When I received the invitation to speak to this auspicious group, I readily accepted. I will come to Birmingham joyfully, for any reason, but to come to be a part of a meeting of Alabama Mainstream Baptists, of which I am, by the way, on the Advisory Board, was a special treat.  Then, when I learned the theme was to be “Being an Authentic Baptist” I had to do some real hard thinking and studying.

First of all, I went to the dictionary to find the meaning of this word AUTHENTIC.  “Not false or copied; genuine, real, having an origin supported by unquestionable evidence.  Entitled to acceptance because of agreement of known facts or experience.  Reliable.  Trustworthy.  What a definition!

Then I had to think about what an authentic Baptist is. I’ve been a Baptist all my life – officially since I was 12 years old and was baptized in Clinch Lake in Frostproof, FL after accepting Christ and joining First Baptist.  But Baptist didn’t start there.  In the United States we began formally in 1814, when Baptists formed a general convention, known as the Triennial Convention.  Informally, much had happened before that formal date.  After that date the old Triennial Convention divided many times, to the extent that now there are at least 15 major Baptist conventions, conferences or fellowships in the United States.  I met their leaders as I served in a part time role as director of North American Baptist Fellowship of the BWA.

Historically, Baptist has been synonymous with “Four Fragile Freedoms,” as Walter Shurden describes the four basic Baptist characteristics:

1. The sole authority of the Bible – there’s our origin – unquestionable evidence!
2. The priesthood of each believer – or soul competency I am responsible to God directly for reading, understanding and living out God’s Word.  No other human authority can dictate how I interpret Scripture or how I relate to God.
3. Local church autonomy – no hierarchy dictates what and where tna how my church serves, carries out its work, does its business.  
4.  The separation of church and state – I am a Baptists. I am a citizen of the United States.  I “render to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.”

Okay, I’m convinced. I am an authentic Baptist.  Are you? So, what is an authentic Baptist?  What does an authentic Baptist do?

1.       We are COMPASSIONATE.

Matthew said of Jesus, “When he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.”  Today, as in Jesus’ day, the multitudes must be translated into persons, individuals.  Multitudes do not have needs, persons have needs.  Multitudes are not lost as sheep, persons are lost without a shepherd.  The world beckons the authentic Baptist to serve; the world which is our challenge, is a place of emotional, social, physical, spiritual needs.  More than 40 million Americans struggle to live below the poverty level.  One of every five adults is a functional non-reader.  One-fourth of those over 65 years of age live at or below the poverty level.  Homeless people are no loner middle aged, poor male winos. Now they are women – bag ladies- or women with small children.  And current reports indicate that not all hungry children are of welfare parents – many working parents are not able to provide basic essentials for their children. 

But our compassion does not end at the border of our own beloved country. Perhaps this offers our greatest challenge.  For generations we have been taught that the world is divided into home and foreign missions – third world and first world – north and south – free and enslaved. In recent years we have seen a different division – easily viewed as World A, World B, and World C.  World C is where we live.  It is the evangelized Christian world.  World B is the evangelized non-Christian world.  World A is the non-evangelized, non-Christian world.  Even with this fact, in World C we spend 94 cents of every mission dollar and we have 95 of every 100 missionaries.  For World A, we have ½ cent left, and 1 missionary.

Will the compassion of authentic Baptists change that picture?

1. We are INCLUSIVE. Do you know what the ugliest word in the world is, according to Carl Sandburg? EXCLUSIVE.  Authentic Baptists must be inclusive – “everybody welcome.”  In his insightful book, published a decade ago, Luther Copeland, an authentic Baptist, points out five ways that Baptists in the South were exclusive:

--Our defense of Negro slavery

--Our tenacious racism

--Our missionary paternalism

--Our belittling of women

--Our theological restrictiveness

Authentic Baptists are inclusive – of women, of races, of theological differences.

2. We are POSTIVITE.  Going back to our “Bible as our sole authority,” we find our textbook for doing something about our world.  The Bible commissions us who are authentic believers and it tells us how we can do our work.  Jesus gave emphasis to personal, practical Christianity.  While the old ethical code of the Old Testament emphasize “Thou shalt not…”  Jesus emphasized “Thou shalt…”  He dramatically changed the focus of God’s moral mandates.  He condensed Old Testament teachings into a few brief sentences:  “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.  This is the greatest commandment, and a second one is like it.  You shall love your neighbor as you love yourself.”  Jesus clearly tells us that we should move away from being fixated on what we should NOT do and become focused on what we SHOULD do.  The authentic Baptist has a mindset that is positive, and outward thinking.  Instead of PROTECTING EVERYBODY, Jesus teaches us to re-channel our thoughts and actions to LOVING EVERYBODY.

When we do this, it changes us from merely sending missionaries – studying missions that happens somewhere else, giving money to send somebody else – to being missionaries ourselves in the world where we live.

Our authenticity should lend a positive flavor to life.  So often people connect Christianity with the exact opposite.  Emperor Julian of the Holy Roman Empire is said to have complained, “Have you looked at these Christians closely? Hollow-eyed, pale-cheeked; they brood their lives away, unspurred by ambition. The sun shines for them but they do not see it.  The earth offers them fullness, but they desire it not.”  I had an interesting experience in a New York bookstore a while back. I was looking for a book, and the computer instructed me to consult the desk. I approached the desk and showed the man the title and author.  The card I held showed one of the classifications to be “Southern Baptist Convention.”  The man looked me in the eye, and in his Brooklyn brogue said, “You’re not one-a-doz are you?”  If we have lost it, we need to rediscover the positive flavor of life in Christ – authentic Baptists! For, Jesus said, “You are the salt of the earth. If salt has lost its flavor, it should be thrown out.   Uselessness invites disaster. If I am not fulfilling my purpose, then I am on the way out. 

