The Holy Spirit and the Southern Baptist Convention Today (XV): “I HAVE a Dream (Introduction)”

On August 28, 1963, some quarter of a million Americans, mostly Black, gathered near the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., on what turned out to be one of the most significant occasions of the civil rights movement.  The primary reason that was the case was because of a semi-extemperaneous speech by the head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Because it was not the message he had planned to deliver, the title by which it has been known ever since, ”I Had a Dream,” is derived from the request made by someone in the crowd who shouted “Martin, tell us about your dream!”  And, King complied.

Looking back, I had very little awareness of this speech at the time.  I was 14 years old and near the end of exhausting pre-school two-a-day football practices as a raw freshman at Raymond (Mississippi) High School.  And, to the extent that I did hear anything, it would have been negative.  You see, I lived in a racist community and went to what was, for three more years, a racially segregated high school.

In other words, to the extent that I knew who Martin Luther King, Jr., was, I viewed him as a trouble-maker.  He was working to change the only way of life I had ever known and, so, I–and virtually the entire White population of the town in which I grew up–were in opposition to what he was saying and asking to happen.

However, in retrospect, it is profoundly humbling to admit that, even though I still do not agree with some of his political perspectives and alliances, King’s “vision” of racial equality in his “I Had a Dream” speech was right, not least for the church (Galatians  3:28).  In that regard, I have been deeply honored and greatly blessed to know the Black brothers and sisters I met through Campus Crusade for Christ at Mississippi State, to block for my quarterback, Tony Evans, on our flag football team at Dallas Seminary and to learn much from, and be convicted by, a humble gentle physical and spiritual giant of a man named Dwight McKissic.

What made the difference in me?  Jesus Christ, period.  I did not become a Christian for another seven years after King’s speech.  Certainly, a huge amount changed legally and politically in the Deep South during that time.  But, changing the deeply-held attitudes of people is much harder to do.  And, the numerous pockets of “red-neck” racists that exist to this day all over the South–and the rest of the country, if we’re honest–attest to that.  And, realistically, I might well still be one of them if not for the grace of the Savior and the mighty early spiritual change that He worked in my life (I say “early” because there have been later spiritual changes of great consequence also, as I will bring in further along). 

Why is racism so resistant to change?  Theologically, it is because of human nature–unregenerate human nature.  Unsaved people naturally want to “lord it over” others (Matthew 20:25-28).  It’s as simple as that.  So, foundationally, the only thing that makes many people behave civilly toward other races is the law.

Sadly, it is indisputable that there are many churches filled with regenerate people who are still racists.  How do we account for that theologically?  It’s called “the flesh,” the part of a saved person that still acts like a non-Christian (1 Corinthians 3:3-4), is in direct opposition to the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:17) and totally controls the life of any Christian not walking by faith (5:5-6).  It is the flesh which produces the “hatreds, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger” and the like (5:20, 21, HCSB) which are such classic racist emotional responses.

When will these racist churches–not a few of which are Southern Baptist–really change (i.e., more than surfacely–for public appearance)?  Only when the Holy Spirit gets control of the vast bulk of the individual believers who are their members.  It’s going to take nothing less than that to effect real change in this area.

Well, my “dream” is not in regard to racism.  I am merely using it as an example of how the flesh holds back the transforming work of the Spirit, particularly, in this case, in the SBC. 

Instead, my “dream” is about what the Conservative Resurgence could have accomplished spiritually in the SBC by now–and, I believe, still can–had it not been so significantly dominated by the flesh.  I will lay it out in my post next Monday.  Although it will not be nearly as eloquent as King’s “dream,” it is my humble hope that this prayerful (Psalm 37:4) “dream” will at least force us to think about the eye-opening difference that the Spirit can make in the attitudes and actions (contrast Galatians 5:19-21 and 5:22-23) of all those who call themselves Southern Baptists, not least of all our leaders.

Now, as I close this introductory installment, I would request just one thing of each of you who is reading these words.  Would you be so kind as to join me in seeking to prayerfully envision what a Southern Baptist Convention filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18ff.) would look like? 

Now, please don’t misunderstand: In making such a request, I am not at all denying that there are indeed many Southern Baptists who consistently exhibit “the fruit of the Spirit” (Galatians 5:22-23).  But, I am indeed bemoaning the fact that thoughtful observation makes it “obvious” (5:19) that the flesh (5:19-21) is running rampant in many of our churches and in the corridors of power of the SBC to the point where we have gotten so used to many among us “stifling the Spirit” (1 Thessalonians 5:19), even “grieving the Spirit” (Ephesians 4:30), that we think nothing of it.  It has gotten so bad in some quarters that the idea of allowing the Holy Spirit to exercise control (Ephesians 5:18) over our individual lives, families, businesses and ministries is viewed as being more or less a religious fanatic or nut case. 

Why has this taken place?  Foundationally, because we continue in a long-standing spiritual “drought” of the Word of God in this theological area–a virtual vacuum of clear basic biblical preaching and teaching on the totally essential (i.e., not at all optional) role of the Holy Spirit in moment-by-moment Christian living.  Even moreso, in those instances where the teaching has been present, the practical application of it has not been “deep and wide.”

To be continued…