[The Following Sermon was preached at The Baptist Church of Beaufort on January 6th, 2008 by Rev. Eric Spivey.]
Rediscovering Baptist in The Baptist Church of Beaufort
The Trail of Blood … Discovering Our History
Luke 3:1-14
Introduction to Series
Beginning a new year creates a wonderful moment for introspection. Often we settle for simply making resolutions – things that we determine to do differently in the New Year – eat less, exercise more, be more organized. A deeper question – though, one that we often don’t want to spend too much time on is the question – “Who are we?”
“Who are we?” goes to our identity. For all of the years in my past – who have I become? As I move forward into my life – who am I? And who am I becoming?
This isn’t just important for us as individuals, though. It’s also important for us as a church One of the important tasks of a church going through a time of interim is taking time to reflect and examine our identity – who are we? Over all of the years, who has God created us to be? What is our history? How did we get to this point? Who is God creating us to be in the future?
January will be an important time for us to examine these questions as a church. At the end of the month, our Pastor Search Committee will have 2 town hall meetings to hear your ideas and – more importantly – your heart for this church and its future and its future leaders. This is part of their process of examining who we are and God’s future for us.
To help in this identity process – I will be preaching a sermon series called “Rediscovering Baptist in The Baptist Church of Beaufort.” You see, one of the major things that define us in this church is our name – The Baptist Church of Beaufort. We are not, Beaufort Baptist Church, or FBC, Beaufort – For those who don’t know “The” is a part of the official name. Being Baptist has been important to us for over 200 years.
For most of us though, we probably know very little about what it means to call ourselves “Baptist.” Understanding our identity as Baptists in Beaufort is very important in day an age when churches are dropping their denominational titles in order to attract nonChristians to Jesus – They feel titles scare people away.
No – for us – we proudly carry our monitor – Baptist – back in the day in the early 1800’s when there was the Anglican Church and we were simply “The Baptist Church.” To help us understand our identity as Baptists, I will be preaching on Sundays about what it means for us to be Baptist here in Beaufort. On Wednesday nights – beginning on 1/16 – I’ll also be leading a more in-depth lecture and a question and answer time about the same topics. As we go through this time – I pray that we will all grow stronger together as we seek God’s future.
The Trail of Blood Story
Where did we start? How did Baptists begin?
J.M. Carroll presents us one example in a little book printed in 1931 he called The Trail of Blood. In this book, Carroll tries to present Baptists as the one true church and all of other churches – denominations – as false churches. He does this by trying to trace our Baptist roots back to Jesus and John the Baptist. Through very loose interpretations of history he calls all dissenters throughout church history Baptist. It becomes the trail of blood because many of these various groups are martyred throughout the centuries. While there are various connections to our modern Baptist understanding of what it means to be church, these dissenters were not Baptist. Carroll approached the subject from the wrong way – he wanted to proof we were right and everyone else is wrong.
John’s Story
A better understanding our Baptist heritage– and how that heritage challenges us in our understanding of our lives - comes as we study the scripture. Our scripture this morning comes from Luke 3:1-14 (The Message):
After introducing John’s place in history – Luke writes – John went all through the country around the Jordan River preaching a baptism of life-change leading to forgiveness of sins, as described in the words of Isaiah the prophet:
Thunder in the desert!
"Prepare God's arrival!
Make the road smooth and straight!
Every ditch will be filled in,
Every bump smoothed out,
The detours straightened out,
All the ruts paved over.
Everyone will be there to see
The parade of God's salvation."
7-9When crowds of people came out for baptism because it was the popular thing to do, John exploded: "Brood of snakes! What do you think you're doing slithering down here to the river? Do you think a little water on your snakeskins is going to deflect God's judgment? It's your life that must change, not your skin. And don't think you can pull rank by claiming Abraham as 'father.' Being a child of Abraham is neither here nor there—children of Abraham are a dime a dozen. God can make children from stones if he wants. What counts is your life. Is it green and blossoming? Because if it's deadwood, it goes on the fire."
10The crowd asked him, "Then what are we supposed to do?"
11"If you have two coats, give one away," he said. "Do the same with your food."
12Tax men also came to be baptized and said, "Teacher, what should we do?"
13He told them, "No more extortion—collect only what is required by law."
14Soldiers asked him, "And what should we do?"
He told them, "No shakedowns, no blackmail—and be content with your rations."
15The interest of the people by now was building. They were all beginning to wonder, "Could this John be the Messiah?"
Jewish Life before John
Luke 3 tells the story of Zachariah and Elizabeth’s son. He’s grown up now, a Nasserite prophet living in the desert and calling people to a new way of living.
When John begins to preach, there is a hunger is people’s lives. The rituals of following God in the Jewish faith had become way of life rather than a way of faith. Being a Jew was connected more to their political life in occupied Israel that it was a religious way of listening to God and following him.
