James Leo Garrett Jr. (1925-2020): The Funeral Sermon

“Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith” (Hebrews 13:7).

You need only rehearse James Leo Garrett Jr.’s educational attainments—bachelor’s degrees from both Baylor University and Southwestern Seminary, a master’s from Princeton Seminary, and research doctorates from both Southwestern Seminary and Harvard University—to realize that here was no mean scholar. You need only remember that he taught for lengthy periods at three great Baptist schools—Southwestern Seminary, Baylor University, and Southern Seminary—to realize he exercised a widespread influence. You need only read his two magna opera before realizing no other contemporary Baptist systematic theologian has yet risen to his level of authorial achievement. 

A. Garrett as a Theologian 

Baptized into the church of Southwestern Seminary’s founder, Benajah Harvey Carroll, Garrett was also deeply influenced by Southwestern’s first great systematic theologian, Walter Thomas Conner. He once wrote, “The Lord and W.T. Conner called me to teach theology.” Through his long career, he taught masses of theological students. During the administration of Russell Dilday, Garrett’s classes in particular overflowed. 

I still appreciate the student who allowed me to move from the very back to take his front row seat so I might capture every word. But only the hardy enrolled in his classes. Known affectionately as “Machine-Gun Garrett” for his rapid-fire lecture style, his students proudly wore t-shirts emblazoned, “I Survived Theo with Leo.” Thousands of pastors, missionaries, professors, and other ministers filed through his classrooms, and many found their way into his office and home for personal encounters.

Beyond his now silent classroom, he continues to teach through his writings. The method he followed in his two-volume Systematic Theology garnered widespread respect even as it gently but significantly reorients several classical debates. Garrett as a rule began with a review of the biblical literature, moved to a summary of historical responses, and only then considered systematics. 

He was gentle before the Word of God. He always respected the Bible even as he subtly challenged those who undermined its teachings, theologically or morally. Except in the essentials, he avoided strong statements. As a gentleman, his own persuasions are discerned clearly in the indicative or implied through the interrogative but never through the pejorative nor the pugilistic. 

Garrett’s special love for his own churches manifests itself in his second magnum opus, his comprehensive and unparalleled Baptist Theology, wherein he rehearsed the history of Baptist ruminations, respected the diverse breadth of that life, and honored our dependence upon Scripture and our ultimate concern for following the Lord Jesus.

While speaking of Baptist theology, Dr. Garrett asked me to convey to his own beloved churches two special messages: 

• First, submitting to Jesus’s desire for our unity revealed in John 17, which establishes a divine mandate for us, the Southern Baptist Convention should seek a restoration of fellowship with our Baptist brothers and sisters in Christ through rejoining the Baptist World Alliance.
• Second, there is “no substantial theological reason whatsoever” to maintain separate Baptist conventions within the state of Texas. The Baptist General Convention of Texas and the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention should restore the bonds of fellowship, and the Baptist Missionary Association should consider doing the same.

Garrett also initiated or expanded the academic disciplines of ecumenism, religious liberty, believers’ church identity, and the close relationship of Baptists with Evangelicals. A particular doctrine close to his heart was the priesthood of all believers.

B. The Importance of Garrett

In order to convey the academic impact of Leo Garrett, one might consult two festschrifts published in his honor, The People of God, edited by Paul Abbott Basden and David Samuel Dockery, and the 2006 issue of Perspectives in Religious Studies introduced by Canadian Baptist William Henry Brackney. Or, one might rehearse the long list of his students and their accomplishments. However, in honor of his passion for congregationalism, hear a selection of testimonies from his former students, all of whom provide their full names out of respect for his precise academic style. We wish, in respect for the words of the apostle, to “imitate his faith.”

Robert Stanton Norman, President and Professor of Theology at Williams Baptist University, and author of More Than Just a Name and The Baptist Way, studied with and worked for Dr. Garrett from 1987 to 1997. He writes, “James Leo Garrett Jr. was one of the most prolific, prodigious writing theologians of the twentieth century. No other theologian was as thorough in breadth and scope of research, nor as fair in representation and assessment of diverse perspectives, nor as irenic and charitable in interactions. He instilled a deep love within me for the people known as Baptists, an appreciation for Baptist history and theology, and a belief in the promise of our distinctive convictions to engage and overcome present and future challenges.”

