The Impossible LIfe

 

1 Peter 2:11-12

The impossible life, that is what should be told to anyone who desires to be a follower of Jesus Christ?  I am somewhat ignorant of how other groups handle this thing called the Christian life, but I do have a good understanding of the SBC, and for you new to that acronym, it has for years been the Southern Baptist Church.  I grew-up in the SBC, and must tell you that each of the churches affiliated with the SBC are independent of each other, and only one time a year do most of those who go by SBC, come together for a convention.  The main goal they hold in common is they all come together to support missions or missionaries, they do have a person who is picked each year to be the President of the convention, but he has no say on the local church.  So why is this important, it’s not, it is only information, and let me share one more thing, I’m totally ignorant of the 60 other groups in the United States that go by the name of Baptist.  This is the short list of some of there names: Alliance Baptist, American Baptist, Reformed Baptist, Affirming Baptist, Bible Fellowship Baptist, Missionary Baptist, Central Baptist, Christian Unity Baptist, Conservative Baptist, Cooperative Baptist, (now that is an oxymoron) Fundamental Baptist, General Six-Principle Baptist, Independent Baptist, Freewill Baptist, Old Regular Baptist, and the list goes on.  I did not see any mention of the Foot Washing Baptist, or the Snake Handling Baptist, maybe they disbanded. 

Two reasons for the list, I get tired of people saying, O’ you’re a Baptist, and believing I’m part of a group that shows up at military funerals and calls them hate names, or some other crazy group that goes by the name of Baptist.  The SBC has some real goof balls, so if you have to put me in a box, do your homework and put me in the right box.  The other reason is, as a member of a church affiliated SBC for many years, I’ve come to believe that we do a terrible job of preparing a new follower of Jesus Christ for life on Planet earth.  Many have walked an isle in a SBC church and then got Baptized and were encouraged to join a small group Bible study, and were not told that they just became a target for the enemy of their soul. 

Now when it comes to working hard at being a follower, I will put Southern Baptists up against most other groups, they work very hard, but most are like my old friend Pete Peterson, who did every job they had in the Methodist church, and this is what he came to understand; he was acting like a person with a vacuum cleaner who did not know they had to plug into the power supply.  Pete’s life changed when he came to the understanding that Jesus Christ wanted to be his life, and that the Holy Spirit was the only one who could live the Christian life in his earthsuit.  The apostle Peter gives this warning of the war each of us Christians is going to encounter: “Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.  Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.”

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice