become “future rulers of the universe”??
That is not Christian
Look in the back of The Book.
The ruler of the universe is God. Period.
In Revelation 20, the tribulation saints reign with Christ over the earth for 1000 years. Having said that, I’ve not read this article and thus can’t comment on it’s contents.
Revelation 20:4
English Standard Version (ESV)
4 Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
Excellent!
I would ask Mr. Moore what the role of Israel and the Jews will be in the end times.
I wonder what his opinion is about the “Palestinians” and the status of Jerusalem?
He speaks some truth, but is very selective about the subject matter he addresses, and shies away from the specifics by mouthing platitudes so as not to offend. He is much too polite.
I have seen that the SBC really does not take a stand on Israel and the Jews.
Is it anti-Semitism? Maybe it’s just a part of leaving that stance up to the individual churches.
It’s a pretty important subject, and should be an important part of church doctrine.
Mrs. AV
GeronL, if you look at 2 Timothy 2:12, there is a very direct reference to reigning with Him. Apart from Revelations, it’s a common theme in the Pauline literature. It’s a reigning through participation which God allows due to faithfulness. It is very much a Christian concept. But, of course, God ultimately reigns over all of creation.
Actually, GeronL, that IS Christian. Not only does St. Paul speak of it, but it’s mentioned in the book of Revelation. Yes, Jesus is the ultimate Lord of the universe, but all believers will one day rule and reign with him in the Thousand Years after Christ’s return to judge the earth. Even St. Paul says, “Do you not realize that we will judge the angels?” in I Corinthians 6:3. And in others of his letters to the churches St. Paul talks about us ruling and reigning with Christ. And this is what Mr. Moore was referring to.
Very thought provoking and timely words. Thanks for posting this.
(Shery’s daughter here.) I think you may be missing the point of what Mr. Moore is talking about and who he is addressing. I’m not a Baptist, so I don’t really know what the SBC’s position is on Israel. But Mr. Moore is not addressing the issues of Israel or the overall end times. He is speaking to the SBC about where they have been as a church in our culture in America. Here he is simply addressing American Christians in light of the concern in America and among American Christians as to what is happening in the U.S. and the decline of what has been considered to be a “Christian Nation”. As a nation, we are not really considered a Christian nation any more, and many American Christians feel we are losing our voice in America. He is addressing this issue and how American Christians should see this as an opportunity to see how we need to change our focus and get it back on Christ - be real about our own sins and the sins of our churches - get real with God about ourselves and about having a real relationship with Him. As a nation, we prided ourselves on being “Christian” - but this included a lot of people who called themselves Christians simply because they were Americans, even though many weren’t actually real Christians. Now people are not doing that any more. Non-believers are admitting that they aren’t Christians. This is what he’s talking about. And he says that this is the chance for real Christians to be true salt and light. We’re supposed to be different from our culture. This is the chance for churches in America to take inventory of themselves and see if they really are in the faith too. It’s a time for churches to really examine themselves before God - for Christians to see if they really are Christians. And if they are, to be unafraid to make that claim, even if it costs them everything.
We don’t need to take a stand on Israel officially. We don’t need to.
It is quite clear to us what role Israel plays on the world stage.
Well, Paul (dead human mortal) is not the one I follow it is Jesus
Your response illustrates the lukewarm stance of the SBC on the subject of Israel.
Why no need to take an official stance on Israel? God sure does.
What role does Israel play in the end times in your belief?
I agree with what you are saying. I actually cannot argue with what Mr. Moore says here. I am a believer in Christ the Messiah. My problem is with Russell Moore.
If you read about the man and his history, you may begin to see that he has an agenda, and that is to politically liberalize Southern Baptists. He is an adherent of a social justice type gospel which is used in modern Christian circles to dilute the message of the Gospel. He has a history that is out there and the SBC, in response to some white guilt, placed him as a public voice in order to increase their membership. That is my opinion.
Here is a link to an interview he did with the Washington Post:
http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-07-18/local/40643396_1_trayvon-martin-religious-liberty-chaplains
As painful as it may be, the Church seems to prosper best when it is suffering persecution.
Not that I WANT to be persecuted, mind you!
You may be right on that. I’ll have to look at the link you provided. I’m totally ignorant of SBC or any Baptist leaders, since I’m an Anglican myself. Although, that being said, I’m extremely choosey about which Anglican/Episcopal churches I attend, since our denomination has become utterly apostate in so many ways. I’ll read that link you sent. What you said about him sounds very interesting to me so far. Thanks for sharing!
Just some scripture references besides the ones where St. Paul refers to the saints (”saint” meaning “believers redeemed by God”, not meaning persons codified by the liturgical churches) reigning in God’s kingdom:
Old Testament Daniel 7:18, 22, & 27 speaks of the saints taking possession of the kingdom, in a manner meaning to rule.
Revelation 3:21 where Jesus Himself spoke in St. John’s vision of the end of days, to the 7 churches, revealing to John that those who overcome will be given the right to sit with Him (Jesus) on His throne. Sitting on the throne refers to sharing with Him in His reign - and that’s not my personal interpretation.
Revelation 22:5 where it is revealed to this same John that the saints will reign with Christ forever and ever.
Revelation 5:9-10 where it is again revealed to John that the saints will reign with Christ forever
Revelation 2:26-27 where once again, Jesus Himself, in speaking to the 7 churches says that those who overcome in this life He will them power over the nations, to rule and reign, just as He received this power to rule the nations from His Father (God the Father).
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