Steven Ray Harmon, Associate Professor of Historical Theology at Gardner-Webb University School of Divinity and Co-Secretary of the Baptist-Catholic International Joint Dialogue Commission, and author of four books including Baptist Identity and the Ecumenical Future, was guided by Dr. Garrett through his PhD studies from 1993 to 1997. He writes, “Dr. Garrett’s theological scholarship has been especially influential ecumenically, for he rigorously sought to frame Baptist theological identity in terms of its relation to the larger Christian tradition in ways that helped both Baptists and their ecumenical dialogue partners to see more clearly both their commonalities and their differences that call for ongoing dialogue—an influence discernible especially in the second phase of the international dialogue between the Baptist World Alliance and the Catholic Church. I am working as a Baptist ecumenical theologian because of this influence, which in my own ecumenical work has helped me take differences seriously rather than as something to be minimized for the sake of easy agreement.”

Matthew Lee Sanders, Senior Pastor of the Wai’alae Baptist Church in Honolulu, and Assistant Professor at The College at Southwestern from 2007 to 2015, writes, “When I was a master’s student working for the seminary, I remember running into Dr. Garrett in the hallways more than once and casually asking about some theological topic. I would go to my office, and he would go, I thought, wherever he was headed. But he would pop into my office 30 minutes later with several library references on the topic we discussed. He apparently stopped whatever he was doing to help me. He was the best and only research assistant I ever had. If I could have only two books in addition to the Bible, they would be Dr. Garrett’s two-volume systematic theology. The only rival to his brilliant mind was his humble servant heart.”

Stephen Martin Stookey, Dean of the School of Christian Studies and Lester W. James Sr. Professor in Religion at Wayland Baptist University, was taught by Dr. Garrett during his PhD studies from 1991 to 1992. He writes, “James Leo Garrett Jr., through classroom, print, and pulpit, sharpened the global Baptist family’s theological perspectives and modeled the virtue of ecumenical engagement for kingdom service. His mentorship contributed to my academic focus in church-state studies, active participation with the Baptist World Alliance, and understanding of academic service as ministry. Like so many colleagues and friends who came under Dr. Garrett's influence, I am deeply indebted to him, as well as to his wife Myrta.”

Ronjour Melvin Locke, Instructor of Preaching and Urban Ministry, and Director of the Center for Preaching and Pastoral Leadership at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, is an African-American mentored by Dr. Garrett between 2009 and 2011. He writes, “Dr. Garrett showed that a scholar can also be a gentleman, loving and respecting others—even those with whom we disagree—by treating them and their arguments fairly and by responding charitably, for they are truly loved by our Lord. Personally, Dr. Garrett showed Annie and me what it looks like to love the body of Christ in faithful service and generous kindness, and for his and Mrs. Myrta’s example during and after our years at Meadowridge we are eternally grateful.”

Gregory Dale Tomlin, Carroll Fellow and Associate Professor of Christian Heritage at the B.H. Carroll Theological Institute, who studied with Dr. Garrett from 1997 to 2003, writes, “I owe to him and his lovely wife many things. He was the greatest of theologians and historians in my eyes, but most of all he was a good man and my friend. Kindness and gentleness permeated his character—I was able to complete my theological education because of Dr. Garrett’s generosity when he saw a need. I have learned recently that the students he provided for financially number in the dozens.”

Christopher Bart Barber, Pastor of First Baptist Church of Farmersville and prominent Trustee at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, studied with our mentor between 1994 and 2006. Bart writes, “Amidst the dark stories of theologians who strayed from their faith, marriages, denominational affiliations, or academic callings, shines the bright story of James Leo Garrett, whose lifelong faithfulness to the work, to Southern Baptists, to Myrta Ann, and to the Lord Jesus Christ were never called into question. It is no accident but rather the fruit of his deliberate effort that I can say the most important things he taught me were about neither history nor theology. Instead, he taught me how to have unwavering convictions in a way that brought people together rather than driving them apart.”

Adam Lyndell Harwood, McFarland Professor of Theology and Journal Editor at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, who studied under Garrett in 2002 and 2003 and is currently writing a systematic theology, says, “Dr. Garrett modeled peaceable interaction with the entire Christian tradition rather than merely his perspective. I was impressed by this accomplished scholar’s humility, demonstrated by his willingness to learn from anyone, including his students.”

