Reckless Words

Proverbs 12:18 Reckless words pierce like a sword….
I recently read the comments of one Southern Baptist who said that his church had more in common with a Presbyterian Church than with the liberal church in his own association. I do not discount the differences in some cases significant differences among Baptists. But these differences are often not as great as people claim. One can see this most evidently in the local church. The succession of pastors often reveals the great superficiality of our denominational conflict. An ardent supporter of the CBF is followed by an ardent supporter of the SBC or vice versa. In the local church the issues that are so often made to be the dividing issues simply are not as important because the people know their pastor for good or bad. The hope for the future of cooperative mission work is in the local association. And this is the case for one reason. At the local level people know each other. Or there is at least the chance to get to know one another. As they know one another they develop trust. Not because they come to know the inns and outs of all the differing opinions one might possibly share; rather, because they come to see the Holy Spirit at work, and know that God is in this place. It is the reckless words of people disconnected from one another that divide. I used to work on the staff of the DC Baptist Convention. In that capacity I was working for the association when Mark Dever’s church severed its relationship. Mark Dever is somewhat of an icon among Southeastern students, and he is a very intelligent and winsome person. But I will never forget a conversation I had with one of Mark’s associates. This associate had come to the associational board meeting to ask that the convention to adopt a doctrinal statement (which I might add was not even their church‘s doctrinal statement). The unspecified implication was that if we did not they would pull out. We did not and they pulled out. After the meeting I asked if this associate would have lunch with me. He graciously accepted and we had a nice visit. As we talked he expressed surprise to learn that I was born in Washington. In fact he commented that he had never met someone born in Washington. He had been in Washington several years. The irony to me was that many if not a majority of the churches that make up the DC Baptist Convention are comprised of people who were born in Washington. Now Mark’s church is on capitol hill where most people are from points elsewhere. However had they spent any real time getting to know people in the Convention they would have met many people born in Washington. They assumed that because the convention did not vote to adopt their doctrinal statement, that the convention was liberal and was too different to be a productive partner. A reckless decision born of reckless words. One can live near someone and not ever get to know them. I hope that in associational life where there are differences people will take the time to get to know one another. I suspect that when they do even thought differences will remain we will find the confidence that God is in this place and we can work together.