People followed through with their weekly obligations of attendance, they carried out their sacrifices when they were required, and they attended the annual festivals because all of the other members of their family would be there.
Into this culturally religious, but spiritually hungry world comes John preaching:
"Prepare God's arrival!
Make the road smooth and straight!
Every ditch will be filled in,
Every bump smoothed out,
The detours straightened out,
All the ruts paved over.
Everyone will be there to see
The parade of God's salvation."
As the forerunner of Jesus, John calls the crows of Jewish listeners out of a cultural religious existence and into a vibrant, active faith.
People respond. They flock to hear John and go through a new ritual called baptism – where they repent to live life new and different.
Our Baptist Heritage
It is this calling to a vibrant, living faith in Jesus – in the midst of cultural Christianity that leads us to an understanding of our Baptist heritage and challenges us to live different lives in the New Year.
Thesis: God calls us out of our cultural Christianity and into a vibrant, living faith in Jesus.
- 1517 – The movement to true faith in Jesus ignites. Martin Luther – a catholic monk tired a church more concerned about politics and money than faith in Jesus begins the Protestant Reformation by nailing 95 thesis’s or things wrong with the church – on the door of the cathedral in Wittenberg, Germany.
- 1534 – The movement begins to spread. The Church of England breaks from the Catholic Church – but it has less to do with true faith and more to do with politics of control. The Church of England – the forerunner to our modern Episcopal church - develops a national church – a person is both a Christian and a citizen – tied together.
- 1553 – We see the challenges to a state church. Queen Mary rules England and changes the state church back to Catholic. The true religion seems to be whoever has the political power.
- 1559 – Queen Elizabeth establishes religious peace in England. There is peace – but there remains cultural Christianity. Out this full moment of history – reformers called Puritans and then Separatists emerge. These leaders and these churches take up John the Baptist’s call to a vibrant faith in Jesus – not one that is forced on you by the state, not one that desire power or political gain or money, but a faith and a church based on the life of Jesus.
- 1609 –Out of this movement – the first Baptist church arises – begun by John Smyth and Thomas Helwys in 1609.
Just a few years earlier 2 groups of believers emerged from a Separatist’s church in Gainsborough, England. The first group was led by laymen William Brewster and William Bradford to sail for America on the Mayflower. They landed at Plymouth Rock and become our Pilgrims.
The 2nd group traveled to Amsterdam to become bakers and live a faith as they felt God led. It was in this place of religious freedom that God led Smyth and Helwys to lead the church to experience believer’s baptism and to separate from any national church.
The concepts of believer’s baptism, congregational led church rather than a hierarchy, priesthood of the believer and the separation of the church and state would eventually have their opponents calling this group of believers Baptist! Historians call this first church – General Baptists because they believed that everyone can become a follower of Jesus.
- 1638 – Most interest, another group of Baptists called – Particular - also emerge 30 years later in England. This group of believers had different beliefs about salvation – a person had to be chosen by God to be saved – but they still did church the same – believer’s baptism, congregational, separation of church and state. This way of doing church became the items which separate them from other faith traditions.
Our Story
Our world today is not that different than the time of John the Baptist or Smyth and Helwys. We live in a cultural where is it very easy to say that “I am a Christian” or “I’m a member of The Baptist Church of Beaufort.” Without really having a true, authentic, vibrant relationship with Jesus.
We don’t pay national taxes to support a state church like they do in countries like Belgium, but we can confuse ourselves by calling our selves an American Christian and think that they are one and the same. Being a Christian becomes linked to being a citizen and people begin to think that belonging to The Baptist Church of Beaufort is the same as belonging to Rotary or the Yacht and Sailing club or the YMCA.
As we begin this new year, our Baptist heritage and the preaching of John the Baptist call us to examine our identity – who we say we are:
· Being an American does not make you a Christian.
· Being a Member of BCOB does not make you a Christian.
· Surrendering your life to Jesus Christ to makes us a Christian as we confessing your sins, repenting from your sins – literally turning completely away from them, trust in Jesus, follow him and allow him to mold our life.
Look at v. 8. Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Do not begin to say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our ancestor”; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.
As we examine our lives – we look for were God is working. We look for examples of God’s work in our life- the places we bear fruit of God’s love:
Look at the kind of fruit, John expected to see in people’s lives (11-14):
And the crowds asked him, ‘What then should we do?’ 11In reply he said to them, ‘Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise.’ 12
This year:
Where do other people see the fruit of my faith in Jesus in my life?
As the forerunner of Jesus, John calls the crows of Jewish listeners out of a cultural religious existence and into a vibrant, active faith.
Today: God calls us out of our cultural Christianity and into a vibrant, living faith in Jesus.
It’s a new year. It’s not just an important moment for introspection – it’s also an important moment to make change in your life.
What is your spiritual New Year’s Resolution? What changes will you make this year to help God create you into the person God desires?
I look forward to walking with you and with our church as we go through this process together!
