Calvary Road Baptist Church

“MISSIONS AND OUR METHOD”

Matthew 28.18-20

Most Church members would not think there was great controversy surrounding the Great Commission of our Lord Jesus Christ, yet controversy constantly surrounds the Great Commission. Please turn to Matthew 28.18-20, where we find the most familiar version of our Lord Jesus Christ’s Great Commissions that are recorded in the Gospel accounts and the book of Acts. When you find that passage, I invite you to stand for the reading of God’s Word: 

18  And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

19  Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

20  Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. 

Crucial to one’s understanding of the Great Commission is your own experience with the Gospel, since the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit, and cannot know the things of the Spirit since they are spiritually discerned, First Corinthians 2.14. However, understanding the Gospel is crucial to properly obeying the Great Commission. Thus, while some of the confusion surrounding the Great Commission is related to varying amounts of spiritual illumination of believers (none of us understands everything completely), it must be admitted that much confusion is owing to the lost condition of so many Church people who claim to be Christians and whose understanding of the Great Commission is very deeply flawed.

For example, one young man once told me of a congregation he was involved with that decided their only contribution to fulfilling the Great Commission was to pray, and that they had chosen to leave the rest of the Great Commission to other congregations. No witnessing. No missionaries. Only praying. Really?

Of course, there is no authority for any congregation to neglect any portion of the Great Commission willfully, but such is the reasoning of all lost people and too many saved people. Can you imagine people thinking they are Christians who are not involved in any way in reaching the lost? Yet so many do.

The Great Commission is the Lord Jesus Christ’s directive to New Testament congregations to carry the saving Gospel message forth to make disciples of Jesus Christ using Gospel preaching and teaching, using baptizing those hopefully converted to Christ, and then training those added to the Church to observe all things whatsoever Christ has commanded, in compliance with His duly authorized instructions.

Our Church, now in its 45th year, is and has always been what is called a missionary Baptist Church. If you are not familiar with the ecclesiastical lay of the land, it is easy to become disoriented by my use of the phrase missionary Baptist, because so many black congregations in the United States incorporate missionary Baptist into their name, and because some predominately white Baptist denominations known as Landmark Baptists have many member Churches that have missionary Baptist in their name.

I do not use the phrase missionary Baptist in either of those contexts, but as the term was originally coined near the beginning of the modern-day missions movement after the turn of the 19th century. This is not to say missionary activity did not exist previously. Remember that David Brainerd had been a missionary, as had Jonathan Edwards for about seven years, neither of whom were Baptists. Both men were godly Congregationalist ministers of the Gospel. However, the tidal wave of activity that came to be known as the modern missions movement was initially a movement among Baptists, with such men as William Carey and Adoniram Judson being the leaders in capturing the imaginations and harnessing the efforts of many Christians of their day to reach the world for Christ.

To accomplish that goal, para-church institutions for the promotion and funding of evangelism, Bible and literature publication, schools, charitable and social work, and other religious causes were begun by those of many Protestant denominations and those who were nondenominational. China Inland Mission and Sudan Interior Mission were two of many such parachurch ministries.

Such efforts created significant controversy among Baptists. Some Baptists withdrew their involvement in missions altogether. Non-Baptists tended to embrace the notion of para-church institutions wholeheartedly, with such organizations as the Gideons, Women’s Bible Fellowship, the Trinitarian Bible and Tract Society, the Wycliffe Translators, Focus on the Family, the Navigators, and Campus Crusade For Christ (now known as Cru).

For the most part, however, Baptists who strongly advocated missionary outreach identified themselves in that early 19th-century controversy as missionary Baptists, with some missionary Baptists embracing the para-church institutions and other missionary Baptists opposing the para-church institutions. Calvary Road Baptist Church is a strongly missions-minded Baptist Church, while at the same time being opposed to involvement with para-church institutions as not authorized by Scripture.