Amy Karen Downey, President of Tzedakah Ministries and author of Maimonides’s Yahweh, worked with Dr. Garrett in editing his Systematic Theology between 1994 and 1996 and in compiling his Baptist Theology after 2004. She says, “I reveled in his eidetic memory, and he taught me to love theology and appreciate even those with whom we disagreed. He was my advocate as I pursued graduate studies in both medieval Judaism and Holocaust studies, and he even allowed me recently to guide him in the process of leading an old Jewish friend of his to saving faith in Jesus Christ.”

Wyman Lewis Richardson, Pastor of Central Baptist Church in North Little Rock and the Editor of the multi-volume The Collected Works of James Leo Garrett Jr., 1950-2015, writes, “Dr. Garrett’s scholarship was important insofar as it created a substantial bridge between the Baptist family and the wider Christian world. Personally, his academic influence on me consisted of modeling what warm-hearted, sincere churchmanship looks like when coupled with high standards of academic rigor.”

Robert Byron Stewart, Professor of Philosophy and Theology and Greer-Heard Chair of Faith and Culture at the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary studied with Dr. Garrett from 1990 to 1996. He says, “The atmosphere one breathed while studying with Leo Garrett was one of unrelenting precision and thoroughness coupled with Christlike character and graciousness.  Those of us who were privileged to study with him owe him a debt that cannot be repaid directly to him, but we can endeavor to repay it indirectly as we teach those who study with us with the same precision and care.  In fact, we should feel a moral obligation to do so.”

One last important word about the impact of James Leo Garrett Jr., this time regarding the future. Adam Wade Greenway, the ninth President of The Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and David Samuel Dockery, Southwestern’s Distinguished Professor of Theology and Theologian-in-Residence [and now Interim Provost], both of whom were his students and have paid him tribute, have stated the conviction that Southwestern Seminary must maintain and sustain the highly laudable aspects of that which we recognize with honor to be “the Conner-Garrett tradition.”

C. Garrett as an Educator

Garrett amassed huge accomplishments in research, teaching, and churchmanship through his intentional method of incorporating detailed knowledge of Scripture and its interpretation with personal integrity of life. Soon after he retired and my career began, he shared an as yet unpublished piece about our calling. He defined the theological educator according to four roles: teacher, scholar, mentor, and practitioner. Listen to some of his ideas.

As teacher, he spoke, among other things, of cultivating the professorial decorum of respect and dialogue. Lifelong professors have had “that student”—you know, the one in a thousand who already knows everything. Through the years, I never knew Dr. Garrett to show a hint of indignation when “that student” violated his class’s decorum. He was always respectful. 

That said, I remember he once stopped and responded carefully to a perceptive question with a brilliant quotation from memory. He opened his eyes, gazing into the distance as if in a different conversation, and said, “Put that in your pipe and smoke it!” He kindly smiled, recalled where he was, and returned to his lecture. The man was gentle, even in mental conversations with long dead authors.

As scholar, he argued that an educator must, inter alia, read widely and write wisely. Leo performed well these first two roles, of teacher and scholar, by all accounts. 

He also fulfilled two other roles that concern the heart and manifest themselves primarily through personal encounter. But we saw much of his heart. The last two of the educator’s roles concern being a mentor and practitioner. 

The student testimonies above show that many heard the apostle’s exhortation to “consider” our mentor’s “way of life.” James Leo Garrett Jr. believed that a personal life surrendered to the Lordship of Jesus Christ is as necessary for a theological mentor as for every believer. The theologian’s way of life must be characterized by love or be a failure.

In the role of practitioner, he emphasized the theologian must evince “the fruit of the spirit” as a Christian, a family member, a church member, a citizen, and a Southern Baptist. By all accounts, divine fruit was in that divine.

Conclusion

In conclusion, some final personal words. I knew Dr. Garrett, firstly, as a theological father, who encouraged me to research different aspects of universal priesthood at both Duke University and Oxford University. Secondly, I knew him as a senior professor who graciously affirmed my calling to imitate him while I trembled like a child in the basement of Fleming Hall. I knew him, thirdly, as a paragon of virtue after whom I could name my second son, Matthew Garrett Yarnell (and I was not the only one to do so); and fourthly, as a colleague who gave me the blessing of his lectern and his own faculty office, over my tearful objections. Finally, while I hope the Lord allows me in the near term to complete the essay we were writing together, I hope in the long term to be at least as much like our Savior as James Leo Garrett Jr.

“Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith” (Hebrews 13:7).

Mea Culpa: The Heart Confession of a Systematic Theologian

Norm Miller, the highly capable and effective editor of SBC Today, asked me to share with you the process by which I came to write the piece entitled, “The Evangelistic Seminary” (published here, here, here, and here; mentioned at the Southern Baptist Convention and in Baptist Press here) and some subsequent reflections. Perhaps a rehearsal of my own past, a confession of this particular systematic theologian's heart, will be helpful in delineating the logic behind that essay.

A Responsible Faith

            First, the distant past. I was led to salvation in Christ Jesus through the evangelistic preaching and teaching of a traditional Southern Baptist church in Louisiana. After being born again through faith in Jesus, and a short time in financial services as an adult, the Lord called me into full-time Christian service as a teacher and preacher. I have always understood that the calling to be a preacher of the Word of God was the greater privilege, while that of the teacher was to serve the task of preaching.

            Providentially, God gave me preachers like Wayne L. DuBose to shepherd me. Brother Wayne had and still retains a passion for God's Word and the application of that Word to the human soul. His desire to see the lost won to Christ and the saved grow deeper in commitment to the Lord is matched only by the incredible integrity with which Brother Wayne has always conducted his ministry. Next, God led me, providentially, to attend Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, where such teachers as James Leo Garrett, Jr., and Roy J. Fish also filled my heart and mind with God’s Word and a passion for lost souls.

            Part of the faith I received was that God freely gives salvation to sinners through faith in His Son. Another part of the faith I received was that this gift entails a responsibility for a surrendered life to God in Christ as led by the Spirit through His Word. Through the careful reading and preaching of the Bible, it continues to be my conviction that while salvation is a work of divine grace, it compels a human response. And this is what we must expect and encourage of ourselves and others as we preach the gospel.

            Part of our faith response is found in the immediate reception of salvation, but the Spirit also opens our minds to the lifelong vocation that God has placed upon each of our lives. We are called to respond in faith to the preaching of the divine writ, and we are called to respond in faithful living to the particular application of His will to our lives. I have taken the exemplary lives of my mentors and followed them therein to the best of my ability. One of the things I learned through these preachers and teachers is that while the movement of the Spirit through the biblical text is palpable in the instrumental work of biblical proclamation, there are also times when that proclamation may be written, so as to remind future generations of the Spirit's movement in the past and the hope of perhaps similar movements of grace in the future.

A Seminary's Legacy

            Second, the intermediate past. Over the past several years, I have watched and been amazed at the work that God has done and is doing in and through Southwestern Seminary. To join the faculty of my alma mater has been the career highlight of my Christian life. This has afforded opportunity to reflect upon the direction of our beloved seminary both historically and contemporaneously. The parallels that I have sensed between Southwestern past and Southwestern present began to coalesce around the time of our centennial celebrations. Those parallels have been subsequently reinforced in so many ways.

            Conversations with retired faculty such as James Leo Garrett, Jr., Roy J. Fish, Malcolm McDow, and Jack Terry, who retained their love for the seminary; collaborations with scholars such as Thomas White, Jason Duesing, and Madison Grace in researching the history of our fine institution; observations of fellow faculty members such as David Allen, Keith Eitel, and Matt Queen, who have embodied and exemplified the proclamatory, evangelistic, and missionary ethos of our school; and most importantly, the uncanny resemblances between the biblical, evangelistic, and Baptist passions of the first two presidents when placed alongside our current leader, Paige Patterson—these have fed into a growing sense that while the names had changed on the doors at Southwestern Seminary, the nature of the institution remains the same.

A Heresy of the Heart

            Third, our denomination's immediate past. Because of the necessary refocusing of our Southern Baptist seminaries on doctrinal orthodoxy during and after the Conservative Resurgence, we have become a convention concerned with doctrines. This is a good thing, and one that I began to advocate even back when I was a pastor active in local, state, and national Southern Baptist meetings. It is also a focus that I have personally benefitted from as a systematic theologian at one of our leading seminaries. In light of my role as a systematic theologian—a thinker who lives and breathes to engage with Scripture, historical exegesis, and contemporary concerns—what I will say next may seem counterintuitive. However, it must be said, and I hope it is well received.

