March 5, 2009

Southern Baptists: "Our Problem Is That We Do Not Look Or Live Like Jesus"

Today, we do not know who we are. The world does not know who we are. Our lost friends and neighbors do not know who we are. In the New Testament world, believers lived differently than their neighbors. That is how they came to be called Christians, a term of derision, not respect. Our problem is not that more of us don’t witness to our neighbors. Our problem is that more of us do not look like and live like Jesus. How long has it been since you heard a joke about Baptists? This is not necessarily a good thing. If we do not produce children, youth, and adults who live out a biblical worldview, no strategy for doing church will make us salt and light in the world.
Dr. Charles (Chuck) S. Kelley, "The New Methodists: Reflections Upon the Southern Baptist Convention"

Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.
The Lord Jesus, Mark 8:34