Allow me to clarify our Church identity around five central themes: 

First, THE MODERN MISSIONS MOVEMENT 

It has always been the will of God for the Great Commission of our Lord Jesus Christ to be the marching orders of the Church congregation. However, as error crept in over the centuries, commitment to the Great Commission greatly declined until the Gospel’s advance all but stopped.

For centuries the Gospel was not openly preached in Christendom, with Gospel preaching congregations surviving persecution in mostly isolated regions of Europe. Then, when Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Turks, and thousands of Greek New Testament manuscripts were carried into Roman Catholic Europe, the Protestant Reformation was ignited.

Though Baptist congregations existed in very small numbers before and after the Protestant Reformation in Europe and Great Britain, our greatest growth rate since the earliest days of the Christian faith came about during the First Great Awakening in England, Wales, Scotland, and in the American colonies, with huge proportions of those converted under the preaching of George Whitefield and John Wesley in the mid-1700s eventually embracing Baptist convictions. On some occasions, whole congregations that had previously practiced infant baptism embraced Baptist convictions and were immersed following Scripture.

Baptists in Great Britain and the American colonies were aggressively evangelistic, with hundreds of Churches started. Here in the American colonies and in the new United States such men as Isaac Backus, Hezekiah Smith, Shubal Stearns, Daniel and Abraham Marshall, and John Gano (the Baptist who might have baptized George Washington) were among those who nurtured Church planting fervor.

However, it was in England that the modern missions movement was begun in the 1790s when a cobbler and Particular Baptist pastor named William Carey preached a sermon to his Baptist association colleagues and challenged them to send the Gospel to the pagans in foreign lands.[1] There was resistance at first, and then Particular Baptist pastors banded together to lead their Churches to send Carey to India, where his success was legendary.

In the United States, a Congregationalist minister and his bride sailed for India in 1812, intending to go to Burma. They reached Baptist convictions during their voyage, were immersed by one of Carey’s colleagues upon their arrival in India, and captured the imagination of the Baptists in America. His name was Adoniram Judson.[2] The modern missions movement was well underway. 

Next, THE MISSIONARY BAPTIST CONTROVERSY 

When Carey promoted the cause of missions in England, it is reported that the revered Dr. John Ryland, Sr. said, “Sit down young man. You are an enthusiast! When God is pleased to convert the heathen, he will do it without consulting you or me.”[3] “In May 1792, Carey preached from Isaiah 54:2 at the association meeting at Nottingham. His sermon had only two points: 1. Expect great things from God, and 2. attempt great things for God. Called the ‘deathless sermon,’ it provided a turning point in Baptist history.”[4]

Though most Baptist congregations and associations of Churches in the United States were subsequently caught up in the missions movement, some were opposed to establishing institutions for propagating the Gospel by any means, as well as being opposed to missionary societies, Bible societies, and theological seminaries.[5] Their stated reasons were theological, arguing that missions were unnecessary if human destiny was already determined, and missions were inappropriate if the use was made of anything not specifically mentioned in the Bible.[6]

Personalities also played a role in the rise of the anti missions movement, with one anti missions leader having a powerful grudge against the prominent missions advocate Luther Rice, and another anti missions leader being the infamous Alexander Campbell. Previously a Presbyterian, Campbell joined and then left the Baptists to form the Church of Christ denomination and to advocate baptismal regeneration.[7]

In retrospect, it seems that the anti missions movement among Baptists was mostly led by men who held to hyper-Calvinist theology and who themselves were men not formally educated and without any inclination to embrace what they believed were unscriptural means of ministry.[8] 

Third, WHAT IS A MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH? 

A missionary Baptist Church is, first and foremost a Baptist Church. That is, it is a congregation of born again, scripturally baptized believers in Jesus Christ, who are banded together in a New Testament Church relationship to worship and serve the Lord Jesus Christ in a scriptural manner. As well, a missionary Baptist Church is a Baptist Church that admits that while Baptist Churches have in the past not fulfilled their scriptural duty to carry the Gospel message to the uttermost parts of the world in obedience to Christ’s command, they should have done so, we are commanded to do so, and from henceforth we should strive to do so.