            Our focus on doctrinal orthodoxy becomes unhealthy the moment it begins to detract from the primary task of actually proclaiming the gospel. While theology is important, even fundamental to the Christian task, it is, nevertheless, a third-order activity. The tertiary activity of theological reflection follows upon the primary Christian activities of worship and witness. Theology functions as a servant to worship and witness, providing a necessary critique of those activities according to the standard of Scripture. And when theology leaves its service role behind to demand primary attention, it has risen above its station and grasped for a glory that it may not possess.

            When Southwestern Seminary was recently queried regarding its overarching concern for evangelizing the lost, I really wanted to ignore it. I was and am very tired after years without a break, capped off with an especially grueling teaching year; the semester was ending and the grades were due; Masters-level students required last minute details and Doctoral-level students required guidance into the summer; preparations for the Oxford program demanded my administrative attention; and, personally, I just wanted to finish all of that and go home and sleep for a few days, then begin to write what I had long delayed. However, the approach of a beloved mentor on a different matter reminded me of the need to wait upon the Lord, submitting my every moment to Him, and so I did.

            But that mentor's request actually needed to be put on the back burner, because something more critical had arisen. The critical issue that came to my mind was not about the presence of one PhD student in our archaeology program, nor was it about the policies of the seminary. The critical issue that came to my mind, and stays there, is that we Southern Baptists have allowed ourselves to be subtly side-tracked from remembering what the main thing is regarding our theological institutions. The main thing for the churches is worship and witness, and the seminaries were founded to serve the churches in fulfilling their Christ-given commission.

            The seminaries' primary mission is not the teaching of archaeology, nor is it philosophy, history, languages, commentary, nor theology, music, educational theory. And yet, each of those things may be and often are helpful in meeting the primary mission. The Southern Baptist seminaries' primary mission is not the formation of academic teachers, nor is it the production of cultural commentators and book editors. And yet, each of those people may be helpful in fulfilling what is primary. Our primary mission is the formation of Christian ministers to serve the churches so that the churches may faithfully proclaim the saving gospel of Jesus Christ to a lost and dying world.

            Our primary mission, moreover, must be driven through our primary passion. When our passion becomes cultural commentary, political activism, or academic excellence, we seminarians have made a major mistake. When the subsidiary, the secondary, the tertiary replace the primary in the place where it really matters, in our hearts, we have a problem. When the cravings for doctrinal definition and cultural conflict supplant the passion for biblical proclamation through preaching, evangelism, and missions, then we have embraced a heresy of the heart.

            Do not misread me—remember, this is a systematic theologian writing this. I am not arguing for the acceptance of heresy or error. I despise heresy and lament error. Remember who this is—Malcolm Yarnell has been, and hopefully will remain throughout his life, a fervent advocate of a Christian orthodoxy that is evangelical and Baptist to the core. Rather, I am arguing about subtle and sometimes deceptive relations between the head and the heart. I am arguing that human doctrine must serve the proclamation of the Word of God and not rule over it. Dogmatics has a necessary role in reflecting upon our proclamation, with Scripture as the norm, in order to aid preachers, evangelists, and missionaries in their primary task of proclamation. But dogmatics is not what preachers, evangelists, and missionaries should be preaching. The gospel of Jesus Christ—the incarnate Son of God who became a man, died on the cross, and arose from the dead, so that whosoever will believe may be saved, and the heartfelt desire for all to hear and believe—yes, that gospel! That is what we should be preaching!

            When preachers, evangelists, and missionaries lose the imagination of the people and systematic theologians, philosophers, and culture warriors rise up to become their exemplars instead, we may have a heart problem. When a seminary president is questioned, even attacked, regarding his overarching passion to win people to Christ, we have a heart problem. And when a systematic theologian like this author, who knows better and whose entire life has been providentially guided to remind him that the ministry of the Word is primary—when that systematic theologian has allowed secondary reflection on proclamation to replace the primacy of proclamation through public sermon and private counsel, we have a heart problem. Southern Baptists, we have a heart problem.