4.  We are COMMITTED TO CHRIST, not merely to a cause.   If we are committed to a cause, we tend to trade off the power of God for the power of politics or social status.  Jesus said if anyone wants to come after me, he must give up all rights to himself.  Commitment to Christ means not only do we believe that God can – we believe that He will, and that He will use us as we give ourselves to Him.

Years ago, Warren Holtgren was the pastor of First Baptist Church in Tulsa, OK.  He often was heard to say, “If it is to be, it is up to me.”  Those ten two letter words have become my motto, too, as I understand that my commitment to Christ is the door to accomplishing what He wants me to do and be. 

     And that commitment comes with our answers to these basic questions:

1.      What is really important to me?

2.      To what will I give myself?

3.      How much must I have for me?

4.      What claim will the needs of others have on me?

For so many years I looked at missions as what happened in my work at Woman’s Missionary Union.  That was what I prayed for, gave money for, taught people about.  I went into all the world, often skipping over needs closest to me.  Let me give you one very personal example of that.  When our building was located on busy 20^th Street in downtown Birmingham, we were surrounded by a commercial parking lot.  I parked there every day when I was in town.  I drove in, handed my keys to the attendant, went to work, came out with my suitcase and drove to the airport.  One day as I went out to pick up my car, I noticed that the young man, the attendant, was in deep distress.  I asked if I could help him in any way.  He said, “Oh, I wish you could.  You see, my wife is very ill, in the hospital.  She might die. I wish you could help!” I asked if I might pray with him, and he said, “Oh, yes, please do.”  We prayed. Then he handed me the keys to my car, and I asked him if he knew Jesus as his Savior.  His response shook me to my heart.  “No, I don’t.  I know that’s what you ladies do in that building.  I thought maybe some day somebody would tell me about it.”

5.  We are NEIGHBORLY.  Remembering the words of Jesus – love your neighbor as you love yourself – we also remember the question, “Lord, who is my neighbor?” Please meet two of my neighbors. On Sunday mornings as Joe and I drive to church, the newspapers are still in the yards of most families.  Those who are up are mowing their lawns, or shoveling snow, or taking their morning walk –or run- along the streets.  Our next-door neighbor is a retired bar tender.  His wife thinks it is amazing that he has become such a good friend of Joe’s.  Nobody else had paid much attention to him.  Reared in a Catholic home, but having no sense of church now, well to do in material things, but poor in spiritual matters, Ken is learning about god who loves him.  Across the street is a prominent political figure in our city.  His son recently wrecked his car after a night of partying and drinking.  Now a quadriplegic and in despair over the mess he has made of his life, he is responding to our neighborliness. 

Who is my neighbor?  What is my commitment?  What am I going to do about my neighbor?

6. An authentic Baptist is FORGIVING.  Our sole authority – Scripture – tells us that we are to forgive 70 times 7.  We are inclined to say, “I can forgive, but I cannot forget.”  True forgiveness involves forgetting the way we have been hurt, mocked, treated wrongly.  In her monthly letter from Brussels, missionary Janee Angel tells a story about forgiveness. Her ministry is to students who come to Brussels to study – mostly Moslem, they come to a coffee house she has set up to meet and minister to them.  This fall, as so many stories from the United States reached them, telling of the murders in school houses, the students had many questions about America.  Then they read of the killings in the Amish school house. They read about the Amish family who visited the killer and his family, even inviting them to the funeral of a child who was killed.  They heard, “We forgive him. Jesus told us to forgive.”  “Who is this Jesus?” the students asked.  Who is it that tells us to forgive a murderer of a child?  What a door opened for Janee and her witness! 

Who has wronged you? Have you forgiven him/her?

7.  An authentic Baptist is STRONG.  Paul closes his letter tot eh Ephesians with the challenge: “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.”  You can do this, he said, by putting on the full armor of God.  Then you will be able to stand against the devil’s schemes.

It takes great strength to live today.  Every day we face the devil’s schemes that seek to entice us.  We face doubts.  We face opposition.  Our strength does not come from our own determination. It comes form the Lord, who said, “You can. You can.”  

8.  An Authentic Baptist is FREE.  Again, it is through Paul that gives us the message:  It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.  Stand firm then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”  “Free and faithful” is a description some Baptists use. Martin Luther King used the phrase, “Free at last! Thank God, I’m free at last.”  We have the freedom to do what we want to do.  We have the freedom to accept or reject God’s wonderful plans for our lives.  We do not report to a priest or to a denominational leader.  Our freedom is in Christ – who also gives us the strength to do the right thing, not the wrong thing.  As an authentic Baptist – I am free to become all that God intended me to become. 

So, God has called me – he has called you

To be Baptist

To be Authentic

To be an Authentic Baptist

He has called us to be strong and courageous, to be his presence in the world, to love and serve our neighbors.  We have been told that we must give an account of ourselves to the Lord.  What will that account be?  Will we be found faithful? Will we be found to be authentic?

Hymn #498 in the Baptist Hymnal

O God, we ask for strength to lead a gentle caring life;

To live in modes of peace and love in spite of war and strife.

O God, we ask for voice to speak, with language kind and true,

To never speak a hurtful word and always speak for You.

O God, we ask for grace to hear when others disagree;

Remembering You created them in holy image, free.

O God, we ask for minds which think before we say or do;

To always speak and act with care, to always live for You.