Some missionary Baptist Churches have engaged in unauthorized participation with unscriptural institutions for which there is no biblical warrant (such as Bible societies, mission agencies, and other para-church evangelistic organizations). Even so, it is entirely appropriate for Baptist Churches to engage in the fulfillment of the Great Commission of our Lord Jesus Christ while maintaining the integrity of the local Church as it is described and authorized to function in the New Testament. In short, you can support missions without compromise.

Therefore, the mandate of the Great Commission to “preach the gospel to every creature,” Mark 16.15, to “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations,” Matthew 28.19, “that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in [Christ’s] name among all nations,” Luke 24.47, is not a commission rightly seen as limited to the apostolic era of long ago, or the apostles alone, but applies to our era and us. Involvement in worldwide missions is, in our view, a present imperative. 

Fourth, WE ARE A MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH 

What is meant by this? Several things:

First, a missionary Baptist Church is an evangelistic Church. That is, we are committed to not only embracing the Gospel ourselves but to advancing the Gospel locally. In practical terms, that means we think sinners should embrace Christ. However, sinners will not embrace Christ until they have been told of Christ. In addition to being told of Christ, sinners are to be informed that they have been commanded to obey the Gospel. At first glance, this effort to present the Gospel to those around us seems like a simple and uncomplicated matter. However, God’s Word and our personal experiences have taught us that it is a difficult task, requiring our combined cooperation, prayers, obedience, and finances to accomplish in the face of temptations and pressures to do otherwise. To this end, we gather our tithes and offerings each week, to finance the Gospel ministry locally, and to support the Gospel minister who equips and leads our congregation in this endeavor. The Apostle Paul deals with this issue in First Corinthians chapter nine and First Timothy 5.17-18.

However, a missionary Baptist Church does not stop there. Many Churches aggressively evangelize those around them and grow to be very large, but are still not missionary Baptist Churches. How can this be? They do not engage in determined obedience to the Great Commission. That is, they are not actively engaged in preaching the Gospel to every creature, baptizing them, and then training them, but only to those nearby. To obey the Great Commission, a Church will simultaneously evangelize their own Jerusalem and Judea, as well as their nearby Samaria, and also the uttermost parts of the world.

This cannot be done by a single congregation, no matter how large or affluent, but requires the cooperative efforts of others to accomplish this task. This is why we support missionaries to undertake the Great Commission on our behalf elsewhere. Such is not accomplished employing literature ministries, radio broadcasts, Internet websites, or book publishing, though such can compliment scriptural missionary work. Only men who are called and commissioned to preach the Gospel, baptize their converts, and then train them to obey all Christ has commanded qualify. Literature, Internet activity, and broadcasts of various kinds are not obedience to the Great Commission, though we have done these things and will do these things in the future. Books cannot administer the ordinances. My sermons on the Internet cannot administer the ordinances or deal with saints and sinners in a personal way.

Only men who are authorized by congregations such as ours, doing there what we do here, fulfill the Biblical mandate known as the Great Commission of our Lord Jesus Christ. To this end, we give to missions to support missionaries, to do for us there what we are doing here, and to do for us there what we are responsible for getting done there but cannot do there without their help. This takes money and prayers, so we give and we pray.

Some professing Christians want to work with Navigators, or with Campus Crusade For Christ, or with World Vision, or with Manna, and bypass what they see as the troublesome issue of involvement in local Churches. Others want to benefit from their local Church without financially supporting the local Church they attend.

There are even some local Churches that do para-church ministry elsewhere by financing activities that do not involve Church planting missionaries. However, this is not the missionary Baptist way, and it is certainly not Scriptural. It is not right to feed other hungry children without first feeding your child.

Our Church’s program is a Biblical program. We embrace the notion that each Christian should become a Church member, as part of and serving in a congregation. As well, every believer should support his or her congregation prayerfully, materially, and evangelistically, joining with us in prayerfully and financially supporting missionaries beyond the reach of our congregation. 