            As a result of this concern for our mission and our passion about it, one evening I brought some essays by Southwestern’s heroes home and read them carefully. As I read their powerful thoughts, my heart was lifted up to remember who we are as teachers of preachers, and my heart was brought low by the realization that too many of us, including me, have been forgetting who we are. The next morning, I was led in conscience to the office very early, and I stayed incommunicado therein for eight hours without even the basics of life. The flesh cried out for sustenance, but there was a palpable sense of God-given direction that this cannot be delayed—here are the books you need and there is the idea that needs to be elucidated. By 3:00 that afternoon, the work was done. I daresay that I have never written anything that required so few self-corrections.

            What I rediscovered for myself that evening and day was that most of us theologians, especially among the academics but also among the pastoral theologians, have walked away from the older Southern Baptist view of the seminary's purpose. We have forgotten how our fathers treated and even spoke of the seminary as a military bunker for training soldiers to engage in spiritual warfare through biblical proclamation. We have forgotten our fathers' purpose for the seminaries and have convinced ourselves that the seminary is an ivory tower intended primarily to defend orthodox Christianity against the encroachment of a depraved culture.

            We have traded a view of the seminary as an offensive organization for a defensive view of the purpose of the seminary. In our hearts, we have made our educational institutions, both colleges and seminaries, an increasingly remote fortified tower on a hill rather than a light set on a hill that is constantly finding ways to help the churches shine light into the culture. We have transitioned the seminaries, in our attitudes regarding their purpose, from being exemplars of evangelistic outreach to being havens from the harrowing of heresy. Yes, the exposure of heresy and error in home, church, and culture is part of our role, but it is not the purpose of our existence.

            Again, theology serves proclamation. There is a reason that W.T. Conner, the systematic theologian, receives third place in any proper historiography of Southwestern Seminary. The systematic theologian rightly has a place of honor alongside the preacher and the evangelist, but problems arise when the philosophical commentator upon God and culture overtakes and supplants the place of the pastor and the missionary. The theologian Conner is third; the preacher Carroll and the evangelist Scarborough are first.

            It apparently takes the example of a president like Paige Patterson, who is as adept as any sophisticated systematic theologian yet who has the heart of a country evangelist and the legacy of a preaching pastor, to remind us that the Great Commission ought to remain our passion. Why are Patterson's moves in this regard controversial? Not because he is wrong in wanting the seminary to be a shining city set on a hill, but because most of the rest of us have forgotten what Patterson has, by divine grace, remembered.

A Confession

            Fourth, the present. When I was a pastor responsible to proclaim the divine writ, there were moments in the life of a church that prompted a real spiritual struggle. Those moments have continued into my ministry as a theologian in the employ of the churches through Southwestern Seminary. On the one hand, I am speaking of the spiritual struggles that occur within a preacher or teacher. These internal conflicts of the heart are very real and very necessary. I have been intimating to you my own struggles. On the other hand, the greater vocational purpose for the preacher concerns his utility as a divine instrument of spiritual growth, which ought to grow out of his own experience as the object of divine grace.

            I am speaking, latterly, of that sense that God has led you to see that this moment in the life of the congregation demands this sermon from His Word be directed gently but unfailingly to address that crisis. These are typically not immediate crises, but long-term communal crises that have reached a watershed and now demand the preacher to surrender His every thought, every word, every desire to the direction of the Holy Spirit as He illumines the Word through this preacher, who remains His unworthy instrument. Such events in my own experience include the peaceful understanding of being compelled by the Spirit, along with the knowledge that there is a God-given rebuke of the adversary, and the draining of every last vestige of strength from the preacher’s personal being. Like Jacob wrestling with the angel, there are times that the preacher or teacher must simply hold on to God and be thrown about like a rag doll, learning to surrender to the divine will, learning to respond faithfully to the God who is living, loving, guiding, and using the unworthy instrument before Him. And God provides a message from His Word through His servant. After such an event, there is elation (God has deigned to speak to me and through me!), awe (I have survived an encounter with the almighty and holy God!), and pain (What He has shown me demands change not only in our people but in me!). There is also the interesting phenomenon that such an encounter can lead me to be exhausted physically.