Finally, THE MISSING INGREDIENT 

What is sometimes missing from missionary Baptist Churches are members of those missionary Baptist Churches who are themselves missionary Baptists. I speak of the occasional Christian or Church member who reminds me of the fellow who enjoys dining at fine restaurants, he doesn’t like paying for the meal, tipping those who attend to his dining experience, or in any way contributing to a fine dining experience for others beyond enjoying the free meal he is served that is made possible by everyone else. My dad’s generation called that type of individual a freeloader.

Before my conversion to Christ, I worked as a satellite design engineer for Hughes Aircraft Company in El Segundo, California, the city that won the cold war. Every weekday a number of us engaged in satellite design would break for lunch and go to one of the many haunts we frequented in Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach, or El Segundo. One of the engineers was a guy named Bill, who had a habit the rest of us soon caught on to. He would always show up for liquid refreshment when someone else was paying for it but seemed always to be elsewhere when it was his turn to pay. Bill was a freeloader.

That same attitude can sometimes be found in the Christian community and Church congregations. It is the individual who benefits from the spiritual feast served up come worship time, but who has no personal interest in financing the ministry he benefits from, only minimally helping to encourage others to join in, and investing almost no social capital interacting with others to meet their need for friendship or companionship. Such individuals get out of Church what they want without any consideration of what others might want from them, or need from them.

I won’t belabor the point, but I would like to point out something that is frequently overlooked in our very individualistic and aloof culture: 

Second Corinthians 5.11-13: 

11  Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences.

12  For we commend not ourselves again unto you, but give you occasion to glory on our behalf, that ye may have somewhat to answer them which glory in appearance, and not in heart.

13  For whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God: or whether we be sober, it is for your cause. 

I recently dealt with this passage, focusing on “the terror of the Lord” as a motive for serving God, engaging in evangelism, and seeking to persuade men. The reason we are circling back to this passage is because of a consideration that is so frequently overlooked, the importance of community. I am convinced that individuals come to Christ as individuals, one sinner at a time. However, life after one becomes a Christian is not to be lived in isolation. Writing to a congregation, notice how many times Paul makes use of plural pronouns in each verse of the passage I just read to you. Three times in verse 11, seven times in verse 12, and three times in verse 13. Considering the matter in this simplistic fashion, it is clear that “the fear of the Lord,” the persuasion of others, the manifestation of their reputations to others’ consciences, and all the rest related to their motivation to serve God was a corporate phenomenon rather than an individual one. 

Second Corinthians 5.14-17: 

14  For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:

15  And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.

16  Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more.

17  Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 

Although Paul’s presentation in this passage is a bit different than it was in verses 11-13, it is clear from his opening statement in verse 14 that the second of their motives for serving God was similar to the first motive, in this respect: there was the community factor. “For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge.” Paul does not assert that the love of Christ constrained him alone as an isolated individual. Neither does he appeal to his judgment in isolation from the others, even though he is an apostle and has appealed to his judgment in other matters. When it comes to the proper motivation to serve God, it does not seem that the Apostle Paul was espousing individualism or spiritual isolationism. Granted, when the apostle found himself alone in Athens, his heart was stirred and he did stand for Christ while he was alone. But he didn’t like it and he didn’t allow himself to be in such circumstances very often.[9] Let us understand that the glorified Savior confronted Paul by himself.[10] He contemplated the Gospel for several days by himself.[11] Insofar as we can tell, he came to saving faith in Christ by himself (save for the ministry of the Christian named Ananias).[12] The Savior trained him for his apostleship by himself.[13] But all of his Christian life and ministry was conducted in the presence of and with the collaboration of other Christians! 

Hebrews 10.24-25: 

24  And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:

25  Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. 

Is it not interesting that the writer of Hebrews uses the phrase “let us” thirteen times in his letter, convincingly emphasizing the corporate and community nature of the Christian’s life of service and ministry in collaboration with other believers in the congregation. That noted, in the passage we just read, we see the writer’s encouragement of believers to provoke one another unto love and good works. How is this best done? Verse 25: 

“Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.” 

I am about two months returned from halfway around the world, to preach in Nepal. Where I traveled to on seven occasions, I have found congregations like ours in many ways. Not only do they seek the salvation of the lost in their immediate area, but they also send out missionaries to start and serve in Churches where they cannot go.

Many people do not like this approach to Church ministry. They disagree with the Bible and prefer to withhold their money in some way, either by refusing to support their Church with their tithes or by refusing to support missionaries with their freewill offerings above and beyond their tithes.

Of course, this is an individual’s choice. No one can or will attempt to force anyone to give tithes to the Church he or she attends and claims to receive a blessing in. No one can or will attempt to force anyone to give their freewill offerings to support missions.

However, a study of history will show God’s blessings in such countries as Russia, China, Vietnam, the Philippines, South Korea, Cambodia, India, and throughout the Americas is a direct result of missionary Baptist Churches like this one.

Such claims cannot be made by someone who withholds his tithes, and who does not give to missionaries since the advance of the Gospel in the places I have mentioned has come despite such conduct as those who hold back, those who are not tithers and missions givers, not because of it.

When I return from far away, I have often reflected on God’s blessings there that have been financed by you folks, and by your tithes to finance a healthy Church here, so that we might support missionaries abroad with our missions giving. I feel both joy and sorrow.

I am filled with delight and rejoice for God’s work in the lives of you who give generously. At the same time, I am filled with sadness because some act like the money in their pockets is theirs, and they withhold what God would have them to give. When they do that, they not only rob themselves of so much but deprive others of so much more.

We are a missionary Baptist Church, and this is what we will be by God’s grace until Jesus comes. If this is not what you are, by both personal practice and conviction, would you be happier attending another Church? I ask this because I do not want you to influence anyone to embrace your values, to adopt your beliefs, or to be infected by your practices.

Give me a call sometime. Perhaps we can meet and agree on some strong Gospel-preaching Church where you would be happier attending with others whose practices are like yours. I know in the past others who have attended here and did not want to seriously consider the claims of Christ seem to be now happier pretending to be Christians in a nearby Church. Maybe that would be more to your liking, as well.

As for us, we are a missionary Baptist Church, and that is what we aim to continue to be. If you intend to stay with us, to serve with us, to worship with us, then I urge you to get on board and give with us. Your tithes belong here, and your missions giving should be given here to be used elsewhere. If you have no intention of acting as a missionary Baptist, then perhaps attending a missionary Baptist Church is not the thing for you.

Let me be very clear. I want you here. We want you here. But if you are committed to non-participation, this is not the place for you to worship. Our goal is to bring every lost person who attends to Christ, no matter how long it takes. After that, our goal is to bring every Christian to Christ-likeness, teaching them to observe whatsoever Christ has commanded. Our goal is that for you. Why so? Because we love God, and because we love you.

__________

[1] Particular Baptists are Baptists whose soteriology is Calvinistic, with General Baptists embracing Arminian convictions.

[2] Like Carey, Adoniram Judson was a Particular Baptist.

[3] H. Leon McBeth, The Baptist Heritage, (Nashville, Tennessee: Broadman Press, 1987), page 185.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Ibid., pages 372-373.

[6] Ibid., page 375.

[7] Ibid.

[8] Although the late John R. Rice frequently editorialized in his publication The Sword of the Lord that those who held to the so-called five points of Calvinism were hyper-Calvinists, the historical reality that Particular Baptist C. H. Spurgeon was a five-point Calvinist Baptist pastor in London who vehemently opposed hyper-Calvinism throughout his ministerial life is convincingly shown in Iain H. Murray, Spurgeon v. Hyper-Calvinism: The Battle for Gospel Preaching (Carlisle, PA: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1995).

[9] Acts 17.14-34

[10] Acts 9.1-8

[11] Acts 9.9

[12] Acts 9.10-18

[13] Galatians 1.16-17

Would you like to contact Dr. Waldrip about this sermon? Please contact him by clicking on the link below. Please do not change the subject within your email message. Thank you.

Pastor@CalvaryRoadBaptist.Church