            But the greatest sense of exhaustion is not physical—it is spiritual. It is the knowledge that, while you know that this is the ideal for the preacher and teacher of God's Word, you have not always met that ideal. And this is where Norm's request is really bothersome to me, personally, for now I must confess. Mea culpa: this is my problem. Yes, I am a systematic theologian in my passion, which is not bad, but I ought to be even more passionate about going with the Lord Jesus Christ (and L. Rutland Scarborough and L. Paige Patterson) after the lost. Being a systematic theologian is a good and necessary thing, but being a preacher, evangelist, and missionary is the better part. Sitting at the feet of Jesus, repeating His words to the lost around me—this is the better part.

            Oh, Lord, forgive me! I am a systematic theologian with misdirected passion, and in this way an unclean heart, and I live amongst a group of seminaries with professors and administrators with unclean hearts. Send your messenger with your coal to cleanse our lips and make us worthy to speak your Word to the lost and dying sinners of this world. Grant us not the idea that proclamation is our secondary role but grant us an eager knowledge that proclamation is our primary role. Lord, help our seminaries and colleges not only to be intentionally biblical and Baptist, and evangelical, all of which we claim, but help us to be evangelistic, too. Perhaps, then, when our hearts are right, we theologians may help the churches and their beloved pastors, our beloved pastors, properly see that all of us need to be more committed to sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ.

(Originally published at SBC Today, 12 June 2014)

"He Must Increase And I Must Decrease!" My Son's First Sermon

Caravaggio, The Calling of St Matthew

Tonight, my wife and I had the unparalleled privilege of hearing our son, Matthew, open the Word of God and preach to his peers. This 16-year-old explained the Word of God with conviction and in a compelling manner, interacting with the historical background of the text, using appropriate illustrations to draw his listeners closer to the truth, and citing relevant supporting biblical texts copiously.

The point of Matthew's sermon, developed out of John 3:22ff, was that we must humble ourselves and exalt Christ entirely with our lives. Fallen humanity naturally desires to lift up itself, but God calls us to a different way of life. John the Baptist had a vibrant and popular ministry, but after Jesus came on the scene the crowds began to diminish. Unlike us, John was not bothered that somebody else was more successful and eclipsed him. John understood that the ministry of Jesus, the Son of God, was most important. Jesus Christ is God Himself and He deserves all the glory. "He must increase and I must decrease!"

Drawing on Ecclesiastes, Matthew showed how all human efforts are ultimately vain. The things that will last forever all come from God as divine gift, and should thus all be focused on God's glory. Drawing on the Gospel of Luke, chapter 17, he pointed out that we must see ourselves as mere servants of Christ and simply be happy with doing God's will as our reward. Everything we have in this life, including the Christian's ministry, is a gift of God, and we must use everything with all our effort for God's glory. He must increase and we must decrease!

Matthew concluded by calling on us to apply this truth in our lives in five ways: 1) confessing and repenting of all known sin, 2) getting rid of every questionable habit, 3) confessing Jesus Christ to others, 4) obeying every prompting of the Holy Spirit immediately, and 5) encouraging God's work in the lives of other people. Too often, we do not encourage the ministries of others, but we should. Not only must we increase Christ in our lives but we must help others see and reflect God's glory in their lives. This multiplies the increase of His glory, while we properly decrease!

They were all speaking well of Him and were amazed by the gracious words that came from His mouth, yet they said, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” (Luke 4:22)

When Jesus preached His first public sermon, people were amazed that this one who could preach with such authority came from the home of a simple carpenter. They knew Joseph, who they assumed was Jesus' earthly father (though He was actually born of a virgin and God was His Father by generation), and they could not understand how Jesus had gained such teaching authority.

Honestly, when I heard my son preach for the first time, I was personally shocked. My own first sermon was nowhere near the level of rhetorical and theological subtlety of my own son's first effort. Where did this come from, except God?! Matthew is still in the process of discerning God's particular vocation for his life, and his parents pray that he will follow wherever God leads him. However, Matthew's father is very proud of his son's depth of biblical devotion and he is amazed at how fluent of a speaker his son is.

Matthew, our heavenly Father in Christ is pleased when His prophets speak His Word with clarity, and your earthly father is pleased that our heavenly Father has chosen to gift you with lips ready to proclaim His Word. You were named for a Gospel writer (Matthew) and for a Gospel theologian (James Leo Garrett), and you have reflected well on both men, but you reflected best the desire of your heart to exalt God alone. Never stop doing that! Always give Christ the honor!

He must increase and I must decrease? Indeed!
Soli deo gloria